[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's president said on Sunday sanctions could not block development in his country, as he unveiled its first home-manufactured aircraft -- a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir spoke at the latest in a string of defiant rallies mounted after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him in March, to face charges of masterminding atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.
" Sudan has its own military industry. It makes tanks, missiles and many types of guns, all made by Sudanese hands "
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
Bashir has repeatedly sought to highlight his government's development record since the court ruling, speaking this year at the opening of a hydroelectric dam, a new bridge in Khartoum and Sudan's first ethanol plant, among other projects.
On Sunday he spoke at the launch of the Safat-01 aircraft, a two-seater propeller plane produced at Sudan's state Safat Aviation Complex, part of the country's Ministry of Defense, according to its website.
"Sudan has its own military industry. It makes tanks, missiles and many types of guns, all made by Sudanese hands," Bashir told hundreds of supporters outside the plant in Wadi Sayidina military area, north of the capital. "Today, Sudan has entered a new industry -- aviation," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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This murder is Racism of course; the widespread criminality brought by muslim migrants in Europe, or the way those protesting egyptians treat their coptic neighbours, is... not.
Fury and sorrow in Egypt: the murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom last week has sparked protests in Egypt with mourners chanting "Down With Germany." The woman was stabbed to death in a racist attack.
A brutal murder in Germany last week has caused shockwaves in far-off Egypt. Thousands of mourners took to the streets of Alexandria on Monday to protest at the funeral of a pregnant Egyptian woman who was stabbed to death inside a German court in a crime that has provoked fury in her home country.
Egyptian newspapers have given strong coverage to the death of Marwa al-Sherbini (32), describing the veiled woman as a "Martyr in a headscarf" and suggesting the killer was motivated by a hatred of Islam.
Mourners chanted "Down with Germany" Well, killer was russian, but, hey an infidel is an infidel, right? They're all the same.
and scuffled with police predictably after prayers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria for al-Sherbini, who was murdered on July 1 in a courtroom in Dresden, eastern Germany, by a German man of Russian origin.
"We will direly revenge her death," al-Sherbini's brother, Tarek al-Sherbini," told the Associated Press. He said Muslims faced Racism and Discrimination in the West.
Al-Sherbini, mother to a three-year-old child and three months pregnant, was stabbed 18 times by the man she was testifying against during an appeal hearing, German prosecutors said.
'He Wasn't Blond, so They Shot Him'
Her killer also stabbed her husband, who German police then mistook for the attacker and shot in the leg, prosecutors added. The husband is in hospital and has awoken from a coma. "They thought that he had to be the attacker because he isn't blond and then they shot him," Tarek told Egyptian TV.
The killer, named only as Alex W., was appealing against a conviction for insulting Sherbini by calling her an "Islamist," "terrorist" and a "slut" when she asked him to make space for her son to go on the swings on a playground in Dresden, prosecutors said.
He had been fined 780 and last Wednesday's court session had been called to hear his appeal against the ruling.
State prosecutor Christian Avenarius described him as a man driven by hatred of Muslims. "It was clearly a racist attack by a fanatical lone wolf," he said. W. had moved to Germany from Russia in 2003 and had already expressed his contempt for all Muslims at the start of his court case, the prosecutor said.
Al-Sherbini's body was flown to Cairo on Sunday, and met by her family and the German ambassador. Her funeral was attended by members of parliament, a minister, a representative of Egypt's Coptic Christians and others.
Al-Sherbini moved to Germany in 2005 with her husband Elwi Okaz, a genetic research scientist. They lived in Berlin at first and moved to Dresden in 2008 where Elwi had a research position at the Max-Planck-Institute.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, Egypt's most powerful opposition group, have called for MPs to discuss the killing, the group's Web site said.
German Consulate Under Police Protection
More protests are planned in front of the German consulate in Alexandria on Thursday. Egyptian newspapers reported that police had been put on alert and would deploy to protect the consulate. The city council plans to name a street after al-Sherbini, Daily News Egypt reported on Tuesday.
Hundreds of Arabs and Muslims demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday. The Egyptian Pharmaceutical Association has called for a boycott of German-made drugs -- al-Sherbiny was a pharmacologist and a member of Egypt's national handball team from 1992 to 1999.
The General Secretaries of Germany's Muslim and Jewish Councils, Aiman Mayzek and Stephan Kramer, visited al-Sherbini's husband in hospital on Monday. "You don't have to be Muslim to oppose anti-Muslim behavior, and you don't have to be Jewish to oppose anti-Semitism," said Kramer. "We must stand together against such inhumanity."
German government spokesman Thomas Steg said Chancellor Angela Merkel had reacted "very emotionally" to the incident. "If there's a Xenophobic, Racist background to this case, the government of course condemns it in the strongest terms," he said.
Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, Egypt's most senior cleric, called the attacker a murderer and said al-Sherbiny was a Martyr. But he appealed for calm and said he hoped the murder wouldn't harm the Dialogue between the West and Islam. "It was an isolated case," he said.
#1
"Well, killer was russian, but, hey an infidel is an infidel, right? They're all the same."
and scuffled with police predictably after prayers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria for al-Sherbini, who was murdered on July 1 in a courtroom in Dresden, eastern Germany, by a German man of Russian origin.
Er, seems they have a better idea of the way national identity is supposed to work in the West than you do.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/07/2009 13:26 Comments ||
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#2
The Germans are allowing millions of foreign immigrants into their country. How racist can they be? When Egypt allows millions of Indians into their country, then they might have the moral standing to accuse Germany of racism.
#4
Oc course the mass murders of westerners in Egypt (Luxor, Sharm el Sheik, blown up airliners, tourist bus attacks, tourist boat attacks, random street attacks) well that's just business, infidel.
Hey Euro's, learn to spend your money elsewhere, like Croatia or Columbia, and kick the muslims the hell out. As an American I'd also appreciate you not hosting terrorists that mass murder thousands of my fellow citizens.
Posted by: ed ||
07/07/2009 14:54 Comments ||
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#5
On the other hand . . .
How did the defendant smuggle a knife into the courtroom? Why wasn't there an armed police officer present to prevent something like this?
Call me a hick from flyover country, but in most courts I've been in, there are one or more armed police officers to maintain order. In fact, in Texas, the Judges are armed too. There are also metal detectors when you enter the building.
Obviously I am not as enlightened as my European betters.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/07/2009 16:58 Comments ||
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#6
LH - lighten up on the hypermoral authority
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/07/2009 18:38 Comments ||
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#7
I happen to own a "Executive letter opener ' it's actually a carbon fiber dagger completely immune to Xrays and such, Metal detectors can't "See" it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/07/2009 23:40 Comments ||
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Radical Muslim preacher Abu Izzadeen has been returned to prison after breaching the terms of his release, BBC News understands.
Izzadeen, also knows as Omar Brooks, was released from prison in May after his four-and-a-half-year sentence for inciting terrorism was cut on appeal. He was found guilty in 2008 of urging worshippers at a London mosque to fight US and British troops in Iran. Izzadeen, 34, once heckled former home secretary John Reid at a meeting.
On appeal, Izzadeen's sentence for terrorism fundraising and incitement was cut by one year, leading to his release on licence in May. Izzadeen had been released under tight restrictions, which included a curfew and monitoring arrangements involving both police and probation officers.
A Muslim convert, Izzadeen was convicted along with five others of supporting terrorism in speeches made at London's Regent's Park mosque on 9 November 2004. The speeches came as US troops were engaged in a fierce battle in the Iraqi city of Falluja. Clips of the men speaking about jihad, Osama Bin Laden and prejudice towards Muslims were played at their 2008 trial, including one during which Izzadeen said that Allah had given mujahideen (holy warriors) a "chance to kill the American".
Izzadeen defended his actions, saying he and other British Muslims had "no other weapon than our tongue" to fight against what they saw as a "massacre" of Muslims by Western forces in Iraq.
His lawyers argued on appeal that his sentence should be reduced because of his pre-trial time in custody. Four of the other men convicted alongside Izzadeen also had their sentences reduced.
#1
FTA "Mr Obama insisted that America "will not seek to impose any system of government on any other country, nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country""
#1
It should be noted that this is the Han attitude towards all foreigners. This is "foreigner" used in the Chinese sense - non-Han. The Chinese word for Chinese person is Zhong Guo Ren, or China person. The word for foreigner is Wai Guo Ren, or outside person. Thus, even when Chinese come to our countries, they call us foreigner.
You'll also notice that they're fired up by false online rumor-mongers and hate-filled TV shows. The provocateurs know exactly what they're doing, and the #1 desire is to humiliate the foe and prove the superiority of the Han culture and race. Memorize these themes because you're going to see a lot of them in the next 10-20 years.
#2
gromky, if a Chinese calls you Wai Guo Ren, take it as a compliment. It is the Politically Correct term for foreigner. Generally it is laowai, old foreigner, which they will explain means respected foreigner. But they use it in the same way that we use Wog (Worthy oriental gentleman) as in stupid bloody wog. One of the nice things about China is that it hasn't been corrupted by PC fanatics. And yes they can take it as well as disk it out.
#3
Lao Wai generally means white foreigner. I get called that about fifty times a day. Wai Guo Ren is the more generic term for anyone who ain't one of us. They certainly don't call Uighurs laowai.
#4
And yes they can take it as well as disk it out.
Actually, the Chinese can dish it out, but they definitely can't take it. And in the Chinese psyche, they shouldn't have to, since fairness and the Chinese point of view are one and the same.
