[Quqnoos] Swedish diplomat has turned down an offer to become the new UN special envoy to Afghanistan. Staffan de Mistura, the UN former envoy to Iraq, has turned down the Afghan job offer due to "family reasons," according to reports.
Diplomats said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had wanted de Mistura to replace his outgoing envoy in Kabul, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide. Eide was accused by his former deputy, US diplomat Peter Galbraith, of playing down the extent of the fraud in last year's presidential election. Eide denied the allegations and Ban fired Galbraith.
Diplomats said it was not clear who would get the job now. Possible candidates are former Slovak foreign minister, Jan Kubis, and Ian Martin of Britain, the former UN envoy to Nepal and previous head of Amnesty International.
"He says it's for family reasons," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Now we're back to square one."
The new envoy is expected to play an important role supporting US President Barack Obama's new policy in Afghanistan, which includes more US and NATO troops a "civilian surge".
Ban had hoped to announce de Mistura's appointment during an international conference on Afghanistan in London next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Liberia is off-limits to the media and "Human Rights" crowd, as is Mugabe's Zimbabwe and the genocide of farmers and terrible urban crime in South Africa. To decry the failures of tribal governance would be blatantly racist.
Taylor was hardly US-backed--Libya and Cote d'Ivoire (whose president had a grudge against Doe) were his first backers.
The legislature is full of warlord cronies: each faction backed their own candidates.
Lots of the footage is quite old--you aren't likely to see anybody brandishing an AK47 today. It makes the movies more dramatic, but gives the wrong impression of what the country is like now.
Rambo claims rebels could take over the capitol in a few hours if the UN left. That's an exaggeration, and if one group tried others would start fighting too so nobody would win the city. However, to me the city looks hard to defend, and from what I saw there impossible to police. It could certainly descend into chaos again very quickly.
Crime is a huge problem. Imagine day care centers and schools with razor wire topping high walls.
Even before the coup and civil wars the US embassy in Monrovia was heavily fortified (possibly because of Hezbulla refugees hiding among the Lebanese population)--today the block is even more strongly built up.
The UN is spending a billion a year in Liberia. I saw lots of house construction and cabinetry shops and the like--and wondered how much of that is driven by the money the UN people (soldiers and others) are spending there. When the UN leaves, there'll be a large hole in the economy that I don't think they're prepared to deal with. (Not that that's a reason for the UN to stay, just some musing about what happens next.)
Posted by: James ||
01/24/2010 12:40 Comments ||
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#4
Liberia isn't all that far off limits, apparently.
See the New York Times:
James was last there in 2007, and we keep close touch with the situation there. There are a lot of hideous situations and a lot of glimmers of hope. We know one pastor teaching job skills and providing shelter to homeless ex-soldiers; we know of well-drilling projects, which (we hope) include "how to maintain the well"; and we know other individuals just rolling up their sleeves and pitching in.
One high school, founded by Southern Baptists and still supported by them, is open again. Since a whole generation of young people didn't learn how to farm during the war, this high school is teaching agriculture. The livestock they raise teaches the kids how to farm, how to teach others to farm, and feeds the kids.
We know of several other indigenous efforts to help each other out and get the country back on its feet. Mission organizations are helping out in a lot of small ways. The UN is doing a lot of things, not just peacekeeping; including efforts to combat corruption. (no snickering, please)
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is articulate, honest, and up against entrenched evil. The warlords and factions get in the way of progress. The University of Liberia graduating class in 2007 graduated a slew of lawyers and "business administrators" and no entrepreneurs. Too many people have the same motto for government that Mike Royko ascribed to Chicago: "Ubi Est Mea?" (Where's mine?")
Animism is to Liberia what Voodoo is to Haiti. Its spirits are arbitrary, capricious, and demonic. Controlling another person is power. This is why African kings and chiefs measured their power by how many people they had under their control; why they made wars on their neighbors to get slaves, and why they sold slaves to the Arabs for centuries. See National Geographic, Feb. 1992; it's right on.
The Americo-Liberian regime suppressed but could not wipe out the witchcraft (one heard persistent reports of bodies found with missing parts); and it rebounded dramatically when Doe came to power. Doe was a Krahn tribesman, and during his regime the Krahn and the Mandinke took it out on their tribal rivals, the Gio and the Mano. Krahn and Mandinke soldiers attacked and butchered Mano and Gio with impunity. Charles Taylor rallied Mano and Gio and their allies for revenge. The fighters, superstitious as all get-out, looked for whatever extra help they could find, and the old human-sacrifice magic was available. How many of the reports are real and how many rumor we'll probably never know, but human body part witchcraft is part of the mental landscape again.
