Long but everything you need to know about the situation with the Ukrainian ship Faina.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A U.S. destroyer off the coast of Somalia closed in Saturday on a hijacked Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and ammunition, watching it to ensure the pirates who seized it do not try to remove any cargo or crew.
As Russian and American ships pursued the hijackers of the Ukrainian vessel, pirates seized another ship off Somalia's coast, an international anti-piracy group said. The Greek tanker with a crew of 19 is carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East. It was ambushed Friday in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center based in Malaysia. He said pirates chased and fired at the ship before boarding it.
In Somalia, a man claiming to be spokesman of the pirates holding the Ukrainian ship said the hijackers want $35 million to release the vessel. But there was no way to immediately verify his claim that he represented the pirates.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
09/27/2008 15:47 ||
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#1
On the recording, a man who identified himself as first mate Viktor Nikolsky said the hijackers were asking for a ransom but he did not know how much.I>
The United States Congress also hijacks merchant vessels? Who knew?
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's purported decision comes after his failed attempt to travel to New York.
Sources inside the presidential palace, Villa Somalia, claimed that President Abdullahi Yusuf had informed his confidants of his decision to resign in the coming days, a Press TV correspondent reported. Abdullahi Yusuf announced the imminent move in a meeting with his close relatives, citing his failed trip to New York as a contributing factor.
The trip was scuttled due to a blockade imposed by Al-Shabaab fighters which banned all flights to or from Mogadishu's International Airport, Aden Adde. The fighters launched mortar attack on the soldiers, belonging to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who had violated the ban. Over 170 civilians were killed after AMISOM's Ugandan and Burundi troops and gunmen from the president's clan, Hawiye, began shelling Mogadishu's civilian neighborhoods while responding to the fighters' attacks.
No amount of effort on the part of either his fellow clansmen, the Ethiopian forces in the country or the AMISOM troops could salvage the trip, the president was quoted as saying.
He was also said to have contrasted the failure with the trouble-free landing of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein's flight on Thursday. The Somali prime minister was returning to the country from a trip to Djibouti where he had attended talks over programs, appealing all opposition groups to join the peace talks with the government.
#6
In all seriousness, I think this was written to make papa seem a sympathetic figure.
She was always self-conscious about her size and managed to convince him she should have it done. “She played the daddy’s girl and said it would make her feel more of a mother when she was breast feeding her children.
I realize that the situation is still very damaging to him, but I suspect that this is a PR piece and that good money was paid to come up with the line that he made a mistake by wanting to help her be a better mother and it backfired because her new found confidence caused her to want to flaunt her body.
I suspect that they were getting out ahead of the bombshell that he went with her to get the boobs done and paid cash. Given that many strippers are sexually abused, it makes me wonder if he sexually molested her.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2008 18:09 Comments ||
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#10
the end product was tangible though, although I demand a personal examination.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 18:10 Comments ||
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#11
Commodore Frank, round trip to London from LA is $907. We will pass the hat at Rantburg and get you a ticket. All we need is a type written double spaced report with pictures that we can post it on the Burg under Terror Networks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2008 18:15 Comments ||
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#12
guaran-damn-teed!!!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 18:17 Comments ||
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#13
Yeah, Frank, we want pictures documenting a "close-up and personal" investigation! Looks like you might have your hands full on this one though...
Oh, BTW, should you be killed, captured or die of a heart attack from excessive enthusiasm, Fred and the Rantburg Sec/State (lotp) will disavow any knowledge of your actions!
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, describing the need for more troops in Afghanistan, said the United States has achieved "victory" in Iraq.
It was an apparent misstep in Palin's third interview since agreeing to become Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate nearly one month ago. These encounters have garnered enormous interest because Palin has largely walled herself off from journalists amid growing criticism that a vice presidential nominee should be more accessible. In an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll this week, 57 percent of those surveyed agreed that "Sarah Palin does not have enough experience and understanding of foreign and military issues to be president."
Palin told CBS's Katie Couric that "a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq," adding that "we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq."
