[Tripoli Post] Film actress and United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie on Tuesday started a two-day visit to Libya. Can Justin Bieber be far behind?
In a statement, she said her made her visit in order to see a country in transition and to help agencies bringing aid to Libyans in Tripoli and Misrata.
Jolie said: "I have come to Libya for a variety of reasons, to see a country in transition at every level and to witness efforts to fully realise the promise of the Arab Spring."
The actress, who was visiting the country for the first time, went on to say: "The country faces a host of challenges, including internally displaced people, refugees, rule of law, security, sanitation, education, health and other humanitarian needs.
"All of these pieces must be delivered and coordinated properly in an environment of reconciliation and justice."
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10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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She might bring a good price if snatched for the slave trade...
h/t Instapundit
This past Sunday night, the Egyptian revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak took another wrong turn when the same army once believed to be hand in hand with the people killed 27 Coptic Christians in Cairo and wounded hundreds of others. The Copts were marching toward Egyptian state television in the Maspero area to demand that the ruling authorities fulfill their obligations to the Christian minority. After the marchers were stoned by Muslim bystanders during their march, state security and the military attempted to put down the demonstration. When the authorities started to beat the protesters, the Copts fought back. The police opened fire, killing several Copts as others were crushed when soldiers turned their military vehicles into the crowds, leaving a trail of unspeakable gore in their wake.
...Sunday nights bloodshed is further evidence that, even if the army was the agent of violence, anti-Copt sentiment is widespread. The Sunday march was preceded by a smaller demonstration last week when Copts protested an attack on a church in Edfu, almost 500 miles south of the Egyptian capital, and demanded that the Muslim gangs responsible for the destruction of the church be brought to justice. The army and security forces beat Copt protesters when they marched last week, too, as this video shows. Perhaps whats most noteworthy in this clip is that after the first few blows the officer in charge, in a red beret, seems to be trying to stop his troops from striking further. At one point the officer even hits one of the soldiers. This suggests that while Egypts ruling body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, is intent on keeping the streets quiet and free of Copt activists, it is unlikely they ordered the army to kill civilians. Rather, it seems that individual soldiers acted on their own.
Theres this idea that Egypts army is a professional force, says Samuel Tadros, a research fellow at the Hudson Institutes Center for Religious Freedom, and a senior partner at the Cairo-based Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth. This is a mistake.
[Tripoli Post] Normality is expected to return to the Tripoli International Airport within a month and with the reopening of the airport, several international carriers will resume flights to Libya, interim transport and communications' minister Anwar Alfituri has said.
As part of its efforts to consolidate control over strategic infrastructure, on Monday Libya's interim government took over Tripoli International Airport from a group of regional fighters. Alitalia, who has flown to Libya by using the military airport at Maitiga, on the outskirt of Tripoli, is scheduled to be the first national carrier to fly to the international airport on November 2.
Alfituri said that the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) has also received requests to restart flights from Air La Belle France, Egypt Air, Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines, Tunis Air and Austrian Airlines.
Announcing that international flights to and out of Libya from the Tripoli International Airport will start within a month, Alfituri said he expects all of the airlines who have sounded their intention to start using the facilities at the TIA next month.
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[An Nahar] La Belle France said Wednesday it was tightening immigration rules to require would-be citizens to provide written proof that they speak enough French to manage their daily lives.
Announced in the government's official gazette, the new rules require candidates for citizenship to "prove knowledge of the French language consistent with understanding the essential points needed to manage daily life."
Candidates previously had their language skills tested in interviews with government officials, but will now be required to provide evidence of French-language skills "by producing a diploma or certificate delivered by a state-recognized organism."
The new rules take effect in January.
Quoting an interior ministry estimate, business newspaper Les Echos reported Wednesday that about one million foreigners living in La Belle France did not speak French.
It said the French government was growing increasingly concerned over the issue and was spending 60 million Euros ($83 million) to promote French-language skills and integration among immigrants.
La Belle France grants citizenship to about 100,000 candidates every year, according to official figures.