Posted by: mom (mrs. james) and james ||
01/24/2010 19:34 Comments ||
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How lovely that the last one is cherished and watched over by Mr. bin Laden's friends. Who is watching over and caring for -- and supporting -- the other wives and the children he produced with them? It's no wonder the children of polygamy are emotionally damaged, when they are so easily cast away.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Abu Dhabi police arrested seven men for attempting to steal $10.2 billion from the United Arab Emirates' central bank using forged documents, the official WAM news agency reported Saturday.
The three Europeans and four Asians "were involved in presenting false documents to the UAE central bank purportedly from a European commercial bank" showing the bank owed 7.2 billion euros ($10.2 billion) to the family of their leader, WAM said. "The documents presented by the suspects were fake and meant for attempted fraud targeting the central bank," the agency quoted Abu Dhabi police colonel Hammad Ahmed al-Hammadi as saying.
The seven, including the leader of Asian origin, face up to 10 years in prison. This was not the first time such a scam has been attempted in the UAE.
In July 2009, UAE's Ministry of Interior announced that it had foiled two scam attempts to withdraw about $ 42 billion from the Central Bank.
The ministry said six individuals, including the branch manager of a UAE bank, tried to withdraw AED153 billion ($14.6 billion) from the Central Bank in the first attempt. In the second attempt, which happened 39 days after the first one, the group tried to withdraw AED904 million ($246 million).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Yahya Ibrahim, who has described Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and is accused of advocating conflict with the West, is due to speak at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), next month and at Birmingham University in March.
He is one of at least five extreme Islamists who have been allowed to enter the UK in recent years despite being banned by countries such as the United States or Australia. They include a Jamaican-born Muslim preacher who the US claims is linked to the group behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, and a former Pakistani senator who has praised the Taliban.
The governing body for British universities, Universities UK, has launched a review of the activities of violent extremists on campuses, following revelations by The Sunday Telegraph over the activities of a number of 'preachers of hate' in the UK and their suspected influence on Abdulmutallab's radicalisation.
The Government will face further questions as this newspaper today identifies five foreign radical Islamists who have been allowed in to Britain in the past four years, despite being banned from entering other countries. These are Mr Ibrahim, Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, Tariq Suweidan, and Sheikh Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
Mr Ibrahim, a Canadian citizen who works as an academic in Perth, Australia, was barred from entering the US in 2005 while travelling to Texas to deliver a lecture entitled Muslims Beware of Extremism. He has preached in Mecca that Jews were "monkeys and pigs", "rats of the world" and the "offspring of apes and pigs"; that Christians were "cross worshippers ... those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas and the poison of their cultures, the followers of secularism"; and that Hindus were "idol worshippers". He has also claimed that AIDS is a punishment from Allah.
Mr Ibrahim is due to speak at a two-day course organised by the Al Kauthar Institute at UWIC on February 13 and 14, and at the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, in Edgbaston, on March 6 and 7. Participants will be charged £60 a head at both events. It is thought the cleric is hoping to speak at other UK venues, including mosques, during his latest visit.
Last August Mr Ibrahim spoke at a conference organised by the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham one of 10 in the city which benefit from funding as part of the Government's Prevent strategy to stop the spread of extremism.
Also among the Green Lane speakers last year was Mr Al-Sudais, an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, who, despite denouncing terrorism, has described Jews as "the scum of the human race" and "monkeys and pigs and worshippers of false gods". Mr Al-Sudais was banned from entering Canada in 2004 and has been barred from attending conferences in the US.
The pair were joined at the Green Lane event by Mr Philips, a Jamaican-born Canadian citizen who has said that Islam condones marital rape, believes AIDS is "divine retribution" on gays and has said that "Western culture led by the United States is an enemy of Islam".
Mr Philips was also invited to speak at the annual dinner of the Islamic student society at Queen Mary last March, where he was praised for his "deep study and understanding of Islam". Yet he was deported from the US in 2004 and refused entry into Australia in 2007 after the American government linked him to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, which killed six and injured 1,000. No attempt has been made by the US to have him extradited from Canada.
Sheikh Qazi Hussain Ahmed, 71, is a senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist party in Pakistan and a former senator in that country, who has praised the Taliban as "just and honourable men who brought peace to Afghanistan". He was denied entry into Belgium and the Netherlands in 2004 after being classed a security risk, but travelled to London in 2006 to attend the two-day Islam Expo conference.
Mr Suweidan, a Kuwaiti-born radical, told a meeting in Chicago in 2000: Palestine will not be liberated but through Jihad. Nothing can be achieved without sacrificing blood. The Jews will meet their end at our hands.' He was subsequently banned from the US. Despite this he was invited by the Home Office to take part in a UK roadshow against extremism in 2006.
Laith Alani, an Iraqi immigrant to the UK who stabbed two NHS doctors to death in West Yorkshire in 1990, has won the right to stay in Britain after a judge ruled that he would pose a danger to the public in Iraq, the UK public be damned. The murderer says he acted that way because he believed he had received a "command from Allah". After his arrest, Alani told detectives: "It was a command from Allah. I have had visions from Allah and you can't be more right than Allah."
