You don't need to seal the whole thing. Just take out the rat line routes and watch it dry up.
If the jihadis can find the routes, then so can we.
Besides, if we can build a secure fence to keep out illegals coming across the US-Mexican border, then surely the same system will work here. (Yes, that's sarcasm.)
[PTI] - Acknowledging that terrorists have a safe haven inside the tribal areas of Pakistan from where they operate and cross over to Afghanistan, a top Pentagon official on Wednesday said that it would be a tough job to seal the Af-Pak border.
"As far as the border itself, I think it's naive to say that we can stop, you know, forces coming through the border," said Col Viet Luong Commander, Task Force Rakkasan and 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
"In order to secure the border, as well - as you know, it takes a lot. It takes effort on the other side, by the Pakistanis," said Luong, who is responsible for eastern Afghanistan which includes the volatile Khost province and 261 km of Af-Pak border.
In a special video conferencing with Pentagon reporters from Kabul, he said, "as our footprint is expanded along the security line of effort, it's harder and harder for these guys to come and bed down in these villages."
"To secure the border in the traditional sense, if you're talking about, you know, like what we would do along our own border with Mexico down in the southwestern United States, that's not what we're doing. It takes an inordinate amount of resources and force to be able to do that," he said in response to a question.
"You can look at this as a defence in depth, whereby you have your front line defenders, which are - which really starts on the Pakistani side of the house, by the way. They have hundreds of border checkpoints across backed up by dozens of checkpoints on our side that's manned by Afghan border police, and then we back those guys up with US and ANA forces, really to hand over the border piece to the Afghan border police," he observed.
"You can get more effects by defending in depth than you are in line. So we pick and choose where - the best places that we can defend the border, and then be able to target those guys where they feel safe in. I think that's been the key to our success," he said.
#1
"You can get more effects by defending in depth than you are in line. So we pick and choose where - the best places that we can defend the border, and then be able to target those guys where they feel safe in. I think that's been the key to our success," he said.
Col Luong is correct. Defense in depth and specific targeting appear to be the keys to success. After 10 years, the bad guys and their pattern of life are pretty well known. Along with taking the fight into Pakistan and the sancuaries, the 'persistent stare' of rat lines (travel routes) and good HUMINT are key. The influx of foreign fighters and trainers also remains a challenge.
#2
Target Gul and his ISI cronies for a good first pass.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/30/2010 3:03 Comments ||
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#3
The safe havens aren't as safe as all that, given how freely our UAVs seem to roam in the air above Pakistan. On the other hand, we haven't yet destroyed the training camps run by the various intertwined jihadi groups, and we must know where at least some of them are.
#6
I believe there was a similar problem in Iraq 5-6 years ago with foreign fighters traveling in from Syria. A few well placed sniper teams raised the 'toll' for crossing the border and the flow began to stop.
#7
If the jihadis can find the routes, then so can we.
As I recall, we tried that in Laos ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2010 10:43 Comments ||
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#8
Doc Steve, there is a bit of difference in the terrain in terms of visibility, and the ability of the sensors in use now. Laos isn't a proper analogy.
#11
There are 355 passes into Afghanistan. Handle on The guardians of the passes". Sandeman system, Khost, Nuristani, Orakaz, Wakham corridor, Parrots beak, and Hazara.
#12
Doc I think you missed the point. Its not that they can't hide - its that they can't run (supplies and troops).
Hiding in those caves and crags is one thing. Actually conducting movement of troops and supplies in effective quantities altogether a different question -- and that happens to be the issue here (movement).
There is no triple canopy to hide the large or repeated movements. The "long stare", better detection and different types of detection from remote sensors, overhead assets (air breathing and other), combined with far superior (faster, larger) processing capabilities to pull patterns and anomalies out, are orders of
magnitude better than anything available in Laos.
The terrain and climate actually work in our favor in that there is no overhead cover and its frequently cold regardless of season, especially in the high mountains. If they move during the day we see them optically, if they move during the night we see them on IR. And we can always see them on radar if they are in large enough numbers or carrying large amounts of equipment/supplies.
Also, the terrain itself dictates heavy or large movements due to obstructions, truly impassable terrain, altitude, and the subsequent funneling effects due to the need for logistics movements to use passes through the terrain.
Movements (and patterns of movement) are the key. This is not to say its easy, but that its not Laos, not even close. The obstacles are more political in nature, and quite a bit more diffuse.
#13
I remember reading a paper on aerial cluster mines. Similar to parachuting cluster bombs they fall and roll/maneuver into 'level' walking spaces.
With proper sensor augmentation they can be remote or motion detonated. Falling rocks or moving animals will set off the motion active units of course and that marks the controlled zones to any observers. Somebody throwing rocks or driving a heard of goats can clear a path.
The problem was 'mines' are a bad thing now.
A secondary offering which proposed a propellant and non-lethal marker dye was also rejected. too much cost to 'badge' the bad guys, too little skin exposed.
