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Bahrain mourner killed in funeral march clash
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Travel Ban Imposed on 21 Electoral Officials
[Tolo News] Attorney General's Office Tuesday issued a travel ban on 21 decision-making electoral officials including Head of the Afghan Independent Election Comission (IEC).

Attorney General's Spokesperson, Amanullah Eman, told TOLOnews that a travel ban has been imposed on 21 electoral officials including Fazl Ahmad Manawi, Head of IEC.

The travel ban was issued after the Independent Election Commission refused to cooperate with Attorney General's Office and elections special tribunal in investigations into electoral frauds in the parliamentary poll.

"We hold cases of ministers and other top government officials who are on travel ban. Nobody can be exempted," Mr Eman told TOLOnews.

Yesterday evening Independent Election Commission said in a statement that it was ready to help justice organisation with the probes into electoral cases.

Mr Manawi said although providing such a cooperation opposes the laws, the commission will still cooperate with the justice organisations.

"The term "travel ban" has turned into a fashion of Attorney General's Office. They think it's very important.

Some two months ago also a travel ban was issued on all IEC officials," Mr Manawi told TOLOnews.

Attorney General's Spokesperson said the sealed ballot boxes in IEC will be moved to the elections special tribunal for a recount in a few days.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Reconstruction Projects to be Launched in Kunduz
[Tolo News] Many reconstruction projects will be launched in Dasht-e-Archi district in northern Kunduz province after the area is cleared of beturbanned goons, provincial officials said Tuesday.
Well done, guys!
Officials said the projects including road construction and power supply will be launched at a cost of three million dollars.

Dasht-e-Archi is one of the turbulent northern districts in Kunduz province. The district was under the Taliban control for a long time, but recently Afghan cops made significant advances in security in the district and cleared it of beturbanned goons.

Construction of a road that connects the district to the bustling provincial capital is already in progress, officials said.

"Insurgents had previously planted roadside mines along the route to the district and now Isaf and Afghan forces are demining the area," Kunduz Governor's Spokesperson, Mahboobullah Saeedi told TOLOnews.

Reconstruction projects have started in many districts in the province and the projects that had been stopped for security reasons will be resumed, officials said.

Officials in Kunduz province called for more reconstruction projects in the province.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Protesting Candidates Rally in Kabul
[Tolo News] Some of the losing candidates of the Afghan parliamentary poll Tuesday rallied in the capital Kabul to protest against Karzai's inauguration of the House of Representatives.

Some protesting candidates said that President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai made a huge mistake to open the parliament and that the president has acted against the constitution.

They hailed the move by justice organisations against Independent Election Commission.

Yesterday Kabul court of appeal along with police forces rushed into IEC compound and sealed the ballot boxes and information sections.

Those who have committed electoral fraud must be brought to justice, they said.

"The biggest problem is the opening of this illegal and illegitimate parliament," Kabir Ranjbar, a protesting candidate, told TOLOnews.

The protesters accused "some foreign circles" of meddling in Afghanistan's affairs.

The Afghanistan's Caped President should not come under the influence of such circles, they said.

Protesting candidates called on all Afghan judges to make their decisions based on the country's national interests.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Obama Proposes $110bn for Afghanistan
[Tolo News] President Barack B.O. Obama has proposed $110bn to be spent in Afghanistan, reports say.

The funding was proposed on Monday, despite demands for spending cuts in the United States.

In his 2012 fiscal year budget , President B.O. has proposed $16 billion in Iraq.

This is considered a significant decrease as US diplomats are to take over from combat troops based on a security agreement between the United States and Iraq.

The total US military costs proposed for Afghanistan and Iraq in Obama's budget request for 2010 and 2011 was $160 billion.

In the 2012 budget request for the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID), Mr Obama has proposed $47 billion, which is up one percent from 2010 levels.

Republicans took control of the United States House of Representatives in November elections. They have urged revision of non-military overseas spending amid calls to restrain the rising US federal deficit.

Obama's budget calls for $107 billion in military spending in Afghanistan.

The United States is to begin gradual drawdown of its troops from Afghanistan in July this year.