He told police he believed one of the doctors was Satan and one was Lucifer, and said he had added their names to a death list which also included James Whale, the broadcaster, who had earlier 'cut off' Alani during a radio phone-in during which he expressed anti-Semitic views. The case comes after The Sunday Telegraph revealed how the UK's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal regularly overturns attempts by the Home Office to deport foreign criminals at the end of their sentences.
#1
Guyana is 7% muslim via the indentured colonists brought by the British from India (half the population). It's the second highest in the Western hemisphere after their neighbor Suriname.
Posted by: ed ||
01/24/2010 12:08 Comments ||
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#2
Guyana also makes mischief with Charles Taylor, trafficking in blood diamonds according to the UN, (surprise!)and with Chavez, in the transhipping of drugs and weapons. Visa fraud has also been noted previously.
An unconfirmed report by the Russian Northern Fleets says the Haiti earthquake was caused by a flawed US Navy 'earthquake weapons' test before the weapons could be utilized against Iran.
United States Navy test of one of its 'earthquake weapons' which was to be used against Iran, went 'horribly wrong' and caused the catastrophic quake in the Caribbean, the website of Venezuela's ViVe TV recently reported, citing the Russian report.
After the report was released, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also made a similar claim, saying that a US drill, carried out in preparation for a deliberate attempt to cause an earthquake in Iran, had led to the deadly incident in Haiti, claiming more than 110,000 lives.
Though Russian Northern Fleets' report was not confirmed by official sources, the comments attracted special attention in some US and Russian media outlets including Fox news and Russia Today.
Russia Today's report said that Moscow has also been accused of possessing and utilizing such weapons.
In 2002, a Georgian Green Party leader claimed that Moscow had instigated an earthquake on Georgian territory, the TV channel said.
According to ViVe, the unconfirmed Russian report says earlier this month the US carried out a similar test in the Pacific Ocean, which also caused another 6.5 magnitude earthquake in an area near the town of Eureka, California.
The California quake resulted in no deaths or serious injury, but left many buildings damaged.
The Venezuelan news website said that the report also introduced the possibility that the US Navy may have had "full knowledge" of the damage that the test could cause.
The report also speculated that knowledge of the possible outcome was why the US military had pre-positioned the deputy commander of US Southern Command, General P. K. Keen, on the island so that he could oversee relief efforts if the need arose.
Based on the alleged report, the ultimate goal of the US weapons tests was to initiate a series of deadly earthquakes in Iran to topple the current Islamic system in the country.
The tests are believed to be part of the United States' High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which has been associated with many conspiracy theories.
Other than being blamed for earthquakes, HAARP has also been associated with weather anomalies that cause floods, droughts and hurricanes.
Some sources have even linked the 7.8 magnitude quake that shook the Chinese city of Sichuan in May 12, 2008 with the program.
Allegations have been made that since the late 1970's, the US has 'greatly advanced' the state of its earthquake weapons to the point where it is now utilizing devices that employ a Tesla Electromagnetic Pulse, Plasma and Sonic technology, along with 'shockwave bombs.'
Russia has accused the US military of employing such devices in Afghanistan to trigger the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the country back in March, 2002.
In the mid-1990s the Russian State Duma issued a press release on HAARP, which was signed by 90 deputies. The statement said the US was "creating new integral geophysical weapons that may influence the near-Earth medium with high-frequency radio waves."
"The significance of this qualitative leap could be compared to the transition from cold steel to firearms, or from conventional weapons to nuclear weapons."
"This new type of weapons differ from previous types in that the near-Earth medium becomes at once an object of direct influence and its component," the statement explained.
In 1997, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen also expressed concern about activities that "can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves."
The US government, however, has chosen to stick to its position that HAARP is merely a program aimed at analyzing the Earth's ionosphere for the purpose of developing communications and surveillance technology. Yeah, that's what we want you to believe...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Our US Navy has the know how (tested) of the precision to shoot down a missile traveling thousands of miles per hour. But, we create an earthquake that is 7,187 miles off target?
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five. .... Groucho Marx
#3
Every time I reach the point where I can't believe people coud get any stupider, along comes something like this and I have to start my graphs all over again.
#5
In his wacko show, "Conspiracy Theory" Jesse "the Body" Ventura, theorized that Alaska based US beamers may have caused the Tsunami in Indonesia. Wish I had my own beam-device.
We can neither confirm nor deny that we caused a 7.1 earthquake on January 11th, 2009 that emananted 2.6 miles below the earths at 19º 00' N and 72º 25' W r along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone (EPGFZ), which runs from Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic, and extends across the southern portion of Haiti through the Caribbean Sea to the region of the Plantain Garden River in the parish of St Thomas, Jamaica and can produce about 20.6 plus or minus 1.66 millimeters of lateral motion per year".
