Security forces have killed 15 Islamic militants in four days, including three on the most wanted list, in the most intensive fighting yet seen in Saudi Arabia's two-year war on terror a sign the kingdom may have al-Qaida on the defensive.
The latest slain militant was Abdul-Rahman Mohammed Mohammed Yazji, killed Wednesday by police in a raid in a rundown industrial area of the capital, Riyadh. Yazji is suspected of involvement in a November 2003 bombing of a housing complex for foreign workers that killed 17 Arabs.
Yazji was holed up in a two-story building hidden away in a maze of alleys full of garages and car parts shops. Police swooped down on the site in the morning, said neighbors, who heard explosions and saw flames leaping from the building.
Yazji was No. 25 on the country's list of 26 most wanted terrorists, and his death means the government has killed or arrested 23 of the listed militants.
The raid came a day after the end of the kingdom's longest and deadliest shootout with militants a three-day battle in the desert town of Rass, northwest of Riyadh. Special forces killed Nos. 4 and 7 on the list, Kareem Altohami al-Mojati, a Moroccan, and Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, a Saudi and a leading al-Qaida figure in the kingdom. Twelve other militants were killed in the raid and six were captured.
Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman, refused to say if information from Rass led to Wednesday's raid, but he said Saudi security forces had gained the upper hand against the militants.
"We have a security system in place that is working," he told The Associated Press.
"There's no doubt that terrorists in Saudi Arabia are struggling for survival," Khalil al-Khalil, a Saudi terror expert, said of the militant groups. "Their ability to organize and plan has been severely incapacitated. They are very weak, both organizationally and morally."
But he warned that attacks were likely to continue because al-Qaida is still finding new recruits, particularly through radical clerics.
"Its hard to say at what rate they are recruiting. Definitely they have sympathizers, but the sympathy for them is drying up," al-Khalil said.
from the wanted list still at large is Saleh al-Aoofi, believed to have become the new leader of al-Qaida in the Gulf region after his predecessor, Abdel-Aziz al-Mogrin, was killed in June.
A statement on the official Saudi Press Agency reported Yazji's death in Wednesday's raid and said another militant was captured, but officials did not release his name.
The two militants killed in Rass, 220 miles northwest of Riyadh, were among a group that security forces raided on Sunday, sparking a battle that lasted until Tuesday night. Fourteen militants were killed and 14 security personnel wounded.
A Web site where statements purportedly from al-Qaida have been posted in the past on Wednesday announced the deaths of al-Mojati and al-Otaibi and invited contributors to congratulate them on their "martyrdom."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 5:34:08 PM ||
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A Moroccan Islamic militant who was reported yesterday to have been killed in fierce fighting in Saudi Arabia was one of the original founders of al-Qaeda's branch in the kingdom, sent there by terror chief Osama bin Laden to build the network, former militants said. Kareem Altohami al-Mojati was No 4 on Saudi Arabia's list of 26 most wanted al-Qaeda-linked terror suspects, issued in December 2003.
Al-Mojati was also wanted in his home country, where he is suspected of helping plan the May 16, 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca that killed 33 bystanders and 12 suicide bombers. Saudi security officials said al-Mojati was killed along with 13 other militants in a three-day gunbattle with special forces that ended last night in the central Saudi town of Rass. Six other militants were captured. Another of the militants slain in the fight, Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, was a Saudi believed to be one of the top figures in al-Qaeda's branch in Saudi Arabia. Last year, he purportedly posted an Internet statement rejecting an amnesty offered by Saudi ruler King Fahd who promised militants that their lives would be spared if they surrendered.
This article starring:
KARIM ALTOHAMI AL MOJATI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
SAUD HOMUD OBAID AL OTAIBI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 12:10:17 AM ||
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MANAMA: A new Islamic watchdog could soon be set up to monitor people's behaviour. MPs yesterday voted to create the watchdog and it will now be put to the Cabinet.
That's a good candidate for Worst Idea of the Week...
Its job would be to promote Islam and admonish those who behave in an anti-Islamic manner, but it would have no policing powers, MPs heard at the weekly parliament session.
"The Soddie religious cops can! Why can't we?"
But some MPs objected, fearing it could develop into a religious police force.
Picked right up on that, didn't they?
The Islamic Affairs Ministry also objected, saying it was already safeguarding Islamic values in Bahrain.
"Hey! Dat's my beat!"
The move was backed by parliament's legislative and legal affairs committee, after studying the original proposal submitted by MP Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi. "The council would offer spiritual guidance and religious encouragement through the media and by publicly preaching Islam teachings," said Shaikh Al Saeedi. But he said it would not have any power to police the community and would function under the Islamic Affairs Ministry's umbrella. Shaikh Al Saeedi stressed the panel would focus on spiritual guidance, while respecting the freedom of others, within the provisions of the country's constitution. He said the aim was to safeguard the community's tradition and culture. Islamic Affairs Under-Secretary Dr Fareed Al Moftah said it was unnecessary, since the ministry was already serving a similar purpose.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 12:02:59 AM ||
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The GCC and the European Union yesterday agreed to fast-track negotiations over a Free Trade Area agreement. It will be the first bloc-to-bloc agreement of its kind in the world. Negotiations, which began in 1990, will be concluded by the end of this year, the two sides agreed at their annual foreign ministers' meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa. All GCC countries stand to benefit greatly from the agreement, said Crown Prince and BDF Commander-in-Chief Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. "This will mean more trade and further development and prosperity once it is signed," said Shaikh Salman. He praised the objective of the GCC and EU to reach an agreement by the end of the year. Bahrain and the US signed a Free Trade Agreement on May 27 last year after four months of negotiations. There is still no specific date when the US Congress will ratify the deal, said Shaikh Salman.
Guess this'll further tighten the Soddy turban, too. And maybe it'll provide an incentive for Congress to sign off on the Bahrain deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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This is something we should be doing. All we've got to do is find somebody's back yard to build it in...
Saudi Aramco plans to build a multibillion dollar export-oriented refinery with a 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity in the Red Sea city of Yanbu. This was disclosed by Khalid Al-Buainain, vice president of refining at Aramco, to reporters at an energy conference in Dubai. Investment for the plant will run to $4 billion-$5 billion, he said. Saudi Aramco wanted to form a joint venture with one or more international partners for the facility, he said. "We are talking across the globe to all refiners," he said, adding that the deal should be finalized "within a year or so."
A lack of global refining capacity to meet growing fuel demand in the United States and Asia has helped push oil prices to record highs this year. Yanbu is strategically located and the new refinery could supply the US East Coast with high-quality gasoline, low-sulfur diesel to Europe and naphtha to East Asia, Al-Buainain said. The proposed refinery will run on a diet of heavier quality crude, he said. India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has held "preliminary talks" for a stake in the new Yanbu refinery, HPCL Chairman M.B. Lal was quoted as saying yesterday. HPCL has also offered Saudi Aramco a stake in its Vishakhapatnam refinery which will double capacity to 300,000 bpd in three years, Lal said. Lal visited Saudi Arabia with India's Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar late last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
And if we refine it overseas.... lessee ... it costs more, is more explosive, makes us more dependent, and aggravates the balance of payments. Other than that, it's a great idea.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2005 0:25 Comments ||
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it costs more, Wrong, expanded supply brings down the price. is more explosive, WTF. makes us more dependent, The dependency is the same. and aggravates the balance of payments. As does any and all imports.
Saad B. Al-Matrafi, saad@arabnews.com
If it is confirmed that two leading figures Saud Al-Otaibi (Saudi) and Abdul Kareem Al-Majati (Moroccan) from among the 26 announced wanted terrorists in the Kingdom were killed in Al-Rass, then that may mean a huge change in the status of the terrorist organization in the Gulf and might put an end to what was once an organized group.
Oh, I doubt it. In an organization where human life means nothing, they can always come up with another mastermind. They may even luck out and get somebody competent...
In fact, Al-Otaibi has been known as one of the ideologues of the so-called Al-Qaeda organization in the Arabian Peninsula. He has been running the media battle on the Internet and writing articles encouraging his followers to fight and attack the government and foreigners in the Kingdom. Al-Otaibi has also been leading the organization as No. 2 man along with Al-Oufi the latest leader of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom. Due to the fact that he is one of the oldest in the organization he is 33 Al-Otaibi was recognized as a major leader after the death of Issa Oushin in Riyadh on July 20 last year and the capture in Abha on Aug. 5 of Faris Al-Zahrani.
As the No. 1 spokesman of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom through the organization's two electronic magazines, Nashrat Al-Battar and Sawt Al-Jihad, and because he belonged to one of the largest and best known families in the Kingdom, it was expected that Al-Otaibi would be a leading figure in the organization. In the past two years, Al-Qaeda had three ideologues, Faris Al-Zahrani, Issa Al-Oushin and Abdullah Al-Rashood, who played the role of the organization's official scholars. Al-Rashood is known as an aggressive spokesman who has several times verbally attacked Saudi religious scholars in their presence and blasted them for what he called silence regarding the truth. Al-Rashood is believed to be still at large.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABDUL KARIM AL MAJATI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
ABDULLAH AL RASHUD
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
FARIS AL ZAHRANI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
ISA USHIN
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
SAUD AL OTAIBI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I think, though, that your figure is about 198 million short. That is the estimate of hard-core Izzies world-wide. True, not all of them are either brave or stupid enough to pick up AK47, RPG or the detonation belt. Say... 10 milion?
BRITAIN will today get its first new special forces regiment since the 1950s, with a brief to carry out covert operations against terrorists around the world.
The Special Reconnaissance Regiment is expected to play a key role in hunting down insurgents in Iraq and in the forthcoming UK-led operation against al-Qaeda remnants - including Osama bin Laden - in Afghanistan.
Members will be expected to infiltrate terrorist organisations and identify targets to be attacked by other units.
The SRR joins the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service in the UK special forces group at a time when other parts of the armed forces, including the Scottish infantry regiments, are suffering swingeing cutbacks.
Operational from today, the new 300 to 400-strong regiment will draw on existing forces for its members and can recruit from all three services.
Some posts will be open to women.
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said that the regiment had been formed "to meet a growing worldwide demand for special reconnaissance capability".
He said: "This regiment will provide improved support to expeditionary operations overseas and form part of the defence contribution to the government's comprehensive strategy to counter international terrorism."
Mr Hoon said the SRR would begin collecting covert intelligence on threats to British interests around the world.
The new regiment is in addition to the so-called Ranger battalion, which is being formed out of the Parachute regiment, and is part of a major enhancement of the UK's special forces group launched in 2002 by the British government.
It is the first time Britain has formed a regimental-sized special forces unit since the late 1950s, when the SAS was expanded and two regiments were established as part of the reserve Territorial Army.
Military sources said it would draw heavily on the British army's experience of conducting covert intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland.
