The United Kingdom has launched its strongest attack yet on the Zimbabwean government and is reportedly drawing up a contingency plan to be adopted if the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader does not win the June 27 election, the Zimbabwe Guardianhas learnt.
According to UK press reports Sunday, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is lobbying the Southern African region to consider sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government in the aftermath of the run-off presidential election if the MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, does not win the election. According to a report in The Times newspaper on Sunday the FCO "is hoping to persuade Zimbabwe's neighbours to create an economic blockade." Britain and its allies -- who have been blamed by President Mugabe for seeking regime change in Zimbabwe -- are trying to mobilize regional leaders to consider imposing sanctions against the Zimbabwean government. Over the weekend African statesman, including the former Presidents of Nigeria, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Benin, along with Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, signed a declaration on Friday expressing concern at the violence and calling on African leaders "at all levels" to oversee the election.
British officials are said to be looking for an alternative sanctions regime against the Zimbabwean government to force President Mugabe to step down or concede defeat to the MDC-T leader. A sanctions regime modeled along the lines of those used on North Korea and Iran, is being considered. Among other measures, Britain is said to be considering are the widening of travel EU/US ban to include relatives of Zanu PF members, preventing children of officials from attending schools in EU/US, a complete trade embargo and ban on purchase of goods, action against Western companies operating in Zimbabwe, pressurizing neighbouring states to suspend Zimbabwe from the Southern African Development Community and also pressurizing China to break off relationships with Zimbabwe relationship. China is widely viewed as mitigating the impact of the current sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Britain and its allies.
Western diplomats are said to be lobbying the South African government to switch off electricity supplies to Zimbabwe. Diplomats believe that they might be able to persuade the South African Government to restrict or turn off the supply, said The Times. They are also "hoping to persuade Zimbabwe's neighbours to create an economic blockade. Vital imports have to come through Mozambique and South Africa."
PARIS In its first new national defense policy in 14 years, France has decided that its security lies within Europe and NATO, establishing a significant shift from the countrys longstanding notions of moral and military self-sufficiency.
More than four decades ago, Charles de Gaulle, angry with American and British domination of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said Frances military integration into the alliance had been stripped of justification. But now that the Soviet Union is gone and the European Union is more fully established, President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided that France is best served by participating fully with Washington and NATO, in part because the vast majority of members of the European Union are also members of the alliance.
The new military and security strategy, which Mr. Sarkozy will present in public on Tuesday after months of internal debate, calls for a smaller, more mobile French Army, with savings spent on better intelligence and modern equipment.
And on health care.
Building a credible European defense is a French priority, the strategy says. But French plans were damaged by the Irish rejection of a new set of rules for the 27-nation European Union that would have made it easier for members to cooperate on defense. In fact, publication of the French white paper was delayed until after the Irish referendum on the so-called Lisbon Treaty, to avoid providing the Irish with another potential reason to vote no.
The new defense doctrine seeks to prepare France and Europe for a post-Soviet world in which conventional military threats are downgraded compared with a multitude of complex, global risks, from epidemics to terrorism and cyberwarfare.
And maintaining the French colonies in Africa ...
An estimated 54,000 military jobs will be cut over the next six to seven years, out of a current total of some 330,000. The cuts are politically delicate, given local and political interests, but a reduction in personnel is the only way to provide more financial room for acquisitions and training intended to create a more modern army whose threats are more likely to come from terrorism, cyberassault or missile attacks than from a traditional invasion.
Alsace-Lorraine does seem secure ...
A copy of the plan was provided in a briefing by senior French officials who would not allow their names to be used before Mr. Sarkozys speech. One of the officials said that if France and Europe were capable of acting on their own, the United States would take them more seriously.
That's likely true. We're looking for partners, and I suspect that the next President, McCain or Obama, will end the European free ride on defense, though for vastly different reasons. So if France wants to be part of any new security arrangements, and if France wants to be taken seriously in defending the West, it needs to ante up, whether as part of NATO or within the EU.
The officials also emphasized that Frances operational needs had changed since the last white paper, in 1994, and that France would concentrate less on bilateral military actions in Africa, for instance, than on joint operations with the European Union, NATO or regional organizations like the African Union.
