[ADN Kronos] - Corruption has soared in recent years as the United States and other international donors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan, giving the Taliban a powerful tool to delegitimize the Afghan government, according to a new national survey.
The survey, which was scheduled to be released Thursday by the Kabul-based anti-corruption group Integrity Watch Afghanistan, suggests that Afghans see their country's police and judicial officials as the most corrupt in the government - a troubling finding at a time when the U.S. mission here relies heavily on bolstering the credibility and professionalism of Afghan security forces.
It also shows that corruption disproportionately affects poor Afghans and that it is more entrenched in rural areas, where NATO forces are trying to weaken the Taliban and institute government control.
The authors say the survey provides the most comprehensive look to date at the scope and dynamics of petty corruption in Afghanistan, drawing from interviews with about 6,500 people conducted late last year in all but two of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
American lawmakers and U.S. commanders have grown increasingly concerned about Afghanistan's endemic corruption, which they see as a growing threat to international military and aid efforts at a time when support for the war is waning in the United States and NATO capitals.
It has become a phenomenon that is more widespread and really institutionalized," said Lorenzo Delesgues, co-director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan. "It has become easier for people to get away with corruption, and you have more money flowing in."
The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police forces; the Justice Ministry; and the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's main intelligence agency, are seen as the most corrupt government departments, according to the survey.
Roughly 28 percent of households surveyed reported having paid a bribe last year. Of those, about 78 percent are in rural areas.
Last year, Afghans paid roughly $1 billion in bribes, nearly twice the amount paid in 2007, according to estimates based on the survey. The sum is equal to nearly a third of the country's annual budget.
The most common types of bribes were paid for favorable disposition of court cases and for police protection, the study said. The average bribe paid to influence a judicial official was $135, while the average bribe paid to a police officer was $123.
Bribes were also commonly paid for routine government services, such as electricity, the issuance of passports and national identification forms, and access to education.
"Just to get a signature from a low-ranking official in this country you need to pay a bribe," said Afghan lawmaker Sayed Rahman, who is critical of the government's efforts to fight corruption.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] The US President Barack Obama is planning to review the Afghanistan troop policy to check if it has been effective, reports say
"We will have a review at the end of this year to see if the strategy has been efficacious," Obama told to a western news agency.
The US President highlighted that a gradual decrease of the US troops from Afghanistan will start by the middle of 2011.
"By the middle of next year we should begin the transition but that does not mean our presence will evaporate overnight," he said.
The United States led an invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the Taliban's regime and it led to an infamous war that is now in its ninth year.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
OOOOOO, you just know thats NOT Mrs. Claus' beard.
Lest we fergit, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > IIRC POTUS BAMMER + ADMIN > NEITHER the immediate or near-term cloure of GITMO, nor same as per US MILFOR WITHDRAWAL from Afghanistan [+ PAK + Iraq?], is any longer a priority for the Bammer + Admin???
#5
NEWS KERALA > [Amb. Robert Blackwill]EX-US DIPLOMAT: A DE FACO PARTITION OF AFGHANISTAN IS US BEST OPTION AFTER "FAILING" [US Failure to defeat Taliban andor post-US collapse of Afghan Govt].
IIUC BLACKWILL = POTUS OBAMA + US must face the reality = truth that the Taliban etc., NOT THE CENTRAL/MAIN GOVT, will control most or all of the PASHTUN SOUTH REGARDLESS OF US-NATO/GOVT MIL EFFORT.
* SAME > HAQQANI: ALL TALIBAN REGARDLESS OF DISTINCTIONS POSE A THREAT TO PAKISTAN | TALIBAN + MILITANT MENACE TO PAK CAN'T BE DEFEATED BY MILITARY MEANS ALONE.
* SAME > TERRORTSTS PLANNING MASSIVE STRIKES ACROSS THE COUNTRY: WARNS PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE.
Egyptian authorities released two Islamic Jihad detainees on Thursday night, a party source told Ma'an. The detainees were released following negotiations with Egypt, which remain ongoing to free nine other party members in Egyptian custody, the source said.
In mid-May, Egyptian authorities released six Palestinian prisoners after several months of detention, prompting Palestinian factions to call for further releases, officials said.
Islamic Jihad praised the release, saying it hoped "Egypt would continue with such positive steps and release the rest of those who have been detained," a statement read. Shortly after, party officials said several supporters were detained at Cairo airport and kept in Egyptian custody without charge.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil denied Thursday that Cairo banned Hamas officials from traveling through the Rafah crossing. Rebuffing reports on the travel ban, Al-Bardawil said such a move "would not serve conciliation nor push [Hamas] to change their stance on the Egyptian proposal," a statement read.
The senior official said that while "Egyptian authorities deal with Palestinians traveling through Rafah with discrimination, even with patients, it is not an official stance from Cairo targeting Hamas." However, Hamas-affiliated patients have been prevented from crossing into Egypt, he said. "The rhetoric on targeting Hamas is now meaningless because the movement represents 60 percent of the Palestinian people. If the ban were in place, then the majority of Palestinians would be affected."
Such a ban would constitute "collective punishment," he said, adding "no state has the right to prevent us from moving. If it is our fate to pass through Egypt, then Egypt has no right to prevent us from doing so." Maybe Obama, Holder and company will use the same arguments in the lawsuit against Arizona's popular controversial immigration law. After all, who knows how many DoJ lawyers are now Hamas supporters?
Diplomatic ties between Egypt and Hamas have remained strained, with reports surfacing in mid-May that Cairo severed ties with the Islamist movement. The rumors were rebuffed by Hamas, later saying that relations had been downgraded after the Gaza government said a suspected Egyptian security agent was caught by security forces attempting to gather information.
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court in a verdict yesterday declared illegal and without lawful authority all kinds of extra-judicial punishment by local arbitration in the name of fatwa.
The court directed the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the people involved in enforcing fatwa against women.
Anyone involved, present, taking part or assisting any such conviction or execution would come under purview of the offences under the penal code and be subject to punishment, the court observed.
It also observed infliction of brutal punishment including caning, whipping and beating in local salish [arbitration] by persons devoid of judicial authority constitutes violation of the constitutional rights.
The court said the people's rights to life and equal protection have to be treated in accordance with the law.
As per the rules of the Constitution, the citizens will not be subject to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, the HC said.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore came up with the verdict in response to three separate writs. The petitions were filed by rights organisations -- Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, BRAC Human Rights and Legal Services, and Nijera Kori, and four Supreme Court lawyers -- Advocate Salahuddin Dolon, Barrister Mahbub Shafique, Advocate AKM Hafizul Alam and Barrister Imaran-ul Hye.
