Having a target painted on one's back just took on a whole new meaning.
The Air Force wants a new kind of tracking tech in which a tiny drone surreptitiously "paints" an individual with some kind of signal-emitting powder or liquid that allows the military to keep tabs on him or her. Or perhaps upload his coordinates to a hellfire missile.
On Tuesday, the Air Force put out a call for proposals for such technology, though it didn't specify exactly what kind of drone might deliver the magic powder, or what the magic powder might be. But as Danger Room notes, there are a range of experimental technologies that could potentially serve both purposes.
Regular readers of PopSci know that tiny insect drones, while not yet perfected, abound in the lab. From larger hummingbird drones to other tiny ornithopters to DARPA's remote-controlled beetle, the delivery system for such a technology isn't so far away from being a reality. What most of these tiny drones lack is range, and that will only improve with advances in battery life and materials science.
What's less clear is how the tracking might go down, though the Pentagon is hard at work on a range of what they call "Clandestine Tagging, Tracking, and Locating" (TTL) technologies. Some Pentagon ideas include marking targets with biological paints or micromechanical sensors. Other ideas proposed by outside groups are equally out there.
One proposal from a University of Florida researcher uses insect pheromones encoded with unique identifiers that could be tracked from miles away. Other plans employ biodegradable fluorescent "taggants" that can be scattered by UAVs. Voxtel, a private firm in Oregon, has already made available a product called NightMarks, a nanocrystal that can be seen through night-vision goggles and can be hidden in anything from glass cleaner to petroleum jelly.
DARPA is even looking into "smart dust" -- which is essentially a cloud of dust mote-sized sensors that could be sprayed into the air near a target in hopes that he or she might walk through the cloud and be tagged, meaning the drone or delivery system wouldn't even have to make direct contact with the target (think bird-like drones that can crop-dust a vehicle or person).
Of course, the Air Force also notes that the technology it is fostering will be useful for things like tracking wildlife -- though why anyone would want to fire a hellfire missile at a flock of migrating birds is unclear.
The journalist clearly hasn't met serious birders. Starlings and European House Sparrows are evil -- strong methods are required.
#1
Screw the smart dust idea. Just develop a drone in the shape of a European House Sparrow designator that shines a laser on a target that a Hellfire missile in the form of a Sparrow can home in on and blow to Kingdom Come.
#3
Personally, I've long hoped that the military would develop a powder that could be mixed with water, and sprayed from an ordinary crop duster over roads frequented by IED teams.
The idea is that once the water had dried, the residue on the roadway would be invisible to the naked eye, but would reflect to say, invisible UV light, in a unique but still invisible "color" that could be picked up by a special camera mounted on a UAV.
The roadway would look fairly homogeneous, except for the tire stripes where vehicles had driven. Yet a large, round patch in the paint would indicate that somebody dug up a lot of pavement right there, then covered it up to look normal.
Granted, far more useful in a developed place like Iraq, instead of Afghanistan, it would still be worth some investigation.
[Tolo News] A front man to President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Wednesday said foreign troops haven't been able to properly safeguard Kandahar Central detention facility.
Mr Siamak Herawi, Deputy Spokesperson to President Karzai, emphasised that plotters of the jailbreak will be introduced in a couple of weeks.
"Primary findings indicate that there has been cooperation from inside and outside the jail," Mr Herawi said.
But Dr Abdullah Abdullah, ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... Leader of the Change and Hope Coalition, said we should not put the blame on foreigners for all incidents.
Dr Abdullah described the jailbreak as embarrassing to the Afghan government.
"There is nothing left to be called a system or a government," Dr Abdullah said.
Chief of jails in Afghanistan Gen. Amir Mohammad Jamshid accused some of the Kandahar jail officials and as well as Pak links of plotting the jailbreak.
More than 20 Kandahar jail officials have been incarcerated in connection with the incident, Gen. Jamshid said.