Palin struggled at times and appeared less comfortable than in her earlier sit-down with ABC's Charles Gibson. When Couric asked why she cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of her foreign policy experience, Palin said: "It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to . . . I don't know, you know . . . reporters -- "
"Mocked?" Couric asked.
"Mocked, yeah I guess that's the word, mocked."
Pressed on why her location enhanced her foreign policy experience, Palin said: "Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of." She added that when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."
Asked whether her lack of a passport until last year indicated a lack of curiosity about the world, Palin said she was not one of those "kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say, 'Go off and travel the world.' No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids." She said she learned about the world through education and books.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That was the clumsiest interview I've seen in years. She was trying to say that her neighbor Russia was a state that she is in charge of? She was so loose lipped I was expecting her to say anything.
I would have been like yes, Russia is right next door and as a state bordering the former soviet union, we take security very seriously, period.
#2
To save my gastric acids and digestive tract this Fall I've made it a POINT to avoid watching ANY of the Biased TeeWee Clowns yapping about the Election.
WHY not watch any?
Because the MSM is on a mission this year to get BooB-Bama elected, just ask Hitlery Clintoon.
I doubt if Sarah Palin will ever do a good Socialist-Sound-Bite to please the MSM's talking heads, or is so Politically Correct that she passes quietly away by pleasing the MSMs talking heads so their dog wins this race.
But the more the MSM disrespects Sarah Palin the more I love her, she is Tops in my book.
[ima prejudice, my Girl kilt herself a Moose and a Bar up in Alaska!]
She is honest, intelligent, haz more native abilities than, BOOB-BAMA or his VP running mate, GAS-BAG HAIR-PLUGS!
She's also a quicker study and has more character than almost every other demoC'rap & Rethuglican that has run for the President in the last 6 elections.
Sarah's has lots of other great assets... Right off the top she's is one of us, NOT THEM. for instance:
1) The treasonous MSM hates SARAH, LOL!
That's right the crooked MSM wants BOOB-BAMA ladies and gentlemen, and that is one hell of an asset for both you and me and Sarah Palin if we use it!
2) Another great asset of hers is most qualifying..
SARAH PALIN hasn't been corrupted by Washington DCs. excesses and horrible habits, like spending our money like it was hers!
And she is GOOD LOOKING LOL, Hey she is!!
~:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Have you asked yourself why the MSM NEVER digs up the REAL connection between the Daley Machine and BOOB-BAMA in Chicago?
It's the SAME MOB CONNECTION the Kennedy Klan has used for 100 or so years.
Did you guys notice how Ted Kennedy had organized and was ready to take on the Clintons 3 years ago?
#3
If it's any comfort, Tarzan Angeter7567, Ms. Couric's editors as deliberately butchered Governor Palin's interview as Charlie Gibson's editors did the last time. See here.
#4
Yes they did, but she still didn't do well (and I like her, and I intend to vote for Mac). Part of the game is understanding how the reporter can butcher your quotes and thus speaking in a way that they can't do it, or at least do it well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/27/2008 11:36 Comments ||
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#5
Part of the game is understanding how the reporter can butcher your quotes and thus speaking in a way that they can't do it, or at least do it well.
If the producers/editors figure they can get get away with it, they will dowdify the most erudite and circumspect conservative's quote and characterize him/her as a complete loon. CBS also leaked a live, raw newsfeed of McCain getting prepped for an interview to David Letterman for the usual purpose.
I've had personal experience with reporters (local rags during the 2nd Amendment battles which took place in the 90s) completely re-writing my quotes. One "journalist" called me asking for a statement on an issue. I replied "Not a problem as long as you spell my name right and quote me accurately." And so both my name and quote were butchered in the article, which, I suppose, wasn't the worst-case scenario :)
#8
part of the (new) game is making your own recording of teh interview, so when the Donk Media tries to cut/edit , you have the raw footage to slam their credibility
/shouldn't be necessary, but the MSM makes it so
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 17:15 Comments ||
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#9
I've learned through bitter experience that most journalists come to a story with a preconceived line and it almost takes dynamite to change that mindset. Far too many of them are lefty-lib liars who haven't the slightest qualm about changing what was actually said into what they wanted to hear, and embellishing from whole cloth if they feel it necessary. I generally despise the lot of them.
