[AnNahar] The two leading candidates in Afghanistan's presidential election raised allegations of ballot fraud on Sunday, setting the stage for a difficult second-round vote likely to be targeted by Taliban attacks.
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... and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani will compete in a head-to-head vote after results from the April 5 election showed neither gained the 50 percent needed for first-round victory.
The eventual winner will lead Afghanistan into a new era as U.S.-led NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... combat troops end their 13-year war against the Islamist insurgency that erupted after 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... took power in 2001.
"With the evidence we have, the victory of our team is evident and clear," Abdullah said, adding that he would have won the first round decisively if the election had been clean.
"We said from the beginning that fraud is our only rival, and we still hope that the complaints we have delivered will be addressed in a transparent way.
"There were fraud violations -- organized, systematic fraud."
Abdullah also accused the government of "meddling" in the vote.
The 2009 election, when Karzai retained power after defeating Abdullah, was marred by massive fraud in a chaotic process that shook the multinational effort to develop the country after the ousting of the austere Taliban regime.
Preliminary results released on Saturday showed Abdullah secured 44.9 percent of the first-round vote, with Ghani on 31.5 percent.
The final result is set to be announced on May 14 after a period for adjudication of hundreds of fraud complaints -- followed by a run-off tentatively scheduled for June 7.
Another expensive, and potentially violent, election could be avoided by negotiations in the coming weeks, but both sides have dismissed talk of a power-sharing deal.
"After inspection of fraud, the distance between the two top candidates will lessen," he said. "A second round is a must according to the constitution. Any doubts will threaten the stability of Afghanistan.
"If the polls are transparent, I will be the first to congratulate the winner, and we expect the same from them, because we will be the winner," Ghani added.
"We will go for principles, not deals. The people's votes tell me not to strike any deals with anyone behind the curtains."
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... mission in Afghanistan welcomed the results, but warned election officials that they must address all fraud complaints "in a professional, expeditious and open manner."
Eight men ran in the election three weeks ago, with polling day hailed as a success by Afghan officials and foreign allies.
Turnout was far better than in 2009 and the Taliban failed to launch a major attack despite threats to disrupt the vote.
A run-off in June -- at the height of the traditional "fighting season" -- could be more problematic for Afghanistan's stretched security forces.
Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term in office, stayed publicly neutral in the election.
But he was widely thought to have lent some support to his loyal 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..... , who took just 11 percent of the vote.
Rassoul could still play a key role in power-broking before the next president is chosen, as could former Islamist warlord Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf, who collected seven percent.
Abdullah, a pro-U.S. politician who came second in the 2009 election, was a close adviser to the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, a revered Tajik ethnic leader who fought the Taliban during their 1996-2001 rule.
Ghani is a renowned intellectual who energized the campaign with his fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... speeches and is more favored by the larger Pashtun ethnic group.
Both candidates have pledged to explore peace talks with the Taliban and sign a deal with Washington that could allow 10,000 U.S. troops to stay on after this year on a training and counter-terrorism mission.
Nearly seven million people voted out of an estimated electorate of 13.5 million.
Of those who voted, 36 percent were female -- a figure seen as a sign of some improvement in women's status in society.
[AnNahar] A Libyan court said Sunday that it would appoint a lawyer for slain strongman Muammar Qadaffy ... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV... 's son Seif al-Islam after he insisted in a controversial hearing by video link that "God is my counsel."
Just 22 of 37 former Qadaffy regime officials being tried for a raft of alleged abuses during the 2011 uprising that ended his 42-year rule were in court for Sunday's hearing in the capital.
Seif spoke by video conference from Zintan, a hill town southwest of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , where he is in the custody of former rebel militia.
Eight other defendants, including former internal security chief Mansur Daw, appeared by video link from Libya's third largest city Misrata.
The court ruled at a previous hearing earlier this month that it was too dangerous to move the defendants to the capital for the trial and ordered video links to be established instead.
The ruling drew condemnation from human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups, which had already expressed serious concern about the prospects for the defendants receiving a fair trial.
Among those present in the dock on Sunday were former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi and Qadaffy's last premier, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.
All the defendants are charged with murder, kidnapping, complicity in incitement to rape, plunder, sabotage, embezzlement of public funds and acts harmful to national unity.
The court set the next hearing for May 11.
Seif is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 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... -backed uprising.
In May last year, the ICC rejected Tripoli's request to try Seif in Libya because of doubts over a fair trial. Tripoli has appealed the decision.
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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An Egyptian court on Saturday convicted and sentenced 11 alleged supporters of the countryâs ousted president to up to 88 years in prison on charges that include violating a protest law and assaulting police. Five of the 11 people sentenced on Saturday by the court in the southern city of Minya were tried in absentia. The charges against all of the defendants were linked to demonstrations in the town of Samallout to protest the violent dispersal by security forces of two weeks-long pro-Mursi sit-ins that killed hundreds and wounded thousands.
The presiding judge on Saturday was the same one who issued death sentences against nearly 530 suspects in mass trial in March. The ruling stunned rights groups, and drew condemnation from abroad.
