[DAWN] Afghan presidential hopeful Ashraf Ghani vowed Friday to sign a security pact with the United States within a week if he wins an upcoming run-off election.
His pledge came only days after US President Barack Obama said the 32,000 American forces in Afghanistan will be scaled back to 9,800 by early 2015 and complete a full withdrawal by the end of 2016.
"I'm committed to signing a bilateral security agreement within the first week of taking over," Ghani said, addressing an audience in Washington via Skype from the western Afghan city of Herat.
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[AnNahar] Residents of the Libyan capital complain the gangs they hailed as liberators for toppling Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... have become their oppressors as opposing alliances back rival governments in their struggle for power.
A city that was ultra-safe during Qadaffy's four-decade dictatorship has become a place of fear, constantly on tenterhooks for a new eruption of fighting between the competing former rebel militias, many of them from outside Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... The battle for control of Libya's oil and gas wealth has intensified as preparations step up for a June 25 general election with competing caretaker governments laying claim to power, one from the cabinet office, the other from a five-star hotel.
One is backed by Islamists and militia from Libya's third city Misrata to the east. The other is backed by liberals and fighters from the hill town of Zintan to the southwest.
Those are the same forces that entered Tripoli to scenes of joy in August 2011.
"Not for one moment did we imagine that those who liberated the country would become our oppressors and deprive people of any security," said Meftah, a 50-year-old teacher who preferred not to give his family name.
"How can you dare to call yourself a liberator when you hold own people hostage?" he asked.
Meftah complained that the collapse of policing as the rival militias squared off had led to a surge in crime, with gang wars, armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom all on the increase.
"Tripoli is losing its soul and becoming intolerant, this city which was for so long a place of safety where the streets never emptied," he said.
"People are frightened to go out after dark and our children live in terror of the nighttime bombings and shootings.
"For me, the best place to escape is by the sea," he said, as he cast his fishing line into one of the harbours that dot the capital's Mediterranean coastline.
- Protests to little avail -
The militias continued presence in the city nearly three years after Qadaffy's forces were ousted has not gone without response from Tripolitans.
"We've organised a series of protests against the militias and we have had a few small successes," said activist Iyad bin Omar.
"A few months ago we even organised a general strike and Tripolitans turned out in large numbers to demand that the militias leave the city.
"The militias did pretend to leave to calm people down but in reality most of them just redeployed to other parts of the city."
Fabric seller Omran said Libya's feuding politicians needed to draw on the conflict management skills of the country's powerful tribes who had decades of experience of preventing disputes escalating into deadly vendettas.
"We are a tribal society and the tribes have always managed to strike compromises to settle their differences," he told AFP in his store in Souk al-Jomaa, one of the capital's main shopping districts.
"Our politicians are going to have do the same, God willing. They have little experience in crisis management so my advice is that they should call in the councils of elders from the tribes."
Daily life does carry on despite the tensions. Banks cut their opening hours this week but shop shelves remain stocked.
It is the large migrant workforce paid for by the foreign currency reserves built up from Libya's oil and gas receipts who feel most vulnerable.
In recent weeks, several foreign governments have called on their nationals to leave.
"Libyans are becoming intolerant of expatriates from neighbouring countries and outright racist towards migrants from south of the Sahara," complained a Moroccan barista who asked not to be identified.
"Their militias say they want to clean Libya up but this country was built on migrant labour."
Ten Chadian workers on their way home from Tripoli were bumped off in the southern city of Sebha by men in military uniform, their government said on Thursday.
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[An Nahar] Thousands rallied Friday in Libya's two main cities to a rogue general who has been pressing an offensive against jihadist militias in the east of the country for two weeks.
The crowds rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud criticizing new Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig, whose cabinet is already mired in a political standoff with its predecessor.
Khalifa Haftar, head of the so-called National Army, launched his assault on Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi on May 16, and has won the support of units from the regular army and air force, as well as some militias who fought to oust strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... in 2011.
The retired general has said he aims to wipe out "terrorism" in the eastern city, which has been a hotbed of Islamist militancy since uprising, and last week he said the country had become a "terrorist hub."
Authorities have accused Haftar of launching a coup, but he has said the people had given him a "mandate" for the operation.
In Benghazi, hundreds of people gathered outside the Tibesti Hotel, where they rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud in support of Haftar's offensive and against terrorism.
Since 2011, dozens of members of the security forces have been bumped off or killed in kabooms around Benghazi. No group has claimed the attacks, but the violence has been blamed on radical Islamists who control swathes of the Mediterranean city.
And in Martyrs' Square in the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , hundreds more rallied amid tight security to show their backing for Haftar and to voice their disapproval for Miitig's government.
Demonstrators carried a mock coffin that bore the slogan "Miitig's government," "the GNC" and "Ansar al-Sharia." ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active...
