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Egypt seizes group that planned attacks on tourist sites
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Afghanistan
Car bomber killed in Afghan attack
A car bomb blew up as its driver tried to ram a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan on Wednesday, while in a separate incident, two Canadian soldiers were wounded in a roadside blast. The attacks came as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan met Afghan and Pakistani commanders for security talks including discussions of how to combat a wave of bombings.

Jalalabad police spokesman Abdul Ghafour said U.S. troops had shot dead the suicide car-bomber as he tried to ram a convoy and seconds later his explosives detonated. U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence said the driver was killed in a blast as he approached the U.S. convoy. "Indications we have now is that no shots were fired," Lawrence said.

A roadside blast hit a Canadian forces vehicle in the southern province of Helmand, wounding two soldiers. One was slightly wounded and the other was under observation for a wound that was not life-threatening, said Canadian forces spokeswoman Captain Julie Roberge. The blast happened in an area in which a Canadian and an American soldier were killed during a Taliban attack on a base last month.

A rocket landed in central Kabul late on Wednesday near the U.S. embassy and U.S. and other military bases, slightly wounding an Afghan guard at a state television compound, police said. A U.S. spokesman said in Washington all U.S. employees were accounted for. It was the second rocket to hit the capital in a week. No one was hurt when a rocket hit a Defence Ministry compound in the city centre on Wednesday last week.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Canadian soldiers injured in Afghanistan blast
A landmine blast Wednesday hit a Canadian forces convoy in southern Afghanistan injuring two soldiers, officials said. Spokesman for the Canadian forces Major Marc Theriault told reporters the explosion took place in the Sangin district of the volatile province. He said the injured soldiers were shifted to a military base in Kandahar and their condition was satisfactory.

Earlier in the day, a motorist, believed to be a suicide bomber, was shot dead by the US forces in Afghanistan's border town of Jalalabad. Officials said the vehicle was packed with explosives and it burst in flames as the coalition forces opened fire at it. The US forces did not comment so far on the Jalalabad incident.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Rocket lands near US embassy in Kabul
A big explosion rocked the Afghan capital late Wednesday night but there is no report about casualties. Afghan police officials, on condition of anonymity, said it was a rocket fired from the nearby mountains and the target was the US embassy. The rocket missed the target and hit a nearby building of the Afghanistan Radio and TV.

Another official said one employee, believed to be a security guard, was injured in the attack. The building was partially damaged and smoke can be seen rising out of the area. The targeted building is close to US embassy and the NATO headquarters in Kabul. The NATO forces immediately rushed to the building and cordoned the area. No one was allowed to go close to the site of the blast.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Thousands flee Mogadishu as war approaches
Rival militias are gearing up for new clashes to win control of the Somali capital, sending thousands of terrified people fleeing from their homes, Mogadishu residents said Wednesday.

Gunmen loyal to Islamic courts and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) who fought pitched battles in the city last month have re-armed themselves for what residents fear may be all-out war, they said.

"Some people are very much terrified and they are leaving their houses since most are sure violence will erupt," said Daudi Yakubu Mohamed, a taxi driver who has so far ferried 23 fleeing families from enclaves in southern Mogadishu.

Businessman Ahmed Ismail Abukar said dozens of terrified families have fled the volatile Daynile district in southern Mogadishu to Hamerwein district in the central part of the city inhabited by less belligerent clans.

"People are leaving their homes and taking refuge in relatively peaceful neighbourhoods that are not dominated by Islamic courts or the alliance," Abukar told AFP.

Several hundred extended families, accounting for more than 2,000 people, have left their homes seeking safety as militiamen have deployed in various parts of the city, residents said.

Arms dealers in Mogadishu's Bakara and Argentine markets said their stocks have been emptied in recent days as the two sides boost weapons and ammunition supplies in anticipation of major clashes.

"The market is dry and demand is high," said one trader, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

At least 52 people were killed and hundreds displaced in Mohgadishu in March when the two sides squared off in the bloodiest clashes since the country collapsed into anarchy with the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre.

The ARPCT, seen by many here as a US-backed anti-Muslim instrument, was formed in February with the stated goal of battling the threat of terrorism posed by the alleged growing influence of Islamic extremists around Mogadishu.

The city's powerful Islamic courts, which provide a semblance of stability in the parts of the city they control, deny US and alliance allegations that they are harboring Al-Qaeda operatives and training foreign fighters.

Washington has refused to comment on claims of its direct involvement in Somalia but on Wednesday issued a statement through the US embassy in Nairobi appealing for calm in Mogadishu.

"The United States calls upon all Somalis to work together to encourage restraint and calm in the city," the embassy said in its first public comments about Somalia in several months.

"Provocations and fresh outbreaks of violence in Mogadishu can serve only the interests of extremist elements," it said, urging that all differences be resolved through dialogue and the support of Somalia's transitional government.

On Tuesday, the prime minister of that government, Ali Mohamed Gedi, said he had struck a deal with the United States to patrol Somali territorial waters to curb rampant piracy and stem terrorist threats.

But Washington later denied any such agreement existed, while acknowledging that the US and Somali government officials were discussing counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Ethel get my case of microwave popcorn out please."
Posted by: SPoD || 04/20/2006 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  The US should send humanitarian aid and peacekeeping troops there immediately. Or as soon as Monica's finished down there. No one should have to live that way, but nothing seems to work to break the cycle.
Feel's like the movie 'Groundhog Day'.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/20/2006 7:27 Comments || Top||

#3  "The United States calls upon all Somalis to work together to encourage restraint and calm in the city,"

Got to get them to leave Toronto first....
Posted by: Pappy || 04/20/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Where can I invest is qat futures?
Posted by: Xbalanke || 04/20/2006 16:42 Comments || Top||

#5  maybe they'll wipe each other out for good. Remember blackhawk down?
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 04/20/2006 19:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Somalia in general should be sinktrapped - my sympathy meter pegs and wraps around negative for them. F*&k em
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 20:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt seizes group that planned attacks on tourist sites
Egypt yesterday arrested Islamic militants who it claimed were planning to blow up tourist sites and kill Muslim and Christian religious figures.

"Information, documents and discussions [with the detained men] confirmed that they had studied the execution of operations against tourist sites, and against the natural gas pipeline on the circle road which surrounds greater Cairo," said a statement by the interior ministry.

The ministry said the 22 men, who call themselves the Victorious Group, had downloaded information about bomb making from the internet and had contacted foreign militants with the purpose of sending some members to fight abroad.

The authorities did not suggest that the men possessed any weapons or explosives. But they said the group had tried to buy a piece of land in Al Saff, 60km south of Cairo, to use as a training base.

The interior ministry statement was accompanied by photographs of all 22 men who range in age from 18 to 31. The leader of the group was identified as Ahmed Mohammed Ali Gabr, a university student.

The announcement comes at a time when the Egyptian authorities are facing resistance from the Muslim Brotherhood - the largest opposition bloc in parliament - and from civil society groups to the extension of the emergency law under which Egypt has been governed since 1981.

A Brotherhood spokesman was yesterday quoted as saying that the announcement of the arrests was a pretext for the extension of the emergency law, which gives the security services sweeping powers and which would otherwise expire in June after almost 25 years in force.

The president, Hosni Mubarak, has promised the law will be abolished and replaced by new anti-terror legislation.

But human rights groups, which claim that some 15,000 people are in jail without trial in Egypt, say they fear that the emergency law, which they accuse of stifling political life, will survive.

The authorities, however, argue that the threat of terrorist attacks makes it necessary to give the security services enhanced powers.

The government managed in the late 1990s to crush the two main militant organisations that had been active in the country since the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in 1981.

After a seven-year period of calm, groups, apparently inspired by al-Qaeda, emerged in Cairo and Sinai, where bombings have targeted tourists.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Oil Reaches Record in New York as Car Bomb Explodes in Nigeria
Crude oil rose to a record in New York after a car bomb was set off in Nigeria, where a militant group threatened attacks on oil rigs and pipelines that could further disrupt supplies from Africa's largest producer.

Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 32 cents to $72.49 a barrel, a new intraday high, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading for $70.31 at 09:16 a.m. London time.

A Nigerian militant group whose attacks had already shut down about a fifth of the country's oil production said it detonated a car bomb yesterday at a military barracks in the southeastern city of Part Harcourt.
Brent which usually trades at a discount to West Texas Intermediate is trading at almost $74/b. I think there is little doubt oil is going higher from here.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/20/2006 05:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Car bombs' a GOOD excuse!! Whatda ya think??
Posted by: ARMYGUY || 04/20/2006 7:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I think speculator's are making a killing.
Posted by: Shuns Uleating3851 || 04/20/2006 8:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Texas? It must be Bush's fault...
Posted by: Raj || 04/20/2006 9:18 Comments || Top||

#4  get off the SUV craze and we could save ourselves alot of headache.
Posted by: bk || 04/20/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#5  bk, YOU try getting 2 adults an 3 children 6 years old and under in the back seat of a car that gets 30 mpg and still meet the seat restraint laws in ANY state. Can't be done. A lot of people who own SUV's do so because thay can get their families into a safer vehicle. My truck is classed as an SUV and I'd like to see someone haul 60 bales of hay in the back while pulling a trailer with another 150 bales in with vehicle thats gets 30 mpg. Get off the SUV bashing. Changing driving habits will have a bigger effect on fuel consumption.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/20/2006 12:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I must refute some of your assumptions.

YOU try getting 2 adults an 3 children 6 years old and under in the back seat of a car that gets 30 mpg and still meet the seat restraint laws in ANY state. Can't be done.

Ok. How about 25 mpg, even less. For families with family needs there should be intermedaiate sized cars (remember station wagons?) w/ reasonable mog and not classified as trucks to avoid regs.

A lot of people who own SUV's do so because thay can get their families into a safer vehicle.

They are not safer. The only rime the SUV is safer is when it is running into a smaller car.

My truck is classed as an SUV

No, your SUV is classified as a truck.

and I'd like to see someone haul 60 bales of hay in the back while pulling a trailer with another 150 bales in with vehicle thats gets 30 mpg.

Here is the problem. Obviously someone with needs like yours should be able to buy and drive the vehicle of their choice.
SUV for you, no problem.
The problem started with the idea of going around the regs and specs to gussy up a truck and sell it as a luxury vehicle while not having to meet passeneger vehicle safety or mileage standards.
Bad for all of us.
Then they started telling everyone about the "safety" of these
large vehicles which is a myth.
Soccer moms and inner cityy commuters really don't need hill climbning monster trucks with luxury emblems.
It is a destructive fad.

Get off the SUV bashing. Changing driving habits will have a bigger effect on fuel consumption.

People have to go places. Nobody here is taking fun rides. Too crowded out there even at 38 mpg in a car that actually handles and can get out of it's own way.
Posted by: Jim#6 || 04/20/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||

#7  God, my typing sucks.
Posted by: Jim#6 || 04/20/2006 12:43 Comments || Top||

#8  #4: get off the SUV craze and we could save ourselves alot of headache.

A friend has a new Scion, hybrid drive, it's a medium SUV and gets 38-40 MPG.

Stop trying to force us to do what you want, you don't want a SUV fine, as far as what I drive Butt Out.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/20/2006 13:17 Comments || Top||

#9  The SUPPLY of oil isn't the problem - it's both where it comes from and how it has to get to the user. We buy foreign oil because the enviroweenies have jacked up the cost of local production to where it's virtually uneconomical. We're NOT drilling in Alaska, we're NOT drilling off the coast of California, we're NOT doing deep drilling in the Gulf, because of "environmental concerns" that are most often based upon fraud. We haven't built a new refinery in the US in 30 years. We haven't built a nuclear reactor in 30 years. We refuse to build breeder reactors because of "environmental concerns". We (I.e., the government) also penalize every aspect of oil production, transportation, refining, marketing, and distribution of oil products with senseless over-regulation and safety concerns NASA couldn't abide by.

