Warren tackles the Likud vote, Sharon versus Netanyahu, the Prince Abdullah visit to Crawford, and Yasser's position.
'Yesterday, at a meeting of Mr. Arafat's Fatah party, the first nail went into his coffin. A document was presented that specifies "fundamental reforms" for the movement. This will progress towards the Palestinian Legislative Council. It would transfer most of Mr. Arafat's power to a new post equivalent to prime minister. In particular, the Palestinian security services would report to the Council through this new figure.'
He has more confidence than I do at the moment. I hope it's because he knows more than I do. But something's going on that's visible only in hazy outline...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 09:44 pm ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il wants to visit South Korea to meet President Kim Dae-Jung, the North's foreign minister told the ITAR-TASS news agency. The reclusive head of state "wants to visit Seoul to meet with the president of the South Korean Republic, Kim Dae-Jung," said Paek Nam Sun, who starts a visit to Russia on Sunday. The two leaders met at a landmark summit in Pyongyang in June 2000, but inter-Korean rapprochement talks have stalled since US President George W. Bush took office, adopting a tougher line on the North. The principle of a second meeting had been included in the inter-Korean declaration signed in June 2000, Paek said. Turning to the United States, Paek said that conditions for resuming a dialoguedid not presently exist. Let us know when you make up your minds, okay?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 09:27 am ||
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ABC will announce today that "Politically Incorrect," its late-night comedy-discussion program, will go off the air in January. ABC had been expected to make changes to its late-night programming, with "Politically Incorrect" seen as particularly vulnerable to cancellation. The show's host, Bill Maher, had alienated some advertisers, ABC executives and even the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, with a comment he made soon after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Maher took issue with characterizations of the hijackers as cowards, arguing that "we have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away." Somehow we knew this was coming. We're just surprised Maher's going to last until next January.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 09:30 am ||
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The security advisor to Gujarat Chief Minister K P S Gill on Monday expressed optimism that the much maligned image of Gujarat police can be improved. "When we went to Punjab, people used to raise slogans against the police but within six months things improved and the slogan 'police zindabad' ["Long live the coppers!"] could be heard', Gill said in a meeting of the national minority commission and city based minority community leaders here today, sources in Gill's office said. The battered minority community sounded "quite relieved" over the development during the last few days particularly in the context of confidence building measures being undertaken by the supercop, the sources added. He's trying to calm things. But the Bad Guys are working hard against him. This'll be an interesting process to watch.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:08 am ||
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Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused Pakistan of having opened a new front in Gujarat to get even with India which has given it drubbings in conventional wars in the past. He accused Pakistan of trying to sow the seeds of terrorism in Gujarat and create an atmosphere of mistrust amongst people of different faiths to devastate the state socially and economically, an official release quoting Modi said. The cheap pols on both sides of the border have the habit of blaming each other for their internal troubles, even when it looks like their own domestic loons are at the heart of the difficulties.
Modi appealed to community leaders to see through this plan of the neighbouring country. He said the current turmoil in Gujarat was a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the state and country and create communal disharmony among people practising varied religions, Asking people to not allow anti-national elements controlled by inimical countries to decide who should be the chief minister in our states, Modi queried whether we were ready for a situation where our polity would be run by law violators like Dawood Ibrahim and Aftab Ansari. Seems like there's enough lunacy and bad faith on hand to make India look bad on this issue without any outside help. The Pak generals are probably sitting around Islamabad chuckling and high-fiving as Modi and his crew of hacks do their best to suppress the violence with one hand and make domestic political capital out of it with the other. This is a fight BJP lost as soon as they refused to distance themselves from the Brownshirts, much less round them up and beat them in public.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 10:28 am ||
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Pakistan on Tuesday condemned an attack by terrorists on an army camp near Jammu, and called for an inquiry into why such incidents coincide with top-level visits by foreign officials. "The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the death of a number of civilians in an armed attack near Jammu reportedly carried out by three persons wearing army uniforms," a foreign office statement said. "Acts of violence resulting in civilian casualties in Kashmir continue to concide with high-level visits to the region. Such incidents warrant an impartial and comprehensive inquiry to unmask the motives of their perpetrators." Well, that's mighty daggone pious of you, ol' buddy. Mighty daggone pious! Does that mean you're going to quit providing them the uniforms and covering fire when they infiltrate? And funding and training within Pakland? And arms and ammunition, and insurance for any family?
It may be significant, though, that even the Paks have noticed how these acts coincide with high-level visits or serious peace negotiations.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:09 am ||
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Muslims who fled their villages to escape India's worst religious violence in a decade say the majority Hindus are setting near-impossible conditions for them to return. "They told us we can go back to the village only if we change our religion and become Hindus," said Noor Mohammed, a farmer from the village of Raichha in Gujarat. "We will give up our lives, but we will never give up our religion."
