Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul-Gheit said his country had made a significant contribution to a statement issued earlier by the Board of Trustees of the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) on Iran. The minister said, in a press statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Department, that his country had contributed to the addition of a clause to the statement, which was issued by the IAEA about Iran's efforts to enrich uranium. Abul-Gheit said, in an indirect allusion to Israel's arsenal of nuclear weapons, that his country had insisted that an IAEA resolution should call for keeping the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. He added that, thanks to Egypt, the resolution had called for implementing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty throughout the globe.
"It is only on these grounds" that Egypt endorsed an IAEA resolution slamming Iran's efforts to achieve uranium enrichment without help from Russia or any other EU state. The Egyptian minister called on the IAEA not to adopt any measures against Iran in the immediate future. He called on all parties to "return to the negotiation table."
#6
I'd credit Egypt with getting some eyewash for domestic purposes while voting the way Washington wants. Somehow I doubt anybody will want to bring up Israel after the Iran issue is dealt with.
#7
Egypt smells that western (US)blockade coming of Iran, and they really would like to stay in the US's good graces. Even Mubarak knows how to read tea leaves!
#8
No, I believe EGYPT does care about Iran having nukes - there is still simmering controversy in the Islamic world about which country or regions should be world Islam's SOLE CENTRE OF POWER AND INFLUENCE, i.e. INTERPRETATION. Iran having nukes basically removes Egypt and others from contention in favor of Radical Iran. ALSO REMEMBER, BESIDES HATRED OF THE SHAH, THE USA AND ISRAEL, AND WESTERN VALUES, THE AYATOLLAHS ALSO PROMOTED THE RESURGENCE OF THE OLD PERSIAN AND ISLAMIC EMPIRES, UNDER ISLAM AND IRAN, WHICH MEANS THAT ONE DAY RADICAL IRAN INTENDS TO ENGAGE IN A SCHEME OF REGIONAL CONQUEST. The UNO and America accepting a nuclearized Radical Iran vv fear of nuclear confrontation and conflict ultimately serves the empiric ambitions of the Mullahs. 9-11 > America must accept anti-sovereign, anti-American national Socialism-OWG or be destroyed; Mad Mullahs-AL Qaeda > America + world accept Radical Iran - Radical Islam- Global Caliphate, or be destroyed. Americans must choose their poison.
JOHANNESBURG - A South African court has banned the publication of controversial cartoons in the countrys newspapers at the request of a Muslim organisation, the group said on Saturday.
"Personal foul ... piling on ... against the court. We'll penalize 15 yards from the spot of the foul, repeat down."
A top newspaper editor said that he would challenge the decision in favour of the Council of Muslim Theologians taken late on Friday.
Council spokesman Ebrahim Bham told AFP, We went to court because (...) these cartoons and caricature of the Prophet Mohammed are well known to cause deep offence to Muslims throughout the world,
It has offended the religious sensitivities of Muslims. So we took whatever step we could to see if we could prevent that particular type of thing happening in South Africa.
Mondli Makhanya, editor of the Sunday Times, said, We regard this as a serious blow to the freedom of the press and have every intention of challenging the ruling when the matter returns to court. Quoted by the Sapa news agency, Makhanya said he had been asked by the Muslim group to undertake not to reproduce the cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper but had refused. We believe that if we were to have given an undertaking not to publish, we would invite similar demands and threats from anyone who felt offended by the stories we publish, he said. No credible newspaper can be held to ransom by the beliefs of a section of a population.
Too bad your countrymen don't understand.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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Human rights lawyers in Bangladesh say they are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of suspects dying in the custody of the elite anti-crime force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). They say 190 people have been killed in less than two years.
Only 190? Shoot, we have more Crossfire Gazettes than that, don't we?
The government admits to a figure of around 150.
... and all of them good boys who helped their mothers. Terrible. Just terrible.
The RAB was set up in April 2004 amid concerns about rising crime. It draws its personnel from the police and the military.
It's not another death squad, is it? Surely they're not just another death squad? It would break my heart if they were...
All that Sumon Ahmed Majumder's parents have are memories of their son. As they look at his photos tears pour down his mother Selima's face. The 30-year-old had witnessed the murder of opposition Awami League MP, Ahsanullah Master, in May 2004. Soon after, he was arrested on allegations of being involved in extortion - which his parents have always denied. They were told that he was then transferred to the custody of the RAB. The next they heard of him, he was dead. "I raised my child with great care," says Selima, sobbing. "Even if the world forgets him, I will never forget my Sumon. This is causing me terrible pain."
Okay, his mother loved him, but no one else did.
Bangladesh's law minister, Moudud Ahmed, was instrumental in setting up the RAB in 2004. "The law and order situation was bad and it had to be contained," he said. "Our police is inadequate. They do not have sophisticated weapons nor do they have sufficient training. It is not possible to raise the whole police to a sufficient standard."
Since most of them are hopelessly corrupt, he means.
And inept. Don't forget inept.
That, he says, is why the RAB had to be created. Its members are believed to be much more disciplined than the regular police force which is riddled with corruption. Dressed all in black with bandanas tied around their heads and wraparound sunglasses, they are a familiar sight on Bangladesh's streets. Even the labradors they use as sniffer dogs are black.
Any fem-bots?
The RAB has developed a fearsome reputation. In an average week two or three people are killed in incidents involving the RAB.
That's more like the 600+ we've read about.
Higher math isn't a prerequisite for journalism majors.
The authorities say most deaths happen during shoot-outs between law enforcers and criminals. These incidents have become so frequent that a new term has been coined in the country - "death by crossfire".
And we know how those work.
I've got steps one through twelve as macros..
"All those who have died in this crossfire all known terrorists and criminals of the country," said the law minister, Moudud Ahmed. "When the people see that this criminal in a particular area who was creating havoc for them and when they found him dead they celebrate."
"Yay, Dipu's dead! Time to par-tay!"
Mr Moudud says that he personally regrets the loss of life.
Or maybe it was the curry sauce.
But he argues that the RAB is not above the law and people can take its members to court if they believe a death was unlawful.
Theoretically, of course.
But it is not always easy. Sultana Kamal is a prominent human rights lawyer with the group, Ain-o-Salish Kendra She took up Sumon Ahmed Majumder's case, but says his parents were put under pressure from the start. "First of all it was the police who were not very cooperative," she says. "Then, of course, they got threat calls from different quarters that if they tried to do something they would be also dealt with. Even if people fight cases, at some point, it stops. "When the court issues the rule to the government saying, Why shouldn't this act of the government be declared illegal?' they are supposed to say something in return and they keep on taking time. So people get exasperated."
Sorta like the families of the victims of the criminals.
The Majumders eventually gave up. As they visited Sumon's grave in the pouring rain Selima's face was a mixture of grief and rage. But in Bangladesh, they said, you just cannot fight the system. They must now live with the fact that they will probably never get justice for their son.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Miscreants always complain. Miscreants admit being dacoits under interogation. Miscreants turn over a new leaf and show the RAB where the evidence is. Things go bad due to their accomplices poor aim. But they were good boyz...
#2
In Banga the policial parties are heavily criminalised. Local politicians from the Awami League have found it useful to contract out various killing and extortion to the local communist rebels, while the BNP has done the same to the Jihadis.
Every 4 or 8 years the government of Bangladesh changes hands, and all the terrorists and criminals who have been of assistance to one party are released, and a crackdown begins on those elements who have killed/extorted/intimidated on behalf of the now opposition.
Usually the party in opposition also suffers considerable killings of it's membership, which they rightly blame on the government.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/05/2006 4:54 Comments ||
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#3
Slip into the edge of death
Crossfire to the marionettes
Slip into the edge of death
Crossfire to the marionettes
We Shall Never Surrender!!!!
I can't believe that's ahead of RB in google crossfire.
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:02 Comments ||
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consistent with their refusal to arrest anyone other than people with pamphlets containing Mohammed cartoons. key paragraph:
Protests against cartoons satirising Mohammed continued around the world yesterday.
In London, a crowd of 1,000 Muslims clutching orange placards demonstrated outside the Danish embassy. Two dressed as suicide bombers were allowed to stand next to a police van while officers - who had made no arrests the previous day - tried to prevent photographers from taking pictures of them.
And Tony Blair-whatsa matter, come down with a sudden case of laryngitis? Oh that's right, gotta keep the missus happy by coddling radicals...
And WTF with the police officers? How are they going to face themselves, their friends, and loved ones if one of those dressed up "protestors" actually carries off a real suicide bombing. Like 7/7-remember, Tony?
UK-Your PC is the means by which radical Islam sets up its caliphate in the UK.
#4
The Sun is now running an excellent photo of one of the two dress-up suicide bombers. They're asking anyone able to id the f**kwit to contact The Sun asap.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
02/05/2006 13:06 Comments ||
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The Conservatives last night called on the police to arrest militant Muslims who threatened Westerners with violence during protests in London over newspaper cartoons that mocked the Prophet Mohammed. As fanatics - some dressed as suicide bombers - staged more protests yesterday, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the police should take action against what were clearly offences of incitement to murder.
At the height of the protests on Friday demonstrators chanted slogans threatening more London bombings, praising the "magnificent" 9/11 hijackers and waving placards saying "Massacre those who insult Islam", "Europe you will pay" and "Europe you'll come crawling when Mujahideen come roaring".
Mr Davis said last night: "Clearly some of these placards are incitement to violence and, indeed, incitement to murder - an extremely serious offence which the police must deal with and deal with quickly.
"Whatever your views on these cartoons, we have a tradition of freedom of speech in this country which has to be protected. Certainly there can be no tolerance of incitement to murder."
Scotland Yard said a decision not to arrest protesters was taken because of public order fears. It confirmed that police had received more than 100 complaints from the public about the protesters' behaviour.
In other words, Scotland Yard was afraid.
On Friday 500 demonstrators marched from Regent's Park Mosque to the Danish embassy in Knightsbridge to protest at the publication of "blasphemous" cartoons in a Danish newspaper, and subsequently in other countries and on the BBC.
Yesterday, more than 1,000 demonstrators staged a second protest outside the embassy. The only arrests made were of two men found carrying cartoons of Mohammed. Police said they had been detained "to prevent a breach of the peace".
That's right - they were a threat. The people calling for butchery and extermination were just peacefully expressing their deeply held spiritual views. Or was it that you are intimidated and don't want your throat cut?
They already admitted that when they decided not to arrest the protesters.
On Friday police provided a motorcycle and helicopter escort for the protesters. Video cameras recorded the events.
Escort? What's next? Rose petals on the road?
The Tory call for action is in stark contrast to the response from Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who blamed foreign newspapers for stirring up the row by publishing the cartoons. He said: "Re-publication of the cartoons has been unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong."
But the Tories defended the right of editors to publish them. Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general, said: "From what we know about the cartoons it is understandable that they have caused offence. However, the decision as to whether to publish or not is one of taste and decency that should rightly be taken by newspaper editors, broadcasters and their owners and is not one for government. Whilst it could be argued that these cartoons were reckless, it is almost certainly the case that they were not intended to stir up hatred."
As the clamour for action grew, police sources said there were no arrests on Friday because of fears of a riot. A senior Scotland Yard officer said: "We have to take the overall nature of the protesters into account. If they are overheated and emotional we don't go in.
Someone might get hurt, like us ....
"It's like a risk assessment; you have to look at the crowd you are dealing with. If we went in to arrest one person with a banner the crowd would turn on us and people would get hurt."