The General National Congress is the Islamist-dominated interim parliament that elected Miitig amid claims of improprieties after Abdullah al-Thani resigned last month. Ansar al-Sharia is a jihadist militia based in Benghazi classified by Washington as a terrorist organization.
Others chanted "Free Libya, Miitig out," "Libya is not Kandahar," while other banners read "The people and the army, we are fighting terrorism," or "yes to a civil state."
Several hundred meters (yards) away in the capital's Algeria Square, dozens of Islamists held a rival demonstration, denouncing what they called Haftar's "coup d'etat" and stressing their "support for the democratic process."
A city that was ultra-safe during Qadaffy's rule has become a nightmare for residents, who are constantly on tenterhooks for fear new fighting will erupt between rival former militias, many of which are from cities outside Tripoli.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Libya's contested new cabinet convened Thursday (May 29th), as did the outgoing administration that refuses to hand over power, AFP reported.
A source in new Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig's office said his team met at a Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... hotel. The seat of government is still occupied by the outgoing cabinet.
Amid the political chaos, the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) announced that Libya would go to the polls on June 25th as planned to elect a replacement for the General National Congress (GNC).
Libya's instability deepened Wednesday with outgoing premier Abdullah al-Thani submitting a request for a court ruling on whether he must hand over power to his GNC-elected successor.
Critics have charged that Miitig was "illegally elected" as prime minister in a measure imposed by Islamists.
"The people don't understand what's going on," journalist Bachir Chouikh explained. "There are problems and conflicts at the GNC that are being exported to the government and people."
Soad Sultan, a National Forces Alliance MP who opposes Miitig's government, said she was not against Miitig himself, but to the procedures taken at the General National Congress (GNC).
"I can see that things are retracting, and if Miitig steps down, he will gain more than if he forms the government," Sultan said.
In her turn, independent MP Nadia Rashed said that the government was illegitimate and unconstitutional because it only received 113 votes instead of the necessary 120.
Independent MP Hussein al-Ansari, who initially opposed Miitig's government and then voted for it in the GNC, said, "We've opened channels of dialogue and hope the other parties will open to each other. If all parties give precedence to national interests, we'll reach a satisfactory agreement."
"This is an attempt to mend fences about giving confidence to Miitig's government," he told Magharebia.
"The government didn't get the necessary votes at the GNC," he said. "Many GNC members adopt such an opinion. Another aspect of the problem is that the government formation should be more representative of Libyans even though it is an interim government."
For their part, Libyans expressed frustration with the endless political disputes.
Salema Abdul Azeem, a fourth year faculty of engineering student, said, "It's a conflict over power and money while citizens get killed by rockets, insecurity and instability."
Her colleague Safa Saad said, "If Miitig steps down, it will be better. The atmosphere became very tense after he was elected. He is from Misrata, and many people fear him."
"I hope the day comes when I can see Libya secure and stable, and where social justice and freedom prevail, instead of our actual state of survival of the fittest," commented Raja Abdul Jalil, a 33-year-old physiotherapist.
"We're tired of conflicts over power," remarked Youssef al-Sharif, a trader in the al-Dhahra area of Tripoli. "People now say they don't want any parties."
Youssef, a former revolutionary guarding an intersection in Tripoli, asked: "Isn't it about time they sat together and talked so the country and people can rest?"
"Even streets are empty at night, although the weather is very nice," he added.
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[EURONEWS] Supporters of Egypt's presidential winner Abdel Fattah al-Sissi have continued celebrating his landslide victory -- but the low turnout has raised questions about his ability to bring change and heal divisions.
The ex-army chief is said to have won 93 percent of votes cast, with counting virtually completed.
But fewer than half of eligible voters cast their ballots.
Monitors from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's Election Observer Mission (EOM) said the vote had been held in a "democratic and free" environment.
"I didn't see a real influence of the army on the voting process. The influence was before, was in the events which led to the ousting of President Mursi," said MEP Robert Goebbels, part of a visiting delegation from the European Parliament.
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[EURONEWS] Thousands of people have marched through the capital of Central African Republic to demand the resignation of its interim President Catherine Samba-Panza.
It follows a resurgence of violence in the largely Christian city of Bangui after Moslemgunnies attacked a church on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people.
"As a first solution we'd like the immediate departure of Burundi forces. Secondly, we'd like the liberation of KM5 so that our mothers, sons and fathers can go about their business normally," said one demonstrator.
The Burundi contingent of the African peacekeeping force has come under fire after two people were rubbed out during violent protests.
The Burundi peacekeepers have also been accused of siding with Moslems.
The country has been gripped by ethnic and religious violence for more than a year since Seleka rebels, who are mostly Moslem, seized Bangui in March 2013.
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[IsraelTimes] To fulfill university entrance requirements, all Norwegians are required to write two essays during an all-day nationally administered exam: one of no more than 250 words on a single topic, and a long-form essay on a topic chosen from a selection of four.
