[Quqnoos] Afghan President launched a campaign to show his government is serious about cracking down corruption.
Opening a three-day anti-corruption conference in Kabul on Tuesday, Karzai said he was well aware of the scale of the problem. "I know corruption exists in the government and elsewhere. Let's be realistic," he said. Large-scale reforms were required to root out the sort of graft that enabled officials, "after one or two years' work for the government, to get rich and buy houses in Dubai."
Afghan and Western analysts say corruption is fuelling popular support for the Taliban insurgency.
Karzai indicated there were limits to how far he would go in tackling corruption. The all-out crackdown urged on him by Western leaders could lead to abuses, he warned. "As we fight corruption, we must be extremely careful that [the fight] does not become corrupt itself," Karzai said. "Every one of our police, every one of our soldiers ... can go to someone's house, knock on the door and drag a man out of the house and terrorise him. In my opinion, this is the main form of corruption."
Karzai highlighted last week's conviction of Abdul Ahad Sayebi, Kabul mayor, who was sentenced to jail on corruption charges -- the highest ranking official to be prosecuted in recent times. Mr Sayebi is currently at liberty pending an appeal. "One very serious caution I want to say. The mayor of Kabul has been sentenced to four years' jail. I know the mayor. He is a clean person," Karzai said.
Western pressure on Karzai is intense. Last month Brown said he was "not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption". In his West Point Afghan strategy speech, Obama vowed there would be no more "blank cheques" to the Afghan government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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"not prepared to put lives in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption".
So I guess that means no more British support for the Zero administration?
[Maghrebia] The Mauritanian government unveiled broad new anti-terror legislation, AMI reported on Tuesday (December 15th). The draft law permits phone taps and allows home searches to be conducted after the present cut-off time of 10 pm. It also scraps the statute of limitations for terror-related crimes and enhances international information exchange and extradition co-operation. Defence Minister Hamadi Ould Hamadi said that the law, which parliament will consider before the end of January, "is aimed at filling in the gaps in the national legislation with regard to the fight against terrorism and to adapt it for a more appropriate response to this scourge".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia blames the United States for the conflict in the Middle East, saying Washington has given Israel its "absolute support."
"Absolute US backing... has made Israel see the option of living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the International Herald Tribune in an interview published Wednesday.
"This has led to many years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."
The foreign minister regretted the failure of his efforts to establish a Palestinian state and regional peace during his 35 years in office, saying reaching peace in the present circumstances was as difficult as holding water in one's hand.
"And how can you have any pleasure in anything that happens when you have people like the Palestinians living as they are?" he lamented.
The long-standing stalemate in the Middle East peace talks -- further smothered by Israel's January offensive against the Gaza Strip and the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians in the conflict --lingers on as Israeli keeps refusing a permanent and complete freeze on its settlement expansion.
Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday reiterated that Israel must fulfill its previous commitments before a return to peace talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Translation: If you want the privilege of saving our asses from Iran, pay up.
#2
living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area
That sounds more like the position of the Paleos. They're the ones who don't accept the evil Juice, who after all, are living in the area. I guess you can't expect logic from a Soddy prince.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Prime Minister Gordon Brown told former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday that she would "always be welcome" in Britain, after a warrant was issued here for her arrest, his office said.
In a telephone call from Copenhagen where he is attending the U.N. climate change summit, Brown told the former foreign minister he was "disappointed" that she had been unable to visit Britain, a Downing Street spokesman said.
Reports said Kadima party leader Livni cancelled the planned trip here at the weekend for fear of being arrested, although her office said the trip was only postponed due to scheduling problems.
The warrant was understood to have been issued by a London court at the weekend following an application by Palestinian activists because of Livni's role in Israel's war against Hamas-run Gaza at the turn of the year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may be gearing up to visit China after a series of key aides went there and the North banned foreigners from entering for two months.
Don't want the furriners seeing that Kimmie's now as svelte as his citizens ...
The North has closed the border with China before when Kim was headed for Beijing to guarantee the paranoid leader's safety aboard his private armored train.
Experts say Kim may have good reasons to visit China.
Chemotherapy, acupuncture ...
Prof. Kim Hung-kyu of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security on Wednesday said Kim may want to visit to avoid "international isolation." Some speculate that Kim is planning to introduce his son and heir apparent Jong-un to the Chinese leadership.
But a researcher at a government-funded think tank said Kim "has no reason to go to China at a time where it's difficult for China to give him any handout due to the nuclear issue." A government official speculated Kim would not go to China in January or February "because it's dangerous for a person who's had a stroke to move around in cold weather."