A joint commission consisted of officials from interior and justice ministries, Attorney General's Office and national directorate of security has been set up to investigate the incident.
"Our security and intelligence organisations should have controlled it," Gen. Jamshid told TOLOnews.
The Taliban have called the jailbreak a big achievement and a big blow to US war efforts in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Sudan President Omar Hassan Bashir said on Wednesday the disputed oil-producing Abyei region will remain part of the north after the south secedes in July.
Abyei straddles north and south Sudan and both sides have been building up forces there, according to satellite images and the United Nations. ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... South Sudan's draft constitution, to be adopted after the south becomes independent on July 9, lays claim to Abyei, according to a copy seen by Rooters. Bashir rejected the claim.
"Abyei is located in north Sudan and will remain in north Sudan," he told a rally in the province of Southern Kordofan where long-delayed parliamentary and gubernatorial elections start next week.
The audience for his speech, which was televised, was largely from the Arab nomadic Misseriya tribe who lay claim to Abyei, where they graze their cattle a few months a year.
The pro-south Dinka Ngok tribe who reside there all year say Abyei is their territory.
Southern Kordofan, which borders Abyei, contains much of the north's future oil production and Bashir's ruling National Congress Party is fielding Ahmed Haroun as its candidate for governor there in the elections. Haroun is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region.
North and south Sudan fought each other for all but a few years since 1955 over differences in ethnicity, ideology, religion and oil. The conflict claimed at least 2 million lives and destabilized much of the region.
Southern Sudanese voted in January to separate from the north and form a new nation, a referendum promised to them as part of a 2005 peace deal which ended the decades of civil war.
An Abyei referendum on whether to joint the north or south was meant to run parallel to the January vote, but it did not take place. Talks on Abyei's future have stalled.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I think Sudan will find fighting South Sudan a somewhat different kettle of fish as they progress from a band of rebels to an organized state (even of African standard).
[Iran Press TV] A senior holy man has described Iran's Islamic theocracy as the pioneer in pro-democracy movements in the region, cautioning Saudi rulers of the same fate as that of Bahrain's royal family.
"Today, the wave of Islamic awakening has overrun countries across the globe and God-willing this wave will become even more widespread," Fars News Agency quoted Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani as saying on Thursday.
"We take pride in that all these awakenings have been influenced by the Iranian movement," he said in reference to Iran's Islamic revolution of 1979.
The senior holy man pointed out that an Islamic Middle East is in the making and that the schemes by arrogant powers, the US in particular, to forge an Israel-centered region has failed.
"Despite the obstacles created by oppressors and arrogant powers, this course is irreversible," he said.
Ayatollah Hamedani criticized the states ruled by Arab royal families in the Middle East as puppet regimes swept into power and sustained by Washington.
"The US has empowered Al Khalifa in Bahrain, Al Saud in Soddy Arabia, Al Nahyan in the United Arab Emirates and Al Sabah in Kuwait to maintain its dominance on the region," he said.
"Currently, these puppet regimes have been shaken and Soddy Arabia should know it is bound to face a fate similar to that in Bahrain," the holy man warned.
Ayatollah Hamedani lashed out at the West's dual stance on the recent developments in the region.
"They are attempting to maintain their puppet rulers a while longer, but they should know that the culture of Islamic awakening will not die and they will all be eliminated."
The Iranian holy man also rejected allegations made by a number of such Arab states which accuse the Islamic Theocratic Republic of interference in Bahrain's internal affairs.
Such accusations are made by the same countries that invaded Bahrain, the Iranian holy man said, stressing that Iran has only engaged in preaching Islamic teachings and supporting the oppressed, and that it takes pride in doing so.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Move along people, as once again there is clearly no Iran-vs-KSA, Shia-vs-Sunni struggle for "universal" Islamic dominance here???
