Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered yesterday that presidential elections be held by April, months earlier than a date of August 20 set by the voting authority because of security and logistic issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has called for elections to be held by 21 April, a move in keeping with the country's constitution.
It conflicts with a decision by the country's electoral commission to hold elections by 20 August.
Mr Karzai's presidential term is due to end on 21 May, creating the potential for a constitutional crisis if polls are held much later.
The president has no power to unilaterally choose election dates. According to Article 61 of the country's constitution, elections should be held 30 to 60 days before 22 May, the end of Mr Karzai's five-year term.
International monitors had said it would be difficult to hold a fair election so soon, because of security concerns, bad weather and the logistical challenges of getting ballots.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said there was a contradiction between the constitution and electoral law which meant the president could stay in power until October - five years after he won the last election - or December, five years after he took his oath of office, Reuters news agency reported.
Hamid Karzai has been under considerable pressure over the delay and has been accused of using it to illegally extend his rule in breach of the constitution, says the BBC's Ian Pannell in Kabul.
Now he has put the onus for deciding when the vote should be held, and ultimately who runs the country in the event of a delay, back at the feet of the commission and his opponents, our correspondent says.
The US and other members of the international community supported the IEC's recommendation for an August poll, as the 17,000 foreign troops expected to bolster peacekeeping forces can be used to secure voting stations from the Taleban, reports say.
The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.
Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had "loose morals" and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings. "If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed," Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.
The 32-year-old former militia leader is carrying out a campaign to impose Islamic values and strengthen the traditional customs of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, in an effort to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power. In doing so, critics say, he is setting up a dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply.
Some in Russia say Kadyrov's attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and a separation of church and state. But the Kremlin has given him its staunch backing, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check, and that has allowed him to impose his will. "Kadyrov willfully tries to increase the influence of local customs over the life of the republic because this makes him the absolute ruler of the republic," said Yulia Latynina, a political analyst in Moscow.
Kadyrov's bluster shows how confident he is of his position. "No one can tell us not to be Muslims," he said outside the mosque. "If anyone says I cannot be a Muslim, he is my enemy." Few dare to challenge Kadyrov's rule in this southern Russian region of more than a million people, which is only now emerging from the devastation of two wars in the past 15 years. The fighting between Islamic separatists and Russian troops, compounded by atrocities on both sides, claimed tens of thousands of lives and terrorized civilians.
Kadyrov describes women as the property of their husbands and says their main role is to bear children. He encourages men to take more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women and girls are now required to wear headscarves in all schools, universities and government offices.
Some Chechen women say they support or at least accept Kadyrov's strict new guidelines. "Headscarves make a woman beautiful," said Zulikhan Nakayeva, a medical student whose long dark hair flowed out from under her head covering, her big brown eyes accentuated by mascara.
But many chafe under the restrictions. "How do women live in Chechnya? They live as the men say," said Taisiya, 20, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution. She was not wearing a headscarf while shopping in central Grozny, which she said was her way of protesting.
Most women now wear headscarves in public, though the scarves rarely fully cover their hair and in some cases are little more than colorful silk headbands. Women who go out without a headscarf tend to tuck one into their bag for use where headscarves are required.
Many people suspect Kadyrov is branding the seven late November slayings honor killings to advance his political agenda. He said the women were planning to go abroad to work as prostitutes, but their relatives found out about it and killed them. Few Chechens believe that.
"If women are killed according to tradition then it is done very secretly to prevent too many people from finding out that someone in the family behaved incorrectly," said Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist in Grozny. Estemirova said two of the women were married, with two children each. Their husbands held large funerals and buried them in the family plot, which would not have happened if the women had disgraced their families, she said.
Kadyrov's version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov's office refused to comment on the investigators' conclusion. The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov's men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared.
Rights activists fear that Kadyrov's approval of honor killings may encourage men to carry them out. Honor killings are considered part of Chechen tradition. No records are kept, but human rights activists estimate dozens of women are killed every year.
"What the president says is law," said Gistam Sakaeva, a Chechen activist who works to defend women's rights. "Because the president said this, many will try to gain his favor by killing someone, even if there is no reason." Sakaeva also said she worried that Chechen authorities would now be less willing to prosecute men suspected of killing women.
Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold. Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son.
