[Tolo News] The Ministry of Interior Affairs has linked the Haqqani Network to Thursday night's attack on the upscale Serena Hotel in Kabul, where nine civilians, including women, children and four foreign nationals were bumped off by four young assailants. The attack has received wide condemnation from inside and Afghanistan.
Four women, two of them foreigners, and two maidens of tender years were killed in the shooting on Afghanistan's New Year's Even, Nawroz. Among those killed was well-known Afghan journalist Sardar Ahmad, a news hound for Agence La Belle France Press (AFP) and the father of the two maidens of tender years.
The four foreigners killed in the attack were citizens of New Zealand, Canada, Pakistain and India, Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoIA) front man Sediq Seddiqi said in a presser on Friday.
The attackers were four gunnies all under the age of 20 wearing traditional Afghan dress. They entered the hotel around 8:30PM local time under the pretence of eating dinner. The attackers walked on the lawn of the hotel for several minutes before two of them broke off into the hall and opened fire on guests indiscriminately, killing nine in minutes.
The MoIA has asserted that the attack was planned beyond Afghanistan's borders and called on the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... (UN) Security Council to help in identifying those responsible.
"We ask the UN Security Council to join us in condemning the attack and later to help us identify and eliminate those who are equipped outside the country and kill our women and kiddies," Seddiqi said.
"There are questions that remain unanswered, we are waiting for the results of the investigation that we are conducting into those who were assigned to search the four attackers and how the attackers could have passed the security check," he added.
Security officials have said that the attackers covered their pistols with plastic and hid them in the soles of their shoes so they would not be detected
Interior Ministry officials have suggested the attack, which was quickly claimed by the Taliban, was intended to cause problems for the presidential and provincial council elections on April 5. The Taliban have released statements to the press expressly stating the intent to violently disrupt the elections.
Following the attack, the security forces cordoned off the hotel and began a three hour gunbattle with the bad boys. Reportedly, two of the attackers were killed nearly immediately, but the other two were hidden, which prolonged the encounter. At least two guards were maimed.
Security officials were quick to blame Serena security for the failure, saying they had asked the hotel to allow the police to provide security, a request Mr Siddiqi said, was rejected by the management of the Serena. The Hotel, located in downtown Kabul, has long been a popular high-end hangout for foreign nationals, officials and journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Isn't the Haqqani network patronized as an example child by the ISI?
[STREAM.WSJ] Potential fraud has become a key theme of Afghanistan's presidential race, with two of the three main contenders warning against attempts to rig the April 5 vote to favor President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... 's favorite candidate.
An election perceived as stolen could plunge the country into fresh conflict just as U.S.-led international forces withdraw, foreign aid shrinks and Taliban attacks persist.
All the main candidates say they want to sign a security agreement with the U.S.--which Mr. Karzai has blocked--that would allow some American forces to remain after December. Turmoil over a disputed election, however, could disrupt those plans, too.
While Kabul officials deny bias or plans to stuff ballot boxes, the possibility that the election's legitimacy will be thrown into doubt is increasingly worrying the U.S. and allied governments that have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on Afghanistan since 2001.
"The responsibility of the candidates is extremely important. If Afghanistan, God forbid, will be destabilized again, nobody will be a winner," former Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul ... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France..... , seen as Mr. Karzai's presidential pick, said in a Wall Street Journal interview.
"The worst scenario would be that the election will not go well," he said. "The Afghan people will lose all the trust in the democratic process and we will go back to square one--instead of the ballot box, the people will use their Kalashnikovs to take power."
Mr. Karzai's re-election in 2009 was marred by massive falsification; roughly a million ballots cast on his behalf were disqualified by the country's electoral watchdog. Some of the worst fraud occurred in the perilous areas of the country's south and east, where Taliban threats kept voters away from the polls, and local officials simply stuffed the ballot boxes, according to witnesses and election observers.
With the security situation more precarious now, many Afghans are concerned about more-brazen rigging--especially because the electoral watchdog, which in 2009 was dominated by international representatives, is now made up of Mr. Karzai's appointees.
Under Afghan law, if no candidate wins an outright majority on April 5, the two top vote-getters will contest a runoff election, likely in June.
