A Taliban leader, Jalaluldin Haqqani, on Wednesday warned Afghans not to work with the government or the Afghan army and "occupation forces" in an audio recording released on Al-Jazeera television. "We warn all those who work with the porous government, in the national army, with the occupation forces or in the adminsitrative system, to refrain from doing so," he said in the recording described by the Qatar-based channel as the first by the Taliban chief since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Since being chased from power by the US-led military coalition, the Taliban have joined criminal groups and various mafias in a rebellion against the Afghan government and its military allies.
I keep coming back to the idea that the enemy consists of comic book or pulp magazine-style villains. The talk like comic book villains, their tactics are those of comic book villains, and they fergawdsake look like comic book villains. There's no subtlety to them, not even a good set of lies. There's no talk of "throwing off the yoke of foreign oppression," no promises however false of freedom and dignity. They brazenly intend to impose a yoke of domestic oppression on Afghanistan (and the same applies in Iraq and in Kashmir and wherever else you find turbans) and they're openly antithetical to the very concept of freedom.
Perhaps that comic book aspect is why the Europublic and a considerable portion of our own American public doesn't seem to take them seriously. In any sort of reasonable world, these guys would either be wearing jackets with very long arms or be hunted down and killed without mercy, wherever they exist. Instead, the political set tries to ignore them or dismiss them, while jockeying for short term position, be it the next election or who gets the next gas contract or arms sale. I used to think I was a pretty smart fellow, but I'm obviously missing something here, because the reaction of those who should be expected to know better just doesn't make sense.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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The other thing the comic book veneer does is to make thugs like Hu look virtually civilized. If it weren't for these clucks, people would be focusing on what is going on in China. They are doing such a favor for China, I would not be surprised to learn China is giving them more money than France.
#2
I must be missing it too. When the marines come around on patrol, you say "they're in that cave over there" and they will kill them for you. Do they want to remain miserable and isolated?
#3
What makes you think Afghans believe they are miserable and isolated? And the Marines move on and the Taliban stay. The best thing for the Afghans to do is lower their heads til;l the firing stops and then find out who won and what the new rules are. Then start a rebellion against the winners who start to look like losers. It's fun.
#5
There's no subtlety to them, not even a good set of lies. There's no talk of "throwing off the yoke of foreign oppression," no promises however false of freedom and dignity.
The cornerstone to Saudi Arabia's first private aviation school was laid yesterday at Thumama Airport, just to the north of Riyadh. Riyadh Governor Prince Salman laid the cornerstone of the new flight academy. He was accompanied on an inspection of the plans of the school by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, secretary general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, who initiated the idea of the academy. The opening was held in the presence of a large invited audience of ministers and guests from Riyadh's diplomatic community.
A flight school. How nice. Why am I not comforted by this development?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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"Landing an aircraft? Why would we wish to teach that?"
#5
Director Mueller, director Muller... our LEGAT in Riyadh says they're not offering the landing portion of flight instruction. Oh damn it Jenson, why do you always smother me with the details!
North Korea has charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame to Pyongyang, adding artists with blood-shot eyes in Japan are making cartoons attacking Pyongyangs leaders. A spokesman for the Ministry of Peoples Security said in a statement the North had obtained shocking evidence Washington and Tokyo are producing false material that gives the impression Pyongyang is a criminal state, the Norths KCNA news agency said late Wednesday. The CIA secretly enlist(s) experts on counterfeiting notes claimed to be the most sophisticated in the world and invite(s) them to issue lots of fake currencies at counterfeit notes printing houses of North Korean-style operating in US military bases in different parts of the world, the spokesman said.
US Treasury officials have briefed various governments about Washingtons suspicions that North Korea has for years been producing a high quality copy of its $100 bill. US officials have dubbed the copy the supernote. Although Pyongyang denies complicity in any counterfeiting activity, at least $45 million in such supernotes of North Korean origin have been detected in circulation, and estimates are that the country earns from $15 million to $25 million per year from counterfeiting, the US Congressional Research Service said in a report in March. The North Korean spokesman said the US Central Intelligence Agency had enlisted the help of artists in Japan to produce and distribute video tapes and CDs that falsely accuse North Korea of violating human rights and conducting illicit activity.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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"charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame to Pyongyang"
Wow, that's all they can come up with? Did they hire Michael Moore or Jimmuh Carter to come up with their stuff now?
Dear Leader's best propaganda guys must have starved over the winter.
#2
ASIATIMES.com and ASIADAILY.com had good articles about how Dubya & America don't appear to have discovered CHINA's covert role in NORTH KOREA's Internat money laundering + arms proliferation to counter US influence and policies, espec in Asia.
#3
KCNA has gotten pretty boring lately. I suspect that it's related to the recent near disappearance the blood-curdling Friday sermons coming out of the Muslim world. (In my highly suspect opinion, the "cartoon war" was probably tit-for-tat retaliation for MEMRI, LGF, Rantburg, etc., forcing your typical "sons of pigs and apes" Friday sermon underground. Losing the ability to propagandize over the airwaves was a big blow for the imams as they try to manipulate a semi-literate society.)
As long as no one really read his articles, Army First man could keep spewing forth about rings of fire and nuking Japan. But with the Internet, you've got to deal with the embarrassing consequences as this stuff starts getting spread around. Now your ambassador in Budapest is suddenly getting emails every day asking if his country really means this. Even a thick headed idiot like Kimmie gets the picture eventually.
I really wasn't joking when I said a few months ago that a few websites are fighting the information war almost single-handedly. My hat's off to Fred and all of the others fighting the good fight.
#10
North Korea has charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame to Pyongyang, adding artists with blood-shot eyes in Japan are making cartoons attacking Pyongyangs leaders.
Sounds like someone else has blood shot eyes for other reasons though. How in the world are these two related? Of course, it probably makes sense when you've been hittin' the juche.
Posted by: BA ||
04/21/2006 22:47 Comments ||
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China urged the United States on Thursday to return Chinese nationals held at Guantanamo Bay after the US Supreme Court declined to hear whether two Chinese Muslims held at the detention camp could be freed. Washington should "repatriate Chinese-nationality terror suspects held at Guantanamo as quickly as possible", the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Beijing's renewed call to take back the detainees came after two of them, Abu Bakker Qassim and Adel Abdu Al-Hakim, failed to persuade the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that a federal court cannot provide them any relief. The two belong to the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic group.
Go ahead and dump them. No skin off our collective fore. If they come down with one-round splitting headaches, my heart's not gonna bleed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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I don't get it. Uighurs have a powerful enough enemy in China. It's weird that they decided to expand their circle of enemies and take on Uncle Sam by joining al Qaeda. Talk about never missing an opportunity to miss and opportunity.
#2
Zhang, I think what happens is Uighirs, Chechens, and others like Uzbecks who are involved in terrorism and related activities are forced to flee their homelands and become Jihadis for hire in places like Afghanistan (Taliban era).
#5
It's weird that they decided to expand their circle of enemies and take on Uncle Sam by joining al Qaeda.
They didn't join Al Qaeda.
They went for jihadi training. These camps were run by the Pakistani ISI.
Whenever China complained, Pak officers would shoot a couple token Uigars. Training of muslim brethern continued though. Later Pak Tribals sold some of these Uigars to the US.
When Clinton lobbed cruise missiles at an "Al Qaeda" camp being visited by Bin Laden, the missiles missed him by a few hours but killed a lot of Pak Army officers.
It was a Pak terror training camp.
The Chinese ended up in Gitmo because they were caught up in the Pak jihadi production system, which has world wide scope - London , Madrid, New York, Delhi....
After all, the the official motto of the Pakistan Army is Iman-Taqwa-Jihad fi sabilillah
Faith, Fear of Allah, Jihad in the way of Allah.
