TOKYO - Japans opposition-controlled upper house Friday voted down an extension to a naval mission backing US-led operations in Afghanistan, but the bill was expected to pass later in the day.
The more powerful lower house, where conservative Prime Minister Taro Asos coalition holds a majority, was set to vote in the afternoon to override the upper houses decision, lawmakers said.
Japan provides fuel and other logistical support in the Indian Ocean to US-led forces engaged in the war on terror in Afghanistan as part of an operation which is due to expire in January.
The opposition last year forced a temporary halt to the Afghan mission. It argued that Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II, should not be part of American wars.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2008 00:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Good for them: "Nation Building" in Dar is total waste of time, money, and human lives.
#5
Catching their breath before falling under the auspices of AfriCom. What a setup. Unless Barry can throw Africa under the bus, while looking a black general in the eye. heh President Bush, so stewpit. heh heh heh
Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - Canada's foreign and defense ministers on Thursday reiterated Ottawa's position not to extend Canadian troops' mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011.
Responding to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' remarks in Kandahar that a longer stay of Canadian soldiers in southern Afghanistan is better, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Defense Minister Peter MacKay issued separate but similar statements saying "Parliament has decided that our mission there ends in 2011."
The rebuff came a day ahead of Cannon's trip to Washington to meet with State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. The economy and Canada's Afghan mission will be among the agenda of their meeting.
Nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers are based in Afghanistan's violent southern region, where attacks by Taliban insurgents are on the rise.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2008 00:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That's OK. Obama will have cleaned up the mess over there by then. /s
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke out against Iran during a meeting with members of the Egyptian ruling party, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida on Thursday, cited by Israel Radio. Mubarak accused the Islamic Republic of trying to subsume its Muslim neighbors, telling the forum that "the Persians are trying to devour the Arab states."
Mubarak's comments came after the Egyptian leader recalled the country's diplomatic envoy from the Iranian capital earlier this week following an increase in tension between the two countries.
Recent strain between Cairo and Teheran has grown as several demonstrations in Iran called for the hanging of the Egyptian leader. The Iranian FARS news service reported that participants in recent student demonstrations outside the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Teheran also chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" and burned an Israeli flag.
On Wednesday the Egyptian ministry was quoted as criticizing some Iranian newspapers that have repeatedly insulted Egyptian policies and leadership recently. Teheran media, for example, broadcast incitement against Cairo's policy allegedly preventing aid from reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
Is that why we've gotten so much help and cooperation from the Arab states?
Like when oil was $147 a bbl. and they were rolling around in petro dollars like fat pigs?
Screw those camel f*ckers, what the US and Israel does, we'll do for ourselves and our strategic objectives in the region.
Now back to reality, of course we'll have to come along and wipe everyone's bottom for them. We'll send Big O over there to personally fellate the House of Saud and of course, we'll pick up the tab on the whole thing.
Then, we'll get screwed by the arabs just as soon as they can jack the price of oil back up and chant 'death to america' in streets.
Same as always.
#5
WAFF.com > CALLS IN IRAN TO TOPPLE EGYPTIAN AND SAUDI REGIMES. Conservative Govt.Officios accuse Egypt, Saudi Arabia of TREASON TO MUSLIMS AND ISLAM, while student rallies/demonstr demand death to Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
#6
ALso from WAFF > EXPORTS: MINISTER PROCLAIMS TURKEY IS NOW A WORLD POWER; + EU-SYRIA: SYRIA FOLOWING LIBYA'S LEAD - DAMASCUS NEARS EUROPE.
"Association Accords" wid EU; + TURKEY-EU: 64,000 TURKS BECAME [Euro/Eurozone]CITIZENS IN 2006. Milyuhns and Zilyuhns and Tilyuhns...., as mainly per GERMANY, AUSTRIA, + DENMARK.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the countrys largest Islamist party, has pledged the enactment of a blasphemy law and military training for students of Islamic seminaries (madrassas) in its manifesto for the Dec 29 general election, media reports said Friday. The blasphemy law is meant to prevent the criticism of religion in books, newspapers or electronic media and punishment for those responsible.
