[CBSNEWS] Over a thousand people erupted into the streets of Kabul Saturday to protest against the alleged widespread, carefully engineered fraud in Afghanistan's run-off election for president.
Protesters supporting presidential candidate Dr. 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... said they would not accept the result of the election. At one location, marchers were holding disfigured pictures of Zia ul Haq Amarkhel, the secretary of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), chanting "death to the fraudulent Amarkhel" and "death to the Independent Election Commission."
On June 14, the day of the run-off election, Afghan police stopped Amarkhel while he was transporting ballot papers without a police escort.
He was accused of fraud, by Abdullah and others, but insisted he was merely trying to rush ballot papers to several polling sites where there was a shortage.
On Saturday, protesters set up tents on some major roads, blocking traffic. At one point they blocked access to the airport for over an hour.
Also Saturday, a suicide boom-mobileer struck the vehicle of the High Peace Council's chief secretary, Mohammad Masoom Stanikzai, in Kabul, killing one civilian and wounding three others, Kabul police chief Gen. Muhamad Zahir Zahir said. No group grabbed credit of the attack.
The political demonstrators repeated demands made by Abdullah, who has been boycotting the country's electoral commissions, and called for the immediate halt of vote-counting, saying the process is no longer legitimate.
Abdullah has accused 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... and both commissions of orchestrating the election in favor of his rival, technocrat and former World Bank official Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
Ghani and Abdullah are facing each other in the run-off after none of the nine presidential candidates secured the minimum 50-percent-plus-1 vote threshold in the first round of the elections April 5, forcing both to compete in the second round. Abdullah accused his rival of extensive fraud in certain areas where he has a power base.
The protesters were mainly Tajik and Hazara ethnicities and demonstrated in predominantly Tajik and Hazara neighborhoods. Abdullah is half-Tajik and half-Pashtun and is a prominent figure among Tajiks.
"Our gathering is against the two electoral commissions and President Karzai's orchestrated and systematic interference in the election," said Abdullah Khudadad, one of organizers of the protests. "This is only the start of the nation's complaints and we would continue it until we achieve justice ... Any violence or negative consequences of these protests would be the responsibility of the Afghan government."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Doesn't do any good in Chicago, Washington state or Minnesota either.
The United States said Friday it was evacuating some of its Kenyan embassy staff due to security risks in the wake of attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants that left dozens dead. Travel restrictions have been put into place for government personnel and “based on the recent changes in Kenya’s security situation, the embassy is also relocating some staff to other countries,” the State Department said.
However, despite the evacuations, the Nairobi-based embassy would “remain open for normal operations,” it said.
The State Department warned US citizens of the risks of traveling to the African country, also urging those already there to “evaluate their personal security situation in light of continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism and the high rate of violent crime in some areas.”
“The US government continues to receive information about potential terrorist threats aimed at US, Western, and Kenyan interests in Kenya,” it said. “Although the pursuit of those responsible for previous terrorist activities continues, many of those involved remain at large and still operate in the region.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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Ay-Peee. Oblahblah has really hit the reset button with our allies
A Polish magazine said Sunday it has obtained recordings of a conversation in which Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says the country's strong alliance with the U.S. "isn't worth anything" and is "even harmful because it creates a false sense of security." the weak horse
In a short transcript of the conversation, a person identified as Sikorski by the magazine Wprost tells former finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, that Poles naively believe the U.S. bolsters their security. Using vulgar language, the person argues that such beliefs are nonsense, and that the Polish-U.S. alliance alienates the Russians and Germans. the strong horse.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/22/2014 11:33 ||
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Kinda hard to argue with.
However, from a Polish point of view, you have to wonder if cooperating with the Russians and Germans will get you anything. Besides invaded again. The German and Russian perspective on what's good and bad about Europe hasn't altered a whole lot since, oh, say, 1930. (Either that, or it's come full circle.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/22/2014 11:55 Comments ||
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#2
God bless the Poles - they know the truth when they see it.
#5
These are the consequences of losing a war one cannot afford to lose.
After losing the 9/11 war US security guarantees just aren't rationally credible anymore.
9/11 has shown that staging a massive attack on the CONUS is a winning move, ultimately.
#9
We had good ties prior to Obummer. Obummer owns this not the American people. Heard an Israeli talking this morning on TV and he said essentially the same thing. How many in other countries are feeling the same way? Good many in the U.S. feel the same way. Some kool aid drinkers still think he is the ONE. Go figure.