He said it was entirely possible that "key players" in the protests, some of whom were already known to police, could be pursued by prosecutors.
oh yes, quite possible, can't say more y'know, wink wink nudge nudge
The Metropolitan Police said: "Arrests if necessary will be made at the most appropriate time. The Met has several different means of collecting the necessary evidence should it be required post-event. All complaints made to police will be passed to the Public Order Crime Unit for investigation."
off of our desk as quickly as we can shuffle them
The style of policing employed for the protests appears to reflect a shift in strategy by the Met. Today the Sunday Telegraph reveals how Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner, has begun introducing "softly, softly" policing methods championed by police in Chicago.
Chicago - that bastion of sweet calm order and probity
Say what? You ever met one of the city's finest with baby blue helmet and baton in hand?
#1
The UK needs to hire some new Peelers. No excuses for not making arrests when threats are made. That goes for here in the US and over there in the UK. Terrorist threats are terrorist threats and need to have teh full weight of the law applies to them some of that is the weight of a well practiced riot squad with hard rubber battons.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 1:33 Comments ||
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#3
Please Note: I read this artilce online at the Telegraph website last night between 1:30-2:00 am (couldn't sleep).
I went to the Telegraph site this morning to link to the artilce. The article is still there, BUT the graph reporting the arrest/detention of the two "counter-protesters" carrying placards with Mohammed's visage has been removed from the body of the article. If you read the article now you'd never know two legitimate protesters had been taken off the street by Scotland Yard "to prevent a breach of the peace".
Good work lotp. You captured the article before the thought police censors had a chance to sterilize the report.
Disgusting double standard.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
02/05/2006 8:42 Comments ||
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#4
Um ... this article was from the BBC. But yes, there does seem to be a pattern here and in Australia.
#5
Democratic governments are supposed to defend freedom. To the death if necessary.
Not run away scared in the face of the standard violent muslim backlash against anything that offends their sensibilities.
Democratic governments folding in fear. Not a good sign.
Objection to muslim violence expressed through caricature is haraam.
Objection to cartoons expressed through violence and death threats and looting and burning and killing is accepted and defended.
This keeps up, it will result in riots in the streets. Average democratic joe isn't going to take much more of the double standrad. This is thin thin ice we're on.
Last week, Muslims marched in the centre of London chanting "Freedom go to Hell!" There could be no more graphic illustration of the paradox at the heart of the cartoon row. These protesters were exercising - and in many cases abusing - the freedom of protest and freedom of assembly that are foundation stones of British democracy. Yet, even as they exploited these hard-won liberties, they were calling for them to be abolished.
They're assuming that come the Caliphate they're going to be big shots. I don't think the concept of individual freedom even makes sense to people whose heritage descends from satraps and potentates...
This newspaper would not have published the cartoons of Mohammed at the centre of this controversy, images which we regard as vulgar and fatuously insulting.
Publishing the cartoons isn't a requirement. Having the freedom to do so is. The Telegraph might not publish them, but another rag might want to...
But - and this is the crucial point - we reserve absolutely our right to make our own decision, free of threat and intimidation. The difficulty is that what started as an issue of editorial judgment has become a question of public order. The protesters in London with their disgraceful slogans - "Behead those who Insult Islam", "Britain you will pay - 7/7 is on its way" - have made it all but impossible for a genuinely free debate on this issue to take place. All such debate is now being carried out in the shadow of murderous intimidation.
There's nothing to "debate." The cartoons were published as a mockery of Muslims' penchant for foaming at the mouth in response to any kind of perceived insult, existent or not. Sure enough, the foam is foaming, the spittle flying, and the death threats are coming fast and furious. No doubt Jyllands-Posten is surprised at the intensity, but they knew there would be a reaction.
In this wretched affair, no sight has been more wretched than that of Jack Straw last week kowtowing to militant Islam. "There is freedom of speech, we all respect that," the Foreign Secretary said, "but there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory."
But freedom of speech specifically means you have the freedom to do so. Otherwise, someone will have to be brought to task for every anti-American remark. They'll have to be indicted for every anti-Semitic remark. Brits won't even be allowed to mock Frenchies. But Straw is accepting that Muslims are different from the rest of us, and that the rest of the world has to walk on eggs around them, otherwise they'll act like they're acting right this moment. It's the same sort of attitude the Moose limbs themselves have, that they're beyond any concept of self-control, therefore the onus is on us to control ourselves.
How pathetic that Mr Straw did not find time to condemn the outrageous behaviour of protesters at home and abroad. Where, also, was Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, as Islamic militants called for bloodshed?
One place he wasn't was out front, hollering back at them...
The Government's response is especially feeble when compared to Margaret Thatcher's behaviour during the Salman Rushdie Affair. Whatever her private feelings about the author, she and her Cabinet colleagues were resolute in their defence of his rights. Even before the fatwah, she declared that "it is an essential part of our democratic system that people who act within the law should be able to express their opinions freely".
By Gad, they're right there. Has the West deteriorated so dramatically in the past 20 years? Or was the West like it is now back then, and Thatcher a better PM than the Brits deserved?
In this controversy, Mr Straw has been put to shame by the German home minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, who robustly defended the freedom of newspapers to make their own decisions. "Why should the German government apologise?" he said. "This is an expression of press freedom." In contrast, the British Government's craven response has sent a terrible signal: those who wish to see free expression curtailed need only light a flame, issue a threat and wave an angry fist.
Most of the women I know seem to have larger and better functioning testicles than Straw.
The bitter irony of the protests is that Britain proved itself after the July 7 bombings to be a tolerant, multi-cultural society. Quite rightly, the citizens of this country drew a sharp distinction between their law-abiding Muslim compatriots and the extremists responsible for the atrocities.
Then the gummint seemed to stop drawing the distinction and assumed the extremists were no different from the law-abiding Moose limbs. Nobody's been deported to date.
The problem is that militant Islam is not seeking a level playing field - equality before the law, for instance - but special treatment.
It's their baseless assumption that they're better than the rest of us, by virtue of their religion. I think of it as "delusions of adequacy."
Muslims expect, as they should, the benefits and protections of British pluralism but, in too many cases, baulk at the duties that are their corollary. One of those duties is to accept that, in a free society, there are occasions when each of us is bound to be offended. "Everyone is in favour of free speech," remarked Churchill. "Hardly a day passes without its being extolled. But some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like - but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage."
It goes beyond mere hollering at each other. I've been in lots of arguments in my life, but I've yet to pull a rod on somebody. Moose limbs as a group demand death to this person or that for whatever offense. They don't bother to argue. Apostate? Kill him. Blasphemy by any definition, but especially Muslim? Kill him. Splatter the Koran with snot? Kill him. Violence is their first resort. It's in the Koran, so it must be okay, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of whether they're in somebody else's country.
There is no excuse for gratuitous offence, of course.
There's no excuse, maybe, but there's no law against it. It's a matter of proportion. If I call you names, call me names back. They're demanding death sentences because somebody mocked them. What comes next? Execution for failing to say "excuse me" when you burp?
But some Muslims might like to consider how insulting their own views on women's rights, theocracy and Western practices are to many non-Muslims. The offensiveness of these views is no reason to close British mosques or Islamic newspapers.
That's a matter of opinion, of course. But even though I disagree, I doubt the Telegraph will have me killed.
The abrasions of a modern, multi-faith society are constant and need to be negotiated calmly and diplomatically.
Or ignored, as most Christians do images of the cross in vials of piss and images of the Madonna splattered with elephant dung. The assumption on the part of civilized folk is that the creators of such outrages are merely displaying the tiny dimensions of their own warped little souls. Christians allow God to deal with those persons' blasphemy, not presuming to usurp his position.
The proper boundaries of speech, art and humour are matters for continuous democratic review and consultation. What is completely unacceptable is that this debate should be carried out in a climate of fear.
That's precisely the intent of the Muslim reaction, though. By resorting to their bullying tactics now, down the road it will be easier to make further demands to curtail the liberties that make us what we are. Notice that the Soddies are in the forefront of the anti-Dansk rhetoric.
For let us not delude ourselves: it is violence, or the threat of violence, that has driven the decisions that have been made in the past week. At a time when reasonable dialogue is most needed, the supposed custodians of our democracy are allowing a gun to be held to its head.
As a result, our granchildren will regard them either as pusillanimous villains or as useless infidels.
#1
This newspaper would not have published the cartoons of Mohammed at the centre of this controversy, images which we regard as vulgar and fatuously insulting.
I'm dissapointed the Telegraph has copped out on this.
#2
Excellent commentary LOTP. The west needs to rise up and laugh as one in the face of these idiots. We should not issue counter-threats, instead we should mock them. Show them up for the infantile, dickless boneheads that they are. The more we laugh, the more they will froth and the clearer the distinction between our societies will become. Hell, maybe even some of them will start to notice that they look like fools.
BTW: a Jordanian editor published one of the cartoons (so that the lumpen proletariat could actually see what they were seething about) and called into question the muslim reaction to them. He asked what harms the image of islam more, some cartoons or repeated instances of suicide bombers killing innocents in the name of allah. The result of his action...he has been put in jail. In know, I know...Ethel, get my pills.
No, "democracy" - if that's what you want to call these craven losers who dhimmi up at the drop of a threat - is holding a gun to its own head. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 9:24 Comments ||
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#6
"Everyone is in favour of free speech," remarked Churchill. "Hardly a day passes without its being extolled. But some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like - but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage."
Remind anyone of our native leftists declaring any disapproval of their bleating to be "censorship"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2006 10:08 Comments ||
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#7
Get 'em Fred!
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:06 Comments ||
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#9
Nimble Spemble: I tried unsuccessfully to access The Sun's Page 2. For reasons not clear my browser freezes on Page 3. Not that that's a bad thing.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
02/05/2006 13:00 Comments ||
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#10
The Radicals care only that we're alive, NOT dead, and NOT making concessions to them or appeasing them by "justifying" Islam" for them, at our time and our costs and with no explanation from them for anything. We must unilaterally and unconditionally "learn" their merits andor surreal superiority, in return for demanding to accept being slaughtered by them no matter what we "learned" by their awesome instructional non-instruction. NOT THE WAY TO DO IT.
Security officials allowed British leftist MP George Galloway to enter Egypt on Saturday after being held 18 hours at Cairo airport, because he is on a blacklist, airport officials said. Reuters news agency reported Saturday, that the host of the British member of parliament intensified their efforts to persuade immigration authorities to allow him to enter as preparations were made in the airport for the prominent opponent of IRAQ WAR to leave Egypt, the officials added. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry became involved in the issue and agreed Galloway could enter the country, said an airport official who demanded anonymity. He was refused entry on grounds of national security, presumably by the secret police, said Ron McKay, spokesman for Galloway, an advocate of Palestinian rights.
Galloway is on a visit to Cairo to participate in a mock trial of the U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH , Israeli Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON and British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR for crimes they committed in IRAQ and the Palestinian territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, is there any way we can start a rumor that Galloway's really Danish?
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to jail diplomats and close refineries belonging to the U.S. unit of the state oil company in an escalating war of words with the President George W. Bush.
U.S. diplomats continue to engage in espionage in his country, Chavez told hundreds of thousands of supporters today during a government rally commemorating the 14th anniversary of his abortive coup attempt in 1992 against former President Carlos Andres Perez. He said he would jail U.S. diplomats caught spying, while challenging the U.S. to break diplomatic ties.
The two countries exchange tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats earlier this week. Chavez expelled the U.S. naval attache to Caracas on Feb. 2, which was followed the next day by Washington declaring a Venezuelan diplomat persona non grata.
``If the government of the U.S. wants to break relations with Venezuela, and they take the decision, it would cost me nothing to order the closure of the refineries we have in the U.S.,'' Chavez said. ``Then we will see where (the price of) oil will go, or a gallon of gasoline. It would cost me nothing to sell oil to other countries in the world.''
Actually, he's been diverting oil revenues to promote leftist movements throughout Latin America. Meanwhile his economy is eroding fast. Now he will pull the nationalization stunt to try to divert attention and control even more resources.