Mr. Sarkozy created political waves here when he first proposed that France reintegrate into the military wing of NATO, so long as there was parallel progress in developing a European defense and security policy that could carry out European Union missions outside the rubric of the American-led Atlantic alliance. It was a rejection not only of Gaullism, but also of the generally anti-interventionist and anti-Bush policies of the opposition Socialist Party.
Today theres no longer a raison dêtre to remain outside NATO, one official said. The alliance has changed considerably with new members in the last decade, the official said, and with new peacekeeping missions in places like Afghanistan and Kosovo. We see the trans-Atlantic relationship as a key to European security and French security, he said, emphasizing that the European Union and NATO were now seen as complementary, not as rivals.
Still, officials made it clear that France would preserve its independent nuclear deterrent outside of any alliance structure, and that France would not allow its troops to serve permanently under any foreign officer, even in peacetime.
Frances plan foresees raising the budget for military acquisitions, for example, by more than 16 percent, without immediately raising spending on defense. It also envisions spending twice as much on space defense, with the intention of creating a space-based early warning system against missile attacks. A decision to build another expensive aircraft carrier will be postponed, and spending on intelligence, which is to be reorganized under a single chief, is also expected to double.
The plan also sets a new requirement of at least 30,000 French soldiers able to be deployed in combat within six months, part of the larger French goal of helping to make a European defense capability both credible and functional. Europes goal, far from being realized, is to have 60,000 soldiers able to be deployed within a year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2008 00:00 ||
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TOPIX > VARIOUS > FRANCE WANTS A EUROPEAN NAVAL UNIT/FORCE, + FRANCE WANTS ARMED FORCES TO BE LEAN, MEAN, AND HI-TECH.
#4
If France wants to help they could take the lead on Syria/Beirut. Those are ex-French colonies they have more experience and connections and credibility at this point. I'm not sure if I care how they do it. Coup or what, but take Assad out and hobble Hezbolah.
#6
Love the lead up - "We were going to do it, but those Irish won't let us, even though we didn't tell them that because it would have really lopsided their voting."
So the French Rapid Action Group would take 6 months to deploy? If a country were waiting on that when they need help now they would surely be FRAG'd.
(Xinhua) -- Turkish customs police seized 41 kg of heroin at Turkey's border with Bulgaria on Monday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
The police found the drugs stashed in a car when it tried to pass the Kapikule border gate in northwestern province of Edirne to Bulgaria, said the report. The heroin hid under the tank of the car was found by the help of a sniffer dog, it said, adding that the Bulgarian driver was arrested for questioning. Turkey is a key transit route for smuggling drugs from Asia and the Middle East to markets in western Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Denver police are stocking up on guns that fire a pepper spray-like substance instead of bullets - a less-lethal weapon used to disperse crowds - in advance of the Democratic National Convention. Wimps. Go for the tasers.
The department recently ordered 88 Mark IV launchers and projectiles at a cost 'in the low six figures,' the company that makes the weapons stated in a news release Monday. The request was for delivery in advance of the DNC, according to Louisville- based Security With Advanced Technology Inc. If they even have the Democratic National Convention. I hear the DNC owes 15 million and ain't payin' up.
The convention, scheduled for Aug. 25 to 28 at the Pepsi Center, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to sites throughout Denver. The city received a $50 million federal grant for security. A senior adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper has said the city plans to spend up to half that amount on equipment, with the rest going to pay offs officers. What the Hay? We have to fork over 50 million clams for these clowns?
But the city has refused to disclose how it is spending the money, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union last month to file a civil lawsuit. Hell hath frozen over! I agree with the ACLU for once.
The court filing alleges the city is violating the Colorado Open Records Act. City officials say releasing the information is 'contrary to the public interest' because it could disclose important tactical information, potentially jeopardizing security. Or maybe who's being paid off to keep quiet.
That's also security in a way ...
A city spokesperson could not be reached for comment Monday. Meanwhile, speculation about what the city is buying has run rampant. Giant puppets, 100,000 marbles, silly string, party favors, and enough chewing gum for everybody.
Some organizers of protest groups believe police are buying extended-range Tasers and weapons that incapacitate people with high-intensity sound.