The mandatory, short-form essay this year was to present an analysis of the communication methods employed in two pieces.
One was Banksy grafitti on the separation barrier near Bethlehem.
The other was an SMS message transmitted by Norwegian medical doctor Mads Gilbert, who snuck into Gazoo December 31, 2008, volunteered to help at the hospital and Shifa. Gilbert is a noted anti-Israeli activist in Norway. The SMS message was sent on January 3rd at 1:50 pm and read:
(Norwegian original, English version below)
De bombet sentrale grnnsaksmarkedet i gaza by for to timer siden. 80 skadde 20 drept.
Alt kom hit til Shifa. Hades!
Vi vasser i dd, blod og amputater.
Masse barn. gravid kvinne.
Jeg har aldri opplevd noe sâ fryktelig. Nâ hrer vi tanks.
Fortell videre, send videre, rop det videre alt GJ""R NOE! GJ""R MER
Vi lever i historieboka nâ, alle!
Mads G.
03.01.09 -- 13:50 -- Gaza, Palestina
They bombed the central produce market in Gaza City two hours ago. 80 injured 20 killed.
Everything came here to Shifa. Hades!
We wade in death, blood, and amputated limbs.
Lots of children. Pregnant woman.
I have never experienced anything as terrible. Now we hear tanks.
Tell others, send to others, shout it to others everything DO SOMETHING! DO MORE
We live in the history books now, everyone!
Mads G.
January 3rd, 2009 -- Gaza, Palestine
The sensationalist -- and as it turned out -- often misleading - reporting from the war led to some of the worst riots in Oslo in recent years, with incidents of anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence.
The graffiti also included the following caption, provided by the exam board:
Denne graffitien er mĂ"'Ă"'ĂâĂÂĽla pĂ"'Ă"'ĂâĂÂĽ muren som israelske styresmakter har bygd pĂ"'Ă"'ĂâĂÂĽ Vestbreidda. Muren er Ă"'Ă"'ĂâĂÂĽtte meter hg og omringar mellom anna byen Betlehem.
This graffiti is painted on the wall that Israeli authorities have built on the West Bank. The wall is eight meters tall and surrounds, among other places, the city of the Bethlehem.
There were other factual errors: The exam also claimed that Mads Gilbert was working in Gazoo when the "armed conflict" broke out, when he in fact entered several days after Operation Cast Lead started.
Any ambitious student would quickly understand that the exam called for an analysis of the use of similes and imagery in Gilbert's SMS, and the use of contrast in imagery in Banksy's grafitti, all in the service of communicating (at a minimum) injustice and suffering among Paleostinians at the hands of Israel; or even as devices to cast Israelis as evildoers.
The grading guidelines for the short essay have not been published (or leaked) yet, but it seems doubtful that the board is open for a challenge to the premises of the assignment itself, for the simple reason that the assignment description perpetuates both Gilbert and Banksy's propaganda.
If the board's purpose was to have students compare and contrast different media (e.g., grafitti and SMS) employed for the same cause, they could not have chosen a more contentious issue, and they had an abundance of others to choose from.
The board also undermined their own credibility on the subject matter they were examining by propagating falsehoods of their own making about the separation barrier and Gilbert's entry to Gazoo; and inaccuracies from Gilbert (which could have been a result of the fog of war) without clarification.
For obvious reasons, the exam board chooses assignments in secrecy. In the next few days, we hopefully will learn more about its standard operating procedures, accountability, and grading guidelines. No doubt they will plead innocence to accusations of harboring a political agenda: the assignment called for an analysis and not a position.
But the problem remains that the assignment put students with knowledge of the history of Gazoo and situation in the West Bank in an impossible position: a good answer would reject the very premises for the assignment but would probably lead to a failing grade. A safe and good grade would require accepting the demonization of Israel.
This is the irony: critical thinkers with requisite knowledge and intellectual integrity were put at a disadvantage.
The editorialist adds:
If you feel moved to protest this event, I would urge you to send a carefully crafted, objective essay of less than 250 words to the Norwegian directorate of education atpost (at) utdanningsdirektoratet (dot) no.
[IsraelTimes] Hours after US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... delivered a landmark foreign policy speech in which he talked up the administration's success in bringing Iran to the negotiations table, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) panned Obama's Iran strategy, warning that the president is repeating the mistakes that led to a nuclear North Korea.
Cruz spoke to news hounds Wednesday afternoon from Warsaw, Poland, a day after he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as other Israeli politicians in Jerusalem.
"Perhaps the most striking aspect of my entire time in Israel was the unanimity of opinions on the gravity of the threat that Iran presents" as well as what he described as the "ineffectiveness" of the administration's policies toward Tehran.
