[RT] NSA Director General Keith Alexander's testimony seemed to indicate that the scenario the administration is taking most seriously is leaving the trove metadata with the phone company, with the NSA only forcing the company to handover information about numbers thought to be involved in a web of terrorism. How innovative.A legal and Constitutional approach.
"Dark" to the NYT possibly.
[NYT] KABUL, Afghanistan -- Ashraf Ghani, the apparent front-runner in the Afghan presidential race this year, was once unstinting in his opinion of one of the country's most prominent warlords, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, calling him a "known killer."
He said that in 2009, when General Dostum was supporting President Hamid Karzai for re-election. Now, Mr. Ghani simply calls General Dostum his running mate. It will be interesting to see how Champ gets on with Ghani and Dostum.
WaPo: Key excerpts from comments Afghan President Hamid Karzai made in a March 1 interview with The Washington Post.
"The relationship has been at a low point for a long time, at least since 2007, as far as Afghanistan is concerned and the Afghan president is concerned. It began to deteriorate with the civilian casualties and the neglectful attitude toward my complaints about it. In 2007, we had the most serious incident of civilian casualties in Herat province of Afghanistan, when things turned very difficult between us, and since then it has not recovered.
"Of course, there other issues as well, secondary to civilian casualties. The private security firms, the parallel government structures, the contracts given to people, to individuals, causing corruption. And, of course, in a deeper way, reflecting a deeper lack of agreement between us, the way the so-called war on terror was fought. The sanctuaries were left alone outside Afghanistan and Pakistan."
"If you pay attention to the statements of U.S. officials and leaders, they say 'America's war, America's war,' they never say Afghanistan's war. So the purpose was American, and for that American purpose, or larger Western purpose, they came to Afghanistan. We the Afghans found common ground in that purpose.
"The common ground was that both of us wanted to be free of terrorism and extremism and to be secure and stable." Judging by behavior and not by words, Afghans really just want to live free of armed foreign infidels. That seems to be the only unifying principle in a disunited country more virtual than real. Armed terrorists who claim to be Muslims have been (and will continue) OK with them.
Karzai is little more than the mayor of Kabul.
#1
Hamid Karzai says U.S.-AfghanPashtun relationship 'has been at a low point for a long time'
FIFY. Thems the people who believe they should run everyone else's business while robbing them blind. Should have just armed the Northern Alliance (non-Pashtun) to the teeth and let'm loose. Would have been cheaper and easier in the long run.
[Tolo News] A number of religious scholars on Sunday in Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... announced their support for Presidential candidate Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayaf, who is also a religious scholar by training.
The Imam Ghezali Foundation was among those who endorsed Sayaf's canidacy.
"We will vote again and will vote for someone who is worth it and that is no one else but our great teacher, Professor Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayaf," Mawlawi Muhammad proclaimed to the crowd of religious scholars gathered at an event in Herat.
Muhammad Ismael Khan, the First Vice Presidential candidate of Sayaf, took the opporunity to assure supporters that if elected the overall security of Afghanistan would be prioritized.
"We hope that with the leadership of this scholar and your support, we can fulfill the hopes of the deaders of this country," Ismael Khan said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... a number of female supporters for Sayaf planted 1,000 trees in the Bagh Melat part of Herat to symbolize their solidarity with his campaign, according to Mahsa Tayeh, the person coordinating the campaign's efforts to whip up female support in the West.
Sayaf is expected to travel to Herat in the coming week.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Uganda is set to deploy as many as 410 extra troops to Somalia to guard United Nations facilities there after a surge in attacks by al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabab militants in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, the Ugandan military said Sunday.
Military spokesman, Lt. Col Paddy Ankunda said the guard unit will bolster the African Union peace keeping mission in Somalia, known as Amisom with the extra strength required to restore order in the chaotic port city of Mogadishu.
The deployment comes just a few days after a car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Somalias intelligence agency in Mogadishu, killing at least 12 people, the third deadly attack to hit the capital in as many weeks.
The U.N. guard unit will free the bulk of Amisom forces from escort duties to pursue al Shabab in their hide-outs, Lt. Col. Ankunda said. This force is the first of its kind under Amisom.
Following last weeks attack, the U.N. Security Council said it would continue to support all international efforts aimed at ending the threat posed by al-Shabaab.
