Afghan President Hamid Karzai has fired the mayor of Kabul, who was sentenced to a jail term over corruption charges last month, and appointed an engineer to take over in the capital, his office said Monday.
Mir Abdul Ahad Sahebi was convicted in a primary court in early December and sentenced to four years in prison on charges linked to corruption. He was released on bail pending appeal and swiftly returned to work.
Karzai had previously defended Sahebi, calling him "a clean person" and ordering an investigation into the charges against him.
"The former mayor Mr Sahebi has been fired," a presidential spokesman, Siamak Herawi, told AFP. "The president has appointed a new mayor for Kabul. The new mayor is Mohammad Younus Nawhandish, he is a civil engineer," the spokesman said.
Herawi said, however, that the dismissal was not linked to the conviction.
"No, it has nothing to do with the court case, the president just wanted to have a new and capable person in the job," he said. The sentencing of Sahebi was the first high-profile corruption conviction since Karzai came under renewed Western pressure to crack down on graft after winning a second term in presidential elections last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Nigerian government has said that the West African country's inclusion on the US enhanced screening-list released on Monday is "unfair." "It's not fair! It's just not fair!"
The fourteen nations listed on the enhanced watch-list are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria along with what the US calls "countries of interest," Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The remaining countries are Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq, though these four have not been officially confirmed.
The US enhanced screening-list and the subsequent tightening of security measures are a result of the New Year's Day botched bombing attack on a Northwest Airlines flight carried out by a 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. ... who is a Nigerian national...
Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili who has been actively leading a campaign aimed to improve the country's reputation, said Abdulmutallab's act was a "one-off" and that it is unjust to brand Nigeria as a threat. "Abdulmutallab's behaviour is not reflective of Nigeria and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians. It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behavior of one person," Akunyili said. How about the behavior of the Muslim minority in the country's north?
"He was not influenced in Nigeria, he was not recruited or trained in Nigeria, he was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria," she told Reuters. "Except maybe by the Nigerian Taliban..."
"(He) was a well-behaved child from a responsible family who developed the ugly tendency to do what he tried to do because of his exposure outside the shores of Nigeria," Akunyili said.
He tried to be a good Muslim boy, far from Dar al Islam, the Muslim world. And so he sought out the best Muslims, to be guided by them, and found the taqfiris who led him to Al Qaeda. Perhaps the Ummah should redefine what it is to be a good Muslim so that other well-behaved boys are no longer led astray, like Pinocchio at Donkey Island. In the meantime, let Minister Akunyili ponder the term "Nigerian Taliban", remember a certain massacre a decade ago, and become a less censorious of the world beyond her nation's borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
seems i remember the bombing attempt on CHRISTMAS day... not New Year's Day. do the iranians deny Christmas exists kind of like the the lack of Israel on their maps?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
01/05/2010 1:27 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Religion based politics will be banned if cancellation of the fifth amendment to the country's constitution is finalised by the Supreme Court (SC), said the law minister yesterday.
But he added that the words Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim in the preamble of the constitution and its declaration of Islam as the state religion will remain intact.
He said Islam was made the state religion through the eighth amendment, and the High Court (HC) in its verdict did not say anything about the words Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim. He also said the words are a part of the constitution's preamble, not of its main body.
The fifth amendment had legitimised all governments that had been in power following the coup of August 15, 1975 till April 9, 1979 including late president Ziaur Rahman's ascension to the presidency, and included Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim in the preamble of the constitution.
The SC on Sunday lifted its four-year old stay on a HC verdict that had declared the fifth amendment illegal.
Meanwhile yesterday, BNP Secretary General Khandakar Delwar Hossain and three SC lawyers Tajul Islam, Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan, and Munshi Ahsan Kabir filed two separate petitions with the apex court seeking reinstatement of the stay on the HC judgement.
Tajul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday that the chamber bench of the Appellate Division of SC will hear the petitions today.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said the original spirit of the constitution will be restored if the HC verdict's implementation is cleared by the SC.
The original constitution of 1972 embodied four fundamental principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism.
Shafique Ahmed said the government will implement the HC verdict according to the recommendations of Bangladesh Law Commission.
"We will seek suggestions from the law commission on how we can implement the High Court verdict after January 18, when the Supreme Court is due to hear the leave to appeal petitions against the verdict," he said.
He made the statements while talking to reporters in his Bangladesh Secretariat office yesterday afternoon.
