Washington -- The operation that American and coalition forces are planning for Kandahar in southern Afghanistan won't look like D-Day, the top commander there said Tuesday. Fresh off a recent success, so far, in Helmand Province, American military planners are thinking ahead to the next phase of challenging the Taliban in southern Afghanistan: Kandahar.
But the fight for Kandahar -- described as the New York City of Afghanistan for its cultural, political, and economic significance -- is expected to be more measured than the operation in Marjah in Helmand, which was a precision strike that began with the insertion of hundreds of US marines by helicopter.
"There won't be a D-Day that is climactic," said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander there told reporters in Kabul, during a trip in which he escorted Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "It will be a rising tide of security when it comes."
The operation in Marjah included about 2,500 marines and 1,500 Afghan soldiers with as many as 10,000 troops in support. The top Marine commander in Marjah said last week the objective there was to come in "big, strong, and fast, [to] put the enemy on the horns of a dilemma."
By contrast, the mission in Kandahar, expected to begin by summer, will be more gradual. Few details are clear, even in a counterinsurgency in which the NATO command has telegraphed its intentions before starting an operation, such as in Marjah last month.
But military officials say Kandahar will require a more nuanced, measured approach in which forces will build up slowly, probably on the outskirts, before entering the city itself perhaps months later. Kandahar is a much larger city and province, and coalition forces will take their time to enter due to the area's more complex political and tribal nature.
McChrystal has had his eye on Kandahar, which the Taliban took over years ago, for a long time. But when he took charge of the mission last year, many American forces were already amassed in Helmand to the west.
While Helmand was a Taliban stronghold and much of the poppy crop that provides financial support for the insurgency grows there, many experts say it is not a strategic prize. Nonetheless, McChrystal mounted his first operation there under the new US strategy (and increased troop strength), as a demonstration of what could be done. Citing the clear-hold-build approach, military officials say that most combat operations are over in Marjah and that it is now in the "hold and build" phase.
That leaves room to begin planning for Kandahar and the districts that surround it, including Zhari, Panjawai, Khakrez, Arghandab, and Dand. Counterinsurgency experts say these outer areas hold the key to success for coalition forces entering Kandahar itself.
Gates warns of 'dark days' aheadWhile not referring to operations in Kandahar specifically, Secretary Gates sought to prepare the military and the American and international community for the likelihood that the next few months will be no cakewalk.
"Looking forward," Gates said, "there are grounds for optimism as our countries pursue what President Karzai has called an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned initiative to ensure peace and stability."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
As most of our enemies come from Pakistan sealing the border would be more important!
No coincidence all our top targets have been caught/sheltered there!
The U.S. State Department has apologized for remarks made by its spokesman, joking about Moammar Gaddafi's call for jihad against Switzerland.
The State Department says a senior U.S. diplomat will travel to Tripoli to try to smooth over relations.
Tripoli has been denying entry visas to Americans since the remarks made on February 26.
Speaking to the press, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley had said Gaddafi's call for jihad on Switzerland reminded him of a previous address by the Libyan leader which, he said, involved "lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place, not necessarily a lot of sense."
Tripoli retaliated by denying visas to Americans and warning U.S. oil companies that this could have consequences for them as well. Rumsfeld called it "provocative weakness."
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Wednesday her country has no intention of toppling North Korea's regime by force, and remains willing to talk to it directly if the stalled six-party nuclear talks resume. Bambi might even apologize to Kimmie ...
The comments by Kathleen Stephens came a day after North Korea said it would continue to bolster its nuclear arms development if the U.S. does not drop what Pyongyang called military threats and provocations.
"The United states has no hostile intent towards the people of North Korea nor are we threatening to change the North Korean regime through force," Stephens told a forum in Seoul. "Our aim is to find diplomatic solutions to working with North Korea."
Stephens said that despite the goofy bitter criticism in recent days, North Korea has shown "some positive signs" indicating its willingness to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions. "The language has become more positive," she said. "We need to see actions."
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03/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Bambi will definitely bow - low enough to fall over.
While at the same time snubbing South Korea - after all the're only an ally....
GENEVA, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's ambassador to Geneva, known as a caretaker of leader Kim Jong-il's secret funds, is expected to leave office after 30 years in Switzerland, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. He's gonna need help with his bags, I think ...
Ambassador Ri Chol has been considered one of Kim's closest aides, trustworthy enough for the reclusive leader to send all of his three known sons to Swiss schools. Ri was also reported to have played a key role in helping top North Korean officials get medical treatment from French doctors.