From PJ Media. It's mostly inside-baseball politics. It is becoming clear that the Obama administration committed a major stupidity in allowing ATF to put guns into Mexico -- not private gun dealers, our very own government -- and now is trying to dodge the inevitable political consequences.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2011 09:25 ||
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#1
Not only was this incredibility stupid, illegal and got people killed, it might be considered an act of war. Governments usually don't take too kindly to another government arming their insurgent enemies.
#2
at a minimum, there needs to be a major firing of responsible DOJ and ATF management and political appointees that allowed this crime. I would suggest the slain BP agents' family file a wrongful death suit with disclosure demands
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2011 11:23 Comments ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Parts of North Korea are expected to run out of food in less than two months due to a poor harvest even if foreign donors agree to provide assistance, a US relief group said Wednesday. The first thought that pops to my mind is "let them eat nukes."
The United States and South Korea have been cautious over reports of dire food shortages in the North, with some officials suspecting that the communist state is exaggerating the problem to win assistance.
But Samaritan's Purse, one of five US groups that visited North Korea in February, said that a harsh winter has reduced crop yield by up to half and that some people were already eating grass, leaves and tree bark.
"We believe that, in many of the areas that we visited, in mid-June they're going to run out of food," said Ken Isaacs, the Christian-oriented group's vice president for programs and government relations.
"We are certain, based on our field surveys, that there is an urgent need and that if it's not met, people will suffer and people will die this year," he told a seminar at the American Enterprise Institute think-tank.
Isaacs said that the relief groups want to provide 160,000 to 175,000 tons of food to North Korea -- about half of what the regime requested -- but that it would be impossible to arrange shipments in time to meet the shortfall.
"If a green light was given today, that food probably isn't going to be into North Korea for about three months," Isaacs said.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans died in a famine in the 1990s. But North Korea, which prides itself on its "juche" philosophy of self-reliance, abruptly kicked out the US aid groups in 2009.
His warning came as former US president Jimmy Carter ... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... , a proponent of engagement with North Korea, led a delegation of elder statesmen to Pyongyang for talks on issues including food aid.
But US President Barack B.O. Obama's administration has held off on deciding whether to provide food assistance, with officials saying they want more evidence of an urgent need before committing to assistance.
Several politicians from the rival Republican Party have urged Obama not to authorize aid, fearing that North Korea wants the food for its elite or to stock up for next year's celebrations marking the 100th birth anniversary of the regime's founder Kim Il-Sung.
Robert King, the US special envoy on human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... , told the same forum that the B.O. regime was still debating whether to send food to North Korea and wanted a way to monitor that it would go to people in need.
He said the United States would make its decision based on North Korea's needs, not on politics. But he pointed out that a number of nations -- some with better track records -- were competing for a share of tight aid budgets.
"The needs for humanitarian assistance have to be balanced with the need and demand for our assistance in other parts of the world as well," King said.
North Korea has also asked other countries for help. But South Korea, which for a decade maintained a flow of aid to its estranged neighbor, toughened its stance when conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office in 2008.
Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek, who handles cross-border affairs, said Monday that the North's food shortage was not particularly worse this year and there appeared to be some political motivation for its pleas for aid.
The B.O. regime has followed a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea, saying that it will wait for it to make clear commitments on key concerns including on ending its nuclear program.
The US administration has indicated that it will wait for its South Korean allies to decide when the time is right for dialogue. Tensions soared last year after North Korea shelled a civilian island and was accused of sinking a warship.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
That gives them an opportunity to eat the FAT Politburo members in June. In July with the party top leadership and the Sung-Ils eaten... then the South can send food aid.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/29/2011 1:30 Comments ||
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#2
The Army will be starved next-to-last. The people will need guns.
#8
"Sorry, sir, bark's off. Got some nice rock..."
"Sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous?"
"Sedimentary, of course!"
"That's for me, then. That igneous is awful tough chewing."