Uganda already has as many as 6,000 troops in Somalia, leading the African Union force, which is helping Somalias weak national army in operations against the militants. Al Shabab militants were flushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 but continue to hunker down in much of the countryside, posing a security challenge for the country.
Somalia hasnt had an effective central government since forever 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, making it a haven for terrorists, pirates and illicit arms dealers.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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GAROWE -- Puntland Government in northern Somalia has launched a mass vaccination campaign that will target the children below the age of five on Saturday, Garowe Online reports.
This is how civilized countries behave...
Puntland Vice President and the acting President Abdihakin Abdullahi Omar Amey, Health Minister Dr. Sadik Enow, WHO officials and parents attended a well organized event at Ministry of Health headquarters in the state capital of Garowe.
Health Ministry Director-General, Dr. Abdirizak Hirsi Hassan said in his opening remarks that 270,000 children and mothers will be vaccinated against 9 deadly diseases including measles and polio. Hassan indicated that 4000 vaccinators will conduct the door-to-door medical and vaccine exercises across Puntland regions for five days.
Speaking at the launching event, Health Minister Dr. Enow stressed the need for continued awareness on the benefits of immunizations against the deadly diseases. He encouraged the parents to avoid hiding children from the health workers during the vaccine exercise.
So long as they get most of 'em, herd immunity will protect the rest.
At the end of the launching ceremony, Puntland Vice President Amey who gave the first vaccination drops to a young child declared that the government will improve healthcare in Puntland.
The immunization campaign is aimed at vaccinating the children who could be at risk of contracting wild polio virus and 8 other deadly diseases as many cases were reported at the end of 2013 in central Somalia.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[JOLLOFNEWS] Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... `s President Yahya Jammeh on Friday said it has to take concerted efforts to fight terrorism in West Africa as the sub-region is stormed by waves of violence spreading from Nigeria to the Sahelian States of Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
The Gambian leader made this pronouncement to news hounds of the State-owned Gambia Radio Television Services (GRTS) upon his arrival from Abuja, where he attended Nigeria Centenary Celebrations.
"I believe that if we are committed to fight against terrorism, there would be no terrorism; because if forces of Evil are not given sanctuary anywhere, they will not have a safe haven." Remarked Jammeh.
Yahya Jammeh
Gambia's tough talking leader, Yahya Jammeh
Lashing out at "Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... ", President Jammeh described the violence perpetuated by the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamic group as "a criminal enterprise".
"You cannot kill innocent people in the name of Islam; you cannot even kill people who have not done anything to you." emphasised by the Gambian Nasiroudeen.
Reacting to the recent College dormitory shooting by Boko Haram, that left 29 students dead, President Jammeh synthesis that such heartless act is contrary to the teaching of Islam.
President Jammeh contends that the Holy Koran does not authorise any killings of such nature, by executing college students or attacking hotel accommodations.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[SPYGHANA] The President of Nigeria is accusing its eastern neighbor, Cameroon of not cooperating with it and allowing cross-border pursuit of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... gunnies it claims return to Cameroon after attacks in Nigeria.
The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed thousands of lives in Nigeria since the President assumed power over Africa's most populous nation. The economy of the north has been seriously impacted by the uncontrolled spats of terror and the President has come under increasing pressure to act or resign as his administration loses its remaining credibility within Nigeria and abroad.
This would not however be the first time the President looks for candidates to blame for failures of the administration, both locally and internationally.
It would be recalled that at the beginning of his tenure, with each initial event of Boko Haram terrorism, the President of Nigeria encouraged the blame of 'northern elements.' As time progressed, with the amalgamation of several political parties, forming the merger, APC party, the Presidency blamed all matters including the provision of stable power on the 'opposition.' It can be recalled that during an interview with CNN intearnational anchor, Christian Amanpour, the President claimed Nigerians were celebrating better power and accused Christian Amanpour of being 'with' the 'opposition,' who denied this 'better service.'
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Negligence of the jail authority and police had lead to the snatching of three Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually exploded. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt. (JMB) hard boy members, says the home ministry probe report.
Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune after receiving the report.
The probe committee, formed by the home ministry soon after the snatching incident, submitted the report on Sunday evening.
Members of banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway on February 23.
Rakib Hasan, one of those three JMB operatives, was recaptured from the bordering areas of Shafipur in Tangail district hours later of the snatching incident.
Rakib was killed in a 'shootout' at Beltoil Ceramic area under Mirjapur upazila in Tangail on February 24.
Police also detained three other suspected JMB men in connection with the rare prisoner snatching incident.