#14
The year 2011 is shaping up as the year of the assassin. On the one side you've got the drones and on the other the suicide bomber.
The success of the drone depends on intelligence from the various tribal leaders. The problem is that AQ&T soon work out which areas are collaborating and they send suicide bombers against the tribal leadership as punishment. They seem to be disguised as policemen or in burkas, to make up for the fact that they are non-locals.
Countering this, is an area that needs to be urgently addressed.
#15
The predators are good if you have the HUMIT to set it up. We cant shoot everyone on that border. Terrain is the issue. A month ago I flew the border. Villages everywhere, the mountains are like the Rockies. I am constantly amazed at our ability to find any of the bad guys.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/30/2010 21:45 Comments ||
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[Tolo News] A top official in the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said government has not been able to open way to Afghan trade convoys stuck in Iran and Karachi.
It has been four months that food containers bound for Afghanistan have been stopped at Karachi port, the official said.
He said despite Pakistan's Premier's promise to resolve Afghan trade convoy problems in his country, conditions for Afghan traders have become even worse.
ACCI said fines imposed by Pakistan's government reaches to 200,000 rupees per container.
Iranian government has not yet allowed fuel trucks which number in thousands to enter into Afghanistan soil, ACCI said.
Afghan first Vice President, Marshal Mohammad Fahim Qasim, along with some other top Afghan officials flew to Iran to discuss fuel trucks and other mutual cooperation with officials in Tehran.
"Unfortunately either it is political or something else that Afghan government cannot take action in this regard," said Deputy Head of ACCI, Khanjan Alokozai.
Analysts believe that Pakistani officials have not kept on their promises honesly and Afghanistan should react similarly.
"Afghanistan should take similar action and should impose the same sanctions so that Pakistan understands Afghanistan has lost patience," Hamidullah Farouqi, an Afghan analyst, told TOLOnews.
Pakistan has not only kept on its promises, but it has also doubled problems and challenges for Afghan traders, said officials in Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
"Even demurrages take a lot of time. They do some unnecessary investigations on Afghan containers," Ghulam Mohammad Yailaqi, a Policymaker in commerce and industries ministry told TOLOnews.
According to the commerce and industries ministry, Iran has also ignored to act on the commitments made with Afghan delegation as the Afghan fuel tankers are still stopped on the Iranian side of the border.
The Iranian officials had earlier promised the Afghan delegation visiting Tehran that all the oil tankers stopped by Iranian border forces will be allowed to enter Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] New intelligence assessments found that rival krazed killer organisations on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistain border have increasingly been teaming up in attacks.
The intelligence assessments suggest that hard boy factions now are setting aside their historic rivalries to launch joint attacks against foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.
Military officials said that a survey of dead Islamic fascistifound that the fighters were from three different factions including Taliban of Mullah Mohammad Omar, Haqqani hard boy network and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's ... who used to be known as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
Party.
In the past, the groups were following the same ideology, but group attacks were rare or even did not exist.
US, Afghan and allied forces' operations on one side of border and Pak forces on the other side of border have made hard boy leaders make such a decision, US and Nato officials said.
"They have been forced to cooperate due to the effect our collective efforts have had on them," News Agency that Dare Not be Named quoted Lt. Col. Patrick R. Seiber, a front man for foreign forces in eastern Afghanistan as saying.
Senior officials in Pentagon and Pakistain said officials in Islamabad have agreed with the new US and Nato assessments.
Commanders also warned that larger numbers of Islamic fascistiare expected to be ordered to remain in Afghanistan this winter to fight on, rather than going back and wait in safe havens in Pakistain until the winter is over.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > MUSHARAFF: NAWAZ SUPPORTS BALOCH INSURGENT GROUPS | FORMER PAK PRESIDENT SAYS INDIA IS FUELING INSURGENCY IN BALOCHISTAN TO DESTABILIZE PAKISTAN.
AND
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > YOUTUBE: HINDUS CLAIM CHINA IS AGAIN INVADING INDIA.
OTHER YT = China is planning to invade or wage new war in NT agz Indjuh.
* TOPIX > WIKILEAKS: CHINA OFFERED KYRGYZSTAN US$3.0BILYUHN TO SHUT DOWN US MANAS BASE.
IIUC, IOW CHINA = BEIJING + CPC, CCCC is unsure iff it will EVAR! get its desired "WARM-WATER" OVERSEAS PORTS vee "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN", hence may be preparing TO ACHIEVE SAME BY WAGING WAR = UNILATERAL MIL FORCE, INCLUD ON SOUTH, CENTRAL ASIA???
[Tolo News] President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai had suggested to UN Special Envoy in Afghanistan and Head of IEC to help bring change in final results of parliamentary elections.
Some government and foreign sources told TOLOnews that UN envoy Staffan de Mistura and Fazl Ahmad Manawi Head of Election Commission had repeatedly talked about the suggestion, but they had emphasised not to respond to President Karzai's call.