The rights organizations filed a writ last year and the lawyers filed two separate writs this year with the HC, seeking necessary directives from the court to stop extrajudicial punishment in the name of fatwa.
The petitions were filed following several newspaper reports and investigations by the petitioners into violence inflicted on women in the name of fatwa by local religious leaders and powerful corners.
It was alleged in the petitions that a number of deaths, suicides and incidents of grievous hurt of women were reported arising from punishment given in salish, but the law-enforcement agencies took no action to prevent those unlawful actions.
Such kinds of conviction and punishment do not have any legal basis, they said.
The petitioners referred to international obligation under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979.
Earlier on August 25 last year, the HC directed the secretary to Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, officials of the law-enforcement agencies and the chairmen of union parishads and municipalities to take immediate measures against extrajudicial penalties in salish.
It also issued a rule asking them to show cause as to why their failure to prevent such illegal acts in compliance with their statutory obligations should not be declared illegal.
Barrister Sara Hossain appeared for the petitioners.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile, the ArchDruid of the Anglican church in Britain is ready to hand people over to local sharia courts.
Britain has removed a blog from the website of its ambassador to Beirut in which she praised Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, an early spiritual mentor of Hezbollah who died last week.
In her blog, titled 'The passing of decent men', Frances Guy wrote that she was saddened by Fadlallah's death and that the world "needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths."
Fadlallah was revered by many Shiite Muslims across the Middle East and Central Asia, and was known for his moderate social views and for trying to minimize Muslim sectarian differences.
But he was designated a terrorist by the United States and Israel because of his links to Hezbollah and his support for suicide attacks against the Jewish state.
"Sheikh Fadlallah inspired suicide bombings, assassinations and wanton violence. But the British ambassador said the world needs more like him," Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said Guy's blog had been removed "after mature consideration."
The criticism of her blog followed the firing of a senior CNN editor for Middle East news who published a Twitter message that said she respected Fadlallah.
In her blog, the British ambassador said she had been impressed when she met the cleric.
"When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person," Guy wrote.
"If I was sad to hear the news (of his death) I know other peoples' lives will be truly blighted. May he rest in peace."
Fadlallah was a supporter of Iran's Islamic Revolution and one of the first backers of the Iraqi Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He was also the spiritual leader and mentor of Hezbollah when it was formed after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, though he later distanced himself from its ties with Iran.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah was blamed for abduction of Westerners in the 1980s and suicide attacks on U.S. and French targets in Lebanon.
If China's satellites and spies were working properly, there would have been a flood of unsettling intelligence flowing into the Beijing headquarters of the Chinese navy last week. A new class of U.S. superweapon had suddenly surfaced nearby. It was an Ohio-class submarine, which for decades carried only nuclear missiles targeted against the Soviet Union, and then Russia. But this one was different: for nearly three years, the U.S. Navy has been dispatching modified "boomers" to who knows where (they do travel underwater, after all). Four of the 18 ballistic-missile subs no longer carry nuclear-tipped Trident missiles. Instead, they hold up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles each, capable of hitting anything within 1,000 miles with non-nuclear warheads.
U.S. officials deny that any message is being directed at Beijing, saying the Tomahawk triple play was a coincidence. But they did make sure that news of the deployments appeared in the Hong Kong--based South China Morning Post - on July 4, no less.
Their capability makes watching these particular submarines especially interesting. The 14 Trident-carrying subs are useful in the unlikely event of a nuclear Armageddon, and Russia remains their prime target. But the Tomahawk-outfitted quartet carries a weapon that the U.S. military has used repeatedly against targets in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and Sudan.
That's why alarm bells would have sounded in Beijing on June 28 when the Tomahawk-laden 560-ft. U.S.S. Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. More alarms were likely sounded when the U.S.S. Michigan arrived in Pusan, South Korea, on the same day. And the Klaxons would have maxed out as the U.S.S. Florida surfaced, also on the same day, at the joint U.S.-British naval base on Diego Garcia, a flyspeck of an island in the Indian Ocean. In all, the Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 new Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood. "There's been a decision to bolster our forces in the Pacific," says Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "There is no doubt that China will stand up and take notice."
U.S. officials deny that any message is being directed at Beijing, saying the Tomahawk triple play was a coincidence. But they did make sure that news of the deployments appeared in the Hong Kong--based South China Morning Post - on July 4, no less. The Chinese took notice quietly. "At present, common aspirations of countries in the Asian and Pacific regions are seeking for peace, stability and regional security," Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said on Wednesday. "We hope the relevant U.S. military activities will serve for the regional peace, stability and security, and not the contrary."
Last month, the Navy announced that all four of the Tomahawk-carrying subs were operationally deployed away from their home ports for the first time. Each vessel packs "the firepower of multiple surface ships," says Captain Tracy Howard of Submarine Squadron 16 in Kings Bay, Ga., and can "respond to diverse threats on short notice."
The move forms part of a policy by the U.S. government to shift firepower from the Atlantic to the Pacific theater, which Washington sees as the military focus of the 21st century. Reduced tensions since the end of the Cold War have seen the U.S. scale back its deployment of nuclear weapons, allowing the Navy to reduce its Trident fleet from 18 to 14.
Sure, the Navy could have retired the four additional subs and saved the Pentagon some money, but that's not how bureaucracies operate. Instead, it spent about $4 billion replacing the Tridents with Tomahawks and making room for 60 special-ops troops to live aboard each sub and operate stealthily around the globe. "We're there for weeks, we have the situational awareness of being there, of being part of the environment," Navy Rear Admiral Mark Kenny explained after the first Tomahawk-carrying former Trident sub set sail in 2008. "We can detect, classify and locate targets and, if need be, hit them from the same platform."
The submarines aren't the only new potential issue of concern for the Chinese. Two major military exercises involving the U.S. and its allies in the region are now under way. More than three dozen naval ships and subs began participating in the "Rim of the Pacific" war games off Hawaii on Wednesday. Some 20,000 personnel from 14 nations are involved in the biennial exercise, which includes missile drills and the sinking of three abandoned vessels playing the role of enemy ships. Nations joining the U.S. in what is billed as the world's largest-ever naval war game are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Singapore and Thailand. Closer to China, CARAT 2010 - for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training - just got under way off Singapore. The operation involves 17,000 personnel and 73 ships from the U.S., Singapore, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
China is absent from both exercises, and that's no oversight. Many nations in the eastern Pacific, including Australia, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam, have been encouraging the U.S. to push back against what they see as China's increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea. And the U.S. military remains concerned over China's growing missile force - now more than 1,000 - near the Taiwan Strait. The Tomahawks' arrival "is part of a larger effort to bolster our capabilities in the region," Glaser says. "It sends a signal that nobody should rule out our determination to be the balancer in the region that many countries there want us to be." No doubt Beijing got the signal.
