The news that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered an investigation into charges of voter fraud in his country's presidential elections has been greeted with skepticism by many in the West. After all, it was Ayatullah Khamenei, who holds the ultimate authority in the theocratic nation, who rushed to embrace incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the victor long before the ballots were counted. But his order to the Guardian Council, the powerful watchdog of the Iranian constitution, to start an investigation may not be as cynical as it appears.
Of course, there is political calculation to Khamenei's investigation. It neutralizes the main demand around which the opposition is rallying on the streets and imposes a de facto 10-day cooling-off period that could sap, even demoralize, the anti-Ahamdinejad demonstrations. The huge rally in support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi in Tehran on Monday (estimated by a TIME reporter at the scene at 200,000) is enough to make any ruler, autocrat or not, tremble. The night before, for the first time, the shouts against Ahmadinejad included a few hesitant but yet brave chants of "Marq bar Khamenei," or "Down with Khamenei." It has always been terrifyingly taboo to say anything at all that denigrates the Supreme Leader, successor to the Ayatullah Khomeini. But now it has started - and it may help open the Supreme Leader's window of vulnerability to one very powerful enemy.
As much as some Iranian conservatives may wish otherwise, the Islamic republic has never been able to seal tight state rule over society: it is a sloppy authoritarian state with elements of democracy. Iranian democracy may not be recognizably Western, but its dynamic seeps into the highest echelons of power, even if it is embodied in an instinct for consensus among a clerical Élite with diverse opinions. It is a dynamic that even Khamenei has to answer to.
Apart from the Iranian electorate, Khamenei has a couple of very important constituencies to deal with. Indeed, while most people describe Khamenei as the unelected leader of Iran, he was chosen by a small but critical institution, the Assembly of Experts. He must also deal with the Guardian Council, which is equally small but also influential - and must certify the election results. Some pundits are now arguing that the Assembly of Experts could find constitutional means to remove Iran's Supreme Leader and that a refusal by the Guardian Council to validate the election could throw the country into further crisis.
The main impetus for this speculation is the influence in both groups of Ayatullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the last surviving powerful member of the revolution's founding fathers. Rafsanjani was a very loud critic of Ahmadinejad, and thus indirectly of the President's patron, the Supreme Leader. Since 2007, Rafsanjani has been the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to call for Khamenei's ouster. He is also the chairman of an important advisory body that has dealings with the Guardian Council. Throwing the investigation into the hands of the council may be an attempt by Khamenei to buy more time to build consensus about what to do next - and to restore the uneasy equilibrium between himself and Rafsanjani.
Before the June 12 vote, Rafsanjani and Khamenei were involved in a public spat over Ahmadinejad, with Rafsanjani wanting the Supreme Leader to censure the President for what he described as slanderous remarks. Khamenei refused. Ahmadinejad's followers continue to see Rafsanjani (also a former President) as the enemy. At Ahmadinejad's celebratory rally on Sunday, almost all chants were directed against Rafsanjani. He is seen as the big threat; there is even speculation that Rafsanjani may see himself as the next Supreme Leader, which would be disastrous for the President.
Remember, Rafsanjani believes it acceptable to nuke Israel even if Iran would be destroyed in return ...
Political scientists in Iran are skeptical that Rafsanjani would make a move to oust Khamenei. But there is intense internal maneuvering going on right now in the hallways of power, invisible to the massive demonstrations in the streets of Iran's big cities, which in turn feed the backroom dealings. For while it is still unlikely that Rafsanjani will make the unprecedented move to remove the Supreme Leader, the more chaotic Iran gets, the more it allows Rafsanjani to find some lever to pull or to do something dramatic. It is in Khamenei's interest, then, to cool down the demonstrations.
In 1979, everyone wanted the Shah to fall, but no one believed that is was thinkable. Then, suddenly, it became so. The 1979 Revolution, once in motion, took months to play out. Even to those within it, none knew what was exactly happening, how long it would take or whether there would be a successful conclusion. The same applies to the situation now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
17:16 ||
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Gunfire from a pro-government militia killed one man and wounded several others Monday after hundreds of thousands of chanting opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched in central Tehran, supporting their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since disputed elections. Security forces watched quietly, with shields and batons at their sides.
The outpouring in Azadi, or Freedom, Square for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi followed a decision by Iran's most powerful figure for an sham investigation into the vote-rigging allegations.
Later, a group of demonstrators with fuel canisters set a small fire at a compound of a volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard as the crowd dispersed from the square. As some tried to storm the building, people on the roof could be seen firing directly at the demonstrators at the northern edge of the square, away from the heart of the rally.
An Associated Press photographer saw one person fatally shot and several others who appeared to be seriously wounded.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that protests and some violence had broken out in several cities across Iran, including some traditionally seen as more conservative.
The United States was "deeply troubled" by reports of violence and arrests in Iran, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, but he added that the U.S. knows too little about the conduct of the election to say for sure whether there was fraud.
Gee, Mr. Kelly, what do you think?
The chanting demonstrators had defied an Interior Ministry ban and streamed into central Tehran - an outpouring for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi that swelled as more poured from buildings and side streets. The chanting crowd - many wearing the trademark green color of Mousavi's campaign - was more than five miles long, and based on previous demonstrations in the square and surrounding streets, its size was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
For the bulk of the day, the riot police and soldiers lining the protest were peaceful, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer from Tehran.
"I am ready to pay any price to materialize the ideals of you dear people," he said, speaking though a portable loudspeaker. "People feel their wisdom has been insulted. We have to pursue legal channels to regain our trampled rights and stop this last lie, and stand up to fraud and this astonishing charade."
Mousavi, wearing a gray striped shirt, said his solution was "canceling the result of this disputed election. This will have the least cost for our nation. Otherwise, nothing will remain of people's trust in the government and ruling system."
The crowd roared back: "Long live Mousavi."
According to a Twitter account bearing Mousavi's name, the opposition leader declared he was ready to stand in another election.
"This is not election. This is selection," read one English-language placard at the demonstration. Other marchers held signs proclaiming "We want our vote!" and raising their fingers in a V-for-victory salute.
"We want our president, not the one who was forced on us," said 28-year-old Sara, who gave only her first name because of fears of reprisals from authorities.
Hours earlier, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directed one of Iran's most influential bodies, the Guardian Council, to examine the claims. But the move by Khamenei - who had earlier welcomed the election results - had no guarantee it would satisfy those challenging Ahmadinejad's re-election or quell days of rioting after Friday's election that left parts of Tehran scarred by flames and shattered store fronts.
The 12-member Guardian Council, made up of clerics and experts in Islamic law and closely allied to Khamenei, must certify election results and has the apparent authority to nullify an election. But it would be an unprecedented step. Claims of voting irregularities went before the council after Ahmadinejad's upset victory in 2005, but there was no official word on the outcome of the investigation and the vote stood.
More likely, the dramatic intervention by Khamenei could be an attempt to buy time in hopes of reducing the anti-Ahmadinejad anger. The prospect of spiraling protests and clashes is the ultimate nightmare for the Islamic establishment, which could be forced into back-and-forth confrontations and risks having the dissidents move past the elected officials and directly target the ruling theocracy.
The display of opposition unity Monday suggested a possible shift in tactics by authorities after cracking down hard during days of rioting. Although any rallies were outlawed earlier, security forces were not ordered to move against the sea of protesters - allowing them to vent their frustration and wave the green banners and ribbons of the symbolic color of Mousavi's movement.
State TV quoted Khamenei as ordering the Guardian Council to "carefully probe" the allegations of fraud, which were contained in a letter Mousavi submitted Sunday.
On Saturday, however, Khamenei urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad and called the result a "divine assessment."
Palmer reports that Mousavi hadn't been seen in public since election day. He has been under house arrest and several other prominent opposition figures have been taken into custody.
The Iranian regime has cracked down on the flow information inside the country, blocking most social networking sites, many phone lines and Internet services. Foreign journalists have been urged to leave the country, reports Palmer.
Mousavi and his supporters have shown no sign of backing down against an expanding security clampdown - bringing their outrage to the streets for the third straight day over claims that Ahmadinejad stole last week's election with vote rigging and fraud.
Ahmadinejad claims to have won by a landslide - with more than 60 percent of the vote. The results came as a surprise to many Iranians and external observers who watched days of raucous street rallies by Mousavi's mostly young supporters in the days before the vote.
Palmer reported that as those supporters learned from state media on Friday night, just hours after voting, that Ahmadinejad had won, their frustration boiled over into angry street protests. More than 100 were arrested as protesters clashed in the streets with police, who fought back with tear gas, rubber bullets and batons.
Ahmadinejad dismissed the demonstrations as "not important from my point of view" and likened it to the intensity after a soccer game. "Some believed they would win, and then they got angry," he said at a news conference on Sunday. "It has no legal credibility. It is like the passions after a soccer match. ... The margin between my votes and the others is too much and no one can question it."
"In Iran, the election was a real and free one," he told a room packed with Iranian and foreign media.
Ahmadinejad was scheduled to attend a regional summit in Russia Monday, but the visit was canceled at the last minute. The Iranian Embassy in Moscow said the president's visit had been postponed and could not say whether it would be rescheduled.
Mohsen Mirdamadi, an opposition strategist, was one of several people arrested during the weekend rioting, reported Palmer who had to hide in a shop with her cameraman during the protests to avoid beating and possible arrest at the hands of the police. Four days ago, Mirdamadi told CBS News there would be trouble if Mousavi lost.
"The main problem is that the people can't accept this is a real result," he told Palmer. "They won't believe it."
The re-election of Iran's hard-line president, meanwhile, signaled an increasingly difficult road ahead for President Obama's hopes for ending Tehran's nuclear threat.
The accusations also have brought growing international concern. On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden raised questions about whether the vote reflected the wishes of the Iranian people.
Britain and Germany joined the calls of alarm over the rising confrontations in Iran. In Paris, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to discuss the allegations of vote tampering and the violence.
Overnight, police and hard-line militia stormed the campus at the city's biggest university, ransacking dormitories and arresting dozens of students angry over what they say was mass election fraud. The nighttime gathering of about 3,000 students at dormitories of Tehran University started with students chanting "Death to the dictator," but it quickly erupted into clashes as students threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the police, who fought back with tear gas and plastic bullets, said a 25-year-old student at the university who witnessed the fighting. He would only give one name, Akbar, out of fears for his safety.
The students set a truck and other vehicles on fire and hurled stones and bricks at the police, he said. Hard-line militia volunteers loyal to the Revolutionary Guard stormed the dormitories, ransacking student rooms and smashing computers and furniture with axes and wooden sticks, Akbar said.
Before leaving around 4 a.m., the police took away memory cards and computer software material, Akbar said, adding that dozens of students were arrested.
He said many students suffered bruises, cuts and broken bones in the scuffling and that there was still smoldering garbage on the campus by midmorning but that the situation had calmed down. "Many students are now leaving to go home to their families, they are scared," he said. "But others are staying. The police and militia say they will be back and arrest any students they see."
"I want to stay because they beat us and we won't retreat," he added.
One of Mousavi's Web sites, said a student protester was killed early Monday during clashes with plainclothes hard-liners in Shiraz, southern Iran. But there was no independent confirmation of the report. There also have been unconfirmed reports of unrest breaking out in other cities across Iran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
17:09 ||
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NYT blog
"Update | 5:10 p.m. A reader named Farzad writes to say:
I was on the streets of Mashhad city today. Security forces and riot police had been dispatched to every corner of the city. All shopping stores, supermarkets were ordered to close before 8:00 PM. Police did not let even two individuals to walk or talk together and asking people not to be on the streets and go home, otherwise would be arrested.Some parts of the city were in complete blackout but many people were simultaneously shouting God is great from rooftops, a slogan showing that people are united and determined to take action against those who had stolen their votes."
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 19:06
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#2
it's cool. They had to unclench their fist to shoot
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2009 19:49
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#3
It shall be interesting to see Big Zero attempt to explain the meaning of "unconditional" ala Bill Clinton and "is"....
#4
our very own Dear Leader has just announced (NO KIDDING) that:
"the United States has no way of knowing whether the results are valid, as we had no election monitors in the country"
Well darn it, Iranians, I guess this time we just gotta take your gummint's word for it. Sorry :(
"From revolution to freedom" -- that was the message that spread among supporters of Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi today. The phrase refers to the two main squares in midtown Tehran, where a large demonstration took place to protest what millions of Iranians believe was a rigged presidential election. And although the Interior Ministry kept broadcasting a communiqué warning that no permit had been issued for the rally, 2 million to 3 million Iranians from a broad cross section of society converged on Freedom Square to demand a recount.
"Until you return my vote, I won't be going home tonight" was one of the chants at the demonstration, which was organized on the Internet and by word of mouth. While the police and special security forces have dealt harshly with demonstrators over the past few days, today's rally was held peacefully with an almost total absence of any crowd-control forces, at least until dark. After sunset, there were reports of government militia firing on demonstrators, purportedly killing at least one.
The size of the demonstration today came as a surprise. After the first day of heavy rioting and street clashes on Saturday, Sunday saw relative calm as special forces officers took up positions on main streets and squares by the hundreds, breaking up any sizable gathering immediately, leading to assumptions that the protests were dealt and done with.
But many people participating in the rally Monday said the scale of it was understandable. "Of course people would show up en masse. They know who they voted for," said 44-year-old Ahmad, who pulled out his wallet to show an ID to prove that he was a war veteran. "I was on the war front for eight years. This is not what we had a revolution for, so that they would lie to us."
All three opposition candidates attended the rally, though only Mousavi spoke. Difficult to hear above the noise of the crowd, Mousavi said the size of the demonstration made it clear that the election had been rigged.