Vehicles come in all sizes because people have varying needs. I drive a van because driving anything else HURTS. It's not the vehicle, or even the gas mileage, but the constant government and NGO interference in the marketplace that causes gas to cost so da$$$$$ much. $.48 of ever gallon I buy is for federal and state gasoline taxes, and both the feds and the state want to raise them again.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/20/2006 14:46 Comments || Top||

#10  No, your SUV is classified as a truck Horseshit! I have a pick-up truk. It isn't a "Sport/Utility Vehicle". They used to BE classified as "Pickup Truck". I'm sick to hell of people confronting me at gas stations and admonishing me because I have a "Big SUV". The Insurance company, the local government, and the federal government tell me I own a "Sport/Utility Vehicle". I'd sure as hell like to know where the "Sport" comes in.
As far as driving habits, I own a Chevrolet Cavalier for everyday driving. I wish I had a nickle for every SOB who passes me doing twice the speed limit. It's my belief that EVERYONE who drives needs to take measures to save fuel. Dumping on one type vehicle sounds good on TV but it's just so much bugle oil. It sounds like "I'm not gouing to change MY driving habits but those gas-guzzeling SUV owners had better change theirs". Blow it out your bazooka, bub.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/20/2006 15:26 Comments || Top||

#11  We are at the mercy of a volatile world oil market because we STILL do not have a real national energy policy and a national energy plan. We do not have these essential things because we do not have any national leadership in this area.
1. The President has not pushed this like he should.
2. The Republicans have had six years to make something happen and they have failed.
3. The Dems are obstructionists and generally worthless, so we give them a pass, sort of.

I guess that it is up to the people to get this thing going.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/20/2006 16:10 Comments || Top||

#12  it's just so much bugle oil
Hit 'em on the flanks now! Charge!

Git 'em Deacon.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:36 Comments || Top||

#13  1. the lack of new refineries has NOTHING to do with the escalating price of CRUDE.

2. Breeders were NOT stopped for enviro concerns, but for proliferation concerns.

You want to drill in ANWR, fine. Are you willing to balance that with a policies that address demand as well?

Re:SUVs. Most SUV drivers are using them for passengers, onroad. If they really needed more seating, theyd get a minivan.

Re SUVS and CAFE standards: Im not wild about CAFE regs as a way to control demand anyway. CAFE regs may force people to more efficient cars. They DONT A. Get people to drive more efficiently (within the speed limit, tuned up, tires inflated, etc, etc) B. To carpool C. To combine trips, or make errands closer to home D. Walk, bike, or use transit E. Telecommute F. Live closer to work, and so on and so forth.

What DOES do that? A higher price at the pump. Now we can let the market set the price high, which is fine, except most of the money goes to foreigners (and a pretty nasty gang of them, at that) OR we can increase taxes on it, and the money goes into the Treasury.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 04/20/2006 16:50 Comments || Top||

#14  LH, Almost agree. One big problem is the volatility in the oil prices. This makes it dangerous to develop capital intensive domestic alternatives. What we need to do is tax imports sufficiently that it makes developing tar sands and other domestic sources economical.

So an oil import fee that assures that the price of a barrel of imp0orted crude never costs less than $50 per barrel with an inflation adjustment. This would stimulate alternative sources do domestic development and make financial return on conservation measures more certain.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 16:58 Comments || Top||

#15  my gas policy is Git There Furstus with the Mostus
Posted by: RD || 04/20/2006 17:06 Comments || Top||

#16  LH I do agree with most of what you say. The refining capacity here has no impact on the price of crude but does have a big impact on the price of gassolene. Another factor is which additives are allowed in which States. It would be great if each State had a dedicated refinery for it's particular brand of gas. That aint gonna happen. This is one of the very few instances where I think the Federal Government sould set standards. My daughter has 3 children 6 and under. They either have to own an SUV or some type of minivan. The SUV's are easier to handle but more expensive so the own a minivan (my son-in-law gets pissed when I refer to it as a snub-nosed wusswagon). We live in a consumer driven society. If people want to drive SUV's and can afford the gas, who am I to say they can't?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/20/2006 17:15 Comments || Top||

#17  Remember station wagons ?

Posted by: Jim#6 || 04/20/2006 17:40 Comments || Top||

#18  It won't matter if demand falls, driving fuel efficient cars, etc, as long as you're still using oil to power your car. So what if your car uses only 1 gallon for a whole month? You will still pay the same amount at the pump each month. Gasoline makers are free to do this because demand is inelastic. Demand is inelastic because there is no alternative resource to power your car.

For now, the only effective solution is to change habits. Walk more. Car pool more. Take transit more. And if you have a farm, buy some horses. Good luck with that.
Posted by: Barron || 04/20/2006 17:44 Comments || Top||

#19  "It won't matter if demand falls, driving fuel efficient cars, etc, as long as you're still using oil to power your car. So what if your car uses only 1 gallon for a whole month? You will still pay the same amount at the pump each month. "

another arithmatic challenged person.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 04/20/2006 17:49 Comments || Top||

#20  I hate S.U.V.'s! For the most part they handle like three-legged coffee tables, launch about as hard as a riding lawnmower and have woefull brakes. That being said, telling someone they should not own one is un(maybe even anti)American and anyone who does should receive a hardy bitch slapping on the spot. Domestic drilling would have a small effect, but I doubt we will ever see real relief at the pump. Here in Minnesota we sell what is called E85 (85 percent ethanol) and the price for E85 keeps pace with gasoline. We'll never see gas prices stabalize, and I doubt they will ever get back down under $2.00 a gallon. Our politicians aren't actually concerned with the price of gas, they just want the issue.
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/20/2006 17:49 Comments || Top||

#21  "If people want to drive SUV's and can afford the gas, who am I to say they can't?"

while im opposed to specific policies that target SUV's, i reserve my right to rant at the folks who drive them.

And if theres a real debate going on over supply side policies, like opening ANWR, vs demand side policies that raise the cost at the pump, you cant expect me to ignore the fact that the costs of the demand side policies, will fall, among other groups, on people driving vehicles that A. I think they dont need and drive for status reasons and B. That make my own driving experience less pleasant.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 04/20/2006 17:52 Comments || Top||

#22  As for the demand side... I bet everyone on this board see's at least one driver every week that should not be allowed to do so. Give 'Burgers' the right to yank license's and we should see demand drop significantly.
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/20/2006 17:56 Comments || Top||

#23  LH, I think you crossed a line there. You reserve the right to rant about people who drive vehicles you think they don't need and make my driving experience less pleasant. So other people shouldn't drive anything except what you think they need? Most people don't need anything more than an Isetta. I would bet it's not what people drive but certain drivers that impact your pleasurable driving experience.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/20/2006 18:24 Comments || Top||

#24  another arithmatic challenged person.

Another economics challenged person. Learn the difference between quantity demanded and demand, then we'll talk, ok? Learn something about elasticities while you're at it.
Posted by: Barron || 04/20/2006 18:32 Comments || Top||

#25  . Gasoline makers are free to do this because demand is inelastic

:> Right. Ima still trying to figure out why they didn't raise the price back in the '90s. Reno fear?
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:15 Comments || Top||

#26  If people want to drive SUV's and can afford the gas, who am I to say they can't?

Perhaps we need to change what people want. When something less taxing becomes "in" and provides the image people want to project to the world, then things may change. People want what the marketers tell them they want for the most part. The SUV craze is an example of desire based on image. People must, en masse (en fad), change what they want. Until efficient and cheap becomes "in", no hope. The vehicle as whang and power - big, expensive. Hard to get a guy to change that image.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 04/20/2006 19:47 Comments || Top||

#27  Nimble Spemble is on the money. A tax on imported oil must be part of our energy policy for the reasons he states. The majority of the price increases in the last few years are a FUD tax in regards to the middle east. I smaller portion of the increases in price is due to increase in demand due to the emerging economies.
The US has the technical means to supply all our own oil or its replacement at prices much below $74/barrel. However, these technical means require ENORMOUS capital investment. No one is going to make such an investment when the Saudia's can open the spigots and make them unprofitable practiacally overnight. The problem with oil is political and it solution is the same.
Posted by: Hyperfine || 04/20/2006 20:10 Comments || Top||

#28  Yep, Nimble S is right and its nice to see others voice the solution some of us have been advocating for a while now.

The problem at root is one of risk. The USA could have unlimited energy supplies. The problem is that vast sums of money are needed and the payback will be over 20 or more years. Businesses and capitalists won't do that when they could be undercut on price and driven out of business and lose billions.

Only governments can carry those kinds of risks. My proposal is that goverment invites bidders to supply oil from non-traditional sources over 20 years. A business can then determine what price makes an investment viable and bid it. I'd suggest you will see pretty much unlimited supply in the $30 to $40 range.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/20/2006 20:23 Comments || Top||

#29  Thank you HL and phil_b. I too have been advocating this for some time. But then I advocate school choice, too. And replacing the income tax with a consumption tax. Let's see, am I forgetting any other lost causes? Oh, yes, make employer supplied health insurance illegal.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 20:28 Comments || Top||

#30  while im opposed to specific policies that target SUV's, i reserve my right to rant at the folks who drive them.

OK lets be fair,
Exactly what do you drive?
How many miles do you drive a week?
Why?
Where? (Geographical area, City, Suburbs, Country, Interstate?)

In other words, do you "Walk the walk" or are you just a fu**ing meddler.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/20/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||

#31  NS, I wasn't implying you weren't a long term advocate. Its just that 2 or 3 years back when I raised the proposal above9on a number of pccasions), it stirred up a lot of criticism. I'm just struck by how little criticism it causes today.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/20/2006 20:49 Comments || Top||

#32  Around the farm I drive a TA45, but when I take the special someone out of the town I put on the Spur. We drive mostly on the farm, no more than 250 miles a week, maybe 400 if we drive into town. Usually we take the G5 for that, though.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 20:57 Comments || Top||

#33  Phil, with the number of economics majors in US colleges, you'd think there would be more support for common sense measures. That there isn't is a testament to the effectiveness of teachers' unions and why I think they are a greater threat to the country than Islam.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 20:59 Comments || Top||

#34  Perhaps we need to change what people want.

Perhaps it would be more respectful and more effective to have a clear discussion about alternatives. Arrogant condescension seldom works as a means of attracting support for a policy in this particular democracy.

I drive an SUV from time to time. My Jeep is nearly 10 years old now, is relatively comfortable, used to carry cargo often and provides 4 wheel drive on the dangerous winter roads I travel on.

I also drive it from time to time because it is paid for and in good working order. We are paying a substantial amount for our adult daughter's medical care and therefore I am not willing to sell it for a pittance in order to purchase something more fuel efficient -- assuming I could find such a thing that also was as capable in snow and on ice.

While we're on the topic of fuel economy, all those who criticize SUVs (without clarifying what size / model you might have in mind) ... you all DO avoid air travel for vacations, right? Or at least figure in the fuel used when you compare your virtuous car to that nasty suv that just passed you?

I'm more than interested in a discussion about good policy alternatives to our current dependence on imported oil. But the condescension here is getting in the way of my hearing some of you.
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 21:12 Comments || Top||

#35  I'm sorry partier, I was bad. But it was fun. Will you be at the Blogapalooza?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 21:15 Comments || Top||

#36  I'll start, I drive a 1988 Isuzu Pickup , 4 cylinder 2600CC 5 speed manual overdrive, when I bought it (Used) it had been refitted with Toyota 15 inch wheels to increase the mileage 10%
It gets about 18MPG in town and 22 on the highway, I work 1,8 miles from home and fill it once a month with about 18 gallons of regular unleaded, I also carry a sealed 5 gallon emergency can that I empty and refill every 4 months or so to keep the gas from getting stale, I shop at Wal Mart which is even closer (About one mile) and I have modified the fuel system to run even leaner than designed, my fuel bill is under 5 gallons a week or less.