The State Department will focus on its own civilian surge as it aims to stabilise the country, and would spend an extra $2.2 billion as it is making efforts to boost aid and assistance programmes.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The State Department will focus on its own civilian surge as it aims to stabilise the country, and would spend an extra $2.2 billion as it is making efforts to boost aid and assistance programmes.

Translation: $2.2 billon aid bribes to Karzai and his Army, Police, and Border Patrol henchmen who attempt to keep the lid on the Taliban whilst overseeing and facilitating the drug and weapons smuggling in the provinces through Pakistan and beyond. Apologies are in order to Eugene Hasenfus, if he's still among the living. He and his Klingon handlers could never hold a candle to what is going on in AFG today.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/16/2011 7:20 Comments || Top||

#2  ...and would spend an extra $2.2 billion...

Where'd Karzai bank the last $2.2 billion?
Posted by: Steve White || 02/16/2011 9:09 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Hundreds of Libyans demand the government's ouster
I'd love to see Qadaffi go, but we might end up with another Islamicist state.
TRIPOLI, Libya — Hundreds of Libyans calling for the government's ouster took to the streets Wednesday in the country's second-largest city as Egypt-inspired unrest spread to the country long ruled by Moammar Kadafi.

Ashur Shamis, a Libyan opposition activist in London, said the protests began Tuesday in the port city of Benghazi, with demonstrators chanting, "No God but Allah, Moammar is the enemy of Allah" and "Down, down to corruption and to the corrupt."

But police and armed government backers quickly clamped down on the protesters, firing rubber bullets, he said.
How does the reporter know they were 'rubber' bullets? That's not Qadaffi's style at all.
Witnesses and videos posted on the Internet showed protesters calling for a Libyan uprising and chanting slogans against Kadafi, who has held virtually unchecked power for more than four decades, as well as Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoudi.

Libya's official news agency did not carry any word of the anti-government protests. JANA quoted a statement from the pro-Kadafi demonstrators as pledging to " defend the leader and the revolution." The statement described the anti-government protesters as" coward and traitors."

A Libyan security official said 14 people, including 10 policemen, had been injured in clashes Tuesday. He said protesters were armed with knives and stones and police tried to disperse the crowd using water cannons.
And rubber bullets...
The clashes occurred a day after several opposition groups in exile called for Kadafi's overthrow and for a peaceful transition of power.

As in the uprisings that toppled longtime autocratic rulers in two countries flanking Libya -- Egypt and Tunisia -- Libyan activists used social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to rally people in their homeland. They called for a major protest Thursday.
Facebook deserves a Nobel Peace Prize far more than Bambi does...
The protests scheduled for Thursday were to commemorate the fifth anniversary of a day nine people were killed while demonstrating in front of the Italian Consulate against a cartoon depicting Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/16/2011 09:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood plans political party
[Asharq al-Aswat] Egypt's long banned Moslem Brüderbund said Tuesday it intends to form a political party once democracy is established, as the country's new military rulers launched a panel of experts to amend the country's constitution enough to allow democratic elections later this year.

The panel is to draw up changes at a breakneck pace -- within 10 days -- to end the monopoly that ousted geriatric President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party once held, which it ensured through widespread election rigging. The initial changes may not be enough for many in Egypt calling for the current constitution, now suspended by the military, to be thrown out completely and rewritten to ensure no one can once again establish autocratic rule. Two members on the panel said the next elected government could further change the document if it chooses.

The military's choices for the panel's makeup were a sign of the new political legitimacy of the Moslem Brüderbund, the fundamentalist group that was the most bitter rival of Mubarak's regime. Among the panel's members is Sobhi Saleh, a former politician from the Brotherhood seen as part of its reformist wing.

The eight-member committee, which met with Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi on Tuesday, also includes a Christian supreme court judge, along with other judges and legal experts, one of its members Mohammed Hassanein Abdel-Al, a legal scholar told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. The panel is headed by Tareq el-Bishri, a widely respected former judge and scholar who was once a secular leftist but later became one of the most foremost thinkers of what Egyptians refer to as the "moderate Islamic" political trend and is seen as a bridge between the movements.

