Russia's anti-drug tsar said on Monday a U.N. campaign to curb the illegal production of heroin in Afghanistan was useless and had no chance of succeeding.
The world's largest per capita heroin consumer, Russia is struggling to contain a crippling heroin crisis. With up to 3 million addicts, it is now facing an HIV/AIDS epidemic that is spreading among drug users from dirty needles. Try contributing something other than AK-47s to the Taliban and you might be surprised at the results.
#1
Russia's problem is less heroin, than the lack of a social environment desirable enough so that people don't want heroin. They don't even want to have children anymore, things suck so much. That should be their first clue.
[Tolo News] British Department for International Development has planned to build industrial parks in Bost city in turbulent southern Helmand province.
Officials in Afghan Investment Support Agency (AISA) Sunday said the project would be funded by UK and the fund has been estimated at $40 million.
Construction of industrial parks in Helmand would be a step forward to improve industries in the country. The project would also help create jobs for Helmand residents.
The parks are expected to be constructed over 32 hectares of land located close to provincial airport, AISA said.
"We hope the construction work will be completed with the funding provided," said Noorullah Delawari Head of AISA.
Senior provincial officials said that industrial parks would more focus on food processing plants.
"The parks would play an important role in promoting agricultural products," Helmand Governor, Gulab Mangal, said.
"Industrial parks such as that taking forward in Bost in Helmand province is a very exciting prospect, and I think the interest from businesses there, I understand about 48 businesses have already put forward proposals, expression of interests to become involved is just a testament to the level of interest and willingness to do business," said Andrew Kidd Deputy Head of DFID Afghanistan.
Officials in AISA said some fundamentals of industrial parks in Bost city of Helmand were constructed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
agricultural products? Helmand?
so... heroin or pot?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/14/2011 14:34 Comments ||
Top||
[The Nation (Nairobi)] The imams and Mohammedan activists at the Coast declined to give Sherlocks information on drug pushers.
A team of Sherlocks sent to Coast Province last year to investigate the drug menace said the holy mans claimed government officials knew the drug barons.
"They were interviewed with a view of gathering information that could assist in the investigation but they declined," says a report by the team.
The Sherlocks said some of those interviewed were either crying wolf or driven by financial gains.
When the team visited the imams again to see if they had new information, they said that information was with an informer, the report says.
The team reported that it had earlier dealt with the informer and found him to be dishonest. "At one point he had asked for Sh20,000," the report adds.
The Sherlocks also said that the imams appeared to have divided loyalty as they allegedly dealt with the suspects and government agents at the same time.
The report says that Mombasa Municipal Council employee Ali Mchemi alias Shee Lako, who was nabbed in December last year and charged with disguising proceeds of drug trafficking, told the Sherlocks that he was betrayed by the informer after he stopped paying protection fees.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the Sherlocks have accused two political activists in Mombasa of giving misleading information to the police and the media.
The report says the two turned out to be political activists with one having contested the Mvita seat in the last general election.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
#1
And the imams said: "Shut up. You don't need to know anything but what we tell you!"
Al-Shabaab has ordered that boys and girls not sit in the same classroom together. All lectures must also stop at ten minutes before noon, and teachers must teach their students the importance of jihad, said a senior Shabaabi.
Those who disobey the order will be punished, Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdalla, the wali of Lower Shabelle, said in a statement, without divulging the punishment.
#1
LOL as per Sidebar, espec since its Valentine's Day here on Guam.
I also would've accepted THE FLINTSTONES > Rockpaper Newsboy + Rockball,Pingpong Ace + Boyz Rockclub President ARNOLD = "WOMEN ... THOSE ARE THE WORST KIND OF GIRLZ"!
When Wilma + Betty went looking for their suddenly-missing Furniture at the local Boyz RockKlub.
[Ennahar] The march of the opposition in Algeria for a change of political system has met Saturday a great security device but it comes at a regional desire for democracy that has already defeated the schemes hitherto immutable of Egypt and Tunisia and threats others.
Coincidence of history, the event announced on January 21 during the creation of a broad opposition movement, the National Coordination for Democracy and Change (NCCD), took place after the fall of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, after 29 years of unchallenged power.
And if the movement in Algiers, the largest in the country, collected only a few hundred protesters, it has nevertheless been historical, according to the press:" Let's go for change," headlined the liberal daily Liberté.
The government daily Al-Mujahid devoted as he never does, for challenging it to an event but to call it a "manifestation of low echo.
The planned march of about 4 km in the city could not take place, as an initial manifestation of RCD in Algiers on January 22, due to a ban dating from 2001. The protesters were blocked by some 30,000 police deployed for the occasion in the capital.
But "this is just the beginning," assured Fodil Boumal, one of the founders of the NCCD born in the wake of exponential claims.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Ma'an] Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is suffering serious health problems and fainted before his last speech, informed sources in Egypt told Ma'an on Sunday.
Sources said Mubarak's condition was the reason his much anticipated speech on Thursday was delayed. Egyptian army leaders avoided exerting more pressure on the former president in the final days of his rule due to his poor health, sources added.
Mubarak on Friday stepped down and handed power to the Egyptian army after 18 days of mass demonstrations against his regime.
The Bahrain-based newspaper Al-Wasat reported Saturday that Mubarak had fallen into a coma, quoting sources close to the deposed leader.
The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm said Sunday that Mubarak was in Baden, Germany for medical treatment.
He had earlier traveled to his residence in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh with his family on board one of his private jets, the newspaper reported.
The report said Mubarak has previously undergone surgery in Germany to remove an inflamed gallbladder in March 2010. In 2004, he had back surgery in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ditto NORTH KOREA'S KIMMIE, as per TOPIX > DOCTORS IDENTIFY KIM JONG-IL'S THREE MAIN HEALTH PROBLEMS.
[Ennahar] Former Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak is still in the country, in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea, said Sunday Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, denying the rumors of a Mubarak leak abroad.
"The prime minister announced that former geriatric President Hosni Mubarak was still in Sharm el-Sheikh," said the Egyptian state television, following a presser of Mr. Chafic.
Mubarak, who left office Friday, retired to this seaside resort where he has a residence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
A group of Tahrir Square protesters on Thursday called on the Iranian people to revolt against the Iranian Islamic dictatorship.
A group of leaders of Iran's "Green Revolution" against the Islamic Revolution called for the organization of a demonstration in solidarity with the Egyptian protesters less than a week after comments were made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling on the Egyptian army to intervene and overthrow the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
In a statement, the Egyptian protesters said, "O Great Egyptians, O sons of the ancient Egyptian civilization, which spread light throughout the world, outsiders are trying to steal your revolution."
The statement went on to say, "Khamenei and his follower [the leader of Hezbollah] Hassan Nasrallah came out to drive a wedge in the nation's fabric by talking about an Islamic revolution in an attempt to eliminate our Coptic brothers for our revolution."
"The great Egyptian people understand these nefarious aims to spread chaos and discord throughout Egypt and its people who carried out the most magnificent and honorable revolution in history and we will not give such people the opportunity to hijack our revolution which will continue until we achieve complete democracy ."
