[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's former southern rebels launched their campaign on Sunday for the nation's first multi- party elections in 24 years, fielding the man likely to be President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's strongest challenger.
Targeting the country's marginalized millions, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is campaigning for the presidential and legislative polls in April under the slogan "hope for change".
Presidential candidate Yasir Arman, who is actually a northerner, stressed the SPLM's appeal to voters of different religions throughout Africa's largest nation.
"Before we are northern or southern, Muslim or Christian, first of all we are Sudanese," Arman said. "Our country links the Arabs with the Africans," he said at the former home of Ali Abdel Latif, who led a revolt against British colonial rule in 1924.
The SPLM joined Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) in an uneasy coalition government after ending 22 years of civil war between the mainly Arab and Muslim north and the south where people are largely Christian or animist.
Arman said the SPLM supported "voluntary unity", referring to a referendum on independence which will be held in South Sudan next January.
SPLM Chairman Salva Kiir left Arman, a lower level figure in the party, to run for the national presidency and instead chose to stand for president of South Sudan, which many analysts believe will vote for secession.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Cocaine shipped to West Africa by Latin American drug cartels is now being traded for arms, the U.N.'s drug czar said Monday an exchange of contraband that is especially dangerous in a region now home to cells of an al-Qaida-linked terror group.
Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, says "there is more than just spotty evidence" indicating a link between drug traffickers and terror groups.
"And before this becomes a very serious problem, it has to be dealt with and nipped in the bud," Costa said in an interview with The Associated Press, on the sidelines of a seven-nation drug summit in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.
Cocaine from South America has been moving through the West African coast for several years, and experts believe drugs are then parceled out to smugglers who move the cocaine north by boats and by road. One suspected smuggling route crosses portions of the Sahara desert controlled by insurgents.
The cocaine-for-arms trade is especially worrying given the recent expansion of an al-Quaida-linked terror group, which was once based exclusively in Algeria but now has tentacles in Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
"There is plenty of evidence of a double flow. (Of) drugs moving, arriving into West Africa from across the Atlantic ... and the trading exchange of cocaine for arms," Costa said.
For at least five years, traffickers in Latin America have been using the poor and politically unstable countries of West Africa as transit points for Europe-bound cocaine. Until recently, officials believed the drugs came by private plane and were divided out to smugglers paid in cash to move it north.
Costa did not say how extensive the cocaine-for-arms exchange was thought to be, or which countries were involved.
Several relatively stable West African countries have a foot in the Sahara including Mali and Niger, whose porous border has long a smuggling route for ethnic Tuareg rebels fighting a rebellion there for years.
There has been growing concern that the rebels are believed to be collaborating with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb, an Algeria-based terror group that joined Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in 2006. Last year, four European tourists were kidnapped at the border of Mali and Niger. They are believed to have been kidnapped by Tuareg gunmen but then handed over to the terror group, which later murdered one of the British citizens after one of their demands was not met.
And as recently as December, three men in their 30s from Mali were arrested and accused of being al-Qaida associates plotting to ferry drugs through the Sahara desert to raise money for terror attacks. Prosecutors called it evidence of a growing alliance between terror chiefs and drug lords.
Costa said there is also new evidence of drug production in West Africa. In 2009, U.N. officials discovered a warehouse in Guinea's capital containing the precursor ingredients for manufacturing synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy. He said traffickers in some countries in the region have gone so far as to try their hand at growing opium the raw ingredient used to make heroine which is almost exclusively grown in Afghanistan.
"But the climate is not right and the soil is not right," he said
#2
The Russians have been selling arms in the Caribbean and Africa. If I remember correctly, some illegal immigrants from countries of concern were caught in South America with bogus Guinea passports several years ago, in the same region where Khalil bin Laden was said to be cultivating poppies for his big bro. Besides Venezuela, neighboring Guyana and Suriname funnel drugs to Africa from and have been caught with blood diamonds from Africa. Guyana was also home to other troublesome Muslims, such as Adnan al Shukrijumah, still at large. I'm just surprised the UN has actually made the connection of drugs for arms--Costa is a rare one.
Six British men and a blonde Irish woman are among an alleged hit squad wanted in Dubai for the assassination of a Hamas commander in his luxury hotel room.
Not the Mossad? What did the Brits have against the gentleman?
Gail Folliard is said to be part of an 11-strong gang - some wearing fake beards and wigs - who disguised themselves with tennis clothes and rackets in a highly orchestrated murder.
Must've been high quality false beards and wigs, to fool the crack Hamas security team.
Game, set, match ...
They arrived on separate flights and spent less than a day in the emirate, tracking their victim to his five-star residence near the airport before ambushing and suffocating him.
Sounds like a crackerjack hit squad, all right. Not Mossad-like at all. Detective Ibn Legume, how do you do it?
#8
What's up with the description of some of 'em as "British Passport Holders"?
Until 30 or 40 years ago, anyone born in the British Empire/Commonwealth was a British citizen and issued a pasport as such. Since then any british citizen with the right to live in the UK has 'Right of abode in the UK' (or similar) in his/her passport.
AFAIAW these 'British Citizens' (or some of them) still get issued with British passports but without the right of abode wording.
So a British passport holder could be from Aden, Burma or Calcutta.
#9
Looks like the operation was being run from Austria. A police video, combining CCTV footage from the Dubai airport, a number of hotels and shopping malls, showed the arrival of the suspects and Al Mabhouh into Dubai, their checking into various city hotels and the hours before the Palestinian commander was killed in room 230 in the Bustan Rotana Hotel, near the airport.
A surveillance team had followed the victim around the city. Some of the suspected killers disguised their appearance at various times.
#15
Publishing photos and cooperating with Interpol to identify them reminds me of staking out rendition flights to identify CIA. Let's hope the disguises were really, really good or some good covert operatives will be compromised permanently.
#17
Publishing photos and cooperating with Interpol to identify them reminds me of staking out rendition flights to identify CIA. Let's hope the disguises were really, really good or some good covert operatives will be compromised permanently. Posted by Lumpy Elmoluck5091
A blinding flash of the obvious, but if "Gail" and friends actually were part of a 'wet' operation, you can bet it was state sponsored,
quite well planned and funded. Dubai police can toss those British passports in the rubbish bin. All they have are some photos and possibly finger prints, newly bearded men wearing glasses, etc. Nice job hit team. Enjoy your well earned pensions, and lengthy sabbaticals.
#20
It sounds like they tasered him and then suffocated him with a pillow. Unlike a car head rest or cell phone that explodes, he felt it all they way.
The hotel should be glad the assassins chose a method that minimizes clean up. Now they have a room with history. They can make a theme out of it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2010 19:17 Comments ||
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#23
Britons had passport details stolen by Mossad death squad One of the British passport holders named in the Dubai case is Melvyn Adam Mildiner, a British Jew who emigrated to Israel in 2001. He was stunned to find his name listed as one of the alleged assassins. I am obviously angry, upset and scared any number of things, Mr Mildiner said from his home in Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem. Im looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name.