All will enjoy religious rights, but criticism or making bad remarks about others religions is not acceptable. There is blasphemy law in the United Kingdom and nothing is wrong about it, Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami said Thursday as he announced the partys manifesto. Blasphemy law exists in Pakistan where non-Muslims are brought before law, and there is no bail. The cases generally lead to conviction. Some judges who acquitted the accused were later killed.
Madrassas and mosque-based mass education will be given priority. Mass education will also be introduced in all religious institutions, the Jamaat manifesto reads. Along with students at madrassas, arrangements will be made to give military training to citizens aged between 20 and 30 gradually under the supervision of the defence forces, it added.
The Jamaat, a key component of the four-party combine led by two-term prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia, also promised to strengthen the liberation war ministry and the Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust and increase allowances for the freedom fighters families, The Daily Star newspaper said. However, Jamaat had opposed the liberation war of 1971 that led to separation from Pakistan and emergence of Bangladesh, and its current top leaders stand accused of collaborating with the Pakistan forces in the killing of unarmed civilians and the intelligentsia. Former freedom fighters and many parties campaigned against Jamaats recognition as a political party to contest the forthcoming election. However, the caretaker government and the Election Commission, having promised an all inclusive poll, ignored the protests.
On religious militancy, Nizami said Bangladesh has proved that terrorism can be uprooted within the shortest possible time. Some militants had started their activities in the country in the name of Islam, but the BNP-Jamaat alliance government resisted them strongly during its tenure, he said, adding that the bans on JMB and HuJI were imposed when his party shared power with Zia.
Multilateral talks with North Korea failed on Thursday to break an impasse on checking Pyongyang's nuclear declarations, scuppering the Bush administration's hopes for a farewell diplomatic success.
"We were not able to get an agreed verification protocol," US negotiator Christopher Hill said at the Beijing airport before leaving China, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Yonhap also cited South Korean delegates as saying that the six nations involved in the talks - North and South Korea, host China, the United States, Japan and Russia - had failed to agree on a draft protocol for verifying its nuclear information.
US Assistant Secretary of State Hill added that the six parties would continue to try to set North Korea's verification commitments in writing, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency. The chairman's statement said delegates had agreed to convene the next meeting as soon as possible, without giving further details. Having coaxed North Korea to partly disable its Yongbyon nuclear complex this year in a disarmament-for-aid deal, envoys from five states had been asking the wary and impoverished North to accept a protocol for checking its nuclear declaration.
US President George W Bush, who gives way to President-elect Barack Obama in January, had hoped an agreement on verification would have opened the way to dismantling North Korea's nuclear arms capacity. The six-party talks, begun in 2003, took on fresh urgency after Pyongyang held its first nuclear test explosion in October 2006, but have made fitful progress.
During his first term in office, Bush denounced North Korea as part of an "axis of evil", alongside Iran and Iraq, but later he strongly backed Hill's efforts to strike a disarmament deal with the North. North Korea has refused proposals to allow inspectors to take nuclear samples to test its declaration, said South Korea's envoy Kim Sook, Kyodo news agency reported. But analysts do not think North Korea, starved of energy and money, plans to quit the talks, at least for now.
US terror list: US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did not rule out putting North Korea back on a list of states accused of sponsoring terrorism. "I suppose these things are always possible," he told a news briefing. "...it's based on behaviour. And we'll see what behaviour North Korea engages in."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What was Einstein's definition of "insanity"?...
#7
The United Nations says half of the Norkies are starving right now, and likely will only get worse next year. Unlike Iran's economic troubles, which has many Muslim nations to rely on regardless of US policies, I don't think Mr. Kimmie and DPRK can last to 2010 or 2012 without supermassive outside aid.