The Pak army is sworn to jihad. Is it any wonder that its produces them by the thousands?
Pakistan's official name is "The Islamic Republic of Pakistan"
It was the first "islamic republic" ever created.
Is it any wonder that it is now rabidly islamist?
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 14:49 Comments ||
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Punjab, Afgania (North West Frontier Province), Kashmir, Indus-Sindh, and Balochistan.
Rehmat Alis concept of Pakistan was nebulous, impractical and fantasy-ridden. It was to include the entire northwest of India, Kashmir, the Kathiawar peninsula, Kutch, and several enclaves deep within UP, including Delhi and Lucknow. There were to be two independent Muslim states besides Pakistan: Bangistan comprising Bengal and Assam in the east and Osmanistan in the south. These two were to form a federation with Pakistan. The 243 principalities or Rajwaras were to be divided among caste Hindus and others and then herded together in a ghetto called Hanoodia. As for the Sikhs, they were to be pushed into an enclave called Sikhia. Other races and religions were to inhabit an encampment by the name of Hanadika. Every non-Muslim was to remain subservient to the master race he called The Paks. And yes, the subcontinent was to be renamed Dinia. He did not say how he was going to bring all that about.
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 18:29 Comments ||
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Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, who died on February 3, 1951, is currently buried in Cambridge. Once his coffin is in Pakistan, it will be buried in a formal ceremony.
On January 28, 1933, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali published the historic pamphlet Now or Never; Are we to live or perish forever?. He coined the word Pakistan for the then 30 million Muslims who lived in the five northern states of India: Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 19:11 Comments ||
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BRUSSELS, April 20 The European Union's antiterrorism chief told a hearing on Thursday that he had not been able to prove that secret C.I.A. prisons existed in Europe. "We've heard all kinds of allegations," the official, Gijs de Vries, said before a committee of the European Parliament. "It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt."
Unlike the human rights violations in, say, Darfur, or a North Korean prison camp ...
But Mr. de Vries came under criticism from some legislators who called the hearing a whitewash. Kathalijne Buitenweg, a Dutch member of Parliament from the Green Party, said that even without definitive proof, "the circumstantial evidence is stunning." "I'm appalled that we keep calling to uphold human rights while pretending that these rendition centers don't exist and doing nothing about it," she said.
I'm appalled at you too, Kate ...
Many European nations were outraged after an article in The Washington Post in November cited unidentified intelligence officials as saying that the C.I.A. had maintained detention centers for terrorism suspects in eight countries, including some in Eastern Europe.
But, Dana Priest just received a Pulitzer prize for exposing these prisons. So it must be true, right?
A later report by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch cited Poland and Romania as two of the countries. Both countries, as well as others in Europe, have denied the allegations. But the issue has inflamed trans-Atlantic tensions.
Mr. de Vries said the European Parliament investigation had not uncovered rights abuses despite more than 50 hours of testimony by rights advocates and people who say they were abducted by C.I.A. agents.
You mean the al-Qaeda boys' lies couldn't be confirmed? Sacre-bleu!
A similar investigation by the Council of Europe, the European human rights agency, came to the same conclusion in January though the leader of that inquiry, Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, said then that there were enough "indications" to justify continuing the investigation.
There always are, aren't there?
A number of legislators on Thursday challenged Mr. de Vries for not taking seriously earlier testimony before the committee of a German and a Canadian who gave accounts of being kidnapped and kept imprisoned by foreign agents.
"And then she turned me into a newt!"
"Really?"
"Well, ... I got better."
The committee also heard Thursday from a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who said: "I can attest to the willingness of the U.S. and the U.K. to obtain intelligence that was got under torture in Uzbekistan. If they were not willing, then rendition prisons could not have existed." But Mr. Murray, who was recalled from his job in 2004 after condemning the Uzbek authorities and criticizing the British and American governments, told the committee that he had no proof that detention centers existed within Europe. He said he had witnessed such rendition programs in Uzbekistan, but he seemed to back up Mr. de Vries's assertion when he said he was not aware of anyone being taken to Uzbekistan from Europe. "As far as I know, that never happened," he said. While he was ambassador, Mr. Murray made many public statements condemning the government of President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan for its poor human rights record.
At the time, the Bush administration was using Uzbekistan as a base for military operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Murray, who has remained an outspoken critic of American and British policy toward Uzbekistan, has since been criticized by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain for breaching diplomatic protocol.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/21/2006 12:10 ||
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...even without definitive proof, "the circumstantial evidence is stunning."
I mean, it was in the washington Post and on the internet and...everything!
#5
"I can attest to the willingness of the U.S. and the U.K. to obtain intelligence that was got under torture in Uzbekistan. If they were not willing, then rendition prisons could not have existed."
"Rendition" prisons? As in rendering hog fat and lard? Sounds painful indeed.
Paris, 21 April (AKI) - The French government has refused to allow the new Palestinian planning minister Samir Abu Eisheh to visit France to attend a conference in Paris next week, a French foreign ministry spokesman announced Friday. The decision not to grant a visa to Eisheh was taken "in concert with our European partners," the spokesman, Jean Baptiste Mattei said. "The decision is a consequence of Europe's policy to suspend contacts with Hamas," up until the radical movement which dominates the new Palestinian Administration (PA) government meets the conditions for such meetings, Mattei added.
He was referring to three demands - that Hamas recognise Israel, denounce violence and respect international accords previously taken by the PA and Israel - made by the European Union for negotiations with the Palestinian government. Eisheh was scheduled to participate in the "Forum for European-Arab Dialogue" organised by the Paris-based Institutre for the Arab World. French foreign minister Philippe Douste Blazy is expected to attend the conference.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/21/2006 08:39 ||
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Apparently Hamas doesn't pay as well as Saddam.
In a stunning setback, the Council on American-Islamic Relations defamation suit against Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR has been dismissed with prejudice.
The Anti-CAIR website, www.anti-cair-net.org, reports a mutually agreeable settlement, the terms of which are confidential. However, Whitehead notes that he issued no public apology to CAIR, made no retractions or corrections, and left the Anti-CAIR website unchanged, so that it continues to post the statements that triggered CAIRs suit.
Specifically, CAIR had complained about Whitehead calling it a terrorist supporting front organization founded by Hamas supporters that aims to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the United States. It also objected to being described as dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution and the installation of an Islamic theocracy in America.
The collapse of this lawsuit, combined with the even more recent ending of two other CAIR legal actions (versus Cass Ballenger and David Harris), suggests that CAIR is no longer the plaintiff in any court cases; more broadly, what I [author Daniel Pipes] in 2004 called its pattern of growing litigiousness seems finished.
More details about CAIR's failed attempt to intimidate an opponent into silence at link.
#6
Tort law vs. criminal law, Nimble Spemble. The level of proof is different. That, and the Court was about to require CAIR to open its records on donation lists, membership, links to terror groups, and old speeches made by the leadership. The moment those kinds of things are revealed, CAIR will be toast, and no doubt all its officers and employees go to jail. They couldn't maintain the bluff.
#7
The level of proof is different. That, and the Court was about to require CAIR to open its records on donation lists, membership, links to terror groups, and old speeches made by the leadership.
A similar thing just happened recently in Boston where an "Islamic Center" was suing everybody and their mother over unflattering (i.e. truthful) reporting about its activities and funding. The suit was dropped like a hot potato when they discovered that the discovery process cuts both ways. Here's a little background.
#8
Let this be a lesson to all of us. Outfits like CAIR will use every tool to undermine the US, its culture, and its institutions, just like the ACLU. The only way to stop them is to confront them. Andrew Whitehead showed a great deal of courage in exposing CAIR. I would like to see the same courage in our government against organizations like CAIR.