Mr Mildiner confirmed that the name and number of his passport matched those released by the Dubai authorities. But he said he had no idea how his details had been stolen. I have my passport. It is in my house, along with the passports of everybody else in my family, and theres no Dubai stamps in it because Ive never been to Dubai, he said.
The photo released in Dubai also does not match his passport picture. Its not me, he said.
Mr. ERVIN. I find it troubling, Mr. Weller, and as part of this review that I mentioned we can and will look at that. As a footnote as well, laying aside the issue of purchasing citizenship, as you know in certain visa waiver countries it is easier to obtain citizenship than others. Not purchases, but for the record I just want to lay out naturalization and derivative citizenship.
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There are certain visa waiver countries, as you know, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium being among them, have liberal laws whereby if you are a third-country national you can come to those countries and after 3 years become a citizen of those countries. Also there is something known as derivative citizenship. Some countries have very liberal systems where in Ireland, if one of your four grandparents were Irish, you can ipso facto obtain Irish citizenship. And as we understand it, Italian law is even more liberal in this regard.
Again, it is not purchasing citizenship but it makes citizenship easier, and with regard to visa waiver countries you can see the problem with that.
Mr. WELLER. Does your Department give extra attention to passports coming from these countries, not only those who sell the passports, but those who have relatively easy citizenship requirements?
Mr. ERVIN. I can't answer that, I don't know whether the inspectors give particular attention to that. They certainly should. And that is one of the things that we will be looking at as we continue this series of reviews with regard to this complex set of issues.
Mr. WELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the panel for their time.
#27
Google search turned up this gem:
A nice little business in British Passports?
A consignment of 3,000 useless blank biometric passports has been stolen on its way to British embassies throughout the world. Or at least, the Identity & Passport Service says theyre useless. A recent article in The Register shows why nothing could be further from the truth.
The passports were stolen from a courier vehicle in Manchester, UK while the driver stopped to buy a newspaper.
The article explains how even though the passports have high-tech chips installed, they can easily be used for a variety of fraudulent applications from opening bank accounts to getting jobs, as well as for travel in countries that do not yet have chip readers at border control points.
The final paragraph makes a chilling point:
its still early in the relationship between forgers and biometric passports. One could perhaps envisage a future where businesses that regularly had to check passports (say, tourist hotels) could be farmed by forgers for passport data, producing data banks of passports that hadnt been stolen, but that could be cloned on demand - just pick somebody the right age and appearance. Put that together with a stock of blank biometric passports and youve got a nice little business there.
[Al Arabiya Latest] United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Riyadh on Monday for talks with Saudi leaders on Washington's drive for tough new sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
She was due to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal before heading to a desert camp outside the capital for talks with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
In neighbouring Qatar earlier, Clinton warned that Iran was heading towards a "military dictatorship" dominated by the elite Revolutionary Guard that posed a threat to the whole world.
The U.S. chief diplomat told students in Qatar that the United States was not seeking to use military action against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions but rather seeking to use international pressure through the U.N. Security Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Does this quote sound to you like it sounds to me?
Prince Saud al-Faisal. He said Iran risked setting off a nuclear arms race in the region, and expressed worries that the American-led effort to impose new sanctions might not come quickly enough.
âSanctions are a long-term solution,â he said. âBut we see the issue in the shorter term, maybe because we are closer to the threat. So we need an immediate resolution rather than a gradual resolution.â
Earth to Faisal: The shortest distance between Israel and Iranian targets is through Saudi territory. B Hussein 0 will do diddly squat.
Pics of the supposed hit team at link...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Dubai's police chief said Monday an 11-member hit squad carrying European passports and disguised in wigs, fake beards and tennis clothes was behind the mysterious killing of a Hamas commander in his hotel room last month. Authorities also released photos of the 11.
Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim did not directly implicate Israel, as the Islamic militant group has. But the details he released at a news conference in the Gulf emirate are the most comprehensive accusations by Dubai authorities since the body of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found Jan. 20 in his luxury hotel room near Dubai's international airport.
The terrorist who helped bomb Pan Am flight 103 is still alive - and free - in Libya nearly six months after Scotland released the mass murderer from prison on 'compassionate' grounds.
Scottish officials had said Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi would die within three months from prostate cancer when they announced they would set him free. But nearly six months later, al-Megrahi is still calling in about twice a month from Libya to authorities in Scotland as part of the terms of his release. It's called, 'lying' ...
"It has almost become comical," said Bert Ammerman who lost his brother in the bombing. "I have to laugh that he has to phone in that he is following his probation terms. This is a complete insult. Shame on Scotland. Shame on the White House." Yeah, Bambi didn't object very loudly over Megrahi being set free for the murder of American citizens, did he ...
Convicted terrorist Megrahi was set free back on August 21. He had been sentence to life in prison after being convicted in 2001. When he landed home in Libya, he was greeted by cheering crowds at the Tripoli airport, some waving Libyan and Scottish flags.
Some members of the Scottish Parliament have called on Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to better explain why a second medical opinion was not sought before deciding to release the terrorist. MacAskill has responded saying the medical report stating Megrahi was dying of terminal cancer is accurate. Accurate enough for what MacAskill wanted to do ...
He has claimed the three month window was just an approximation. MacAskill charged critics are "circling like vultures" wondering when Megrahi might die. "He is going to die. That is why he was released," MacAskill said to Scottish Parliament back in January. Right now he's like the Energizer Bunny ...
Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from London to New york when a bomb exploded in the cargo hold of the mighty jetliner. 270 people were killed including 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground in the village of Lockerbie. Megrahi was convicted of helping hide the bomb in a cassette recorder in a suitcase.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said U.S. officials voiced their objections in advance about Scottish authorities plans to release the terrorist. "It is obviously wrong to release someone who has been in prison based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime," Clinton said. But you didn't make a public stink about it, which is what would have stopped the release ...
After he was set free, the FBI Director Robert Mueller blasted MacAskill's decision. "Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law," Mueller wrote.
Some victim's families have charged Megrahi's release was tied to future oil deals between British oil companies and the Libyan government. Those allegations have been vehemently denied by British officials and spokesmen for oil firms like British Petroleum.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2010 23:25 ||
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#4
Interesting discussion of the preferential treatment Muslim prisoners get in UK jails:
"First, you have their protection. You're totally alone in prison when you get there, and if you can't look after yourself you're beaten, robbed and bullied.
Second, every Friday Muslims are allowed prayer meetings. This is free time away from the guards, so they can plot, make new contacts and discuss anti-West ideology.
Muslims also get better food. They have money sent in for their kitchens from the Muslim community outside, and they get special Halal dishes stipulated by Islam.