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[Dawn] Amnesia Amnesty International called on Canadian authorities on Wednesday to arrest and prosecute George W. Bush, saying the former US president authorized "torture" as he directed the US-led war on terror.
Bush is expected to attend an economic summit in Surrey in Canada's westernmost British Columbia province on October 20.
London-based Amnesty made a case for Bush's legal responsibility for a series of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations in a memorandum submitted last month to Canadian authorities but only now released to the media.
"Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former president Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture," Amnesty's Susan Lee said in a statement.
If Amnesia International knew anything about international law, they'd know that:
1) Bush didn't torture anyone
2) Bush and the DoD punished those who did
3) The war in Iraq was fought in accordance with international law
4) And was fought with more concern over the rights of civilians and the innocent than any other war in history
"As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former president Bush to justice, the international community must step in. A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights." Lee said.
Amnesty, backed by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, says Bush authorized the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "waterboarding" on detainees held in secret by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 2002 and 2009.
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10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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What about Obambi? He is using the same methods.
The Pentagon is engaged in a behind-the-scenes political fight over efforts to soften, or entirely block, a new military-approved program to bolster U.S. forces in Asia.
The program is called the Air Sea Battle concept and was developed in response to more than 100 war games since the 1990s that showed U.S. forces, mainly air and naval power, are not aligned to win a future war with China.
A senior defense official said Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is reviewing the new strategy.
We want to do this right, the official said. The concept is on track and is being refined to ensure that we are able to implement it wherever we need to - including in the Asia-Pacific region, where American force projection is essential to our alliances and interests.
The official noted that the program is the product of unprecedented collaboration by the services.
Officials familiar with the classified details said it is designed to directly address the growing threat to the United States and allies in Asia posed by what the Pentagon calls Chinas anti-access and area denial weapons - high-technology arms that China has been building in secret for the past several decades.
The Chinese weapons of concern are called assassins mace systems, which Beijing strategists calculate will allow its weaker forces to prevail over the U.S. military. They include anti-satellite weapons, cyberwarfare forces, ballistic and cruise missiles, submarines, sea mines, advanced fighters and unmanned aircraft. Nuclear arms and exotic electromagnetic pulse weapons also are included.
The U.S. response in the Air Sea Battle concept is said to be a comprehensive program to protect the global commons used by the United States and allies in Asia from Chinese military encroachment in places such as the South China Sea, western Pacific and areas of Northeast Asia.
The highly classified program, if approved in its current form, will call for new weapons and bases, along with non-military means. Plans for new weapons include a long-range bomber.
Other systems and elements of the program are not known.
Speculation has focused on a suite of exotic weapons and capabilities that will allow U.S. and allied forces to strike Chinese targets, especially mobile missile launchers and bases that Beijing plans to use for attacks on U.S. ships and aircraft carriers, regional military bases and satellites.
U.S. strike systems also will target infrastructure and key electrical nodes in China that are used by its cyberwarfare forces.
Air Force Magazine reported in its current edition that the new concept was ready for final approval in February, but was held up during the summer by officials in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, now headed by Michele Flournoy.
In August, the Air Force announced that the concept was approved in June by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps service chiefs, and the Air Force and Navy secretaries. The final directive was to have been signed by departing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates before he left office in late July.
However, defense officials said Chinas government was alerted to some aspects of the concept earlier this year when the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank presented its own concept for a new warfighting strategy against China.
As a result of the disclosure, China launched a major propaganda and influence campaign to derail it. The concept was raised in several meetings between Chinese and U.S. officials, with the Chinese asserting that the concept is a sign the Pentagon does not favor military relations and views China as an enemy.
Officials in the Obama administration who fear upsetting China also are thought to have intervened, and their opposition led Mr. Panetta to hold up final approval.
The final directive in its current form would order the Air Force and the Navy to develop and implement specific programs as part of the concept. It also would include proposals for defense contractors to support the concept.