The U.S. government has released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detainees who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp - including 132 from Saudi Arabia. In all, 558 people were named in the list provided by the Pentagon late Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press. They were among the first swept up for suspected links to Al-Qaeda or the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
There was a story headlined at yahoo news tonite, and for which link I am too lazy to find, that all the governments are squealing like stuck piggies, in paroxysms of astonishment that their princely citizens are vacationing in Cuba for the past five years. Truly professional grade handwringing. Bah.
The list is the first official roster of Guantanamo detainees who passed through the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process in 2004 and 2005 to determine whether they should be deemed "enemy combatants." In all, the detainees on the list came from 41 countries. The largest number - 132 - came from Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan followed with 125, including some top former Taliban officials. Yemen was next with 107.
Some names are familiar, such as David Hicks, a Muslim from Australia charged with fighting U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Hicks allegedly fought for the Taliban, and Australian news media have said British authorities contend he admitted undergoing training with British Islamic extremists, including Richard Reid, who was convicted of trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic airliner with a shoe bomb. Lesser-known detainees on the list include Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi who reportedly was supposed to be the 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks. Although his presence at Guantanamo had been reported, the military had previously declined to confirm it. U.S. authorities denied Qahtani entry at Orlando, Florida, before the suicide hijackings. But testimony in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui quoted an Al-Qaeda leader as describing Qahtani as the last hijacker for the mission who would "complete the group."
The list also includes top former Taliban officials, such as the ousted regime's former Defense Ministry chief of staff, Mullah Mohammed Fazil; Taliban intelligence officials Abdel-Haq Wasiq and Gholam Ruhani, who are believed to still be in custody; and the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Abdel-Salam Zaeef, who was released in late 2005. Others on the list, such as an Afghan identified only as "Commander Chaman," remain mysterious.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Medical, dental, eye exams completed...released just in time to attend the first semester of the new Soodi Flight School.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Orissa Government to provide police protection to a Muslim couple who were forced to separate after local clerics issued a Fatwa that they were divorced even as they wanted to live together. The husband of Petitioner Nazma Biwi had pronounced triple talaq in an inebriated condition in 2004 but later realizing his mistake, he decided to live with his wife and three children.
However, local clerics at Bhadrak issued a Fatwa that they were divorced and hence could not live together. Thereafter the couple was forced to live separately by the community. "No one can force them to live separately. This is a secular country. All communities---Hindus or Muslims should behave in civilised manner", a Bench of Justice Ruma Pal, Justice C K Thakker and Justice Markandey Katju observed. "behave in a civilized manner" Is the Indian Supreme Court saying that muslim clerics are not civilized?
The observation came after the Petioner's counsel complained that the couple continue to be ostracised by the Muslim community at Bhadrak in Orissa. Orissa Government counsel Shibo Shanker Mishra sought two weeks to file reply to Nazma's petition and the court obliged.
Earlier Nazma had approached the High Court against the Fatwa and had sought police protection from her community men who were allegedly harassing the couple. The incident had created a nation-wide controversy with various women organisations and civil society groups taking up cudgels on behalf of the harassed couple.
The clerics had said that if Nazma wanted to live with her husband, she must perform 'halala' (she must marry another man and the marriage must be consummated, after which she can get a divorce and then re-marry her first husband). Presumably one of the clerics gets the job of consumating the temporary marriage?
However, Nazma refused to do so, and instead knocked at the doors of the court. That's the way girl..
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 10:27 ||
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Good. Kick the clerics in the teeth again. They deserve it.
WASHINGTON: There are indications that the Bush administration is now imagining a Pakistan without Gen Pervez Musharraf, according to Stratfor, an American news and analysis service.
In two commentaries in the wake of Richard Bouchers April 5 statement in Islamabad about America wishing to see the ascendancy of civilian rule in Pakistan, Stratfor says this shift in Washingtons thinking will create further domestic problems for the Pakistani leader, since his political opponents view the US statements as a signal to intensify their efforts to oust him. The analysis also noted US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadleys comment that the Bush administration will work with Musharraf to ensure that Pakistans 2007 elections are free and fair, as well as Condoleezza Rices congressional testimony earlier this month.
These statements from the highest echelons of the Bush administration illustrate that the United States is no longer fixated on supporting Musharraf, says Stratfor. This is probably because Musharrafs usefulness to the United States is fast becoming negligible. The principal reason the Bush administration supported the Musharraf regime was due to Pakistans critical role in the US-jihadist war. It would appear Washington believes it does not need Musharraf at the helm for the United States to continue to prosecute its struggle against militant Islamism, and no longer believes the Pakistani state would collapse without Musharraf. Moreover, the Bush administration likely feels Musharraf is no longer able to keep domestic affairs in order, and sees pinning Washingtons entire Pakistan policy on one individual as a liability. Thus, Washington has decided to put some distance between itself and the Pakistani president.
The analysis cautioned that this does not mean that Washington would like to see Musharraf ousted. Instead, it reflects a decision to initiate a contingency plan to avoid being caught off guard in light of political instability in Pakistan in the months ahead. Not supporting Musharraf the way it has before will allow Washington to ascertain potential alternative political players capable of stepping in and filling the void in the event Musharraf is no longer able to maintain his position.
Washingtons statements will catalyse Pakistans opposition political actors into accelerating their efforts to mobilise public support to oust the general from power; the opposition will view the US statements as a sign that Musharraf is vulnerable because Washington is considering other options. This could result in a political upheaval leading to early elections, which under normal circumstances would be held in late 2007, added Stratfor.
In a second commentary, Stratfor said the Bush administration has kept itself from assuming a tough position against the Musharraf administration, even though Islamabads cooperation against Al Qaeda, from the US point of view, has remained sub-par. Washington has chosen to overlook the fact that the worlds only nuclear-armed Muslim state is ruled by a military leader, even amid its wider push for democracy in the Muslim world. Now, however, it appears that the United States wants to correct not only the political aberration that has allowed Musharraf to hold two offices - the presidency and military chief of staff - simultaneously, but also that there is a concern about the political role of Pakistans military establishment. Put differently, as the mount, Washington is working toward a political order in Islamabad that can help to contain the instability stemming from the imbalance in civil-military relations, according to the analysis.
Stratfor points out that the focal point in the US-jihadist war no longer is South Asia, but the Middle East. Capturing jihadist leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Mohammed Omar remains a priority for the Bush administration, but as time goes by, it has become clear that the jihadists strength has been reduced - to the point that Al Qaeda now seems to be, at best, a regional player, and largely unable to carry out meaningful attacks, even on its own turf. The Bush administration is realising that rocking the Pakistani boat will not lead to instability of unbearable proportions. Given Pakistans history of military rule, Washington has surmised that instability alone does not threaten Pakistans survival. And it appears that backing an autocrat in a military uniform is a path Washington no longer wishes to tread, the analysis concludes.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/21/2006 10:08 ||
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No revelation here. Suspect we have been contingency planning "no Mushoff" for years.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/21/2006 10:38 Comments ||
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This is from a RAND study.
Note the center of the web
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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I should certainly hope we had contingency plans for a Pakistan without Musharraf. Like all of us, he's getting older, and his is a high risk job. He has many enemies, and assassins have had at least two near-misses in the past few years.
GENEVA - United Nations human rights investigators on Thursday condemned excessive and deadly use of force by Nepals security forces against protestors and called for the government to exercise restraint. In a joint statement, the five special rapporteurs also asked demonstrators to act peacefully, noting some had attacked police with stones and other projectiles.
No word on whether the UN investigators have a problem with the Maoist rebels' use of force.
Nepali police on Thursday opened fire to block tens of thousands of pro-democracy protestors marching into Kathmandu to confront King Gyanendra, killing at least three people and wounding up to 100.
We strongly condemn the excessive and deadly use of force by members of the security forces against protestors and innocent bystanders, the UN investigators said in a statement issued in Geneva. The law enforcement agencies have resorted to indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets -- even on occasion live ammunition -- into crowds, beatings, raids on homes and destruction of property, it said.