#10
What Obama and company didn't understand was that the situation with Russia was as close to optimal as possible when they hit the reset button and restored the cold war.
#11
They are a whole different country after all, and a Great Power and once a Superpower. Any prickliness was just sort of the way things go in that sort of situation. God the Obama foreign policy has been horrible.
#12
In the meantime, what are we supposed to do? We're married to these worthless sons of bitches, I think it's time to get a divorce, and break the country up. Otherwise they're going to continue to try to get back at us by backstabbing all of our friends.
#13
Fuck him. He's equating America to that poser in office. America fought two wars in europe. We, the United States, not Poland defeated Russia and gave them opportunity for their solidarity movement. We are weak right now, granted. We were weak before WWI and weak before WWII. Don't ever underestimate us.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/22/2014 23:35 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... must have raised many an eyebrow even in the ruling PML-N on Thursday when he protested that he was out of the loop about the operation two days ago around the Minhajul Koran secretariat until TV channels started reporting on the festivities between police and workers of the Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT).
The chief minister had come to the capital to give his version of Tuesday's bloodshed in Lahore in a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office.
According to a government official privy to the deliberations, Mr Shahbaz said he first learned about the disturbance near the Minhajul Koran secretariat in Model Town at 8:30am. "He (Shahbaz) immediately ordered police to disengage," the official said, recounting the proceedings.
"Soon after directing the police to disengage, I went to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. During the ceremony I was informed that the situation was worsening. I again passed a message to police to back off.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) leader Nabil Gabol said Saturday that the party would put up strong resistance if Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... was tossed in the clink Please don't kill me! , DawnNews reported.
Speaking to media representatives, Gabol said Pakistain Mohammedan League- Nawaz's (PML-N) authoritative style of leadership was damaging for the democratic system in the country.
He said 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... should withdraw the order for Qadri's arrest.
The MQM leader said a commission, comprising Supreme Court judges, would be constituted to investigate the Model Town tragedy, adding that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... should also appear before it.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) chief and leader of Minhaj-ul-Koran Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... alleged on Saturday that the government is conspiring to send his plane back, DawnNews reported.
On his way to Pakistain from Canada, Dr Qadri held a presser at Heathrow Airport in London.
He said that he is not afraid of giving up his life and will come to Pakistain and fight for the cause of the masses.
"No matter how hard the government tries to stop me, I will come to Pakistain," he said.
Calling Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... 'Qatil-e-Aala', he said that Rana Sanaullah was only doing what he was told to do. The real culprits are at the top, he commented.
Qadri said that forty articles of the Constitution of Pakistain are currently suspended, adding, "There is no democracy in the country but rather a monarchy."
In an exclusive conversation with DawnNews, he said that efforts were underway to sow misunderstanding between him and the Pakistain army.
"We will not stop if the government stops us. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... if the army comes, we will cooperate," Dr Qadri said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... directed police and security agencies to gear up their resources to fully secure twin cities Rawalpindi-Islamabad and its residents in wake of the Zarb-e-Azb operation against snuffies in North Wazoo.
The minister said this while chairing a meeting on Saturday to review the security situation of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Interior, NC National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Chief Commissioner Islamabad, Commissioner Rawalpindi, Inspector General (IG) Islamabad police, Regional Police Officer (RPO) and City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Islamabad.
He said that sensitivity of the situation demanded extra security measures and it was incumbent on security agencies to fully secure public places and strategically important buildings.
Nisar directed police high ups to review the overall security of the federal capital with particular reference to entry and exit points and identification of sensitive buildings in order to adopt security measures accordingly.
The minister stressed that entry and exit points of both cities be put on high alert and areas surrounding the federal capital and Rawalpindi be thoroughly searched, adding that they should be cleared of any unlawful elements.
He said that joint patrolling teams of Rangers and police had given a sense of security to the residents of Islamabad and directed them to strategise this exercise to get optimum use.
Chaudhry Nisar also added that all routes must be highly protected and added that special attention must be paid to unconventional routes, including jeep-able and pedestrian routes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Tuesday's senseless bloodshed in Lahore suddenly sent the political temperature in the country soaring and people are wondering what to expect on June 23 — sense or more senselessness — when Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... , chief of Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT), arrives from Canada to launch his anti-government campaign.
