The Pentagon would not support a reconciliation effort with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader who sheltered Al Qaeda and was ousted from power in a United States (US)-led campaign in 2001, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said such an initiative would ultimately be up to the Afghan government but he did not believe "that anybody in this building would support the notion of reconciling with people with that kind of blood on their hands". US President Barack Obama had suggested in an interview published on Sunday that the US would consider talks with moderate elements of the Taliban.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, however, appeared to draw limits around a reconciliation process in an interview with National Public Radio on Monday in which he said that 'at a minimum' the US must prevent Taliban insurgents from returning to power.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmmmmm. Can't see eye to eye with him I guess...
BRUSSELS Five people working for humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders' Belgian office were kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region, officials said Thursday, a week after the government in Khartoum ordered the expulsion of aid groups as a response to the International Criminal Court's decision to indict the president.
A spokesman for Doctors Without Borders' Belgian office, Koen Baetens, confirmed the abductions, but declined to provide further information because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in Khartoum, said the kidnappings took place Wednesday in north Darfur, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of al-Fasher. Mezni said that six Doctors Without Borders employees were abducted initially from their offices in the Saraf Umra area, but one Sudanese worker was released Thursday morning.
The Italian branch of the aid group, which is also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said the abducted include one Italian national, one French national and one Canadian national. It said two Sudanese national were immediately released. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy in the numbers.
The kidnappings come after Sudan expelled 13 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, in response to an international court's war crimes indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The groups were told to leave Darfur by March 5.
The aid group says on its Web site it had pulled out its Dutch and French branch operations from Darfur, but said its Belgian office still had aid workers near al-Fasher, in the city of Kebkabiya, where it is providing vaccinations and supporting local hospitals. Swiss and Spanish branches of the aid group are also still operating in Darfur.
The African Union (AU) on Wednesday agreed to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Somalia for another three months.
AU troops arrived in the war-torn country in 2007 shortly after an Islamist insurgency broke out. The chairman of the AU Peace and Security Council, Edouard Aho-Glele, said he hoped the United Nations would take over peacekeeping duties in Somalia at the end of that period. "We have also asked the UN Security Council to lift the embargo on armaments to the country in favour of the transitional government of Somalia, to allow it to address the security issues," he told Reuters.
The new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was formed in a U.N.-brokered deal to end 18 years of conflict in the failed Horn of Africa state. A hardline insurgent group, al Shabaab, has vowed to continue attacking the AU troops as long as they remain in the country. Eleven soldiers from Burundi died in an attack last month. Most African nations have been reluctant to send their soldiers to Somalia.
Al Shabaab, together with allied militia, control large swathes of southern Somalia including the strategic towns of Baidoa and Kismayu. The government controls only parts of Mogadishu.
In a report to the council, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said: "I recommend that the council extend the mandate ... including protecting its personnel, installations and equipment and the right of self-defence."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Investigators have found direct involvement of 40 members of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) so far in the bloody massacre and looting inside the Pilkhana BDR Headquarters during the February 25-26 mutiny.
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday handed over 12 out of those 40 border guards to Lalbagh Police Station in connection with the mutiny case filed with the police station, said a top law-enforcing official involved in the investigation of the case wishing anonymity.
Meanwhile, Pesh Imam of BDR central mosque Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman, a witness to the carnage in Pilkhana, died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday afternoon after he fell sick during interrogation.
Those who were found embroiled in the massacre are BDR Subeder Gofran Mallik, Havildar Rezaul Karim, Lance Nayek Gausul Azam, Lance Nayek Yusuf Ali, Sepoys Joyanta Kumar Sarkar, Zamir Ali, Abdul Latif, Sohrab Hossain, Ismail Hossain, Shariful Islam, Rafiqul Islam and Masudur Rahman.
The top law-enforcing official said they had recovered firearms and grenades looted from the BDR headquarters from the village homes of Rafiqul, Shariful and Yusuf. He also said at least one of the captured BDR members admitted that they were present at Darbar on February 25 and he himself spread bullets on officers there and two of them confessed to having shot officers to death after chasing them down.
One of the arrestees used a vehicle to carry firearms to kill officers at Darbar from armouries inside the BDR headquarters, he said. He added they had also detected the BDR jawan who had killed the wife of slain BDR director General Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed.
Rab Director General (DG) Hasan Mahmood Khandker at a press briefing at Rab headquarters, however, said, "After primary investigation it seemed 12 border guards took part in the bloodbath and other offences during the mutiny."
When asked about the involvement of Islamist militant outfits and the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) in the mutiny Rab DG averted the query and said the Islamist militants are now under complete control of the law-enforcement agencies.
The arrestees were paraded before the journalists at the press conference but journalists were barred from asking them any questions.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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The families of soldiers killed by friendly fire in Iraq have reacted with fury after a firebrand preacher taunted them over the deaths of their loved ones.