Women, children, journalists and lawyers were identified among the casualties -- which came as police were enforcing a strict curfew in the capital -- according to the statement. It was unacceptable for peaceful protestors, including many human rights activists, to have been arbitrarily detained for participating in the demonstrations, it said.
We call upon the government to exercise restraint in policing demonstrations and to guarantee fundamental human rights for all, including the right to life, to physical and psychological integrity, to not be arbitrarily deprived of ones liberty, and to freedom of opinion, expression, association and assembly, the statement said.
I suspect they'll tusk-tusk mightily if the Maoists take power and start killing thousands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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I've no idea of that goes on there. But this indicates that the Nepalese authorities are the good guys.
NEW DELHI - Top US defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. has made two formal bids to sell about $1 billion worth of naval aircraft to India, a senior company official said on Thursday. The bids are the latest by an American defence firm to leverage warming bilateral relations between the two countries who were on the opposite sides of the Cold War.
Under the first bid, Lockheed has offered to sell 8 upgraded US Navy P-3 aircraft to replace a fleet of vintage Russian reconnaissance planes for $550-700 million. The other bid is for 16 multi-mission MH60R helicopters costing $350-400 million, said Royce Caplinger, head of Lockheeds Indian operations.
Its a case of the perfect storm: the bilateral relationship, the requirement for products like ours, a budgeting process in India that is fixed and real, the money and there seems to be political will, he told Reuters.
Lockheed officials said American defence firms were buoyed by a recent landmark civilian nuclear cooperation pact between the United States and India, which they say is yet another indication of the strength of their relationship. We do follow our government. And, where they go, we tend to think that provides us a stable relationship that we can do business with, said Philip Georgariou, a director with Lockheeds aeronautics division in the US
India, which has the worlds fourth-largest military with a 1.3 million-strong force, is seen as a lucrative market by US firms as New Delhi is modernising its defence equipment after long years of neglect.
The Indian government raised its defence spending by 7 percent for fiscal 2006/07 to $20 billion as Pakistan and giant neighbour China -- both of whom have fought wars with India -- are seen as threats despite improved relations. It is shopping for new fighter and trainer jets, submarines, an aircraft carrier, modern guns and radars. India plans to buy 126 fighter jets, valued at close to $10 billion, which pits Lockheeds F-16 and Boeing Co.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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India could be an very valuable as more than a business partner. Allies in that part of the world are what we could use, and they could be very strong, especially with good equipment.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/21/2006 16:13 Comments ||
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Meanwhile
IAF exercise concludes
Chandigarh, April 21
A week-long IAF exercise involving various fighter aircraft concluded today. The exercise, code-named Cobra, was conducted by the Western Air Command. IAF officers termed the exercise as routine training activity designed to validate operational concepts and hone the skill of fighter pilots.
According to sources, several IAF fighter bases in the region were involved in the exercise. Besides aerial intercepts and counter air manoeuvres and high speed handling, aircraft also carried out simulated ground attack runs and interdiction missions. The exercise had started on Monday.
MiG-21, MiG-29 and Jaguars were among the aircraft deployed for the exercise, though transport aircraft did not actively feature in the event. Air-to-air refueling was also practised, with IL-78 tankers from Agra hovering in the skies over Punjab.
Posted by: john ||
04/21/2006 19:06 Comments ||
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The new nominee for prime minister is a veteran insider in Iraq's oldest Shiite political party who spent years in exile after being sentenced to death by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Since Saddam's ouster in 2003, Jawad al-Maliki has been a prominent operative for the Dawa Party. He was a key negotiator with Sunnis and Kurds in the tough deliberations to draft Iraq's constitution last summer.
His nomination to succeed prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Dawa colleague, would herald a dramatic change in style for that office. While al-Jaafari is soft-spoken, often poetic in his conversations with other politicians, al-Maliki is seen as tougher and more strident -- but also more pragmatic.
It was al-Maliki who announced to reporters Thursday that al-Jaafari had abandoned his bid for a second term in the face of strong opposition from Sunnis and Kurds.
Al-Maliki is "firmer and a much more insistent and practical man compared to al-Jaafari," said Saleh al-Mutlaq, a leading Sunni politician who was also on the constitutional drafting committee. He "gets to the point, doing his best to make the audience understand what he is trying to say."
Al-Maliki was born Nouri Kamel al-Maliki about 50 years ago in Hindiya, Iraq, a small town south of the Shiite holy city of Karbala. As a young man he joined the Dawa, the main Shiite opposition to Saddam's rule.
Sentenced to death for his membership in the party, fled in 1980 shortly after the death sentence and took the name Jawad. He, al-Jaafari and much of the Dawa leadership went first to Iran. But in the mid-1980s, he and al-Jaafari left for Syria after Dawa split between a pro-Iranian faction and a second branch that refused to join Iran's army for the bloody war with Iraq.
While in Syria, he was in charge of the "Jihad Office," a branch responsible for directing activists inside Iraq.
After Saddam fell in 2003, al-Maliki returned to his homeland. He was named to the National Council, a U.S.-brokered consultative body created in 2004 when sovereignty was returned to Iraq.
In the first post-Saddam election in January 2005, he was elected to parliament as part of the alliance of Dawa and other Shiite parties that dominated the vote. He served as the head of parliament's Security and Defense Committee.
He became a member of the De-Baathification Commission, the body that led the purge of members of Saddam's ousted ruling party from the military and government. Sunni Arabs -- who formed the backbone of the Baath Party -- deeply resent the program, saying it aims to push them out of participation in post-Saddam Iraq.
Al-Maliki also bargained on behalf of the Shiite alliance during the months of haggling over the permanent constitution. The Shiites, backed by the Kurds, won provisions allowing them to form semi-autonomous mini-states in the north and south, a policy sharply opposed by Sunni Arabs.
The constitution was passed in an October referendum only after Sunni Arabs won a promise that parliament consider major amendments. That will be one of the first orders of business in Iraq's political process after the government is formed.
"I think if al-Maliki worked hard to get rid of his Baath party complexes, he will succeed," al-Mutlaq said.
#1
This plays up his personality and style differences but does little to explain his political views - precisely the same as al-Jaafari's. He's just less timid, that's all.
He is another pro-Iranian who has wildly denounced the coalition as occupiers. It will be interesting to see how al-Sadr gets treated by him, but I would wager that any differences from al-Jaafari will be surface and symbolic.
This is not good for Iraq, it is more of the same typical Arab bullshit in a more combative package.
#2
Chinemble Thrith said: This plays up his personality and style differences but does little to explain his political views - precisely the same as al-Jaafari's. He's just less timid, that's all.
Could you give us some more background about Al-Maliki?
He became a member of the De-Baathification Commission
Was he working with Bremer or before for instance?
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has vetoed a decision by the Hamas-led government to nominate a leading militant to a senior security post in the interior ministry. Israeli officials had threatened to target the man, Jamal Abu Samhadana, saying his new job did not give him any immunity. Mr Samhadana is wanted in Israel for ordering attacks on Israeli targets.
In another move, Mr Abbas has blocked a decision by Hamas to create a new security force, made up of militants from various factions. His spokesman explained why. "The decision is illegal and unconstitutional and runs counter to the law and thus it will be considered null and void," Mr Abbas's spokesman said. "At the same time the President will issue a presidential decree annulling the Interior Minister's decision because it is in violation of the law."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 21:16 ||
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Egypt pressed the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories to recognize past Palestinian agreements with Israel so peace talks can resume between the two sides. It was the most direct appeal on Wednesday from Egypt to Hamas since the Islamists took over the Cabinet last month after winning elections in January. Egypt had previously argued that the world should give Hamas more time to modify its positions, which include refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
"The Palestinian government must recognize all the agreements (made) with the Palestinian Authority (and Israel) before, so that we can persuade Israel and the Palestinian Authority to sit at the negotiating table," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. Recognizing the agreements, which date back to 1993, would implicitly mean accepting a solution based on two states, Israel and Palestine.