I'd certainly be investing in those treats. Nothing but the best for the protesters ...
The Mark IV weapons the city ordered recently fire plastic balls filled with powder that's 'like a combination of cayenne pepper and baby powder,' the manufacturer said. It can be fired from up to 100 feet away, said Ben Cook, director of Veritas, a subsidiary of Security With Advanced Technology.
The balls burst open on impact. While the powder will incapacitate a person like pepper spray, it doesn't cause some of the more severe reactions, Cook said.
It's really noxious stuff. Makes you cry for a week and a half, clears the sinuses for about a decade, and you claw your skin off with the itching. Enjoy, protesters, I'll be sitting home watching the show.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/17/2008 12:07 ||
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Maybe they can buy the ones in storage from the Boston PD. They were forced to put them away after they killed a girl in one of the Red Sox riots back in '04.
Make 'em an offer.
#3
Back in the late 60s when 'rioting' was all the rage of the now 'boomers', the AZNG tested several techniques in crowd control. A rifle without bayonet, a rifle with bayonet sheathed, and a rifle with cold steel [unsheathed]. The crowd showed remarkable respect for the last combination.
All this is just another form of gradualism because no one want to be the 'bad guy' since we've lost our ability to identify the real bad guys. The other side will keep pushing the envelope on what it can get away with till either you get another Kent State [notice how many universities had building burned since then?] or the "authorities" collapse in retreat. Which in the end, will remove the constraints of the citizenry to take what ever is necessary to protect themselves, their families, and their property.
#4
I was there end of April for a meeting and spent 4 days. From what I hear from hotel, restaurant and taxi people - the city is nervous but not troubled. They figure the crazies are just that and since Denver is a city of crazies (walk 16th st. Mall at night) then there is nothing they haven't seen before and if its really weird they have nearby Boulder to consult.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/17/2008 13:16 Comments ||
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#5
I have a SL-68 II with 18" rifled barrel, 8oz tank and 200 rnd hopper ready if needed.
#7
swksvoIFF, a whiff of grapeshot would work wonders.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/17/2008 14:56 Comments ||
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#8
You want to see funny, you oughta see the INSANE conspiracy idiots who are having a cow over the military exercise with Blackhawk and Little Birds over downtown yesterday with what looked to be some special ops folks hanging off the side of the LB's. Love to buy them a beer if I knew what bar they were going to (the probably staged out of Buckley AFB - the only major active military installation close to Denver).
The nutjobs up from boulder are screaming is a coup, that having those helis in downtown are a taking our rights away (I asked one of them to document what right, and he was stuck then jumped subjects), that its a setup for Bush to declare martial law, etc.
I only suspected it before, now I am sure: these people in the Dem party are clinically mentally ill, bordering on insane. They need to be hospitalized and treated. Yet they are the ones who will squeal the loudest and set policy for the Dems under Obamessiah.
Start stocking guns, ammo and seed - the lunatics are truly coming to be in charge of the asylum.
#9
All it will take is one nut case with a gun to turn a riot into a massacre. Things like Molotov cocktails and building arson. Much of it depends on how many experienced anarchists show up.
hell, the Chicago cops could do that in 1968 with a standard-issue nightstick
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2008 19:20 Comments ||
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#11
Mayor John Hickenlooper
OK, just HOW did he ever get elected with a humorous name like that?
Order mass hangings of comedians?
Close all radio and TV stations?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/17/2008 22:41 Comments ||
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#12
All jokes aside, how about paintball guns loaded with Infrared flourescent dye mixed with Skunk scent.
Leaves a lasting impression and easy to find the perps with Blacklight wands.(And gas masks)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/17/2008 22:53 Comments ||
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#12 All jokes aside, how about paintball guns loaded with Infrared flourescent dye mixed with Skunk scent.
Skunk scent for skunks? They'll all be buggering one another in no time at all!
Going into Novembers elections, House and Senate Democrats are outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement, with a special emphasis on deporting people convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes.
Immigration remains a highly divisive political issue especially in the House Democratic Caucus. But targeting convicted criminals is seen as safe ground for the party and a pressure point to highlight shortcomings in the current enforcement system.