"We want to place electronic 'bugs' close to terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden and have agents within the ranks of global terrorist groups," said one army officer. "We got very good at doing this in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, and now we want to transfer this capability to the global war on terrorism."
He added: "With terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only way to get a handle on what they are doing is by having high quality intelligence gathering capabilities that get really close to them.
"The new SRR gives us that capability and it is going be one of the most active units in the British armed forces over the next couple of years."
Once SRR surveillance teams have identified human targets, other units will then eliminate them. It is understood that the new regiment will be based alongside the SAS at Stirling Lines barracks, near Hereford.
Although the early phases of training will be based on the SAS selection process, the main training will be very different.
Arabic and other Middle East language skills are a top requirement for the recruits, allowing them to blend into Islamic societies on undercover operations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 12:13:44 AM ||
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#3
Arabic and other Middle East language skills are a top requirement for the recruits, allowing them to blend into Islamic societies on undercover operations.
And the only people who have these language skills are...
Our security services have been recruiting from folks who have managed to get citizenship here for a long time . MI6 made a very very public recruitment exercise some months ago , I expect this is the beginnings of reaping what you sow .
If theres one thing the British Gov and its security services do very well is infiltration with discretion . Bread and butter stuff .
From the Rantburg duplicity desk department...via, East Asia Intel, subscription req'd.
JEJU, South Korea — On the same day that North Korea sought to put the burden of reducing tensions in Northeast Asia on the U.S. rather than itself, a liberal South Korean policymaker close to Seoul's government made the same proposal. Wotta coincidence!
Speaking at a conference on this idyllic island off Korea's southern coast, Lim Dong-Won, the original architect of the South Korean policy of reconciliation with North Korea, called for "mutual threat reduction" as the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. That same day North Korea called for talks on arms reduction rather than nuclear weapons.
Lim's remarks, at a forum sponsored by the Sejong Institute, the Korea Foundation and Joongang Ilbo, a major newspaper whose owner is now Korea's ambassador to Washington, appeared carefully crafted to fit in with North Korea's latest demand. Nice for the SKors to be so accommodating.
"In order to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, we must find a starting point in the Mutual Threat Reduction (MTR)," said Lim, who forged the sunshine policy of reconciliation as the centerpiece of the presidency of Kim Dae-Jung. MTR, said Lim, "reduces both the U.S.-perceived threat from North Korea and the threat felt by North Korea from the U.S." A threat, by the way, deduced by Nork sales of missiles, and various other nefarious types of goods to other Axis of Evil countries.
Lim, who served as director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service and then as unification minister under Kim Dae-Jung, told the forum: "We should persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons by providing an environment in which North Korea could be relieved of the threat from others and does not need to possess nuclear weapons." Yeah, lets give the Norks a more secure environment to opress and starve their people on their promise of getting rid on their nukes. Sounds like a plan.
Lim now chairs the Sejong Institute, a private think tank with close ties to the South Korean government. Which means it's the SKor govt talking.
With MTR as a starting point, Lim said, "the only way to solve the nuclear problem is to apply the give-and-take approach." SKor gives and Kimmie takes.
That formula "can take the routes of a comprehensive approach that includes diplomacy, security, economy and trade issues," or, alternatively, "a package settlement approach" and "a simultaneous implementation approach." Simultaneous implementation. Just don't look over your shoulder. OK. On the count of three.
While Lim was talking, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency called for transforming multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons program into arms reduction talks - a variation on the mutual threat reduction approach advocated by Lim. Another coincidence. My, my, my.
Pyongyang based its plea on the premise that North Korea was already a nuclear power and should resume six-party talks on equal terms with all the others at the table. The other participants in the talks, from which North Korea has said it's withdrawing, include the United States, China and Russia, all of which have nuclear weapons, as well as Japan and South Korea.
The North Korean statement, while couched in much the same language as some of Lim's remarks, deepened and strengthened North Korea's position.
"Time has gone for talking about a give-and-take like the freeze of nuclear weapons program and compensation WTF???! Compensation? Go ask Hyundai for compensation. at the six-party talks," said the KCNA statement in contrast to Lim's call for a "give-and-take approach."
The statement echoed Lim's remarks, however, with its emphasis on "comprehensive measures" for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Among other demands, the statement called for Washington to give up its "nuclear threats" - a condition that U.S. officials have often countered by saying the U.S. withdrew whatever nukes it had on Korean soil during the presidency of the first George Bush.
Lim's remarks appeared not only to support the North Korean position but also to counter whatever Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might have hoped to accomplish during her visit to Korea last month. In fact, his comments reflected the sense that Rice's conversations while in Seoul had essentially fallen upon deaf ears, especially during her meeting with President Roh Moo-Hyun. ***I can't hear youuuuu!! Lalalalala!***
Lim's assumption, shared by most speakers at the forum, was that the United States remained hostile to North Korea and against serious efforts at drawing the North back to the negotiating table.
Without alluding to Rice's visit, Lim said "the U.S should accept North Korea as its negotiating part" and "through a serious negotiation" should "put to the test North Korea's proposal of exchanging its nuclear dismantlement with the U.S. dismantlement of its hostile policy toward North Korea."
Apparently accepting North Korean fears of a "preemptive strike" or strengthened economic sanctions, Lim said, "one-sided drastic measures to coerce capitulation or collapse of North Korea will only worsen the current situation" and "we must place priority on the nuclear nonproliferation" rather than regime change.
Lim praised Selig Harrison, a U.S. analyst who has come to represent his position in Washington and abroad, saying that the proposal for ending the North Korean "nuclear crisis" as advocated by Harrison's Task Force on U.S. Korea policy "can serve as an excellent guideline."
Harrison, also speaking at the same forum, was pessimistic about the chances of rapprochement under the current Bush administration.
"The ascendancy of hard-line policymakers in the U.S. debate over how to deal with North Korea has strengthened proponents of nuclear weapons in the long-standing internal debate within North Korea over how to deal with the United States," Harrison said.
Acknowledging "the prospects for a step-by-step denuclearization agreement with U.S. participation during the next four years are minimal," Harrison stressed the basic proposals of his task force.
He suggested that the four powers closest to North Korea in Asia -- China, Russia, Japan and South Korea -- "bear the principal financial burden" of offering "to reward North Korea for denuclearization," in which it would agree to "re-freeze its plutonium program and to relinquish plutonium reprocessed" since the breakdown of the Geneva framework agreement in late 2002.
Harrison, citing a number of hard-liners in the Bush administration, clearly believes the U.S. wants to bring about the downfall of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il despite numerous U.S. declarations that it has no such intention.
"A commitment by the four powers to join in preserving North Korea's territorial integrity and sovereignty, would greatly enhance regional security and could well compel the United States to reconsider its regime-change policy," he said. Appeasement 101. What is the 2ID doing in Korea???
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2005 9:12:34 PM ||
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The United States has no indication North Korea is ready to return to six-country nuclear talks despite a published report that it had agreed to do so, a State Department official said on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after consulting with top policymakers, told Reuters: "We don't have any indication that the North Koreans are ready to come back to the talks. We haven't heard that they are ready to go back to the talks yet."
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said on Wednesday that the North had apparently agreed to an early resumption of the talks on its nuclear arms program as early as mid-May in return for the promise of a visit to Pyongyang by China's president.
The newspaper quoted as its source an unidentified U.S. official in Washington and said the deal was reached during a visit by North Korea's First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Sok-ju to Beijing that ended on Tuesday.
The State Department official told Reuters the administration had a preliminary discussion with the Chinese about Kang's trip but "no full read-out."
President Hu Jintao has not visited the reclusive state since assuming the top post of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2002. He is likely to make his first trip to Pyongyang by June, the Yomiuri report said.
China, North Korea's main benefactor, has hosted three rounds of the six-way talks aimed at eliminating the North's nuclear weapons program but the last round was in June.
The talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, have made little headway.
North Korea declared on Feb. 10 it had nuclear weapons and said it was withdrawing from the talks, vowing not to return until Washington dropped what it called its "hostile policy." Pyongyang also wants the talks to address the threat it says it is facing from U.S. nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 7:18:47 PM ||
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SEOUL - North Korea has exported dangerous nuclear material through the international black-market network of the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, knowing that it would end up in Libya, Washington's top negotiator on the North Korean nuclear programs said Wednesday. The negotiator, Christopher Hill, dismissed doubts about North Korea's involvement in proliferating uranium hexafluoride - a sensitive material that can be enriched to make fissile material for nuclear weapons - and the Communist state's intention to run a uranium-enrichment program in addition to its plutonium enterprise. "We do have evidence that what arrived in Libya was actually of North Korean origin," Hill said during a debate sponsored by the Civil Network for a Peaceful Korea, a nongovernmental organization. "We believe that it was brokered through Pakistan, with knowledge that it would end up in Libya." Hill said that U.S. officials believed the North Korean material "came through the A.Q. Khan network," but that "no one is saying that the government of Pakistan is involved."
Well, not in public anyway
Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna say it. Nope...
Hill, currently the U.S. ambassador in Seoul, leaves for Washington this weekend to assume his new post as assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs. He made his comments while answering questions from members of South Korean civic groups who questioned whether President George W. Bush's administration was distorting intelligence on North Korea's nuclear activities, including its reported plan to enrich uranium for weapons.
About 15 months ago, Libya turned over to the United States nearly two tons of illicit uranium it had planned to use in atomic weapons. The U.S. government says it believes the uranium most likely came from North Korea. But U.S. officials also told American news organizations that they lacked definitive evidence, prompting doubts about the Bush administration's case against North Korea, particularly given its intelligence failures before the Iraq war. Hill acknowledged that it was difficult to gather intelligence on a closed country like North Korea, but he stressed that the "consequences of underestimating the threat can be very serious." He said the North Koreans "have been making purchases of very, very specialized - and I might add, extremely expensive - equipment whose purpose one has to believe is to have an HEU program, " referring to a highly enriched uranium program.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 10:19:07 AM ||
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The Scorpion begins his dialog with the Frogs.
A stronger China will never pose a threat to other countries, Premier Wen Jiabao told a meeting of 26 Asian countries on Wednesday. We only want peacepiecepeacepiece, um, you know what we mean.
Asia's natural and human resources and large market gave it a incomparable advantage for economic growth but peace, stability and cooperation were necessary for prosperity, Wen told the Asian Cooperation Dialogue forum in the Pakistani capital. We only wish to live long and prosper. This is an ancient and famous Chinese saying by Li Wu-Tang Spock-Choy, y'know.
"Some people are worried that a stronger and more developed China will pose a threat to other countries," he told the forum's opening session. "Such a worry is completely misplaced." It was here a minute ago, but now we can't find it.