Then, when a converted prisoner finishes his time, he leaves as an even bigger criminal with an entirely new contact book of Muslim criminals to do business with."
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/16/2010 16:19 Comments ||
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#5
something tells me that most mafias don't give a damn about your religion and will kill you in a heartbeat
Chris, in Sydney the Muslim boys (mainly Lebanese) started out as low level runners for the established Mafia, who had built an accommodation with bent cops. They have now been pushed aside and the more aggressive Muslims have taken over, much like the Mexican gangs in the US. Only redeeming feature is that they are secular and stay clear of the fanatical religious/jihadist side of the family
#8
Terrorist organizations and Organized crime gangs are frequently the same thing. Whether its the IRA's protection rackets, the Taliban's heroin or Somali Islamicists piracy.
Similarly there is little difference between their violence. Some is more for the shock and publicity, but there is little difference between using extreme violence to coerce individuals, groups or entire countries.
The wife of the leader of a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners kept a diary in which she pledged support for his cause and hoped that he became a martyr, a court has heard.
Cossor Ali wrote about making herself slimmer for his return from Pakistan and added that she was becoming more and more attached to the cause for which you are striving.' She added: I hope and pray Allah grants your wish and gives you the highest level of shahada' a word which is said to refer to martyrdom. In another entry she said: I hope that when you attain shahada, I will have at least one small child and will be pregnant with another or at least be pregnant with a healthy baby at the least inshallah [god willing.]'
Mrs Ali, who married her husband in July 2003, gave birth to their first child prematurely nine months later but the baby had died shortly afterwards. By the time her husband, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, was arrested in August 2006, they had an eight month old baby boy.
Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court: It is the prosecution case that she knew her husband intended to commit an act of terrorism that involved his own death.' She is accused of failing to disclose information that she knew or believed might have been of material assistance in preventing the commission of an act of terrorism between March 2004 and August 2006.
Ali and two other men were convicted in September last year of conspiracy to murder by detonating improvised explosive devices on board passenger aircraft. The devices were to be disguised in soft drinks bottles and Mrs Ali admitted in a statement to police that her husband had brought bags of a soft drink powder back from Pakistan with him but she thought that he was developing a drink to sell with his friends.
The court heard that Mrs Ali, 28, was born in Britain and lived with her husband in a one bedroom flat in Walthamstow, East London. When police searched the couple's flat they found a completed passport application for their baby in the cot in the bedroom.
In a Rizvi notebook found in the bedroom, Mrs Ali had allegedly written: I think I am going to make myself slimmer inshallah [god willing] as it will be good for me and I think you will be happier. I am going to start doing exercises on a daily basis and when we are together, I want you to do fighting training with me.'
In the notes, allegedly written while Ali was away in Pakistan in early 2005, she had added: I am really looking forward to you coming home now. I have been thinking about all the housework I have to do in the flat. I will clean everything properly. She continued: I desperately miss my soulmate, husband, lover, comforter and companion.'
A further entry asked Ali to choose her over the hoors' - women in paradise - and wait for her to join him. She said she had read a beautiful and inspiring' book and added: I am even happier with what you are doing. It makes me eager to join you on your quest.'
In another Pukka notepad found in the bedroom cupboard, she wrote preparation list for Ahmed's return' and the entry straighten hair on 08/02/04.' In the same notepad Ali had allegedly written a will in March 2004 in which he wrote: We know with full certainty that we are going to die so let us aim high and strive for the best death ie shahada and let us do the most pleasing deed to Allah and make the greatest sacrifice, fight with life, tongue and wealth in the path of Allah.'
Ali had made a suicide video in which he said that Allah had promised those who became martyred with a guarantee of janna [paradise] for himself, his family and his friends. He referred to Osama bin Laden and said he planned to punish the kufr [non-believers] and teach them a lesson they will never forget,' Mr Whittam told the court.
Mrs Ali denies the charges and the trial continues.
Lunar New Year's Day in North Korea took second place this year to leader Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday, which falls on Tuesday. North Koreans have taken three days off on Lunar New Year's Day since 2003.
But on Sunday, Lunar New Year's Day, the official Rodong Shinmun newspaper was full of stories about Kim's birthday celebrations and an ice soup sculpture festival for the occasion at Samjiyon in Mt. Baekdu, the first of its kind in the North.
The first broadcast on Sunday also began with a program wishing Kim good health. Korean Central Television Station and Radio Pyongyang blared, "The general's good health is the joy and happiness of our army and people. We wish him good health."
The official KCNA news agency on Saturday reported that the regime presented children nationwide with candy and cookies to celebrate Kim's birthday.
On Saturday, about 100,000 Pyongyang citizens joined a mass rally to implement "joint slogans" of the Workers Party Central Committee, the official media reported.
On Lunar New Year's Day morning, senior officials of the party, the government, and the army, as well as ordinary people laid wreaths at statues of nation founder Kim Il-sung across the country, the official media said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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A fight broke out between high-ranking US and Turkish officials at a meeting held between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Qatar.
The fight was reported between the US ambassador to Qatar and an advisor to the Turkish prime minister at the end of a 20-minute meeting between Clinton and Erdogan on Monday.
The altercation took place after the US envoy entered the room to remind those present to close the meeting as the time was over.
In response, Erdogan's adviser said, "It is not for you to judge the importance of our meeting, you offend our country," the Turkish daily Today's Zaman reported.
The quarrel led to physical confrontation and the two diplomats were separated with difficulty.
The Turks are really feeling their oats these days... but just copying Prime Minister Erdogan, who felt free to shout abuse at the president of Israel in a public forum at Davos a few years ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
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From the Pakistani army barracks to the roadside chai stands along the Indus River where truckers gulp down cups of muddy tea, anti-Americanism is roiling across the country. It is whipped up by the often sensationalist, ratings-hungry Pakistani TV news talk shows think of Fox News cranked up to full volume, in Urdu. It resounds from the mosques, in virulent anti-U.S. sermons during Friday prayers. But most ominously, according to Islamabad observers, this deep suspicion of America's intentions in the region seems to be shared by elements within Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence services.
Here's a sample of a few conspiracy theories making the rounds: the U.S. military has a secret plan to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal; more than 9,000 agents of Blackwater, the U.S. security company, now called Xe Services, are roaming the country like bogeymen, at the CIA's behest, kidnapping people and setting off bombs that are later blamed on Pakistani Taliban militants; B-52 bombers are constantly circling the skies over Pakistan, waiting to strike when the signal is given (to strike what is never exactly clear from the rumors). (See a video about bomb threats against Pakistani schoolchildren.)