"It appears almost certain that Ambassador Ri is leaving," a diplomatic source in Bern said on condition of anonymity. without elaborating where he obtained the information. "But the timing is unclear whether it will be in weeks or take a couple of more months."
Talk of Ri's departure is widespread in the diplomatic community in Switzerland, the source said.
"I think that the high attention he's drawing here is because Ambassador Ri has stayed in Switzerland for so long and because he drew media attention from time to time with reports that he's taking care of Chairman Kim Jong-il's slush funds," the source said, referring to the North Korean leader's official title, chairman of the country's powerful National Defense Commission.
Ri, 75, has been working in Switzerland since 1980 when he was appointed minister at North Korea's mission to Geneva before rising to ambassador in 1987. Since 1998, he has doubled as the North's ambassador to Switzerland.
It is unclear why Ri will be replaced. Some say it is because of his advanced age and others say the move might be related to leader Kim's attempt to hand power over to one of his sons.
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03/10/2010 00:00 ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam, who has reportedly been passed over in the succession, can sometimes be found drinking with South Koreans at a bar in Macau.
A government official on Tuesday said, "I've heard that some South Koreans were watching Kim Jong-nam at a bar in Macau recently because he looked familiar, and he suggested they have a drink together. So they drank and had a chat." "Yeah, I dunno what's up with Dad these days. Cheez, it's like he's been pithed or something. Hey, barkeep! Another round for me and my new friends here!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Hmm. I wonder why South Korean intelligence didn't interrogate the shit out of these people when they got back.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has reportedly been excluded from his father's birthday celebrations for the second year running. "A family gathering was held to celebrate Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday on Tuesday, with third son Jong-un in attendance," a North Korean source said. "But there are no signs that Jong-nam flew to Pyongyang from Macau or China, where he lives." Just what North Korea needs, a bloody feudal war of succession ...
Kim Jong-nam was in Pyongyang between July and September 2008 after his father collapsed with a massive stroke. But he has been living in exile since January 2009, when it appears his younger brother Jong-un was named as the successor to the leadership.
A South Korean government source said, "Just like North Korean Ambassador to Poland Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's half brother, who has been unable to return to the North for more than 20 years, there's a sting chance that Kim Jong-nam faces lifelong exile."
Kim Jong-nam fell into disgrace after he was caught by Japanese authorities in May 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport but returned to Pyongyang for his father's birthday in February 2008 bearing gifts he purchased in Macau. He was also spotted at a neurosurgery hospital in Paris in October that year, just after the elder Kim suffered the stroke, which led to speculation that he was been chosen to succeed his father.
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#1
I seem to recall that this was the modernization kid that spent lots of time in Japan and such.
Maybe not a bad chap, but after being raised in a GULAG, it may not be the best way to rear a King.
Yet anything beats Kim B Illin. Besides, did they not just give their port to China?
.. Just sayin...
#2
He's a nobody. At Beijing airport, he gets off the airplane, collects his luggage, and gets into a taxi like everyone else. No minders, nobody to meet him, nothing. A non-player. Now he can have all the coke, whores, and gambling that he wants and nobody will bother him.
#3
If I was him , I'd be glad I faced perpetual exile from N K
I guess hes the lazy under achiever in that family and will fade quietly into the night ... (with, as grom points out, a hearty amount of coke , whores and stolen money)
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03/10/2010 5:15 Comments ||
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Pyongyang or Macao, it's a tough choice ...
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North Korea is earning much-needed hard currency amid international sanctions by re-exporting imported cigarettes to China and Southeast Asia, the Financial Times said Tuesday. The North in February last year repackaged about 15,000 cases of State Express 555 cigarettes worth about US$6.3 million which it imported from British American Tobacco in Singapore and re-exported them to Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries at slightly higher prices. Chump change but every dollar goes towards the cognac bill ...
According to shipping documents, the cigarettes rebounded out of the North Korean port of Nampo to Hai Phong in Vietnam and Manila in the Philippines via Dalian in China and Singapore. But the daily said their ultimate destination was probably China.
"While the UN banned luxury goods exports to North Korea, member nations have been allowed to compile their own sanctions lists, which critics say created loopholes," the daily added. The cigarette deal was possible because Singapore, like the EU, banned exports of cigars but not cigarettes, while Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.S. banned exports of cigarettes to the North.
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LEADING papers have published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog by a caricaturist who was the target of an assassination plot.