China was still a developing country with annual per capita gross domestic product of slightly more than $1,000, he said. "We will continue to concentrate on addressing domestic concerns," he said. "We still have a very, very long way to go before China is modernised. Even if we become stronger and more developed, we will not stand in the way of others, still less, become a threat to others. We will not do such things, except though suborned proxies. Our hands will be clean.
"China will never seek hegemony." We just want to be one of the Gang.
The Asian Cooperation Dialogue was set up in 2002 to promote pan-Asian cooperation unencumbered by the many thorny political issues that have restricted such efforts in the past. Ministers at the meeting have called for cooperation beyond the economic sphere to achieve genuine integration in their diverse region stretching from the Middle East to the Pacific.
Wen said the region faced numerous difficulties which posed a serious impediment to growth. "There are problems left over by history, such as territorial, ethnic and religious disputes," he said. "There are also hot-spot issues, uneven economic development, terrorism, transnational crime, environment degradation, spread of infectious disease and other new problems." We are a peacefulpieceful, damnit! - you know what I mean, people and we only want what is ours. The restoration of The Middle Kingdom: Gaia. "NEIGHBOURLY RELATIONS"
Wen said China would continue to handle appropriately issues left over by history, such as border disputes. As an example, he cited agreements on joint development in the South China Sea, which is claimed in whole or in part by China and several of its neighbours. What is appropriate, of course, is that we win.
He did not mention Taiwan, which China sees as a renegade province and has threatened to invade if it declares independence, but said China would "unswervingly pursue its policy of building good neighbourly relations". We love everyone. As a province.
Analysts see the ACD, which held its inaugural meeting in Thailand in June 2002, as a move towards an Asian version of the European Union or the North American Free Trade Agreement . Just another Chinese game to try to squeeze out all Western influence - and fill the vacuum itself. Not a hegemony, no, of course not.
Wen said Asia should remain open to the outside world, and greater collaboration should not be seen as a challenge to anyone else. "Asian cooperation is not exclusive, nor it targeted against any third party," he said. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
ACD members are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The first tier of renegade provinces friends.
Members enrolling this week are Iran, Mongolia, United Arab Emirates and Bhutan. Nothing to fear from us. No. We are not imperialistic - that is only myth and rumor-mongering.
Posted by: .com ||
04/06/2005 6:15:02 AM ||
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#1
And this coming on the heels of China's claims on 'disputed areas' of India: we will never be a threat as long as we get what we want, and we want Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, parts of India, parts of Russia, . . .
#2
...meanwhile expansion and modernization of the Chinese military continues.
Why do I get a flashback to the newsreel of Hitler addressing the Reichstag making fun of Roosevelt's letter asking assurances of the safety of numerous small European countries. As events evolved, it wasn't as funny 60 years ago this April.
#4
More than a couple VietNamese friends have expressed concern over China's future 'good intentions'. I would bet that sentiment is widely shared amongst China's neighbors.
A STATEWIDE alert has reportedly been issued to Victorian police after death threats were made by the family of a man shot dead in a police raid. Mohamed Chaouk, 31, was shot dead by a Special Operations Group officer during a dawn raid on a house in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Distraught relatives of Mr Chaouk attacked police outside the house hours after the shooting and threatened to take revenge.
Police took the threats seriously and erected a screen around the crime scene to protect officers from the possibility of a drive by shooting. Now an email has reportedly been sent to police warning that the death threats are to be taken seriously. In an extract of the email published by The Age newspaper today police are warned that the death threats are to be taken seriously. "The Chaouk family and associates are well known to local police and have displayed violent behaviour and extreme hatred to police on a number of occasions and have access to firearms and other weapons," the extract read.
A police spokeswoman would not comment on the email this morning. The Office of Police Integrity (OPI), run by the state Ombudsman, will conduct an investigation into the shooting and into other fatal police shootings over the past two years. The Police Association today condemned the new investigation. The association's assistant Secretary Bruce McKenzie said there were already inquiries into the shooting being carried out by the Homicide Squad and the Ethical Standards Department. "Just how many more inquiries must we put our members through," he said. "Through his actions the Ombudsman is undermining the process which Victoria Police is currently going through and is sending a message of distrust in the existing process to the Victorian public."
The dead man's father Macchour Chaouk, 48, and his brothers Ali Chaouk, 25 and Matwali Chaouk, 21, were arrested in Tuesday's raid and are facing numerous charges. Corrections Victoria yesterday refused the three men permission to attend Mohamed Chaouk's funeral. Friends paid tribute to Mr Chaouk in death notices in today's Herald Sun newspaper.
One friend wrote: "A good person with a good heart. I can't believe how this could happen to you." Another farewell read: "We're gunna miss you Bro. It will never be the same without you - Your Boys from Brooklyn." A tribute from Jordan, Dylan and Damian read: "Thank you for always pointing out what a lady I am, letting me know how proud you are of me and showing my boys how to be good to their Mum. I can't bring myself to tell them that you're gone." Mr Chaouk will be buried after a prayer service in Melbourne today.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/06/2005 7:14:43 PM ||
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Many commentators on the late Pope John Paul II's ministry have noted his outreach efforts towards the Muslim world. Apparently it was a two-way street. On April, 4 Metin Kaplan, nicknamed the "Caliph of Cologne" and leader of the self-proclaimed "Anatolian Federal Islamic State" told a tribunal in Istanbul, "When I was in Germany, before the pope's death, I wrote him a letter, asking him to convert to Islam," adding that it was his "responsibility" as a Muslim to try "to bring the pope into the Islamic fold."
Kaplan is on trial for attempting to overthrow Turkey's secular political system and an alleged 1988 effort to crash an aircraft into Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum in Ankara. Prosecutor Suleyman Pehlivan is seeking a life sentence. Kaplan led the Cologne-based extremist Hilafet Devleti, a movement that translates to "Caliphate State." Germany extradited Kaplan to Turkey in October 2004 after he served four years in prison for ordering the murder of a rival religious leader, after receiving assurances that he would not face capital punishment. During his trial in Germany, the court heard evidence that Hilafet Devleti sent funds to Muslim insurgents in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. Kaplan's lawyers Ismet Koc and Husnu Tuna denied the mausoleum bombing charge and called on the court to act in accordance with European Union judicial practice and grant their client bail. Denying the request, the court and adjourned the trial to May 30 to allow Kaplan's lawyers time to develop their defense.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 5:43:19 PM ||
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Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2005 15:02 ||
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#1
The first news we have heard of this.
Sow the wind reap the whirlwind.
This points to our immigration policy to make the USA "browner." I had the same conversation with a kid a few years ago. He was adamant, his race was "Mexican" I pointed out Mexico is a country not a race and that he was a Californian and a US citizen, he still insisted he was a Mexican.
#2
Colpart, who is active in anti-racist causes, confirmed that "these were racial assaults," and the attackers used "far-right slurs, violent and racist."
Ain't it like some far-leftoid to insinuate that usage of racial slurs is a right-wing trait?
He was adamant, his race was "Mexican"
Maybe you should've asked him is if was here legally.
#3
I have a friend who lives in France for 25 years and when he predicted this about 4 years ago I was sure that he painted a picture that was way too dark. Now I realize that he was on the lighter side. The reality is actually worse. Scary, France no more.
#6
I have believed for a long time that Europe at some point will panic, start mass deportations, and there will be fighting. As bad as that may be, I don't see the native Europeans losing that fight. Europe perfected industrial warfare, and as bad off as their militaries are, they can still out slaughter most of the planet.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
04/06/2005 16:39 Comments ||
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Scary, France no more.
To be honest, I'm feeling it necessary to think about this one. :)
..or bring about a new round of fascism.
I, for one, wouldn't support a third cavalry ride to the rescue. I'd be willing to assist/defend the U.K., but that's about it.
#8
I, for one, wouldn't support a third cavalry ride to the rescue. I'd be willing to assist/defend the U.K., but that's about it.
Ditto but luckily there'll be no need. As bloody as Europe may be in the coming decades this will be primarily a contest of wills. Once the growing violence wrenches the pacifist multicultural Europeans out of their slumber they'll be fine.
#9
Once the growing violence wrenches the pacifist multicultural Europeans out of their slumber they'll be fine.
Affraid it won't be that quick. It may take one generation to get it settled, finally. That is as the Western Europe goes.
Eastern Europe... not much to worry about. They still have the centuries of fight with Turks in their genetic memory.
#10
Colpart said the scenes of violence were so disturbing that he could not sleep for days. He saw students being beaten or pulled by the hair. He stressed that assailants who stole cell phones smashed them in front of their victims: "It was a game. Hatred and fun."
Disturbing? Uh, yeah, and it has been for a while. But France won't lift a finger-doing so means they might risk being called racist and violent in turn, a fate literally worse than death to them. They will count themselves lucky as non-racist corpses as opposed to live beings that others call racist.
I can't resist mocking the French about shock and horror they feel about violence being used against them, as they mocked America for its actions after 9/11:
"Oh, certainly, you are overreacting to the threat...and anyway, with your policies, you were really asking for it."
#11
You know, this sounds just like the sort of violent crap that used to happen in the U.S. in the 1970's in places like Watts and Montgomery, Alabama. No matter how you slice it, the French (like us Southerners) are reaping what they have sown. Theyâre going to have to learn to assimilate immigrants better than they have been or they are truly well doomed. That said, they are going to have to really want to do it, not just talk (and talk and talk) about it. The French Left will talk but take no action, while the French Right will neither talk nor take action. Massive deportations are no longer an option for them, but neither is burying their heads in the sand. They are going to have to use a (dare I say it) subtle combination of carrot and stick to make this work.
#13
"Europe perfected industrial warfare and as bad off their militaries are, they can still outalaughter most of the planet"
No doubt, no doubt they can. But will they have the will??? Or they would rather die but being humanist and at some point it might be too late to change.
Even in this country a lot of parents do not allow boys to play with guns. Will we have the will ???
Italy's leading news agency has denied reporting that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would attend Pope John Paul's funeral Friday after a story attributed to it circulated widely on the Internet. "Some people just won't stop even at a time of mourning for the Pope: among the deluge of false emails, viruses and spam, a false item attributed to Ansa is circulating about Osama bin Laden attending the funeral of John Paul II," the Ansa agency said.
In a dispatch issued late Tuesday, Ansa noted that Giuliana whatserface from Il Manifesto the prankster, who specified bin Laden would be flying to Rome from Pakistan, had accurately imitated the agency's sign-off style -- a series of letters and numbers at the end of every item. The Saudi-born bin Laden is thought to be a decaying protein spot in some godforsaken cave hiding on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
04/06/2005 10:19:41 AM ||
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Sung to
"How are things in Glocca Mora?"
From "Finnian's Rainbow"
How are things in Tora Bora?
Is that little cave still hidden there?
Does it still shake when the Air Force bombs?
Planes from Kabul, the Uzbeks and Tajiks?
How are things in Tora Bora?
Are winterâs blizzards still intolârable there?