#2
Compare and contrast to AirLand Battle doctrine developed under Reagan -- arguably, it allowed us to win the Cold War with minimal deaths by putting enough doubts into the minds of Soviet military leaders as to the probability of conventional forces victory in a Warsaw pact invasion of western Europe.
The Pacific requires naval power, lots of intelligence and counter-recon technology, as well as some remnants of the AirLand doctrine in that you go after logistics critical points, and destroy C3I systems to prevent the enemy from effective use of whatever forces they have.
Blocking this sort of doctrinal development decreases deterrence - and to do so in fear of "upsetting" the Chinese, well that practically invites aggression from them, especially in areas like the Spratleys, and the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan, as well as various trade routes that run the area between Japan (and the US West Coast) and the middle east & east Africa.
Where is Cap Weinberg when you need him? Or for that matter, since these are Dems, where are the "Scoop Jackson" and "Sam Nunn" parts of the Dem party anymore?
Screw the Chinese and their getting upset. The Soviets got upset too, and as long as we had the courage to stay the course, it didn't matter.
Tp put China's concerns above our defense is treasonous. We should be defenestrating some of these people, not giving them veto control over our defense policy.
The U.S. Navy traces its roots back to the privateers that were employed to attack British commerce in the early days of the revolution. On October 13, 1775 the Continental Congress, established a small naval force, hoping that a small navy would be able to offset the uncontested exercise of British sea power.
The early Continental navy was not expected to take on the British navy for control of the seas. This small naval force was designed to work with privateers to wage tactical raids against the transports that supplied British forces in North America. To accomplish this mission the Continental Congress purchased, converted, and constructed a fleet of small ships--frigates, brigs, sloops, and schooners. These navy ships sailed independently or in pairs hunting British commerce ships and transports like prey, avoiding whenever possible fights with Royal Navy men-of-war.
The Continental navy faced several obstacles both during and after the revolution mostly political and economic. Two years after the end of the war, the money-poor Congress sold off the last ship of the Continental navy, the frigate Alliance.
In the 1790s Europe began to relax many mercantile commercial restrictions and the U.S. trade and the shipping industry expanded accordingly. However, as the number of U.S. ships increased so did the possibility increased attacks by the European powers and pirates. In March 1794 Congress responded by calling for the construction of a half-dozen frigates. And, once again, the United States had a navy.
Although the Continental navy was later dismantled, October 13, 1775 remains the U.S. Navys official birthday.
[Dawn] Evidence that Iran was behind a plot to kill the Soddy Arabian ambassador to Washington is "overwhelming", a former chief of Saudi intelligence services said on Wednesday.
"The burden of proof and the amount of evidence in the case is overwhelming and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for it," Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal told an industry conference in London.
"This is unacceptable. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price, and that price will have to be on the terms acceptable to the norms and practices in Iran and other countries," Prince Turki said.
US authorities said on Tuesday they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was tossed in the slammer last month while the other was believed to be in Iran.
Iran has denied the charges and expressed outrage at the accusations.
Prince Turki called for the Iranian authorities to help bring those responsible for the liquidation plot to justice.
"Whoever is responsible for this (in) the Iranian government will hopefully be brought to justice by the Iranian authorities, no matter how high the level of that person is."
"Clearly this is an act -- how should I put it? -- so criminal in its intent, to devise a plot to assassinate a representative of one country in another country and to use drug barons and other such characters in order to achieve that. It is beyond description."
The motive for the alleged plot was not clear. Iran has in the past assassinated its own dissidents abroad, but an attempt to kill an ambassador would be a highly unusual departure.
Iran and Soddy Arabia are bitter regional rivals, but they maintain diplomatic ties and even signed a security agreement in 2001. Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad visited Riyadh in 2007.
Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker, said the "fabricated allegations" aimed to divert attention from Arab uprisings Iran says were inspired by its own Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.
"America wants to divert attention from problems it faces in the Middle East, but the Americans cannot stop the wave of Islamic awakening by using such excuses," Larijani said.
