[Al Jazeera] The Taliban has announced the launch of a spring offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan as well as Afghan cops and government officials.
I believe our guys call that "targets". No doubt at least some of the Afghan cops and troops do, too. Happy hunting, guys!
Saturday's declaration comes a day after high-ranking US military officers predicted such a move from the group.
We're inside that decision loop, too? Wow.
Dubbed the "Badar" offensive,
If it's named after the Battle of Badr, which took place in the second year of the Muslim calendar, that would suggest the Taliban are taking this seriously, indeed.
the fresh onslaught "will target foreign forces, high-ranking officials of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's ... 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... government, members of the cabinet and politicians, as well as the heads of foreign and local companies working for the NATO-led coalition," the Taliban said in a statement.
The statement warned Afghan citizens to stay away from public locations that could be targeted as part of Badar, "so that they will not become harmed during attacks of Mujahideen against the enemy".
"Operations will focus on attacks against military centres, places of gatherings, airbases, ammunition and logistical military convoys of the foreign invaders in all parts of the country," the statement said.
Senior US officers and western diplomats said they recently obtained credible intelligence showing that the Taliban - with the support of the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network - plans to conduct a series of high-profile attacks such as suicide kabooms, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency reported.
A Pentagon report, released on Friday, painted a more positive picture of the situation on the ground saying that the US-led coalition has made "tangible progress".
Last week eight US soldiers and a contractorwere killed after an Afghan army officer opened fired at the air force headquarters in Kabul airport.
The Taliban grabbed credit for the attack, though authorities could not confirm its involvement.
A front man for the group told Al Jizz that one of its members had been serving in the army for a long time with the aim of killing foreign forces and finally got the chance.
However, The didactic However... NATO said Taliban's announcement of their spring military offensive is a sign of the bully boys' desperation over recent setbacks.
A NATO official in Brussels also said Taliban will try to gain a propaganda victory through coordinated attacks and that the US-led international forces already has tightened security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... could be executed if convicted of involvement in the deaths anti-regime protesters, the justice minister was quoted on Saturday as saying.
Mubarak, who was toppled in February after mass protests, is under detention on suspicion of involvement in the deaths of more than 800 people.
"Absolutely, the crime of killing protesters could lead to a death sentence if there is convincing evidence," Abdel Aziz al-Gindi told Al-Ahram newspaper in response to a question on whether Mubarak might be executed.
The 82-year-old former strongman is in police custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during questioning.
Earlier this month, the head of Cairo's appeals court, Zakaria Shalash, said Mubarak may face execution after a trial he expected to last at least a year.
Shalash said testimony by Mubarak's former interior minister Habib al-Adly, himself is on trial for ordering the shootings of anti-regime protesters, would make Mubarak an accomplice if proven.
Adly said he was ordered to use violence against protesters by the former leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Interesting read on how petrol shortages are affecting Tripoli. Illustrating how time is not on Daffy's side. Sooner rather than later he will run out of the resources needed - money, trained men, petrol, even food - to keep people 'loyal' to him.
#2
The BBC? What can you expect from people who use buttons instead of zippers on the fly-crotch of their pants ?
Bad haircuts and bad teeth and heavily boiled meat. And I think they invented pointy toed shoes too, but maybe that was the French. And where IS Jack the Ripper when you really need him?
But the Royal Wedding was wonderful, nobody can do that sort of thing like the English. Remind me again, what is it that the "Royals" actually DO? I especially enjoyed a crisp day in Hyde Park beside the Serpentine eating a Tongue and mustard on Rye sandwich and an Orange crush to drink from a kiosk and then sitting in the weak sun smelling the exhaust fumes while waiting for a double decker bus to take me back to Sloane Square down from Knightsbridge. And the hairy chickens on sale in the Camden Town butcher shops. And the prostitutes who put their skirt ends in you trouser pockets when they stand up against the wall with one leg raised in the pungent fog around the corner from Chester Row.
Rule Britannia.
Posted by: de Medici3489 ||
05/01/2011 8:34 Comments ||
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#7
Whatever his nym is, I rather like his stuff. I collect it, it makes me laugh. The trolls these days just aren't up to par with the trolls of the past.
Pity, the quality of everything seems to be in decline. I wonder if this is what the decline of Rome was like. Is everyone ready for the coming fight. I hope so.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
05/01/2011 16:14 Comments ||
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#8
Whatever his nym is, I rather like his stuff. I collect it, it makes me laugh.
