#1
I like the comment the BBC has highlighted and included in the article, true to style : AFRICA HAVE YOUR SAY
Ethiopia should pull out its troops before it is too late, they are part of the problem not part of the solution
#1
great graphic - the Dude from Big Lebowski... one of my fave movies
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2007 11:05 Comments ||
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#2
Agreed. Priceless movie. Do you know the short version of the movie? (NSFW)
Also, there was the movie in 5 seconds, very funny, but Evil Youtube capped it; stay tuned, I saved it and might upload it today.
I have the DVD, and heard a pricelss radio interview with Sam Elliott the other day where he talked about his best flicks (including Big Lebowski, Tombstone, and We Were Soldiers).
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2007 13:54 Comments ||
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All it took was a promise not to wage jihad on the Arabian Peninsula for the Saudi royal family to free 1,500 imprisoned Al Qaeda members, declaring they had been "reformed."
The kingdom's Interior Ministry released the terrorists last weekend, according to the Saudi newspaper Al Watan as reported by the New York Sun.
In an interview with Al Watan, Muhammad al-Nujaimi, a member of the special committee to reform jihadists, said the Al Qaeda terrorists have pledged to end their campaign to rid the Arabian Peninsula of infidels.
"After several graded sessions with the committee, and having been convinced of their misguided vision, they renounced their erroneous ideologies, including the concept of driving out all infidels from the Arabian Peninsula," al-Nujaimi said, according to The Sun.
The 1,500 had been rounded up in crackdowns that began in 2003.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
11/27/2007 09:57 ||
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#1
"Arrrrrrrrrrgghhhhh!"
-- Charlie Brown,
Remarks on the Present Attempt to Kick a Football
#3
Lots more to this story. I imagine lots of these mucks were just the usual suspects rounded up on general principle, then called jihadis to make the authorities look good. If they are young, they are going to be released to their families on probation, who will look after them or else.
I suspect that the Iraqis are losing patience with Saudis who make trouble up there, and will start disappearing them.
#5
I suspect that the Iraqis are losing patience with Saudis who make trouble up there, and will start disappearing them.
A great many Saudi sons have disappeared permanently in the maw of Iraq, these last few years. Of course, most of those died in terror attempts of one sort or another. Not so much of that any more... I wonder how many are in Iraqi jails, nowadays.
Intelligence sources and other observers both here in the capital of the PRC and elsewhere in Asia are stating that they project a possible collapse of the North Korean regime within six months time.
Although there have been similar dire predictions made in the past, those analyzing the current situation point to several factors that indicate that the regime may finally be unraveling.
Recent activity by both Kim Jong-Il and other DPRK officials suggest that the Dear Leader is in the process of moving around the financial resources of Pyongyangs international banking empire in order to make sure he is taken care of should he have to go into exile. This includes a recent visit to the United States by North Korean finance officials who were visiting to learn about the international financial circulation network.
Ostensibly, this visit was preparatory work that would allow the country to re-join the international financial system. . . . But, there are others who suggest that this is also part of a contingency plan in order to make Kims assets portable.
While the Dear Leader is engaged in financial matters, other reports state that there are movements of U.S. and South Korean military units and equipment to the DMZ in what appears to be a pre-positioning exercise in anticipation of some internal upheavals in the north.
Indications that the regime is possibly losing its grip and that Kim may be failing to maintain control over events are seen in what happens both inside--and how people are managing to get outside of--the country.
A recent article in the Washington Post details how it has become far easier and more common for North Koreas to find ways of getting out of their country. How much money you have determines how arduous and circuitous your escape route might be.
The key factor to watch is how rapidly the numbers of people fleeing are increasing. Only 41 North Koreans were able to reach the South in 1995, but the rate of those escaping has grown each year and last year it reached 2,000. What makes these multiple escape routes out of the country possible is that there are a growing number of DPRK border guards and secret police officials who are willing to take bribes to allow their fellow countrymen to escape.
North Korea watchers regard this as a telltale sign of the regime losing its control. Part of the motivation for these border control officials desire to collect bribes is that the centrally-controlled economy has ceased to function and the food distribution system is nearly as broken. But, the other side of the coin, they say, is that those accepting these under-the-table payments do not fear the punishment of higher-ranking authorities as much as they once did. . . .
I hope so, but I've been hearing that for a while. Eventually it'll be true -- but two things we know about totalitarian regimes are that they tend to hang on longer than they should, but that when they go it's often with astonishing suddenness.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/27/2007 08:10 ||
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#2
The humanitarian crisis will be unlike anything ever seen in modern times. If the NORKs fail in winter, hundreds of thousands could starve. The refugees will overwhelm both China and the south.
#3
And yet, DarthVader, I'd be willing to bet my Christmas that the Communist system that directly contributed to the disaster will be ignored in favor of criticism of Kim's cult of personality and a dozen other things . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
11/27/2007 9:15 Comments ||
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#4
Although there have been similar dire predictions made in the past, those analyzing the current situation point to several factors that indicate that the regime may finally be unraveling.
In what possible sense is this a "dire" prediction? Millions are starving under the current regime. In this case the Chinese axiom is mistaken: Chaos would be preferable.
But no matter how you slice it, the liberation of 22 million people would be a wonderful thing. The disappearance of a hereditary communist gangster state wouldn't exactly suck, either. But the aftermath is going to be bloody and messy--and might require the involvement of Beijing to a degree not seen in Korea since 1951, when the PLA crossed the Yalu River en masse.
#8
South Korea has been maneuvering frantically for years to avoid taking on the burden that reunification presents. Nor do I see China wanting it -- it's one thing to have an attack dog diverting U.S. resources while China gets ready for the next war, it's quite another for China to come down to the Korean border and growl itself, while somehow preventing starving hordes of brainwashed North Koreans from invading China looking for food.
#9
I'll predict that if Nork falls, it will neither be bloody or violent, for the simple reason that everyone there is just utterly exhausted and starved.
More than anything else, China, the South, and the US will begin massive food shipments into the North. With their bellies full, the last thing they will want is trouble.
However, step beyond that. At that point, China, the South and the US will do some deals. This will optimally result in Korea being unified and getting a bunch of external aid, and China being mollified by the US pulling back all the way to Pusan and really just interested in the naval base there.
The big winner in this would be China. It would no longer have to fret or spend a whole lot of money on Korea, in that if everything was peaceful, Korea would make China a ton of money as a new major trading partner, without being a threat.
The Koreans could disband most of their military, and things could be sweetness and light all the way around.
#10
the Communist system that directly contributed to the disaster will be ignored in favor of criticism of Kim's cult of personality and a dozen other things . . .
Word, doc. Count on the MSM to ignore any culpability of their communist overlords. 'moose, I think your assessment is a bit too roseate. I cannot foresee China tolerating a democracy of any sort directly abutting their border. The chance of ideological infection becomes almost overwhelming. As Stephen Green notes, this leaves the truly ugly scenario of a post-Kim Chinese incursion.
Fortunately, America currently wields a big stick with which to club the Politburo into submission. Interference with Korea's unification would provide the absolute perfect excuse to boycott the Olympics. China has so much national pride and significant financial resources invested in this one single event that they are now hamstrung by it. We can only hope that America's leadership has the wisdom and political will to leverage this situation into a desirable outcome. If anything, we need to facilitate Kim's exitgeographic or corporealbefore the Olympics' launch specifically to enhance the potency of such a threat.
As for any opposition to reunification on South Korea's part, we should merely threaten to allow whatever hostile communist regime to resume housekeeping in Pyongyang should Seoul prove uncooperative. South Korea's unfair economic trade policies and rather faithless relationship with America needs to be rewarded with the burden of a reunion similar to that of Germany. It will economically drain this mini-dragon and keep it on the sidelines for the better part of a decade. Not, altogether, a bad thing.
#12
I bet cold hard cash that "Dear Leader" aka "Lil Kim" would not make it past 90 days. He has proven resilent if nothing else and I would not announce his demise until I see the bodies and/or emergency flights to Beijing.
#13
TALK RADIO > Dubya reportedly is considering/planning to visit Asia in January 2008 to shore up support for stronger anti-Iran UNO sanctions + multilater nuke-trade diplom over the Norkies, INCLUDING A POSSIBLE VISIT TO PYONGYANG???
#15
China will seal the border because they don't want to deal with it with the Olympics coming up. They may be involved in the final removal of Kim or hiw attempted replacement in order to put themselves in a good position viz-a-ve a united Korea.
South Korea, Japan and the US will suck up the cost of absorbing the North into Korea. United Korea will be neutral and pacifist because its cheaper and easier.
#16
China will seal the border because they don't want to deal with it with the Olympics coming up. They may be involved in the final removal of Kim or hiw attempted replacement in order to put themselves in a good position viz-a-ve a united Korea.
South Korea, Japan and the US will suck up the cost of absorbing the North into Korea. United Korea will be neutral and pacifist because its cheaper and easier.
(KCNA) -- Voices are growing ever louder in the north and the south of Korea and overseas denouncing traitor of south Korea Ri Hoe Chang's ambition to grab power.
Home media of the DPRK come out every day with commentaries and articles bringing into glaring light the flunkeyistic treacheries, anti-reunification crimes, corruption and swindle committed by Ri Hoe Chang.
Home media of the DPRK come out every day with commentaries and articles bringing into glaring light the flunkeyistic treacheries, anti-reunification crimes, corruption and swindle committed by Ri Hoe Chang. The commentaries dismiss his running for "presidency" as a ludicrous kicking and struggling and a fantastic daydream of a political living corpse preoccupied with greed for power.
Rodong Sinmun carries serial articles uncovering the past crimes of Ri Hoe Chang under a fixed headline. A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, answering a question put by KCNA, said it was an intolerable insult to the south Korean people and an unpardonable mockery of justice and consciousness for Ri, who had been forsaken by the times and public sentiments for his despicable flunkeystic treacheries, anti-reunification crimes, corruption and swindle, to attempt to seat himself in the "presidential" post.
Angry voices of denunciation are coming also from the south Korean political quarters including the "New Democratic Party for Great Unity", "Democratic Party", "Creative Party" and the Democratic Labour Party. Noting that the failure of Ri in the past two "presidential elections" had been a moral judgment passed on him, a spokesman of "Chongwadae" said his running for the forthcoming election was an act ignoring and insulting the people.
The "Grand National Party" is also firing off volleys of criticism on Ri Hoe Chang by every means available. It warned that if anyone within the party communicated secretly with Ri, he would be sternly reprimanded.
Many organizations such as the south Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification and the People for Achieving Peace and Reunification released commentaries condemning the traitor's drive for power. The Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration in a statement urged the whole progressive camp to make thorough exposure of the irregularities and corruption committed by traitor Ri Hoe Chang including the cases of "Pyongphung," "Sephung," "Chongphung" and "Anphung," and to form an all-people front of struggle against Ri.
The General Association of Koreans in China issued a statement calling for a stern punishment of Ri, a heinous sycophantic traitor and anti-reunification element.
The General Association of Koreans in China issued a statement calling for a stern punishment of Ri, a heinous sycophantic traitor and anti-reunification element, in the name of nation. Cha Sang Bo, vice-chairman of the General Association of Koreans in China, and Mun Thae Hwan, chairman of the Federation of Korean Youth in China, in their statements appealed to the 70 million fellow countrymen to turn out as one in the patriotic struggle of justice to decisively shatter the plot of Ri Hoe Chang, a pro-U.S. stooge and kingpin of irregularities and corruption, to seize "power" and drive this despicable traitor once and for all from the arena of history.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
ludicrous kicking and struggling and a fantastic daydream of a political living corpse preoccupied with greed for power.