#7
I've got a better response, HH, but Bambi will never use it:
"You clowns are really as stupid as you look, ain'tcha?"
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/24/2010 11:13 Comments ||
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#8
It's amazing the forbearance of such all powerful as the Americans. One would think such beings that can crumple the earth's crust at will would swallow Iran into the bowels of Hades or send iceberg laden tidal waves into Murmansk while making lunch.
Posted by: ed ||
01/24/2010 12:13 Comments ||
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#9
Sorry guys... I _really_ thought that 7 was a 2...
#12
WMF > US ACCUSED OF CREATING HAITI EARTHQUAKES, PLANS FUTURE BIGGER "EARTHQUAKES", GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOPOLITICAL, BEYOND HAITI IN REGIONS AROUND THE WORLD | IMPERIALIST US RECOGNIZES ONLY TWO KINDS OF DEMOCRACY: AMERICAN VERSUS NON-AMERICAN.
* SAME > "EARTHQUAKE/TECTONIC WARS": CHINA CAN PREEMPTIVELY PRECLUDE OR PREVENT ANY MAJOR WAR OR INVASION BY JAPAN BY GEOLOGICALLY CAUSING JAPAN TO SINK/COLLAPSE INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN VIA THE DETONATION OF FOUR HYDROGEN BOMBS EMBEDDED UNDER THE MARIANAS TRENCH. Okinawa, the Philippines, Two KOREAS, + Taiwan [Russ Far East-SIberia?], etc. likely to suffer severe local consequences but can SURVIVE GEOLOGICALLY INTACT ALONG WID MAJORITY OR BULK OF THEIR POPULATIONS???
And GUAM-CNMI, NOT COUNTING "KAMALEN" SPACE ROCK???
D *** NGED "2012" MOVIE POSTER TIBETAN HIMALAYAN MONKS ARE ALWAYS STANDNG ON THE WRONG MOUNTAIN RANGE LOOKING FOR THEIR APOCALYPTIC TIDAL WAVES TO CRASH OVER MOUNT EVEREST!
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday that extremists in the restive North Caucasus region had been "vanquished" and the fight now was against corruption and poverty.
"The state must prove it is capable of guaranteeing security and must make a breakthrough in the economic and social development in North Caucasus," he said at a meeting with leaders from the region.
"Corruption, poverty, unemployment, negligence ... these are the things that hinder a normal life in the Caucasus," he said.
The former president and a key player in the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) slammed regional authorities "who distance themselves from local problems, fuel corruption and incompetence, create administrative barriers and take part in feuds between clans". He also warned that local officials could lose their jobs if the new administrator of the North Caucasus thought them inefficient.
On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed a powerful new envoy to the North Caucasus tasked with boosting development in a new district that groups the country's most violent regions. The shake-up reorganised the Kremlin's management of its southern region, separating out seven mostly Muslim regions including Chechnya where Moscow is battling a low-level Islamist insurgency, from more stable parts.
Medvedev named Alexander Khloponin, the current governor of the Siberia region of Krasnoyarsk, as his new envoy to North Caucasus Federal District, a post that also comes with the rank of deputy prime minister. The new federal district includes Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, where insurgency violence has picked up in recent months, as well as the neighbouring territories of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, North Ossetia and the Stavropol region.
[Kyodo: Korea] A U.N. independent investigator on the human rights situation in North Korea sounded the alarm Friday about the shortage of basic necessities such as food and medical supplies in the reclusive country, which has seen international aid decline following its nuclear and missile tests carried out last year. U.N. special rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn, who is on his last visit to Japan before his six-year term expires in the summer, told a press conference that the human rights situation in the North is 'extremely grave,' with continued suppression of political dissidents, public executions and severe punishment of asylum seekers and their families.
So what does the honourable UN rapporteur recommend be done, or are recommendations beyond his purview?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps Mr. UN Expert should investigate the underlying reasons for the shortages and recommend a remediation plan.
Posted by: ed ||
01/24/2010 12:55 Comments ||
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#2
I remember very old reports FROM THE UN that NORK would sell them as fast as they got them.
Only "Fix" for that is regime change.
I Often think the UN is actually two or three different agencies using the same name, too Many times they seem on both sides of (Whatever) and work against themselves regularly.
The UN made the statement, now the UN wonders why they're (Pick one)
Undernourished,Poor Medical support, Starving etc.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/24/2010 13:11 Comments ||
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#3
So what does the honourable UN rapporteur recommend be done, or are recommendations beyond his purview?
You already know the answer, Fred:
More US taxpayer money for the UN (those new white Land Cruisers ain't cheap, you know).
Blame Bush.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/24/2010 20:18 Comments ||
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A senior CSIS agent denied a suggestion Friday that the spy agency was coming up short' with its claims that Mohamed Harkat is an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
In his fifth day of cross-examination at the Ottawa man's security certificate hearing in Federal Court, the CSIS agent identified only as John' defended the spy service's conclusion identifying the one-time pizza deliveryman as a sleeper agent ready to do the bidding of an Islamic extremist network.