In Cairo, meanwhile, hundreds of secular-minded activists and protesters rallied in front of the presidential palace, demanding the interim president abolish a disputed protest law used extensively over the past months to jail and prosecute activists, including leading figures of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
The law issued in November bans all political gatherings and protests without prior permission from police. Violators are punished by heavy fines or jail. Rights groups have sharply criticised the law, calling it draconian.
While marching toward the palace on Saturday, some of the protesters chanted âFreedomâ and âAbolish the law, get them out of prison.â Others carried pictures of jailed activists. A few in the crowd tore down posters for the former military chief Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi, who is now the front-runner in next monthâs presidential elections.
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Thousands of Yemenis rallied in the port city of Mukalla on Sunday to demand statehood for the formerly independent south 20 years after the crushing of a secession bid.
The rally was organized by the hardline wing of the Southern Movement which is clamoring for the renewed independence of the south, 20 years after a civil war ended with its occupation by northern troops.
The separatists rejected plans unveiled in February for six-unit federation in which two regions are planned for the south, one based in Mukalla and the other in the largest southern city, Aden, where a pro-independence rally also took place on Sunday.
The south was independent between the end of British colonial rule in 1967 and its union with the north in 1990.
A secession attempt four years later sparked a brief but bloody civil war that ended with northern forces occupying the region.
"This rally is a message addressed to the world saying that the south is under occupation," said activist Basser Bakazkuz.
In Aden, police prevented protesters from reaching a main square in the city's diplomatic district, witnesses said.
[Dhaka Tribune] A former Pakistain military officer has termed the ongoing war crimes trial in Bangladesh a "sham."
The retired military officer, Col M Hanif, claims that the killings, tortures, rapes and other human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations that may have taken place in 1971 were mainly the results of internal conflicts among Bangalee groups.
Hanif came up with the claim in a column published in the Pakistain Observer on Saturday.
The article titled "Sham trials in Bangladesh" also questions the number of three million people having died and 200,000 women having been raped during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971. Hanif terms the numbers a propaganda by the Awami League.
Hanif claims that Bangladesh is demanding trial of the former members of the Pakistain Army on the directive of India to tarnish Pakistain's and its army's international image and break up Pakistain and Bangladesh's friendly relations.
Terming Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence an "Indian engineered separatist struggle," Hanif says India also wants tense relations between the Awami League and the BNP as Bangladesh-Pakistain relations have been good in times of BNP governments.
He praises the BNP for claiming that the war crimes accused were not given the right of a fair trial. "the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , BNP Chairperson, has gone so far as to publicly reject the legitimacy of tribunals," Hamid writes in his article.
Hamid, who works for the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, also claims that a fair trial is being denied to the accused by the Awami League government by amending rules and making International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 too biased.
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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The state government of Veracruz caught with their hand in the cookie jar. This is what I and a number of borderland bloggers have seen saying since the start of 2013: The government of Mexico is cooking the books on crime statistics.
(April 24, 2014)With the correction made before the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, preliminary investigations open for that crime rose from 537 to 836 for 2013.
In Veracruz, homicides and kidnappings are on the rise according to recent figures released by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, in the latest report, this organization reported and had to modify their figures since they failed to report the additional 299 intentional homicides in 2013.
With this, the registered figures in the state increased by 53%, with the intentional homicide figures rising from 537 to 836 for 2013.
According to the analyst Alejandro Hope, the fact that Veracruz barely reported 299 homicides just recently, is proof that the revised figures at national level have not been completed and that the above mentioned "reflects instability in the proportionate figures".
The fact that the figures are modified, Hope said, changes any basis for comparison, "for example Veracruz initially reported that they had 48,000 preliminary investigations in 2013, and in the new report from the Secretariat yesterday, it reports that there were actually 72,000 preliminary investigations meaning that there were 24,000 crimes committed, that were reported, and that were not reported in due time."
North Korea bashed South Korean President Park Geun-hye Sunday over her summit with U.S. President Barack Obama two days ago, saying she insulted the dignity and regime of the communist nation.
Park and Obama held summit talks in Seoul Friday amid indications that North Korea is fully prepared to conduct another nuclear test. The communist nation previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
In a joint press conference with Obama, Park warned Pyongyang that a new form of provocation would lead to new levels of pressure from the international community.
North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles inter-Korean affairs, bristled at the remarks.
"Park Geun-hye met Obama and wickedly took issue with our nuclear (program), our parallel pursuit (of economic development and nuclear armament), and our dignity and regime, letting out a stream of criticism," a spokesman for the committee said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement described Park in explicit and crude terms, calling her "an immature girl" and her remarks "filthy water."
The spokesman also claimed that there is no hope for the future of inter-Korean relations as long as Park remains in power, saying her remarks amounted to a declaration of war.
"Obama's visit to South Korea showed that the United States must be confronted not with words but only with power, and that our judgment and determination that there should be a final settlement through an all-out nuclear battle were completely correct (emphasis added - UP)
," the statement said.
One former CIA agent, Clare Lopez was quoted as saying: 'The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures.'
#1
Lopez suggested that the fact that John Boehner blocked appointing a select committee may mean high ranking congressional leaders had been briefed on the WH plans.