...And now with even more Juche(TM)! It's been a while since we heard this kind of quality invective out of the Norks - keep up the good work!
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/27/2007 13:58 Comments ||
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#2
But can I use 'flunkeyistic' in tonight's Scrabble game?????
North Korea will come clean on all its nuclear programmes, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said Monday, as
Experts from five nations prepared to check progress on disabling its plutonium-producing atomic plants.
experts from five nations prepared to check progress on disabling its plutonium-producing atomic plants. The report came as the US embassy said a State Department official had been stationed in the North Korean capital to assist the US-supervised drive to disable the plants by year-end. Under the current phase of a six-nation pact, North Korea agreed to disable its plants and declare a full list of nuclear programmes by the end of this year in return for major energy aid. Work started at the main complex at Yongbyon in early November, some 13 months after Pyongyang shocked the world with its first nuclear test.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
OK to nuke if we find out they didn't come clean?
#3
This crap easily qualifies as "armed rebellion" and should be put down as harshly as necessary. Shoot a few, in other words. Start with those holding weapons, no warning.
#6
#3 This crap easily qualifies as "armed rebellion" and should be put down as harshly as necessary. Shoot a few, in other words. Start with those holding weapons, no warning.
Posted by: mojo 2007-11-27 14:59
That would only intensify the fight. Bring in something with a large-caliber chain-gun, and just start shooting at anything that moves. Make hamburger of the ones up close, and rip through houses and cars a half-mile away. Let it be known that such repraisals will result with EVERY SINGLE car-be-que, and follow through. It'll take ripping apart neighborhoods about three times before the behavior stops. Mama will slap young Hussein or Mohamhead upside the skull with a frying pan before they allow these idjits to put the entire neighborhood in jeopardy again. Besides, burying what was left of Cousin Achmed in a sardine can was "humiliating".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/27/2007 20:54 Comments ||
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#7
Let it be known that such repraisals will result with EVERY SINGLE car-be-que, and follow through. It'll take ripping apart neighborhoods about three times before the behavior stops. Mama will slap young Hussein or Mohamhead upside the skull with a frying pan before they allow these idjits to put the entire neighborhood in jeopardy again.
This exact same policy needs to be implemented on an urban scale against cities in the MME (Muslim Middle East), in reprisal for terrorist atrocities. Bang goes the London Tube, boom goes all of Damascus. Soon enough Muslims will be storming the local mosque to slit their jihadist imam's throat.
Besides, burying what was left of Cousin Achmed in a sardine can was "humiliating".
#9
Someone has to shout, "Let's burn that car first," Evan dear. And someone else has to throw the first cobblestone at the nice policeman, shouting "Get the kaffir!" Otherwise the mob just keeps milling around, muttering balefully, until the mothers call them home because they're up past their bedtimes.
That could be funny, but that's the guy who kept the bulgarian nurses hostages, had them tortured and raped, and get all he wanted out of that. And I won't mention his meddling in africa, the latest one being the ivory coast fiasco, which was yet an another debacle for France. Bankrupted and shocked french refugees from ivory coast were left to fend for themselves, with no access to the welfare and subsidies available to african migrants, and we receive this clown like that???
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya has flummoxed presidential protocol service with a request that a Bedouin tent be erected in central Paris where he can entertain guests during a visit to France next month. Libyan officials have told their French counterparts that he wants the tent put up in the grounds of the Hôtel Marigny, the 19th-century Parisian state residence used to house important foreign visitors.
The protocol service is unsure how to respond, since it is unwilling to displease the volatile ruler but unsure about setting a precedent that could lead to similar demands from other heads of state. Nothings been settled yet, said a source at President Sarkozys Élysée Palace. "We'll give in, because we're essentially spineless whores, but we need some time to save face." Le Point, the French magazine, said that advisers to the 65-year-old Libyan leader had told Paris he wanted a tent because he suffered from a phobia brought on by being confined indoors.
The Élysée Palace source said that Colonel Gaddafi made this demand to receive his guests under his tent as is his custom and not to sleep in it. Colonel Gaddafi, who has ruled the North African country for 38 years, greets visitors in a Bedouin tent in Libya and requested a similar installation when he travelled to Brussels for talks with the Belgian Government in 2004. A black, Saharan-style tent was erected for him in lush parkland by a lake in the grounds of the Val Duchesse château in the suburbs of the Belgian capital.
Canvas in the Marigny gardens which are a stones throw from the Élysée and the British Ambassadors residence would fuel controversy surrounding a visit designed to illustrate the return of the former pariah to the international mainstream. Dubbed the mad dog of the Middle East by President Reagan in the 1980s over his backing for terrorist movements, the Supreme Guide of the Libyan Revolution is now seen by Western leaders as an ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. His trip to France follows the release this summer of six foreign medical workers jailed by Tripoli since 1999 for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with HIV.
Mr Sarkozy played a key role in the liberation of the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor after sending Cécilia, his wife they have since divorced for talks with the Libyan strongman. A day after the medical workers were freed, Mr Sarkozy flew to Tripoli to welcome Colonel Gaddafi back into the family of nations. The meeting provoked a furious row in France when it emerged that Paris had agreed to supply Libya with nuclear technology to power a desalination plant and defence equipment, including military vehicles and air defence systems. Barf.
Colonel Gaddafis visit to France has been confirmed privately by French government sources but has not yet been officially announced.
Gaddafi's world
In his 38-year rule Colonel Gaddafi has styled himself as the leader of a pan-Arabic socialist movement and the progenitor of a United States of Africa
Travelling with a corps of armed female bodyguards, he has turned his hand to some of the thorniest diplomatic problems - including the Israel-Palestine issue, where he proposes a solution based on a unified state called Isratine
He plans to act as screenwriter for a $40 million (£19.5 million) epic about the Italian invasion of Libya Will that mention the fact that "lybia" was created ex-nihilo by the italians as a country?
In the 1980s Libya had a reputation for supporting terrorist and revolutionary groups around the world, including the IRA. With this in mind Britains National Front approached him for assistance. He offered no money but provided a stack of copies of his slim three-volume Green Book - which offers a solution to the problem of democracy
The same book also covers womens rights, explaining: A woman is tender. A woman is pretty. A woman weeps easily. A woman is easily frightened
Youths have fought running battles with French police in a second night of violence in Paris suburbs, leaving more than 60 police officers injured. Five of the officers are said to be in a critical condition.
Rioting began in Villiers-le-Bel, on the northern edge of Paris, after two teenagers riding a motorbike died in a crash with a police car on Sunday.
The Youths who died were of North African origin. Similar riots rocked mainly deprived French suburbs in 2005.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is currently in China, has appealed for calm.
The BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris says the violence was worse than on the first night. Gangs of youths attacked police with petrol bombs and stones. Police say firearms were used against them, injuring several officers. They responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The violence spread to five towns across the Val d'Oise department, north of Paris. Cars were set on fire and two schools, a library and shops were badly damaged.
The French Interior Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said she believed the trouble was organised.
No, reeeeaaallly?
The initial results of a police inquiry suggested that officers were not to blame for the two boys' deaths. The authorities say the motorbike crashed into a police patrol car at high speed. A state prosecutor has ordered a manslaughter inquiry.
The events have brought to the surface the simmering resentment and hatred among many young people in poor French suburbs towards the police, our correspondent says. Complaints of police harassment and discrimination are widespread in such areas, where many families are of African origin.
Discrimination against infidels and harrassment of women is
common in the same locations ...
On Sunday, about 30 cars and several buildings, including a police station, were torched in Villiers-le-Bel and neighbouring Arnouville. Twenty-six police and fire officers were injured and nine people were arrested then.
A state prosecutor has ordered the National Police General Inspectorate (IGPN) - an oversight body - to carry out a detailed inquiry into the circumstances in which the two teenagers - named only as Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, lost their lives. Police sources say that in Sunday's incident, the motorcycle was going at top speed, it was not registered for street use, the two teenagers were not wearing helmets and they ignored traffic rules. Plus, it was a MINI motorbike, a rich man toy which is widespread in the impoverished 'hoods, along with the 4-wheels quad motorbike. Having two dumbasses on one of that... thing, with no helmet and at top speed was Jackass-like; "Hi, my name is Johnny Knoxville,..." were their last words.
The police car was on a routine patrol and the teenagers were not being chased by police at the time, officials said.
The prosecutor who has ordered the investigation, Marie-Therese de Givry, told LCI television that the teenagers had turned into the path of the police car. She said the officers immediately called emergency services to the scene. Two witnesses are said to have confirmed this, but the teenagers' relatives and other local residents say the police did nothing to help the dying teenagers.
President Sarkozy said he wanted "everyone to calm down and let the justice system decide who was responsible." When he was interior minister in 2005, country-wide riots erupted after the electrocution of two teenagers in an electricity sub-station in the nearby suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. They were reported to have been fleeing police at the time.
Mr Sarkozy was heavily criticised two years ago after he called for crime-ridden neighbourhoods to be "cleaned with a power hose" and described violent elements as "gangrene" and "rabble". Auntie BBC is mistranslating; gangrene, wtf???? Sarko was on electoral tour, and a woman at a window shout to him " when are you going to rid us of the scum?"; Sarko, who was then the interior minister, used a common politician trick, and shout back at her using her own language "the scum, we'll get you rid of it". Problem is, there was a whole trail of msm following him and his entourage, and the gvt-owned France 2 cut up the exchange, so it appeared Sarko was saying "scum" (racailles, which is the accepted name the Bad Boyz give to themselves, by the way) of his own, which was a dirty trick, but then, Sarko was perceived by the left as the new Devil, worse than Le pen (himself worse than hitler), so, it was not surprizing.
#1
Actual casualties are supposed to be 77, according to a police union, not 64, some of the policement couldn't be brought to the area hospitals for safety reasons, for fear of being assaulted there.
Tomorrow at 9 AM, the Président will receive... the families of the two Youths who crashed themselves on the police car, while doing a joyride on a stolen mini-moto.
#5
Lol... it is almost funny, in a sick way; "mothers throwing water from the balconies so their sons can wash their teargas-weary eyes", "inhabitants throwing stones and items from the windows onto the police", "Big brothers saying to those who spend too much time filming with their cellphone 'it's not a movie, it's war'",... there's coordination, the youngest ones (10 years and so on) act as scouts and molotov-throwers and shields (police can't legally harm them in any way), one "man in black" coordonate the effort of the molotov cokctails makers, and listen to the police's radio transmission with a talkie-walkie of some sort.
#7
Grumpu G(r)omgoru, this reminds me of a terrific spoof on a rightwing french jewish blog (not Balagan, I think this was in the comments of a pro-Israel/pro Us website, can't remember), which treated the then ongoing 2005 Ramadan Riots as the israelo-paleostinian conflict... with all the tropes, clichés, memes, land against peace, peace process, cycle of violence, hapless Youths, etc, etc... I should have saved it, it was spot on, applying the msm treatment of Israel to shiraq/"de villepin"/Sarko's France. Quite funny.