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As the Mexican border state of Coahuila claims a sharp drop in homicides for the first two months of 2014, another state, Tamaulipas is claiming a spike in denunciations for crime, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news compilation presented in the online edition of El Diario do Coahuila news daily, the Coahuila state Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) or state attorney general announced that a double digit drop in homicides were reported in the state for the first two months of the year, when compared with the same period in 2013.
Overall, intentional homicides (homicidios dolosos) dropped to 78 as opposed to 140 from 2013, a total of 44 percent. Gang on gang murders have dropped by an even greater amount of 46 percent with 44 in 2014 and 81 in 2013.
In Saltillo, the state capital of Coahuila, gang on gang murders dropped by 86 percent, while intentional homicides dropped 63 percent, six so far in 2014 as opposed to 16 in 2013. No numbers were given on the number of gang on gang killings.
In Torreon, gang on gang killings dropped from 54 incidents in 2013 to 23 in 2014. A 49 percent drop in intentional homicides has been recorded, with 69 deaths in 2013 as opposed to 35 in 2014.
While the drops in homicides are impressive, it is important to note that the Coahuila PGJE has cooked criminal statistics before by reporting false statistics to the federal government, then taking those results and reporting them as fact.
Even so, in Tamaulipas a senior Mexican Army command has reported an equally sharp spike in criminal incidents reported to their commands.
According to a news report which appeared in the online edition of Milenio news daily, Colonel of Infantry Jesus Gabriel Lopez Gutierrez was quoted saying that while in the first two months of 2013 daily calls reporting criminal activities to their communications node averaged three to five calls per day, the number of calls have increased dramatically going from between eight to ten calls per day.
Col. Lopez Gutierrez is commander of the Mexican 15th Infantry Battalion which is responsible for security in southern Tamaulipas state, easily one of the most violent in Mexico.
According to the report, more calls came from the urban municipalities of Tampico, Madero and Altamira, and fewer from the rural areas of Altamira, Gonzalez and Aldama.
Most of the calls received are calls already made to other security groups, while about a third relate to federal crimes. The rest are either domestic reporting or reporting of traffic problems in southern Tamaulipas. According to the report, the calls can last from 10 seconds to four minutes, depending on the amount of information received.
The Colonel said that the spike in calls doesn't seem to correspond with an increase in crime. According to the report, the increase of calls reflects local citizens' demand for better security.
The Colonel also noted he was not aware of any timetable for the return of the army to the barracks, an early promise of the Enrique Pena Nieto administration from the 2012 campaign and last year. That promise had been continually reiterated in Mexican press until the spring of 2013, when even top army commanders publicly admitted they were not to return to the barracks anytime soon.
It is interesting to note that the Mexican Army has been in charge of security in southern Tamaulipas since May, 2011, which would coincide with the discovery of the San Fernando mass murders, which took the lives of 193.
Chris Covert writes Mexican drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
Almost two and a half years after the July 2011 decision by the Mexican Suprema Cort de Justicia de la Nacion (SCJN) that international treaty obligation concerning human rights can take precedence over Mexican law, talks and committee meetings between military and senators continue that could lead to laws that balance Mexican law with international law, according to Mexican press accounts.
A news report which appeared in the online edition of Milenio news daily said that several military staff admitted that the nature of fighting against narcotraffickers has led to some human right violations, which was "inevitable".
The lead in the senate to deal with military justice reform is Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) senator Arely Gomez Gonzalez, who has been holding hearings on this as well as other legal reforms since last fall. But these meetings were not the first. A quick meeting just after the 2011 SCJN decision was held between senators and the military.
Last September, according to a news account which appeared in El Mexicano news daily, the senator declared that five meeting between senators and Mexico's senior military staff would take place to discuss "the balance between the protection of human rights and military discipline, with all the practical consequences that this entails..."
In Friday's meeting military staff from the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army and Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR) have both admitted that human rights violations, while rare have occurred in the past.
Contradmirante Alejandro Vazquez Hernandez, director of the Justicia Naval de la Unidad Juridica told senators Friday, "We were asked to clean house, and now we are told we only dusted. It is clear in some instances there have been human rights violations, but it is inevitable because of the fighting."