#6
Creepy when you start to think about the staggering amount of people that have been killed over the centuries to maintain the un-naturally selected populus.
#7
Is there any countries that muslims dont cause trouble when they live with non muslims?
They are the only religion that are taught to have nothing to do with other religions/communities!!!!
The Chicoms conquered the Uighurs in 1946, at a time when Western countries were *leaving* the lands they had ruled for hundreds of years. You will find, as China's territorial extent increases along with its military power, that a lot of people of other religions won't get along with Chinese occupation troops and the tens of millions of settlers they bring with them.
[Al Arabiya Latest] At least 156 people have been killed in the worst case of ethnic unrest the capital of China's northwestern region of Xinjiang has seen in years, prompting the government to shut down the Internet Monday and blame exiled Muslim separatists.
Hundreds of rioters have been arrested, the official Xinhua news agency reported, after rock-throwing Uighurs, who are Muslim, took to the streets of Urumqi Sunday, some burning and smashing vehicles and confronting ranks of anti-riot police.
The United States "deeply" regreted the deaths caused by the ethnic violence in the region, a state department spokesman said.
A stern note is the next step, which will be equally impactful.
Urumqi residents were unable to access the Internet, several said. "The city is basically under martial law," Yang Jin, a dried fruit merchant, said by telephone. "Since yesterday evening I haven't been able to get online," store owner Han Zhenyu told Reuters by telephone. News of the apparent outage was also spread by messages on social networking services like Twitter and its Chinese competitors.
It sounds like blocking the internet has not had the effect Chinese authorities had hoped for.
The unrest underscores the volatile ethnic tensions that have accompanied China's growing economic and political stake in its western frontiers.
A senior official swiftly delivered the government claim that the unrest was the work of extremist forces abroad, signaling a security crackdown in the strategic region near Pakistan and central Asia.
Li Zhi, the Communist Party boss of Urumqi told a news conference that the death toll from the rioting had risen to 140, the semi-official China News Agency said. Xinhua said 816 people were injured and hospitalized. "Police have tightened security in downtown Urumqi streets and at key institutions such as power and natural gas companies and TV stations to prevent large-scale riots," Xinhua quoted Xinjiang police chief Liu Yaohua as saying. Police rounded up "several hundred" who participated in the violence, including more than 10 key players who fanned unrest, Xinhua said, and are searching for 90 others.
The riot in Urumqi, a city of 2.3 million residents 3,270 km (2,050 miles) west of Beijing, followed a protest against government handling of a June clash between Han Chinese and Uighur farm workers in southern China, where two Uighurs died in Shaoguan.
Extremist forces abroad
The government's English-mouthpiece China Daily put the number of protesters at 300 to 500 while the exiled Uighur American Association (UAA) gave estimates as high as 3,000. "After the (Shaoguan) incident, the three forces abroad strived to beat this up and seized it as an opportunity to attack us, inciting street protests," Xinjiang governor and a Uigur himself, Nuer Baikeli, said in a speech shown on Xinjiang television. The "three forces" refer to groups the government says engage in separatism, militant action and religious extremism.
An unnamed Chinese official said the "unrest was masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer," according to Xinhua. "This was a crime of violence that was pre-meditated and organized," said the report. Kadeer is a Uighur businesswoman now in exile in the United States after years in jail, and accused of separatist activities. She did not answer calls for comment.
But exiled Uighur groups adamantly rejected the Chinese government claim of a plot. They said the riot was an outpouring of pent-up anger over government policies and Han Chinese dominance of economic opportunities. "They're blaming us as a way to distract the Uighurs' attention from the discrimination and oppression that sparked this protest," said Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress in exile in Sweden.
Conspiracy theory
The government's claims of conspiracy by pro-independence exiles echo the handling of rioting across Tibetan areas in March last year, which Beijing also called a plot hatched abroad.
Xinjiang is the doorway to China's trade and energy ties with central Asia, and is itself rich in gas, minerals and farm produce. But many Uighurs say they see little of that wealth.
Chinese state television showed rioters throwing rocks at police and overturning a police car, and smoke billowing from burning vehicles. "I personally saw several Han people being stabbed. Many people on buses were scared witless," Zhang Wanxin, a Urumqi resident, said by telephone. The UAA's Alim Seytoff, in Washington D.C., emailed pictures showing hundreds of locals confronting police in Urumqi, armored riot-control vehicles patrolling streets, wounded and bloodied civilians lying on streets, and ranks of anti-riot police with shields and clubs.
Almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people are Uighurs and most are most of Urumqi is Han Chinese. The city is under tight police security even in normal times.
This year marks 60 years since communist Chinese troops entered Xinjiang and "peacefully liberated" the region. Advocates of independence for the area have maintained the move was an invasion.
