[Beirut Daily Star: Region] International donors pledged more than $250 million Thursday to help Somalia strengthen its security forces and try to stop the rampant pirate attacks that have plagued one of the worldŽs most important waterways. The hefty sum included funding for equipment and material that significantly exceeded the request made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
STARS-N-STRIPES > seems TWELVE NATIONS are learning and working together to fight the SOMALI PIRACY.
#2
#1 STARS-N-STRIPES > seems TWELVE NATIONS are learning and working together to fight the SOMALI PIRACY. Posted by: JosephMendiola
Seems it's the US, NATO, India, Russia, Egypt, and possibly even some of the Arab states. That's probably giving China chills, even though they're part of the mix. It may also be that Russia and China are seeing what a REAL navy can do (Boxer/Bainbridge/SEALS, French, etc.), and are getting nervous. Better equipment, better living conditions, better tactics all point to a more professional force than Russia or China anticipated.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/24/2009 15:30 Comments ||
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] A hardline Somali opposition leader accused of having Al-Qaeda links arrived Thursday in Mogadishu for the first time in two years, officials said. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys had been based in EritreaŽs capital, Asmara, after Ethiopian troops drove him and his supporters from strongholds in southern Somalia and Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Iranian foreign minister says the meddling of different countries in Somalia is intensifying the 19-year-old-crisis in the African state.
Addressing an international donors' conference for Somalia in Brussels, Manouchehr Mottaki said that an internal political reconciliation is the key to establishing stability in the Horn of Africa nation. "It is a must (the) establishment of dialogue encouraging all the groups who are not in the government, with the government, to pay attention to their views and encouraging them to join to this new move for stability in Somalia," Reuters quoted Mottaki as saying on Thursday.
"Poverty, domestic war and injustice paved the way for insecurity and instability in Somalia," Mottaki said. The Iranian foreign minister said that Tehran is ready to help establish peace and security in the unstable state.
Send in the Revolutionary Guards ...
The participants at the conference have pledged more than $250 million in aid to help Somalia strengthen its security forces and end piracy in its waters.
Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed also vowed to make every effort to stabilize the country and fight piracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Mail and Globe] Eighteen Somali men, who were brought ashore in Kenya by European navies, crowded into a Mombasa courthouse on Thursday to face piracy charges.
Eleven shabbily dressed men seized by French commandos in the pirate-infested seas off Somalia made their first courtroom appearance after being handed over on Wednesday. Next door, seven other suspected pirates who were turned in by German forces earlier this month awaited their own hearing.
Both groups were seized by European navies after hot pursuits and dramatic captures. The French-seized men were taken in a pre-dawn raid on April 14. The Germans captured the seven men in late March.
Magistrate Catherine Mwangi adjourned the case of the 11 until a bail hearing May 27. Until then, they will remain in a Mombasa jail. She also ordered court officials to dress them properly for their bail hearing. The men, who appeared solemn during their court appearance, wore faded sarongs, old jackets and cheap sandals. Two men wore no shoes.
"I'm giving you an order that these people be dressed properly," Mwangi told court officials.
Kenya has a deal with the European Union that allows them to try suspected pirates caught by European ships off the East African coast. Pirates have been tried in Kenya before -- 10 Somali pirates were sentenced in November 2006 to seven years in prison after the US Navy captured them. There also are several trials currently involving suspects handed over by Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The national committee formed to probe the BDR carnage is now examining the electronic media coverage of the BDR mutiny and conversing to senior journalists of private TV channels about it.
The committee has already held talks with heads of news of several satellite TV channels in the last two days at Pilkhana and discussed the role of media coverage during the mutiny. It also discussed how the electronic media could play their role more responsibly and professionally in future if such an incident occurred.
The committee will sit with the heads of news of different satellite TV channels on April 25 at the same place to discuss how the electronic media can cover such events more professionally. It also had talks with the chief senior newsmen separately.
Head of News of ATN Bangla Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul who attended the meeting said, "Coverage of the February 25-26 mutiny by the electronic media came up in the discussion in a congenial environment.
The committee said the first two days' coverage helped BDR draw public sympathy as the demands of BDR jawans were telecast unilaterally.
The newsmen, however, said it would have been better if we had received comments from the government and the army but no statements were available from the government or the Inter Services Public Relations.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday arrested 50 more BDR members from the Pilkhana headquarters while three more people including a civilian confessed to their involvement in the mutiny before magistrates.
Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abdul Kahar Akand of CID, also the investigation officer of the mutiny case, told The Daily Star that they arrested 50 BDR jawans after analysing video footages and other information from various sources. With yesterday's arrests the investigators had so far arrested 1,159 people including 20 civilians.
Our court correspondent said civilian Hafizur Rahman confessed to his involvement in the mutiny before metropolitan magistrate Tofayel Hasan while sepoy Shariful Islam before magistrate Rashed Kabir and sepoy Zikrul Huq before magistrate Mominul Hasan. With the three persons a total of 42 people have so far confessed to their involvement in the Pilkhana massacre.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It also discussed how the electronic media could play their role more responsibly and professionally in future if such an incident occurred.