The Admiral was referring to the 2011 SCJN ruling that conflated international human rights treaty obligations with Mexican law, a ruling which has gained severe criticism -- as well as acquiescence -- from military staff as well as field commanders. That ruling said that anytime a civilian killed, though not involved in an exchange of gunfire, as an example, that case must be turned over the local civilian authorities to assess culpability and that military prosecutor must declare their lack of competence in proceeding with a case.
At the time it was feared that the ruling would flood civilian courts with human rights cases directed against the military, but according to a Mexican Army staffer, the results have been different than feared.
According to military prosecutor Jesus Gabriel Lopez Benitez, a large number of cases have been declined even when kicked upstairs to the national attorney general, 434 in total.
A total of 434 preliminary investigations were moved to the Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) or national attorney general, which resulted in 271 arrest warrants. Of those arrest warrants, 174 of them were for military personnel, including commanders as well as enlisted personnel, the rest civilians.
That has occurred because military prosecutors -- of which the Mexican Army maintains 108 separate offices -- now routinely decline prosecution for offenses against civilians in favor of civilian prosecutors. He said that the current system bypasses normal military discipline "as necessary, so indispensable in the Army, Navy and Air Force."
"We are most jealous guardians of military discipline and behaviors that do not allow violations [which would] cast doubt on the good image of the institution", said Lopez Benitez.
Another problem for Mexico's military has taken place where, when a civilian prosecutor has been called to investigate the case of a civilian death from a military mission, for example, the circumstances has changed because now soldiers and everyone involved in an incident must deal with a separate element which was not involved in the original incident.
The situation has created uncertainty in the ranks of prosecutors because now they do not know if they have the "legal certainty", as General Alejandro Ramos Flores, head of the Asesoria Juridica del Estado Mayor de la Defensa Nacional said, to properly perform their jobs.
The 2011 SCJN ruling came from years of haranguing by human rights groups who stated repeatedly that military units cannot investigate their own if a crime has taken place involving military personnel. Another more subtle charge by human rights groups, absurd on its face, is that because a military is involved with killing, it must be incapable of seeking justice for victims.
The base that was brought before SCJN was of Radilla Pacheco a radical peasant organizer who was detained by the Mexican Army in Guerrero state in 1974, and never heard from again. That detention and subsequent disappearance took place in the depth of Mexico's Guerra Sucio or Dirty War, when a succession of Mexican presidents beginning in 1967, used their military to harshly crush political dissent as well as against armed revolutionary elements.
During that time, according to statistics, about 1,200 disappeared, presumably all at the hands of Mexican security forces.
Just after the 2011 ruling Calderon has advanced changes to the Codigo de Justicia Militar (CDM), specifically to Article 57 which would remove forced disappearances, rape and torture among the offense that can be prosecuted under that code by military prosecutors.
To date no element of that specific proposal has been advanced, however last fall proposals were advanced to make changes to the CDM. According to an archived news account in Milenio last fall, senator Gomez Gonzalez has overseen discussions on some changes including establishing a separate court system including military judges and expanding the range of offenses. The report failed to detail which offenses would be included with those that can be prosecuted by the military.
The 2011 court ruling also placed it in direct conflict with another part of the Mexican Constitution Article 13, which states that a Mexican citizen can be charged with one crime in more than one jurisdiction. Article 13 prevents a legal condition of having an accused to defend against the same act more than once.
A government draft report released at the time said that military prosecutions do fulfill the requirements of international treaties, despite political charges that it can never do that.
A Mexican naval captain, Mario Augusto Chichitz Diaz Leal, suggested a change in Article 57 which would allow the military top punish its own personnel a crime has been prosecuted.
The problem with implementing the 2011 court ruling is more subtle that what can be shown in any statistics, and any further legislative refinement in favor of international treaties could hurt military discipline in the long run.
According to Captain Chichitz Diaz Leal, "Any proposal for reform that goes beyond this concept, we consider that it would be unnecessary and detrimental to the well armed institute would run whenever the expense of maintenance of discipline, which is the fundamental basis on which a professional army is, effective and efficient."
it is so far unclear in current Mexican press where reforms are to land. Mexican senators involved on this issue just prior to hearing from the military heard from human rights groups and Mexican academics -- both groups long antagonists to the very notion of a military -- so is also unclear how much influence the military can have in the area of fighting organized crime.
Chris Covert writes Mexican drug War and national political new for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Daily Beast] While there is no mention of Champ's professional admiration of well established totalitarian regimes, the Beast has it about right. Well worth the read.