In the absence of foreign aid, I think Kimmie and regime may start a new Korean war. Given their own nations' troubles, I believe India and Pakistan wouldn't mind a new Korean conflict to help stabilize their own countries.
This is the same argument, almost verbatim, that I have used to argue in favor of The Bush Doctrine and the administration's foreign policy. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who sees things this way:
"So, I just don't understand this argument that it is so much worse. I always say, 'as opposed to what?' Syrian forces in Lebanon and no democracy. Saddam Hussein in power, threatening his neighbors and us. The Taliban in Afghanistan. The Palestinians and Israelis in an open intifada. That was the better Middle East? And it wasn't as if politics wasn't going on -- it was just going on in radical mosques and the madrassas, whereas now it is going on in the open. And yes, once in a while the Hamases of the world will win, but frankly I'd rather have them out in electoral politics trying to explain how they will fix the sewer system than running the streets with their faces covered, being the glorious resistance."
#1
OTOH, compare wid INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > HOW JOHN MCCAIN, A SUSPECTED RED MOLE, THREW THE 2008 US ELECTION IN OBAMA'S FAVOR!?
IOW, Article = so-called "MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE(S)", what used to be called during the COLD WAR as "RED/LEFT HORSES", as oppos to political
"Black/Dark Horses" [US History]. UNFORTUNATELY FOR OBAMA, THE ARTICLE STRONGLY INFERS HIS HORSE IS ALSO RED = "MANCHURIAN"???
BRITNEY Spears and AC/DC songs are being used to torture prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, outraging human rights groups. The groups are protesting that blasting tracks such as Britney Spears's Baby One More Time, AC/DC's Hells Bells and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA into cells at high volumes for hours on end can cause the inmates long-term psychiatric problems.
If the interrogators use Captain and Tenille's 'Muskrat Love', I'll have to agree ...
Now the musicians themselves have joined the fray, furious that their songs are being used to "break" suspected terrorists, reports the Daily Mail.
Musicians including Massive Attack and Tom Morello, guitarist with US group Rage Against The Machine have joined a campaign against the practice.
According to an FBI memo, one interrogator at Guantanamo bragged that he needed only four days to "break" someone by alternating 16 hours of loud music with just four hours of silence. The practice has been used often in the "war on terror", with US forces systematically playing loud music to hundreds of its detainees.
Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, the former US military chief in Iraq, said the aim was "to create fear, disorient . . . and prolong capture shock".
#1
can cause the inmates long-term psychiatric problems.
How could they tell the difference?
Humph. The weenies should try hanging around any dorm or barracks on a busy night. Hearing loss and brain damage.
I used to play gregorian chant on saturday nights when the stereo wars got going good. It would repel like nothing else, and I personaly found it soothing.
Posted by: N guard ||
12/12/2008 0:24 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Today, we will play the deluxe boxed set of the collected works of Zamfir, master of the Pan Flute. We'll work backwards in the discography, starting with Disk 42: 'Zamfir plays Hip Hop' "
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2008 6:33 Comments ||
Top||
#11
... can cause the inmates long-term psychiatric problems.
You know if the lawyers can make this stick, parents across America will be keeping tort lawyers busy for generations suing labels and artists. See! We have legal precedent! It'll end up like the cigarette kickback settlement with lots of well paid lawyers collecting from everyone. The 'artists' are too stupid to grasp the nuance.
#17
...Of course, if they played any Yoko Ono, that would be crossing a line.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/12/2008 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#18
I like music loud, if it had alot of static then that would be torture.
Hey Bad, I love Zappa.
Do they use music videos?
Posted by: Jan from work ||
12/12/2008 14:57 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Do words have no meaning anymore? If someone really is being tortured somewhere what word shall we now use to describe it. The word 'torture' means nothing now thanks to the MSM. Bush = Hitler. If someone like Hitler were to rise again, how shall we describe him? Words like 'tyrant' mean nothing any more. What does 'human rights violations' mean now? Not being allowed to shop at the Gap?