Replying to a question, the minister told The Daily Star that despite the cancellation of the fifth amendment, the fourth amendment will however not be restored as the 12th amendment of 1991 blocks the way for that restoration.
The Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act 1975 was passed on January 25, 1975. Sweeping changes were brought to the constitution by this amendment. The presidential form of government was introduced in place of the parliamentary system, a one-party system was put in place instead of a multi-party system, the power of the parliament was curtailed increasing the power of the president, and the judiciary lost much of its independence, according to legal experts.
The 12th amendment restored the parliamentary system of government replacing the presidential system.
Although the fifth amendment cancelled the fourth amendment which had introduced the one party system putting BKSAL in power, it however kept the provision of the presidential government intact.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Rules of governing or a math problem? You decide.
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's new currency introduced in late November has plummeted in value compared to the Chinese yuan, a local radio broadcaster claimed Sunday. The Seoul-based Open Radio for North Korea (ORNK), citing unidentified sources along the Sino-North Korean border, said that merchants were exchanging one yuan for 1,000 new North Korean won as of late last month, plummeting from the 50 won traded for every yuan on Dec. 3, right after Pyongyang introduced the new currency.
That's a 20-fold devaluation in less than one month. Shades of Zimbabwe!
Under the move, the communist country knocked two zeros off its currency without warning on Nov. 30 in the first such value adjustment since 1959.
The radio, which aims to inform North Koreans on events happening in the outside world, said the value of the new North Korean currency fell to 520 won to the yuan by the middle of last month, indicating a steady depreciation throughout the month.
Before the currency reform took place, 1 yuan was worth around 588 old won, which is equivalent to 5.88 new won.
Robert Mugabe would be so proud ...
The ORNK speculated that the reason for the new currency's weakness may be Pyongyang's decision to not allow foreign currency to circulate in the market. "The official proclamation to ban foreign currency use was made on Dec. 28, but there have been rumors circulating after the currency reform took place, causing the new won to depreciate against Chinese money," the radio station report said.
It said that with Pyongyang unlikely to allow the use of foreign money as a medium of exchange or to bolster its new currency, it may be hard to determine when the value of the new won will stop falling.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The Seoul-based Open Radio for North Korea (ORNK),
That's worth a laugh right there.
RADIO OINK
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/05/2010 11:47 Comments ||
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#2
Still think it was a good idea to screw around printing US 100's, there, genius?
TOKYO -- Japan's prime minister said Monday he will press for more equal ties with Washington this year, the 50th anniversary of a joint security treaty that grants many special privileges to U.S. troops stationed in the country.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, in a New Year's speech shown live on national television, said he hopes the alliance will evolve to become more open and candid. It is important "for both sides to be able to firmly say what needs to be said, and to increase the relationship of trust," he said.
Sure thing, Sparky. Just as soon as your country can defend itself, we can have equal ties.
The real issue is acting as a military stabilizing force in the region, which takes a great deal more effort and expense. Any fool with a pointy stick can act to defend himself, although of course Japan is quite a few steps beyond pointy sticks.
Under a security pact signed in 1960, U.S. armed forces are allowed broad use of Japanese land and facilities, and currently some 47,000 American troops are stationed in Japan. The U.S. is obliged to respond to attacks on Japan and protects the country under its nuclear umbrella. More than half those troops are stationed in the southern island of Okinawa, where many residents complain about noise, pollution and crime linked to the bases.
We can re-negotiate that any time you want.
U.S.-Japan ties have become strained since Hatoyama took office in September over the relocation of Futenma U.S. Marine airfield on Okinawa, as part of a broader reorganization agreed in 2006. The plan calls for 8,000 Marines to be transferred to the U.S. territory of Guam and for Futenma's facilities to be moved to a northern part of Okinawa. But residents oppose the move and simply want Futenma shut down.
Hatoyama has delayed making a final decision and said he's willing to consider other options for the base. The leader of a junior coalition partner has said she wants the base moved off Japanese territory altogether.
The same day we do that, our ability -- and willingness -- to defend Japan is over.
In Monday's speech, the prime minister said the Japan-U.S. partnership also needs to tackle broader issues such as global warming. "It doesn't even need to be said that the core of the Japan-U.S. alliance is military security. But it is important to show that at various levels, Japan and America are in a crucial relationship," he said.
The ruling Democrat party, which swept to power in summer elections that broke five decades of dominance by the Liberal Democrats, has said previously that it wants negotiations with Washington to be on more even terms than under previous governments.