Here's the acid test: if you've ever been involved with an issue you knew intimately that received press coverage, ask yourself how close the press came to actually covering the story accurately. If your experience is like mine the answer to that question is "not very close." Then ask yourself why, if they didn't cover your relatively simple domestic issue accurately, you should expect that they'll do better on bigger, more complicated issues.
Good press coverage on anything is rare as hen's teeth and unicorns. Good analytical press coverage is even more rare. It's not a surprise that of all the reporting done by all the reporters in Iraq from 2001 to now the only one I've any real faith in is Michael Yon.
The real surprise is that there's even one good reporter, and most of the credit for that goes to Yon's military background and personal qualities. Even with those assets, if he wasn't an independent reporter with his own blog his POV would not be available. If he wrote for any of the MSM they would have spiked the majority of his stories.
As for Governor Palin, here's a secondhand story for you. I was coming across the Pacific last week, sitting next to a U.S. Army LTC who had served several years in Alaska and knew Sarah Palin personally. She had come to his base more than once to meet his troops. He said she's a wonderful woman, a straight shooter who's not afraid to look a difficult problem in the eye, flies coach on Alaska Airlines everywhere she can, carries her own bags when she flies, and goes to the airport (driving herself) EVERY TIME Alaska National Guardsmen leave or return from Iraq or Afghanistan. According to him, she wants them to know that their state appreciates and honors their service and that it's her job, as Alaska's top elected official, to be the symbol of that appreciation.
I don't know what that does for you guys but it makes me wish I had a governor like Sarah Palin. It certainly makes me understand why so many Alaskans love her. It also makes me want to grab low-life lying slimeballs like Gibson and Couric by the neck and shake them.
The press: at their best they're deserving of great respect but far too often, in fact in the majority of cases, they're reincarnations of Grima Wormtongue. Go farther to the left--Herbert, Dowd, Krugman, etc. and you've got the Mouth of Sauron. The real clue to the depth of their ignorance is that the vast majority of journos don't even understand why most thinking people despise and deeply distrust them.
#10
I once did a 15 minute interview about a politically-important project. 10 seconds of it made the local news, and I didn't look good in it. Word to the wise.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 17:25 Comments ||
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#11
I was interviewed last Friday by a German Television crew ( I forgot to ask which one)at the 145th Anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga Creek. The first question I was asked was, "What do you think of Obama?". I told them I didn't want to discuss politics at an event of like this but he persisted. The next question was, "Do you think a Black man can be elected President?" so I decided to answer. I told him I belived it was possible depending on who was the nominee. Most people will decide on the basis of the qualifications and positions of the candidate. We are not nearly as divided as most European media think. The "common" people are pretty much the same wherever one goes in the US. We may have different local cultures but we are Americans and will come to one another's aid if necessary. We don't care about one's skin color or gender, for the most part. We talked a bit more but the bottom line is he said he was surprised to find an understanding of US and foreign interests in a Confederate Civil War reenactor. I think the MSM is doing the US a huge disservice in portraying Americans as "Backwoodsmen".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/27/2008 17:42 Comments ||
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#12
Ima thinkrn Michael Steele as a good first black POTUS - the guy's sharp
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 17:43 Comments ||
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#13
I gotta agree, Frank G.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/27/2008 17:45 Comments ||
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#14
another point: since the MSM, Dem Party play the Identity Politics/Grievance Party aspect so hard, is it any wonder then that the majority Caucasians vote for their own? After all, isn't that what the Oppo's expect and advocate for all Diversity groups?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 17:46 Comments ||
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#15
Hell, put Thomas Sowell or Shelby Steele on the ballot for POTUS and I'll RUN to the box to vote for them. It's not the color of the skin but the contents of the brain that matter. Lefty-lib fools peddling failed socialist redistributionism/grievance politics need not waste their time applying for my vote. That means YOU, Dems.
#16
The MSM's editors are doing a good job of defining expectations for Palin down before the debate with bin Biden. She was heavily over exposed aor the trunk convention. Having stayed out of the lime light and having been edited down, she should be in a good position to tangle with Biden should she have it in her. The pressure will be on.