Not honoring the agreements also violates one of the principles of international law, namely that once an agreement is signed off on, it remains binding in the parties regardless of whether the government changes hands, until the treaty's abrogated or expires. Otherwise, all treaties would have to be renegotiated every time there's an election, a coup d'etat, or a regnal death. We hear enough from this or that group complaining about this or that violation of obscure, trivial, or even non-existent points of "international law," but so far I don't hear anyone even pointing out the existence of this one, which is both existent in precedent and basic to international relations. Perhaps Hosni, who's maintaining the peace with Israel that his predecessor signed off on, should explain it to Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Perhaps Hosni, who's maintaining the peace with Israel that his predecessor signed off on, should explain it to Hamas.
Surely you don't mean Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, from whose Army camps tunnels have been dug that end in the Gaza Strip, and through which weapons were smuggled for years? In whose mosques government-salaried imams preach Jew-murder and Israel-erasure? Whose government sponsored television broadcast a Ramadan-long special based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
Although it must be admitted that he never went so far as to formally declared war on Israel, nor did he formally abrogate the treaty which garnered his country US$1-2 billion per year.
Prime Minister Marouf Bakheet told a meeting of parliamentarians that weapons seized from a secret Hamas arms cache in Jordan had been smuggled from Syria, deputies said yesterday.
These are the arms Hamas sez Jordan's lying about...
Bakheet gave no details to Islamist deputies when he met them late on Wednesday on how the weapons, which authorities say were recently discovered, had reached Jordan from Syria, where the Palestinian militant groups exiled leadership is based.
My guess would be across the same border the Islamists smuggled the makings of a chem weapon a year or two ago...
Azzam Huneidi, the head of the 17-member Islamic Action Front bloc in the 110-seat assembly, said Bakheet declined to elaborate beyond saying the arms cache which contained rocket launchers and highly combustible explosives came from Syria.
Assad country, that is. You know, Terrorhan's lapdog...
Hamas on Wednesday denied the accusations, saying it has never targeted Jordan or any country other than Israel.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
US ally Jordan has over the years accused Damascus-based Palestinian groups opposed to Middle East peacemaking of either plotting attacks inside the kingdom or trying to smuggle arms to launch attacks against Israel from its territory. But a security official told Reuters that while they were concerned the smuggled weapons had come from Syria there was no proof that Damascus condoned such activities.
Of course not. The witnesses are all dead by now...
An alarming sign for Jordanian intelligence beyond the discovery of the arms cache was that several Hamas activists had been arrested while engaged in surveillance of vital installations, the security source said without elaborating. That would be a declaration of war by Hamas and a major shift in strategy away from its traditional policy of restricting attacks on Palestinian territory, another security source said without elaborating.
Gee. Golly. Shucks. I wonder what the response to a "declaration of war" might be?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Hamas says Amman has wrongly accused the group of arms smuggling because it is being influenced by the US to boycott the new Palestinian government.
"Liars and thieves, the lot of 'em!"
The Palestinian government spokesman, Ghazi Hamed, said on Wednesday: "I think the Jordanians themselves know more than anybody else the total mendacity and falsehood of these charges. They know that Hamas doesn't indulge in such activities."
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Hamed also told Al Jazeera.net he hoped that some Arab states would refrain from resorting to "twisted tactics".
"They all lie, you know. Everybody lies but us."
"We are under a sinister Israeli military occupation. And our brotherly Arab states should not increase our burden by indulging in such cheap and stupid disinformation."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Jordan should open an barrage on the "Hamas offices" after telling the Israelis to stay clear of the fire zone. A message to Hamas "don't involve Jordan in your troubles." That is what I would do but I guess I am a bastard.
Posted by: SPoD ||
04/21/2006 5:30 Comments ||
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SPoD, would those be the Hamas offices in Gaza or the Hamas offices in Damascus?
April 21, 2006: One of the less well known counter-terror tactics used against Islamic terrorists, are scary rumors. Islamic terrorists like technology, and fear it. While the Islamic radicals want everyone to live under medieval social codes, they have nothing against climbing into the latest SUV, or using computers and high tech night vision gear. But, as a group, there are not a lot of geeks into Islamic terrorism. Moreover, Arabs have a thing about telling, creating, and believing outrageous rumors. Some counter-terror organizations have taken advantage of this by taking seemingly plausible, scary, and damaging (to terrorist operations) stories they find on the net, and spreading them among a large number of pro-terrorist web user groups. This is disinformation, and is an ancient technique. Ancient scriptures mention its use. The new wrinkle here is that the counter-terror organizations that are monitoring terrorist, or pro-terrorist web sites, chat rooms and listservs, note those bits of scary misinformation that seem to be the most popular. Sometimes calling in an Internet expert, the counter-terror people cook up even scarier variations on the initial rumor, and make sure all of them get spread around as much as possible. The Islamic terrorists and their fans have a hard time doing this, because many of the Islamic terrorist meeting spots on the web are kept secret, lest they be discovered by security officials and shut down. But most major Western intelligence agencies have an extensive list of these sites, a larger list than any Islamic terrorist has. New discoveries are shared among different countries, and when a particularly exploitable new rumor shows up, it gets a boost from the infidels.
The fighting in Iraq has generated a large number of fantastical tales, like the sunglasses that allow troops to see through clothing, and special radios that can turn an ordinary radio into a two-way device. Of late, the Islamic radicals have been coming up with fearful tales of web based software that was created and deployed by the CIA, to spy on Islamic radicals. Google has come in for a lot of attention, with the Google Toolbar being tagged as a tool of the devil (that is, Western counter-terror organizations.) Cell phones are becoming increasingly suspect. Many Islamic terrorists have a hard time telling the difference between different models, and have come to believe that all can be traced via GPS, or infected with computer viruses (only a few models can do either.)
The most Islamic terrorists, or sympathizers, believe these tall tales, the less effective the terrorists are. The full story of these disinformation efforts won't come out until long after the war on terror ends. But these techniques have been used again and again over the centuries. It's just another adaptation of old ideas to new technology.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/21/2006 09:35 ||
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Google has come in for a lot of attention, with the Google Toolbar being tagged as a tool of the devil (that is, Western counter-terror organizations.)
MACTAN ISLAND - The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia must act jointly against the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) to dismantle its camps and limit its movements, a security expert said on Friday. Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism centre at Singapores Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said Indonesia must ban JI as an organisation and oppose moves to free the groups spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, in June.
Everything must be done to make sure that he is not released, Gunaratna told reporters on the sidelines of a counter-terrorism forum in the central Philippines. JI has gained very significant strength because it is now working with so many other groups in Indonesia. The Indonesian government must be encouraged to ban JI, he said. JI is still a legal organisation in Indonesia. JI must be criminalised, he added.
He warned that JI, al Qaedas franchise in Southeast Asia, continued to pose a serious threat despite the arrests of senior leaders such as Bashir and Isamuddin Riduan, alias Hambali. Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian suspected of masterminding bombings on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali last year, is believed to have taken over JIs operational leadership. It has a few thousand members around Southeast Asia, including less than 100 in the southern Philippines.
Citing intelligence reports, Gunaratna said JI had training camps in Indonesia and the southern Philippines, producing 400 to 500 potential terrorists every year. Gunaratna, who has written books on al Qaeda and JI, said Southeast Asian states -- particularly the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia -- must cooperate more to defeat terrorism. Those links should include common data bases, an exchange of personnel and joint training and operations, he said, describing these activities as a new format for fighting terrorism.