"Leaders of Iran's "Green Revolution will devote tomorrow Friday in solidarity with the Egyptian people. Egyptians must respond to these honorable people by allocating the same day in solidarity with the Iranian people who suffer injustice, dictatorship and corruption," said the statement.
Translated from the Arabic Edition. Let's hope this is true and representative of how the majority feel.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Bahrain's leaders promised Sunday to expand media freedoms in another apparent attempt to quell plans for the first major anti-government protests in the Gulf since the uprising in Egypt. Sunni king getting really, really worried about Shi'a subjects.
The tiny kingdom of Bahrain is among the most politically volatile in the Gulf and holds important strategic value for the West as the home as the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Bahrain's majority Shiites have long complained of discrimination by the ruling Sunni dynasty, whose crackdown on dissent last year touched off riots and festivities.
Shiite-led opposition groups and others have joined calls for demonstrations on Monday -- the anniversary of Bahrain's 2002 constitution that brought some pro-democracy reforms such as an elected parliament.
Security forces were deployed in malls and other key spots around Bahrain on Sunday in a clear warning against holding the rallies, but a prominent human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... activist predicted "chaos and bloodshed" if attempts are made to crush the planned demonstrations.
Bahrain's leaders, meanwhile, have stepped in with concessions to try to defuse the protests.
Government media monitors began talks Sunday with publishers and others to draft new rules to limit state controls. The official Bahrain News Agency, meanwhile, launched a new multimedia service that includes social media applications to seek more outreach.
It's unclear, however, whether activists and rights groups will be satisfied with the proposed changes after facing widespread blocks on websites and blogs.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[Yemen Post] An official source in Yemen's Interior Ministry warned citizens of holding or participating in unauthorized demonstrations which according to the ministry, hurts security and stability in Yemen.
The security apparatuses will ban unauthorized rallies in Yemen's provinces, and anyone who takes part in these rallies would face police action, Interior Ministry website said on Sunday.
In the statement, the ministry's media center called Yemeni citizens to ignore any call to participate in any sort of rallies which aim to break the law and cause unrest and instability in society.
The ministry's media center stated that inciters of such rallies will be tracked down and borne the ultimate responsibility of the rallies' consequences.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
[Bangla Daily Star] Fatwa has not yet been banned even after the High Court declared it illegal ten years ago in 2001, speakers told a roundtable titled "No more fatwa" yesterday.
Speakers urged the government to make fatwa a punishable offence following the HC verdict soon as 503 women fell victim to fatwa in between 2000 and 2011.
"Fatwa means legal opinion. Only court can give legal opinions. The man who announces fatwa has no legal authority to do it," Justice Mohammad Gholam Rabbani said referring to the judgment he passed in 2001.
"Fatwa should be made punishable as it goes against the existing law of our country," he added.
Mohammad Gholam Rabbani and Nazmun Ara Sultana in the landmark 2001 judgment declared that the "legal system of Bangladesh empowers only the courts to decide all questions relating to the legal opinions on the Mohammedan and other laws as in force in Bangladesh".
Unfortunately, the 2001 landmark judgment still remains stayed following a Supreme Court order, said Gholam Rabbani. The SC passed the stay order against the backdrop of killing of seven people in violent festivities between police and demonstrators, who took to the street following the verdict.
Prof Shahnaz Huda of Dhaka University suggested that a new provision can either be included in the penal code or in the Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Ain to ban fatwa.
The Daily Prothom Alo arranged the roundtable at its head office following death of Hena Akhter by whipping under fatwa at Chamta in Naria in Shariatpur last month.
Bangladesh Mahila Gay Pareehad President Ayesha Khanam said the incident of Hena brings the status of our social system, state machineries and performance of law enforcers into question.
Additional Inspector General of police AKM Shahidul Huq, however, claimed police acted promptly in Hena's case and the first case police filed in this connection was right.
Prof Ayesha Banu of Dhaka University suggested reviewing the laws related to family affairs and including the matter as a topic in textbooks.
"Fatwa does not mean what is happening in the name of fatwa now. Fatwa means making decisions by Islamic scholars, who know Islam and its laws well, over a dispute," said Prof Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University.
"I don't believe those involved in fatwa are doing all these due to ignorance or unawareness. Rather, they are doing this on a specific political, social and cultural agenda," said Ain O Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal.
Former deputy attorney general Nahid Mahtab, current Additional Attorney General Murad Reza, and actress Bipasha Hayat were also present at the roundtable moderated by Prothom Alo Joint Editor Abdul Quayum.
The speakers also observed that both the Information Commission and National Human Rights Commission can play an important role in creating awareness among people.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
An American jihadist who set up the terrorist training camp where the leader of the 2005 London jacket wallahs learned how to manufacture explosives, has been quietly released after serving only four and a half years of a possible 70-year sentence, a Guardian investigation has learned.
The unreported sentencing of Mohammed Junaid Babar to "time served" because of what a New York judge described as "exceptional co-operation" that began even before his arrest has raised questions over whether Babar was a US informer at the time he was helping to train the ringleader of the 7 July tube and bus bombings.
Lawyers representing the families of victims and survivors of the attacks have compared the lenient treatment of Babar to the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Babar was imprisoned in 2004 -- although final sentencing was deferred -- after pleading guilty in a New York court to five counts of terrorism. He set up the training camp in Pakistain where Mohammad Sidique Khan and several other British beturbanned goons learned about bomb-making and how to use combat weapons.
Babar admitted to being a dangerous terrorist who consorted with some of the highest-ranking members of al-Qaeda, providing senior members with money and equipment, running weapons, and planning two attempts to assassinate the former president of Pakistain, General Pervez Perv Musharraf. ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
But in a deal with prosecutors for the US attorney's office, Babar agreed to plead guilty and become a government supergrass in return for a drastically reduced sentence.
[El Universal] Little or nothing is known about Walid Makled the day when the Mexican police found a plane from Venezuela which carried no passengers but 128 suitcases stuffed with cocaine. He was a stranger. Now, in the United States he faces charges for that same flight where Venezuelan courts found no people responsible.
On December 10, 2006, a DC-9 aircraft landed in Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico. The initial destination was the city of Toluca. However, The infamous However... it reported on its way an emergency that raised the alarm of Mexican authorities.
Luis Correa, then president of the Venezuelan Counternarcotics Office, said two weeks after the discovery that the airliner had left Maiquetía international airport without the 128 suitcases.
It is hard to know the specific time when the 128 black suitcases were loaded. There are conflicting versions in this story. Unlike the Mexican case, there are not people responsible in Venezuela. The First Trial Court in central Vargas state acquitted the three defendants last November 16. The staff on duty on the night when the plane took off was granted complete freedom.
A night of disagreements
The Public Prosecutor Office was never able to prove that the 128 suitcases were placed inside the plane when it was parked on ramp 7 of the Maiquetía auxiliary terminal. What is clear though is that on that night the airport protocols were ignored.