Vladimir Putin, then president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who has succeeded in ending a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But as Kadyrov has consolidated his power, many of his critics and political rivals have been killed. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world. In one of the most recent killings, a Chechen who had accused Kadyrov of personally torturing him was shot last month as he walked out of a grocery store in Vienna, Austria. Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.
The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence. And Kadyrov has won the grudging respect of many Chechens for bringing a measure of peace and stability. "People want to believe that things are getting better," said Sakaeva. "They are tired of war."
#1
The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence.
Key phrase here. Eventually somebody's gonna decide that ol' Ramzan just ain't Islamic enough when it comes to those Lesser Satan Russians next door, and Putie will have to go medieval on them again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/01/2009 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Killing seems to come easy to these psychopaths. What goes around comes around and payback is a b*tch.
China told the United States Thursday to stop acting as a human rights guardian, as it hit back angrily at US accusations that its human rights record had worsened. The spat comes just days after a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Beijing appeared to signal a detente between the world powers on the sensitive issue.
"We firmly oppose any countries interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters. "We urge the US side to reflect on its own human rights problems, stop acting as a human rights guardian, and stop interfering in others' internal affairs by issuing such human rights reports."
Change your spots, Leopard!
Ma was reacting to a US State Department report released Wednesday charging that the attitude of Beijing's communist rulers to human rights had worsened last year. The report said China had stepped up repression in Buddhist Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang, restricting dissent and religious freedom in the two western regions, while maintaining heavy censorship of the press. "The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas," it said.
The report was issued on the same day as Tibetans began their traditional New Year amid heavy security, with their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, urging a boycott of celebrations to mourn those killed under Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama also warned Chinese authorities were plotting a crackdown of "unimaginable" force ahead of the ultra-sensitive March 10 anniversary of a failed uprising 50 years ago that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing.
However, Ma defended China's record, while also insisting Tibetans were happily celebrating their New Year. "In the past three decades, China has enjoyed sustained economic growth and made constant progress in democracy... and fully protects religious freedom," he said. "Various ethnic groups enjoy extensive rights and freedom. This is widely witnessed in the world."
China's State Council, or Cabinet, published its own report Thursday criticising the US rights record, accusing Washington of hypocrisy and double standards in dealing with the sensitive issue, the official Xinhua news agency said. The report cited widespread violent crimes in the United States as posing "serious threats to its people's lives, property and personal security," and said there was no proper protection of prisoners' basic rights, Xinhua said.
It also said racial discrimination prevailed "in every aspect of social life".
This is the 10th year in a row that China has hit back at US criticism of its human rights record with its own account of rights abuses in the United States.
Xinhua also issued a stern defence of the nation's human rights record. "The (US) report turned a blind eye to the efforts and historic achievements China has made in human rights that have been widely recognised by the international community," Xinhua news agency said. "It wilfully ignored and distorted basic facts, groundlessly assailing China's human rights conditions and making random and irresponsible remarks on China's ethnic, religious and legal systems."
The report came after Clinton's weekend visit to Beijing, when she stated that rights concerns should not be allowed to hinder cooperation between the two countries on issues such as economic cooperation. That stance won praise in Beijing, with the state-run media describing her attitude as a relief and China's foreign ministry saying her visit had helped to build mutual understanding.
#5
Too bad nobody in our government has the guts to tell them to take their money and their plastic crap and go to hell.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2009 15:23 Comments ||
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#6
Funny thing, a lot of Tibetans were going to refuse to celebrate New Year this year, in memorial of all the dead. The government created mass celebrations and made it mandatory for the citizenry to attend.
#7
The report cited widespread violent crimes in the United States as posing "serious threats to its people's lives, property and personal security," and said there was no proper protection of prisoners' basic rights, Xinhua said.
But, but, but...that would mean having to face 'who' actually does the bulk of violent crimes and disproportionately fills the prisons and jails for those crimes. See the Chinese can play 'speaking truth to power' too.
#21
ION CATHAY, CHINESE MIL FORUM > MAJORITY OF PLAN SUBS AND DESTROYERS TO BE BASED IN AFRICAN AND INDIAN COASTLINES/CHINA'S NAVY TO PROTECT NATION'S TRADE IN ALL AREAS OF THE WORLD [PLAN "sea frontier" based of arc of per se combat abilities = force projection].