Perhaps the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair, Congressman Mike Rogers could shed some light on the Lopez statement.
[DAWN] KARACHI: Police Sherlocks have found that the Friday bombing in the Clifton area 'missed the target' by only '10 seconds', as CCTV footage showed the bus carrying people belonging to the Shia community had just passed through the area when the explosives-laden rickshaw exploded, it emerged on Saturday.
The Sherlocks associated with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police and intelligence agencies visited the blast site many times on Chaudhary Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road in Clifton's block 8 a day following the tragedy.
Apart from recording statements of area people and those who rushed to the blast site after the huge kaboom shook the district south, the Sherlocks also succeeded in obtaining the footage of the incident recorded by one of the cameras installed at a
nearby residential building for security purposes.
"The CCTV footage show that the rickshaw exploded exactly 10 seconds after the bus carrying the people who had offered prayers at Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct™, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... Yasrab in DHA Phase IV passed through the bombing site," said an investigator pursuing the case.
"Fortunately the miscalculation of the time and the distance between the bus and the rickshaw saved us from an even bigger tragedy."
The official said the rickshaw 'most probably' containing locally-made 10-kilo bomb was parked on the other side of the road with part of it dug up. The three-wheeler was 'deliberately' parked on the dug up site expecting the bus to slow down on this patch of the road, he added.
"But the bus driver fortunately crossed that patch at the usual speed that probably was not expected by the people who had planned the attack and they missed the target by seconds. Secondly the bus passed by the explosives-laden rickshaw not closely but at some distance," the investigator noted.
At least six people, including a woman and her son, were killed and 28 injured in the kaboom in Clifton on Friday just a day after a police officer and three other people had been killed in a suicide kaboom near the old Sabzi Mandi (vegetable market).
Speculation about the target of the Friday bombing came to an end when Sindh IG Iqbal Mahmood told the media that it was actually the bus carrying the Shia community members who were returning from Imambargah Yasrab in Defence Phase IV after saying Friday prayers.
Unlike the past when banned outfits grabbed credit for such attacks, there was no word from any turban group following the blast. But police Sherlocks considering past attacks and current findings indicating a sectarian motive for the attack believed it was the job of a turban organization.
"The modus operandi suggested that the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... might be involved as it has expertise in such IED [improvised bombs] blasts," said Raja Umer Khatta, who heads the counter-terrorism unit of the CID, while confirming that CCTV cameras recorded the incident.
"It's now confirmed that a 10-kilo locally-made bomb was planted in the rickshaw. There was nothing new in that particular case including the explosive which was used and the way bombing was carried out."
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... the Frere police registered an FIR (106/2014) on behalf of the state under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistain Penal Code (PPC), 3/4 of the Explosive Act and Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act against unidentified suspects.
The district south police also carried out a 'search operation' in the early hours of the day in the neighbouring Delhi Colony and Gizri areas and picked up more than 30 'suspects'. The officials could not explain the motive for the late-night raids on houses in the areas where people complained that the law-enforcement agencies detained mostly labourers without disclosing details. "Most of them were released after a few hours of questioning," said a senior officer wishing not to be named. "They were picked up to seek details which the police wanted to know. There are also reports that some miscreants' presence in the area led to the raids," he added.
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A plan by the 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) to launch a street campaign from May 11 is being viewed with suspicion by most of the major political parties, and even its coalition partner in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government seems reluctant to join it.
They consider Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... 's decision to launch the campaign against the alleged rigging in the last year's elections ill-timed and suspect there is a hidden agenda behind it.
Reports that Dr Tahirul Qadri's Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) may join the PTI protest is the main reason for the political parties to believe that Imran Khan is doing this "at the behest of undemocratic forces".
Though some opposition parties, including the PPP and PML-Q, believe that Mr Khan's complaints about poll rigging are genuine and legitimate, they say the PTI should not go too far in its agitation as it can be detrimental to the democratic set-up and provide an opportunity to undemocratic forces to take advantage of the situation.
The 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), a coalition partner of the PTI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, has not yet decided to participate in the May 11 rally.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Despite the recent emergence of previously unheard of turban organizations which have claimed credit for terrorist attacks, the PML-N government has not banned a single one since coming to power.
In fact, no organization has been banned since the PPP-led government's tenure ended. The last time any such exercise was carried out was in March last year when the PPP government outlawed 14 organizations.
The interior ministry, currently run by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, is responsible for banning such organizations. The exercise of banning organizations commenced under the rule of retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf
Continued on Page 49
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#1
Thats because alot of the groups are punjabi and are used by the PML Govt and the Pak army/ISI
Posted by: Paul D ||
04/28/2014 6:33 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Member of the Taliban nominated negotiating committee, Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time... , said on Sunday that the government and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) should focus on the peace talks rather than a ceasefire, DawnNews reported.
Addressing a conference in Akhora Khattak, the chief Taliban mediator said that those talking about military action were "enemies of Pakistain" and war benefited no one. He added that the rest of the world wanted war instead of peace in Pakistain and both sides would have to show patience.
He further said that the media and anchorpersons were advocating war while scholars were backing peace talks.