Other countries call that "Censorship".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/24/2009 14:00 Comments ||
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[Geo News] The UK High Commission in Islamabad has clarified that the arrests of ten Pakistani students during raids in UK were according to the laws laid down by British government and it is challengeable in the Especial Immigration Appeal Commission (EIAC) while the apprehended persons are also permitted to make direct contact to their embassy in this respect. In a statement from UK High Commission in Islamabad, it is stated that UK government reserves rights of arrest and deportation of any immigrant over suspicion of security threat. During the investigation, it was revealed on to UK officials that one, among ten arrested Pakistani student, was not enrolled in his college and neither was the course taught in his college which he opted for, statement further added. The investigations, into the reasons leading to Pakistani students' arrests are underway, it concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Experts around the world thought Iraq has WMD.
The world's intelligence agencies and defence experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea.
The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts -- from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the US Defence Secretary -- are admitting that North Korea has miniaturised nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.
This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear attack capability and seriously alters the balance of power between North Korea's large but poorly equipped military and the South Korean and US forces ranged against it. "North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact," the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said this week. "I don't like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state we have to face reality."
North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006 but until recently foreign governments believed that such nuclear devices were useless as weapons because they were too unwieldy to be mounted on a missile.
With 13,000 artillery pieces buried close to the border between the two Koreas, and chemical and biological warheads, it was always understood that the North could inflict significant conventional damage on Seoul, the South Korean capital. Military planners had calculated, however, that it could not strike outside the peninsula.
Now North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has the potential to kill millions in Japan as well as the South, and to lay waste US bases and airfields in both countries. It will force military strategists to rethink plans for war in Korea and significantly increase the potential costs of any intervention in a future Korean war. The shift from acknowledging North Korea's nuclear weapons development programme to recognising it as a fully fledged nuclear power is highly controversial. South Korea, in particular, resists the reclassification because it could give the North greater leverage in negotiations.
The successful work enabling the nuclear devices to be mounted on weapons happened towards the end of last year, according to Daniel Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group think-tank. He says that he has been shown detailed intelligence assessments of the new nuclear capability by a foreign government. Last December, the US Forces Joint Command published an annual report which, for the first time, listed North Korea, alongside China, India, Pakistan and Russia, as one of Asia's nuclear powers.
The US Government insisted that this did not reflect its official policy -- but then James Schlesinger, a former US Defence Secretary, delivered a report by a Pentagon task force saying the same thing. "North Korea, India and Pakistan have acquired both nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems," he said. In January Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, published an article in Foreign Affairs in which he referred to the "arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east".
According to Dr Pinkston, the long-range Taepodong-2 rocket that North Korea fired this month is an unsuitable vehicle for a nuclear bomb because it takes weeks to assemble, fuel and arm, giving ample time for it to be destroyed on the launch pad.
The danger lies with shorter-range weapons, some of which are difficult to detect. They include variants of the Scud, which could strike South Korea, and the Nodong, which could reach much of Japan. Pyongyang also has a short range weapon called the Toksa, which is highly accurate up to 75 miles. The Musudan, which can be transported by road, could reach US bases on the Pacific island of Guam.
Apparently the army life doesn't guarantee much social status in Nork-land anymore, and may not even provide three hots and a cot.
As a result of a first-of-its-kind refusal to sign an army enrollment petition, students soon to graduate from a middle school in Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung Province have been ordered by the Party to work on collective farms for life. Furthermore, during this process the parents of some of the students protested after the children of government officials in Hoiryeong were granted exemptions from the same order.
Turns out the students weren't immediately shot, which is progress in a way.
The incident occurred at the Osanduk Middle School in early February. The Army Mobilization Department had urged graduating middle school students to sign the "People's Army (KPA) Enrollment Petition," stressing that "America and South Chosun puppets are taking provocative wartime measures."
An enrollment petition requests a signature agreeing to "voluntary enlistment in the KPA for the security of the fatherland." In the past, North Korean authorities forcefully carried out "voluntary" petition movements for youths between ages 17 and 35; however, since the reform of its military service law in 2003 the country has had compulsory military service. Thus, in practice the voluntary enrollment petition is a purely ceremonial expression of patriotism.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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KYODO -- European ambassadors to Pyongyang stayed away from last week's commemoration of the anniversary of the late North Korean founder's birthday to protest the country's recent rocket launch, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
The ambassadors from most of the seven European Union countries that have embassies in Pyongyang skipped events, including a ceremony at Kim Il Sung's mausoleum and a weeklong song and dance performance, held to mark his April 15 birthday, the sources said.
Just left more lunch for everyone else ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] Three or four North Korean entities, including a trade firm and a bank, might be designated by the United Nations for an asset freeze as part of U.N. sanctions against the country over its recent rocket launch, diplomatic sources at the world body said Thursday. The North Korean entities include Korea Mining Development Trading Corp. and Tanchon Commercial Bank, which are believed to have taken on an important role in North KoreaŽs nuclear and missile development. It would be the first time the United Nations has designated the freezing of assets of North Korean entities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Four suspected Islamic militants accused of plotting bombings against US citizens in Germany on the scale of the 9/11 attacks stonewalled Thursday as their trial continued here. The defendants in one of Germany's biggest trials of accused terrorists in decades -- three Germans and a Turkish national -- refused offers to address the court in this western city on the second day of their trial.
The Turkish suspect, 30-year-old Adem Yilmaz, was ordered into special confinement for a week for contempt of court after he refused to rise when the judges entered the courtroom for the second day in a row. "I only stand for Allah," he had told the presiding judge, Ottmar Breidling, on the opening day of the trial before the Duesseldorf state security tribunal.