But public prosecutors and defense attorneys did agree that there was a string of irregularities from the very beginning. For instance, the names of the two crew members registered at the Maiquetía airport did not match with the name of Miguel Vasquez. The Venezuelan pilot was captured by the Mexican police on the night of the discovery.
The same aircraft had taken off earlier, before its final attempt. Some glitches made it come back to the same place. Such a situation aroused the suspicions of the Public Prosecutor Office.
The kingpin
It was clear from the lawsuit that more than three people were needed for such an operation. Defense lawyers claimed that if the load entered Maiquetía, vans or any other vehicles to carry the discreet suitcases of 43 kilos each were needed.
Anyhow, Makled had not popped up in that case. Its name was not spelled during the trial. Some witnesses to the lawsuit were most surprised when US public prosecutor Preet Bharara indicted him at the Court of the South District of New York in a document released last November 4. According to the paper, Makled is accused of having managed this and another air shipment bound to Utila Island, in Honduras.
"Makled is a king among gangsters. He presumably coordinated a large international organization of drug traffic and these charges emphasize our commitment to chase whoever floods the United States with poison to their own economic benefit," Bharara said on November 4.
A reply has come little by little from Colombia, where Makled is imprisoned and waiting for extradition. "Tomorrow, I will be not alone, standing there, in front of a jury. If I am extradited to the United States, am I going to be the only person appearing before the bench? No way," he recently told daily newspaper La Verdad in his latest interview.
"Remember, the US government is accusing me of taking a DC-9 aircraft with five tons and a half to Mexico, to the city of Campeche, from Maiquetía international airport, and that it left from ramp four, which is the presidential ramp. If that is true, I could not make it alone," he added.
Snowball
Known even in the charges made against him in New York as "the Turk" and "the Arab," Makled was born to a Syrian immigrant who got ahead in Valencia, the capital city of central Carabobo state, thanks to a store of household appliances. His family's low profile vanished in the past few years. In 2008, it was difficult not to know about his brother Aldala. He gave away washing machines and household appliances ahead of an election campaign for Valencia mayoralty. The move was not warmly welcome inside the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, not even by President Hugo Chavez.
In a nationwide strike from December 2002 to January 2003, Makled granted the national government a fleet of 74 trucks to carry the gasoline in short supply by then. Now, he grumbles about his comrades helped by him on that occasion. "We believed in the process, but this is a treacherous government."
Sure enough, it is a quite different scenario. In Venezuela, he used to be linked to some government circles; now, the government waits for him to appear in court and be accountable for almost four tons of cocaine which appeared on November 14, 2008 in a rented farm in Tocuyito, Carabobo state, and also for the murder of journalist Orel Sambrano and veterinarian Francisco Larrazabal.
Extradition to Venezuela is ongoing. In the meantime, Makled has threatened with a snowball.
"What I have is enough to take over Venezuela," Makled told RCN in his first interview behind bars in Colombia. "There is corruption in Venezuela, drug traffic. I can just show the US government what I have in my hands and they can immediately take over Venezuela."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
North Korea has ordered all its embassies to appeal to foreign governments for food aid in a sign of growing desperation in Pyongyang, according to diplomatic sources.
To feed the embassies or feed the Nork people?
This direct approach to foreign capitals, launched in December, is highly unusual for the insular and totalitarian regime, which normally negotiates deliveries of food assistance with international organisations such as the World Food Programme.
The WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation has begun a food needs assessment in North Korea, but the WFP said that last year it managed to raise only a fifth of the budget it needed for its North Korean aid programme.
Sorry, we gave at the office.
That shortfall may be one of the reasons Pyongyang is trying a direct approach this year, observers said. But well-informed official sources in the region said that the regime was also having problems feeding the army, and wanted to build up a stockpile to fulfil promises of a "year of prosperity" in 2012 to mark 100 years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founding ruler of the Democratic People's Republic, and the 70th birthday of his son, the current leader, Kim Jong-il.
"This year, all 40 North Korean embassies have been ordered by Pyongyang to ask governments for food. They have each been given a quota," an Asian diplomat said.
They have an embassy in Zimbabwe, right? Burma? Pakistain? I'm sure all of those countries have extra food for the Norks.
Another Asian official said the order appears to have been given in December: "Kim Jong-il has told his embassies to get as much rice as possible."
In November the WFP and FAO warned that the majority of North Korea's people faced continued hunger this year after harvests were affected by unusually bad weather.
The Foreign Office confirmed that the North Korean embassy in London had approached the government seeking food aid. "Any decision we make will be based on assessments currently being made of the country's food needs," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
The WFP/FAO needs assessment is expected to be published in the next few weeks. Marcus Prior, the WFP's spokesman in Asia, said: "North Korea has had a severe winter and a poor vegetable harvest and there could be an impact on the spring harvest."
A European official said he did not expect the evaluation to justify the declaration of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, but Greg Barrow, a WFP spokesman in the organisation's Rome headquarters, said it was too early to judge the outcome.
"The mission got under way today. They are just going out in the field. Nobody knows yet what it will say," Barrow said. "We will distribute as much as we can get funding for, but at the moment we are 80% underfunded."
The WFP demands direct access to food distribution points in the North Korea countryside as a condition for handing over the food -- something Kim Jong-il's secretive government has historically been reluctant to grant. Diplomatic sources suggested that this may be another reason the North Koreans are approaching foreign capitals directly.
North Korea has been hit by repeated famines in recent decades, particularly when bad weather has exacerbated the effects of inefficient collectivist farming practices and a shortage of mechanisation. The situation was particularly acute in the mid-1990s, when between 600,000 and more than 2 million people are believed to have died.
China, which has long served as North Korea's food supplier of last resort, faced its own food crisis as a result of a sustained drought, and that may have an impact on Beijing's food deliveries.
In last year's assessment of North Korean food needs, in the wake of a similarly severe winter, the WFP and FAO estimated the country had produced about 5 million tonnes of rice and other staples.
The state imported about 300,000 tonnes commercially, leaving a food deficit of half a million tonnes. However, the WFP's focus on children and pregnant and nursing mothers helped to ensure that overall rates of malnutrition declined. Anticipating that food production was likely to improve, the two UN food agencies recommended that the international community pay for another 305,000 tonnes to meet the needs of North Korea's 5 million most vulnerable people.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il turns 70 on Feb. 16. Born in 1941, he was given the official birth year of 1942 when nation founder Kim Il-sung established him as his heir to create a neat 30-year age difference between father and son.
The sad absurdity of totalitarianism.
A South Korean intelligence officer said it was an attempt to set a 10-year plan timeframe for a smooth transition of power and apparently also to establish Kim Jong-il as the "next generation" of the leadership. A generation is said to last roughly 30 years.
Now the regime is touting 2012, the centennial of Kim Il-sung's birth and his son's official 70th birthday, as the year when the North becomes "a prosperous and powerful nation."
South Korean government officials say the round birthday brings home how uncertain Kim's future is, especially given his poor health. He underwent heart surgery in May 2007 and collapsed with a stroke in August 2008, and some intelligence reports say he is on kidney dialysis due primarily to diabetes.