#9
If/when NK is liberated, how would unification even be possible? No one in NK would have any idea how to function in a free, modern society. East Germans openly looted the homes of their West German relatives - on the grounds that they "deserved" a share of the West's wealth. What would North Koreans do (after eating enough to think clearly, that is)?
#10
As far as I can tell, it's a hostage situation. They're holding a population hostage, and demanding we supply the hostage-takers with food.
I say we start trading food for political prisoners, or hell, open borders. Family reunification, with the families reunified on the southern side of the DMZ.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/29/2011 13:55 Comments ||
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#11
Great point, Mitch. That's exactly what it is.
#12
"Hostage situation" > Yeeeeepp, and its increasingly looking like not even the DPRK Army = Armed Forces is safe.
DPRK Soldats from Middle, Lower/Working-class families repor being allowed to get out early from their mandated mil service iff they can BUY FOOD SUPPLIES FOR THE UNIT THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO
Officers, NCOS from Top-tier or Elite Families usually have no probs meeting this requirement, but are expected to procure in food quantities matching their family's political, econ status.
ANALYSTS doubt the top classes will be spared long iff the DPRK food crisis continues to worsen as anticipated, whihc may explain ...
To wit,
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUMS > CARTER: NORTH KOREAN "REGRETS" OVER SHIP SINKING [Cheonan + Yeongpyeong mil incidents].
It appears that the DPRK is publicly but informally apologizing to the ROK via ex-POTUS Jimmy Carter oer the recent incidents, but IMO its highly doubtful the ROK = Seoul will accept it in this manner. IMO SEOUL WANTS SOMETHING OFFICIAL + STRAIGHT UP FROM PYONGYANG FIRST, + IS UNLIKELY TO COMMIT TO ANY SERIOUS NUCLEAR, OTHER TALKS INVOL THE DPRK UNTIL IT DOES???
* ION SAME > JAPAN POSTPONES NUCLEAR COOLING, Brouhaha over TEPCO Executive salaries + what-to-do wid any radioactive cooling wastewater.
IMO Artic sub-read - TEPCO MAY RELEASE EXCESS RADIOACTIVE WASTEWATER INTO THE SEA AGAIN???
* SAME > TAIWAN MISSLE CAN REACH BEIJING: REPORT.
Twas repor tested already a few years back.
ARTIC read, YUH-OH???
THE CLOCK IS STEADILY GOING "TICK-TICK" AGZ CHINA, ESPEC AS PER CLOSE-N-GETTING-CLOSER DPRK COLLAPSE, VERSUS TIME-FACTORS FOR SECURING, BREAKING THE BARRIERS OF THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" [PLA, Trade Air + Sea "Warm Water" Ports = FAR ASIA-PACIFIC].
[Arab News] An Islamic group has sued a suburban town it says engaged in religious discrimination by abruptly changing zoning regulations to prevent the opening of a mosque.
Members of the Al Falah Center and local residents filed suit Tuesday in federal court against Bridgewater Township's mayor, council and planning officials.
The lawsuit says the sudden zoning changes thwarted plans the group had been working on, with the township's knowledge, to convert a closed banquet hall in a mostly residential area into a mosque and community center. It accuses town officials of bowing to pressure from protesters and an anti-mosque Internet campaign.
The Bridgewater protests were reminiscent of opposition to an Islamic center and mosque planned in New York City near the World Trade Center site. Developers have envisioned an Islamic center, a large health club, a day care center and a cultural gallery built over a subterranean mosque just blocks from where Islamic Death Eaters used hijacked airplanes to destroy the twin towers and kill thousands of people on Sept. 11, 2001. Supporters say allowing the center to be built would reflect American values of tolerance and religious freedom, while opponents argue locating a mosque so close to the attack site would be insensitive to the victims' memories.
The Al Falah Center, according to court papers, is a nonprofit group formed by local Mohammedan residents of different ethnicities, backgrounds and professions who said they had been renting out various locations around Bridgewater for 10 years as they searched for a suitable place to build a permanent mosque to serve Mohammedans in and around the central New Jersey suburb.