Also, PAKSITANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN'S GWADAR PORT MAY LOSE BUSINESS TO NEW IRANIAN PORT OF CHABAHAR.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 20:29 Comments ||
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#24
I've collected oodles and oodles of box tops, and hit the tip jar as I can, but they are still clever enough not to let me be a moderator, for which we must all be grateful.
China is very likely to move to sanction North Korea if the latter goes ahead with its missile launch, an influential U.S. expert on North Korea said. Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy of Asia Foundation, said if North Korea decides to fire the missile despite the international opposition, China will perceive it as “influencing a critical national interest,” and is likely to impose sanctions on Pyongyang to send a “message” of warning to it, RFA reported Friday.
However, Snyder predicted the Chinese sanction won't be severe. “It's not going to be a sustained sanction regime,” he said.
The Chinese leadership is quietly working hard to prevent the NorthÂ’s missile launch. For example, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei visited Pyongyang last week. It is not immediately clear whether China, perceived as having the most influence on North Korea than any other countries, will be able to deter North KoreaÂ’s planned act.
Kim Myung-gil, a North Korean representative to the United Nations, said Thursday in a forum held in Atlanta that North Korea would launch a “satellite” as planned. If the North goes ahead with the missile launch, a U.N. sanction appears inevitable. Snyder noted that he sees that China will join the sanction as long as it is not something harsh.
China also reportedly told Snyder that even if it is the closet ideological ally to North Korea, but business is business. “If we have any action to take toward North Korea, we would immediately carry it out without giving a prior notice to it,” a Chinese diplomat reportedly told Snyder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
as long as it isnt harsh.
*F**K! That is the point. To make it harsh.
The Norks are just an evil catspaw for the Chicoms, who want to know just how capable the US anti-missile systems are, and hope to draw us out with their foolishness.
Simply destroy their entire launch complex with a couple B-1s of SDBs. It is very important to make an example of the Norks, who are very weak, to keep other bad actors in line.
#5
Maybe AB will bring Dave back to help out. Haven't seen Dave in a while. Last time I saw him he was under a bar stool. He was peaceful there so I didn't want to bother him but he was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. But Dave could always bus the tables or something.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:01 Comments ||
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#6
Yeah Dave D. bussing tables. Now dammer that is a for sure sign of the end times. Dave been cooped up too much in deh cities... him needs the wide open spaces and room to roam. Srsly. And he should carry his camera with him.
North Korea yesterday warned US troops stationed in South Korea to stop "provocations" in the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas or face a "resolute counteraction."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
TOPIX > TAIPEI TIMES > FROM SOUTH KOREA, US LOOKS AT REST OF REGION [US regional "Strategic Flexibity" in various Asia-Pacific regions down to Guam to Australia, etc.].
ALso on TOPIX > IRAN SUPPLY SA-14 [Manpads-SAMS]TO TALIBAN.
Canada casts new aspersions on Iran's nuclear activities, vowing to throw its weight behind Israel in the event of a military conflict.
In his harshest rhetoric so far, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed steadfast support for Israel and claimed that the Iranian government has "evil" purposes for its technological achievements.
"My government is a very strong supporter of the state of Israel and considers the Iranian threats to be absolutely unacceptable and beyond the pale," said The Canadian prime minister, the Wall Street Journal's online edition reported.
The comments come while The Islamic Republic has long been a supporter of peace in the region and is among the states that have never invaded or threatened to invade another country.
"It concerns me that we have a regime with both an ideology that is obviously evil, combined with a desire to procure technology to act on that ideology," Harper said.
Western accusations against Iran gathered pace, after the country staged successful tests at the 1000-megawatt light-water reactor facility in Bushehr, stimulating fuel rods with lead rather than virtual nuclear fuel.
While the pilot operations were seen as a milestone in the construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant, it provoked a tidal wave of criticism from Israel and its Western allies.
The US, Israel and their European allies accuse Tehran of making efforts to develop a military nuclear program. Iran, however, dismisses the allegations, saying it will prove the civilian nature of its uranium enrichment in future negotiations.
The Pakistani military has defeated the Taliban insurgents in a strategically important region on the Afghan border, a commander says.
Major-General Tariq Khan, who is commanding military operations in Bajaur agency, said Saturday his forces had largely restored "a reasonable state of stability," a Press TV correspondent reported.
Bajaur is considered a crucial hub for the Taliban insurgents due to its access routes to neighboring Afghanistan and the rest of Pakistan. "They have lost. They have lost their cohesion here," Khan said. "The resistance has collapsed."