State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA's U.S. unit, Citgo Petroleum Corp. owns shares in four U.S. oil refineries and two asphalt plants, with a combined daily crude processing capacity of 756,000 barrels. The company also operates a 265,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Houston that's a joint venture with Lyondell Chemical Co. and has more than 13,500 U.S. retail fuel outlets.
Houston-based Citgo sells 8 billions gallons of gasoline every year, according to the company's Web site.
``We now sell 1.5 million barrels a day of oil to the U.S.,'' Chavez said. ``We have never missed our commitment.''
Venezuela could sell oil now going to the U.S. to India, China and Latin America, said Chavez, who said his government has proof of spying by U.S. diplomats. During his speech, he read several e-mails that he said proved U.S. staffers were engaged in espionage.
Chavez, who was dressed in a red shirt and wearing his trademark red beret, said the South American country, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, will also seek to build up its defenses by purchasing arms from other countries.
Venezuela earlier purchased 100,000 Russian AK-47s, and Chavez said he wants to buy enough weaponry to put 1 million men and women under arms in the case of an U.S. attack. The government will shortly submit a bill to Congress, seeking funds for the purchase, Chavez said. Beside more rifles, Venezuela will also buy rocket launchers, he said.
``We are in contact with countries where the U.S. can't do a thing,'' said Chavez. Chavez didn't name the countries.
The U.S. has attempted to block Venezuela arms purchases from Brazil and Spain.
yes - because those arms contain US technology and were sold under restrictions about resale
Chavez, a former paratrooper, also accused the U.S. of trying to influence the outcome of December's presidential vote. Chavez said he hopes to win 10 million votes in December. Venezuela has 14 million registered voters.
#1
it would cost me nothing to order the closure of the refineries we have in the U.S.,'' Chavez said.
Oh goody. A gold plated opportunity to seize the vast majority of Venezuelan foreign assets. Money for nothing and the refineries for free.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2006 8:49 Comments ||
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#2
And so it continues, chavez the useful idiot, takes the next step toward leftist hegemony. Anyone who does not already see this guy as the latest in a long line of useful idiots, cultivated for their probability for terror, and a population to loot, are just plain simpletons.
we have hugo formenting revolution and subversion in the us from his base of operations in venezuela, it was inevitable, and the kook in iran at the center of the middle east front.
Each are what they are, useful idiots in the ongoing battle to subvert freedom through subversion.
Its east to spot trends begause the formulas never change, IMO its humane to decpaitate these subversives well before the larger suffering is rolled out on everyone who opposes them. Homer Simpson presidents of failed ideaology, postured against a record that is clear, millions dead in their aftermath ( Pol POT MAO, Stalin, etc), the inevitability of this trend is clear.
#4
This comment is telling "If the government of the U.S. wants to break relations with Venezuela, and they take the decision, it would cost me nothing to order the closure of the refineries we have in the U.S.,'' Chavez said. ``Then we will see where (the price of) oil will go, or a gallon of gasoline. It would cost me nothing to sell oil to other countries in the world.''
Logic dictates non contradictory identification.
If hugo was truly a revolutionary for venezuela, why wouldnt he be interested in selling as much overpriced oil as possible to meet the challenges for venezuela? The answer is that he's not interested in his people, he's solely interested in his front that elevates himself within the lefts heirarchy of hegemonic cults of personality. Of course there are those who fail logic and reason, in order to latch onto one myth or another.....mr chavez is a myth, a legend in his own mind, driven by subversion, equipped with the tool of extortion.....
another piece of saran wrap masquerading on the world stage as someone legitimate.
#5
Chavez is a fly buzzing around our pile of dung that we call South America. He doesn't understand what he is messing around with, when he threatens to cut off our vital oil supply. A navy blockade would put a terrible strain on his little country in just a few days. Economic sanctions and seizure of state assets would be equally as bad. He should think before he opens his pie hole.
#6
TP7025, you could make your point about Chavez without the "pile of dung" label for all of Latin America. I'd rather not have to redact the good points you're making due to that sort of thing.
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:24 Comments ||
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#11
But he won the election fair and square. I certified it myself. I really think that President Bush should stop antagonizing this legitimate leader of a friendly nation. If that antagonism were to cease I'm confident that we would have a prosperous and mutually fulfilling relationship with the leader of Venezuala.
Thank you, yes, I do think I am rather smart. Hmmm, yes.
#12
jailing diplomats equals an act of war...go ahead Hugo
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 12:52 Comments ||
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#13
Sniff, sniff - Yet another unreliable, beer-bellied, defective, warmongering, anti-Perfectionist rapist molester abuser Male Fascist brute whom needs a Motherly, Perfectionist, Kindly Communist female like CINDY = HILLARY to save his soul and the entire country. WE LOVE YOU, JUDY DEAN - D *** YOU, AMERICA, STAND BY YOUR MADMEN!?
A SENIOR Islamic cleric has called on Australia's media not to publish the cartoons which have sparked riots across the Muslim world. Sheikh Fehmi El-Imam, the general secretary of the Board of Imams of Victoria, threatened warned reprinting the cartoons here could "disturb people who can do things that we don't want them to do".
"Really. They can't control themselves at all. It takes 15 or 20 years just to get them potty trained."
"In some parts of the world there is rioting against the Danish and the Dutch, we don't want that in Australia," the sheikh said today. As of course, the fault would lie with freedom of speech and the Aussies printing a cartoon. Of course everyone knows Muslims have an absolute right to violence if they are offended over a cartoon or anything especially in a western country.
"Unfortunately, New Zealand has (published the cartoons) ... I'm trying to avoid, to put far away, any possibility of disturbing the peace in Australia." good on ya New Zealand, bros i'm moving there
A Belgian-Dutch Islamic political organization posted anti-Jewish cartoons on its Web site in response to the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that appeared in Danish papers last year and offended many Muslims.
The cartoons were posted on the Arab European League's site on Saturday. It was not working Sunday morning because of exceeded bandwidth. The Islamic site carried a disclaimer saying the images were being shown as part of an exercise in free speech rather than to endorse their content - just as European newspapers have reprinted the Danish cartoons.
One of the AEL cartoons displayed an image of Dutch Holocaust victim Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, and another questioned whether the Holocaust actually occurred.
Dyab Abou Jahjah, the party's founder and best-known figure, defended the action on the Dutch television program Nova Saturday. "Europe has its sacred cows, even if they're not religious sacred cows," he told the program.
But it's not like you've gone into hiding, is it? No one's threatened to behead you? No angry mob outside your office with matches, gasoline and pitchforks?
Denying the Holocaust is illegal under most European hate speech laws, which outlaw intimidating or inciting hatred toward groups on the basis of their ethnic, cultural, religious or sexual identity. Complaints about alleged hate speech are common but prosecutions are rare and convictions very rare.
And if you were convicted and failed to get the conviction overturned, you'd end up paying a fine. You could plead poverty and get out of that, too. Sorta different than being shot, beheaded or burned, but what do I know?
The AEL espouses nonviolence but has gained a reputation for extremist views, and opposes Muslims integrating with non-Muslims. It promotes the participation of Muslims in political dialogue in European countries, but is internally divided as to whether or not to participate in elections directly.
#1
"One of the AEL cartoons displayed an image of Dutch Holocaust victim Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, and another questioned whether the Holocaust actually occurred."
And his point? Does he honestly expect the Dutch to seethe burn Arab flags and attack Arab embassies in response?
He's also an idiot; he can't have it both ways. Either Frank was a Holocaust victim, or there was no Holocaust. Pick one, asshole.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 14:09 Comments ||
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#2
bet that caused a bout of chronic muzzie masturbation - bandwidth exceeded by Al-Beavis and Abu Butthead...jeebus. W and Sharon were left out?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 14:10 Comments ||
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#3
New petition to counter all the pro Islam/anti-Danish ones.
http://www.petitiononline.com/bingo12/
Please sign the on-line petition against the British Muslim terrorists who were on the streets of London yesterday.
Muslim signatories especially welcome.
Posted by: Jane ||
02/05/2006 16:01 Comments ||
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#4
Muslim signatories especially welcome.
Yeah. Sure. That'll happen.
But, hey, this new cartoon shows the level of bravery among the jihadis. They're going after a teenage girl who was murdered by one of history's biggest murder machines.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2006 16:08 Comments ||
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The Vatican deplored the violence but said certain provocative forms of criticism were unacceptable.
"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2006 13:44 Comments ||
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#2
they should refrain from commenting - same as the State Dept - if they're gonna adopt the right of everyone muslim NOT to be offended, ever
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 13:58 Comments ||
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#3
"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers,"
Um, no. It does entail the right to offend. Otherwise you've got no freedom of thought and expression. If it did, pretty soon we wouldn't be able to talk anymore, lest anyone feel offended.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/05/2006 17:11 Comments ||
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#4
One of those damned if you do/don't situations. If the Vatican says nothing, they open themselves to the charge of consent and a further charged of hypocrisy when the Church complains when it is maligned. If they say something, well...
From our friends at Al Jeez. Enjoying, because I get the feeling that the reporter thinks he's dealing with a nutcase. And he is. It's nice to see it so clearly on display in Arab media.
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Sunday 05 February 2006, 10:34 Makka Time, 7:34 GMT
After Hamas's electoral triumph, Palestinians are in the news again, with thousands of them demonstrating against Denmark and European countries for publishing cartoons that they say depicts the Prophet Muhammad in an unfavourable light.
Last week armed Palestinian groups briefly surrounded a European Union office in Ram Allah.
Aziz Duwaik, professor of urban planning at the Najah University of Nablus, won a parliamentary seat in the recent Palestinian legislative elections.
His Change and Reform (Hamas) list won all nine contested seats in the southern West Bank town of Hebron at the district level, defeating the dominant Fatah party.
Aljazeera.net spoke with Duwaik at his Hebron home. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Aljazeera.net: Why have Palestinians been so strongly protesting against the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad?
Duwaik: These cartoons have been insulting to our religion and injurious to our feelings. They were meant to insult, provoke and offend Muslims. And they have succeeded. I call on the government of Denmark and the people of Denmark and the rest of Europe to stop insulting other people in the guise of press freedom.
We respect press freedom, but ridiculing and besmirching our religious symbols is not press freedom. There is a conspicuous malicious intent here, and people's right not to be insulted and offended overrides a Danish newspaper's right to insult the prophet of Islam. Besides, we are living in a global village now, and we should respect each other.
People in Europe value their liberties ...
And we value our religion and our prophet (peace be upon him). Press freedom is a great ideal. However, could one argue that Hitler and the Nazis were practising their freedom prior to the Holocaust? We know the Holocaust started with cartoons like this against Jews, and with books like Mein Kampf, and then came Kristallnacht ... and then we know what happened.
These cartoons are a reflection of rampant Islamophobia in Europe, which is very similar and nearly as virulent as the anti-Semitism that existed in Europe, especially in Germany, prior to World War II. This anti-Semitism eventually led to the Holocaust and the deaths of millions of human beings.
You see, when you send out thousands of hate messages against a certain ethnic or religious community every day, you make people hate these people, and when mass hatred reaches a certain point, nobody would object to the physical extermination of the hated community when it happens.
Do you fear a Holocaust against Muslims similar to what happened to the Jews?
Why not? The Holocaust was committed by human beings, not by citizens of another planet, and Germany, where Nazism thrived, was probably the most culturally advanced European country in the 1930s and 1940s.
But Europe is now democratic, unlike Nazi Germany?surprise meter jerked a little there. Welcome to our world.
Yes, but who told you those democracies don't commit genocide? America is a democracy, but we saw recently how this democracy invaded and destroyed two small and weak countries based on lies, while most Americans were duped into believing that Bush was doing the right thing.