[Al Jazeera] Libyan opposition forces are set to announce their first minister of defence this week, in an apparent sign of growing organisation and increased civilian control over fighters battling their country's longtime leader, Muammar Qadaffy.
The Transitional National Council (TNC), based in Benghazi, could appoint the new defence minister as early as on Saturday, Abdelhafiz Ghoga, the council's front man, has told Al Jizz.
The new appointee will be a civilian, not a member of the military, though he will probably have previous military experience, Ghoga said during an interview on Wednesday.
It is possible that he will have held a position in Qadaffy's government, he said.
The candidate for the position will be presented to the TNC by the cabinet, or "crisis team", led by Mahmoud Jibril. The full 31-member council will then vote on approval.
The new defence minister will replace Omar al-Hariri, a former political prisoner who has served as the TNC's minister of military affairs. Ghoga said the TNC is not yet aware of who the nominee might be.
"So the minister of defence will be in charge of all communications, all liaisons between the revolutionaries and the generals, NATO and the council," Ghoga said. "Any military aspect, he'll be in charge of it."
Until now, Hariri, who helped Qadaffy lead his 1969 coup but later led a plot to overthrow him, has presented near-daily military briefings to the TNC, Ghoga said.
The briefings include descriptions of casualty numbers, ammunition and other supply needs, and movements along the front lines, including Ajdabiya, Misrata and the western mountains, he said.
The new defence minister will take over those briefings.
For months, the rebel chain of command has remained murky, as figures allied with Hariri and other prominent military figures have vied for prominence.
At various times, it has appeared that Hariri, defected interior minister Abdelfattah Younes, and exiled military commander Khalifa Heftir were each in command of the opposition's military affairs.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund says it will contest half of the seats in the country's parliamentary elections in September, revealing plans to become a major force in the country's post-revolution politics.
The group named the leaders of its new Freedom and Justice party at a news conference on Saturday. It had previously promised it would not compete for more than 30 per cent of seats.
"This is not a religious party, not a theocratic party," Mahmoud Mosri, the party's newly named leader, said.
Part the first: Yes, it is.
Part the second: Not yet, anyway. Best to wait until food prices come down before going for full-bore theocracy.
He described the platform of the Freedom and Justice party as civil but with an Islamic background that adheres to the constitution.
And will adhere even more closely to the constitution once the appropriate changes are made. These are the "soft jihad of the law" guys.
Brotherhood leaders said that the political party will be separate and independent from the religious group.
The party's caucus will be open to Mohammedans, Christians and women, according to a Brotherhood politician, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni.
Brotherhood members, however, are barred from joining any other party.
The Moslem Brüderbund is seen as the country's most organised political force after Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was deposed as president in February.
The elections will be the first since the popular uprising.
The Moslem Brüderbund remains Egypt's best organised opposition group despite a campaign by Mubarak's government to suppress it.
It successfully fielded candidates in previous parliamentary elections as independents.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The typical Egyptian on the street sees MB as "poor Bedouin trash", mostly rural peasants that aren't even Egyptian, but some other type of 'Arab', used in the derisive sense by Arabs, referring to other, foreign Arabs.
#2
But there seem to be an awful lot of that Muslim Brotherhood trash, and they've been organized for almost a century, Anonymoose. Those typical Egyptians need to understand that "natural superiority" does not guarantee them anything in the coming situation.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge the Prince and Kate Middleton's new titles revealed they would not be immediately travelling overseas for the traditional post-wedding break, choosing instead to spend time at an undisclosed location in the UK before the Prince returns to work next week.
The sudden change, announced on Saturday, came despite aides having said consistently that the honeymoon would immediately follow the wedding, and Miss Middleton shopping for sundresses and bikinis last week.
There was speculation it may have been prompted by security concerns.
The couple were originally believed to have booked a honeymoon in Jordan, where the Duchess lived for two years as a child.
The trip was thought to have included visits to the Wadi-Rum desert and the ancient city of Petra.
#2
Jordan never occurred to me as a romantic honeymoon spot (unless the Prnce has similar politico-religious leanings as his father.) I would think of Bermuda or Barbados maybe.
#3
I heard the honeymoon was planned for the Caribbean, where the Prince had served in the Royal Navy on drug interdiction and where Mum Di had taken them as children...could be a "working vacation"????