The Pakistani general added that the bulk of troops would remain in the region until the peace is fully restored. There was no independent verification of the military victory.
The military began its operation in Bajaur last August and has used it as proof of its commitment to tackle the Taliban in the restive north-west bordering Afghanistan. The Bajaur Agency has been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Pakistani forces and Taliban-linked militants in recent months.
The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants after a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Are the girls' schools open and safe? Is it safe to be a barber or music and DVD dealer?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/01/2009 8:49 Comments ||
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#2
Try rolling your pants cuffs down and we'll see...
Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday saw eye to eye on the need to turn over a new leaf and usher in an a new stage of relations serving both neighbors' peoples, according to Iraq's ambassador in Tehran.
"President Talabani met on Saturday evening with Supreme Leader Khamenei at his office in the capital Tehran in a friendly constructive atmosphere and discussed vistas of bilateral cooperation at all levels," Mohammed Majeed al-Sheikh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"President Talabani appreciated Iran's role in support of Iraq and said that Iraq is looking forward to having developed bilateral ties with Iran," he added.
Talabani had arrived in Tehran Thursday night coming from the South Korean capital Seoul where he paid a four-day visit for talks with South Korean officials. He met on Friday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Their private thoughts were no doubt much more interesting.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament pushed back voting Saturday on this year's budget and could be forced to make further cuts because of falling oil prices. The latest delay in trying to ratify the current $64 billion budget proposal highlights the financial squeeze facing Iraq as declining oil revenues cut into reconstruction plans such as new roads and improved utilities — which the Shiite-led government hopes to use as showcases in national elections later this year.
The pinch has also brought calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for proposals to diversify Iraq's oil-dependent economy with expansion of agriculture and other trade. But Iraq's plans for this year have been dragged down along with the price of oil, which is now less than $45 a barrel after hitting highs last summer of $150 a barrel.
A Sunni lawmaker, Ayad al-Samarraie, predicted the budget will face more trimming after several previous cuts from its original $79 billion. The current budget is based on a $50 a barrel projection. "We don't expect that oil will reach this price," said al-Samarraie, a member of the chamber's financial committee. He urged lawmakers to take a comprehensive look at all spending, suggesting that more money go to electricity and other public projects at the expense of deeper cuts in other areas.
Shatha al-Mousawi, the Shiite member of the finance committee, called for possible sharp reductions in the National Security Adviser office, which was established shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. She said it has 377 employees and suggested cutting it to just 16. "The studies and reports show that the falling oil prices will continue for two or three years," she said.
It was unclear when the budget could eventually come for a vote.
Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command, told The Associated Press that the budget crisis would force Iraq to make some very difficult decisions about how to grow its security forces. "They are many, many hard decisions that they are going to have to make," he said.
He said U.S. military advisers have been making recommendations to the Iraqi security officials on possible ways to deal with the shrunken budget. An example, Helmick said, could be reducing the number of Abrams tanks sought by Iraqi forces. He said essential services such as Iraqi police and military payroll, electricity and water could not be cut.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
An example, Helmick said, could be reducing the number of Abrams tanks sought by Iraqi forces. He said essential services such as Iraqi police and military payroll, electricity and water could not be cut.
#2
You've a big surprise coming, general. Posted by: g(r)omgoru
I don't think it's a surprise, Grom. The military knew as soon as the election was final they would be put in a severe bind. The question isn't whether the defense budget in this country is cut, but how much and where. Democrats HATE the military - it's made up of leaders, not sheep.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 15:08 Comments ||
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(AKI) - The European Commission is to announce 436 million euros in aid for the Palestinian people at a conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday. The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians and the EU executive announced the donation on Friday.
The 'Conference in support of the Palestinian economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza' will be co-chaired by Egypt and Norway and representatives of all international donors to the Palestinians will attend it, the European Commission said.
Other members of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators: United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg will also attend the donor meeting.
EU funds earmarked for the Palestinians in 2009 will be spent on humanitarian aid and the rapid reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which was devastated by Israel's three-week military offensive which ended on 18 January. The commission says rubble and and unexploded ordinances urgently need to be removed from the coastal strip, while further assistance is needed for children left traumatised by the conflict.
The commission said the EU will also support a "cash for jihad work" scheme, as well as small repairs of shelters that were damaged during the military attack.