Is Tokyo ready to deploy and use armed robotic soldiers? They don't have the population in the required age range to project power anywhere, they have a huge and growing elderly population without young relatives to care for them and their economy is precarious. Posture on, Hatoyama, but decide carefully.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Japan has been saying this since the "Japan that can say No" days. Nothing new here, not even a change in the North Korean situation.
#7
I'd like to know how they built the Space Battleship Yamoto beneath the rust of the old battleship. That was a nice trick. And what was up with the doctor, everyone seemed caucasion except the doctor who acted Japanese but had a sort of faux human look.
#8
ION WMF > "MAINICHI SHIMBUN" JAPANESE MEDIA: CHINESE PLA FORCES ON THE DISPUTED NANSHAS, DAOYU ISLANDS [Nippon's Senkaku Islands] MILITARILY THREATENS SOUTHERN JAPAN, DESTROYS ANY ANTI-CHIN DETERRENCE FROM THE US MARINES ON OKINAWA.
* SAME > VIETNAM ANGRY: CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY DECLARES THAT XISHA, NANSHA ISLANDS AND SOUTH CHINA SEAS INDISPUTABLY BELONG ONLY TO CHINA. DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE-CONTROLLED ISLANDS' TOURISM; + "SANKEI SHIMBUN" JAPAN MEDIA:CHINESE RESEARCH VESSEL "DONG FONG HONG II" SURVEYED DISPUTED DAOYU ISLANDS [Senkakus] WIDOUT NEED TO ASK JAPAN'S CONSENT. China sees no need to aks another Country to survey its own sovereign territory.
* THE NATIONAL.AE [Arab Emirates] > AUSTRALIA URGED TO ACCEPT [Palau] UIGHURS.
Effective midnight on Tuesday, special security is being imposed in Dandong, on the Chinese border with North Korea, Free North Korea Radio reported Monday. The security upgrade is seen as heralding a long-expected visit to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Citing sources, Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Thursday said back-to-back visits to China by key North Korean officials after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's trip to North Korea last October "appear related to steps to fine-tune the agenda ahead of Kim's visit." The daily added Kim is highly likely to visit China at the end of this month.
On Dec. 22, the Yomiuri Shimbun also speculated Kim will visit China in January or February this year. But an inside source said, "The chances are slim that Kim Jong-il, who suffered a stroke, will travel to China during the winter." One North Korean defector said, "The special security level being imposed in Dandong may have nothing to do with Kim Jong-il's visit to China."
The North Korean leader has visited China four times so far -- in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006 -- with two of those trips taking place in January.
Be a darned shame if a railroad bridge collapsed as he went by. You listening, Halliburton?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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Irish authorities say a Slovak man unwittingly carried hidden explosives on board a weekend flight to Dublin after a Slovakian airport-security test went awry.
The 49-year-old electrician was arrested Tuesday, but released without charge after Slovak security officials alerted their Dublin counterparts to the screw-up.
Officials had surreptitiously placed different bomb components in the check-in luggage of nine passengers to see if security screeners would spot the contraband. The bag containing 90 hidden grams (3 ounces) of plastic explosive got through—and then wasn't stopped from traveling to Dublin.
Irish Army explosives experts stressed the explosive posed no threat to passengers because it was stable and not connected to other essential bomb parts.
The 28-year-old Somali man charged with attempted murder of a Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard on New Year's Day has been on Kenya's terror watch-list.
The man identified by the Kenyan police as Mohammed Muhideen Gelle, had been once arrested by the force after he arrived in the country ahead of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit last year, Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said on Monday.
The suspect, whose identity was not released in Denmark due to a Danish court ban, broke into Westergaard's house on Friday armed with a knife and an axe shouting "revenge."
He was shot twice by a police officer who arrived at the scene. The court has ordered that he remain in custody for four weeks on charges of attempting to murder the cartoonist and the police officer who shot him.
On September 30, 2005, the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve sacrilegious cartoons aimed at defaming Islam. One of the cartoons published was created by Westertgaard.
As a result, over 3,000 Muslim's took part in peaceful protests in Copenhagen, and million of others took part in similar demonstrations elsewhere in the world.
Denmark's ambassador to Kenya, Bo Jensen, told the Danish news agency Ritzau's Bureau I/S that the suspect had been taken into custody in Kenya for incomplete travel documents. Immigration charges were later dropped and he was released from police custody due to a lack of evidence.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) revealed in a statement that Westergaard's attacker has close ties with Somalia's Al-Shabab militants as well as with "al-Qaeda leaders in East Africa."