"This is provocative behaviour showing disrespect for the court," Breidling said Thursday, as Yilmaz sat behind bulletproof glass with the other defendants, smiling and stroking his beard. "Thank you very much," Yilmaz shouted. "Thank you very much."
The four men face charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation and conspiring to mount a series of devastating bombings in German cities aimed at US citizens. They could face 15 years in prison if convicted. Sites on their target list included the US airbase at Ramstein and civilian airports as well as nightclubs, bars and restaurants frequented by Americans in cities such as Frankfurt, Duesseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say the four are hardened members of the Islamic Jihad Union, an extremist group with roots in Uzbekistan and ties to Al-Qaeda which is believed to have set up militant training camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The men had planned bombings between early September 2007, when they were captured, and mid-October 2007, when the German parliament was to vote to extend participation in the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
After months of surveillance, police using US and German intelligence said they caught three of the suspects red-handed, mixing chemicals to make the equivalent of 410 kilogrammes (900 pounds) of explosives -- 100 times the amount used in the 2005 London bombings that killed more than 50 people.
The fourth suspect, Attila Selek, a 24-year-old German citizen of Turkish origin, was extradited from Turkey last November. Two of the suspects, Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Schneider, are German converts to Islam. The cases of Gelowicz, 29, and Schneider, 23, have particularly shaken the country, raising questions how seemingly "normal" Germans could convert to a radical brand of Islam and plan attacks on their home soil.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Turkey has defended its delegation's decision not to leave the Geneva conference during a speech by Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad in the UN's Durban Review Conference in Geneva Monday slammed Israeli atrocities in Palestine and called Israel 'a cruel and repressive racist regime'.
During his speech, many Western delegations left the conference venue in a move to protest his comments.
Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis who is in Paris for an official visit, highlighted the importance of ties between Turkey and its neighboring Iran, IRNA reported on Thursday.
In a news conference Thursday, when Bagis was asked why the Turkish delegation did not leave the conference venue during Ahmadinejad's speech, he replied, "Turkey and Iran have historical ties and vital economic relations."
The Turkish minister also stressed that the relations between the two countries should be further enhanced.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A Canadian judge has ruled that PM Stephen Harper must immediately press the US to send home a Canadian detainee being held at Guantanamo Bay.
'Must'? This is Bambi we're talking about, you just have to rant about how evil the U.S. is and he'll give you anything you want -- all the while making clear that he's different from the rest of us.
The judge upheld the view of lawyers for Omar Khadr that the government's refusal to ask for his repatriation infringed his constitutional rights.
Mr Khadr has been held for six years, accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15.
Which means we should hold him for another sixty years.
Mr Harper has argued that the US legal process should be allowed to continue. He told parliament after the court ruling on Thursday: "The facts in our judgement have not changed. We will be looking at the decision very carefully and obviously considering an appeal."
Mr Khadr's lawyers said he was willing to be tried in Canada. He is now the only detainee from a Western nation being held in the US military camp.
His case was among the first to be suspended following an order from Barack Obama, in one of his first acts as US president, to temporarily halt to all tribunals pending a review of the process.
Judge James O'Reilly said in his written ruling: "The ongoing refusal of Canada to request Mr Khadr's repatriation to Canada offends a principle of fundamental justice and violates Mr Khadr's rights. To mitigate the effect of that violation, Canada must present a request to the United States for Mr Khadr's repatriation to Canada as soon as practicable."
It's practicable when's he's old and gray ...
One of Mr Khadr's lawyers, Dennis Edney, said "the court has truly come to Omar Khadr's rescue," Associated Press reported.
His mother, Maha Khadr, told AP: "Everything is contradictory. Canada is one of the countries that supports the rights of child soldiers and Canada is the last to support Omar, the last."
Perhaps because they know sonny better than you do, Ma ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Mama Khadr is unclear on the concept of "child soldiers". These are not to be confuse with child volunteers.
In a letter from the Justice Department to a federal judge yesterday, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration.
The photographs are part of a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU for all information relating to the treatment of detainees -- the same battle that led, last week, to President Obama's decision to release memos from the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel providing legal justifications for harsh interrogation methods that human rights groups call torture.
Courts had ruled against the Bush administration's attempts to keep the photographs from public view. ACLU attorney Amrit Singh tells ABC News that "the fact that the Obama administration opted not to seek further review is a sign that it is committed to more transparency."
Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production, said the president's moves in the last week have left many in the CIA dispirited, based on "the undercurrent I've been getting from colleagues still in the building, or colleagues who have left not that long ago."
"We ask these people to do extremely dangerous things, things they've been ordered to do by legal authorities, with the understanding that they will get top cover if something goes wrong," Lowenthal says. "They don't believe they have that cover anymore." Releasing the photographs "will make it much worse," he said.
Even though President Obama has announced that the Justice Department will not prosecute CIA officers who were operating within the four corners of what they'd been told was the law, Lowenthal says members of the CIA are worried. "They feel exposed already, and this is going to increase drumbeat for an investigation or a commission" to explore detainee treatment during the Bush years, he said. "It's going to make it much harder to resist, and they fear they're then going to be thrown over."