The United States, Australia and Europe should support the regions counter-terrorism efforts because they have the resources and intelligence networks to check movements of people and funds, Gunaratna said. There are also considerable amounts of money still coming from the Middle East to fund terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia, he said, echoing concerns raised by other experts from 60 countries attending the forum. Ellen Margrethe Loj, head of the U.N. Security Councils counter-terrorism committee, on Thursday urged Southeast Asian states to choke off international funding to stop bomb attacks.
Gunaratna said a small portion of millions of dollars in private funds for religious and relief groups for development projects in poor Muslim communities in the region were diverted to hatred and violence. He said he believed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines, continued to shelter one of two factions of JI hiding on Mindanao island despite being in peace talks with Manila. The other JI faction, led by Dulmatin and Umar Patek, were working with the smaller but more radical Abu Sayyaf group based on the remote southwestern island of Jolo.
The MILF has constantly lied that it is not harbouring JI, Gunaratna said. MILF leaders must be held accountable for the presence of JI in the southern Philippines.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/21/2006 09:02 ||
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Rohan Gunaratna - A lightly disguised character in my novel Sea of Fire. Sorry for the plug.
JAKARTA: The Indonesian edition of US adult magazine Playboy has suspended its operations for security reasons in the wake of violent protests by Muslim hardliners, its editor said Thursday. The announcement followed violent demonstrations by the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) last week over the publication of the magazine, a toned-down version of the original which does not carry nudes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said Thursday peace talks due to be held in Switzerland next week have been postponed indefinitely, citing recent violence against Tamil civilians. According to a report published in the web-edition of India's leading English daily Thursday, the Tamil rebels in a statement after a meeting with Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hannsen-Bauer, said they would not attend the talks until normalcy returns.
The Tamil rebels have again denied involvement in recent attacks on the military, which has been pushing the island towards restarting its two decade old civil war, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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At the source site there is a chart of the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSEx).
One the problems with looking at this at face value is that the index may be affected by nationalizations and denationalizations of companies. But at face value, things do not look good for the TSEx. In fact it looks like about a 25% drop since the current President took office (appears to have a peak in late 2003 or so of about 14000 and its now down to the low 9000s).
Pakistan and Turkey on Thursday called on western powers and Iran to find a diplomatic solution to the row over Tehran's alleged nuclear programme, saying they did not want fresh conflict in their already troubled region. "Pakistan is against the use of force . . . Diplomacy must be given a chance," visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told reporters after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul.
He said that Pakistan had already paid "a big price" due to the US-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan and did not want similar instability on its borders with Iran. "We must try to find a way out and have an inspection regime which Iran has indicated it will accept, whereby the concerns of the international community can be met and we have a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to this dispute." Gul also stressed that "everybody should do whatever they can to resolve this affair through diplomatic means".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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President Emile Lahoud said Thursday the key to any dramatic reform in Lebanon is a "change in the mentality" of most of the Lebanese politicians, adding that "in order to introduce reforms in the country all acts of bribery and corruption should come to an end."
Lahoud made his remarks during a meeting with journalists covering news from the Lebanese presidency who wished to express their warm Easter greetings. Lahoud reiterated his support for unveiling the truth behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, adding that this question should remain a priority for the Lebanese state, and perpetrators should be brought to justice and be severely punished. Lahoud said it was time for either the Lebanese or the international judiciary to question the so-called key witness Mohammad Zuheir Siddiq who was released from prison in France, and be faced with all four Lebanese officers who are being detained as suspects.
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04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat reiterated his calls for the resignation of President Emile Lahoud, saying that "disregarding the presidential crisis would mean that we have accepted a big violation of the Constitution." Speaking after a visit Thursday to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in Bkirki, Fatfat said discussions focused on political developments, adding that he listened to "the prelate's views regarding the security situation and the electoral law."
Asked about the presidential crisis, Fatfat stressed that this issue "should not be disregarded," adding that the extension of Lahoud's term was "imposed on the Lebanese people." He added: "Let's wait for the outcome of the national dialogue session on April 28 to see if Lahoud will stay in office until the end of his term."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Thursday that Syria and Iran pose a big problem to Lebanon and are not averse to interfering in the country's affairs. Speaking during an interview with LBC Thursday, Ereli said: "Syria poses a big problem to Lebanon," adding that "Iran and Syria both have a common interest in interfering with Lebanon's affairs."
"Syria is trying to determine what happens in Lebanon and intimidating Lebanese politicians," he said. He added that the "Shebaa Farms are being used to keep the situation in Lebanon unsettled." Commenting on Hizbullah's weapons, he said: "You cannot have democracy and a mafia; that is why you need to disarm all mafias."
Ereli's statements came as Premier Fouad Siniora said he was in the U.S. seeking support to strengthen Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, and to liberate its remaining occupied territories as well as to enhance its defense strategies and build-up its economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Rather obvious point, isn't it?
Start killing their agents (Hizbullah = Syria, Hamas = Iran) and you start healing Lebanon.
The former head of the UN probe into the assasination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has dismissed as "ridiculous" a recent book published in Germany that accuses him of "misleading" the investigation. "I couldn't have worked for over 25 years investigating terrorism if it was true I was working for this or that side," Detlev Mehlis told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview from his native Germany.
The book - "Hariri's assassination: Hiding Evidence in Lebanon," by German criminologist Juergen Cain Kuelbel - was recounted in a special report broadcast last week by Lebanon's New TV. "The claims made in the book, such as that of the jamming system used by Hariri being from an Israeli company, are completely false and simply ridiculous," said Mehlis, referring to one of the examples cited in the book as "proof" that Mehlis was distorting facts "in line with the demands of the US and Israeli administrations."
"I and several members of the UN commission investigated this issue, and the system used by Hariri was imported from a Western European country," said Mehlis.
He admitted he had not read the book - because it would be a "waste ... to spend any money on it" - but added that "based on what I have heard so far about it, I would say that they are all just pretty dumb accusations." When asked about other criticisms of his work, Mehlis said it was "to be expected." "My work involves investigating terrorist activities, which is heavy with political background," he said, "so I am bound to step on someone's toes."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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French President Jacques Chirac has called on Syria to end all interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, adding he fully supports an international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Speaking late Wednesday at a joint news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Chirac said: "France has nothing against Syria, but it simply wants Syria to cease any form of interference in Lebanon. It's unacceptable."
"Unacceptable" means that you won't accept it. Therefore if they do it, there will be consequences. And these consequences are...?
Chirac also said he backed "full sovereignty" for Lebanon and said "light must be shed" the murder of Hariri," killed in a February 2005 bomb blast. He called on Beirut and Damascus to recognize each other's existence, a clear reference to the establishment of diplomatic relations and demarcation of borders. Chirac also called for the full implementation of Resolution 1559 that calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, for free and fair presidential elections and for the disarmament of all militias.
We will now pause to quibble over whether Hezbollah is a "militia" or a "resistance"...
He described as "positive" the latest report of UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on the progress in the implementation of the resolution adopted in 2004. Chirac said he and Mubarak agreed on Middle Eastern issues from aid to the Palestinians, to Iran's nuclear program and the simmering conflict between Lebanon and Syria. Both were opposed to military intervention in Iran, fearing it would destabilize the Middle East and the world as a whole.
I'm still wrestling with the concept of the Middle East, one of the two most unstable areas of the world, being "destabilized." But now we have some idea of what the consequences we were discussing above aren't.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Or he'll huff and he'll puff, and . . . well, he'll huff and puff again.
I'd guess they're getting their dough now, knowing they're going to get to sell more of similar stuff when the dust settles in a year or two.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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Russia and China are creating a monster. A vicious,crazy,monster, and I'm going to chuckle when it turn on them. Such is always the way, I site OBL as my arguement. They always bite the hand that feeds them.