Everyone knows "peaceful liberation" is the Communist term for invasion. This is merely a vocabulary discussion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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The Uighurs had resisted outside domination for centuries. The Communists came in and slaughtered them with airplanes - nowhere for groups of horsemen to hide on the open plains.
#3
But exiled Uighur groups adamantly rejected the Chinese government claim of a plot. They said the riot was an outpouring of pent-up anger over government policies and Han Chinese dominance of economic opportunities. "They're blaming us as a way to distract the Uighurs' attention from the discrimination and oppression that sparked this protest," said Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress in exile in Sweden.
The Uighur Muslims have blood on their hands because of their repeated butchery and harassment of Christians in their community. But they're Mr. Nice Guys compared to the discrimination and harassment they have faced at the hands of the Han. The Chinese Government has built up cities in all ethnic areas and sent large numbers of Han into the ethnic territories. The Han get the jobs, the perks, and the benefits; the locals get screwed.
#6
" Notice that the Chinese don't get all mealy-mouthed about it, either. Straight up "Muslims".|
actually theres no straight up quote like that in the above article.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/07/2009 16:05 Comments ||
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blame exiled Muslim separatists
correct on the quotes, pedantic one.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/07/2009 18:41 Comments ||
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#8
Uyghurs hardly resist foreign domination; embracing the arab supremacist cult of islam, was surrender to aliens. They don't pray to Beijing; they pray to Mecca.
Sympathy with Bosnian, Kosovan, Pashtun and Chechen muslims was mistaken. Let's get it right this time.
SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Navy's top admiral indicated Monday his forces will continue to track North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons banned under a U.N. resolution.
"As circumstances arise in the future, we will continue to support the resolution," U.S. Admiral Gary Roughead said in a roundtable meeting with journalists in Seoul. "We will conduct operations in support of that."
A North Korean freighter, the Kang Nam, sailed back home Monday afternoon after apparently failing to reach Myanmar while being tracked by a U.S. Navy destroyer. "What recently happened with the Kang Nam is a very effective way of stopping proliferation," Roughead said, adding that the U.S. Navy is working to build a "maritime domain of awareness."
"Even though we had a ship in proximity to the Kang Nam, there are many other means by which we monitor, track and account for contacts of interest," he said. "It's more than just one ship on one ship."
"Every dimension of the United States Navy is part of building that maritime domain of awareness picture," he said. "That is what our forces in the western Pacific are here to do."
Roughead declined to comment on how his forces would react if North Korean ships reacted violently, because it could provide Pyongyang "an undue advantage" in strategic information. "I think it is incumbent on all who sail on the seas to do all they can to minimize events like that," he said. "Our commanding officers and sailors are trained and exercised to be able to control events and situations."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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See also WORLD NEWS > ELEVEN MISSLES FIRED BY NORTH KOREA PROPELS THEIR CAPABILITY TO THREATEN THE UNITED STATES.
#2
#1 See also WORLD NEWS > ELEVEN MISSLES FIRED BY NORTH KOREA PROPELS THEIR CAPABILITY TO THREATEN THE UNITED STATES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-07-07 00:33
Which can end abruptly when 50-60 tactical nukes explode in sequence down the DMZ. North Korean troops can cross radioactive ground, but they won't be effective after about 36 hours. Even a tank won't completely protect you from "hot" ground.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/07/2009 21:17 Comments ||
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Which makes sense given that the whole country is a slave labor camp ...
The North Korean government is directly engaged in the trafficking of slave labor, claimed Luis de Baca, the director of the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, on Wednesday. He was peaking at a video press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. He said the regime is sending North Koreans overseas to work under exploitative contracts with Southeast Asian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern nations.
Yet another area, along with a banking squeeze, arms interdiction, stopping the money laundering and drug interdiction, where we can hurt the Norks.
De Baca said European countries no longer accept North Korean workers, citing the example of the Czech Republic which has concluded no labor contract with North Korea since 2007. But he called for diplomatic efforts to persuade countries like Mongolia, Thailand and Laos, which do import labor from North Korea, to protect the workers' rights.
You'd think Thailand and Laos for sure would have enough indigenous labor ...
One can never have too many brothel slaves, my dear, and so much better when it's someone else's daughters.
In the "Trafficking in Persons Report 2009" released on June 16, the State Department says, "While exact figures are unknown, estimates of the number of North Korean contract workers recruited by the [North Korean] regime to work overseas for [North Korean] entities and firms vary widely, ranging from 10,000 to as high as 70,000." The maximum number of 70,000 is more than four times the figure of 15,000 estimated by the 2008 report.
"There continue to be credible reports that North Koreans sent abroad are subjected to harsh conditions, with their movements and communications restricted by [North Korean] government 'minders' and facing threats of government reprisals against them or their relatives in North Korea if they attempt to complain to outside parties," the report says. "Worker salaries are deposited into accounts controlled by the North Korean government, which keeps most of the money for itself, claiming fees for various 'voluntary' contributions to government endeavors."