Although the Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei initially congratulated incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election and called the elections a "divine assessment," he took a surprising step Monday by asking the Guardian Council to investigate Mousavi's allegations "with precision," and called on Mousavi to follow existing concerns through "legal means." The move, an attempt to assuage concerns over the alleged fraud, was unprecedented.
Ahmadinejad, who won re-election with two-thirds of the vote according to the Interior Ministry, held a large rally on Sunday in one of the town's main squares. Speaking to a sea of supporters waving green flags -- in what appeared to be an appropriation of the color used by Mousavi -- Ahmadinejad compared the elections to a football game and said those in the streets did not represent a majority of Iranians but were people upset at having lost the game, referring to them as "weeds and dirt."
While Ahmadinejad's supporters hailed from a variety of backgrounds, the majority were visibly conservative and included large numbers of basiji paramilitary members, many of whom had driven into Tehran on their motorbikes from surrounding towns and cities to help the special forces control street clashes. Many wielded sticks and chains, and still others were outfitted with what seemed to be police shields, helmets and batons.
At the rally Monday, Mousavi supporters referred to the President's speech derisively, chanting, "Ahmadi, just keep saying it's a game of football." Marching past a Revolutionary Guard station full of uniformed men in position, the demonstrators chanted, "We are no weeds and dirt. We are the people of Iran."
One demonstrator looked to the guy by his side and yelled, "That drove me crazy. When he said that yesterday, calling the protesters weeds and dirt." A 26-year-old mechanic from Hashemiye, in the south of Tehran, said he had left his garage to come to the protest.
As a helicopter hovered overhead, the chants grew louder and arms were raised in the air: "This 63% that they say -- where is it?"
But while the demonstrations show broad discontent with perceived fraud, there are also many who believe Ahmadinejad actually won those votes. "Ahmadinejad is a man of the people. He dresses like them, talks like them, and isn't resented for having too much money," said Massoud, a 31-year-old supporter at the President's rally Sunday. "Those TV debates, in which he, for the first time, broke the taboo on old-guard revolutionaries stealing the people's money won him at least another 5 million votes."
Those charging election fraud base their claim on several main arguments. They say the results were released too quickly and were given out as a single number rather than broken down by province, as in previous elections. They also charge that some numbers simply don't make sense, such as Ahmadinejad's higher count in Mousavi's hometown of Tabriz and the other moderate challenger Mehdi Karroubi's less than 1% vote count, despite his relative popularity among ethnic Lors, Kurds and Sufis, as well as women's and students' rights activists.
People who believe in the veracity of the numbers say it is possible to get those election results fairly quickly because each polling booth could count its own votes in a matter of a few hours. As to the other charges, they chime in with the President, who said at a press conference yesterday that those who had lost were just upset because the elections did not turn out as expected.
But Mousavi supporters are incredulous. "They have stolen our vote, and now they're showing off with it," went one of the main chants at the rally Monday. After the demonstrations, loud cries of "Allahu akbar" could be heard from rooftops and windows until late into the night.
Now the Guardian Council has invited Mousavi as well as Karroubi to a meeting Tuesday to discuss their concerns. The Supreme Leader has expressed hope that the dispute can be resolved peacefully.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
16:59 ||
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In Tehran, a Rallying Cry: 'We are the People of Iran'
#2
Was shooting the breeze the other day with a guy. We were commenting on the nice weather for June and he said, "Well, some places will get wetter and some places will get dryer."
Jeez, no kidding there Madden? Perhaps our area can slip back under the ocean so I can get my banana plantation up and going.
#3
Been there before. Cool weather, crop failure, population drops. Like chicken little the MMGW twerps are driving us into the fox's den [dire situation].
WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton has told an Arab-American audience of 1,000 people that the U.S. is no longer just a black-white country, nor a country that is dominated by Christians and a powerful Jewish minority
In a speech to the group on Saturday, Clinton said that given the growing numbers of Muslims, Hindus and other religious groups here, Americans should be mindful of the nation's changing demographics, which led to the election of Barack Obama as president.
Clinton said by 2050 the U.S. will no longer have a majority of people with European heritage and that in an interdependent world "this is a very positive thing." Mike Moore once basically gloated about this, but he's a stupuid white man, just like bubba.
Speaking in a hotel ballroom to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee during its annual convention, Clinton also praised Obama's speech in Cairo, Egypt, that was focused on the Arab world.
Clinton told the audience that it's important that they push government leaders for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He cited an experience in 1993 when he failed to persuade many Jewish-American and Arab-American business people to invest in the Palestinian areas because violence and bombings had deterred them.
"It just took one more bus bomb or one more rocket or one more incident and then people got scared of losing their money," he said.
As the U.S. continues to push for peace in the area, "I think it's really important to give the Palestinian people something to look forward to," Clinton said to loud applause.
Clinton, who wasn't paid for his speech, spoke in a wide-ranging 35-minute address that focused on people's identity in an interdependent world. He said the U.S. can't rely on its military might in global relations. "It has to begin by people accepting the fact that they can be proud of who they are without despising who someone else is," he said.
Because we all know that everyplace else had such magnificent advances in democracy, human rights, standards of living, reducing disease and famine that that shame Western Civilization for the last two hundred years. /sarc off
#3
Psst Bill. White people are breeding at this very moment and with any luck will remain wonderfully white and uptight! I am white and I love us. As a matter of fact this article makes me want to procreate more!!!!
The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.
The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/15/2009
16:02 ||
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Nope, count them any way you like, the people love short man and wanted him - even if they did not vote for him...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/15/2009 16:37
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The Short Man wins by miscount?
I did not know Al Franken was on the ballot there!
#4
Dinner Jacket would look even better with a third eye just below his hairline. I'd suggest .45 caliber.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 18:02
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#5
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC IN THE IMAGE/LIKENESS OF CHAIRMAN MAO:IRAN'S "MAGIC FIGURE" PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD HAS CREATED A POWERFUL IRAN! Moud has induced the USA + Europe to joing hands in trying to stop Iran's manifest destiny???
OTOH SAME > RADICALIST/ISLAMIST IRAN LIKES TO PROCLAIM ITS "INDEPENDENT" AGENDA FROM OTHER WORLD POWERS. IN REALITY, IRAN UNDER THE MULLAHS WILL MOVE TOWARDS COMMUNISM!?
HMMMM, HMMMM, lest we fergit CLINTON 1990'S > WTC 1 + OKLAMHOMOA CITY + USS COLE Attacks > GOD-BASED LEFTIES = ISLAM/ISLAMISM-BASED LEFTIES???
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that "everyone guessed wrong" on the impact of the economic stimulus, but he defended the administration's spending designed to combat rising joblessness.
Biden said inaccuracies in unemployment predictions shouldn't undercut the White House's support of the $787 billion economic revival plan that has not met the expectations of President Obama's team. Instead, the vice president urged skeptics to look at teachers who kept their classroom assignments and police officers who kept their beats because of financial assistance from Washington.
"The bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before," Biden said.
But they are not coming at the pace first estimated.
Just 10 days before taking office, Obama's top economic advisers released a report predicting unemployment would remain at 8 percent of below through this year if an economic stimulus plan won congressional approval.
Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unemployment in May rose to 9.4 percent.
Biden said the White House is keenly aware of the gap between the rhetoric used to sell fast passage of the legislation and the reality that has 14.5 million people unemployed.
"No one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But we took the mainstream model as to what we thought -- and everyone else thought -- the unemployment rate would be," Biden said.
Those projects came from a report co-written by Biden's chief economist, Jared Bernstein. Last week, Bernstein briefed reporters on the stimulus spending and insisted the report was in line with others' research, but not aligned with reality.
"At the time our forecast seemed reasonable. Now, looking back, it was clearly too optimistic," he told reporters last Monday.
The White House has tapped Biden as its chief spokesman on that economic stimulus plan, sending him across the country to drum up support for a plan that has yet to make the impact it promised. On Thursday and Friday, Biden visited Pennsylvania, Kansas and Michigan to highlight projects the stimulus has funded.
The vice president said losses each month have dropped, although the economy is still losing jobs.
"Can I claim credit that all of that's due to the recovery package? No. But it clearly has had an impact," Biden said.
Biden said the estimates were based on standard economic models.
"Everyone guessed wrong at the time the estimate was made about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed," Biden said.
Biden appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" from his hometown of Wilmington, Del.
#2
He has a point. This moonbat was elected as the VP of the worlds most powerfull country. Only a clueless people would do this.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/15/2009 16:40
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Instead, the vice president urged skeptics to look at teachers who kept their classroom assignments and police officers who kept their beats because of financial assistance from Washington.
You mean the government jobs?
"The bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before," Biden said.
I'm sure the aircraft machinist in Wichita Kansas would agree that a year ago didn't envision being a groundskeeper.
The vice president said losses each month have dropped, although the economy is still losing jobs.
'Round here, its because Kansas is running out of manufacturing jobs to lose.
Fast passage eh, I would argue a budget matter made outside of established budget procedures.
WASHINGTON -- It's hard to know whether President Obama's health care "reform" is naive, hypocritical or simply dishonest. Probably all three. The president keeps saying it's imperative to control runaway health spending. He's right. The trouble is that what's being promoted as health care "reform" almost certainly won't suppress spending and, quite probably, will do the opposite.
A new report from Obama's own Council of Economic Advisers shows why controlling health costs is so important. Since 1975, annual health spending per person, adjusted for inflation, has grown 2.1 percentage points faster than overall economic growth per person. Should this trend continue, the CEA projects that:
-- Health spending, which was 5 percent of the economy (gross domestic product, GDP) in 1960 and is reckoned at almost 18 percent today, would grow to 34 percent of GDP by 2040 -- a third of the economy.
-- Medicare and Medicaid, the government insurance programs for the elderly and poor, would increase from 6 percent of GDP now to 15 percent in 2040 -- roughly equal to three-quarters of present federal spending.
-- Employer-paid insurance premiums for family coverage, which grew 85 percent in inflation-adjusted terms from 1996 to $11,941 in 2006, would increase to $25,200 by 2025 and $45,000 in 2040 (all figures in "constant 2008 dollars"). The huge costs would force employers to reduce take-home pay.
The message in these dismal figures is that uncontrolled health spending is almost single-handedly determining national priorities. It's reducing discretionary income, raising taxes, widening budget deficits and squeezing other government programs. Worse, much medical spending is wasted, the CEA report says. It doesn't improve Americans' health; some care is unneeded or ineffective.
The Obama administration's response is to talk endlessly about restraining health spending -- "bending the curve'' is the buzz -- as if talk would suffice. The president summoned the heads of major health care trade groups representing doctors, hospitals, drug companies and medical device firms to the White House. All pledged to bend the curve. This is mostly public relations. Does anyone believe that the American Medical Association can control the nation's 800,000 doctors or that the American Hospital Association can command the 5,700 hospitals?
The central cause of runaway health spending is clear. Hospitals and doctors are paid mostly on a fee-for-service basis and reimbursed by insurance, either private or governmental. The open-ended payment system encourages doctors and hospitals to provide more services -- and patients to expect them. It also favors new medical technologies, which are made profitable by heavy use. Unfortunately, what pleases providers and patients individually hurts the nation as a whole.
That's the crux of the health care dilemma, and Obama hasn't confronted it. His emphasis on controlling costs is cosmetic. The main aim of health care "reform" now being fashioned in Congress is to provide insurance to most of the 46 million uncovered Americans. This is popular and seems the moral thing to do. After all, hardly anyone wants to be without insurance. But the extra coverage might actually worsen the spending problem.
How much healthier today's uninsured would be with that coverage is unclear. They already receive health care -- $116 billion worth in 2008, estimates Families USA, an advocacy group. Some is paid by the uninsured themselves (37 percent), some by government and charities (26 percent). The remaining "uncompensated care" is either absorbed by doctors and hospitals or shifted to higher private insurance premiums. Some uninsured would benefit from coverage, but others wouldn't. Either they're healthy (40 percent are between ages 18 and 34) or would receive ineffective care.
The one certain consequence of expanding insurance coverage is that it would raise spending. When people have insurance, they use more health services. That's one reason why Obama's campaign proposal was estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a decade (the other reason is that the federal government would pick up some costs now paid by others). Indeed, the higher demand for health care might raise costs across the board, increasing both government spending and private premiums.
No doubt the health program that Congress fashions will counter this reality by including some provisions intended to cut costs ("bundled payments" to hospitals, "evidence-based guidelines," electronic record keeping). In the past, scattershot measures have barely affected health spending. What's needed is a fundamental remaking of the health care sector -- a sweeping "restructuring"-- that would overhaul fee-for-service payment and reduce the fragmentation of care.
The place to start would be costly Medicare, the nation's largest insurance program serving 45 million elderly and disabled. Of course, this would be unpopular, because it would disrupt delivery patterns and reimbursement practices. It's easier to pretend to be curbing health spending while expanding coverage and spending. Presidents have done that for decades, and it's why most health industries see "reform" as a good deal.
#2
The association of 'white supremicist' and 'conservatives' is entirely a MSM creation. As is the whole 'Democratic party is for diversity' thing. While being patriotic and for America is a Conservative hallmark - White Supremacy, Racism, and Antisemitism is almost entirely on the Democratic side.
Who wrote the Jim Crow laws? Democrats.
Who formed the KKK? Democrats. (Ask Sen. Byrd)
Who fought the Civil Rights Act tooth and nail? Democrats.
Rev. Wright (Racist!) - Democrat. Jimmy Carter (Anti-Semitic) - Democrat. Jesse Jackson (Racist and Race-baiter) - Democrat.
The DNC is more for keeping minorities down and 'on the welfare plantation' than any sort of diversity.
#3
Those who can't remember history should be educated that it was the Republicans in the US Senate that provided the votes to break the southern Democrat filibuster of the original Civil Rights Act. And again for the Voting Rights Act.