The panel's convening indicated the military was trying to push ahead quickly with a transition after Mubarak resigned Friday in the face of 18 days of unprecedented popular protests that massed hundreds of thousands. The military is now also urging an end to labor strikes that spread wildly across the country Sunday and Monday, unleashed by the turmoil.

The strikes, many hitting state agencies and industries, are a further blow to Egypt's economy, damaged by the three weeks of upheaval. Egypt's Foreign Minster Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on the international community to provide aid to boost Egypt's economy.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  OOOOOOOO, you just knew they would!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/16/2011 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  The start of the takeover begins. No matter that the LSM (lame stream media) and some govmint officials were busy denying this possibility. Look out Israel--oh and you'd better prepare for the coming war.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/16/2011 10:47 Comments || Top||


Near-death Mubarak refuses medical treatment, determined to die in Egypt - Sources
[Asharq al-Aswat] After Egyptian Ambassador to the US Sameh Shoukry publicly acknowledged that former Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak is in bad health, a former security official affiliated to the Egyptian military high command told Asharq Al-Awsat that the announcement of Hosni Mubarak's death could come at any time. The former security official said "what is certain is that his state of health is declining drastically, in addition [to this] there is information that he is refusing to receive the required medical treatment."

The source also revealed that there had been attempts to convince Mubarak to travel abroad for medical treatment, most probably to German where he previously underwent treatment to remove a gallbladder last year. However the former security official clarified to Asharq Al-Awsat that "Mubarak is refusing this...in fact, he has asked those around him to allow him to die in his country, and I believe this is just a matter of time" adding "it is unfortunate that this is how it will end."

Contrary to reports that Mubarak is working on a memoir, the former Egyptian official told Asharq Al-Awsat that "this is untrue...Mubarak's health is not up to this, he is only regains consciousness rarely, spending most of his time in a comatose state."

There have also been questioned raised about the location and state of health of former senior governmental figures and former Mubarak aides. For example, former parliamentary speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour has not left his house in the affluent Cairo district of Garden City for a number of days, and he is refusing to receive visitors or answer telephone calls. As for Egyptian Shura Council speaker Safwat El-Sherif, his [political] office is closed and nobody can attest to his location, although the interim government has official denied reports that he has decamped the country.

There have been sharp disputes and exchanges of accusation between Mubarak's top aides following his resignation, and an Egyptian source informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the majority of Mubarak's former aides are in hiding, fearing the anger of the people. However the source also said that these aides have not lost hope or belief that their political careers can be resurrected.

A minister in Egypt's interim government, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, said that "Mubarak did not receive the complete truth from those around him, they were the ones giving the orders, and they were aided in this by his failing health." He added "he could have received information from dozens of monitoring agencies however he did not listen to anyone; he trusted his close advisors and believed that they were telling him the truth and were not underplaying the facts."
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For the last 29 years, this man has siphoned off almost every bit of boodle foreign aid from the US, totaling in the tens of billions of dollars.

EPIC FAIL.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2011 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  He suffers from terminal pouting?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/16/2011 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm beginning to think Mubarak has been dead for some time.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/16/2011 14:44 Comments || Top||

#4  More and more, I'm thinking that this wasn't a coup. Mubarak served as president until he couldn't physically continue.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/16/2011 17:17 Comments || Top||


Tunisia: Jewish community expressed its concern to the government
[Ennahar] Tunisia's Jewish community expressed its concern to the transitional government after anti-Semitic incidents at the Great Synagogue in Tunis that the government condemned on Tuesday, said the head of the community and the Ministry of Interior.

"I met Saturday with Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and told him of this incident," told AFP the president of the Jewish community in Tunisia Roger Bismuth. "I think this is an incident that may happen again," he added.

The Prime Minister knew and called the community for vigilance, he said.

Mr. Bismuth told AFP that radical Islamists had uttered anti-Semitic slogans at the Great Synagogue in Tunis on Friday morning just hours before the beginning of Shabbat. "Forty religious gathered Friday outside the Great Synagogue of Tunis and began chanting anti-Jewish and uttering inappropriate words. The incident occurred in late morning," he said.