This is a "Throw the concrete blocks in the back" rough pickup, not intended for "Show" a real, rusty, beat up, working truck, safe for any speed on the interstate, durable, and reliable as a tank. Currently has 200,00 miles plus and going strong

I also have a 1993 Mustang 4 cylinder 2300 CC engine automatic overdrive transmission, it gets about 24MPG on the interstate, this is our long distance interstate cruiser, we don't use it much, I'll drive it to work occasionaly to keep it in good condition for trips, we usualy either go to Montgomery (168 miles one way) to visit my Mother, or to Biloxi (54 Miles) to visit my Brother, its used only for trips, it also has slightly above 200,000 miles and is also reliable as a tank.

I would not heritate to jump in either vehicle for an emergency trip anywhere in the nation, and in fact have done so before, such as Hurricane Katrina when I got a tow dolly amd used the Isuzu ti tow the Mustand to Montgomery round trip 325+ miles with NO preparation other than loading the things we wanted to save. (Fortunately unneeded, we had no damage)

Total monthly gas usage, about 20 gallons (Being generous) Both vehicles are kept full of fuel for emergencies (Power out equals gas Pumps out)
I do NOT use any form of public transportation such as buses although we have a bus route directly in front of our apartment, it's very inconvenient, we're a mile or less from two big malls and two smaller ones, about 1/2 mile from two interstates, and there's just no need.
I have absolutely no interest in either Motorcycles, Scooters, Bicycles or other "Alternate" transportation, I owned a Citicar (Electric) once and it was a huge dissapointment, very poor design, short range, low speed, and hard to recharge/maintain.

By the way, I'm a Master Mechanic and do all my own repair and maintenance.

Top that. (Nyah, Nyah)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/20/2006 21:16 Comments || Top||

#37  NS, I had hoped to be at both the milblog conference and the Rantapalooza. But now it looks as if I won't be able to get away to DC tomorrow, unfortunately.

Hoist a glass for me, okay?
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 21:17 Comments || Top||

#38  Basically boils down to this: is your SUV based on a truck platform (Ford Explorer) or a car platform (Honda CRV)? Or is a Honda CRV not considered an SUV? Maybe people should start considering smaller SUVs.
Posted by: Barron || 04/20/2006 21:24 Comments || Top||

#39  At 6'4" and 230lbs ... I can't fit behind the wheel in cars under $30K. They are made for little people. I can fit behind the wheel of an SUV.

Posted by: 3dc || 04/20/2006 21:28 Comments || Top||

#40  At almost, but not quite, 5' tall, I too am limited in what I can drive. At the moment it's a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan. I think it gets about 18 mpg -- there is something a little odd about the transmission, Mr. Wife says, but he's a chemical engineer, so he doesn't know what. I try to keep up with tire pressure and oil changes and things, but admit to driving too fast -- generally because I'm late. I fill the gas tank about every 10-20 days.

Now that the trailing daughters have given up soccer, we don't really need a minivan for everyday, but Mr. Wife still wants it for long trips, and td#1 wants it to be her first vehicle when she gets her license. So I'm hoping to acquire a hybrid RAV4 mini-SUV (I think about 30 mpg? so a 50%+ increase in efficiency) -- we live in the hilly part of town, and the roads get icy in winter. When that happens I stay home; I once tried to drive through the snow, and not only couldn't get the beast out of the neighborhood, but barely got it home again. I try to bike to the grocery store if I only need a few things, but otherwise everything is miles away here in the outer suburbs, and no public transportation to be had.

Oh, and I use a manual push mower most of the time, so no gasoline used there.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#41  I drive a truck. Nothing else to say. No apologies or excuses
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 22:29 Comments || Top||

#42  I forgot. I'm also limited by Mr. Wife refusing to put me in something either expensive or crushable. Driving is not one of my strengths, I'm afraid. So I'll not get one of those tiny 50 mpg jobbies until they can translate that mileage to something more tank-like.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 22:31 Comments || Top||

#43  Frank, you're an engineer. Of course you do. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 22:31 Comments || Top||

#44  I bought an 01 intrepid and love it. Plenty of leg room and it gets 26 miles to the gallon. I'm seriously thinking about buying a hybrid the next time, but that won't happen for awhile. 3dc, I'm not big like you, but trying to fit into a subaru or something smaller for my long commute is terrible, I did it for many years though. My arthritis gets in the way now explaining my intrepid.
Living in a bedroom community to a big city, I find myself having to drive 90 miles round trip (mountain driving) to work. I love where I live, but now feel guilty that I'm part of the problem. I would love to have public transportation be more available but they don't run late enough for me. I would love to see one late catch all bus maybe.
lotp, sorry for digressing. I do feel that the price will continue to rise with all of the fighting going on. Or I wonder if this is being spread to explain away the rising costs.
Posted by: Jan || 04/20/2006 22:37 Comments || Top||

#45  thks for the understanding TW :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 22:40 Comments || Top||

#46  yes that too trailing wife, safety is a big issue driving in the mountains especially in the winter. I always have studded tires in the winter. And like the safety afforded by having air bags.
My daughter was in a head on collision on the hwy, oh how I wish there were airbags in that car. she was okay, but many broken bones and long recovery process.
I would love to see a car with good safety features and that would be economical. sigh...
Posted by: Jan || 04/20/2006 22:42 Comments || Top||

#47  there is something a little odd about the transmission, Mr. Wife says

It's plastic and it's made in China. Pre-DaimlerChrysler Caravans and Voyagers are known for this problem. My Voyager had 3 transmissions, the poor thing.
Posted by: Barron || 04/20/2006 23:16 Comments || Top||

#48  Lest we fergit, the Euros are paying an average of US$6.00+ per gallon, the Japanese at least US$14.00+. Here on Guam USA its now US$2.91 up from US$2.89, although I hear specific gas stations have as high as US$3.01 or US$3.03 per gallon. O'REILLY on FNC was on a rampage again - i.e. heated dsicussion with his guest - this AM about how his analyses show US consumers were being wilfully gouged by Big Oil.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/20/2006 23:43 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Jamaat leader confesses to JMB link
Md Abdul Majid, a rokon (cadre) of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh also an executive member of the Dinajpur unit of the organisation confessed to Rab during primary interrogation that he is linked with outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

He was shown arrested on Tuesday and was sent to Dinajpur Jail to be taken into a remand.

Sub-inspector Harunur Rahid yesterday produced Majid to a magistrate court in Dinajpur. The sub-inspector prayed for five days of remand but Magistrate Abu Taher Masud Rana granted three days.

Officer-in-charge of Dinajpur Police Station Md Hamidur Rashid said Rab-5 officials handed Majid over to Dinajpur police Monday afternoon.

Md Nur Mohammad, deputy assistant director of Rab-5, filed a case with Dinajpur Police Station accusing Majid of having link with JMB, police sources said.

In the case it is mentioned that, Rapid Action Battalion-5 of Rangpur arrested Md Abdul Majid based on a confessional statement of Abdul Rashid Bin alias Bakul.

During a remand Bakul said Majid had hosted several JMB regional meetings in his home and in his bookstall at Dinajpur station road in the past. Bakul was an active JMB member and carried out August 17 bombing in Dinajpur.

Rab arrested Majid from his bookstall last Sunday afternoon. Majid is also the president of the editorial board of the Weekly Ajker Dinajpur, which is published locally.

He was taken to Rab's temporary office at Shapla Square in Rangpur and interrogated.

Rab had arrested Majid once earlier from a Rokon conference in Dinajpur last October in suspicion of his involvement with August 17 bomb blasts. Rab sources said Majid was released on a guarantee from one Aftab Uddin Mollah.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Confessed to the RAB? That's Step 1.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/20/2006 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Then a Full Inventory must be taken of the miscreants crimes in the Upazila.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Followed by a late night road trip.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 18:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Who's bringing the doughnuts?
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/20/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Officer Friendly
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 19:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Ummmmmm, donuts.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Dang PERF!
Ummmmm...... donuts, why do they hate KHAAAAAAAN!
/preshawar
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||


Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
MEHERPUR, Apr 19: A regional leader of an outlawed party was killed in a shootout between his cohorts and RAB members in Gangni upazila Wednesday morning, reports UNB.
An outlawed party: care to guess its political philosophy?
RAB sources said they arrested Zohurul Haque alias Titu, 27, a second-in-commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party (Communist Juddha) from Minapara village in Gangni upazila Tuesday evening.
No, I don't know where that is.
After spirited but painful interrogation, RAB members went out with Titu for recovering hidden firearms.
"Hokay, Titu, let's go for a walk."
"But it's dark outside!"
"That don't bother us, and it ain't gonna bother you for too long."
But when they reached at the middle of Chandamari and Ber villages at about 4.30am, ...
A little late, but maybe they had some other 'business' on the way ...
... his cohorts opened fire on the elite force forcing them to fire back.
"Oh lawsy, they got Titu! We gotta open fire!"
"Titu was caught in the crossfire while trying to flee and died on the spot," RAB sources said.
Which saved the trip to the Chittagong University Medical School Emergency Room, since the traffic at that time of the morning is horrible ...
His body was sent to the Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Just to confirm that Titu died of two gunshot wounds to the back of the head.
RAB also recovered a homemade gun and three cartridges from the scene.
All of which are safely back in the RAB display case at HQ ...
Titu, son of Minarul Islam of Bamanagar in Alamdanga upazila of Chuadanga district, was accused on twelve systems in a number of cases including murders.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/20/2006 00:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh goodie! Another dread communist carde leader is dead. Huzza!
Posted by: SPoD || 04/20/2006 2:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't bother to mention the cohorts got away, but the miscreants were out of ammo anyway, so we'll see them in the next episode.
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 04/20/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Is this an episode of SG-1?
Posted by: jay-dubya || 04/20/2006 14:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Is this an episode of SG-1?

Nah, too unrealistic for SciFi. Bangladesh is more Twilight Zone or Outer Limits
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 16:43 Comments || Top||

#5  More like Outer Limits.... it's the same plot over and over and BANG!
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:47 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm pretty sure all the Goa'uld are about a thousand miles (or two) to the WNW of there.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 04/20/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||


Britain
Straw softens tone, offers UK financial lifeline
Britain wants to have "normal relations" with Hamas and is seeking means of unfreezing millions of pounds worth of aid to Palestinians, Jack Straw said yesterday, in a striking softening of tone.

Two days after a Palestinian suicide bombing killed nine people in Tel Aviv, the Foreign Secretary appeared to be moving away from America's policy of isolating the new Hamas-led Palestinian government and starving it of funds.

He also appeared to adopt a more indulgent attitude towards the Islamist movement than Tony Blair.

The Prime Minister told the Commons yesterday: "I hope very much that Hamas realise that those who kill innocent people in this way, by this type of attack that happened in Tel Aviv, are wicked and irresponsible, but more than that, that they do absolutely nothing to further the process of peace in the Middle East or the two-state solution that we all want to see."

Hamas leaders have publicly justified Monday's bombing, carried out by the Islamic Jihad group, as an act of "self-defence" against Israeli occupation.

Mr Straw, speaking in Riyadh, said Hamas had to meet three international demands - renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous peace agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority. But he appeared to be interpreting these conditions with great leniency.

"Hamas now leads the government and we would like to have normal relations with them as we have had with previous governments," he said. "This requires movement by them as well as by us."

As Hamas struggles to fill a gaping financial hole caused by Israel's decision to cut off customs remittances, and a partial suspension of aid by the European Union and America, Mr Straw suggested he was looking for ways to ensure that all of Britain's £56 million contribution continued to reach Palestinians.

He is believed to be considering using an internationally supervised "intermediary" to ensure that aid to the Palestinian Authority does not "leach" to terrorists.

Mr Straw said "recognition" of Israel did not mean a formal declaration by Hamas, but just a practical acceptance of the "reality" of the Jewish state.

The Foreign Secretary is said to believe that re-writing the Hamas charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, is not a precondition for dialogue.

Even on the issue of renouncing violence, Mr Straw appears to have set the bar quite low.