#17
I have total confidence in Joe to blow it. He'll be so over-prepped by nervous Obama consultants that he's likely to tank just on the prep-overflow alone. Given his propensity to fantabulize and outright fabricate shit (and plagiarize, but I bet he's been warned off that shit), he's a muzzled cannon, and the blowoff should be both entertaining and informative. Kinda like having a Tourette's syndrome patient as your PR arm
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2008 18:09 Comments ||
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#18
Useful story, Jolutch Mussolini7800. Always a pleasure when I can be helpful, Mercutio dear. :-)
Lots of Republican possibilities for 2012. That will be a fun primary!
#1
"There's going to be a civil war, " said Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the Awami National party, which runs the provincial government in NWFP. "It will be the people versus the Taliban."
How civil war? I thought the Taliban now contain so many foreigners and Punjabis that they are no longer truly part of the local people. And surely the provincial government, as an arm of Islamabad, doesn't exactly count as local people either. Or am I wrong?
(AKI) - President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the bomb blast that struck a train near Bahawalpur in eastern Pakistan on Friday. He hd three choices: He could ignore it -- not a good choice, since everybody else'd noticed it; He could approve it, declaring himself on the side of the bad guyz -- not a good choice, since he'd then have to rationalize their behavior some way or other; Or he could condemn it. Condeming it was simplest, since he's now on record and he can forget about it, like he seems to have forgotten about his wife's departure from the gene pool.
Zardari said such acts would not deter the government's resolve to fight terrorism and extremism and the perpetrators of such heinous crime would be brought to justice.
In a major address to the United Nations in New York on Thursday, Zardari said Pakistan's stability was crucial for world security. He said terrorists strike at all nations and called for countries to unite in the battle against extremists. "We must draw a line on their rampage,'" Zardari told the United Nations General Assembly. "We must draw that line in Pakistan.''
"We may be the targets of international terrorism, but we will never succumb to it. Toward that end, we reach out to you and to the entire civilised world."
He said terrorism cannot be fought by military means alone. "Fighting it requires political will, popular mobilisation, and a socio-economic strategy that wins the hearts and minds of nations afflicted by it," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - Iraq no longer poses a threat to international peace and security and has successfully promoted reconciliation, strengthened security and improved relations with its neighbours, President Jalal Talabani said late on Thursday.
"The initiative of reconciliation and national dialogue launched by the Iraqi Government draws its strength from the heritage of the Iraqi people which rendered great services to humanity," said Talabani. He was addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
National reconciliation has halted sectarian killings, security has improved across the country, thousands of displaced families have returned to their homes and building and infrastructure projects are underway, Taliban said. Importantly, Iraqi troops have also been replacing multinational forces in many parts of Iraq, most recently in Anbar province, he noted.
The Iraqi government acknowledges that much work remains to be done, Talabani said, urging continued support for the war-torn nation, especially from neighbouring countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
BIGNEWSNETWORK > IRAQ FEARS WITHDRAWAL OF US FORCES [not unlike SOUTH KOREA]; + TOPIX > AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN IS THE CENTRAL FRONT IN GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR [IMO read - US-NATO in SOUTH ASIA, despite PCorrectness].
#2
Indeed, JosephM. It's amazing how the central front moves around as conditions are changed. I'm sure the Marines and Special Forces guys will enjoy the target practice. Happy hunting, y'all!
A mirror image of Kirkuk, the Kurdish town of Khanaqin, near the border with Iran, that holds sizeable oil reserves is being exposed to ethnic tensions and rival territorial claims. Local Kurdish political leaders warn that the area could see an explosion in ethnic violence, as they call for Khanaqin to join the adjoining autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq.
"What we are telling the government is simple. Implement the constitutional provision for a referendum for people in Khanaqin to decide their future," said Mala Bakhtyar, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Kurdish political party of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. "If they don't do that, then there will be political trouble and military trouble. Yes, there will be an explosion of violence," he told an AFP journalist touring the town in Diyala province.