The Interior Ministry on Tuesday condemned the actions of Orcs and similar vermin at places of worship and religious slogans to incite violence, reported the official news agency TAP.

"These people have no other purpose than to undermine the values of the republican regime founded on respect for freedoms and beliefs, tolerance, peaceful co-existence among all current and guaranteeing Citizenship rights," he said.

The ministry said he "will spare no effort to safeguard these values and oppose all those who incite violence or discord among members of the Tunisian people and disturb public security."

The Jewish community in Tunisia has 1,600 people (against 100,000 in 1956) the majority of whom live in Djerba (south). This is one of the largest in the Arab world.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt revises its Constitution
[Ennahar] The Egyptian army, in charge of the country since the fall of geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, has given ten days on Tuesday to a committee of lawyers to amend the Constitution and warned that further strikes would be "disastrous" for the country.

The supreme council of the armed forces, to whom Mubarak has entrusted the reins of the country by resigning Friday, suspended Sunday the constitution and dissolved Parliament, promising democratic elections in the coming months.

The army appointed a commission to revise the Constitution who "must finish work in ten days," according to an official statement. Its members met for the first time on Tuesday.

"We will revise the Constitution to remove all restrictions and obstacles and to meet the aspirations of the revolution and the people," said one of the members of this commission, Sobhi Saleh, lawyer and former member of Moslem Brüderbund.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It gets better:

Egypt's new ruling military council has appointed an Islamist judge to head the committee drawing up a new constitution.

Tarek al-Bishry, the chairman of the constitutional panel, is a respected judge who criticised former president Hosni Mubarak and is regarded as moderate in his views. But he has been associated with Al-Wasat, an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

He has selected a committee made up mainly of judges and politicians, including a judge who is a Coptic Christian, but also a former Muslim Brotherhood MP.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/16/2011 1:36 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Mosque pulpits will not be politicized- Saudi Official
[Asharq al-Aswat] A high-level Saudi official in the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, objected to those who believe that the Kingdom is working to "politicize" mosque pulpits, in order to support one party at the expense of another.

Dr. Tawfiq al-Sudairi, Undersecretary for the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Dawa and Guidance, confirmed that the kingdom does not seek to transform mosque pulpits or politicize them, especially in light of recent events witnessed by a number of Arab countries, referring to the internal political tremors the region is currently witnessing.

The Undersecretary for the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs emphasized there were no directions given one way or another, governing the expression of viewpoints relating the recent disorders. He said "there are no directions to the mosque imams and preachers, and there are no orders or prohibitions with regards to talking about events taking place in a number of Arab countries".

Al-Sudairi, in statements made to Asharq al-Awsat on the sidelines of a seminar held by the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in the heart of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, said that this stems from the confidence the Ministry has in its imams and preachers. He added "we are confident and we believe that mosque imams are aware of the needs of their mosque community, and orientate their discourse around them".

In his statement, al-Sudairi stressed there was no guidance or advice given to mosque imams, whilst in the same context he confirmed the necessity to take into account the needs of the people, and not to be swept away behind the wishes of individuals. This is the basic principle applied by public preachers across the country.

The Undersecretary of the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs was speaking at a seminar, within the program of weekly seminars being held at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque, throughout the year.

Al-Sudairi discussed compassion in Islamic law, arguing that every issue addressed in the Koran was approached with compassion in mind. This was its intention, cause and purpose. He said "If it was possible to substitute the name of the Islamic religion for other words, compassion would be the title most commonly used, for the foundation of the religion is compassion".
What did the Undersecretary of Islamic Affairs say in Arabic? There seems to be a slight translation error, as English does not define compassion as it has been used here.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Khat and hashish save the Yemeni government
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You can see this kind of phenomena in Kalifornia also--too stoned to protest.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/16/2011 10:50 Comments || Top||


Bahrain is spinning out of control
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can someone please point out to me a ME or North African country that ISN'T spinning out of control? (besides Israel)
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/16/2011 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Do Iraq and Afghanistan count?
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2011 0:35 Comments || Top||

#3  ION TOPIX > [Guardian.UK = Wikileaks] US EMBASSY CABLES: BAHRAINIS [being]TRAINED BY HEZBOLLAH [+ Syria in Lebanon, Locally], CLAIMS KING HAMAD.