His mind is also apparently going. A North Korean source quoted a rumor that Kim stunned close aides last year when he told a confusing story that he met Kim Il-sung but did not know whether this was a dream or reality.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Tree bark cake with grass frosting. Yum, yum, yum!!
Europe has three options
1/ become an Islamic state within ten years, if not sooner
2/ repudiation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its subsequent amendants. OR
3/ adoption of the Muslim concept of Dar al Islam, Dar al Harb, where a Muslim is killed on sight, as soon as they enter Europe (with a few exception e.g. those with diplomatic passports etc.)
As I cannot see them adopting 2 or 3, it looks like number 1 is to be their fate.
Political instability in Tunisia has unleashed a wave of migrants toward Italian shores, igniting a crisis that has exposed the pitfalls of Italy's reliance on North African regimes to act as gatekeepers.
Boats carrying more than 3,700 migrants from Tunisian ports arrived in Italy over the weekend, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The landings have overwhelmed Italian officials, prompting the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to declare a state of emergency. On Saturday, one migrant drowned when a boat carrying him and other migrants sank.
The exodus stems from the political vacuum that has followed the toppling of former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. For years, Italy has relied on regimes in Tunisia, Libya and other North African countries to contain the flow of migrants to Europe, providing the regimes with financial and military aid.
That approach is now coming apart at the seams. The unraveling also underscores the European Union's overall failure to forge a comprehensive policy for dealing with migrants who, though arriving in southern European countries like Italy and Spain, are bound for richer economies such as France and Germany. Italian officials are concerned that unrest in Egypt and other countries in the region could add to the flow.
"There's a political and institutional earthquake that risks having a devastating impact on Europe through Italy," Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told Italian TV on Sunday.
Tunisian authorities that once policed the country's coastline for human traffickers and boats bound for European shores have melted away in recent weeks, according to Federico Fossi, a Rome-based official for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Many people are taking advantage of the scarce presence of Tunisian police to abandon the country."
#1
The book 'Camp of the Saints' took the concept to another level some 40 years ago; though the immigrants were Hindu rather than Muslim, the reaction of the fictional West was very similar to the reaction we postulate now. (The book is not very good but the concept is, and was far ahead of its time.)
#2
They sailed over to Italy. They can sail back to Tunisia. Turn them away at the shores.
This is similar to what's happening at our borders with Mexico. We are also being overwhelmed by illegal immigrants. We don't know who's coming here and what their motivations are. Our immigration process is broken and our laws no longer govern/regulate the immigration process.
A Lebanese-Paleo identified in a press report as a member of the terrorist group Fatah al Islam was arrested in Athens on Sunday evening.
According to the Greek police, Ghaleb Taleb and another man were arrested following lengthy surveillance. The arrest followed a report in Corriere della Sera, Greek authorities reportedly acting before the suspect could flee.
Another man claimed by the newspaper as Taleb's predecessor, Mohammed Mousa, has also been arrested. Both men face deportation.
The Italian newspaper charged that Taleb was in Greece to coordinate an attack in Greece or another European country.
[Arab News] Turkey's armed forces chief of staff had consultations with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after meeting families of officers nabbed hours earlier in connection with an alleged 2003 coup plot.
State-run television showed defense lawyers arriving at an Istanbul court on Sunday morning to challenge arrest warrants for 163 of the 196 retired and serving officers on trial over "Operation Sledgehammer" to oust Erdogan's government.
Most of the defendants have been in and out of detention since the case first broke wide open a year ago.
The trial, being held in the town of Silivri west of Istanbul, was adjourned on Friday until March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... and will resume just three months before a national election that is expected to result in Erdogan's AK Party winning a third consecutive term.
The case underlines simmering tension between the traditionally secular military and the AK, which critics suspect harbors Islamist leanings though it insists that its agenda is conservative and democratic rather than religious.
Friction could worsen in the approach to the June election but investors are used to Turkey's turbulent politics. Markets are unlikely to take fright so long as opinion polls point to outright victory for the AK, which has won praise for turning Turkey into one of the world's fastest growing economies.
Initially stunned by seeing so many officers put in jug, Turks have become less easily shocked during the course of the drawn out legal battle.
Not all the defendants were in court for Friday's hearing, and some have yet to be nabbed, including retired General Cetin Dogan, former commander of the prestigious First Army.
Police formally nabbed 133 officers in Silivri; 11 others were nabbed later on Saturday at Istanbul's Besiktas court.
"Turkey is secular and will remain so!" chanted the wives of nabbed officers in a protest that stopped traffic outside the Besiktas courthouse on Saturday evening.
Otherwise, remaining defendants subject to arrest warrants were expected to give themselves up, possibly on Monday.
Among those already jugged were former air force commander Ozden Ornek and former naval commander Ibrahim Firtina.
Anatolian news agency reported that the meeting between Erdogan and military commander Gen. Isik Kosaner took place at Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on Saturday. It said the encounter was unscheduled and there were no details on the outcome of the discussion, which lasted around 45 minutes.
Kosaner had earlier met relatives of the nabbed officers at a military officers' club in the city.
Regarded as a staunch secularist though he has made few public utterances, Kosaner took over command of NATO's second largest military force in August.
Whatever he says or does will be closely scrutinized by both the government and an officer corps whose morale was badly damaged by multiple investigations and arrests related to various conspiracies during the past few years.
Milliyet newspaper reported on Sunday that 29 serving generals out of a total 364 were currently jugged in the military's Hasdal prison in Istanbul.
Defendants deny any conspiracy and say "Sledgehammer" was simply a war game exercise presented at a military seminar.
Prosecutors allege that the plot involved plans to bomb historic mosques and provoke conflict with Greece, as part of a plan to undermine the government and enable a military takeover.
By enacting democratic reforms aimed at making Turkey fit for membership of the European Union, the AK has undercut the military's influence. Few people believe today's generals would dare return to the coup-making ways of their predecessors.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
In the interview screened by San Diego's 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said 'weapons of mass effect' had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.
Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: 'Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?'
'At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,' the customs official replied. Extensive excerpts from the interview at link, and video here
#1
This is part 1/3....careful wording "not at this location", but apparently found at other points of entry and in the San Diego area itself by other agencies. Of course it's a coverup.
#2
We've got to get this from the U.K. news? What's our MSM press doing? Are they distracted by Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, or Lindsay Lohen's and Charley Sheen's latest dust-up with the law and trips to rehab?
Yeah, and Iraq didn't have WMD's either even though every major intelligence agency thought so?
#7
US Govt Analysts fear BIOWAR, CHEMWAR, + related HYBRID Devices [mass casualty] being used by MilTerrs in varied types of Terrstrikes inside CONUS moreso than dedicated NUCLEAR or RADIOACTIVE Devices, at least thru 2015-2020.
* PAKISTAN = repor plans to construx a FOURTH PLUTONIUM REACTOR.
* IRAN = proclaims to had "MASTERED" FUNDAMENTAL? NUC FUSION TECHS.
* ION NEWS KERALA = IRAN PAID NORTH KOREA US$2.0BILYUHN FOR ENRICHED URANIUM, as paid to the DPRK in installment oer 3 years.