US President Barack B.O. Obama called the alleged conspiracy a "flagrant violation of US and international law".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price, and that price will have to be on the terms acceptable to the norms and practices in Iran and other countries"
Public execution or at least maiming. Turki ups the stakes for ShortRound's vehement rhetoric and irresponsible actions.
#2
Whenever the Iranians have tried to cause big disruptions in Mecca, it has ended up with a lot of Iranians being beheaded by the Saudi executioner. But this was always an internal thing in Saudi.
The last two external things were first when Yemeni radicals started doing incursions into Saudi. While there was a military response, the Saudis took a cue from Israel and built a wall between the two countries. With little or no controversy, I might add.
Second was the Saudi reinforcement of Bahrain, going in and butchering a bunch of Iranian backed Shiite agitators. The Iranians hadn't counted on that, and probably had a whole bunch of escalating schemes planned to eventually overthrow the Bahrain government and annex the country.
So this being said, and given the Saudis previous support for indirect, but aggressive world-wide actions, I wonder if they will start a major program of attacks against Iran. This would be highly amusing.
As it is, the Saudi are quietly developing their own nuclear weapons program, but being isolated in a few big cities, they are particularly vulnerable to nuclear attack. Of which they are probably acutely aware.
[Emirates 24/7] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... voiced "grave concern" Wednesday after the United States said it had foiled an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador, warning it could have serious implications.
"Should the facts be confirmed, this would constitute a major breach of international law with serious international implications," Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton, told a news briefing.
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#1
Given that Econ Perts have claimed that the US-World may yet be able to just barely avoid "Recession II" or Depression by EOY December 2011, I don't believe any US-Iran mil confrontation or conflict will occur until sometime next summer at the earliest.
Iff these Perts are correct + recession/
depression is avoided, war may not occur at all unless someone does something really stupid.
* FYI CHINA DAILY FORUM > {Barbara Diamond] US PROTESTS TO BECOME MORE FRIGHTENING IN YEARS AHEAD.
And US troubles wid Iran andor Radical Islam doesn't even have to be any or a major catalysts for fear.
Lest we fergit, YEAR 2010/Present - 2020 [2025] = THE MOST DANGEROUD PERIOD OR PHASES OF THE WOT LIES AHEAD OF US, NOT BEHIND US.
SUB-FYI VARIOUS NETTERS/BLOGGERS = opine that the US COULD ECON, HENCE POLITICALLY? + MILITARILY?, COLLAPSE COME YEAR 2024 OR SHORTLY AFTER???
[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia strongly condemned on Wednesday the "sinful and abhorrent" attempt to assassinate its ambassador to Washington, a day after the United States claimed Iran was behind the plot, SPA state news agency reported, quoting an unnamed official.
"The Kingdom strongly condemns the sinful and abhorrent attempt to assassinate the (Saudi) envoy... to the United States," SPA said, quoting the official.
"The government of the kingdom appreciates the efforts exerted by the American authorities, which were followed by the kingdom, in uncovering the plot," the official added.
Falling short of following Washington in naming Iran as the culprit, Soddy Arabia "will continue to coordinate with the US authorities over this mean conspiracy and those behind it," the official said.
The kingdom is also "looking into measures and decisive steps that it will take in this regard to stop these criminal acts, and to firmly address all attempts to shake the stability of the kingdom and endanger its security and sow sedition between its people," he added.
"The kingdom calls on the Arab and Islamic nations and the international community to assume their responsibilities in face of these terrorist acts and the attempts to threaten state stability, and world security and peace," he said.
The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday charged two men with conspiring with Iranian officials to assassinate Saudi ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir.
Iran, which faces four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions over its nuclear program, called the U.S. allegations part of an "evil plot" against it, and wrote to the U.N. Security Council, accusing Washington of "warmongering."
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[Dawn] The governor of Pakistain's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province on Wednesday vowed to crush Talibs in the region after surviving an liquidation attempt.
A barrage of rockets were aimed at Masood Kausar as he was scheduled to address a gathering of tribal elders in Orakzai tribal district on Tuesday.