#1
462 Tomahawks equals 462, 1000-lb bombs. To put it bluntly, that ain't diddly. And the Chinese are more than able to detect a sea launch via satellite, which would mean one fewer submarine in a hurry.
"The launch of the country's fourth Beidou orbiter late on Wednesday (Jun 8, 2010) night signals "a step closer" toward the highly anticipated Chinese-version of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a senior official said on Thursday."
#5
U.S. Tomahawk Missiles Deployed Near China Send Message
You bet it does: If the US has four subs, we should have eight. We can build them using the manufacturing base that the shortsighted American capitalist clowns so gleefully handed us when we devalued our currency.
#7
Mr. Anonymoose, I'm in full agreement with your weapons load out critique. The part of your comment that interests me even more is your bit about one less sub, should one of the SSGNs ever launch. How might this happen? Has the PLAN new ASW capabilities unknown? The posited ability of the PLAN to prosecute blue water ASW is a worrisome matter. if your position allows, please share out a fleshy detail. Thank you in advance.
#8
Whether the Tomahawks are sufficient throw weight depends on what you want to use them for.
If there is a power in the area that has the habit of making incremental threats that leave allies feeling insecure, then the ability to make tactical, non-WMD responses might be valuable deterrence:
cripple a key port
deter occupation of an island here and there
#9
I was under the impression that Tomahawks were nuke-capable. That, at least, was an argument against them by the anti crowd, that a conventional Tomahawk would be indistinguishable from a nuke Tomahawk, thereby bringing about TEOTWAWKI and so on.
Posted by: Grunter in Sydney ||
07/09/2010 10:06 Comments ||
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#10
462 Tomahawks equals 462, 1000-lb bombs. To put it bluntly, that ain't diddly.
Perfesser, it's not the payload size that matters. It's the target. And there are a lot of targets. Plus, there's more than one flavor of Tomahawk.
And the Chinese are more than able to detect a sea launch via satellite, which would mean one fewer submarine in a hurry.
One, there's a time lag.
Two, the Chinese would have to know the likely launch area and be monitoring it. As far as I know, they don't have a SOSUS line at the choke points.
Three, the Chinese would have to have ASW assets in-area or nearby and ready to move. It also means they have to keep assets out at sea longer, with all that entails. The PLAN is working on it, but they don't have the long-term blue-sea ops down just yet.
Four, a sub moves underwater. Having done ASW, it ain't easy, even with a noisy Russian sub. The Ohios are a fairly quiet sub. And I'm not sure if the PLAN has significant ASW experience, particularly deep-water (the USN has lost a lot of theirs, but that's another story).
Five, you don't have to use a weapon for it to have an effect.
#11
Sure the Chinese noticed, but I'll bet the North Koreans noticed more. 462 properly targeted Tomahawks would probably decimate their infrastructure.
#13
Im sure the Chinese enjoy the challenge of ratcheting up things a little .. Nothing like live training to keep you on the game .
Posted by: Oscar ||
07/09/2010 10:42 Comments ||
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#14
Perhaps Mr. McGruder, but then, most things are.
However, a long-range, nuclear armed, ASW weapon is a rare creature. The Soviets may or may not have kept a few around, but the PLA does not have the luxury of excess strategic launchers, which, it is assumed the Soviets had (theoretically) tasked for this mission.
#15
I'm thinking 'moose means it would be pretty easy to kill a sub with a tactical nuke missile, once you know where it is.
Sure, if you have a tactical nuke ASW weapon, if you have an ASW platform so equipped with said weapon within range, and if you know where the sub is. Then you gotta worry about the other three* subs.
#16
Since when is Diego Garcia in the Pacific, or anywhere near China for that matter? I mean, by ballistic missile standards, yes, it is strategically close - but the whole article is about how the Tridents carry cruise missiles these days. Unless it's about being a threat to the "String of Pearls", and really, if any of our assets anywhere near one of China's painted whores is now an implied threat against China itself, just wrap it all up & go home.
Why the hell would we have *any* boomers in the Atlantic these days? Russia can be deterred from the Pacific quite nicely, in so far as we bother to deter them at all anymore.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2010 12:52 Comments ||
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#17
The move forms part of a policy by the U.S. government to shift firepower from the Atlantic to the Pacific theater, which Washington sees as the military focus of the 21st century
What took so long? More like this, please. Now shift NATO eastward: swap out Turkey for Russia.
#18
That many Tomahawks will saturate the Chinese air defenses, and allow major targets to be killed. One that springs to mind is the Three Gorges Dam, that is already developing problems from bad construction practices.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2010 18:42 Comments ||
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#21
the Russians are already a little edgey about the Chinese
Chinese traders and businessmen are very rapidly taking over the Russian Far East. In many Russian towns, the Chinese invaders traders outnumber native Russians by 10:1 or more. Think not Mexicans invading the SW United States but v-v. China's the dynamic and growign power here. Russia outside of Moscow and St. p is a complete shambles.
#22
Russia outside of Moscow and St. p is a complete shambles.
What, all of it, lex? That seems an awful lot of territory to shamble through, although I haven't been paying attention. As far as I know, Mr. Wife hasn't been to that part of the world since about '96.
US President Barack Obama said that Europe's reluctance to allow Turkey into the European Unions may have pushed Ankara to "look elsewhere," in an interview published in the Thursday edition of Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Obama said that the US "always expressed the opinion that it would be wise to accept Turkey into the European Union. I recognize this raises strong feelings in Europe, and I do not think...[this] is the sole or predominant factor at the root of some changes recently observed in Turkey's orientation." It's not that recently. Erdogan's got a majority in 2002, about a year after 9/11.
However, Obama told the Italian newspaper, this is "destined to play a role in how Turkish people see Europe. If they do not feel like they're being treated as part of the European family, it's natural that they would look elsewhere for alliances. EU membership is much more than an alliance. A rough analogy for the US would be Mexico joining the United States as one or several new States of the Union.