Does that she-goat with the twinklin' eye
Come a-smilin' by
And does she walk away,
Sad and dreamy thereâs no Osama there?
So I seek each hidden entrance
And each trail along the way,
And each she-goat that comes a-sighin'
al-Akhbar
How are things in Tora Bora
This fine day?
#2
Italy's leading news agency has denied reporting that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would attend Pope John Paul's funeral Friday after a story attributed to it circulated widely on the Internet.
I don't even see why this news agency is even bothering to engage in denial. The idea of Binny attending the pope's funeral is so far fetched that....well, never mind.
Read the headline pronouncing EU as "ewwww!" US restates its objections to EU policy on China
The limits to Washington's bridge-building effort with the European Union were laid bare yesterday when a US official pushed the EU to change policy on China, played down prospects for EU success in talks with Tehran and highlighted internal EU divisions on Russia.
On the last day of a European tour, Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, tried to build on the message of co-operation expressed by President George W. Bush during his visit six weeks ago. But he stepped up criticism of the EU's plans to lift its arms embargo on China even though the move now seems likely to be delayed.
"If there ever were a point where there were some conflict or danger and European equipment helped kill American men and women in conflict, that would not be good for the relationship," Mr Zoellick said.
The EU had hoped to lift the embargo during the first half of the year, but that seems unlikely because of misgivings by the UK and countries such as Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Mr Zoellick's comments came as Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister, said he was "sceptical" about an immediate lifting of the embargo, distancing himself from chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is determined that the ban be lifted. In an interview with Die Zeit newspaper, Mr Fischer said: "The chancellor knows that I am more sceptical on this issue, like my party [the Greens] and its representatives in parliament."
Mr Zoellick also addressed the EU's negotiations with Tehran over Iran's nuclear programme, saying that Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, had "worked very hard to try and adjust our position so we could be more supportive".
But he played down the prospect of EU success in the talks. "The fact that Iran is looking towards elections in June . . . creates probably a particularly challenging time."
Mr Zoellick noted "the diversity of views in Europe" on Russia. In what appeared to be a reference to France and Germany, he said: "There are some member states that are perhaps more accepting of the established order. There are some that share some of our concerns [on issues such as a Russian free press]."
He called for the US and EU to "stand firm", in spite of Russian pressure, on a strong role for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in election observation. Russia has accused the OSCE of fomenting disorder in countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Posted by: .com ||
04/06/2005 5:55:44 AM ||
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Some say his government is suffering from reform fatigue, others claim it is falling prey to the vices of power. Whatever the diagnosis, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going through a rough patch in his career, at war with the media and his party hit by defections. What Turks have mostly seen in their prime minister recently is a fretful and ill-tempered man, lashing out virtually at anybody who criticizes government policies.
That's a sure vote getter...
The media became his punching bag when they denounced the beating of women at a demonstration in Istanbul last month, only to be accused of "tipping off" the European Union to rights violations in Turkey. The country's most influential business group was told "to mind its own business" when it joined the critics. Next in line was a humorous magazine Erdogan took to court after it made fun of him for suing a political cartoonist who had depicted him as a cat entangled in a ball of yarn. Erdogan's reactions prompted questions over the sincerity of his stated desire to improve rights and freedoms in Turkey as a man who has often cited himself as a victim of undemocratic restrictions.
Guess you develop a whole new set of corns when the shoe's on the other foot...
Erdogan served a four-month jail sentence for sedition in the 1990s for publicly reciting a poem with Islamist messages. Critics say the government has lost its reform drive since it was given the green light for membership talks with the EU in December after a series of far-reaching democratic reforms that won international praise. Skeptics argue that Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), a conservative movement with Islamist roots, is not even truly committed to the EU goal and has been compelled to back it because of the overwhelming popular support it enjoys. "The EU is not a path they believe in," Suleyman Saribas, a member of Parliament who recently resigned from the governing party, told AFP. "Democracy is the regime of tolerance and they do not have it."
It's kind of a rare commodity in the Islamic world, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Yippie has rolled the dice and crapped out. None of his high-rolling gambles will pay off and Turkey has lost on every front. If they had the sense and grit they displayed 20 or 30 years ago, they'd hang his entire Islamic Govt and wake up: they've fooled themselves regards the EU, embraced a fatal disease, and poisoned their future.
We'll forgive the Germans if they kick out Schroeder and return the CDU. We'd do the same for Turkey unless this guy gets to keep things screwed up even worse for 3 or more years.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/06/2005 8:44 Comments ||
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Whatever the diagnosis, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going through a rough patch in his career, at war with the media and his party hit by defections.
#4
I'll bet he wishes he'd let the 4th ID roll on through into northern Iraq. Things have been on a steady downhill slide since then. Erdogan has been painfully discovering that it would have been better to have chosen George Bush as a friend and ally than Jaques Chirac.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2005 08:12 ||
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Wow. Excellent article-worth flagging, for me anyway.
One good taste should encourage a reading a of the whole article:
A "...Anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are congenial to Palestinianism, the new culture of Europe.
Q. What is of concern is that one sees the same thing already happening here. The media is pro-Arab, it is impossible to get them to change, even with the facts. The whole ideological aura has already infiltrated the press and the universities.
A. You have to expose the cultural jihad, and discuss its consequences in Europe, and the sub-culture of lies from which it is growing. The lies are crumbling now as the jihadist ideology and war against the Western world become more apparent. In fact, Europe has denied its own roots and the spring from which its spiritual Biblical values emerged. It is a denial of oneâs own spirituality and sources. Now, in Europe, Israel is a demonized word, a confiscated reality. European governments created an anti-Semitic culture in order to integrate the Muslim immigration, but they have absorbed also the values of a jihadist society. This is why Europe is intellectually and spiritually confused and disoriented. You cannot ally with jihadist forces that want to destroy you intellectually, spiritually and politically, without being destroyed, and this is what is happening."
Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger has now joined the pantheon of those who, in the im mortal words of Webb Hubbell, have chosen to "roll over one more time" to protect Bill and Hillary Clinton.
This Hall of Ill-Fame includes Susan McDougal, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, Johnnie Chung, former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and old Webb himself. What they each have in common is their silence and willingness to take the fall to protect the Clintons. Berger has admitted that he stuffed top-secret documents into his pockets, shirt and pants, and why he sliced some up with scissors, destroyed them and then lied about it. Until he gives a credible explanation for this behavior, we are all entitled to make the logical inference — that he was hiding something to protect himself and his old bosses.
The documents were an "after-action review" by Richard Clarke, then the National Security Council's terrorism expert, discussing and analyzing our efforts to stop attacks during the Millennium celebrations. They were so secret, the Washington Times reports, that anyone seeking to remove the documents would have had to do so in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. And, it seems, they were so critical of the former administration that Berger felt he needed to steal them. But why did Berger steal them? The most obvious reason would be to stop the 9/11 commission from including embarrassing revelations in its report.
Yes, the documents Berger purloined were not the only copies, but it's not clear that Berger knew that. Or there may have been handwritten notes in the margins of the copies Berger destroyed — written by the president, Berger or others. Berger's "explanation" stinks: He claims he was too tired to review the documents in their secure venue, that eye fatigue moved him to stash them in his pocket for later comparison in the leisure of his home and office. That's nonsense. After all, he went back a week later and helped himself to more documents.
Berger would also have us believe he "inadvertently" cut up and "inadvertently" destroyed the documents — that he had no intention of concealing anything from the commission. And then, I suppose, he inadvertently lied about what he'd done. Come on. With a shabby explanation like that, Berger invites speculation that he is covering for himself or for the Clintons.
Back in the '90s, I found Berger consistently unwilling to act vigorously against terror-sponsoring nations. When Sen. Al D'Amato proposed sanctions against Iran, Berger tried to get Clinton to veto the bill; it was only after much public pressure that he signed it. Berger was on a fast track to be the next Democratic Secretary of State. He risked that in stealing those documents. Now he has destroyed his future career by pleading to a criminal misdemeanor — admitting what he did while still concealing why he did it.
The Clintons' reaction when Berger was caught? The former president's comments sound just too scripted to believe: He laughed and said that it was typical of Sandy to be disorganized and forget how he handled documents. Quite a comment about the man he appointed to superintend the nation's secrets. Then Hillary announced, without being asked, that Sandy had just helped brief her for a February speech at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy — sending the adviser a signal that he was still part of the family, even though the grand jury was investigating him.
Picture the fevered atmosphere in the months after 9/11. Any indication by the commission investigating the attack that the Clinton administration hadn't taken terrorism seriously would badly damage the former president's reputation and the former first lady's chances. Any loyal adviser would have worked to mitigate the possible damage. The measure of how serious the damage may have been is how far Berger risked falling to prevent it — and how far he did fall rather than reveal why.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 2:53:56 PM ||
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#1
Picture the fevered atmosphere in the months after 9/11. Any indication by the commission investigating the attack that the Clinton administration hadn't taken terrorism seriously would badly damage the former president's reputation and the former first lady's chances. Any loyal adviser would have worked to mitigate the possible damage. The measure of how serious the damage may have been is how far Berger risked falling to prevent it â and how far he did fall rather than reveal why.
Berger's behavior seems similar to that of people who are cult members, a la Jonestown, or the Baghwan Shree Rashneesh.
From the: 'Here let me pull those pants down to your ankles for you' department.....
WASHINGTON - Wiretapping, search warrants, records seizures and other law enforcement tactics allowed by the Patriot Act would be scaled back under a bipartisan bill set to be introduced today in the Senate.
The bill, known as the Security and Freedom Enhancement Act, or SAFE Act, is sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Larry Craig, R-Idaho, Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
They announced their proposal Tuesday after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told senators that he would accept some modifications to the USA Patriot Act but urged that all its major provisions be renewed to effectively fight terrorism.
The SAFE Act would forbid roving wiretaps on unidentified subjects and permit secret searches only as long as they are used to investigate a set list of crimes. Current law includes what critics call a "catch-all phrase" that could be interpreted to include other crimes as well.
The bill also would change a section of the Patriot Act permitting secret warrants for "books, records, papers, documents and other items" from businesses, hospitals and other organizations.
That section is known as the "library provision" by its critics. While it does not specifically mention bookstores or libraries, critics say the government could use it to subpoena library and bookstore records and snoop into the reading habits of innocent Americans.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Gonzales defended the provision. He said it had been used 35 times but never to obtain library, bookstore, medical or gun sale records, and that the provision's scope is narrow.
"The library habits of ordinary Americans are of no interest to those conducting terrorism investigations, nor are they permitted to be," Gonzales said.
Durbin said he is optimistic that Gonzales - attorney general since early February - will be more open to changes than his predecessor, John Ashcroft.
Gonzales told the panel he would be "open to any ideas" on changing the Patriot Act but urged Congress to renew 15 provisions set to expire in December, calling the measures "essential weapons in our arsenal to combat the terrorists."