Anjem Chourdary added insult to the injury caused by Islamic extremists' hate-filled protest against soldiers returning home from the war-torn region by saying they were 'not heroes but closer to coweards who cannot fight, as their uncanny knack for death by friendly fire illustrates'.
The three soldiers to whom he was referring - Privates Robert Foster, 19, John Thrumble, 21, and Aaron McClure, 19 - were killed in Afghanistan in August 2007 when an American F-15 jet dropped a 500lb bomb on their position.
Choudary's extraordinary comments were delivered hours after Muslim protesters waved offensive placards as members of 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marched through Luton. The preacher, the right-hand man to cleric of hate Omar Bakri, went on to attack the 'vile' parade. He said the soldiers were 'terrorists', comparing them to Nazi troops who 'cannot be excused for simply carrying out their duty'.
Private Foster's father John, 59, from Harlow, Essex, said: 'Words like this can endanger our soldiers abroad. They do not choose where they go. They are not interested in politics - they go and do the job to the best of their ability.
'Why mock those killed by friendly fire? He is calling the troops cowards but it's a cowardly act to mock them this way.'
Private Thrumble's mother, Pearl, 45, from Chelmsford, Essex, said: 'He calls them cowards and terrorists but they are the opposite. They are brave young men and women doing a very good job.'
The controversy threatened to overshadow a second homecoming parade yesterday by the Royal Anglians, known as the Poachers. This time, there were no protesters to spoil the occasion, however, as thousands lined the streets of Watford to wave Union Jacks and hold aloft banners with messages including 'Thank you to our boys' and 'Well done Poachers, welcome home'.
Choudary, 32, posted the comments on a website run by the Islam For The UK group. He has close links with Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, the radical Islamist group believed to be behind the application to Bedfordshire Police for permission to stage the protest. ASWJ was founded in 2005 and took in members of Al-Muhajiroun when the Luton-based group formerly led by Bakri was outlawed.
He said: 'Pathetic and cowardly British soldiers pompously marched through Luton to demonstrate their skill at murdering and torturing thousands of innocent Muslim men, women and children over a 24-month period. Astonishingly, hundreds from the Luton community too felt it necessary to maintain this vile parade by upholding banners of support and shocking slogans of praise for these brutal murderers.
'In light of this, a sincere demonstration was organised by Muslims from the local community to highlight the British state-sponsored terrorism that is currently ensuing in the lands of Afghanistan and Iraq, and how the return of active soldiers on such battlefronts should be marked with severe condemnation as opposed to welcoming rapture.'
He added: 'Non-Muslims in Britain must appreciate that the actions of the British soldiers must be condemned unreservedly; they are not heroes but closer to cowards who cannot fight, as their uncanny knack for death by "friendly fire" illustrates. They are terrorists, and cannot be excused for simply "carrying out their duty", which incidentally (and vividly) was also used by Nazi soldiers in Germany to justify their notorious and bloody campaigns in the early 20th century.'
Choudary, one of three children born to a market stall holder, was raised in a semi-detached house in Welling, Kent, and began a medical degree after taking his A-levels. When he failed his first year exams he switched to law. He was known as a party animal who regularly smoked cannabis, experimented with LSD, and could down a pint of cider in seconds.
He became chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers but then embraced radical Islamism and becoming a founder member of Al-Muhajiroun.
In Luton yesterday, one of the two members of public arrested on Tuesday during the Islamists' protest was released from police custody after being charged with racially aggravated harassment.
Nathan Draper, 18, described how he was 'outraged' when he heard the protesters and shouted obsecenities back at them. 'A 6ft 5in copper jumped on me and chucked me to the ground,' said Mr Draper, who lives in Luton and plans to join the Army. 'He broke my glasses. I was held in the police station for ten hours and I still have the cuff marks. I'm being charged with racially aggravated harassment but it was them who were shouting racist things.'
His mother Ruth Griffin, 42, said: 'He's quite outraged about it because he was sticking up for our soldiers. I don't understand how the protesters got away with it.'
The second man, who was not named but is in his 40s, was issued with a fixed-penalty notice.
Ishtiaq Alamgir, 29, was born and educated in Britain. But a few years ago he rejected the country that had nurtured him and became what police chiefs have labelled 'the enemy within' in the global war on terror. He adopted the name Sayful Islam - meaning Sword of Islam - and on Tuesday was among the protesters hurling abuse at soldiers marching past in Luton.
Shortly after his transformation he became leader of the town's branch of the now-banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which was led by Sheik Omar Bakri, currently in exile in Lebanon.
He claims this phase is now behind him and he has become a family man. His comments to the Daily Mail after the parade in Luton suggest differently. 'They [the soldiers] have killed, maimed and raped thousands of innocent people,' he ranted. 'They can't come here and parade where there is such a Muslim community. What do they have to be proud of?'