It will also continue supporting the Palestinian Authority in implementing overall Palestinian Reform and Development Plan as well as programmes carried out by the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.
"Our priority today is to adequately respond to the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza," said EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. "By offering a substantial aid package we confirm our generosity and commitment towards the Palestinians."
She stressed that the ending of Israel's crippling blockade of the aid-dependent Gaza Strip was a major priority. "In the aftermath of the crisis, a clear priority remains the immediate and unconditional reopening of all Gaza crossings on a regular and predictable basis, for the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods as well as people,"Ferrero-Waldner stated.
She said she would urge donors at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference to use the EU's PEGASE financial mechanism to transfer aid rapidly to Palestinians in Gaza. PEGASE is currently used to provide fuel for electricity generation, for the payment of social allowances to 24,000 vulnerable families and the salaries of over 28,000 civil servants and pensioners.
The mechanism has enabled aid worth 421 million euros from the EU and 130 million euros from other donors to reach the Palestinians since it was set up in January 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
btween that and osama aid they should be able too build shang gri la
#2
If they gave out the money to the individuals in Gaza to be collected somewhere else (the EU? They deserve those refugees) then most of the population of Palestine would disappear. Would have worked for New Orleans too.
#4
Reward a behavior and you will get more of the same.
Hamas supports terrorism, fires rockets at Israel, refuses to negotiate in good faith, teaches children to hate, loses the battle, and this is what they get: well over a billion dollars from the EU and the US.
#8
ION EURO-ZONE,CHINESE MIL FORUM > HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER WARNS [EU] OF ECONOMIC DIVISION IN EUROPE. ECONOMIC "IRON CURTAIN" THREATENS TO DIVIDE EUROPE.
#9
Don't they have a banking crisis at home to deal with? I wonder how soon Britain, France and Germany inform the commission they won't be providing funds for such adventures for the nonce.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said that a Palestinian unity government with Hamas must support a two-state solution, reiterating a call by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Islamic group to recognize Israel.
In a Ramallah speech, Abbas said progress was being made toward establishing a Palestinian unity government "that will be committed to our values and will respect agreements previously signed by the Palestinian Authority," Army Radio reported.
However, Hamas official Aiman Taha reportedly stressed that his group rejects any kind of preconditions and noted that Abbas's speech was lowering the prospects that the reconciliation talks between the Fatah and Hamas will succeed.
"Hamas will never agree to sit in a government that recognizes Israel," he reportedly said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
One state for Paleos originating in Egypt (Gaza), and one state for Paleos originating in Syria (West Bank)?
#3
The Paleos already have a state, Jordan. These guys remind of a quote from the collapse of European African colonies in the 60's. A rioter was asked what "Uhuru" meant to him. He said "it means we take the white man's house, his land, and his women." The Paleos just want Israel because the Israelis have improved the property. If every Israeli were to miraculously disappear, the Paleos would turn the prosperous land into a a Mediterranean Zimbabwe in about 5 years. They are locusts, consumers rather than creators, a plague on mankind.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday.
The meeting came after he toured the Gaza Strip on Friday - the highest ranking European official to visit the territory since it was overrun by Hamas in June 2007. Solana did not meet with Hamas leaders, who are boycotted internationally as a terror group.
Solana's tour comes amid a flurry of talks on an Israel-Hamas truce, reconciliation between Palestinian factions and donations for the territory's reconstruction.
"I came to express solidarity with the people of Gaza and to tell them that we will be helping them in the reconstruction process," Solana said, standing at the ruins of the American International School of Gaza, destroyed during the IDF's recent counter-terror operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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BRUSSELS - The European Union's executive office said Friday it would pledge $556 million at an international donors' conference for Palestinians, including support for rebuilding Gaza. The pledge will be presented formally Monday in Egypt at the donors' meeting, which is to focus on gathering international aid to rebuild the Gaza Strip. Israel's three-week offensive there, which ended last month, caused widespread damage.
The executive's pledge is just part of the EU's total pledge to the Palestinians. The 27-member bloc's individual nations were expected to announce their own pledges at the conference. The EU as a whole is the largest donor to the Palestinians. EU officials said just over half the executive's pledge will go toward reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner, said the priority of donors, including the EU, was to "adequately respond to the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza."
Aid will be targeted to what she called early recovery projects, such as removal of rubble and unexploded bombs left after Israel's offensive in the Hamas-controlled territory. The funding will also focus on a cash-for-work program and providing special care for children traumatized by the fighting, the commissioner said.
