LONDON - Britain's new Foreign Secretary William Hague has criticised Iran's nuclear programme ahead of his first visit to Washington on Friday, in comments to a newspaper. Hague, who embarks on his inaugural overseas trip in his new role just three days into Britain's coalition government, told the Times that tackling nuclear proliferation [in] Iran' was a priority for the administration.
Iran's behaviour in recent years has been unacceptable to the great majority of the international community,' he said.
Hague indicated that Britain would continue to push for United Nations sanctions, said the paper, as he prepared for talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Hague, a member of the Conservative party which this week formed a coalition government with the smaller Liberal Democrat party, listed the war in Afghanistan as another focus of the administration's foreign policy.
Our immediate priorities are making sure that we get to grips with Afghanistan and tackling nuclear proliferation [in] Iran,' he told the paper.
The foreign secretary's early trip to the US takes up a relationship that was sometimes perceived as awkward under Gordon Brown's premiership.
Obama gave Britain's new Prime Minister David Cameron strong backing after he was installed in the top job Tuesday, praising the Conservative party chief as a smart, dedicated, effective leader.'
A US official played down concerns about views on Iran expressed by the Liberal Democrats, who came third in the May 6 elections but are now in office after a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives. The Lib Dems' manifesto states the party is opposed to military action against Iran, while Hague in line with the US has always been careful not to rule out the need for such action to stop Iran getting an atomic weapon.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley brushed off concerns about the party's stance.
These are things said in campaigns but now they have to put together a programme to govern,' he said, in comments cited by the Times. This is an extraordinarily important relationship.'
Time to order another box set of DVDs ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
In the opinion of Felipe Muñoz, the director of the Security Administrative Department (DAS), Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez induces tension on the common border out of political interest and to mitigate troubles at home.
"My theory is that President Chávez needs to win confrontation scenes on the border because the two (Venezuelan) bordering states are in the hands of the opposition, and therefore, against all these backgrounds of paramilitaries and Colombian spies, he tries to create a destabilization situation," Muñoz said, Efe reported.
Muñoz thus replied on the issue of detentions and killings of Colombians in Venezuela, linked by Chávez's government with spying and paramilitaries.
"What we have here is a number of subject matters that has nothing to do with reality," he added.
According to Colombian Progresar Foundation, in the last decade 16,000 people have been killed and 1,800 are missing on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
Wilfredo Cañizalez, the Foundation CEO, told Efe that political clashes between Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart "has created a cloak of darkness to cover and hide the reality on the border," ranked among the most dangerous in South America.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, he at least hasn't torpedoed a Columbia Navy ship. Yet.
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korean leader Kim Jong Il denied Pyongyang's alleged involvement in the sinking of a South Korean warship during his visit to China in early May, sources close to six-party denuclearization talks said Friday. ""North Korea has maintained that it has nothing to do with the sinking"" of the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan in late March, the sources quoted China as telling South Korea, the United States, Japan and other countries about Kim"s visit to China from May 3 to 7. "No, no! Certainly not! It wuz... ummm... somebody else."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#2
What's the point of doing it if you can't take credit for it?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/15/2010 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Think internal power and positioning struggle. They gamble the outside world isn't going to do anything, so it's a display of one faction showing it can do something another faction is afraid or more rationale in not doing. Like kids harassing an animal or old lady, egging each other on to do something more across the line as they sort out their hierarchical lower primate positioning.
#5
I guess the Norks wouldn't mind it then if the South Koreans declared that whoever did this was a pansy scumbag who was afraid of the South Korean shadow.
The home of a Swedish artist who once drew a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog has been hit by a suspected arson attack, police said Saturday.
Lars Vilks, who lives in Nyhamnslage in southern Sweden, was not at home during the attack late Friday night and no one was reported injured.
It was the latest in a week of attacks on the 53-year-old cartoonist, who was assaulted Tuesday by a man while he lectured at a university and saw his Web site apparently attacked by hacker on Wednesday.
Police were alerted just before noon Saturday, as people passing by the artist's house noted that several windows had been smashed. When officers arrived, they discovered plastic bottles filled with gasoline and fire damage on the surface of the building. Attackers are also suspected of having tried setting the inside of house on fire, but the flames are thought to have fizzled out.
Police have no suspects in the case, police Spokeswoman Sofie Osterheim said.
Vilks, who often jokes about the threats he has received since his 2007 sketch of Muhammad, including from al-Qaida, said the latest attack doesn't raise his fears more than usual.