Even as the wild speculation circulates, U.S. diplomats are harassed in real life by Pakistani authorities. Their vehicles are seized and their visas tangled in bureaucratic red tape for months, crippling aid projects and counterinsurgency efforts. Sometimes photos of their residences are published in newspapers and labeled as CIA dens. American journalists, too, are singled out. Last October, an English-language Lahore newspaper, The Nation, accused a Wall Street Journal correspondent of working simultaneously for the CIA, the Israeli spy agency Mossad and, to top it off, Blackwater. A Pakistani daily also ran a photo of two British and Australian journalists at the site of a suicide bombing and insinuated that they were foreign spies.
This anti-U.S. resentment strikes many in Washington as a tad ungrateful not to mention misplaced given that last fall, Congress enacted the Kerry-Lugar bill granting Pakistan over $7.5 billion in economic aid over the next five years. In addition, Pakistan receives military hardware and training to combat Pakistani Taliban whose wrath is focused on Islamabad in the mountainous borderlands with Afghanistan.
So what gives?
Pakistan has long been characterized as a country whose rulers may be pro-American but whose people are decidedly not. In 1979, for example, Pakistani radio falsely reported that U.S. aircraft bombed Islam's holiest site in Mecca, prompting a mob to storm the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, killing five American and Pakistani staffers. This simmering hostility was stirred again after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and boiled over, more recently, with drone missile strikes inside Pakistan's tribal territory in which dozens of suspected terrorists and civilians died. The Feb. 3 conviction in New York City of a Pakistani woman scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, nicknamed Lady al-Qaeda, on charges of trying to shoot Americans in Afghanistan has also ignited anger in Pakistan against the U.S. The verdict was decried by Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and lawmakers and sparked anti-U.S. protest rallies in Lahore. (See the case against Aafia Siddiqui.)
On top of that, Washington's latest act of largesse, the Kerry-Lugar bill, has unintentionally riled the Pakistani army. The billions came with strings attached. The generals opposed one of the conditions of the bill: that the U.S. must be satisfied that the Pakistani military was fighting terrorism and not, as the legislation said, "subverting the political and judicial processes of Pakistan." Says Talat Masood, a retired general and military analyst in Islamabad: "Some in the army think this is intrusive and a loss to our sovereignty."
Islamabad politicians and diplomats say that the military opposes any measure that might boost the current President, who was swept into power in 2008 on a sympathy vote for his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, assassinated the previous year. Zardari has been dogged by old corruption charges and his current administration has proved highly unpopular, allowing the army to take a commanding role in security and foreign affairs, and that includes dealing with Washington.(See the difficulties Pakistani journalists had covering the Siddiqui trial.)
The conditions for a perfect storm of anti-U.S. feeling have risen, according to Samina Ahmed, director for the International Crisis Group in Islamabad. "What we're seeing is a nexus between an irresponsible media, the mullahs and the military, which is using anti-Americanism to beat a weak civilian government on the head," she says. Ahmed suggests that while the Obama Administration may need the generals' support in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda who have sanctuaries inside Pakistan's tribal territories it should not falter in trying to prop up the country's civil institutions. Otherwise, she says, the root causes of illiteracy and poverty that have given rise to militancy in the country will never be tackled, and Pakistan will remain in its downward spiral.
Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats in Islamabad, instead of ignoring the outlandish whoppers on local TV news channels, are moving more swiftly to deny them before they spread and gain credence. Military analyst Masood suggests that the U.S. State and Defense officials who are constantly shuttling to Islamabad should offer the military assurance that Washington has no intention of meddling with their nuclear arsenal or with their defenses against rival neighbor India. "The Americans have to take measures that lower the paranoia. They have to persuade the army that the U.S. is not after Pakistan's nukes," he says. Given the fever pitch of suspicion that Pakistanis feel toward the U.S. these days, that may take a lot of persuasion.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/16/2010 14:17 ||
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#1
At least our real enemies are showing their true faces.Pak Army+Mullahs=The Islamism Saudi had hoped for and the Short one in Iran is killing his own people for!
#2
the root causes of illiteracy and poverty that have given rise to militancy in the country will never be tackled, and Pakistan will remain in its downward spiral.
Why is this trope still repeated? The militancy in Pakiland is intentionally stoked.
#6
Pakistanis See a Vast U.S. Conspiracy Against Them
There is no "conspiracy" against Pakistan - just a reasoned and well-thought-out response to Pakistan's constant perfidy. Don't like it? Change your behavior, Pakistan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/16/2010 19:25 Comments ||
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#7
Yooookay-y-y...
To wit,
NEWS KERALA > JOHN KERRY: PAKISTAN MUST DEMOLISH TERROR INFRASTRUCTURE TO QUALIFY FOR AID;
and
SAME > RUSSIA: PAKISTAN MILITANTS MAY GET HOLD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, either LEGALLY vee FORMAL GOVT.POWER-SHARING; or else by TERROR STRIKE/OPERATION.
Also, RUSSIA: MILITANTS MUST GIVE UP/RENOUNCE ARMED STRUGGLE, SHOW RESPECT FOR LAW [or else].
Formally and Forever, or be perennially hunted down iff not killed.
MUMBAIDelhi police late Monday night detained two British nationals for "suspicious behavior" following a high alert in the city in the aftermath of the Pune blast that killed 10, according to a police spokesman.
The Press Trust of India identified the two men as Stephen Hampston and 55-year-old Steve Martin, who were picked up from the Radisson Hotel after police received a tip that the two possessed sophisticated equipment. Police recovered high-tech binoculars from them, the news agency said.
Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said in an interview Tuesday that the men weren't arrested but being questioned at their hotel. "We picked up two people from Radisson Hotel for questioning," he said, adding, "They are British nationals, but we can't say if they are from any outfit." He declined to say if the duo possessed equipment capable of air surveillance.
A British official, who declined to be named, said two people with similar names were arrested for photographing planes, but wasn't aware of any connection with the Pune blast.
Several cities in India, including Delhi, which hosts the Hockey World Cup later this month and the Commonwealth Games in October, have been on high alert after the Pune blast. The blast in the western Indian city occurred Saturday at German Bakery, a popular tourist spot in the upmarket Koregaon Park area. Talking to reporters at a press conference Tuesday, Satyapal Singh, Pune police commissioner, said the explosive used "was a mixture of ammonium nitrate, RDX and petroleum hydrocarbon."
#1
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > FREE WEST BEGAL NOW! | MAOISTS KILL 24 POLICEMEN IN WEST BENGAL.
* SAME > RELATED YOUTUBE - CCTV: "INTERNATIONAL HIT TEAM" SHOWN AT WORK IN DUBAI, + THE ASSASSINATION OF MAHMOUD Al-MABHOUD IN DUBAI HOTEL, + ISRAELI MOSSAD ASSASSINATION FOOTAGE IN DUBAI HOTEL.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > INDIA CONDEMNS MOAIST ATTACK IN WEST BENGAL.
SAME > BANGLADESH CRACKING DOWN [hard]ON MYANMAR MIGRANTS. "Humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding for Bangla's 00,000's of Rohingya refugees.