Thank you, Everett Dirkson.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009 14:45
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#4
Its not a case of 'not remembering'. Its a case of being taught a flat-out lie by the Media and our own education system.
#5
The guy was a member of Mensa, lets start by locking up all the smarty pants. The only group this guy truly belongs to is the whacko crazy Group. But really lets lock up the mensa folks for our safety and because most are so snooty.
Posted by: Bill Sheren ||
06/15/2009 12:50
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#2
note Andrew Sullivan is liveblogging this fairly intensively. The "tweets" he is quoting indicate, if I read them correctly, that a big crackdown is happening at the demonstration.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 13:51
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#3
or maybe not.
"More on todays rally from eyewitnesses we trust: The rally was scheduled to be from 4-6 pm, going from Englab Sq. to Azadi Sq. The Ministry of Interior did not provide a permit for the rally according to our source, and the first 3,000-4,000 people were met by armed forces in full riot gear and a number of Basij officials in street attire. By 4 pm, there were 100,000-200,000 people ready to attend the rally, and Mousavi, Karroubi, Khatami, Khatamis brother, and Karbassji (former mayor of Tehran and affiliate of Rafsanjani) all showed up.
The armed forces did not engage the crowd and the crowd started to chant arm forces, support support i.e nuroyeh entzammy: hemayat hemayat. According to the source, there will be a rally tomorrow for Mousvi tomorrow at 5 pm in Vali Asr Sq. and there will be a national strike by all of Mousavis supporters.
He says Mousavis supporters are outraged by Ahmadinejads rhetoric towards them, calling them a bunch of yahoos and no-gooders, whose aims is to disrupt the nation and its security"
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 13:53
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#4
calling them a "bunch of yahoos and no-gooders, whose aims is to disrupt the nation and its security
Sounds like Janet Napolitano talking about veterans and conservatives...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/15/2009 14:22
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#5
calling them a "bunch of yahoos and no-gooders, whose aims is to disrupt the nation and its security
Sounds like Janet Napolitano talking about veterans and conservatives...
Well, yeah Murcek. That or most of us here at Rantburg describing Congress. . . .
#7
I heard somewhere POTUS was going to speak on Iran at 5 ET. The pressure on him to speak is growing - see Bill Kristol's comments today on WS
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 16:13
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#8
POTUS is meeting Berlusconi of Italy. They will speak to the press at 5, IIUC, and it is expected POTUS will say something about Iran then.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 16:25
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#9
He will be careful not to back one candidate, just demand what the masses are demanding.
Dinnerjacket MUST have cheated. Let's see what the mullahs will do.
1) Investigate but find no fault: Big problems
2) Investigate and find some faults then
a) just correct from 61% to maybe 55% (don't think that will work but they might try)
b) Declare a runoff between the two (best choice for them)
3) Declare elections invalid and order new ones.
a) with Dinnerjacket
b) without Dinnerjacket
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/15/2009 16:31
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#10
If I had to guess I'd guess POTUS is going to call for "calm".
An effort to get five Britons, kidnapped two years ago by pro-Iranian Shia terrorists, freed has apparently failed. The government freed one of the terrorist group (Asaib ahl al Haq, or AAH, or League of the Righteous) leaders, as a goodwill gesture towards getting the five Britons cut free. The man released, was also believed responsible for killing five American soldiers. The hostage exchange effort didn't work, as AAH demanded that all Shia terrorists be freed. The government will not do that, and threatens to come after all the Shia terrorist groups, even if this gets the five British hostages killed. Some believe that the five are already dead.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2009
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#1
Get the SAS together and go after em'.... NO MERCY!!
KABUL (AFP) -- The US military along with Afghan security forces backed by war planes killed nearly two dozen insurgents in a clash in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, the US side said Monday.
The troops called in air support after militants attacked their patrol in Uruzgan province on Sunday, US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP.
"Twenty-three militants were killed," she said, adding that three coalition soldiers were wounded in the gunfight.
"This was not a planned operation -- they were engaged out on a patrol," she added.
#3
The latest "Death to America" threat stems courtesy of NOKOR's VICE-MINISTER OF THE PEOPLE'S ARMED FORCES, whom warns that NORTH KOREA MAY LAUNCH A PREEMPTIVE MIL STRIKE AGZ THE USA = POTUS BAMMER???
Two explosions on Monday killed at least two people and injured six others in Baghdad's predominantly Shia Shaab neighbourhood, according to security officials. The bombs were attached to two vehicles - a car and a minibus - near a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, officials told the Voices of Iraq news agency.
However, officials said the casualties were expected to rise.
"An improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a civilian vehicle in the al-Shaab area, killing a woman and wounding a man," the source told VOI.
A second bomb attached to a bus blew up in a bus station in al-Shaab, killing one and wounding five others, the source noted.
The attacks came ahead of the planned 30 June withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi cities and major towns.
Last Thursday, Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki warned of increased sectarian violence in the country. Al-Maliki said there will be attempts to undermine Iraqi security forces as US troops complete their withdrawal from Iraqi cities by the end of the month and ahead of upcoming national elections.
Despite sporadic bombings, the lowest number of Iraqi deaths were recorded last month since the US-led invasion in 2003. A total of 124 civilians, six soldiers and 25 policemen died in attacks in May, according to official figures.
The dead bodies of seven foreign hostages abducted three days ago were found in Yemen on Monday. Local police in north-west Saada province (photo) confirmed that seven of the nine hostages had been found. At least three of the victims were reportedly German women and local officials said some bodies had been found with bullet wounds.
Yemeni authorities said the group included a German doctor, his wife and their three children, as well as a Briton and his South Korean wife and two other German nationals.
The foreigners were kidnapped while on a picnic in Saada on Friday.
The adults all worked at a hospital in Saada, the state news agency said.
So they weren't stupid vacationing foreigners, but unfortunate expats who weren't as protected by the relative sophistication of the "civilized" city as they thought, in a country populated by barbarians varying only in the level of their barbarity.
First they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the expats, and killed them on a whim, but I was not one of those taken...
According to Yemeni officials they were abducted by separatists rebels who have been fighting the government in Saada for five years.
Arab media said that Shia rebels belonging to the secessionist Huthi Zaidi group were responsible but the group has so far denied any involvement in the foreigners' deaths.
Local sources quoted by Al-Arabiya said the group was part of a Christian Baptist organisation that also has a medical team in the hospital in the south of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
It is unclear what happened to the remaining two hostages, however, some unconfirmed reports say two of the children were found alive.
Most foreigners abducted by disgruntled tribesmen in impoverished Yemen in recent years have been released unharmed. The tribesmen kidnap foreigners as a means of bargaining with the government either to secure the release of jailed tribe members, for jobs or improved living conditions.
The Saada government and Huthi rebels signed a Qatari-brokered peace deal last June but there has been a dispute about its implementation.
More than 200 foreigners have been abducted in the past 15 years.
From an earlier report : Yemen official: 3 German women hostages found dead
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - A Yemeni security official says three German women hostages have been found dead, their bodies mutilated.
The official says shepherds found the bodies Monday morning in the mountainous northern Saada province, near the town of el-Nashour, which is known as a hideout for al-Qaida militants.
A tribal leader in the area says al-Qaida was behind the killing. Both the official and the tribesman spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.
The three were among a group of nine foreigners, including seven Germans, abducted Friday in the remote area. The Interior Ministry said the foreigners, who were not identified, were kidnapped while on a picnic.
#1
A group of European medical missionaries, working to relieve some of the pain and agony of Yemenis, are kidnapped and killed. These are true martyrs of their faith, whether anyone officially recognizes it or not. Those responsible for this are merely two-legged animals that need to be hunted down and killed. Hiding behind one's "faith" for committing such crimes indicates that faith isn't very deep, or very enlightening.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 14:40
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Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is likely next year to face the first real election battle of his 30-year Senate career, lashed out against media reports suggesting that his wife's lucrative positions on the boards of four health-care companies could be inappropriate.
If he were a Republican he'd already be toast in the media ...
"It's offensive to my wife that you'd be even talking about it," Dodd complained on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday.
Dodd, who is a key player in President Obama's health-care reform efforts, said there is "no reason" for his wife to step down and claimed she is a victim of sexism. "We don't hear these questions being raised about the male spouses of female senators," Dodd said.
There's a solution for that ...
Jackie Clegg Dodd earned more than $344,000 in salary and options last year, according to publicly available documents.
For serving on corporate boards, despite the fact that she doesn't have obvious expertise in the companies for whom she's serving ...
Sen. Dodd said the couple had previously hired an ethics lawyer "to make sure that these boards she serves on would in no way pose any kind of conflict whatsoever with my job in the Senate."
#4
Oh my goodness! It's such a pleasure to watch a Dodd slowly twisting in the wind. I know I shouldn't derive so much pleasure from another's agony, but I just can't help myself. He is so deserving of public scorn.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/15/2009 11:54
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A Hamas operative died in a Hebron prison overnight Monday after being interrogated by Palestinian Intelligence personnel. The Islamist group has accused the Palestinian Authority of torturing the man to death and warned that the incident may prove to be a deadly blow to the efforts at reconciling the rival Palestinian factions.
The deceased Hamas operative, identified as 28-year-old Haytham Amro from the village of Dura, worked as a nurse at a Hebron hospital. He was arrested last week by the Palestinian security services. The Authority said it was looking into the circumstances of his death. Hamas claims the "torture of hundreds of operatives in the West Bank has become routine in Palestinian jails."
The incident came on the heels of Sunday's meeting between Hamas and Fatah representatives in an effort to minimize the arrests of operatives from both factions in the West Bank and Gaza. "This crime (Amro's death) proves that within Fatah and the Palestinian Authority there is a group of people who arent interested in reconciliation and therefore carry on with the arrests and the torture of detainees," senior Hamas figure Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Islamic Jihad also called on the Authority to stop arresting its operatives in the West Bank.
#2
Gee. That's very sad. So... how many virgins will he get, if he got snuffed by his brethen? 36? 12? At least one, I hope. Allan sure if full of mercy, he will provide (and goats are there for a reason, if he doesn't).
Last week, I spoke to you about my commitment to work with Congress to pass health care reform this year. Today, I'd like to speak about how that effort is essential to restoring fiscal responsibility.
When it comes to the cost of health care, this much is clear: the status quo is unsustainable for families, businesses, and government. America spends nearly 50 percent more per person on health care than any other country. Health care premiums have doubled over the last decade, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs have skyrocketed, and many with preexisting conditions are denied coverage. More and more, Americans are being priced out of the care they need. Can I get a $500 deductable? A $1,000 deductable? How about a policy where aspirin is covered? What happened to choice?
These costs are also hurting business, as some big businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign counterparts, and some small businesses are forced to cut benefits, drop coverage, or even lay off workers. Meanwhile, Medicare and Medicaid pose one of the greatest threats to our federal deficit, and could leave our children with a mountain of debt that they cannot pay. But the stimulus does not affect the deficit? Where's that coming from?
We cannot continue down this path. I do not accept a future where Americans forego health care because they can't pay for it, and some claim more and more families go without coverage at all. And I don't accept a future where American business is hurt and our government goes broke. We have a responsibility to act, and to act now. That is why I'm working with Congress to pass reform that lowers costs, improves quality and coverage, and protects consumer health care choices.
I know some question whether we can afford to act this year. But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act. We can't keep shifting a growing burden to future generations. I don't think he could say that out loud without his head exploding. Where does he think the trillion dollars is coming from?
With each passing year, health care costs consume a larger share of our nation's spending, and contribute to yawning deficits that we cannot control. So let me be clear: health care reform is not part of the problem when it comes to our fiscal future, it is a fundamental part of the solution.
Real reform will mean reductions in our long term budget. And I have made a firm commitment that health care reform will not add to the federal deficit over the next decade. To keep that commitment, my Administration has already identified how to pay for the historic $635 billion down payment on reform detailed in our budget. This includes over $300 billion that we will save through changes like reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers, and rooting out waste in Medicare and Medicaid.
Every politician is zealous in rooting out waste and fraud. With all the attention paid to waste and fraud these past 22 decades you wonder why there's any left ...
However, any honest accounting must prepare for the fact that health care reform will require additional costs in the short term in order to reduce spending in the long-term. So today, I am announcing an additional $313 billion in savings that will rein in unnecessary spending, and increase efficiency and the quality of care - savings that will ensure that we have nearly $950 billion set aside to offset the cost of health care reform over the next ten years.
These savings will come from commonsense changes. For example - if more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance. If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs. And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs. For more details about these and other savings, you can visit our website: www.whitehouse.gov.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2009
06:25 ||
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#1
We can't keep shifting a growing burden to future generations.
Then quit issuing any Treasury Bill with anything longer than a 6 year maturity. Don't try, Do.
#5
He can say anything now that he's captured the "conservative" Utah vote. According to ABC news, he's been formally accepted by The Temple and is now a Mormon....er, huh, hmm, kind'r sort'r of Mormon lineage. So totally multi-cult. So inclusive. No undoing this one.
#7
If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs.
Why should a private company be obligated to cut it's profits to help pay for government programs? Isnt that why they pay taxes? Boy howdy, when he said it wasn't going to "business as usual" anymore he wasn't kidding.
#8
The Indian Health Service is a good example of a government-run health plan which shifts the burden directly to the present generation. On some reservations, the oft-quoted refrain is "don't get sick after June," when the federal dollars run out. It's a sick joke, and a sad one, because it's sometimes true, especially on the poorest reservations where residents cannot afford health insurance. Officials say they have about half of what they need to operate, and patients know they must be dying or about to lose a limb to get serious care.