ARTIC = HAMAD would like US MIlfors to stay in IRAQ until such time that the Govt. of Iraq can unilaterally + effec fend off IRANIAN-BACKED EXTREMISTS; HAMAD also claimed to had recieved a Message from Iran calling on REGIONAL GOVTS TO ASSIST THE EFFORTS OF IRAN + IRAQI ISURGENTS + HAMAS + HEZBOLLAH, TALIBAN + SYRIA TO FORCE US MILFORS FROM THE PERSIAN GULF.

* Also from TOPIX > CSIS: YEMENI TERROR OFFSHOOT NOW BIGGER THREAT TO US THAN OSAMA'S AL-QAEDA GROUP [original]. AQAP aka AQIY.

Read, CHAOS IN SAUDI PENINSULA = GLOBAL MUSLIM INSTABILTY + THREAT TO ISRAEL, REGIONAL ALLIES + RISK OF EXTREMIST = MILTERR CONTROL OF SAUDI + REGIONAL NUCPROGS.

* SAME > [US DHS] NAPOLITANO: ABDULMUTULLAB CHANGED US GLOBAL AVIATION SECURITY, vee US, UNO reforms.

We can't have sexy slinky QUEEN PADME AMYGDALA + DELEGATION + STARSHIP BLOWING UP WHEN THEY LAND ON CORSUCANT, NOR RUN INTO DARTH MAUL, now can we - its just not done, people?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/16/2011 0:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Berkeley council rejects proposal to invite Guantanamo detainees to live in city
Berkeley's City Council Tuesday night voted not to invite two former Guantanamo Bay Naval Base terror detainees, who have been cleared of wrongdoing, to live in the city.
Reality. It has a way of clearing the mind. Even for the hardcore.
The resolution by the city's Peace and Justice Commission, which lost on a vote of two nos, three abstentions and four ayes, also urged the United States to lift its ban on allowing former Guantanamo Bay detainees to live in the U.S.
Three abstentions is a cowardly way of saying "no", don't you think?
Federal law bans former detainees from living in the U.S., which would have made Berkeley's resolution symbolic.
Aha! So they even admitted defeat! And all this time I didn't think they had a self-preservation instinct.
Before the vote, Danny Gonzalez, spokesman for a "pro-troop" organization called Move America Forward, proposed in a statement that Berkeley City Council members "go live in GITMO where they can hang out with hundreds of terrorists." The group said it would pay for their air fare.
Apparently there were no takers. Move, check, and mate.
The Peace and Justice Commission has a mandate to "promote peace and justice locally, nationally and internationally," according to its report to the City Council. The report said the men probably will face torture, imprisonment and death if they are sent to their home countries, "based on knowledge of what has happened to others who returned home."
Ever wonder why that is?
The commission recommended the City Council invite a Russian ballet dancer named Ravil Mingazov and an Algerian named Djamel Ameziane to live in Berkeley if they are ever released from Guantanamo Bay. The report said Amezaine likes to cook and play soccer.
Shoe peddlers, dammit. They are shoe peddlers!
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2011 12:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Amezaine likes to cook and play soccer.

and to beat wymyns, burn girl's schools, and behead infidels. Also, romantic walks on the beach
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2011 16:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "and romantic walks on the beach"
With his favorite goat.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/16/2011 18:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Awww, the High Elves chicken out. Guess they are just cowardly bald-faced liars. Poor Ravil, his dreams of male ballet in brakley shattered, used and lied to by godless liberals.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/16/2011 18:19 Comments || Top||


Dupe entry: US Frees 7/7 Bomber
"Jerkoff who helped train 7/7 bomber freed by US after just five years"
Britain frees Lockerbie bomber... tit for tat?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Obama proposes $3.1b for Pakistan spending in 2012 budget
[Geo News] The B.O. regime has proposed to Congress a total of $ 3.1 billion in the 2012 budget for U.S economic and security assistance and diplomatic operations in Pakistain, according to a senior American official.