#2
That was not an impromptu gaffe, he was making a prepared statement before congress.
The administration is trying to put a positive spin on a Muslim Brotherhood participation and/or takeover for the US public while at the same time signaling to players in Egypt and elsewhere that the US views the MB and its spin-offs as legitimate participants who should not be denied political power.
Gibbs demanded power sharing in Egypt, i.e. MB participation as well. In Afghanistan the US has not objected to political power for moderate Taliban since 2001.
#4
In fairness to Clapper it was Colin Powell in October of 2001 serving under President G.W. Bush who endorsed 'Moderate Taliban' wielding power in 'liberated Afghanistan.'
To my knowledge this has never been refudiated and it certainly made the US look weak in the eyes of Arabs and Muslims.
I don't think Clapper is that ignorant. He sent a clear message to the Arab-Islamic world:
The Obama administration has no objection to the MB's ascent to political power, perhaps even wishes for this to come to pass.
The same administration has been openly trying to impose a 'communist dictator/El Presidente for Life' on Honduras, so they're obviously cool with anti-western totalitarian ideologies.
#5
In a world that made any sense he'd have resigned that very evening.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 8:58 Comments ||
Top||
#6
At best he makes Janet Incompetano look like a Mensa member
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/14/2011 11:08 Comments ||
Top||
#7
#4 I don't think Clapper is that ignorant. He sent a clear message to the Arab-Islamic world:
The Obama administration has no objection to the MB's ascent to political power, perhaps even wishes for this to come to pass.
There have been times that he appears completely unaware of what's going on. Other times it is as you say; he is a mouthpiece for the administration and reflects the behind the scenes policy making and agenda of BO and his minions.
#6 At best he makes Janet Incompetano look like a Mensa member
That is a scary thought. She may be running for U.S. Senator. That may be less harmful to the nation than heading up Homeland Security. Of course, she would have to win the Senate seat and there is some question as to whether she could do that.
#8
She may be running for U.S. Senator. That may be less harmful to the nation than heading up Homeland Security.
That wouldn't be as bad, until you think about his track record for appointments. He'd probably stick the First Dog there because he barks when someone knocks on the door.
#10
In fairness to Clapper it was Colin Powell in October of 2001 serving under President G.W. Bush who endorsed 'Moderate Taliban' wielding power in 'liberated Afghanistan.'
Moderate Taliban? You mean those guys who won't let women seek health care? The guys who blow up schools? The guys who harbored bin Laden?
#11
He is stating administration policy. The O admin is for dictators of the correct ideology, Islamists, and is against rights of individuals. Look how the admin ignored the people in Iran and basically supported the regime there, or statements on Chinese govt when cornered by reporter recently.
The admin is not a friend of representative govt by the people or for the people. Actions speak louder than words. It is a great tragedy for this country, and for others that looked to the US as a beacon of hope and freedom.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2011 12:32 Comments ||
Top||
#12
AP is right. It isn't only the Director, it is the entire administration.
The U.S. canceled talks in Washington involving Pakistan due to an escalating diplomatic row over the detention last month of an American employed by the U.S. government who shot dead two armed men.
A U.S. State Department statement Sunday said the high-level meeting involving Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S. was called off "in light of the political changes in Pakistan." Pakistan's government Friday announced cabinet changes that removed Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the country's former foreign minister, from his post.
But a senior Pakistan foreign ministry official said Washington's cancellation of the meeting was intended to pressure Pakistan to release the U.S. government employee.
Pakistani officials have publicly questioned whether Mr. Davis acted in self-defense and have said he may have known the attackers, but they have given no clear picture of what they think occurred.
The U.S. last week suspended several bilateral engagements with Pakistan after a high court barred Pakistan's government from releasing Mr. Davis, Pakistani officials said.
[Tolo News] Pakistain has postponed implementation of trade transit agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistain, while the pact was expected to be implemented today.
Pakistain, by doing so, wants to make time to apply tougher regulations on Afghan traders, officials in Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries said Sunday.
Officials in Islamabad have recently announced that they could not provide security to Afghan trade containers running through Pakistain and Afghan traders each should pay two million Rupees for their goods' security.
Based on the agreement Afghan trucks could travel in Pakistain without any obstacle, something that Pakistain is reluctant about, ACCI officials said.
They want the pact to be more in favour of Pakistain, a bigwig in ACCI said.
"They want to make use of the agreement as a political instrument," said Khanjan Alekozai Deputy Head of ACCI.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the US Department of State Sunday announced the postponement of high-level trilateral talks between Afghanistan, Pakistain and the US.
The talks were scheduled to be held on 23-24 February.
It is believed that the postponement has been made based on new series of political changes in Pakistain.
"In light of the political changes in Pakistain and after discussions with Afghan and Pak officials in Washington, it was agreed to postpone the trilateral meeting scheduled for 23-24 February," State Department front man Mr PJ Crowley said in a statement.
Once again some Afghan MPs accused Pakistain of playing double against Afghanistan and war on terrorism.
Pakistain has long been criticised by international community and officials in Kabul of not having an honest fight against regional insurgency, a claim that is denied by Islamabad.
But what has angered Afghan MPs, experts and people is the government's week stance against Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Arab News] Pakistain's federal law minister has called on the US authorities to exchange a US national currently facing trial for a double murder in Lahore for a Pak doctor who was sentenced to 86 years in jail in the US.
"We will demand the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui if America demands the release of Raymond Davis," said Federal Law Minister Babar Awan at a presser in Gujranwala on Sunday.
Thirty-eight-year-old Aafia Siddiqui, a highly-educated Pak neurologist, is serving 86 years in prison after being found guilty of shooting at two US soldiers in dubious circumstances while in jug in Afghanistan.
The case of Davis, who rubbed out two Paks in late January, has raised tensions between Pakistain and the US. The US government insists he enjoys diplomatic immunity and should be released.
Awan's statement shows a different position than that adopted by the Zardari government, which says the courts will decide Davis' fate.
Awan, who normally articulates the policy statements of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , has picked the line of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been demanding a prisoner exchange. President Zardari also recently canceled a visit to the US due to the case.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Shah Mahmud Durrani was not inducted in the federal Cabinet as foreign minister because he reportedly gave an undertaking to the US administration for Davis' early extradition.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Transfer her on the spot to an open space in the Arctic crawling with polar bears. Have the cams set up and release her.
Send the vid to these assholes. It's all they understand.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/14/2011 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Let me get this straight, you want to swap and convicted terrorist for a US Diplomat, ( and probable CIA asset) who defended himself from some form of attack, and also have this not affect the money we send you? I'm amazed at your power to keep a straight face, and frankly, at your epic gall. Please accept my fondest hopes that you die a slow, horribly painful death along with everyone associated with you and the barbarian scum you represent.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain expressed the hope on Sunday that its growing row with the United States over a jugged US embassy employee will not scuttle its crucial talks with Washington and Kabul on efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
"Nice country ya got your troops in, there. Shame if something happened to it."