Six people were maimed in the attack, one of them critically.
"We will chase them (Talibs) till their complete elimination" Kausar said in a statement. "Terrorists have no faith, no religion. They are enemies of Islam, Pakistain and development of tribal areas."
"They have their own agenda, the agenda of destruction and devastation", Kausar added, urging unity among rustics against the Taliban.
A senior government official told AFP on Wednesday that a total of six rocket were fired within short intervals immediately after the governor arrived at the venue of the rally.
The first rocket hit the gathering of 200 tribal elders, the second landed near a helipad while four others dropped in surrounding fields close to the site of the rally.
Kausar said he would never be terrified by "such cowardly acts", stressing his government's "firm resolve to eliminate militancy, terrorism and extremism".
Orakzai, one of the seven districts of Pakistain's federally administered semi-autonomous tribal areas, is a former bastion of Pak Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.
Kausar said his government controlled most areas of Orakzai and expressed hope that remaining Taliban-infested pockets would be cleared soon.
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[Dawn] Pakistain Mohammedan league-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Wednesday blamed former President Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... for the entire current predicament faced by the country, DawnNews reported.
The PML-N was observing a Black Day against toppling of a democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif by General (R) Pervez Musharraf.
On Oct 12, 1999, Musharraf overthrew the Nawaz Sharif government in a military coup and imposed emergency in the country.
Speaking at a protest rally outside the Parliament House, Mr Sharif also criticised the government and blamed President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... for the corruption in government institutions.
"Steel Mills, PIA and Pakistain Railways have all been destroyed due to corruption and negligence of the government," said the party chief. "Government is involved in corruption of billions of rupees," he added.
Mr Sharif said law and order situation of Bloody Karachi would deteriorate furthermore if the Supreme Court's judgment was not implemented in its true spirit.
The PML-N chief appealed people to help him tackle the problems for a brighter future of the country.
Earlier, in a statement issued on the eve of the Black Day, the PML-N leader flayed Pervez Musharraf for his illegal and unconstitutional act which he said had put the rapidly growing country on the path to destruction and damaged the whole democratic system.
He urged the government to bring Musharraf back to the country and try him for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.
Mr Sharif said the party would never forget sacrifices of party leaders and workers who had resisted Musharraf's dictatorship and faced torture, persecution and jail during his tenure for condemning his acts.
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[Dawn] Police caught up with the four Talibs about 15 minutes after they robbed the bank, shooting them dead on a bridge as they attempted to drive their loot to the safety of the border regions with Afghanistan.
The rare triumph against the insurgency in this dangerous part of Pakistain was short-lived--10 days later, the Taliban dispatched a husband-and-wife suicide unit to avenge the deaths, devastating the local cop shoppe and killing nine officers.
The daylight raid on the bank and the bombing in June were carried out by the "Black Night" group, a unit of the Pak Taliban dedicated to raising funds through robberies, kidnappings and extortion, according to a member of the group and intelligence officers.
The group's emergence highlights a shift in Death Eater funding inside Pakistain, with al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated groups relying less on cash from abroad and more on crime to get money for equipment, weapons and the expenses associated with running an insurgency.
The development is partly a result of Pak and American successes in targeting Islamist cut-thoats.
Greater scrutiny on money transfers means it is harder to send funds around the world, while American missile strikes and Mighty Pak Army offensives have killed or sidelined many mid-to-top-level commanders who had links to Middle Eastern funding networks, said a counterterrorism official.
As a result, "the hard boyz have issued an internal order telling followers to look for funds from internal sources," said the counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Iraq, another country riven by insurgency, has seen a jump in crime in recent years, according to U.S and Iraqi officials. Militants there use profits from crime to finance operations, but former Death Eaters are also believed to have drifted into crime.
The Pak Taliban draws on a network of hard boyz and for-hire criminals that stretches from the country's northwestern towns, through its Punjab heartland to the commercial capital, Bloody Karachi, home to some 4 million Pashtun migrants, the ethnic group that makes up the Taliban.