The administration's spendings for Pakistain are broken up into two parts, the "enduring core part" - meaning long-term assistance programs and the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), an administration official said at a briefing on President Barack B.O. Obama's budget proposals for the fiscal year 2012, beginning October 1, 2011.

As part of the long-term economic and security assistance, President B.O. is seeking $ 1.9 billion in the year 2012. The amount will also cover the cost of American aid operations and diplomatic presence.

Of the $ 1.9 billion, about $ 1.5 billion is annual money to be allocated under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman five-year aid measure.

It also includes $ 350 million in foreign military financing programs, which is part of the five-year agreement between the two countries.Some USAID operating expenses are also included in that number.

Under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman initiative, the US spends money on a variety of programs including development of democracy and wide-ranging infrastructure projects to assist Pakistain's economic progress.

On the extraordinary (OCO) side of the budget, the administration has proposed $1.2 billion, which includes some money for the American operational expenditures, about $146 million.

Under the OCO, $ 1.1 billion is to be devoted to the Pakistain Counterinsurgency Capability Fund, which is a program that the two countries have worked jointly with the departments of Defense and the State.

The PCCF seeks to train Pak forces for a more effective fight against snuffies along country's western border with Afghanistan.

"So the unique part of the budget, the extraordinary part of the budget is the PCCF.

The enduring part of the budget is more of our economic and military assistance thats going to be sustainable over the long term," the administration official said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Why? That's $3B for his education fund.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/16/2011 7:23 Comments || Top||

#2  We could do an aweful lot with $3B here.
Posted by: Glolush White6237 || 02/16/2011 16:28 Comments || Top||


Challan of Davis submitted in court
[Geo News] Lahore police on Tuesday submitted the challan
... list of charges ...
of Raymond Davis, who rubbed out two Pak youth, in a session court, Geo News reported.

Twenty-five page challan was filed in the District and Sessions Court Lahore.

In the Challan, it is maintained that the investigations prove murder charges of Fahim and Faizan against the US national. It is said that Davis did not act in self-defence.

According to report of forensic experts, Davis also fired on the dear departed after getting off from his vehicle.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


US Senator Kerry arrives Lahore: sources
[Geo News] An influential American politician arrived on Tuesday evening here to try to repair relations strained in the wake of the arrest of a US citizen, who fatally shot two Paks, sources said.

According to the US newspaper, Senator John I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
... the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the empty wingtips of Joe Biden...
, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is undertaking the visit at the request of the B.O. regime. But an unnamed senior US official who spoke on background because of the sensitivity of the case, said that Kerry is not trying to secure the release of Davis. Instead, Kerry's mission will be to "help tone down the rhetoric and reaffirm the US partnership with Pakistain," the report said.

Kerry has developed close relations with Pakistain leaders over the years, and pushed through a $7.5 billion, five-year aid package for the country.