He'll be bundled in more parkas than the rest of North Korea owns. Besides, you just can't get good cognac in January anywhere other than Beijing ...
Close aides of the ailing leader have recently been to China as part of exchange of visits between major organizations in the two countries on the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations this year, a North Korea source said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Sounds to me Like he's negotiating for asylum.
Remember they don't like him, he stole their aid trains.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/17/2009 12:46 Comments ||
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[Dawn] North Korea plans to temporarily ban foreigners from entering the country, a move that could herald a visit by leader Kim Jong-Il to neighbouring China, a report said Wednesday.
South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing North Korean sources in China, said the ban would last from December 20 until early February, AFP reported. It was unclear from the report if all foreign travellers would be barred, or only those who cross the Chinese border by land.
The afternoon newspaper Munhwa Ilbo quoted a Seoul intelligence source as saying Pyongyang's embassy in Beijing has stopped issuing visas for foreigners.
'North Korean figures in Beijing tell people who apply for visas, 'See you next year,' in a sign that North Korea has virtually blocked the entry of foreigners to the country,' the source was quoted as saying. Calls by AFP to the embassy went unanswered.
One source told Chosun that customs offices along the border normally close briefly for holidays around the new year but the duration of the ban was unusual.
Chosun said some experts believe the North is taking extra security measures before a cross-border visit by Kim, who is known to prefer train travel to flying.
Other analysts speculate the aim is to allow unrest sparked by the country's shock currency revaluation to die down.
On Tuesday North Korea's security minister Ju Sang-Song began a visit to China. Chosun said Ju might be seeking Beijing's help to stop North Koreans angry over the currency change from fleeing en masse.
Or to bring Chinese troops in to quell the rebellion ...
Seoul's unification ministry said it could not confirm the extended border closure. It said customs offices are usually closed around the new year holidays because trade decreases.
'We need to wait and see whether there will be the customary and temporary restriction on foreigners, or a longer-than-usual ban for some other reasons,' said spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo.
The South's National Intelligence Service refused to comment.
Kim has visited China four times, most recently in January 2006 when he travelled by rail. Chinese President Hu Jintao in October invited him to pay another visit 'at a convenient time.'
The currency revaluation introduced on November 30 has reportedly sparked widespread anger, because authorities initially restricted the total sum in banknotes that could be changed for new notes.
Chosun said Tuesday Pyongyang had taken steps to placate people over the 100-to-one revaluation following a riot by market traders that reportedly led to 12 executions. It said that among other measures authorities raised the amount each person can exchange in cash from 100,000 won (30 to 40 dollars at the old black market exchange rate) to 500,000.
The revaluation pushed up prices sharply, reports said. Seoul-based welfare group Good Friends said Pyongyang ordered open-air markets closed for three days from Monday due to the price hikes.
Analysts said the hardline communist regime is trying to clamp down on a nascent free-market economy to reassert its control.
The North's parliament has approved several new laws on the economy, the official news agency said Wednesday. A commodity consumption law, it said, sets 'legal requirements that should be observed in the consumption of commodities.'
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What? You mean I can't spend Christmas in North Korea?
[Kyodo: Korea] U.S. President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who received it from senior U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth last week, the Washington Post reported Tuesday in its online edition. Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, visited Pyongyang last week to pave the way for North Korea to return to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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"Yo, listen up - a special 'shout out' to my boy, Jong Il..."
The German Catholic and Protestant churches have expressed concern over the country's growing military exports to the hotbeds of regional conflicts around the world.
The inter-confessional watchdog Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE), in its annual report compiled in collaboration with several German peace and conflict research institutes, announced that the arms export licenses granted by the government amounted to €5.78 billion ($8.5 billion) in 2008.
The amount represents a 36 percent increase in the German arms exports compared with 2007, the report said, according to Deutsche Welle.
Karl Juesten, the GKKE co-chairman and head of the Catholic Office in Berlin, slammed the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel for what he described as the violation of the "restrictive guidelines on weapons exports" established by former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1998.
Juesten reiterated that the hike in military exports was a result of the Merkel government's policies, which were "clearly aimed at boosting the German foreign trade, rather than promoting international arms control."
"German arms exports intensify the arms race in regions such as the Middle East, South- and East Asia and South America," he said.
Bernhard Felmberg, who is also a GKKE co-chairman and leads the Protestant churches in Germany, said he was worried about the sale of German weaponry in restive areas like Pakistan, India, Rwanda, Yemen and Sudan.