Let's talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Do you still want to destroy Israel?
You are asking the victims of Israeli oppression, occupation and racism if they are interested in destroying their oppressors and tormentors? This is a tendentious question that should be asked to Israel, which is occupying our country and oppressing our people and carrying out ethnic cleansing against us.
In fact, all that we want is to be free. Is freedom for the Palestinian people tantamount to destruction of Israel?
Are you not are evading the question?Question, what question? It's not me, it's you.
I am not evading anything; it is you who is evading and ignoring reality here. Just take a look and see for yourself who is destroying whom, who is stealing whose land, who is savaging and persecuting and brutalising whose people, and who is practising ethnic cleansing and slow-motion genocide against the other.
But the question remains, how can Israel possibly talk with Hamas as long as Hamas refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist?Clear question, clearly put. Startling your interviewee doesn't get it, huh?
Why on earth should we recognise Israel while Israel refuses to recognise Palestine? Indeed, we can't understand why the international community, strangely enough including some Arab leaders, is demanding that we recognise Israel but making no similar demands on Israel that it ought to recognise Palestine.
But Israel is a reality while Palestine is not.just like dealing with a stupid child, isn't it?
Palestine is also a reality. There are nearly five million Palestinians living in Palestine and these people have an inherent right to self-determination. Do you think that we are children of a lesser God or something?
Israel has recognised the PLO and said it will accept President Bush's vision which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state that would live in peace alongside Israel?
The important thing is not what Israel says but what Israel does. Israel has built hundreds of Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank and transferred hundreds of thousands of its citizen to the occupied territories. This alone shows the mendacity of its claims regarding Palestinian statehood.
Are you implying that the creation of a Palestinian state is no longer possible or realistic?look, I think his surpise meter moved
Precisely. Israel has effectively killed all prospects of a genuine and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank. In a nutshell, there is no room left for a true and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank. The implanting of so many Jewish colonies has made the creation of such a state utterly impossible.
Will you be willing to negotiate with Israel?
Negotiation in itself is not the issue. The issue is our rights as human beings and as a nation. If Israel is willing and ready to come to terms with our human, civil and political rights, then we can negotiate, otherwise we will not allow ourselves to repeat the same failed process of the past 10 years all over again. We maybe weak politically, but we certainly are not stupid. the jury is still out on that one
The Oslo process was not a peace process. It was a process of deception and cheating and lies which enabled Israel to truncate our homeland with settlements and separation walls and roadblocks and closed military zones. We will not deceive our people as the Palestinian Authority did for 10 years.
Will you form a government of national unity, a government of technocrats, or a Hamas government?
We certainly prefer a government of national unity which we think would best serve the interests of our people. I believe that eventually Fatah will join the government.
But Fatah leaders have ruled out joining a Hamas-led government?
These statements by some Fatah leaders are mostly post-election reflexes; we understand how our brothers in Fatah feel after their electoral defeat. But I am sure that eventually some Fatah leaders will join the government.
What would you say to Palestinian Christians, some of whom might be worried about the aftermath of Hamas' election victory?
I think if these fears are real, and I don't think they are, they must be phobic in nature. The Christians of Palestine are our brothers, compatriots and countrymen. We are languishing under the same occupation and experiencing the same pain and suffering, hence it would be preposterous to even contemplate harming or even hurting these people.
at this point, it appears our fearless reporter packs up his stuff, rolls his eyes and leaves the nutbar to stew in his juices.
#4
Yeah, but what those Muslims don't understand is that Europeans aren't afraid of what Muslims might do to them; they're afraid of what they might have to do to the Muslims if things continue.
No one, but NO ONE, does violence like Europeans do. History has made them the all-time, world-class Grand Masters at profligate, genocidal carnage, and no one is more acutely aware of it than they-- and they do NOT want to repeat that history.
And that is where the fear comes from.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/05/2006 11:01 Comments ||
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#5
The Oslo process was not a peace process. It was a process of deception and cheating and lies...
Well, I agree with him on that point. But our perspective may be a wee bit different.
#6
This nut has victimization down to a garment. He wears that garment every day for all to see. And he is correct, Paleos are children of a lesser God. Children of a Greater God get jobs, build a prosperous life style and save for a comfortable retirement. Victimization be damned.
#7
Dave D - Here's a reference - not sure how accurate it is regards non-Civil War stats... Where it lists Civil War battles, it's utter and total bullshit, grossly understated. Must've been written by a Russian... I leave it to others to critique for accuracy.
#8
Guys, I reckon the cartoon explosion is manufactured and organised by Qaida.
This is groundwork for their next attack.
WOT is a culture war not a military war for them.
They will smack us and it will be something unforgivable like Beslan, but the turbans don't want to be unpopular with the street as they've been lately.
So they have to whip up anti-west blasphemy hatred first to harden the muslim street's hearts and make it harder for us to get co-operation in hunting down the bad guys.
Look at it tactically: what have they got to gain from this?
everything: make the Muslim masses seethe, get more money, more recruits, more sympathy.
Reports were radical imams slipped in 3 offensive cartoons not even published in the Dane paper and put them about to whip up hatred.
#11
One question on the why now Anon...Wasn't this whole thing sparked when multiple papers in several countries reprinted the cartoons? What was the impetus for doing that? The Imams weren't seething (and eye rolling, can't do one without the other, it just wouldn't do. Why they go together like eggs and bacon, or pork and beans or...well, you get the picture) over something months old, they were seething over the reprints I beleive. But, again, why were they reprinted. Was it because of threats to the Danish paper or the cartoonists? I know it was a statement of solidarity, but I don't know the spark that caused the other papers to do it.
#12
IIUC the Danish Islamacists tried to get the government to prevent the cartoons being published, and/or afterwards for an apology. Didn't get what they wanted, at which point they began the campaign to plan the uprisings pious protests.
And - as is obvious by the islamos rioting, arson, and threats of murder and terrorism over a cartoon - they're absolutely right.
Next question?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 14:14 Comments ||
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#14
"...and people's right not to be insulted...we are living in a global village now...Americans were duped into believing that Bush was doing the right thing...We maybe weak politically, but we certainly are not stupid..."
In a different venue you might think the speaker was...uh nevermind.
Phobia: An unreasonable sort of fear that can cause avoidance and panic.
Perhaps it's not as unreasonable as some people would like us to think?
Posted by: Steve ||
02/05/2006 15:04 Comments ||
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#16
"I reckon the cartoon explosion is manufactured and organised by Qaida...This is groundwork for their next attack...WOT is a culture war not a military war for them...They will smack us and it will be something unforgivable like Beslan, but the turbans don't want to be unpopular with the street as they've been lately."
You have a good point-they are getting more Muslims behind them with this-and your trepidation as well as that of others is certainly well-placed, but that must strengthen our resolve. 'Hearts and minds' was probably doomed from the beginning. We cannot hide from this fight now, folks. We should be at the forefront, but instead we are letting little Denmark do it for us. Yes, that's a first, and it's about time Europe woke up and carried its weight, but it is shameful that we are shirking our responsibility in confronting this HEAD-ON.
But who wanted or caused the heat to become so turned up and why at that this particular moment? The clue to the answers to this second question lies in a second event almost certain to occur to today, if it has not already happened by the time this blog gets posted. This is the likely decision today in Vienna by the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran to the UN Security Council for continuing with its programme of nuclear research. If that decision should occur, when the UN Security Council gets round to considering what form of sanctions to impose on Iran, guess to whom chairmanship of the Council will have passed. Youve got it... plucky little Denmark.
Suddenly, the pieces fall into shape. The rumpus suddenly escalated, complete with fabricated offensive cartoons, to so enflame Muslim opinion that Denmark could be intimidated directly through a threatened Muslim boycott of its goods, or indirectly by the EU fearful of a wider boycott, into voting in favour of Iran.
excerpt from longer article. Given the FT's usual political stance, it's significant that they published this piece by a Weekly Standard writer
[S]elf-censorship is at stake here: the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the murder of Mr Rushdie's Japanese translator and his Norwegian editor, the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands in 2004, the insistence on anonymity of all translators of the Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and so on. Bill Clinton, the former US president, and German Muslim leaders have also likened the cartoons to historical anti-Semitism. But this is cant. The worst threats and most unruly demonstrations did not object to any demeaning "message" in the cartoons. They objected to the sacrilege of depicting Mohammed at all. This is not a demand for respect or fair treatment. It is a demand that non-Muslims live by Muslim religious rules.
In recent decades, Denmark has been a haven for hardcore pornography, Nazi broadcasting and movies flogging the dead horse of European Christianity. One did not notice global leaders rushing to condemn the Danes. Are the Mohammed drawings so much worse than these? Or is it that they have been met with a credible threat of violence? The question ought to embarrass those western artists and intellectuals who style themselves "subversives". The subversion for which they pat themselves on the back is revealed as mere bullying - choosing targets who reliably turn the other cheek. The same goes for many politicians. Last week, as Palestinians threatened to kill any Norwegian found in Gaza, members of Norway's governing coalition threatened their own consumer boycott - against Israel.
Eighty per cent of Danes oppose an apology over the Mohammed cartoons. A delegation of Danish Muslims who toured the Muslim world last December to drum up outrage over the caricatures is now being accused of disloyalty.
That only hints at the tensions. Forty-five per cent of second-generation immigrant youth are unemployed and Denmark now has some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe. The situation is a tinderbox and the country no longer has any safe or simple choices. It owes its Muslim citizens respect and a chance at a better life. But it also has genuinely dangerous enemies who will view any efforts in that direction as a sign of pusillanimity and fear.
#1
Slightly tangental, but . . . notice where all the "outrage" is coming from? Radicalized Moslems in the West, and from the repressive Syrian, Saudi, Palestinian, and Iranian thougocracies. Haven't heard word one about riots in Baghdad or Kabul--the two Moslem Middle eastern countries with freely elected governments, formerly two of the worst thugocracies. (If there were riots in Baghdad, you can bet the MSM would be trumpeting it as more proof of failure, quagmire, and so on.)
Wonder what that tells us?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/05/2006 8:46 Comments ||
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#2
Anyone else notice how all the signs are (a) in ENGLISH and (b) apparently lettered by the same person?
"Spontaneous," my ass. ROPMA, too.
Hook these clowns up with their spiritual brethern moveon et al., and the only way to tell the difference between them will be the clothing.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 9:05 Comments ||
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#5
Guys I've got a feeling in me waters that this is a deadset Qaida plot: it is totally organised.
They could have picked on any affront, the cartoons are innocuous and printed last October. Old news. It all broke out in the same week. This is planned and I don't like it.
On the surface it looks like a propaganda gift to us, even lefties like freedom of speech it is a chance for us to get united against a common enemy. But the opposition is smart and they are trying to do the same thing I think.
Qaida have been unpopular lately with the street. May be planning big attack and trying to remove potential sympathy is my guess but I don't like the level of sophistication I am seeing.
Maybe not Qaida, maybe planning to attack Israel now Hamas in power?
Jostling for power among terror groups, campaigning for anti-blasphemy law.
It makes perfect sense.
It would play into their hands if people in Western nations got angry themselves and burned a Koran providing further provocation. Then the Islamist nutters would be released, people would die and the anti-blasphemy law would be passed.
So we must show restraint and strength.
Tell them to get stuffed we like freedom of speech, but not do anything to give them any excuses.
Perhaps this is why the State Department grovelled?
It's an important new alliance, but we should be clear-eyed about expectations
Camelia Mohorea stood outside the Vascov Nonstop shop with a big bottle of beer and a huge sack of pig feed, waiting for a ride home and daydreaming about American soldiers. "If the Americans come, they will give us a better life," said the 43-year-old woman, puffing on a cigarette as horse-drawn carts clomped by hauling hay.