"I believe we are repeating the same mistakes of the Clinton administration in the 1990s regarding North Korea," Cruz warned. "Even in the best case scenario, this deal would leave Iran on the threshold of a nuclear breakout...that sets the stage for the next movement in which there is trouble across the globe for Iran to pull the trigger, develop the nuclear weapons and announce it as a fait accompli."
"Repeating the mistakes of North Korea in the context of Iran is a foolish and dangerous path," he added.
Although no deal has yet been struck in Geneva by the P5+1 member states and Iran, the parties are slated to meet again in June for continued talks. Cruz complained that the deal that is emerging "fails in its attempt" to dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure, and that it accepts the Iranian negotiating point that Tehran has a "right to enrich" uranium.
"Iran's bad conduct in my view has rendered its desire to enrich uranium utterly unacceptable," Cruz complained, adding that additionally, the slowly emerging parameters of the deal seemed not to restrict Iran's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) development program.
"They are being developed for one purpose only -- to project force to the United States and Europe," Cruz warned. "And yet the Geneva deal allows Iran to complete developing ICBM technology, which is profoundly bad for Israel's security and for America's."
Describing Iran as "the single greatest national security threat both to Israel and to the United States," Cruz faulted the Senate's Democratic leadership for working "at the behest of the administration" to block the Menendez-Kirk bill, which would set conditions for a comprehensive agreement.
The first-term senator said that while he supports that legislation, he would prefer to reinstate all of the original sanctions against Iran, and then make any future lifting of sanctions dependent on Iran dismantling all of its centrifuges and handing over its stockpiles of enriched uranium.
Cruz, who is frequently named as a potential Republican contender for the presidency, attacked Obama's defense of his administration's foreign policy achievements, saying instead that when "you look to the last five years, the most consistent pattern on foreign policy we have seen with the B.O. regime is America receding from leadership in the world." The Texas senator said that America's void has been filled by other nations, naming Iran, China and Russia as specific examples.
According to Cruz, Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's "aggressiveness is driven in part by what he perceives as weakness on the part of the US president." This, he argued, combined with what he described as tepid support for the Ukraine, sends a message "to other allies that America can not necessarily be counted on to live up to our treaty commitments."
After Obama talked up increasing America's international partnerships, Cruz complained that the administration has, in fact, exhibited "a tendency to alienate our allies."
"Consistently, this administration has hectored and criticized Israel which is our strongest ally while not placing the blame for the failure of the peace talks on the Paleostinian leaders," Cruz added. "The B.O. regime has been far too quick to place the blame on Israel instead of acknowledging that one of two parties is not engaged in good faith negotiations."
Cruz reiterated his criticism of Kerry's comments made last month in which he warned that Israel could turn into an 'apartheid state', this time labeling the statement as "inaccurate, deeply offensive and quite harmful."
Although the State Department later acknowledged that Kerry should not have used the word "apartheid", Cruz said Wednesday that Kerry's comments were "consistent with the broader pattern of this administration, a pattern that has undermined the United States' relationship with our friend Israel."
#1
The issue here is how do we keep several dozen people at the State Department in a job. If they solved the problem, they'd have to find something else to do.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:20 Comments ||
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#2
"#1 The issue here is how do we keep several dozen people at the State Department in a job. If they solved the problem, they'd have to find something else to do.
Posted by: ed in texas 2014-05-31 07:20"
Too cynical. I'm speculating the results of late are more owed to Foggy Bottom's mandated personnel standards, political posturing and culture of CYA.
[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... chaired a high level meeting here on Friday to review the security situation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director General ISI Lt-Gen Zaheerul-Islam, Chief of General Staff Lt-Gen Ashfaq Nadeem, Secretary to PM Javaid Aslam and Additional Secretary to PM Fawad Hasan Fawad.
Sources said the country's overall security situation, peace talks with Talibs and the prime minister's recent visit to New Delhi came under discussion during the high meeting.
According to the state-run APP news agency, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan briefed the meeting about the status of raising of rapid response forces at the federal and provincial levels.
The meeting came as the Taliban in North Wazoo agency, led by myrmidon commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar, revoked a longstanding peace accord with the Pak government.
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[Ynet] PA's Religious Affairs Minister Al-Habbash says nonviolence resistance is moving Paleostinian state forward, claims unity government will be 'under ideology of Paleostinian Liberation Organization, not Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'
Taqqiyah needn't be only religious. But what did he say to his local audience in Arabic?
A senior aide to Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said the Paleostinian leadership rejects any efforts to teach Paleostinian children a culture of violence.
...unless they're the ones doing it, of course.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the Paleostinian Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs was responding to a report on Israel's Channel 2 on a Hamas rally in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
In the video, Paleostinian boys, some of them wearing black ski masks, carried toy guns and waved the Islamist group's green and white flag. One boy said he wanted to become a "martyr" and take Dire Revenge⢠on Israeli soldiers for killing his uncle. Other boys said they wanted to "resist" Israeli control of "Paleostine."