The center members found a closed former inn with a large banquet hall on more than 7.5 acres (3 hectares) of land that was zoned for "permitted conditional use" for houses of worship, and they drew up plans to renovate it into a mosque, day care facility, religious school and community center.
The lawsuit claims the site plan, with details of available parking and other requirements, was discussed with the town planning board, but the first public hearing on the application had to be adjourned because so many protesters showed up, exceeding the venue's capacity.
"What should have been an uncomplicated approval of the application then foundered in a storm of anti-Mohammedan sentiment and hysteria," the lawsuit says.
Town officials voted to change the rules for houses of worship, prohibiting them in residential zones unless they fronted on state highways, court papers say. The ruling affected only the mosque, the suit says, as 17 existing religious facilities in Bridgewater -- several in residential areas -- were allowed to remain. The suit seeks to block enforcement of the ordinance and allow the group's application to be processed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
When you get over your Christian hysteria, maybe, just maybe, we will get over our Muslim hysteria.
[Dawn] Veteran politician and central leader of Awami National Party Mohammad Afzal Khan Lala has opposed holding negotiations with Taliban, saying the exercise has already been practiced several times but bore no fruits.
Terrorists deserved no sympathy and needed to be dealt strictly, he said while addressing Guest Hour programme of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar Press Club here on Wednesday.
"These human rightist activists, who are talking about extrajudicial killings in Swat, should recall the agonies of people who have seen slit throats of their near and dear ones in streets and their women lashed by Taliban in the district," he said.
Khan Lala said that he opposed government's agreement with gunnies in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... as he knew well about the future of the deal.
Within few months gunnies went back on their promises and again challenged the state's writ, he added.
He said that the idea to establish Islamic university at Swat was also wrong as it was not a demand of people of the area. "I had asked the governor to establish a university, but not the Islamic university otherwise government would have to rename all the universities as Islamic universities in different districts," he said.
The nationalist leader also urged Afghanistan, Pakistain and India to devise a joint strategy for restoration of sustainable peace in the region.
He said that none of the country could save itself from the menace of terrorism unless they all extended support to each other and avoid playing the 'losing game'.
Expressing concern over increasing incidents of terrorism in the region, he urged the three neighbouring countries to stop leg-pulling and join hands against the menace of terrorism.
"If European nations can unite, why India, Pakistain and Afghanistan can't form a greater alliance at least to fight a common enemy," he asked. He said that those three countries could easily come closer on the basis of common culture, civilisation and customs.
Khan Lala said that entire Pakistain was facing the menace of militancy but Pakhtuns were the worst affected citizens of the country. Pakhtuns could not take a unified stand for solution to their problems as they were divided into four different areas, he added.
To a query, he said that Taliban had basically emerged in Kala Daka, now Torghar district, but they gradually expanded their influence to Swat to exploit the religious sentiments of people, who extended them full support and enabled them to challenge the government's writ.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Crumbling unity among forces of Evil could provide the Pakistain army an opening to conduct a limited offensive against a particularly vicious Taliban group in a strategic tribal region, according to analysts and a senior military official.
The target of such an operation in North Wazoo would be the most violent factions within the so-called Pak Taliban. Their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is believed to be increasingly isolated after executing a prominent former Pak official over the objections of senior bad turban leaders.
Although Mehsud has been linked to attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, his main focus appears to be in plotting carnage elsewhere in Pakistain. And that makes him a prime target for the army.
Washington has long urged the Paks to launch an operation in North Waziristan, a region overrun by an assortment of bad turban groups including al Qaeda. Most US drone strikes in Pakistain take place in North Waziristan.
Already there are more than 30,000 soldiers in North Waziristan, and some analysts say the Mighty Pak Army could quickly redeploy to the area. The army has 140,000 soldiers in the tribal regions that border Afghanistan
The Paks, however, are unlikely to target the Haqqani group, which the US considers its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. US Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last week that Pakistain's secret service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in North Waziristan.