It's all 'for the children' ...
She added that the EU hoped the extra aid would lead to Israel agreeing to open more crossings into Gaza regularly and predictably, for the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods as well as people.
Remaining funds will also help back the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas.
Because that'll fix the problem, by gum, giving money to kleptos and hacks ...
The aid will be channeled through the United Nations and a special fund overseen by the World Bank to ensure reconstruction money does not end up in the hands of the Hamas. The fund bypasses Hamas, which is listed as a terror group by the 27-nation EU and the United States and is boycotted by major international aid donors.
Abbas is to request a total of $2.8 billion for Gaza at the donors' conference.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
Who are the bigger suckers? The $556M or $900M sucker?
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009 16:15 Comments ||
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#4
Don't understand why anyone feels the urge to help Palestinians. If the urge is charitable, there are many more worthy recipients. Palestinians are truly unredeemable vermin. Feeding them allows them to continue to procreate at several times the rate of Europe and swell a population that cannot exist without external charity. Giving them money just exacerbates an already bad situation.
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday night for the first time in almost 20 years, a number of news reports on Saturday. The London based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Marzouk, who was headed a Hamas delegation in Cairo for Palestinian reconciliation talks, visited Gaza as a result of progress in negotiations with Israel on a cease-fire, and the release of captured soldier Gilad Schalit.
According to the report, the rest of the delegation returned to Damascus, where Marzouk is based.
A Reuters report quoted Palestinian and Egyptian officials confirming that Marzouk crossed into the Strip. They said he entered via Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, and left after only a few hours.
Just dipping his toes into the water ...
The Jerusalem Post could not immediately confirm the veracity of either report, and Reuters said that Israeli officials declined comment.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, Marzouk told The Guardian that captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit would only be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Regarding the soldier's exact location, the Hamas official reportedly said that "it's good that they [the Israelis] don't know where he is, otherwise they would have killed him."
Marzouk reportedly reiterated statements made by his group that the issue of Schalit would not be linked to the cease-fire with Israel. "Israel and Egypt and Hamas have known for two years that the Schalit file is completely separate from other issues. We are ready to start negotiating about Schalit, but the issue is not linked to any other as far as we are concerned," he was quoted by the British paper as saying.
This article starring:
Moussa Abu Marzouk
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Every time they say "Shalit" we should print "Dead Man".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2009 14:51 Comments ||
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Malaysia has vowed to help the Philippines resume stalled peace talks with Muslim separatist rebels in the troubled southern region of Mindanao, a Philippine government official said Sunday. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the assurance during a meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit in Thailand.
Gonzales said Arroyo asked Badawi to do something so that the negotiating panels of the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would meet again as soon as possible. "President Arroyo asked for Malaysia's continued help in our peace talks," Gonzales told reporters. "The president wants the negotiations to resume and she asked Malaysia to take steps so that the two panels meet."
Gonzales said Badawi responded favorably to Arroyo's request. "Prime Minister Badawi said Malaysia is always willing to help so they will help," he said. "They will try to facilitate (the resumption of peace talks), They will help in making sure the two panels will meet."
Malaysia had been facilitating the negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF since 2004. It also led an international team of peacekeepers monitoring a ceasefire between the two sides. But in November 2008, Kuala Lumpur pulled out its forces from Mindanao amid fighting between the MILF and the Philippines military. It expressed frustration over the slow progress in the peace negotiations.
Peace talks between the two sides have been suspended since August 2008 when MILF rebels launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao, which triggered fighting with the military. More than 200 people were killed in the hostilities, which also forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes.
The guerrillas launched the attacks to protest a Supreme Court decision stopping the signing of a key agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF, which would have expanded a Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. The government eventually scrapped the agreement, and called for continued talks with the MILF to come up with a new deal. But the MILF is insisting that the agreement was already signed and should be implemented.
The chief of UN humanitarian efforts urged Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday to let tens of thousands of civilians leave the war zone, saying there are "credible reports" that some people trying to flee have been shot.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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A U.S. journalist has been arrested in Iran, and her father said Sunday she told him in a brief phone call she was detained after buying a bottle of wine.
Roxana Saberi, 31, has not been heard from since her last call on Feb. 10, her father, Reza, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "We haven't heard anything," he said. The family decided to go public, he said, "because we wanted to get some information."