"Now is not the time for us to be engaging in unilateral disarmament," he said. I think Ted Kennedy disagrees....
His willingness to listen is a big step forward, Durbin said.
"I think we ought to reach out in good faith to the attorney general and the Department of Justice, and see if we can come to some agreements on some changes," Durbin said. "It would be terrific if we could."
Posted by: CrazyFool ||
04/06/2005 12:26:00 AM ||
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His willingness to listen is a big step forward, Durbin said.
Nuttin' wrong with listening. Whether changes are warranted or desirable is something else.
In the past four weeks there were three attacks on shipping in the Malacca Straits for the purpose of kidnapping crew for ransom. Heavily-armed pirates boarded ships, seized the master and 1-2 crew members, then took them ashore. Pirates have not stolen any property; their sole aim has been to kidnap the crew. Similar attacks have taken also place in the Phillippines
Malaysia has refused a Japanese offer to assist in patrolling the Straits. Japan has reportedly given a patrol boat to the Indonesians, as well as providing them with training. The Malaysians supposedly will seek training and equipment(such as radar)from the UK.
Recently reported incidents:
03.04.2005 at 0145 LT in position 03:08N - 105:24E, 12nm west of P.Mangkai Island, Anambas Islands, Indonesia. Four pirates armed with long bolo knives boarded a bulk carrier underway at poop deck. They assaulted two duty crew who received knife wounds. Pirates stole ship's equipment and escaped.
31.03.2005 at 1900 UTC in position 03:06.9N - 100:44.6E, vicinity of One Fathom Bank, Malacca Straits. Pirates armed with guns and knives boarded a bulk carrier underway. They held master as hostage and stole ship's cash and escaped. No injuries to crew.
31.03.2005 at 1330 UTC in position 00:40.5N - 048:49.1E, Somalia. Six pirates armed with guns and grenades in two speedboats attempted to board a general cargo ship underway. Ship sent distress message, increased speed and took evasive maneuvers. Pirates aborted attempted boarding at 1520 UTC.
30.03.2005 at 2255 LT in position 05:28.29S - 105:17.93E, Panjang Outer Roads, Indonesia. Six robbers armed with long knives boarded a container ship. They held two crew members hostage and tied them up. They broke into forward locker and stole ship's stores. Alarm was raised and crew mustered and robbers escaped. Master tried to contact port authorities on VHF but received no response. Boarding took place although two shore watchmen were on board.
30.03.2005 at 1020 LT in position 04:35N - 119:00E, about 3nm east of Mataking island, Sabah, Malaysia. Five pirates armed with M16 and AK47 rifles in a speedboat came alongside a tug towing a barge. They fired several shots into air and ordered master to stop. Four pirates dressed in dark blue clothes boarded the tug and ordered crew to assemble at main deck. Pirates stole crews' personal belongings and tug's communication equipment. They kidnapped master and two crewmembers and left in their speedboat in [an] easterly direction.
30.03.2005 at 0415 LT at Sebuku Anchorage, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Several robbers armed with long knives boarded a bulk carrier and broke open forepeak locker. Alert crew and armed security guard rushed forward. Robbers stole ship's stores and escaped in a speedboat.
29.03.2005 at 2030 UTC in position 01:53.6S - 116:58.0E, Makassar straits, Indonesia. Two pirates armed with knives boarded a bulk carrier underway. They stole a life raft and escaped.
Posted by: Pappy ||
04/06/2005 12:59:20 AM ||
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Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
04/06/2005 10:02 Comments ||
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vicinity of One Fathom Bank, Malacca Straits. Pirates armed with guns and knives boarded a bulk carrier underway. If you want to block the Malacca Straits through which 40% of the world's oil passes, then One Fathom Bank is the best place to do it.
#4
Life rafts are encased in capsules. They go for a decent price on the black market.
The Singaporeans are engaged in air patrols. It's the Indonesians and Malaysians that have problems. Like Indonesia's military and police corruption, ineffectiveness, highly possible participation and cooperation with the pirates. Both have a general distrust of other nations combined with extreme sense of sovereignty. Oh, and a long-simmering territorial dispute.
One cannot ingnore that there is also a significant sympathy with the fundamentalist groups who have taken up piracy and kidnapping as a fund-raising tactic.
The United Nations Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) released yesterday indicates that Arab countries have witnessed slow progress of political reforms and democracy despite their promises for fast democratic reform. The report, the third of a planned four-part series, says Arab countries have not taken any serious steps to end repression in the region and had are lagging in eliminating their regimes' "black holes" that could lead to internal upheavals.
The 2004 in-depth study, written by a group of Arab scholars, media personnel, authors and political scientists, was scheduled for release in January but held after attempts by the US and Egyptian governments to alter its contents. "Egypt in particular was concerned with the part of the report that calls for total freedom of expression and association," said Nader Fergany who heads the AHDR team.
In 2003, the US cut its funding for UNDP by $12 million (down to $89 million) as a sign of their annoyance with the AHDR that pointed out that Arab extremism and anti-Americanism are often a consequence of American, Israeli and Arab government policies in the region. The 248-page report said the 22 Arab countries that are members of the Arab League failed to meet people's aspirations for development, security and liberation by 21st century standards. "There is a serious failing in the Arab world, and that this is located specifically in the political sphere ... and despite variations from country to country, rights and freedoms enjoyed in the Arab world remain poor," the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I fell down, um, at the dawn of time, and I can't get up! And it's America's fault! And the Jooos, of course. Everything is the Jooos' fault. See, even the UN sez so, which is very important, because that makes it true.
#2
The United Nations Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) released yesterday indicates that Arab countries have witnessed slow progress of political reforms and democracy despite their promises for fast democratic reform.
Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir's lawyers have lodged an appeal against his 30-month conviction for involvement in the conspiracy behind the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. Attorney Mahendradatta on Wednesday (6/4/05) filed the 30-page appeal, which contains a letter from key witness Amrozi, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attacks that killed 202 people. The defense team has argued that South Jakarta District Court's March 3 verdict, which found Baasyir guilty of involvement in an "evil conspiracy" that led to the bombings, was based on a single police report alleging the cleric gave Amrozi his blessing to carry out the attacks.
Mahendradatta said Amrozi's letter, dated March 24, states that he never discussed the bombings with Baasyir. It also contains a denial of the prosecution's claim that Amrozi refused to testify at the cleric's trial. "The meeting between the defendant and Amrozi in [the Central Java city of] Solo has no relation to the Bali bombing," fellow lawyer Achmad Michdan was quoted as saying by Reuters. "I'm willing to testify anytime... I have never talked to Baasyir about the bombing," he said, reading out excerpts of Amrozi's letter. Jakarta High Court is expected to issue a ruling on the appeal next month.
Baasyir's verdict was criticized by the US, Australian and New Zealand governments as "too lenient". But observers said the prosecution was lucky to get a conviction, given the lack of hard evidence, various legal constraints and flimsy witness testimonies. South Jakarta District Court cleared Baasyir of charges that as head of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah he had incited his followers to launch terrorist attacks and had planned the August 2003 suicide bombing at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people. He was also cleared of accusations that he visited a Jemaah Islamiyah military training camp in the southern Philippines in April 2000 and had passed on an edict from Osama bin Laden calling for killings of Americans and their allies.
Baasyir has always denied any wrongdoing and claimed his trial was held at the behest of the US and its allies because they opposed his campaign for Islamic law in secular Indonesia. The cleric was arrested shortly after the Bali bombings. He was tried at Central Jakarta District Court in 2003, accused of treason, leading Jemaah Islamiyah, authorizing bombings, violating immigration regulations and falsifying identity documents. He was cleared of the terror-related charges and served 18 months in jail for immigration violations and forging documents. He was immediately re-arrested upon his release in April 2004 and accused of the Marriott and Bali bombings. Having already spent 10 months behind bars pending his last trial, he could be released by October 2006, or even earlier if his appeal succeeds.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 5:46:30 PM ||
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A group called The Seventy Million People of Iran sent this open letter to the Iranian government, and signed it.
To the Government of the Islamic Republic in Iran,
We, the 70 million people of Iran, hereby joyfully and unequivocally declare that your time has come to an end, and we demand that you submit to the will of the Iranian people and peacefully surrender the power to its rightful owners, the people of Iran, immediately.
We no longer consider you our legitimate government and hereby warn all foreign governments that all transactions, and contracts signed with this government after June 16, 2005, will be null and void.
We, the people of Iran, will no longer stand idle to witness the destruction of our country, a great civilization where the first declaration of Human Rights was created, yet where sadly, gross violations of our civil liberties happen everyday.
We, the people of Iran, have suffered indescribable horrors under your reign of terror. We have lost brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and countrymen at your bloody hands. You have sold our pride, identity and honor and stolen what is rightfully ours. You have managed to recklessly tarnish our national pride, international prestige and have damaged our proud Persian civilization. You have lived up to your reputation as a totalitarian regime.
We were ravaged by a needless and brutal war; had our cities bombed, our livelihoods destroyed and generations of our budding youth slaughtered at your command. In addition to these human casualties, you have wrongly aligned us with thugs, terrorists and international outlaws who detest freedom and democracy.
Now, our youth wander without any hope in their lives, addicted to the poisons that are the fruits of your rule. Our daughters are beaten, abused and sold into slavery to nations who feed on our vulnerabilities. Most of our nation's best minds and able bodies flee for fear of their lives, taking with them a part of our wealth, legacy and prosperity.
These are the things your "Glorious Revolution" has brought us: poverty, sickness, crime and hopelessness. You have destroyed the religion in whose name you act. You have destroyed the very fabric of our culture and motherland.
Yet this is not enough. Your pursuit of nuclear weapons and irresponsible foreign policy has pushed Iran to the brink of foreign intervention and potential military attacks which will result in massive loss of life. Your quest of nuclear technology, if it were for peaceful purposes, might have been acceptable to the Iranian citizens. However, during the last 26 years you have proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that your government is not trustworthy. You have consistently deceived us and the other nations of the world. You have not only threatened our existence, but that of the world.
Yet you are our problem, our inner demon that we must face, and ultimately destroy. We will not stand for any assault on the land that gave us nourishment and life. We will not stand for the destruction of our homeland as foreign powers may attempt to put an end to your nuclear ambition. Your time has come to an end, and we are ready to embark on a new journey towards our true destiny. We are prepared to bring you down.
No longer will we stand idly by. The end of one of the most bloody, brutal and totalitarian regimes is OVER. You can choose your own destiny. We will give you what you never gave us, a chance to flee. Either you leave peacefully or you will face our wrath and judgment. Your own meaningless and rigged elections will be your undoing. You have until the 16th of June, 2005 to return power to the people, and forever leave our beloved Iran. Should you be so unwise to stay, on the 17th day of June, the Election Day, we shall prepare for your demise as we stay at home, once again, to declare our solidarity. Beginning on June18th and every day thereafter, we shall strike like a furious flood to cleanse our nation from your filthy existence.