While John' told defence lawyer Matt Webber that CSIS hasn't pinpointed what specific organization Harkat allegedly answers to, Harkat's use of an alias, a fake passport and other intelligence points to his role as a sleeper agent. Ultimately, it's a judgment call and the service concluded he was a sleeper,' said John.'
Harkat's denial that he used the alias Abu Muslim one he later owned up to when testifying in 2004 was another significant factor' in CSIS identifying Harkat as a sleeper agent. I believe he would have feared us connecting him back to being a member of the Bin Laden Network,' said John.'
However, Webber attacked CSIS claims that Harkat tried to lay low' following his arrival to Canada in 1995. Webber pointed to several contacts Harkat had with Ottawa police, including a gas station robbery where he worked, an assault during a pizza delivery and three other thefts in the late 1990s and 2001.
Harkat also visited Abu Messab Al Shehre, an Islamic extremist later deported to Saudi Arabia, at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre in 1997. Webber noted Harkat's name and actions would be recorded and monitored at the Innes Rd. jail.
John' testified CSIS has only identified Harkat doing one specific task as a sleeper, with Harkat paying $1,000 for Al Shehre's immigration legal fees at the request of senior al-Qaida lieutenant Abu Zubaydah.
Webber said that as an alleged sleeper agent, Harkat went several years with no action. In the theory of CSIS, he slept for a long time,' Webber said of the several years of Harkat's apparent inactivity with Islamic extremists after arriving in Canada in 1995, adding tongue-in-cheek that Harkat was a Rip Van Winkle terrorist' in the spy agency's view.
Earlier in the day, John' acknowledged he muddled up' a timeline in previous testimony that put Harkat on a Toronto-bound road trip with high-profile Canadian al-Qaida operative Ahmed Said Khadr. It's not that I didn't know the details. I simply muddled it when I was testifying on the stand,' said the agent about incorrectly testifying in November 2008 that Khadr had already been arrested on terrorism charges when he took the van trip with Harkat.
John' said his error occurred to him a few days after his testimony but he didn't inform lawyers representing the federal immigration ministry, which is seeking Harkat's deportation to his native Algeria. It didn't occur to me that anything else was required,' John' told Webber of correcting his testimony.
ISLAMABAD: The U.S. announcement that it is considering providing Pakistan a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance has received a less than warm reception here, with one report saying the military was unimpressed. Pakistan has for months been demanding that the U.S. must transfer to its military the drones themselves or the technology for these unmanned aircraft used by the CIA to bomb targets in the tribal areas.
Not a single of these missile strikes has been acknowledged by the U.S., but what is clear is that they are being carried out with a fair degree of accuracy and precision to destroy militant bases in North and South Waziristan.
Beithullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was a drone casualty, and in recent days, his successor Hakimullah Mehsud, is reported to have had a narrow escape in a similar attack. The government and military are widely believed to be co-operating in the missile strikes, but officially, their position is that the bombings must stop as they are an infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty, that many innocents lives have been lost along with the few militants that have been taken out, and that this is only helping the extremists recruit more people into their ranks.
The drones are an important reason for the widespread anti-Americanism in Pakistan. It has been argued that if the Pakistani military were entrusted with carrying out the strikes with the same aircraft, there would be much less resentment.
However, the U.S. is not giving Pakistan the Reapers or the Predators, which are the attack drones. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates told journalists here that the Obama Administration is considering providing 12 RQ-7 Shadow drones along with equipment and training.
These are surveillance-only aircraft, and for Pakistan, do not quite cut it. Quoting sources, The News said the military was not impressed' with the offer.
Contacted by The Hindu, military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas was circumspect. He said no formal offer had yet been made to Pakistan over the drones.
Unless an official offer is made, it is premature to comment,' he said.
Pakistan has its own surveillance drones, and if there is a formal offer for UAVs from the U.S., he said, obviously, it has to be an improvement, it has to be new, more effective and improve combat efficiency'.
New Delhi has not reacted yet to Mr. Gates announcement on the Shadow drones. Asked if India should be concerned that Pakistan may soon get these aircraft, Major-General Abbas said the question was outside his remit. But he provided an indirect response. If [India and Pakistan] talk about each other rather than talk to each other, it is sure recipe for conflict.'
Posted by: john frum ||
01/24/2010 11:11 ||
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#1
Posted by: john frum ||
01/24/2010 12:15 Comments ||
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#2
I recommend the Pakistanis shop at Walmart. They carry a wide assortment of Chinese drones at rock bottom prices.
Posted by: ed ||
01/24/2010 12:59 Comments ||
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#3
The Pakistanis don't want to purchase UCAVs. They expect the American taxpayer to fund their military expansion.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/24/2010 13:32 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan is reaching out to "all levels" of the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage reconciliation in its war-torn neighbor, Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Saturday.