Officials in Iran have not publicly confirmed the arrest. A duty officer at the U.S. State Department said Sunday they were looking into an AP request for information on the case.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech. The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic regime. The most high-profile case came in 2007, when Iran arrested four Iranian-Americans, including the academic Haleh Esfandiari. The four were imprisoned or had their passports confiscated for several months until they were released and allowed to return to the U.S.
Roxana Saberi is a freelance journalist who has reported for National Public Radio and other media and has lived in Iran for six years.
"She called from an unknown place and said she's been kept in detention," he said of her last phone call. He said she had already been detained 10 days by that point.
"She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it had reported it and then they came and arrested her," he said Sunday. "We asked others and they said 'there's no detention for that. So that's kind of an excuse," he told the AP.
Buying and selling alcohol is illegal in the Islamic republic.
A few minutes after that call, she phone again and asked "Please don't do anything because they'll release me in two days," Reza Saberi said. Reza Saberi told reporters he doesn't know where his daughter is or what charges she faces.
NPR said Iran revoked Saberi's press credentials more than a year ago but apparently let her report short news stories. An NPR spokeswoman said Sunday the latest information they had on Saberi was in the stories on their Web site.
Saberi's father said his daughter was finishing a book on Iran and had planned to return to the United States this year.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009 17:25 ||
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A Pennsylvania company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Obama's helicopter, Marine One, NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh reported.
Sensitive information about Marine One was reportedly found by Tiversa employees at an IP address in Tehran.
Tiversa CEO Bob Boback said a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file sharing program on one of their systems that contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One and financial information about the cost of the helicopter. "We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One," Boback said.
Boback said the issue most likely stemmed from someone downloading the file-sharing program without realizing the problems that could result. "When downloading one of these file-sharing programs, you are effectively allowing others around the world to access your hard drive," Boback told WPXI.
"We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went," Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, told WPXI.
To start with, maybe. I doubt you know where it migrated to after that.
#3
but we know where it came from and we know where it went," Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, told WPXI
as usual, Mr. Ineffective overestimates himself
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 10:40 Comments ||
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#4
We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job,
MAY loose his job? May? This is bullshit. The person should be fired (at least) and blackballed from _any_ government or sensitive job in the future.
This is simple, basic, network security folks. And no, I am not a security expert, didn't play one on TV and didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night.
Of course with that idiot Wesley Clark 'advising' them maybe they didn't know (or were told not to worry about) basic network security.
#7
but we know where it came from and we know where it went
This is unf***ing believable. Fine you know where it went the first time. Do you know where it went from there? Did someone dump it on a CD and make copies? Did they put it on a jump-drive and fly to Moscow? of Beijing? or Pyongyong?
We have a troop of incompetent buffoons running things now!!!!!
It's just a matter of time before Wesley Clark raises his visibility again as a replacement for SECDEF Gates as Secretary of Defense, General Petraeus retires and there's a major shake-up in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009
Collision Course
Perhaps this was inevitable. Gareth Porter of the Inter Press Service is reporting that President Obama and his CENTCOM Commander, General David Petraeus, are on a collision course over Iraq. Mr. Porter's recent scoop was reprinted by the World Tribune:
CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.
But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn't convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two sources who have talked with participants in the meeting.
Obama's decision to override Petraeus's recommendation has not ended the conflict between the president and senior military officers over troop withdrawal, however. There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy.
A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision.
Petraeus was visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office, according to one of the sources. A White House staffer present at the meeting was quoted by the source as saying, "Petraeus made the mistake of thinking he was still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama."
You can almost hear the White House source chuckling as they relayed their version of events. It sounds vaguely reminiscent of Mr. Obama's "I won" comment, during a meeting with Congressional Republicans last week. As the new decider-in-chief, President Obama will chart our policy in Iraq (and other global hotspots).
But dismissing the advice of senior generals is usually a bad idea, as Mr. Obama will eventually discover. If Gareth Porter is correct--and no one has come forward to dispute his version of events-- then President Obama is facing a potential revolt among his senior military advisers. Mobilizing public support is not something that flag officers particularly enjoy, given their collective distrust of the media-- the mechanism that will be used to (quietly) convey their dissatisfaction.