#1
Of course the LeT isn't an Indian organization. It isn't even a Kashmiri one. It is a Pakistani Punjabi group created, financed and protected by the ISI.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/12/2008 6:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It's also part of al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 7:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Let's dispense with the confusion on naming and labelling. Can we all agree on "the enemy"? It's worked in the past. There are also "the good guys", "allies", and "the resistance".
Terrorist training camps exist inside Pakistan but nobody is taking firm action against them, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) quoted human rights activist and former minister Ansar Burney as saying.
Burney, who is in Chandigarh to gather information about Indian and Pakistani prisoners languishing in jails, said on Thursday that frequent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan were testimony to the fact the training camps existed. "Sabko pata hai ki woh wahan hain (Everyone knows that they are there). Sadly, no one is taking firm action against them," he told IANS.
No handover: Burney said if any terrorist was caught inside Pakistan, he should not be handed over, as India is demanding, but should be tried in courts there. "We should not look towards any third party like the United States to solve this problem. Instead, our intelligence should identify the culprits, arrest them and produce them before the court for speedy trials in their own respective countries," he said. He said that terrorism could not be ended by supplying lists of terrorists and demanding they be handed over.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
I've got a 2-year-old granddaughter. I praise her when she puts her toys away and when she lets us know it's time to go potty. When she's a grownup neither accomplishment will be any great shakes but only one of us knows that right now.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Islamic terrorism didn't appear full-blown on Sep 11th 2001, it took decades of careful nurturing---which, going by the headline here, still going on.
#3
"Pakistan has a real appreciation for the seriousness of the terrorism threat.
Residents of neighborhoods ravaged by gangs also have an appreciation of their problem, but that doesn't transfer into meaningful cooperation with those who want to eradicate the problem; ie, Law Enforcement.
#4
"Pakistan has a real appreciation for the seriousness of the terrorism threat.
Residents of neighborhoods ravaged by gangs also have an appreciation of their problem, but that doesn't transfer into meaningful cooperation with those who want to eradicate the problem; ie, Law Enforcement.
An attack on Pakistan to "avenge the Mumbai terror attacks is no solution", but India still wants its neighbour to hand over 40 people it believes are behind terror attacks, the Indian external affairs minister told parliament on Thursday.
Pranab Mukherjee's comments came in reply to a question by MP Mohan Rawale, who had asked why India was not attacking the neighbour if there was 'proof' of Pakistan's 'involvement' in the Mumbai attacks. "Let us be very clear and frank that that is no solution," said Mukherjee.
He said the government was told that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba chief Hafiz Saeed had been arrested. "However, within 20 minutes, I heard from our Islamabad mission that the man was on television."
Earlier, he told Lok Sabha that India had conveyed its 'sense of outrage', but it had not been provoked into any kind of action, "despite Islamabad's propaganda".
He said the government was told that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba chief Hafiz Saeed had been arrested. "However, within 20 minutes, I heard from our Islamabad mission that the man was on television."
Referring to the Jaish-e-Muhammad chief's house arrest, Mukherjee said he doubted if it was a convincing step.
Referring to the description of the Mumbai attackers as 'non-state actors', he asserted that 'non-state actors' were "located in the territory of a particular country and operating from within a particular country".
"What we are most respectfully suggesting to the Pakistani government is that they please act. The mere expression of intention is not adequate."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Having blamed a Pakistani terrorist group for last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai, investigators are turning their attention to homegrown suspects who may have assisted with attacks on Indian soil.
The suspects are thought to have offered help with surveillance, safe houses and border crossings. The potential involvement of Indians complicates India's initial assertion that the Mumbai attacks were carried out solely by Pakistani nationals.
Mumbai police are looking in particular at two Indian suspects in their custody who, they say, were trained by the Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Taiba and who may have helped extremists as they prepared to launch strikes.
Indian police say at least one Indian operative -- Sabauddin Ahmed, 29 -- aided Pakistani extremists by providing safe houses and guiding them across the border to carry out assaults in India.