We will come out in our millions to demolish your entirety with our will. We shall start national strikes, interrupt communication and transportation networks, seize the capital, government buildings and the banks and if you have been so foolish to stay behind, you will experience our rage. Retribution will be swift for those who stay behind and stand in our way.
History has proven time and again that people always prevail. We will recreate history as East Germans, Romanians, Yugoslavians, Georgians, Ukrainians, and Lebanese have done recently. We will assure that you fade into the annals of our beloved nation's history like so many other invaders before you such as Alexander, the Arabs and the Mongols who could not conquer our spirit.We, the people of Iran, shall confirm our solidarity in support of this Declaration. On the 10th of June, we shall convert the cities into ghost towns, as we will stay together at home with our lights turned off from 6:00 pm until midnight. We have asked all governments of the world to support us by issuing formal declarations on the 10th of June. The world will endorse us fully; they will support those who fight against evil. All nations will abandon your dead regime and recognize that the future belongs to us, the true owners of the great nation of Iran.
The international community recognizes that the Islamic Republic is the pillar of international terrorism and nuclear weapons proliferation left standing. The removal of the Islamic Regime is the key to winning the War on Terror, and Iranian citizens are the key holders. We are allies of the world's nations and a source of global stability. We can all come together in friendship, peace and mutual benefit.
The world recognizes that if governments continue to appease these madmen, as Hitler was appeased until he was too strong, it is they who will suffer like we have suffered in the last 26 years. It is they who will face nuclear terrorism in their homelands. There is only one path to peace. We, the 70 million Iranian people, hold the keys to the fate of this Islamic regime, and by extension much of the Middle East.
We, the people of Iran, are joined together as one voice, one fist, and one will. We, the 70 million people, will defeat our inner-evil. We will fulfill our dreams, together, as one.
#1
That little note will get some turbans spinning. We will see if the 70 million Iranians can pull off their home-strike on the 10th of June. If they can, then they have a chance. I wonder how much outside backing the 10/6 group has, not that I want to know.
If the MMs can be toppled by the people, it will be an earthshaking event, indeed. We shall see. We shall see.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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Nice letter, but Islamic Thuglords (MM's) won't likely give up their power without blood spilt, necks extended, and the Iranian people swarming the MM's hired Paleo/Hezbollah thugs. I hope they have the fire in the belly to do it
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2005 20:58 Comments ||
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"We, the people..."
The first time a tyrant heard these words, the world changed forever. May it be so again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/06/2005 21:09 Comments ||
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Iranian Christian Hamid Pourmand must appear before the Islamic (sharia) court of Iran within nine days. An exact court date has not been released. Arrested last September when security police raided a church conference he was attending, the Assemblies of God lay pastor will be brought up before the Islamic court between April 11 and 14 to face charges of apostasy from Islam and proselytizing Muslims to the Christian belief. Both "crimes" are punishable by death. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2005 2:25:55 PM ||
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(Hat tip to Publius Pundit. Please note that the primary source is in Arabic only.)
According to a salty Saudi newspaper, Syria's Baath Party is about to hold its first national party congress since the Seventies and will, among other things, drop all references to "socialism" from the party charter and rechristen itself "The Democratic Party." Cosmetic BS though it surely is, it's still a significant development ... if true, of course. (My first thought was "Scrappleface.")
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
04/06/2005 2:07:47 AM ||
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While they are at it they coukd drop other references. I don't klnow about Syria but I have been told the complete name of Iraqui Baath was:
"the Iraqui National-Socialist Party for Arab Renovbation". Baath means renovation in Arabic.
Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law.
Outraged opponents say the law will encourage Floridians to open fire first and ask questions later, fostering a sort of statewide Wild West shootout mentality. Supporters argue that criminals will think twice if they believe they are likely to be promptly shot when they assault someone.
Republican Governor Jeb Bush, who has said he plans to sign the bill, says it is "a good, commonsense, anti-crime issue."
Current state law allows residents to "shoot to kill if their property, such as their home or car, is invaded by an unknown assailant."
But it also states that if a resident is confronted or threatened in a public place, he or she must first try to avoid the confrontation or flee before taking any violent step in self defense against an assailant.
The bill, supported by the influential National Rifle Association, was approved by both houses of the Republican-run legislature on Tuesday. Attn criminals: FOAD
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2005 9:59:18 PM ||
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What we have now is a closer approximation to lawlessness than what could possibly exist after this law is passed.
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition . . .
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
04/06/2005 23:20 Comments ||
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an armed populace is a polite populace and a prepared one
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2005 23:27 Comments ||
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"against anyone they perceive as a threat"
I don't know if that's the exact wording of the law but it seems a bit vague to me.
"Officer, he was really rolling his eyes wildly..."
Iraqi MPs chose Kurdish former rebel leader Jalal Talabani as the country's first freely elected president, paving the way for a new government more than two months after landmark polls.
The election of Talabani by the 275-member parliament was a major political victory for Iraq's long-suffering Kurdish minority, which was violently oppressed by ousted president Saddam Hussein's Sunni Arab-dominated regime.
Saddam himself had been expected to watch the parliament session from his prison cell on a US base in Baghdad where he is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.
Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar were elected as Talabani's two deputies during the session in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone after weeks of wrangling over the line-up of the three-man presidency.
MPs predicted a new government should be in place by next week, with Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jafaari set to be named prime minister Thursday by the new presidential council.
As he was sworn in in front of a giant Iraqi flag, Talabani pledged to heal the country's sectarian divisions.
"We will spare no effort to present Iraq as a model of democracy... We hope to consolidate national unity... regardless of religious and sectarian backgrounds."
Talabani told reporters his presidency meant that "all Iraqis are equal before the law. It means that there is no discrimination, that all Arabs, Kurds and other nationalities have the same rights."
He also reached out to nationalists among Sunni Arab insurgents, hoping to peel them away from hardline Islamic groups like Al-Qaeda which are blamed for some of the deadliest attacks that have rocked the country since the US-led invasion of 2003.
"Those Iraqis who are carrying arms to fight foreign troops, they are our brothers we can talk to to reach a result," he said.
Talabani and his two deputies, who stood unopposed after weeks of bartering among Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, were elected with the support of 228 MPs.
The assembly erupted in applause when the names were announced, bringing to an end the tortuous negotiations that risked losing the faith of Iraqi voters who risked their lives going to the polls on January 30.
The election of the three-man council drew a warm welcome abroad, even from neighbouring countries with their own Kurdish minorities that have long worried about Kurdish power in the new Iraq.
"This political process shows that every component of Iraqi society has reached a consensus and is willing to start drafting a permanent constitution which is the basis for rebuilding an Iraqi state and putting an end to the occupation," Arab League assistant secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli told AFP.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Talabani was an "experienced politician".
"He is someone who values Iraq's integrity. Therefore I congratulate him."
Saddam and 11 of his top aides were to have watched the proceedings from their jail cells on a fortified US base in Baghdad, Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin told AFP.
"There will be a place in jail for Saddam and the 11 to watch the TV to understand their time is finished, there is a new Iraq and that they are no longer ruling the country; so they can understand that in the new Iraq, people are elected and they are not coming to power by a coup d'etat," Amin said.
Deputy parliament speaker Hussein Shahrastani said the presidential council would be sworn in at 3 pm Thursday (local time) and then nominate Jaafari as prime minister.
"The presidency council will take (the) oath tomorrow and nominate Ibrahim Jaafari, and we will have a few days to nominate the government," the Shiite MP said.
"Everything will be in place the beginning of next week or the end of next week at latest."
The appointment of Jaafari, leader of the Dawa party, a Shiite religious faction, will usher in a new era for the majority community, at the head of Iraq's government for the first time after decades of repression.
The main task for parliament and the new government will be to oversee the drafting of a new constitution and pave the way for fresh elections by December.
MPs plan to switch their sessions to the old parliament building used under the monarchy overthrown in 1958 - a giant sandstone palace in the Green Zone which now hosts the defence ministry - secular Shiite MP Ahmed Chalabi said.
Underscoring the continued violence in Iraq, a US soldier was killed in an ambush in Baghdad, bringing to 1,535 the number of US military personnel who have died since the invasion more than two years ago.
The Islamic Army in Iraq, a militant group that has taken several foreigners hostage, meanwhile released videotape in which it said it had decided to release two Sudanese hostages a month after saying it would execute them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 5:23:54 PM ||
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Kurd a president... I think that some Turks will be ill at ease with this result.
Adelphi, Md.: The Army Research Laboratory played a major role in the development of a shield to protect the Abrams tank's exhaust system against enemy threats during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The lab was contacted after reports of Iraqi troops zeroing in on the exhaust system in an attempt to put the Abrams out of commission. In addition, several Marine Corps vehicles also showed similar vulnerabilities against these threats, said Mike Zoltoski, the survivability technology coordinator in the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate.
The lab worked with the Program Manager for Abrams, General Dynamics Land Systems, Aberdeen Test Center, Army Evaluation Center and the National Ground Intelligence Center from the initial phase of design to the completion of the evaluation. "It was a team effort," said Zoltoski. "The whole process from design to test and evaluation only took about four days, and the results proved the shield offered valuable protection."
Critical to the effort was the Aberdeen Test Center, which constructed and evaluated the prototype shield against actual threat munitions and determined that the addition of the shield did not degrade the automotive performance of the Abrams. Similar shields also were developed for the Marine Corps' vehicles. General Dynamics Land Systems built 20 shields at the Lima Army Tank Plant, Lima, OH, which were delivered to Iraq within a week of first receiving the call for help. President George W. Bush specifically thanked workers at the plant for their role in the development of this item during his recent visit.
The Army lab has a long history of transitioning armor technologies from the laboratory to the field. The group of scientists, engineers and technicians that helped design the shield were also responsible for the armor designs used on the Abrams and reactive armor for the Marine Corp M60s, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker. Currently, they are working on lightweight advanced armors for the Future Combat Systems, including structural armor to protect against small arms projectiles.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 10:13:03 AM ||
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M60s? There are Marine units still using Pattons? I thought the last Pattons were given to the Army Corps of Engineers for offshore reef-building and harbor modifications in the mid-90s?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/06/2005 10:50 Comments ||
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Nope. They did use them in Desert Storm, the M60's made short work of the SRG T-72's. The M60 is well suited for Sand/Desert work, owing to it's lower ground pressure on the tracks, and it's efficient engine air cleaners. I don't think we used the Reactive Armor during DS, but the Israelis use it on their fleet.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/06/2005 11:46 Comments ||
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The M60 Patton main battle tank is now primarily found in US Reserve and National Guard units, but served as the primary US main battle tank for two decades prior to the introduction of the M1. Developed from the M48 Patton series, the M60 was fitted with a 105mm main gun and manned by a four-man crew.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 13:20 Comments ||
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I am pleasantly surprised to see that Lima, OH, is still churning out heavy equipment! They used to manufacture a lot of locomotives there in the past century or more.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/06/2005 13:23 Comments ||
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I've worked on Government contracts before: the turn-around time is incredible. Kudos to whoever rooted out the red tape (Even money says it was Rummy.)