"Although some things, such as an attempt to broker an agreement with Iran on nuclear issue, have been unfortunate, I think they were motivated by the fact that Turkey has a long border area with Iran and does not want any type of conflict in that area," Obama added.
"Perhaps the desire to flex muscles played a role," Obama told Corriere della Sera. "What we can do is continue to work with Ankara, clarify to them the benefits of integrating with the West, while respecting their unique qualities, that they are a great Islamic democracy." The net result so far of 'Turkish integration with the West' includes a sharp turn against Israel by the entire political establishment in Germany.
As Germany often is the lone pro-Israel holdout in the EU, this will have a disproportional negative effect of Israel's diplomatic standing.
Obama likely considers this a plus.
Obama said that alliances with Turkey "can potentially be very good for us, if they embody a kind of Islam that respects universal human rights and the secular state, and can have a positive influence on the Muslim world." However Turkey forced the NATO Secretary General to apologize for not enforcing Sharia as Denmark's PM.
Turkey officially demands Sharia restrictions for non-muslims in other NATO countries, which would necessitate a partial repeal of the 1st Amendment in the US.
The issue is Turkey's negative influence on the Western World; not some hypothetical influence on the Islamic World.
#2
The First Muslim US President Barack Obama said that Europe's reluctance to allow Turkey into the European Unions may have pushed Ankara to "look elsewhere,"
Hey Euro cousins, how's that Hope & Change coming along now?
#10
Golly lex, with that kind of writing you'd fit right to Helen Thomas' old seat in the WH pressroom.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/09/2010 16:19 Comments ||
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#11
Some folks should really visit sites like Michael Totten's once in a while. Not that it'd help since they don't seem to be able to buy a clue, rent one, or even accept one if given it for free. Does Obama realize that Erdogan is pushing for an Islamic state and that is how he got into office? They arrested or removed the people that supported the secular government. In recent years, murders of Christians and others is on the rise. I think I read that 4 Catholic priests have been murdered along with people leaving Islam. Just can't remember where I read that though I think it was yesterday. Any way, Obama thinks they are looking else where because of Europe? They aren't looking else where at all. They are moving to different policies because that is what power is currently in office in Turkey, supported by the growing majority. Europe has nothing to do with it.
#12
"Does Obama realize that Erdogan is pushing for an Islamic state and that is how he got into office?"
Of course.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/09/2010 18:46 Comments ||
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#13
DoesObama realize that Erdogan is pushing for an Islamic state and that is how he got into office?
I imagine our president thinks Islamic states are charmingly quaint and authentic. Remember, he spent his formative years in a village in Malaysia, mothered by a working anthropologist and fathered by a company man. He was well-off and safe compared to some of the others... and he has no concept how nasty Islamic societies can be to the powerless. Even when he visited Pakistan in the 80s, he was the guest of a man powerful enough to send his son to a name university in America, and secular enough to do so.
Federal prosecutors charged a senior al Qaeda leader Wednesday with helping to mastermind last year's attempted bombing of New York City's subway and said the effort was part of a larger plot that included a failed terrorist attempt in the U.K.
Three suspected al Qaeda members were arrested in Europe Thursday morning in what Norwegian and U.S. officials said was a bombing plot linked to the New York and U.K. plans.
In an indictment unveiled in federal court in Brooklyn Wednesday, prosecutors said 34-year-old Adnan el Shukrijumah, described as a leader of an al Qaeda program dedicated to terrorist attacks in the U.S. and other Western countries, "recruited and directed" three U.S. citizens to carry out suicide bombings in Manhattan in September 2009.
The indictment also charged Abid Naseer and Tariq ur Rehman, who were previously arrested by authorities in the U.K. as part of a raid in relation to suspected terrorist activity there. Prosecutors said the two cases were "directly related." The charges underscored "the global nature of the terrorist threat we face," said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.
On Wednesday, U.K. police again arrested Mr. Naseer, who is 24 years old and of Pakistani descent, in Middlesbrough, in the northeast of England, according to a police spokesman. Mr. Rehman isn't in custody and is believed to be in Pakistan. The last known lawyer for Mr. Naseer didn't respond to requests for comment. Mr. Rehman, 39, reached in Peshawar, North East Pakistan, said: "Of course I deny all these charges. Of course I will fight my case."
A day later, three men were arrested on suspicion of "preparing terror activities," the Norwegian Police Security Service said. Two of the men were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, said Janne Kristiansen, the head of Police Security Service. She said one of the men was a 39-year-old Norwegian of Uighur origin, who had lived in Norway since 1999. The other suspects were a 37-year-old Iraqi and a 31-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, both of whom have permanent residency permits in Norway. The three had been under surveillance for more than a year.
Officials told the Associated Press that the men were attempting to make portable but powerful peroxide bombs, but it wasn't clear whether they had selected a target for the attacks. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they believe the plan was organized by Salah al-Somali, al Qaeda's former chief of external operations who was charge of plotting attacks world-wide but is believed to have been killed in a CIA drone airstrike last year.
U.S. prosecutors, meanwhile, said the New York and U.K. plots were directly linked by a man identified in court documents as "Ahmad," who was also charged on Wednesday, though he wasn't in custody and prosecutors said his identity was unknown. Prosecutors said Ahmad transported Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan native who worked as an airport shuttle driver in Colorado, and two others to Waziristan, Pakistan, so they could receive training. Mr. Shukrijumah recruited them at a camp there, prosecutors said.
The indictment, unveiled on the fifth anniversary of bombings in London's transport network, said that Mr. Shukrijumah, together with others, including Mr. al-Somali recruited individuals to conduct a terrorist attack in the U.S.
Authorities in the U.S. have been searching for Mr. Shukrijumah, a Saudi Arabia native, for several years and are offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. They are planning to put him on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted list as early as Thursday.
Prosecutors described Ahmad as an "al Qaeda facilitator" and said he communicated separately with Mr. Naseer and Mr. Zazi, who were in Pakistan in the same period in 2008, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said Mr. Naseer sent emails to the same account that Ahmad allegedly used to communicate with Mr. Zazi. Mr. Naseer referred to different explosives in coded language and spoke of planning a large "wedding" for numerous guests in April 2009, and said Ahmad should be ready, prosecutors alleged. A similar code, meaning an attack was ready to be executed, was used by Mr. Zazi when he discussed the planned New York attack with Ahmad, prosecutors said.