#10
Yes and no; I know for sure it's serious, and it CERTAINLY is for the cops, for the guy who got his cars garage toched, for the tens and tens of poor folks who have their car reduced to ashes (not many of them muslim, if you get my drift...), for the school burned, for the library ransacked and burned,... but I can't help to see this a darkly funny, because this is all an act; there will be no meaningful response, there will be no change, only more money thrown at the problem, more appeasement, more cultural grovelling,... all this with "tough on crime" Sarko.
I could be wrong, of course, but, again, this is just a flare; there's a constant, ongoing low-level intifada, from torched cars to random acts of violence and anti-white racism. I'm pretty sheltered, so I can see the perverse humor, for example with the comparison with the treatment of the paleo problem.
Frankly, except a real paradigm change, which would be painful, even if this just mean reforming France for real (many want that, no one want the pain), I can't see any change coming, soon or later.
Do you know the metaphor of the frog in the water?
#11
This week end, you've got a 23 years old student, grade A, by all accounts, Catholic (she was a JMJ member), who got stabbed 33 times in the chest and face after she resisted rape in the RER; her murdered is a 43 years turk. Her parents got minimal support, but the for two dumbasses/thieves who killed themselves because they were too stoopid/high/drunk to care about road signs, you've got the prime minister to phone their parents, and tomorrow, Sarko who will greet them at the Elysée... all this because the République is terrified of the monster she has created over the last three decades. Why do you think France COULDN'T, even if she wanted, send troops for the OIF?
The pols are grabbed by the b*lls; as the sopcialist president mittérrand used to say to his entourage "we (french) are partying onboard a plane that is going to crash". This doesn't prevent from pocketing money and advantages, living the high-life, paid by the little people, and stomping HARD... on speeding drivers (the "good" kind, at least, not the ones from the 'hoods, who won't pay anyway), and on the EVIL rightwingers. One guy named Michel Lajoie will soon go out of prison; he spent 18 years for a bomb in a north-african café, no casualties, only materail damage : one busted chair, I kid you not; each time he was to get out, his parole was denied. The Youths who beat Jean-Claude Irvoas to death, the first casualty of 2005, have got 15 years max, with time served and the automatic reductions, they will be out in 4-7 years, this is not an exageration. And "identity" militants from the south of France are on trial for using teargas to escape lynching, along with some other kangooroo charges, they risk years of jail; and I could go on, like the corsican anti-north african "militants", who not only got more for their bombing than the run-of-the-mill corsican terr (with whom the usual relationship with the gvt is to negociate with), but were let on purpose by to be beaten by their Youth comrades, with assorted anti-racist remarks by the guards.
Excuse me, but I find this if not actually *funny*, at least pretty buffoon-like.
#12
I must admit that even with my low regard for the French I find this sad, enraging and pathetic; but not funny. Sarko seemed to have been the French politician most likely to deal with this before it went out of control and he is clearly choking.
That France is maneuvering to gain effective control of an EU military force I find hilarious.
#15
I meant the comparison with Intifada-I, because to me it's two drops of water.
Oh, sorry; yes, you're right, the similarities are evident; part of it may be intentional - the creation of the "paleostinian legend" by the french msm has transported the "mystic" of the conflict in the 'hoods, policemen again and again said the Youths see themselves as paleos, and the cops are israelis; in 2005, in that famous clip censored by french teevee, with Youths shouting "Sarkozy, dirty jew!", you can hear "here it's Jerusalem" (and they don't mean the isareli capital neither).
But I think there are also ingrained cultural "hardwirings" - even if the muslim pop of France is more diverse (with the black africans, turks, pakistanis,...), and not all Youths are muslims (black africans again; I believe there's a "tribal" (?) way, hit and run, lots of posturing, use of "dirty" tricks not associated with "normal" conduct (wimmen and kiddies as shield), of war among them, and traits I'd associate with the arab culture : the stoning (found in Israel, but also in algeria, in morocco,... stone-throwing seems to be a favorite weapon), the idea that the young male must "defend" his neighbourhood (the sheebab), the all-male groups, the harassment of outsiders (apparently, this would go way back, that would be how zoroastrian were purged from the middle east, by everyday violence and harassment from the young muslim neighbours)
Yeah, surfing the internet sure is hard work! I think I'll go lay down for 3-4 hours to rest, sucking my thumb, after that tremendous, tremendous effort.
And, then, 3-5 hours of pr0n, to refill my batteries. Or 6.
#20
Who knows?
But that would be very far-fetched, our friend Occam would rather say they WERE two idiots.
As for the preparation, well, it's always simmering; it's not it went from absolute calm to this, it's just that there's a "normal" state in the "no-go zones" which is like people smarter and more in contact with Reality said (mayors, cops, even Ye Olde Sociologist) a "pre-civil war", "a low-key intifada"... supposedly, the more a "no go zone" is let to itself, the quieter it becomes, because a new order is established, not necessarily islamic per se, but with an islamic and african/north african identity, and an underground economy resting notably on the drug traffiking (80% of cannabis comes from morocco, and apart from small-time buyers-sellers, the bulk of drug dealers is made of Youths). So, there's an organization, for that underground economy, and you can bet there's an islamic connection, either directly (? Like secret services form hostile countries like iran or algeria having networks, algeria certainly does), or just as giving a justification and a sense of purpose.
Also, in my post about the similarities with intifada, I mentioned cultural hardwirings, this can be that too, the clan-like extended family structure, with cousins working together, "little brothers", "big brothers",... (as it has been candidly explained in various documentaries, by boys, girls, youngs, older ones,... Youths love to prey on ethnic europeans, because "they have no cousins to back them up", no "big brother to beat you up with his pals with you hit on his sister",... - IE, with the loss of community & family solidarity against the (false) solidarity provided by the Nanny-State, and with the demographic winter leading to families with one or two children at the max, the street is owned by the Youths, because they have that culture of gang predation, and the manpower to support it, simple as that).
#21
Also, I'm not a specialist on that topic at all, it's just that I have a mind, feeble as it is, and can add 2 + 2. I'd like to have JFM or leroidavid back me up with more insight.
He can't help being amazed by that; ER physician in a Val-d'Oise hospital, he went this morning from room to room to get an overview of the people wounded during the last two nights of rioting at Villiers-le-Bel and in the surrounding communes.
"What's impressive is that all the policemen who were brought in had been wounded by firearms. I'd say 99%. Most of them, it's not serious, it's just shots, but still, we never had seen this"
An another particularity, according to this ER doctor, no other young casualties were brought to any of the ER of the north of Paris. They could have been sent elsewhere, but I don't think it's so.
Anyway, according to this doctor, there is obviously from the law enforcement service a decision not to bring all of their casualties in the same hospitals, "to avoid commando operations by the Youths".
A few more figures : At the hospital of Eaubonne, the first night there were 17 hurt policemen, this night 9. At the hospital of Gonesse, 9 the first night, and 9 this last night. At Aulnay, 12 and 15.
Which has this doctor say "when I hear the police casualties figures given on the radio, I think it's underestimated"
Eric Favereau
#24
I guess we'll know when the hammer comes down when Charles de Gaulle airport shuts down. IIRC, don't the flight paths for the airport cross directly over some of the more violent neighborhoods?
#25
Boy, did I ever miscalculate Sarko's response. I have a hard time believing he is 'moon-walking' through this after his rhetoric when he was Interior Minister. Somehow, I thought he would be tough and hard-nosed like he was with the SNCF strikers and students. Does he really believe meeting with the 'utes parents will salve the wounds? Are they the French equivalent of Rodney King during the Watts riots "Can't we all just get along'?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 13:10 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Nice round-up, and good background information and analysis, anonymous5089. The English term for that kind of joking is "black humour". The classic example is of a man, having murdered his father and mother, stands before the judge pleading for mercy because he's an orphan.
(Yes, y'all, the man stands there as the definition of the yiddish word chutzpah, but the situation, that's black humour.)
#27
If he grew a spine, he'd send in the Foreign Legion, with orders that rioters are to be shot and killed on sight, no expections or restrictions. Families of rioters should be deported.
#29
This is something that has amazed me since we began hearing of it some 2-3 years ago. Then yesterday A5089 says it's really ongoing sort of at a low boil. Now, I know our Uropeen cousins regard us Yanks as rude and uncultered, but I will say that if someone burned the vehicles on my property there would be some dead carcasses laying around, no if, ands, or butts. How can the French populace tolerate this and sustain continual financial losses ? Why do they tolerate it ? Why not level the slum towers if they are such an oppressive and depressing place to live? Let the scum crawl back whence they came.
#30
MSM! Please give us an explanation. Like, France is not in Iraq! So why is all this shooting at French police happening, MSM? I mean, shouldn't the French Islamite not respectfull of France who did not join the War On Terror?
Or could it be that France being non War on Terror is ready to be car-b-cued and shoot in the butt with buckshot by "youths"?
Actually, I think the figure was 40 yesterday already, starting with that commissioner who was beaten - ribs and bones in the face broken - when reaching out to the Youths to negociate, hé.
Dozens of French police were seriously injured by rioters last night as President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed for calm. At least 30 officers had received treatment in the northern Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, as they were attacked by hooded Youths clutching metal bars and baseball bats.
The mob took to the streets following the death of two teenagers in a road accident involving a police car. Molotov Cocktails were thrown, with another police car exploding in flames. Cars and wheelie-bins were also set on fire, with Youths continually pelting CRS riot squads with missiles.
The police responded with tear gas canisters, baton charges, and paint bombs to identify rioters.
"It's a hugely dangerous situation," said one officer. "It appears that these Youths want to kill us."
Some Youths tried to pull down cables leading to street lamps, so as to black out the area. A public library was among the buildings set alight.
The clashes broke out after two teenagers were killed when the motorcycle they were driving collided with a police car. It was in Villiers-le-Bel that, on Sunday evening, officers were accused of driving into the 15 and 16-years-old, who were on a stolen motorbike, before the officers allegedly fled the scene without tending to the Youths. Prolly because they couldn't stand the soon-to-come warmness and happiness of the crowd that was very soon going to form. Shy people.
Speaking on a trip to Beijing, Mr Sarkozy called for "all sides to calm down and for the judiciary to decide who bears responsibility."
Both teenagers were from immigrant backgrounds, and their families claim the police deliberately targeted them.
Pontoise public prosecutor Marie-Thérèse de Givry ordered an investigation for "involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger."
Omar Sehhouli, brother of one of the victims, said: 'It is 100-per cent a police blunder. They know it, and that's why the police did not stay at the scene.
"I know they will say they left because they were afraid of clashes or of being assaulted but up until now we have had no apology from the police chief."
A few more details, though this appears to be a yesterday's article (the above was updated 27th 1 am) :
At least 40 French police were hurt late on Monday in running battles with scores of rioters in a suburb north of Paris where two youths died after a crash involving a police car. During a second night of disturbances in Villiers-le-Bel and nearby areas, a local government official said one policeman was shot in the shoulder by some kind of firearm but was only slightly wounded.
A garbage truck and a police vehicle were among at least 36 vehicles torched late at night in the Val d'Oise area that includes Villiers and nearby districts also hit by the unrest, police and local officials said. A Reuters witness said police were pelted with stones, petrol bombs and large firecrackers that exploded over their heads during hours of cat-and-mouse skirmishes with rioters.