Although Pakistani extremists once favored Kashmir as their route into India, crossing the border there has become more difficult in recent years as authorities have cracked down on infiltrators. Indian investigators say they are uncovering information on a vast network of paths into India through Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as the Arabian Sea, the route chosen by the 10 gunmen who carried out the Mumbai attacks.
The use of new land and sea routes, investigators say, has widened the theater of war beyond Kashmir and into the Indian heartland, as well as cosmopolitan cities such as Hyderabad and Bangalore, both of which were recently the scene of bombings.
"When it became more difficult for them to cross the Line of Control into Kashmir from Pakistan, the militants found other routes," said Ajay Sahni, a counterterrorism expert and executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. "Nepal is a completely unpoliced border, with a mixed population living all along the border, and they cross over with absolutely no documentation on a daily basis. Many people from Bangladesh come into India to work and return in the evening. These are very poorly policed; the fences are not well maintained," he said.
Use of the routes by extremists, analysts say, could force India to seek better cooperation from its eastern neighbors, just as it has with its western neighbor, Pakistan.
The focus on possible Indian collaborators comes nearly two weeks after the assault on India's financial capital, in which gunmen opened fire at several sites and laid siege to two luxury hotels and a Jewish outreach center, killing at least 171 people, including six Americans, and wounding more than 230.
Ahmed is being brought to Mumbai for questioning over his alleged links to Lashkar, the group that is said to have masterminded the attacks. Indian police arrested Ahmed, along with another suspect, Faheem Ansari, 35, earlier this year in connection with a grenade attack on a police camp.
It is unclear whether Ahmed was involved in the Mumbai assault. Ansari apparently had a map of Mumbai, with targets in last month's attacks highlighted. Police say Ansari may have been preparing for the attacks for more than a year.
Ansari sent detailed video clips and maps of key South Mumbai locations to Lashkar commanders through a conduit in Nepal, police say. Some of the locations were targeted by the gunmen. Ahmed had helped bring gunmen from Nepal for at least two attacks, in 2005 and 2007, police say.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
Pakistan does not want military confrontation but the nation will defend itself with great courage ... albeit briefly...
in case of war, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood "Wormtongue" Qureshi said on Tuesday. He was talking to reporters after Eid prayers at Darbar Hazrat Bahauddin Zikriya. He said that the country wanted peace and stability in the region, adding that its desire for peace and friendship should not be taken as a sign of weakness. Responding to a question regarding the arrest of some members and leaders of banned groups, he said that this was part of the efforts made by the intelligence agencies to fulfil the government's commitment to prevent the country's soil from being used for terrorist activities against other countries. He said Pakistan would not hand over any suspects to India, adding that action would be taken against them according to the country's law. He said that the country had made a sincere offer of joint investigation into the Mumbai attacks, adding that India had not responded to the offer as yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
I think the plausible deniability for the proxies they use against India is ....Used up.
#2
PAKISTANI-, INDIAN DEFENCE FORUMS > SHARIF: PAKISTAN, INDIA MUST SIGN "NO FIRST ATTACK" PACT/ACCORD; + INDIAN AIR FORCE PANES, NAVAL VESSELS ON ALERT FOR POSSIBLE PAKISTAN ATTACK [waiting for "the Bird = the Word" to launch war]; + COULD MUMBAI ATTACKERS HAVE EUROPE IN THIER SIGHTS?
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday called Pakistan 'the epicentre of terrorism' and said the international community must deal with the problem. "We have to galvanise the international community to deal with the epicentre of terrorism, which is located in Pakistan," Singh said in a speech to parliament. "We have noted the reported steps taken by Pakistan but clearly much more needs to be done," he said, adding "the infrastructure of terrorism" in Pakistan must be dismantled. Singh's statements capped a day of speeches by Indian political leaders expressing outrage over the carnage in Mumbai that left over 180 people dead, including nine gunmen. Singh said he apologised "to the people of the country that the dastardly act in Mumbai could not be prevented".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#3
Our priority should be Iran. India's priority should be Pakistan. We and Israel should provide India whatever support they need. Saudi will have to wait. If they get uppity, which they won't in any overt way, then they will get theirs.
