[An Nahar] A watchdog body criticized the U.S. Agency for International Development Monday for spending nearly $50 million on programs in Afghanistan which had so far failed to strengthen local government or improve stability.
"It has spent nearly $50 million -- roughly a quarter of the total program budget -- on conferences, overhead and workshops. This looks like bad value for U.S. taxpayers and the Afghan people."
An audit from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) highlighted concerns with USAID's "Stability in Key Areas Program" which runs across the war-torn country.
The report from the official U.S. watchdog will raise further worries about wastage of some of the billions of dollars of international aid spent in a country battling a 12-year Taliban insurgency.
"It's troubling that after 16 months, this program has not issued its first community grant," SIGAR's special inspector general John Sopko said in a statement.
"Rather, it has spent nearly $50 million -- roughly a quarter of the total program budget -- on conferences, overhead and workshops. This looks like bad value for U.S. taxpayers and the Afghan people."
The projects were intended to expand the authority and legitimacy of Afghan provincial governments by helping them implement development and governance initiatives in local communities.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"roughly a quarter of the total program budget -- on conferences, overhead and workshops. This looks like bad value for U.S. taxpayers and the Afghan people."
Nah, I'd say it's probably a better value than most U.S. programs.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/30/2013 5:50 Comments ||
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Solyndra received a $535 million U.S. Energy Department loan guarantee before going bankrupt. Under the Solyndra restructuring plan, the government is projected to recoup 19 percent on $142.8 million of the loan and nothing on the remaining $385 million.
#1
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Muslims are expected to flock to Syria to help topple Baby Assad.
* See DAILY STAR.LB > ISLAMISTS TEST GROUND IN [curently]CALM UKRAINE.
The Truble wid TATARS/TARTARS.
Everything is all Peaceloving-n-LoveyDovey in Ukraine right now, but undoubtedly some Local Boyz will unilaterally become inspired enuff to attempt to prove their mettle agz Assad + Syrian Army despite their mostly Russian-supplied [Iranian?] firepower+ theres nothing their Ukrainian Babushkas or the Kievan Govt. can do about it???
#3
CMIIW, wasn't the Brohood against Assad?
Wasn't the Brohood kicked in the teeth in 'gypt?
Aren't these Syrian oppo boyz now on the wrong side of the 'gypan army?
Things seem a trifle unclear and unsettled in the ME these days.
[CanadaFreePress] In the weirdest statement yet announced by a person belonging to any country in the world, a Moslem Brüderbund leader called Mohammed El-Beltagy, asked the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and 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... to send their armies to Egypt to fight against the Egyptian army and destroy it, under the pretext that the army wants to destroy the Moslem Brüderbund and scatter them.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#7
Their problem is 95% of the population is squeezed into a small area, which makes running an insurgency difficult.
Very true. In theory, Egypt is about 50% bigger than TX. In reality, it's slightly smaller than WV, because the rest of the country is desert. Most of the country is only good for slowing down invaders.
[An Nahar] A group of Egyptian NGOs called on Monday for the interior minister to be dismissed over the deaths of at least 72 people at a Cairo protest.
The groups also urged the Moslem Brüderbund, which has led protests calling for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, to reject violence.
The deaths came at a Saturday protest by backers of Morsi, who hails from the Moslem Brüderbund, with protesters saying forces used live fire on unarmed demonstrators.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Nigerian prosecutors on Monday widened charges against three Lebanese nationals "accused of links to Hizbullah" as their trial began with access to the courtroom restricted and the identities of witnesses concealed.
Mustapha Fawaz, 49, Abdallah Thahini, 48, and Talal Ahmad Roda, 51, have been accused of having ties to Hizbullah and plotting attacks against Western and Israeli targets in Nigeria.
Prosecutors brought fresh charges related to money-laundering and illegal importation of goods among crimes.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Bahrain's King Hamad ...King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its emir (from 6 March 1999). He is a Sunni, while the rest of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite... ordered the government on Monday to implement a parliamentary call for tough measures against what the authorities are calling an upsurge in "terrorism" linked to Shiite-led protests.
The monarch forwarded to the government recommendations adopted on Sunday by parliament, ordering their "quick implementation", the official BNA news agency said.