If the Haqqanis and other bad turban groups in North Waziristan cooperate with a military assault against the Pak Taliban, that would give the army more options.
The fissures among the forces of Evil were laid bare in February, when Mehsud released a gruesome video that confirmed the shooting death of former Pak spy Sultan Amir Tarar, better known as Col. Imam, according to a senior Pakistain army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
As Pakistain's consul general in Afghanistan's Kandahar province during the Taliban's rule, Imam was the conduit for money and weapons to the religious movement. A former Pak intelligence officer, Imam met regularly with Afghan Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Imam was known to have kept contact with leading Taliban in hiding in Pakistain since the US-led coalition ousted them from power in Afghanistan in 2001.
Mehsud's group had held Imam for 10 months. The killing confounded Pak military officials. They had long believed the Haqqanis held sway over the myriad of groups -- including forces of Evil from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and the Middle East -- operating in North Waziristan.
"We always thought that the Afghan Taliban had a sway over these groups, but Col. Imam's killing shows that no one is in control of anyone there," he said. "His death was a shock for us."
Taliban members who spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on condition of anonymity because they feared being tossed in the calaboose said Mullah Omar made a personal plea for Imam's life. Also requesting that Imam's life be spared was Sirajuddin Haqqani, a key leader of the Haqqani group.
The senior military official said Mehsud defied Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani and went ahead with the execution after the government and army refused his demands to free several of his imprisoned men.
Not only that, Mehsud boasted on a jihadi website about the killing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The same website carried an Urdu language condemnation of Mehsud's organisation, calling those behind the execution "beasts" and "ignoble killers," SITE said.
The divisions that Imam's death revealed among the bad turban groups could provide an opportunity for the army to hit hard at beturbanned goons in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, where Mehsud set up bases after fleeing last year's military assault on his headquarters in neighbouring South Waziristan, according to Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier and former security point-man for the government in the tribal regions.
Mir Ali is about 20 miles from the town of Miramshah, where the Haqqanis are based.
Tribal elders from North Waziristan, all of whom were too afraid to talk on the record, fearing retribution from bad turbans, said the landscape in their home region has undergone massive upheavals since the army operation in South Waziristan.
They said Mehsud and his men were among the most troublesome of the bad turbans, largely because of their affiliation with criminal gangs.
Mehsud and his followers are also among the richest, having accumulated wealth through kidnappings for ransom, thefts and extortion, said a tribal elder from Shawal district of North Waziristan.
Mehsud's close affiliation with Lashkar-i-Janghvi, a Punjab-based Sunni Mohammedan bad turban group blamed for dozens of attacks against minority Shia Mohammedans, has also provided him with a reservoir of jacket wallahs. They have carried out dozens of attacks throughout Pakistain and in Afghanistan.
US officials who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject said the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed six CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... in December 2009 was trained by Lashkar-i-Janghvi's Qari Hussain, who was also a member of Mehsud's group. Hussain was killed in a drone attack but was quickly replaced by a cousin and fellow primitive of Mehsud's.
Mehsud has overseen the Pak Taliban ever since his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a CIA missile strike on August 5, 2009. Hakimullah Mehsud is affiliated with the Taliban's most violent factions and has survived US and Pak attempts on his life.
In recent years the United States has identified Mir Ali as the site of a reconstituted al Qaeda. Also on the run in Mir Ali is Ilyas Kashmirei, a confidante of Mehsud's. The United States this month put a $5 million bounty on Kashmirei's head.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Mullah Omar and Haqqani wanted Col Iman rescued which shows the relationship with Pak Army.
Mehsud has gone rogue and will be targeted.
Good Taliban attack Afghan/US/Nato whilst bad Taliban attack Pakistan in ISI eyes!