Pakistan's Jamaat-ud-Dawa puts up a defiant stance as the United Nations declares it a front for terrorists and freezes its assets.
Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the banned out-fit claims that it was concerned by the international clampdown and would contact the UN to clear its position as it has frozen its assets, imposed travel ban and an arms embargo, our Press TV correspondent reported from Islamabad on Thursday.
The Pakistani government has also decided to proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa, suspected of having links to militants in the Mumbai attacks, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said, adding that the government was deliberating what action to take against the group in the wake of the UN decision.
Reacting to the ban, Saeed said his group has never been involved in terrorist activities and its main focus remains essentially on humanitarian aid activities and education. He said his group was not involved in the Mumbai carnage but said his organization would admit its mistakes provided it was proved that it was in any way linked to the attacks, which left a trail of death and destruction.
He said the allegations leveled by India against his group at the UN were baseless and unfounded. India has always resorted to propaganda against his group, our correspondent quoted him as saying.
There was no operation on the part of any Jamat-ud-Dawa office. As far as Zakiur Rehman (Lakhvi) is concerned, he is a leader of a Kashmiri group. He should not be linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, he said.
The Jamaat chief said he had never met or seen Ajmal Amir, the lone gunman captured alive by Indian security forces during the Mumbai attacks.
Hafiz Saeed led the Lashkar-e-Taiba until December 2001, when he quit a few days before Pakistan complied with a UN move to put the group on a list of individuals and organizations with links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Saeed founded the Lashkar in 1990.
Saeed, one of the most wanted men in India, has since headed Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity organization, which analysts and diplomats regard it as a front for Lashkar to fight Indian rule in Indian Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
Pfft. If they were clever they would've just banned the United Nations & frozen their assets in the Pakistani outback.
That would've shown 'em.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/12/2008 10:55 Comments ||
Top||
The US president elect has reportedly decided to bring Israel under its 'nuclear umbrella' after receiving warnings by Tel Aviv officials.
Barack Obama's administration will propose equipping Tel Aviv with the nuclear deterrent apparatus reinforcing the protections already in place against any strike, Haaretz reported a source close to the US president-elect Barack Obama's team as saying. "The US will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating US nuclear response against Iran," the source added.
This is incredibly dumb. First off, Israel has nukes and everyone knows it. If Tehran gets too frisky the Israelis will clobber them. Second, no one -- no one -- actually thinks the U.S. would value Tel Aviv as much as it values New York. Third, after being told the last four years by the likes of Think Progress and Kos that the whole 'Iran has nukes' complaint was just a come-on by the neo-cons to get us to invade Iran, now we're being told that Iran may get a nuke soon.
The comments come amid increased Israeli attempts at representing Iran as a regional threat with Israeli officials claiming that Tehran's uranium enrichment programs are aimed at 'building a nuclear weapon'. The officials have moved so far as claiming a nuclear Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel and have, therefore, pressed for a military option against Iran.
Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), denies the Israeli claim, insisting that its enrichment program is solely directed at the civilian applications of the technology.
And now not even Bambi believes them ...
The UN oversight agency for the Iranian nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in its latest report that it has 'been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran'.
Notwithstanding the Israeli pressure, many US foreign policy experts have advised the US president-elect's administration to engage Iran with diplomacy; a move which would not be well-received among powerful pro-Israeli lobbies in Washington.
Obama himself has voiced plans to enter into dialogue with Iran over the matter while threatening to press sanctions should the Islamic Republic defy Washington's demands.
Who believes the latter after he's pledged the former?
The United States, under the presidency of George W. Bush, has long supported its staunch Israeli allies, pursuing a carrot-and-stick policy toward Tehran regarding its nuclear program.