#1
For the same reason you got/getting: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, China, and probably even Monaco; wrong? (and just wait for the surprise that the cunning Juice have for you).
BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- For the world's "most active human rights defender," the latest random killing of 29 innocent civilians at a crowded Chinese train station in Kunming City is too insignificant to be a terrorist activity.
The U.S. Embassy in China has downplayed the severity of the bloody carnage, calling it on its official Weibo account a "horrible and totally meaningless act of violence," short of calling the murderers "terrorists."
The wording is the continuation of the [US] government's ambiguous stance on China's counter-terrorism drive in Xinjiang.
CNN has again showed its doubts and disbelief, if not irony, by using quotation marks around the word "terrorists" in its latest reportage of the Kunming slaughter.
How the U.S. government and some media described the terrorist attacks in China has revealed their persistent double standard in the global fight against terrorism.
Their leniency for the terrorists is sending signals of encouragement to potential attackers.
#4
Nothing personal - it's standard administration policy to discount any foreign-based event except when it impacts certain of their "friendly" special interest groups (or there's a chance to blame Israel...)
#4
tu3031: keep in mind that this is the same Kerry that helped sell about 27 million (I think the last time I counted) people into serfdom to the Russian and Chinese mobs back in the 70's and he didn't even get anything material out of it.
Kerry is competent enough that he can do the evil that he does and have you talking about what an incompetent pansy he is instead of what an evil person he is.
#5
I was watching the live video feed of the last couple of days of the pro-western demonstrations. Every now and then I would see simple camera mounted drones appear, move up to the front lines, hover above the scene, change position, monitor the lines, then quickly disappear.
The pro-Russian side was 19th century in their formations. The pro-western side was aggressive, well planned, and were monitoring their progress and the opposition with small drones.
In an extended conflict, out numbered, but well planned and well monitored steps using such modern tools will win out.
#7
Breaking: Obama Says Russia's Actions in Ukraine Violates International Law
And he out to know---he's almost as big expert on International law as he's on American constitutional law. (Never suspected Vlad too has a pen and a phone, eh Mr President?)
keep in mind that this is the same Kerry that helped sell about 27 million (I think the last time I counted) people into serfdom to the Russian and Chinese mobs back in the 70's and he didn't even get anything material out of it.
He got the undying support of the Democrat party out of it.
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[Daily Caller] Dont you hate it when your Facebook gets hacked and your account posts a message supporting a notorious Islamic terrorist and his attacks against the country thats occupying your nation?
Thats what supposedly happened to the Deputy Chief of Ukraines National Security Council when a message bearing his signature appeared on the far right group he leads VKontakte page, the Eastern European version of Facebook.
The message was directed at Doku Umarov, a Chechen Islamic militant who heavily promoted using terrorism against the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and called for him to intensify his fight against Russia while it is intervening in Ukraine. The message also claimed that many Ukrainians had supported the insurgency in Chechnya and urged Umarov to support Ukraine now. If accurate, this could be the first exploitation of a so-called 'social media' venue for the purpose of Computer Network Operations and psychological warfare.
#1
This is classic psyops propaganda operations by the Russians. Goes hand in glove with their propaganda campaign they have been waging against the Ukraine for months, even years.
Even as the Obama administration denounced what it called anti-gay legislation in Arizona and the president sat out the Sochi Olympics because of Russia's crackdown on same-sex couples, the State Department allowed an Islamic preacher who called for the death penalty for homosexuals into the country for a tour of hate.
Sheikh Mohammad Rateb al-Nabulsi was issued a visa for a 17-city tour of US mosques to raise money and support for the Syrian uprising. He arrived New Year's Day.
The radical Syrian cleric has made no secret of his virulent anti-gay views. Appearing April 28, 2011, on al Aqsa TV, the official network of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, al-Nabulsi said: "Homosexuality involves a filthy place and does not generate offspring. Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the homosexual. That is why, brothers, homosexuality carries the death penalty."
There you have it, LGBT (and all the other 53 kinds of other-gendered) Americans -- you now know where you stand. If it's between you and a sword-wielding, gay-hating Muslim, you not only lose, you're dead...
The radical's remarks were translated into English and widely distributed in the diplomatic and intelligence communities. The independent Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI, translated a 2¹/₂-minute segment from the speech, in which al-Nabulsi explained with clear contempt the spread of homosexual practices in Western countries.
In addition to his anti-gay pronouncements, Sheikh al-Nabulsi has publicly endorsed holy war against Westerners and Jews as well as suicide bombings against Israel, America's democratic ally in the region.