#2
The US-Coalition is repor expecting a wave of imminent Taliban-led attacks to atke place in Afghanistan.
Oh where oh where to begin ....
To wit,
* WAFF > PAKISTANI TROOPS FIRE ON INDIAN BORDER POST, in Jammu.
HMMMM, HMMMM, intehwesting, first Afghan [NATO?] troops fire on Pak border posts which leads to Pak Army firing at Indjuh???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [WAPO] PETRAEUS IFF CONFIRMED CIA CHIEF WILL FIGHT THIRD WAR IN PAKISTAN | US WILL FIGHT THIRD WAR IN PAKISTAN IFF PETRAEUS CONFIRMED AS NEW CIA CHIEF.
* SAME > [NYT] MOVE TO CIA OF PETRAEUS IN CONFLICT WID PAKISTAN. Petraeus as CIA Chief repor will have direct control of PAK-criticized/hated US Drone operations.
The U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.
Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context of increasing reports of sexual violence by Gaddafis troops.
Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was first reported by a British newspaper.
Pfizer Incs drug Viagra is used to treat impotence.
Diplomats said if it were true that Gaddafis troops were being issued Viagra, it could indicate they were being encouraged by their commanders to engage in rape to terrorize the population in areas that have supported the rebels. That would constitute a war crime.
Several diplomats said Rice provided no evidence for the Viagra allegation, which they said was made in an attempt to persuade doubters the conflict in Libya was not just a standard civil war but a much nastier fight in which Gaddafi is not afraid to order his troops to commit heinous acts.
She spoke of reports of soldiers getting Viagra and raping, a diplomat said. She spoke of Gaddafis soldiers targeting children, and other atrocities.
RAPE AS WEAPON?
Rices statement, diplomats said, was aimed principally at countries like India, Russia and China, which have grown increasingly sceptical of the effectiveness of the NATO-led air strikes, which they fear have turned the conflict into a protracted civil war that will cause many civilian deaths.
Most council members, diplomats said, had expected Gaddafis government to collapse quickly. They said the frustration felt by India, Russia and China would likely grow if the war dragged on.
The use of rape as a weapon during wartime has received increasing attention at the United Nations. Last year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a special envoy on sexual violence during armed conflict, Margot Wallstrom.
#4
Several diplomats said Rice provided no evidence for the Viagra allegation, which they said was made in an attempt to persuade doubters the conflict in Libya was not just a standard civil war but a much nastier fight in which Gaddafi is not afraid to order his troops to commit heinous acts.
Maybe true. Gadaffi is not a nice guy--he's capable. But suppose this is propaganda to justify whatever the next step is? And then suppose Samantha Power's doctrine known as the Responsibility to Protect, which encourages the international community to further intervene in a sovereign countrys internal affairs with military force if necessary in order to thwart genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, or ethnic cleansing.
Whats the next step? Takedown of Gadaffi? The Libyan Rebels are backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The next step might be to give the Libyan rebels a push.
The radical left is united behind the Palestinians, supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, was supportive of the Israeli blockade-breaking attempts, and is supportive of the rebel uprisings across the Middle East. It is not a stretch to imagine the radical left is supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well Iran proxies Hamas, and Hezbollah. Obama has been lukewarm-to-hostile towards Israel. Harry Alford , [president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce] , blasted President Obama's anti-business administration in an explosive interview. Harry Alford, a 2008 Obama supporter, labeled the administration "Marxist" and "fanatical." "They might as well put on the brown shirts and swastikas," he said.
Whats the final step? Takedown of Israel? Israel should be very worried about the Machiavellian shenanigans of Obamas radical left administration. Israeli is in the crosshairs. But then again, Whats new?
#6
Y'all are missing the key point: Gaddafi's men can't rape normal females without the aid of chemicals. Why, it's worse than having one's mustache shaved off!! Were I head of Gaddafi's troops, I would immediately indignantly deny the Viagra accusation, insisting that my men are perfectly capable of rape without even so much as seeing the girl involved.