Haq expressed his regrets over what he said were artificial barriers created every time there was progress in the negotiations.
Maulana Sami further said that both the parties would be held responsible in case there was an escalation in hostilities.
The senior religious scholar who is also known as the 'Father of the Taliban said that the country would have to unite as one in order to douse the fire lit in it by foreigners.
He further said that hope was not lost and the peace talks between the government and Taliban committees would resume soon.
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[AnNahar] When Iraqis go to the polls in Wednesday's general election, regional strife could make neighboring Iran, former occupier the U.S., Gulf nations and Syria silent voters as well, analysts believe.
The election is the first since American troops withdrew in late 2011, and since then U.S. influence has waned while Iran has acquired more clout inside its Arab neighbor.
The conflict in Syria between Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... and mostly Sunni rebels that erupted in March 2011 has also spilled over the border, and could influence the election outcome.
"Elections in Iraq are taking place amid a raging regional conflict, with Syria as its main source, and Iraq is not far from this conflict," said Issam al-Faili, professor of political history at Storied Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University.
"Iraq was historically an arena for the conflict between the great powers, and today once again it seems Iraq is the stage for similar disputes that have made Iran, the U.S., the Gulf states and also the conflict in Syria voters."
Tehran and Washington both played a key role in the re-election of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... in 2010 at the head of a national unity coalition.
But the American military withdrawal in late 2011 allowed Iran to build its political influence over its neighbor, making it the biggest foreign player in the country it fought a brutal war against from 1980-1988.
"The Iranian influence is certainly greater because they have direct control of some parties" in Iraq, said Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
But he said that the U.S. can exert its influence over Storied Baghdad through its ability to "refuse to supply" weapons.
Iraqi security forces are currently battling a concerted rise in attacks nationwide, and Washington is still Storied Baghdad's main arms supplier.
The rise of Iranian influence has also embroiled Iraq in the dispute between Tehran and the mostly Sunni Gulf monarchies over the conflict in Syria.
Syria's bloody civil war has divided Iraqi politicians, with Storied Baghdad's Shiite-led government publicly adopting neutrality.
Iraq has called for a political solution to Syria's conflict and rejected arming rebels battling President Assad's regime, a stance supported by most Gulf monarchies.
Maliki launched a scathing attack on Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and Qatar in Iraq in March, accusing them of declaring war on Iraq and saying that Riyadh was "supporting terrorism" in the region and the world.
Most of Iraq's Shiite majority frets about backing the largely Sunni rebels fighting the Syrian regime, dominated by the Shiite offshoot Alawite sect, in case they win and later back Iraqi Sunnis.
From 2006-2008, Iraq was ravaged by a bloody sectarian civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, who had dominated Iraq until the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.
"Many foreign powers have agents in Iraq," Faili said.
"These agents owe their loyalty to the states that support them, principally the Gulf states, which will try in the elections and their aftermath to push for a government loyal to them, as opposed to Iran's insistence on a government that supports its regional policies."
"Iran's national security will not allow a government that does not support (Tehran), and its regional competitors that might find the U.S. on their side will push for the opposite."
Despite this clash over regional influence, analysts and diplomats say Iran strongly hopes that Iraq's election succeeds.
A successful election could help Iraq establish cohesion and unity among its Shiites so Tehran can devote itself fully to the conflict in Syria.
"Iran has been playing power games (in Iraq) for a long time," said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... "Their priority in Iraq right now is to keep it as quiet as they can because they've got their hands full with Syria" and are too busy organizing "Shiite militias sending Iraqis to fight along with (Leb's) 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... in Syria".
"If Iraq might look like it might become too successful, maybe the Iranians will stir things up a bit, maybe, but it's not in danger of looking too successful."
[Al Ahram] Ahead of Iraqi elections, and amid renewed sectarian violence, Iraq's Kurds are amplifying calls for formal independence from Baghdad, which some see as risking civil war
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Independent Kurdistan - another potential ally Champ could alienate.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/28/2014 13:02 Comments ||
Top||
The United States is quietly expanding the number of intelligence officers in Iraq and holding urgent meetings in Washington and Baghdad to find ways to counter growing violence by Islamic militants, U.S. government sources said.
I thought our involvement there was done...
A high-level Pentagon team is now in Iraq to assess possible assistance for Iraqi forces in their fight against radical jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group reconstituted from an earlier incarnation of al Qaeda, said two current government officials and one former U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The powerful ISIL, which seeks to impose strict sharia law in the Sunni majority populated regions of Iraq, now boasts territorial influence stretching from Iraq's western Anbar province to northern Syria, operating in some areas close to Baghdad, say U.S. officials.
Rather like how the Viet Cong controlled much of the highlands...
Senior U.S. policy officials, known as the "Deputies Committee," met in Washington this week to discuss possible responses to the deteriorating security outlook in Iraq. The meetings underscore how Iraq's instability is posing a new foreign policy challenge for President Barack Obama, who celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops more than two years ago. Despite the concern, officials said it remains unclear whether Obama will commit significant new resources to the conflict.
I hear he's really teed off...