The loyalist-dominated parliament, which is boycotted by the Shiite opposition, gave authorities powers to revoke the citizenship of anyone "recognized as guilty of committing or inciting an act of terrorism".
At an extraordinary session requested by the king during a parliamentary recess, MPs also recommended "a ban on gatherings and rallies" in the capital Manama.
It called for emergency law to be declared in the Sunni-ruled Shiite-majority Gulf kingdom if the need arose in the run-up to a major opposition demonstration called for mid-August.
MPs urged authorities to prosecute political groups that "incite and support acts of violence and terrorism", as well as those that use media social networks to "spread false information".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The detonator and remote control used in a Bulgarian kaboom that killed five Israelis last year were smuggled in from Poland, a newspaper reported Monday.
The still unidentified bomber and two accomplices smuggled in the components on a train from Warsaw on June 28, the Trud daily said, citing Sherlocks.
The July 2012 bombing on an airport bus in the Black Sea resort of Burgas killed five Israeli tourists as well the Bulgarian driver, in an attack blamed on Hizbullah.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Chief Minister Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has announced to hold dialogue with all Death Eater groups operating in the restive province of Pakistain.
Speaking in the Balochistan Assembly over worsening law and order in the province on Monday, Dr Baloch said a high powered committee comprising members of the assembly would be formed to hold dialogue with all Death Eater groups operating in Balochistan.
"Formal negotiations would be initiated soon after Eid-ul-Fitar," he announced in the house. Dr Baloch said use of force has not produced any positive result and emphasised on political solution to all issues of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A major faction of the Paleostine Liberation Organization rejected new peace talks with Israel just hours before their scheduled resumption in Washington on Monday after a three-year break.
The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s... said that talks' resumption was a unilateral move by Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Israeli and Paleostinian delegations to renewed peace talks have agreed in principle to continue negotiations for at least nine months, the U.S. State Department said Monday.
At the end of which time they will give birth to what?
"They have all agreed to focus on having talks not just for the sake of talks, but this is the beginning of direct final status negotiations on a nine-month, at least a nine-month, timetable," Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"They have agreed to work together through the course of that time," she added, speaking as the delegations arrived in Washington ahead of a dinner to mark the resumption of talks.
The United States invited the parties to a new round of talks in order to revive the stalled grinding of the peace processor, which last came to a halt in September 2010.
Psaki said the nine-month window was "not a deadline."
"This is an agreement that they will work together for at least that time period on this effort," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
...and who better to talk, and talk, and talk, than John Francois Kerry?
#2
This means Kerry gets to laud his "success" for the next nine months, and the press gets to bloviate and cover Champ's errors until the Paleos pull out because the Juice haven't given them everything.
I don't see what's in it for the Juice.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/30/2013 12:29 Comments ||
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#3
Israel should announce on the first day that they will walk out if a single rocket lands in Israel during the talks.
But then, I'm not a diplomat.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/30/2013 14:11 Comments ||
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#4
I don't see what's in it for the Juice.
It's part of the price Israel has to pay for USA support.
[An Nahar] Phalange Party The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. on Monday called on Hizbullah to reevaluate its politics after the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... last week blacklisted the party's military wing.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Higher Defense Council tackled on Monday ways to support the armed forces and discussed the eradication of cannabis plantations in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Discussions focused on "providing the army and the rest of the armed forces with their needs," said a terse statement read by the council's Secretary-General Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir.
The council discussed some of the recent "incidents in different areas" and tackled "the eradication of cannabis, calling for alternative agriculture for citizens," it said. I thought raising marijuana was "alternative agriculture"?
Discussion also focused on "the measures that the involved ministries should take to resolve the conditions of the(Syrian) refugees whose numbers have soared, and to provide them with their urgent needs," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2013 00:00 ||
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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.
[An Nahar] A group of Egyptian NGOs called on Monday for the interior minister to be dismissed over the deaths of at least 72 people at a Cairo protest.
[An Nahar] Nigerian prosecutors on Monday widened charges against three Lebanese nationals "accused of links to Hizbullah" as their trial began with access to the courtroom restricted and the identities of witnesses concealed.
[An Nahar] Bahrain's 
[An Nahar] The detonator and remote control used in a Bulgarian 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