In the report, North Korea ranks Tier 3, the lowest, alongside Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Hard to imagine pimps and madams putting up with apparachnik "minders" messing with their prostitutes. I'd imagine that their "program" leaks like a sieve. And that the minders are probably never let back into the country for the same reason that Stalin liquidated his Spanish Civil War veterans - corrupted by outside experience.
Even if that experience is human-trafficking & liasing with pimps.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/07/2009 15:23 Comments ||
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Wasn't that reporter who was arrested investigating human trafficing?
North Korea fired seven Scud-class ballistic missiles on Saturday. A South Korean government source said, "We assume that the missiles North Korea fired are two Scud-C missiles with a range of 500 km and two Rodong missiles with a range of 1,300 km -- two types that were known already -- plus three Scud extended-range missiles, no details of which were known here." The new Scud-ER with a range of 1,000 km is considered a particular threat to Japan because it is an improved version of the conventional Scuds with longer range and greater accuracy.
But the missile launch appeared "aimless and without a clear message," compared with previous provocations, a South Korean security official speculated. If it was trying to attract U.S. attention on American Independence Day, the North would have fired a long-range missile that could reach the U.S. mainland, but the only missiles fired were short- and medium-range.
North Korea in the past frequently achieved results by conducting a nuclear or missile test at a politically or diplomatically opportune time. But this year the tests apparently have nothing to do with the outside situation and carry no clear message, experts say. There is speculation that the North's constant grandstanding has caused a kind of "provocation fatigue" abroad, which led to a more tightly-knit net of sanctions and pressure on the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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JosephM commented just before the rollover that he saw what must have been the North Korean missiles exploding over Guam. If so, aimless is perhaps not the correct term.
#2
Might just be training rocket crews on fueling and firing missiles. They don't really need any "clear message" to perform training for crews.
Why does everyone need to read something into things? Maybe it has been a long time (if ever) since their troops ever live fired a missile and they are giving them practice.
A ship suspected by the U.S. of carrying weapons-related materials on Monday returned to North Korean territorial waters in the West Sea after days of being trailed by an American ship.
Since leaving Nampo Port on June 17, the Kangnam had been under close surveillance in waters off China and Southeast Asia. The Kangnam spent 20 days on a slow chase without finding a port to stop at. Even Burma, the suspected destination of the ship, said it would search the vessel on port, and the Kangnam turned tail in the South China Sea near Vietnam on June 28.
The U.S. State Department had urged China and all ASEAN nations to actively implement the resolution, and the U.S. Defense Department had tracked the Kangnam around the clock with a KH-12 reconnaissance satellite, P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, and Aegis destroyer USS John McCain.
A major achievement was persuading the Burmese junta, which has resumed friendly relations with North Korea, not to permit the Kangnam to stop there. Burma was apparently swayed by fears of hurting relations with Japan, which gives huge amounts of aid to Burma, and South Korea, which has invested in developing resources there.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Wow, big one if they got the consignee to go along with the inspection regime! "Let's see, are these the illegal weapons we ordered?"
Changchun, China -- A North Korean inside source has relayed news that the North Korean authorities, as the June 25th commemoration of the Korean War approached, used a secret recorded lecture to emphasize to frontline military units that they would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against anti-regime forces inside North Korea.
One source in North Pyongan Province said in a phone conversation with The Daily NK on the 30th, "With June 25th approaching, the North Korean authorities sent a secret recorded lecture to the border patrol and general military units."
"In this lecture, the soldiers were most surprised by the indication that nuclear weapons are a shield which can resolutely and swiftly punish the 'maneuvers of enemies trying to destroy our Communist state from the inside.'"
Nah, they're not too paranoid ...
Such recorded lectures are facilitated by gathering an audience in one place and listening to CDs containing the contents which are dispatched from Pyongyang. The North Korean army stationed in North Pyongan Province listened to the contents of the CD at a "temporary lecture meeting" organized for both the regular "Lecture Meeting Day" and "War against the U.S. Month" (June 25th~July 27th).
The distribution of the 40-minute long CDs was done by the Border Patrol Brigade Guidance Division and classified as "Broadcast Politics" under the title "Let us preserve the honor of the unification solders of the military-first era and continue the line of the Kim Il Sung socialist Fatherland."
The lecture proclaimed, "Our universe today revolves around Chosun, a Juche socialist and nuclear power. We have now risen to the level of a nuclear power and an independent, universally strong state."
It also estimated, "We have become the world's finest military state, with an impressive military capability which can crush any enemy on earth if we just put our minds to it. This has been the desire of our 5,000 year history, accomplished in the Kim Il Sung socialist era by the Mankyungdae family."