Four months after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared war on Sunni militants in Iraq's western Anbar province, the fighting has descended into brutal atrocities, often caught on video and in photographs by both militants and Iraqi soldiers. Iraqi soldiers say they are bogged down in a slow, vicious fight with ISIL and other Sunni factions in the city of Ramadi and around nearby Falluja.
One former and two current U.S. security officials said the number of U.S. intelligence personnel in Baghdad had already begun to rise but that the numbers remained relatively small.
"It's more than before, but not really a lot," said one former official with knowledge of the matter.
Much of the pressure to do more is coming from the U.S. military, the former official said, but it is unclear if the White House wants to get more deeply involved.
After ending nearly nine years of war in Iraq, the United States has limited military options inside the country. About 100 U.S. military personnel remain, overseeing weapons sales and cooperation with Iraqi security forces.
The U.S. government has rushed nearly 100 Hellfire missiles, M4 rifles, surveillance drones and 14 million rounds of ammunition to the Iraqi military since January, U.S. officials said. The Obama administration has also started training Iraqi special forces in neighboring Jordan. Before the U.S. military withdrew, it trained, equipped and conducted operations with Iraqi special forces.
But we didn't finish the job so now it's coming back to bite us...
Staff from the Pentagon's Central Command are working closely with the Iraqi military but have advised it against launching major operations due to concerns Iraqi forces are not prepared for such campaigns, the former U.S. official said.
Like I was saying...
In Anbar, militants have a major presence in Falluja, while in Ramadi there is a stalemate, with territory divided among Iraqi government forces, ISIL and other Sunni armed groups.
In testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee in February, Brett McGurk, the State Department's top official on Iraq, described how convoys of up to 100 trucks, mounted with heavy weapons and flying al Qaeda flags, moved into Ramadi and Falluja on New Year's Day. Local forces in Ramadi subsequently succeeded in pushing militants back, but the situation in Falluja remained "far more serious," McGurk said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Intelligence officers may not be the only thing being sent:
Security Manager
The Alion team in Dayton Ohio is seeking an experienced security manager
to perform analysis in all Department of Defense security specialties
(information, personnel, physical, industrial, IT) to ensure successful
site activation and bed-down of F-16s at Balad AB, Iraq. The candidate
must be willing to deploy to Balad AB, Iraq for up to one year with rest
& relaxation (R&R) time-off at regular intervals. Must have a minimum
of five (5) years working experience with DoD security processes and
requirements. A working knowledge of Iraq customs is preferred but not
required. Ability to speak Arabic is preferred but not required.
Applicant selected will be subject to a background investigation and
must pass deployment readiness training, including medical readiness.
Applicant must be a U.S. Citizen and possess at least a SECRET Clearance.
[Al Ahram] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday Israel would not negotiate with a Paleostinian unity government unless Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, declares it recognizes Israel.
Netanyahu said the preferable course of action to get peace negotiations back on track would be for Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... to renounce Hamas, the Islamist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
"Either Hamas disavows the destruction of Israel and embraces peace and denounces terror or president Abbas renounces Hamas," Netanyahu said, speaking on CNN's State of the Union.
"If one of those things happened, we could get back to the peace negotiations. I hope he renounces Hamas and gets back to the peace table, as I've just said. The ball is in his court," he said.
Netanyahu suspended faltering peace talks with the Paleostinians last week after Abbas and Hamas agreed to form a unity government.
Netanyahu's comments came after Abbas, in a speech Saturday to PLO leaders, said his unity government with Hamas would reject violence and abide by existing agreements.
Abbas also on Sunday declared that the Holocaust was "the most heinous crime" against humanity in the modern era, his strongest remarks yet on the Nazi genocide.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The Philippines said it would sign an agreement on Monday with the United States to allow a greater U.S. military presence on its territory, giving it a security boost amid a bitter territorial dispute with China.
A statement from the Department of National Defense on Sunday said the signing would take place in Manila on Monday morning, a few hours before U.S. President Barack Obama is due to arrive for a two-day visit.
U.S. officials in Malaysia traveling with Obama confirmed the agreement would be signed between the long-time allies, which are already bound by a pact to come to each other's aid if attacked.
Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council, said the deal was a "skeletal and muscular" framework that would allow the two sides to discuss rotations of U.S. troops, naval visits and training exercises.
He said the deal was "the most significant agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades".
Medeiros dismissed the notion that Washington saw the agreement through a prism of containing China's rising military might.
"We are not doing this because of China. We are doing this because we have a longstanding alliance partner. They are interested in stepping up our military-to-military" interaction, he said.
But the Philippines had been pushing for the agreement to help bolster its weak military as it engages in an increasingly tense row with China over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.
The Philippine side did not reveal details of the pact on Sunday.
But Filipino negotiators had previously said it would allow more U.S. troops, aircraft, and ships to pass through the Philippines.
It would also allow the United States to store equipment that could be used to mobilize American forces faster -- particularly in cases of natural disasters.
The deal would not allow Washington to establish a permanent base or bring in nuclear weapons, according to the Filipino negotiators.
The Philippines hosted two of the largest overseas U.S. military bases until 1992, when Manila voted to end their lease amid growing anti-U.S. sentiment.