Though the rulers of Punjab immediately distanced themselves from the brutal police crackdown on PAT workers in Lahore and took some actions to calm down the situation, they are yet to tell the Rawalpindi police how to deal with the potentially explosive situation that many in the force think awaits them on the arrival of the PAT chief.
Dr Qadri, whose Emirates Flight EK-612 is scheduled to land at the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport at 7:30am on Monday June 23, has already rejected the judicial probe and other actions of the Punjab government as symbolic and designed to contain the political damage the police brutality has caused to the ruling Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Intelligence agencies have reportedly suggested to the government to let the opposition stage peaceful protests and avoid violent political confrontations. The resignation of Rana Sanaullah from the Punjab cabinet shows the top PML-N leadership is willing to rein in its hawks.
Still the onslaughts planned by Dr Qadri's PAT, Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... 's 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.... and Sheikh Rashid's Awami Mohammedan League during the sizzling summer loom as fearsome.
"Tuesday's police action in Model Town (Lahore) will be remebered as 'Operation Nonsense', and will not go without divine retribution," said a high-ranking police officer who has served in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and with UN peace missions abroad and is currently posted in Lahore.
"How our police system deteriorated so much without a civil war," he wondered, and appeared to reply himself by adding "I am ashamed as a police officer that my colleagues are in such a mad 'compliance mode'."
In his opinion, "it is time to decide to make police independent, accountable and professionally competent".
Meanwhile his colleagues in Rawalpindi had other pressing thoughts on their minds.
Asked about police's crowd control plan on Dr Qadri's arrival, Regional Police Officer Akhtar Umar Hayat Laleka said that any citizen, belonging to any party, who wanted to protest "will be made to follow discipline". "And if a law and order problem is created, then it would be solved in a manner the situation demands," he added.
According to him, it is not yet decided whether to allow people access to the airport or restrict them to some place at a distance.
But at the same time RPO Laleka echoed Airport Security Force's decision to let only passengers holding air tickets into "the airport premises" and nobody else.
"Due to security concerns, nobody would be allowed inside the airport premises or to disturb the air-traffic and passengers," he said.
Despite the potential of a violent home-coming of the Canada-based religious leader, RPO Laleka did not feel the need of asking for extra police from Punjab. "The local police force is enough to handle the situation," he said.
His confidence may be reassuring, but the local police had been without an operational chief since SSP Muhammad Maqbool left the post rather than work under City Police Officer Humayun Bashir Tarar, an officer junior to him.
Other senior officers too are unwilling to fill the vacant post of Operations Chief for the same reason. And Tarar remains in his post because, according police sources, he enjoys "good relations" with PML-N scion Hamza Sharif, son of Chief Minister of Punjab and newphew of 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... .
Tarar's relations with media have soured since a SHO put up a notice at his cop shoppe asking journalists not to visit him for information. Mr Tarar believes the SHO did a good job in keeping the news seekers out, who in response announced a boycott of the CPO.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Seized with patriotic fervour, the federal government has ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to install a 541-square-foot flag on a 200-foot pole in the federal capital.
The desire to have a giant flag at a central point in the city was conveyed to the CDA chairman in a recent meeting by the prime minister himself.
"The idea to have a massive flag erected in the city is possibly inspired by New Delhi's monumental flagpole, measuring 207 feet, which the prime minister saw on his recent visit to India," said an official of the CDA.
The CDA has earmarked three sites for the landmark; F-9 Park, Daman-e-Koh and the National Monument at Zero Point.
However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... technical experts from the civic body are perplexed as no one seems to have any experience or expertise to guide the development and installation of a 200-foot flagpole.
"The pole not only has to be attractive, but also strong enough to withstand wind pressure, especially if installed at Daman-e-Koh or the National Monument," said an official of the planning wing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
technical experts from the civic body are perplexed as no one seems to have any experience or expertise to guide the development and installation of a 200-foot flagpole.
Obviously a job for the Pioneer Battalion of the F.L.A.
#2
technical experts from the civic body are perplexed as no one seems to have any experience or expertise to guide the development and installation of a 200-foot flagpole
Good grief - call any mega-car dealer in the US and ask them where they got theirs.
[NYDailyNews] Mohammedan American snuffies from coast to coast, including New York City, head overseas to train for jihad — and NYPD's terror chief is concerned about when they come back.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is among the groups that actively recruit foreigners to join their jihadist ranks. Mohammedan American snuffies have joined similar groups.
They're the potential killers next door learning to become jihadists in a factory of turbans whose ultimate target is New York City.