More than 900 people, mostly Muslims, have died since a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu devotees on February 27, killing 59. Another 100,000 Muslims are crammed in relief camps. This is a nice little echo of the VHP/RSS/Shiv Sena line. Things like this â and the original article is much longer â argue pretty strongly against the Paks being the ones pushing the tensions.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:39 am ||
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#1
Do not mix up 'sectarian violence' with 'cross border terrorism'. The Gujarat killings are unfortunate- say, no minority group can go around torching innocent lives in trains any more. Some learn it the hard way.
Pakistan remains the trouble maker. Bearded mountain men cannot get their 'Made in Pakistan' arms from the skies.
Pakistani authorities have banned the display of arms for the first time in the semi-autonomous northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, local officials said. The ban came after President Pervez Musharraf said last week the military presence along the border would be beefed up to stop the infiltration of alleged terrorists from Afghanistan. Small numbers of US troops have been assisting the Pakistani military to hunt down Taliban and Al-Qaeda fugitives in the region, which is dominated by heavily armed ethnic Pashtun tribesmen and governed by traditional law. "The ban will come into force from Wednesday. Anyone carrying or displaying weapons will be arrested and the weapon confiscated," a local security official said. Why, such a thing is unheard of. How're the Pashtuns gonna show their manhood? The local loons will be out demonstrating in force. But if you're gonna have a civil war, it's better if the Bad Guys stand out from the civilians, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:24 am ||
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Five masked men attacked a Palestinian minister near his home tonight in Ramallah, on the West Bank, after he got out of his car. Hanan Asfour, the minister for nongovernmental organizations, was hospitalized with what was reported to be a fractured wrist and leg and a cut to the head. Crow-barred him, did they? And so they begin...
Yasser ordered an investigation into the assault, which may be linked to a dispute between West Bank and Gaza factions of the Palestinian Authority. Asfour is associated with the Gaza faction. Musa Abu Hmaid, chief of government hospitals in the West Bank, was quoted by Reuters as saying that Asfour, a former peace negotiator with Israel, was in stable condition. He said Asfour's bodyguard was also injured in the attack. "Peas! I said I hoped we could have peas! I was talking about dinner, honest, guys!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 10:43 am ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon branded the Palestinian leadership a "corrupt terror regime" Tuesday and said there could be no peace until it undertook sweeping internal reforms. Sharon was addressing Israel's parliament two days after the central committee of his Likud Party voted never to accept the creation of a Palestinian state. Sharon has said before that he is prepared to see a limited, demilitarized Palestinian state created alongside Israel but only at the end of a lengthy and incremental peace process. Without mentioning the statehood issue, Sharon said on Tuesday: "There can be no peace with a corrupt terror regime which is rotten and dictatorial... There has to be a different (Palestinian) Authority." Y'see, Likud, that's the way to do it. Don't say "we'll never accept a Palestinian state." Say "we'll accept a Palestinian state when the PA stops being corrupt and dictatorial." The two mean the same thing, semantically.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 10:48 am ||
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Israeli special forces arrested a wanted Hamas operative in Hebron this afternoon, Palestinian sources report. Ali Hassan Qawasma was nabbed by IDF troops and is now being interrogated by the Shin Bet, Israel Radio reported. And another one bites the dust...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:27 am ||
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Israeli forces staged three pre-dawn raids into West Bank villages Tuesday, killing two Palestinian intelligence officers and arresting 13 suspected militants as part of ongoing operations in the territory, the army said. Israeli forces killed two men they had targeted in a car in the village of Halhoul, north of Hebron. The head of Palestinian intelligence in the area, Khalid Abu Kheiran, was killed instantly, along with one of his deputies who tried to escape from the car. The army said they were killed in an exchange of fire, and witnesses said the men were in the car and pulling into the driveway of a house when shooting broke out. A third man was arrested and a fourth managed to flee. Later, at Abu Kheiran's funeral, Palestinian "youths" clashed with Israeli soldiers nearby, throwing stones at soldiers, who fired into the air. No injuries were reported. The army also said it arrested a dozen Palestinian suspects in two villages near the West Bank town of Tulkarem. Seems like no matter how hard they scrub, there's always more...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:29 am ||
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Thirteen Palestinian militants, released from Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity after a tense 39-day Israeli siege, were left in limbo in Cyprus after EU foreign ministers failed to agree on what to do with them. Oh, well. It wasn't very important, was it?
Over lunch at their regular monthly meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers put off a decision on the Palestinians' final fate. Instead, they instructed their ambassadors to untangle the complex legal details by the end of this week. Lotsa time. Don't rush it. Try some of this wine, Jean-Paul...
Six countries did, however, come forward Monday to say they could accept some if not all of the 13 -- Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, as well as Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal. They're not gonna let Canada have any because they're not Euro enough...
A letter from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Pique, dated Sunday and seen Monday by reporters in Brussels, refered to the 13 as "guests" who would be staying in Europe for "a limited period." He means until he can send them bus fare to sneak into Gaza. He's practicing looking surprised and chagrined in front of a mirror for a half hour every day...