Syria cannot draw its shared border with Lebanon because a key southern zone remains occupied by Israel, a government official said in response to a UN call to firm up its frontiers. "Syria cannot delineate the border of the Shebaa (Farms area) because it is occupied," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview on Al-Jazeera television, excerpts of which were printed by Lebanese media yesterday. How could Syria carry out the task, Muallem asked, "by sending people in by parachute to do it? Syria is prepared to demarcate its border with Lebanon from the north down to Shebaa, which is occupied and whose border we cannot draw."
Brilliant move. Simply brilliant. Transparent as glass, but simply brilliant.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says a coalition of the willing may move ahead on tough measures against Iran for its nuclear program if the UN Security Council does not. Rice, speaking at a foreign-policy event in Chicago late Wednesday, said she remained confident that the crisis can be resolved with diplomacy though not necessarily always via the UN. You know that there are states that have been saying that if we dont get meaningful measures inside the Security Council, perhaps a coalition of the willing will think about other financial or political measures that could be taken, she told the audience.
Rice restated the US administrations standard position that all options are on the table in dealing with Iran, and we have always said that the right to self-defense does not necessarily require a UN Security Council resolution. But she contrasted Iran with Iraq, where a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Husseins regime in 2003. The issue here is to mobilize the international community, to unify the international community around the view that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, Rice said. Its a very different situation, she said. I believe we can make diplomacy work.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
She can easily jot this crowd down on a small sticky note.
#2
We are repeating the WMD error of GWII. We should not be focusing on the Iranian bomb, but on Iranian compliance with the NNPT. Every other country abides by it why shouldn't Iran? If Iran is not sanctioned for abrogating it why shouldn't everyone else? These are the points we should be hammering.
#3
problem with that NS, is that nobodys gonna buy that the penalty for cheating on the NNPT is war, or even heavy sanctions. If we focus on past cheating alone, then the best we get are slaps on the wrist - a ban on other countries supplying nuke tech to Iran (which they can do without) and some really limited sanctions (freezing bank accounts of INDIVIDUALs - theyll shrug that off) What we want to do is tie the past cheating to the current enrichment (which they are otherwise allowed under NNPT) The cheating, PLUS the enrichment, shows theyre pursuing a bomb, which gets peoples attention. And if they want us to stop the train towards SERIOUS measures, they must stop enrichment (they can of course hope the Russians will stop serious measures, though its not clear they are willing to take the chance)
#4
LH, you keep taking the UN process seriously and it's not. It's all PR for domestic US consumption. We aren't going to get anything more than wrist slaps from the UN as long as Russia and China have vetos and Iran is on the Commission for Disarmament. Russia gains when America loses. Even if Iran gets nukes. Russia would love to live in a world with lots of nuclear players. They thrive in that kind of environment.
Every one knows Iran is building a bomb. That is not an issue for debate. What we should be stressing is that if Iran can violate the NNPT with impunity the lesson for Saudi, Egypt, Venezuela, Brazil, Indonesia, et al is that they should to. Is that the world we want to see evolve? That is the question we should have on the plate, not let's nuke Iran before Iran nukes us.
YOU are assuming that either the UN process is to get an actual resolution, OR its PR for the US. Its also PR for the Euros, and any other wouldbe members of the coalition of the willing. If Russia vetoes (and im still not 100% sure they will - and Im not sure they want lots of nuclear powers, either) we will have gone a long way to getting others on board.
#7
YOU are assuming that either the UN process is to get an actual resolution, OR its PR for the US.
No, I'm assuming the resolutions are irrelevant in and of themselves and the UN is all theater with its resolutions relevant only to the extent they affect PR.
I think we get more on board domestically and internationally by stressing the treaty adherence and proliferation angle than the MM's are going to nuke us all angle.
#8
"stressing the treaty adherence and proliferation angle than the MM's are going to nuke us all angle"
well yeah, theres the proliferation angle, but thats not the same as the treaty adherence angle. Remember the Iranians cheated by building secret facilities to do stuff, like make U hexaflouride, and enrichment, that theyre ALLOWED to do under the NNPT. So its not ipso facto that theyre trying to prolif (though its a pretty reasonable deduction) And the punishments WITHIN the NNPT are relatively weak - they only involve denial of technical cooperation on nuclear technology. The NNPT really IS a flawed, weak treaty (it had to be, or the non-nuke powers wouldnt have signed). What we're trying to get the world (esp the Euros) on board for are, at a minimum, sanctions that go BEYOND what are envisioned by the NNPT - and the only way to get them aboard, I think, is to show that this really is VERY serious. Like life and death serious.
#9
LH: If the Russians weren't pursuing such an option I doubt the Iranians would be as far along as they are towards having a bomb right now.
Posted by: Phil ||
04/21/2006 10:00 Comments ||
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What we're trying to get the world (esp the Euros) on board for are, at a minimum, sanctions that go BEYOND what are envisioned by the NNPT
No, that would be a nice to have. But what we should be doing is preparing the battlefield (very broadly defined) to whack the Iranian nuke progam back at least 5 years and destabilize the MM regime. If we can do it without violence great. But the only way we can do it without violence is to make sure the Iranians fear the violent alternative. Given the US and Iranian performances vis a vis eachother over the last 25 years, that's going to take a very violent alternative.
The EU3 can play the nice cop. We need to make it clear why we are going to be the bad cop. And 1) treaty adherence and 2) proliferation concerns are a better basis for that case than the MM are going to nuke us.
#12
Don't forget the ChiComs complicity (per Bill Gertz):
"Classified U.S. intelligence reports dating from the early 1990s reveal that Beijing has been covertly backing Iranian nuclear efforts, as it did in Pakistan, with training and equipment.
One October 1991 report disclosed that the state-run China Nuclear Energy Industry Corp. was working with Iran's government to supply nuclear technology for a reactor facility being planned in western Iran.
A top-secret U.S. intelligence report from April 1996 revealed that a Chinese delegation of technicians traveled to Iran to take part in building a uranium enrichment facility at Isfahan. The report said: "The plant will produce uranium products that Iran can use to make fissile material for nuclear weapons." The technicians were the advance team who were planning construction of several nuclear-related plants. A month earlier, in March 1996, a group of Iranian nuclear technicians traveled to China to study technical documents for the nuclear construction.
Then in January 1999, the Pentagon's Joint Staff produced a classified intelligence report that revealed new details of how China was supplying Iran with materials and equipment for Tehran's nuclear and missile programs. The same month, the CIA revealed that China had concluded a deal to sell Iran special materials used in making nuclear fuel rods. In March 1999, a group of Iranian technicians were sent to Beijing University for training in missile guidance and development. That year, China also supplied the Iranians with advanced C-801 anti-ship cruise missiles.
By early December 1999, the National Security Agency reported that technicians from China and Pakistan were working at the Iranian underground nuclear laboratory at Isfahan. The site had not been declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency until 2003.
China was not the only nuclear supplier. Russia and North Korea also were helping the Iranian nuclear and missile programs."
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/21/2006 12:06 Comments ||
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#13
im not saying the russians havent sold stuff to the Iranians. But thats explained by A. Money and B. Cultivating the Iran regime in particular as easily as its explained by a "lets have nuke regimes everywhere" strategy. While the Russians may not long for stability as much as the euros and the Chinese, I dont see them as quite the bull in the china shop.
NS - i think we can agree to disagree, on the exact emphasis to each.
#14
NS is right about the WMD error. The Bush administration will get signifcant resistance to this arguement, and they know it. HE can live down the first one, but if he makes the same mistake twice it will be part of his legacy. However, LH is dead-on about the NNPT angle. It seems like a very weak excuse for military action. Political opponents, media, and the average American citizen will see this as the flimsy excuse that it is.
So what's the answer guys? How do we come together on this?