"Here's the payroll, sent all the way from Islamabad, guys. Try not to spend it all at once, 'k? Oh, and I'm s'posed to request you be kinder to the Afghan peasants."
"We are trying to reach out to them at all levels and all of us would like that our efforts should bring some results but at this point in time it is very difficult to say," ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said of Pakistan's efforts.
" We are trying to reach out to them at all levels and all of us would like that our efforts should bring some results but at this point in time it is very difficult to say "
Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit
The Afghan government is preparing a reintegration plan with the Taliban that targets lower to mid-level Taliban fighters but has not focused on more senior leaders of the insurgency.
Basit said it was important that there be reconciliation at all levels and that Pakistan was helping in this regard. He declined to give any details. "Whether or not our efforts will yield results, we will see," he told Reuters in an interview. "We don't want to discuss the specifics. There are efforts being made and we are trying to win over those Taliban or forces who are 'reconcilables'. Let's see," he added.
Asked specifically whether Pakistan was targeting top-level leaders, he said: "We are trying at all levels but where we succeed is another matter."
Analysts say Pakistan is well placed to mediate in Afghanistan, where it nurtured the Taliban in the 1990s.
Afghan Taliban fighting U.S. and NATO troops operate from Pakistan's largely lawless border areas with Afghanistan.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week urged Pakistan to root out Afghan Taliban factions based in its northwestern border enclaves, from where they have been orchestrating an intensified insurgency in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
Two years after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared the Iraq war "lost" and that the surge is not accomplishing anything,' Iraqis celebrated the second anniversary of those wonderfully inept remarks.
In neighborhoods that 84% of Iraqis now say are safe, huge crowds gathered to cheer the inspiring lack of foresight demonstrated by the leader of the U.S. Senate. As 64% of Iraqis now say democracy is the best form of government and reject an Islamic state, and 75% of Iraqis now support their own security forces, even higher percentages now say Senator Reid laid a really, really big one two years ago.
We cringe when we hear Reid's statements,' said one jubilant Iraqi, but it's a good kind of cringe.'
Now that stores are thriving, a huge market has developed in merchandise commemorating Senator Reid's now-defunct declaration, including a uniquely Iraqi version of the "Magic Eight Ball" that, when shaken, says only Not What Senator Reid Said.' Does this Eight Ball come with an Iraqi accent?
Iraqi children filled the now-bustling streets, many blowing home-made horns painted to symbolize an empty head making meaningless noise. Parents held signs that read Keep Reid Wrong.'
One Iraqi, hands in the air, said We are blessed the United States Senate is led by a man who has proven to be so spectacularly wrong in his dire predictions. Were it not for his tremendous capacity for uninformed cynicism, we would not be celebrating today.'
[Al Arabiya Latest] Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi officials on Saturday the United States backed a ban on Saddam Hussein's Baath party and said he had faith Iraq would resolve a row over the banning of election candidates suspected of links to it.
U.S. officials say the arbitrary way the list banned candidates appears to have been drawn up and the questionable legitimacy of the panel could undermine the election.
" He made the point that they want to see a transparent, fair election that has credibility, both for the Iraqi people and foreign people, but how you do it is your business "
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
But Biden, on his third visit to Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out of city centers in June, said Washington had no problem with holding Baath party loyalists accountable.
"I want to make clear I am not here to resolve that issue (of the banned candidates). This is for Iraqis, not for me. I am confident that Iraq's leaders are seized with this issue and are working for a final, just solution," Biden said.
The 511 candidates banned from taking part are accused of membership or other links to executed former President Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, feared Fedayeen (Men of Sacrifice) militia or Mukhabarat intelligence agency.
The dispute has stoked tension between the Shiite majority now leading the government and the Sunni Arab former elite and has also exposed the failings of a much vaunted but apparently stumbling national reconciliation process.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah -- the world is good --- The Biden hath spoken. (Does that mean ACORN won't be traveling to Iraq?)
[Iran Press TV Latest] A report suggests that Baath, the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is to launch a coup in the lead-up to the country's elections.
The allegations emanate from a new classified document obtained by some Iraqi parties from the dissolved faction's leaders based at home or abroad.
According to the document, the Baath party, in cooperation with some Arab states, most notably Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, and in coordination with some current Iraqi political heavyweights plans to stage a comeback through a military coup, codenamed Naizak (Meteor).
Jordan recently hosted a major Baath meeting, in which the former party leader, Saddam was glorified through special a ceremony, it adds.
The 38-page document, which is yet to be verified by the Iraqi security authorities, identifies some of the prerequisites for a successful coup as: Infiltration into the body and the leadership of the Iraqi security and military apparatuses, weakening of the incumbent government through disturbance of the security situation with widespread explosions that cause maximum casualties, rumor-mongering across the society, penetration into the institutions linked to the provinces hosting holy Shia sites, recruiting tribesmen and identification of the tribal leaders with Baathist orientations.