President's Office acknowledged Karzai's meeting with De Mistura and Manawi, but dismissed the allegation claiming Karzai called for a change in elections' final results.
A foreign official who declined to be disclosed said President Hamid Karzai had several meetings with Afghan and foreign officials including De Mistura and Manawi to discuss a shift in final results of elections.
"President Karzai said there was a need for a change in final results of elections, because of stability and national interests," a foreign official with the knowledge of the meetings quote Staffan de Mistura as saying.
A source in Independent Election Commission also confirmed President Karzai's meetings with top electoral officials.
"I could say with full confidence that he [President Karzai] held talks with a number of commissioners and even head of IEC, but I think the efforts couldn't result in anything," a source in Election Commission said.
But when asked about President Karzai's meetings with elections decision-making officials, Karzai's spokesperson Wahid Omar said: "President Karzai talked in presence of Electoral Complaints Commission with Staffan de Mistura and Karzai had only wanted to curtail the final results not to damage Afghan stability."
"We have about seven commissioners and they were all present in each meeting of President Karzai with the commission. There was nothing discussed like Karzai suggesting to electoral officials to let any candidates in parliament because of stability," said IEC Spokesperson, Noor Mohammad Noor. "And this is something that IEC would not do."
An official in the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said President Karzai's talk with top electoral officials on electoral issues is not something beyond the Afghan law.
"President Karzai had held several talks with elections leadership before and after elections. And this is something common," Mr Noor said.
But President Karzai's spokesperson remarks a bit differently.
"President Karzai had two meetings with elections watch dog and IEC and in each talk the President urged the commissions to prevent people's votes being misused and elections' results should reflect people's votes," Mr Omar said.
President Hamid Karzai recently approved a proposal about formation of a special court to handle and end electoral disputes.
Afghan and foreign officials interviewed by TOLOnews didn't express optimism about the new court.
Officials said disputes will end up with a new series of quarrels between government and electoral commissions.
A top Afghan official said on condition of anonymity that they want to displace some candidates in the House of Representatives by sparking electoral disputes.
A source from IEC told TOLOnews while requesting for anonymity that there are efforts to collect evidence about the allegedly fraudulent Presidential Elections in which Karzai won in the second round.
After the special court ends electoral disputes, the collected evidence about Presidential Elections would be submitted to the court for investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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More than 100 Canadian-Arab Christians are listed on an Al Qaeda affiliated website, apparently targeted because of their alleged role in attempting to convert Muslims.
Some of those named say concerned Canadian intelligence officials have contacted them.
The Shumukh-al-Islam website, often considered to be Al Qaeda's mouthpiece, listed pictures, addresses and cellphone numbers of Coptic Christians, predominantly Egyptian-Canadians, who have been vocal about their opposition to Islam.
In a forum on the website, one member named Son of a Sharp Sword, says "We are going to return back to Islam and all of the Mujahedeen (holy warriors) will cut off their heads."
Three pages of the fundamentalist, Arabic-language website titled "Complete information on Coptics" sets to "identify and name all of the Coptics throughout the world who hope to defame Islam." The website calls the Coptic Christians living abroad "dogs in diaspora," a derogatory reference in Arabic. Maybe we could buy them new cell phones or something.
Arshaq al-Aswat seems to be getting things wrong lately, on the editorial page, at least.
[Asharq al-Aswat] The reports of a jihadist group operating in the United Arab Emirates [UAE] deserves serious consideration, particularly due to the stability and security enjoyed by this country, as well as the absence of religious groups sympathetic with the Al Qaeda ideology. This is something that has been officially acknowledged by the UAE authorities who have put two Pak nationals on trial accused of running a jihadist organization in the UAE, as well as aiding and abetting Al Qaeda.
Because that's what "not active" looks like.
Reports indicate that the two Pak nationals are brothers, who were working in the Ras al-Khaima Emirate of the UAE, and who are accused of running a jihadist organization, being members of Al Qaeda, and also recruiting and financing the terrorist group. The two brothers, one of whom is said to be a project manger, the other a marketing manger, were jugged following a tip-off from the Pak authorities.
According to reports, the two brothers confessed to having links with the Al Qaeda organization, however they later retracted this confession, saying that it was extracted "under duress."
Riad Kahwaji, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis [INEGMA] told Asharq Al-Awsat that "there is nothing surprising about Al Qaeda being present in the UAE."
He added that "Al Qaeda is akin to an ideology that is easily transferable, for all that is required is the presence of those who are sympathetic [towards this] and will follow their [Al Qaeda] leaders in the field."
He also said that "as a result of this, Al Qaeda is present everywhere; Al Qaeda is present in the Gulf, and the security authorities are on alert and monitoring the situation...to prevent any cell from establishing itself."