It is understood that Mr Straw could accept silence from Hamas on the question of violence, leaving it to the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to denounce the suicide bombers.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Straw, what a putz
Posted by: Captain America || 04/20/2006 3:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess one 7/7 is not enough.
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/20/2006 6:30 Comments || Top||

#3  The Arabists in the Foreign Office strike again. Key question is whether Mr. Straw speaks for the Prime Minister in this matter.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Some of the time he does. Everyone's problem is to determine when that is.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 8:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Ken Livingstone and Jack Straw pray for arab mercy and forgiveness for 7/7.
Posted by: SamAdamsky || 04/20/2006 8:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Jack Straw, the new Jacques Chirac. They'll get along famously. I suppose Straw is setting himself up to follow Blair.
Posted by: Perfesser || 04/20/2006 9:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Straw what a complete tool.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/20/2006 9:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Europe is lost.

Straw is an EUphile.
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 9:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Straw is totally delusional. It is sick to have normal relations with an organization that has its publically stated aim the destruction of an independent state and its people, and to give them money. This is naked appeasement, above and beyond that of the late Neville Chamberlain.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/20/2006 9:52 Comments || Top||

#10  notice that two of the three alleged softenings, mentioned in the last paragraphs, are "said" to be Straws opinions, by unnamed sources. Unnamed sources cited by the Telegraph, a Tory paper hostile to Labour, (old or New). If the NYT cited anon sources saying Bush was pursuing policy X, we wouldnt believe them. I see no good reason to do so here.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 04/20/2006 10:15 Comments || Top||

#11  DEBKA says that this was Straw's concession in order to win a big arms deal from the Saudis.

I knew the Saudis were dangling this deal -- the French were salivating over it a few months ago. Didn't realize how much the UK wanted to buy the business tho.
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 11:13 Comments || Top||

#12  lotp-If this is true, we need to have it in plain language, then.

The UK is funding and supporting terrorists in order to get a business deal.

"I hope very much that Hamas realise that those who kill innocent people in this way, by this type of attack that happened in Tel Aviv, are wicked and irresponsible..."

I will not be alone in holding the UK government responsible for abetting terrorist attacks if Mr. Straw's misplaced "hope" and deluded policy shift of offering a "financial lifeline" to a Hamas-led Palestine result in terrorist attacks on anyone. Mr. Blair-your underling (and perhaps you?) have taken a lethally wrong turn-you are about to get innocents' blood on your hands-not by fighting terrorism, but by fostering it. That's a real shame, and not just for your reputation.
Posted by: Jules || 04/20/2006 12:54 Comments || Top||

#13  The real reason is that killing of jooos is back on track, so Straw man would like to provide reward and incentive.
Posted by: zazz || 04/20/2006 13:26 Comments || Top||

#14  There you have it, Straw plans to fund terrorist for the pagan moon goddess allah. frucking Dhimmy angle grabber.
Posted by: Spaling Snilet3764 || 04/20/2006 13:48 Comments || Top||

#15  oh, debka took the Telegraph story, already questionable, and came up with a stretched rationale for it. Now THAT'S real confirmation, isnt it.

Posted by: liberalhawk || 04/20/2006 16:41 Comments || Top||

#16  Hawk, nice catch here. If I could figure out a way to type you a hi-five I would. Pinko-commie-liberal-bastard. Will that work instead? Take it easy big guy, just ribbing you a bit.
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/20/2006 17:26 Comments || Top||

#17  Yes, he's a bit of a jerk. But let's not get worked up too much until policy actually changes. Remember, Blair has a say about this as well. And according to the report :

"Hamas had to meet three international demands - renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous peace agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority".

That seems about right for now.
Posted by: Alastair || 04/20/2006 17:26 Comments || Top||

#18  Nevertheless, Alastair, Straw is a wanker.
Posted by: RWV || 04/20/2006 21:10 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US warns Russia over aid to Iran - naughty naughty naughty.
A senior US official has called on Russia to stop helping Iran build its first civilian nuclear power station. After talks in Moscow to discuss Iran's nuclear programme, US envoy Nicholas Burns said other nations should not help Iran, even on civilian projects.

The tension between the US and Russia comes despite attempts to present a united front to Iran. Tehran has defied UN calls to stop nuclear activity, saying last week it had successfully enriched uranium. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel in a nuclear plant, or, when highly refined, in a nuclear weapon.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful power generation only, while the US and other Western countries believe it is running a covert weapons programme.

Russia's engagement with Iran's nuclear programme has been a source of friction between Moscow and Washington for many years, says the BBC's Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke. US officials believe it has helped bolster Iranian nuclear know-how. Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcake. "We... think it is important for countries to stop cooperation with Iran on nuclear issues, even on civilian nuclear issues like the Bushehr facility," said Mr Burns, the US undersecretary of state, referring to Iran's first atomic power station in the south of the country.

Russia's impatience with Iran is increasingly visible, says our correspondent, but even so Moscow will not welcome this American intervention. Russia says it has always maintained adequate safeguards and international oversight would be in place to prevent the diversion of sensitive technologies. It is also reluctant to do anything that might damage its relationship with Iran, our correspondent says. The US wants the UN to authorise more robust action against Iran over its nuclear programme, including sanctions. Moscow has limited itself so far to joining Western calls for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment.

During the latest talks between major powers in Moscow, moreover, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to specifically rule out discussion of sanctions until the publication of a key report from the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog at the end of April. In a rare public intervention, General Yuri Baluyevsky, head of the Russian armed forces, suggested there was mounting dissatisfaction with the increasing US pressure for action against Iran. He stated that Russia would remain strictly neutral in the event of US military action against Iran, but he pledged that Moscow would go ahead with the planned sale of an advanced air-defence system to Tehran.

That provoked a riposte from Mr Burns, who said: "No country should sell weapons to a regime like that."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/20/2006 16:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "No country should sell weapons to a regime like that."

Are they a slow pay?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 18:00 Comments || Top||

#2  And really bad credit too...
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/20/2006 18:33 Comments || Top||

#3  You'd think they learned something from Iraq, where they had to write off billions in debt.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/20/2006 18:57 Comments || Top||

#4  we'll need to expose the air defense for the same level of crap as the GPS jammers in Iraq. Not good for future sales, Ivan
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 19:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Typical Ruskie commie double-speak:

"Russia would remain strictly neutral in the event of US military action against Iran" BUT "Moscow would go ahead with the planned sale of an advanced air-defence system to Tehran"
Posted by: Captain America || 04/20/2006 19:28 Comments || Top||

#6  This gives me a horrid thought. If the Israelis wanted to wipe out a huge number of Iranian nuclear scientists at one or more of their critical facilities, with the idea of depriving Iran of the talent to make its nukes, there is a highly effective way of doing so.

Chemical and biological-toxin weapons.

I would recommend using a device about the size of a 1 quart can. It would contain a terribly lethal toxin or chemical, a very quiet atomizer, a battery to power the atomizer, and a timer. It could be concealed in anything, and would be totally inconspicuous.

If the toxin or chemical took a week or two before onset of symptoms, and was otherwise untreatable, the air in the facility, and the facility itself, would be so polluted that it would have to be abandoned.

That is, after everyone who had been inside the facility over a one-week period had died.

A dozen such weapons placed in a dozen different facilities could kill hundreds of their top nuclear scientists, and even more important, make every major nuclear production facility useless.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/20/2006 19:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Funny, I have a completely different definition of "neutral".
Posted by: Angigum Crotch3713 || 04/20/2006 19:30 Comments || Top||

#8  I just heard Iran was given a seat on the UN Nuclear weapons poliferation committee. Has the UN lost its last shred of crediability.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/20/2006 21:11 Comments || Top||

#9  That's an affrimative, 49 Pan.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 21:13 Comments || Top||

#10  I just heard Iran was given a seat on the UN Nuclear weapons proliferation committee. Has the UN lost its last shred of credibility?

Sorry bout my horrid spelling.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/20/2006 21:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Committee Vice Chair, no less.
Posted by: Chath Unomotch9056 || 04/20/2006 21:15 Comments || Top||

#12  History will show the UN a joke and the US a fool for funding it. Time to turn it into a humanitarian organization and send them to feed the hungry.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/20/2006 21:26 Comments || Top||

#13  " History will show the UN a joke and the US a fool for funding it. Time to turn it into a humanitarian organization and send them to feed the hungry."

Better to feed the UN career bureaucrats and parking ticket scofflaws to the Hungry ... Lions.
Posted by: doc || 04/20/2006 22:12 Comments || Top||

#14  UN League of Nations
Posted by: Captain America || 04/20/2006 22:27 Comments || Top||

#15  Will say again GWOT > various rogue crises and Radical Islam, etal. are diversionary, albeit bloody, PC sideshows for the real battlefield that is in Washington DC and the NPE, i.e. vv "CREEPING/GRADUAL SOCIALISM-COMMUNISM". All sodes know that places like Iran and North Korea and Taiwan, etc. are geopol "lines of demarcation" = lines in sand = "Neutral Zones" where EAST-WEST, SOCIALIST-CAPITALIST confrontations are highest - IS PARTLY WHY MADMOUD AND KIMMIE ARE BEING SO WILFULLY REGIONALLY NOW GLOBALLY BELLIGERENT. VV Nukes and Empire > the Radicals + Anarchists, etc want the superior Western/First World democracies to unilaterally and unconditionally acknowledge and justify their failed and failing ideos - iff not, they're gonna wilfully break something i.e. take everybody with them to hell, darkness and chaos. Unless something changes, Americans are looking at minima REGIONAL IRAN-CENTRIC EMPIRE OR NEAR-PSEUDO-EMPIRE within the lifetimes of the present adult generations - in EAST ASIA-PACRIM, whom here doubts that any surreal REGIONAL? "NORTH KOREAN EMPIRE" is in reality a disguised/shadow CHICOM EMPIRE. Are Americans willing to risk short-term war, including potential LIMITED NUKE WAR, in exchange for superficial, i.e. fake, longer-term "peace". ONCE IRAN GETS ITS NUKES, ANDOR THE USA FAILS TO STOP OR PREVENT CHINA FROM FORCIBLY TAKING OVER TAIWAN, FAKE PEACE IS DE FACTO ALL AMERICANS WILL HAVE LEFT CUZ INEVITABLY IT'LL BE OUR TURN SOON ENOUGH TO TO BE CONQUERED OR DESTROYED. Remember, the Rogues job between now and 2015-2020 is too support domestic American Anti-American efforts towards the PC destabilization and fractionalism of Fascist SOCIALIST America vv making things so-o-o expensive for Washington as to induce = force the US Fed to expand and unilaterally take over everything and anything domestically, in the name of personal, local and national safety, security, accountability, fairness and protection in wartime = peacetime. The DemoLeft > has no probs with FASCIST ALL-POWERFUL HYPERPOWER AMERICA WARS AROUND THE GLOBE vv 9-11 and 3000 dead as long as a COMMUNIST, WEAK, AMERIKAN SOVIETIZED/
STALINIZED, GLOBAL SOCIALIST STATE REPUBLIC UNDER OWG AND SWO-CWO IS THE FINAL OUTCOME "Fascist" Amerika > just the Clinton's and Left's way of saying AMERICA IS A [SSSSHHHHHH, DE FACTO]
SOCIALIST = PRE-/PSEUDO-COMMUNIST NATION - God help us all, the Lefties and Commies in Socialist, Motherless Rightist Amerika don't know how to stop their Leftism and Communism!? Rest assured its your fault,, as everything always is, that you didn't understand what they really truly unequivocally undeniably honestly meant when they lied to you.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/20/2006 23:16 Comments || Top||


Kyrgyz leader sez "foreign forces" stirring up trouble
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to power in a revolution last year promising to bring democracy, accused "foreign forces" on Wednesday of stoking unrest in his impoverished Central Asian country.

Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by instability and crime since a violent coup toppled veteran leader Askar Akayev last year, in contrast to peaceful protests in Ukraine and Georgia which brought new pro-Western governments to power.

Speaking just hours after he threatened to shut down a U.S. military base, Bakiyev said foreigners were playing their own game against his interests in Kyrgyzstan -- striking a tone typical of authoritarian leaders in other ex-Soviet states.