The Bush administration argued that releasing these photographs would violate US obligations towards detainees and would prompt outrage and perhaps attacks against the U.S. On June 9 and June 21, 2006 judges directed the Bush administration to release 21 photographs depicting the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, and last September, the Second Circuit Court affirmed that decision
The materials will be released to the ACLU no later than May 28, after which the ACLU says it will make them public. This release will come just days before President Obama travels to the volatile Middle East.
Lowenthal said his former colleagues at the CIA were "put off" by President Obama's trip to the CIA earlier this week. "I don't think the president's speech went down very well, particularly the part when he said they made mistakes. They don't think they made mistakes. They think they acted to execute policy. And those in the intelligence service don't make policy."
Those in intelligence are "gong to become increasingly wary about doing dangerous things," Lowenthal said. "They feel at the end of the day they won't be covered. It's not irreparable right now, but it's problematic."
#2
Many of us here wanted to clean house at CIA. This is one way to do it, it's just that there won't be anything left in six months.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/24/2009 13:10 Comments ||
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#3
That's okay, I wanna do away with the CIA anyway and bring back the OSS. Of course, I also want to take over the world, but sadly I'm not Evil Overlord yet.
#4
Unfortunately the likes of Obama and Ralm will be the ones who create any new 'CIA'.
I'm betting the new York Times and Good Morning We Hate America are chomping on the bit to have something to talk about for the next 18 months while they ignore real abuse like children homocide bombers, honor killings, and the like.
#5
Imagine if you will an agency full of "Secret Agents" like Valerie Plame. But I would not worry because that new position of Homeland Security Chief is always filled with the most competent person they can find. So to tally the score: 1) We have a military that isn't allowed to shoot 2) A spy angency that can't spy 3) an Inteligence Czar that is anything but. I fear for my country, I really do.
#6
What other foreign agency would work with the CIA when they know whatever information will be leaked, above the fold on the NYT, or maybe dragged in front of lefty lawyer congress critters.
If I was a friendly foreign intel agency , I would steer clear of the CIA...it's damaged goods
Posted by: Glaiger Prince of the Antelope5359 ||
04/24/2009 16:46 Comments ||
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#7
Obama smearing and discrediting the George HW Bush Center for Intelligence? Tell me it ain't so...
#8
...the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration.
The ACLU. Gimme a friggin break. This is nothing but a witch hunt. It is unprecedented in my lifetime--maybe longer. Remember Bambi, the chickens may come home to roost for you after you leave if you open this door. You will be judged by what you do or don't do also--and besides what makes you the moral arbiter for previous administrations? Hell by your measuring stick (whatever it is) we would have been guilty of WWII--particularly of winning. i guess the response would be an apology to the Germans and Japanese.
#9
Completing the work Rumsfeld began. The DIA is adequate to handle our intelligence needs. The elimination of the CIA will return our domestic politics to the people. Good riddance.
#10
CIA - that's the organization that couldn't predict the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, attacks on the US by Al Qaeda, and the lack of WMD's in Iraq. For some obscure reason, I'm not bothered if Obama impacts their effectiveness.
#11
Isn't it the CIA that finds the targets for the Predators in Pakistan? There's still good work going on there. Would the DoD be able to do send agents in to handle that?
#12
If eliminating the CIA would result in additional load and funding for the DoD, I'd be fine with that, but it won't. at least not enough. It would end up as part of DoS.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/24/2009 22:54 Comments ||
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#13
CIA - Its a 'Slam Dunk'!
Unfortunately I can see the CIA funding going to something like ACORN. You don't need spies - you need 'community organizers'!
Pakistan is beginning to recognise the severity of the threat posed by an extremist insurgency that is encroaching on major urban areas, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. What're they doing about it? Packing up and making reservations?
Clinton told a House of Representatives subcommittee that "changing paradigms and mindsets is not easy, but I do believe there is an increasing awareness in not just the Pakistani govt but the Pakistani people that this insurgency -- coming closer and closer to major cities -- does pose a threat". I don't. I think they'll spend their time arguing over who's going the most lucrative potfolios and avoiding suppressing the rebellion until they're actually on the plane headed for Paris or London.
She said the US special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, has had "painful, specific" conversations with Pakistanis about the need to act more effectively. Talk, as somebody pointed out, is pretty low-priced.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
She said the US special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, has had "painful, specific" conversations with Pakistanis about the need to act more effectively.
The Paks consider Holbrooke a Jew, they won't open up to him completely even if he did help Muslims in Bosnia.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) demanded on Thursday that the government extend the National Assembly (NA) session and summon the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) to brief members in the wake of reports that the Taliban are moving towards Islamabad. It'd prob'ly be a good idea to get a second opinion afterwards.
"The international media is reporting that the Taliban are just 60 kilometres from Islamabad. "We're in Islamabad! Why haven't we noticed?"
The government should summon the DG ISI to brief the House on the ground realities and on developments on the Swat peace deal," demanded PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal on a point of order in the NA.
PPP Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab said the centre of gravity was not Swat. "Swat is a peripheral issue. The real problem is the people who are encouraging these Taliban," she said. Including the very people you want to brief you...