The papers refers to some famous Iraqi political figures, specially the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and the first post-Saddam Iraqi prime minister and the head of the secular Al-Iraqiya Alliance party, Ayad Allaw, as advocates of a Baathist return.
Al-Hashemi complicated the passage of an electoral law last year by using his veto power to bar an earlier version of the law. Allawi was, at the time of his premiership, widely known as a US ally and operative in the initial American-installed government in Iraq. His attempts to win back his position in the next two elections soundly failed.
The two, the document says, are in secret contact with the Baath leaders and the Arab countries disappointed by the current political trend in Iraq.
It alleges that the Saudi security apparatus is responsible for funding the uprising, while the Egyptian intelligence service leads its planning and the manner in which the coup scheme is to be implemented.
The document, drawn up last year, also refers to al-Hashemi's clandestine meeting in Jordan with the head of the Saudi security apparatus and Allawi's contact with some Baath leaders and Arab authorities.
It names Shia politicians Abbas al-Bayati and Karim Fuzi in connection with likely assassination attempts against political figures in the run-up to the March 7 parliamentary polls as a means of disturbing the domestic situation.
Though the papers have not specified a timetable, experts say the political developments and massive explosions throughout the past weeks and months match the details referred to in the document.
The current government of Premier Nouri al-Maliki has been named there as the biggest obstacle to the realization the Baath's goals.
The text, accordingly, urges that a second victory by the current government be prevented. To this end, it concluded, insecurity must be spread across the country, high-profile political figures should question the government's deficiencies and the Arab media should offer their relevant cooperation.
The text also refers to secret contact between some Baath leaders and American officers without giving details.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#1
Just ain't gonna happen. The Biden backs the election ban on Iraq's Baath party.
#4
That's certainly true, but they don't have the muscle for a coup. The Shi'a are well armed this time around, they have the loyalty of most of the army, and if necessary they can call on us to intervene.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/24/2010 11:23 Comments ||
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#5
The Iranians are agitating here for people to cast their votes for the Iranian aligned Shiite parties. Remember that the source of this story is the Iranian propaganda outlet (I have no idea why so many stories from that source appear here, sometimes several per day).
This story is just Iranian meddling in Iraqi politics.
#6
This is simply disinformation to give cover to banning an entire list of candidates. Rahmbo would be proud.
Posted by: Albert Ebbager8936 ||
01/24/2010 18:33 Comments ||
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#7
crosspatach - Fred's reason for posting so many OpFor-country-news sources is to bring the news as it's seen by the rustics and foreigners. We could link to Drudge, but you can do that yourself. An important view is "what does Ahmed in Iran hear"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2010 18:46 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says a comprehensive and optimal solution to the Iranian nuclear issue could be worked out provided that the West, and the United States in particular, negotiates sincerely in the talks with the Islamic Republic.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always closely cooperated with the [International Atomic Energy] Agency. An appropriate and effective way out of Iran's nuclear impasse could be devised should the West, and especially the United States, truthfully engage in negotiations with Tehran," Larijani said at a meeting with South African National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu in Tehran on Saturday.
Sisulu criticized the United States for following a double-standard policy toward Iran's nuclear energy program while turning a blind eye toward Israel's nuclear activities.
The South African parliament speaker also said Pretoria supports Tehran's legitimate right to access civilian nuclear energy.
Experts estimate that Israel has between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, largely based on information leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper in the 1980s by Mordechai Vanunu, a former worker at the country's Dimona nuclear reactor, who was imprisoned for 18 years for the disclosure.
In May 2008, former US President Jimmy Carter said Israel has at least 150 nuclear weapons.
Iran says that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.
Iran plans to generate 17.5 percent of the country's electricity needs -- about 20,000 megawatts -- through nuclear energy over the next two decades.
However, Washington and its allies accuse the Islamic Republic of pursuing a military nuclear program, although they have never produced conclusive evidence to back up their claims.
In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
OK, I'm Western, and I'll be honest.
The Iran "leadership" is a bunch of repressive, Joooo-hating, money-stealing skunks, and the sooner the Iranian people hang the lot of them from lampposts the sooner they'll start to have a real life again.
Honest enough for ya'?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/24/2010 10:46 Comments ||
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#2
I interpret 'Western honesty' to mean accurate lat/long coordinates for places of interest.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says the Leader of the Islamic Revolution is the "most competent" person to resolve the problems that the country is currently faced with.
"I am confident that the ongoing problems can be settled with the help of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] in cooperation with moderate figures of both [political] parties in the country," the Iranian Labor News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying on Saturday.
Rafsanjani added that his "thought, words and action" have always been based on "moderation and avoidance of extremes."
"In expressing my stance [on various issues], I have always attached importance to the interests of Islam, the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian nation," the chairman of the Assembly of Experts added.