The Dagens Nyheter newspaper said it was publishing the cartoon of Muslims arrested in Ireland as a sign of solidarity with the artist Lars Vilks.
"Lars Vilks is not alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the end, a threat against all Swedish people," Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial which reproduced the controversial cartoon.
Irish police arrested seven Muslims suspected of conspiracy to murder Vilks because of his cartoon. The four men and three women were arrested yesterday in the towns of Cork and Waterford in an operation coordinated with US and European security agencies.
Police said there was a plot to assassinate Vilks, who has a $100,000 bounty on his head from an Al Qaeda-linked group.
Dagens Nyheter called on the Swedish state to give Vilks "all the protection he needs."
It said authorities must take action "against an attack aiming at one of our most fundamental rights, freedom of expression."
The Expressen tabloid also published the cartoon with a picture of Vilks. "Expressen decided to publish the drawing for two reasons: To allow readers to see the controversial work and to defend freedom of expression which is more and more threatened," it said in an editorial. "An open society must show that (it) will not give in to threats, that it is ready to fight for freedom of expression."
The regional daily Nerikes Allehanda first published Vilks' satirical cartoon on Aug. 18, 2007, to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression. It caused controversy in Sweden and abroad, and a group linked to Al Qaeda offered $100,000 for the killing of Vilks.
Vilks said Tuesday he was not worried by the arrests in Ireland or the threats on his life. "I'm not shaking with fear, exactly," he told Swedish news agency TT.
#1
Never heard the expression, something like an urban version of the Post Turtle or is it more cutting like surrounded by the modern world with no escape but to bark, bite and piss?
A roundabout dog (Swedish: rondellhund, originally Östgötsk rondellhund, "Ostrogothian roundabout dog") is a form of street installation, which began occurring during the autumn of 2006 in cities and towns all over Sweden. Anonymous people put out homemade dog sculptures, typically made of wood (or sometimes plastic, metal and textile) in roundabouts. The phenomenon has been reported all over Sweden and has also started occurring in other countries, such as Spain after it was being mentioned on Spanish television (PuntoDos).[1] Swedish tabloid paper Expressen even placed one at Piccadilly Circus.[2]
#6
Sooo...kinda a garden gnome..or as a sort of civil protest? Just trying the understand the context.
I mean, if someone did a Boticelli style painting of mo looking into a pool and seeing a million faces of mo and none of the matching his perfection, a mockery of sorts, then yeah I would put that there with piss cross if grading on a level of uproar potential. As it was said this looked like bathroom graffitti. It could have been see-through mo with the thin skin, a ton of other things. Just trying to understand why get upset about this (which is the point of course).
A Spanish official says the country's foreign minister has met with President Moammar Gadhafi to try to resolve a simmering diplomatic dispute between Libya and Switzerland. The official told AP Tuesday that Miguel Angel Moratinos came away from Monday's meeting in Tripoli feeling there was hope for ending the conflict.
JihadJane, an American woman, faces terrorism charges (unveiled photo at link)
A petite, blond-haired, blue-eyed high school dropout who allegedly used the nickname JihadJane was identified Tuesday as an alleged terrorist intent on recruiting others to her cause, as federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges that could send her to prison for life.
Colleen Renee LaRose, 46, has been quietly held in U.S. custody since October on suspicions that she provided material support to terrorists and traveled to Sweden to launch an attack, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is continuing to unfold.
Across the ocean Tuesday, Irish police conducted morning raids in Cork and Waterford, arresting four men and three women who had been under electronic surveillance by U.S. and Swedish authorities. The seven were suspected of plotting with LaRose to attack a Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, whose 2007 drawing of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog enraged Muslims, according to Irish news accounts.
Mark Wilson, a lawyer for LaRose at the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia, declined to comment. LaRose has not yet been scheduled for an arraignment on the charges, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy.
The path that LaRose, who is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs barely more than 100 pounds, may have taken to jihad remains murky. She has been married at least twice and, over several years since the mid-1980s, had been arrested in South Texas for writing bad checks and driving while intoxicated, according to court records obtained by The Washington Post.
She's not been successful, as the world measures such things.
Good thing, too, think of the consequences had she been the equivalent of a Bernie Madoff of Jihadism ...
Investigators suggest that she turned to the Internet a few years ago, using the names JihadJane and Fatima LaRose.
In a December 2007 Internet posting located by The Post, "Fatima LaRose," who said she lived in Pennsylvania, asked for advice about how to bring an Egyptian boyfriend with whom she had been corresponding for more than a year to the United States for Christmas.