"There are forces, especially foreign forces, who see Kyrgyzstan as a territory for their own interests," Bakiyev told a group of opposition leaders who had gathered to express their disagreement with his policies.

"These foreign forces don't want us to develop economically, they want to keep us on a short lead ... We must not fall under any country's influence."

Officials in Uzbekistan, Belarus and other ex-Soviet countries where dissent is tightly controlled frequently accuse unnamed foreign forces of trying to undermine their rule.

Bakiyev is due to visit Russia -- which has long expressed concerns over the U.S. military presence in Central Asia -- early next week for talks with President Vladimir Putin, who also has blamed foreigners of trying to undermine Russia.

The new Kyrgyz opposition, spearheaded by Omurbek Tekebayev, a former speaker of parliament, has accused Bakiyev of backtracking on his pre-election pledges, and promised to hold a countrywide protest on April 29.

"What tyranny are you talking about? There is no other country more democratic than Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet bloc," said Bakiyev, who has vowed to use what he called the harshest methods to prevent any repeat of last year's unrest.

Edil Baisalov, an activist who has criticised Bakiyev for not doing enough to restore order, said: "This is what Akayev used to say when he accused Bakiyev of being backed by the West.

"This is a clear attempt by Bakiyev to seek Russian support in a situation when his position has weakened," he told Reuters.

Earlier, Kyrgyzstan threatened to close the Manas military base, which U.S. forces set up during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, if Washington did not agree to a new contract.

The Pentagon declined to address the substance of Bakiyev's comments on the Manas base.

"The U.S. respects Kyrgyzstan's decisions as a sovereign nation," said Lieutenant Colonel Tracy O'Grady-Walsh, a Pentagon spokeswoman. "The agreement on the use of Manas is a bilateral agreement between the governments of (the) U.S. and Kyrgyzstan."

O'Grady-Walsh said use of the base contributes directly to the support of U.S.-led operations against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

The presence of U.S. troops in Central Asia, traditionally a Russian sphere of influence, is a headache for Moscow which ruled Kyrgyzstan until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The United States also set up a base in Uzbekistan, but the authoritarian country last year told the Americans to leave after Washington criticised Tashkent over the bloody suppression of a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Azeri al-Qaeda trained in Pankisi, planned to fight in Chechnya
Azerbaijan's Court for Serious Crimes today convicted 16 suspected Al-Qaeda militants of premeditated murder and illegal possession of weapons.

One defendant, Arif Haciyev, was sentenced to life in prison. The remainder received jail terms of between five and 10 years. Media reports say the men include citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, and Yemen.

Prosecutors say the 16 suspected militants received military training in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge as a prelude to their planned deployment against Russian troops in Chechnya. They also say the group is guilty of killing an Azerbaijani policeman last July.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 00:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Court jails Al-Qaeda affiliates in Azerbaijan
The Security Court in Azerbaijan on Wednesday sentenced to jail a group of citizens for affiliation with Al-Qaeda and plotting terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan. The group is formed of 16 people from Azerbaijan, Yemen, Chechnya, Dagestan, Turkey, and Kazakhstan, who were detained last summer after clashing with police forces in a neighborhood nearby Baku, where one policeman was killed.

Leader of the group was sentenced for life, while four members of the group were sentenced to 7 years in jail, and the rest for five years in jail. According to official sources, investigations found that the group had strong ties and contacts with Al-Qaeda command, received training in Chechen fighters' camps in Georgia, and were planning to strike strategic targets in the area.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Sakra's life was shaped by demagogues, plastic surgeons
Of all the fearsome and unfathomable figures who have waged jihad for al-Qaida, Louia Sakka has emerged as one of the most perplexing.

He is a man whose thinking was shaped by Islamist preachers and demagogues in Damascus and Kabul, while his face was shaped by a series of plastic surgeons in Turkey, Syria and, possibly, Germany.

Sakka stands trial next month, accused of financing four suicide bombings in Istanbul. Sixty-one people died in the November 2003 attacks on the British consulate general, the local headquarters of HSBC bank, and two synagogues. More than 600 were injured; some survivors still receive psychiatric help.

He admits attempting to build a massive bomb for a planned attack on an Israeli cruise liner in the Mediterranean. He also says he fought alongside Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at Falluja, proudly acknowledges killing a number of American soldiers, and is alleged to have been involved in the beheading of a Turkish truck driver.

While he denies any role in the Istanbul bombings, Sakka makes no attempt to conceal the blood on his hands. Appearing in court in Istanbul last month he refused to stand before the judge. "Why should I?" he shouted. "I have fought the jihad. I have killed Americans!"

Now Sakka also claims to have played a role in the death of Kenneth Bigley. The terrorist's lawyer, Osman Karahan, says his client was a member of the gang that held the 62-year-old contractor from Liverpool for three weeks before murdering him in October 2004.

"He was one of the men who interrogated Bigley. He says they put Bigley on trial, found him guilty and executed him," Mr Karahan told the Guardian. "My client was the chief of the court. He wants Mr Bigley's family to know that he was not killed for no reason. This was justice. If he had committed a serious offence in the United States, he would have been executed, and it was the same for him in Iraq."

What "charge" Mr Bigley faced during the mock trial is not clear. Nor has Sakka revealed the whereabouts of the Briton's remains, although his lawyer says he knows where they lie.

Sakka says Zarqawi ordered Mr Bigley's death when he realised the British government would not agree to his demands for the release of all female prisoners being held by US and British forces.

Mr Karahan, a fellow Islamist, is happy to confirm many of his client's worst offences. Indeed, being interviewed at his sixth-storey office overlooking the Galatasaray football stadium, he said: "He's a master of disguise. He's another Carlos."

Mr Karahan says that his client has a wife and three children and, until the mid-1990s, worked for his father, a successful detergent company owner in Aleppo, northern Syria. It was while working as the company's salesman in Damascus that he appears to have come into contact with those who were to propel him towards Afghanistan.

Sakka, 33, who has a Turkish grandfather and speaks Turkish, is thought to have helped train would-be terrorists at a camp for Turkish mujahideen on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He says he met Osama bin Laden, and it appears likely that he would have come into contact with the man who would mastermind the Istanbul attacks, Habib Akdas, a Turkish veteran of the Afghan jihad.

At some point in the late 90s Sakka moved to Turkey, where he began acquiring forged and stolen passports to aid the passage of other militants. He claims to have obtained passports for some of the 9/11 attackers. Turkish police believe he entered the country 55 times over 10 years, using 18 different identities.

After comparing photographs in some of the passports used by Sakka, and then examining him at Istanbul's Kandira high- security prison, police realised he had undergone extensive plastic surgery.

His main role in the Istanbul attacks, according to prosecutors, was to provide $160,000 to allow Akdas and others to rent safe houses and a workshop, buy the material and components needed to build four massive bombs, and then buy the small trucks that would carry them to their targets.

Others recruited the bombers. Mesut Cabuk, 29, a Kurd from the eastern city of Bingol who had spent time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, targeted the Beth Israel synagogue in the north of the city. His friend Gokhan Elaltunas, 22, the manager of an internet cafe in Bingol, detonated his bomb at Neve Shalom synagogue, three miles away. Five days later Ilyas Kuncak, 47, a grandfather who had two homes and a profitable shop in Ankara, ploughed his bomb-laden truck into the front of the 18-storey HSBC building. It later transpired that he was driven to murder by Turkish press reports about American soldiers raping 4,000 Iraqi women. The reports, entirely erroneous, had been based upon a misreading of a blog posted by a Californian "sex therapist".

At the same time Feridun Ugurlu, 27, who had fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya, detonated his bomb near the entrance to the consulate. The building was chosen at the last moment, partly because of relatively lax security, according to prosecutors. Among those who died were Roger Short, the consul, Lisa Hallworth, his secretary, Nanette Kurma, a translator from Ayrshire, and seven Turkish members of staff. Most of the dead and almost all of the injured were Muslims, and some observers believe that the attacks, mounted during Ramadan, would have been seen by al-Qaida's supporters as a disastrous own goal. Mehmet Farac, a Turkish writer and journalist who monitors al-Qaida, said: "All four attacks were big strategic mistakes."

When news broke of the first blasts, however, Sakka and Akdas were safe in Aleppo, and according to the testimony of one witness both burst into cheers. By the following March, the two men were fighting alongside Zarqawi in Iraq. Akdas is thought to have died during one of the US assaults on the insurgents' stronghold at Fallujah, where he is said to be buried under a football pitch. At least two other men involved in the Istanbul attacks are being held in Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad according to Turkish authorities.

Shortly after Mr Bigley's murder Sakka returned to Turkey. He was armed, according to Mr Karahan, with $500,000 from al-Zarqawi and a plan to kill as many Israelis as possible in an attack so far out at sea that no Muslims would be endangered. He bought an apartment overlooking the Mediterranean at Antalya, rented a 27ft yacht, and acquired a small submersible, a sort of underwater jetski that divers can ride at depths of 75ft. He also bought enough hydrogen peroxide, aluminium powder and acetone to assemble a one-tonne bomb, telling suppliers that he was working for a Damascus timber-bleaching company.

He fled Antalya on August 4 after a fire in his apartment triggered a small explosion that sent debris showering into the street. In his haste he abandoned many of his fake passports. A few days later he was arrested at an airport in the south-east of the country by a policeman who had a copy of his most recent photograph.

Sakka initially admitted financing the Istanbul attacks, but has since withdrawn his confession. His lawyer says he made that admission after Turkish police threatened to hand him over to US authorities. "He knew that if the Americans got him he could end up in a Jordanian prison where he could be cut into little pieces," Mr Karahan said.

CIA officers have interviewed Sakka, but did not question him about Mr Bigley, according to Mr Karahan. "The Americans aren't interested in Bigley, they have 50 Bigleys." However, British authorities investigating the abduction and murder of Mr Bigley are now hoping to interview Sakka in prison. The Foreign Office said: "This case and similar cases are not regarded as closed."

Next month Sakka goes on trial alongside 70 other people accused of playing a part in the suicide bombings. If convicted he faces a minimum of 27 years behind bars.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Italian arrestees are GSPC
Italian police on Wednesday were carrying out the arrests of Algerian citizens in an anti-terror operation co-ordinated with French police, an Italian news agency said.

The ANSA news agency did not say how many people were being targeted in the crackdown, which was taking place in Naples, southern Italy.

It said the suspects were believed to have links to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, an Algerian group said to have links to al-Qaeda.

The suspects allegedly provided fake documents and aided illegal immigration.

The report could not be immediately confirmed with Naples police.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 00:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Italian security forces arrest 7 immigrants as part of European campaign
The Italian security forces on Wednesday detained seven immigrants in a wide-scale search operation against an illegal migration network. Italian Interior Ministry sources said the operation comes in coordination with the national anti-terrorism authority in France after one year of investigations that included a number of Italian and French cities to hunt down a group that facilitates illegal migration between Italy and France.

It added that the operation targeted two Italians and five Algerian immigrants, two of them are currently detained in Italian prisons, noting that the French authorities have also detained five other individuals. The ministry said that the detainees are facing charges of forming a criminal gang for trading fraudulent goods and documents and facilitating illegal migration, noting that the group might have provided Islamic extremists with fake documents.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Novak: Feds know who outed CIA agent
Robert Novak said Wednesday that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald knows who outed a CIA agent to the Chicago Sun-Times columnist but hasn't acted on the information because Novak's source committed no crime.
That would be because Valerie Plame wasn't a 'covert agent'. Also because the person who 'outed' her most likely isn't a current Bush administration member named Karl Rove.
Novak also hinted that he personally didn't rely on the Fifth Amendment -- which protects people from testifying against themselves -- in Fitzgerald's investigation. Fitzgerald is investigating who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to Novak and other reporters in an effort to discredit her husband, a critic of the Bush administration.