"I'm not really more afraid than what I think is realistic," he told the Associated Press over the telephone.
Vilks has faced numerous threats over his drawing. Earlier this year, U.S. investigators said Vilks was the target of an alleged murder plot involving Colleen LaRose, an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," and who now faces life in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
Vilks depicted Muhammad more than a year after 12 Danish newspaper cartoons of the prophet sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006. Images of Muhammad, even favorable ones, are considered blasphemous by many Muslims.
#2
and the furious attacks by muslims are considered cretinous by all other people.
Really it is time to stop pandering to cultists and understand that nothing short of utter defeat and killing fields will stop this. Damn sad, but true. Times up.
Via JihadWatch Muslim leader unexpectedly confronted with group's ties to parent of al-Qaida
An American Islamic leader friendly with the White House who leads an interfaith-dialogue movement was unexpectedly confronted at a Connecticut synagogue about her organization's ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood, the parent of al-Qaida, Hamas and numerous Islamic groups that aim to establish Islamic law worldwide through terrorism and other means.
Ingrid Mattson, director of the Islamic Society of North America, ISNA, was a featured speaker May 4 at an interfaith event hosted by Congregation Kol Haverim in Glastonbury, Conn., titled "How Religious People of Peace Can Transform Differences and Build Bridges of Understanding."
Jeffrey Epstein -- who as president of the non-profit America's Truth Forum has researched and hosted conferences on the Islamic terror threat to the U.S -- told WND he "felt it best to leave" after the president of the synagogue interrupted his second question, which had elicited noticeable gasps from the mostly Jewish audience of about 100.
ISNA was named in a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America" as one of the Brotherhood's likeminded "organizations of our friends" who shared the common goal of turning the U.S. into a Muslim nation under Shariah, or Islamic law.
Posted by: ed ||
05/15/2010 16:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
An American Muslim civil rights group has accused the US government of forcing an American citizen into exile because of his faith.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the US Department of Justice to look into the matter.
CAIR said Raymond Earl Knaeble IV, 29, has been placed on a no-fly list and has been unable to return home from Colombia since March.
According to CAIR, Knaeble this week flew to Mexico in hope of traveling to the Mexican-US border, but he instead faced lengthy interrogation by Mexican officials before being sent back to Colombia.
"He was stopped by Mexican authorities as he got off the plane and asked, 'Are you Muslim?' He was then detained for 15 hours and asked many questions relating to his faith," CAIR reported.
The group says it is illegal for a US citizen to be denied entry to his own country while he is not charged with any crime and such actions undermine the US Constitution.
Last week, a group of US lawmakers unveiled legislation that would authorize the government to revoke the citizenship of Americans thought to have joined hardline groups like al-Qaeda, arguing that this would then allow US forces to assassinate them freely.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: CAIR
#1
...I'd like to point out that south of the border, you can get just about anywhere by bus. It's difficult, long, and often mildly dangerous, but if he really wants to come home, he can do it that way.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/15/2010 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Mmmm, just guessing here, but the name shouts out "bored trustafarian took up jihad as a hobby, now finds it's not so swell..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/15/2010 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Tell him to hitchhike.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/15/2010 23:18 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistani Taliban militants have warned America that it will soon "burn" while calling for Pakistan's rulers to be overthrown for following "America's agenda."
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman, in a video message obtained by Reuters, repeated a claim of responsibility, saying: "The movement proved what America could not have even imagined ... It was just an explosive-laden vehicle which did not explode."
"But it (America) will see, all imperialist forces will see that it will explode also and America will also burn," said the spokesman, Azim Tariq, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of a rock face and speaking in Urdu.
America's allies would meet the same fate, he said.
"They can neither eliminate the mujahideen nor jihad, nor they can harm Islam," he said, referring to Muslim holy warriors and holy war. Instead, they will have to die themselves, they will be burnt themselves, they will have to dig their own graves," said the spokesman, sporting a long black beard and turban.
Tariq denied responsibility for bombings in public places, saying authorities wanted to malign the militants with such attacks. Tariq spoke of fighting in various places in Pakistan saying his men were holding their own and the security forces, which he said were being paid with U.S. aid money, were suffering significant losses.
"They are being defeated," he said.
Tariq did not refer specifically to any attacks abroad, but said mujahideen "wherever they were, in any part of the world" were supporting each other.
Analysts have long doubted the Pakistani Taliban, operating out of remote mountains along the Afghan border, had the sophistication to plan and execute a bomb attack in a Western country on their own.