"It will be very dangerous to allow any party to educate the children according to the ideology of this party (Hamas)," Al-Habbash told The Media Line. "The children must be educated according to the Paleostinian culture, Paleostinian understanding, and Paleostinian heritage without any relation to violence."
Al-Habbash went on to explain that Islam is a peaceful religion in dialogue with all peoples. "We reject violence against anybody, against Mohammedans, against Christians, against Jews, against anybody in the world,"
The Paleostinian official says they want to see a new culture and mentality among the Paleostinian community. But he said, Israel often makes this difficult with anti-Paleostinian rhetoric. "If you don't want us to speak about violence, Israel should stop their violence," he said.
Under the PLO
The Channel 2 video was broadcast days before a new Paleostinian unity government was scheduled to be announced. In April, the two former bitter rivals of Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement on "national reconciliation" calling for a joint interim government of technical experts to pave the way for Paleostinian elections in six months. The last elections were held in 2006, when Hamas won a surprise victory. The following year, Hamas took over Gazoo after a violent confrontation with Fatah.
The technocrat government would be "under the umbrella and the ideology of the Paleostinian Liberation Organization,( PLO)," what Al-Habbash called "the one voice of the Paleostinians." He said he hoped it would be a real reconciliation and not just a tactic. Unity would also answer Israel's suspicions that even if a peace deal is reached with Abbas, Hamas would not accept such a deal.
Some Paleostinians said that reining in these Hamas demonstrations will not be easy for Fatah.
"This is one of the challenges - to show to what extent the parties are in agreement (on reconciliation)," political analyst Ghassan Al-Khatib told The Media Line.
He said the question of how to merge the Hamas security forces in Gazoo with the Paleostinian Authority (PA) security in the West Bank has always been a "sticky" issue.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash said the PA will do its job according to the law, whether the violations occur in Jenin or in Ramallah, the Paleostinians financial and political capital.
"There is one Paleostinian law, one Paleostinian Authority, one Paleostinian leadership, and one Paleostinian security forces," he said.
Nonviolence yields fruit
Chairman of the political committee of the Paleostinian Legislative Council and senior Fatah official Abdullah Abdullah said he thinks Hamas has learned a lesson from the downfall of its mentor the Moslem BrĂźderbund in Egypt.
"Nonviolent resistance is bearing fruit for the cause of Paleostine," Abdullah told The Media Line. "The leadership has to choose what is possible and beneficial for our people, our cause and for our national program."
Others are skeptical that the unity government will succeed in overcoming the differences between Hamas and Fatah.
Paleostinian journalist Hossam Ezzedine said that Fatah and Hamas each had their own reasons for wanting a unity government.
Hamas was weakened after the Moslem BrĂźderbund was outlawed in Egypt and has found it harder to finance its government. At the same time, Abbas wanted to act following the blow-up of negotiations with Israel.
"The reconciliation and the new Paleostinian government came from the political situation, not from (Paleostinian) street needs," said Ezzidine.
But Paleostinian official Al-Habbash insists otherwise.
"Abbas doesn't want to change Hamas, the ideology of Hamas, or the strategy of Hamas...every party is free to have its own ideology, its own strategy," he said.
[IsraelTimes] The Israeli government will spend more than half the money provided by the US for the Iron Dome anti-missile system in the US.
Israel will pay US contractors some 30 percent of the $176 million allocated for the Israeli-built missile interception system for the coming fiscal year and 55 percent for the next year, up from 3 percent, Bloomberg News reported, citing a US Missile Defense Agency report to Congress.
"Under this agreement, the United States focus shifts toward maximizing economic activity in the United States while ensuring that Israel's security needs are met," the missile defense agency said in the April 2 report, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. "This new agreement strikes a better balance for both parties and should serve as a model for the future."
Congress has approved $703 million since 2011 for Israel to spend on Iron Dome.
The agreement with Israel includes a provision which would allow production of a part to revert to Haifa-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd if the US price is five percent higher than what it would cost to produce in Israel.
The first contracts are expected to be awarded in July.
Iron Dome intercepted about 400 or 85 percent of the rockets fired at Israel from Gazoo during eight days of fighting in 2012.
#1
Will the bonus for killing American soldiers be less for the VA now? Picture that paid by and protected by the very people that protect the country! Wonder if all that MONEY spent can help put down the enemy within? Think law enforcement can find the guilty killing US soldiers in country yet and bring them to JUST ICE! WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#4
Not Folgers. "Well, there's this really good instant Vietnamese coffee that comes in an envelope with little separate packets of coffee, creamer, sugar, and coffee..."