Novak made his remarks at the first of an occasional series of forums jointly sponsored by the Sun-Times and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sun-Times political writer and Channel 5 reporter Carol Marin, who moderated the forum, immediately asked Novak what he could say about the Plame case. Novak acknowledged the swirl of speculation regarding his actions in Fitzgerald's investigation of the leak, including whether he testified before a grand jury, revealed his source to Fitzgerald or made some sort of a plea bargain by fingering someone else so he could stay out of jail.

But he called the speculation "ridiculous," declining to reveal his actions. "I'm not going to tell you because it's none of your damn business," he said. Still, he did say, "If I had gone before a grand jury and taken the Fifth Amendment, Mr. Fitzgerald would have that on the street in about two minutes."

Novak also claimed that investigators know who leaked the information, although he did not say how they know.

"The question is, does Mr. Fitzgerald know who the source was?" Novak asked. "Of course. He's known for years who the first source is. If he knows the source, why didn't he indict him? Because no crime was committed."

Novak said he doesn't believe his source violated laws forbidding the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity. A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment on Novak's remarks.

At an appearance in December, Novak said President Bush knows his source, too. On Wednesday, he called those remarks "indiscreet." Novak said he would reveal more "in time, when this investigation, if it ever ends, ends."
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 13:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any US Citizen (USCIT) coming in and out of an US Embassy overseas is automatically suspected of being an intelligence operative by host nation intelligence services. We make the same, quite logical assumption here. The diplomatic auto tags make them somewhat easier to follow and monitor if need be. As the lovely wife of a foreign service officer, that's precisely what she was doing, coming and going in her own "true name," with the diplomatic immunity of a black passport. Her profile was much, much to high for any type of truely clandestine activity. This is all much to do about nothing, and tiresome as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/20/2006 15:00 Comments || Top||

#2  We have issues like radical Islam trying to infiltrate and destroy this country, as well as Iran threatening destruction of the US and Israel, and Novak is playing in the sandbox with a dead-horse non-issue of worthless CIA employee Valerie Plame and her equally worthless husband. This so-called issue is just a club used by the Dems and the LLL to try to bring down the Bush administration. If this country is attacked again, there will be literally HELL to pay by the people who put their political agenda above the security of this country. And that will include all the political hack journalists, including management of the NYT, as well as elected officials in Congress.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/20/2006 15:58 Comments || Top||

#3  I am locked and loaded Abu Paul. I have been for some time.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/20/2006 16:04 Comments || Top||

#4  I just got two pairs of 5.11 Tactical pants in the mail. Imr reddy, too, Sock.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/20/2006 16:20 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL. You ought to be. Stock up on meds too.
Posted by: RR || 04/20/2006 17:19 Comments || Top||

#6  My apologies. That was out of line. But it does sound a bit paranoid. You guys will all turn into Ted Kaczynskis or what?
Posted by: RR || 04/20/2006 17:21 Comments || Top||

#7  You guys will all turn into Ted Kaczynskis or what?

No, just want to be ready to defend what's ours. I figure, seeing what passes for 'discourse' over in the far-left blogs, the left will be the ones resorting to violence in the streets if they lose another election. Go lurk on Democratic Underground or KOS and see what I mean.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 18:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Lon Horiuchi.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 18:16 Comments || Top||

#9  :>
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:21 Comments || Top||

#10  0 gawd rr it carries a banal weapon too.
Posted by: RD || 04/20/2006 19:37 Comments || Top||

#11  RR dear, Alaska Paul lives in Alaska, hence the name. It gets awfully snowy there sometimes. He'd be a fool not to keep his medicine cabinet stocked always. I keep mine stocked too, and my pantry, especially during tornado season -- there are things I don't want to have to worry about when the roof flies away and the power goes off. Or when the roads ice over and the schools are closed. That's basic housewifery, dear; I'm sure your wife can explain.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 22:45 Comments || Top||

#12  RR has a mommy, no wife, I'm pretty sure on that one
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 22:54 Comments || Top||

#13  the left will be the ones resorting to violence in the streets if they lose another election.

Then you have nothing to worry about, lol. I do go over to the other side occasionally (KOS, DU), and you know what...sometimes I can't tell the difference between the comments here and there.

TW, those are not the type of meds I was refering to, as I'm sure you have guessed. You guys sound really paranoid. Either that or you can sense defeat is around the corner and are preparing for a final showdown. No confidence in your military? What's the problem?
Posted by: RR || 04/20/2006 23:43 Comments || Top||

#14  RR

Your lame attempts at comparing this place to Koz are noted - and laughed at.

You'd be surprised about who some of the people here are.

And no, I don't mean Mendiola. We can't figure out what he's saying either. Some here think he's a misprogrammed AI escaped from a lab somewhere.
Posted by: Oldspook || 04/20/2006 23:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Chinese man admits attempt to smuggle SAMs into US
A Chinese national living in Southern California admitted on Wednesday trying to arrange the sale from China to the United States of 200 shoulder-fired missiles that can be used to bring down airplanes. Chao Tung Wu, 51, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to conspiring to import the missiles for a buyer who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

When Wu was indicted in November along with another man, Yi Qing Chen, they became the first people charged under a 2004 U.S. law forbidding the import of aircraft-destroying missile systems into the United States, officials said. Wu, who also admitted to trafficking methamphetamine, counterfeit bills, cigarettes and Ecstasy tablets into the United States, made a plea bargain with U.S. prosecutors in hopes of reducing a possible 25-year prison term.

The indictment identifies the missiles as the QW-2 shoulder-fired type used by the Chinese military since the late 1990s. According to court papers, the undercover FBI agent was told the missiles would be shipped from China to Cambodia and then to the United States with the help of bribed officials.
However, the third-party country was later switched to Paraguay. The missiles were never delivered. Wu is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31. Chen is awaiting trial.
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 07:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So is this part of the Chinese army's covert warfare against the US, or did these shining members of the proletariat think they were supporting Al Qaeda... or someone else? La Raza would be a stretch, yes?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  TW, judging from his other export products, Meth, counterfeit money, cigarettes and Ecstasy, I'd say he was most likely just in it for the cash. An official Chinese covert op would hand over missiles to a terrorist group overseas, not deliver them directly to US buyer. They'd want to keep their fingerprints off the shipment.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Meth, counterfeit money, cigarettes and Ecstasy,

"I'm just a simple arms dealer, diversifying my product line!"
Posted by: Raj || 04/20/2006 9:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't think that the Chinese particularly cared who was to use the missles, only that they would be used. The shoulder launched missile (MANPADS) is a real and growing danger. Given the number of these things loose in the world, it is amazing me that no US airliner has been shot down to date. I think that only luck and the rigorous, vigorous counterterrorism work of the US Government have protected us.
Posted by: RWV || 04/20/2006 9:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Bill Gertz says the Chinese military is directly complicit in this -- and not for the first time.
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 9:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The Chinese military or Chinese military personnel? I thought Gertz was conveniently ambiguous. And it sounds like a scam. What value would there be to China to smuggle manpads into the U. S.?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 9:56 Comments || Top||

#7  What value was there in selling AKs to street gangs in LA?

Erosion of US security, funding of Chinese Army projects, arming of gangs that could make things bad for us and keep us from keeping them in line in Asia and Latin America ....

a Chinese general and state-run manufacturer are linked to this crime
Posted by: lotp || 04/20/2006 10:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Those are hardly benefits worth risking the exposure of national involvement. If they really want to arm Latin Americans, let Hugo do it. I'd be more inclined to believe a greedy general who is risking an inventory audit.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#9  judging from his other export products, Meth, counterfeit money, cigarettes and Ecstasy, I'd say he was most likely just in it for the cash.

Elements of the PLA has been involved in a number of things. Smuggling, piracy (both maritime and media), counterfeit items, trafficking in stolen vehicles, lumber, etc. Sales of weapons more advanced than AK-47s is just a marketing development.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/20/2006 11:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Those are hardly benefits worth risking the exposure of national involvement.

What's the downside for them? What would we do to them?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/20/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#11  MFN.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Meth, counterfeit money, cigarettes, and Ecstasy are all fundraisers for the Norks, too. The black market has no guiding moral voice and no loyalties beyond themselves.
Posted by: Danielle || 04/20/2006 11:47 Comments || Top||

#13  look for more goodies to come through Los Angeles and it's ports in the near future, considering it has degenerated into a third world of it's own. Some of those missiles were probably intended for U.S. buyers but my opinion was the bulk of them were headed out of the country, probably South America somewheres.
Posted by: banned from rantburg || 04/20/2006 13:14 Comments || Top||

#14  Would you like them
here or there?

I would not like them
here or there.
I would not like them
anywhere.

(sorry, Dr. Seuss)
Posted by: mrp || 04/20/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||

#15  It fits the precepts of war with the US as defined by:
Pan Jiabin and Liu Ruixiang, Art of War: A Chinese-English Bilingual Reader

See more views here in CHINA DEBATES the FUTURE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT
Posted by: 3dc || 04/20/2006 14:14 Comments || Top||

#16  NS, as to why the Chinese might want to sell MANPADS to terrorists, consider for a second the impact on the struggling airline business if some group of terrorist yahoos were to drop flaming 767s off the end of the runways onto Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dallas. The airlines that aren't in bankruptcy soon would be and the ones that are would never come out. The damage to the US economy would be huge.

As to how feasible something like this is, you really don't want to know how easy it would be to hit an airliner during takeoff.
Posted by: RWV || 04/20/2006 15:23 Comments || Top||

#17  Chinese military "agents" and missile smugglers Chao Tung Wu and Yi Qing Chen

Yi's Lawyer) When Was Wu Wrapped Up?
Wu's Lawyer) Before Yi Yapped.
Yi's Lawyer) No When Was Wu Wrapped Up?
Wu's Lawyer) Before Yi Yapped!
Yi's Lawyer) Whats Wrong With You Man, I said When Was Wu Wrapped Up!!
Wu's Lawyer) I'm Not a Man, I'm Wu's Lawyer.

[screw it ima gonna uses CAPS FROM NOW ON]

Posted by: Wu Chang Warriors || 04/20/2006 20:06 Comments || Top||

#18  "FUTURE SECURITY ARRANGEMENT" - 1/2 of CONUS is already slated as future Chinese territory, plus 200Milyuhn out of 300 Milyuhn Clintonian Fascist = Socialist Americans must be removed from existence. Its a given that East and South Asia and Oceania are histoire' - we grotesquely defective general Socialists known as Clintonian Fascist Amerikans and our VRWC should be happy becuz our Amer holocaust is paving the way for the happiness that is Motherly Perfectionist Communist Global Utopia.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/20/2006 23:28 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani troops die in 'ambush'
Seven Pakistani paramilitary troops have been killed and 22 others wounded in an ambush by militants near the Afghan border, military officials say. They were on a routine mission in North Waziristan tribal region, military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. Attackers opened fire from mountains about 15km (nine miles) south of the regional capital, Miranshah, he said. The lawless tribal belt has seen fierce battles in recent years, but fighting has intensified over the past month. Security officials say they killed six of the attackers.

Pakistani forces entered the tribal belt a few years ago to hunt down Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives who fled the US-led war in Afghanistan. Washington sees the border zone as a front line in what it calls its war on terrorism. But local tribesmen and Islamists have increasingly been drawn into the fight.
Ummm, because they're part of the problem?
Officials say more than 250 people have been killed over the past month, most of them insurgents. Tribesmen say many civilians have died.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 13:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Quagmire?
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/20/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||

#2  They were on a routine mission in North Waziristan...

If it was me, I'd consider no mission in North Wazoo as "routine"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/20/2006 14:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Is it my imagination, or does it seem, Pakistan is "more in the hunt" since Bush was there in the first week of March?
Posted by: Sherry || 04/20/2006 15:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Can you imagine the US Army on a "routine mission" in California? (oh, um, bad example)
Posted by: AlanC || 04/20/2006 16:28 Comments || Top||

#5  If it was me, I'd consider no mission in North Wazoo as "routine"...