According to reports, the elder of the two Pak brothers on trial in the UAE sent two computer laptops and other equipment to Islamic gunnies in Wazoo, along the Pak border. Investigators also discovered a message in Urdu on the elder brother's computer to former Al Qaeda No 3 Mustafa Abu al-Yazid AKA Saeed al-Masri. Al-Masri was said to be Al Qaeda's financial chief; he was killed in an Arclight airstrike in Pakistain on 21 May, 2010.
The elder brother denied the charges, saying that everything that he did was "in good faith." He claimed that the equipment he sent to Pakistain was for his nephew, who works with an Islamic religious organization there.
But Al Qaeda claims to be an Islamic religious organization, so that's ok.
Al Qaeda has rarely been linked in the news with the UAE. In December 2002, the UAE authorities confirmed that they had jugged a senior Al Qaeda suspected, and handed him over to the American authorities. It later transpired that this was none other than Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged criminal mastermind of the USS Cole Bombing, in Aden on 12 October 2000, which resulted in the death of 17 American sailors. Al-Nashiri was reportedly involved in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. He was jugged whilst planning to attack vital economic infrastructure in the UAE, and was said to be the head of Al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf states at the time of his capture. He is currently being nabbed in Guantanamo Bay.
Whilst in November 2010, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula sent parcel bombs on FedEx cargo planes, where were discovered in Britain and Dubai. Whilst in September, a UPS Cargo plane crashed in Dubai, resulting in two deaths, smoke was seen billowing from the plane before it crashed, with Al Qaeda later claiming responsibility for this.
Although these incidents, and others, indicate that Al Qaeda is present in the Gulf, military expert Riad Kahwaji told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al Qaeda is "inactive" here. As for why Al Qaeda is not active in the Gulf, Kahwaji said that this was down to a number of reasons; most importantly the success of the security apparatus in dismantling any cells, and monitoring the movement of individuals and communities; as well as the strong security presence along the borders, and coordination with regional and international security apparatus. In addition to this, Kahwaji said that the UAE did not possess an atmosphere which supported the growth or spread of Al Qaeda ideology.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
That may change in near-future, as per
Lest we fergit,
* TOPIX [old]> VARIOUS = SOMALIA:AL SHABAAB INSURGENTS CALL ON AL QAEDA FOR AID. The AS Boyz also call on Islamist-Jihadist fighters WORLDWIDE to come to SOMALIA + EAST AFRICA TO WAGE "EAST AFRICA JIHAD".
#2
House of Saud is still contaminating this earth with a very bad bill of goods.
If house of tumult does not end in Africa, You will hold house of Amalek.
Africa is not your playground. Cease and desist now.
Sao Paulo: South American drugs gangs are reportedly providing millions of pounds of funding to al Qaeda terrorists to ensure the safe passage of cocaine across North Africa and towards Europe.
Islamic rebels familiar with the barren terrain of the Sahara have struck deals under which they provide armed security escorts for drug traffickers in return for a slice of their profits, The Telegraph reports.
Counter-terrorism experts said the terrorists belong to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, which has kidnapped a series of Westerners and killed a British tourist last year. They warned that the money they receive from drugs gangs could be used to attract new recruits and plan terrorist attacks on European cities. Or it could be used to build museums and cultural venues. You decide. Or daycare centers, don't forget daycare centers
Olivier Guitta, a counter-terrorism and foreign affairs consultant, said that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Marxist rebel group, was the "force behind the agreement with AQIM". This is basically a declaration of war in my book.
In the past, drugs were flown or shipped from South America straight to Spain or Portugal but the introduction of more rigorous controls in those countries led FARC to change its way of operating.
"AQIM is an independent unit of al Qaeda and does not share the monies with al Qaeda central but is looking to pull off terror attacks on its own in Europe," Guitta was quoted, as saying. Uh, right. True statement; think of AQ as a decentralized branding operation. AQIM has similar goals as AQ Central but is an independent unit, much like a franchisee.
Terrorists linked to al Qaeda in North Africa have made USD 130 million from helping drugs gangs and kidnap ransoms since 2007, according to one report citing an investigation by the Algerian government.
AQIM first emerged under a different name as an Islamic resistance group opposed to Algeria's secular government in the early 1990s and has been behind numerous suicide bombings and ambushes. It declared allegiance to al Qaeda as early as 2003 and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the terrorist network's second in command, officially approved the franchise "merger" in 2006.
Posted by: American Delight ||
12/30/2010 8:32 Comments ||
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#3
This should make even the open borders crowd worried. AQIM links to A-Q, links to major narco-trafficking cartels, links to Mexican drug transit corridors, and voila, the people that bring tons of illegal drungs in our country across the Southwest Border and now openly associated with the top Islamic terrorist organizations. Could the threat to our nation be made any clearer? Could the need to secure the border with troops be made any clearer?
[Iran Press TV] Suspected members of Mexico's Zetas narco mob have threatened to "start war" in Guatemala if the Guatemalan president does not fulfill unspecified promises.