By March 2009, LaRose had reached out to the Swedish Embassy for information about how to acquire permanent residency in Sweden. The man identified as her potential fiance sent her instructions to "go to sweden . . . find location of" the target and "kill him . . . this is what i say to u."
FBI agents interviewed LaRose in July 2009 in Pennsylvania, where she told them that she had not solicited money for terrorism or posted on a terrorist Web site, according to the indictment, nor used the handle "JihadJane."
In August, LaRose removed and hid the hard drive from her home computer, authorities said. The same day, she traveled to Sweden "with the intent to live and train with jihadists, and to find and kill" her target, the indictment said. LaRose took with her the U.S. passport of a man identified only as "K.G.," with whom she lived, to give it to "the brothers," the indictment said.
K.G. testified to the grand jury that he had not given her his passport.
In September, she performed online searches to find her target, joined an electronic community that he hosted and journeyed to his artists' enclave in Sweden, the indictment said. By Sept. 30, LaRose e-mailed the man identified as her fiance, saying it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" him and asserting that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!"
Ladies, if your man wants you to kill or die for him, that's a sign he is not your Prince Charming.
LaRose ultimately returned to the United States, where she was charged in October in a criminal complaint with helping transfer a U.S. passport belonging to K.G.
K.G. is Kurt Gorman, the boyfriend of five years. He had no idea what she did all day at home while he was running the family company. She disappeared the day after his father's funeral.
She appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Oct. 16, where she was appointed a public defender, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney and a representative in the public defender's office.
Authorities declined to address Tuesday why the grand jury indictment of LaRose remained under seal for so long and whether she may have helped law enforcement during her months-long incarceration.
Boyfriend: 'Jihad Jane' Suspect Wasn't Religious
Her boyfriend of five years said LaRose had never hinted at Muslim leanings or attended religious services of any kind. Kurt Gorman, 47, of Pennsburg, said that he met LaRose in Texas and that nothing seemed amiss until she moved out of their apartment without warning in August. "I came home and she was gone. It doesn't make any sense," he said Wednesday outside his small business in nearby Quakertown. "She was a good-hearted person."
LaRose, 46, of Pennsburg but with close ties to south Texas, has been held without bail since her Oct. 15 arrest in Philadelphia.
LaRose had targeted Vilks and had online discussions about her plans with at least one of several suspects apprehended over that plot Tuesday in Ireland, according to the U.S. official.
Irish police said Wednesday those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.
U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said the indictment doesn't link LaRose to any organized terror groups.
The New York Times adds:
A police statement issued Wednesday in Dublin said the Irish arrests followed a joint investigation by police in Ireland, the United States and "a number of European countries," and that the suspects were being held at four police stations in an area about 100 miles south of Dublin, under a law that allowed for them to be held for up to seven days for questioning.
News reports in Ireland said that the seven being held were from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the United States, and were aged between their mid-20's and late 40's. The Irish Times reported that American investigators believe that the leader of the group was an Algerian who has been living in Ireland for the past 10 years.
The MySpace page appears to have been pulled. The NYT's embedded link yields a 404-Page Not Found.
GENEVA - United Nations human rights investigators called on the Obama administration on Tuesday to prosecute the accused Sept 11 masterminds in a civilian court, declaring that US military tribunals would not be fair. Usual nonsense from the usual, meddling suspects.
The White House is reviewing options to bring the 9/11 detainees to justice and US officials said on Friday senior administration officials may recommend that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in the 2001 attacks face a military trial.
'I take the view that the Military Commissions Act is fundamentally flawed. It is very far from international fair trial standards and probably cannot be fixed,' said Martin Scheinin, UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Not that we care what Marty thinks ...
Mr Scheinin and other UN rapporteurs are independent investigators reporting to the UN Human Rights Council, whose 47 members include the United States. The Finnish international law professor, who has visited the US-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, also said it would be a mistake for the Obama administration to try to reform the Military Commissions Act, proclaimed under President George W. Bush, to try to provide for fair trials.
'To me the only safe option is to go to regular federal criminal courts which also have a much better track record in dealing with terrorism cases than the very unfortunate military commissions,'Mr Scheinin told a news briefing in Geneva.
Military trials allow for evidence obtained by cruel or degrading treatment of detainees and have a 'backdoor' for using confessions obtained under torture by allowing hearsay, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The UN has no jurisdiction in US domestic legal matters. If the UN has a problem with the Geneva Conventions, it should take their problem up with that body.