* TOPIX > INDIA: MAOISTS STRIKING DESPITE OUR SINCERE EFFORTS AT PEACE; + MAOISTS BELIEVE TIME IS RIGHT TO ENTER THE TELAQUANA FRAY [Intel derived from Govt.seized Maoist letter].
When many Pakistanis discuss their country's tumult, they do so with a furrowed brow or a grimace. Not Maulana Abdul Aziz.
A radical and charismatic Islamist leader who was a central figure in a bloody showdown between security forces and religious conservatives three years ago, Aziz now says he's confident Pakistan is indeed on the road toward becoming a "true Islamic state." He says Pakistan is on its way to adopting strict sharia law forcing the women of this country of 170 million to begin observing purdah, or being removed from public life.
Aziz is among Pakistan's most controversial personalities and has preached in front of massive crowds, encouraging suicide bombings and repeatedly promising the country is on the verge of "an Islamic revolution" and that "the blood of martyrs will bear fruit."
In July 2007, Aziz and his supporters brought this nation's capital to a standstill when they barricaded themselves inside Islamabad's Red Mosque for more than a week as thousands of supporters rallied outside. Eventually, police stormed the mosque, formally known as Lal Masjid, and 102 people were killed, including Aziz's brother and son. Aziz himself was captured when he tried to escape. He fled the mosque wearing a burqa, the head-to-toe veil worn by female students at his conservative seminary.
Sitting in his small home office in central Islamabad, surrounded by eight of his followers and a machine-gun toting security guard, the 60-year-old Aziz spoke with the Star at length about Pakistan's deteriorating security situation, Canada's planned withdrawal from Afghanistan and his embarrassment over being caught fleeing the mosque while wearing a burqa.
"Our friends talked to us and said one of us had to get out at any cost," Aziz says, referring to himself and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi. "I just took it as an order and followed what I was supposed to do. Maybe I was embarrassed (about wearing the burqa), but maybe this is what God had planned for me. I didn't want to go out, I wanted to be martyred. My son was inside. Why would anyone want to go?"
Sharia law in Pakistan "is coming very soon," Aziz assures. "Our country is in a very precarious state. There is no peace and looting, mugging, murder and kidnapping are increasing." Indeed, the streets of the capital are blanketed with police checkpoints, blast walls and barbed wire, and people are tense.
At a coffee shop in an affluent section of Islamabad, several teenagers gather for hot chocolate and sandwiches. "Our friends are too afraid to come out of their houses," one says.
A few days later, several dozen young professionals gather at a rooftop house party for a barbecue that features an open bar serving whisky and vodka. Debate at one point turns to whether someone remains conscious for a few final seconds after they are beheaded. At one point, someone close to the house fires a dozen or so rounds from a machine gun into the air. It's a neighbour upset over the loud music, the host explains, turning down the volume of a Black Eyed Peas song. "Maybe Aziz is right," one guest remarks.
In some Pakistani circles, the debate isn't over what Aziz says, but that he's allowed to say anything publicly at all. Several security analysts say they are baffled at the release on bail of Aziz, who travels freely between the Lal Masjid and his home a few blocks away. "He's a living martyr," says Ahmed Rashid, a leading Pakistani terrorism analyst and author of Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. "Aziz is a great risk and a symbol of extremism."
Aziz says he now faces 27 criminal charges of inciting violence against the state and is awaiting trial. "There were many benefits," Aziz now recalls of the siege. "If we struggled for 1,000 years we wouldn't have achieved the same progress as we did through this one incident."
#2
Why has nobody placed a hit order on Aziz?
Some women's group at least?
With all the heroin and other drugs in Pakiwakiland there must be a good Mafia analog with purchasable hits...
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while condemning the recent terrorist events in Karachi, said on Sunday that al-Qaida had killed more than 2,000 people in Pakistan within a few months
Addressing the US-Islamic World Forum here, Hillary said the terrorist incidents were regrettable and the US government was with the people and the Government of Pakistan. She said the US was willing to cooperate with Pakistan to resolve the energy crisis while increasing the aid of the country by two times, adding the US was serious with Pakistan.
Hillary said her country had no interest in "occupying" Afghanistan or abandoning the war-torn country. "The United States has no interest in occupying Afghanistan. We also have no intention of abandoning Afghanistan," she said.
"When the international forces leave Afghanistan, our civilian presence will continue, so that we can foster a long-term partnership between Afghanistan, the United States, and other nations, that is based on shared responsibility for our common security," she added.
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02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Al-Qaida killed 2,000 Pakistanis within a few months
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The gloves came off fully on Sunday when PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif dubbed the president as the biggest threat to democracy. It was reminiscent of the nineties when the opposition and the government would be incessantly at each others' throats.
The PML-N supremo, who appeared a man who had simply had enough of his forced political honeymoon with adversary-turned-friend-turned-adversary President Asif Ali Zardari, was unforgiving in his criticism of the latest presidential action of trying to force judicial appointments in defiance of the chief justice of Pakistan's recommendation.
Calling the appointment of judges by the government against the CJ's recommendation as "action replay of November 03, 2007 action by Musharraf", he said that he saw President Asif Ali Zardari as the biggest threat to democracy, maintaining that his party would play its due role inside and outside parliament with the support of the people.
"I have not seen a bigger threat to democracy than from President Zardari as the President House has once again tried to impose its will on the judiciary," Nawaz said while addressing a news conference after presiding over a PML-N consultative meeting here at the Punjab House.
Sharif also hinted that the coming days would be very important. "We will take important decisions in the days to come while keeping a close eye on the rulers," he maintained. He also hastened to advise the Army from playing any interventionist role by adding "the Army should stay out of it because we are capable of taking care of the situation ourselves".
Sharif ruled out any role from the third force in the present situation. "We will handle the situation ourselves and do not involve the Pakistan Army in the system," he said while responding to a question.
He said he had asked the prime minister a day earlier not to further delay the appointment of judges and follow the Supreme Court's recommendations in this connection. "I was assured that the same would be done but what happened the next day was totally different," he said.
To a question about the PML-N's role of friendly opposition, he demanded the resignation of the NRO beneficiaries, asked them to face courts and also demanded of President Zardari to bring back the country's wealth stashed away "in his Swiss bank accounts". Nawaz Sharif said the November 03 action was taken by a dictator but regretted that the February 13 decision goes to the credit of ademocratic government, which had made the judiciary its target to "cover its own acts of corruption".
The former prime minister said the PML-N would mobilise the people and would also contact other political parties so that the democratic system did not fall prey to any misadventure. He maintained that the time had come to play a straightforward role to safeguard democracy and institutions. "We cannot act as silent spectators to the situation where an individual on his own will is disgracing institutions of the nation for the sake of his interests and objectives," he said.
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[Geo News] President Asif Ali Zardari Monday stressed the need for greater cooperation and enhanced level of trust between Pakistan and the United States (US) in view of their ongoing convergence of interests.