"At particular times, I stay silent due to certain inappropriate conditions," he said.
Rafsanjani said the Islamic Republic managed successfully establish stability and steadiness by relying on popular support and the leadership of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini.
"All loyal powers to the Islamic Revolution and establishment are now duty-bound to safeguard this heritage and move toward this path," he said.
He said that the modern world would accept Iran's ideas, should all Iranians establish a "developed, free and affluent country without superstitions."
Rafsanjani underlined that the Iranian culture which is based on pure Islam can turn into a role model in the modern world.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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A new report said that Hezbollah has tightened security measures along the border with Israel as Tel Aviv beefs up its forces along the northern frontier.
Citing Lebanese sources, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Friday that Israeli troops were called up to the northern borders to carry out "military maneuvers."
According to the report, the resistance movement put its forces on high alert to retaliate in the event of "surprise attack" by Israel.
The daily quoted a Hezbollah source as saying that "Israel has accustomed us to aggression and we are used to being vigilant and on the lookout all the time. That is what we are doing."
The source, however, did not confirm the security alert on border. The paper said Syria had also called up reservist soldiers, including Syrian natives residing in Lebanon.
A senior Israeli army officer, however, denied reports about an upcoming military drill along the border. He also denied any plan to attack Lebanon.
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem warned Thursday of an Israeli attack, which could place at any time.
"The resistance is preparing and working persistently in order to face such a possibility, whether it was delayed or sudden at any given moment," Lebanon's Naharnet quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > ISRAELI MINISTER [Yossi Peled]: THIRD WAR IN LEBANON IN SIGHT. Peled doesn't know exactly when, but its coming, says ISRAEL WILL HOLD SYRIA + HEZBOLLAH DIRECTLY RESPOSNIBEL FOR ANY ATTACK AGZ ISRAEL???
Hezbollah has condemned French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's latest statements over the daily Israeli aggressions against Lebanon.
"Kouchner's statements contradict with the reports of UNIFIL, which has France among its ranks, about the daily Israeli aggressions against Lebanon and violations of its sovereignty," Hezbollah said in a press release issued on Friday.
According to Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, the French official's statements "carried clear echoes for the Israeli voice and a full denial for France's history and its legacy in resisting aggression and occupation."
"This stance is an attempt to acquit Israel and to cover up its relentless violations of Lebanese sovereignty, the thing which represents a shield for its occupation and an encouragement for it to pursue its aggressions."
Hezbollah further urged the French government to "play a role matching with the responsibility, which it has always claimed to practice, concerning keenness on the security of Lebanon and its sovereignty."
On Friday, Kouchner reportedly told Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Lebanese delegation that Hezbollah and not Israel is the main danger for Lebanon and that the concerns in Lebanon over an Israeli attack are unjustified.
"Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hezbollah in the best interest of Iran," Kouchner said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast condemned the French accusation, noting that the influence of Israel is obvious.
"It is clear to all that the Zionist regime [Israel] is the root cause of threats and occupation. It attacks innocent people... every day and deprives them of their basic rights," the Spokesman pointed out.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2010 00:00 ||
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In an article covering Bin Laden's purported claim of responsibility for the xmas bomb attempt, Reuters has used a "then and now" picture pair. The "now" image is the fake one produced by the incompetent FBI "artist" who started with a random image from google.
Now Llamazares (of Spainâs communist-run United Left party), who made a formal complaint days ago, finds his face in the Reuters article. The FBI removed the image days ago, but Reuters is too incompetent to realize that. Expect a lawsuit, get out the popcorn.
When I first saw that image, I said that it couldn't be bin Laden, the eyes are too close together.
Let's see how long this stays up - I have a screen grab.
#1
For seven years after 911 while Bush was in office and trying to find OBL, speculation was that Binny was dead. During the first year of Obama he's come out and been all over the front page...
Posted by: War On Terror ||
01/24/2010 10:14 Comments ||
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#2
This is really a plea for notice and relevance. Binny's connections to the AQAP mopes that gave the Xmas bomber his training and explosives is unclear, but may merely be cheerleading, not operational. In fact, the image of transvestite UBL in a Dallas Cowboys cheeleader outfit, with pompoms, trying to get the crowds attention, is an amusing and increasingly an all too accurate portrail of his role these days.
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.
Yahya Ibrahim, who has described Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and is accused of advocating conflict with the West, is due to speak at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), next month and at Birmingham University in March. 
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday that extremists in the restive North Caucasus region had been "vanquished" and the fight now was against corruption and poverty.
A senior CSIS agent denied a suggestion Friday that the spy agency was coming up short' with its claims that Mohamed Harkat is an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
Two years after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared the Iraq war "lost" and that the surge is not accomplishing anything,' Iraqis celebrated the second anniversary of those wonderfully inept remarks.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A report suggests that Baath, the outlawed party of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is to launch a coup in the lead-up to the country's elections. 