Wealthier tribes can supplement the federal health service budget with their own money. But poorer tribes, often those on the most remote reservations, far away from city hospitals, are stuck with grossly substandard care. The agency itself describes a "rationed health care system."
#12
Steve... after recent name calling, "fool" etc, I quickly took the cure and am fully on board. Meds are probably out of the question, but maybe you could come up with some sort of POSTUS citizenship chant or mantra for any of the other Rantburg non-believers. Just a suggestion.
Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures.
Nourished by Andean snowmelt, the glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs the size of apartment buildings into a frigid lake, maintaining a nearly perfect equilibrium since measurements began more than a century ago.
"We're not sure why this happens," said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. "But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2009
06:15 ||
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#1
A number of New Zealand glaciers have been advancing over the last 5 years or so, eg Franz Josef.
Terrorists suspected separatists beheaded a rubber tapper and shot dead a school janitor, both Buddhists, in the latest violence in Thailand's Muslim south, police said on Monday. The attacks took place in Yala and Pattani, two of the three Malay Muslim provinces where 29 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in the past 10 days, among them soldiers, teachers and Buddhist monks.
The body and severed head of the rubber tapper was found in a house next to a plantation in Yala's Than To district. That added to more than 40 beheadings in the region since violence erupted in 2004. The school janitor was shot dead by unknown gunmen while travelling to work on his motorcycle in Pattani, police said.
Attacks on Buddhists have increased since a shooting last week at a Narathiwat mosque, where unknown gunmen killed 10 Muslims at prayer and wounded 12 more. Residents blamed security forces for the bloody attack, which the military said was the work of shadowy rebels seeking to cause sectarian rifts. A labourer from northeastern Thailand was shot dead two days later and a note left at the scene said: 'You kill our innocents, so we kill your people.' A Buddhist monk was killed and another critically injured on Friday when they were gunned down as they collected alms in Yala.
A report by Washington-based Nonviolence International released on Monday said the government's decision to arm Buddhist civilians and deregulate gun sales was deepening rifts between Muslims and the region's Buddhist minority. The study said the policy had 'heightened resentment among the Malay Muslim population towards the Thai state and raised the feeling of injustice and discrimination'.
In a weekly televised address on Sunday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajvia said development aid rather than tough security measures would be used to tackle the unrest, with increased investment in the region's fisheries and rubber and palm oil industries.
Small investors in the troubled southern province of Yala have already exited the province because of frequent attacks carried out by insurgents while buses in the provincial seat have stopped services for an indefinite period after Saturdays incident in which a passenger was killed and 14 others wounded.
A Senate committee responsible for resolving issues and carrying out development of the southern border provinces Sunday met with private business operators in Yala and were briefed on the current situation in the province. Nivet Sirichai, who heads the Yala Tourism Club, told the meeting that the current economic situation in the province is very bad due to the high risks resulting from daily violence. Most small investors have already left the province, leaving the major ones to continue doing businesses.
In another development, Yalas passenger pickup trucks songtaos -- on Sunday opted to suspend services to a village where a bomb was thrown into a bus on Saturday, killing one passenger and wounding 14. Police said the bomb was thrown into the bus by an unidentified passenger on a motorcycle. Witnesses said the duo fled to a nearby Muslim religious school after the incident. As of Sunday, five bomb victims, including a 12-year-old girl, continue receiving treatment at a hospital in the province.
#1
One of the commenters called for the death penalty. Also, if the cat's were tame would this be another case of "domestic" terrorism? Would someone mind asking Sully for me?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2009 7:17
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#4
I agree this is terrible, and the kid is truly messed up, but one cannot "murder" a cat.
Agred, but I just can't help to wonder if sometimes during say the last 5 or so years, there wasn't a toddler or a lone young kid being killed in an "accident" in the boonies, or more modestly, some mysterious arsons, stuff like that.
"I'm curious to know..."
(put on sunglasses)
"...who killed the cats?" Yeeeaaaahhhhh!
[/DavidCaruso]
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2009 11:09
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#8
There will undoubtedly be a gazillion "experts" who will testify / comment / pontificate about the perp's reason for such cruelty, but, when all is said and done, the little bastard should be locked up for some serious time before he graduates to trying his skills on people.
#12
Here in the peoples republic of Seattle a while back there was a case of animal cruelty to a donkey - the media was all over it like Letterman on a 14-year-old.(1)
In fact they went as far as making a law and naming it after the Donkey.
At the same time there was a case of a child being killed by his (or her) parents. The media practically ignored this story completely.
To her credit the Judge in the Cruelty case made the contrast a specific point in her comments.
#17
Not long ago here there was a discussion of the startling number of psychopaths wandering through the general population; but most of them do nothing more than hurt others' feelings because they continue to accept limitations on actual murder and mayhem, no matter how tempting. But those psychopaths who progress to actually acting out such thoughts on animals entirely too easily progress to acting out similar thoughts on humans. That is why the penalties for cruelty to animals are so heavy, not because stray cats and dogs have such high inherent value when tortured vs. when run over by cars or dying of inadequate food and shelter.
From the WaPo
The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin -- greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday's election.
What is the value of a 'public opinion poll' in a country run by thugs? Does anyone think that people will state their honest opinion if there is any chance that the secret police will then beat the crap out of them?
While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad's principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran's provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.
Oh, scientific are we? How did you account for the fear factor in your polling?
Independent and uncensored nationwide surveys of Iran are rare. Typically, preelection polls there are either conducted or monitored by the government and are notoriously untrustworthy. By contrast, the poll undertaken by our nonprofit organizations from May 11 to May 20 was the third in a series over the past two years. Conducted by telephone from a neighboring country, field work was carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. Our polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Now, how is their poll a contrast to the typical rigged poll? Because it is the third in a series, which is what they seem to say here? Non-sequitur. More importantly, note that they don't really say their poll was independent and uncensored.
They'd like to think it was because then it gives them the reassurance that all is well and in conformance with their pre-conceived ideas. That's the whole point of this: Bush is evil, Cheney is evil, therefore Short Round is good, so let's 'prove' it.
The breadth of Ahmadinejad's support was apparent in our preelection survey. During the campaign, for instance, Mousavi emphasized his identity as an Azeri, the second-largest ethnic group in Iran after Persians, to woo Azeri voters. Our survey indicated, though, that Azeris favored Ahmadinejad by 2 to 1 over Mousavi. Much commentary has portrayed Iranian youth and the Internet as harbingers of change in this election. But our poll found that only a third of Iranians even have access to the Internet, while 18-to-24-year-olds comprised the strongest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all age groups.
The only demographic groups in which our survey found Mousavi leading or competitive with Ahmadinejad were university students and graduates, and the highest-income Iranians. When our poll was taken, almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided. Yet the baseline distributions we found then mirror the results reported by the Iranian authorities, indicating the possibility that the vote is not the product of widespread fraud. There is also a possibility that this poll was approved by the Revolutionary Guards. Which seems more likely?
Note that the article is written by the same two stooges who conducted the poll.
Hi. I am conducting a poll for a lead NGO, and I would like to know whom you plan to vote for for president. I am not representive of the revolutionary Guards, no sir.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 12:48
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Military service is in Capt. Kamaljit Singh Kalsi's blood. His father and grandfather were part of India's Air Force. His great-grandfather served in the British Indian army. So when US army recruiters talked to him during his first year of medical school, he readily signed up. But his plans to go on active duty in July are now on hold. An Army policy from the 1980s that regulates the wearing of religious items would mean he would need to shave his beard and remove the turban he wears in accordance with his religious precepts.Kalsi and another Sikh man with the same concerns, Second Lt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, are the centerpieces of an advocacy campaign launched by the Sikh Coalition as it tries to persuade the Army to let them serve without sacrificing their articles of faith. "I'm an American, there's no reason why I can't serve," Kalsi, 32, said.
The Army has a long-standing interest in how its members carry themselves, with policies that ban exotic hair colors, long fingernails or certain colors of lipstick. Army officials declined to comment on the reasoning behind its policy that would force the Sikh men to give up their religious displays. Sikhs who were active-duty military when the policy was adopted were allowed to continue serving without shaving their beards or removing their turbans. The Pentagon and other military institutions would not comment. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, was unfamiliar with the policy's origins.
Sikh Coalition executive director Amardeep Singh said he hopes that not only are Kalsi and Rattan allowed to serve, but that the rule will be changed for all turbaned and bearded Sikhs who would want to enlist. "Our country's military needs to reflect what America is right now," he said. "It's a diverse country, it's a country that puts forth for the rest of the world the values of liberty, particularly religious liberty." Allowing Sikhs to serve with beard and turban ``will send a very strong message to the rest of the world that we are who we say we are.''
The Sikh faith requires adherents to follow certain rules, among them that hair is not to be cut and for men, the wearing of a turban. Both Kalsi, an emergency room doctor, and Rattan, a dental surgeon, say they were following those rules when they were recruited and never had any problems or were told they would not be able to serve with their beards or turbans. Singh said it would be in the military's best interest to lets Sikhs serve. The community has a long tradition of military service, both in India, where most of the faith's adherents are, as well as in the countries where Sikhs have made their homes, like Canada and the United Kingdom.
The British army allows Sikhs to generally keep their articles of faith. For Sikhs who serve as civilian police officers, the British Police Sikh Association is pushing for development of bulletproof turbans. That would allow Sikhs to be part of firearms units, since safety helmets do not fit over them.
Posted by: Gaz ||
06/15/2009
03:38 ||
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#1
Are there not basic safety issues, as with firefighters, that one must be able to wear a gas mask, and helmet?
This is not appearances, it is function of the job.
#2
Lagom; you are correct, not being able to wear the protective gear means they could not be used in any combat or combat support position. In addition, how do they maintain hygiene in the medical field? Especially in the field? There is a reason that buzz cuts are the norm for combat troops.
#3
This article may be a reprise or reappearance of one posted not too long ago. If I recall many questions and interest in safety were being remarked on, but to sum up, it seemed like many of the safety concerns were adequately covered (with more advancements being made) by existing gear. So that begs the question: it's not a question of can Sikhs serve, but rather WILL they be brought on board.
#5
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, was unfamiliar with the policy's origins.
I have an idea, send those male members able to grow beards out here and after a week of not shaving we'll put an SCBA system on ya and send you in a burning house. Then they could extrapolate that experience into poison gas.
#6
I bet that when the recruiter met him he was not wearing a turbin. BTW that whole turban = religion things along with the beard wears out after a couple of generations out of Punjab. This is more likely when the young lad goes off to college and hopes that he might bag some co-ed. Seems the turban/beard (contrary to popular thought) just doesn't draw in the ladies like you would think.
#7
You and others parrot rubbish. The Sikhs that serve in Indian, British and other armed forces have no problems using the required gear.
The Turbans are ornamental and worn over an underlying head covering. They manage to wear helmets, gas masks etc...etc...etc in all these other services. The Sikhs are of a warrior class, and do very well wherever they serve.
#8
So it's like religious Jewish men who wear a hat over a skullcap (a.k.a. yarmulke (Yiddish), kippah(Hebrew)), Slats Spoque1394? Do the Sikhs have a rule like the Jews do, that anything is permitted in the saving of a life -- including shaving facial hair and uncovering the head?
The Texas Wildman turns out another rousing sermon. Nuge may yet run for office. Be afraid, "hippies, dopeheads, and corrupt politicoes," be very afraid:
One of the most dangerous places on earth is our own 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Our southern border is a drug-war zone, and we're losing. Know it.
Before she became secretary of Homeland Security, former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano declared a state of emergency along the Arizona/Mexico border because of drug trafficking, shootouts and an increasing illegal immigration invasion.
Could that be part of the reason why President Obama tapped her for the position?
The Justice Department stated that Mexican drug cartels are the "largest threat to both citizens and law enforcement agencies in this country" with gang members loose in nearly 200 U.S. cities." This in the big, bad, brave United States of America! How can this be?
There isn't a city in America that has not been scorched by drug-related violence. In 2008 the drug cartels killed more than 4,000 Mexicans. Almost 500 Mexican police officers and soldiers have been killed since January 2007. Add to this increasing acts of violence against Border Patrol agents by the well-financed and well-armed drug cartels. They are as evil an adversary as the voodoo terrorist Taliban our soldiers face in Afghanistan.
President Obama has stated he will go after the cartels and increase efforts to combat gang-related crime. Good. But he better be prepared to wage war with them with more than just soaring rhetoric.
I'm aware there are prominent conservatives who make strong arguments in favor of legalizing drugs -- for one, that it will take away a tool of organized crime. I don't believe that. Legalizing drugs would be like pouring gasoline on a blazing fire in hopes of extinguishing it. We have all the laws we need to fight drugs. What America needs is the willpower and a renewed warrior spirit to crush evil and evil-doers.
I was ready to serve. Unfortunately, the president tapped former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as his drug czar. Merlikowske then suggested we tone down our "war on drugs" rhetoric. I disagree. Too bad you didn't pick me, Mr. President.
Hippies, dopeheads, corrupt politicos and various forms of human debris hate me, making me the perfect for the job. As drug czar, I would charge our mayors and police departments to commit to fighting the drug gangs. It would be our top priority. Our inner cities will remain war zones until we commit to taking the trash out.
America needs to better arm our Border Patrol agents and we need more of them. The governors of the border states should call out the National Guard to assist the Border Patrol in securing the border. As drug czar, I would challenge them to do this today, as I would the governments of Mexico and South America.
Working with the Colombian government a few years back, U.S. Special Forces filled Pablo Escobar with bullet holes. Until assuming room temperature, he controlled 80 percent of all the cocaine shipped into America.
Every American who smokes dope, manufactures, buys or sells meth or uses any illegal drug is aiding and abetting the enemies of America. Case closed. This spiritual inbreeding and cannibalism must be identified, admitted and stopped immediately. America can and must do this. Good over evil. Next.