A Homeland Security budget bill now moving through the House Appropriations Committee specifies that at least $800 million be spent after Oct. 1 to identify and remove the most violent and dangerous criminals from the U.S. And Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) is expected to take an even more aggressive approach Wednesday in his own plan, adding more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations within Homeland Security.
The maneuvering comes as Congress and the White House remained at odds Monday over a wartime spending bill in which Democrats have also sought to position themselves on the popular side of two other domestic issues: aid to the unemployed and a new GI Bill for veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Compromises seem possible in each case, but in this election year atmosphere, both sides are skittish of giving up too much, and tactical decisions by Democrats indicate it will be at least another week before a resolution will be possible.
In the case of immigration enforcement, an April report to lawmakers from ICE estimates that between 300,000 to 450,000 illegal immigrants convicted of a crime are detained each year in federal, state, county and local facilities all subject to deportation. But it was only last winter that ICE finally reached a point where it had 100 percent screening of state prisons, according to data submitted by the agency. And huge information gaps remain regarding prisoners in an estimated 3,100 county and local jails around the country.
Homeland Security officials say any long-term solution rests on investing in new technologies and improved interoperability to give ICE a virtual presence throughout prisons and jails nationwide. And although it has not been as fast as lawmakers want, there has been a steady escalation in the number of prisoners identified and charged for removal.
#1
I don't know why the Democrats want to deport convicted felons who are illegal immigrants. They can vote democratic just like the rest of the convicted felons.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/17/2008 12:46 Comments ||
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#2
They're all felons the minute they cross the border. I just HATE it when people ignore pertinent facts like that.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/17/2008 15:58 Comments ||
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#3
Abu, I don't believe illegal immigration is a felony. May not even be a misdemeanor, but just a bureaucratic infraction of some kind.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2008 19:40 Comments ||
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#5
A Homeland Security budget bill now moving through the House Appropriations Committee specifies that at least $800 million be spent
typical, wanting MORE money to uphold the laws already on the books.
Just untie the hands of our guys on the front lines and let them do their jobs.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/17/2008 20:27 Comments ||
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#6
looking at the whole picture, it's not just that they cross the border and enter our country illegally, it's when they get fake ID and social security cards with identity theft those are felony's aren't they?
Posted by: Jan ||
06/17/2008 20:30 Comments ||
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#7
those are, and the suffering caused is to American citizens. The Donk and Rep politicians who push for amnesty and open borders for selfish and cynical reasons should be publicly denounced by a collection of American ID-theft victims...say! I have an idea.....can you say class-action suit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2008 20:56 Comments ||
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Not wants to have your baby, wants your baby for his hundred-year war.
A major labor union and the liberal organization MoveOn.org are joining forces to air a provocative new ad portraying John McCain's Iraq policy as a prolonged presence that would involve a new generation of Americans. Paid for by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and by MoveOn.org, the commercial represents an expansion by Democratic-leaning groups of a campaign against McCain. It also targets one of McCain's major assets - his public credibility on national security issues.
The ad will begin airing nationally Wednesday on CNN and MSNBC, and in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin markets. It will run for a week at a cost of $543,000. In the ad, an actress with an infant child speaks as if she were addressing McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee. "Hi John McCain," she says. "This is Alex. And he's my first. So far his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. And so, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can't have him." Nobody was 'counting on' my kid, lady; he volunteered. And his Mother was mature enough to let him go. He went to Iraq as a C- student and came back as an A student.
And they repeat the canard of the '100 year war' though even the liberal MSM has debunked it ...
McCain has stressed that his goal is to reduce American casualties, shift security missions to Iraqis and, ultimately, have a non-combat U.S. troop presence in Iraq similar to that in South Korea. He has speculated once that such a presence could last 100 years or more.
Last week, McCain aired his own commercial where he asserts, "I hate war." The ad is biographical, recalling his family's military service and his more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
The campaign referred questions about the ad to the Republican National Committee, which said the country needs a president who listens to his commanders, not partisan groups like MoveOn.org. "Bringing peace and security to Iraq will require a commander in chief who won't allow partisanship to cloud his judgment," said grown-up spokesman Alex Conant.