The son of a British Rail engineer who came to this country from Pakistan, Alamgir grew up in a moderate, middle-class Muslim family in Luton. He became an accountant for the Inland Revenue and went on to marry and become a father. But a meeting with Omar Bakri and the events of 9/11 triggered the change in name and attitude. 'When I watched those planes go into the Twin Towers, I felt elated,' he said. 'That magnificent action split the world into two camps - you were either with Islam and Al Qaeda, or with the enemy.'
Islam yesterday denied he had been living on benefits, saying he now teaches English and maths - although he refused to disclose where.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/12/2009 17:26 Comments ||
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#5
Heh - who's he think he's trying to fool?! Even the brainwashed idiots he's talking to know the only reason that friendly fire is proportionately significantly dangerous to our guys out there is because the Taliban are so relatively inept at posing a threat themselves.
#7
I'm wondering why more Brits don't start carrying cans of bacon grease with them to such events. Imagine the look on some Muzzie's face when he's told it's pig grease, so he's going to HELL.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korea says it has confirmed that North Korea plans to launch a satellite from April 4-8.
An official at South Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Thursday that officials confirmed with the International Maritime Organization that the North had informed the organization of its schedule for the launch. Do Myung-hwan, the official, said North Korea also notified the IMO that the launch will be made in an easterly direction.
South Korea, Japan and the United States believe the launch will test missile technology in violation of a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution banning Pyongyang from ballistic missile activity, and have urged the North not to go forward.
#1
It takes a month to fuel a rocket,
I DON'T BELIEVE IT,
looks more and more that it won't fly and is set out as bait.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/12/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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#2
It could go off any minute. Better divert the aid ships so they are not hit.
Posted by: ed ||
03/12/2009 16:21 Comments ||
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#3
JAPAN has already repeatedly warned NOKOR's missle WILL BE SHOT DOWN IFF IT FLIES OVER JAPAN OR SOVEREIGN JAPANESE AREAS, espec since international protocols regarding rocket lauches haven't been followed by NOKOR.
* ION WORLD MILITARY FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > IIUC MYANMAR'S MILITARY/ARMY GOVERNMENT IS PRO-CHINA AND ANTI-US: VIETNAM IS A COLD PANIC. MYANMAR'S STRATEGIC POSITION ENSURES THAT NOTHING IN THE INDIAN OCEAN, SE ASIA OR STRAITS OF MALACCAS CANNOT BE REACHED/TARGETED BY CHINESE MILITARY POWER.
A few years ago, the London GrauniadGuardian newspaper called Sweden the most successful society the world has ever known. But Sweden today is being transformed by a large influx of immigrants from the Middle East.
Sweden's third largest city, Malmö, sits just across the water from Copenhagen, Denmark. To visitors, Malmö seems quiet, nice, maybe a little boring; in other words, quintessentially Swedish. But under the surface, Malmö has serious problems. On Saturday when Israel played Sweden in a Davis cup tennis match in Malmö, an estimated 6,000 Leftists, Arabs, Muslims and anarchists protested the Israeli presence in the city, and hundreds attacked police. Almost no fans were allowed inside to watch the tennis series, because authorities feared disruptions or possible violence against the Israeli team.
Massive immigration has made Malmö today one quarter Muslim, and stands to transform it into a Muslim majority city within just a few decades. One of the most popular baby names is not Sven, but Mohammed. Pork has been taken off some school menus. Want to learn to drive? You can attend Malmö's own "Jihad Driving School."
But despite Malmö's usually placid appearance, this experiment in multiculturalism has not gone well. In the Rosengaard section of Malmö, a housing project made up primarily of immigrants, fire and emergency workers will no longer enter without police protection. Unemployment in Rosengaard is reported to be 70 percent. An immigrant-fueled crime wave affects one of every three Malmö families each year. The number of rapes has tripled in 20 years. But Malmö has been so accommodating toward immigrant Muslims that a local Muslim politician, Adly Abu Hajar, has declared that "The best Islamic state is Sweden!"
Don't ask Malmö's Jews to give the city the same glowing assessment. Jews who dare walk the streets wearing their yarmulkes risk being beaten up. "It's true. Jews cannot walk the streets of Malmö and show that they're Jews," said Lars Hedegaard.
Hedegaard lives across the water from Malmö in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was a columnist for one of Denmark's largest newspapers. He says pro-Israel demonstrations in Malmö, like the ones during the fighting in Gaza earlier this year, were met with rocks, bottles and pipe bombs from Arabs and Leftists. "I was there for demonstration; a pro-Israeli demonstration with about 400 or 500 people," Hedegaard told CBN News. "Jews and non-Jews, and I came over to cover it. The police allowed, I'd say a hundred Palestinians or Arabs to shout and threaten and throw bombs and rockets at us. A homemade bomb landed about ten yards from me, and went off with a big bang. And now of course, I thought the police were going to jump these guys, get them out of the way. They didn't. They just let them stand there."