#2
So what did this flaming idiot had to say about the people who got their heads sawed off on video? Did they get a civilian trial? How about the Korean women who were kidnapped and probably raped? Did they get even a military tribunal?
What does the grand UN special rapporteur have to sat about that?
#9
We get a harrrrumph from Marty every so often. Probably just to remind everybody that he's still around and he can protect his phony baloney job. And keep getting his expense accounts approved...
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani on Tuesday granted a one-year extension in service to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha making him the fourth such beneficiary in recent months, according to official sources.
Pasha who was scheduled to retire from service on March 18 would now continue serving the Pakistan Army as a lieutenant general and the ISI chief for another year.
Having replaced Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj, Pasha has been heading the country's premier intelligence service since October 2008. Before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and assuming charge of the top ISI office, Pasha served as the Military Operations director general.
Born in 1952, Pasha has had a distinguished career, spanning more than 30 years, in the Pakistan Army. He has commanded an infantry division, a mechanised infantry brigade and an infantry battalion, and served as the chief instructor of the Command and Staff College of the Pakistan Army. From 2001 to 2002, Pasha also served as a contingent and sector commander with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. So he has a perfect record: he's never won a battle ...
He is the fourth general to be given an extension in service by the current army chief over the last few months. The other beneficiaries are Lt Gen Tanvir Tahir, Lt Gen Masood Alam and Lt Gen Sikandar Afzal.
Under army rules, a major general retires on reaching the age of 57, while a lieutenant general retires either on reaching the age of 58 or completing a four-year tenure whichever falls first.
It is believed that the decision to extend Pasha's service has been made to ensure the continuity of the army's operations against militancy. During Pasha's tenure as the ISI director general, the army has conducted three successful operations and flushed out terrorists from Swat, South Waziristan and Bajaur. An operation in Orakzai Agency is now on the cards, while the army is also gradually augmenting a build up in North Waziristan.
The successful operations and the recent arrests of high-profile al Qaeda and Taliban commanders are considered by the West a significant turnaround in ISI policies.
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Gotta work on those titles, guys. I thought this was an article about the rising use of Extenze in Pak.
Another ejaculation from Martin Scheinin, UN extra-special rapporteur
GENEVA - A UN expert on Tuesday said the growing use of full body scanners in airport security was a breach of individual rights. Martin Scheinin, the UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights, said that while countering extremism scanners were both an ineffective means of prevention and an excessive intrusion into individual privacy. Martin has a diplomatic passport so he doesn't get scanned, or searched, or have his baggage searched. Nice that he's thinking occasionally about the 'little people'.
"The use of a full body scanner which reveals graphic details of the human body, including the most private parts of it, very easily is a violation of human rights," Scheinin told journalists. "It would be a violation of human rights in respect to everyone, but there are particular sensitivities in respect of women, certain religions, certain cultural backgrounds," he added. Thus channeling his masters in Riyadh ...
Scheinin, who was appointed to monitor the impact of anti-terror measures on individual freedoms five years ago, told the UN Human Rights Council that better detection technology could be better for human rights.
But the "hasty decision" by several countries to use full body scans following a failed Christmas Day bid by a passenger to explode hidden chemicals on a flight to the United States owed more to "a political response to be seen to 'do something'", he argued. That might be true ...
"Full body scanners are a disproportionate intrusion into privacy when measures are not taken to minimise the negative impact on privacy," said Scheinin.
The UN rights expert said other handheld devices were available to detect explosives through clothing or a solid wall without the need to harm privacy. If those devices were used as a first stage to detect explosives, more intrusive measures would then be legitimate to examine suspects, Scheinin suggested. Better yet, question every person and hand-search every item of luggage.
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03/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"The use of a full body scanner which reveals graphic details of the human body, including the most private parts of it, very easily is a violation of human rights,"
Do you really think some guy who gets to look at full body scans for hours is going to get excited? After the first day - the playmate of the month would probably only get a passing glance....
#3
Same mentality as the idiot who stated that he wouldnt allow his son through scanners as an invasion of privacy and violation of rights , yet would allow him on to an unchecked plane with unchecked passengers
The mind truely boggles at HR mentaility
As for the two muslim women who refused , one on medical grounds .. The medical grounds were probably that they were in fact a man .
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/10/2010 6:53 Comments ||
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#4
Note to anyone who objects to body scanners: Don't fly on airlines.