U.S. soldiers have been the talk of this poor little town since last month when U.S. and Romanian officials announced that the Romanian air force base here would soon host the first permanent U.S. military presence in a former Warsaw Pact country. From the presidential palace in Bucharest, 130 miles west of here, to the humble little pig-and-chicken farms of this Black Sea hamlet, the announcement has been greeted with undisguised delight.
"The dramatic wish of Romanians at the end of the Second World War was to be occupied by the Americans and not by the Russians," President Traian Basescu, a cheerful former oil tanker captain, said in an interview.
Echoing a widely held sentiment here, Basescu said that while Romanians were looking west waiting for U.S. troops as the war ended, the Soviets swept in from the east, bringing a half-century of communism that kept Romania poor and backward while Western Europe thrived.
"It was something that was transferred from generation to generation that we would like very much to have the Americans on Romanian territory," said Basescu, who was elected in 2004 promising closer ties to the United States and Western Europe. Romania joined the NATO alliance in 2004 and is scheduled to join the European Union in 2007 or 2008.
The deal for the U.S. military presence here was signed in December by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu. Details are still being negotiated, but U.S. Army Col. Pat Mackin, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Europe, said troops could begin arriving by summer 2007. Mackin said the presence in Romania -- about 100 permanent headquarters staff members, and up to 2,000 soldiers rotating through at any given time -- would be far smaller than at traditional U.S. bases in Europe.
Mackin said the idea is to have smaller and "more agile" forces in strategic locations in Europe, where the United States is reducing its troop level from about 315,000 during the Cold War to as few as 65,000 over the next decade. A similar deal is being negotiated with neighboring Bulgaria, Mackin said.
Basescu said Romania sees close military ties with the United States as critical to its own security, especially in the face of what he called the increasing traffic of drugs, arms and illegal immigrants across the Black Sea region into Europe.
yes - we're not just strongarming them into this, they need help
They do seem rather sober and clear-eyed about their neighborhood, don't they?
Military cooperation between the two countries has increased markedly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, he noted, adding that Romania's more than 800 troops in Iraq and nearly 600 in Afghanistan would remain in place as long as the United States and those countries want them.
In November, The Washington Post reported that the CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe as part of a covert prison system that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe.
The Post did not identify the Eastern European countries at the request of senior U.S. officials, who said the disclosure could disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and could make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation.
Human rights groups have persistently identified the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, widely known as "MK," as the site of one of the prisons -- a claim that Basescu has repeatedly denied.
He said he allows the CIA and other U.S. agencies to land planes at the base but has never permitted a prison or any mistreatment. Personnel from the CIA and other U.S. agencies work in Romania at a joint anti-terrorism intelligence center that opened within months of the Sept. 11 attacks, he added.
"You can't be a partner of the United States only when you need advantage and the support of the United States," Basescu said. "Sometimes the United States needs your support, and this is what we are doing."
Can we have that statement bronzed?
The headquarters for the U.S. military's new Eastern European Task Force will be at the base, where 18 decommissioned MiG jet fighters with flat tires are parked along the tarmac as rusting echoes of the Cold War. Three other Romanian military sites will also be used for training, according to the agreement.
Times have clearly changed here since the Soviet Union collapsed: The base's main drag is called George Washington Boulevard. It was built by U.S. military engineers in 2003, when the base served as a stopover point for U.S. planes headed to and from the Iraq theater. The engineers also renovated a gymnasium and built a helipad, said Romanian air force Lt. Cmdr. Adrian Vasile, a member of the command staff of the helicopter squadron stationed here.
Vasile said Romanian and U.S. troops have conducted at least six major joint military exercises here in the past decade. "We are a reliable ally," Vasile said.
Outside the base gates, in this town of 10,000 where people live in crumbling apartment blocks or on ramshackle family farms, the talk one recent day was not of geopolitics, but of jobs, roads, gas pipes and water systems.
"We think the establishment of an American base here will be an opportunity for our little town for development," said Vice Mayor Gheorghe Ciocoiu, a former Romanian air force pilot who flew MiG-29s at the base for 13 years before retiring to "this place we love." He said an American presence at the base will mean more commerce and more local people employed in such jobs as bus driver and construction worker. "God knows how much we need investors to make the people's lives better," he said.
Along one of the town's dirt back roads, Catalin Gheondea was chopping firewood in a yard he shared with geese, chickens, turkeys and pigs. Like most people here, Gheondea, 28, said he struggles to get by on his animals and crops of corn and sunflowers. He said U.S. military exercises in the past have brought ripples of prosperity. "We could feel something happening economically in the community," he said. "They created jobs and opened shops. It was different -- people had money."
Nicoleta Coconcia, 34, who runs a little shop selling products that include "American Cola" and "Original American Quality" chewing gum, said American troops on the base will mean more business for her. "I think we will be safer with the Americans here," she said, setting a sandwich into a microwave. "During communism, we never talked about America; it was something unknown. But now Americans and Romanians are getting more acquainted. Whenever we talk about the Americans, people are happy."
#1
This would be an excellent place to begin recruitment of World Class Liberty brigades where multi nationals enlist and serve for citizenship. We need a New N, not the u n. We should commence at once using all means available to boost international enlistment to the cause of world Liberty.
The Military should expand awareness of its contributions to these local economies by investing in them, building facilities that serve and integrated population of those contributing to the US Service and those supporting said deployments by virtue of their labor.
#2
Didn't I just read this in the NYT or was it the WaPo, maybe the LAT? Thought not!
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
02/05/2006 9:48 Comments ||
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#3
"The dramatic wish of Romanians at the end of the Second World War was to be occupied by the Americans and not by the Russians," President Traian Basescu, a cheerful former oil tanker captain, said in an interview.
Well, no kidding. The Romanians(at the time)were German allies who were even more rabid fascists than the Nazis. However, I am pretty sure their experiences under the Ceaucescus have probably set them right.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/05/2006 11:06 Comments ||
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#4
The headquarters for the U.S. military's new Eastern European Task Force will be at the base, where 18 decommissioned MiG jet fighters with flat tires are parked along the tarmac as rusting echoes of the Cold War.
We won?
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:28 Comments ||
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#5
"You can't be a partner of the United States only when you need advantage and the support of the United States," Basescu said. "Sometimes the United States needs your support, and this is what we are doing."
Wow - Old school neighborliness - I thought it is was defunct. Good to see it is still around. I hope that we remain worthy of the admiration and respect, God knows we need the friends.
Sweden has become a multiethnic, multicultural and racially divided country in two ways: first gradually, then suddenly. The gradual part started with World War II. Sweden was neutral, but it fell under Germany's sway. Indeed, the historian Byron Nordstrom has described this neutrality as "a sham" and Sweden as a "virtual ally" of the Germans. Sweden provided million of tons of iron ore to the Nazis and permitted the free movement of troops across its territory. This neutrality would have two important consequences in the half-century that followed. The first was spiritual. The ambitious Swedish welfare state, defended in the first decades of the century on grounds of ethnic, and even volkisch, solidarity, was maintained and expanded, but on different rationales expiatory ones, you could say, like egalitarianism and humanitarianism.
The second consequence was logistical. At a time when all of Europe's infrastructure needed to be rebuilt or replaced, Sweden had one of the few undemolished industrial bases on the continent. In retrospect, its astonishing postwar growth rates 4 percent a year until the oil crisis of the 1970's and 7 percent for most of the 1960's were almost inevitable. All Sweden lacked was sufficient people to man its factories. A result was a series of temporary labor agreements with foreign countries along the lines of Germany's Gastarbeiter program ....
When the boom stopped all over the West in the 1970's, labor unions sought and got restrictions on work-force migration. But one door was left open: political asylum. Polish Jews fleeing state anti-Semitism and Greeks fleeing the dictatorship of the "colonels" began arriving in the late 1960's, and Swedish immigration since then forms to use a metaphor of the economist Torsten Persson "a ringlike pattern of political crises," from pro-Allende Chileans in the 1970's through Kurdish nationalists in the 1980's to Somalis and Bosnians in the 1990's. So began the "sudden" phase of the emergence of multiethnic Sweden. Since 1980, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, half of all residence permits granted almost 400,000 have gone to reunite families from various geopolitical disaster areas. A lot of these places were in the Islamic world. So Sweden now has a Muslim population of 200,000 to 400,000; the higher tally would place it among the most heavily Muslim countries in Western Europe....
Sweden suffered from bad decisions and bad timing. In 1985, it shifted responsibility for integrating immigrants from its employment bureaucracy to its welfare system. Then, between 1990 and 1994, squeezed between an expanding state sector and increasing global competition for its industries, Sweden underwent the worst economic collapse of any Western European economy in decades. G.N.P. contracted by 6 percent, and employment levels declined by 12 percent. This was the moment (1992) when asylum applications were reaching a peak of 84,000 a year to a country of only 9 million. The vast majority were accepted. That is, before family reunification is even reckoned in, Sweden was adding almost 1 percent a year to its population by welcoming some of the most desperate and traumatized people on earth.
As the Swedes scrambled to house these people, they ended up segregating them far from jobs .... and a familiar pattern emerges. RTWT, even if it is the NYT. We need to understand this history.
#1
I understand this history - and what's really behind it.
The Swedes, like their socialist leftie brethern, added all these "refugees" to their welfare rolls so they could feel good about themselves about how much they had "helped" those backward, uneducated brown people. (Who of course can't be expected to work or learn the language or assimilate or anything, since they're so uneducated and backward. And brown.)
Now the chickens created by the leftist, holier-than-thou socialists have come home to roost. In spades. With literally murderous intent.
And gosh darn, my sympathy meter is in the shop, where they're having huge problems finding repair parts. (I think they used to be made by one of those failed Swedish industries.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 9:21 Comments ||
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#2
Understood, Barbara. But here's the rub:
Sweden made implicit - and explicit - promises to those immigrants, and did not make demands. The result is a population of young men with no jobs, no skills, lots of free time, a subsistence income from the state .... and hugely simmering resentment, deliberately stoked by imams.
The reality is that in SOME places, Swedish living conditions for these immigrants really are rather nice, physically. But the Swedish economic and political structures get in the way of turning that into lasting prosperity and a sense of dignity that comes from work.
I'm not so much interested in criticizing Sweden, although I've done my share of that and they certainly deserve it. When even the NYT says they made huge mistakes, it's a given that people here (at least) are catching on to the fundamental errors they've made.
What I'm interested in is how this parallels places like Detroit in our country, and what we can or should do to disarm the ticking time bomb that these populations may turn into, here and in Europe.
And before you write off the Euros, take a look at how much of our exports are sold there.
#3
What we should do is start assimilating our immigrants again. Get rid of multi-culturalism and get back to Americanism. Bust the NEA and make strikes by govewrnment employees illegal.
If immigrants don't want to paly balll, they pay a price. If they want to live oddly like the Amish and the Mormons, there's still plenty of Montana available. Welcome to America. You're now an American. I don't care where your parents came from.
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:55 Comments ||
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#5
I agree with Robin that we need to understand this, and I'm a bit surprised that the NYT presents the article the way it does -- no fawning over the wonderful, egalitarian, multi-cultural Swedes, but rather almost a straight-up piece of reporting.
It's another example of the key difference between Europe and America. In America one can assimilate completely. You can have parents or grandparents from anywhere and be an authentic American. We all drink on St. Patricks Day, feast on Cinco de Mayo day, and Kwanzaa is just another excuse to eat.
But Europe won't ever let its immigrants assimilate. I wonder if it goes all the way back to Roman and pre-Roman times when waves of immigrants swarmed in from Asia. That east-to-west story was repeated many times over a couple of millenia, and I think it's part of the European subconscious -- outsiders are bad, outsiders are eventually going to take everything we have, we'd better not let them get too cozy here.