Gunmen claiming to be members of the Zetas narco gang forced their way into three radio stations and made them broadcast a threat of war in a northern Guatemalan province where the government recently declared a state of siege.
"War will start in this country, in shopping malls, schools and cop shoppes," if Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom fails to fulfill unspecified promises, the Zetas' statement warned.
The state of siege imposed on Alta Verapaz gives the control of the local news media to the army, allowing them to detain suspects without warrants and conduct warrantless searches.
It was initially put in place for 30 days, but the president said the state of siege would continue until members of the Zetas flush out of their havens and security forces gain back control of the cities.
Alta Verapaz is where the Zetas narco gang, formerly the armed wing of Mexico's Gulf narco mob, is believed to be recently engaged in drug trafficking and violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that North Korea's nuclear program should be dismantled next year through the six-way talks, a remark that may signal Seoul's flexible stance toward the resumption of the long-stalled forum.
"(We) have no choice but to resolve the problem of dismantling North Korea's nuclear program diplomatically through the six-party talks," Lee said as he received the 2011 policy report from the foreign ministry.
Lee's comments came as the viability of the Beijing-based negotiations, also involving the United States, Russia and Japan, is being increasingly questioned amid Pyongyang's continued provocations. A breakthrough is being watched for when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington next month for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
Won't happen unless Bambi caves. The six-way talks are supposed to start with the premise that North Korea canNOT be a nuclear power, since they signed the IAEA accord decades ago as a non-nuclear power. But the Norks want to start the talks with the premise that they ARE a nuclear power. They then wish the flexibility to sign away that right in return for various goodies, such as a 'peace' treaty, aid, and so on. If the talks start with the premise that they aren't a nuclear power then the Norks have lost their best bargaining chip, and they know it. So it won't happen unless Bambi decides that yes, the Norks can be a nuclear power. If that happens the SKors and Japanese will have a cow.
Lee said the international community is pressed for time in denuclearizing the North, who set 2012, the centenary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung, as the target year to become a "great, powerful and prosperous" nation.
Just another five year plan. The Saint Louis Browns had five year plans too...
Because of the North's goal, "(we) should certainly achieve the dismantlement of its nuclear program next year," Lee said, adding South Korea should "play an important role" in the process through bilateral talks with the North.
Dismantlement should be a pre-condition of having the talks.
The president said his government faces an urgent and important task of broadening support from neighboring nations for Seoul's efforts for peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
In a separate briefing by the Unification Ministry on its key policies for next year, Lee made strongly indications that his conservative administration will be more aggressive in seeking dialogue with the North. Presidential aides, however, said the president was not talking about new initiatives on relations with Pyongyang or the nuclear talks.
Shortly after the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, China proposed an emergency meeting of chief delegates to the six-way talks but South Korea rejected the offer. It said it is still premature to talk about the resumption of the nuclear talks as the North should first halt provocative acts and show its seriousness about denuclearization.
Among Seoul's tacitly attached preconditions are Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear activities and the return of international monitors to its major nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.
In other words, the Norks have to come into the talks as a non-nuclear power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > SOUTH KOREA PUSHES FOR REUNIFICATION DESPITE NORTH WAR THREATS.
versus
* PRAVDA > JAPAN TO MEDVEDEV: KURILS ARE OUR LAND[Part of Northern Japan = sovereign + ancestral]. Tokyo = Japan also formally rejects Medvedev's offer to set up a JOINT EXCLUSIVE ECON ZONE IN FORMER JAPANESE KURILES.
An old-fashioned style of Korean pop music called trot is South Korea's most powerful psychological weapon against North Korea. Most songs the military has broadcast to North Korean soldiers across the military demarcation line over tannoys along the DMZ were trot (pronounced "teuroteu" and short for "foxtrot").
They stopped in June 2004, but on May 24 this year, after the North sank the Navy corvette Cheonan, the military started airing propaganda programs on FM radio frequencies beamed across the border.
On Wednesday, the Defense Ministry submitted a list of the most frequently broadcast songs to lawmaker Song Young-sun of the Future Hope Alliance. Songs by Na Hoon-a, a big-time trot star in the 1960s and 70s, were broadcast most frequently during the 1980s. Many of the jaunty tunes were still at the top of the list in the 1990s and 2000s.
The FM radio programs targeting North Korean soldiers are broadcasting a playlist of 184 songs that North Korean residents would like, many among them sung by new-generation trot singers such as Jang Yoon-jung and Park Hyun-bin.
"Pop music can be a powerful psychological weapon targeting the oppressed in the North," Song said. "We should immediately resume tannoy broadcasts in response to the North's recent provocations."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Foxtrot? That young Palin daughter may find herself ambassador to a united Korea in the future, much as Czechoslovakia got Shirley Temple... and still adore her to this day.
An Indianapolis woman they call "Jihad Kathie" because of her online posts has been noted by U.S. intelligence officials for years, a terrorism expert said. Peter Beering of the Indianapolis Terrorism Response Group said authorities have been aware of Kathie Smith, 46, for three years.