[Iran Press TV] As oil companies rake in record profits in the first-quart earnings, the price of gas at the pump has risen to more than USD 4 per gallon in the United States.
In some states, the price of gasoline has risen to more than USD 4.50 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association's (AAA) Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
With the price of gas continuing to rise across the country, the Big Five oil companies -- ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips -- have announced record earnings totaling USD 34 billion within the first quarter of 2011, The Huffington Post reported.
This is a 42 percent increase in combined profits from last year. Exxon alone reportedly has gained USD 10.7 billion in profits this year, which is up 69 percent from 2010.
The price per barrel of oil is at a record high of USD 113, while producing it costs companies approximately USD 30. This, itself, has added to the companies' record profits.
Additionally, taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas companies are at around USD 4 billion a year.
Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs admitted that speculation on oil and gas stocks has contributed to the rise in the price of oil.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), however, claims that the companies' profits reflect their contributions to the US economy. "The US oil and natural gas industry's strong earnings signal growing strength in our economy," API President and CEO Jack Gerard stated earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
1.Blame The illegal alien president OBAMA
2.OHH cant tax big oil SIGH!!!!!!!!!
3.Cant Drill enough to fix squat.
ANYONE?
ITS BEEN PRETTY QUIT AROUND HERE
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/01/2011 9:52 Comments ||
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#4
1. Isn't it interesting that Obama Sr. overstayed his student visa (*that's illegal alien to you) and had a deportation order against him.
2. Oil and it's products is the most heavily taxed commodity after tobacco.
3. Can't drill in the Gulf of Mexico (250,000 bbl/day missing, going on 500,000). Can't drill in Alaska (27 billion barrels potential, Alaskan oil pipeline may have to shut down due to lack of flow). Can't drill off California even though oil is seeping from the seabed. Can drill off Florida. Can't drill off the Eastern Seaboard. Can't drill on federal lands (most of the Western US).
4. play4keeps: A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
[Iran Press TV] The French government has harshly cracked down on North African immigrants holding temporary visas issued by Italia in a move seen as clear violation of EU laws.
The times, they are a-changing.
Amid an exceptional exodus of Tunisian, Libyan and Egyptian refugees from Italia, the French police jugged and deported a number of North African colonists after launching a crackdown on hundreds of immigrants sleeping in a Gay Paree park, a Press TV correspondent reported Friday.
The majority of immigrants were in possession of temporary visas that enabled them to cross into La Belle France, but the authorities in Gay Paree refused the documents, insisting that those without the legally-required 31 euros per day will be jugged and deported.
"When we come to immigrants yes they are literally... living in poor situation. They need everything, they are marooning in towns with expectations and hopes that are... absolutely and totally bloated and now they are waking up to the fact that La Belle France is not the El Dorado and Italia is not the El Dorado," Maurizio Busatti from the International Organization for Migration told Press TV.
The French government's move has prompted a sharp rebuke from human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups and several French politicians, who have drawn attention to the borderless regime enjoyed by more than 400 million people in 25 countries in the European Union.
Reports say more than 25,000 people have arrived in Italia, mainly via the southern island of Lampedusa over the last three months. Most are young men from Tunisia looking for work; though in recent weeks refugees from troubled Libya have been pouring in alike.
On April 17, La Belle France halted a train carrying Tunisian immigrants from Italia at the French border, sending back those who could not support themselves financially.
Last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi mounted pressure on Brussels and the governments of the other 25 EU states, demanding an "in-depth revision" of European law regulating the passport-free travel that takes in almost the entire EU with the exception of Perfidious Albion and Ireland.
The initiative has come to the fore as the Sarkozy's UMP party is in dire need of the right-wing support ahead of presidential election next year and many analysts argue that such clamor has led to recent tough stance on migrants and attacks on Mohammedans.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Bet you anything that if Italy starts deporting them back to Tunisia, France would be the first to raise its voice in criticism.
#2
I think its just terrible that France cant be more "understanding" toward Moslems and their "needs". And I say, Shame on Italy for not opening its borders wide for all the garlic of Islam and their children and their goats( did I mention the goats?)
What France really really needs are more burquas and burning cars and refusing to assimilate and throwing stones at the gendarmes and burned out grafiiti neighborhoods with Allahu Akbar whispering in the dark alleys along the Seine.
As for Southern Italy it is known all over the world for its affluence and tolerance and a Sicilian here and there. Such an honest people, just look into their eyes and see yourself naked in a closet in the train station with your wallet gone. No? We were talking about southern Italy werent we?