He traveled to Pakistain four times since he became chairman of the powerful committee in early 2009.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Or maybe he is just looking for a place to tie up his boat and not pay taxes on it.....
Posted by: USN,Ret || 02/16/2011 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  J.F. Kerry referred to as our junior Secretary of State.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/16/2011 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  I believe he's there to grovel and make nice in the Davis case.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  "....at the end of my mission, they gave me a Lucky Pie Hat™"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2011 16:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Groveling and making nice are certainly valid diplomatic tools, especially when everyone knows you don't mean it. Seems like a bigger lever in this instance would be pointing out how 10% of nothing is nothing and wouldn't it be a shame if the payments were delayed.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/16/2011 16:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi Defector Admits Lying About WMD to Topple Saddam Hussein
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/16/2011 10:58 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1st, I don't really believe that all the West's intelligence agencies relied on just 1 person's talk about WMD.
2nd, I think that Bush was absolutely correct in invading Iraq; that put a pro-democracy, anti-despot government in between Iran, Syria, and Lebannon (Hizbellah); which was putting enormous pressure on them.
Unfortunately, the BDS of the Democrats, media, Leftist, Communists, etc. saw the Iraq war as a method of destroying Bush rather than an opportunity to better the world.
Posted by: sam3rd || 02/16/2011 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  What Sam3rd said. Rumsfeld said as much on the recent talk circuit--even the UN had verification of massive amounts of WMD's that they couldn't account for or show evidence of destruction. They could very well have them in Syria right now just as Iranian warships cross the Suez to dock there. And Latakia is home to Binny's maternal clan and his childhood playground. I'm afraid the Left is going to regret the smear Bush campaign someday but there is no satisfaction in proving them wrong if WMD's destroy us for the next 500 milleniums.
Posted by: Gerthudion Unump7993 || 02/16/2011 12:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Just ignore these warheads. Nothing here to see. Move along. Beside they're just degraded from 'military' standards. You won't worry about them being stored next door would you? /rhet question
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/16/2011 20:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Chalabi said more or less the same thing. He lied his ass off telling folks whatever he felt would help them justify removing Saddam. Doesn't mean WMD weren't there, it just means the person in question probably had no actual knowledge.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/16/2011 22:09 Comments || Top||


I'm proud my WMD lies led to war in Iraq
Posted by: Penguin || 02/16/2011 10:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel 'may have to re-enter Lebanon'
The Israeli army may have to enter Lebanon again to ensure Hizbollah remembers the lessons of the 2006 war, according to Ehud Barak.

Speaking during a tour of the northern border with the new military chief of staff Benny Gantz, the Israeli defence minister said: "Even though it's quiet and deterrence exists - Hizbollah remembers the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006 - but it is not forever, and you may be called to enter again."

"We must be prepared for every test," Mr Barak told troops according to the Haaretz newspaper. "The secret is reacting fast in the event that something happens, and within seconds, translating everything you learned in your training."
"Dammit, Rahm, you promised if I flattered him and insulted that Netanyahu guy, he'd dance to our tune! What happened?"
"Call me 'Mr. Mayor', Mr. President."
Posted by: tipper || 02/16/2011 15:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OTOH TOPIX > VARIOUS > NASRALLAH THREATENS/WARNS HEZBOLLAH WILL TAKE GALILEE IFF ISRAEL "ATTACKS" + HEZBOLLAH LEADER WARNS OF [new]BORDER CONFLICT. Nasrallah orders Hezbollah to prepare to INVADE NORTHERN ISRAEL iff Israel attacks + sends IDF Forces into Lebanon again.

HMMMM, HMMMM, and at the same time Iran sends two warships into the EGypt-controlled SUEZ CANAL towards the Mediterranean???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/16/2011 23:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bassil Says March 14 was Transformed into a 'Subversive Opposition'
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil slammed what he called the "subversive opposition" of the March 14
Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys...
forces, accusing them of committing "national treason."

Bassil said speeches made by March 14 officials during ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's sixth liquidation anniversary in BIEL on Monday were a sign that the coalition was putting conditions that contradict with March 8 stances.
"There is no room for them to join the government," the caretaker minister told An Nahar in remarks published Tuesday. "We are keen on forming a cabinet and not blowing it up."

Asked about the demands of Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
leader Michel Aoun
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
to get the interior ministry portfolio, Bassil said: "We didn't ask for it in order to obstruct. We suggested getting it because we want to restore the prestige of the state."

He denied that the FPM was holding onto the portfolio to stop Leb's cooperation with the tribunal. "The government as a whole is responsible for anything linked to the court and not the interior minister alone."
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iran MPs Rage against Opposition as Obama Encourages Protesters
Furious Iranian politicians on Tuesday demanded the hanging of opposition leaders who called anti-government protests which left two people dead, saying they had been "misled" by Iran's arch-foes.

But in one of his most direct reactions to events in Iran, U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama offered encouragement to protesters, saying he hoped they would have the "courage" to keep expressing their "yearning for greater freedoms."