They can, however, support and train people who are able to travel to the West and carry out attacks. Tariq said the Pakistani people were being sacrificed for the sake of the United States by their own government, which he called un-Islamic.
"Now is a time to remove them from power as soon as possible. All their policies are anti-Islam, anti-people," he said.
"Jihad will continue as long as the ruling coterie and the unholy army continue to follow the American agenda," he said.
This article starring:
Azim Tariq
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Yeah yeah yeah. And there will be more attacks on the Taliban in Pakistan, too.
Except I won't be watching the sky when I go to work.
US diplomat Christopher Hill, who previously served as the ineffectual US chief negotiator to the disappointing six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, will retire from diplomatic service. A senior US official told NHK that Hill plans to end his 33-year-long diplomatic career as early as this summer.
Hill is now the US Ambassador to Iraq. The official says the ambassador will resign after witnessing the establishment of a new government in Iraq.
Hill was appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the Bush administration in 2005. He worked as the head of the US delegation to the six-party talks at the same time.
During this period, Hill advanced direct dialogue with North Korea and succeeded in reaching an agreement on the disabling of the North's nuclear facilities at one stage. But some criticized Hill for making excessive concessions to the North. Include Rantburg as among the critics ...
Hill is said to be planning to work at a foreign policy research institute.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] A recount of 2.5 million votes cast in Baghdad in Iraq's March 7 election has been completed and no fraud was found, an Iraqi election official said on Friday, making it likely the final tally will not change, as insurgents attacked players and spectators at a soccer match killing 25 and wounding 100 others.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's predominantly Shiite electoral coalition demanded the recount, alleging fraud, after coming second in the parliamentary election, two seats behind a cross-sectarian bloc led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
A reversal in the results could have angered Allawi's Sunni backers, who see the secular Shiite politician as a champion of the influence they feel they lost with the 2003 fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and as a bulwark against Shiite Iran.
"There is no proof ... that there was fraud or manipulation or big mistakes," said Qassim al-Aboudi, a spokesman for the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
The results of the recount, which began on May 3, will be made public on Monday, Aboudi said.
An IHEC official who asked not to be named said he did not think the recount would change the final result.
Allawi's Iraqiya coalition rode strong support from minority Sunnis to gain 91 parliamentary seats compared to 89 for Maliki's State of Law bloc. State of Law has announced a tie-up with the Iran-friendly Iraqi National Alliance, the other main Shiite-led political grouping, which finished third with 70 seats. Together they would form the largest bloc in the next 325-seat parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Geo News] Courts are not awarding exemplary punishments to the terrorists, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said during a visit to Central Jail Peshawar.
He mentioned that more than 800 militants were in different jails of the province. 'They would be produced in Anti Terrorism Courts.'
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Thats because the militants are being used by the mighty Pak Army for strategic depth in Afghanistan and as back up for any potential war with India.
I just hope in any future war with India that the West fully support India as Pakistan and Iran Govt are our main islamic enemy but i have no doubt Russia and China are helping them!
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/15/2010 7:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Methinks this is a long, long way from Israel, Palestine or Jordan.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Russia on Thursday defended its contacts with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas after President Dmitry Medvedev met the group's leader, saying the organization must play a role in peace efforts.
Calling Hamas "a terror organization in every way," Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was "deeply disappointed" that Medvedev met the group's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal during a visit to Syria this week.
Russia, the United States, European Union and the United Nations, make up a quartet of Middle East mediators. The U.S., EU and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group. Russia insists that Hamas should not be isolated.
"Hamas is not an artificial structure," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement. "It is a movement that draws on the trust and sympathy of a large number of Palestinians." I guess the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's not an artificial structure, either, huh?
Senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil earlier hailed the step and said "the invitation by Russia and Turkey to include the movement in the political process reflects the true political weight of the movement."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
The Army has looked at upping it's standard sniper rifle to .300 WinMag before; last time, they wanted it to shoot both 7.62mm NATO (".308 Winchester", although the specs are more precise) AND .300 WinMag. Sounds great, if you don't know much about guns...
I believe the Marines make some use of .300 WinMag sniper rifles, as well.
#3
Both cartridges are much better at long ranges than the 7.62 but I suspect that the .300 Win Mag is easier to procure than the Lapua. Not sure of the comparative ballistics as I have not been into log range work the last 30 years.
Though both have been around for quite a while the Win Mag has been commercially available, Lapua not so much.