More than 100 young home-grown Mohammedans, including some from Gotham, are being trained to become an enemy within by Al Qaeda-inspired groups like ISIS operating in disintegrating Syria and Iraq, the NYPD's terror chief estimated.
"I would be hyper-concerned about the people over there from New York City on the presumption they're going to return to New York City," John Miller, said Thursday.
The NYPD's intelligence chief did not say how many New Yorkers are being schooled in terror by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but he said they have a good idea who they are. It is very important, he added, to deny ISIS any "sanctuary."
"Why did we have 9/11? Because Al Qaeda controlled real estate in Afghanistan where they had camps that allowed them to have a logistical infrastructure," he said. "You don't want that kind of sanctuary."
So far, there has been no known successful terror attack on U.S. soil by an American who was radicalized overseas.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Are their passports flagged if they try to return? One would hope so.
[IsraelTimes] The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, on Saturday denied allegations that he had been trying to transfer funds to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,. Serry's denial came in response to a report earlier in the evening that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman intends to expel the Jerusalem-based Middle East official for seeking to transfer tens of millions of dollars of funds to the terror group.
Serry acknowledged in a statement released Saturday night that he was on a visit to Qatar a few weeks ago but denied that talks of a UN role in the payment of salaries in Gazoo — an issue described in the statement as having "potentially destabilizing effects on security in Gazoo," and seemingly the basis on which Liberman made his allegations — took place.
Serry said he was approached by Paleostinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on the matter but made it clear that the UN "would only be able to be of assistance if acceptable to all stakeholders, including Israel."
The UN official added that the information was "immediately shared with Israeli authorities at the working level" and that Israel reacted negatively.
"For the past seven years, that I have been UN Special Coordinator I have carried out my work with impartiality in an effort to assist both Israelis and Paleostinians. It is now disheartening to hear that in considering a request from one of the parties in the aforementioned effort, the integrity of my role is being questioned," his statement read.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli media reported that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman intended to expel Serry for seeking to transfer tens of millions of dollars of funds to Hamas, Israeli television reported Saturday night.
Liberman was set to seek the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the move and have him declared persona non grata, Channel 2 said. The report added that Liberman would discuss the move, which could place Israel on a collision course with the world body, with officials at his ministry on Sunday.
Liberman was reported to have long regarded Serry as biased against Israel.
The TV report said that Serry has been seeking relentlessly to transfer funds to Hamas in Gazoo, to the immense displeasure of Liberman. Israel, the US and others designate the Islamic myrmidon Hamas, which is formally committed to the destruction of Israel, as a terrorist organization.
According to the report, Serry initially sought to arrange the transfer of $20 million to Hamas in Gazoo, from Qatar, via Abbas's PA, but he was rebuffed. He then asked Israel to facilitate the transfer, but was again rejected. Finally, he has reportedly been suggesting that the UN itself take the money from Qatar and then transfer it to Hamas in Gazoo.
The TV report said Liberman considered Serry's actions to mark an effort to legitimize Hamas.
Liberman was also said to be dismayed by a statement issued by Serry on Friday that said the UN was "deeply concerned" over the IDF's ongoing security operation in the West Bank aimed at locating the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers. The Israeli campaign has resulted in the deaths of three Paleostinians and the injury of many more, Serry's statement noted.
In comments that Liberman reportedly considered to lack balance, Serry said that while the UN acknowledged that tightened restrictions on movement throughout the West Bank were necessary as part of efforts to bring the youths home safely, the UN urged Israel to show restraint and carry out the operation in compliance with international law. The UN special coordinator further called on the Israeli government to respect the lives, dignity and livelihoods of Paleostinians.
[IsraelTimes] A senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, official vowed Saturday that the terror group would respond to Israel's military operation in the West Bank — Operation Brother's Keeper — which aims to locate three kidnapped Israeli teenagers while simultaneously harming Hamas's terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
Since the disappearance Thursday, June 12, of Naftali Frankel, Gil-ad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, thousands of Israeli troops have searched hundreds of locations in the West Bank and jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! more than 300 Paleostinians, many from Hamas, including some who were freed in a 2011 prisoner exchange for Hamas-kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"This [operation] will not break Hamas. Hamas is too strong a movement for this [operation] to break it. Our popularity will only increase," said Hamas front manSami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... , according to Channel 10.