Swede Ted Ekeroth helped film the Arab-Left counter-demonstrations. He saw Arabs throwing rocks at a 90-year-old holocaust survivor. "I filmed the police chief and asked him why are they not reacting to this," Ekeroth said. "Why are they not doing anything? And he simply answered, 'It's their right according to the Swedish constitution.' We apparently did not have the same right, because we were forced out of there. Our manifestation for Israel is always peaceful, and theirs is always the quite opposite -- Death, hate and killing of Jews. They come and they shout different slogans," he continued. "It can be everything from Arabic slogans inciting killing of Jews to in Swedish and Danish, 'Kill the Jews.'
And like all over the Western world, some on the Left, along with Arabs and Muslims and anarchists, have formed a political alliance against Israel and Jews. They demonstrate together, and in Sweden, they vote together. Muslims are a core constituency of the Left.
The immigrant issue a big reason the right-wing Swedish Democrats are the fastest growing political party in the country. Matthias Karlsson is the Swedish Democrats' Press Secretary. "In many parts of Sweden, people are, as I said, fed up," Karlsson said. "And they're being pushed too far and they want to make a stand."
Swedish Democrats, who stand for traditional Christian values and limits on immigration, have been stigmatized by the Swedish media as fascist and bigoted. Erik Almqvuist is national youth leader for the Swedish Democrats. "The media has tried to portray us as extremists, racists," he said. "People think we're almost inhuman"
Almqvuist faces regular death threats, and was almost killed recently in a Left-wing knife attack. "The multicultural model in Sweden has polarized society," Almqvuist explained. "We have a political polarization. We have also an ethnic polarization. And the extremes are growing and it's harder and harder to get to consensus."
Hedegaard says as Malmö goes, so goes the rest of Sweden. "I think the best prediction is that Sweden will have a Muslim majority by 2049, so we know where that country's going," he said.
CBN News was unable to get a response from Malmö's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu. But he told a Swedish publication that he does not think anti-Semitism is greater in Malmö than in other Swedish cities, and said that harassment of Jews is "not good." CBN News also asked a number of Malmö Jewish leaders to appear on camera to discuss the climate of anti-Semitism. They all declined, with one saying it would only make the situation worse.
#2
I would've figured it was too cold for the Mussies. Desert sand is not the same as snow.
Posted by: Art ||
03/12/2009 10:19 Comments ||
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#3
Unemployment in Rosengaard is reported to be 70 percent. An immigrant-fueled crime wave affects one of every three Malmö families each year. The number of rapes has tripled in 20 years. But Malmö has been so accommodating toward immigrant Muslims that a local Muslim politician, Adly Abu Hajar, has declared that "The best Islamic state is Sweden!"
Common theme Throughout Europe that wherever the Cockroaches reside there is mass unemployment(laziness), crimes(Easy money) and rapes(attitudes to women)!!!!
#4
kick the scum out of Scandanavia you fools, before its too late, remember your roots people. Sweden is a place where other "kingdoms" used to "hire" "kings" to run their countries. The Swedes were considered to be fair and Honest, albeit very strong and capable of great violence in a just cause. REMEMBER your roots!!!!!
The White House budget office has asked the Pentagon to consider delaying the purchase of aerial refueling tankers by five years, a move that reflects the constraints of drawing up a budget in the midst of a recession, according to two sources familiar with the administration's discussions.
Of course he is. $800 billion for 'stimulus' and another $410 billion for pork, but nothing for the Air Force. Anyone out there surprised?
The possible delay in one of the Pentagon's most expensive programs is one of a number of options the administration is weighing, the sources said. No final budget decisions have been made, officials said.
Delaying the purchase of the tankers, which would replace a fleet that dates to the Eisenhower administration, will draw fierce opposition from the defense industry and many members of Congress, whose districts have tens of thousands of jobs related to the program.
It comes as the administration is considering which programs to include in its 2010 defense spending request to Congress next month, and as it grapples with a broken Pentagon procurement system that has led to about $300 billion in cost overruns on 95 major weapons systems compared with initial estimates. President Obama last month unveiled a general budget calling for $534 billion in defense spending, $50 billion less than what the Joint Chiefs of Staff had argued was needed. The Pentagon and the White House's Office of Management and Budget now are figuring out which programs will survive.
"This is a zero sum game," said Lawrence J. Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who advised the Obama campaign on defense issues, describing the process of determining winners and losers.
The rest of the article has the usual liberal zingers about making the 'hard choices' that the Bush administration 'didn't make'. Funny how neither Bambi nor the Democratic-controlled Congress could make any hard choices about the stimulus and pork packages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This will piss off the Euros, as EADS won the bid.
Besides refueling tankers won't be needed when solar powered planes arrive like the Greens promise.
#3
Perhaps have Madame Speaker fly on one of these tankers on her next jaunt. Have a historian describe everything which has happened in the world since the plane was built.
I would like to know how far out into space the tanker could have flown based on the number of miles racked up over the years.
#5
Hard choice = kick the can to the next presidency.