#5
Speaking as a woman, I get offended by people who think they have the right to treat me as property that cannot be let out of the house without a male escort, and think if I do, that I have no reason to object to being raped and/or killed.
Can you get to work on that immediately, Herr Scheinin?
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03/10/2010 9:37 Comments ||
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#8
I suggest that full-body scanners may not be necessary. Simply present each passenger with a page of Mohammad cartoons and do a full-body search on any who squeal like a pig.
#9
Or just do like the Chi-com after 9/11,
just don't allow long nosed men
wearing women's dresses on board...
But, since Bush rather french kiss them on
the mouth or Melon Head prostate himself
in front of them, we are in for a lot more
grief from these creeps...
#10
I'm sure the U.N. would carefully explain to you Cornsilk Blonde that you should respect different cultures which are, after all, equal to our own in all respects - and the fact that Islam is a religion of Peace and this is they way they honor you....
And you should simply consent to be treated like cattle, raped, and stoned...
A strong turnout from Iraq's Kurds in national elections on Sunday has enhanced their status of kingmakers in forming the central government, with preliminary voting results expected within 24 hours.
The electoral commission said today that votes had now all been counted, although the official results will not be declared until the end of March.
The ballot appears to have narrowly favoured the political list of the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, but the rival bloc of former leader Iyad Alawi is also predicted to have performed well. Whoever wins will have to form a coalition in order to build a government, with the Kurds expected to play a prominent role.
However for the first time, a nascent Kurdish opposition has threatened to splinter the Kurdish alliance, whose truculent factions have invariably united when dealing with post-Saddam Baghdad. The allegiances of a breakaway Kurdish group, Gorran, are an unknown factor in the post-election negotiations. Gorran is thought to have won about 15 seats in the new 325 seat parliament, damaging the bloc of warlord turned president Jalal Talabani, who wants a second term as Iraq's head of state.
Even if Maliki, or his bloc, ends up with the most popular votes, his claim on the prime ministership remains heavily contingent on his ability to appease potential coalition partners and the residual wrath of any enemies he has made during the past four turbulent years. Maliki's supporters were privately claiming today that he has won as many as 85 seats in the new parliament, having swept the south and performed solidly in Baghdad.
Alwai's backers were equally upbeat, with a senior figure in Iraqiya, the secular alliance he took to the election, also claiming the party had won 85 seats. In private, officials are hoping for as many as 110.
So far there have been no claims of vote-rigging or fraud. Election observers have generally endorsed the conduct of the election, which saw a 62% turnout nationwide, and up to a 73% showing of registered voters at provinces that had boycotted the previous poll.
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Scores of displaced Christian families returned to Mosul, the media department of the Ninewa council said on Tuesday.
Scores of Christian families returned to Mosul to take part in the elections,' the department said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq new agency. Ninewa witnessed the return of more than 30 Christian families, which took part in the elections, while the province witnessed on Monday (March 8) the return of scores of Christian families to their houses,' it added.
Mosul witnessed two weeks ago the displacement of Christian families from their houses after the assassination of ten Christians in ten days.
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The Iraq election committee is expected to have a third of the votes from Sunday's parliamentary elections counted by today, with the first results to be announced tomorrow. But it's already known that there was far greater participation in Sunni Arab-dominated provinces than in previous parliamentary votes.
As reported by the Monitor this week, Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission put total turnout at 62 percent slightly higher than the 55 to 60 percent observers expected, but a significant drop from the 79.6 percent turnout in the last parliamentary elections four years ago. It was, however, comparable to the 58 percent turnout in a January 2005 election for an interim parliament, which Sunnis largely boycotted. Since Sunnis comprise roughly a third of Iraq's population, that means that Shiite Arabs and Kurds must have voted in quite high numbers in that election five years ago.
So far indications are that Sunni Arab participation in Sunday's election was greater than Shiite Arab turnout. In the predominately Sunni province of Salahuddin, nearly 75 percent of voters headed to the polls, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In Anbar, another largely Sunni province and a one-time hotbed of insurgent activity, 61 percent of registered voters came to the polls a huge improvement over the 2 percent who voted in January 2005, reports the Financial Times.
The Guardian newspaper in London also reports a strong Kurdish turnout but doesn't offer any percentages. One thing that's clear though is that the upstart Gorran party, which reportedly won up to a dozen seats, is likely to lead to major upheaval in the way Kurdish politics are conducted and how the autonomous Kurdistan region deals with Baghdad.