"All the Jewish people are combatants," he said in a religious edict that appeared in Arabic on his personal website.
"[The Israelis] do not have a regular army; they have a reserve army, and all the people can fight, so this is essentially an entirely aggressive entity from A to Z. This is the Sharia ruling."
"The enemy . . . says 'suicide operations' to deceive Muslims, that this is suicide, but we should call them 'martyrdom operations,' " he said.
The Muslim leader came to the United States for a fundraising tour for a newly formed coalition of radical Islamist militias fighting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian civil war has cost more than 100,000 civilian lives, according to United Nations' estimates.
The cleric's tour was sponsored by the Widows Ammunition Fund Syrian American Council and Shaam Relief, groups that are spearheading a massive lobbying campaign to convince Congress to support an anti-Assad alliance of Islamist groups, some of them with reported ties to al Qaeda.
Shaam Relief: this generation's NorAid...
During his month-long tour, al-Nabulsi spoke in Arabic to audiences from coast to coast. His appearances, heavily promoted on Facebook, began in Spring Hill, Fla., on Jan. 1 and included a stop in Jersey City. There are no publicly available records of how much money he raised.
The Syrian American Council submitted al-Nabulsi's visa request to the State Department's Syria desk. A Department official told the American Media Institute that all visa requests, especially for individuals from countries on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, get scrutinized.
"Every visa applicant undergoes a screening to detect connections to terrorism, and that includes inputs from multiple federal partners," the official said.
All of which failed...
Asked whether al-Nabulsi's televised remarks calling for killing homosexuals and Jews should have banned him from travel to America, a second State Department official, specializing in visa requests, pointed to Section 212(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which covers a broad range of terrorist-related activity, including promoting the use of violence and incitement. Nonetheless, the visa was issued.
"Under current policy, a foreign national applying for a US visa who is known to have promoted jihad and suicide bombings would be ordinarily deemed 'undesirable' and denied a visa," according to a report from the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a Washington, DC-based group founded by investigative reporter Steven Emerson.
After the Investigative Project on Terrorism published translations of these and other comments from his website, al-Nabulsi issued a statement on Jan. 18, denying that he promoted the killing of civilians.
"It is not permitted to kill civilians, non-combatants, using any method, regardless of their national, ethnic or religious background," he said in a statement distributed by the Syrian American Council.
He was just lying then. It's perfectly permissible for a devout holy man to lie to infidels as often as required. You could look it up...
Both State Department officials contacted by the American Media Institute regarding al-Nabulsi's visa referred to his retraction and suggested that "false reporting" was responsible for the furor over his visa.
Within days of AMI's contact with the State Department, al-Nabulsi removed the reference to killing Jewish civilians from his website.
"They say one thing in Arabic and another in English," Emerson said. "Deception is part of the arsenal of war, and these guys have perfected deception to an art. They know how to play America and our vulnerabilities so their disinformation is accepted as the truth."
Or chances are the Obama administration simply wants to look the other way. To avoid offending Muslims, they ignore hate speech.
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#1
When is the last time you say Quabus Bruce al-Sissy twerking in the Mosque?
Only Americans are twerking, Moslems don't do that. In that respect Moslems actually have beliefs they Believe in. Americans twerk. Obama has raised Politics to the level of a good twerk. He's a Light Bringer.
#3
What's the over/under on the number of protests and protestors from the LGBT activist community that follow this bastard around yelling, screaming, twerking or whatever they do in protest?
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... has asked the government to start a dialogue with the Taliban without any fear and reservation. You ain't got a reservation you ain't gettin' in.
He termed the announcement by the banned TTP as foundation of peace in the country. He was talking to opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rashid and other MPAs of his party here on Sunday. The PTI chief said that hostile forces wanted Pak armed forces to fight with their people. He said that terrorism cannot be eliminated with the use of force but it increases. He said the government should give a serious and positive response to the ceasefire offer by the Taliban as an end to terrorism would bring peace and prosperity in the country.
Imran Khan said the PTI was a party for change and asked the MPAs to raise their voice in the Punjab Assembly on issues agitating the minds of the masses. He was of the opinion that because of price hike and unemployment, poor people have been forced to commit suicides. He alleged that the provincial leaders were using national resources for their political objectives. The PTI chief said the PML-N government has failed in every respect as it has not been able to resolve any problem including power scheduled power outages.