I have friends in Germany (as a number of R'burgers do), and it's interesting how, while they appreciate the hard work Turks do and realize that Turks in Germany have had the short end of the stick, at the same time they will never, never consider the grandchildren of Turk immigrants to be German.
In the end Europe is defined by race, ethnicity and religion. America is defined by attitude. That's the difference.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2006 12:19 Comments ||
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#6
Huh?
The Mormons didn't end up in Utah because of the scenery. They were violently driven out of many towns in the east because of their peculiarities.
#8
My mother's family in Germany traces back to the High Middle Ages, yet to the Germans they were always nothing but foreign Jews. The village we lived in during the 1990s celebrated its 800th anniversary while we were there... and many of the founding names were still listed on the tax rolls. In Switzerland anyone from the next village over, not even the next canton, is a foreigner, and therefore mistrusted. They do like their little games over there.
France says it has carried out the first deportation of a foreigner convicted of taking part in the November riots that swept the country. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said a 22-year-old man had been flown back to Mali. Six more expulsions will follow, Mr Sarkozy said.
In November, Mr Sarkozy asked local authorities to deport 120 foreigners held over the riots - but most cases were dropped as many were minors. Speaking on French television on Thursday, Mr Sarkozy said "it's taking a little while, because this is a state based on the rule of law, but when you're taken in by France and you're not French you do something other than setting fire to your neighbours' cars".
In three weeks of rioting, about 9,000 vehicles were torched, hundreds of schools and public buildings attacked, and more than 3,000 people arrested. It was the worst urban violence to hit France since the student-worker riots of 1968.
The soon-to-be-released Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) further empowers U.S. Special Operations warriors to find and kill, or capture, terrorists. The language in a late draft we've seen is fairly explicit, leaving no doubt that special operations forces (SOF) are out there, day in, day out, hunting al Qaeda members in uniform and out:
"SOF will increase their capacity to perform more demanding and specialized tasks, especially long-duration, indirect and clandestine operations in politically sensitive environments and denied areas. For direct action, they will possess an expanded organic ability to locate, tag and track dangerous individuals and other high-value targets globally. ... SOF will have increased ability to train and work with partners, employ surrogates, operate clandestinely and sustain a larger posture with lower visibility."
Special operations' budget has increased 81 percent since the September 11 attacks. The Army's school to mold new Green Berets produced 617 graduates last year, up from 282 in 2001.
#1
Yes, the army's special forces is going from 15 to 20 battalions. It will be a trick to expand that much and retain the incredible quality and depth of skills these soldiers bring. Lots of language and culture immersion as well as weapons, physical and other training.
OTOH I don't have a clue what languages and cultures the new battalions will focus on at first, but if they include (say) latin america, then perhaps that won't be as hard as it might be otherwise given the fine role that hispanics play in our armed forces today.
#2
Since they are also now recruiting directly from the civilian world along with the military, I imagine that as well as getting a lot of dropouts, washouts and kooks, they are also getting some serious stone killers who just don't care for "the Army way", but otherwise are superb at doing the voodoo that they do.
#3
This will be an interesting study in rushing to man SF units. How will a SOF troop train other armies in tactics when they have no experience in them? Imagine some kid out of the Q course training Honduran troops on jungle movement techniques. We will be able to train a guy off the street to be fairly competant in Direct Action but the more complicated FID mission is not for beginners. It's not about being a bad ass, the majic SF brings is in training other troops to fight and in understanding their culture, not just geographic but military as well. This has the potential for disaster, the old addage that Sf can't be mass produced holds true. Lets hope we take this slow and steady.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
02/05/2006 14:44 Comments ||
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#4
That's one reason I speculated on a hispanic / Latin America focus for some of the new units. A) we might well need them there soon - now??? and B) many candidates for the new SF battalions have a leg up in terms of knowing the language and culture
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 14:54 Comments ||
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#6
I thnk much of the increase is coming from regular Army and Marine infantry. These guys have seen the elaphant and know what they're about.
While they may be below the curve in language skills, they are already highly trained and experienced combat soldiers having skills including but not limited to engineering, light and heavy weapons, field medicine and communications.
I think these new operators will have a huge positive impact on the capabilities of the SOF community, just my $.02
#7
RJ, Drawing from the services is what its all about and I agree with you. The very best in the community are guys that have been there in the services and understand "two up and one back" is not how we should fight terrorism. Recruiting from the street is where I think we will screw up the community.
Lotp has a great point in our hispanic communities. As she eludes to Spanish speakers. The SF teams need to be from the areas they are going to. For example a troop with Honduran heritage will have problems with Mexican soldiers if we are going to help them with our borders, not that we are, but it would help if the troop was of Mexican heritage.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
02/05/2006 17:55 Comments ||
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#8
understand "two up and one back" is not how we should fight terrorism.
I'm not a soldier, but I confess I was taken aback when a tank commander from Gulf I, now an O-6, insisted that two forward and one in reserve HAD to be doctrine. I asked him where the front line was in Baghdad and he got red, then said quietly, "Okay, if we can impose a front, that's the way to go."
And I understand that from a tanker. But SOCOM is a whole 'nuther deal. Had the chance to talk with a SOCOM 0-3 back from ... places ... recently. Impressive as hell, in a quiet underspoken way. We talked about mission planning and the respect for (and involvement) of the entire squad in mission planning was palpable.
#9
lotp you are so right it almost hurts! We have 03's that have a better tactical and operation feel for how to fight and win this war than their senior leaders, not all but some. The 06 you talked to was, as we call it, "Fighting the last war". Our young officers and NCO's will carry this all vol Army well into 2015. Time to let the old dogs who can't seem to change with the battlefield retire out.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
02/05/2006 21:49 Comments ||
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America sent our way a paltry $91million in 2001. Then came September 11. In 2002, we got a wholesome $1,151 million. In 2003, Bush announced a five-year $3 billion aid package. In 2004 and 2005 we received $411 million and $726 million, respectively. Thanks to Bush, the World Bank -- where America has 265,219 votes -- committed a three-year $4.5 billion loan. Thanks to Bush, the Asian Development Bank -- where America has 565,919 votes -- committed $1 billion a year for the next three years. Japan resumed her yen loans, the equivalent of $500 million a year, and the UK promised an additional $150 million a year. Additionally, expatriate Pakistanis keep sending back an average of $350 million a month.
To top it all, the US Department of Defence has been depositing a cool $100 million a month into our treasury for the last four years. The US forgave $3 billion worth of bilateral debt, and then convinced the Paris Club lender nations to reschedule a large portion of our $38 billion bilateral debt on easy terms. Add it all up -- and thank Osama -- for the total bonanza is going to be a colossal $40 billion.
Yes, our large scale manufacturing (LSM) is growing like it has never done before. Yes, construction activity is at its best since 1987. The stock market is booming and corporate Pakistan is richer than ever.
To be certain, the $40 billion 'window of opportunity' that opened up right after 9/11 shall eventually close. We ran a budgetary deficit as well as a trade deficit before the window opened up. We were, in effect, a twin-deficit economy.
Count the years and the 'window of opportunity' has now been open for more than four years. Here is what we have managed to achieve: From July 2005 to December 2005, we imported goods and services worth $13.6 billion and our exports stood at $8 billion; a six-month trade deficit of $5.6 billion. Our annual budget now shows total resources of Rs698 billion and expenditures of Rs986 billion; a deficit of Rs288 billion. Somehow, we continue to be a twin-deficit economy.
On December 25, 1979, another 'window of opportunity' had opened up when Leonid Brezhnev sent in troops to invade Afghanistan. On January 21, 1980, President James E Carter, in his state of the union address, identified Pakistan as a 'front-line state' in America's global 'war against communism'. During that 'window of opportunity' the CIA pumped in some $5 billion to $8 billion. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the then head of Istakhbarat, Saudi Arabia's secret service, matched the CIA dollar-for-dollar. Pakistani expatriates sent in an additional $3 to $4 billion a year. The total bonanza from our previous 'window of opportunity' had added up to some $30 billion.
On February15, 1989, the last Soviet soldier walked out of Afghanistan, and soon afterwards our 'window of opportunity' was no more. Alas, we had nothing to show for the $30 billion bonanza.
Our macro economy is now doing better than ever before but what about our micro economy? Yes, our gross domestic product is growing like never before but who is minding our gross domestic problems? Parts of Pakistan are shining like never before but how many Pakistani lives has 'shining Pakistan' really touched? How many additional Pakistanis now have access to basic necessities? Is justice being dispensed? Are we using this 'window of opportunity' to build either a political or an economic infrastructure to keep us going when the window is no more?
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist
Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Posted by: john ||
02/05/2006 08:14 ||
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#1
Quite a nice return on the $100,000 investment sent by the ISI to Mohammed Atta.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2006 8:36 Comments ||
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#2
I'd love to slam down the window of opportunity on the outstretched fingers of paki islamism.
Posted by: Rantburg Interiors to Go ||
02/05/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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Students from various colleges protested on Saturday, against the blasphemous cartoons of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) published in European newspapers and demanded that the Danish ambassador be ousted from Pakistan.
Daily Times forgot the sneer quotes around "students".
Students from Government Commerce College, Government College Peshawar and Islamia College Peshawar gathered in front of the Peshawar Press Club and held protests in front of the Governors House. The protesters carried placards and banners, which said, punishment for this crime is death and the person involved in this heinous crime should be brought to the International court of justice.
Ummm... There's an international statute about drawing cartoons?
The students demanded the government recall its diplomatic mission and cancel all diplomatic ties with Denmark.
Good idea. Then Denmark can toss all the Paks within its borders.
However, for the first time in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amals history, it did not abide by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MMAs central general secretary, directives. Despite a countrywide call by Fazlur Rehman for MMA activists to protest over the publication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI peace be upon him) in the European newspapers, none of the religious parties responded. Hafiz Attique, Jamaat-e-Islamis (JI) provincial secretary (information) told Daily Times that JI had scheduled a protest rally on Friday to express solidarity with Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Ok, on behalf of the West, I will apologize for the offensive cartoons.
The following conditions need to be met first, however:
1) Formal apology for blowing up the statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan by the Taliban. You remember, the ones that were considered to be world treasures by the UN? Yeah, those ones.
Clarification as to what the Buddhists did to you guys in the first place to get you so inflamed with rage would also be appreciated, because quite frankly, for the rest of us, it's a big huge WTF?
2) Formal apology for believing that crap that Newsweek stated about us flushing the Koran down the toilet.
I expect dimwitted hacks to not realize how difficult it is to flush a large book, since heaven only knows when they last picked up one not written by another "intrepid journalist speaking truth to power". But since this book is, by your statements, the major tome of your religion and one you are intimately familiar with, couldn't you figure out that maybe there would have to be a loo of epic proportions to flush it?
I mean, c'mon, have you seen those "water saving toilets" we're cursed with here? The hidden Shiite imam will arrive at Tehran International Airport before we get through the beginning sura!
3) Formal statement that cartoons depicting the Israeli leader eating children, or movies depicting other Hebrews of stealing body parts or using blood to make matzoh are so 2003. A few cartoons showing Jews with baby ducks, kittens and adorable puppies would be nice, but I'm not hoping for a miracle.
4) Formal statement that what your co-religionists are doing in Darfur is a disgrace. No, I don't care if the 235,987th most learned imam says it's ok, either.
You have until I walk over to the CVS or the Walgreens to make up your minds. If such statements are not issued by the time I decide which one I'm going to (could take a moment, since I have to check the sales flyers first), this hormonally charged woman is going to buy a tin of Danish butter cookies. Or two.