Along the 170-kilometer road from Baghdad to Khanaqin there are grim reminders of trouble. The bombed wreckage of cars and trucks and a smoldering pile of debris were seen on Wednesday during a drive along what is considered one of the most dangerous highways in Iraq.
Despite regular checkpoints manned by the Iraqi security forces and police, attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda fighters take place on a regular basis.
However, Khanaqin itself has no Iraqi forces. Iraq's flag is flown by the Kurdish peshmerga fighters alongside their own flags at checkpoints and outside mini-camps. All government buildings and private homes fly the Kurdish flag. The Kurdish tricolor - red, green and white, with a rising star in the middle - is also seen outside most homes along the main highway to Khanaqin.
Talks are under way between the PUK, a key coalition partner in the KRG, and the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to end the simmering tension between federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga troops.
The Kurds in Khanaqin are mainly Shiite Muslims.
A peshmerga field commander, Bakhtyar, led Kurdish fighters to take control over this town after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. "When the peshmerga arrived here there were no Iraqi forces," he told AFP in an interview at his tightly guarded single-storey office located along the main road. "There were only 36 coalition [US] troops at the time. I came with 4,000 to 5,000 of our troops," he said. He contended that his men maintain better security in Khanaqin, part of the Arab-dominated Diyala, than is provided elsewhere in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - Israel has granted amnesty to 10 members of Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, according to a prominent Israeli daily. According to a report by Yedioth Ahronoth, the 10 will be pardoned as part of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to mark the Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that ends Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month.
The pardon follows reports that Israel handed over a list of 49 wanted men to be granted amnesty after a three-month probationary period. Twenty-two of them are currently in Palestinian Authority prisons, reported Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The amnesty is being described as an act of goodwill to the PA to mark the end of Ramadan which occurs on 1 October in most of the Muslim world.
In October 2007, Israel and the PA endorsed an agreement that gave al-Aqsa Brigades militants amnesty if they were willing to lay down their arms. The amnesty was offered to men who refrained from terrorist acts and abided by an agreement to disarm.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - Israel has signed a multi-million dollar weapons deal with predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan. Israel will sell the former Soviet country ammunition, mortars and radio equipment, after agreements signed by Israel's Defence Ministry and the government of Azerbaijan, reported Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday.
Azerbaijan's secular government has recently expressed concern over the influence of its more religiously austere neighbour, Iran.
Meanwhile, an Azerbaijani news agency, Trend News, said on Friday 20 members of an Islamist party protested on Friday in front of the Israeli embassy and shouted anti-Israel slogans. The demonstration was reportedly to show solidarity with the Palestinians on what Muslims call 'Jerusalem Day', commemorated on the final Friday of the Muslim-holy month of Ramadan, to oppose Israel's capture of the holy city in 1967.
The protesters were arrested for violating public order and holding an illegal demonstration, reported Azerbaijani news agency Trend News.
Israel and Azerbaijan established diplomatic relations in 1991.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Last week Ofer Dekel, the Israeli official charged with negotiating the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, visited Cairo to be briefed by Egyptian officials on their proposal for a prisoner exchange with Hamas.
Thursday, a ministerial committee headed by Vice Premier Haim Ramon agreed to draw up a new list of 450 Palestinian prisoners that Israel would be willing to release in the exchange. The new list will include 250 of the approximately 350 prisoners whose inclusion in the deal Hamas has demanded.
Ostensibly, differences between Hamas and Israel on this issue have never been smaller. However, Egypt's insistence on a broader package deal, whose details were published in the daily Maariv Thursday, may yet thwart the exchange.
Egypt wants to combine Shalit's release, for which Israel would pay by freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, with an agreement between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah over the formation of a new coalition government. Egypt's plan would require Hamas to relinquish sole control of the Gaza Strip and agree to allow a peacekeeping force comprised of Arab soldiers to be stationed there, while Israel would have to allow the border crossings into Gaza to reopen. Thus Egypt's proposal would turn Shalit into a pawn in talks aimed at reaching an internal Palestinian reconciliation whose chances of success are slim.