Posted by: ed ||
03/12/2009 13:45 Comments ||
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#6
But $2B for Acorn is ok.....
Perhaps have Madame Speaker fly on one of these tankers on her next jaunt. Have a historian describe everything which has happened in the world since the plane was built.
#7
The EADS bid was not "won", it was blatantly rigged to win. The GAO called the DoD and Pentagon on it and told them to have the parties re-bid and/or change the rules because by the AF's own contest rules the Boeing bid did as well or did better than what the Airbus offer was capable of providing.
Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, suggested the possibility of splitting a controversial $35 billion tanker contract from the U.S. Air Force between the Boeing Co. and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., according to a report from Reuters.
According to the report, Abercrombie spoke of the possibility at a defense industry conference. Abercrombie is the chairman of House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee's panel on air and land forces, which the Air Force falls under. "I think we can come to a reasoned conclusion on getting both bids accepted," Abercrombie said, according to the report.
The Air Force initially awarded the contract to Northrop and EADS. But after protests from Boeing and a report from the Government Accountability Office that faulted the Air Force on the bidding process, the government reopened the bid on an expedited basis. Then, in September 2008, the U.S. Defense Department canceled competitive bidding on the contract, giving both sides what then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called a "cooling off" period.
I'm of two minds on this: having two aircraft types creates certain logistical and training headaches for the Air Force, and I understand it's easier if you have but one type of tanker. But keeping both companies in the tanker game might be better in the long run -- nothing wrong with extending the competition to subsequent orders so as to ensure a better price. Make the deal 70/30 or so to provide real incentive to win the bigger share of the prize.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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It must mean something different in Pakistani...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 10 (UPI) -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, as he left Tuesday for Iran, called Pakistan a "vibrant and functioning society," not a dysfunctional state. I still say it's the water. Or whatever they put in it...
Zardari is to be in Iran for two days, The Dawn reported. He issued a statement shortly before his departure blasting critics of Pakistan. "Such propaganda can only be purveyed by our detractors," Zardari said. Lousy bastids!
"We have met the challenges of extremism and terrorism head on. In fact, we have carried the burden of others. We have the capacity to effectively meet these challenges." More surrenders coming up, Gomez?
Zardari became president after his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated as she left a political rally in December 2007. He said that Pakistan has "met the challenges of extremism and terrorism head on. Pakistan is today a vibrant and functioning democracy with a free media and a dynamic civil society," Zardari said. "We have an ongoing energetic public discourse. The democratic process and our institutional capacity are gaining strength." He must be talking about Bizzarro Pakistan...
A report compiled by Interior Ministry revealed that there are terrorist threats from al-Qaeda during lawyers' long march and sit-in. Whenever large numbers of people get together in Pakistain, al-Qaeda is always happy to send a few of their representatives by to explode. al-Qaeda boomers vs Pakistani lawyers, tell me again what the down side is?
According to report, al-Qaeda terrorists devised a plan to launch terrorist attacks on US councils and the people partaking the long march. "Al-Qaeda has constituted a squad comprising of 10 terrorists to put their heinous designs into practice", it said adding, "The terrorists will utilize explosives laden vehicles and suicide bombers to carry out attacks". The terrorists might alter their plans by targeting UK councils if they failed to target US councils, report also unveiled.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Whenever large numbers of people get together in Pakistain anywhere, al-Qaeda Jihadis are always happy to send a few of their representatives by to explode.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met in the federal capital on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing political developments in the country. The Mighty Pak Army may never have won a war, but they've removed many a government. And this one's gonna go the same way.
A brief statement issued by the Prime Minister's Secretariat said the two leaders discussed "matters of national importance" during the meeting at the Prime Minister's House, but did not give any details. Sources privy to the meeting told Daily Times that Gilani and Gen Kayani discussed the political and security situation in the country, including the upcoming long march and law and order in Swat and FATA. "The law and order situation of Swat, the signing of peace accord in Malakand division and the situation of the Tribal Areas also came under discussion besides external and internal security situation," a source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Democratic Senator John Kerry said Wednesday that the United States must do what it can to "sustain the democracy" in Pakistan amid angry public protests against the government.
It's like John isn't paying attention to what's happening over there or something ...
General David Petraeus, the US military commander for the region, and Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, will brief lawmakers Thursday on the Pakistan''s political crisis, said Kerry. Pakistan''s leaders "are working very, very hard to try to reach an agreement that will bring elements of the government together in unity and allow them to go forward," said Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Our objective, obviously, is to sustain the democracy," he added after talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "They''re getting their feet under them right now, so we need to be helpful, we need to be supportive."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lets start with something simpler: lets teach calculus to dogs.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the country cannot afford a political confrontation at this point of time. Speaking to newsmen here on Wednesday, he said that country's top leadership should cognize the prevailing situation and find political challenges through reconciliation. Â"I apprised President Asif Ali Zardari of two demands made by PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif,Â" he said, adding that the President has agreed with the demands. When asked by a journalist to give his opinion about breach of promises according to the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, JUI-F chief refused to comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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DUBAI - Human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa need protection from governments, which often consider them subversives and harass, threaten and jail them after unfair trials, the rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday. Human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa still face imprisonment, torture, persecution and repression for seeking to uphold the rights of others, the London-based group said in a statement accompanying a new report.