She ruled out any impending danger of the Taliban taking over Islamabad as feared by some members, "No, no! Certainly not!"
adding that the way the political forces were moving towards a consensus against the spread of the Taliban was a positive development. They'll no doubt reach agreement in 2081, except for Qazi and Fazl and Sami. And probably Nawaz.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, an ISI briefing! Betcha there's a lotta that Foreign Hand stuff in it.
[Geo News] Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Asadullah Faiz has said that Taliban cannot cross Margala hills to reach Islamabad. Talking to media, Asadullah Faiz and SSP Islamabad Police Tahir Alam said all possible steps are being taken to ensure security of the people in the capital city. The Deputy Commissioner said Rangers are responsible for the security at Margala hills where more deployments are being made.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The central leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and leader of opposition in National Assembly (NA) Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has asked US not to interfere in the matters of Pakistan relating to internal affairs. He ruled out reports on change of N-league policy adding, "PML-N is waiting for the outcomes of ongoing dialogue between the government of Pakistan and chief of TNSM Sufi Muhammad". Nisar was talking to media after he met with PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif here at his residence on Thursday afternoon. Opposition leader in NA said we have extended our support to Nifaz-e-Adl regulation accord but he also hinted at his party's several reservations over the agreement. He said the resolution to the rising problems of Swat is not as simple as it is being portrayed. "Eighty per cent peace has been established in Swat", he remarked highlighting, "Government is presently avoiding use of power and force in Swat while our party is analyzing the situation in the valley at the moment". He hoped his party would apprise nation of its policies on Swat soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Thursday tabled in the Senate 'documentary proof' of India and Afghanistan's involvement in the unrest in Balochistan and the Tribal Areas, sources told Daily Times.
Addressing an in-camera session of the House, Rehman alleged that India was using Afghanistan as a base to destabilise Pakistan by fanning an insurgency. The sources said the 'documentary proof' showed that India was funding and training Pakistani terror groups. However, the 'proof' was nothing new for several of the senators, the added.
A senator said he was already aware of all anti-Pakistan conspiracies hatched by India and some other neighbouring countries. He said a neighbouring state was opposed to Pakistan's progress and stability, but did not name the country.
The sources said Rehman used a multimedia system to show the senators images of terrorists arrested from Balochistan and other troubled areas. They said the arrested terrorists had admitted on camera to being trained in Afghanistan on India's behalf.
According to the sources, Rehman also claimed that the majority of terrorists, equipped with latest weapons, arrested in Balochistan and the Tribal Areas had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan. He said FATA was suffering from the spill over effect of the insurgency in Balochistan.
The sources said Rehman also showed the senators 'documentary proof' of the nationality of three Baloch leaders who were recently killed.
As stated by the prime minister's interior adviser -- one of the three leaders, Ghulam Muhammad, was wanted by Tehran, while another, Sher Baloch, was an Iranian national.
He showed the House images of Taliban slaughtering anti-Taliban and pro-government people in FATA.
Afghan govt: Rehman said President Asif Ali Zardari had complained to his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, of the use of Afghan soil against Pakistan, but the response had not been positive.
He said that Balochistan Liberation Army chief Brahamdagh Bugti was hiding in Afghanistan, and Kabul was not facilitating Islamabad over his arrest despite repeated requests.
The sources said Balochistan senators, including Abdul Malik and Shahid Bugti, opposed Rehman's assertions. They said the senators rejected the interior adviser's proposal for the formation of a House committee to oversee the investigation into the killing of the three Baloch leaders.
According to the sources, Rehman Malik spoke for seven-and-a-half hours on the situation in Balochistan, the Tribal Areas and NWFP. He also responded to the senators' questions.
The interior adviser later told reporters that the briefing was based on 'true facts' and was given keeping in mind national interest. He said the government would defend the country at every cost.
Thursday's briefing was the first-ever of its nature, and -- according to the Online news agency -- political parties are satisfied with it. The agency said that politicians were now hoping that the briefing would facilitate the formation of an effective policy for Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Swat cleric Sufi Muhammad extended his Thursday deadline for the establishment of the Darul Qaza appellate courts in Malakand to hear appeals against convictions of the new qazi courts set up in line with the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
"The deadline for the establishment of Darul Qaza has been extended for an indefinite period," Amir Izzat Khan, spokesman for Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad, told Daily Times after a decision-making shura approved the move a day after a high-level government delegation made the request.
Separately, Izzat Khan condemned Jamaat Islami (JI) Amir Munawar Hassan for his statement that Sufi -- who had said democracy was a system of Kufr (infidelity) -- was also "a little kafir" for contesting local elections. He told Daily Times that the JI "has earned so many dollars in the Afghan war no one could count them".
He said Sufi repented his past, but Munawar Hassan "is still treading the path of Kufr". The spokesman also told a private TV channel the TNSM believed the constitution of Pakistan was Islamic and that the banned outfit "has no intention to set up a state within state".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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President Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Thursday not to allow anybody to challenge the government's writ or run a parallel government in any part of the country, and said the government is aware of the problems emanating from extremism and terrorism.
The pledge came during talks with US president's special envoy Richard Holbrooke, who had called the president over the telephone. Zardari and Holbrooke discussed the threat of increasing Taliban influence in Pakistan.
Sources said the call was prompted by US fears that Pakistan was not realising the threat posed by the Taliban -- who, Washington believes, have exploited the peace deal in Swat to increase their control to Bunner district.
The call by the US special representative coincided with a two-day visit by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, who has held talks with the military leadership on the Taliban threat.