Talking to a US delegation comprising Senator Claire Conner McCaskill and Senator Jeff Merkley, the President said Pakistan looked towards the international community--the developed world especially-for strategic political and economic support to overcome the problems in the wake of fight against militancy.
President Zardari said the international community owes help to Pakistan in overcoming its current difficulties so that the country could play its role at international as well as regional level effectively.
President Zardari said history bears witness to the fact that Pakistan always had to pay a heavy price in neutralizing the threats endangering the world peace and safe future of our generations. The region was unfortunately abandoned in the past but this time it is hoped that the international community would not repeat the same mistake.
The President said that Pakistan had suffered a huge loss of over 35 billion dollars during the last eight years as a result of the fight against militancy in addition to the colossal and unquantifiable cost in terms of social and human losses which had almost crippled the nation's economy.
While discussing current situation in Afghanistan, the President said that Pakistan is committed to work with Afghanistan and the international community for the restoration of peace and stability in the country. He said that dialogue and national reconciliation process in Afghanistan needed to be Afghan driven.
The President appreciated the US leadership for its interest and active partnership with Pakistan, however, he urged the US administration to review its various policies that undermine the trust between the people of the two countries.
The President said that Pakistan welcomed US declarations of support to Pakistan's security and stability and economic development and emphasized that the continued support must be based on mutual respect and trust.
The President emphasized the need for democratic stability in Pakistan which he said could be ensured by pursuing a well structured economic development agenda in which the international community had a great role to play.
Senator Claire McCaskill thanked the President for meeting the delegation and said that the United States appreciates the role being played by the security agencies and the people of Pakistan and the sacrifices made in fighting the menace of terrorism and would continue to assist Pakistan.
Congressmen Barron Hill and Michael Turner were also present along with US ambassador Ms. Anne W. Patterson. Interior Minister Rehman A. Malik, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Ammad Ahmed Khan, Senator Sughra Imam, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and other senior officials also present attended the meeting.
Talking to senior journalists and columnists at a reception hosted in his honour at the Governor's House on Sunday, Haqqani said the US wants a stable democracy in Pakistan, which it believes matches its foreign policy interests. Haqqani further stated that good ties with the US were significant for the country for the development of secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan.
To a question about the contacts of the US administration with political leadership of Pakistan, Haqqani said contacts did exist between the two sides but it didn't mean that US was providing any support to any political force. He asserted that contacts must take place between the sides but this notion that US was helping any force to derail democracy in Pakistan wasn't true. He stated this was true that dictatorships in Pakistan had suited the US interests in the past but under President Obama there was a changed atmosphere there. He said Pakistan was dependent on the US for military and economic assistance. He said no other country in the world, including China, was willing to give military assistance to Pakistan free of cost. He said the US was the only country which could donate its used military equipment to Pakistan.
He said Pakistani government was involved in negotiations with the US authorities to get its nuclear programme "legitimised". He said defence was a key issue for Pakistan.
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Take this for a measure of Gaza's economic woes: When the territory's Hamas rulers announced plans to hire about 1,000 new policemen, 15,000 applied. Only a few of those reporting for fitness tests one recent afternoon expressed an interest in police work or said they belonged to the Islamic militant group. Most just wanted a job.
Not everyone could apply. Candidates had to be between 18 and 20 years old, taller than 5-foot-6, (1.7 meters) and weigh more than 154 pounds (70 kilograms). They could have no more than a high school education, since most would work as street officers and not commanders, said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab Ghussein. In four days, about 15,000 men signed up, Ghussein said. Over the past two weeks, Hamas has been holding daily drills to test their fitness.
One recent afternoon, about 400 applicants lined up near a sandy lot in Gaza City. When a Hamas officer in combat boots and black fatigues yelled their names through a bullhorn, they removed their shoes, showed their IDs and had their height and weight measured. They ran a lap on a track and did push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups. Hamas officers, some toting rifles, jotted down their results.
Most of the applicants hailed from Gaza's refugee camps. Few said they were interested in police work or expressed much enthusiasm for Hamas' Islamic ideology. Some said their families made them come. "The salary, what else?" said Majd Subah, 20, when asked why he applied. "If there was other work to look for, we'd go for that." Subah said he needed work to get married. He had saved $11,000 working in smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border and fixed up an apartment for his bride, but her father refused to let her go until he had a real job, he said. "I want to go back and tell him I'm a cop," he said.
Hamas now employs about 25,000 Gazans, said Gaza economist Omar Shaban, second only to the Abbas' Palestinian Authority, which continues to pay 55,000 employees in Gaza since the Hamas takeover though they now stay home. The recruits will join the 15,000 already serving in Hamas security services, Ghussein said. While many of them direct traffic and guard government buildings, others work for Hamas' internal security service, which is widely feared and often accused of cracking down on political rivals. Ghussein said applicants were not being vetted politically.
Even those landing jobs are unlikely to see their financial troubles disappear. Recruits will work for free for four months, then earn about $260 per month for six months before being eligible for raises, Ghussein said. Still, some looked forward to working for Hamas.
"God willing, I'm going to protect my country," said Momen Abu Athra, 20, who came out in a white skull cap and wispy beard and soundly beat the others in his running group. Abu Athra, who has memorized the Quran, said he now teaches in an Islamic school but wanted to work "for an Islamic government." Few others shared his zeal.
"I want to support my family and build my future," said Mahmoud Douda, 20. Douda said he had earned about $26 a day working in the tunnels, but being underground terrified him. Douda said he didn't belong to any political group but would work for anyone who would give him a job. "Hamas or not Hamas, people want to work," he said.
#1
Not everyone could apply. Candidates had to be between 18 and 20 years old, taller than 5-foot-6, (1.7 meters) and weigh more than 154 pounds (70 kilograms). They could have no more than a high school education
Fatah and Hamas are trading accusations following the arrest of two Palestinians extradited from Jordan to Dubai on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of Hamas senior Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January, Army Radio reported. I thought it was the Brits and evil Joooz ...
Dubai issued arrest warrants for eleven people allegedly tied to Mabhouh's killing, but only two were captured so far. The fact that one of the Palestinian detainees is a security official in the Palestinian Authority sparked the latest spate of Hamas-Fatah bickering.
Faik al-Mabhouh, the brother of the slain official, on Tuesday still maintained that Israel was behind the assassination. "I believe Israel is behind my brother's assassination," he said a day after Dubai published security camera footage showing the ten men and one woman allegedly involved.
All suspects named by Dubai are European nationals, but Faik al-Mabhouh insisted "from the start we said Israel has a hand in it, [but] it didn't work alone."
Gen. Dahi Tamim, Dubai's police chief, displayed a series of passport photographs showing 10 men and a woman at a press conference on Monday.
Most of the individuals named by Dubai appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, Gen Dahi Tamim, Dubai's police chief said at a press conference where he presented photos of the suspects.