The crime wave also adds to the Death Eaters' goal of destabilising the country by underscoring a growing feeling among Paks that the US-backed government is unable to provide enough security for its 180 million, mostly impoverished, citizens.
Allied with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban across the border, the Pak Taliban mostly focus on terrorist attacks inside Pakistain, but are also committed to attacking American targets in Afghanistan and the United States. The group trained the Pak-American who carried out a failed car booming in New York's Times Square in 2010.
There are few reliable statistics, but the most common ways of raising funds are kidnappings and extortion, according to Amir Rana, an expert on Pak militancy. Ransom demands range from about $150,000 and to $1 million.
The Taliban are currently holding in the border region a Swiss couple seized in July.
The same group is suspected in the August kidnapping in the city of Lahore of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of provincial governor Salman Taseer who was killed by an cut-thoat, according to intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They say Taseer is being held in Wazoo close to the Afghan border. Weeks before Taseer's kidnapping, American development expert Warren Weinstein was taken from his house in Lahore. His fate is unknown.
The "Black Night" group works under the command of Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the top leaders in the Pak Taliban, according to a member of the group who spoke to an News Agency that Dare Not be Namednews hound by phone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
He said the group would continue to target wealthy Paks, government officials and foreigners from non-Mohammedan countries for kidnappings. Banks were hit because they charged interest and therefore violated Islamic law, he said.
In Bloody Karachi, four bank robberies this year have netted $2.3 million, according to a community police organization. The Taliban are suspected in three of them.
"We are not fighting on that front line against the Mighty Pak Army or NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... forces in Afghanistan, but we are contributing to the jihad through this way," the Death Eater said on condition that his real name not be used.
Police are not allowed to travel to the tribal-administered areas where the Pak Taliban and other hard boyz are based. This status, dating back to British colonial times, means the area has long been attractive to criminals on the run or for those running criminal enterprises.
The robbers who raided the bank in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... were smartly dressed and appeared relaxed, striking just after midday. Waving guns, they bundled the employees and anyone on the street into the bathroom, then took $138,000 from the safe, stuffed it into bags and drove off.
Local police chief Zulfiqar Ali blamed the "Black Night" brigade for the robbery and subsequent attack on the cop shoppe, but insisted "morale was high" at the force.
"Even with very few resources we are prepared to give hard boyz a tit-for-tat response," he said.
More than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away in Bloody Karachi, the Taliban didn't bring guns when they came knocking at the offices of a wealthy Pashtun property developer, but their intent was clear. The man, who didn't give his name, said they demanded about $20,000.
"I couldn't escape this situation. As a last resort, I asked them to decrease the amount they were demanding," he said. "They didn't bring any weapons when they came to my office the first time, but they can easily harm me and my business."
Another wealthy Pashtun related how two men on a cycle of violence seized his 7-year-old child as he left school.
It took 17 days for the kidnappers to contact him with a demand of $140,000. He said the phone calls came from numbers in the Punjab and large towns in Waziristan, and that the kidnappers appeared to know which government agencies he had discussed the case with. After four months, they settled for about $80,000.
Mohammed Yusuf, a member of the Pak Taliban who met an AP news hound in Bloody Karachi, said two groups--the al-Mansoor and al-Mukhtar--handle much of the fundraising for the movement in the city. He said they also arrange for supplies to be sent to Waziristan and look after fighters when they come to Bloody Karachi.
One of the most lucrative businesses was extorting money from the trucking companies that deliver food, oil and other non-lethal supplies to American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Many of the companies are based in Bloody Karachi because the supplies land at the city's Arabian sea port.
"We can do this because our scholars have decreed that it is quite permissible for us to snatch from those who are siding with our enemies in jihad," Yusuf said.
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#1
Afghan Taliban who have been hiding out in Quetta (southwest Pakistan) for the last decade, have been running out of money. Foreign contributions dried up years ago, and in the last year, the drug gangs that took up a lot of the slack have been hammered hard by a NATO offensive. So the exiled Afghan Taliban has turned to kidnapping. In most cases they go after aid workers, even if they are Pakistanis.