Egyptian officials are certain that Hamas would be willing to relinquish its control over Gaza and form a coalition with Fatah if the price were not too high, and that it would then agree to a deal for Shalit's release. But Cairo may have misjudged the change that the Hamas leadership has undergone in the past months, which greatly diminishes the chances of forming a coalition government.
The group's overseas leadership, headed by Khaled Meshal, has been losing control, while the power held by the Islamic group's young activists in Gaza has grown. Members of the group's military wing have infiltrated its "politburo" in Gaza and have seized authority from senior officials who were considered to be relative pragmatists. Officials like Razi Hamed and Ahmed Yousef have been sidelined. Nowadays, Hamas officials are more likely to march to the tune of the military wing, which instigated the violent takeover of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
New members of Hamas' leadership who are not part of the military wing are also far from providing a moderating influence. Nizar Riyan, for instance, has seen his power increase because of his extremism and his hatred for the PA leadership in the West Bank.
In sum, it is difficult to imagine the radicals in Hamas giving up their complete control of Gaza in order to create a coalition government.
The military wing is also morphing. It is no longer a hierarchal entity headed by a "chief of staff," Ahmed al-Jabari. Instead, it has fragmented into sectors whose commanders govern like little emirs. These commanders have the authority to forge alliances, political and military, in order to solidify Hamas' control of the Strip and reduce friction with other military groups. However, some of them have used their increased autonomy to make alliances with organizations like al-Qaida, the Army of Islam and the People's Army.
Last week, Hamas killed seven members of the Army of Islam, but it has refrained from confiscating the weapons of factions identified with al-Qaida. So long as these factions do not threaten Hamas, they are allowed to keep their weapons and train their forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Egypt's plan would require Hamas to relinquish sole control of the Gaza Strip and agree to allow a peacekeeping force comprised of Arab soldiers to be stationed there,
This could be an interesting proposal. The US can airlift over a hand picked Iraqi division.
WASHINGTON -- Iran has significantly enhanced its gas centrifuge fleet, despite mass cases of western denial assertions to the contrary, according to a new report.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security stated that Teheran has resolved many of the technical flaws in its 4,000 centrifuges being used in Iran's uranium enrichment program. The institute, headed by former United Nations nuclear inspector David Albright, said Teheran was enriching uranium at a rate that would enable nuclear weapons capacity by March 2009.
"The centrifuges now appear to be running at approximately 85 percent of their stated target capacity, a significant increase over previous rates," the report said.
The report, released on Sept. 15, was based on information by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In early 2008, the agency indicated that Iran was operating its centrifuge fleet at 50 percent capacity.
Titled "Centrifuge Operation Significantly Improving," the U.S. institute said Iran has now intensified uranium enrichment. The institute cited an IAEA finding that from May 7 to Aug. 30, 2008, Iran fed 3,630 kilograms of uranium hexafluoride into the cascades at the Natanz plant, "a significant increase over previous rates."
"Whatever the actual amount of LEU [low-enriched uranium], Iran is progressing toward this [nuclear weapons] capability and can be expected to reach it in six months to two years," the report said.
The institute's assessment appeared to differ with that of IAEA. On Sept. 15, an agency briefer told the board of governors that Iran was operating much of its centrifuge fleet at 20 percent capacity.
But Albright, along with report co-authors Jacqueline Shire and Paul Brannan, determined that Iran has overcome difficulties in operating its P-1 centrifuge cascades. The researchers said that until mid-2008 Iran lost a significant amount of uranium because of breakdowns in Pakistani-designed P-1 centrifuges.
"This latest [IAEA] report, however, shows that Iran has largely overcome these problems, which is reflected in the increased feed rates and LEU production," the institute said. "One official close to the agency stated that Iran may have reached a point where its cascades are operating in a stable manner, noting that fewer centrifuges are breaking."
The institute said Iran has assembled 18 cascades that comprise 3,000 P-1 centrifuges. At the same time, Iran was installing a second module of 3,000 centrifuges.
Iran has also been accelerating tests of its advanced IR-2 centrifuge. The institute said Iran has installed two or three models of what was termed "next-generation" centrifuges, including IR-2, IR-3 and "possibly a longer centrifuge."