So Bambi's going to wield the carrot and maybe even pick up a twig. And we were told the Bush policy had failed ...
Obama who chose to lead his presidential campaign under the banner of 'change' is hoped to reverse his predecessor's hawkish approach on Iran's nuclear activities.
The Israeli insistence seems, however, to be aimed at ensuring that Obama does not live up to his campaign promises. Israeli oficials have made clear their opposition to any sort of 'change' describing talks between Tehran and Washington as a sign of 'weakness' emenating from the White House.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It is foolish to change position when your enemy has thought you would. If you stay behind that cement divider I/we have made for you, you may remain protected.
If not, you are just as stupid as the foolish euroPEONS that they have been joking with for years.
Peace is not possible when you discuss it with 30 year old wolves.
Come on Bambi, Sing our chourus of "Do I know you?".
#2
What Bambi isn't telling anyone just yet is that in exchange for his promise he'll demand that Israel give up all of its own nuclear weapons. Bank on that shoe falling after he's in office.
#5
We'll give propose giving you a slice of 'nuclear umbrella' if you open your kimono for inspections and dismantle...., etc. (Strategic pay-for-play). And of course the IDF will NOT! An empty promises. Game over, proposal dead, you're on your own Tel Aviv. NEXT!
#10
The assumption has to be that the Mad Mullahs will use a nuke if they ever get their hands on one, deterrent or no. They are crazy so the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction that we relied on with the Soviet Union doesn't work. The Soviets were sane. The Mad Mullahs are not. So the only sane policy is a preemptive attack on Iran to make damn sure they never get their hands on a nuke. If Bambi can't figure that out the Israelis will and then what's Bambi gonna do?
#11
...Has anyone considered that this is Bambi's way of being able to say to the Mullahs, "Hey - we tried to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen. Real sorry about that reactor, tho."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/12/2008 14:00 Comments ||
Top||
#12
If I would Israel I'd take that to mean to build more Nukes like crazy. I don't think Bambi has lived up to any of his promises has he?
The question is - if push comes to shove will Bambi push the button or bow to the UN in a "above my pay scale" kind of way?
#13
Bama's a lying, cowardly, druggie motherf*cker. No way he'll back anything up for anyone. Israel, if you depend on anything this guy says, we'll be watching Hitler's successors finish the job he started.
Iran's Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has warned against any new adventurism being pursued by the US and Israel in the Middle East region. "It is naivety to think that the with the transition of power from George Bush to Barack Obama the situation will change," he said
Larijani stated that the US' strategy is to increase the economic pressures on Iran, Mehr news agency reported. "US President-elect Barack Obama said that he will get tough on Iran because of Iran's nuclear program and its support for the Islamic movements Hamas and Hezbollah," he added.
The Majlis speaker noted that it seems that Obama's motto of change is nothing but continuation of his predecessor's policies. Referring to recent statements of Obama's carrot and stick diplomacy, who said that some carrots and at the same time some big sticks should be shown to Iran, Larijani pointed out that this the language of cowboys not the way that civilized nations should speak to each other.
"The Americans intended to attack Iran after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and after Israel's 33-day war with Lebanon's Hezbollah. However, after they were caught in Iraq' quagmire and Israel was defeated in the 33-day war, the US backed off."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
France has reiterated its condemnation of Iran's threats against Israel after Tehran summoned the French ambassador to the country. "The declarations of the Iranian authorities questioning this right are unacceptable and can only have a negative effect on the perception of Iran by the international community," a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday. "As for our relations with Iran, our attitude remains based on an approach that combines firmness with openness to dialogue," he added.
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Wednesday French Ambassador to Tehran Bernard Poletti over Nicholas Sarkozy's recent remarks about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran also warned that the repetition of such comments would "adversely affect the bilateral ties".