No kidding?
Amnesty International cited trials in Egypt and Syria and anti-terror laws in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates that use broad language to penalise peaceful activity defined as, for example, disturbing public order.
In other words, thug states use repression to keep power. You just can't get anything past Amnesia Int'l ...
Some are forced to sign confessions to crimes they say they have not committed, or pledges to stop their human rights activities... National laws are routinely used to silence them and penalise their activities, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Hey, I have an idea. Why don't the parasites at AI get out there and be human shields for these 'human rights' activists. Do something for a change, instead of bitching from the sidelines.
What?
You say you might get hurt?
Well! Can't have that now, can we.
Be a good fellow and pass the brie, please?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/12/2009 7:04 Comments ||
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The Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at then-President George W. Bush was convicted Thursday of assaulting a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison, lawyers said. Some of his relatives collapsed and had to be helped out of court. Others were forcibly removed by security forces when they became unruly, shouting "Down with Bush"
#1
That's the way a civilized society works, with the wheels of justice grinding slowly but surely and the bad guys, the antisocial, ending up in jail. People who don't respect Bush or America should pay attention. He didn't need to get all insulted or in a huff. He didn't need to have the moron shot immediately or else taken to a torture room and killed slowly. He just smiled and walked away and let the system work.
#3
I'll venture that former President Bush would have pardoned the guy - told him he needs to be quicker to the plate, back to the minors, you throw like a fucking girl!
#3
In a statement released on Thursday, the ICRC said that repair efforts have been hampered by delays in obtaining approval from the Israeli authorities to bring in pipes and spare parts for Sheikh Ajleen and other water treatment plants.
You already have the piping nearby, just cannibalize those kassams; swords to pooper scoopers and all that.
#4
Shoulda thought about this when that POS arafat was spending billions on Parisian real estate - bequeathed to his POS wife who never even had to suck his dick because, well, you know why.
About $900 million pledged by the United States to the Palestinians will be withdrawn if the expected Palestinian Authority coalition government between Fatah and Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, Western and Israeli diplomats said yesterday. B.O. and Hillary will give in eventually. It'll be "for the children."
During her visit to the region last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against forming a coalition with Hamas that will not meet the expectations of the Quartet.
Clinton told Abbas that Congress will not approve funding of a Palestinian government that does not recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence. She added that if those requirements are not met the U.S.-funded program under the supervision of General Keith Dayton training PA security forces would be the first to be axed.
Fatah and Hamas are currently engaged in talks intended to reestablish ties between the Palestinian factions that were severed two years ago when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip, routing Fatah-backed PA security forces.
Clinton discussed the issue of forming a Palestinian coalition with Fatah representatives, who told her that the new government would consist of non-affiliated officials whose chief task will be to prepare the Palestinian territories for new general elections.
She reportedly told the officials she believed holding new elections was secondary to building the bureaucracy of the Palestinian Authority. The Obama administration is adamant in maintaining the previous U.S. presidential administration's position of boycotting Hamas. Two weeks ago Clinton said lifting the boycott would damage attempts to reach peace in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
B.O. and Hillary will give in eventually. It'll be "for the children."
Security forces of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza detained several Islamic Jihad activists and made them sign an agreement not to fire rockets at Israel, a Jihad leader said on Monday. "At least 10 activists from the Al-Quds Brigades were arrested by the Hamas interior security," he said in reference to the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad. "They were tortured and interrogated about the identities of those who fire rockets," he told AFP by telephone under condition of anonymity.
"Before they were released they had to sign an agreement not to fire rockets at the occupied territory," he said in reference to Israel whose existence both Hamas and its smaller Islamist rivals in Jihad oppose.
A Hamas police spokesman in Gaza City, Islam Shahwan, declined to comment on the report.
Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is involved in Egyptian-mediated negotiations with Israel to try to consolidate a January 18 truce which ended a 22-day Israeli military offensive in Gaza. The stated aim of the offensive, which killed more than 1,300 people, almost all Palestinians, was to significantly reduce the number of rockets fired at southern Israel, many of them by Islamic Jihad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
If this is true, it is a major propaganda problem for Hamas since they had sworn many oaths in the name of mo and lah that they would never do this.
I checked and couldn't find this corroborated in Al J or the Arab News or Haaretz or JPost
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told regional leaders on Wednesday that the capitalist system was close to collapse.
Sure seems to be the case in Iran ...
Opening a one-day summit of the 10-nation Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) including Turkey, Pakistan and other neighbors, he also suggested a single currency should be used in trade between members.