The Philippines in recent years however has been seeking greater U.S. military and diplomatic support in its dispute with China.
China claims most of the South China Sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other countries in the region.
Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as Taiwan, also have overlapping claims to the sea, which are believed to contain vast deposits of natural gas and oil.
The Philippines has accused China of becoming increasingly aggressive in staking its claims to the sea, including by taking control of a shoal far closer to the Filipino land mass than the Chinese.
Chinese ships also last month tried to block vessels bringing supplies to a Philippine military outpost on a tiny reef claimed by China.
The Philippines has angered China by asking a United Nations tribunal to rule on the validity of China's claims to the sea.
China has refused to take part in the case, and said the Philippines' move had "seriously damaged" bilateral ties.
You know they amended their Constitution after we left Subic and Clark to prohibit stationing foreign troops in country. This is like Americans buying property in Mexico within 100 km from the coast. Their Constitution prohibits it and the paper such sale are written on are worthless as soon as someone exercises the power to make it so.
In any case, Rising China's prob remains the on-going US entrenchment or retrenchment throughout East Asia.
Again, as per "SHARING THE PACIFIC" > CHINA SEES POTENT USDOD MILBASES [include Pro-US Allied, Neutrals] EVERYWHERE JUST OFF ITS COASTS = MAJOR TRADE CORRIDORS WHILE SIMUL SEEING NO PLA MILBASES JUST OFF US COASTS OR MAJOR TRADE CORRIDORS.
It is illogical or ludicrous for Globalists to desire China to be a OWG Global Fed Union(s)Co-Superpower but for China to still be isolated to only widin its borders the Asian mainland.
SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG AS PER THE PREMISES OF OWG GLOBALISM, OR ELSE SOMEBODY IS SERIOUSLY LYING TO [Nuke-armed = Nuclear Club, UNSC Member-State] CHINA [etal].
* Lest we fergit, TOPIX + WORLD NEWS > HAGEL: US SUPPORTS THE MILITARIZATION OF JAPAN IN RESPONSE TO CHINA.
China will very likely interprete US SecDef Hagel's remarks as the US supporting not only Japan's ABE-led "offensive" or "dual-track/use" revampment + remilitarization of the JSDF, but also JAPAN ACQUIRING OR DEV NUCLEAR WEAPONS in support of the US handing over Cold War regional security responsibilities to its East Asia allies.
I highly doubt China will believe the Bammer's remarks on CNN this AM about how the new US-PHIL Pact is not meant to counter andor contain China.
#4
See also RUSSIA TODAY > RIOT POLICE CLASH WID [anti-TPP, US-PHIL Defence Pact] ANTI-OBAMA PROTESTORS IN PHILIPINES.
* RELATED TOPIX > [China Daily] CHINA WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED OR COMPROMISED: ENVOY.
* SAME > [Korea Herald] STRATEGIC RIVALRIES ESCALATE IN EAST ASIA.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [ABC-CBN] PROFESSOR: PHILIPPINES RISKS ANGRY CHINA BY JOINING [US-led, dominated] PACIFIC TRADE PACT, which does NOT include China.
University of the Philippines Prof Roland Simulan.
* Also from DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > VIDEO: PLA GENERAL WARNS OF POSSIBLE DANGEROUS "MISFIRES" FROM JAPANESE PROVOCATIONS AGZ CHINA IN EAST CHINA SEA.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [SMH] MALCOLM FRASER WARNS AUSTRALIA RISKS WAR WID CHINA UNLESS US DEFENCE TIES ARE CUT BACK.
* RELATED WORLD MILITARY FORUM > NEW ZEALAND
"STUFF" MAGAZINE: US + CHINA MOVE STEADILY TOWARD MILITARY SHOWDOWN IN ASIA-PACIFIC IN WAKE OF OBAMA ASIA VISIT.
* SAME > OBAMA SPLITS TAIWAN: US PRESIDENT'S REMARKS IN SUPPORT OF JAPAN IN ISLANDS DISPUTES INDICATES TAHT THE US DOES NOT CONSIDER THE DISPUTED SENKAKUS/DIAOYU ISLANDS TO BE A SOVEREIGN PART OF TAIWAN AKA THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
* GLOBAL TIMES > OP-ED: CONTAINMENT UNLIKELY IN ASIA GEOPOLITCS.
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [Prison Planet] US BEEFS UP MILITARY OPTIONS FOR CHINAAS OBAMA REASSURES ASIA ALLIES.
More USAF B-2, USN CVN NAVEXS, etc. to be held just off China's coasts + peripherals???
#5
OOOOPPPSSS, forgot VOICE OF RUSSIA > [US] STATES DON'T WANT JAPAN TO BE PROBLEM FOR USA LIKE IT WAS DURING WORLD WAR II - ANALYST [Andrey Ivanov].
and
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > LAW + OFFENSIVE MILITARY WARFARE = "LAWFARE". CHINA'S SEIZURE OF JAPANESE MERCHANT VESSEL FOR PRE-WW2 DEBT SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT NEW WORLD ORDER.