Smith, an American convert, married a suspected German jihadist, and has been flying back and forth to Germany to visit him.
"She has a well-known blog that has had a series of postings on it, most recently the very pro-radical Islamist and jihadist video that was actually posted on YouTube," Beering said.
The clip shows Smith and her husband, known online as Salahudin Ibn Jafar, 28, preening and posing with weapons along with assorted jihadist propaganda.
Smith, who uses the name Zubaida, admits to whining about American policies towards Afghanistan, but said that she and her husband pose no threat.
"Just to hear that makes me laugh because the people that know me, they know that this has just been outlandish," Smith told 6News.
She concedes her husband has been close friends since childhood with terrorists. Still, she defends her behavior, including the pictures of posing with weapons.
"Sarah Palin has pictures of her holding guns. What's the big deal?" said Smith.
Smith has commended the deaths of U.S. soldiers -- terrorists, she called them -- at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, praised someone else's posting of the WTC on 9/11, and has repeatedly called for jihad against the West.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security has been made aware of the video of Smith and her husband. Officials turned it over to state police and the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center.
Still, Beering said he doesn't see the Indianapolis woman as a large threat.
Gee, how comforting.
"This is the winter in Indiana," he said. "We're at greater risk of slipping and falling on the ice than we are of suffering some ill as a result of a different viewpoint than our own."
Early in the article this Beering guy is called 'a terrorism expert'. Now we see that expertise includes the notion that being a mass murder groupie is simply a harmless 'different' point of view, probably less dangerous than a patch of ice. Holy crap!
Smith says that she only remains in Indianapolis due to visa and health issues, but that she intends on moving to Germany to join her husband.
[Iran Press TV] The Pak president faces political turmoil as he steps up efforts to prevent his ruling coalition from collapse after two major allies left the government.
President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari's ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... ruling party is attempting to keep his coalition government intact as senior leaders are pressuring two opposing partners to rejoin the cabinet in meeting.
Zardari met with Faisal Sabzwari, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader, only days after the party withdrew from the government.
The MQM has decided in favor of the resignation of two of its ministers from the cabinet.
The Jamiat Ulema Islam party (JUI) also left the cabinet earlier this month.
The JUI's front man Hafiz Hussein Ahmad stressed that the party would only return to the government if the president dismisses Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior Pakistain People's Party (PPP) politician, held crisis meetings with MQM and JUI leaders late Tuesday, urging them to support an increasingly unpopular government, AP reported.
Political analysts say the government will lose the majority in parliament if the two parties join the opposition.
The MQM, with 25 seats in the 342-member national assembly, represents the Urdu-speaking majority in Bloody Karachi and shares power in Sindh province and the central government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqs new Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, has reiterated in a reception given to the Commander of the U.S. Forces in Iraq, General LLoyd Austin on Thursday, the significance of continuation of the technical role of the U.S. forces, to raise the potentials of the Iraqi security forces to impose their control on the security situation in the country.
A statement, issued by the Council of Ministers, copy of which landed in Aswat al-Iraq news agency, quoted Mutlaq as saying during his reception of General Austin and a number of high-ranking U.S. Army officers as having reiterated the signifcance of the continuation by the American side to render technical sppport in order to raise the potentials of the Iraqi security forces, to enable them control the security situation in the country, in prelude to the complete withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq.
We are striving to build a new and strong Iraq, possessing security forces that cope with its regional and international bulk, that will actively share in boosting the platform of security and stability for its people and the whole Region, Mutlaq said.
"Please don't abandon us to those crazy Persians!"
General Austin, on his part, expressed the U.S. firmness to implement the Security Agreement concluded between Washington and Baghdad, and to withdraw the American troops from Iraq, in to their scheduled time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > WEST HAS THREE YEARS TO REIN IN IRAN: ISRAELI MINISTER [Same does not believe that IRAN CAN PRODUCE A RELIABLE NUCBOMB WIDOUT THIRD-PARTY NATION(S) ASSISTANCE].
circa 2013???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [UK MoD]BRITAIN FORM PLAN FOR GULF EVACUATION [Brit Citizens-Nationals] IN EVENT OF WAR AGZ IRAN.
NETTERS > opine iff INDIA + PAKISTAN + BANGLA + PHILIPINES, etc. have simil plans since many of their People = Citizens-Nationals reside andor are employed in IRAN + REGION???
[Iran Press TV] The Paleostinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, has called on Arab states to help rebuild the Gazoo Strip and not wait for the United States' permission.
Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad said on Wednesday that Arab states "must not wait for an American permission" to meet their promises to rebuild Gazoo which was destroyed by Israeli strikes two years ago.
On December 27, 2008, Israel launched a 22-day massive attack against the densely populated coastal enclave, leaving more than 1,400 Paleostinians dead and thousands more injured.