Meanwhile, the government issued a brief statement saying that Holbrooke discussed with President Zardari the situation in the region and Zardari's visit to the US early next month to attend a trilateral meeting.
According to a private TV channel, Zardari told Holbrooke that Pakistan had been a frontline state in the war on terror, and the international community must understand Islamabad's problems and assist it. Holbrook said the US would not isolate Pakistan, and vowed to jointly defeat terrorism and extremism.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Pakistan on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of a Taliban takeover in Islamabad "Nope. Nope. Won't happen. Nope."
as its ambassador in Washington rejected the contention that the Swat peace arrangement amounted to the government's abdication of its responsibility towards the Pakistani people. "Nope. Nope. Never happened. Nope."
Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani dismissed the impression that Pakistan faced a situation where it could fall to "advancing" Taliban just as Afghanistan had fallen to them in the 1990s. "Nope. Nope. Can't happen. Nope."
The envoy cited Pakistan's strength in its central government and its powerful military force, both of which Afghanistan lacked, adding that Afghanistan was also going through civil strife at that time. a. If Pakistain's not going through civil strife then what the hell is it going through?
b. The Mighty Afghan Army was trained and equipped by the Mighty Soviet Army. While it's true that it had never won a war, it's also true that except for internal festivities it'd never fought one. The Mighty Pak Army is zero for three against India, zero for zero against anybody else.
c. Pakistain's civil government is something less than a model of effectiveness, since its participants spend more time jockeying for position, raiding the boodle, and going to the mosque than they do suppressing rebellion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
The Foreign Office (FO) has said that international conspiracies being hatched to malign and isolate Pakistan will not succeed. "Aaaar! Nobuddy maligns an' isolates Pakistain, y'unnerstan'? Nobuddy!"
Addressing a weekly press briefing, FO spokesman Abdul Basit criticised the 'unwarranted remarks on Pakistan' by the Israeli foreign minister, who has said "Israel feels a strategic threat at the hands of Pakistan", not Iran. "Pakistanis are a resilient, moderate and progressive nation, and efforts to malign or isolate Pakistan will not succeed," said Basit. His lips are moving, words are coming out, they don't make any sense.
He said that a recent meeting of the 'Friends of Pakistan' forum in Tokyo had clearly demonstrated that the international community fully supported Pakistan in the war on terror. Actually it clearly demonstrated that the international community is still willing to toss money into the bottomless pit that is Pakistain.
Basit said that Pakistan had positive expectations from a tripartite conference to be held next month in the US. Basit acknowledged that Pakistan and the US had differences over drone attacks in the Tribal Areas, and Pakistan would reiterate its stance to Washington at the trilateral meeting next month. He said that during his visit to the US, President Asif Ali Zardari would also talk about US aid for Pakistan and a 'campaign against the ISI'. He said problems in Pakistan were part of the spillover effect of the long-standing conflict in Afghanistan, but Pakistan was committed to face and solve them.
The spokesman said the Swat agreement was a 'local solution to a local problem', and its implementation would bring peace and stability in the region. Oh, yeah. We can see that. Couldn't miss it.
Replying to a question about the possibility of Taliban entering Islamabad, he said, "I have nothing to say at this stage." Basit called terrorism a 'complex one', and said there was a need for well-integrated strategies to tackle it.
Students: He said Pakistan was in touch with the British authorities over issues related to students who were detained in the UK on terror charges and subsequently released. "We understand that the British government wants to deport these students to Pakistan. We will help these students in case they want to legally contest their removal from Britain," he said. However, he refused to say if Pakistan would seek an apology from Britain.
The spokesman said Pakistan was carefully evaluating the security implications of India's launch of a spy satellite. "We are also mindful of the challenges posed to our security by the induction of new technology and weapons by India ... and the implications of the Indian satellite already launched are being evaluated," the spokesman told the press briefing. "There should be no doubt that Pakistan is fully capable of safeguarding its security. Our resolve and resilience are unshakable," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Replying to a question about the possibility of Taliban entering Islamabad, he said, "I have nothing to say at this stage."
Well, that's...decisive.
Maybe he's already got his resume into them.
#2
Eh, that's fairly low all things considered, and pretty close to IBC's estimates. About two-thirds as bloody in absolute terms as Algeria's Islamist insurgency, in a country about two-thirds as populous.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/24/2009 16:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
230,200 Americans have *died since the invasion in 2003!
*But they didn't all die *because* of the invasion.
At least five bomb attacks in Iraq in the past 48 hours have left some 140 people dead, wounded dozens more and raised fears that the country may be returning to the sectarian violence from which it has only just emerged. On Thursday three bombs in central Baghdad and areas northeast of the capital killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 100. On Friday, a double suicide bombing at the most important Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad killed another 60 and injured 125 more. The bombs went off as people gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque and tomb where the prominent Shi'a saint Imam Mousa al-Kazim is buried. Last weekend, a pair of mortars or rockets slammed into the Green Zone, the first such attack since mid-January. The number of murders across Iraq that appear related to insurgent violence has also risen over the past few weeks.
Is Iraq unraveling again? Nervous Iraqis worry that the new spate of violence is a sign of what could happen when the U.S. begins pulling its troops out in June (the complete withdrawal is slated for the end of 2011). (See pictures of Iraq's travails through the last six years.)