Moslem values would improve the EUroweenies immensely. Not to mention the goats.
Posted by: de Medici3489 ||
05/01/2011 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
'Tis better to be quiet and thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.
Based on your latest ignorant rant, de Medici3489, there's no doubt.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/01/2011 9:56 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Belgium's lower house of parliament has approved a bill that would ban all clothing that covers or partially covers the face and that would prohibit Mohammedan women from wearing the burqa and the niqab in public.
All the cool countries are doing it nowadays.
On Thursday, the bill was passed by a vote of 136-1 and two abstentions, AP reported.
If approved by the Senate, Belgium would become the second European country after La Belle France to put such a law into practice.
The law would target all women who use the face veil, known as the niqab, and the body-length burqa.
Violators of the law would be punished with fines of 15 to 25 euros (about $20 to $33) or imprisonment for up to seven days.
The Chamber of Deputies -- Belgium's lower house of parliament -- first approved the proposal almost one year ago, but that version of the bill was nixed when the parliament was dissolved due to a government crisis fueled by a row between the country's French and Dutch-speaking politicians.
La Belle France has also banned facial covers, declaring that any woman -- French or foreigner -- who wears a niqab or burqa in public will be fined 150 euros. People who force women to wear such covers will face a much larger fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION RENSE > EU MERGES ENGLAND, FRANCE WID ITS OWN FLAG | [DailyMail.UK] THE EU IS TRYING TO WIPE US OFF THE MAP, ENGLAND + FRANCE [combined]IN NEW "ARC MANCHE" REGION ... ... WID ITS OWN FLAG.
Southern England + Northern France.
and
* WAFF > RUSSIA URGES [warns] TURKEY TO PRESERVE [respect] MONTREUX TREATY, as per the proposed "CANAL INSTANBUL" PROJECT.
Not just Moscow.
IIUC, Russia is warning Turkey that THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE MONTREUX TREATY THAN JUST ITS SEEMINGLY PRO-TURKEY CLAUSES.
* SAME > [Greek Commentary]"PHAROANIC PROJECT OF ERDOGAN" FRIGHTENING.
ARTIC = Turkey's proposed "CANAL INSTANBUL" PROJECT could lead to a super-buildup =
overcongestion of merchant shipping in the AEGEAN [SEZ-EEZ = FreePort?], which in turn may lead to POTENTIAL INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR GREECE TO SCALE BACK ITS SOVEREIGN TERRITORIAL BORDERS IN FAVOR OF TURKEY + TRADE-LED NEW AEGEAN ORDER???
[An Nahar] One of three alleged members of al-Qaeda jugged in Germany was ordered by a high-ranking member of the group last year to carry out an attack in the country, prosecutors said Saturday.
The 29-year-old suspect, identified as Abdelakim El-K, "was ordered by a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda in 2010 to carry out an attack in Germany," the deputy federal prosecutor general, Rainer Griesbaum, said at a presser.
German police had on Friday jugged the three alleged al-Qaeda operatives.
Griesbaum said the suspects had begun preparing explosives for the attack but that a target had not been selected.
The head of the German federal police, Joerg Zierck, said Abdelakim El-K had been living illegally in Germany since November 2010 and had connections in Austria, Morocco, Kosovo and Iran.
The daily Bild earlier reported that the three were from the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and were caught with "large amounts of explosives".
Citing security sources, the newspaper said they were suspected of plotting attacks in Germany. They came to the attention of the Federal Crime Office during surveillance of mobile phone and computer communications.
Other media reports said Abdelakim El-K, the group's apparent leader, was trained in an Islamist camp in Wazoo, the border region between Pakistain and Afghanistan.
Reports said the men had been under surveillance since late 2010, had attracted attention when they attempted to buy large amounts of key chemicals at pharmacies and had been planning to strike at public transport in a big city.
And all the while they fondly thought themselves invisible, like toddlers who cover their eyes so that Mama can't see them.
German authorities hiked security measures in November after U.S. authorities warned of an al-Qaeda plot to carry out "Mumbai-style" attacks in Perfidious Albion, La Belle France and Germany.
U.S. authorities handed over to Germany last week the source of the tip, alleged Islamic hard boy Ahmed Wali Siddiqui, who had been held for nine months in Afghanistan.
Germany, which opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq but has nearly 5,000 troops in Afghanistan under NATO command, has never experienced an attack by Mohammedangunnies on its own soil.