For my cravings rage will not be appeased any other way. Remember when Fatima was pregnant and just had to have those donner kababs at 3 am and all the stalls were closed?
That's what you're dealing with here, pal.
Make the statements, or Copenhagen's getting my $5.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday lodged a strong protest with Denmark and several other European countries over cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed (PTUI peace be upon him), the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry summoned the ambassador of Denmark in Islamabad to express their anger at the cartoons and also called in the envoys of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Hungary, Norway and the Czech Republic. At the meetings at the ministry of foreign affairs, Pakistani officials lodged a strong protest against the publication and reprinting of blasphemous sketches, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. Pakistan demanded an immediate action by the Danish Government against the newspaper, Aslam said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Hi Rantbuergers,
The first question, Why the Rantburgers are so quite about this Islamic outrage about the cartoos of Islamic prophet?
I have a few things to say.
Once in India I had to decide, as a group leader of a field trip of about 75 students, whether to stay for a week in the housing unit of a mosque which was reasonably comfortable or to reside in a rundown Hindu temple. Most of us were Hindus. It was a rainy season in north India and the rain water leaked every where in the temple. The conditions to stay in the housing unit of a mosque were two. Not to sleep with feet in the direction of Mecca (i.e. west) and not to cook and eat meat from animals which were beheaded. The only meat we intended to eat was chickens since no pork of beef was available in the open markets in north India at that time which is about 40 years from now. I decided to accept the conditions of staying at the Mosque since, we cared little about the direction we Hindu sleep and there is no guide line for Hindus whether to eat meat from the animals whether beheaded or not. The hospitality of the Muslim community was great for us. Unfortunately, about 10 people of high cast (Brahmins) in our group stayed at the rundown Hindu temple and were miserable since every night it rained and they were wet and sleepless.
The whole reason I mentioned my experience is very simple, If the western civilization need help from the Islamic countries, please respect their faith and culture, otherwise tell hell to them, destroy them to the inhalation if you dare to do so, other wise kiss their ass and be ready to have your daughters raped by these Islamists. It is as simple as I said.
#3
I once made the mistake of showing the "Cartoon History of the Universe" to some Hindu's and Pakistanis.
Bad Mistake. Both couldn't deal with the cartoons and the relaxed viewpoint. They asked me why I didn't want to kill the author for what he said about Jews and Christians....
Told them I thought it was funny and they left shaking their heads....
40 years ago I had ambivalent feelings about Muslims and Muslim cultures. And it wasn't from lack of exposure, I had traveled or worked all across North Africa. To me their cultures were all similar, very fascinating on the one hand but depressing stuck in the past, with little prospect for change.
The idea of Political conflict between America and any Islamic county was of course possible because of the proxie wars going on between the USA and the Soviet Union.[eg. Algeria sort of]
That said, The alien idea that there could be a war with religious elements involved or a war over religious differences between the USA and another country wasn't even in the basic software of the modern American brain.
That stuff was all ancient history. right?
Suprise Suprise Today it seems possible, maybe even probable.
Another interesting note [maybe], as living is the best teacher, I can clearly see now, how religious wars are tangled up with political ones and visa versa.
Members of Saudi Arabia's Shura (consultative) Council said the kingdom was initiating reforms of its own volition and U.S. President George W. Bush should stop acting as if he were the "sole agent for reform" in the world.
"Saudi Arabia is the country that has been most responsive to demands for reform in the region, but reform, under the leadership of King Abdullah, is not linked to calls from the United States," Mohammad al-Zalfa told AFP.
"We don't want the U.S. president to ask the kingdom every now and then for a statement of account of what it did on reform," he said after Bush called on allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia to expand political reform.
"Saudi Arabia has taken the first steps of reform -- now it can offer its people a better future by pressing forward with those efforts," Bush said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
"A process of reform is under way, starting with war on extremist ideas which feed terrorism. But reform needs time. It's not a push-button operation," said Zalfa, one of 150 members of the advisory body appointed by the king.
"We urge President Bush and his administration not to interfere as if they were the sole agents for reform in the world."
Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hulwah, who sits on the council's foreign affairs committee, said there was nothing new in Bush's call.
"The Saudi leadership is pressing ahead with the reform drive, as would be clear to anyone following up what's happening -- whether at the level of municipal elections, the expansion of civil society institutions, transparency in the media, or expansion of women's participation (in public life)," he said.
Saudi Arabia held landmark male-only elections last year to pick half the members of 178 municipal councils. The other half were appointed by the authorities.
But Hulwah welcomed Bush's call in his address for a drastic cut in U.S. oil imports from the Middle East, saying this would help Saudi Arabia conserve this strategic resource instead of continuing to pump at high levels in order to preserve the stability of world oil markets.
#2
It seems to me that it's more important that Germany take care of the Islamic threat at home, and that her Armed Forces be trained to be useful as an army, rather than temporarily taking young German men off the unemployment list.
#7
If Merkel upped defense spending directly when unemployment is so high and her govt is trying to whittle away at social benefits a bit, she'd be out of office stat, I think.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2006 The Iraqi National Police Commando Division is on track to replicate other elite national police units, the division's American training commander said during a briefing from Iraq today.
"We think that the future is to take them to a true national police force, to where they're badge-carrying and qualified officers enforcing the Iraqi rule of law," said Army Col. Jeffrey Buchanan, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 75th Division, likening the force to the Italy's Carabiniere or France's Gendarmerie. "That's the future. That's not where we are right now."
To date, the division has been operating as urban light infantry rather than police, said Buchanan, who serves as commander of the Special Police Transition Teams for the National Police Commando Division and 1st Mechanized Police Brigade of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.
The division, however, is a long way from where it started Buchanan said. The Iraqi commando division began as one battalion in August 2004 with no coalition assistance, Buchanan said. It now numbers four brigades of up to 2,600 men per brigade. The total authorized end-strength for the division is 11,000, and the current total force strength is about 8,900, he said.
"They're really searching for quality rather than quantity," the colonel explained. "They recruit only through word of mouth. We don't have recruiting centers set up in a mall or something like that. And basically every guy that comes in is known to some of his fellow comrades, which is a way that they have of cutting down potential infiltration."
Throughout Iraq, the commandos are responsible for conducting counterinsurgency operations, gathering intelligence and establishing a secure environment for other security forces. "The commandos typically accomplish that mission by conducting raids, cordon-and-search operations (and) reconnaissance," Buchanan said. These operations are conducted both independently and in conjunction with coalition forces, he said.
Buchanan has one Special Police Transition Team embedded in each police organization down to the battalion level, he said. These teams of 11 American servicemen and two to four Iraqi interpreters are primarily responsible for coaching, teaching and mentoring the commandos and the mechanized police brigades, he added.
This instruction includes how to handle one of the division's greatest strengths: aggressiveness. Buchanan said his teams lead by example and work to ensure that the Iraqis' aggression doesn't go over the top. "They tend to be aggressive, and they will hunt down the enemy. Sometimes that aggressiveness has the potential to get them into trouble," he said. "But the fact is that we're addressing it and we're being effective in helping to shape their behavior."
Those behaviors were learned during Saddam Hussein's regime. Most of the commandos served in Iraqi special forces units. "The fact is, most of the people in this country have learned and operate the way they do based on 35 years of experience," he said. "Right now we're shaping behavior. We're starting to affect values, but changing values is going to take a long time."
In hopes of truly making this Iraq's Year of Police, police transition teams also will embed in regular police services throughout Iraq, Buchanan said. The hope is that proficiency will increase by embedding the teams of coalition advisers with the regular police services.
One thing the commandos have learned is the U.S. Army's value of selfless service and what it means to live in a democracy, he said. "Democracy requires individual sacrifice for the good of society and (the Iraqis) are doing just that," Buchanan said. "They, like their coalition teammates, put the needs of their fellow men, their units and their nation above their own.
"It's truly an honor to serve with all of these men, both Iraqi and American," he said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/05/2006 11:22 ||
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Senior Hamas member Musa Abu Marzuk described the Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel as "an error, which can be rectified," speaking to reporters in Cairo Sunday.
"Where are the borders of this country? Are the settlements included in them? What will happen with the right to return?" Abu Marzuk demanded. "Until these questions are answered satisfactorily, we will not even consider changing our stance."
Abu Marzuk's comments came shortly after Damascus-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal said last week that Hamas would never recognize the legitimacy of the "Zionist state which was established on our land". Just in case it wasn't clear already
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 15:18 ||
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#1
Deport them. Syria still has room for a few more self destructive psychos.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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#3
This is like paying kidnappers ransom money. The dollars are only going to be used to fund terror. At a minimum it lets other dollars that are flowing into Ham-Ass be used for terror while this money is used to buy felafal, pita and hummus.
#5
$45 Million in S&H Green Stamps - good luck with that Abu
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 13:09 Comments ||
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#6
Is this capitulation to an extortionist demand or a prudent calculation based on a likely outcome? Seems to me, now is not the time to place over-emphasis on principle when making these decisions. With a single issue you may paint yourself into a corner adding decades to resolve multiple concflicts.
The UN Security Council on Friday said all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Referring to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which scored a clear victory in the Palestinian polls last month, the 15-member council endorsed a statement stating that the future Palestinian government must be committed to the international roadmap for Middle East peace. The Security Council welcomes (Palestinian) President (Mahmud) Abbas affirmation that the Palestinian Authority remains committed to the roadmap, previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the statement said.
The text, read by this months council president, US ambassador John Bolton, stressed that all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to the aforementioned instruments and principles. It said all members of a future Palestinian government must disarm and recognise Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed with Hamas leaders on Saturday to convene the new parliament on February 16, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told reporters. Haniyeh, one of three Hamas leaders to meet with Abbas in Gaza, also said afterwards that the group would seek to speed up formation of a new Palestinian government in February, although Abbas had not yet formally asked them to do so.
Abbas has said he may formally ask a party to form a government only after parliament convenes. We are starting the process and we are sure that within February we will be able to see a new government, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said. Abbas and Hamas leaders met on Saturday in their first talks since the Islamic militant Hamas routed his Fatah Party in parliamentary elections. Hamas delegates arrived for the meeting at Abbas Gaza City office in a convoy heavily guarded by Hamas gunmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2006 00:00 ||
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Hamas delegates arrived for the meeting at Abbas Gaza City office in a convoy heavily guarded by Hamas gunmen.
It's just like the US 2000 election only different. Jimmuah sez thisn a real democracy.
And Iran is anxious to get the income. Sanctions? we ain't worried about no stinkin sanctions ....
With the UN referral issue creating uncertainty about India's future relations with Iran, the Petroleum Ministry is fairly assured of the supply of five-million-ton contracted liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran.
Putting to rest speculations that the $20-billion LNG deal with Iran may be in trouble, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said the 5 mt per annum LNG deal was legally binding, and that there was no need to address it afresh. The ongoing negotiations with Iran are for the additional 2.5 mt per annum, which India wants to buy, the official told Business Line.
He clarified that the issue of pricing for the contracted 5 mt LNG was not discussed during the recent high-level meeting between the two countries in Tehran.
While the Ministry feels that the contracted gas deal would come through, there is realization that the negotiations for additional 2.5 mt per annum would be tough, not just because of the way India finally votes on the referral issue but also because the new Government in Iran has some new ideas about gas exports.
As regards the delay in ratification of the contracted 5 mt from the economic commission of Iran, the official said there was a delay, but it was mainly due to internal discussions in that country. Since LNG supply is scheduled from the second-half of 2009-10, there is no cause of immediate concern, he said.
The LNG supply is also linked to ONGC Videsh Ltd getting 10 per cent interest in the development of the onshore Yadavaran oilfield and 100 per cent in the 30,000 barrels per day Juffair field.