My thoughts are tell me that both approaches are correct, therefore we should take both. Make it clear that breaking the NNPT has only one purpose, and that purpose is a bomb.
As for the U.N. dance, lets dance it, but start making a stink now about the futility of the U.N. Irans current position is a clear indicator of what a joke the U.N. really is, so lets bring it to everyones attention along with the specific nations that approve of this kind of absurdity at the U.N. This will get support from the American people for ignoring the U.N. if we need to.
Then, let the bombs fall where they may.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/21/2006 14:50 Comments ||
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#15
Man! I've been reading too many of Josephs' rants.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/21/2006 14:52 Comments ||
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#16
"If we can do it without violence great. But the only way we can do it without violence is to make sure the Iranians fear the violent alternative"
Violence doesnt have to mean US military action. If there are economic sanctions, and the mullahs try to hold on, and there economy starts to go down the tubes,there may well be violence on the streets of Teheran, involving masses of unemployed Iranians. There are hints the mullahs fear that MORE than American bombs, which might help them to KEEP power.
#17
LiberalHawk.
If Mid-East oil or some large portion of it is off the market for any length of time then: Putin and Russia are winners in the massive high priced oil game
The UN has urged the Syrian and Lebanese governments to take urgent steps to delineate their border.
Starting with Shebaa Farms...
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said on Tuesday that Lebanon must set its borders with Syria and disband Hizbollah before it could be master of its own nation.
Thank you for today's statement of the obvious...
In turn, Syria should take up Beirut's offer of establishing diplomatic relations as well as demarcating the entire 250km boundary between the two countries, Annan said in the report. "A united Lebanon has offered an out-stretched hand to Syria," Annan said. "I call on Syria to accept this offer and undertake measures, in particular, to establish embassies and delineate the border between Syria and Lebanon."
Suzerain states don't have embassies in their colonies. They have satraps and governors general and high commissioners and such.
The 23-page report, prepared by Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy, is a response to Security Council resolution 1559 of September 2004 that called for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon and for Lebanon to disarm militia, so the Beirut government could control the entire country. Syria and Lebanon have not had embassies on each other's territory since 1920. Damascus says its many bilateral ties rather than embassies suffice for the present.
Which tells anybody paying attention that they still regard themselves as the suzerain state...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
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#1
Give MadMoud and his Apocalypse a chance - the nuclearized Mullahs will [forcibly] resolve the issue for these States = future provinces-satraps of Tehran.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Taliban leader, 
The cornerstone to Saudi Arabia's first private aviation school was laid yesterday at Thumama Airport, just to the north of Riyadh. Riyadh Governor Prince Salman laid the cornerstone of the new flight academy. He was accompanied on an inspection of the plans of the school by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, secretary general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, who initiated the idea of the academy. The opening was held in the presence of a large invited audience of ministers and guests from Riyadh's diplomatic community.
North Korea has charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame to Pyongyang, adding artists with blood-shot eyes in Japan are making cartoons attacking Pyongyangs leaders. A spokesman for the Ministry of Peoples Security said in a statement the North had obtained shocking evidence Washington and Tokyo are producing false material that gives the impression Pyongyang is a criminal state, the Norths KCNA news agency said late Wednesday. The CIA secretly enlist(s) experts on counterfeiting notes claimed to be the most sophisticated in the world and invite(s) them to issue lots of fake currencies at counterfeit notes printing houses of North Korean-style operating in US military bases in different parts of the world, the spokesman said. 
China urged the United States on Thursday to return Chinese nationals held at Guantanamo Bay after the US Supreme Court declined to hear whether two Chinese Muslims held at the detention camp could be freed. Washington should "repatriate Chinese-nationality terror suspects held at Guantanamo as quickly as possible", the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Beijing's renewed call to take back the detainees came after two of them, 
Paris, 21 April (AKI) - The French government has refused to allow the new Palestinian planning minister Samir Abu Eisheh to visit France to attend a conference in Paris next week, a French foreign ministry spokesman announced Friday. The decision not to grant a visa to Eisheh was taken "in concert with our European partners," the spokesman, Jean Baptiste Mattei said. "The decision is a consequence of Europe's policy to suspend contacts with Hamas," up until the radical movement which dominates the new Palestinian Administration (PA) government meets the conditions for such meetings, Mattei added.
The U.S. government has released the most extensive list yet of the hundreds of detainees who have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp - including 132 from Saudi Arabia. In all, 558 people were named in the list provided by the Pentagon late Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press. They were among the first swept up for suspected links to Al-Qaeda or the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Hicks allegedly fought for the Taliban, and Australian news media have said British authorities contend he admitted undergoing training with British Islamic extremists, including 
GENEVA - United Nations human rights investigators on Thursday condemned excessive and deadly use of force by Nepals security forces against protestors and called for the government to exercise restraint. In a joint statement, the five special rapporteurs also asked demonstrators to act peacefully, noting some had attacked police with stones and other projectiles.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has vetoed a decision by the Hamas-led government to nominate a leading militant to a senior security post in the interior ministry. Israeli officials had threatened to target the man, Jamal Abu Samhadana, saying his new job did not give him any immunity. Mr Samhadana is wanted in Israel for ordering attacks on Israeli targets. 
Egypt pressed the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories to recognize past Palestinian agreements with Israel so peace talks can resume between the two sides. It was the most direct appeal on Wednesday from Egypt to Hamas since the Islamists took over the Cabinet last month after winning elections in January. Egypt had previously argued that the world should give Hamas more time to modify its positions, which include refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Prime Minister 
Hamas says Amman has wrongly accused the group of arms smuggling because it is being influenced by the US to boycott the new Palestinian government.
JAKARTA: The Indonesian edition of US adult magazine Playboy has suspended its operations for security reasons in the wake of violent protests by Muslim hardliners, its editor said Thursday. The announcement followed violent demonstrations by the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) last week over the publication of the magazine, a toned-down version of the original which does not carry nudes.
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said Thursday peace talks due to be held in Switzerland next week have been postponed indefinitely, citing recent violence against Tamil civilians. According to a report published in the web-edition of India's leading English daily Thursday, the Tamil rebels in a statement after a meeting with Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hannsen-Bauer, said they would not attend the talks until normalcy returns.
Pakistan and Turkey on Thursday called on western powers and Iran to find a diplomatic solution to the row over Tehran's alleged nuclear programme, saying they did not want fresh conflict in their already troubled region. "Pakistan is against the use of force . . . Diplomacy must be given a chance," visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told reporters after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul.
President 
Acting Interior Minister 
State Department deputy spokesman 
The former head of the UN probe into the assasination of former Prime Minister 
French President Jacques Chirac has called on Syria to end all interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, adding he fully supports an international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Speaking late Wednesday at a joint news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Chirac said: "France has nothing against Syria, but it simply wants Syria to cease any form of interference in Lebanon. It's unacceptable."
Syria cannot draw its shared border with Lebanon because a key southern zone remains occupied by Israel, a government official said in response to a UN call to firm up its frontiers. "Syria cannot delineate the border of the Shebaa (Farms area) because it is occupied," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview on Al-Jazeera television, excerpts of which were printed by Lebanese media yesterday. How could Syria carry out the task, Muallem asked, "by sending people in by parachute to do it? Syria is prepared to demarcate its border with Lebanon from the north down to Shebaa, which is occupied and whose border we cannot draw."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says a coalition of the willing may move ahead on tough measures against Iran for its nuclear program if the UN Security Council does not. Rice, speaking at a foreign-policy event in Chicago late Wednesday, said she remained confident that the crisis can be resolved with diplomacy though not necessarily always via the UN. You know that there are states that have been saying that if we dont get meaningful measures inside the Security Council, perhaps a coalition of the willing will think about other financial or political measures that could be taken, she told the audience.
The UN has urged the Syrian and Lebanese governments to take urgent steps to delineate their border.