#2
Quite right Phater. I think factions within the PAK gov't are still pumping money and war materials to them quite regularly. Then there is the Zakat, tax, and border crossing extortion, extortion from drugs, human trafficing (yes the selling of children), and treks to our pals in Soodie, Bahrain and Dubai, of course Iran, and other hate states for fund raising. I doubt the Taliban are in the finacial mess the west is now in quite frankly.
#3
I doubt the Taliban are in the finacial mess the west is now in quite frankly.
But they're beginning to feel the pinch, Besoeker---don't forget Dar (al Islam) consumes a lot more than it produces. So, if West goes down Dar follows (with delay).
[An Nahar] Israel has apologized to Egypt for the border killings of six coppers in August that sparked a diplomatic crisis between the two neighbors, Egypt's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
The coppers were killed on August 18, as Israeli troops hunted down snuffies who had carried out deadly attacks near the border with Israel.
Their deaths prompted infuriated protesters to storm Israel's embassy in Cairo, forcing the ambassador to leave the country.
"Egypt has indeed received an official message from Israel's defense ministry in which Israel apologizes and expresses it deep remorse," a statement quoted Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr as saying.
The statement said that the apology had satisfied an Egyptian demand.
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#2
The only, ONLY way to stop this is for all girl children to be raised "knife aware", with the training that it is their *obligation* to slash and stab such people without hesitation or restraint.
Joined with this is the vital philosophy that "everything is or can be a weapon" to attack such people.
For adults, the lesson is one that Muslims are animals, so can never be trusted. To think of them as friendly, fair, caring, or honest is to invite disaster. Assurance to this is easy, because Muslims do not regard or treat other people as human, either. Theirs is a path of treachery.
But they are cowardly in this way. If such acts of tyranny are met with resistance, those who resist might be killed, but the tyranny will become much, much harder. Tyrants are reliant on cooperation and submission by their victims. If it is refused, tyranny eventually becomes impossibly difficult.
They can kill a young girl, but they will not enslave her. And they will always fear lest she slash them or stab them. They will never find peace when one is in the same room, no matter how often they beat her. For without warning, she may strike, and the tyrant will die.
The Iranian leaders, furious over the Saudi intervention in Bahrain and what they call crimes against the Shiites of that country, have openly created centers to recruit volunteers for suicide bombings against Saudi Arabias interests worldwide:
Several grand ayatollahs in Iran have issued a fatwa for Muslims to come to the aid of their Shiite brothers in Bahrain, who they claim are suffering horrific crimes from their government in collaboration with the Saudi armed forces. They further emphasized that the people of Bahrain have every right to demand freedom and their fair share from the state.
Shia-News, a site associated with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi (a hard-line Shiite Twelver and an influential figure in the suppression of Iranians during their uprising to protest the fraudulent presidential election of 2009), is registering volunteers to participate in suicide bombings against Saudi interests around the world. Hundreds have already registered. Reports from inside Iran indicate that an alert has gone out to the Revolutionary Guards Quds forces throughout the world to prepare for attacks on Saudi establishments.
[An Nahar] Lebanese police have information implicating Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... ' embassy in Beirut in the disappearance of a Syrian opposition figure last seen in May, an MP Sami Gemayel said on Wednesday.
Police chief Ashraf Rifi told a parliamentary committee on human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. that he had collected "dangerous information" pointing to the embassy in the disappearance of Shebli al-Aysami, Gemayel told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Rifi "provided dangerous information concerning the implication of the Syrian embassy in the kidnapping of Shebli Aysami," Gemayel told AFP.
Aysami's daughter, who attended the meeting in parliament, also confirmed the news.
"According to Rifi's investigations, information clearly points to the Syrian embassy in my father's disappearance," Raja Sharafeddine told AFP.
Syria's ambassador to Leb could not immediately be reached for comment.