"Lawfare" as a form or variant of [Pro-OWG Globalist?] LIMITED WAR/MILACTION where the intent is the voluntary or Military-led forced acquisition of the sovereign territory(s) andor national assets of Debtor-Nation(s) by a Vendor-Nation as payment for debt owed???
NOT GOOD NEWS FOR GUAM-WESTPAC + HAWAII + 1/2 of CONUS-NORAM???
[Al Ahram] Concern over the fate of hundreds who have gone missing in a Syrian city run by the 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... has fuelled a backlash against the jihadist group.
Mothers of the detainees gather every day outside ISIL bases in the city of Raqa, where the hard boy group is in full control and governs through a harsh interpretation of Islamic sharia law, according to residents and activists.
Continued on Page 49
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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Syria maintains an ability to deploy chemical weapons, diplomats say, citing intelligence from Britain, France and the United States that could strengthen allegations Syriaâs military recently used chlorine gas in its bloody civil war.
Careful with that feather, you almost knocked me over...
The comments reflect a growing conviction among Western capitals that President Bashar Al Assad has failed to come clean about Syriaâs chemical weapons programme despite his promises to end it, and they insist the United States and its allies will resist calls by Assad to shut down a special international chemical disarmament mission set up to deal with Syria.
Syria denies it maintains the capacity to deploy chemical weapons, calling the allegation a US and European attempt to use their âchildishâ policies to blackmail Assadâs government. But in a tacit acknowledgement of the original declarationâs incompleteness, Syria earlier this month submitted a more specific list of its chemical weapons to the international disarmament mission after discrepancies were reported by inspectors on the ground, officials said.
Perhaps we could ask the Israelis for the list. And if Pencilneck doesn't come clean we could ask Israel to blow up the offending sites...
Under threat of United States airstrikes, Assad agreed with the United States and Russia in September to dispose of his chemical weapons â an arsenal that Damascus had never previously formally acknowledged â after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in August on the outskirts of the capital. Washington and its Western allies said it was Assadâs forces who unleashed the sarin attack, the worldâs worst chemical attack in a quarter-century. The government blamed the rebel side in Syriaâs civil war, which is now in its fourth year.
The verification of Syriaâs declaration on its poison gas arsenal and its destruction has been overseen by a joint team of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical arms watchdog.
Diplomats say Western governments have long suspected Syria did not declare all aspects of its chemical arms programme. But the envoys say they have kept silent on the issue to avoid giving Assad an excuse to curtail cooperation with the United Nations-OPCW mission and slow down an already delayed timetable for shipping toxins out of the country.
With more than 90 per cent of Syriaâs declared chemical stockpiles now out of the country, Western officials have started to break their silence.
âWe are convinced, and we have some intelligence showing, that they have not declared everything,â a senior Western diplomat told Reuters, adding that the intelligence had come from Britain, France and the US. When asked how much of its program Syria has kept hidden, the diplomat said: âItâs substantial.â He offered no details.
Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaâafari dismissed the charge.
âThese countries arenât really reliable and their policies towards the implementation of the agreement between the Syrian government and the OPCW arenât principled but rather childish,â he said in a mobile-phone text message to Reuters.
"Lies! All lies!"
âIf they have some evidence they must share it with the OPCW rather than pretending to have secret evidence!â
Jaâafari said the three Western powersâ goal was to needlessly extend the UN-OPCW mission by âkeeping the âchemical fileâ open indefinitely so that they can keep exerting pressure and blackmailing the Syrian government.â
Another Western official told Reuters that while there was not 100 percent certainty Syria maintains chemical weapons, the three Western powers agreed that there is a âhigh level of probabilityâ that Syria deliberately under-reported the full extent of its chemical arms-related stockpiles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... met Sunday with former Lebanese General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, who said talks tackled the "cleaning" of Syrian areas near Leb's border from "terrorists" to pave the ground for greater "coordination" with the Lebanese Army.
A statement issued by Sayyed's office said the two-hour meeting in the morning touched on "the outcome of the Syrian army's military operations in terms of cleaning Syrian areas adjacent to the Lebanese border in Akkar and the Bekaa from terrorist groups."
It said such a move would "allow the Lebanese Army to better control the border on the Lebanese side, in coordination with the Syrian authorities."
"The developments in Syria are moving forward on two tracks. The first is the continued war on terror, which is represented by the armed and 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... groups, and the second is encouraging and speeding up national reconciliations," Sayyed said after the meeting.
"Constitutional junctures, including the presidential vote, are a sovereign Syrian issue and they cannot be impeded by any incidents, similar to what happened in many countries witnessing difficult situations, such as Iraq, Tunisia, Libya, Afghanistan and others," Sayyed added.
Syrian forces have recently seized control of most towns in the strategic Qalamoun region near the border with Leb.
[AnNahar] Alleged plans to set up a Syrian refugee camp at an Iqlim al-Kharroub town have trigerred a popular outcry in the area, amid a pledge by the Progressive Socialist Party to block the purported project.
Speaking at a meeting for municipal chiefs, mayors and residents at Iqlim al-Kharroub's Jmailiyeh, the town's mayor Nicolas Dagher strongly condemned "the attempt to build a Syrian refugee camp in the outskirts of our town, which overlook the towns of Alman and Rmeileh."