April 6, 2005: The U.S. Army has the troops playing games that teach them what to look for, and the importance of reporting it, while on patrol. Combat troops tend to view intelligence collecting as a one way street. They are constantly lectured on the importance of reporting "useful" information. But whenever they do, they rarely hear back from the intelligence people if their report was useful. So, troops tend to avoid writing out intelligence reports. In Iraq, only about 1.5 percent of patrols result in an intelligence report. This drives the intelligence people nuts, because when they investigate incidents (any attack on American troops is an "incident") they usually find plenty of signs that would have enabled them to predict the attack.
So the army went and adapted a 3-D game engine to act as an intelligence teaching tool. Combat troops play the game by moving their game characters through realistic Iraqi locations. When they finish the patrol, the game tells them what they missed, and why it was important. The game is something along the lines of the traditional "dungeon crawl," where the players have ample opportunity to check out potentially useful items, and thus improve their situations. In the intelligence game, troops that report a lot of useful information are rewarded with a high score and other positive feedback. Originally, the army was going to release the game to the public, just like it has other training games based on commercial gaming technology ("America's Army" and "Full Spectrum Warrior" being the best examples.) But the intel people noted that the game could teach the wrong people about American intelligence collecting and analysis methods, and better enable them to deceive sharp eyed troops. So the game, a 43 megabyte download, will be available only to army personnel.
Actually, the troops are taught to look for the same signs that an experienced police detective or beat cop looks for, but with an emphasis on military experience. One thing that made the game so sensitive was that the intelligence troops providing the items to look for were using material from real events in Iraq. Many of these items dealt with current terrorist tactics and techniques. The intel people knew (from prisoner interrogations) that many hostile Iraqis were unaware of how well the U.S. Army had figured out they operated. Releasing the game to the public would have scared a lot of unfriendly Iraqis, but also given them a heads up on to what things they should not do to keep American troops off their tails.
The game was developed in twelve weeks, for $500,000. It will continue to undergo testing and refinement through the Summer, and will be released in the Fall. You'd think, with a war going on, there would be more urgency to get this into the hands of the troops. But because the army has a cash shortage, other items (personnel costs, training and getting people to Iraq, medical care) have higher priority, and additional money won't be coming from Congress until May (and the cash won't reach the troops until August), that won't happen. The army doesn't like to complain out loud about money shortages, as that just makes Congress angry, and invites journalists to serve up more stories about misuse of existing money. These stories don't have to be true, and most of them aren't, but they interfere with military operations (by diverting troops to deal with the additional internal reporting and investigations.) In the meantime, the intelligence people and game developers will tweak the game, and the troops will do without it.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 9:18:34 AM ||
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Mmm! As Fred Brooks pointed out in the Mythical Man Month more money and resources slows down a software project.
#2
They are constantly lectured on the importance of reporting âusefulâ information. But whenever they do, they rarely hear back from the intelligence people if their report was useful. So, troops tend to avoid writing out intelligence reports. In Iraq, only about 1.5 percent of patrols result in an intelligence report. This drives the intelligence people nuts,..
WTF? If the "intelligence people" can't be bothered to provide feedback, then why are they getting bent out of shape if the people in the field won't file intelligence reports???????????
#3
Combat troops tend to view intelligence collecting as a one way street.
Intel performance in supporting the unit commander at the tactical level was so bad in the first Gulf War, that when the Army was planning the directed downsizing shortly thereafter, a number of General Officers who'd served in the theater talked about doing away with Intel as separate branch and incorporating the functions/duties as secondary skill identifiers for other branch officers.
#4
Slightly off-topic, but another example of cause and effect. During the Viet Nam war, it was customary for B-52 crews at the end of 15 hour ARC LIGHT and BULLET SHOT missions out of Anderson AFB on Guam to grab a beer before the mission debriefs. The intel weenies demanded that the crews debrief before beer. The number of secondary explosions reported plummeted so precipitously that in less than a week the order was rescinded and the crews were allowed to sip the delightfully cold nectar DURING the debriefs.
#1
I would be interested in any comments on the Canadian Army's move to the Mobile Gun System which is based on the Stryker platform (e.g. with a 105 gun on top plus other variants) Can they replace heavy tanks?
ITANAGAR — The Arunachal Pradesh state government yesterday reacted sharply to China's claims that the region was a 'disputed area', saying that it was erroneous and the state was an integral part of India. Chinese ambassador Sun Yuxi had Friday raked up a controversy ahead of the landmark visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao by saying that the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh was still 'a disputed area' between the two countries.
"What's ours is ours, now let's negotiate about what's yours."
"China's claims and the statement made by its ambassador to India are erroneous to say the least. There is no dispute whatsoever and Arunachal Pradesh is very much an integral part of India," said Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin. "We have lodged a formal protest with the Indian foreign ministry over the Chinese ambassador's statement," Gamlin said. "The people of Arunachal Pradesh do whatever is required to protect and preserve its territorial integrity," he added.
That worked well last time, but this time could be different ...
Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who is visiting the border with China along Arunachal Pradesh yesterday, told journalists here: "I would not like to comment on the Chinese ambassador's statement." Beijing had in 2003 gave up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim, but was still holding on to its age-old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to them.
'cause it belonged to China in the 11th Century or something. They have a memory for this sort of thing that rivals Islam ...
The mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030km unfenced border with China. The Sino-India border along Arunachal Pradesh is separated by the McMahon Line, an imaginary border which is now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India and China fought a bitter border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on federal troops.
And someday they'll come for the rest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2005 12:52:13 AM ||
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This issue can wait until China has a legitimate government.
#4
Is this akin to a passing dog who used to live in the neighborhood and, in a fit of nostaligia, pisses on its favorite bushes, as in days of very fucking yore?
#5
What the hell is it with China and "disputed areas"? All your lands are belong to us!
They should chill out and worry about managing what they've got.
#7
Rightwing, I found this tidbit: Wen's trip follows a visit last year to China by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose party is no longer in power. During that visit India was able to get China to concede, though implicitly, that Sikkim, the Himalayan kingdom annexed by New Delhi in 1975, was part of India. Chinese maps show the northeastern state as an independent country.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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Sikkim, the Himalayan kingdom annexed by New Delhi in 1975...
In 1947, after the British withdrew from India, a special treaty was signed with the Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru giving Sikkim special status. In 1955, democratic progress brought about the institution of the Sikkim Council as a legislative body, under the 1955 Constitution, consisting of a President nominated and appointed by the ruler and Councillors. The Crown Prince travelled to New York in 1960, met and married a rich American, Hope Cooke. The wedding was performed in Gangtok according to Strict Buddhist rites. The old ruler Tashi Namgyal died in 1963 and the Crown Prince Palden Namgyal ascended the throne in 1964 who also died of cancer on 30th, Jan 1982 in America. Troubles arose in 1973, that had been brewing a year earlier, when the Sikkim National Congress demanded fresh elections and more representation for the Nepalese. Riots in front of the palace led to a request to India for protection, and the election of Kazi Lendup Dorji never popular with the Chogyal. An attempt was made by the Chogyal to block the meeting of the Legislature. The Kazi was elected by the Council of Ministers which was unanimous in its opposition to the retention of the Monarchy. Matter came to a head in 1975 when the Kazi appealed to the Indian Parliament for representation and change of status to statehood. The Kazi was elected the Chief Minister, ruling with the aid of cabinet. During the 1977 elections, to the Lok Sabha unopposed on the Congress ticket, the Kazi, later, after the change in the Government of India, joined the Janata Party.
A brazen attack on Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison that wounded 44 U.S. soldiers was evidence that the Iraqi insurgency remains deadly, President Bush said on Tuesday.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for last weekend's attack in which dozens of insurgents detonated two car bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces before the assault was repelled.
"I think it's a sign that they're still deadly, that these people will kill," Bush told reporters.
"They kill innocent life. Their strategy hasn't really changed. Their strategy has been one to kill as many innocent people as they possibly can in the hope that it shakes our confidence and shakes our will," he added.
Bush urged Iraqi citizens to reject the al Qaeda wing in Iraq and said he believed that they were doing so, pointing to the January elections in which Iraqis voted despite the threat of retribution from insurgents.
"We're after 'em," he said of the attackers. "And equally importantly, the Iraqi citizens are after them now. More and more citizens understand that these terrorists, like al Qaeda and Zarqawi, don't have their interests at heart."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/06/2005 12:08:45 AM ||
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Unfortunately Dubya gave them the line from which they could easily spin things in a misleading way. Dubya's point, it would seem, was to reaffirm that the enemy in Iraq are amoral killers. But of course the MSM take is that the "insurgency" retains the military potency .... that it never had. The Abu Ghrayb attack failed to achieve any objectives, and inflicted light harm (most US WIAs, fortunately, appear to have had Kerry wounds). The nitwits are welcome to undertake as many of those "complex" operations as they want. Looking at how the terms are used here, I think there's a decent case to be made that the label "complex attack" is an implicitly racist snub. Anything more complicated than somebody inaccurately firing what is likely a dud round in our general direction is termed a "complex attack." Given the amount of ordnance available, the low quality level of the security forces, and the utterly indiscriminate attack methods, the "insurgency" is actually rather mediocre when it comes to being "deadly".
Palestinian vice president Nabil Shaath pleaded Tuesday for urgent European financial aid ahead of Palestinian legislative elections in July. Shaath made the appeal to a group of visiting French deputies, a spokeswoman for the delegation said. "Mr Shaath explained that the majority of the Palestinian people don't want an Islamist state," the spokeswoman said in reference to the radical Islamist Palestinian group Hamas which plans to part in the July 17 polls. The EU is the largest donor of aid to the Palestinians. The office of EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in February that the bloc would provide the Palestinian Authority with EUR 250 million (USD 320 million) to help set up a viable Palestinian state and rebuild shattered infrastructure.
My surprise meter pinged a bit that a PA official was concerned about the influence of Hamas.
Posted by: seafarious ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Palestinian vice president Nabil Shaath pleaded Tuesday for urgent European financial aid ahead of Palestinian legislative elections in July.
I guess they still haven't found Yashole Yourafart's secret bank account numbers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/06/2005 11:53 Comments ||
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WONDERFUL NEWS! WILL THEY BE SENDING MY SHARE DIRECTLY OR WILL YOU FORWARD IT TO ME? I'M A POOR GRIEVING WIDOW, YOU BASTARDS!