After the attack, international donors met in Egypt and pledged $4 billion in aid for the besieged territory, but most of the money has yet not been sent to the Paleostinians.
Rebuilding security posts would be a message to Israel that it cannot defeat Gazoo, Hamad said at an opening ceremony of the first cop shoppe rebuilt after the Israeli attack on Wednesday.
Israel has not yet lifted a ban on shipment of construction materials like cement and gravel to Gazoo, as part of its economic sanctions against Hamas. Israel laid a siege on the Gazoo Strip, which is home to nearly 1.5 million Paleostinians, in 2007.
During the past two years, several international groups have attempted to break the siege of Gazoo by sea and land.
On May 31, 2010, the Turkish-organized Freedom Flotilla was attacked by Israeli navy commandos in international waters. Nine Turkish activists were killed in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > EGYPT, JORDAN FEAR HAMAS [Hardline-Extremist] TAKEOVER OF GAZA.
[Arab News] The Paleostinian Authority (PA) will present the UN Security Council (UNSC) with a draft of a resolution declaring statehood in the coming days, a senior Paleostinian official said on Wednesday.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Paleostinian negotiator, said in a press statement that the resolution is scheduled to be filed when Bosnia takes the UNSC's presidency in January.
Erekat added that the Paleostinian leadership is "waiting for Bosnia to take the presidency of the Security Council." The Paleostinian negotiator expressed his hope that the US would not veto the move.
He added that Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand would recognize the Paleostinian state on the 1967 borders.
Erekat said that Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas will leave for Brazil on Wednesday to lay the cornerstone of the Paleostinian Embassy there on Jan. 1. Brazil recognized the Paleostinian state on the 1967 borders in early December.
According to Erekat "the Israeli government is witnessing an international isolation that it hasn't witnessed before."
According to other reports the Paleostinians will submit a proposal calling for a Security Council resolution to halt Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Wednesday that Paleostinians expect wider recognition of their statehood in the coming year and it will mean more than the mere "Facebook state" predicted by an Israeli minister.
Fayyad said recognition by many countries would "enshrine" the Paleostinians' right to a state in all of the West Bank and Gazoo Strip, which Israel captured along with East Jerusalem in a 1967 war.
Seventeen years of peace efforts had failed to deliver this promise, he told news hounds. The current Israeli coalition's stated commitment to a two-state solution could not be relied on "given the erosion that has taken place," he said.
Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador announced recognition of Paleostinian statehood in the past month. Chile, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua are reported to be weighing the same move.
"These are welcome developments," Fayyad said.
However, The infamous However... the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that the US and Europe are straying from the idea of unilaterally establishing a Paleostinian state.
The European Union has staved off Paleostinian pressure in favor of waiting until an "appropriate" time, while the US House of Representatives passed a resolution this month saying only peace talks could set such a process in motion.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Saudi Arabia has reportedly called on Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to reject the international tribunal probing the assassination of his father to avoid political crisis in the country.
Saudi Arabia as well as Syria and Lebanon's resistance movement of Hezbollah believes that the publication of the findings of the US-backed court could spark civil unrest in Lebanon and therefore has urged the Lebanese premier to withdraw his support from the tribunal's activities, media reports say.
The reported request from Riyadh came a day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad urged Saudis to reject the indictments expected to be issued by the court if they are interested in a strong Lebanon.
"If you want Lebanon to remain strong, the indictment should be rejected and we should work together to stop its release," Lebanese newspaper As-Safir quoted Assad as saying on Tuesday.
The office of Lebanese prime minister has yet to comment on the Saudi-Syrian offer.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was established in 2007 to investigate the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, is expected to announce its findings in mid-January 2011.
Hariri, along with 22 others, was killed in a massive car bomb explosion in the capital Beirut on February 14, 2005.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Washington-backed STL plans to charge some members of Hezbollah in connection with the assassination.
The resistance movement, which has vehemently denied any role in the killing, has dismissed the US-backed tribunal as an "Israeli-American project" aimed at undermining the resistance movement and creating division in the country.
In an August speech, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah presented evidence proving that Israel had masterminded the assassination.
The televised address featured a video captured by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as well as recorded confessions by Israeli fifth columnists, substantiating that Tel Aviv had been behind the killing.
Major political figures and parties in Lebanon have also condemned the indictment, calling it a US-Israeli plot to sow discord in the country.
STL is expected to issue indictments, in mid-January, against some of the suspects involved in the killing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Muahahaha, America plots again to sow the seeds of evil!
Honestly America doesnt give 2 shits about your country but just trying to help find the truth.
[Arab News] A prominent Washington-based Mohammedan civil rights and advocacy organization is urging the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department not to use anti-Mohammedanhard boyz to train counterterrorism officials.
That request by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, ... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ... CAIR, comes following a Washington Post investigative report on post-9/11 government surveillance, which stated: "Seeking to learn more about Islam and terrorism, some law enforcement agencies have hired as trainers self-described experts whose orc views on Islam and terrorism are considered inaccurate and counterproductive by the FBI and US intelligence agencies."