Kiraithe said that the suspect had been observed associating with individuals on Kenyan terror watch-list.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We need to set up a series of traps. Then release some really anti-Islamic cartoons and let it slip that the cartoonist is living in the trap. Then bag the bastards that come and get him. Repeat as necessary.
Big news, likely to be sustained if appealed to the USSC. Read the entire piece at the Volokh Conspiracy but in brief, the president and military have the authority to detain non-Americans captured in military zones that does not have to yield to a writ of habeas corpus.
Further, for any hearing about the status of a captured person, the evidence required for detention, or continued detention, is NOT 'beyond a reasonable doubt', NOT 'clear and convincing', but AT MOST 'preponderance of evidence'. The Circuit Court further notes that an even lower standard of evidence may be sufficient.
Further, 'hearsay' evidence is permitted because an interrogation is not a criminal proceeding; though a captured person has some right to the 'reliability' of statements in any hearing to determine his status.
It also notes that the standard here does not apply to American citizens captured in similar circumstances; while not addressed specifically, an American citizen would be entitled to the protection of habeas.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2010 15:15 ||
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From the annals of Taking the New Airport Security Measures a Bit Too Far: Joan Rivers, an old Jewish comedienne whose forte is mocking red-carpet dresses, was prevented from boarding a flight in Costa Rica bound for Newark on Sunday because a Continental agent deemed her passport suspicious. Not because the birthday field says "1933, New York" while her face says "2009, Dr. Hoefflin's office," but because her name is listed as Joan Rosenberg a.k.a. Joan Rivers (Rosenberg is the name of her late husband).
"Do terrorists wear Manolo Blahniks?" Rivers quipped after catching a different flight back to America the next day. No, they don't, and we're left wondering whether the gate agent really had a legitimate concern about Rivers or is just a longtime Johnny Carson fan. We know you can't make security exceptions for someone just because they're a celebrity ... but come on! She's Joan Rivers, the least likely terrorist ever. Then again, terrorism experts are always warning us to anticipate and defend against the next attack, not the previous ones. Sure, most of us expect the next terrorist to be another Islamic fundamentalist, but wouldn't it be the most diabolically genius plan ever if Al Qaeda were somehow able to enlist Joan Rivers?
#1
Well in Continental's favor, after Joan's latest series of facelifts she now looks like this"
Manolo Blahniks are to die for.
Meanwhile, InstaPundit has an item that Michael Yon was handcuffed at the Seattle airport. Must be that Afghanistan stamp on the passport.
Go Bureaucracy! The only growth industry left in America.
Posted by: ed ||
01/05/2010 12:59 Comments ||
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#2
According to Yon's tweet, it was because he refused to tell TSA how much he makes. Says he was handcuffed for this obvious display of terrorism. Personally, I think airport security has been farmed out by TSA to the IRS since so many are going Galt.
#3
They asked Mr. Yon how much he makes? But surely he hasn't started working on his tax returns yet, so how could he possibly know?
As for the Afghan passport stamp, I don't doubt the repeated entry stamps for Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc. raised eyebrows. Mr. Wife used to get questions when he was working in the Middle East, so he always kept his corporate ID handy. Especially after the glue attaching the fourth extension to his passport loosened, and he had to tape it in with unofficial tape. He got a new passport shortly thereafter, four years ahead of schedule. This was back in the 80s, when things were not as tense as they are now -- now we get to have the delightful choice between inattentive security and hair-trigger overreaction. Personally, I'd rather they overreact than otherwise.
#4
The BOZO was supposed to ask how much money he was bringing in, not how much he makes. How much you are bringing in is a standard customs question. Who ever let him be hancuffed for refusing to divulge income needs to join the ranks of the unemployed.
#5
Slighly more hair, but still looks predomin the same since PENN STATE - "MARYLAND/DC SNIPER", OKC "JOHN DOE #2", ANTHRAX PRE-RUN, ........@and all that jazz.
MUZAFFARABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said all super powers should come forward to settle the Kashmir dispute.
Addressing a joint session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Kashmir Council, President Zardari said India wanted to suppress the voice of the Kashmiri people through use of force.
President Zardari said fighting for Kashmir's liberation was Pakistan's responsibility.
Regional peace would not be possible without the Kashmir dispute's resolution, he said.
The president told the session that a committee on Kashmir Affairs had also been constituted. He also announced a countrywide increase in number of seats for medical students from the region.
