"Yet [Russia] was heavily dependent on oil and gas, which should have fetched Mr. Putins concern. In a vigorous economy such as Korea or the Czech Republic, manufacturing contributes at least 20 percent of GDP. In Russia that figure is 15 percent. According to the International Monetary Funds figures, if you leave out oil and gas Russias non-oil revenues are now in 11 percent deficit of GDP, and now Russia is taking on an economic basket case, Crimea. It will cost Moscow billions."
..who knows. Maybe Cmdr. Zerro has serendipitously watched Mr. Putin stumble into an Uncle Remus moment..
#1
As I remember the rest of the tale your B'rer fox (Ozero) will throw B'rer rabbit into the briar patch next. I'm pretty sure just in time for the Repubs to have to pick up the pieces. Demoncrats are such pussies.
[DAWN] THE latest attack on a polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccinator is barbaric even by the most brutal standards. Salma Farooqui, a wife and mother of five and an active participant in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... 's Sehat ka Insaf anti-polio initiative, was kidnapped from her village in suburban Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Sunday night and tortured and killed. The victim's perforated carcass was found in a field on Monday. It boggles the mind to think how those who justify or at least tolerate attacks on polio workers will defend this horrific crime. As reported, the victim's body seemed to have received blows from rifle butts and cuts from knives. There were no claims of responsibility till the time of writing and police said the motive for the murder was unclear. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... Ms Farooqui's family are convinced she was targeted due to her polio work as she had been receiving threatening calls. Even though the banned TTP may have in recent days 'distanced' itself from attacks on polio teams, some Death Eater leaders have also admitted there are 'hard-liners' within their ranks who still regard vaccinators and those who protect them as kosher targets. At least a dozen coppers escorting vaccinators were killed in Jamrud, Khyber Agency, earlier this month while polio workers were kidnapped from Frontier Region Tank in February. At least three health workers were bumped off in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in January. Overall, one estimate suggests around 60 people related to the anti-polio campaign have been killed since December 2012.
Salma Farooqui soldiered on in her brave mission despite mortal threats; but on Sunday night the monsters who insist on crippling Pakistain's children and murdering those who wish to vaccinate them against disease registered another 'success'. For the countless other Salma Farooquis in this country working to save Pakistain's children from permanent disability and even death, the state must bring the criminals responsible for her killing to justice and strike at the root of the problem. In the meantime, we will wait for the TTP and its political supporters to openly condemn this outrage.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] RECENTLY, on the eve of Nauroze, the Persian new year, a day opposed by many religious gunnies as 'heresy', four Afghan Talibs entered through metal detectors installed to protect Kabul's Serena Hotel. They sat down with the other diners in the hotel's brightly lit dining room.
Around them were families and children, celebrating, eating and laughing. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, until of course it wasn't anymore. There are differing accounts of how events unfolded but at the end, many lay dead. They included Sardar Ahmed, a journalist for Agence La Belle France Presse, his wife and two daughters. His toddler son was left fighting for his life.
For Afghan journalists, the death of Sardar Ahmed was one of many cruel and abrupt endings brought on by the ire of a group that is known not to shy from killing its enemies and anyone else who may happen to be in the way.
A group of journalists gathered at a Kabul hospital, where the injured and dead from the Serena Hotel had been taken. In a statement issued from the hospital, the journalists declared that despite their assiduous efforts to remain neutral in the conflict between the Afghan Taliban and the government, the former had never shied away from killing them.
With yet another colleague gone, they announced that they had collectively decided to boycott "coverage of news related to the Taliban for a period of 15 days, refraining from broadcasting any information that could further the Taliban's claimed purpose of terror". They also asked that the Taliban provide an explanation of "how they justify the shooting of children at close range".
The journalist boycott of the Taliban is, in the words of one media person supportive of it, "like spitting in the wind". As journalists in both Pakistain and Afghanistan can testify, the bloody wrath of the Death Eaters in the region, the readiness with which they are willing to massacre on the lam, to intimidate and to target, appears boundless.
The casualty counts, the obituaries, the protests have all been unable to draw attention to the particular plight of those who cover militancy. This is not simply the condition of journalists. Aid workers, health workers, doctors, professors and students who have fallen to the Death Eaters have all found themselves helpless before those who use killing as their one and only tactic.
The Afghan news boycott of the Taliban can, however, be instructive for journalists on the Pak side of the border. Since the beginning of the 'talks' with the Pak Taliban, the public here has been subjected to the endless barrage of 'breaking news' related to the Taliban. Whether it is the formulations of committees, the statements of various constituents, or counter-statements of the Taliban themselves, every twist and turn is documented and broadcast lewd and loud into the ears of pliant Paks.
Add to this the news of the attacks conducted by the Taliban, the murder of professors, doctors and intellectuals, the kabooms in old bazaars on street corners and major highways, and you have a 24-hour relentless news cycle dominated by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).
While many would argue that coverage of Taliban activities, especially at a time when negotiations are under way, is needed -- both to keep the public in the loop, and in the name of transparency -- what is not understandable is why their hard boy supporters and the Taliban themselves should be given so much airtime to propound their ideology of intolerance and hate. This becomes doubly dangerous when there is no coherent counter-narrative. Then there is the issue of the Taliban's particular manipulation of the media coverage. Often in broadcasting or printing their statements or viewpoints, there is a fine line between reportage and how a picture of the Death Eaters actually emerges. For instance, there is a difference between publishing a Death Eater group's claim or responsibility for an attack and presenting it in a way that may justify, even lionise, its actions.
In their latest incarnation as partners in negotiation, the TTP has become dependent on how news about it is spun on television and in newspapers. Evidence of this can be seen in the many statements (often disseminated via email) to television anchors and journalists. In some, they offer clarifications, in others divergences.