Ted Nugent is a Waco-based musician, television show host and bestselling author of two books. Contact him directly at tednugent.com.
#1
Yeah Ted - Even better, let's criminilize the most destructive and evil drug of all - Alcohol - which you're probably drunk on half the time yourself.
#3
Goober, the question here are drugs, not alcohol. Can you not address his argument instead of dragging out trite and discredited rhetorical tactics?
There is a case for decriminalization but snide words are not it.
#4
Well sorry - here's probably some more trite and discredited snide whatever. I get tired of marijuana being thrown into the same pile as heroin, cocaine - not to mention murder etc. Marijuana is a hundred times less dangerous than even cheap wine. That's a fact - not rhetoric. Despite the tons and tons of propoganda that says otherwise. Some witty people call it a "Gateway Drug". Well then let's call aspirin a gateway drug. Chances are that anybody who's ever smoked marijuana has started off with aspirin. So let's abolish aspirin and jail all the users and dealers. Extreme?! So is Ted Nugent.
#5
Goober, I know a lot of cops that agree with you. They would rather arrest a pothead over a drunk anyday, as they are doofy and lazy but not belligerant and violent. PCP and crack are an entirely different story. Allowing marijuana to be grown as a crop, regulated and taxed would pacify many so the dangerous hard drugs could be focused on. Decriminalizing is not the same as make it legal, either. We need treatment to transition the addicted or crime and violence will only escalate but the borders must be contained, as it is not only drugs that can be smuggled in. It is a national security issue.
#6
Doofy and lazy, huh? So let 'em have marijuana and television and they'll keep on voting for Barack Obama...that is, if they can get up off the couch and focus long enough to find the polls.
#7
You can have your drug war and I say good for you. Just remember there will be casualties. And before you jump on me for saying that take your heads out of the sand. There are 10.000 corpses in Mexico in the last 2 years alone. Yeah guys rah rah. let's ramp up the drug war. Good vs evil. Right. And by the way Alcohol is a drug and a dangerous and addictive one oh warriors of the side of good. Rah rah.
#8
I don't have any sources for numbers, but this editorial seems to imply that marijuana exports aren't a major source of $$ for the Mexican gangs, or at any rate not a major source of the violence. Anybody know of moderately reliable estimates?
Posted by: James ||
06/15/2009 13:13
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#9
By the way, I didn't vote for Obama, most of the people I know do not smoke marijuana but Did vote for Obama, and at no time have I ever been as "Doofy" and lazy as when I was half unconscious or even totally uncoscious (in my young days) from some good old-fashioned alcoholic beverage.
#10
Criminalising chemical choices is something authoritarian governments love to do. If you beleive that people own their own bodies then what they put in it should be NO concern of the states.
What people DO while they are high could be a concern. Don't ban the drugs, just ban being high in a public place.
#11
I remember seeing Ted at the Long Beach Arena in 1978. A huge cloud of dope smoke completely engulfed the arena. I was one of the rare non-stoned people in the building, but I don't recall the Nuge calling anyone a hippie or dopehead at the time, or saying anyone was abetting the enemies of America. His attitudes probably haven't changed that much over the years, but he was sensible enough not to bite the hand that fed him at that point.
Posted by: abu Chuck al Ameriki ||
06/15/2009 14:08
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#12
I first became aware of him around 1980 from a "dopehead" who really admired him.
#13
For those of you who don't know - Ted walks the walk. He was one of the few rockers from that era who never did drugs or alcohol, and he's actually gotten grief from other performers because of his sobriety.
Like him or not as you wish, have whatever opinion regarding drug regulation you see fit, ut at least he's not a hypocrite with his own consumption habits.
Oh, and he's not a Texas Wildman, but the Motor City Madman (grew up in Detroit area).
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/15/2009 14:59
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#14
Oh my ... I was backstage at the San Antonio Tea Party, and got to meet him very briefly, after his terrific rant in front of the Alamo ... the one in which he did drop some salty language that put paid to our claim to have been a family-friendly event. But everyone on the planning committee just looked at each other, and sighed indulgently.
One very striking thing about him that I noticed, that even though he was meeting and hand-shaking dozens of people backstage afterward, he seemed very intensely interested in each person that he was talking to - just for those few moments, and that he really saw you. It wasn't like that with Glenn Beck - for him one had the feeling that all of us were just passing in a blur in front of his eyes. But the Nuge really engaged with each person, no matter how briefly.
This is a useful quality to have ... the other quality was that he seemed to feed off the audience's energy, and reflect it back onto them, magnified.
Oh, BTW - if any Rantburgundians will be in South Texas for the 4th of July, we're planning a bash at a local ranch, with music and entertainment, and fireworks and all. Sign up for it here. More about the speakers and all, here.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said on Sunday following a meeting with settler leaders that he did not believe Israel would withdraw from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Carter said that as the West Bank bloc is situated beside the borders set following the 1967 Six-Day War, he imagines it will stay under Israeli control forever.
"This particular settlement is not one that I envision ever being abandoned, or changed over into a Palestinian territory," Carter said. "This is part of the close settlements to the 1967 line that I think will be here forever."
The Etzion block is south of Jerusalem, the other large settlement areas are in E. Jerusalem, also near the 67 line and the Ariel block which is goes pretty far inside the PA side of the 67 block - so this statement could be interpreted as a 'the Ariel Block must go' statement
Gush Etzion council leader Shaul Goldstein, who is something of a dove and has extensive contacts with arabs in and near Etzion- and the near Etzion arabs were long time anti Arafat
who hosted Carter at his home, called the visit significant and said he believed it indeed contributed to a change in the former president's views.
Carter embarked on the visit to Gush Etzion on Sunday in what he described as a chance to listen and make his views known. There he met with Goldstein and others at the Neve Daniel settlement, south of Jerusalem.
The former president said he was there to "listen to the settlers," and that he "hoped to make sure they understand my own attitude toward Israel and the Jewish population in the world and toward the Jewish settlers."
Later, Carter sat in Goldstein's living room, positioned under five books of the Hebrew Bible on a bookshelf.
"This is our homeland, but we recognize there are other people living next to us," Goldstein told him, referring to the Palestinians, who view the West Bank as part of a future state.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/15/2009
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#1
Reassure the Juden so they'll go to the slaughter quietly, Jimmah?
#3
The worse thing about the Obama presidency is that if, that is a big if, the United Staets survive it you will have to withstand N decades of Obama post presidency.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake Sunday said war crimes issue should not be politicised and no action be taken that would be considered by the people of Bangladesh as a mechanism to weaken democracy and undermine progress the country already achieved, reports UNB.
"The United States strongly believes in accountability. During my discussions with friends in the government, we urged not to make it (war crimes) a politicized issue," he told a press conference at the American Club on the outcome of his meetings with the leaders from the government, opposition, business and civil society.
Blake, who came here for the first time after being appointed as US Assistant Secretary for the region, said Bangladesh just has had freest, fairest and transparent election, and democracy was being strengthened. "It is important that no action be taken that would be considered as a mechanism to weaken democracy and undermine progress the country has achieved. It is a fine line and a fine balance that the government has to follow in this regard."
Blake, who is here on a two-day visit, offered US cooperation in strengthening democracy, ensuring development, climate change and clean energy, and in countering terrorism so terrorist JMB and other transnational terrorist groups cannot use Bangladesh soil or operate from here against Bangladesh or other countries.
On the deaths of BDR personnel in custody, Blake said the matter should be seriously investigated and persons responsible be brought to justice.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake Sunday said war crimes issue should not be politicised...
Ah, you mean like the NYT and Boston Globe full court press on Abu Ghraib oh wormtongue of the One? Maybe you can get Rep. Murtha to send them a note on the concept.
"We in Oxfam are calling on the EU for formal suspension of the upgrading process. It is currently informally-suspended. We would like to see the suspension continued until we see a lifting of the blockade," Sara Hamood, Policy Advisor for OXFAM for the occupied Palestinian territories, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in an interview. "We would like to see tangible improvements on the ground that actual goods are going into and out of Gaza and that people are getting into and out of Gaza without impediment," she said.
Hamood, who is based in Jerusalem, was in Brussels to brief the EU working group on humanitarian and food aid.
She urged the EU and European countries to use the tools at their disposal to pressure different parties in the conflict in order for them to prioritize the interest of civilians.
Almost five months after the ceasefire following the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza and three years after the Israeli blockade of Gaza "what we see is a real dire humanitarian situation, in which entry of goods and people into Gaza remains severely restricted to food, aid and medical supplies," noted the aid worker.
EU foreign ministers are expected to meet the hard-liner Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the Middle East peace process and EU-Israeli ties.
According to EU sources, the EU is expected to call on Israel to "unequivocally" commit to the two-state solution and to immediately end Jewish settlement activities.
#2
ION EUROZONE, WAFF > EU LEADERS SHOCKED AT REPORTS OF TURKISH MILITARY PLOTS [agz ruling AK Party].
Also from WAFF > 15 MEMBERS OF US CONGRESS URGE SUPPORT FOR MACEDONIA [send Letter to SecState Hillary]. Macedonia impor for US policy(s) in the BALKANS AND EASTERN-SOUTHERN EUROPE.
Yemeni authorities say rebels have kidnapped nine foreigners, including women and children, in a mountainous northern region.
Government officials on Sunday accused a Shi'ite militant group of taking a group of seven Germans, a British engineer and a South Korean teacher hostage in the Saada region. The Germans are said to include three children, two nurses and an engineer and his wife. Yemeni officials say the hostages work for an international aid group at a hospital in Saada, where they say foreigners have been working for 35 years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping, but Yemen officials claimed that Houthi militants were responsible.
Terrorist act, criminal act, or immaterial since it's Yemen?
Tradition hoary with age, like going a-pirating along certain parts of the African coast.
But the rebel group denied any involvement and accused Yemen authorities of trying to tarnish its image.
Seoul confirmed only that a South Korean woman is missing and presumed kidnapped in Yemen. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed that seven Germans are missing in Yemen. Steinmeier said a government crisis group has been formed and is in touch with Yemeni authorities.
The reported kidnapping comes just days after tribesmen released 24 medical workers, including foreigners, who were abducted Thursday.
Tribesmen in Yemen often take foreigners hostage to pressure the government on a range of demands. The foreigners are generally released unharmed.
After a healthy ransom is paid, of course. Why else would anyone take up kidnapping, with the attendant expenses of feeding, sheltering and protecting from harm those foreign infidels who wander into one's clutches all unaware?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
Going to Yemen is stupid. Taking your children with you is way beyond stupid and irresponsible.
SAN'A, Yemen - Nine foreigners, including three children, abducted last week in Yemen were found dead early Monday, a Yemeni security official said.
The victims, including seven German nationals, disappeared last week while on a picnic in the restive northern Saada region of Yemen.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, announced the discovery of the remaining six bodies Monday after three others were found earlier in the day.
#4
The Yemen Tourism Board deplores this outcome as usual. So if you want to live the Adventures of Tin Tin make it Yemen for the Holiday of a Lifetime!
Don't know if the driver in the article below mentioned that bin Laden was a lousy tipper.
Newspaper story & fine art photographs by Brad Carlile
In the early hours of Friday October 13th, CNN.com reported that a bomb exploded on the USS Cole in Aden Yemen killing US sailors. They added " US officials call Yemen a safe haven for terrorists". Other articles use the term "medieval" to describe modern Yemen.
In our busy world, we quickly let our minds paint in all of the rest of the details of this country and its people. Time to be thankful for where we are and move on. But sometimes we should explore deeper. In those same early hours of Friday October 13th, I finish packing my backpack for a five week trip to Morocco, Jordan, and Yemen.
When I started planning my trip several months earlier, friends asked about Yemen. Where do I find it on a map? They learned that this country -- about four times the size of Illinois, is located to the southern tip of the Saudi peninsula. It is one of the oldest inhabited areas on the earth.
As I flew the Atlantic, I knew to expect to interesting contrasts in Yemen -- a country rich in history, culture, and scenery.
Yemeni History
Historically, Yemen has come into significance at times only to fade into general obscurity. In the 10th century BC, the Queen of Sheba ruled her civilization in what is now Yemen. Latter in biblical times, Frankincense and Myrrh, the most valuable commodity of that time, originated in Yemen. Also then most goods from India and China passed through Yemen on their way to the Mediterranean. Then three hundred years ago, Yemen had the world's monopoly on coffee which was produced from the prized Arabica coffee bean. Much of the coffee was shipped from the old port town of Al-Makha -- where we now get the name "Mocca". Later this bean was carried to South America and Indonesia. Since then little has been heard about Yemen in the western world.
Religiously, Yemen is a Moslem nation. Five times a day the call to prayer is blasted from speakers mounted on minarets throughout every city and town. In strict Moslem tradition to preserve modesty, the women are dressed head to toe in black with only a tiny slit for their eyes. Very stylish shoes are the only thing that hint of non-traditionalism. The shoes are as modern as any seen on the streets of European capitals. Inside the house when around family and friends, the outer robes come off to reveal very modern outfits.
Geographically Yemen is very diverse. The 7000' mountains of the western half provide a perfect climate for growing some of the finest coffee in the world. Whereas, the northern desert that boarders Saudia Arabia is a barren flat dry hot rocky desert. On the southern coast the fine white sand beaches give way to the clear blue waters of the gulf of Aden.
Sana'a Yemen
My trip started in Sana'a, the capital city, which is situated in a mountainous basin at about 7000 feet above sea level. At this elevation temperatures are moderate.
Most of the million residents live in the modern part of Sana'a. However the true charm of the city is in old city with its amazingly ornate 6- to 8-story tower houses.