"After the collapse of the closed socialist economy, the capitalist economy is also on the verge of collapse," Ahmadinejad said in a speech. "The liberal economy and the free market have failed," he said, pointing to the use of "thousands of billions of dollars" to bail out Western banks and companies.
Like other big oil producers, Iran is facing falling revenue after crude prices plunged about $100 a barrel from a peak of $147 in July, hurting its main source of income. It is also struggling with double-digit inflation.
Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are the founding members of ECO, which was set up in 1985 and now includes seven other regional nations, Afghanistan among them.
The Tehran meeting is expected to discuss ways to boost trade and economic cooperation in a region which boasts major energy resources.
Ahmadinejad made a series of recommendations, including currency cooperation. "The process of obtaining one single currency in the trade and exchanges among members, and in the next stages with other countries and neighbors, should be designed," he said.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he believed regional countries had the potential to turn the economic crisis into opportunities, with its natural and other resources. He called for a lowering of regional customs tariffs to boost trade and increased transport and energy cooperation.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the narcotics trade was hurting Afghanistan's economic and social development and asked ECO to help in fighting the problem. Analysts say combating drugs is one area where Iran, which shares a long border with Afghanistan, share an interest with its old foe the United States.
#1
"The liberal economy and the free market have failed," he said, pointing to the use of "thousands of billions of dollars" to bail out Western banks and companies.
Actually, markets are working very well. You may not like the results and you may have lost a lot of paper value, but, trust me.
#2
ISRAEL MILITARY FORUM > [YouTube] CHICAGO LEADER SAYS US WILL BECOME A MUSLIM COUNTRY; + US INTEL [INTEL Chief Dennis Blair to Congress]DOES NOT RULE OUT POTENTIAL OF IRAN ACQUIRING NUCLEAR BOMBS, MATERIALS FROM ABROAD. By Year 2010 Iran is anticipated to have enuff fissle materials for an indigenous nucbomb/weapon.
#3
Sorry to always come back with my pet remarks about idiots in my native piece of land, but... it's not like I could bring any valid point to this discussion, could I?
Anyway, the idea of capitalism being on verge of collapse is a pretty common meme too both for french wingnuts (overall, some caveat) and leftitsts, both hoping for the famed "Big Crisis" that will enable a small, organized and lucid minority (them or their Leaders like pépé le pen who's been screwing french nationalists up the bunghole for 30 years) to lead the "sheeples" (very common idea of thre average man on the street being a "sheeple") into their own utopia.
I'd say this is pretty much the general idea glanced from the following of the blogosphere & websites from each and it's representative of the whole.
And, of course, both camp hates the USA, the jooooos, Nato, hate the Empire, hate free market (and wingnuts often blame free market ideology for mass immigration, morale decline,...), love chavez, the monkey, love putin (for the wingnuts, hey, he's their hero and new Man On A Horse), even from some on the "right", there is a call for "un-growth" (décroissance, a neboulous concept which means adopting a malthusian civilizational agenda, to protect Gaia), and many winguts even are very resentful against Christianity (either because they're neopagans, calling for europeans to go "back to their roots", by ignoring 2000 years of History and embracing a made-up religions set with no actual tradition and mostly embraced by leftits, or because they see Christianity as one or the source of european weakness)...
As an excuse for the "rightists", well, all of them went through the very same marxist/socialist school system than the rest of the french pop...
So, yeah, you've got a pretty broad convergence of red-brown-green people, with islam as the driver, socialism (neo or not, in its fascist guise or not) following, and far-"right" as a small adjunvant.
#7
Let's see what collapses first, Mahmoud. Capitalism or your government...
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to believe that only desperate measures on the economy can save his presidency when Iranians go to the polls in June, but he suffered a shocking setback on Monday when the legislature dominated by like-minded conservatives blocked his key initiative. Ahmadinejad had proposed legislation in the Majlis, Iran's parliament, that would have summarily withdrawn government subsidies on oil, gasoline and electricity, freeing up about $20 billion in government funds, of which he planned to transfer more than half in direct cash handouts to middle- and lower-income households. But the move would have sent energy prices skyrocketing in Iran, and the Majlis was having none of it despite the vote being widely viewed as a test of conservative loyalty ahead of the June poll.
Despite months of heated debate, Ahmadinejad had been expected to carry the vote on eliminating subsidies, and his supporters were shocked when the legislation was defeated by a vote of 132 to 102. "This vote ... shows Ahmadinejad can no longer count on the unanimous support of the fundamentalists in the upcoming elections," says Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran, adding, "It could even mean that the Supreme Leader no longer unequivocally supports him."
It was the poor state of the economy that got Ahmadinejad elected in 2005, on promises to more equitably share the country's oil revenues. But with the population laboring under record inflation rates and widespread unemployment, the fall in world oil prices from $147 per bbl. last summer to less than $40 today has proved nothing short of catastrophic to Ahmadinejad's government, which faces a $44 billion deficit in next year's budget and, for reasons political as well as economic, does not have easy access to international credit.