Meanwhile, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq complained regarding the poor performance of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA). — DawnNews
Posted by: john frum ||
01/05/2010 15:26 ||
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#1
ION PAK PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PPP LEADER BADAR: INTER-PARTY POLITICAL CONFRONTATIONS AGZ NATIONAL INTERESTS WILL END PAKISTANI DEMOCRACY.
Ditto for the GOP-DEMS, + AMerica = Amerika???
* THE NEWS.PK > [Pakistan Christian Congress = PCC]A CHRISTIAN PROVINCE IN PAKISTAN? PCC broadly supports the division of chaotic PUNJAB into THREE AUTONOMOUS PAK PROVINCES, includ one wid CHRISTIAN-MAJORITY. Punjab breakup by Islamabad Govt. deemed by PCC as good for Pak national stability.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Hamid Gul has said that he played a role in forming the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and any accountability of the issue should be started from him, a private TV channel quoted him as saying on Monday. Talking to the channel, Gul said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was against any accountability, adding that the Saifur Rehman Accountability Cell was one sided. He said people had hoped that the then president Farooq Laghari would do justice through accountability, but he gave protection to journalists, generals and judges. Gul said when he would be probed about the IJI formation, he would reveal the names of those politicians who requested the military leadership not to hold elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I've long since arrived at the conclusion that there has never been a head of ISI who has been sane by any measure.
Hamid is head of the line, but they're all more or less like him, which says much more than they really want to reveal about the inner councils of Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 12:46 Comments ||
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#2
NEWS KERALA > STRATFOR THINKTANK: ANOTHER MUMBAI-STYLE ATTACK POSSIBLE TO PROVOKE INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICT.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/05/2010 15:03 ||
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#1
TOPIX/PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > US RUSHES TO BUILD NEW AFGHAN ARMY TO FIGHT MILITANTS [national army]. US trainers, advisors must first teach Tribals to de-priorize their historical allegiance to Clan, Village + Ethnicity in favor of new "PAK for Pakistanis" Nationalism.
The Hamas political representative in Lebanon says the Palestinian resistance group will fight alongside Hezbollah should Israel launch a new offensive against Lebanon.
"We are guests in Lebanon and our policy will not change," Ali Baraka said during a memorial service held on Sunday to mark one week since the death of two Hamas members in an explosion in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Who was it that mounted the bombs under those cars? I don't quite remember...
"However, we are committed to resisting against Israeli occupation forces," he added.
"Israel should know that if it launches a new attack against Lebanon, we will not stand handcuffed. We will face the aggression side by side with our brethren in Lebanon -- be they the resistance, the army, or the people, to repel the aggression," Baraka stated.
He forgot "shoulder to shoulder," and the usual line about shedding their blood.
In July 2006, Hezbollah resistance forces fired on an Israeli patrol in the border area, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two of them. Israel responded by bombarding parts of southern and eastern Lebanon, then widened the bombing campaign to cover most of Lebanon in what became a 33-day all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah retaliated with intense, daily missile barrages at northern Israel and as far south as Haifa.
Then Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert vowed to destroy Hezbollah's military capacity. Hezbollah pledged not to halt its barrage until Israel ceased its operations, which included widespread incursions into south Lebanon.
It was not until August 14 that a cease-fired brokered by the United Nations ended hostilities. About 1,000 people, mostly Lebanese civilians, were killed, and 1 million Lebanese civilians and some 300,000 to 400,000 Israelis were temporarily displaced. Both countries' economies suffered, although Lebanon's suffered far more since much of its infrastructure -- roads, bridges, electricity and water plants -- was damaged by Israel's bombing campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
They don't want to fight from Gaza anymore---I wonder why?
#2
It was always my opinion that the 2006 missile launches by Hezbollah was an attempt to relieve pressure on Gaza where the Israelis were operating at the time. I also believe that the Israeli response got them completely by surprise.
#3
ION ISRAEL MIL FORUM > MEMRI.ORG > RETIRED EGYPTIAN GENERALS SUPPORT CONTRUCTION OF RAFAH WALL, CLAIM HAMAS WANTS TO TURN SINAI INTO ANOTHER SWAT VALLEY???
[Ma'an] Israel's Army Radio has begun regularly transmitting announcements warning female soldiers not to hitchhike from their military bases.
"Female soldiers, don't hitchhike as you can't be sure how it will end," the announcement said.