Time moves at a slower pace even in capital of Yemen. Largely this is due to the importance of human relationships in every aspect of life. Time is always made for smiles, conversation, and news about families. At social gatherings the love of verbal banter & jokes is clear.
I was told that as a solo American traveling on local transport at this time I might run into bureaucratic hassles. To avoid hassles and not to waste any time, I hired a car & driver for less than renting a compact car in the US.
Sharaf, My Fantastic Driver in Yemen
My driver's name is Sharaf. He is a very nice man who enjoys life, loves his family, and knows all of the best places to go. I knew more Arabic than he knew English, which really meant we had fewer than 400 words between us, nevertheless we each learned many things from the otherand become friends.
As an attempt at being culturally sensitive-- beyond learning a bit of the language -- I grew the first beard of my life. Once in Yemen I wore a jacket and a kaffiyeh, or checkered head cloth, when traveling the country-side. Sharaf encouraged me to do this. These tiny attempts to fit in a bit were appreciated by many I met.
Yemini Western Highlands
As we drove around the towns nestled in the craggy peaks of the western highlands, we would listened to tapes of Yemeni songs. Vistas in this mountainous region are astounding and dramatic. Many mountain sides have hundreds of levels of terracing which allows all of the land to be used in this fertile region.
In addition, houses are built on the edges of cliffs and ridges to preserve all of the arable land. Throughout Yemen, great pride is taken in the old tradition of beautiful architecture. The outside of these brick and rock houses are covered intricate geometric white plaster designs that outline the windows and ring the top of the buildings. We would often give locals rides between villages, a nice thing to do on these steep mountain roads. Most main roads are some of the best I've seen anywhere in my third world travels. However to get to some more interesting spots we would travel stretches that would require years of improvement it even be considered a road hazard and many more years to be considered a road.
Yemini Food: Salta, coffee, and other delicious food
Lunch is the big meal of the day. The food was very different than the humus and shish kabobs of middle eastern cuisine. Salta is the national dish. It is a spiced fenugreek tomato potato stew containing lamb or chicken. It is eaten with a flavorful sorghum flat bread.
Typical lunch would include a lentil-lemon soup, cooked vegetables, a kind of fried rice, hot peppers, Salta,and grilled chicken. One left the table well fed. On special occasions the wonderful "Bint al Sahn" was served as dessert. It is a sweet bread that is dipped into honey and clarified butter.
Coffee is so highly regarded that it is reserved for use at home. But when one can get it in a restaurant, it is amazing -- even for a non coffee drinker.
After lunch, most men and woman spend several hours socially chewing Qat (pronounced khat). Qat is a shrub whose leaves act as are a mild stimulant that boosts one's mood when chewed. Qat is legal in Yemen and it is a national obsession. Unofficial estimates are that qat accounts for one-third of the domestic economy.
After traveling for several days we returned to Sana'a to have tea with Sharaf's family, where I met and played with his twin granddaughters. Early the next morning we would start a week-long trip that would take us to the southern coast at Bir Ali and Al-Mukalla, then to Wadi Hadramawt, and then into the eastern desert. We would then travel across the desert on the boarder with Saudia Arabia to Marib, which was home to the Queen of Sheba.
In order to travel outside the western highlands, one needs to file a travel itinerary with the government and carry lots of copies to give out at the police checkpoints. Given that Yemen wants safe tourists, there are a lot of police checkpoints. Often policeman will often ride in the vehicle between checkpoints. ( )
Wadi Hadramawt
After seeing many of towns in Wadi Hadramawt we headed back across the desert, somewhat near the Saudi boarder, to Marib the ancient center of the Sheba Civilization. This civilization had amazing accomplishments including a dam that was 2,200 feet long and was 50 feet high at its midpoint that lasted for over 1,300 years. Remnants of the dam and two temples are in the process of being excavated.( .)
Yemeni authorities declared on Sunday arrest of a leading activist of the notorious Al-Qaeda organization saying he was in charge of securing funds for the clandestine group.
Website of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense quoted an official source as saying that the local security authorities arrested the financial official of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia a few days ago.
The detainee, named Hassan Hussein Bin Al-Alwan, is the main financier of the organization's operations in the two neighboring Gulf countries, it said, branding him as one of the most dangerous terrorists.
Very probably they'll wring as much info cash as they can out of him or his owners, then let him slip back into the pond...
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/15/2009 13:33
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#2
I think the Yemeni government is getting pretty tired of Al-Qaida, and will probably slit his throat and dump him into the Gulf of Aden for the sharks to clean up. His disappearance will be a "mystery", never solved.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 14:43
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WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - CIA director Leon Panetta says it's almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the "harsh interrogation" of terrorism suspects.
"I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue," Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine's June 22 issue. "It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point."
Just when you begin to think that Panetta is a reasonable guy, he drools on himself like this. It's embarrassing.
"Nurse! He's doing it again..."
Cheney, who was a key advocate in the Bush administration of controversial interrogation methods such as waterboarding, has become as a leading Republican critic of Obama's ban on harsh interrogations and his plan to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a blistering May 21 speech, Cheney said Obama's reversal of Bush-era policies were "unwise in the extreme" that would make the American people less safe.
Panetta called Cheney's actions "dangerous politics."
He told The New Yorker he had favored the creation of an independent truth commission to look into the detainee polices of former President George W. Bush. But the idea died in April when Obama decided such a panel could be seen as politically vindictive.
Especially when too many Dhimmicrats would have been called as defendants ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
It's also 'as if' Leon is looking for an advance out. It's certainly not going to be Leon's fault!
#4
They do like playing with straw and building things. Problem is straw can't take much pressure and falls apart real easy.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2009 7:12
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#5
Given the on the record statements of Reid, Pelosi, et al of the Donks, by construct of the point we can now take it from Leon that the Donks did want us to lose in Iraq and encourage the enemy to kill more of our sons and daughters for simple political gain.
#6
Director Panetta is clearly falling into the "nirther and troofer" category as so eloquently explained yesterday. I'm surprised to see such drivel here.
#9
He doesn't want it to happen, he just thinks the current policies are making it more likely. He doesn't want us attacked, he wants you to succeed in keeping it from happening by reverting to previous policies which he believes were the reason we were not attacked.
#10
Director Panetta is clearly falling into the "nirther and troofer" category as so eloquently explained yesterday.
Nothing of the sort. Panetta is playing hardball politics. Troofers think the government caused 9-11. Nirfers... well, you're the resident expert on that.
I'm surprised to see such drivel here.
Not really. We get to read your posts on a daily basis.
#11
The Twoothers never _acted_ like the government caused 9/11, they just used it as an excuse to justify what they always believed in, i.e. there is no foreign threat to national security, and implementing the liberal policies of social control and deindustrialization are more important. It's never worth killing over, but it's always worth setting up another bloody-minded caste system where only the supporters of the regime get to have jobs, or patronage, or whatnot.
If that isn't hardball politics, I don't know what is.
#12
Panetta has done the near-impossible - as a Bambi appointee, surprised me on the downside. He was always a fairly reasonable sort - in general heads above the appalling and bizarre current leadership of the Dems - but this is pathetic is a characteristically Bambi-ish way: amateurish, inappropriate, wrong.
Leon joins the list - a buffoonishly unprofessional press secretary (and that amidst a fawning and unprofessional "press" corps the likes of which this country has never seen) who regularly insults huge swaths of the electorate in dodging semi-soft questions; a Treasury secretary who arguably has the worst resume of anyone in that position in decades (presided over the greatest financial disaster in the era of regulation), and is a bumbling administrator and jaw-droppingly crude tax cheat besides; and on and on (the DOE guy seemed kooky from the outset, he's outdoing himself now with silly and irresponsible talk and "ideas").
But there's nothing random about this. America is, at least with respect to half or more of the populace, and 90% of the "elites", no longer a serious country. This was clear before November (the whine-fest over Iraq in 05-07, prominently). I'd say the intellectual, ethical, and talent levels we're seeing, from the Oval Office on down - while humiliating and astonishing - are exactly what the country deserves. Tragically, the rest of us have the eat the awful cooking served up by the idiots around us and above us.
#13
Either careless words, cynical, or political move, this is a crap statement. Would a bridge or fire inspecter find a situation dangerous and then sit back wanting something to go wrong to prove a point?
I'd like to add the lawyer/career poltico family apointee to Health Human Services who has no medical background and played party political hack instead of reacting to state emergencies as governor; she has recently had serious cosmetic surgery so get ready as health care comes to the table.
#14
ION REDDIT > NORTH KOREA MAY LAUNCH A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE AGZ THE USA ["Death to the USA" threat courtesy of the NK Vice-Minister of the People's Armed Forces]???
"EARLY PHASE OF ALL-OUT CONFRONTATION" agz the USA > IOW, NOKOR plans to contin to "push the envelope" of Asian nuclear brinkmanship, which in turn means POTUS BAMMER MAY HAVE A KOREAN WAR II [nukulaar?] ON HIS ADMIN'S HANDS 2010-2012, OR SOONER???
#15
ION REDDIT > NORTH KOREA MAY LAUNCH A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE AGZ THE USA ["Death to the USA" threat courtesy of the NK Vice-Minister of the People's Armed Forces]???
"EARLY PHASE OF ALL-OUT CONFRONTATION" agz the USA > IOW, NOKOR plans to contin to "push the envelope" of Asian nuclear brinkmanship, which in turn means POTUS BAMMER MAY HAVE A KOREAN WAR II [nukulaar?] ON HIS ADMIN'S HANDS 2010-2012, OR SOONER???
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said any country that dared to attack Iran would "deeply regret" such a move, dashing hopes that his re-election Saturday would temper his confrontational stance toward the world.
"Who dares to attack Iran? Who even dares to think about it?" Ahmadinejad said at a news conference in response to a question.
Iran's refusal to halt nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies, has sparked persistent speculation that Israel or the United States might strike at the country's nuclear facilities. Ahmadinejad added that Iran's nuclear issue "belongs in the past," indicating there would be no change in nuclear policy during his second term in office.
Meanwhile, defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi formally appealed against Iran's election result on Sunday to the legislative body, the Guardian Council, a statement on his website said. "Today, I have submitted my official formal request to the council to cancel the election result," Mousavi said in the statement. "I urge you Iranian nation to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way."
Iranian police again clashed on Sunday with demonstrators protesting in Tehran against his re-election. Supporters of defeated reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has dismissed Ahmadinejad's victory in Friday's election as a "dangerous charade", gathered in the city centre, chanted his name and threw stones at police, a Reuters witness said.
Police on motorcycles drove through the crowd to disperse the protesters. At least one person, a woman, was injured. Police briefly detained journalists filming the violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
Regrets and guilt feelings is an integral part of being Jewish.
ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated Rs 102.4 billion ($1.28 billion) for the Armed Forces Development Plan (AFDP) in the upcoming fiscal year 2009-10, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique said on Sunday.
That's $1.28 billion minus 10 percent, of course ...
Former president Pervez Musharraf initiated the AFDP to modernise the country's armed forces through an initial target of $15 billion by 2015. However, the programme's target was later increased to $25 billion. The government has been financing the strategic programme with an annual allocation of $1 billion for the last four years. The present government allocated $1.2 billion for the plan during 2008-09, and has allocated $1.28 billion for 2009-10 to meet the growing defence requirements of the armed forces. This amount is allocated out of the budget.
The AFDP is vital to increase the country's defence preparedness, and respond to national security threats from both internal and external factors. The recent rise in acts of terrorism and insurgency have required the government to upgrade the country's weapons, and obtain access to the latest technologies available in the world markets in order to adequately address the security challenges. Official sources said allocations made in foreign exchange for the AFDP are mainly used for imports.
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The government doubled the amount of bounty for tipping off the whereabouts of the absconders involved in the February 25-26 carnage at the BDR headquarters in which the entire command of the border force was eliminated.
A sum of Tk 100,000 will be given in cash award if anyone can help the local thana or any law-enforcing agency in arresting any of the absconding BDR members involved in the February 25-26 brutal incident at Peelkhana BDR headquarters," an official of the Home Ministry said about the latest government decision. Earlier on April 7, the government had put a bounty of Tk 50,000 on each head of the runaways for their arrest.
"The name and identity of the informer will remain a secret," said senior information officer of the Home Ministry Md Shahinoor Miah.
The February 25-26 mutiny and mayhem inside the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters left a total of 75 people dead, 57 of them army officers in command of the border guards, including their chief Major Gen Shakil Ahmed. Among the rest are two family members of army officers, 9 BDR jawans and 7 civilians.Several thousand soldiers and their lower-ranked commanders fled the headquarters as well as some outer stations. Most of them have been run in while a few hundred others remained on the run.
Meanwhile, thirty BDR personnel accused in mutiny case were yesterday produced before the judicial magistrate court that ordered them to jail. Fifteen of them pleaded for bail but magistrate Basudev Roy rejected their petitions.
The magistrate ordered to transfer the case to the District and Sessions Judge's court for trial.
Police arrested the 30 BDR personnel from 39 Riffle Battalion following a case filed by officer-in-charge of sadar thana on charge of mutiny in the battalion.
Some 3,000 BDR personnel have been taken into custody from different parts of the country after the February 25-26 Peelkhana incident when nearly 80 people, including 57 Army officers were killed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Has anyone looked in Karachi or Rawalpindi? I'm sure the true "masterminds" of this savagery can be found in one or the other place.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 18:05
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Perhaps it's because they're bunch of lying Commie thug-weasels?
SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea accused North Korea on Sunday of negating the June 15 inter-Korean summit agreement, as the two Koreas marked the ninth anniversary of the historic event amid chilled ties.