Aysami, 86, is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party but decamped his native Syria in 1966 over political differences with the group. He was last seen in the eastern Lebanese region of Aley.
Amnesia Amnesty International on October 3 said Syrian authorities were cracking down on activists and opposition figures in eight countries, but did not include Leb on the list.
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10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Stettinius, Jr. ... on Wednesday denounced an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington as a 'dangerous escalation' by Tehran and called for international condemnation.
The plot is "a flagrant violation of international and US law and a dangerous escalation of the Iranian government's long-standing use of political violence and sponsorship of terrorism," Clinton said.
"Iran must be held accountable for its actions."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Not so pleasant when it comes to D.C. and targets our Soodie pals, that "wet work." Goes with the terrain I'd say. Perhaps they were expecting bowing Persian ponies. Unfinished business fromt the Carter-Reagan era. Yes Reagan, the same fellow who pulled out of Beruit immediately after that bombing disaster and invaded....yes, Grenada. I personally don't think Obama will pick up the stick, but one never knows. He's been in a funk of late. As many here have opined, it would be a good cover for action for all of his recent dirty tricks.
[An Nahar] A top commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday denied any involvement of the force in the plot alleged by the United States to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
"America's claims about the involvement of some members of the Guards in the fabricated terror plot (targeting) a diplomat from an Arab country in Washington are ridiculous and baseless," Guards deputy commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami was quoted as saying on the state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
website.
"These actions are a threadbare and baseless scenario, and in effect seek to divert public opinion from the anti-Wall Street movement and America's failures in carrying out its policies of oppression in the (Middle East) region and around the world," he said.
Salami was quoted as saying that the U.S. accusations "aim at sowing discord between Shiites and Sunnis and causing divisions within the world of Islam."
He said that "a chain of repeated failures, as well as the failure of American leaders in their foreign policy, has driven them to formulating ridiculous and baseless matters in the hopes of diverting international public opinion from the defeated capitalist system."
Salami said he hoped "by the grace of God, this too will be neutralized like their other conspiracies."
US officials on Tuesday said they had charged two Iranians, one of them a dual U.S. citizen, with preparing to carry out a kaboom on the Saudi ambassador under a plan "conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran."
The US Justice Department accused the Quds Force, a special forces unit incorporated in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, of being involved, based on testimony given by one of the Iranians who was in U.S. custody.
The other Iranian, said to be a member of the Quds Force, was on the lam and believed to have left the United States, according to U.S. authorities.
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[Emirates 24/7] Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday warned the United States against "confrontation" over accusations Tehran plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
"We are not seeking confrontation; our policy is cooperation and interaction. If they want to impose a confrontation upon the Iranian nation, the consequences of this issue will be more severe for them," Salehi told news hounds after a cabinet session, the ISNA news agency reported.
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10/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Once again, NOSTRADAMUS > "... Until the SEVEN/SEVENTH holds the line".
The Story ...
Of A Soldier named Francis.
A Valley called the Little Big Horn.
An Asteroid the size of Texas.
A Sword named EXCALIBUR.
["GARRY OWEN", 1960's = 1980's MADONNA'S "LIVE TO TELL" here].
D *** NG IT, AMERICA = AMERIKA, I'D LIKE TO FIND OUT IFF THE SWORD LADY IS NAKED + IS ACTUALLY ANGELINA JOLIE [Beowulf], BUT THE D **** LAKE KEEPS BLOCKING MY VIEW!
#3
"Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of grave robbers from outer space?"
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.
Film actress and 
[Dawn] 
[Dawn] Evidence that Iran was behind a plot to kill the 
Mahmoud 
[Dawn] The governor of Pakistain's northwestern 
Nawaz Sharif
Asif Ali 
[Dawn] Police caught up with the four Talibs about 15 minutes after they robbed the bank, shooting them dead on a bridge as they attempted to drive their loot to the safety of the border regions with Afghanistan.
Punjab
Wazoo
cycle of violence
[An Nahar] Lebanese police have information implicating 
Hillary Clinton