When Mr. Naseer and Mr. Rehman were arrested in the U.K. last year as part of a bigger raid that also led to the arrests of 10 others, U.K. authorities found large quantities of flour and oil, as well as surveillance photographs of public areas in Manchester, according to U.S. authorities.
But "Operation Pathway," which led to the arrests, was carried out prematurely after the U.K.'s top counterterrorism official at the time, Bob Quick, was photographed entering No. 10 Downing Street carrying documents that clearly identified key aspects of the operation. All of the men who were arrested were released without charge due to what U.K. prosecutors believed had been insufficient evidence.
British authorities tried to deport 11 of the men arrested, saying they posed a threat to national security. Mr. Naseer won an appeal in May in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that stopped his deportation back to Pakistan. The U.S. government is seeking to extradite Mr. Naseer, according to London's Metropolitan police service.
In February, Mr. Zazi pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and other charges. He admitted that he drove to New York last September with explosives and other bomb-making materials and intended to carry out an attack on Manhattan subway lines.
Two other men, Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin, allegedly traveled to Pakistan with Mr. Zazi. In April, Mr, Ahmedzay pleaded guilty to conspiracy and providing material support to al Qaeda.
Mr. Medunjanin, a part-time building superintendent in Queens, N.Y., has denied wrongdoing and is fighting the charges. Wednesday's indictment adds additional terrorism charges against Mr. Medunjanin, who was arrested in January after allegedly attempting to crash his car into another car on the Whitestone Expressway in Queens as a last attempt to carry out a suicide attack on American soil.
"There's nothing new in the indictment as it pertains to Mr. Medunjanin," said his lawyer, Robert C. Gottlieb. "The government from Day One threatened to add charges as well as defendants." He said his client isn't guilty and intends to proceed to trial.
#2
Authorities in the U.S. have been searching for Mr. Shukrijumah, a Saudi Arabia native, for several years and are offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. They are planning to put him on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted list as early as Thursday.
http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/elshukrijumah.htm
Around 5'5", he has a pronounced nose and is asthmatic.
These nuggets are culled from the Urdu press. They are summarised here without comment.
Absurd or ridiculous, TFT takes no responsibility for them
Separate Muslim currency
Quoted in daily Jinnah leader of Jamaatud Dawa Hafiz Said stated that news about removing blasphemous cartoons from the Facebook and apology from the up-loader were all fibs. The only way to fight the cartoons was for the Muslim rulers to get together and separate their economic system from the West, have their own currency and prepare a common defensive system.
Maulvi Shehbaz and ‘maal banana’
Columnist Amir Hamza writing in Islamist publication Jarrar stated that Shehbaz Sharif was talking like a Maulvi and not like a Chief Minister when he warns of a bloody revolution, but people knew andar khatay (inside) that his government was busy making maal (money) in the old style.
After ‘water war’, the ‘fish war’
Reported in Daily Express Indian fish Goncha had attacked Pakistan and entered its rivers from the sea. Goncha was a cruel variety that ate other fish but it was particularly targeting the Pakistani fish, Kalbans and Palla whose two generations were now at risk. The Fisheries Department warned that if counter-measures were not taken the attack from the Indian fish, Pakistani fish will come to and end.
PM in the driving seat
Columnist Nazir Naji wrote in Jang that Prime Minister Gilani landed in Hunza on a copter but when he was being driven to the Attabad ‘accidental’ lake he insisted on driving the vehicle. He was told that in those heights only the locals could drive safely but he insisted on driving. Naji quipped that only the President could stop him.
Gilani and Leghari
Writing in Jang Nazir Naji stated that although both had feudal background Farooq Leghari and Yousaf Raza Gilani were of different temperaments. (Benazir wanted Waseem Sajjad as her president; Zardari wanted Leghari and prevailed.) Gilani knows that if he adopted LeghariÂ’s ways he would not survive.
Madrassa Haqqania didnÂ’t kill Benazir!
Reported in daily Islam a spokesman of Madrassa Haqqania Akora Khattak stated that the FIA ‘finding’ - that the killers of Benazir had belonged to the madrassa in Nowshehra and had plotted to kill her there - was wrong and a conspiracy to conceal her real killers. He said the UN report had not charged the madrassa in her assassination in 2007.
Hamid Mir victimised by Voice Cloning
Famous Pakistani TV anchor Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that he was being accused of getting an ex-ISI agent Khalid Khwaja killed by the Taliban on the basis of a taped telephone conversation that was made by the Americans with a software called Voice Cloning sold by an American Company Natural Voices which can be bought for a few hundred dollars. But actual cloning through it was a very difficult art and not within reach of everyone. He said in Pakistan artist Nisar Butt could easily copy anyoneÂ’s voice.
Two Pakistanis paid Faisal Shahzad
Reported in Jang out of the four Pakistanis arrested in Pakistan for their connection with the bomber Faisal Shahzad in the US, two proudly accepted that they had given money to him through ‘havala’. They however insisted that they did not know for what purpose the money was being given.
Judges and talk of war
Quoting leading lawyer Hamid Khan, daily Pakistan stated that judges should not make public announcements of war against the executive signalling that they were ready for this war. He said attempts were being made to stage a war between the judiciary and the executive. Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood abstained from commenting on the statement of the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court that he and his fellow judges were ready for a war with the PPP government.
Shami and Chief Justice
Daily Jinnah revealed that at a seminar held in Lahore, senior journalist Mujibur Rehman Shami stated that he respected the judiciary and the army but the judiciary should pay more attention to the courts and let the system run; and not give threatening statements about the skies falling down. He was referring to an earlier statement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan that skies may fall but justice will be done.
To the rescue of ‘khusras’
Daily Jinnah reported that two European diplomats had reached Peshawar to rescue the two men (one of them khusra) alleged to have married each other. An asylum in Europe for them was being planned through an international conspiracy. The effort was to save the two men (?) from being punished by the brave police of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa who have taken training for months to fight the Taliban but are more conscientiously making great sacrifices to apprehend khusras before they destroy the manhood of the Pakhtun ANP government.
Governor Taseer as tissue paper
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer after the passage of the 18th Amendment was like tissue paper which can be used and thrown away. He said the charges the Governor had levelled about the number of bullet-proof cars with the chief minister were false.
Lal Masjid madrassa in DG Khan under attack
Reported in Nawa-e-Waqt the police attacked a girlsÂ’ madrassa in Rajanpur in DG Khan and arrested a boy from there. The girlsÂ’ madrassa is funded by the Lal Masjid chief of Islamabad Maulana Abdul Aziz who has named it after his father Abdullah Ghazi killed in Islamabad some years ago.