So, it emphasized, "Our soldiers should hold onto their resolve to open the door to a socialist, strong nation through the unification of the fatherland and load the last shot which can annihilate the enemy. There is no other method or means to achieve the historic feat of connecting the divided Fatherland and it is the clear and firm position of our Party and revolutionary forces that we cannot hand down a divided fatherland to our future generations."
Through the lecture, the authorities in particular suggested that it could use nuclear weapons to maintain the North Korean internal regime, insisting, "Our nuclear weapons are a precious sword which can shatter the suffocating, disintegrating, anti-Communist aggressive schemes of the imperial ideologues and are the revolutionary shield which can punish these forces."
In addition, the lecture pointed out, "Our nuclear state will be strengthened for the future of the world where the Kim Il Sung socialist Fatherland flourishes independently, and we will continue to make even stronger weapons. Even if the earth breaks to pieces a hundred times over, what we can trust and follow is the unfailing belief that there is no one like our Supreme leader, our military and our land which carries this unrivaled sword. Thus, we must safeguard a hundred and a thousand times the gains of the revolution."
The source analyzed the lecture, "Our state puts forward military-first ideas, but it also seems to fear the military the most. Consequently, the recorded lecture was played only to the military."
He added, "Until now, the authorities have educated the soldiers countless times to become bombs for the safety of the General, but it is the first time that the idea of using nuclear weapons against anti-regime forces has been heard. Most of the soldiers listened to the warning half-heartedly, but some of them have been talking apprehensively among themselves."
Then, he assessed, "The implication is that were a coup d'etat to be attempted, the North Korean authorities would resort to nuclear weapons. It seems to be proclaiming that our nuclear weapons, which were supposedly developed to enable the North to become a match for the U.S., could ultimately be used domestically."
Utterly amazing. This kind of thing brings out colonels' revolutions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Uhm, I believe someone misunderstood this. North Korea always talks about Korea as one nation. What seems to be taken as a use of nuclear weapons against counter-revolutionary domestic forces appears to me aimed at South Korea.
There is no other method or means to achieve the historic feat of connecting the divided Fatherland and it is the clear and firm position of our Party and revolutionary forces that we cannot hand down a divided fatherland to our future generations."
That is clearly a reference to the South/North division. What they are saying is that nuclear weapons are their means to achieving unification of the Koreas. They are talking about nuking South Korea, not themselves. But in an odd sort of way, to them, nuking South Korea IS nuking themselves because the rhetoric is of one nation.
"Our nuclear weapons are a precious sword which can shatter the suffocating, disintegrating, anti-Communist aggressive schemes of the imperial ideologues and are the revolutionary shield which can punish these forces."
Again, I read that as a reference to nuking South Korea who are governed, in their view, by "disintegrating, anti-Communist aggressive schemes of the imperial ideologues"
They didn't threaten to nuke themselves, they directly threatened to nuke South Korea and someone is trying to spin this off in a different direction to keep us from getting upset about that.
#3
Umm, no, Cross, I don't read it that way. They're making very, very clear to the military that they'll use a nuke to stop any internal rebellion. That keeps a general in a backwater province from getting ambitions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 7:53 Comments ||
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#4
IIUC the prospect of nukes being used domestically during a coup was raised theoretically during the late cold war - Never used during cult rev, but China had few nukes and they were carefully controlled. Not sure what was the case during the 1991 USSR coup.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/07/2009 11:55 Comments ||
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#5
Interesting that they're even thinking about the possibility of this happening in the People's Paradise.
#6
last I hear, they'd had two fizzles out of two tries, big deal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/07/2009 13:27 Comments ||
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#7
Let me reiterate ... in North Korean rhetoric an attack on South Korea IS domestic use of nuclear weapons. They view South Korea as a rebel region of one overall country.
Two American journalists who were sentenced in North Korea to 12 years of hard labor will probably be sent to the Pyongsong Special Camp near the capital.
North Korean sources say ordinary convicts are sent to labor camps, unlike political prisoners who are sent to concentration camps. There inmates are forced to do backbreaking labor such as felling trees, moving rocks from riverbeds, and working in mine pits. Observers speculate that if Euna Lee and Laura Ling are sent there, the international outcry will be so severe that it would be more trouble for North Korea than it is worth, even if it is using the two as a bargaining chip in dealings with the U.S.
Instead, they will probably be sent to a special camp originally built to accommodate ranking members of the Workers Party and other figures thought to merit special treatment. Special camps are better furnished than general camps, and inmates reportedly do relatively light work.
Oh lucky them ...
There are apparently two special camps, one in Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province and one in Wonsan, Kangwon Province. A source speculated that Pyongsong is the likelier option because it is easier for visitors to meet them not far from Pyongyang, while it is also more difficult for outsiders to get a glimpse of the North Korean reality from there.
You wonder how well our special forces have mapped this area ...