Police replied with tear gas, rubber bullets and paint guns designed to identify troublemakers. Spent cartridges and rocks thrown by rioters littered the streets. Injured officers were given treatment in a local fire station used by police as a base. One, his face bloodied, had his arm in a sling. Officials said 40 officers were slightly hurt, though three officers needed hospital treatment.
Local mayor Didier Vaillant, who had earlier called for calm, said airguns had been fired at police. "It looks like it's going to be a long night," he said. My take is this is a mistranslation, from an already dumbed-down description; during the 2005 riots, the french msm kept talking about the pistolets à grenaille fired against the police, that is, handguns replica that fire small caliber (ca 8mm/.32) cartridges filled with birdshot, dangerous at contact range, but certainly not lethal... except that while the commenter said that, the policemen on screen usually held Ye Olde 12 gauge spent shells... Not the same thing...
#1
François Desouche (playword on that handle & ethnic french) is a well-known rightwing/white nationalist blog; while the commenters here are sometimes hard to digest ("the jooos! The joooos!", "The americans! The americans!" "Capitalism! Capitalism!"), there is quite a nice following of current events there, from that political perspective, and it is popular, hence the constant cyberattacks by the Usual Suspects.
For those who wants multimedia (text in french, but pics, vids) :
#4
Cellphone vid, by a bystander; you can hear a girl crying, her mother (I think???) trying to calm her, an exchange between 2 or more persons : "they killed two cops, unless...", "the car is burning", "they all attack", "but you think you're at war, or what?".
#11
Police said 82 officers were injured Monday night, 10 of them by buckshot and pellets. Four were seriously wounded, the force said. Police unions said 30 officers were struck by buckshot.
One rioter with a shotgun "was firing off two shots, reloading in a stairwell, coming back out boom, boom and firing again," said Gilles Wiart, No. 2 official in the SGP-FO police union.
French authorities have ordered an internal police inquiry into the deaths of two yoots teenagers whose motorbike collided with a police car. A French state prosecutor has ordered the deaths to be investigated for manslaughter and non-assistance to persons in danger".
A state prosecutor has ordered the National Police General Inspectorate (IGPN) to carry out a detailed inquiry into the circumstances in which the two teenagers - named only as Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, lost their lives. In a preliminary report, the IGPN excluded the policeman driving the car from any responsibility for the incident. "The driver did not see the motorcycle arrive and was surprised by the violence of the collision," the report says.
Two witnesses said the police car was driving at 40 - 50kph (25 - 30mph) and had no revolving lights or siren on.
Mon Dieu.
Following the Sunday evening collision, youths in the area went on a rampage, damaging shops and setting cars on fire. Villiers-le-Bel police station was set ablaze and another in Arnouville was pillaged.
Following the Sunday evening collision, youths in the area went on a rampage, damaging shops and setting cars on fire. Villiers-le-Bel police station was set ablaze and another in Arnouville was pillaged, police say. At least seven people were arrested. French media reported two petrol stations were also torched and the Arnouville-Villiers-le-Bel railway station was damaged.
Riot police were sent to the area, but youths blocked their way with burning cars.
Police sources said the two teenagers were riding a stolen mini-motorcycle, and that neither was wearing a helmet. The police car was on a routine patrol and the teenagers were not being chased by police at the time of the accident, police said. The collision wrecked the front of the car and smashed the windscreen. Witnesses have accused the police of leaving the scene and of preventing local people from trying to help the youngsters as they lay in the road.
The brother of one of the victims has called for the officers involved to be convicted.
The mayor of Villers-le-Bel, Didier Vaillant, appealed for calm and said he would ensure there was "an impartial investigation, for full light to be shed" on the accident.
A brother of one of the dead teenagers, Omar Sehhouli, said the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage".
#1
Following the Sunday evening collision, youths in the area went on a rampage, damaging shops and setting cars on fire. Villiers-le-Bel police station was set ablaze and another in Arnouville was pillaged, police say.
This is not rioting. This is an insurrection. Call in the army.
#2
the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage"
So would an army response with unrestricted rules of engagement not be "violence" but merely "an expression of exasperation?"
Is anybody exasperated over there?
Posted by: James ||
11/27/2007 11:40 Comments ||
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Pakistan's main opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Monday she was ready to form an alliance with Nawaz Sharif as she filed her papers to contest upcoming general elections. It was the second time in two days Benazir had lodged nomination papers for the January 8 vote, as under Pakistan law candidates can stand for more than one seat.
"We are ready to forge an alliance with all moderate political parties," she told reporters in Larkana, her family's ancestral home deep in rural southern Pakistan. "We welcome Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan. It will strengthen the democratic and political culture."
Sharif, like Benazir a two-time former premier, returned Sunday to a hero's welcome from his supporters in Lahore, eastern Pakistan, after seven years in exile. Nawaz Sharif also filed his nomination papers on Monday for general elections on January 8, a day after he returned from exile, an AFP reporter saw.
Dozens of supporters showered Sharif with rose petals as he arrived at a courtroom in the eastern city of Lahore where candidates were registering for the vote, the correspondent said. His brother Shahbaz also filed his papers for the vote, which the ex-prime minister has said his party may yet boycott if they are held under a state of emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why do I get the image of a scorpion and a tarantula in a jar toghther? But a puny scorpion and a scraggly little tarantula that wouldn't scare anyone...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/27/2007 13:08 Comments ||
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The Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), a militant organisation in Bara, on Monday banned all kinds of processions and political meetings during election campaigns.
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it. It ain't Islamic."
The announcement was made by LI chief Mangal Bagh through his FM radio, locals said. Mangal Bagh said no party or individual taking part in elections from the constituency of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency, would be allowed to hoist their party flags or display banners on walls and other buildings.
Hujras: Bagh also warned candidates against holding public meetings. The contestants could hold political gatherings only inside their hujras and would not be allowed to stage rallies and procession for electioneering, he added.
"Into the hujra wit' yez!"
"What the hell's a hujra?"
Each contestant must use only one vehicle, he said, adding the Lashkar activists would stop candidates using more than one vehicle while going from one place to another for the canvassing.
"And none o' them brass bands! They un-Islamic, too!"
The militant leader also warned candidates against hoisting flags of any party on their cars and other buildings. However, he said, a candidate would be allowed to hoist only one flag on his own house, but he must have to fix the flag of the Lashkar-e-Islam as well.
He said his group would not side with any party or individual. However, he added, the group would take action against a party or individual disobeying their instructions. Around 60 candidates have obtained nomination papers for NA-46. Of those, 32 candidates submitted their papers. Election in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is being contested on non-party basis.
This article starring:
Lashkar-e-Islam
Mangal Bagh
Lashkar-e-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Either Judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry or Uncle Distemper Addams. We're not sure which.
PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto has said that a democratic government would restore all the deposed judges of the superior judiciary, Dawn News reported on Monday. Talking to reporters after filing her nomination papers, she said she was ready to form an alliance with Nawaz Sharif. We are ready to forge an alliance with all moderate political parties, she told reporters in Larkana. We welcome Nawaz Sharifs return to Pakistan. It will strengthen the democratic and political culture, AFP quoted her as saying. Bhutto herself flew home last month after eight years abroad, and the two (BB and Nawaz) are working on a joint strategy against President General Pervez Musharraf following his imposition of emergency. That may include boycotting the elections but a final decision on that will not be taken until after the close of Mondays deadline for registration. We are concerned that elections will be rigged but we dont want to leave the field empty, she said.
She said an alliance of moderate parties was also being pushed by the United States. In the past the United States would support dictatorships but now it is supporting democratic forces, which is a sign of encouragement for all the democracy-loving people, she added.
This article starring:
Benazir Bhutto
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif vowed on Monday never to work with General Pervez Musharraf or the PML-Quaid in government, reported AFP. My party will not become part of any coalition government under President Musharraf in future, he told reporters a day after his return. As he filed his nomination papers for January 8 general elections, he urged people to wake up and protest against Musharrafs dictatorial regime.
Illegal government: We believe that any government serving under Musharraf will be illegal and undemocratic, Nawaz said. He said elections would only be acceptable if Musharraf revoked emergency rule, withdrew the Provisional Constitutional Order and reinstated the sacked superior court judges.
Sharif told reporters inside a courthouse here, where he filed his papers, that he was in favour of boycotting the elections, but steered clear of ruling out his participation, saying he would consult with other parties first. He said that if Benazir Bhutto, another ex-premier, decided on a boycott, then our parties can launch a joint struggle. He also accused authorities of rigging the elections, AP reported. Shouldnt such elections be boycotted? Sharif asked.
If you boycott the elections, they don't even have to cheat to win, do they?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Organised crime networks based in Pakistan may have funded the Islamist networks responsible for Fridays serial bombings in Uttar Pradesh, police sources have told The Hindu. Investigators believe several suspects involved in the court complex bombings had links with Iqbal Kana, a Lahore-based mafioso wanted for trans-border trafficking and pumping forged currency into India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.
Kana, a one-time resident of Kairana near Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, migrated to Pakistan over a decade ago. Early in his criminal career he helped mentor Mohammad Tufail Husseini, an Uttar Pradesh resident who has now emerged as one of the key suspects in the terror strikes. In June, the Delhi Police had recovered Rs. 3.3 million of counterfeit Indian currency from two members of Kanas group. Investigators found that the group had recruited several women who were paid to travel between India and Pakistan with the banknotes concealed in clothing, cutlery sets and cartons of cosmetics. Part of the funds from these operations, sources in the Delhi Police said, are thought to have been used to fund the setting up of Husseinis terror cells cells often made up of men who had earlier been a part of organised crime operations in western Uttar Pradesh. Kana is also believed to have collaborated with Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence to fund the training and travel of several of Husseinis recruits.
Also known by his alias Shahid, Kana is also known to have smuggled weapons into India. In 1996, the Delhi Police interdicted a weapons cache which Kana had despatched through Swiss national Christoph Zellweger and Iranian national Aziz Baltaji. Kana was declared a proclaimed offender on the basis of the recovery.
Husseini, for his part, is known to have had long-standing links with Islamist networks across India, notably in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. On December 6, 1993 the first anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid he helped organise the near-simultaneous bombing of five trains running between Mumbai, New Delhi, Howrah, Hyderabad and Surat. Two people were killed, and 22 injured, in the strikes.
Mujahideen Islam e-Hind, an until-then unknown group, had claimed responsibility for the 1993 strikes. Minutes after Fridays bombings, an organisation with a near-identical name Indian Mujahideen asserted it had carried out the attacks. Experts believe the name is intended to distance Indian recruits to Islamist terror groups from patron organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami.
Central Bureau of Investigation detectives later arrested several members of the cell which carried out the 1993 attacks, notably Mumbai-based physician Jalees Ansari. Like the perpetrators of the court-complex bombings, Dr. Ansari said his decision to participate in terror strikes was motivated by anger over the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the communal violence which followed it.
Husseini escaped to Pakistan, and hid out there with Kanas help until last year. He was, intelligence sources said, despatched to help strengthen the new Islamist terror cells that began emerging in Uttar Pradesh around 2005. Police believe he organised an abortive attempt to bomb a Sitapur-Delhi bus on May 26 this year, which failed after the explosive device detonated prematurely.
Like Dr. Ansari, Husseini was recruited by the co-founders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in India Hyderabad resident Mohammad Azam Ghauri, and Pikhuwa, Uttar Pradesh-based homeopath Abdul Karim Tunda. While Ghauri was killed in a 1999 shootout with police, Tunda disappeared from Pakistan last year under circumstances which remain opaque.