The dangerous irony confronting Ahmadinejad is that it was his ability to tap into economic grievances with populist promises that got him elected four years ago, but the economy by almost every measure is far worse today. And that fact won't be lost on voters. "Ahmadinejad has not done as well as [his reformist predecessor President Mohammed] Khatami with twice the oil revenue," says Virginia Tech economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani. The Brookings Institution scholar says according to his data, the gap between poor and rich has worsened during Ahmadinejad's term, despite his promises of economic justice. The populist President has actually managed to make his predecessor's economic performance look good by comparison. And, of course, Khatami is among the candidates running against Ahmadinejad in June.
#8
That stupid fuck better shut his mouth. Hasn't he noticed when progressives run the US capitalist system into the ground, somebody pays, through war.
TOKYO - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.
Assad also told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that he welcomed US President Barack Obama's new administration and wants to engage in dialogue for regional peace, but he also insisted on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
And in return, what?
"We need the United States to act as an arbitrator when we move from the current indirect negotiations to direct negotiations (with Israel)," he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Japanese-language newspaper.
Let Slow Joe do it. He's the foreign policy expert in the Bambi administration. That used to be a joke but now is approaching reality ...
Syria held exploratory contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators last year about resuming peace negotiations that broke off in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau.
Assad cautioned that possible progress of such talks would "depend on the next Israeli administration," the Asahi said.
US-Syrian ties were especially tense under former president George W. Bush, who correctly accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, helping Iran and of turning a blind eye to the flow of arms and supplies to insurgents in Iraq.
Washington has not yet taken a decision about returning its ambassador to Syria, a senior US envoy said this month after visiting Damascus to mend ties.
Assad harshly criticised the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hit out at Bush for putting pressure on Syria, the Asahi said. But he also stressed his willingness to help work toward regional peace. "Changes do not happen overnight," Assad was quoted saying. "We must first start dialogue to clarify the shared interest, which is to achieve peace.
It's amazing he can say stuff like that and keep his lips on. His only interest is in keeping power, and peace with Israel is the last thing he wants.
"The administration of Bush did not do that, and it only cared about the benefit of his own country."
Which is, if you think about it, the first charge in his oath ...
Assad welcomed the Obama administration's active engagement with Syria through sending envoys and US senators for meetings, the Asahi said. "It is important that we first begin dialogue and both take part in resolving problems," he told the newspaper. "It is not us who have changed. It is the Americans who have changed."
To achieve regional peace, the Syrian president emphasised the importance of including major parties in the peace process, adding that he would work to bring Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah to the table.
Whatever his Iranian masters tell him to do ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
On the other hand, Israel could just stop dicking around, and knock your psedocountry back to middle ages.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke Wednesday at the opening of the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran that brings together 10 regional countries.
President Ahmadinejad blamed the West for the global economic meltdown, declaring that capitalism has failed and that the capitalist system was close to collapse. "After the collapse of the closed socialist economy," he said, "the capitalist economy is also on the brink of disintegration, and despite all the efforts taken to
"It is clear that the same principles which have triggered the collapse cannot be used to reverse it."
save capitalism, the situation is hopeless. It is clear that the same principles which have triggered the collapse cannot be used to reverse it."
Mr. Ahmadinejad noted that capitalist organizations across the world have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the market to save major corporations and banks but they have not yet admitted that capitalism has failed.
During Wednesday's summit, Mr. Ahmadinejad also called for greater regional economic integration and urged member states to begin discussing the establishment of a single currency and a bank that would promote trade. Iran's closest neighbors and key trading partners, include Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, who is up for re-election in June, has repeatedly lashed out at the West for the current financial crisis. But he has been under fire at home for Iran's economic woes.
Iran has inflation in the mid-20 percent range and chronic unemployment, which stands at about 30 percent by unofficial estimates.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If the crisis will rid us of oil ticks (and MBAs), and EUro elites...
#2
If the crisis will rid us of oil ticks (and MBAs), and EUro elites... We can only hope. Unfortunately nature reliably produces another crop of knaves and fools with every generation, sigh...
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 families of soldiers killed by friendly fire in Iraq have reacted with fury after a firebrand preacher taunted them over the deaths of their loved ones.
The White House budget office has asked the Pentagon to consider delaying the purchase of aerial refueling tankers by five years, a move that reflects the constraints of drawing up a budget in the midst of a recession, according to two sources familiar with the administration's discussions.
Democratic Senator John Kerry said Wednesday that the United States must do what it can to "sustain the democracy" in Pakistan amid angry public protests against the government. 
DUBAI - Human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa need protection from governments, which often consider them subversives and harass, threaten and jail them after unfair trials, the rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday. Human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa still face imprisonment, torture, persecution and repression for seeking to uphold the rights of others, the London-based group said in a statement accompanying a new report.
TOKYO - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke Wednesday at the opening of the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran that brings together 10 regional countries. 