The Post released the report on the extensive security measures entitled "Top Secret America."
The investigation was first released in July of 2010, and is a series that is being updated, with its latest installment "Monitoring America" released on Dec. 20.
As a result, Ibrahim Hooper, the Communications Director for the Council for CAIR spoke out on Iranian TV against what he called the rising Islamophobia in the US.
The investigation goes into what the Washington Post calls the "fourth branch" of government, private intelligence communities that have the goal of defeating "violent orcs" according to the report.
The organizations, 263 of which have been created or reorganized in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, receive billions of dollars from the government, and do not adhere to the usual standards of personal privacy, the report said.
Critics of the security measures find flaws, not only in the billions used to fund the operation, but the possibility of profiling innocent individuals.
"The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal information, such as employment history, of thousands of US citizens and residents whom a local police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously," the latest report said.
This database is updated by "experts" who receive their expert status from themselves, not previous studies in institutions. They train FBI members in the understanding Islam, Mohammedans, and American Mohammedans, said the report.
"These organizations often use self-described specialists to provide training for FBI and analysts who are supposedly specialists on Islam. People who have no PhD , and who have animosity towards Islam," said Sally Howell, PhD, a professor of history and Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn told news hounds. "It's distressing to see these people are empowered in America."
Mohammedan activists say the problem is that when suspicious activity is reported, often by neighbors or co-workers for reasons that are not always clear, the accused individual is not informed, and the file remains open for five years. This could lead to profiling and abuse.
CAIR's Hooper said that as a result of the rising Islamophobia in the US, Mohammedans and Islamic organizations are worried that US citizens are supporting and buying propaganda of the media, internet hate sites, politicians and organizations that all Mohammedans are dangerous.
"We are obviously concerned when law enforcement authorities around the country are being trained almost on a daily basis by people who have a hate filled anti-Mohammedan agenda. That's been proven time and time again. You have a guy named Robert Spencer, the head of one of the most vicious anti-Mohammedan hate groups in the country, and a co-head of this group called Stop the Islamization of America, training FBI agents in Virginia. It's absolutely unbelievable. You have people like Walid Shoebat, a born-again Christian who was a former Mohammedan, who said Islam is of the devil and he's training these people. We are seeing this more and more. So it's inevitable that the law enforcement, policies and practices will eventually reflect this anti-Mohammedan hatred," said Hooper.
He continued saying that there is a very vocal anti-Mohammedan minority promoting the hatred of Islam and marginalization of American Mohammedans.
"They have an agenda, they are well coordinated, they are well financed, and they are relentless in their promotion of hate filled views. You've seen the group Stop the Islamization of America, you've got ACT for America, you've got any number of other local groups and activists who are mutually supportive and promoting this hate filled agenda."
CAIR's Hooper continued saying that there is an 'Islamophobia machine' of Islamophobes who are a "mutually supportive growing group of commentators, organizations, media outlets, Internet hate sites that all actively promote the false notion that American Mohammedans somehow want to overthrow the constitution and take over the country.
"It would be laughable in other circumstances that you would say a tiny little minority in a nation of 300 and some million is somehow going to overthrow the country, but it's a symptom of the times we live in that people are actually entertaining this bizarre notion. So they are promoting this relentlessly."
He insisted that these groups do not represent the majority of Americans. "The majority of Americans don't hate Islam and Mohammedans. But you have a sizeable minority, and a very vocal minority pushing these kinds of bigoted views," said CAIR's Hooper.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: CAIR
#1
More BS straight from the Islamist Xenophobia Machine.
#2
America's 'Islamophobia machine' doing great damage
GOOD
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/30/2010 0:59 Comments ||
Top||
#3
CAIR
versies
* WAFF > MEMRI.TV: THE US [ultimately]WILL BE TURNED INTO AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACE FOR THE FUTURE OF ISLAM, BESIDES MECCA + MEDINA, IS THE USA.
* TOPIX > [Activist] THE US EMPOWERS MUSLIM WOMEN, The Personal, Professional Success of Muslim Women in America is UNEQUALED/UN-MATCHED anywhere in the World, includ in Muslim States.
#6
Couldn't be the islamic terrorist blowing people up, raping young children and forcing their twisted hate on others.. Nah.. its just our uneducated hate of them.. but yet we are educated on how dangerous and twisted islam is
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.
[Tolo News] President 
Sao Paulo: South American drugs gangs are reportedly providing millions of pounds of funding to al Qaeda terrorists to ensure the safe passage of cocaine across North Africa and towards Europe. 
An Indianapolis woman they call "Jihad Kathie" because of her online posts has been noted by U.S. intelligence officials for years, a terrorism expert said. Peter Beering of the Indianapolis Terrorism Response Group said authorities have been aware of Kathie Smith, 46, for three years.