"During this reporting [May to August 2008] period, Iran has significantly increased the feed rate into its IR-2 centrifuges," the report said. "This development appears to reflect Iran's goal of developing a more advanced centrifuge that can be deployed in the FEP [fuel enrichment plant] instead of its P1 centrifuges. It is unknown how long Iran intends to test these new designs or when they could be deployed in large numbers in the underground halls."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION KOMMERSANT > RUSSIA HAS ENOUGH URANIUM FOR 60 YEARS. Milyuhns and Zilyuhns of MARVIN MARTIAN'S ANTI-US PU-286 EXPLOSIVE SPACE MODULATOR-R-R-S are NOT at risk???
Yet anuther reason, Virginia, as to why the NEW US-ISLAMIST WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE ASIAN MAINLAND,
aka the "8-8-8" RUSSO-GEORGIAN CONFLICT-WAR.
#4
I have pretty well reached the conclusion that the US is very relaxed about this whole deal for a very good reason: our 300+ anti-missile missiles in the region are no longer the first line of defense.
That is, we have fielded several effective airborne anti-missile lasers, as well as AESA radar that can effectively jam missile and warhead electronics.
Together, it has raised the overkill ratio that Iran would have to accomplish to so far beyond their capabilities that only a fraction of a percent of their missiles have a chance of even leaving Iranian airspace.
Add this to other weapons systems like conventional cruise missiles and multiple independently targeted SDBs dropped from a high altitude bomber, heavily degrading their capability, and Iran's offensive ability is reduced to zero.
From that point, the US could systematically eliminate any medium or high altitude AAA threat, then use bunker busters to eliminate every known underground installation.
#5
That's very comforting, Anonymoose, but does that mean Israel no longer need worry about a single missile getting through and killing one sixth of her population?
#7
That's where the Somali pirates come to play. Little do they know they have been working for the Great Satan all this time.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2008 15:18 Comments ||
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#8
trailing wife: actually yes. Since Israel can both act on its own, and has sufficient nuclear weaponry to take out most of the Muslim world, the US would have to spend a substantial amount of time convincing the Israelis that the numbers don't lie.
I know that we have intensively worked with them both on the ARROW and THAAD systems, and also keep them abreast of our laser work. Their boffins can do the math as well. America has spent decades refining overkill theory for just such reasons.
And the bottom line is even if we are wrong, it changes nothing. Israel still has full retaliatory capability, and understands that sooner or later it will be the target.
So the one big question still remaining is who will be elected US president. If it is McCain, the Iranians had best be prepared to have the poop kicked out of them.
Russia and the United States have reached a deal to seek a new U.N. resolution on Iran, Britain's U.N. ambassador said Friday. Ambassador John Sawers spoke before heading into a high-level meeting at U.N. headquarters of nations concerned with events in Pakistan.
After the meeting, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the resolution will be introduced in the Security Council on Friday.
Western diplomats said the resolution would reaffirm three rounds of earlier U.N. sanctions to make clear that the process has not been dropped and that the council wants Iran to comply. The United States, Britain and France have been pressing for a new round of sanctions to step up pressure against Iran for its continuing refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a prelude to talks on its nuclear program. But Russia and China objected to new sanctions.
The proposed new resolution appears to be a compromise _ no new sanctions but a tough statement to Iran that Security Council resolutions are legally binding and must be carried out.
So all this talk and heat has been about nothing. Figures, it's the U.N. ...
Russia on Tuesday had scuttled high-level talks on imposing new sanctions on Iran that had been set for Thursday between the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, the key players in seeking an agreement with Iran. Even sanctions opponent China had agreed to the meeting.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, sought to downplay the move, saying the time wasn't right for the session. But they had previously said such a gathering would be useful and necessary to get a fourth Security Council sanctions resolution on Iran.
Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful and designed to produce nuclear energy, but the U.S. and Europeans suspect Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Tehran needs the ability to produce nuclear fuel because it cannot rely on other nations to supply enriched uranium to the Islamic regime's planned reactors.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A spokesman for the family members of terrorism victims in Iran says the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) is a modern version of al-Qaeda.