"The region's towns have welcomed Syrian refugees and offered them shelter, but their numbers have exceeded those of the towns' residents," Dagher explained.
For his part, Alman municipal chief Farid Ghanem stressed the municipality's "complete rejection of this project" and mentioned what he described as the reasons behind this refusal.
"Jmailiyeh is a small town whose residents were displaced in the last civil war," Ghanem said, adding that "similar to other Christian towns in Iqlim al-Kharroub, some of its residents and political figures are exerting arduous endeavors to convince those who had left to return."
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... PSP's official in the region Jamal Saad underlined party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... 's rejection of "the project and of this idea."
"We, as a party, are against the creation of any camp in the region. We had assisted our Syrian brothers and are still doing so; we are with the Syrian revolution and with the rights of the Syrian people, but not at the expense of our people, residents and land," said Saad.
"If they want to set up camps, let them be created in a safe zone on the Lebanese-Syrian border," he added.
The official emphasized that the PSP will not allow the execution of such a project in the region "whatever the considerations might be."
"Today's meeting is a warning and the start of action against this project," Saad cautioned.
"We will not remain silent and we will escalate the situation through sit-ins and the blocking of roads," he warned, urging the country's brass hats to "interfere and prevent the creation of such camps."
On April 3, the U.N. refugee agency said more than a million people fleeing Syria's war have registered as refugees in Leb, with many now living in dire conditions. The agency says that every day it registers 2,500 new refugees in Leb -- more than one person a minute.
On the same day, the opposition Syrian National Coalition demanded an end to "racist practices" against Syria's refugees in Leb.
The SNC lauded a solidarity campaign against racism launched by Lebanese activists on social media websites to "highlight the difficult conditions Syrian refugees are going through in Leb."
The statement was referring to a popular campaign launched as a response to a presser by former telecommunications minister Nicolas Sehnaoui and Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... official Ziad Abs, during which the two men called for protecting citizens in Ashrafieh, after an increase in the number of refugees.
The two FPM officials had also called for closing the border with Syria "because Leb can not bear receiving more refugees."
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04/28/2014 00:00 ||
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The U.S. is providing more arms and training to the moderate rebels in Syria, under a growing secret program run by the CIA in Jordan. Sources tell NPR that secret program could be supplemented by a more public effort in the coming months involving American military trainers. The change in strategy comes as the White House sees Syrian leader Bashar Assad growing in strength, and continuing to strike rebel strongholds.
Another factor: Russian leaders appear unwilling to help end the three-year-old civil war and are continuing to provide weapons to Assad. Finally, al-Qaida fighters and their allies are expanding in Syria, a development that some believe could threaten the U.S. homeland.
The ramped-up covert program is an attempt to further pressure the Assad regime and its allies to reach a political settlement, not necessarily to achieve a military victory by rebel forces.
Skeptics doubt the U.S. effort will help much, given the weakened state of the opposition and the inroads made by al-Qaida fighters. The moderate fighters being supported currently have relatively little influence on the ground. Still, the U.S. plan calls for both small arms and more powerful weapons such as TOW missiles, which can penetrate tanks and other armored vehicles. Rebel forces were pictured last week with some of the first TOW missiles, and sources say that the effort will expand throughout the next year. It's uncertain if the U.S. is sending the TOW missiles through Saudi Arabia, which is also supporting the rebels.
There is a debate within the White House whether to supply rebels with shoulder-fired missiles, which could target Syrian helicopters. There are fears those missiles could fall into the hands of al-Qaida, and produce a threat to commercial aircraft and allied warplanes in the region.
The White House has said little publicly about the new, expansive effort to help the moderate rebels.
In addition to the arms transfers, a training program already in place in Jordan and run by the CIA will grow in the coming months. And that program, though still secret, could include the Pentagon's special operations forces and contractors to train more rebels in combat skills.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is drawing up training plans of its own for White House consideration, and such an effort would lend a more direct and public American role in the Syrian civil war. The Defense Department planning is twofold. One option calls for U.S. military trainers to take part in the training underway in Jordan. Another calls for the U.S. military to train the Jordanian military, who would in turn train the Syrian rebels. This is what the military calls the "train the trainers" model.
Also on the table are possible U.S. airstrikes against select military targets in Syria, a move favored by some high-level officials. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, , already has told Congress that limited airstrikes might not achieve the desired result and could lead to civilian casualties. He has said the best approach for the U.S. would be to train Syrian rebels in Jordan.
Sources briefed on the covert effort say that the intelligence community will continue to lead this "robust" program of increased arms and training. The White House will see how this effort develops before deciding on whether the Pentagon would play a more public role.
#1
Stay out of it! How many dead-end, failed, Middle Eastern conflicts must it take? Bring the war mongering Klingons back to McLean and put them to work on meaningful strategic analysis, not para-military regime overthrows.
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.
International Criminal Court
[DAWN] KARACHI: Police 
"The modus operandi suggested that the banned 
Pervez 
Nouri al-Maliki
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