Speaking at the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Monday, Sarkozy said that the Iranian nation was 'unfortunate' to be represented by some of its leaders - a reference to Ahmadinejad. According to the French presidency's official website, Sarkozy said it was 'impossible' for him to 'shake hands' with his Iranian counterpart who did not recognize Israel and questioned the Holocaust.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Sarkozy said it was 'impossible' for him to 'shake hands' with his Iranian counterpart who did not recognize Israel and questioned the Holocaust.
I'd call that a .... 'precondition.' Ok Pres-electe-bay, the standard for handshakes is set!
(CNN) -- Belgian police Thursday arrested a woman they called an "al-Qaeda living legend" as part of an operation to thwart a terror attack being planned to coincide with an EU summit in Brussels, a Belgian police source told CNN.
Police seized 14 people, one of whom was planning to carry out a suicide attack in Belgium, the source said. They had contacts at the "highest levels of al-Qaeda," the source said. The police source said officers "had only 24 hours to act."
The leaders of the European Union's 27 member states are meeting in Brussels Thursday and Friday. It is not clear that the heads of state and government themselves were the target of the planned attack.
The federal prosecutor's office in Belgium identified one of the suspects as Malika El-Aroud, the widow of one of the men who assassinated a key opponent of the Taliban in Afghanistan two days before September 11, 2001. El-Aroud's late husband was one of two men who killed Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of the Northern Alliance, in a suicide mission ordered by Osama Bin Laden.
Belgian police aimed to prevent El-Aroud, whom the police source called an "al-Qaeda living legend," from moving to Afghanistan to play a role in the fight against the coalition forces there, the source said. She is thought to be a recruiter for the anti-Western network, rather than a fighter, the source said.
El-Aroud described the "love" she and her late husband felt for Osama bin Laden in a 2006 interview with CNN. "Most Muslims love Osama. It was he who helped the oppressed. It was he who stood up against the biggest enemy in the world, the United States. We love him for that," she told CNN then.
Gazing into CNN's cameras she said, "It's the pinnacle in Islam to be the widow of a martyr. For a woman it's extraordinary."
"Most of those arrested" Thursday had Belgian passports, the police source said. All 14 are of Moroccan descent.
Three of the suspects had traveled to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to participate in fighting or training camps, and were in contact with an unnamed suspect who had direct links to important al-Qaeda figures, police said. Two of those three returned to Belgium several months ago and started surveillance operations, and the third returned to Belgium a week ago, police said. Intelligence showed that third person was ready to carry out a suicide attack, police said.
Information showed the suspect who was to carry out the attack had received the green light to execute the operation, police said. Investigators noted the suspect had said goodbye to his family "because he wanted to go to paradise with a clear conscience," police said. Authorities also found a video meant for the suspect's family, which police said was probably a farewell tape. They did not find any explosives, the police said in a statement.
The 14 suspects were arrested after police carried out 16 search warrants in Brussels and one in the western Belgian city of Liege. During those searches, police seized computer equipment and documents and the 14 people, including the three who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and 11 others suspected of having given them logistical and material support.
Police said their investigation has been under way intensively since the end of 2007.
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.
Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - Canada's foreign and defense ministers on Thursday reiterated Ottawa's position not to extend Canadian troops' mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011.
Multilateral talks with North Korea failed on Thursday to break an impasse on checking Pyongyang's nuclear declarations, scuppering the Bush administration's hopes for a farewell diplomatic success. 
Pakistan does not want military confrontation but the nation will defend itself with great courage 
The US president elect has reportedly decided to bring Israel under its 'nuclear umbrella' after receiving warnings by Tel Aviv officials. 
France has reiterated its condemnation of Iran's threats against Israel after Tehran summoned the French ambassador to the country. "The declarations of the Iranian authorities questioning this right are unacceptable and can only have a negative effect on the perception of Iran by the international community," a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday. "As for our relations with Iran, our attitude remains based on an approach that combines firmness with openness to dialogue," he added. 
(CNN) -- Belgian police Thursday arrested a woman they called an "al-Qaeda living legend" as part of an operation to thwart a terror attack being planned to coincide with an EU summit in Brussels, a Belgian police source told CNN.