But authorities say the Islamist scene is large and dangerous.
And clearly closely watched.
The closest it has come to an attack was in July 2006 when Islamic gunnies placed suitcases with homemade bombs on two regional trains at Cologne's main station. They failed to detonate, averting an almost certain bloodbath.
And in 2007, three men including two German converts to Islam were caught plotting attacks on U.S. interests in western Germany in what authorities said was a bid to mount a "second September 11."
They were sentenced last year to lengthy prison terms.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
From the New York Times
"The target was uncertain. Bild, Germanys most widely read and generally reliable newspaper, reported that the terrorist cell might have planned to hit the popular Eurovision Song Contest on May 14, though that events organizers said they had not been alerted to any such threat."
OMG. And the New York Times wants people to pay for this crap of info?
(For those who don't know: BILD is the German equivalent of the British "Sun" or "Daily Mirror", and anyone who calls this tabloid "reliable" should have his brain checked)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
05/01/2011 21:51 Comments ||
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Al-Hayat Daily reported that the Hamas movement has decided to leave Syria, and Qatar agreed to host it after both Egypt and Jordan rejected to do so.
The paper quoted Palestinian sources in Gaza claiming that Jordan and Egypt rejected Hamass request to move to their territory.
After the movement proposed this request to Qatar, the latter agreed to host its political leadership in Doha; however, it rejected hosting its military leadership.
Khalid Mashaal, head of the groups politburo, will move to Qatar while his deputy, Musa Abu Marzouk, will go to Egypt, according to the report.
This development comes two days after Egypt sponsored the Palestinian reconciliation deal. Egypt will invite leaders of all Palestinian factions to attend the signing ceremony of the formal reconciliation agreement next Wednesday.
In this regard, preparations for the celebration will be held at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo. The ceremony will last for three days.
Israel has suspended tax transfers to the Palestinians, its finance minister said on Sunday, fearing the money will be used to fund Hamas after President Mahmoud Abbas struck a unity deal with the Islamists.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by U.S.-backed Abbas, asked foreign powers to stop Israel from blocking the transfers, which make up 70 percent of its revenues. A senior Palestinian official said Israel, by its action, had "started a war."
Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he had suspended a routine handover of 300 million shekels ($88 million) in customs and other levies that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians under interim peace deals.
In an interview on Army Radio, Steinitz said Israel feared the money would go to fund Hamas, an Islamist militant group that runs the Gaza Strip and whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel had threatened sanctions last week in response to Abbas's surprise announcement of a unity deal with Hamas that envisages the formation of an interim government and elections later this year.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA was "in contact with all international influential forces and parties to stop Israel from taking these measures," the official WAFA news agency reported.
#2
Actions have consequences.
I'm proud Israel has the cajones to stand up for themselves.
What did the Palis think would happen if they allied themselves with Hamas?
That Israel would continue blissfully funding it's sworn enemy?
#4
No more Palestinian Authority, no more Oslo Accords. No more Oslo Accords, no more providing electricity and water by Israel. Enjoy your saline wells, suckers, and don't mine sand from the berms of your sewage holding ponds. Have a nice life.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/01/2011 21:02 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement in power in the Gazoo Strip, said on Saturday he was "ready to resign."
"I am prepared to tender my resignation as part of the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah," the secular party of Paleostinian Authority (PA) president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas. ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... "This agreement is very important and should boost efforts to end the divisions and encourage unity among Paleostinians," he added.
Not to worry. At the last moment it will become clear that Prime Minister Haniya absolutely must stay on for the sake of the the nation or the children or something.
On Wednesday, the rival Paleostinian groups reached an "understanding" in Cairo to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections.
Egypt, which shares a border with Gazoo, has tried to bring the two sides together since Hamas defeated Fatah loyalists in week-long street battles four years ago, reducing their power base to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Iranian Navy's 13th fleet of warships, comprised of Tonb and Delvar vessels have returned from a 44-day mission in the Gulf of Aden.
The Iranian Navy's Southern Fleet Rear Admiral Ebrahim Ashkan welcomed the fleet's personnel on Saturday, praising them as the pride of the nation and Army.
"The 13th fleet has covered 1,215 nautical miles during this mission, which shows the preparedness and capability of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran's naval forces," Ashkan said.
The fleet was deployed to the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden in 2011 in a bid to guard Iranian merchant containers and oil-tankers.