"North Korea is not abiding by the agreement in the June 15 Joint Declaration," the unification ministry said in a statement, adding the North's leader has yet to keep his promise to make a reciprocal trip to South Korea. "North Korea has also rejected dialogue with South Korea and suspended the reunion of separated families and scaled down inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation," the ministry said.
In 2000, then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. They produced a joint declaration that paved the way for the two Koreas to ease military tensions and begin economic cooperation.
In return for lots and lots of blood money to the North ...
The Kaesong joint industrial complex, located just north of the inter-Korean border, was one of the summit's most fruitful results, although its future is now uncertain amid fraying relations. North Korea has demanded higher wages for some 40,000 workers at the complex and demanded drastic hikes in land fees. Kim's successor, the late Roh Moo-hyun, also held a summit with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang in 2007, in which they agreed to boost joint economic projects.
In return for more and more blood money ...
The ministry's statement was a counterpunch to the North's claim that inter-Korean relations have been strained due to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang.
The conservative president has said he wants to implement the summit deals on a selective basis in accordance with progress in denuclearizing the North. North Korea and progressive activists in the South argue Lee is ignoring the accomplishments by his liberal predecessors for political reasons.
For example, he no longer pays blood money to the Norks ...
Also Sunday, a group of progressive civic activists here organized a ceremony to mark the inter-Korean summit deal on June 15 in 2000. More than 1,500 people attended, including leaders of major opposition parties.
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#5
Mousavi is no reformer, the educated Iranian population just wants somebody, anybody, other than Dinnerjacket. As noted above, he's still popular in the uneducated countryside. There's a good campaign slogan: "The ignorant support me overwhelmingly!".... almost Bidenesqe
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2009 8:34
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#6
1. Bidenesque
Although a Regular Joe, Very Stately. Also, Comforting, Down to Earth, Trustworthy(by politician standards), Articulate, Likable, Intelligent.
Bidenesque is the opposite of Palinesque.
#9
Bidenesqe: (adj.) - prone to stoopid ("FDR's TV broadcast to nation") made-up shit, dumb gaffes, Sheriff Joe, Ineveitable fraud in stimulus funds, makes Dan Quayle look great
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2009 9:55
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#10
Besoeker -- this Bidenesque description cuts me to the core -- I know regular joes, I am a regular joe, and Biden ain't no regular joe.
As for the topic at hand, ie: riots in Iran, I say burn baby burn.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/14/2009 11:30
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#11
Sarcasm Joe, purley sarcasm. I failed to label it as such. My bad.
#12
He's gotten so soft lately he probably thinks The Daily Show is a legit news program.
I'm not sure that Jon Stewart isn't more evenhanded than Katie Couric.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/14/2009 14:31
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#13
Finding twitters like this, all within the last 30 minutes. Shots heard in west and north Tehran, baseej out in full force, just saw dozens of them on Vali-e Asr, wielding batons.
Things R getting much hotter than the past couple of days. More people joining protests & strikes screaming on roofs" 1 minute ago
NEWS: Rasht, glass splinters on the streets, riot police not hesitating to beat men, women and even kids 11 minutes ago Rasht is north of Tehran, close to Caspian Sea.
some anti riot forces are speaking in Arabic! apparently imported from Lebanon .. and other reports that Hezbollah being sighted.
[T]hrough the guardianship [Velayat] that I have from the holy lawgiver [the Prophet], I hereby pronounce Bazargan as the Ruler, and since I have appointed him, he must be obeyed. The nation must obey him. This is not an ordinary government. It is a government based on the sharia. Opposing this government means opposing the sharia of Islam ... Revolt against God's government is a revolt against God. Revolt against God is blasphemy.
Ayatollah Khomeini February 1979
I saw this Khomeini quote on Daily Pundit today.
It's probably something like the Founding Statement of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran does not even pretend to be a democracy, it's a Sharia theocracy, by its own admission.
Why the surprise among the commentariat (especially the "experts on Iran")?
# The raid of NBC comes after ABC's cameras and tapes were taken yesterday. ABC reporting via cell phone. about 1 hour ago from web
# NBC offices in Tehran raided, cameras and Equipment confiscated. BBC told to get out Iran immediately. Cell/internet shut down #iranelection about 1 hour ago from web
# RT @reyhani: Iran's military has issued a statement to Revolutionary Guard, it will NOT get involved against Iranians. #iranelection 10 minutes ago from web
#20
These theocratic crazies are going to take the country to the brink and maybe beyond to fulfill some religious apocalyptic notion. The people in Iran must sense that. They also sense theirs votes don't mean anything in a rigged election.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2009 16:33
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#24
Meh.
Let's assume, for the moment, that the "protesters" (whoever they are) manage to overthrow the government and execute Ahmadawhatever. What next? Do they have any actual ideology, or plan, or ideas? Or is it some sort of Tiananmen-style "we have no idea what we're doing but we're against you" stink-up?
#25
gromky -- I think that has been the problem all along -- there doesn't seem to be that person to step up -- folks I've read have indicated it isn't Mousavi -- although, he may be the only one right now.
Maybe his wife! An interview she did with VoA, being replayed right now --
(read from the bottom up)
# NEWS: The correct votes were 19,7M Mousavi, Karoubi 7M, Rezaei 3M, Ahmadinejad 7-8M less than a minute ago from Seesmic Desktop
# NEWS: Mousavi got a phone call from election dept. at 1am on election night, they told him "You won, prepare your victory speech"2 minutes ago from Seesmic Desktop
# I am listening and writing down all the news, plz stay tuned... #iranelection 9 minutes ago from Seesmic Desktop
# NEWS: Alireza Noorizadeh from VoA has some crazy info.. very trustworthy source #iranelection 11 minutes ago from Seesmic Desktop
# Ppl this is some serious insider news, VERY trustworthy, so it doesn't need confirmation #iranelection 1 minute ago from Seesmic Desktop
# NEWS All three of them, Mousavi, Karoubi and Rezai got the same numbers from the election dept. that night #iranelection 3 minutes ago from Seesmic Desktop
Reading items like the piece you excerpted from the New Republic reminds me of the strategic opportunities that Obama has squandered by demonizing Bush and the Iraq war for years.
Imagine how powerful it would be for Obama (or, more likely, a surrogate) to be able to stand up and say to the Iranian protesters, Under the USA, your neighbor Iraq held free and fair elections. The government of Iran went out of its way to demonize the US and undermine those elections. We are now seeing the results of that mindset come home to Iran as you are denied a voice by your government in your own elections. The US government stands behind all who seek free and fair elections.
Of course, he cant say that with any legitimacy because he has spent years putting down Bush and Iraq. This is a classic example of why partisan bickering needs to be toned down; it hamstrings the new Administration. So frustrating to watch.
#30
Here's 2:44 of Iran -- Riot Control Officers surrounded they were two , both captured and beaten , the other one had lost conciousness and this one gave up
Those guys got out of that situation really good, in other locales, they would have been stomped to death or burned alive (heck, even in France, Youths would do just that, or short of it, to any caught riot cop), here, one of them is apparently protected by some fellows and given water.
#31
Eventually, someone will do something stupid, and there will be outright war. One of the worst things that DinnerJacket can do is to attack a ship in the Persian Gulf. If the Iranians actually SANK a ship, especially an American ship, we would HAVE to respond, whether Obambi wanted to or not. Otherwise, the entire world will ignite. I'm not sure who - or how many - would survive.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/14/2009 17:39
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#32
ION WAFF > VIDEO: SOUTH AZERBAIJANIS ROCKING IRAN, WANTIING THEIR FREEDOM.
#33
ALso on WAFF > PAYVAND NEWS SURVEY [Pie chart]: THIS IS WHAT IRAN WILL LOK LIKE IN 50 YEARS.
To wit, IRAN CIRCA 2050 OR AFTER WILL BE
*40% Muslim
*40% No Religion = Secularist, Atheist. Religio "Moderate/Tolerant"
* 20% Non-Muslim = ALL OTHER FAITHS.
** SAME > THE CLEANSING OF GREECE HAS BEGUN [Govt. Officios promise ROUTINE/DAILY, HEAVY-HANDED CRACKDOWN agz ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS]???
#35
The key here is the Kurds, Abzerjanis and SW Arabs. If they are rioting (and there is little access to them), then the regime may fall, especially if the Mullahs are stupid enough to use Arab Baseej (Alewites from Syria and Lebanon) in Farsi areas like Tehran.
#38
The people have spoken! Turn cell phone and State Run Media towers back up to full power please. The appointment and re-appointment of cabinent Zsars, ambassadors, and postings of other campaign contributors can now begin anew.
#39
That's why I've trying to move my Country away from these silly elections!
Another Yankee curse!
Posted by: Hugo ||
06/15/2009 12:03
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#40
Sherry__ your posts remind me of the Phillipine elections years ago when Marcos tried to steal the vote. It took the IT vote tabulators leaving their offices en masse in protest of announced results that didn't match what they actually saw to finally topple the regime.
#41
No, it took an attempted military coup that the rest of the military then declined to put down in the face of millions in the streets. When the dictator saw that he had lost military support he fled.
The vote-tabulators walkout may have helped swing the US government (Sen Lugar in particular) decisively against Marcos though; the US did have a substantial effect on encouraging the coup and the non-response of the military.
ISLAMABAD: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called President Asif Zardari on Sunday and conveyed the support of his government to Pakistan in the war against the Taliban.
There's nothing like a vote of support from a foreign head of state who himself is on his way out ...
During the telephonic conversation, the two leaders discussed how Britain could help Pakistan in the war against terrorism and extremism. The measures to ensure the safe return and rehabilitation of internally displaced persons also came under discussion.
The president spoke to Brown about ways to achieve increased market access for Pakistani goods in the European Union market.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy address on Sunday evening was met with mixed responses from across the political spectrum. Both Israeli Arab and nationalist political leaders blasted the speech as political spin, while President Shimon Peres praised it as "strengthening Israel's international position and opening the door to direct peace negotiations."
"The Prime Minister's speech was a true and courageous speech that referred to the main issue - the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel, the state of the Jewish People," said Peres. "These remarks, which were enunciated in a clear voice, are very important regarding the strengthening of stability in the Middle East and constitute an opening of direct negotiations towards both a regional peace and a bilateral peace between Israel and the Palestinians."
MK Aryeh Eldad, of the National Religious Party, accused Netanyahu of violating his own promises and said the nationalist camp could no longer support his policies. "Today the prime minister lost the leadership of the nationalist camp by not only transgressing his own red lines, but by converting from his own religion," said Eldad of Netanyahu's declaration that he would accept the creation of a Palestinian state so long as the international community could guarantee it remain demilitarized.
I think he has to say that but a close look at Bibi's speech reveals nothing more than a lot of window-dressing and eyewash ...
"With the expression 'demilitarized Palestinian state,' Netanyahu is trying to eat a pig butchered in a kosher way," he added. "There is no such thing as a demilitarized state, Netanyahu knows very well that no political force on earth can prevent a country from arming itself or signing military treaties like any other country."
MK Zevulun Orlev, of the Jewish Home party, said that the policy represented a drastic change in stance and was an affront to the coalition agreement. "Netanyahu offered lip service by agreeing to a demilitarized Palestinian state, thus disappointing most of his coalition partners," he said. "Netanyahu's speech requires a serious coalition discussion to ensure that the democratic resolution as it was manifested in the elections will be represented in the government's policy."
Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi said that the address was full of contradictory policy, and essentially a "ploy" to close the rift growing between Netanyahu's government and the Obama administration.
"Netanyahu's mountain turned into a mole hill," said Tibi. "The speech manifests an intellectual fixation which sees a non-sovereign Palestinian state together with continued settlement construction. I hope that the White House will blow the cover from Bibi's [Netanyahu's] public relations ploy. The PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] doesn't need to, and never will, recognize Israel as a Jewish state."
MKs from the opposition Kadima party, however, said that the speech represented a long-awaited step toward regional peace. "Today the prime minister recognized the interest of the Israeli-Jewish interest which is the immediate talks geared toward the creation of a Palestinian state," said MK Otniel Schneller. Kadima must, as a responsible party which believes in the people's unity and wellbeing, support the practical steps toward realizing the prime minister's peace plan."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat welcomes Netanyahu's remarks on Jerusalem, particularly his vow "to strengthen and develop united Jerusalem." Barkat said he would continue to work with the prime minister to "change the negative trends of Israel's capital city."
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HERAT: Taliban fighters have no choice but to hide among civilians while they fight foreign troops in Afghanistan, and accept that members of their family may become victims of their holy war, a Taliban commander said on Sunday.
O brave, brave Lions of Islam!
Mullah Mahmoud, a Taliban commander in the Golestan district of Afghanistan's Farah province, which borders Iran, also said most Taliban fighters in Afghanistan were foreigners. He said 60 percent were from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's Punjab province and other countries.
I wonder how many claim to have fought the infidel in Iraq. I wonder what small percentage of the claimants actually did, given how very many got themselves killed in the honey-baited trap that Iraq became...
There's always a certain percentage who say they went to fight the infidels in the caves of Afghanistan but instead remained in the flesh-pots of Karachi ...
US and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan have accused Taliban insurgents of hiding in Afghan homes in a deliberate attempt to increase the number of civilian casualties caused by air strikes by foreign forces.
"When the Taliban are part of a community and live amongst the people, when the Americans arrive, they have to go the house where their brother is, where their family is ... so when [the Americans] come to our house to kill us, they will kill our families too," Mahmoud told Reuters in a telephone interview.
A teacher during the time of the Taliban government, Mahmoud said he joined the austere Sunni movement six years ago. "I was a teacher, I worked. During the Taliban [government], they even shot me in the shoulder but after the Afghan government was installed I was compelled to join the Taliban because of its treatment of the people," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
He said 60 percent were from Saudi Arabia
Common theme here between Saudi funding/Education and the mess Pakistan is in with their Saudi funded Madrasses!When will Barry confront the Saudis who are behind all the problems in Pakistan and beyond!