Six of the suspects carried British passports, three others had Irish passports, while the other two had French and German documents.
"This is a complex operation, there is no way only eleven people were involved. Maybe they carried out the killing, but there were people who followed Mahmoud from the moment he left the [Gaza] Strip and until he reached Dubai, and collected intelligence about him -- it must be more than eleven people," Faik told the radio station.
He said Mossad, Israel's spy agency to which he attributed the killing, has "no problems recruiting people also abroad and maybe some Palestinians gave them a green light. I believe Israel is behind all the mysterious assassinations we have been seeing recently in the Middle East."
While Hamas accused Fatah of colluding with Israel to carry out the killing, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hinted that the organization ruling Gaza was also not hermetically protected from infiltrations.
"There are security breaches the Hamas leadership doesn't care to admit. The forces of the occupation assassinated more than one leader in Hamas, and [the terror group's investigations] never got to the truth."
[Ma'an] Supreme Judge Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi said Monday that Israeli institutions, settler groups and the government are working to fulfill 18th century Rabbi Vilna Goan's prophecy declaring that the Third Temple would be re-built by 16 March 2010.
He said archeological excavations have caused structural damage to the Al-Marwani Mosque, under the Al-Aqsa Mosque's northern walls, and to Palestinian homes in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The sheikh further alleged that a plan had been implemented in 1993 to intensify efforts to "Judaize" Jerusalem by establishing two major settlements around the city and a military brigade dedicated to closing off the city and separating it from its surrounding neighborhoods.
Tamimi said the plan included the shutting down of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, the expulsion of dignitaries and the revoking of Israeli ID cards of Jerusalem residents in Beit Hanina, Shu'fat, El-Essawiya, At-Tour and Silwan.
Additionally, a network of tunnels would be constructed to connect settlers to the Old City, he claimed.
By the end of this process, some 36,000 Palestinians living in the Old City will be displaced, Tamimi said, calling on conveners of the Arab League Summit in Libya next month to create a plan to "save Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
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#1
According to you guys, Israel has been working on this thing since the 60's. You'd think they'd have it done by now.
[Ma'an] Ismail Haniyeh, the de facto government prime minister, said on Monday that national reconciliation talks "starts and continues from where we reached, and not from where we were."
"We back national unity and our position concerning reconciliation is fixed and will not change, he added, speaking at the High Court building in Gaza City. "Reconciliation does not mean a return to zero, but to build on what has been accomplished."
Haniyeh's remarks came after a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council in Gaza, Abdullah Abu Samahdaneh, urged Hamas to sign an Egyptian-backed document which he said is the means to discuss modifications to the proposal.
Both statements from leaders of the main two rival parties followed a meeting of 13 Palestinian factions in Gaza a day earlier, in which both Fatah and Hamas participated.
Afterward, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Rabah Muhana commented that "an atmosphere of placing national interest ahead of factional interest prevailed. All factions agreed on the urgent need to end division in order to confront the occupation."
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Ma'an -- A commission of inquiry set up to investigate corruption allegations raised by a former intelligence officer does not go far enough, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said on Monday.
In a statement, the leftist faction said the commission, made up of three Fatah members, "does not meet the requirements to ensure professional and objective findings as it was formed of only one party."
The PFLP called on President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Committee to expand its inquiry to include professionals and human rights organizations, on a national rather than factional basis, to more effectively respond to what the group termed Israeli targeting.
Abbas dismissed his chief of staff, Rafiq Al-Husseini, on Sunday after Israel's Channel 10 broadcast a videotape that allegedly showed Al-Husseini propositioning an unidentified woman for sex in exchange for political favors. The video was provided by a former intelligence officer who headed the PA anti-corruption department.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Moscow early Monday on a two-day working visit with Russia on the verge of backing tough international sanctions against Iran, the Jewish state's arch-foe.
This is Netanyahu's first official trip to Moscow since taking office a year ago and he is expected to hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The visit follows a clandestine visit in September, a secretive move that highlighted the key role Russia plays in Israel's drive to thwart Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions.
"We will discuss a range of issues, but first and foremost Iran," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting hours before he was due to leave for Moscow.
"Israel believes that strong pressure must be applied to Iran, especially very tough sanctions," he said, echoing his calls last week for "crippling sanctions" on the Islamic republic.
The visit comes a week after Russia questioned the "sincerity" of Iran's pledges not to develop nuclear weapons and, in a policy shift, said fresh U.N. sanctions on Tehran were a "realistic" option.
Iran declared on Tuesday it had started the process of producing 20-percent enriched uranium, as the United States stepped up its efforts to pass a new round of sanctions against Tehran by the United Nations Security Council.
Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council with the power to veto any resolution, has in recent weeks toughened its stance towards Iran.
Widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel, like the West, suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear program, a charge Tehran denies.
Israel considers the Islamic republic its top enemy after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state was doomed to be "wiped off the map" and the scale of the Holocaust was exaggerated.
Bringing Moscow on board for harsher sanctions has been a key goal of Israel and the United States.
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Prime Minister Ahbisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday that the controversial GT200 bomb detectors have been able to detect only four out of 20 explosives in scientific tests conducted by Science Ministry. "We won't buy any more GT200 bomb detectors as they do not work. It would be very risky to use them as, of the 20 tests conducted, results were achieved with only four, or just 25 per cent," the prime minister said.
The Science Ministry conducted the tests on the devices over the weekend. The prime objective of the test was to ascertain the device's efficacy with results reported to the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The GT200 devices tested were those used by police and military units in the South.
Earlier, senior military ordnance officers and bomb-disposal personnel briefed the Cabinet and insisted that the GT200 was "sufficiently efficient". They said it had detected explosives, weapons and narcotics in 173 out of 236 incidences. "The success rate is higher than 80 per cent - beyond the minimum efficiency rate required," they said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri has urged France to take a firm stance against Israeli aggression on his country. During talks with the president of France's senate, Gerard Larcher, Berri said Beirut demands Paris to prevent Israel from turning Lebanon into an arena for regional proxy wars and to ensure the security of the entire Middle East.
"In view of its ties and influence, we demand France take a firm stand to prevent Israel from attacking Lebanon," Berri said.
Berri's statement came amid increasing concerns in Lebanon over Israeli threats against Beirut. Syria last month gave its word to stand by Lebanon's side in the event of an Israeli attack. That's worth a lot ...
Several Israeli officials have recently stepped up their war rhetoric against other regional countries including Lebanon.
Yossi Peled, an Israeli cabinet minister and a former army general who has experienced the conflict on the northern border, said on Saturday, January 23, that another confrontation with Hezbollah was almost inevitable but he could not say when it would happen.
The minister without portfolio said that according to his "estimation, understanding and knowledge," it was "almost clear" to him that another conflict on the border with Lebanon was imminent.