"Islamabad is looking forward to the rescheduling of the trilateral meeting as soon as possible as such meetings yield positive results for peace and security," Foreign Ministry front man, Abdul Basit, said of the trilateral meetings which are held periodically to foster stability in Afghanistan.
The US had, on Saturday, postponed the meeting, which was to have taken place the next week.
The FO front man said, "We hope one person would not drive Pakistain-US relations and we hope we would not be losing sight of the strategic imperative of our relations." He declined comment on what the escalating diplomatic spat means for the Davis case or for relations with the US.
The US did not directly cite Davis' continued detention as the reason, but US diplomats have said the talks could become a casualty of the dispute.
However, The infamous However... US State Department front man, PJ Crowley, said, "US hopes to reschedule the meeting soon." On Friday, a court ordered Davis be held in jail for 14 more days, in a sign of deepening row that could threaten US assistance to the country, one of the largest non-NATO recipients of American military aid.
The US says Davis' arrest is a violation of international conventions because he has diplomatic immunity, while Islamabad says the matter will be decided by its courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Why not have some wonk in Washington who knows the paki diplomatic community very well draw up a list of "little incidents" to catch Paki Embassy staff by the short hairs....like picking up the ambassadors poodle when its taken for a stroll in Rock Creek Park as a "nuisance" and having it euthanized by the Park Police about an hour before the Embassy gofer can drop by the pound to rescue the little bugger.
And next week we slash your tires while you are in the Gala at the Kennedy Center. And the week after that when your fat paki wife goes to the Mall someone spills pig intestines in her back seat in the Mall parking garage.
How many paki diplomatic personnel can we get to know real well in about twenty Embassies all over the world? You want to play? No lasting harm, just nasty nightmares in out of the way places that ruin your shoes and smell for a week even if you do bathe. Unnecessarily mean things that make no sense by any decent assessment. Something to do with vile ( how vile WAS it?) embarrassing stuff (but the goat and I were just friends) delivered to the wrong address and other things that get your luggage sent to somewhere in the Andes.
And of course there is the possibility that the Ambassador has a daughter who does drugs. She doesnt? Well, get her some anyway ....and then film it.
#6
While emotionally satisfying, we don't want to start petty harassment of diplomatic personnel here in the U.S. That sort of thing could create problems for U.S. diplomatic personnel elsewhere.
We could, however, let a minor State Department flunky issue some statement about our solidarity with the Indian government over Kashmir...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#7
There is only one response to this breach and that is the Genghis Khan response, you go to war.
First pull all embassy staff from Pakistan, then expel all Pakistan staff from the USA. Give them 10 days to hand over Davies, if they don't you shock and awe them, until they are back in the stone age. Then tell India to do whatever it wants with Pakistan.
If you don't you are tempting every other country to pull the same trick on you.
[Emirates 24/7] India plans to withdraw 10,000 paramilitary troops from Kashmire in 2011 and renew efforts to hold talks in the rebellion-hit Himalayan region, a top government official said Sunday.
A separatist insurgency has raged in Indian Kashmire, a Mohammedan-majority state, for 20 years and at least 114 people died in street protests last summer in pitched battles with security forces.
"I think this year we can easily take out 10 battalions (10,000 personnel), if not more," Indian Home Secretary Gopal Pillai told the Press Trust of India news agency. "Irrespective of the situation, I can take out 10 battalions and it would not have any impact."
There are currently 70,000 paramilitary troops in Indian Kashmire plus 100,000-150,000 army soldiers.
Many state politicians in Kashmire believe their huge presence has fuelled recent deadly violence.
"There are more than adequate forces in Kashmire and it can do with less central forces," Pillai, the home ministry's top civil servant, said. "You have to start talking to other people and get fresh ideas so I think we have to reach out to the people of Kashmire."
Security forces opening fire at separatist demonstrations have triggered a cycle of violence in Kashmire over recent summers, and the government in New Delhi is keen to calm tensions in the year ahead.
Discontent has simmered since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, when a Hindu ruler took his Mohammedan subjects into India rather than the Islamic republic of Pakistain.
Today, after two wars over the area, Kashmire is administered in part by India and Pakistain, but claimed in full by both. Polls appear to indicate that most in Indian Kashmire favour independence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[Geo News] Amir Jamat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan ... The funny-looking Amir of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He joined the National Students Federation (NSF), a lefty student body, and was elected its President in 1959. He came into contact with the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan and studied the writings of Mawlana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, The Great Apostasizer. As a result, he joined IJT in 1960 and soon he was elected as President of its University of Bloody Karachi Unit and member of the Central Executive Council. He was Assistant Secretary General of Jama'at-e-Islami Pakistan in 1992-93, and became Secretary General in 1993. After years of holding Qazi's camel he was named Amir when the old man stepped down in 2009... Sunday said that Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi and Qamar Zama Kaira's non-inclusion in the new Federal Cabinet proves that they are not corrupt, so fail to meet Pakistain People's Party standard.
Talking to media men after addressing a tribal jirga here at Mansoora, Syed Munawar Hassan said neither the assassins of Benazir Bhutto will be nabbed nor will Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... get even a slightest of punishment during PPP's regime.
He urged the Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to review the role of Army in the war against terrorism.
Earlier, addressing the tribal jirga, he said Pakistain must dissociate itself from war on terror and challenge the drone strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
BAGHDAD - A jobless 30-year-old man in northern Iraq set himself on fire on Sunday in protest at his plight and later died of his injuries, a hospital source said.
This is what set off problems in Tunisia and other Arab countries, so we should pay attention.
"A 30-year-old jobless man with four children set himself on fire and died," said the source at the General Hospital in the northern city of Mosul.
He said the man had committed suicide near the city's Tahrir ("Liberation") Square, which shares the same name as the Cairo epicentre of the popular uprising that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Friday.
There seem to be Tahrir Squares all over the Arab world. Liberation was once a popular concept, it seems.
There has been a rash of copycat suicides or attempted suicides across the Arab world ever since a 26-year-old unlicensed fruit vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire last December in an act of protest. His action triggered an uprising that ousted Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before later spreading to Egypt.
According to figures from the United Nations, unemployment in Mosul is running at 17 percent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
unemployment in Mosul is running at 17 percent
Sounds terrible (and it is), but I think it is about the same as the US unemployment rate, if we stated it honestly (and if the Mosul rate is stated honestly.)
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The voting by the Iraqi Parliament on the candidates for the Vice-Presidents posts had been postponed, due to oppositions towards the mechanism of the voting by some of the parliamentary groups, the Legislature from the (Middle) Alliance, Salim al-Jibouri said on Sunday.
"The Parliament's voting on the Vice-Presidents posts has been postponed due to the opposition on the mechanism of the voting by some of the parliamentary groups," the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Sattelite Channel reported.
The Parliament's schedule for Sunday included the voting on candidates for three Vice-Presidents, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Tareq al-Hashimy and Khudhier al-Khuza'e, along with the voting on the vacant ministers' and security ministers' posts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Reuters reports Palestinian Authority PM will choose new ministers at request of Abbas; "There will be massive change in the composition of the government," a political source says.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
[Arab News] Seventeen Paleostinian human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... organization on Sunday established a coalition to defend freedom of expression and media in Paleostinian territories.