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of the Sudanese capital yesterday in a state-sponsored demonstration against UN demands for war crimes suspects, including high officials, to be handed over for trial by the International Criminal Court. Organizers said as many as a million people took part in the rally, the strongest show of defiance by the Khartoum regime so far against Thursday's Security Council resolution demanding prosecution before The Hague-based court of 51 suspects identified by a UN commission of inquiry in January. Protesters directed much of their anger against British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French and US Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, but they also had harsh words for UN chief Kofi Annan. "Death to Bush, death to Blair, death to Chirac," chanted the demonstrators, many of whom traveled in from the provinces for the rally and arrived hours ahead of the start.
Ummm... Guys? When they're all on different sheets of music, that'll work. When some of them are on different sheets of music, that'll work. On the rare occasions when they're singing sweet harmony, that's not gonna work.
At the UN building, they called Secretary-General Kofi Annan a coward and an American agent. The state-owned mobile phone company MobiTel had publicized the protest march through a text message sent out to many subscribers on Monday evening.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A couple of B-52s paying the "Million Man" march a visit would've probably cleaned up this Darfur thing once and for all. And I'll bet Kofi wouldn't have said a word.
Jordan's King Abdallah yesterday asked academic Adnan Badran to form a new pro-reform government to replace the two-year-old Cabinet of Prime Minister Faisal Fayez. His nomination is seen as a sign of the king's efforts to forge ahead with political reform in the country and follows criticism of the Fayez government by Abdallah over its performance at an Arab summit last month. Jordan is also under pressure from the West, namely its allies in Washington, for failing to carry out satisfactory reforms, political sources said. "The new government will be tasked with accelerating the pace of reform and the new prime minister is a progressive man who brings with him wisdom and experience," a senior official said.
US officials expressed their displeasure with the lack of political progress during talks last month in Washington with Abdallah, the official said, noting that the United States is one of Jordan's main financial backers. "Jordan was a pioneer among Arab countries in the field of reform but it has been lagging behind over the past few years," a former Cabinet minister who declined to be identified told AFP. Jordan is also caught in a diplomatic row with neighboring Iraq, which accuses Amman of not doing enough to stop alleged Jordanian militants from infiltrating across the border to take part in the deadly insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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US President George Bush has warned Israel that there can be "no expansion" of illegal settlements under the US-backed road map to Middle East peace. Bush was reacting to a question about an Israeli plan to expand the Maale Adumim settlement outside Jerusalem, which has angered Palestinian leaders who warn it could derail peace talks. "Our position is very clear, that the road map is important, and the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements," Bush said six days before a summit at his Texas ranch with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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This high lights the biggest mistake Israel has ever made.
After Egypt & Jordan renounced their claims on Gaza and the WB Israel should have said "All right then, these areas are now ours as spoils of war." Then they should have mapped out exactly which (reasonably small) sections that they wanted to annex (including Jerusalem) and kicked out our assimilated anyone still there.
Then announce their new border and tell the Arabs to go make their own state in what was left.
Iraqi political groups reached agreement yesterday on the country's next president and vice presidents in a step seen as overcoming a political impasse and forming a new government. Leaders of the main political blocs said veteran Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani would be named president at a Parliament meeting today, more than nine weeks after millions of Iraqis braved insurgent bombs to vote.
Politicians said the two vice presidents will be Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite who was finance minister in the outgoing government, and Sunni tribal leader Ghazi Al-Yawar, the previous president. The alliance that won a slim majority in Parliament and the Kurdish coalition that came second in the polls have been arguing over the shape of the new government for weeks. They have also been trying to include representatives of the Sunni minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein but was left sidelined after most Sunnis stayed away from the Jan. 30 polls. There are only 17 Sunni lawmakers in the 275-member Parliament.
Disagreement over which Sunni would be vice president held up a deal, but political leaders said late yesterday that Yawar had been chosen over elder statesman Adnan Pachachi. Once the presidential council is appointed it must name a prime minister, who will choose a Cabinet. Shiites and Kurds have agreed that Shiite leader Ibrahim Al-Jaafari will be prime minister, taking over from secular Shiite Iyad Allawi. Jaafari is expected to be officially appointed tomorrow, political leaders said.
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04/06/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Do you think Bush, Bush and Clinton might drop by on the way back from Rome?
IT comes as no surprise that the Sudanese government together with a significant proportion of the population in the north deeply resent the intrusion of the United Nations into their affairs.
Resent and be damned. Stop killing the ÃŒntermenschen in droves and nobody'll care...
A week ago, the Security Council voted that suspects indicted for war crimes in Sudan's war-torn Darfur province should appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Yesterday, the ICC was given a secret list of 51 suspects accused by a UN inquiry team of war crimes in the province. The list is believed to include a number of Sudanese government and army officials, as well as Janjaweed militia and rebel leaders. The country has already been forced against its will into a peace agreement with southern rebels — an agreement which is likely to result in the south gaining independence in six years' time. In the view of the man in the street, at least in Khartoum, the agreement was largely the result of pressure by Washington.
Something about our repugnance for extermination, slavery, crucifixion, all those other little cultural things that make Sudan so uniquely Sudanese.
Once more outsiders are dictating terms to the country. Accordingly, people and government have set their faces firmly against cooperation with the ICC. The view is that if anyone should be put on trial, it should happen in a Sudanese court.
In which case they should move quickly. Give 'em a fair trial, hang 'em, and explain that you have laws against double jeopardy, even though you don't seem to have any laws against anything else...
Sudan's President Omar Bashir is reported as having sworn that he would never hand any Sudanese national to a foreign court, and there have been angry demonstrations on the streets of Khartoum.
Wotta surprise.
In normal circumstances, it would be impossible not to sympathize with the government in Khartoum. But these are not normal circumstances. People have died in Darfur in their tens of thousands — and are still dying. By the UN's own figures, 70,000 died between last March and October. Over the two years since the conflict flared up, as many as 300,000, possibly even 400,000, are thought to have perished and more than two million have been forced to flee. No one in their right mind suggested that the international community keep out of Bosnia or Kosovo. The same has to be applied to Darfur, a humanitarian catastrophe on a far greater scale. At the very least, if, as the Khartoum government insists, it has not supported the genocidal Janjaweed militias, then events are clearly beyond its control; the international community has a duty to intervene.
Those are the two choices: Omar is either in cahoots with the Bad Guyz, or his government can't control the Bad Guyz. In the latter case he's got no bitch if somebody else does it. In the former case, he should be on his way to the ICC himself — or maybe even to a real court...
Khartoum will simply not be allowed to defy the international community on this issue.
Oooh! Even the Soddies can see that!
Sanctions, so far avoided by the UN, which in fact has bent over backward to avoid demonizing Sudan (to Washington's annoyance), will be the inevitable result. As for Khartoum's attempts to present the court move as Washington's doing, hoping thereby to rally international anti-American sentiment to its defense, they will not work either. Washington was in fact opposed to using the ICC. It wanted a special African court. International sentiment is wholly on the side of the people of Darfur. It is time that Khartoum faced up to that fact and made moves to settle the problem before Darfur explodes into a full-scale secessionism.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2005 10:54:04 PM ||
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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.
A Moroccan Islamic militant who was reported yesterday to have been killed in fierce fighting in Saudi Arabia was one of the original founders of al-Qaeda's branch in the kingdom, sent there by terror chief Osama bin Laden to build the network, former militants said. 
MANAMA: A new Islamic watchdog could soon be set up to monitor people's behaviour. MPs yesterday voted to create the watchdog and it will now be put to the Cabinet.
Saudi Aramco plans to build a multibillion dollar export-oriented refinery with a 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity in the Red Sea city of Yanbu. This was disclosed by Khalid Al-Buainain, vice president of refining at Aramco, to reporters at an energy conference in Dubai. Investment for the plant will run to $4 billion-$5 billion, he said. Saudi Aramco wanted to form a joint venture with one or more international partners for the facility, he said. "We are talking across the globe to all refiners," he said, adding that the deal should be finalized "within a year or so." 
Saad B. Al-Matrafi, saad@arabnews.com 
SEOUL - North Korea has exported dangerous nuclear material through the international black-market network of the Pakistani scientist 
A STATEWIDE alert has reportedly been issued to Victorian police after death threats were made by the family of a man shot dead in a police raid. Mohamed Chaouk, 31, was shot dead by a Special Operations Group officer during a dawn raid on a house in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Distraught relatives of Mr Chaouk attacked police outside the house hours after the shooting and threatened to take revenge.
Many commentators on the late Pope John Paul II's ministry have noted his outreach efforts towards the Muslim world. Apparently it was a two-way street. On April, 4 Metin Kaplan, nicknamed the "Caliph of Cologne" and leader of the self-proclaimed "Anatolian Federal Islamic State" told a tribunal in Istanbul, "When I was in Germany, before the pope's death, I wrote him a letter, asking him to convert to Islam," adding that it was his "responsibility" as a Muslim to try "to bring the pope into the Islamic fold." 
Italy's leading news agency has denied reporting that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would attend Pope John Paul's funeral Friday after a story attributed to it circulated widely on the Internet. "Some people just won't stop even at a time of mourning for the Pope: among the deluge of false emails, viruses and spam, a false item attributed to Ansa is circulating about Osama bin Laden attending the funeral of John Paul II," the Ansa agency said. 
Some say his government is suffering from reform fatigue, others claim it is falling prey to the vices of power. Whatever the diagnosis, Turkish Prime Minister 
The United Nations 
Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir's lawyers have lodged an appeal against his 30-month conviction for involvement in the conspiracy behind the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. Attorney Mahendradatta on Wednesday (6/4/05) filed the 30-page appeal, which contains a letter from key witness Amrozi, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attacks that killed 202 people. The defense team has argued that South Jakarta District Court's March 3 verdict, which found Baasyir guilty of involvement in an "evil conspiracy" that led to the bombings, was based on a single police report alleging the cleric gave Amrozi his blessing to carry out the attacks.
ITANAGAR — The Arunachal Pradesh state government yesterday reacted sharply to China's claims that the region was a 'disputed area', saying that it was erroneous and the state was an integral part of India. Chinese ambassador Sun Yuxi had Friday raked up a controversy ahead of the landmark visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao by saying that the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh was still 'a disputed area' between the two countries. 
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of the Sudanese capital yesterday in a state-sponsored demonstration against UN demands for war crimes suspects, including high officials, to be handed over for trial by the 
Jordan's 
Iraqi political groups reached agreement yesterday on the country's next president and vice presidents in a step seen as overcoming a political impasse and forming a new government. Leaders of the main political blocs said veteran Kurdish politician 
IT comes as no surprise that the Sudanese government together with a significant proportion of the population in the north deeply resent the intrusion of the United Nations into their affairs. 