Iraj Moradi, the spokesman for the Edaalat Society, which represents over 12,000 relatives of Iranian victims of terrorism, said the MKO and al-Qaeda use the same methods to lure their members into carrying out terrorist attacks. Iraj is the son of Ebrahim Moradi, a blacksmith who was assassinated by the MKO in June 1984.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization is a terrorist group banned by many countries including the US. It has claimed responsibility for numerous terror attacks inside Iran and Iraq since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
At a recent UN human rights conference in Geneva, Edaalat Society revealed documents highlighting the extent of MKO activities in Iran as well as the group's cooperation with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The MKO has long been charged with assisting Saddam in the massacre of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
A British envoy, who has received the documents, asked the delegation to shed light on MKO crimes in a visit to the UK - where a British court has dropped the MKO from its blacklist of terrorist organizations.
"Edaalat Society does not seek revenge," said Sepehri, the daughter of another Iranian victim. "Branding some terrorists 'good' and some 'bad' would legitimize their actions and provide a pretext for their existence," she said referring to the recent UK court ruling.
She added that is why the MKO has continued its existence.
According to Sepehri who is the official spokesman for the Edaalat Society, terrorists are patients who are suffering from hallucination due to cult-like structure of terrorist organizations and they could be cured if they got rid of mind-control tactics of their leaders.
A delegation of the Edaalat (Justice) Society has recently visited Geneva to attend the UN human rights summit and meet NGOs and rights groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Hezbollah seeks to support the Lebanese government not to compete with it, says the movement's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem. One's master is not one's rival.
Resistance is an independence-seeking standpoint that nullified all custodianship, emancipated the Lebanese soil and defended the country and is not a mere military force Sheikh Qassem said, a Press TV correspondent reported from Beirut.
Hezbollah's deputy leader dismissed any intention of gaining power through use of military force inside Lebanon and said it had never lobbied in favor of or against certain parties during the election time.
"The reason we have resorted to armed resistance is for the government to be strong," he said, highlighting the need for a powerful administration and that the Islamic party gave its full support to such a government.
Qassem referred to the reconciliation between the Lebanese parties and said the recent compromise is to settle political differences and prevent the disputes from turning into street clashes.
Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has warned Israel is in the process of obtaining sophisticated weapons while Lebanon is prevented from acquiring night visual equipment for its army.
He said Lebanon would succeed in adopting a defense strategy in cooperation between the people, the army and the country's resistance forces.
Despite opposition from the majority bloc in the Lebanese parliament which demands the government should take control of all weapons, Hezbollah refuses to disarm, arguing that it needs its weapons to defend the country's sovereignty against Israel.
In July 2006, the Israeli regime launched a 33-day offensive against Lebanon, imposing an aerial and naval blockade on the country and razing villages in the south.
The Lebanese army did not intervene during the conflict in which the lives of more than 1,100 Lebanese civilians were lost.
However, it deployed forces to southern parts of the country on August 17, three days after the war came to an end, with the Israeli blockade lifted no sooner than September 8.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A former Iranian president warned the West Friday that its support for Israel would backfire as hundreds of thousands of people staged rallies in support of Palestinian and Muslim claims to the holy city of Jerusalem. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is still considered influential in Iranian politics, said the US, Britain and France's backing of Israel is dangerous.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Didn't he mean would blowup? Too close to him? That's where the danger is.
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.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, describing the need for more troops in Afghanistan, said the United States has achieved "victory" in Iraq. 
(AKI) - President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the bomb blast that struck a train near Bahawalpur in eastern Pakistan on Friday. 
Last week Ofer Dekel, the Israeli official charged with negotiating the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, visited Cairo to be briefed by Egyptian officials on their proposal for a prisoner exchange with Hamas. 
WASHINGTON -- Iran has significantly enhanced its gas centrifuge fleet, despite 
Russia and the United States have reached a deal to seek a new U.N. resolution on Iran, Britain's U.N. ambassador said Friday. Ambassador John Sawers spoke before heading into a high-level meeting at U.N. headquarters of nations concerned with events in Pakistan. 