Though there are no reliable polls in Afghanistan, the three contenders with the most-active campaigns and widest support are former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , who finished second to Mr. Karzai in 2009; former finance minister Ashraf Ghani; and Mr. Rassoul--a late entrant perceived as lagging behind the two others.
"The way he is doing so far, [Rassoul] will not be one of the first two--unless there is another way, using the government network and, through that, stuffing the boxes," said Nader Nadery, chairman of the Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan, which aims to deploy some 10,000 observers on election day. "And if that's the case, you will unfortunately have a situation where the other two may not accept the first-round result, and the contested first-round result will prolong a political crisis."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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The UN, the EU and Somalia have called on countries and businesses in the Middle East to invest in the Horn of Africa nation to help contribute to her economic recovery.
Be sure to leave 10% for the UN workers...
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Somalia exports 4.7 million head of livestock to Gulf states in a trade boom that has grown since 2009 when Saudi Arabia lifted a nine- year disease related ban.
That's almost as numerous as Somali refugees...
Officials told participants at the just concluded Somali Producers' Conference and Exhibition 2014 (SOPEC), which ended in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) commercial capital Dubai to invest in farming, fisheries and livestock sectors.
FAO's head of office in Somalia Luca Alinovi said in a statement released here Friday that the three-day international conference targeting foreign investors to boost recovery brought to light a crucial debate about the role of the Somali economy in the peace process.
"This element has been missing for quite some time in the economic foundation of the country and Somalia's policy and development debate. The country's entrepreneurial capacity is and will remain a critical inroad in the peace process and the country's future," Alinovi said in a statement received in Nairobi.
So they're good at cows and qat. What else do they need?
Substantive efforts from the Somali producers over the past four years with the increased support from FAO and other development partners has increased and sustained investment in Somali livestock, agriculture and fisheries sectors with a major objective of reducing the country's food insecurity but also revamp the collapsed economies as well as the export potential.
With a new political dispensation in Somalia and existing stability in Somaliland and Puntland as well as the increasing peace and infrastructure in the Ethiopian Somali region and economic growth in the other Somali regions in Kenya and Djibouti; officials say there are already credible signs of recovery and potential economic growth.
The hotel business in Mogadishu is booming...
Somali producers of agriculture, fishery and livestock were once Africa's best and most competitive economic drivers leading in the trade and substantive export of millions of livestock, hundreds of thousands of tons of banana, seafood and sesame export. However, the late 80s and early 90s civil strife and subsequent collapse of the central government weakened the export of livestock while the banana and seafood trade and export collapsed entirely.
Okay, so it would be good to get the Somali economy cranked up -- might help convince some Somali youts to become auto mechanics, cattle rustlers herders or fishermen instead of Shaboobs. Or refugees. Good luck, and if you really want the economy to work, kill some more Shaboobs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
if you really want the economy to work, kill some more Shaboobs.
It's the bottom line, really. Without at least some semblance of the rule of law, none of that other stuff, desirable as it might be, will happen. So, faster please!
The Minister of National Security Abdikarim Hussein Guled spoke to the press in Dhuusamareeb, Galgaduud and said that the Ahlusunna Waljamaacaâs militia soldiers will be recognized.
Ah, the Ahlusunnais -- they fight like Uruguayans!
Mr Guled mentioned that many soldiers from the Ahlusunna Waljamaaca spiritual army in Galgaduud will be added to the Somali National Army and any weapon they require will be provided to them.
Oh, they're 'spiritual' warriors...
The Minister agrees to this after the past few days there were meetings between the Federal Government of Somalia and Ahlusunna Waljamaaca.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] There has been no agreement that oil blockader and Cyrenaica federalist Ibrahim Jadhran will hand over the oil terminals, leave Libya and go into exile in Dubai, the front man for the self-proclaimed Executive Bureau of Cyrenaica, Ali Al-Hassi, told the Libya Herald today.
There have been reports, mainly from Misrata, that a deal is being negotiated with Jadhran under he would hand over the terminals and leave the country in return for Misrata forces pulling back from Sirte.
"It's not true," said Hassi.
He claimed, however, that the basis of a deal had been agreed on Wednesday to exchange prisoners in negotiations between the commanders of the Central Libya Shield force and Jadhran's forces.