The signatories said in a press statement that the coalition "would act to defend the freedom of expression and press in Occupied Paleostinian Territories (OPT) through a variety of activities."
They added that the coalition "will coordinate with keen Paleostinian parties to respect freedom of expression and the rule of law in the OPT."
The coalition comprises Al-Haq, Al-Dameer, Marsad, the Paleostinian Centre for Human Rights, the Paleostine Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), the Paleostinian Institute for Media and Development, Ben Media, the Paleostine News Network (PNN), the Women's Affairs Center, the Media Development Center/Bir Zeit University, the Treatment & Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, the Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Hurriyyat, the Center for Media Freedom, the Creative Woman Center, the Sharek Forum and the Media Women's Forum.
According to the signatories, "participation in the coalition is open for all Paleostinian civil society institutions and key Paleostinian figures."
They added that the coalition was established "in light of the continued violations in the OPT by Israeli forces and Paleostinian security services in the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip."
MADA said that there are repeated violations against Paleostinian journalists in the OPT in the past month, 16 of which were against journalists, with the remaining against their property.
The center said that these violations were by the Israeli occupation forces and the Paleostinian security services in the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip. The center said that the incidents are in clear violation of the right to freedom of expression under both Paleostinian Basic Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
According to Article 19 of Paleostinian Law, "every person shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and expression, and shall have the right to publish his opinion orally, in writing, or in any form of art, or through any other form of expression, provided that it does not contradict with the provisions of law."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
JERUSALEM - The U.S. military chief has met the incoming Israeli military commander at a time when turmoil in Egypt has left other nations in the region nervous. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting Israel briefly for talks apparently aimed at reassuring Israel, which is concerned about instability in Egypt and the future of a 1979 peace treaty.
Mullen met the incoming Israeli military chief of staff, Benny Gantz, who was approved by Israels Cabinet on Sunday and takes over Monday. Mullen has talks scheduled with Israels defense minister and president.
The U.S. commander arrived in Israel from Jordan, where he met King Abdullah II. The king replaced his Cabinet in response to demonstrations triggered by the mass protests in Egypt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
apparently aimed at reassuring Israel
Is there some way of saying "Sorry guys, you're on your own" to make it sound reassuring?
Riot police on Monday fired tear gas and shot paintballs at thousands of protesters who turned what they said was a Tehran rally in support of Arab uprisings into an anti-government demonstration. The clashes broke out at Tehran's prominent Azadi (Freedom) Square when crowds of opposition supporters began chanting "Death to Dictator!" -- a slogan used by protesters against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the disputed 2009 presidential election.
Witnesses said police fired tear gas and also shot paintballs at protesters who had gathered despite a ban by authorities.
Websites and witnesses said thousands of opposition supporters had taken to the streets of the capital in support of Arab revolts despite a heavy police deployment.
Iranian authorities had earlier surrounded the house of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to prevent him from attending the rally which regime-backers said was a ploy to stage anti-government protests similar to those which shook the foundations of the Islamic republic in 2009.
While Iran has backed the Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the interior ministry in Tehran banned the Monday rally which Mr Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi had sought to hold.
#1
It may be too much to hope for, but let's all pray that this revolution succeeds where '09 failed--and that President EgoJunkie McTeleprompter doesn't screw it up this time. (I think there's more than enough rope and lampposts in Tehran to accommodate Ahmadnejahd and all of the Mad Mullahs. Go get 'em, Iranians!)
Posted by: Mike ||
02/14/2011 14:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Is this n a picture of Neda Agha-Solta, the young woman who was shot in 2009 and became a symbol for the anti-government protesters?
At some point the mullahs and the mullah's chew-toy, Dinnerjacket, won't be able to suppress the protesters. I may have to start a lamp-post export business. The country has suffered under these theocrats far more than under the Shah. Go for it people of Iran.
[AFP] - Iran is "steadily" producing enriched uranium, the head of the UN nuclear monitoring organization said in an interview published The Washington Post Monday.
Yukia Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, expressed concern it might be pursuing military goals.
"Iran is somehow producing uranium enriched to 3.5 percent and 20 percent. They are producing it steadily, constantly," Amano told the paper.
"We receive information from various countries and collect information from our own sources that give us concern over the possible use of nuclear materials for military purposes - in the past and perhaps now," Amano said.
But the IAEA did not have hard evidence implicating Tehran in nuclear bomb making, he said.
"We are not sure if they are hiding something," Amano noted. "We don't have a smoking gun. We have concerns."
[An Nahar] Ayman Zakaria Joumaa, Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri's ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... son-in-law, on Saturday denied involvement in Lebanese-Canadian Bank money laundering.
"I have nothing to do with Ayman Saeed Joumaa whose name was mentioned in the U.S. Treasury as being involved in money laundering," a statement by Ayman Zakaria Joumaa said.
The U.S. has accused the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank of laundering money for alleged cocaine trafficker Ayman Joumaa, and linked Hizbullah to the bank's illegal activities.
The U.S. Treasury said it would move to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from working with the bank, which it said was tied to Joumaa's international syndicate that laundered "hundreds of millions of dollars monthly" in cash from the drugs trade.
"Drug kingpin Ayman Joumaa and his Leb-based drug trafficking and money laundering network, along with several other individuals, have used LCB to launder narcotics proceeds -- as much as $200 million per month-- as part of this international money laundering network," the Treasury said in a statement.
It said the bank laundered money via the global trade in consumer goods as well as U.S. used-car dealerships.
"At least one of the individuals involved in this global drug trafficking and money laundering network has worked directly with LCB managers to conduct his transactions," it said.
The statement said Washington had information that Hizbullah, which the U.S. has branded a "terrorist" group, "derived financial support" from Joumaa's network -- which spans Latin America, West Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
It linked Hizbullah to the bank inside Leb as well as in Iran and in Africa. An LCB subsidiary in Gambia, Prime Bank, "is partially owned by a Lebanese individual known to be a supporter of Hizbullah," the Treasury said.
Later Thursday, the Lebanese Canadian Bank said in a statement it "denies knowledge of any involvement in any manner whatsoever in illicit transactions or wrong doing" and "regrets the information reported by international and domestic news agencies" about the bank's links.
The statement said the bank "is committed to fully cooperate and coordinate with the relevant regulatory authorities in an effort to demonstrate the integrity and transparency of its operations."
The Treasury moves came as Hizbullah-backed prime-minister-designate Najib Miqati attempts to form a new government in the deeply divided country.
The U.S. has warned that Hizbullah's moving into a bigger role in the Lebanese government could harm ties between the two long-time allies.
LCB, which reported assets of 6.1 million dollars for 2010, operates 35 branches in Leb and, despite its name, only has a representative office in Canada, in Montreal.
It was the second move in two weeks by Washington against Joumaa's alleged drug syndicate. On January 26 Treasury slapped sanctions against Joumaa, at least nine other people, and 19 entities, forbidding U.S. citizens and businesses from trading with the group, and freezing its U.S. assets.