"It does not necessary have to be between us and Hezbollah, other elements may be involved in this," Peled said.
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Islamic Republic of Iran does not need nuclear weapons to defend itself.
"Iran can defend itself without nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are of no use anymore and have no place in current international equations. Could the Soviet Union's stockpile of nuclear weapons prevent its collapse? Have they been of any assistance to the US military in its wars against Afghanistan and Iraq?"
"Atomic bombs couldn't secure a victory for the Zionist regime in the Lebanon and Gaza wars," Ahmadinejad said in an interview published in the latest edition of the Russian magazine VIP-Premier.
It would be advisable for those countries that are accusing Iran of having a clandestine nuclear weapons program to take a look at their own nuclear arsenals, he observed.
Ahmadinejad went on to say that NATO's eastward expansion is meant to contain Russia's influence.
He suggested that Moscow expand its cooperation with regional countries to prevent outsiders from threatening regional security.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.
Yet, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
But Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal of at least 250 warheads, has never signed the NPT, and has never allowed IAEA inspections of all its nuclear facilities.
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#1
DRUDGEREPORT > IIUC seems IRAN thinks ISRAEL is planning war to begin this summer, either agz it andor Lebanon = HEZBOLLAH???
#2
Lest we fergit, NOT ALL the Various MSM-Net Reports on MISSING = UNACCOUNTED FOR COLD-WAR SOVIET NUKES + OTHER STRAT WEAPS SINCE THE 1990's, POST-9-11 HAVE BEEN DISCOUNTED.
By the above scope, the possibility remains that IRAN may COVERTLY possess an uncertain number of Nuke-WMD Devices of indeterminate yield or lethality.
Also, RADICAL MULLAHS > had stated repeatedly that they are willing to detonate NUKE-WMDS on THEIR OWN SOIL TO DEFEND AGZ ANY US-LED GROUND INVASION, OCCUPATION OF IRAN.
Iran on Monday rejected Western accusations of human rights abuse in Islamic Republic as politically-motivated, declaring in its open democracy free speech and justice are guaranteed.
"Iran is becoming one of the prominent democratic states in the region," Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, told the UN Human Rights Council.
Earlier, Western powers accused Tehran of having waged "bloody repression" after its June 2009 presidential election.
"The authorities are waging bloody repression against their own people, who are peacefully claiming their rights," French Ambassador Jean Baptiste Mattei told the UN council. "France recommends that Iran accept the creation of a credible and independent international inquiry mechanism to shed light on these violations."
His remarks were supported by Britain and the US, Reuters reported.
British Ambassador to the UN Peter Gooderham claimed "grave human rights violations continue to be committed" in Iran.
Larijani, however, refuted the allegations and said the country has been in full compliance with its international commitments to safeguard human rights.
He then accused the West of using the issue as a political tool to apply pressure on Iran. The official further pointed that some Western governments support anti-Iran terrorist groups.
"With the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the situation of human rights has consistently been used as a political tool to apply pressure against us and to advance certain ulterior political motives by certain Western countries," Larijani said.
Cuba, Syria and Venezuela defended Tehran's record on social and human rights development. Russia, along with a number of Non-Aligned Movement members and Islamic nations, noted progress in Iran's social and economic rights.
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02/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I just stopped by this lead to read the comments...and imagine my disappointment when there werent any!
Iran is a democracy? Who knew?
Its more like a hearse going down a one way street.
Hezbollah's deputy secretary general for political affairs says the Lebanese movement would consider any attack on Iran or Syria as aggression against themselves.
"Hezbollah considers any attack on any faction of the resistance movements, or on the two supporting nations of Iran or Syria, as an attack on all of them," Hassan Khalil told Kuwait's Al-Dar.
"We will respond to any Israeli aggression on Lebanon," he added.
Earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that Damascus would stand by Beirut, should Israel launch another war on Lebanon.
"Syria will stand alongside the government and people of Lebanon against any possible Israeli aggression launched on Lebanon," Assad said in a meeting with visiting Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Damascus.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had recently said that Syria should clinch a peace deal with Israel or find itself in a "full-fledged war" with Tel Aviv.
A few days later hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened Assad with a war in which "his family will lose power" on top of a military defeat for the country.
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Religious extremists are increasingly turning to the internet to find, indoctrinate and radicalise young Muslims, according to a new documentary series.
Like sexual predators they prey on vulnerable young people, quickly brainwashing them with Al Qaeda propaganda and very quickly turning them into potential terrorists.
New BBC2 series Generation Jihad claims that growing numbers of bright young men dubbed entrepreneurs of jihad' are using the internet as a tool to foster extremism.
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02/16/2010 00:52 ||
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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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's former southern rebels launched their campaign on Sunday for the nation's first multi- party elections in 24 years, fielding the man likely to be President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's strongest challenger.
[Al Arabiya Latest] United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Riyadh on Monday for talks with Saudi leaders on Washington's drive for tough new sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
The terrorist who helped bomb Pan Am flight 103 is still alive - and free - in Libya nearly six months after Scotland released the mass murderer from prison on 'compassionate' grounds.
The wife of the leader of a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners kept a diary in which she pledged support for his cause and hoped that he became a martyr, a court has heard. 
A fight broke out between high-ranking US and Turkish officials at a meeting held between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Qatar. 
When many Pakistanis discuss their country's tumult, they do so with a furrowed brow or a grimace. Not Maulana Abdul Aziz.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The gloves came off fully on Sunday when PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif dubbed the president as the biggest threat to democracy. It was reminiscent of the nineties when the opposition and the government would be incessantly at each others' throats.
[Geo News] President Asif Ali Zardari Monday stressed the need for greater cooperation and enhanced level of trust between Pakistan and the United States (US) in view of their ongoing convergence of interests.
Take this for a measure of Gaza's economic woes: When the territory's Hamas rulers announced plans to hire about 1,000 new policemen, 15,000 applied. Only a few of those reporting for fitness tests one recent afternoon expressed an interest in police work or said they belonged to the Islamic militant group. Most just wanted a job.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Moscow early Monday on a two-day working visit with Russia on the verge of backing tough international sanctions against Iran, the Jewish state's arch-foe.
Prime Minister Ahbisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday that the controversial GT200 bomb detectors have been able to detect only four out of 20 explosives in scientific tests conducted by Science Ministry. "We won't buy any more GT200 bomb detectors as they do not work. It would be very risky to use them as, of the 20 tests conducted, results were achieved with only four, or just 25 per cent," the prime minister said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Islamic Republic of Iran does not need nuclear weapons to defend itself. 
Iran on Monday rejected Western accusations of human rights abuse in Islamic Republic as politically-motivated, declaring in its open democracy free speech and justice are guaranteed. 
Hezbollah's deputy secretary general for political affairs says the Lebanese movement would consider any attack on Iran or Syria as aggression against themselves. 