If it happened, he said, it could open the door to the oil terminals being handed over. But, repeating the demand of Cyrenaica's "prime minister" Abdaraba Abdulhamid Al-Barasi earlier this week, he said that Decree No. 42 issued by the President of Congress, Nuri Abu Sahmain, on 8 March in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief and ordering an armed force to free the oil terminals had first to be withdrawn. The Misrata-based Central Libya Shield force which went to Sirte last Tuesday in response to the decree had to return home.
Four days ago, the Misratans claimed they had pulled out from Sirte which they moved into on 11 March, and from three oilfields near Zillah to which they had then advanced.
Other reports claim that they were forced out of the oilfields by Jadhran's men.
On 12 March, Abu Sahmain suspended his order for two weeks to allow for mediators to persuade Jadhran's forces to hand over the terminals. The suspension is due to end on 26 March.
It is reported that that the Libya Shield force asked for a week to consider its reply to the demand about withdrawing from Sirte. That would also be on 26 March.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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The U.S. Navy will meet Libyan authorities in international waters in the next day or two to hand over a tanker carrying contraband Libyan oil seized this week by U.S. commandos in the Mediterranean, the Pentagon said on Friday, Reuters reported.
A Navy SEAL commando team boarded the Morning Glory from an inflatable boat early on Monday as it lay off Cyprus, taking control of the vessel in less than two hours with no one hurt and no shots fired.
"We are going to hand over the Morning Glory to Libyan naval authorities within the next day or two in international waters, just outside of the territorial water line of Libya," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
Warren said the United States was also handing over the three Libyan hijackers and the ship's original 21-member crew, which the Pentagon has said included six Pakistanis, six Indians, three Sri Lankans, two Syrians, two Sudanese and two Eritreans.
"To my knowledge, none of the crew asked for U.S. asylum," Warren said.
The Morning Glory had been escorted by the USS Stout, a guided-missile destroyer. But Warren said that the Stout had been relieved on Wednesday, and that the tanker was now being escorted by the USS Elrod, a guided-missile frigate. Some 34 sailors from the Elrod were aboard the Morning Glory, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Since Morning Glory seeds contain small amounts of LSD... the crew and hijackers (being seeds of the ship) should be checked for drugs before the turnover.
[An Nahar] The largest trial in Egypt's history begins Saturday when more than 1,200 supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... face charges of violence during an August police crackdown, judicial sources said.
Among the defendants in the trial, to be held in Minya, south of the capital, will be the supreme guide of Morsi's now-banned Moslem Brüderbund, Mohammed Badie, the sources said Friday.
The alleged attacks on individuals and public property are said to have taken place in southern Egypt in August, after security forces broke up two Cairo protest camps set up by Morsi supporters demanding his reinstatement.
Hundreds of people died in the assault on those camps and in subsequent festivities that day.
Amnesia Amnesty International says at least 1,400 people were killed in those festivities and in violence since then, while thousands more have been tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Thousands of Bahrainis, mainly from the Shiite majority, demonstrated near Manama Friday against what they described as "sectarian discrimination" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
"No to discrimination," chanted protesters brandishing Bahrain's red-and-white flag as they marched along Budaiya main road, which links Shiite villages with the capital, witnesses said.
Ali Salman, chief holy man of the main Shiite formation Al-Wefaq was among leaders of the opposition who participated, according to images the group posted online.
They carried posters of prominent opponents locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! over their roles in the short-lived uprising of February 2011, including the Sunni head of the secular Waed party, Ibrahim Sharif, who is serving a five-year sentence.
"Sectarian discrimination is eating into the body of Bahrain in a systematic way applied by authorities," opposition groups said in a statement at the end of the demonstration, referring to the Al-Khalifa dynasty.
The protest was held on the occasion of the U.N.'s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Secretary General, Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI), Liaquat Baloch on Friday said that the Protection of Pakistain Ordinance and the security policy were a conspiracy to turn Pakistain into a secular country.
Addressing a convention of the Jamaat-e-Talaba Arabia in Lahore, he said that the secular lobby in the country was out to shake the foundations of the mosques and the madrassahs to fulfill a western agenda.
He said it was unfortunate that the secular elements were working so openly under the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz government.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... he said that the Pak Moslems would defend the Islamic ideology, the mosques and the madrassahs at every cost.
The JI Secretary General said that the madrassahs, the mosques and the pulpit were the strongest fortresses of the Pakistain ideology and the movement for the enforcement of the Islamic system, and the government should allow them to perform their religious duties independently.