The group is said to have sold multi-ton shipments of cocaine from South America, laundering the proceeds in Europe and the Middle East via foreign-exchange businesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] We are still with a tribunal that leads to unveiling the truth behind the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri "instead of fabricating it," Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... said Sunday.
At a graduation ceremony for AMAL students, Berri added: "We had reached an agreement on the Special Tribunal for Leb at the national dialogue table."
"But the path taken by the unconstitutional (Saniora) government by signing the tribunal agreement with the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society was the problem, as the president was not informed of it; it was not referred to Parliament; and the investigation has relied on false witnesses," the house speaker noted.
On a separate note, Berri called on the upcoming government to tackle the issue of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and to draft a "modern electoral law based on expanded electorates, proportional representation and the lowering of voting age."
He stressed AMAL Movement's commitment to "the army-people-Resistance triangle in the face of any (Israeli) aggression."
Addressing the issue of Hosni Mubarak's ouster, Berri slammed the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces for claiming that the popular revolt in Egypt was inspired by the March 14, 2005 uprising.
"This is a revolution that has liberated itself from the myth of international sponsorship, through a high level of political awareness," Berri said.
"You are still in the same place, (while) this is a (Egypt's) revolution that aims to change the economic and social structures ... this is a revolution against the bequeathing of power through which you survive," Berri added, addressing the March 14 forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Hizbullah official Nabil Qaouq stated on Sunday that the equation in Leb today has changed from what it was in the past seeing as the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... now enjoys a parliamentary and popular majority, adding that it refuses the United States' employment of the Special Tribunal for Leb as a weapon against the party.
He said during a ceremony commemorating the liquidation of Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh: "The new government in Leb should help remove the country from the American minefield."
"Hizbullah is the side that is contributing the most in facilitating the formation of the Cabinet because it is working on saving the nation from the strife project and the American and Israeli conspiracy," he said.
"The party does not oppose the participation of any side in government, but it opposes American conspiracy plans and its attempts to threaten Leb's stability and national unity," he continued.
Addressing Israel, Qaouq said: "It is now weaker than it was before ... We should always be prepared to confront all possibilities that Israel may resort to in order to compensate for its loss in the region."
"We know it will resort to an indirect confrontation with the Resistance because it won't be capable of confronting it militarily," he stressed.
Commenting on the recent developments in Egypt, he noted: "Egypt's pharaoh has been toppled by the people ... This should help restore its leading position in the area and end its defeatist position to the U.S."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[Arab News] Iran's opposition on Sunday renewed its call for a rally in support of protesters in Tunisia and Egypt despite a government warning of repercussions if demonstrations take place, a reformist website reported.
In a statement published on Kaleme.com, the opposition urged its supporters to rally on Monday in central Tehran and accused the government of hypocrisy by voicing support for the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings while refusing to allow Iranian political activists to stage a peaceful demonstration.
Wary of a reinvigorated opposition at home, Iranian authorities have jugged several activists and journalists in recent weeks and opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi was put under house arrest, apparently in connection with the request to stage the rally.
The statement said further restrictions on Karroubi and fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were a sign of the "increasing weakness and fear of the government about the most peaceful civil and political rights" of Iranians.
In another report, Kaleme said many university students as well as a reformist holy man group have promised to attend the rally. But it was not clear whether the rally would actually take place. Many opposition calls for demonstrations in the past months have gone unheeded.
Still, the opposition's persistence has placed the government in a bind. Iran's hard-line rulers -- who have also tried to capitalize on the uprising against their regional rivals in Egypt's US-allied regime -- are seeking to deprive their own opponents at home of any chance to reinvigorate a movement swept from the streets in a heavy military crackdown.
Both Mousavi and Karroubi have compared the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia with their own post-election protest movement in 2009, which the Iranian government eventually managed to quash. Mousavi said Iran's demonstrations were the starting point for the recent revolts in Cairo and Tunis, and that all the uprisings aimed at ending the "oppression of the rulers."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
TEHRAN - Iran has appointed nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, who survived a bomb attack in November, as the countrys new atomic chief, state television reported on its website on Sunday. Abbasi Davani, a target of UN sanctions, replaces Ali Abkar Salehi who was endorsed as foreign minister last month.
The announcement of his appointment was declared in an order issued by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the television website said.
Abbasi Davani, a senior figure in Irans nuclear programme, was wounded in a bomb attack on November 29 in Tehran which the Islamic republic blamed on the CIA and Mossad. He survived the attack, but another senior nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari, was killed in a similar assault on the same day in a separate part of the capital.
Tehran police said that the twin attacks were carried out by men on motorcycles who attached bombs to the scientists cars as they were driving to work.
Iranian media reports said Abbasi Davani, 52, is the head of the physics department at Tehrans Imam Hossein University, which is close to Irans elite military force the Revolutionary Guards.
Abbasi Davani was targeted by UN Security Council sanctions under Resolution 1747 adopted in March 2007. He was identified as a senior defence ministry and armed forces logistics scientist. He is one of the few Iranian specialists who can separate isotopes with his bare hands and has been a member of the Guards since forever the 1979 Islamic revolution, media reports say.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Any chance Google Earth or something could watch, if everything else is shut down?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The guys running Iran are like the people running the U.S.S.R. the Iron Curtain which they brought down on the people of its countries. It lasted from the late 1940s or early 1950s until President Reagan was president.
The Iran mullahocracy is evil and cannot stand the light of day. They need to come down. Trouble in the Mideast will not diminish until their stranglehold is destroyed from within or from without. The people of Iran will not be free until they are toppled.
#2
The guys running Iran are like the people running the U.S.S.R. the Iron Curtain which they brought down on the people of its countries.
Not even drinking. Maybe I should start.
The people running Iran are like the leaders running the former U.S.S.R. They imposed the "Iron Curtain" on its peoples. The countries which made up the U.S.S.R. went dark.
Talk about the law of unintended consequences coming into play! Hamas/Hizbullah and their sock puppet/lap dog minions of Iran set off a number of demonstrations hoping to get Egypt turned so they can resupply Gaza at their leisure. Now they find they can't put that jhinni back in the bottle and the simmering hostility from the charade elections last year are now coming back.
We might just yet see some really interesting events unfold.
My question is whether a defunct mullaocracy in Iran means a defanged Hizbullah? Or does that mean the real wack jobs are then off the leash?
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.
Al-Shabaab has ordered that boys and girls not sit in the same classroom together. All lectures must also stop at ten minutes before noon, and teachers must teach their students the importance of jihad, said a senior Shabaabi.
[Ennahar] Former Egyptian 
Pervez 
Asif Ali 
Syed Munawar Hassan
Mehmood 
Riot police on Monday fired tear gas and shot paintballs at thousands of protesters who turned what they said was a Tehran rally in support of Arab uprisings into an anti-government demonstration. The clashes broke out at Tehran's prominent Azadi (Freedom) Square when crowds of opposition supporters began chanting "Death to Dictator!" -- a slogan used by protesters against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the disputed 2009 presidential election.