Polls show that while a large majority of the public opposes the war, they split almost evenly between McCain and his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, over who would better handle Iraq. I got polled Friday afternoon by a kid who wrote my answers in his notebook. That way, if the pollsters didn't like my answers (and they won't) they can rip out the page and ad me to the list of folks who weren't home.
"The ad aims to give voice to so many people who are frustrated that we seem to be stuck in Iraq," said Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's executive director. "It speaks to the worry that people have that we'll be sending another generation of young men and women to Iraq if we continue."
The AFSCME-MoveOn effort unites two forces that were on opposite camps during the Democratic primary. AFSCME backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, while MoveOn backed Obama, who clinched the nomination this month.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/17/2008 06:11 ||
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I assumed they would say McCain wanted babies so he could bathe in their blood to keep his youthful appearance.
#5
Didn't you kids know? The Republicans oppose abortion because it deprives them of cannon fodder down the road. We Democrats are humane - we favored your liquidation in the womb, when you wouldn't have felt a thing.
Posted by: Margaret Sanger ||
06/17/2008 9:22 Comments ||
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And FYI, I am going to raise my kids with the tools to make critical and thought out decisions to be able to see through this BS, and if that includes the military we would be so lucky.
Using kids to hide behind my kids, kiss my FA! Thats fisticuffs if said to my face.
#11
Yup, yup, yup...with these people it's always the same old thing - if an 18-year old man or woman wants to join the military, see the world, learn how to be a productive citizen, add discipline to their life, and maybe make some money for college along the way (as well as earning a degree and a learning a trade), they're too young and naive to be capable of making the decision rationally.
But if she's 13 and wants an abortion, that's a wise choice and one she should be fully capable of making without the influence of her parents.
#12
They'll give 8 year olds condoms and abortions without parental notification, but they won't trust an 18 year old to make his own decision to defend his country. Where do these people come from?
#18
The ad is sophomoric. I don't think it is going to convince anyone unless they are already convinced, i.e. they are basically preaching to the choir leftocrats who tend to be sophomoric.
#19
Just another way of accussing McCain of being a "Baby Killer" Same tired accusation he has heard for years and years. Same greeting he got from the left after he got released from Hanoi. What's the matter MoveOn can't get any new material?
#20
I gotta believe there is some law buried in the books about public service unions not engaging in political activity. If not, propose one as soon as adults gain the congressional majority.
Posted by: ed ||
06/17/2008 21:41 Comments ||
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#21
not one existing, but usually they're "closed shop" for bargaining, and if you're a member who doesn't agree with their political leanings, you can refuse to pay or those fees - only for bargaining and admin costs
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2008 22:26 Comments ||
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FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Al Gore is endorsing Barack Obama and promising to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him - the presidency. In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States."
"Over the past 18 months, Barack Obama has united a movement. He knows change does not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or Capitol Hill. It begins when people stand up and take action," Gore wrote. "With the help of millions of supporters like you, Barack Obama will bring the change we so desperately need in order to solve our country's most pressing problems."
The former vice president also asked for donations to help fund Obama's effort - the first time he's asked members of his Web site AlGore.com to contribute to a political campaign.
Gore is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, but he kept a low profile in the primary campaign. He's planning to appear with Obama at a rally in Detroit Monday night.
#4
This is a quote from Obama. Think he'll remember it at the Convention?
Obama stoked lasting Democratic anger over the 2000 outcome when he recognized Gore as "the winner of the popular vote for president."
"You remember that," Obama said as the crowd of 20,000 erupted in raucous applause.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/17/2008 9:35 Comments ||
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So, Al Gore waited until there was only one left and endorsed him. I mean, who could have possibly predicted that a Democrat would endorse another Democrat?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/17/2008 11:30 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for some foreigners who overstay their visas to seek to remain in the United States legally. The court ruled 5-4 Monday that someone who is here illegally may withdraw his voluntarily agreement to depart and continue to try to get approval to remain in the United States. The decision essentially embraced a proposed Justice Department regulation governing the treatment of similar cases in the future.
Samson Dada, a Nigerian citizen, stayed beyond the expiration of his tourist visa in 1998. He married an American the following year and soon began trying to obtain a visa as an immediate relative of a citizen. But Dada and his wife apparently failed to submit some documents, causing immigration officials to deny the visa.