Baloch said that instead of interfering in the working of the mosques and madrassahs, the government should take note of the destruction of the education system in the universities and colleges along with the free mixing of the genders at educational campuses which, according to him, leads to immoral practices.
The society, he said, was badly suffering from chaos, disruption and extremism.
He said that Islam is the religion of love and peace but disruption was the outcome of the rulers drifting away from the objectives of the creation of Pakistain.
He said the Tahafuz-e-Pakistain Conference being organised by the JI in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... on the 23rd of March would be a historic event.
The Protection of Pakistain Ordinance (PPO) which Liaquat Baloch criticised, is seen by many as a draconian law.
Critics say in its present shape the law gives powers to security agencies to infringe the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under the constitution.
Others say that it will lead the country to the path of becoming a 'security state'.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Everything that is wrong with Pakistan is because of the likes of JI & Co.
Sharia law V Democracy=WOT
Posted by: Paul D ||
03/22/2014 17:45 Comments ||
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[DAWN] One of the members of the government's first committee formed to negotiate peace with the Pak Taliban, Major (retd) Amir on Friday said that armed forces are the real stakeholders on the matter and their leadership should decide the future course of the dialogue for achieving better results.
Speaking during an interview with BBC Urdu, he said that the army should be on the driving seat in the grinding of the peace processor because they are not only "affected but also capable."
Amir said that after the formation of new government committee, the previous one has been dissolved as it was an uphill task to keep it going due to continuous attention of the media on its members.
The retired major, who played a vital role in the initial dialogue process with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), has often remained a fair distance with the media. He was reportedly involved in secret negotiations with former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud as well hence became a close aide to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... "No matter what you call it......I've informed the prime minister that the real say in the matter is that of the armed forces."
The new government negotiators have rightly decided to stay away from the media, said the retired major who appeared displeased with Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... -Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... 's severe criticism aimed at the first government committee.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A U.N. rights expert who probes Israel's conduct towards Paleostinians on Friday accused the Jewish state of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies.
If them juices had been ethnically cleansing anybody, wouldn't we expect there'd be considerably fewer of them around the place, instead of millions more?
"The realities on the ground are worsening from the point of view of both international law and from the point of view of the Paleostinian people," Richard Falk, an 82-year-old American who is an emeritus law professor at Princeton University, told news hounds.
Falk is due to step down this month as the U.N. Human Rights Council's monitor for the Paleostinian territories taken over by Israel in 1967 -- the West Bank, Gazoo Strip and East Jerusalem.
Since he was appointed in 2008, he said, Israel has built more settlements in Paleostinian territories, imposed "collective punishment" on Gazoo, demolished homes and repeatedly deployed "excessive force".
He also accused Israel of a "systematic and continued effort to change the ethnic composition of East Jerusalem" by voiding Paleostinians' residence permits, confiscating property and allowing unlawful Israeli settlements there.
"This is systematic discrimination on the basis of ethnic identity, with the objective of creating a different demographic in Jerusalem," he said, calling it a form of "ethnic cleansing".
"All of these features that are objectionable from the point of view of international law have continued and intensified during my six years," he said.
"What is called occupation is now more widely understood to be a form of annexation, the embodiment of apartheid in the sense that there's a discriminatory dual system of law, giving legal protection to the Israeli settlers and subjecting the Paleostinian population under occupation to a continuing existence without rights," he added.
Falk has repeatedly locked horns with Israel, the United States, Canada and some human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups for positions including labeling Israel's 2008 offensive against Gazoo a war crime, and urging a boycott of companies helping Israel's settlement drive in the Paleostinian territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Richard Falk. The Jimmy Carter of Rapporteurs
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2014 11:33 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe he can have Nellie's locker at the lair of The Elders. Right between Jimmah's and Tutu's...
[Jerusalem Post] The United States is still waiting for an apology from Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon over critical comments that he made about President Barack Obama earlier this week.
State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Friday that the US is "disappointed with the lack of an apology" by Ya'alon. Psaki added that the US still had "concerns" about Ya'alon's "pattern of behavior." "Truth sounds like hate to those who hate truth."
#3
An apology for telling the truth won't change facts, like e.g. the facts Putin is creating in Crimea.