Most members of these Islamist networks were drawn from the ranks of the Students Islamic Movement of India or organised crime groups active in the region. While terror groups needed mafia resources to secure finance and weapons, organised crime bosses used their new affiliation with the religious right to win legitimacy as defenders of their communities.
This article starring:
Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Mujahideen Islam e-Hind
Students Islamic Movement of India
Abdul Karim Tunda
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Aziz Baltaji
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Christoph Zellweger
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Mohammad Azam Ghauri
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Mohammad Tufail Husseini
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Is Asias largest prison, Tihar Jail, the next target of terrorists? The jail authorities have been recently warned by the Union home ministry of a possible fidayeen attack by the militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba, to free their associates lodged in the prison. According to sources, Tihar jail authorities have received a letter from home ministry asking them to tighten security around the jail keeping in view Intelligence inputs that LeT militants are planning a strike on Tihar jail.
The sources added that Intelligence agencies had received inputs that there was a serious threat to Tihar jail and suicide bombers were planning to strike to free their cadre. More than 50 members of LeT, including some high profile militants, are currently lodged in Tihar. Security around the prison complex has been increased. Security personnel are keeping a vigilant eye on movements in and around Tihar. Every single movement near the jail is under the scanner. Personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Tamil Nadu Special Police are maintaining a close watch, a senior Tihar jail official said.
In the letter, the home department has advised senior jail officials to personally supervise security arrangements, the sources added. The home ministry missive assumes more importance in the wake of the recent arrest of three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists ~ Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Yusuf and Mirza Rashid Baig ~ all Pakistani nationals, who were arrested in Lucknow on 16 November by UP STF. They had revealed to the police that they had plans to kidnap Congress general secretary, Mr Rahul Gandhi to secure a swap deal for 42 dreaded terrorists lodged in various Indian jails.
On 23 November, at least 13 persons, including four lawyers, were killed while 60 others were injured when serial bomb blasts went off in three court complexes in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi. Meanwhile, a home ministry official said that though the Centre had been providing all necessary inputs and logistical support to the state governments to crack terror outfits, they were not doing enough. The official said that the record of the past few years of police investigations in terror-related incidents presents a dismal picture.
This article starring:
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Mirza Rashid Baig
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Mohammad Abid
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Mohammad Yusuf
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Rahul Gandhi
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - American troops fired on vehicles trying to drive through roadblocks, killing at least five people, including one child, in two separate incidents, the U.S. military said Tuesday. One shooting in Baghdad took place in a northern neighborhood known to be a Shiite militia stronghold as the driver of a minibus collected employees to go to work at the Rasheed bank, police said. U.S. troops fired on the bus after the driver approached a U.S. roadblock Tuesday morning and tried to drive through. As many as four passengers were killed, including three women, police and hospital officials said.
In a statement, the American military said the driver was traveling on a street restricted to cars, and failed to heed a warning shot. The U.S. statement said only two people were killed and four wounded. A manager at Rasheed bank also said the shooting claimed two lives.
During a U.S. operation Monday against al-Qaida in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, American troops shot at a vehicle speeding toward a roadblock after firing warning shots, the U.S. military said in a separate statement. Two men in the vehicle were killed immediately, and a child traveling with them died later of his wounds. "We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while Coalition forces work diligently to rid this country of the terrorist networks that threaten the security of Iraq and our forces," Cmdr. Ed Buclatin, a U.S. spokesman, said in the statement.
The Shaab neighborhood in northern Baghdad where Tuesday's shooting took place is the same district where masked gunmen on Sunday killed 11 relatives of a journalist critical of the Iraqi government, according to colleagues and the media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf, however, denied the Sunday killings had taken place. "The killing of the 11 family members did not take place and that is totally confirmed," he told The Associated Press Tuesday.
In Amman, in neighboring Jordan, the journalist challenged the Iraqi government's account and accused the Interior Ministry forces of involvement in the deaths. Al-Kawaz, who has lived outside Iraq for 20 years, said the killing of his family members was "a message to me and to any journalist inside Iraq or outside Iraq who opposes the policies of the Iraqi government."
Around Baqouba, the capital of violent Diyala province about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber targeting the local police headquarters killed six people, including three women, according to police. East of the city, mortar rounds apparently targeting a local radio station instead landed near homes in the vicinity, killing two people, while a roadside bombing killed one civilian, police said.
Tuesday's violence underlined the fragility of security gains made recently by U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad and other areas, and came one day after President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed an agreement setting the foundation for a potential long-term U.S. presence in Iraq. The new meme - Fragility of Security Gains Made Recently.
Details of the military, economic and political relationship will be negotiated in 2008, with a completion goal of July, when the U.S. intends to finish withdrawing the five combat brigades sent in 2007 as part of a troop buildup that has helped curb sectarian violence.
The U.S.-Iraq agreement will replace the present U.N. mandate regulating the presence of the U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Al-Maliki said the agreement provides for U.S. support for the "democratic regime in Iraq against domestic and external dangers."
It also would help the Iraqi government thwart any attempt to suspend or repeal a constitution drafted with U.S. help and adopted in a nationwide vote in 2005. That appeared to be a reference to any attempt to remove the government by violence or in a coup.
In Baghdad, Iraqis on Tuesday had mixed reaction to the deal. Hamza Mohammed, praised the agreement, saying it would "liberate Iraq."
But Karim Abdullah a MoveOn.org representative said it was an attempt by Bush to salvage the end of his term and called it "just propaganda." "We, as Iraqis, hope that our country will be liberated from the U.S. troops completely," he said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/27/2007 07:13 ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Two Republican senators said Monday that unless Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki makes more political progress by January, the U.S. should consider pulling political or financial support for his government. The stern warnings, coming from Sens. Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss, are an indication that while GOP patience on the war has greatly increased this fall because of security gains made by the military, it isn't bottomless.
``I do expect them to deliver,'' Graham, R-S.C., said in a phone interview upon returning from a Thanksgiving trip to Iraq. ``What would happen for me if there's no progress on reconciliation after the first of the year, I would be looking at ways to invest our money into groups that can deliver.''
Can we apply this rule to the U.S. Congress?
Chambliss, R-Ga., who traveled with Graham as part of a larger congressional delegation, said lawmakers might even call for al-Maliki's ouster if Baghdad didn't reach agreement on at least some of the major issues seen as key to tamping down sectarian violence. ``If we don't see positive results by the end of the year I think you'll probably see a strong message coming out of Congress calling for a change in administration,'' he said in a conference call with reporters.
Graham and Chambliss said the recent military gains are remarkable, but they agree with Democrats that the political progress has been disappointing. Graham, an early ally of Bush's troop buildup, said he would lose confidence in al-Maliki's government if it could not pass by January a law that would ease curbs on former Baathists from holding government jobs.
Noting the large amounts of reconstruction and other economic aid provided to the central government, Graham said that if progress remains stagnant U.S. might want to consider ``putting our money into some of the provinces where they have reconciled.'' "There are no more excuses as far as I'm concerned not to achieve some benchmark success,'' he said.
Both senators expressed optimism that Baghdad would rise to the challenge. ``Time will tell,'' Chambliss said. ``They have committed to doing everything they can,'' he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Can we apply this rule to the U.S. Congress?
People do all the time. It's the root of a lot of the problems.
While the "surge" of five US brigades plus their accompanying support elements, about 30,000 US troops total, is the main focus of commentators when discussing the current situation in Iraq, the real surge in Iraq is happening behind the scenes. The rapidly expanding Iraqi Army is where the real surge in forces is occurring.
Over the last year the Iraqi Army has grown to 12 divisions, 41 brigades, 123 battalions, and four ISOF battalions. By the time the US plans to reduce its combat forces to pre-surge levels (July 2008), the real surge is planned to have increased the Iraqi Army to 13 divisions, 49 brigades, 154 battalions, and five or six ISOF battalions.
The US is considering plans to draw down to 10 combat brigades by early 2009. The Iraqi Army plans to continue growing to 13 divisions, 52 brigades, 162 battalions, and seven or eight ISOF battalions. This does not include the additional fire support, logistics, and engineer battalions being formed for each brigade. Part of that increase is the 33,000 Iraqi Army support troops that was funded by the US FY07 Supplemental. These additional 33,000 soldiers represent a 250 percent increase over the current 14,000 Iraqi Army support troops. This increased logistics support will allow Iraqi Army units to operate independently and will release US logistics units for redeployment.
In 2009 the Iraqi Army plans to start forming the 13 divisional field artillery regiments and their 39 subordinate field artillery battalions.
The Iraqi Army is replacing the US forces departing Iraqi by the end of 2008 at rate of two Iraqi brigades for one US brigade.
You bet. That has always been the plan since about 2005 when it suddenly appeared that Iran wanted to be the big cheese and threaten the oil fields of the majority Sunni arab states. Iraq will soon have the most experienced, best trained, combat induced, combat ready armed force in all of Arabia and the middle-east. That is why we need the presence there - to control it, to direct it and to discipline it.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 9:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Thats not really a very big army in proportion to the population of Iraq. Its a lot smaller than the old Iraqi army has been since the 1960's.
Its also going to be pretty limited in offensive capacity. Nobody is going to give them thousands of tanks.
#6
WAFF/TOPIX > USA PLANS PERMANENT [Forces/Bases]PRESENCE IN IRAQ. Dubya-Maliki Accord. DEBKA > indics up to 20 LARGE/MASSIVE GROUND AND AIRBASES BEING CONSTRUCTED.
Plenty of opportunity to buy 'friends' with bribes on a project like this. And if there's enough money left over to actually do the project, it could make some real friends as well.
Iraqis construct Fallujahs first-ever sewage system
About 450 Iraqis are currently working to get Fallujahs first-ever sewer system operational by next summer. That number is expected to soon grow to a construction force of 700 Iraqis. The $85 million project includes a collection system, trunk mains, pump stations and a wastewater treatment plant processing 40,000 cubic meters daily (10.5 million gallons).
People are happy because our community is safer now and there are more American projects creating jobs in different areas, said Construction Manager Awaf Abdul Rahim at the wastewater treatment plant. Its helped Fallujahs unemployment. When the security situation improved earlier this year, we were inspired to work hard. Our construction crews became more serious and active and are now getting more done.
Peter Collins, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is the project manager overseeing the work. The long term benefit is huge. At the moment Fallujahs raw sewage is flowing into the Euphrates River, polluting it, impacting communities downstream who depend on it as a drinking source, Collins said.
Apart from the Iraqi work force, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 35 Iraqi engineers visiting the various project sites daily, checking on the quality of the ongoing construction and encouraging worker safety.
Collins says the new treatment plant will have the capacity to serve Fallujahs needs until 2025, even if the community has a 50 percent growth in population (from 200,000 to 300,000 residents). People in Fallujah may not fully appreciate the impact of this project because they have never lived in a sewage-free city. Next year there will be no wastewater flowing in the streets and their children will be able to play safely outside, Collins said. It represents a monumental step forward and thats what motivates us as we work to achieve that goal.
Posted by: Glenmore ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
It is truely sad that a city 2 - 300,000 people has never ever had a sewage system until now. That puts in context the problems we've had in other cites trying to get the locals to maintain the sewage systems they do have.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/27/2007 10:41 Comments ||
Top||
Attacks are down 75 percent in recent months in a perilous stretch of neighborhoods in northeastern Baghdad, prompting a U.S. military officer to proclaim Monday that security there is "dramatically improving."