It was not clear what lead to the frequent announcements, as there have been no known cases of Palestinian armed groups targeting female Israeli soldiers.
The increased announcements follow ongoing reports that, despite stalemate, a prisoner exchange deal whereby Palestinian militants holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli army has been known to enforce what it terms the "Hannibal procedure," whereby Israeli soldiers at risk of being kidnapped have been shot.
The policy is enacted to thwart leverage for any Palestinian prisoner swap and was discovered to have been used during the second Israeli war against Lebanon, where three soldiers were said to have been killed by Israeli forces as Hizbullah militants attempted to kidnap them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Fatah denied on Monday that progress had been made in reconciliation talks with Hamas.
"There is nothing new to talk about on the national reconciliation issue," Fatah spokesman Fahmi Za'arir said.
"Both sides have said a lot, but now something should be done order to get the Palestinian house in order," he added.
The remarks come after Hamas' Political Bureau chief Khalid Mash'al claimed on Sunday that the two groups were "in the final stages" of the reconciliation process.
"We achieved great strides toward achieving reconciliation," Mash'al told reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he met with that country's foreign minister.
Za'arir said that Hamas was dealing with reconciliation as if it were a competition.
The Fatah official also reiterated his party's argument that it was the signed an Egyptian-proposed plan to bring the two groups into a power-sharing agreement, while Hamas has not.
He was echoing the words of Fatah PLC bloc chair Azzam Al-Ahmad, who told the PA news agency WAFA on Sunday, "If Mash'al means what he says, he should go to Egypt and announce his party's commitment to Palestinian reconciliation."
Hamas, who won 2006 parliamentary elections, took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, shutting down security forces loyal to Abbas. The president then dissolved a unity government and appointed a caretaker administration in the West Bank.
Mash'al's trip to Saudi Arabia followed a state visit by Abbas. US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell will also visit the kingdom in the coming days, Reuters news agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh dear! And I was so looking forward to the big Paleostinian Unity celebration.
[Ma'an] Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad implicitly admitted in a report published on Sunday that Palestinian Authority security forces have tortured Hamas detainees over the past two years.
An Associated Press report on the subject, citing interviews with Hamas inmates, rights activists, Hamas officials and Fayyad himself, said that most torture had ended in October.
Fayyad's comments, however, amounted to the first time a senior PA official conceded that abuses were committed by the security forces, many of which are trained by the US, Russia, and other world powers.
Fayyad claimed a "dramatic change for the better" in West Bank prisons and said that 43 officers had been jailed, fired or demoted for abusing prisoners. The prime minister denied that torture was ever official policy but admitted past "excesses" that he said stemmed from a flawed culture of revenge.
Some of the torture described in the AP report includes prisoners being "beaten with clubs and cables."
The report also said that abuse had been so severe that, since 2007, eight detainees have died in jails in the West Bank and 15 in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Fayyad's concession was also the first time a PA official had publicly confirmed that Hamas members are arrested based on their political affiliation alone.
The AP report notes that "Security forces often arrest Hamas activists and hold them for lengthy periods without charge."
Fayyad himself has repeatedly denied that the PA jails people for political reasons. In an interview with Ma'an in July, he said all inmates in PA prisons were held in accordance with court orders.
In a speech in Ramallah in August, Fayyad said everyone in the PA's jails "have violated the law in one way or another."
At its weekly meeting on Monday, Fayyad's cabinet vowed on Monday to continue reforms it says have eliminated the use of torture in PA prisons.
In a statement summarizing the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed Fayyad's comments to the AP.
"Security institutions will continue in their efforts to enforce the rule of law in accordance with human rights," the cabinet said.
"The Council [of ministers] gave its full commitment to the security establishment's emphasis on standards and principles of human rights in their work and continuation of the process of accountability on the basis of international standards in this regard," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
TORTURE ALERT
Quick, get the UN involved.
Where is the outcry?
Where are the liberal tools?
Not a f'ing word.
More liberal hypocrisy in action.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/05/2010 0:44 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that the Iranian nation would not give up on its rights as it is more than "tenfold stronger" than it was a year ago.
Addressing Iranians residing in Tajikistan, where he is on an official visit, Ahmadinejad said Iran is now so powerful that it even plans to demand compensation for its rights that were violated in the past.
In December 2009, he promised to seek compensation for the damages Iran sustained during World War II.
The Iranian president's remarks came after an Israeli official claimed that the United Nations Security Council plans to adopt new sanctions against the country over its nuclear program due to the unrest in Iran.
Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and member of the UN nuclear watchdog, is accused by the West and Israel of pursuing military objective in its nuclear pursuit. The country, however, says its work is directed at the civilian applications of the technology, to which it is entitled under international law.
On Monday, President Ahmadinejad said foreign military presence in a number of regional countries had only fueled insecurity in the region. The Iranian president has long warned the world powers that their military adventurism in the oil-rich Middle East would spell the end of their empires.
"God willing, the dark ages of humanity are coming to an end and the Iranian nation can fill the vacuum created by the collapse of imperialistic powers," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted him as saying.
He expressed hope that plots to destabilize the region would soon end. The Iranian president also pronounced the county's stance on the turmoil in Afghanistan.
He said Tehran wants its neighboring country to experience security and peace. Afghanistan has been occupied by the military forces of the United States and a number of NATO members who for eight years have sought to secure the country by uprooting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
However, not only they failed to capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the foreign forces also failed in resting stability in Afghanistan, which experienced its most-violent year in 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Ammadinjehead reminds me of the "rice rocket" guys who put more stickers on their Honda Civic cars, to make them go much faster.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/05/2010 0:40 Comments ||
Top||
The former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) says the United States is afraid of Iran's nuclear capabilities and is trying to provoke other countries to wage a psychological war against Iran.
In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Sunday, retired general Asad Durrani said that although Iran has always insisted that its nuclear activities are totally peaceful, the West is trying to give the world the impression that Iran's nuclear program is not peaceful.
He stated that the US is threatening to impose more sanctions on Iran, even though other countries have said that the previous sanctions have been ineffective.
Iran has done everything it could within a diplomatic framework, but it will not bow to the West's pressure, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Iran has done everything it could within a diplomatic framework,
really?
c'mon
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/05/2010 0:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Iran has done everything it could within a diplomatic framework, but it will not bow to the West's pressure, he added.
Obviously a fan of nuclear Iran and based on past interviews believes jihad is the only way to win Kashmir.
#4
ION MEMRI.org > SALAFI-JIHADI GROUPS IN IRAQ REJECT CALL BY RESISTANCE GROUPS TO UNITE, URGES ALL GROUPS [Sunni Jihadi-Resistance Groups in Iraq]TO JOIN AL-QAEDA.
* ISRAEL FORUM > NETANYAHU WARNS LEBANON [Israel will hold Beirut Govt = Lebanon directly responsible for any Hizbollah attacks from Lebanon due to latter's formal recognition and support of same].
Dozens of Tehran University professors appealed to Iran's supreme leader to halt the ongoing violence against opposition protesters, a pro-reform Web site reported Monday. The letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - signed by 88 professors - was the latest daring challenge to the Iran's clerical leadership. The letter called the attacks a sign of weakness in the ruling system and demanded punishment for those who beat up students. It also urged Khamenei to order arrests over the hard-line crackdown, which intensified after protesters began chanting slogans against the supreme leader. "Nighttime attacks on defenseless student dormitories and daytime assaults on students at university campuses, venues of education and learning, is not a sign of strength. ... Nor is beating up students and their mass imprisonment," the letter read.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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Iran's Foreign Ministry has lashed out at France over resorting to violence in dealing with protesters in the country, describing it as violation of human rights.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast deplored the Sarkozy government's arrest of nearly 400 people across France on New Year's Eve. Mehman-Parast called on Paris to identify the source of unrest in the country. "Instead of attacking people, the French government should identify the origins of the recent unrest. By torching more than 1137 cars in different cities, the French people clearly want to show their dissatisfaction with economic inequality and social dysfunction in their country."
French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said in a statement that 405 arrests were made across the country, a figure that has doubled compared to last year. The French Interior Ministry had reportedly mobilized around 45,000 police officers during the night to confront discontent youth from immigrant-heavy suburbs.
Car burnings occasionally take place in France, but the number traditionally soars on New Year's Eve. This year, more than 70 cars had been reportedly set aflame only in the eastern city of Strasbourg. Meanwhile, police in the Hauts-de-Seine district near Paris reported 32 cases of arson. Riots and car-burnings that echo the events of 1789 are of regular occurrence during the past few years.
Unhappy youths living primarily in France's run-down ghettos use special days in the country to vent their anger at the discriminating policies against ethnic minorities and the high unemployment rate. Even the enactment of a law that sets possible prison sentences of up to three years and maximum fines of $63,000 for people convicted of arson while demonstrating has failed to deter the protests.