Another Mahabharata will destroy India!
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt Majeed Nizami said that a Mahabharata was in store for India when the untouchables and the Muslims will unite to finish off the Brahmans. This would be like IndiaÂ’s plot to separate East Pakistan through Mukti Bahini. Pakistan will use the untouchables of India to bring about the end of India.
Arrested for marrying ‘khusra’
According to Jang the police swooped down on a man in Peshawar accused of marrying a khusra (transvestite). The expensively trained police most conscientiously acted like commandos and captured Malik Iqbal, the bridegroom, his bride, Kashif alias Rani and 45 baratis (invitees to the wedding). The arrested party was brought to the magistrate under heavy guard to give the citizens a sense of security under attack from the Taliban. The police, while getting ready to save the population from the Taliban, were overjoyed to know that the khusra and his bridegroom could be given a life sentence.
Army officer behind Faisal Shahzad
Reported in Jang intelligence agencies swooped down on one Major Adnan of the Signals Corps for helping terrorist Faisal Shahzad plan his bombing of Times Square in New York. His younger brother Qamar Ejaz, a software expert, was also picked up. They were picked up after the arrest of contacts of Shahzad Salman Ashraf and Raza Ahmad whose parents are in catering business in Islamabad. One Hanbal Akhtar, a graphic designer, was picked up from Rawalpindi. Sources said the men are pure (mutaqi) Muslims. Major Adnan learned the Quran by heart after joining the army and his brother is learning the Quran at Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
18th Amendment is right!
Well-known lawyer Athar Minallah wrote in Express that the Article 174-A in the 18th Amendment allowed an immaculate method of induction of judges compared to the old Article 193 under which everyone from Chief Justice of the provincial high court, the governor of the province and chief minister were involved together with law ministry in Islamabad. On the other hand, the new law set up a Judicial Commission comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan, two judges of the Supreme Court, one retired judge of the Supreme Court selected by the Chief Justice, Law Minister, Attorney General. Those selected by the Commission will then go to a parliamentary committee of eight, four each from treasury and opposition benches, deciding on the basis of three-fourths majority.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/09/2010 15:59 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistan has pointed out a spate of inaccuracies and unsubstantiated observations in the UN Commission report into assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, saying that such unauthenticated inferences hold no credence at any level.
In a letter addressed to Secretary General, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi counted, among other things, lack of attention paid to any international dimension of the tragic Dec 27, 2007 killing of the former prime minister.
He also took issue with repeated but un-evidenced finger-pointing at the role of Pakistani security agencies and establishment.
At the same time, the letter, which was issued on Thursday as a document of the United Nations, said the Pakistan government was taking steps to investigate the assassination.
The three-member United Nations commission, which was headed by Chile's former UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz, presented its report on April 15.
In particular, the foreign minister said, "Without detracting from much of the good work done by the members of the Commission."
He said, "Comments and observations about the Pakistan Army, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or the so-called Establishment, are only the opinions of the members of the Commission. They do not represent authenticated determinations based on any fact or evidence, and the same shall neither form a precedent nor a basis to lend credence to a political position in this regard, in the practice of States and/or that of international organizations."
Qureshi stated that the Government of Pakistan maintained any comments, observations or findings given in the report in respect of all matters except those that were directly relevant to the facts and circumstances of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto should not be viewed as having determined any fact that relates to any matter of foreign policy of Pakistan, neither should it had the effect of influencing any position that the Government of Pakistan had been adhering hitherto.
He said that the report had a serious flaw because the Commission had failed to approach third States or to provide some reliable information to unearth, if any, international linkages perpetrating, planning, financing or abetting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, although there was mention and reliance on such sources belonging to third States.
No doubt there were hiccups, and the Commission should have taken more time and effort in this regard, but unfortunately it appeared that it paid scant attention to this aspect and instead had tended to focus on internal matters.
The international linkages were an important aspect of the mandate of The Commission under paragraph 3 of the terms of reference which remained unfulfilled. This is notwithstanding the fact that due to its United Nations backing, the Commission was in a far better position to carry out this inter-State inquiry owing to its global or international mandate rather than a domestic inquiry team.
Further, he said that the Government of Pakistan wished to present the clear understanding to the Office of the Secretary-General that the comments and observations so made by the members of the Inquiry Commission in the report, which were not authenticated and referenced, should not be used or adopted by any State or institution as "facts determined," and in the event that any State or institution made an attempt to rely on them, then the said reliance should not hold any credence whatsoever.
About the account given in the report of the tragic incident, the letter said no referential information or supporting material has been provided. Similarly, the role of different persons is discussed without any proof or material s which could have been used for further criminal investigations as desired in the report.
Such supporting and relevant material would have assisted in fixing responsibility of persons mentioned therein during different stages of the provision of security to Benazir Bhutto or other arrangements which might have saved her life and which is now necessary to determine their due role or inadvertence in performance of their duties.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
He said that the report had a serious flaw because the Commission had failed to approach third States or to provide some reliable information to unearth, if any, international linkages perpetrating, planning, financing or abetting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, although there was mention and reliance on such sources belonging to third States.
Ah. Pissed off that the Evil Hindoos aren't mentioned are they?
On July 1, three suicide bombers attacked the shrine of Sufi mystic Syed Ali Hajwairi, in Lahore, killing more than 40 people and wounding 175 others. The 11th Century Sufi mystic, who is commonly known as Data Gunj Bakhsh, has a large number of followers across South Asia, especially in Pakistan and India. The attack, seen as an assault on people's Islam as expressed in Sufism, has once again focused the spotlight on militant organizations based in Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital. According to a report, the Ghazi Force, a relatively new militant organization, could be behind the attack.
Commenting on the Data Gunj Bakhsh shrine attack, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that the attackers are "worse than animals and infidels" and, pointing out those behind the attack, noted that the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and Al-Qaeda are working together. The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a former religious-political party that was outlawed due to its campaign of violence against Shi'ite Muslims, is considered to be the mother of almost all Sunni jihadist organizations in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad. In April, Pakistani intelligence officials in Karachi indicated that the SSP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had formed two smaller organizations: Lashkar-e-Islam and Ghazi Force. However, the Ghazi Force may have been established more than a year ago.