It is interesting btw that neither the Boris Huseinovich Obamov Barack Obama administration nor the Republicans ever demanded the Egyptian MB government apologize for its impudentconduct.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A rising chorus of Israeli voices is again raising the possibility of carrying out a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in what appears to be an attempt to draw renewed attention to Tehran's atomic program -- and Israel's unhappiness with international negotiations with the Iranians.
In recent days, a series of newspaper reports and comments by top defense officials have signaled that the military option remains very much on the table. While Israeli officials say Israel never shelved the possibility of attacking, the heightened rhetoric marks a departure from Israel's subdued approach since six world powers opened negotiations with Iran last November. Hat tip to our Rantburg correspondent in Beloit, WI.
The Philippine government on Friday said it has invited the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to witness the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) despite its opposition to the agreement.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Ging Deles has confirmed that an invitation was sent to the MNLF. Lacierda said they expect more than a thousand guests to attend the historic signing of the deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) at the palace on Thursday next week.
He said, âWe are expecting more than a thousand guests to witness the signing of the comprehensive agreement on the Bangsamoro. The venue will be in the MalacaĂąang."
According Lacierda, the government hopes that the Bangsamoro Law will be passed before the year ends. He said, âWe are hoping that they would be able to finalize everything by March or by April but, we need the draft to be submitted to us early so that the process will beâŚThe Bangsamoro Transition Commission will forward it to the Office of the President for further review."
Lacierda said that once it is approved, it will be submitted to Congress and the President will certify it as urgent.
Posted by: ryuge ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
So exactly what Moro group will take control of the Bangsamoro area? The ARMM is run by the MNLF and the land it given to them by the Phil govt per the Libya peace accord. Its no wonder the MNLF is not happy with it. The MNLF used the MILF as their soldiers. This will be interesting. Expect to see some red on red happening as soon as the government officials start to try and manage the corruption away from the MNLF.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/22/2014 0:43 Comments ||
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#3
Back when Marcos was in power Libya and the OIC were involved with the MNLF providing weapons, training, and political support. With the help of Libya a Peace accord was signed in the 70's. Peace did not last long and in the late 70's another agreement was signed giving the Mindanao Muslims autonomy, limited. The MNLD signed it but the militarized side of the MNLF broke away in disagreement. They believed the accord did not go far enough. They formed the MILF and build a pretty good insurgent military operation. When Russia invaded Afghanistan the Mujahidin recruited from the MILF to go fight the Russians. When they returned they held ties to both the MNLF and the MILF but they would not conform to either. They formed the Abu Sayyaf and became the more radical jihad in Mindanao with fairly strong ties to UBL. One of the Abu Sayyaf married his niece I believe. This is the short version of how they got to where they are. Now Marcos was trying to dilute the muslim population by migrating thousands of Christians to the area as well. So you will find enclaves, like Zamboanga and General Santos city that are primarily catholic. And it all gets confused from there.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/22/2014 15:34 Comments ||
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#4
Please excuse my grammar and spelling....
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/22/2014 15:35 Comments ||
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#5
Thank you, Professor 49Pan, for that very useful session of Rantburg University. ;-)
[An Nahar] Syria's army has been making advances against the opposition in recent days by exploiting divisions among rebel fighters and by relying on elite fighters from 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... , analysts say.
On Sunday, the regime seized the rebel bastion of Yabrud, near the Lebanese border, dealing a powerfully symbolic and strategic blow.
And on Thursday, its forces recaptured the famed Krak des Chevaliers Crusader castle in central Homs province, which had been seized by rebels shortly after the uprising began in March 2011.
The advances have been aided by a new strategy developed in the wake of truces negotiated between the government and opposition in areas around Damascus, an army official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The army has learned the lessons of the truces around Damascus," where exhausted fighters have laid down their arms.
"It completely encircles an area and allows fighters to leave if they turn over their arms and pledge not to resume fighting," he added.
"That creates serious divisions between the local rebels and the hardliners, particularly the jihadists, and then the army attacks."
The description accords with accounts given by fighters and activists in both Yabrud, where jihadists accused moderate rebels of abandoning the town, and the Krak des Chevaliers battle.
"The fort area was under army siege for more than two years," an activist with ties to rebel commanders in Homs told AFP.
"To get food in, the fighters had to pay bribes at the military checkpoints."