#6
The bonus for killing grunts grew. I see it now. Our votes and our money turning and turning against us. The cops have turned, turning against us. Sancho, my lance! Mind the windmills! // Dusty Springfield Hemingway
The mind is a terrible thing. What a terrible thing it is to lose one's mind. // Dan Quayle
#7
Angelou: The ebony fighter awakens, dabbled with the dewy beads of morn. It is a mach-5 child, forever bound to suckle from the shriveled breast of congress.
[IsraelTimes] A recent rally organized by a far-reaching pan-Islamic organization outside the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem called for Pak military intervention to defeat the "hostile" Jews and liberate the city from Jewish "filth."
The Army of the Pure isn't actually good at winning wars, guys. They've got nice uniforms, though.
The Minnesota Vikings have a better chance of liberating Jerusalem...
"This is the call of Hizb ut-Tahrir: Advance with your mighty army to Jerusalem. You are worthy of the honor of liberating it," a speaker cried at the demonstration, which took place last Thursday.
The movement maintains that "thousands" were present at the rally.
Is that real thousands or Islamist 'thousands'? The wonder is that they didn't claim the usual 12,000, but perhaps that was too much even for them.
"O the army of Pakistain! Come for the sake of the rule of the Koran! O nation of millions! Awaken to support your religion! O our imprisoned Al-Aqsa Mosque! We bear the glad tidings of liberation!" another speaker chanted, and was echoed by the protesters in attendance, according to a translation by MEMRI.
MEMRI video at the link.
Where is the Caliph Omar?
He's dead.
Where is Saladin?
He's dead, too.
Where is the Caliph of the Mohammedans?" he cried.
The last caliph disappeared with his bankrupt Ottoman empire, O dude, and very happy they were to get rid of him.
"Don't you care that the Jews are defiling the place of the Prophet's nocturnal journey with their filth? The Jews are the most hostile people towards the believers. They conquered Jerusalem."
Yup. Molon labe.
The Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstration also appealed to Moroccan and Algerian Mohammedans, as well as to the Islamic world in general, to defeat Israel.
How many times has the Islamic world tried and failed? It seems Allah, much lauded by the faithful as the Father of Deceit, favours the Jewish state for reasons of his own.
A representative addressing the crowd also issued a cry against America. "O Mighty Pak Army! America is using you to kill your brothers. America wants to destroy you. America is your enemy. Free yourselves from subordination to it," he said.
America has money and is willing to share. Pakistan isn't going to buck that too openly.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international organization, active in 40 countries and banned in many of them, that promotes the establishment of a unitary global Islamic state, or caliphate. The group, founded in 1953, has an estimated one million followers worldwide, according to The New Statesman. The organization has condoned the use of jihad to reach its pan-Arabic aim.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2014 10:12 Comments ||
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#4
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international organization, active in 40 countries and banned in many of them, that promotes the establishment of a unitary global Islamic state, or caliphate. The group, founded in 1953, has an estimated one million followers worldwide, according to The New Statesman. The organization has condoned the use of jihad to reach its pan-Arabic aim.
One million members who would immediately start fighting amongst themselves if by some miracle they actually came close to achieving their goal. A "a unitary global Islamic state" is fine as long as your sect is in charge.
The religion of peace fights back.
Buddhist fundamentalism seems to be fast spreading its tentacles in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, as newspapers report violent attacks on religious minorities and shrill demands to ban "blasphemy" against Buddhism.
In Thailand, the Buddhist-Muslim conflict has thus far been confined to the south, but it's not hard to foresee it expanding to other parts of the country if extremist Buddhist groups from Sri Lanka and Myanmar are allowed to influence local Buddhist groups. The jihadist are just pissing everybody off; even the smiling fat man.
Nor can Cambodia be taken for granted. Prime Minister Hun Sen has on occasions portrayed the Cham Muslim minority as a possible threat to national and international security. This positioning could potentially be used as fodder to create tensions.
Islamist militants have been waging war against Shias, Ahmadis, Jews, Christians, and secular governments across the world, but now their list of "enemies" could well include Buddhists, as suggested by the recent bombings at the Ekayana Buddhist Centre in western Jakarta, Indonesia and in Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India.
#1
Nor can Cambodia be taken for granted. Prime Minister Hun Sen has on occasions portrayed the Cham Muslim minority as a possible threat to national and international security. This positioning could potentially be used as fodder to create tensions.
Because when I think of reasoned discourse on the subject of religion, peace, and Buddhism, I think of "former" communist Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen.
#2
I have mentioned the lack-of-context in other reporting attempts on Buddhist vs. Moslem conflicts in SE Asia before, and could again about the other countries, but the casual way they selected the subset-of-the-truth to report about in the Cambodian situation just about says it all.
#3
The watchword is "Morgenland erwache!"
Dozing Buddhas will shrug off their lacquer
And go on the offense
Until all their incense
Has been quenched in the Strait of Malacca!