Felmberg claimed that in these areas German arms fall into the wrong hands as there is no effective government supervision.
"The fact that German arms are illegally traded in market places in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan is proving that effective government controls in those countries are nonexistent," he said.
Around 8.8 percent of the weapons were exported to countries described as "problematic" as far as Germany's 1998 strict arms export guidelines are concerned, the report said.
The head of the Hesse Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research, Bernhard Moltmann, said that a total of 51 countries should not have received German weapons under a strict interpretation of the guidelines because they had poor human rights records, or were hotbeds of regional conflicts.
The representatives of the German churches further expressed deep concern over the sale of light and small German arms that could easily find their ways to the black markets in restive countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The two main churches demanded more commitment by the German parliament to make sure that the existing arms export guidelines are not violated. They have also urged more transparency in the way arms export licenses are awarded.
In Germany, the National Security Council, a special body comprised of government ministers and officials, grants licenses for arms exports and imposes export policies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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expressed deep concern over the sale of light and small German arms that could easily find their ways to the black markets in restive countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Or Detroit and LA.
Posted by: ed ||
12/17/2009 0:54 Comments ||
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MMMmm, I own a Beretta, that qualifies as a "Light German Arm".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/17/2009 12:49 Comments ||
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Beretta? Italian
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2009 19:08 Comments ||
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ARMY psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who is charged in a deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, has been moved out of intensive care, his lawyer says.
Hasan, who was shot in the chest by a police officer during the November 5 rampage at the sprawling military base, will likely never walk again and has no control over basic bodily functions.
"He's permanently paralysed from the upper chest area down," Hasan's civilian attorney, John Galligan, said today. "He still has significant collateral issues... he's an invalid."
Mr Galligan has asked the army to move Hasan to a hospital closer to his office near Fort Hood so that he can more easily meet with his client.
Hasan remains under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, about 190 kilometres away.
The Pentagon has launched an elaborate investigation into the shootings to determine whether warning signs were missed and to prevent such an assault from happening again.
Hasan is being investigated for links to Islamic extremism, including his contacts with a radical cleric who blessed the killing spree.
He faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed in the attack. Another 42 people were wounded.
#2
My giveadam's working just fine, I'm surprised he lived, surely there's some nurse who'd "Accidentaly" shoot an air bubble into some vein that leads to his heart, brain or other less noticible place, I'd pay for a video of him in the throes of a Grand Mal seizure, so would many others.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/17/2009 22:32 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Former Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that Supreme Court decision would have positive implications in the country. While talking to GEO News, he said that President Zardari should tender his resignation after the apex courts' ruling.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
i think ours aught to resign also
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/17/2009 1:18 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Wednesday extended until further notice the tenure of Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority, PLO officials told Reuters.
Members of the PLO Central Council said Abbas, whose term ends on Jan. 25, will stay on until elections can be held, extending the tenure of the Western-backed leader who heads the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
Presidential and legislative elections called for Jan. 24 were cancelled due to a ban imposed by the Islamist Hamas group on participation in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which controls the coastal enclave, disputes Abbas's legitimacy.
The PLO Central Council also decided to extend the term of the Palestinian Legislative Council -- a dysfunctional parliament in which Hamas won a majority in 2006 elections.
The chamber, whose term also expires in January, has not met since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
Abbas had repeatedly said he will not run again for the presidency but no date has been set for a future vote. "The president has decided to stay in his post," Tawfiq al-Tirawi, a PLO Central Council member, told Reuters.
Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, has already declared as illegitimate any extension of the 74-year-old's tenure.
The Central Council also decided there should be no resumption of peace talks with Israel until a full halt to its settlement building in the occupied West Bank, Tirawi said.
"We will not go to negotiations until Israel fully halts settlement activities and agrees to a term of reference for such negotiations," he said.
Abbas has been under pressure from the United States and the European Union to resume talks, frozen for the past year.
He has said a partial, 10-month freeze on West Bank settlement building announced by Israel last month is not enough for a resumption of peace negotiations.
Abbas replaced Yasser Arafat as head of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority after his death in 2004.
Founded in 1964 and recognized internationally as the representative of the Palestinians, the PLO is dominated by the Fatah party. The PLO Central Council created the Palestinian Authority in 1993 under interim peace accords with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Officials in Yasouf village were upset over a misprint in Ma'an's Arabic edition Tuesday, which mistakenly labeled a Jerusalem official the Imam of the village.