Over the past year or so, Ghazi Force has attracted the attention of Pakistani security agencies in connection with its role in various militant attacks. The organization was formed to avenge the deaths of Abdur Rashid Ghazi and dozens of his armed students during the 2007 military operation in the Red Mosque of Islamabad. The army operation was ordered by the then-military ruler General Pervez Musharraf after the radical students of the Jamia Hafsa madrassa for women and Jamia Faridia male madrassa, both controlled by Red Mosque's leaders Abdur Rashid Ghazi and his brother Maulana Abdul Aziz, occupied a government building, challenging the state of Pakistan, and began enforcing Islamic Shari'a in Islamabad.
The army operation in Red Mosque, where top generals of the Pakistani military have offered their weekly Friday prayers over the years, caused an outrage among the jihadist organizations in Pakistan and their sympathizers in Pakistani society. General Musharraf was forced to appear on national television to explain the necessity for the army operation. The top Al-Qaeda leadership also reacted against the operation. In a 24-minute video address, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called upon Pakistani soldiers to desert the Pakistani Army and "eliminate" General Musharraf, adding: "The storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad was a saddening incident... which revealed his determination to continue [serving as] a loyal and obedient supporter of America against the Muslims... We must [therefore] launch an armed [struggle] against him and eliminate him... Shari'a commands [us] to kill apostate leaders, and a Muslim must not question the commands of Allah... Know that when jihad becomes an individual commandment incumbent upon every Muslim, as it is today, there are only two options...: either [to wage] jihad for the sake of Allah, which is the Prophet's way... or to avoid [waging jihad], which is the way of sinners and hypocrites..."
In the aftermath of the Red Mosque operation, there have been concerns in Pakistan that the radical students of the Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia madrassas could formally join the jihadist movements in Pakistan. The students of these madrassas have marked the anniversary of the military operation in recent years. According to a report in the Pashtu-language newspaper Wrazpanra Wahdat, the female students of the Jamia Hafsa students organized a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the operation in July 2009 and banners inscribed with anti-military slogans were put up in the vicinity of the Red Mosque. During 2009, various Pakistani courts began acquitting Maulana Abdul Aziz, who had been charged on various counts in connection with Red Mosque episode. It was also during 2009 that the Ghazi Force's name began appearing in the Pakistani media, especially following arrests of militants from madrassas in Islamabad.
In June 2009, Islamabad's Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Aslam disclosed the arrest of one militant named Fidaullah, noting that he had established a new militant network with the name of Ghazi Force. In July, police in Islamabad arrested two militants: Mohammad Ovais and Obaidullah Khan. A report quoted unidentified police sources as saying that the two admitted that they had sent a dozen youth from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Pakistani Kashmir to the Pakistani tribal areas for militant training. Interestingly, Mohammad Ovais, who came from the Poonch district in Indian Kashmir, and Obaidullah Khan -- a computer engineering graduate -- worked for one militant commander called Tipu, who was "affiliated with a militant group named Ghazi Force."
Following the arrests of a number of militants from the Pakistani capital who revealed that they belonged to the Ghazi Force, the Lahore-based newspaper Daily Times wrote an editorial in October 2009, titled "Islamabad: Terror Epicenter?" The editorial observed: "Examining the spoor of terrorists closely, security agencies are increasingly worried about Islamabad being the epicenter of terrorism. Acting on the basis of this pointer, there was a dragnet taken across the numerous madrassas in the capital city, only to find that all was fine with them. It is not known if the mosques -- where sermons laced with politics are routinely given -- were also under observation. But an outfit named Ghazi Force is being mentioned..." In late-October, the Dawn newspaper also published a report, titled "Lal Masjid [Red Mosque] is Still Training Militants?" The report noted that police officers investigating terrorist attacks in Islamabad suspect the involvement of Ghazi Force, with its Emir being identified as Niaz Raheem aka Bilal.
In November 2009, the Pakistani security forces arrested one Jamsheed aka Tahir, a former student of the Jamia Faridia, in connection with the October 5 attack inside the office of the World Food Program in Islamabad. According to a Pakistani police official, Tahir belonged to the Ghazi Force, which was identified to be working from its base in the Pakistani tribal district of Orakzai Agency. From Tahir's statement, it emerged that the headquarters of the Ghazi Force is in the Dabori village of Orakzai Agency.
Azam Tariq, the spokesman of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has denied the Taliban's involvement in the shrine attack. However, this denial may be a tactical move to overcome people's anger against the Taliban. Just a week before the July 1 Data Gunj Bakhsh shrine attack, a Pakistani intelligence report warned that jihadist organizations are actively recruiting youth in jihad and are "publicly raising funds" in the Punjab province. Noting that at least 17 jihadist groups are raising donations through religious congregations, certificate award ceremonies and meetings held in the name of social welfare, the report noted that "the most active among these groups... [is] the Ghazi Force." The intelligence report also noted that the Ghazi Force has "close working relations" with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Versus
GUAM PDN FORUMS [paraph] > IIRC [David Headley]MUMBAI TERRORIST LEADER/PLOTTER IS A US FBI INFORMANT.
*** cough *** PENN STATE, VALERIE, OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING, INTEL-PYWAR.....................
....................@ETC. *** cough ***.
D *** NGED DONUT SHOP IS SERVING DAYS-OLD AM COFFEE CREAMER AGAIN.
#2
NEWS KERALA > [AFter PAK Taliban] "LAHORI TALIBAN" NOW DESTROYING PAK PUNJAB PEACE: PPP LEADERS | PUNJAB GOVT. ACCUSED OF PATRONIZING TERROR GROUPS.
"Lahori" = Lahore Taliban = New Taliban faction, sa seemingly "independent" or autonomous from general/main PAK TALIB GROUPS.
The United States has secretly given a "written guarantee" to Israel that obliges Washington to sell Israel nuclear fission materials, Israeli sources say.
The materials will be used to "produce electricity," Israeli Army radio, which is an official Israeli news source, reported.
Washington has also vowed to "publicly announce" that Israel is a responsible entity and can "contain its capabilities."
Former US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has between 200 and 300 nuclear warheads. A former Israeli scientist at Israel's Dimona nuclear site, Mordechai Vanunu, as well as aerial footage and decades of recurrent reporting have reaffirmed the possession.
The US has always supported Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity," in line with which Tel Aviv would neither confirm nor deny having the firepower.
Israel sensed a breach in the partnership two months ago when Washington supported an Egyptian proposal to hold a regional conference in 2012 on a nuclear-free Middle East.
The White House, however, said on Wednesday that US President Barack Obama had vowed to shield Israel from being "singled out" at neither the Egyptian-proposed meeting nor a September gathering of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where the issue of Israel's nuclear weapons is expected to be top on the agenda, Reuters reported.