I wonder how well interested civilians like Old Patriot have mapped this area.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Still no word from Al Gore about his two employees. It's almost as if they are an embarrassment to him.
He knows what he has to do, go to Pyongyang, grovel and kiss Kim Jong Il's ass. That's all it would take.
But I doubt he'll do it, too busy making bazillions of dollars from the gerbil worming hoax.
#5
I wonder how well interested civilians like Old Patriot have mapped this area.
I haven't mapped it at all since I became a quasi-"civilian", TW. Haven't had to...
Being in a "special camp" won't be a picnic for these two. I hope Al Gore goes to bat for his employees and tries to get them released. If not, perhaps we can fly one last SR-71 sortie over the area, wide open. The shock wave will surely rattle a few (empty) heads.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/07/2009 21:33 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Italian MP and Muslim women's rights activist Souad Sbai has received the support of hundreds of moderate Moroccan immigrant and Muslim groups after she received threats in an Internet video message by an alleged Al-Qaeda supporter in Italy.
"In the last few months, we have seen an outbreak of aggressive, extremist and terroristic Islam which is particularly dangerous," said a statement signed by numerous immigrant and Muslim associations in support of Sbai."To try and hit the PdL (People of Freedom) MP is the equivalent of hitting all of us. That is why today we want to express our solidarity, but make it known that we are all Souad Sbai."
Souad Sbai, MP for the ruling conservative People of Freedom party, went to court in June to defend herself against death threats, after a 'fatwa' or religious edict was issued against her.
"The intention to intimidate, slander and put in danger Souad Sbai, represents an evident attack against all of us, Muslim moderates, who have been for years working for the assertion of a culture of dialogue," said the statement.
Sbai is also president of the Moroccan Women's Association in Italy.
[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed wiping out the major Taliban leadership from Swat adding that the security forces' operation in Waziristan is underway against Baitullah Mehsud only. He was worried about the possible Taliban strikes in Southern Punjab meanwhile, he announced he will be presented before UN team to be arrived here for probe into Benazir assassination. Talking to media here, Malik said the gallant Pakistan army carried out successful military offensive in Swat killing the major Taliban leadership and hoped the remaining Taliban will be wiped out soon. Some religious elements are backing Taliban but no madaris or mosque is involved in doing so, he claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They seem to operate in some parallel universe, where their statements have meaning and carry weight, and where the speakers have credibility.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/07/2009 1:36 Comments ||
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They seem to operate in some parallel universe
There's an excellent book, The Arab mind, which I heartily recommend (all Muslims are honorary Arabs---because that's what Islam is: Arab customs given a quasi-religious justification).
Police in Mianwali are feeling the heat of several Taliban-related shootings, bomb attacks amid the arrest of several terror suspects in recent months, and is considering ways to curtail the threat, including a plan to develop local militias to fight terror.
Rugged mountains separate Mianwali from the NWFP, where the army is engaged in an offensive against the Taliban and the local police force is struggling to face the fallout of the battle across the mountains.
The ill-equipped and understaffed force was trained to fight crime, not to counter insurgencies.
District Police Officer Akbar Khan is trying to rise to the challenge by constituting a special police force, which he said would be made up of locals, but with the same powers as the police. Their main role would be to assist the police in anti-terror efforts.
The recruits will be issued guns licensed by the government and will be authorised to use them while pursuing terror suspects.
"Their prime task is anti-terrorist action," Khan told BBC.
Trust-building: "Giving them guns is a message of trust, that we know that you are with us, that you are patriots and you are able to defend yourself until the time we come to you."
Khan said the recruits would have the same protection as a police official in case they killed a suspect while tending to their duties.
"If that [person] is an outlaw and they're doing it in the line of duty, they will have the same protection as a police officer does if his own life is threatened."
The new plan is in an embryonic phase and requires government approval, but there is a provision for such a force in the constitution.
But the whole idea of civilians taking up arms raises concerns, as Ali Hassan, senior South Asia researcher for the Human Rights Watch group thinks.
"On the one hand, the government can raise any kind of armed force provided it has the mandate of the state - and it operates under legal authority and safeguards," he said. "But there is a problem with the idea of government-backed vigilante groups, as the Taliban once were. That's in contravention of international law and not something to be encouraged."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan has warned government that ongoing military offensive in Swat and Malakand Division will take out people on streets in protest if it did not get halted as late as July 31. Addressing to a gathering of party activists here, Imran accused self seeking elements of bagging billions of US dollars in exchange of military operation in Swat and Malakand Division, which resulted in deaths of several innocent people and displacements of millions of others. We have rented our military out to US in exchange of mere 1.5 billion dollars while US is spending sixty billion dollars on its army comprising 55,000 troops in Afghanistan, he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is to visit the United States July 21, one of his advisers told AFP on Sunday, in a trip aimed at bolstering non-military cooperation amid a recent spat of violence in Mosul.