The Hamas official's remarks came a day after Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Friday listed one of Israel's goals in the IDF operation as seeking to "break Hamas."
"We will have our Dire Revenge™. Hamas has proven that it has the capabilities to respond [to Israel's military operation]," Abu Zuhri promised.
The Israeli government has pointed the finger for the abduction at the terror group and said it holds the Paleostinian Authority responsible for the fate of the teenagers. Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... on Wednesday criticized the kidnapping, said the youths must be returned, and confirmed ongoing security cooperation with Israel to try to locate them.
On Thursday, an Israeli official named a deported Hamas terror chief, Saleh al-Arouri, as a suspect in orchestrating the kidnapping.
Hamas has praised the kidnapping without claiming responsibility, and slammed Abbas for siding with Israel.
Abu Zuhri also dismissed a statement by Paleostinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki Friday which threatened Hamas with "drastic decisions" should it be found that the terror group was behind the kidnapping. Maliki said it would be a "blow to the reconciliation process."
"Maliki does not reflect the opinions of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah or of Hamas and Fatah. His remarks pander to Israel and the Europeans," Abu Zuheiri said.
A top Hamas official on Saturday also dismissed threats to end the unity government between Fatah and Hamas.
"The unity of the Paleostinian people and the end of the division are top priorities and there's no going back [on the unity agreement]," said Moussa Abu Marzouk.
The two Paleostinian factions swore in a unity government on June 2 — 10 days before the abduction of the teenagers from a hitchhiking post in the Gush Ezion area in the West Bank.
The humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening and the number of people needing urgent help has reached 10.8 million — almost half of Syria's population of 22 million, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.
So we're to support half the population of Syria. If they keep it up we'll be supporting all of them, and then we'll have to call them Palestinians. Perhaps they'll get their own UN relief agency...
Ban's monthly report to the UN Security Council said the current estimate of 3.5 million people living in areas that are difficult or impossible for humanitarian workers to reach is also likely to have increased to 4.7 million people.
The UN chief painted a grim picture of a country gripped by severe levels of violence, including the intensified use of barrel bombs by government forces against civilian areas and suicide attacks, reported executions and other acts of terrorism by extremist groups. As a result, Ban said, the number of people in need has increased by 17 percent — from 9.3 million to 10.8 million.
Ban said the rules that govern the conduct of war "are being flagrantly violated every day."
"Efforts to expand humanitarian assistance to those most in need have been met with continued delays and obstruction," he said.
Currently, all UN aid must go through Damascus — a practice which UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has repeatedly criticised.
So why do it?
New procedures sealing government trucks delivering aid which were introduced in April resulted in fewer people being reached with aid in May, he said, and additional clearance requirements introduced by the government have further undermined access to people in desperate need of assistance.
By June 9, only 12 per cent of the 4.25 million people the UN World Food Program planned to provide with food had been reached compared to 26 percent at the same time in April, Ban said.
That would me as a donor decide to give my money and help to someone else...
The secretary-general decried the government's obstruction of the delivery of medicine and medical supplies, saying "it is inhumane and unlawful" that these potentially life-saving items continue to be removed from World Health Organization convoys entering opposition-controlled areas.
As a result, he said, opposition-controlled areas received only 25 percent of the quantities distributed in the first three months of 2014.
"Tens of thousands of civilians are being arbitrarily denied urgent and lifesaving medical care" which Ban called "a deliberate tactic of war aimed at denying help and support to those most in need."
Ban said Physicians for Human Rights reported that 29 medical personnel were killed in May, "the highest number in a month since the start of the conflict." He said 27 were killed by government forces and two by opposition groups, bringing the total recorded deaths of medical personnel in the war to 502.
The secretary-general said the UN is unable to provide an assessment of the presence and activities of foreign fighters in Syria. But he said the recent advance of Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is expected to have an impact on Syria's eastern regions "and may strengthen the presence of extremist groups in (ISIL) controlled areas of Syria."
The Security Council approved a resolution in February demanding that all sides in the Syrian conflict allow immediate access for aid, but as Ban's latest report indicates, the situation has worsened.
Key council members have been negotiating a new humanitarian resolution that would authorise the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syria through four border crossings without approval from President Bashar Assad's government. But Western nations, who back Syria's opposition, and the Syrian government's closest ally Russia are reportedly still at odds over its provisions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
"Soon the Syrian refugees will face roaming charges and face grinding cell phone poverty."
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.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