One of US officials' top concerns going into Sunday's elections was the potential for Arab-Kurdish tensions to flare into violence, the Monitor reported from Salahadin last week.
With such a strong showing from Kurdish voters, it's very possible that Arab leaders none of whose parties are strong enough to govern outright will need to incorporate a Kurdish party in their coalition.
Initial results from the election, based on a third of ballots, are expected Wednesday evening in Iraq, with official results due March 18 allowing officials time to consider any appeals, reported Agence France Presse.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna in Baghdad said the early results may not be representative of the final tally. More than 6,000 candidates from 86 political groups were competing for the 325 seats in parliament.
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Joe Biden, the US vice-president, condemned a plan by Israel to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem settlement.
Okay, Israel, you may shake in your boots now, you got Slow Joe coming down on you ...
President Obama sent his Number 2, the self-proclaimed Friend of Israel, to persuade the government of Israel to do nothing while the UN's strengthened sanctions against Iran go forward. Those would of course be the strong sanctions incumbent on every member state except Russia, China, and perhaps a few others I don't remember. Dear VP Biden, Friend of Israel, saw fit to couple love-drenched platitudes with this condemnation of Israeli development in East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel as part of her indivisible national capitol in 1967 following the Six Day War. On the other hand, dear President Obama, friend of Son of Israel Rahm Emanuel and of Palestinian Hamas supporter Whatsisname, at whose Hyde Park kitchen table he wrote his second memoir, will likely never set foot in the Jewish state. Perhaps that's why the Israelis don't trust VP Biden's assurances that Israeli security is the highest priority to America.
Said more briefly: Biden's an idiot.
The Israeli interior ministry's approval of the plan cast a cloud over a visit to the country by Biden just hours after he pledged strong support for the Israeli government.
In an unusually strong statement issued after he arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units."
Arriving significantly late for dinner is an insult. So is the first thing public statement dear VP Biden made following his arrival. Israelis may be a blunt and plain-spoken people, but even they notice such things.
He said the blueprint for Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox settlement in an area of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem, "undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions I've had in Israel".
Oh well. Might as well go home.
The approvals came just a day after the Israeli defence ministry announced that 112 apartments would be built in Beitar Illit, a settlement on the occupied West Bank. The new building comes at a delicate moment in the long-stalled peace process after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to start indirect negotiations.
These are indirect talks, after Annapolis, etc were face-to-face negotiations. Special Envoy Mitchell has apparently announced that the agreements of the Annapolis negotiations will not be the starting point of this round of talks. There are those who believe this is a distinct leap backward, not a mere step toward the rear, and designed to harm Israel. There are those, of course, who think a leap backward is exactly the right direction for Israel to go.
The interior ministry said the Ramat Shlomo approvals had been passed by the Jerusalem district planning committee. A spokeswoman said there were 60 days to appeal against the decision. Ramat Shlomo, built 15 years ago, is on land captured in the West Bank in 1967 and annexed to Israel in a move not recognised by the international community.
Israel's interior minister, Eli Yishai, who heads a religious party in Netanyahu's governing coalition, said the timing of the plan's approval was coincidental. "There was certainly no intention to provoke anyone and certainly not to come along and hurt the vice-president of the United States," Yishai told Israel's Channel One television.
"Final approval [for the project] will take another few months. I agree that the timing [of the announcement] should have been in another two or three weeks."
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the announcements were "destroying our efforts" in peace negotiations. "With such an announcement, how can you build trust?" he said. "It's a disastrous situation."
Earlier in the day, Biden said Israel and the Palestinians needed to "take risks for peace".
Not that Joe is risking anything, mind you ...
Nor are the Palestinians.
But his talk of a "moment of opportunity" obscures a reality in which the two sides are a long way apart. Although the peace process has been under way for nearly two decades, there have been no direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since Israel's war in Gaza a year ago.
In talks with Netanyahu, Biden appeared to focus not on the struggling peace process but on Iran, saying Washington was committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. "There is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," Biden said after their meeting.
"We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," Biden said.
In private, he is also believed to have cautioned the Israeli government against any unilateral military strike on Iran, and to have tried to win Israeli support for the US administration's policy, which is moving towards sanctions against Iran.
Netanyahu made clear the Israeli government hoped for a tougher sanction regime against Iran. "The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to chose between advancing its nuclear programme and advancing the future of its own permanence," he said. Netanyahu frequently cites the need to address Iran's nuclear ambitions as his priority in government and Israeli leaders have pointedly not ruled out a military option.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank - Ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday and urged action after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, a statement said. Yeah, get some Arab unity going, that'll stop the Israelis ...