Such violent protests flared-up in France for the first time in October and November 2005, when angry youths burned some 9,000 vehicles, following the deaths of two teenagers, who were chased by the police in a Paris suburb.
On a different note, Mehman-Parast said the death of more than 353 French transients in the year 2009 has become "the undoing of a European country that boasts of equality and democracy."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#4
France should encourage economic development in very rural Corsica, by transporting the protesters to prisons there. I'm sure the Corsicans would give them a warm welcome.
#5
These idiots may as well work for the BO administration. They are clueless or just in denial about what is happening in their own country. Maybe we will have an opening soon when Janet gets the boot.
Posted by: Art ||
01/05/2010 9:28 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Here's an idea: instead of arresting the sweet little tykes, toss them into the nearest car-b-que...
Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi says that "several foreign nationals" have been detained during the last week unrest. "Some of the detainees are foreign nationals pursuing propaganda and psychological warfare," Moslehi told reporters on Monday, IRIB News reported. "They had entered Iran only two days before Ashura. Their cameras and equipment have been confiscated."
The minister did not mention the number or the nationalities of those arrested.
On Sunday, December 27, 2009, protesters took to the streets and used the mourning ceremony of Ashura to chant anti-government slogans. They also damaged public property and clashed with security forces. Seven people were killed in the unrest.
The deputy police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, said the force had not used violence against the protesters, adding that the deaths were being investigated by the authorities.
In response to the Ashura riots, millions of Iranians took to the streets on the following Wednesday, denouncing the sacrilege of Ashura and demanding that rioters be brought to justice. That was the government-sponsored demonstrations, naturally...
Iran blames Western countries, who were quick to condemn what they called the violence in the unrest, of masterminding and supporting the riots that erupted after the presidential election in June 2009. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pointed the finger at the United States and Israel for staging the protests during the Ashura ceremonies. I confess. It was me.
Moslehi supported the Iranian President's stance and said US President Barack Obama and the leaders in Israel have revealed their agenda by supporting the Iranian opposition. They expect support for Ahmadinejad?
He added that investigations into the cases of the detained foreigners were being completed and that their cases would be handed to the judiciary within the next couple of days.
Ebrahim Raeesi, the first deputy of the judiciary, said last week that more than 500 protesters had been detained by authorities during the Ashura riots. Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said Monday that protesters had acted against national security and would face the consequences, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. "According to the Islamic penal code, if it is proven to the judge that certain individuals had the intentions of confronting the Islamic government and the foundation of the establishment, the punishment can be as severe as the death penalty," Dolatabadi said. And I expect it will be. One can only look forward to the unknown day in the future, when the ayatollahs are dangling from the lamp posts by their turbans.
He added that those who had taken to the streets on Ashura sought to undermine "the Islamic nature of the Islamic Republic," which, he said, is one of the most important religious aspects of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2010 00:00 ||
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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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Nigerian government has said that the West African country's inclusion on the US enhanced screening-list released on Monday is "unfair." 
Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Hamid Gul has said that he played a role in forming the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and any accountability of the issue should be started from him, a private TV channel quoted him as saying on Monday. Talking to the channel, Gul said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was against any accountability, adding that the Saifur Rehman Accountability Cell was one sided. He said people had hoped that the then president Farooq Laghari would do justice through accountability, but he gave protection to journalists, generals and judges. Gul said when he would be probed about the IJI formation, he would reveal the names of those politicians who requested the military leadership not to hold elections.
Dozens of Tehran University professors appealed to Iran's supreme leader to halt the ongoing violence against opposition protesters, a pro-reform Web site reported Monday. The letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - signed by 88 professors - was the latest daring challenge to the Iran's clerical leadership. The letter called the attacks a sign of weakness in the ruling system and demanded punishment for those who beat up students. It also urged Khamenei to order arrests over the hard-line crackdown, which intensified after protesters began chanting slogans against the supreme leader. "Nighttime attacks on defenseless student dormitories and daytime assaults on students at university campuses, venues of education and learning, is not a sign of strength. ... Nor is beating up students and their mass imprisonment," the letter read.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi says that "several foreign nationals" have been detained during the last week unrest. "Some of the detainees are foreign nationals pursuing propaganda and psychological warfare," Moslehi told reporters on Monday, IRIB News reported. "They had entered Iran only two days before Ashura. Their cameras and equipment have been confiscated." 