"We strongly believe that, given its size, its history, the region that it's in, and the threats that are leveled against us -- against it, that Israel has unique security requirements," Obama as well noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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"We strongly believe that, given its size, its history, the region that it's in, and the threats that are leveled against us -- against it, that Israel has unique security requirements," Obama as well noted.
Barry was also quoted as saying yesterday (paraphrasing here - would that I had a transcript).... "the inevitable demographic changes in Israel will eventually change the political and democratic landscape of Israel."
[Iran Press TV Latest] An opinion poll suggests that the G8 criticisms of Iran on its nuclear program are meant to conceal the groups' financial issues and the lack of consensus to overcome them.
More than 75 percent of participants in the latest Press TV poll believe that the group of eight most industrialized countries is either trying to divert the world public opinion from its economic failure or is attempting to hide its internal disagreement on the bloc's economic problems.
Eleven percent of those polled said that the G8 countries, consisting of Britain, France, Russia, and the US, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan, are solely making an effort to sidetrack the public opinion from the groups' economic failure.
More than three percent of the respondents, however, said that the G8 only seeks to hide its lack of consensus on economic issues.
Meanwhile, over ten percent have maintained that Iran is more important than G8's economic woes.
The poll results come against a backdrop of G8 criticisms on Iran's presidential election and nuclear energy program.
Last month, the group issued a statement in which it called for the full implementation of the UN Security Council sanctions Resolution 1929.
The US-drafted resolution imposes a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over allegations that Iran is harboring a military nuclear program.
Iranian officials have slammed the group's criticisms and questioned G8's authority on passing such judgments.
Iran has also rejected the Western charges on its civilian nuclear program, pointing to its right to peaceful nuclear energy as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The G8 criticisms come amid mounting pressure for a consistent economic recovery plan that would eliminate the groups' financial woes and prevent future economic crises.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the United States for its interference in other countries' affairs.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Wednesday.
"The US regards itself as the self-declared leader of the nations of the world but everyone knows this is a dictatorial attitude," IRNA quoted the Iranian president as saying.
But the era of dictators is over, he added.
The Iranian president is in Nigeria on the second leg of an African tour. He will be attending the summit of the Developing Eight, also known as the D8, in Abuja.
Before arriving in Abuja, on Tuesday and Wednesday President Ahmadinejad visited Mali, where he was warmly welcomed by the Malian people. Ahmadinejad discussed bilateral ties with Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure during the stopover.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
Maybe he's offering to kill himself? Set of a suicide belt during his next summit with Hugo and the gang?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2010 12:55 Comments ||
Top||
#5
DAILY TIMES.PK [paraph]> IRAN SAYS US MUST STATE ITS POSITION ON ISRAEL'S NUKES BEFORE TALKS CAN RESUME, + also the US position on [improved]NPT Premises-Concept + "RESORT-TO-FORCE" MIL OPTIONS TO ENFORCE SAME.
and
TOPIX > VARIOUS > AHMADINEJAD: IRAN'S DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IS NOT NEGOTIABLE | IRAN WILL NOT STOP NUCLEAR PROGRAMS/DEVELOPMENT.
IOW, again, IRAN SHORT OF WAR will ultimately gets its Nukes = NucWeapons, + SSSSSHHHHHH BTW NucEnergy.
Amid reports about a fuel ban on Iranian passenger planes, Iran has moved to protect the country's national interests by passing a law to retaliate against such punitive measures.
Speaking to ISNA on Wednesday, member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh criticized the unilateral punitive measures which came beyond the recently-imposed UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on Iran, saying that such measures were seeking to target the Iranian nation.
Falahatpisheh was referring to certain reports which said airports in the Untied Arab Emirates, Germany and Britain were refusing to refuel Iranian passenger planes following the ratification of unilateral sanctions by the US and EU against the Islamic Republic.
The report of the fuel ban, however, has been dismissed by the Emirati and German airport officials who have announced that the related authorities continue refueling Iranian planes with no limitations.
Meanwhile, the Iranian lawmaker explained that "Majlis has passed a law [in this regard] and the National Security Commission approved after the resolution that Iran reserves the right to take retaliatory measures against those countries that work in the framework of the resolutions."
"Iran reserves the right to take retaliatory actions in cases that its planes or ships face any problem," Falahatpisheh went on to say.
"We should definitely retaliate against the United Arab Emirates, Britain and Germany whose planes need transit fuel from Iran," he added.
Falahatpisheh further explained that despite claims that sanctions only seek to target Iran's nuclear program, such instances were conclusive proof that the sanctions were aimed at delivering a blow to the country's development and the Iranian nation in general.
The lawmaker also stressed the importance of taking serious steps against certain regional countries which are working in the framework of unilateral sanctions imposed by Western powers.
"We believe that no country in the region will enjoy sustainable security if Iran's development or security faces any danger," he stated.
However, Falahatpisheh reiterated that doors were still open to democracy, saying that, "Diplomacy has not failed."
In addition to a fourth round of UNSC sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, the United States approved a set of unilateral sanctions against Iran's banking and energy sectors.
The extra sanctions, signed by US President Barack Obama last week, were approved by the US Congress as punitive measures against Iran's nuclear activities.
Under the new US measures, any company providing fuel to the Islamic Republic would be penalized.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Sounds like a sensitive area. Let's probe some more.
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.
[ADN Kronos] - Corruption has soared in recent years as the United States and other international donors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan, giving the Taliban a powerful tool to delegitimize the Afghan government, according to a new national survey. 
Egyptian authorities released two Islamic Jihad detainees on Thursday night, a party source told Ma'an. The detainees were released following negotiations with Egypt, which remain ongoing to free nine other party members in Egyptian custody, the source said. 
US President Barack Obama said that Europe's reluctance to allow Turkey into the European Unions may have pushed Ankara to "look elsewhere," in an interview published in the Thursday edition of Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
On July 1, three suicide bombers attacked the shrine of Sufi mystic Syed Ali Hajwairi, in Lahore, killing more than 40 people and wounding 175 others. The 11th Century Sufi mystic, who is commonly known as Data Gunj Bakhsh, has a large number of followers across South Asia, especially in Pakistan and India. The attack, seen as an assault on people's Islam as expressed in Sufism, has once again focused the spotlight on militant organizations based in Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital. According to a report, the Ghazi Force, a relatively new militant organization, could be behind the attack.