Earlier, Imran Khan took a serious notice of absence of some MPAs from the meeting. He directed that the absenting members be informed about the decisions of the meeting and directed to positively attend the meetings in the future. He expressed confidence in the leadership of provincial parliamentary leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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PM and US president sit down to discuss ongoing peace talks, Iran; "Israel has been doing it's part, and I regret to say that the Palestinians haven't. What we want is peace -- not a piece of paper," Netanyahu says.
[JP] Source close to Shi'ite group's leadership tells Kuwaiti daily A-Rai that goal of IAF strike was "to send a message." Hezbollah is denying reports that Israel bombed an arms shipment from Syria into Lebanon last week.
While acknowledging that Israeli jets did launch the strike, a senior source close to the Shi'ite organization's leadership told the Kuwaiti daily newspaper A-Rai that the goal of the attack was to "send a message."
"We and the Israelis know that there wasn't any weapons transfer from Syria into Lebanon," the source told A-Rai. He said the strike caused light damage. Light damage to what then ?
More sophomoric, Chicago-style threats from the light bringer.
William Jacobsen at Legal Insurrection is all over this one. Go there for his take, which is just what you'd expect. Bill is covering the whole BDS issue quite closely and is working with others to expose these ass-hats wherever he can.
[An Nahar] Deputy head of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... 's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on Sunday stressed that the party will "reject any ministerial policy statement that would satisfy Israel."
"We reject any ministerial policy statement that would satisfy Israel because we don't want to give up the reason behind Leb's strength, which is the resistance," Qaouq said during a memorial service in the southern town of Houla.
"We are ready to bear all forms of insults and incitement because the issue is not related to a certain party, movement, region or sect, but rather to the country's dignity," he added.
"We will not impose dignity on those who don't want it, but we won't allow that Leb's strength be given up in the face of Israeli threats," the top Hizbullah official said.
He noted that "the resistance's strength, its growing capabilities and its decision's courage are what deterring Israel from taking advantage of the Syrian crisis to carry out an aggression against Leb, not the statements of the March 14 camp."
"The only thing that has humiliated and insulted the Israeli army since 1948 until today is the resistance and not anything else, as who can guarantee Israel's intentions against Leb should we give up Leb's strength and the resistance?" Qaouq added.
He pointed out that the resistance did not ask the government for "any political cover for its role in Syria, but rather for a strong national stance in the face of Israel."
"The policy statement must represent a message of strength, invincibility, potency and pride for the country against all takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... and Israeli threats and must not represent a message of reassurance to Israel," Qaouq underlined.
"Our stance is clear following the provocations, statements and media and political tensions that happened. Those who support the resistance will gain more dignity, pride and honor and those who don't want to support it will only gain further repentance while those who want to target it will only gain further disappointment," he emphasized.
"We are not people who would give up a single iota of the resistance's dignity or who would allow an attack on any of its letters," Qaouq pledged.
On Saturday, Hizbullah and President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... were at loggerheads over the president's recent statement concerning the cabinet's policy statement.
Suleiman said Friday that the land, people and common values formed the country's "permanent equation," describing the people-army-resistance equation as "wooden" or outdated.
Hizbullah was quick to hit back at Suleiman, accusing him on Saturday of not being able to differentiate between "what's golden and what's wooden."
On Friday, the committee drafting the ministerial policy statement failed anew to reach an agreement on the clause related to resisting Israel as the March 14 forces insisted on "the state's authority over everything."
The committee's meeting was the seventh since Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet was formed around two weeks ago.
The panel will hold a new session at the Grand Serail on Monday.
Salam has announced that his government's mission is combating terrorism and preparing for the upcoming presidential election.
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03/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] The alleged plot to assassinate Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... aims at destabilizing the country and inciting a Sunni-Shiite strife, the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday.
AMAL Movement, Development and Liberation bloc, MP Ali Khreis told the daily that Berri's liquidation bid aims at causing chaos in Leb and creating a Sunni-Shiite strife.
The politician hailed the efforts exerted by security agencies to unveil terrorist networks, especially the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau and the army's intelligence.
He voiced hope that the security agencies would be able to unveil all terrorist schemes before they are carried out.
The newspaper reported that "ISF intelligence bureau previously obtained information about a plot set to assassinate Berri after monitoring the premises of the Beirut neighborhood of Ein el-Hellhole."