Abbas called by telephone the (secretary general) of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, asking him to urgently make the necessary contacts to discuss the 1,600 homes that Israel decided to build,' the Palestinian presidency said in a statement.
This decision comes after the announcement of the start of construction of 112 homes in Beitar Illit settlement,' in the occupied West Bank, said the statement. Abbas and Mussa discussed the urgent policy measures appropriate to address the escalating Israeli provocations,' it added.
Earlier, Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the plans to build new settler homes would hinder' US-led indirect peace talks. This is a dangerous decision and will hinder the negotiations,' he told AFP.
We consider the decision to build in east Jerusalem to be a judgment that the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun,' he added.
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#1
the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun
Not that they had any chance anyway. With the big O is office, the Israelis know that they're on their own.
JERUSALEM - Israel announced plans on Tuesday to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it has annexed to Jerusalem, a move likely to draw Palestinian anger during a high-level U.S. visit.
The construction blueprint for Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood, published by Israel's Interior Ministry, could be implemented after a 60-day review period, spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said on the second day of a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
The United States welcomed, with reservations, Israel's decision in November to place a 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. However, Israel has stressed that the moratorium does not apply to East Jerusalem and adjacent areas of the West Bank which it annexed to create a single municipality of Jerusalem in a move that has not been recognised internationally.
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#1
IMHO Israel should annex 1 square mile of land and expel paleos for every month they fire a missile, lob a motar, throw rock, and refuse to sign a true peace agreement. And they can build whatever they want. After a while the probelem (paleos) will simply go away. Also I would be a whole lot happier if the holy lands were in Jewish hands.
DOHA (AFP) Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar warned Tuesday that Tehran has "great means of deterrence" to face any possible attack over its nuclear programme.
"We are highly confident about our capacities, and our great means of deterrence," he said during a visit to Doha, where he signed a security agreement between Iran and Qatar -- a major regional US ally. "We do not feel in danger... If someone tries to endanger our national security, we will retaliate and make him regret his action," he added.
Israel has not ruled out striking Iran's nuclear sites.
Najjar said on Tuesday that Iran was working on strengthening relations with its Arab neighbours in the oil-rich Gulf region to "ensure security and stability in the region."
His country's security agreement with Qatar focuses mainly on the issue of combating crime, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as the protection of borders. Qatar, which maintains good relations with Iran, hosts the US Al-Udeid air base and As-Sailiyah camp, which is the headquarters of the US Central Command since 2002.
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#2
Does that 'great means of deterrence' also apply to power plants and those almost on-line refineries? A country without electricity is a country without spinning gas centrifuges.
#7
I believe the "deterrent" that Iran is indirectly referring to would be trying to attack Israel after getting their a$$ handed to them. I'm sure they know they don't stand a chance.
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03/10/2010 14:25 Comments ||
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#9
And we now turn to a live interview with Mahmoud al-Mabahouh coming to us from our newsroom in Abu Dhabi.... Can you hear us Mahmoud? Salaam Mahmoud, can you hear us our brother?
We seem to be having technical difficulties. Zionists dogs jamming our signals obviously.
#10
IIRC the RADIC MULLAHS already described said form of deterrence awhile back, namelys that THEY WERE WILLING TO DETONATE NUCBOMBS ON THEIR OWN SOIL AGZ THEIR PEOPLE TO DEFEND AGZ A US = US-ISRAELI INVASION.
* To wit, NET > "CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE" COMPUTER/CONSOLE GAME > Bad Boy Character "AL-ASAD" detonates a SOVIET/RUSS WARHEAD in his own city to destroy invadin' US MARINE GROUND-RECON UNITS, all while the USMC are still engaged in heavy fighting agz his own defending Army.
"AL-ASAD" NUKES, DESTROYS BOTH THE USMC + HIS OWN ARMY.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The U.S. State Department has apologized for remarks made by its spokesman, joking about Moammar Gaddafi's call for jihad against Switzerland.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam, who has reportedly been passed over in the succession, can sometimes be found drinking with South Koreans at a bar in Macau. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has reportedly been excluded from his father's birthday celebrations for the second year running. "A family gathering was held to celebrate Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday on Tuesday, with third son Jong-un in attendance," a North Korean source said. "But there are no signs that Jong-nam flew to Pyongyang from Macau or China, where he lives." 