Maliki will meet United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York as well as President Barack Obama in Washington," said Yassin Majid, announcing the start of the visit of several days.
" We will work during the next visit to the United States to push forward bilateral relations in various areas "
Nuri al Maliki, Iraqi PM
United States Vice President Joe Biden, whom Obama has appointed as his administration's point man on Iraq, visited Baghdad at the start of July and urged Iraqi leaders to speed progress on its national reconciliation process.
Biden has repeatedly voiced concern about lingering feuds between Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities being a roadblock to political progress.
However, the Iraqi government refused a U.S. offer to intervene, describing the national reconciliation process as an internal matter and warning that outside interference could cause additional problems.
Maliki said on Friday that a June 30 U.S. troop pullback from Iraqi towns and cities signaled that the two countries had "entered a new phase."
"We will work during the next visit to the United States to push forward bilateral relations in various areas" and to work to remove sanctions imposed during the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, Maliki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Western countries on Monday against interfering in Iranian affairs as the United Kingdom confirmed that the Islamic Republic had released an eighth British embassy staff member, leaving one still in detention.
Khameini admitted there are "differences" among Iranians following last month's disputed presidential election but told the West it would be met with a "firm fist" if it tried to exploit the unrest sparked by the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"We strongly warn leaders of some Western countries not to interfere in Iran's internal matters, beware! The Iranian nation will react," Khameini said in a televised speech in Tehran. "The leaders of arrogant countries, the nosy meddlers in the affairs of the Islamic republic, must know that no matter if the Iranian people have their own differences, when you enemies get involved, the people... will become a firm fist against you."
Khamenei, who praised President Ahmadinejad's victory even before an official review endorsed the result, said the vote was an internal Iranian issue.
" We strongly warn leaders of some Western countries not to interfere in Iran's internal matters, beware! The Iranian nation will react "
Ayatollah Khameini
"The election was a major move ... The enemies want to create dispute among Iranians. What does it have to do with the enemies?" he asked.
Last month's election, which defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi accuses the government of rigging, led to the most widespread street protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Authorities say more than 1,000 people were arrested during the demonstrations, although most have been released. But human rights activists say 2,000 people, including opposition leaders, academics, journalists and students, may be still held.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"You - obey the fist!!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/07/2009 6:08 Comments ||
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If he Firm Fist and the Foreign Hand had a fight, who would win?
[Al Arabiya Latest] A senior Iranian official slammed Monday statements by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Israel has a sovereign right to decide what is in its best interest in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions and said Tehran would respond "in a very full-scale and very decisive way" if attacked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled his agreement with U.S. President Barack Obama's end-of-the-year deadline for progress in efforts to engage Iran diplomatically to resolve dispute over its nuclear program.
" We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they're existentially threatened "
VP Joe Biden
In an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday interview program, Biden said Israel can determine for itself how best to deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
"We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they're existentially threatened," Biden said.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, said neither the U.S. nor Israel could allow Iran to gain a nuclear weapon.
"The U.S., like Israel ... has determined unequivocally that Iran must not have nuclear military capability," Ayalon told Israel's Army Radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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TOPIX > AS ISRAEL GEARS UP FOR WAR, US DIVIDE APPEARS [ e.g. ADM Mullen comments versus VPOTUS Biden's]; + RUSSIA: ISRAEL STILL MULLS IRAN PREEMPTIVE STRIKE.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun on Monday expressed regret that the formation of a national unity government has shifted from and internal to an external role. "The general scene is negative. There is no role for the Lebanese people in the formation of their government," Aoun said in an interview on Al-Manar TV. "Where are those who claimed to be keen on sovereignty and independence?" he asked.
"We tell the Arabs that it's fine if they had a role in (efforts) to create a government," Aoun said. "But having a government set up by the Arabs is not desirable."
"We are the axis of evil as they claim. We demand Lebanon's soverienty and independence," he added. "We demand that (Cabinet) formation be made in Lebanon. No one can marginalize us."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
""We tell the Arabs that it's fine if they had a role in (efforts) to create a government," Aoun said. "But having a government set up by the Arabs is not desirable.""
IOW
"tell em Saudi and egyptian types to stop meddling in Lebanon. Only my Syrian and Iranian pals should get to meddle in Lebanon"
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/07/2009 11:59 Comments ||
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Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/07/2009 14:35 Comments ||
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#4
Half-right maybe. The spawn of Allan were invited/accepted into the UK to breed and seethe, leading to Dire Revenge®, so maybe the British are responsible for not looking ahead, at all. Leadership, vision, a plan? Hell, to start a 5 grand business, I had to have a plan.
btw, the memorial for those that died that day was unvieled to-day in Hyde Park, I heard, reminiscent of standing girders. I heard the mo-fo bombers were to be commemorated as well. Let us hope it is not there.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