The Gulf of Aden -- which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea -- is an important energy corridor, particularly because Persian Gulf oil is shipped to the West through the Suez Canal.
The Iranian Navy has so far dispatched a number of military warships to the Gulf of Aden to guard Iranian and foreign vessels sailing in international waters.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
"The 13th fleet has covered 1,215 nautical miles during this mission, which shows the preparedness and capability of the Islamic Theocratic "Republic" of Iran's naval forces," Ashkan said.
Ooh, wow! 1215 nm! Let's see - at a cruise speed of 15 knots, that's a little over three days. At 10 knots, it's 5 days. Let's see them cruise around the world a few times like the US Navy does routinely. Then we'll be impressed.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/01/2011 13:10 Comments ||
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#1
Desperately trying to shift attention from their destructive attack upon Sony's Playstation Network. 77 million PO'd gamers worldwide are not going to be distracted by trying to garner 'plus' points by this PR move. When the authorities put your ass in front of a jury, don't expect any sympathy.
#2
Self-delusion is a big part of Anonymous. Typically they argue that nobody can stop them because there are too many of them. Then, when you point out that the USG doesn't care how many of them there are, that it will go after every one of them; they try the 'quality' argument, that there *might* be some of them in the US intelligence agencies that would "protect" them.
Iran's network is already under a rather effective denial of service attack by its own government. This action will serve exactly the opposite purpose of that which is intended.
[An Nahar] A top Iranian military officer on Saturday denounced what he called an "Arab dictatorial front" and claimed that the "Persian Gulf has belonged to Iran forever", media reports said.
So long as you can keep it, my dears.
"The Arab dictatorial regimes in the Persian Gulf are unable to contain the popular uprisings," General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was widely quoted as saying by Iranian media on Saturday.
"Instead of trying and failing to open an unworkable front against Iran, these dictators should relinquish power, end their savage crimes and let the people determine their own future," Firouzabadi said.
He also denounced "plots" by the Gulf Arab petro-monarchies to "carve out an identity for themselves by rejecting the identity of others," referring to Iran.
"The Persian Gulf has always, is and shall always belong to Iran," the general said.
Firouzabadi, speaking on the annual "National Day of the Persian Gulf", also condemned the regional Arab monarchies for refusing to call the waterway between Iran and its Arab neighbors by its "historical name."
"With the arrival of the British and later the Americans in the region, plots were hatched to try and change the name with fake identities... to distort the history and identity of the Persian Gulf," Firouzabadi said.
Relations between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors have deteriorated sharply, with the latter accusing Tehran of seeking to destabilize Arab regimes in favor of popular unrest that has erupted in many Arab countries.
Iran has strongly criticized Soddy Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain aimed to help crack down on a Shiite-led uprising there.
Iran says it gives "moral support" to Bahrainis but is not involved in the protests there.
Bahrain and Kuwait have in turn expelled Iranian diplomats, accusing them of espionage.
Iran has in the past claimed Bahrain as part of its territory, and it controls three islands in the southern Gulf that are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Banned from Facebook and censored on YouTube, al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists war against America.
Up until now, we havent seen the [extremist] groups themselves active in this space, said William McCants, an analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses and founder of the blog Jihadica.com, which reports on extremist messaging.
Banned from Facebook and censored on YouTube, al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists' war against America.
"Up until now, we haven't seen the [extremist] groups themselves active in this space," said William McCants, an analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses and founder of the blog Jihadica.com, which reports on extremist messaging.
Banned from Facebook and censored on YouTube, al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists war against America.
Up until now, we havent seen the [extremist] groups themselves active in this space, said William McCants, an analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses and founder of the blog Jihadica.com, which reports on extremist messaging.
Banned from Facebook and censored on YouTube, al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists war against America.
Up until now, we havent seen the [extremist] groups themselves active in this space, said William McCants, an analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses and founder of the blog Jihadica.com, which reports on extremist messaging.
Banned from Facebook and censored on YouTube, al Qaeda and Taliban jihadists are turning to Twitter to spread their propaganda in a new social media front in the terrorists war against America.
Up until now, we havent seen the [extremist] groups themselves active in this space, said William McCants, an analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses and founder of the blog Jihadica.com, which reports on extremist messaging.
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.
The Taliban has announced the launch of a spring offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan as well as 
Wazoo
Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Islamist 