F%%king A Bubba.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:53 Comments || Top||

#6  "Seven Pakistani paramilitary troops have been killed and 22 others wounded in an ambush by militants -- tipped off by Islamists within the ranks of the ISI -- near the Afghan border, military officials say."
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 04/20/2006 19:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Good luck finding an imam to conduct the funeral service. According to the mullahs, these troops died fighting the righteous mujahideen.
They have been denying the dead the islamic funeral rites.




Posted by: john || 04/20/2006 19:19 Comments || Top||

#8  perhaps they need to be asked at gunpoint....

"seems to be an overpopulation of holy men, and like rodents, needs thinning. What say we start with you, turban boy? Wanna say prayers real sincere-like?"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 19:39 Comments || Top||


Taliban hold 5 Pakistani paramilitaries, will decide their fate under Islamic law
Islamic militants in Pakistan today claimed to have kidnapped five security personnel from the troubled north Waziristan province bordering Afghanistan.

Five para-military personnel, on routine patrolling duty in Ramzak, were kidnapped last week, Tariq Jamil, a spokesperson of the militants said.

The government has, however, not confirmed the claims, local NNI news agency reported.

Jameel said the soldiers are alive and their fate will be decided under Islamic laws. He did not present any condition for their release.

Meanwhile, rockets were fired on the headquarters of security forces in Miranshah last night. The security forces retaliated with shelling of the area.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We knows what that means.
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/20/2006 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  How shall we execute you? Let me count the ways...
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  The answer of the orace is always "death!"
Posted by: mojo || 04/20/2006 11:29 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder if the pakistani gov will take a stronger stance against these ahsshats now that they are killing and kidnapping their troops?
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 04/20/2006 19:55 Comments || Top||

#5  maybe find the Islamist assholes in the Army and ISI? Doubt Perv has the gumption
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 20:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Pakistan has a population of 150 million with 600 000 men in the army and additional hundreds of thousands of police and paramilitary forces.

A few dead paramilitary (not even real army) soldiers will not cause any rethink.

The islamist terror is an instrument of Pak state policy. It cannot be turned off.

Posted by: john || 04/20/2006 21:24 Comments || Top||

#7  except by extinction?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 21:33 Comments || Top||


250 Nepalese professors arrested
Police arrested some 250 university professors Wednesday for demonstrating against Nepal's king in defiance of a curfew imposed to quell pro-democracy protests that have plunged the Himalayan country into crisis.

The royal government imposed the curfew in the western resort town of Pokhara, a day after thousands of protesters clashed with police. State-run Radio Nepal said anyone violating the daylong curfew would be shot.

Elsewhere Wednesday, protests erupted in a southwestern town where a woman died after being hit by a tear gas shell a day earlier, an official said. She was the sixth person to be killed by security forces in two weeks of violent protests to against King Gyanendra's rule.

The crisis began April 6 when an opposition alliance launched a general strike to demand the king restore democracy. Gyanendra seized direct power last year, arguing the move was needed to restore political order and crush a Maoist insurgency that has left nearly 13,000 people dead.

In Pokhara, the professors were rallying peacefully when police stopped them, loaded them into trucks and drove them to detention centers, said Krishna Adhikari, who was among the professors arrested. He said police did not open fire despite the order to shoot curfew violators.

"We condemn the police breaking our peaceful rally," Adhikari said by cellular phone from the detention center.

The woman who died was among thousands of protesters who stormed a monument being built for King Gyanendra in the town of Nepalgunj. She died in a hospital Tuesday evening, said Binod Adhikari, the chief government administrator in the area.

Adhikari said security forces were compelled to use some force to bring the situation under control. Two policemen were also critically hurt in the clash.

He said there were fresh protests Wednesday to protest the woman's death.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan renewed U.S. appeals on Gyanendra to restore democracy, warning the unrest in the country "will only worsen."

"Arrests and violence accompanying the pro-democracy demonstrations only add to the insecurity and compound the serious problem facing Nepal," he told reporters.

On Tuesday, Nepal's royal government summoned U.S. Ambassador James Moriarty to protest comments the envoy has made on the crisis.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 04/20/2006 01:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I keep forgetting who are Nepal's neighbors.
Posted by: Snuns Thromp1484 || 04/20/2006 8:01 Comments || Top||

#2  There are 250 university professors in Nepal????

They arrested them and let them keep their cell phones.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/20/2006 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3  The northern Hindus are quite sporting, all that British influence, dont you know...
Posted by: bk || 04/20/2006 10:10 Comments || Top||


Two Levies men gunned down near Quetta
QUETTA: Unidentified men on Wednesday killed two Levies personnel in the Awran area. The dead were identified as Fraz and Muhammad Murad. The local administration is investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, unidentified tribal rebels fired eight rockets on security check posts in Dera Bugti and Sui. Three rockets were fired at Tufail Check Post in Dera Bugti, which missed the target. In another incident, rebels fired five rockets at security forces from Sui mountains, which also missed the target.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bet it was the Lackadrums.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Now they are killing the simple jeans salesmen. Is it because it is an American symbol? Are these the same guys who torched the KFC's?

...Oh wait.
Posted by: remoteman || 04/20/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
Two soldiers and a suspected Islamic rebel were killed in Indian-held Kashmir on Wednesday as a frontline guerrilla group rejected calls for it to abandon violence.
"Violence is what we are. We couldn't give it up."
Militants shot dead two Indian Kashmiri troops who were on leave at their homes in north Kashmir while a rebel was killed in a clash with soldiers in southern Kashmir, a defence spokesman said. The violence came as the guerrilla group Hizbul Mujahideen rejected a government call to give up arms and negotiate with the Indian government. "The gun is the only solution," said Junaidul Islam, the Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman, in a statement published in local newspapers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Seminary set ablaze in Lodhran
MULTAN: Unidentified people on Tuesday set a religious seminary ablaze in Kehror Pucca in Lodhran district, around 90 kilometres southeast of Multan, police said. Students' clothes, furniture, copies of the Quran and books were reduced to ashes in the fire. However, there was no loss of life since the students were out of town. People protested and demanded the immediate arrest of the arsonists. The seminary, Madrassa Hashmia Saadia Mehrvia Anwar-i-Mustafa, follows the Barelvi school of thought.
Interesting. And the Sunni Tehrik leadership was just wiped out...
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where do the Barelvi fit on the Muslim psychosis scale? As I understand it the Tehrik were pretty far down toward the sane end? Just trying to figure whether a single more radical group is trying to whack a bunch of different, more moderate groups, or if one group may be trying to avenge its treatment at the hands of another.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/20/2006 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Since they are muslim isn't it allens will? Since they are such good muslims why don't they just submit to it instead of setteling scores and the like?

It may have just been an actual accidental fire.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/20/2006 9:34 Comments || Top||


2 'spies' killed
Pro-Taliban tribal militants killed two more "spies" on Wednesday in South and North Waziristan, raising the tally to four over the last week. Sources in Mir Ali and Wana told Daily Times that a dead body was found in Sheera Talla, 30 kilometres north of Mir Ali, with a note: "Spies will meet the same fate." The deceased was a resident of a nearby village in Mir Ali sub-division. Another body was recovered from Shah Alam in South Waziristan. The body, identified as that of Ismail, a national of Afghanistan and Pakistan, was handcuffed and had bullet wounds. "This man was suspected of visiting the US military base across the border," sources told Daily Times.

Muhammad Niaz Khattak, a Frontier Corps (FC) trooper, returned to his base in Miranshah after fleeing his captors, official sources said. Khattak was kidnapped along with four other paramilitary soldiers from Razmak on April 13.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


2 Afghans held for Qaeda link
GHALANAI: Security forces have arrested two Afghan nationals from Bajaur Agency for their alleged links to Qaeda, sources said on Wednesday. They said that army commandos and paramilitary forces surrounded a house in Shandey Mor village of Khar tehsil late Monday and arrested two Afghans, sources said. "Officials from the local political administration also accompanied the raiding team," a local who witnessed the operation said on condition of anonymity. Military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said he was not aware of the operation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


3 missiles land in Bajaur
KHAR: Three missiles fired from Afghanistan side of the border landed in Bajaur Agency on Wednesday, residents said. There were no casualties or infrastructure damage when the missiles landed near a house in Charmang, said Hazrat Gul, a resident, told Daily Times. Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, the military spokesman, said there was a possibility that the missiles landed in Pakistani territory from across the border. "Maybe... there are chances... since operation against militants is ongoing in Kunar and Nooristan provinces of Afghanistan."
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Explosive used in Nishtar Park was produced abroad
The explosives material used in the Nishtar Park suicide attack was the foreign produced plastic explosive C4 but the device had been assembled locally, investigation sources told Daily Times on Wednesday. Sources said bombs used in previous attacks here were made with locally available material. Investigators reached these conclusions after a series of lab tests on evidence gathered from the site, they added. "Such material is usually available in tribal areas and reaches Karachi via Afghanistan."
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm glad to know they at least met local assembly quotas.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 04/20/2006 19:22 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq PM Lets Shiites Consider Replacement
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government.

Key to al-Jaafari's change of heart was pressure from U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi and his meetings Wednesday with the most powerful Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who has backed al-Jaafari, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. "There was a signal from Najaf," Othman said, referring to al-Sistani's office in the Shiite holy city. "Qazi's meetings with (al-Sistani) and al-Sadr were the chief reason that untied the knot."

Shiite legislators planned to meet Saturday to decide whether to replace al-Jaafari, who faced fierce opposition from
Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties.
Rest at link.
Posted by: ed || 04/20/2006 13:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like the Grand Ayatollah finally went into 4 wheel drive.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 16:56 Comments || Top||


Gunmen attack car killing five people including Egyptian
Gunmen attacked a car southwest of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Wednesday killing five people, an Egyptian and four foreigners, police said. The police said the gunmen attacked the car, that belongs to a government establishment, on the Tikrit-Kirkuk road, killing the Egyptian and the four other persons. Three people including an Iraqi woman were also wounded in the ambush.

Violence in Iraq, over the past hours, claimed the lives of at least six people, and five dead bodies of unidentified persons were found in the capital, an official security source said. The source told KUNA that a bomb blew up in a public square in the district of Al-Mansour in western Baghdad targeting a police patrol. One civilian was killed and eight others including two policemen were wounded in the explosion.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


New mass graves found in Irbil
New mass graves were found on Wednesday in Irbil in northern Iraq that includes the remains of victims of the defunct Iraqi regime. An Iraqi Police source told reporters that workers of a Turkish construction company digging drinking water canals found the mass graves nearby a main road in Irbil. The source added that only the remains of three people were dug out, noting that the mass graves are likely to include more remains, which will be sent for lab work to identify the victims and the day they were killed.

The location of the mass graves is close to the emergency security headquarters of the defunct Iraqi regime, while similar mass graves were found months ago in Irbil. Until today, 265 mass graves were discovered in Iraq, most of which were found in southern areas like Amarah, Diwaniyah, Basra, Karbala, and Samawa, while 50 of the mass graves were of Kurdish victims.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It appears they mean newly discovered mass graves, not newly dug mass graves, but they don't specifically say so.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/20/2006 7:30 Comments || Top||


2 Iraqi teachers killed in front of students. Or not.
BAGHDAD: Two groups of gunmen entered two primary schools in Baghdad and beheaded two teachers in front of their students, Iraq's Ministry of State for National Security said on Wednesday. But the US military and a police official said the attacks never took place.

"Two terrorist groups beheaded two teachers in front of their students in the Amna and Shaheed Hamdi primary schools in Shaab district in Baghdad," a ministry statement said. An official in the ministry's press office also confirmed the report.