Journalists cannot stop the wild and unabashed killing spree of the Taliban (in Pakistain or Afghanistan). Indeed, the governments of both countries seem increasingly at a loss when it comes to preventing Death Eater incursions into ever new areas.
A journalistic boycott such as the one going on in Afghanistan may not defeat the Taliban, it may not even prevent them from killing more people, journalists or anyone else. It may, however, deny them a way of getting their propaganda and perspective out there, to the ears and eyes of millions of people.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... in both the case of Afghanistan and Pakistain, what would be a far better tool to counter the discourse presented by the Death Eaters is a powerful counter-narrative; one that does not succumb to the pressure exerted by the Taliban and their ilk and whose principles, rooted in democratic, liberal values, present a direct contrast to the obscurant ideology propounded by a manipulative enemy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
a powerful counter-narrative; one that does not succumb to the pressure exerted by the Taliban and their ilk and whose principles, rooted in democratic, liberal value -- all that is so un-Islamic, anyone engaging in infidel progaganda of that ilk surely deserves to die.
[DAWN] OUR resurgent jihad factory seems to be working overtime, supplying well-trained and highly motivated fighters for the Syrian and Afghan war theatres. There's no dearth of radicalised volunteers to take part both on the internal and external front. Though theoretically still proscribed, the krazed killer groups are back in business exploring new frontiers for jihad.
Paks form one of the largest contingents of foreign combatants in Syria and their number is likely to rise with the growing Saudi influence in this country. Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... the Afghan front is also heating up with the approach of the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of the US-led foreign forces, attracting a greater number of bully boyz for what is described as the most critical phase of the battle for Afghanistan.
A peace deal on their terms may give the Pak Taliban the crucial space to recoup and focus more on their activities across the Durand Line. Radical seminaries have long been the source of an uninterrupted supply of volunteers for the Afghan Taliban fighting the occupation forces.
There's a long history of Pak holy warriors fighting foreign wars from Afghanistan to Kashmire, Chechnya, Bosnia, even getting involved in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region in Azerbaijan. But the avenue for external jihad shrank after 9/11, with Pakistain pulling back from its policy of using militancy as a tool of regional policy.
Outraged by this change of tack, krazed killer groups turned to internal jihad by declaring war on the Pak state. The ban on Pak krazed killer groups, however, could never be fully enforced. Afghanistan remained a major battleground for jihadists. Now even that pretence seems to have been completely blown away with the state closing its eyes to the resurgence of krazed killer and sectarian outfits.
Militant fighters from Pakistain started joining the rebel forces fighting the Bashir al-Assad regime as Syria became the new centre for global jihad. Beginning as a movement for democracy the Syrian civil war has turned into a wider Shia-Sunni conflict drawing surrounding countries into the bloody power game.
The Syrian civil war also heralded the resurgence of Al Qaeda-affiliated groups as a major force in the war-ravaged region. These groups now control a large part of Syria as well as the Sunni heartland in Iraq. The development has given the jitters to the West and to those Arab countries that have been actively backing the Syrian rebellion. To offset Al Qaeda's rising power, these countries are trying to build a so-called moderate Sunni coalition.
But the attempt seems to have failed, as those moderates depend on the support of groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, the official Al Qaeda affiliate. Fearing Al Qaeda's growing influence, the Saudi government has asked its nationals to return home. A major fear is that more radicalised warriors may turn their weapons on the Saudi rulers. But this has not stopped the Saudis from funding and arming the rebels and fighters from other countries.
There are two categories of bully boyz from Pakistain in Syria: those belonging to Sunni sectarian groups like 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 ... (LJ) and others from krazed killer outfits including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP). The presence of Pak fighters in Syria first made headlines last year after the detection of polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... virus which was traced back to Pakistain.
It is apparent that the main motivation behind Sunni sectarian groups like the LJ is to fight the Shia-dominated Assad regime. Most of these fighters are believed to have been recruited from Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , which has become the main sectarian battleground. Others belong to Punjab and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . According to a top provincial police official, many from Balochistan were recruited through Saudi-funded groups, and the administration conveniently closed its eyes to this.
Some reports quoting TTP commanders said the group has also set up a base in Syria. It is also an anti-Shia ideology that has driven the TTP to join the Syrian conflict. The Taliban have close ties with the LJ and other radical Sunni groups.
A Pak Taliban fighter in Syria was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying that there was a higher reward from God for fighting evil at home as well as outside. All these groups have close ideological links with Al Qaeda and are most likely to be fighting along groups like Al Nusra.
The most dangerous scenario presents itself once these fighters return to Pakistain. The involvement of Pak jihadis in Syria will have serious repercussions and fuel sectarian violence. The widening of the sectarian conflict in the Middle East and its spill-over effect inside Pakistain raises fears of radical Shia recruitment to join the war on the Syrian government's side. That may also lead to an escalation in the proxy war in Pakistain.
With the krazed killer narrative dominating the national scene and the state in denial there could not be a better environment for a thriving jihad industry. The so-called peace talks with the TTP have already taken off whatever pressure there was on the krazed killers, giving them licence to venture into other jihadi arenas.
A highly volatile situation in the Middle East calls for a more prudent policy approach by the government and for maintaining strict neutrality on the widening sectarian war. Instead, the prime minister has decided to take sides, with extremely grave consequences for the country. That gives a huge boost to the jihadis. The resurgence of Jihad Inc and the increasing involvement of Pak bully boyz in foreign conflicts presents a grave challenge to the country's stability and security.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Most of the jihadis who go abroad will get killed or settle there, it seems to me, and so will not cause trouble for the folks back home. And the few who do survive and return can then be busied training up the next geneeration of vivious idiots, or turned against India or Afghanistan, so that's ok.
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.