He said the rebels were left exhausted, and were further demoralized after troops took the nearby town of Al-Zara.
"The situation became even more difficult, and there was an agreement where the regime agreed to open a safe passage for the fighters to leave to Leb so they could withdraw, and that's what happened," he said.
Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, said that had become a familiar scenario in the conflict, now in its fourth year.
"Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... -linked groups have consistently demonstrated a willingness to pragmatically withdraw when the defense of a certain locality has become futile," he told AFP.
Jihadist fighters, including the al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front, have been less willing to do so in some cases, leading to "recriminations," he added.
The divisions have been exacerbated by infighting in rebel-held areas in the north, where opposition groups have turned against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
And fighters say new weapons pledged by outside backers and the opposition National Coalition never arrived at the Yabrud front.
Fabrice Balanche, a Syria specialist and geographer, also cited the opposition divisions.
"A divided opposition facing a united regime cannot win," he said.
But he noted that Hizbullah and the National Defense Forces, a local pro-regime militia, had help bolster the army.
"Since the recapture of Qusayr, the regime has gone on the offensive," he said, referring to a Homs provincial town the army took from the rebels last June.
"The National Defense Forces are protecting the territory that the government has taken, which has freed up the soldiers to launch new offensives, strengthened by Hizbullah," he told AFP.
The Lebanese group is believed to have played a key role in the army's recapture of Yabrud, which lies close to the Lebanese border.
The fall of the town and subsequent operations nearby to seal off the border will sever rebel supply lines that ran across it.
The town's capture came after a lengthy regime operation in the surrounding Qalamun region last year, during which it captured a string of nearby towns and began shelling Yabrud.
Thomas Pierret, a Syria specialist at the University of Edinburgh, also emphasized Hizbullah's role in the capture of Yabrud and broader Qalamun.
"The regime's success in Qalamun was due to Hizbullah's strong involvement because of the area's proximity to Leb," he said.
But he cautioned against assuming the regime's recent advances marked a turning point in the conflict, noting rebel success elsewhere.
"I think that we need to do away with these generalizations, between these military developments are highly local," he said.
"The regime advances in some areas; it is pushed back in others."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] 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... lashed out at the resistance on Friday, saying that it transcended the power given to it when it decided to engage in battles in the neighboring country Syria.
Ah. He's talking about Hizb'allah, not some legitimate resistance movement against an actual tyrant.
"I am committed to my inauguration oath but when the resistance surpassed the authority given to it I had to be honest with the public and say what my responsibilities compel my as per my constitutional post," Suleiman said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.
Suleiman said that the campaigns against him over his recent remark that "wooden equations" should be evaded, the "people-army-resistance formula was proven to be void."
He addressed those who are behind the political campaign targeting him, saying: "You agreed to adopt the Baabda declaration then backed down... It was established to safeguard the country from all dangers."
Suleiman wondered if the involvement in battles in Syria safeguards the country.
He ruled out reports saying that the term "wooden" he used during a speech at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in February to describe the people-army-resistance formula is the mistake of an adviser.
"They still don't know who Michel Suleiman is," the president stressed.
Suleiman's comments had enraged 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... , accusing him of not being able to differentiate between "what's golden and what's wooden."
The party said that Baabda Palace has come to require "special care."
The president reiterated calls on Hizbullah to withdraw from the neighboring country Syria as the matter had a negative impact on Leb.
Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against rebels seeking the overthrow of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ...
The conflict, pitting a Sunni-dominated rebel movement against Assad, has raised sectarian tensions in Leb and Lebanese Sunni fighters have also been killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebels.
The Baabda Declaration was unanimously adopted during a national dialogue session in June 2012. It calls for Leb to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
[Tolo News] The Ministry of Interior Affairs has linked the Haqqani Network to Thursday night's attack on the upscale Serena Hotel in Kabul, where nine civilians, including women, children and four foreign nationals were 
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[An Nahar] The largest trial in Egypt's history begins Saturday when more than 1,200 supporters of ousted Islamist president 
Nawaz Sharif
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
[An Nahar] A U.N. rights expert who probes Israel's conduct towards Paleostinians on Friday accused the Jewish state of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies.
[Jerusalem Post] The United States is still waiting for an apology from Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon over critical comments that he made about President Barack Obama earlier this week. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