MPs singled out Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who had called for protests in Tehran on Monday in support of Arab uprisings that quickly turned into anti-government demonstrations and ended in festivities with police in which several people were also hurt, including nine security force members.

Mohammad Khatami, former reformist president, also came under fire from conservatives for openly backing the opposition movement since disputed presidential elections in June 2009.

"Mousavi and Karroubi should be executed! Death to Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami!" the politicians shouted in the house, state news agency IRNA reported.

They said the United States, Britain and Israel had orchestrated Monday's protests through the opposition leaders, who, according to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, were being "misled" by Iran's arch-foes.

"The parliament condemns the Zionists, American, anti-revolutionary and anti-national action of the misled seditionists," a visibly angry Larijani told the parliament.

"How did the gentlemen (Mousavi and Karroubi) ... fall into the orchestrated trap of America?" he asked.

"Should they not have been cautious given the support, pleasure and joy of America and Israel as well as monarchists and Monafeghin?" Larijani added, referring to the outlawed People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI).

He also urged that a committee be formed to probe and "confront" the opposition movement.

But Obama defended the protesters and criticized the Iranian authorities, saying that unlike Egypt, Iran's response to protests has been "to shoot people and beat people and arrest people."

"And, you know, my hope and expectation is that we're going to continue to see the people of Iran have the courage to be able to express their yearning for greater freedoms and a more representative government," Obama said.

However,
The infamous However...
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized the West during a meeting with visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul, IRNA reported.

"The West has always humiliated the world of Islam, and any government that wants to go against this humiliation and show its power will face their (Western) opposition," he told Gul.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a hardline holy man who often leads Friday prayers in Tehran, applauded the MPs and accused Mousavi and Karroubi of being "mohareb," or enemies of God, adding that they deserved the harshest of punishment.

"The chiefs of the sedition have reached the end of the road and it is time for (the authorities) to do their duty and judge and punish" them, he said in a statement carried by Fars.

Despite a strict ban on the rally, a heavy security presence and Mousavi and Karroubi being placed under de facto house arrest, thousands of opposition supporters took to Tehran's streets on Monday.

Riot police fired tear gas and paintballs at them in violent festivities, witnesses and websites said.

Kazem Jalali, member of the parliamentary commission of national security and foreign policy, told ISNA news agency two people were killed.

"In today's session that the commission held with the interior minister (Mostafa Mohammad Najjar), he told us that a number of popular and revolutionary forces were maimed by gunshot and two persons were martyred," Jalali said.

Iran's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan had earlier said that one person was killed, shot by members of an outlawed group. He also reported "some" people maimed, including nine security force members.

The anti-government protests were the first in Tehran since February 11, 2010.

Mousavi and Karroubi allege Ahmadinejad's re-election in June 2009 was massively rigged and in the months after the results called for protests which drew tens of thousands onto the streets -- shaking the foundations of the Islamic republic and angering its leaders.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2011-02-16
  Bahrain mourner killed in funeral march clash
Tue 2011-02-15
  Mufti warns of revolution in Saudi Arabia
Mon 2011-02-14
  Iranian protesters rally as Arab unrest spreads
Sun 2011-02-13
  Saeed Al-Shihri, Deputy Leader of AQAP Dead in Yemen
Sat 2011-02-12
  Police in Aden disperse ‘day of rage’ protests
Fri 2011-02-11
  Mubarak resigns
Thu 2011-02-10
  Mubarak still there
Wed 2011-02-09
  Suleiman: Mubarak Forms Panel to Pilot Constitutional Changes
Tue 2011-02-08
  Egypt sees largest demonstrations since start of revolt
Mon 2011-02-07
  Egypt: beginning of discussions between government and Muslim Brotherhood
Sun 2011-02-06
  Mubarak resigns as ruling party head
Sat 2011-02-05
  U.S. envoy to Egypt: Mubarak 'must stay' for now
Fri 2011-02-04
  Egypt PM Apologizes for Tahrir Square Clashes, Vows Probe
Thu 2011-02-03
  Mubarak's snipers flee Cairo square
Wed 2011-02-02
  Chaos in Cairo as Mubarak backers, opponents clash

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