Dada has been trying again to obtain the visa, but immigration authorities meanwhile have ordered him to leave the country. He agreed to leave voluntarily, which would allow him to try sooner to re-enter the country legally than if he had been deported.
The court's task was to decide whether he could withdraw his voluntary agreement to leave the country and continue to try to adjust his status while in the United States. Immigration authorities recently ruled that Dada had entered a "sham" marriage in order to stay in the United States, but that finding was not part of the court's consideration.
Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, joined by his four liberal colleagues. The four conservative justice dissented. Justice Antonin Scalia said, "The court lacks the authority to impose its chosen remedy."
Hasn't stopped it elsewhere lately ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Hey, just what we need, more foreigners.
Especially the kind that break our laws.
Those are the people you want to go to the matt for.
#2
In Texas, they were going to build a highway against the will of the people, then someone set the governor's mansion ablaze. Now, they aren't going to build no stinkin highways.
#4
Another fascist decision from the right-wing, Bush dominated, evil, Supreme Court. I knew that we were in big trouble putting that Roberts and Alito on the court. Kennedy must have been feeling the on-slaught of his brain tumor to let these weasels get a seat on the court. Friggin neo-cons. Country is going to the dogs, if you ask me.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/17/2008 13:22 Comments ||
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France, which has supplied advanced Mirage-2000 fighters and Scorpene submarines to India, on Tuesday offered to become its full weapons development partner to produce front-line land combat systems for the Indian Army.
"We are ready to transfer front-line technology and work to co-produce and jointly develop advanced systems like higher firepower longer ranger artillery guns and high mobility land mine secure vehicles for Indian security forces," officials of the top French land armament company, Nexter, said in Paris.
The French offer comes at a time when Indian Army is on the threshold of floating its biggest-ever global tenders for 2000-3000 wheeled, towed and tracked 155 mm guns of .52 calibre and 1000-2000 high speed mine protected troop carrying 4x4 and 8x8 specialised troop combat vehicles for forces operating against terrorists and Maoists.
The tenders, according to experts here, could run up to 5-7 billion Euros with deliveries expected in three to five years.
The French offer was echoed by the country's Defence Minister Herve Morim as he threw open the five-day world's biggest land system exhibition, Eurosatory 2008 near Paris.
Spelling out that terrorism had become an international scourge, Morim said France was ready to co-produce and jointly develop high-tech weapons with its strategic partners.
His comments came as leading companies from the US, Europe, Africa and others have put on display technology-driven new weapons systems to combat terrorism keeping their first hand experience gathered during operations in Afghanistan.
Indian Army is planning to float new tenders for purchasing up to 3,000 155 mm .52 calibre artillery guns of which 814 would be wheeled guns and another 1,500 towed guns to bring its artillery firepower up to NATO standards.
The state-owned French land combat systems company, which has recently downsized to become Europe's leading artillery and tank building company has expressed its willingness to co-produce and jointly develop land combat systems with India.
However, Indian defence planners are in a quandary over the purchase of higher firepower artillery guns, with an apparent hesitation in going in for controversial Bofors guns.
While Indian army has progressed tremendously in modernising its infantry and armoured units, its artillery upgrade programme is running 10 years behind schedule.
Nexter is offering its just-produced truck-mounted Caesar wheeled .52 calibre guns which, its top official Laurent Nicolas says, 'is unequalled in strategic mobility and air transportability in a C-130 J transport aircraft'.
The French guns have already been inducted into the French Army and have seen action in Afghanistan.
For the Indian Army's forthcoming order, the French firm would be in competition with Israel's Atmos Soltam System, Serbian Nora, South African Condor and matching guns from Slovakia.
Nexter officials said they are ready to offer the guns on government-to-government sale basis if India so wanted. The Caesar gun can fire six rounds to a distance of 40 km with a rate of fire of six rounds per minute and a gun crew of just five.
The Caesar guns support on board navigator and ballistics computer with muzzle velocity measurement radar and can be used with any fire control system.
"We are ready to transfer full and total technology of the gun systems to India," said Nicolas in comments, which assume significance in view of remarks by Defence Minister A K Antony that foreign nations were reluctant to part with frontline technology to India.