Concerned citizens have helped troops improve security in parts of Baghdad, a military official says. People line the streets, cars congest them, trash collectors and other city workers have returned, local leaders are holding community meetings again and "markets have come back like gangbusters," said Army Col. Don Farris, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. He added that the largely Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq presence has been "crushed" since the beginning of May. However, there are still dangers, most notably the threats posed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants, Farris said.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters via video link from Baghdad, Farris cited several factors he said contributed to the improving security situation. Among them is the "surge," the additional U.S. troops deployed earlier this year.
Also helping improve the security situation are the cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and the development of a program that employs "concerned local citizens" to assist U.S. and Iraqi forces, Farris said. Some of those citizens are members of local Sunni "awakening councils," comprised of former militants -- often armed -- who create neighborhood watch groups to root out the insurgent elements in an area.
Especially in the last six weeks, Farris said, civic and religious leaders have seen outsiders operating in the area and troops have made arrests, two Iranian operatives among them "From my foxhole, in our sector, it is working," he said of the improving security in the area. "I can only speak to what I see in my sector and I am encouraged."
Farris' sector -- which includes the Sunni-dominated district of Adhamiya and Sadr City, the Shiite slum where militants have demonstrated a strong presence -- has seen a "remarkable turnaround," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Is this saying that the number of casualties is down 75% despite the soft-target-rich environment, or that the number of attacks is down by 75%? In either case, AQI's movement is probably basically unhindered given the number of folks on the street, and it's still down. This suggests to me that AQI is probably operating at about 5% of its former strength. I would agree it has basically been crushed. Let's keep it that way.
#2
BrerRabbit, try reading the article. This was a gathering of Israelis protesting against their nation making any further concessions to the Palestinians. The last large gathering of Arabs at the Wailing (Western) Wall was to piss on it.
It is a well-known fact that after the Israelis reclaimed Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, they were faced with an exhaustive clean-up project at the site of the remaining wall of Herods temple. For decades the local Muslim Arabs had used the base of the Wailing Wall as a public toilet. This defilement was nothing less than an intentional assault on the Jews spiritual history. The Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci, authored a book titled, Rage and Pride. In vivid, vernacular terms she described how offended she was about immigrant Somali Muslims defiling the grounds of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. They stained the marble edifice with their urine and filled the exterior entrance to the Bishops Baptistery with their excrement.
[emphasis added]
Israel has acted in well-documented good faith for so long that any further demonstrations are no longer needed of her. All that Israel should be required to do is stand by as the Palestinians describe and then commit themselves to honoring whatever peace agreement has been reached. All further concessions must come from the other side of the table.
In reality, Israel has endured such endless betrayal at the Arabs', UN's and Quartet's hands that they should no longer feel constrained by world opinion and begin acting strictly in their own self-interest. This is a right they earned long ago and the Palestinians have forfeited any further calls for Israeli compliance or even mercy through their constant provocation and endless perfidy.
#3
Annapolis, Comet Holmes, Russian Doomsday cult, and Thanksgiving weekend space explosions, and those to come. ANNAPOLIS > ISRAEL-ME NOW, RUSSIA-CHINA FOR A FUTURE GENERATION. D *** NGED NAVAL ACADEMY PT, THE BOY WAS TOLD BY HIS MOM TO BRING/WEAR CLEAN UNDERWEAR LIKE BART SIMPSON!
#2
More like, if you want a vote, become a citizen... with all that implies. I agree. Otherwise Israel is torn between the competing desires of American Jews, English Jews, French Jews... all those who live safely elsewhere, perhaps buying Israel bonds and trees, and saying, "Next year in Jerusalem," every Passover.
That said, does the Knesset have to ratify any treaty Israel's representatives make? Because if so, Annapolis will be as dead as the Kyoto Protocols when Mr. Clinton was president.
(KUNA) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said Monday that peace in the Middle East cannot be imposed while meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House ahead of the Annapolis conference tomorrow. "We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian Territories to have hope," said Bush in the Oval Office. "The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help facilitate," he added. "We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations over all permanent status issues, that would lead to a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people," said Abbas in return.
Bush expressed his appreciations of Abbas efforts "to implement a vision for a Palestinian state" and his willingness "to sit down with Israel to negotiate this settlement" noting that that the United States wanted to help in this regard. The Palestinian President described the Annapolis conference as a "historic initiative." "We will continue to rely on his support, and the support of the United States and his administration, in order to achieve the intended objective," said Ababs about Bush.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Rome imposed peace on Carthage. It's better to Rome than Carthage.
#4
Speaking of "final status", TOPIX > YAHOO NEWS - BILL INTRODUCED TO MAKE PUERTO RICO 51ST US STATE. ALso from TOPIX, ESQUIRE MAGZ [09/2007], THE NEXT FIVE US STATES.
GUAM > looks like my island will be caught in the proverbial middle between the USA, CHINA, + RADICAL ISLAMISM. CHINA has already declared Guam, the CNMI, Micronesia, and basically the entire PACOA/PACRIM/OCEANIA,including HAWAII + 1/2 of CONUS-NORAM, as FUTURE CHICOM TERRITORIES, AND CHINA DID SO WIDOUT ASKING THE LOCALS IFF THEY WANTED TO - its only a question of "WHEN" and iff Guam is to be a formal Province [overseas], or else be an Unannexed Chin-controlled/domin "sovereign" entity ala NORTH KOREA + NEPAL. RADICAL ISLAMISM > maintaining and continuing its dedic fight for ISLAMIST "LANDBRIDGES" INTO THE PACIFIC-OCEANIA and ultimately unto CONUS.
Ala SPACEWAR + OTHERS > DECISIVE BATTLE/CAMPAIGN IN THE WOT MAY INDEED BE DECIDED IN THE PACIFIC.
Ma'an A new survey from the Palestinian Center for Public opinion shows that 67.6 % of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories to some degree support the participation of the Palestinian leadership in the Annapolis summit.
The poll, which was conducted in late October and early November but released Sunday, also shows that Palestinians in the territories are divided about the prospects for success at the conference. 58.6% believe that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not seeking a genuine peace with the Palestinians.
68.2 % oppose giving up the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israeli territory. 54.4 % believe that the failure of Annapolis conference would lead to further instability and turmoil in the region.
99% want all the Joooz dead, 1% are apostates and will be killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
If I had percentages like that, I'd have won the trifecta several times over.
Ma'an - The Governor of Hebron on Monday banned a Hizb Ut-Tahrir demonstration against Annapolis, due to be held on Tuesday to coincide with the start of the US-sponsored conference. Hussein Al-Araj told Ma'an's correspondent, "I didn't give them a permit. We will stop them from doing any demonstrating because the situation here is that we don't want to create a problem or clashes between those who are for Annapolis and those who are against it."
Hizb Ut-Tahrir is a worldwide pan-Islamist movement that is calling for all Muslim states to be united under one caliphate. The party has a large following across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and is the largest political party in Hebron.
This article starring:
Hizb Ut-Tahrir
Hussein Al-Araj
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
India Monday said that it proposes to develop Advanced Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile in collaboration with Israel. "Procurement and acquisition of items to meet defence requirements of the armed forces is made from various indigenous as well foreign sources including Israel. New Delhi is planning to develop Advanced Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile jointly with Tel Aviv," Indian Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) today. "This is a continuous process undertaken to keep the armed forces modernised in order to meet any eventuality. Divulging details in this regard would not be in the interest of national security," Antony said.
Hamas said on Monday that the Palestinians would not be bound by any decisions taken at a key US-hosted Middle East peace meeting that has further isolated the Islamists in their Gaza stronghold. The decisions taken at Annapolis are not binding on the Palestinian people, who have not authorised anyone, either Arab or Palestinian, to erase their rights, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. Our conference will carry the message of the dangers of a normalisation of ties with Israel, Barhum said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
It's well known that only Israelis are bound by USA sponsored "Peace Accords".
#2
"Palestine" needs to die a horrible, complicated death, never to be reborn. Destroying Hamass in Gaza would be a good part. If half the civilian population dies, and another 40% leave for Egypt, all the better. Once Israel finishes with Gaza, they need to hang Olmert and Abbas side by side, and clear the West Bank, once and for all. Nothing else will EVER have any effect on peace in the region.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/27/2007 14:23 Comments ||
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#3
Nothing else will EVER have any effect on peace in the region
I don't know OldPat. Have you considered the effects of integrating the gene(s) for gp120 into the genome of a common influenza virus?
Failure to reach agreement at a high-stakes Middle East peace conference could lead to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas being removed from power, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Monday. Bildt said the Annapolis summit could be the last big opportunity for a genuine two-state solution in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Everyone realizes ... that if the talks fail, the situation in the region will certainly deteriorate dramatically, Bildt, who will attend the summit, wrote in an opinion article published in the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
Translation: "lets all get together and force the fucking Jews Zionist occupiers, to make lots & lots of concessions"
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/27/2007 9:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Who asked the idiot swede for his thoughts on Anapolis ??
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
11/27/2007 15:12 Comments ||
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#4
Sweden says Annapolis failure could damage Abbas
Abbas is like a totaled car, there's nothing left to damage. Anyone who actually believes in the communist propaganda inspired "Two State Solution" is clearly delusional. Only Israel is willing to accept such a solution. The Arab partners in this murderous farce want nothing less than a Final Solution.
#5
The execution of Saddam Hussein turned into a horrible spectacle that did not reflect well on the authorities that carried it out. It would have been far better if one had listened to the European and other voices that had called for his sentence to have been changed to life time imprisonment. Let's at the least hope that the Iraqi government is now ready to listen to this appeal just issued by the Presidency of the European Union:
I think we understand where you are coming from Karl.
The United States has offered Saudi Arabia assurances that it will offer specific proposals to help the Israelis and Palestinians forge a peace deal, a top Saudi official said on Monday. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that in inviting his country to the Annapolis conference Washington promised to "use its full influence" to ultimately bring about a peace agreement. He said that meant if the two sides could not agree, "we assume the United States will come up with its own ideas."
This article starring:
Prince Saud al-Faisal
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
Gotta pay the Soodies for the priviledge of saving them from Iran.
COLOMBO - Sri Lankas government has marked the birthday of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran with a vow to kill him. The islands powerful defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said Colombo now had the upper hand in the long-running conflict, with the elusive guerrilla chief limited in both his movements and ability to score strategic victories.
Earlier this month the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P. Thamilselvan, was killed in what the government said was a precision air strike on the north and not a mere lucky hit. The killing of Thamilselvan sent a very powerful message: they know we have good intelligence on their movements, Rajapakse told AFP in an interview Monday at the heavily-fortified defence ministry in Colombo.
Monday was also the day the LTTE chief marked his 53rd birthday, and Rajapakse said that if all goes to plan it will be his last. We are after him. We are specifically targeting their leadership, he said. For the last few months he (Prabhakaran) has been even more restricted in his movements. We want to keep them under pressure. We are gathering intelligence, information.
The threat came as Prabhakaran was set to give his annual speech from a jungle hideout in his northern mini-state marking the end of heroes week, commemorating around 20,000 Tamils who have died fighting for a separate homeland. Prabhakarans speech, due to be broadcast later Tuesday, will come at the end of a year of several setbacks for the LTTE.