The speaker's security team was urged to boost security measures to safeguard Berri.
Sources told the daily that the plot aims at inciting sedition in Leb as the Shiites view Berri as "a patriotic political figure ."
On Friday, media reports said that Lebanese national Mahmoud Abou Aalfa, who is affiliated to the Qaeda-linked Abdulllah Azzam Brigades, confessed that the myrmidon group was plotting to assassinate Berri, who is the head of the AMAL movement.
Aalfa had reportedly acknowledged that several people were tasked with monitoring the entrances of Ain el-Tineh and the places that Berri frequently visits.
The suspect pointed out that the scheme was to target the Speaker with a booby-trapped car by a jacket wallah or more.
Reports said that another group was also tasked with monitoring the residence of former Minister Wiam Wahab, who is head of the Arab Tawhid Party ... a Leb political party established by former minister, MP, and Syrian stooge Weaam Wahhab in 2006. Supporters of the party are mainly Druze and it is a part of the March 8 (Hezbollah) Alliance. A bomb exploded outside a party office in the Chouf in 2012. leader.
Media reports said on February 20 that the ISF Intelligence Bureau had tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! , ahead the twin blasts that targeted the Beirut suburb of Bir Hasan, Aalfa who confessed of being tasked by the Lebanese Sheikh Sirajeddine Zouraykat of the Abdulllah Azzam Brigades with monitoring al-Manar TV and the Iranian Cultural Center.
The twin suicide boom-mobileings in Bir Hasan near the Iranian Cultural Center killed at least six people and maimed more than 100 others, the second attack in less than four months targeting Iranian interests in Leb.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... grabbed credit for the double bombing, vowing additional attacks in retaliation to Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... 's involvement in the Syria war.
On Wednesday, the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, MP Talal Arslan, was urged to boost security measures after security agencies obtained information that he might be the target of an liquidation bid.
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Top|| File under: Abdullah Azzam Brigades
[Pak Daily Times] An al Qaeda splinter group in Syria has denied it was behind the killing of a prominent al Qaeda figure last week and appeared to reject an ultimatum from rival fighters to accept mediation or face all-out assault.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was responding to the killing last Sunday of Abu Khaled al-Soury, who was close to both al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and his predecessor the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... .
Rival Islamist fighters blamed ISIL, locked in conflict for more than a year with other rebels battling to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , for Soury's death.
Two days after his killing, the head of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, warned ISIL turbans to accept the arbitration of Mohammedan scholars within five days to end their infighting or face a war which would wipe them out.
That deadline has expired.
"We did not order Abu Khaled's killing nor were we ordered to. We were completely cut off from the area he was in," ISIL said in a statement dated Saturday and posted on Islamist Internet sites.
"We affirm that the decisions and stances of the Islamic State are only issued by our leader...(Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, may God protect him, and from the Shura Committee. Not from individual scholars or soldiers."
More than 3,000 people have been killed this year in fighting between rebel factions controlling northern and eastern Syria, an internal conflict which has seriously hampered their military campaign against Assad's forces.
Abu Khaled, a native of Syria's Aleppo who had spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sent to Syria to try to end the internecine war, rebels say.
On Friday activists said ISIL fighters withdrew from the northern town of Azaz, near the border with Turkey, five months after they took it from rival opposition fighters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIL had been suffering heavy losses in Azaz and had pulled back to parts of eastern Aleppo province where it remains powerful.
"The Islamic State is still present in most of rural east Aleppo...Al-Bab and towards Raqqa," the Britannia-based Observatory's head Rami Abdulrahman said, describing a swathe of territory across northern Syria under ISIL control.
While there was no sign of an all-out attack on the Islamic State fighters from rival rebel forces, he said there were festivities in the eastern provinces of Deir al-Zor and Hassaka, where ISIL had withdrawn from one of its bases.
The Observatory said 13 people including a child were killed in air raids by Assad's forces on Saturday on the town of Kafar Takharim in the north-western province of Idlib.
Video footage posted by activists showed a street engulfed in flames and rescuers trying to reach people lying amid debris of broken concrete. Two people were carried away on stretchers, one bleeding from the leg and another, their face covered, with signs of severe burns and charring to their arms and hands.
The Observatory said a total of 250 people had been killed across Syria on Saturday, including fighters, soldiers and civilians. It says more than 140,000 people have been killed in nearly three years of conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2014 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] The alleged plot to assassinate Speaker 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