More disturbingly, Mr. Obama's preferred withdrawal plan flies in the face of current realities in the Middle East. As Bret Stephens notes in today's WSJ, Iraq is becoming a U.S. bulwark in the Middle East. The gains achieved by the troop surge are holding, and Iraqi forces are assuming a lead role in securing the country. Last weekend's election was a stunning success, and a model for the Arab world.
Still, the situation in Iraq is not irreversible, one reason that Mr. Gates, General Petraeus and General Odierno favor an extended American draw down. Mr. Stephens observes that American "pillars" in the Middle East have met the test of time. In some cases, the bulwark of yesteryear (think Iran) is today's despotic regime that threatens regional security. Other long-standing American allies, including Pakistan and Turkey) face an uncertain future, at best.
In other words, the U.S. needs all the stable, friendly regimes it can find in the Middle East. But Mr. Obama seems more intent on placating his supporters on the liberal fringe, who've been clamoring for an American pullout since 2003. The President seems willing to risk progress paid for in blood and treasure to fulfill a campaign promise-- with less regard for what happens 17 months down the road.
If this sounds familiar, it should. Just days into his presidency, Mr. Obama signed an executive order to shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay by next year. Just where those suspects will be incarcerated (or face justice) has not been determined. Maybe the administration should change its mantra from "Change We Can Believe In," to "Don't Sweat the Details."
***
ADDENDUM: We should also note that the Obama-Petraeus collision has a political component. General Petraeus's successful strategy in Iraq caused a fair amount of consternation for Obama and his fellow Democrats. Kicking and screaming, they had to finally admit that the troop surge worked, and was eminently preferable to their "cut and run" approach. With the Democrats now in the White House, they can finally tell General Petraeus to "shut up and color."
The friction in the Oval Office is also a prelude to 2012. In some GOP circles, Petraeus is already being mentioned as a potential Senate or Vice-Presidential candidate in four years. By forcing a showdown over Iraq, Obama can tarnish the general's reputation, force him to resign, or even engineer a dismissal. Any of those scenarios would damage the general politically, a calculation that isn't lost on the White House.
#11
Why is there not a separate system for machines that convey classified information? That was the case in all the work areas I was in, including a civilian work area. NOTHING from the outside was supposed to be able to be used on the classified system. There wasn't even a physical connection to the Internet. Security has gone to hell in the last 20 years...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 16:18 Comments ||
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#12
Thumb drives Pappy, it's the bloody thumb drives that hates us!
#14
Gareth Porter, the reporter, is an anti-war journalist of smelly repute. Whatever he writes or has written, from the Viet Nam days to the present, is done to forward a left wing agenda.
Hezbollah demanded on Saturday the freeing of four Lebanese generals who have been held without trial for years in connection with the 2005 murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri. Their continued detention "is for political reasons ... given that they have not even been questioned in three years," said a statement from the powerful Shiite movement. "That confirms the arbitrariness of their detention."
They sound .. unhappy ...
The statement calls on investigating judge Sakr Sakr to "take the right decision of freeing the four generals as quickly as possible and not give in to political pressures."
On Friday, two days before a UN tribunal into the assassination opens in The Hague, Sakr rejected demands to free the generals for the second time this week. A similar request was rejected on Wednesday on the grounds that the authorities had not completed their investigation, a source close to the case told AFP.
But Sakr on Wednesday did free on bail three other suspects held in connection with Hariri's murder in a February 2005 car bombing.
The generals are the former head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar. They were arrested in August 2005, six months after Hariri's assassination. He was killed along with 22 other people when a massive car bomb exploded as his convoy passed by near the Beirut waterfront.
Their lawyers have repeatedly argued that their detention is "illegal" and "unfounded" and that their clients are being held on false testimony that was later retracted.
After those who gave were 'persuaded' ...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The devil has spoken, so you know the opposite is true.
#2
Was it yesterday that we had a report here that Iran was taking over Hizb'allah because there had been no volunteers to take over for the assassinated operations emir? It sounds like Hizb'allah preferred semi-independence to the new situation.
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.
The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.
North Korea yesterday warned US troops stationed in South Korea to stop "provocations" in the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas or face a "resolute counteraction."
The Pakistani military has defeated the Taliban insurgents in a strategically important region on the Afghan border, a commander says. 
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's deputy, 
Malaysia has vowed to help the Philippines resume stalled peace talks with Muslim separatist rebels in the troubled southern region of Mindanao, a Philippine government official said Sunday. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the assurance during a meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit in Thailand. 