[An Nahar] Iran said Friday that next week's presidential election in Syria, branded a farce by Western governments, will boost the legitimacy of its ally Bashir al-Assad.
Assad's legitimacy, al Sisi's legitimacy in Egypt -- clearly "voting" is the hypocracy that tyrants pay to democracy.
"God willing, the elections in Syria will be carried out without a hitch," said Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior foreign policy adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"This election will strengthen the legitimacy of the Bashar government... as his people have realised he has prevented Syria from disintegrating or falling to occupation," Velayati told the official IRNA news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PRESSTV - US EMPIRE CAN'T STAND ASSAD BECAUSE HE ISN'T IN THEIR POCKET: [US] ANALYST.
Pragmatically, Baby Assad is legit in the eyes of both Russia + the Bammer, even iff the latter won't officially admit it.
ITS IRAN'S FIGHT AGZ THE QAEDA BOYZ = PRO-JIHAD FOREIGN HARD BOYZ IN THE ME THATS UNDER WESTERN SCUTINY, NOT ASSAD'S, as ole Bashir + Family are inherently isolationist i.e. confine or concern themselves to only inside the sovereign borders of Syria.
[An Nahar] The United States confirmed Friday that it believes a U.S. citizen carried out a suicide kaboom within Syria, as had been claimed by hardline Salafist tough guys.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki did not provide any details about the suspect, who had been identified in a New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... report as a man in his 20s from Florida and of Middle Eastern descent.
"I can confirm that this individual was a U.S. citizen," Psaki said, adding that he was "involved in a suicide kaboom inside Syria."
Western powers have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that some of their citizens have traveled to fight in the civil war in Syria, some of them joining Death Eater groups that might one day seek to strike their home countries.
According to a video released by supporters of al-Qaeda's Syria branch al-Nusra Front, the American -- fighting under the name Abu Hurayra al-Amriki -- carried out a suicide truck bombing in the Syrian town of Idlib.
The video, reported by the private terrorism watchdog SITE Intelligence Group, depicts a huge kaboom as well as footage of a young, bearded man cradling a cat and identified as the attacker.
The bombing is thought to have taken place on Sunday. The New York Times report cited U.S. officials as saying they thought it was the first such suicide kaboom to have been carried out by an American.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with ties to the Syrian opposition, said dozens of Syrian soldiers were killed in four suicide kabooms in the Idlib region on Sunday.
[AnNahar] Visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende kicked off a series of meetings in Beirut on Friday with senior Lebanese officials, hailing the security improvement.
"We are committed to cooperating with Leb," the FM said in a presser with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil.
He thanked the Lebanese government for bearing responsibility towards the Syrian refugees on its territories.
"We are committed until the end to offer (the Lebanese government) the needed support to bear this crisis," Brende said, voicing hope that the conflict in Syria would be resolved as soon as possible to end the "humanitarian crisis."
The FM, who was accompanied by Norway's Ambassador to Leb Svein Aass, revealed that his country will participate in the Rome conference that aims at fortifying the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces and easing the Syrian refugees crisis.
"We will offer Leb all the needed aid to enable it to confront the challenges facing it," the diplomat said.
Asked if his country supports an endeavor to establish camps for refugees along its border with Syria, Brende expressed trust "in the Lebanese government's adopted policies."
For his part, Bassil explained the "difficult circumstances facing the Lebanese government due to the Syrian refugees crisis and the repercussions of the war in the neighboring country."
Leb is home to more than a million refugees from Syria giving it the highest refugee population per capita in the world.
The FM later held a meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Because when someone mentions Norway, what I think is "Who's running things in the Middle East?"
(That and, "are there any Nobel Prizes laying around we could pawn".)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/31/2014 7:44 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] A number of Syrian refugees on Friday staged a sit-in in the Akkar town of Khirbet Daoud in rejection of the June 3 presidential elections in their war-torn country.
According to Leb's National News Agency, speakers at the sit-in stressed "the need to boycott these polls," confirming that they will not head to "the ballot boxes that will be placed by the Syrian regime at legal border crossings with Leb on June 3."
And as they called for "toppling Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... and shunning the illegitimate vote," the protesters noted that their sit-in is "in response to those who cast their votes at the Syrian embassy in Beirut" on May 28 and 29.
"Our sit-in is also against the violations that have been committed against us and in support of our mosques that were destroyed and our people who were displaced from their country, and so that we don't forget the blood of the deaders," the demonstrators added.
"Most of those who headed to the Syrian embassy to vote for Bashir al-Assad are not Syrians at all," they said.
On Wednesday and Thursday, thousands of Syrians streamed to their embassy in Yarze near Beirut to vote in the presidential polls, in what Damascus' Lebanese and Syrian critics have described as a prearranged "show of force."
The midweek, poorly organized vote triggered a suffocating traffic congestion in the area, stranding thousands of commuters in their cars amid an excruciating summer heat.