Britain has withdrawn the royal wedding invitation to Syria, with the support of Buckingham Palace, after a violent crackdown against pro-democracy supporters, a Foreign Office spokesman said on Thursday. Boy howdy, that sends a message...
Mrs. Assad was the subject of an adoring, photo-filled article in Vogue only a few months ago -- she is beautiful, expensively but sleekly fashionable, and of course "beloved of her husband's people". She looks nothing like the stereotypical nouveau riche Arab princess...but her actions are very typical, unfortunately.
The invitation was rescinded on the eve of Friday's wedding between Prince William, the second-in-line to the British throne, and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton, following criticism from opposition politicians and human rights groups.
"You may not want to see the pictures of repression in Syria at the same time as the picture of the Syrian ambassador happily being greeted at the wedding," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin told Reuters. He said Britain should make clear it opposed human rights abuses to avoid being seen as condoning repressive regimes, especially as the eyes of the world would be on the country at this time.
Human rights groups are unhappy that invitations have been sent to best customer Saudi Arabia, while on Sunday, Bahrain's crown prince said he would not attend because of unrest in the Gulf Arab kingdom.
The Foreign Office said those countries with which Britain has normal diplomatic relations had been invited, and that "while we have strong disagreements with many of them this remains the case."
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who held a demonstration outside Buckingham Palace on Thursday, said it was "time Buckingham Palace stopped playing diplomatic niceties".
"We can have diplomatic relations with these countries but there is no obligation to reward their regimes with seats of honor in Westminster Abbey," he told Reuters.
Opposition Labor politicians complained that representatives for Syria and other countries criticized for their human rights records had been invited, but former Labor prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were not.
Britain summoned the Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami to the Foreign Office on Wednesday to condemn the "unacceptable use of force" against protesters.
A day later, under intense media pressure, it rescinded the wedding invitation saying the Foreign Office and Buckingham Palace shared the view that it was "not considered appropriate" for the ambassador to attend.
Khiyami later told BBC radio: "I find it a bit embarrassing but I do not consider it as a matter that would jeopardize any ongoing relations and discussions with the British government."
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04/29/2011 00:00 ||
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April 28 (Bloomberg) -- European nations stepped up pressure on Syria, summoning the country's ambassadors and pushing for a United Nations vote to protest the increasingly violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations.
In coordinated moves, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain yesterday called on the Syrian envoys in their capitals to condemn the crackdown that has led to hundreds of deaths. "Bring out the comfy chair!"
In New York, China and Russia yesterday led opposition that blocked an initiative by the U.S. and its European allies for the UN Security Council to condemn the Syrian government's attacks on peaceful protesters.
The situation "does not present a threat to international peace and security," Russian Deputy Ambassador Alexander Pankin said, referring to the standard for Security Council involvement.
European Union members will meet tomorrow at the ambassador level in Brussels to discuss Syria. Germany favors sanctions on Syria's leadership, including travel restrictions and financial freezes, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin yesterday.
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#1
Bound to be just as effective as it was against their Iranian patrons, boys.
#2
I simply do not understand why they don't just do their own sanctions without involving the UN. The EU is a pretty big trade block, or if that won't work, the named countries are anyway the majority of the EU -- a pretty big chunk of the world economy all on their own.
Unless they really don't want to do anything except posture...
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.
Karzai
[Arab News] Sudan President Omar Hassan Bashir said on Wednesday the disputed oil-producing Abyei region will remain part of the north after the south secedes in July.
International Criminal Court
North Korea
Jimmy Carter
[Arab News] An Islamic group has sued a suburban town it says engaged in religious discrimination by abruptly changing zoning regulations to prevent the opening of a mosque.
Wazoo
Punjab
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- European nations stepped up pressure on Syria, summoning the country's ambassadors and pushing for a United Nations vote to protest the increasingly violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations.