Much of the fear is based on what a U.S. withdrawal means practically. One example: U.S. military officials are in the process of closing Camp Bucca, the main U.S. military prison in Iraq. The closure, in line with the U.S.-Iraqi withdrawal agreement, has American officials handing some suspected insurgents to Iraqi authorities but letting hundreds of others go with no proper investigation or trial to determine their guilt or innocence. U.S. military officials have long acknowledged that some detainees held at Camp Bucca are likely innocent. But allegations of insurgent ties against many others will go largely unanswered as the prison empties in the coming months. And as hundreds of prisoners go free, many Iraqis worry that former inmates who were indeed involved with the insurgency will return to their old ways.
That worries Sheik Mustafa Kamil Shbeb al-Jabouri, a tribal leader from a town south of Baghdad and a member of the Sunni Awakening movement. Dozens of former prisoners have resettled in his area. Each time one arrives home Jabouri sits down with him for a chat. "We give a little lecture to anyone from our area who's been released from Camp Bucca and come back," says Jabouri, whose tribal fighters have been working with American troops against insurgents since 2007. "We tell them that if they behave well, there will be no problems. If not, they will be right back in prison."
Like other Iraqis, Jabouri wonders who exactly is behind the latest spate of killings. Possibilities include agents of Iran as well as a reconstituting Ba'athist movement. The umbrella insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq remains the most vocal and visible among Iraq's militants, however. Many Iraqi security officials, insurgency experts in Baghdad and Awakening leaders worry that the militants, who melted away during the U.S surge, may have reformed into smaller, yet increasingly lethal, movements in their existing havens of Mosul and Diyala province. Indeed, there is some fear that al-Qaeda may be infiltrating the Awakening.
The increase in suspected insurgent attacks was already apparent before the waves of former prisoners began emerging from Camp Bucca. Several Awakening leaders and officers in the Iraqi security forces interviewed by TIME say they do not believe that the former Bucca inmates are contributing to the rise in violence these days.
But Jabouri remains watchful, for good reason. The remaining insurgent fighters in Iraq have a particular interest in assassinating Awakening members, many of whom once cooperated with the insurgency before joining forces with the Americans. Jabouri says he has survived 51 assassination attempts, and believes at least some of the former Bucca inmates now returning to his area have been involved. "Some of them I know helped make bombs meant to kill me," he says, knowing that there may be more attempts. The quest for vengeance is Iraq's curse.
#1
Be careful what you wish for. You may get it. In fairness, CNN et al were not interested in hearing the voices that wanted the Coalition to stay, and so the world did not hear what the troops there tried to tell us, even in comments here at Rantburg.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The international community has to "stop speaking in slogans" if it really wants to help the new Israeli government work toward a solution to the Palestinian conflict and help bring stability to the Middle East, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, in his first interview with an Israeli newspaper since taking the job.
"Over the last two weeks I've had many conversations with my colleagues around the world," he said. "Just today, I saw the political adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Chinese foreign minister and the Czech prime minister. And everybody, you know, speaks with you like you're in a campaign: Occupation, settlements, settlers..."
Slogans like these, and others Lieberman cited, such as "land for peace" and "two-state solution," were both overly simplistic and ignored the root causes of the ongoing conflict, he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Shut the f*ck up, Hildebeast! You irrelevant hag.
In Tuesday's WaPo ... The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Irans suspected pursit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehrans rising influence in the region
Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Israeli army's investigation of troop conduct during its war on Gaza appeared to be an attempt to cover up "violations of the laws of war."
The army defended its conduct during the massive 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January, saying five military probes found its forces "operated in accordance with international law." But Joe Stork, a deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said: "The conclusions are an apparent attempt to mask violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces in Gaza."
The New York-based rights group said the probes "lack credibility and confirm the need for an impartial international inquiry into alleged violations by both Israel and Hamas". It urged both sides to cooperate with a UN investigation of the conflict. "Only an impartial inquiry will provide a measure of redress for the civilians who were killed unlawfully," Stork said.
HRW said its own investigation showed Israeli forces were responsible for "serious violations of the laws of war, including the use of heavy artillery and white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas, the apparent targeting of people trying to convey their civilian status, and the destruction of civilian objects in excess of military need." Some of the cases of white-phosphorus use demonstrate evidence of war crimes, the group said in a report last month.
Deputy army chief Major General Dan Harel told reporters on Wednesday the military used several hundred mortar shells and naval rounds that contain phosphorous as the active ingredient, as well about 3,000 smoke shells that contain pieces of felt dipped in phosphorous. The military suspended the use of the phosphorous mortar shells and 76mm naval rounds on January 7 amid international controversy, Harel said, insisting those munitions had only been fired in open areas as markers and range-finders.
He insisted that the way the military used those shells as well as the smokescreen munitions whose use continued after January 7 complied fully with international law. HRW said its researchers in Gaza found spent white phosphorous artillery shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets and apartment roofs, in residential courtyards, and at a UN school. Artillery shells containing white phosphorus also struck a hospital and the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, the rights group claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"violations of the laws of war."
The principal law violated being "The Jews should lose"?
VIENNA, April 24 (KUNA) -- The Arab League called for differentiating between terrorism and Islam, which is a religion that calls for love, tolerance, and civilized coexistence. It sez so in the Koran...INFIDELS!