Government forces regained full control over the east of the island in July, and have also managed to sink what the government says is the bulk of the rebels fabled fleet of gun-running ships.
Happy birthday!
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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Lebanese customs authorities on Monday seized more than 2 million illegal pills that were allegedly being smuggled from Syria to Qatar, the state-run National News Agency and security officials said. The Captagon pills an amphetamine-like medication were hidden in different parts of a bus that came from Syria, NNA said. The drugs were discovered when the bus was scanned at the Beirut Port before it was to be put on a ship going to Qatar, the agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 16:27 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Weren't the hard boys in Fallujia hopped up on Amphetamines?
#3
The drugs were discovered when the bus was scanned at the Beirut Port
That's sounds like awfully modern (and expensive) equipment. I would've thought the budget of the Lebanese government would be too small to pay for such fripperies.
Iran is planning to leverage its massive gas reserves to increase its influence in Western Europe -- by fair means or foul. If selling gas to Europe doesn't work, then Iran's Revolutionary Guards may resort to violence in the worst-case scenario.
According to intelligence sources in the Middle East, Iranian leaders are considering making an unusual offer to supply Europe with large quantities of natural gas. The gas would be supplied via the planned Nabucco pipeline, which will run from Azerbaijan to Austria via Turkey.
The offer would be attractive to European leaders as it would allow Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas. Germany currently gets about a third of its natural gas requirements from Russia, and demand is expected to increase in the coming years. There are major concerns in Europe about the continent relying too heavily on Russia for its natural gas, particularly after a series of recent disputes in which Russia cut off energy supplies to Ukraine and Belarus.
According to minutes of a meeting obtained by SPIEGEL, a representative of Iran's Revolutionary Guard presented the proposal to Iran's National Security Council. The order to prepare the plan apparently came directly from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the intelligence sources.
Construction work on the Nabucco pipeline is expected to begin in 2009 and to be finished by 2011. The pipeline, which is being built by a consortium headed by the Austrian company OMV, will have a total length of 3,300 kilometers and cost around 5 billion. However the pipeline is controversial within the European Union and Moscow has already made its opposition to the project clear.
DER SPIEGEL
The planned Nabucco pipeline could be used to pipe Iranian natural gas to Europe.
The project only makes economic sense if the pipeline is used to full capacity -- and Azerbaijan's natural gas reserves are not sufficient to guarantee that. Hence Iran, which has the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is the obvious natural partner for the project.
Tehran has yet to make an official offer, however. And any overture could cause political friction between the US and Europe: The US government has demanded that Berlin and Paris take clear diplomatic and economic action against Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently assured US President George W. Bush that Germany would apply strong economic pressure on Tehran. Increased sanctions could make Iran's economy vulnerable.
However if a carrot doesn't work, then Iran might resort to a stick. Other alternatives were apparently also discussed at the meeting in Tehran. Iran's elite Quds force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guards, are reported to be charged with looking into possible ways to disrupt Berlin's energy partnership with Russia -- for example through terrorist actions against the planned Baltic Sea pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
11/27/2007 10:18 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
REDDIT > THE OIL DRUM > Under 1/2 of World/Global oil production comes from 3% of known oil fields. ONCE IT STOPS FLOWING, AS STATS/STUDIES SDAY IT WILL, THAT'LL BE IT FOR ANY AND ALL OF US, i.e. end of modern = post-modern civilization as we know it.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced Tuesday that his nation's military has built a second missile capable of reaching Israel. "The Ashoura, with the range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) is among the accomplishments of the Defense Ministry," Najjar told a group of Islamic religious militiamen holding maneuvers this week.
Najjar also announced delivery of a new domestically-produced submarine to the Iranian navy expected on Wednesday, according to the Fars News Agency.
The Iranian defense minister did not explain how the Ashoura missile differs from the Shabab-3, the existing Iranian long-range missile.
Former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian was cleared in an Islamic Republic courtroom Tuesday on charges of spying. Mousavian was charged earlier this month of passing classified information to the British Embassy and other foreign officials. The former nuclear negotiator was convicted of a lesser charge "acting against the Islamic government," said an Iranian judiciary spokesman.
He'll still be killed, of course.
Mousavian was accused by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of being a "traitor" and a "spy."
Syrian officials found themselves facing the outrage of the Iranian ambassador to Syria as well as Hamas politburo head and chief terrorist Khaled Mashaal Tuesday at the country's decision to attend the Annapolis summit, according to IDF Radio. The Iranian-backed Hizbullah terrorist organization in Lebanon was equally miffed by the decision, according to the report.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem met in Damascus with Mashaal and Mohammad-Hassan Akhtari in an attempt to justify Syria's participation in the conference. Muallem allegedly explained that Syria's top priority was finding a way to retrieve the Golan Heights, which was liberated by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
11/27/2007 09:49 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Hey, better than jimmy carter, no?!
He denounces it as the "Great Satan" and frequently dismisses its power, but the overtures of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the US seem to grow ever more extravagant. Having failed to win a response with an 18-page letter to President George Bush or to a request to visit the site of the September 11 2001 attack on New York, Ahmadinejad has offered himself as an observer in next year's presidential election.
The proposal came in a speech to volunteers with the Basij, a pro-regime militia. He said he was prompted by a belief that Americans would vote against the current administration in a truly free poll. However, the terms of Ahmadinejad's offer appeared to betray some confusion about the potential candidates.
"If the White House officials allow us to be present as an observer in their presidential election we will see whether people in their country are going to vote for them again or not," he said. The US constitution prevents Bush from seeking a third consecutive term, while no member of his administration is expected to be in the running in next November's poll.
Bush and international human rights groups voiced doubts about the legitimacy of Iran's 2005 presidential election, which brought Ahmadinejad to power. More than 1,000 potential candidates were disqualified by the guardian council, a powerful body of clerics and judges.
Some domestic critics pointed out yesterday that Ahmadinejad's idea clashed with his government's opposition to allowing independent observers at Iranian elections. The interior ministry, controlled by one of the president's most hard-line allies, has rejected pressure for party representatives to be allowed to oversee proceedings at polling stations for next March's parliamentary poll.
The election is expected to provide a major test of Ahmadinejad's popularity. Leading regime figures, including two former presidents, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, have warned against possible attempts to rig it through mass candidate disqualifications and other measures.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
11/27/2007 09:37 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Let him observe the next US election from his deeply buried & totally inaccessible underground bunker in Qom.
#5
Let him come to my polling place. I promise the government will be able to piece his nose back together, if it hasn't gone deep into his brain when I hit him anyway...
Posted by: Charles ||
11/27/2007 15:26 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"WHite House ... in their presidential election" > is it just me, or does anyone else think Moud is premising or arguing that the 2008 US POTUS-USG ELEX will be a [another]controversial, Year 2000-style fraudulent/"stolen" one??? *Lest we fergit, MOUD > BILL CLINTON HIMSELF PUBLICLY/
OVERTLY ADMITS TO BEING POTUS TWICE BY FRAUD, AGZ BUSH 1 + BOB DOLE, a big Big BIG B-I-G BBBBBBIIIIIIGGGGG REASON, BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE [Bill-ism], THE DEMS = DEMOLEFT COULDN'T CLAIM ANYTHING FROM THE CLINTON 1990s's, vv from BILL HIMSELF.
#7
"Tis NOT good 2008 news for US DEMS = USG-NPE in gener when an enemy or opponent of your country, the US of A, criticizes same for something bad which an all-important GOVT-NATIONAL LEADER HAD ADMITTED TO. MOUD = RADICAL IRAN CANNOT BE BLAMED. MOUD > saying or inferring that A DISHONEST US ELEX(S) [1992 - 2000, 2008, and forever beyond] CASTS GLOBAL DOUBT ON THE TRUE SINCERITY = ALLEGED ANTi-IMPERIALISM/DOMIN OF THE US GLOBAL-WOT AGENDA.
#8
Nobody gives a dimpled chad what Ahmadinejad thinks; except those who fear the Mullah's wrath... Unless (of course) they are looking to getting paid at his revolving camps...
1) Imam Ali Training Garrison, Tajrish Square, Tehran,
2) Bahonar Garrison, Chalous Street, close to the dam of Karaj,
3) Qoms Ali-Abad Garrison, Tehran-Qom highway,
4) Mostafa Khomeini Garrison, Eshrat-Abad district, Tehran,
5) Crate Camp Garrison, 40 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
6) Fateh Qani-Hosseini Garrison, between Tehran and Qom
7) Qayour Asli Garrison, 30 kilometres from Ahwaz-Khorramshahr highway,
8) Abouzar Garrison, Qaleh-Shahin district, Ahwaz, Khuzestan province
9) Hezbollah Garrison, Varamin, east of Tehran
10) Eezeh Training Garrison
11) Amir-ol-Momenin Garrison, Ban-Roushan, Ilam province
12) Kothar Training Garrison, Dezful Street, Shoushtar, Khuzestan province
13) Imam Sadeq Garrison, Qom
14) Lavizan Training Centre, north-east Tehran
15) Abyek Training Centre, west of Tehran
16) Dervish Training Centre, 18 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
17) Qazanchi Training Centre, Ravansar-Kermanshah-Kamyaran tri-junction,
18) Beit-ol-Moqaddas University, Qom
19) Navab Safavi School, Ahwaz
20) Nahavand Training Centre, 45 kilometres from Nahavand, western Iran.
(Credit Iran Focus)
Speaking to reporters in a press conference yesterday, Admiral Habib Sayyari further pointed to the production of missile-launching PT boats by the navy, and added, "A home-made destroyer called 'Jamaran' and a (home-made) submarine of 'Ghadir' class will launch operation on November 28." Research shows that 'Jamaran' is actually a light frigate, almost a corvette at 1400 tons. 4 x C-802 missiles will ruin anyone's day though.
He further stressed that his troops are closely monitoring military moves of trans-regional powers in the region, and said, "No move in the Sea of Oman, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormoz could remain hidden from our eyes. The naval force is in full control over the region and monitors all the military moves of the enemies in the region."
Asked if Iran would block the Strait of Hormoz in case of foreign invasion, the navy commander, said, "We are prepared to defend the interests of the Islamic Republic against any kind of threat, but we have not made any such claim about closing the Strait of Hormoz. Yet, we are ready to take action to preserve our interests." "Yes, we will certainly block the strait. What do you think a navy is for?"
The commander further voiced opposition to the expansion of military capabilities in the Caspian Sea, saying, "We view the Caspian as a sea of peace and friendship and we believe upgrading and expanding military equipment in this sea is incorrect. Yet, we are always prepared to defend the country's interests." "The Caspian is a sideshow and the more effort we have to devote there, the less we have available for use against the Great Satan."
He said Iranian navy enjoys a powerful missile capability, adding that navy units are equipped with various types of surface and subsurface missiles and torpedoes.
The Admiral underlined that Iran's military capabilities serve as a deterrent and pursue defensive purposes, but meantime warned, "If the enemy makes a mistake, he will receive such a powerful second strike that it won't be able to stand up." He said a powerful and mighty Iran would bring peace and security to the region, adding, "We are willing to promote our hegemony interactions with regional states at all levels.