Syrian Ambassador to Leb Ali Abdul Karim Ali said Monday that the presidential vote will be the resounding answer to all those who doubt that his government will prevail in its current conflict.
Ali said he expects a huge turnout, noting that the world criticizes and opposes the Syrian election because it fears the results.
"The Syrian people will say their word in these elections, and their word is the one that counts. Not Obama's word, Cameron's or Hollande's," Ali said, referring to the American, British and French leaders who have described Syria's insistence to hold the vote amid a raging civil war as a mockery.
Assad is all but guaranteed a victory as opposition groups are boycotting the vote and balloting will only be held in government-controlled areas of the fragmented country, where rebels hold vast territory and where entire blocks have been destroyed and emptied of their original inhabitants because of the fighting.
More than 160,000 people have been killed and millions of others displaced from their homes since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, then morphed into a civil war.
Leb is hosting more than a million refugees. Hundreds of thousands of others are scattered across Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and beyond.
[AnNahar] Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Friday said the Lebanese state must not deal with its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000 as "criminals," noting that they are not the ones who have "impeded the presidential election."
During a visit to the Druze village of Isfiya near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, al-Rahi said he was "profoundly hurt" by those who have criticized his historic visit to Israel and the Holy Land.
"Can't we perform our duties? Has compassion died? Have social duties died?" the patriarch asked.
"We have several times repeated that this visit is purely religious. I did not come here to make political deals ... I did not come here to make commercial, economic, military or security deals. I came here to see our loving people," al-Rahi underlined.
Commenting on the issue of the Lebanese who had fled to Israel after its forces withdrew from south Leb, al-Rahi said: "The solution is reconciliation."
"We are not collaborators. I did not see any Lebanese collaborating against Leb," he added.
According to LBCI TV, al-Rahi rejected in his speech that their possible return to Leb be tied to "an amnesty or international resolutions."
"Had they fought against Leb? Had they fought against the Lebanese state? Had they fought against Lebanese institutions?" al-Rahi asked rhetorically.
"Have they paralyzed the presidency? Have they displaced and impoverished the Lebanese? Have they created an economic and social crisis in Leb? I want to know what their crime is," the patriarch added.
Mentioning the undermining of state institutions in Leb and the closure of the presidential palace, al-Rahi went on to say: "Who is committing crimes against Leb? You? You who love Leb and carry its flags in your hearts?"
Israel has invaded Leb several times, occupying part of the country's territory for 18 years until it withdrew in 2000 following armed resistance. In 2006, a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
Leb bars its citizens from visiting Israel or having business dealings with Israelis. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... Maronite clergy are exempt from the ban to enable them to stay in touch with the faithful in the Holy Land.
On Wednesday, al-Rahi celebrated mass with exiled Lebanese as part of his controversial trip to Israel.
Hundreds of Lebanese Maronites came to Saint Peter's church in the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on May 30 that any attack on the country equals destruction of Tel Aviv and continuation of civil war in the United States.
"If the U.S. and its allies had the power to attack Iran, they would never hesitate," Jazayeri said, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
See also WORLD NEWS > [China Daily] US MILITARY LISTS DPRK, IRAN AS MAJOR THREATS OF [domestic = CONUS-targetted] MISSLE STRIKES.
But N-O-T NUKE-ARMED ISLAMIST-JIHADIST DESTABILIZED, CONTROLLED? RUSSIA, CHINA, andor INDIA, ETC. thanks to JudeoChristian infighting = lack of unity vee the Ukraine-Crimea Crisis???
Barrel bombings and other Syrian government air raids on rebel districts of Aleppo and surrounding areas have killed 1,963 civilians since January, including 567 children, a monitoring group said on Friday.
A total of 283 women were also among those confirmed killed in the air strikes, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which relies on a network of medics and activists on the ground for its reports.
The Britain-based monitoring group said the victims it documented were killed between January 1 and Thursday night in rebel-held areas of the northern city and the surrounding countryside.
Control of Aleppo, Syriaâs former commercial hub, has been divided since a rebel offensive in 2012.
Government aircraft launched a bombing campaign against rebel-held districts in the east in mid-December, frequently dropping shrapnel-packed barrel bombs. The use of the munitions â which are unguided and cannot be directed against military targets â has been condemned by the international community and human rights groups.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Pencilneck may just survive, over a blasted rubble-filled shithole
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2014 10:20 Comments ||
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#2
I'll bet he's a missing that tight little island even if he wins.
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.
[IsraelTimes] To fulfill university entrance requirements, all Norwegians are required to write two essays during an all-day nationally administered exam: one of no more than 250 words on a single topic, and a long-form essay on a topic chosen from a selection of four.
North Korea
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on May 30 that any attack on the country equals destruction of Tel Aviv and continuation of civil war in the United States.