Arab League Secretary General's Advisor for Legal Affairs Mohammad Ridhwan Bin Khadhra, at the 18th meeting of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) held here, said that the killing of civilians was rejected by religions and international conventions. Somehow, it just...happens.
He said it was important to combat terrorism, deal with its reasons, and differentiate between it and people's right to fight invaders and external aggression. Ah...I detect the loophole.
He called for holding an international conference under the supervision of the UN, or a special UN General Assembly meeting on terrorism, and urged the international community to approve the UN draft agreement on the issue. Something must be done!
Waiter! More wine!
Bin Khadra said it was significant to find a unified definition for terrorist crimes, adding that the absence of such a definition hinders the international cooperation in combating terrorism. He also called countries to join conventions on combating terrorism as soon as possible. They're working on it, Mo. I mean, it's only been eight years. What's your hurry?
#3
Saying that the Sun is the center of the solar system is terrorism (it contradicts the Koran).
Saying that the Earth is round is also terrorism (it contradicts the Hadiths).
As you can see, attacks against Islam are everywhere, and the world is filled with requirements to violently defend Islam. Even women walking around unescorted, with their ankles showing!
Obviously a Muslim man has to be violent all the time.
P.S. Don't forget that electricity is unislamic too.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/24/2009 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#4
This headline reminds me of a favorite saying.....
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended US President Barack Obama's attempts to engage in direct talks with Iran.
"The Iranian government should not be able to claim that we have refused the opportunity for constructive dialogue," Blair said in an address to a forum on religion and politics in Chicago.
"The stature and importance of such an ancient and extraordinary civilization means that as a nation, Iran should command respect and be accorded its proper place in the world's affairs," The Sunday Times quoted Blair as saying on Thursday.
He said that the purpose of talks with Tehran should be halting Iran's nuclear program. "It is to put a stop to the Iranian regime's policy of destabilization and support of terrorism."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This POS will say anything to burnish his public image in prep for his EU-Presidency run.
Wonder what Dubya (I miss him more every day) is thinking about his buddy now....
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadŽs speech at a UN conference on racism had widespread Arab support even if it stirred a Western walkout over his anti-Israeli stand, Syria said on Wednesday. ŽŽA large proportion of public opinion in the Arab world supports the words of the Iranian president,ŽŽ Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
A large proportion of public opinion in the Arab world supports racism the words of the Iranian president
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama avoided the word "genocide" in a statement he just released recalling the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
Obama is marking the memory of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed in Turkey, and the choice of his exact words was being watched closely.
As a candidate, Obama pledged to recognize the killings as genocide. In his statement Friday, the president referred to "one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century."
#2
Eh, I'm going to have to side with the mirrorball on this one. This ancient history crap isn't worth the candle. Not with Georgia about to get royally rogered on Turkey's north-east border.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/24/2009 16:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Obama, like the rest of the left, has no problem labeling America with overblown, out of context, 'crimes' and 'missteps'. It's just another example of "one set of rules for thee and another set of rules for me". America is damned if its not perfect, but everyone else gets a pass after the Apology Tour '09.
#4
Let us all gather solemnly and wank over old grievances. But don't call it as genocide. It was just a man-caused disaster where a large number of people unfortunately and rather inexplicably died.
#5
since we're criminalizing political decisions, I'd like to offer the "Civilian Death Catastrophe - Criminal Negligence act of 2012" when all this shit is piled back on Obama, Axelrod, Reid, Pelosi,....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2009 22:12 Comments ||
Top||
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.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] A hardline Somali opposition leader accused of having Al-Qaeda links arrived Thursday in Mogadishu for the first time in two years, officials said. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys had been based in EritreaŽs capital, Asmara, after Ethiopian troops drove him and his supporters from strongholds in southern Somalia and Mogadishu.
KYODO -- European ambassadors to Pyongyang stayed away from last week's commemoration of the anniversary of the late North Korean founder's birthday to protest the country's recent rocket launch, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
Four suspected Islamic militants accused of plotting bombings against US citizens in Germany on the scale of the 9/11 attacks stonewalled Thursday as their trial continued here. The defendants in one of Germany's biggest trials of accused terrorists in decades -- three Germans and a Turkish national -- refused offers to address the court in this western city on the second day of their trial.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Thursday tabled in the Senate 'documentary proof' of India and Afghanistan's involvement in the unrest in Balochistan and the Tribal Areas, sources told Daily Times. 
Swat cleric Sufi Muhammad extended his Thursday deadline for the establishment of the Darul Qaza appellate courts in Malakand to hear appeals against convictions of the new qazi courts set up in line with the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
President Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Thursday not to allow anybody to challenge the government's writ or run a parallel government in any part of the country, and said the government is aware of the problems emanating from extremism and terrorism. 
VIENNA, April 24 (KUNA) -- The Arab League called for differentiating between terrorism and Islam, which is a religion that calls for love, tolerance, and civilized coexistence.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended US President Barack Obama's attempts to engage in direct talks with Iran. 
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadŽs speech at a UN conference on racism had widespread Arab support even if it stirred a Western walkout over his anti-Israeli stand, Syria said on Wednesday. ŽŽA large proportion of public opinion in the Arab world supports the words of the Iranian president,ŽŽ Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said.