Pricing issue: Recently, there were reports that Iran had sought an increase in the price, not only for the additional 2.5 mt per annum but also for the contracted 5 mt. These reports said that after having signed a Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) last June to export five-mt per annum of LNG at a price linked to $31 per barrel crude, the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) had now informed India that the price agreed to was no longer valid.
Three separate SPAs were signed in June 2005 between NIGEC and GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation for export of five-mt of LNG. An agreement for an additional 2.5 mt could not be reached due to the higher price being sought by NIGEC than what was agreed for the 5 mt.
Their response to McCain and Frist saying military intervention may be needed
. Member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Gholam-Reza Karami said on Sunday that Iran is too trong to be intimidated by existing hue and cry.
Speaking to Basij (volunteer) students members of the IRGC in Kerman, he said recent resolution issued by the IAEA Board of Governors has ignored Iran's legitimate rights for peaceful use of nuclear technology; therefore, the Iranians should never give up their legitimate rights. "The only way to safeguard the nation's legitimate rights is to confront the bullying powers," he said.
On recent harsh stands taken by the IAEA Board of Governor against Iran and its subsequent reporting Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, he said the US and European countries are fully aware of the fact that Iran does not have any nuclear weapon and is never in search of it. During the past two years some 1400 IAEA inspectors inspected Iran's nuclear facilities and complexes and installed cameras to monitor the country's activities, he said. Since two years ago, the country has abided by NPT additional protocol without Majlis approval in a bid to build confidence, clearly declared all its activities and fully cooperated with the IAEA inspectors, he said.
In the meantime, the Western countries who chair IAEA's Board of Governors have not accomplished their commitments in dealing with the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and have equipped Israel with over 200 nuclear warheads, he said. They even refused to assist those countries lacking in nuclear technology, he said.
The Iranian scientists braving all economic sanctions, managed to get access to nuclear fuel cycle, he underlined.
"get access" ie he admits they got it from someone. who might that be???
"KHAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!
The reason why the Western countries oppose Iran's peaceful nuclear technology is that the Iranian people have declared that hey will never allow anybody to treat them as slaves, he said.
"Why should certain countries have access to modern technology but want others to be deprived of it?" he questioned.
maybe cause we invented it and would rather not have it used to kill us????
Foreign media try to promote disappointment among people while they have forgotten that the Iranian nation since early days of the Islamic Revolution has been facing economic sanction and by grace of God has overcome it, he said.
The Iranian nation has reached the conclusion that it should adopt a firm stands in dealing with such issues, he said.
He called the recent measure taken by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as timely and courageous and said the president in fact has implemented the ratification of the Majlis.
Via No Pasaran
Hope the Turks like nuclear armed Shiites next door.
In the most expensive Turkish film ever made, American soldiers in Iraq gatecrash a wedding and shoot a little boy in front of his mother. They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the groom in the head and drag those left alive to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.
Valley of the Wolves Iraq, starring Hollywood actor Billy Zane as an American army officer, feeds off the increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbour toward their longtime NATO allies - the Americans. The film, which reportedly cost some £5.6 million, is a work of fiction and does not purport to level allegations against American troops, but it is part of a new genre of popular culture in Turkey that demonises the United States. Maude, fetch me matches and a map to the Turkish embassy. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2006 08:25 ||
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and this is different from war films produced in our countries - how?
Iran will ban passage of oil tankers in the Gulf if its oil exports are sanctioned, said a senior official Saturday. "If a ban is imposed on our oil exports, we will not allow oil tankers to sail in the Gulf waters," Mehr news agency quoted Sulaiman Jaafar Zadeh, member of the national committee for security and foreign policy in the Shura council, as saying. He said with the current circumstances, the western threats over "our nuclear file will not materialize." The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors had agreed earlier today to refer Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council (UNSC).
Nah, it'll never happen. Don't panic boys, Mahmud had it all under control and the infidels are quaking in their boots, they're committing suicide on their aircraft carriers and throwing themselves into the sea, their soldiers are massing at our borders to surrender ....
Zadeh said the US and other Western countries "don't have the ability to take decisions in the Middle East. The Iranian supremecy in the region cannot be denied, and any threat or pressure on Iran will make the west receive a severe hit in Afghanistan and Iraq," he added. He said Iran was cooperating with IAEA to have its rights to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Iranian supremacy - of course! Why didn't I see that? Someone get on the horn to Rummy and tell him we're outnumbered and should pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Maybe JF*ckinK and Cindy whasserface could intercede for us ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2006 1:34 Comments ||
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"If a ban is imposed on our oil exports, we will not allow oil tankers to sail in the Gulf waters," Mehr news agency quoted Sulaiman Jaafar Zadeh, member of the national committee for security and foreign policy in the Shura council, as saying.
Sounds like the members of this committee have "Kick Me" signs taped to their backs...
#6
Just on Friday these boys were boasting that Europe needs them more than they need European goods.
Might be ... but the same isn't true for the world at large. Man, I can think of lots of ways to commit suicide, but mining the Gulf to keep **their oil exports away from, say, China** is one of the more painful ones.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 7:24 Comments ||
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Seems that way. But given the number of earthquakes in that country, refineries might be a risky proposition ... very expensive, delicate and prone to being damaged or going BOOM when the earth shifts.
#11
They have some domestic refining capacity but only about 30% of demand and enough in the pipeline to last 60 days. All gone in 90. Once the shooting starts...
#12
The Straits are a major reason that the Saudis built pipelines cross-country going West and refineries on the Red Sea in Jeddah, Yanbu, and Rabigh.
#13
The Iranians import 1/3 of their gasoline. They are streamlining current refineries and building 7 more to meet all domestic needs.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2006 9:06 Comments ||
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Have these mooks ever heard of a Nimitz class carrier and battle group? To say they have control of the region is one thing, to say it to the Admiral of the fleet is quite another.
#15
Remember that little naval battle we had with them in the Straits back in 1988, after they mined a U.S. warship? They were outclassed and outgunned then too, but it took sinking a number of their boats and ships and pounding their facilities with naval guns to get them to knock it off.
Now they're quite busy fortifying sites along the coast and stockpiling supplies. They're quite capable of doing something stupid along these lines again, unfortunately. And they may just be trying to provoke us into an action that they will say justifies nuking Israel or setting off a dirty bomb in NYC ....
#16
China needs to take note, their Coming out party, the next Olympics will be despoiled if these srtaits are closed for long, construction on event sites is furious. This trend will have a deliterious effect on their ability to meet deadlines. China needs to get real, its population needs forward momentum, not regression to the mean. The chicoms know how stupid and counter productive their hegemony is, yet the top of the food chain cant get enough of the dough their siphoning off. China listen up, your good looking side is built on capitalism, not socialism, there is nothing within your present landscape, that is related to your revolution. Its pretty clear, that if you want the world stage as a hegemonic state, India stands ready willling and able to fuel the next economic miracle. Logic dictates the elimination of your own contradictions......Olympics with Star power, or Olympics with the face of your original revolution....think about it, because it is the crux of your bisquit.
#17
Time for a little Brer Rabbit strategy. Please (pronounced - Paaaleeeeaaassssseeee)Iran, don't block shipments of oil through the Gulf - that would be an act of war.
#19
lotp writes, Now they're quite busy fortifying sites along the coast and stockpiling supplies.
Sounds like they're preparing for war in, oh, 1915 or so.
They really, really don't understand the transformation of American military power the last 20 years or so. They really don't get how precise we can be, how destructive, and how we can do it either long-distance or up-close-and-personal. That has to be the explanation, because they're preparing to fight a war they can't win. I mean, if they were rational at all ...
... oh yeah, that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2006 12:45 Comments ||
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Being Fully Prepared for the Past, thats the worlds ticket, these leaders whose ascendency is based on whatever cult of personality, has pushed them along. Truth is they have no chance of being credible and no purpose for occupying the rest of the worlds bandwidth.
#23
Like the Dems, i.e. Gore, Kerry, and Dean, the Iranians = NorKors, etc, > ARE FIGHTING TO LOSE AGS AMERICA, NOT WIN. The focii for now is aysmmetric warfare [nuclearized], where Anti-American American leaders and pols, amongst others, induce Amer's volunteer Army to be overstretched/encumbered in myriad regional "quagmires" while simul inducing Washington to domestically take over everything and anything in the name of Safety, Security, Protection, and Responsibility [ e.g. NOLA and now West Virginia Mines]. The glitch is that, in the end, America will NOT be allowed to govern its own newfound global empire won by the work, sweat, and victory of its own warriors - the USA isn't even allowed to remain sovereign. THE DEMS ARE RINOS AND CINOS FOR A REASON - ANY FUTURE POTUS HILLARY AND CHELSEA WILL BE THE LAST HURRAH FOR FREE AMERICA AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BEFORE AMERICA GOES FULLY SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST, BEFORE AMERICA BECOMES THE USR OR AMERIKAN SSR. Will say again that the Dems prob is NOT alleged Rightist Fascist Socialist Amerika waging war around the world for 9-11, ITS A LEFTIST COMMUNIST SOCIALIST AMERIKA NOT BEING THE FINAL OUTCOME. The Dems/Left > SOcialist Commie Amerika will be achieved by any means necessary, where VOLUNTEER = BEING FORCED =....................@ infinitum.
I don't know about you, but I've been getting a laugh out of the Danish Mohammed cartoons since mid-December. Such a rich vein of comedy cries out for more japery and while I can't draw worth a darn, here are some of my own offerings in the eternal quest to picture all sides of the mysterious one.
Hit the link, but put down food and drink before viewing #2 and #3. Strong stomach recommended. :-D No clue how to make the pictures appear here (or if Fred wants them on his bandwidth.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/05/2006 14:27 ||
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If they were trying to offend, it might have backfired, because the second cartoon is kinda funny :-) Certainly no one's going to torch any embassies over these.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/05/2006 17:29 Comments ||
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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.
JOHANNESBURG - A South African court has banned the publication of controversial cartoons in the countrys newspapers at the request of a Muslim organisation, the group said on Saturday.
Human rights lawyers in Bangladesh say they are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of suspects dying in the custody of the elite anti-crime force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). They say 190 people have been killed in less than two years.
The Conservatives last night called on the police to arrest militant Muslims who threatened Westerners with violence during protests in London over newspaper cartoons that mocked the Prophet Mohammed. As fanatics - some dressed as suicide bombers - staged more protests yesterday, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the police should take action against what were clearly offences of incitement to murder.
Security officials allowed British leftist MP 
France says it has carried out the first deportation of a foreigner convicted of taking part in the November riots that swept the country. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said a 22-year-old man had been flown back to Mali. Six more expulsions will follow, Mr Sarkozy said.
Students from various colleges protested on Saturday, against the blasphemous cartoons of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) published in European newspapers and demanded that the Danish ambassador be ousted from Pakistan. 
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday lodged a strong protest with Denmark and several other European countries over cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed (
The UN Security Council on Friday said all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Referring to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which scored a clear victory in the Palestinian polls last month, the 15-member council endorsed a statement stating that the future Palestinian government must be committed to the international roadmap for Middle East peace. The Security Council welcomes (Palestinian) President (Mahmud) Abbas affirmation that the Palestinian Authority remains committed to the roadmap, previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the statement said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed with Hamas leaders on Saturday to convene the new parliament on February 16, Hamas leader 
Iran will ban passage of oil tankers in the Gulf if its oil exports are sanctioned, said a senior official Saturday. "If a ban is imposed on our oil exports, we will not allow oil tankers to sail in the Gulf waters," Mehr news agency quoted Sulaiman Jaafar Zadeh, member of the national committee for security and foreign policy in the Shura council, as saying. He said with the current circumstances, the western threats over "our nuclear file will not materialize." The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors had agreed earlier today to refer Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council (UNSC).