But the US military said it was false. "There is no substance to this report. It did not occur. But we are still checking with Iraqi police and other sources," said US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson. Police Major Kassim Ahmed told a reporter who went to the scene: "This is not true. It is made up."
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  wow could this be the first exposed totally fake story to come from Iraq? Media getting so desperate thier fabricating brutal murders? Well i certainly wouldnt put it past them for sure.
Posted by: ShepUK || 04/20/2006 6:28 Comments || Top||

#2  o.k., I give up...why would Iraq's Ministry of State for National Security fabricate this story?
Posted by: banned from rantburg || 04/20/2006 13:19 Comments || Top||

#3  To illustrate how terribly evil the bad guys are, banned from rantburg.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 16:41 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought he was just timed-out-from-RantBurg.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Perhaps the moderators perceived improvement in his behaviour, then. It's not what I'd boast about, but there's no accounting for taste.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/20/2006 22:49 Comments || Top||


20,000 kidnapped in Iraq since January: report
The equivalent of the population of a small city...
KARBALA: Nearly 20,000 people have been kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of this year alone, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The survey, which underscores the massive social upheaval caused by rebel activity and increasing sectarian conflict, does not give the number of people killed. However, it says that 15,462 people have been wounded. The 19,548 people kidnapped includes 4,959 women and 2,350 children, according to the report prepared by a group of 125 non-governmental organisations and made public in the Shia holy city of Karbala.

The high-profile seizure of foreigners in Iraq has numbered only a few hundred since the practice began two years ago and is usually aimed at scoring propaganda points against the US-led occupation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  oh, but those poor souls held prisoner in Guantanamo (sarcasm).
Posted by: banned from rantburg || 04/20/2006 13:22 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas reveals new Army security force
The Hamas-led Palestinian government has announced the formation of a new security force comprised of members of Palestinian militant groups. The new Hamas Interior Minister Said Siyam said the force would help the police enforce law and order. Mr Siyam also put a leading militant, Jamal Abu Samhadana, in charge of Palestinian police and security forces. A BBC correspondent says the decision will not please Israel, which has tried to kill Mr Samhadana several times.
If at first you don't succeed....
Israel will see the appointment as yet more proof that the new Hamas government has absolutely no intention of reining in militants committed to attacking Israel, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza.
The moves appear to be in defiance of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' attempts to take a firmer grip on Palestinian security forces. He recently appointed an old ally, Rashid Abu Shbak, to head the security services.

Mr Samhadana is the head of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group responsible for many attacks on Israel, including homemade rockets launched from Gaza in recent weeks. He is a former officer in the Palestinian security forces who was dismissed for refusing to report for duty. The new security force would be answerable only to Mr Siyam, an interior ministry spokesman said. It would be a volunteer force, and members would not be paid by the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, he said.

"This force is going to include the elite of our sons from the freedom fighters and the holy warriors and the best men we have," said the spokesman. "It's going to include members of all the resistance branches." Mr Siyam said: "We are going to beat with an iron fist all the people and the groups who are acting illegally."

Palestinian police have been struggling to deal with chaos and lawlessness, particularly since Israeli forces were withdrawn from Gaza last year. As well as criminal activity and clan violence, police have often had to deal with challenges by unruly elements within the militant factions. Mr Siyam's move is an attempt to draw all the armed factions into the effort to maintain law and order, says our correspondent, by making them part of the system instead of having them challenge it from the outside.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 13:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We call 'em street gangs over here...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/20/2006 14:50 Comments || Top||


Seven Palestinians injured by Israeli bullets in Nablus
Seven Palestinians were injured Wednesday when the Israeli forces penetrated Nables. Witnesses said that the Israeli forces controlled most of the city's neighborhoods and clashed violently with stone-throwing Palestinian youth. They added, the Israeli forces alleged that they arrested one man at a military roadblock at Nablus's entrances after they allegedly found him carrying explosive devices. After the alleged arrest of the young man from Atil, the Israeli military closed off the entrance and denied Palestinians access. Israeli forces had arrested four women from Nablus to press their wanted relatives to turn themselves in.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  actually - seven Paleos fail Darwin exam
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 11:27 Comments || Top||

#2  The education continues, throw rocks at troops, equals DIE.
Shortly the learning curve will produce one of the following results.
1. There are no more youths throwing rocks
2. There are no more youths.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/20/2006 13:33 Comments || Top||


Clashes between Israeli army and Palestinian university students
Heavy clashes erupted on Wednesday between the Israeli army and Palestinian students from the Birzeit university, after Israeli patrol cars closed the main gate of the university. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli army instigated the clash when it closed the gate and students started to throw stones at the Israeli army. The Israeli army used tear-gas to end the clashes when many students were injured or were being suffocated. The university is just starting a student council election campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The Israeli army instigated the clash when it closed the gate and students started to throw stones at the Israeli army." This makes no sense. That's like saying the guy I knocked out instigated the fight because he got in the way of my fist.
Posted by: banned from rantburg || 04/20/2006 13:25 Comments || Top||

#2  KUNA, LOL.
Posted by: Glavimp Choling3308 || 04/20/2006 13:27 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Singaporean Terror Suspect Arrested
Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, 20 April (AKI/Jakarta Post) - Police on the eastern Indonesian island of Sumbawa have arrested a man suspected of being a member of a terrorist group led by one of Southeast Asia's most wanted militants. The man, a Singaporean, identified as Abdul Rasyid, alias Hamdan, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicions that he was part of Noordin Muhammad Top's terrorist group. He was reportedly taken to Jakarta following the arrest.

Noordin Muhammad Top and his Malaysian compatriot Azahari Husin, who was killed in a police raid last November, were key members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group. Some analysts have said that Hamdan and Noordin have split from JI and have formed their own militant organisation.
Splinter group or faction?

As well as the two attacks on Bali in 2002, JI is also implicated in a 2003 blast at the Jakarta Marriott hotel and a 2004 bombing at the Australian Embassy and last year's suicide bombings at Bali beach restaurants in October.

The West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman HM Basri confirmed Hamdan's arrest on Wednesday but declined to confirm whether the arrested man was part of the terrorist group, saying the team made the arrest for immigration violations.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 09:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tehran Proposes Solution At 'G8' Meeting
Moscow, 20 April (AKI) - Iran will propose a solution to the international crisis over its nuclear programme at an informal meeting of some Group of Eight (G8) countries in Moscow on Thursday, conservative Iranian news agency Mehr reports. The news agency did not provide any details of the proposal. However, sources in Tehran said Iranian delegates will ask the technical cooperation of Europe in the installation of new centrifuges at the uranium enrichment centre of Natanz. Iran claims its nuclear programme is solely for civilian use while the West fears it is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
They want help installing centrifuges? That's like Hitler asking the French for roadmaps to Paris
Iran's delegation to Moscow includes Ali Asghar Soltanyeh, Iran's permanent representative to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is headed by Javad Vaidi, the deputy chief of the Supreme Council of National Security. G8 representatives will reportedly include Italian diplomats while the US has not sent delegate to Moscow.

The UN Security Council asked last month its nuclear watchdog, the IAEA to report by 28 April on Iran's compliance with a non-binding statement by the Council asking it to stop uranium enrichment. Last week Iran announced it had successfully enriched uranium to a level used in power stations.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 09:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The first Soviet jet fighters had Rolls-Royce engines.

Of course, Iran has already proposed a Final Solution, so they should be treated as the last country that did such.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/20/2006 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought enriching uranium to 3.5 % was a crowing achievement to show how good thier system was. If it's so great, build your own damn centrifuges.
Posted by: plainslow || 04/20/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Those AQ Khan models are giving trouble ?

Posted by: john || 04/20/2006 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Wasn't this Kerry's plan for dealing with them?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/20/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||

#5  My gess was that the plan would've been "Back Off." This idea is funnier at least.
Posted by: VAMark || 04/20/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Kerry's plan was actually not that far from the Russian plan that Bush endorsed recently. He just did a horrible job of explaining it in the debates and has little credibility given his record of appeasing our enemies.

Iran has by treaty the right to nuclear energy. In theory, leasing fuel from Russia would keep the $ flowing to the Ruskies while preventing Iran from getting the full fuel cycle. Of course, we would not fear Iranian nukes if they dealt in good faith so the theory may not work in practice.
Posted by: JAB || 04/20/2006 13:15 Comments || Top||

#7  prolly a suggestion from Jack Straw
Posted by: Frank G || 04/20/2006 13:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Iran has by treaty the right to nuclear energy.

Indeed .. Brazil is running an U235 enrichment plant, as is the Netherlands and Germany.
Japan is running a Pu reprocessing plant.
However .. IAEA chief El Baradei has said there needs to be a "probation period".
Because Iran has been caught cheating on its NPT obligations, its rights are now subject to this probation. When the international community is satisfied there is no diversion to a weapons program, Iran can continue.
And it is telling that nobody trusts the Iranians.. not the Russians, not the Chinese, not the Indians. All their intelligence services suspect the Iranians are up to bomb making.

Posted by: john || 04/20/2006 14:42 Comments || Top||

#9  I got a fuckin' solution for 'em.
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/20/2006 17:52 Comments || Top||

#10  If I was running a rogue state, wanted nuclear power stations, and no one trusted me not to have a bomb program, I'd contract the whole thing out to the French. They could build and manage it, hiring locals as needed, with the IAEA looking over their shoulders. Simple, cost effective and internationally approved.

Of course, that's if I didn't want the bomb.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||

#11  No dignity there GreenMan.
Posted by: 6 || 04/20/2006 19:25 Comments || Top||

#12  Any solution that begins with "Throw Ahmenidjad out of the back of a transport at 30,000 ft without a parachute" is a pretty good starting place, especially if its followed by "Hold free and open elections and allow ALL candidates to run".
Posted by: Oldspook || 04/20/2006 21:03 Comments || Top||


Rantapalooza reminder: Saturday April 22, Washington DC
We are still accepting reservations for the Palooza festivities, to be held this Saturday evening at a convenient, Metro-accessible watering hole. Send me an email to let me know you're coming, and bring some good cheer.
Posted by: Seafarious@Rantburg.com || 04/20/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Have we got a map or directions, or an address, Sea?

I'm planning on leaving Richmond mid-afternoon.

I can drive in D.C., but need to know where I'm going. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/20/2006 17:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Follow the calls on your police scanner.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 17:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I'll send you an email tonight, or send me your phone and I'll call ya...
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/20/2006 17:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Follow the calls on your police scanner.

CTU will have a perimeter around the place. Which lately seems to be effective as being surrounded by Saudis.
Posted by: Steve || 04/20/2006 18:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Okay all. Reservations are set, bail bondsman is on retainer. If you plan on attending, you MUST send me an email...
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/20/2006 19:03 Comments || Top||

#6  What will be the cam address?
Posted by: 3dc || 04/20/2006 19:44 Comments || Top||

#7  ROFL, #2 NS.

I might just do that. :-D

You gonna be there?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/20/2006 20:16 Comments || Top||

#8  I have to get it cleared with my parole officer.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/20/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Damn! I'll have to leave my 9mm at home. DC is a no gun zone.
Posted by: Idunno || 04/20/2006 23:44 Comments || Top||

#10  man I'm sad I'm going to miss it. have a wonderful time everyone
It would be fun to have streaming video huh
Posted by: Jan || 04/20/2006 23:53 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2006-04-20
  Egypt seizes group that planned attacks on tourist sites
Wed 2006-04-19
  Israeli aircraft strike suspected rockets factory
Tue 2006-04-18
  Four cross-dressing Afghans arrested for suspected links to Taliban
Mon 2006-04-17
  At least 7 dead in Islamic Jihad boom in Tel Aviv
Sun 2006-04-16
  Aftab Ansari killed in J&K
Sat 2006-04-15
  Chad breaks diplo relations with Sudan
Fri 2006-04-14
  Sami Al-Arian To Be Deported
Thu 2006-04-13
  Chad fights off rebels in capital
Wed 2006-04-12
  29 indicted in connection with 3/11
Tue 2006-04-11
  Sunni Tehrik leadership wiped out in suicide boom
Mon 2006-04-10
  Pakistan brands Baluch rebel group terror outfit
Sun 2006-04-09
  IAEA inspectors in Iran to visit facilities
Sat 2006-04-08
  US 'plans nuclear strikes against Iran'
Fri 2006-04-07
  76 killed in Iraq mosque attack
Thu 2006-04-06
  PM Says New Hamas Government Is Broke

Better than the average link...



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