#4
if the money is there the Laoua will be priduced more efficciently
Posted by: chris ||
05/15/2010 19:52 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Too bad. I thought the M24 was being phased out for a semiauto. If the extra range is needed why not carry the extra 2 pounds and go for the much better .338? Outrageous .338 ammo pricing?
Posted by: ed ||
05/15/2010 20:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Interesting that Remington makes an M24 .338 variant that is 7 lbs (3.17Kg w/ sling+scope). That is just over half the weight of the .308 M24 - (13.85 lbs (6.3Kg, sling+scope) and less than half the weight of other .338 rifles. That's outrageous if the performance is comparable.
Posted by: ed ||
05/15/2010 21:31 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Anyone else remember the reason .338 Lapua was invented? Its because USSOCOM and the US Army rejected .300 Win mag for inadequate penetration at range back in the 80's. IIRC. THen the fiddled so long that snipers were "stuck" with .308win/7.62 NATO all this time.
Why not just buy the same sniper rifle the Brits have? Its a damned good one.
I figure it's that the Army uses M24s w/ long actions (Marines M40s are short action). In that case, a re-barrel and new furniture would turn them into .300 Win Mags. The Army is going the cheap route.
Posted by: ed ||
05/15/2010 22:23 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Outrageous .338 ammo pricing?
For a sniper round? Do they use that much ammo compared to those who lay down tons of suppressive fire?
Ay Pee, summarized: Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi, leader of the political party Hezbollah, or Party of God, wants to expand Iran to encompass from Israel to Afghanistan, which will bring back the Hidden Imam, Shiite Islam's messiah, and thus Islam's final Judgement Day. It isn't likely Ayatollah Kharrazi will win Iran's next presidential election, but his views are shared by a growing number of hard-liners.
[Asharq al-Aswat] A prominent hard-line Iranian cleric elaborated on his claim that promiscuity and immodest dress cause earthquakes, saying Friday that God may be holding off on natural disasters in the West in order to let people sin more and doom themselves to hell.
The cleric, Kazem Sedighi, sparked widespread derision with his pronouncements in a prayer sermon last month that women who don't dress modesty spread adultery in society, in turn increasing earthquakes.
In Tehran's main weekly prayer sermon on Friday, he defended the claim but added some further explanation on why some places are hit more than others.
"Some ask why (more) earthquakes and storms don't occur in the Western world, which suffers from the slime of homosexuality, the slime of promiscuity and has plunged up to the neck" in immorality, he said.
"Who says they don't occur? Storms take place in the U.S. and other parts of the world. We don't say committing sin is the entire reason but it's one of the reasons," he said.
But, he said, "sometimes, God tests a nation. ... (God says) if believers sin, We slap them because We love them and give them calamity in order to stop their bad deeds."
"And those who have provoked God's wrath, He allows them (to commit sins) so that they go to the bottom of hell," Sedighi said.
Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate. Tehran straddles scores of fault lines, though it has not suffered a major quake since 1830.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, another prominent hard-line cleric, urged Iranians last month to give alms and pray for forgiveness to prevent earthquakes. Hours later, four small earthquakes struck different corners of Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The drunk riding the bus kept throwing little pieces of paper out the window. The lady sitting beside him asked him why he was doing this.
"It scares away the elephants," he answered.
"But I don't see any elephants," the curious lady replied.
#3
if islamic countries experience a larger number of earthquakes and storms than democratic countries and since "God may be holding off on natural disasters in the West", then if follows that islam causes earthquakes.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Russia has signed deals with Syria under which it will sell it warplanes, anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian arms trader as saying on Friday. There is no politix. Only markets.
Mikhail Dmitriyev, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said Russia would supply Syria with MiG-29 fighters and truck-mounted Pantsir short-range surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery systems. He did not specify the kind of anti-tank weapons. There is no Dana. Only Zool.
The arms deal is likely to be watched with unease by Syria's regional foe Israel and its ally the United States which imposed sanctions on Damascus for its support of militant groups and corruption.
Earlier this week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Syria -- the first visit to Damascus by a Moscow ruler since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution -- and oversaw talks on Russia's possible assistance in building a nuclear power plant in Syria.
While in Syria, Medvedev unnerved Israel by paying a visit to Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said it was "deeply disappointed" that Medvedev met the leader of Hamas, which it said was "a terror organization in every way."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Syria to pay for these weapons with Obama-grant?
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.
An American Muslim civil rights group has accused the US government of forcing an American citizen into exile because of his faith. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistani Taliban militants have warned America that it will soon "burn" while calling for Pakistan's rulers to be overthrown for following "America's agenda."