Chairman of the Yasuf village committee Abdel-Rahim Saleh Musleh, "Abu An-Nour," telephoned the Ma'an offices Wednesday, saying the council "rejected" the MaanImage that described the man wearing a red kuffeieh as the imam of the village, receiving a Qur'an from a settler rabbi.
Musleh called the mistake "rude" and said it could "ruin the reputation" of the imam.
The photos documented the mayor of Salfit and several villagers receiving copies of the Qur'an from the settler rabbis, from an illegal settlement in the West Bank near Bethlehem. The group brought the gifts as an apology for the destructive acts of a separate group of settlers who burned down the village mosque earlier in the week.
The mistake was corrected by Ma'an Arabic after speaking with Sheikh Mousa, who confirmed he was not the subject of the photographs.
Musleh called the mistake a "ploy by the media," adding that the real Imam, Sheikh Jamal Mousa, was in Ramallah that day and "did not have his photo taken with any rabbis."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Iran against attacking Gaza again during a meeting with Hamas' top leader Khalid Mash'al who is visiting Iran.
Khamenei was quoted by the state news agency IRNA saying that Israel will suffer "fresh critical blows" if it wages another war on Gaza.
Mash'al said that conversely, Hamas and other armed groups would intervene on Iran's side if it were attacked by Israel.
"All Islamist militant groups will form a united front with Iran against Israel if it attacks Iran," Mash'al said during a news conference carried on state television, according to Reuters.
"We are all parts of the same body ... We all should fight against the mutual enemy. But how, the leaders will decide, based on our capacities," he was quoted as saying.
Israel waged a 22-day offensive on Gaza last December and January that left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead. Thirteen Israelis also died.
Iran is also concerned that Israel could launch a preemptive strike against its nuclear reactors, which Israel alleges are part of a weapons program. Israel has the region's only known nuclear arsenal.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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A senior Iranian official says Iran has presented evidence to Islamabad that shows links between Pakistani intelligence services and the Jundallah terrorist group.
Ebrahim Hamidi, the director of the Sistan-Baluchistan provincial justice department, said the documents were based on confessions obtained from Abdolmalek Rigi's brother Abdolhamid, who is currently in prison in Iran.
Abdolmalek Rigi, who leads the group, is based in Pakistan. He has organized several deadly attacks inside Iranian territory over the past few years.
In an interview with the Fars news agency on Tuesday, Hamidi urged Pakistan to capture and extradite Abdolmalek Rigi so he can be tried on charges of ordering terrorist attacks.
He said Tehran would provide Islamabad more evidence, if necessary.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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A senior Iranian military official says the country has a total understanding of its enemies from an intelligence point of view.
"The commanders of Iran's armed forces have the political insight into local issues, and they are fully aware of intelligence about enemies," Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the senior military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday.
He stated that the local issues should not prevent the Iranian armed forces from monitoring enemies like the Zionists and the United States, the Fars news agency reported.
"The commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the military have devised plans to deal with any scenario created by the enemies," Safavi stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So the Iranians got subscriptions to the NYT and WaPo.
Posted by: ed ||
12/17/2009 0:56 Comments ||
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#2
Given the security of the White House these days - I wouldn't be surprised if they have a direct tap into the WH 'secure' network.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The White House said on Wednesday that Iran's test of an upgraded missile undermines its insistence of peaceful intentions and will be looked upon seriously by the world.
"At a time when the international community has offered Iran opportunities to begin to build trust and confidence, Iran's missile tests only undermine Iran's claims of peaceful intentions," White House spokesman Mike Hammer said.
"Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran does not need nuclear bombs to defend its territory and that the Islamic Republic's principles are against nuclear weapons.
"It is right that the Iranian nation has many enemies but it does not need a nuclear bomb to defend itself," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with the Danish media on Wednesday.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's principles are against making a nuclear bomb and this is why we call for a global nuclear disarmament," IRNA quoted the Iranian president as saying.
"Nuclear bombs and weapons of mass destruction are threats to humanity," he added.
Asked if anyone could use a nuclear bomb today and if nuclear weapons could bring supremacy for a country, Ahmadinejad said, "Did nuclear weapons save the Soviet Union from collapse or did it lead to US victory in Iraq and the Zionist Regime's win in Gaza?"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Iran does not need nuclear bomb
Spoken just like one who doesn't have them. But wants them.
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.
[Quqnoos] Afghan President launched a campaign to show his government is serious about cracking down corruption.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may be gearing up to visit China after a series of key aides went there and the North banned foreigners from entering for two months. 