Arafat wrote: "I gave clear instruction to the 13 Palestinians to fully respect and abide the laws and procedures of the host countries." "That means no killings. I'm warning you guys! I'm really serious this time...!"
Cyprus, a candidate for EU membership that clearly hoped to curry favor in Europe by billeting the Palestinians for a few days, was taken aback by the failure to resolve the issue. It had expected the Palestinians to be off the island by Wednesday. Those guys are sittin' in a beachfront hotel, slaughterin' goats in their rooms, hollering "hubba hubba!" at bare-breasted Swedish touristettes and asking everyone they meet where they can pick up some fireams. But don't worry, the Eurocrats are on it. They'll come up with something, as soon as lunch is done...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:37 am ||
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Suspected Islamic militants opened fire on an army camp in Indian Kashmir, killing at least 30 people and wounding 40, marring a new effort to ease the tension between nuclear foes India and Pakistan. Ummm... That's why they dunnit...
The raid at Kaluchak, in Jammu and Kashmir, is one of the most deadly attacks in the long-running Kashmir conflict and the worst violence in the region in over six months. A previously unknown rebel group -- al-Mansoorain -- claimed responsibility for the attack, although it is not known how credible the claim is. Hindustan Times sez it's an alias for Lashkar-e-Taiba...
Local news agency NAFA told CNN's New Delhi Bureau chief Satinder Bindra that the claim was phoned in to their office. The Kaluchak attack began when the suspected militants fired on Indian security forces from a bus. In the crossfire, seven people on board the bus were killed. They opened fire on a military installation from a bus full of civilians, including women and children. How very heroic of them. In a strictly Islamic way, of course.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:05 am ||
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Little known Al-Masooran militant outfit, suspected to be a shadow group of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen on Tuesday separately claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Jammu which left 34 people dead. The caller identifying himself as Irfan Kashmiri told Srinagar based News ansd Feature Alliance that his group had carried out the attacks in Jammu. He identified the militants as Abu Majid, Abu Zaffar and Abu Shel. Their Moms are so proud...!
Sources said the group was a shadow group of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Meanwhile, another Pakistan-based outfit Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen also called the same news agency and claimed responsibility for the attacks. "No, no! Don't listen to them! We were the ones who were heroic!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 10:55 am ||
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Indonesian police were trying to come up with a way to evict a hardline Muslim group from the strife-torn Moluccas Tuesday. National Police Chief General Dai Bachtiar said the technicalities of implementing a central government order evicting the militant Laskar Jihad from the spice islands remained under debate. "Principally, we will have them sent home. It will be formulated technically by the security forces and (local authorities). We will find a way out," he told a news conference. "I mean, like, we don't want them to shoot at us or anything, or to blow our cars up or something Islamic like that. But we'll find a way, unless enough time passes that we don't have to..."
Jakarta has said getting rid of Laskar Jihad, as well as disbanding a radical Christian faction, would be key in halting the religious clashes in the Moluccas. The Java-based Laskar Jihad sent thousands of armed men to the Moluccas about two years ago, one year after Muslim-Christian battles erupted on the spice islands. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the religious conflict. That's because they're bloodthirsty killers. But don't worry about it, 'cuz they're Muslims, so it's all justified.
Separately, Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz, who leads the archipelago nation's largest Muslim political party, said expelling Laskar Jihad troops "should be done after tranquility comes back to the people there and after there's no more lingering problems." Heh heh. That's a good 'un. Expelling the Lashkar Jihad is the means to bringing tranquility back to the people there. They're the lingering problem. But if you're a highly placed political hack whose sympathies lie with the thugs, you'll say something as stupid and cynical as this with a straight face...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 11:05 am ||
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Pakistani police and villagers killed one of Pakistan's most-wanted men in a fierce, four-hour gunbattle Tuesday in a remote town in eastern India, police said. Riaz Basra and three associates were killed in a gunfight after barging into a Shiite Muslim cleric's house, police said. Basra, one of Pakland's "most wanted men" was jugged in January. That was after he was jugged when crossing from Afghanistan into North Waziristan with "a bevy of henchmen" in late December. Makes you wonder, what did they want him for? Looks like the answer was "a day or two."
Riaz Basra, leader of an outlawed Sunni Muslim group, was accused of complicity in the murder of more than 100 Shiite Muslims, the 1990 slaying of Iranian diplomat Sadiq Ganji in Lahore, and the death of several police officers. Police had offered a reward of $83,000 for information leading to his arrest. Being dead is nothing new to Basra, as he was killed in April, 1999, as well.
"Basra was symbol of religious terrorism," said Javed Shah, police chief in Vehari, a small town 60 miles southeast of Multan. Shah said all the suspects were the members of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He's also the symbol of calabooses with porous walls as well as of death and resurrection.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/14/2002 01:55 pm ||
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