To end his remarks, the navy commander mentioned that his troops are scheduled to stage massive military exercises codenamed 'Unity 86' in the Sea of Oman in February, adding that new tactics and military tools and equipment would be tested during the maneuvers.
Posted by: gromky ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"No move in the Sea of Oman, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormoz could remain hidden from our eyes. The naval force is in full control over the region and monitors all the military moves of the enemies in the region."
#4
The commander further voiced opposition to the expansion of military capabilities in the Caspian Sea, saying, "We view the Caspian as a sea of peace and friendship and we believe upgrading and expanding military equipment in this sea is incorrect. Yet, we are always prepared to defend the country's interests."
Ironic, considering that their 'homemade' warship is being built for duty there.
#5
#3: I have some magic Ghost Dancer shirts I can sell them for a great price: They deflect bullets!
Got any with kevlar underpadding?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/27/2007 15:17 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Where its NAVY is concerned, and vv LT Iranian-Syrian IRBM threat, ISRAEL is reportedly considering acquir more missle-carrying subs. * Can prob add MUCH IMPROVED INTEL FOR SUPER-RELIABLE, OVERHWHELMING, PREEMPTIVE MIL STRIKES.
Opposition Christian leader Michel Aoun insisted that the Christians should submit to the political authority of Rabiyeh (Aoun's village) and not Bkirki, the town of the Christian leader, Patriarch Sfeir. "The Christians' political decision is in Rabiyeh," and consultations with Bkirki are tantamount to "advice."
I've come to the conclusion that Aoun wants to be Leb's Assad. And I don't think his wrappings are very tight at all.
"I enjoy Christian representation whether they like it or not," Aoun warned. "I'm known to represent 66 percent of the Christians, and whoever enjoys 66 percent has decision rights. Anyone from the other (political) side who does not acknowledge me, will not be acknowledged by me."
He blamed the United States for the stalemate in Lebanon, adding that former President Emile Lahoud's parting statement before leaving office on Friday had paved the way for Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government to remain in power. Aoun on Saturday invited the various Christian leaders to meet at his residence in Rabiyeh on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to draft a "plan to resist this unacceptable situation."
Aoun, in two separate interviews with LBC and New TV channels, warned that the vacuum could threaten Lebanon's existence because the Taif Accord - which ended the 1975-1990 Civil War - is threatened and the presidency is being weakened. He said that Taif was only partially implemented to meet the interests of certain sects. "International support today is more for Saniora than it is for Lebanon," Aoun said. "I cannot imagine we have a prime minister whose name is Fouad Saniora doing the job of the president." He said his Reform and Change Bloc would take "practical but peaceful steps" to oppose the current situation but only after consulting with its allies.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Political wrangling prevailed over Lebanon Monday amidst the absence of serious efforts to deal with the presidential crisis that has dominated the nation since midnight Friday when ex-President Emile Lahoud ended his term in office without the election of a successor.
Ex-President Amin Gemayel, addressing a joint meeting of the Phalange party's politburo and central council, said that disagreement on the nation's defense strategy is the core issue blocking presidential elections. Gemayel urged Parliament speaker Nabih Berri to sponsor talks between the feuding factions on the future of Hizbullah weapons to facilitate the presidential elections set for next Friday. "I plead with Speaker Berri to issue an immediate call to the parties of national dialogue to meet as soon as possible and resume discussion from where it stopped prior to the July (2006) war, which is the defense strategy."
"Reaching an understanding on this issue would provide the needed atmosphere to facilitate the election next Friday," Gemayel added.
He explained that at issue is the difference on future of Hizbullah weapons.
Hizbullah is the only armed political faction in Lebanon, and wants to maintain its weapons.
The March 14 majority coalition calls for placing Hizbullah weapons under the Lebanese government's control to be used in defending Lebanon by a government decision, to avoid starting a war similar to the one which broke out on July 12, 2006 when Hizbullah fighters crossed the Blue Line that separates Lebanon from Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 of 2004 has called for disbanding all non-Lebanese and Lebanese militias, including Hizbullah, and the election of a president without foreign intervention.
Worked well, hasn't it.
Gemayel noted that Lebanon is without a president for the third straight day and "our main hope is to avoid missing a chance" scheduled for next Friday to elect a head of state.
He cautioned that the resulting vacuum in the top office threatens the nation's stability and even unity. "I am worried about the possible normalization of this vacuum or getting used to it," Gemayel said. "A republic without a president is a recipe to multi republics if this vacuum persisted," Gemayel warned.
"We should put an end to this vacuum as soon as possible," He stressed, "the responsibility for this should be shouldered by every body, not just the Christians or Maronites."
The problem, Gemayel said, is not in having many Maronite candidates, but in blocking the election process."
Talks between Berri, who represents the Hizbullah-led opposition, and al-Moustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, who represents the majority, have not been activated, which indicates the lack of efforts to revive talks between the feuding parties on achieving consensus on a presidential candidate.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea also stressed that the Middle East is going through serious developments and Lebanon should have a president to be able avoid repercussions.
In the meantime, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, held a series of meetings with Christian figures, mainly ex-MPs with the aim of considering ways of rejecting the handling of presidential powers by Premier Fouad Saniora's government. The Aoun-sponsored consultations followed a strongly-worded attack by the FPM leader on Bkirki, saying the seat of Maronite Church is not the political authority in charge of the Christians.
The ongoing consultations that would persist until Wednesday appear aimed at exactly supporting Aoun's pledged steps.
Meanwhile, Geagea received Saudi Ambassador Abdul Aziz Khoja and discussed developments in Lebanon. The Saudi Diplomat refused to talk to reporters after the discussion, but Geagea said later that Khoja did not relay to him a specific Saudi initiative, stressing that Riyadh does not interfere in Lebanon's domestic affairs.
Unlike everyone else.
Responding to the FPM leader's rhetoric, Geagea said Aoun is "a bishop and not a patriarch" indicating that the retired army general is a Christian leader, but not the overall leader of Lebanon's Christians.
Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra criticized Aoun's attacks on Bkirki saying the latter cannot write off a role dating back 1,500 years.
Meanwhile, Sfeir received Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman at his seat in Bkirki, and the Suleiman said he informed the patriarch that efforts exerted by the army to safeguard law and order are aimed at facilitating presidential elections.
The Hizbullah-led opposition warned in a statement against what it regards "continued efforts to usurp power" in reference to handling by the Saniora government of presidential authorities.
Saniora, on his part, contacted spiritual leaders to explain to them that his government did not seek to control presidential powers, but was just sorting out the people's needs pending the election of a new head of state in line with the nation's constitution.
Druze leader Walid Jumblat also called for continued dialogue to agree on a consensus presidential candidate.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has accused parliament speaker Nabih Berri of "hijacking" parliament and obstructing the election of a new president, a Saudi newspaper reported Monday. Berri, a leader of Lebanon's opposition which is backed by Syria and Iran, blocked the election by "selecting" one of six names submitted by influential Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir as potential candidates for the presidency, Siniora was quoted by the Saudi daily Okaz as saying. "Speaker Berri chose one name instead of sending the whole list," he said.
Siniora said the list proposed by Sfeir included three potential candidates who are not affiliated with either the ruling majority or the opposition. Berri should have "sent either the whole list or the three names not affiliated with either side," the premier added.
Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud left office at the end of his term on Friday after parliament failed to elect his successor amid continued deadlock between the government and the opposition. Although politicians have vowed to agree on a consensus candidate by the time MPs convene again for a vote next Friday, there has been no tangible progress, raising fears that Lebanon will slide into chaos if the political vacuum persists.
Siniora's government, considered illegitimate by the opposition since its six ministers quit a year ago, said on Saturday that it was taking charge of running the country in line with the constitution. But the opposition, spearheaded by Shiite militant group Hezbollah which fought last year's war with Israel, contested the government's interpretation of its constitutional authority.
In his remarks to Okaz, Siniora accused Berri of "hijacking" parliament for over a year by "closing it down ... under the pretext that the government is unconstitutional. This is the first time in history that parliament is hijacked and the parliamentary majority has to take cover."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2007 00:00 ||
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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.
All it took was a promise not to wage jihad on the Arabian Peninsula for the Saudi royal family to free 1,500 imprisoned Al Qaeda members, declaring they had been "reformed."
North Korea will come clean on all its nuclear programmes, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said Monday, as 
Youths have fought running battles with French police in a second night of violence in Paris suburbs, leaving more than 60 police officers injured. Five of the officers are said to be in a critical condition. 
French authorities have ordered an internal police inquiry into the deaths of two 
Pakistan's main opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Monday she was ready to form an alliance with Nawaz Sharif as she filed her papers to contest upcoming general elections. It was the second time in two days Benazir had lodged nomination papers for the January 8 vote, as under Pakistan law candidates can stand for more than one seat. 
The 
Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif vowed on Monday never to work with General Pervez Musharraf or the PML-Quaid in government, reported AFP. My party will not become part of any coalition government under President Musharraf in future, he told reporters a day after his return. As he filed his nomination papers for January 8 general elections, he urged people to wake up and protest against Musharrafs dictatorial regime. 
Organised crime networks based in Pakistan may have funded the Islamist networks responsible for Fridays serial bombings in Uttar Pradesh, police sources have told The Hindu. Investigators believe several suspects involved in the court complex bombings had links with 
Is Asias largest prison, Tihar Jail, the next target of terrorists? The jail authorities have been recently warned by the Union home ministry of a possible fidayeen attack by the militant outfit, 
Attacks are down 75 percent in recent months in a perilous stretch of neighborhoods in northeastern Baghdad, prompting a U.S. military officer to proclaim Monday that security there is "dramatically improving."
(KUNA) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said Monday that peace in the Middle East cannot be imposed while meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House ahead of the Annapolis conference tomorrow. "We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian Territories to have hope," said Bush in the Oval Office. "The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help facilitate," he added. "We have a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations over all permanent status issues, that would lead to a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people," said Abbas in return.
Ma'an - The Governor of Hebron on Monday banned a 
Hamas said on Monday that the Palestinians would not be bound by any decisions taken at a key US-hosted Middle East peace meeting that has further isolated the Islamists in their Gaza stronghold. The decisions taken at Annapolis are not binding on the Palestinian people, who have not authorised anyone, either Arab or Palestinian, to erase their rights, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. Our conference will carry the message of the dangers of a normalisation of ties with Israel, Barhum said.
Failure to reach agreement at a high-stakes Middle East peace conference could lead to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas being removed from power, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Monday. Bildt said the Annapolis summit could be the last big opportunity for a genuine two-state solution in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Everyone realizes ... that if the talks fail, the situation in the region will certainly deteriorate dramatically, Bildt, who will attend the summit, wrote in an opinion article published in the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
COLOMBO - Sri Lankas government has marked the birthday of Tamil Tiger leader 
According to intelligence sources in the Middle East, Iranian leaders are considering making an unusual offer to supply Europe with large quantities of natural gas. The gas would be supplied via the planned Nabucco pipeline, which will run from Azerbaijan to Austria via Turkey. 
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has accused parliament speaker Nabih Berri of "hijacking" parliament and obstructing the election of a new president, a Saudi newspaper reported Monday. Berri, a leader of Lebanon's opposition which is backed by Syria and Iran, blocked the election by "selecting" one of six names submitted by influential Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir as potential candidates for the presidency, Siniora was quoted by the Saudi daily Okaz as saying. "Speaker Berri chose one name instead of sending the whole list," he said.