These guns were on display at the Eurosatory. The French company is already collaborating with India to make THL 20 guns, which are being mounted as turrets for army aviation's light combat attack helicopters which are undergoing tests at HAL.
"We have delivered under an agreement signed in 2006 80 such turrets," Nicolas said, indicating that Nexter would also be bidding for India's expected request for proposals for 400 new infantry combat vehicles, which are nuclear biological chemicals (NBC) proof.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/17/2008 15:35 ||
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#1
is unequalled in strategic mobility and air transportability in a C-130 J transport aircraft'.
Interesting that he didn't compare it to transportability in an Airbus aircraft.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/17/2008 17:45 Comments ||
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#2
The Bofors reference is to Indian's planned purchase of Swedish artillery a few years back that reputably involved the largest bribe in history - $600 million (from memory).
#3
Those Bofors guns were used to great effect in Kargil.
According to Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani Northern Light Infantry were decimated by the barrages. They found decapitated bodies and pieces of bodies later.
And the new Bofors (BAE systems) guns met all the recent tests as well. Yet India continues to hold trials, over and over again. They can't pick the Bofors.
Problem is politics. The Congress party and Sonia Gandhi are terrified of what any new investigation will discover. Their opponents are just waiting.
Ironically, it is the Indian Army which suffered. It didn't get the number of guns in the original contract (which was terminated by India) and the technology transfer for manufacture in India specified in the contract never occurred.
The South African Denel gun turrets were in the lead for being mated with the Arjun chassis to produce tracked howitzers. When Denel was accused of bribing Indian officials, all contracts were halted.
It seems the easiest way to halt Indian defence procurement is to allege corruption.
Except with Russia. That never happens.
The one office who investigated them, a Lt. Cmdr. in the Indian navy, met an untimely death in a "traffic accident"
Posted by: john frum ||
06/17/2008 20:11 Comments ||
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#4
TOPIX > THE BIG QUESTION: WHAT IS FRANCE'S NEW DEFENCE STRATEGY, AND SHOULD WE FOLLOW IT?
That sound you hear are whole generations of Anglos + Anglo-Amers collapsing in "shock-and-awe" fear at the thought of NOT being able to make fun of the French anymore.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, hinting at President Pervez Musharrafs ouster in the near future, said on Monday that the next president of the country will be from the PPP and that the President House will soon resound with slogans of jeay Bhutto.
Addressing a gathering of PPP workers at Governors House, Zardari said the PPP would soon install its candidate, possibly someone like Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, in the Presidency.
He said the PPP had given innumerable sacrifices for the cause of democracy in the country. Zardari, blaming anti-democratic forces for the assassination of former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, said the PPP would avenge her death by changing the system and restoring true democracy in the country. He added that democracy would be restored through dialogue and national reconciliation.
Carnival: In a veiled reference to the lawyers long march, Zardari said it was a mere carnival and who could possibly know the politics of long marches better than the PPP. He said no one should underestimate the strength of the PPP, as the PPP knows well how a movement is launched.
He said this very Governor House was the place from where he was arrested when usurpers of democracy toppled the PPP government Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer told the gathering that he had opened the doors of Governors House for the masses. He said the arrival of Zardari to Lahore had infused a new vigour in the party workers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Energy Guzzled by Al Gores Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month
Gores personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite energy-efficient home renovations
In other news: ManBearPig's hypocrisy up 15% this year
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/17/2008 19:07 ||
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He's rich. He can afford to waste the Earth's resources.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/17/2008 19:50 Comments ||
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#2
His house will put less strain on the grid as soon as his personal coal fired power plant is on line.
It can also run on alternative fuel--melted polar bear fat.
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.
PARIS In its first new national defense policy in 14 years, France has decided that its security lies within Europe and NATO, establishing a significant shift from the countrys longstanding notions of moral and military self-sufficiency.
Going into Novembers elections, House and Senate Democrats are outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement, with a special emphasis on deporting people convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes. 
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Al Gore is endorsing Barack Obama and promising to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him - the presidency. In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States."
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, hinting at President Pervez Musharrafs ouster in the near future, said on Monday that the next president of the country will be from the PPP and that the President House will soon resound with slogans of jeay Bhutto.