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Sunday agreed to end political arrests between one another during conciliation meetings held in the West Bank and Gaza.
Fatah senior official Ibrahim Abul Naja during a joint press conference with Hamas official Ayman Taha, said that the two factions have also decided to exchange lists of arrested members in preparation for their release, as well as putting a stop to conflicting media campaigns against one another.
Conciliation committees from both factions will hold constant meetings to end the state of division and create the components of comprehensive national dialogue under Egypt's vision, in preparation for the signature of an agreement at the end of July, he noted.
On his part, Hamas' Taha reiterated that the Gaza and Ramallah meetings come under the framework of ending the state of division in preparation for the conciliation agreement.
ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan ordered its army to go after the country's top Taliban commander, a feared militant whose remote stronghold could prove a difficult test for troops but whose demise would be a major blow to the insurgencies here and in Afghanistan.
Bring out the drums! A tribal lashkar awaits!
The announcement Sunday of the operation in South Waziristan, rumored for weeks, came hours after a suspected U.S. missile strike killed five alleged militants there. The move will likely please Washington, which considers the tribal region a particularly troublesome hide-out for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters implicated in attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Owais Ghani, the governor of North West Frontier Province, told reporters in Islamabad late Sunday that the government felt it had no choice but to resort to force against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network. Past army action in the region had usually faltered or ended in truces, strengthening the militants.
"Baitullah Mehsud is the root cause of all evils," Ghani said, noting a slew of suicide bombings that have shaken Pakistan in recent days. "The government has decided that to secure the innocent citizens from terrorists, a meaningful, durable and complete action is to be taken."
Ghani suggested the operation has already begun, though the military has insisted its recent attacks on militants in South Waziristan were retaliatory, not the launch of a new offensive. Two intelligence officials said the army and Taliban were fighting in the Spinkai Raghzai area of South Waziristan as the governor made the announcement.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press late Sunday: "The government has made the announcement. We will give a comment after evaluating the orders."
Mehsud is believed to pose a serious internal threat to the Pakistani government, and has been blamed for the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, though he has denied that accusation. The Taliban chief also has been linked to bombings on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
In many ways, a full-scale battle in South Waziristan will be a harder fight than in Swat, where the army claims to have killed hundreds of militants over the past six weeks. One reason is that the tribal region's porous border with Afghanistan could make it easier for militants to escape to the other side. Because of the tribal belt's semiautonomous nature, the government has long had limited influence, allowing militants to become deeply entrenched.
Pakistan's decision comes as public opinion has shifted against the Taliban, who have been blamed or have claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks in recent weeks, including one that killed a prominent anti-Taliban cleric and another that devastated a luxury hotel in Peshawar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
Jeez. Just tell US where he is, and a Predator will be on its way shortly. BTW, don't tell him its on the way.
#4
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > FM QURESHI: TALIBAN COULD SPREAD TO INDIA AND THE GULF IFF AID NOT GIVEN TO PAKISTAN/ REQUESTS US$2.5BILYUHN IN AID FOR PAKI NWFP ALONE.
* SAME > THE NEWS.PK = AFGHAN MIGRANTS IN HUNGER STRIKE IN INDONESIA [want asylum in AUSTRALIA = OZ-LAND].
On this day in history: June 15th.
1389 Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
1752 Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity.
1775 George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
1844 Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
1864 Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
1911 Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) is incorporated.
1916 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
1955 The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual "Operation Alert" (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA's preparations for a nuclear attack.
Amid continuing tension in the Iranian capital over Friday's elections, Iran's Ministry of Information on Sunday ordered the satellite television news channel al-Arabiya to close its Tehran bureau for a week, the channel reported.
Al-Arabiya is one of the good guys overall. They do some stupid things sometimes but they're willing to go places no one in the West can go to gather news.
Diya al-Nasseri, the network's Tehran correspondent, announced the ministry's decision on air on Sunday afternoon. He said authorities declined to give any justification for the order, but added that it had come after hours of negotiations over an al-Arabiya report the ministry wanted to see changed.
Shortly after al-Nasseri made his announcement on air, authorities called him again, Nabil Khatib, executive news manager at the channel said in comments published on al-Arabiya website. "Our correspondent just got a call after we announced the news inviting him for a meeting at the ministry tomorrow to discuss the situation. Until then he's banned from doing any work," Khatib said.
"Al-Arabiya is worried about being banned from the chance to cover an important country like Iran during an important event like the elections and afterwards without explaining the reason behind that decision," he said.
Later in the day, the station ran footage from Iranian state television of a Tehran rally in support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Footage of the president's press conference aired on the channel Sunday afternoon was from a feed, a journalist at the station's headquarters in Dubai said.
Alongside the Qatari network al-Jazeera, the Dubai-based network is one of the two leading satellite news channels in the Middle East.
The bureau's closure came as police confirmed the arrest of 50 demonstrators and 10 "organizers" following clashes between riot police and supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi on Saturday night. In remarks carried by Iran's official IRNA news agency, deputy police chief Ahmed Radan said more arrests would follow.
Photographs and videos from Tehran showed police beating protesters on Saturday, but a news embargo in the local media made details difficult to come by.
The demonstrators were protesting what they said were fraudulent results from Friday's presidential elections, which showed a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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#1
al-Arabiya has a lot of Saudi money behind it and well as money from the Hariri family (Yes that one).
Like al Jazeera, their controlling studio is in Dubai. Prior to about 2008 or so, al Arabiya was less friendly to terrorist spokesmen than al Jazeera, and in fact, al Jazeera employees had been assisting al Queda. Since that time al Jazeera has been steadily becoming less friendly to terrorists.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/15/2009 8:33
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The Palestinian Authority on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly anticipated foreign policy speech, in which he called for immediate peace talks and endorsed the creation of Palestinian state without military capabilities.
An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the speech "sabotages" regional peace efforts, due to Netanyahu's refusal to accept an influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel and his unwillingness to compromise on the status of Jerusalem. "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions," said Nabil Abu Rudeinah.
And who would know more about sabotage than the Paleos?
He noted Netanyahu's demand that Jerusalem be the undivided capital of Israel and that Palestinian refugees not be allowed into Israel: "This will not lead to complete and just peace," Abu Rudeinah said. "His remarks are not enough and will not lead to a solution."
He described Netanyahu's setting of a condition of demilitarization as a condition for Israel agreeing to a Palestinian state as "detail".
"Our main demand is the end of the occupation and finding a fair solution for Palestinian refugees and halting settlements," Abu Rudeinah said. "Other details should be resolved in negotiations."
A 'fair solution' to the 'refugees', in Paleo terms, is the "right-to-return", which Israel will never accept. Try again boys ...
A senior Palestinian negotiator called on U.S. President Barack Obama to intervene to force Israel to abide by previous interim agreements that include freezing settlement activity in the West Bank. The alternative, he said, was violence. "President Obama, the ball is in your court tonight," Erekat said. "You have the choice tonight. You can treat Netanyahu as a prime minister above the law and ... close off the path of peace tonight and set the whole region on the path of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodletting.
"The alternative is to make Netanyahu abide by the road map," he said, referring to a U.S.-sponsored document under which Israel agreed to freeze settlement activity and Palestinians agreed to rein in militants hostile to Israel.
"The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise," negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back."
As opposed to what old Yassar did to the Oslo accords ...
Erekat said that Netanyahu had "unilaterally ended the negotiations" and took the possibility of peace talks off the table.
"[Netanyahu] spoke about a Palestinian state, [but only] after he removed from it the issue of Jerusalem, placed the issue of refugees outside negotiations, placed security outside negotiations when he spoke about a demilitarized Palestinian state," he said.
Erekat also said that there was no chance of Palestinian ever approving Netanyahu's vision for their state. "He will have to wait 1,000 years before he finds one Palestinian who will go along with him with this feeble state," said Erekat.
Erekat, one of the senior negotiators on Abbas's team, said Palestinians needed to overcome the differences that have seen Hamas Islamists opposed to both Abbas and to interim accords reached with Israel seize control of the Gaza Strip.
Hours before Netanyahu's address, Palestinian officials said that a "yes or no" decision faces the Israeli leader regarding Middle East peace. "What's required from Mr Netanyahu is a yes or a no - two states, accept agreements signed and to stop settlement activities including natural growth," Erekat had said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, himself at loggerheads with Hamas, has said talks with Israel cannot resume until Netanyahu halts settlement and accepts a two-state solution.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas representatives vehemently rejected Netanyahu's address. "In his speech, he ... erased the Palestinian refugees' right of return," said senior Hamas leader Ismail Radwan, adding that the prime minister also did not "recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the independent Palestinian state."
Radwan rejected Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel's Jewish character. "His speech is a slap in the face of all those who have opted for the choice of negotiations with Israel," he added. "What needs to be done immediately is to sever all ties with Israel."
The Hamas movement rejects a two-state solution to the conflict withIsrael and opposes negotiations with Israel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Sabotaging negotiations is *our* gig! Find another street corner, Bibi!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/15/2009 13:26
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#2
How about he is looking after national interests?--what leaders are supposed to do.
They've been doing it for a while but WaPo now has noticed ...
TOKYO, June 13 -- North Korea adamantly denied for seven years that it had a program for making nuclear weapons from enriched uranium. But on Saturday, a few hours after the U.N. Security Council slapped it with tough new sanctions for detonating a second nuclear device, the government of Kim Jong Il changed its tune, vowing that it would start enriching uranium to make more nuclear weapons.
They've been doing it on the sly. This isn't news.
Declaring that it would meet sanctions with "retaliation," North Korea also pledged to "weaponize" all the plutonium it could extract from used fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear plant, which was partially disabled last year as part of the North's agreement to win food, fuel and diplomatic concessions in return for a promise to end its nuclear program.
That agreement collapsed in April, when North Korea -- fuming about Security Council condemnation of its March launch of a long-range missile -- kicked U.N. weapons inspectors out of the country and began work to restart its plutonium factory. It tested a second bomb on May 25, and South Korean officials have said more missile launches and a third nuclear test are possible in the near future.
The security in a Pakistani eastern city was given red alert Sunday night amid intelligence reports of a Tajik suicide bomber, said police.
After authorities received that a Tajik suicide bomber has entered in city of Lahore, capital of eastern Punjab province, and was planning to attack some crowded place, security was beefed up, police sources told KUNA.
Journalists from Lahore told this correspondent that all busy and crowded bazaars of Lahore, which remain open throughout the night, were immediately closed and heavy police deployment was made at all entry and exit points of the city.
The latest development came a day after anti-Taliban Allama Sarfraz Naqvi was killed in a suicide attack.
Galrahn at Information Dissemination has some interesting thoughts on the issue of the Chinese sub hitting the towed array of the USS John McCain. Worth the read.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC US AND VIETNAM TO BEGIN "POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SECURITY DIALOGUES". US MILITARY [USAF]WILL RETURN TO VIETNAM TO HELP THE VIETNAMESE [read, agz CHINA]???
* SAME > CHIN WILL PURCHASE RUSSIAN "BACKFIRE" BOMBERS FOR BASING ON HAINAN ISLAND. CHIN "BACKFIRES" MAY USE NUCLEAR-ARMED LR ANTI-CARRIER CRUISE MISSLES FOR WARTIME USE AGZ THE US NAVY CARRIER AND US FORCES ON/NEAR TAIWAN, THE PHILIPPINES, AND CHINA SEAS???
#2
just like the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) was hunting the submarine, the submarine was hunting the destroyer.
Or it could be (as one commenter there noted) that the submarine was attempting to snag the towed array and recover it for study. The Soviets had done that.
Galrahn has an okay website and lots of information/traffic. Most times, tho, he reads too much into things (or uses them to prop up his pet theories).
Vice President Joe Biden says the United States is committed to enforcing enhanced U.N. sanctions against North Korea, despite defiant statements from Pyongyang. North Korea says new U.N. sanctions could bring about war on the Korean peninsula and will not slow its nuclear program.
Um, yeah, sure Joe, now back to the Naval Observatory with yez ...
Appearing on NBC's "Meet The Press" program, Vice President Biden pledged enforcement of the sanctions, which include financial penalties and authorize searches of North Korean ships suspected of carrying nuclear materials or ballistic missile components.
"We are going to enforce the UN resolution," said Biden. "North Korea is a very destabilizing element in East Asia. Everyone now realizes that. The Chinese realize it. The Russians realize it. They have gone further than they have ever gone in joining us on real sanctions against North Korea. And it is important we make sure those sanctions stick [are enforced]."
"The Chinese realize it." AND APPROVE!
Asked about North Korean threats, Biden observed that, as he put it, "They say a lot of things." The vice president professed bafflement on what President Kim Jong Il hopes to achieve in the latest standoff with the international community.
"God only knows what he wants," said Biden.
God knows and so do we: keep power long as possible and then hand things over to his son.
"There are all kinds of discussions, whether this is about succession - [President Kim] wanting his son to succeed him, and whether or not he is looking for respect, whether or not he really wants a nuclear capability to threaten the region. We cannot guess his motives. We just have to deal with the reality: that a North Korea that is proliferating weapons and missiles is a serious threat and danger to the world."
Tuesday, President Barack Obama is to meet with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak. President Lee has urged a stronger, more coordinated front with the five governments that have engaged Pyongyang in talks since 2003.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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I'm sure that on a good day Biden can identify North Korea on a map three out of four times.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/15/2009 19:41
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"no, Mr. Vice President. That's Greenland"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2009 20:04
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NEW YORK (AP) - Another Obama relative has a book deal. A memoir by George Obama, the president's half brother and a resident of Huruma, Kenya, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling, although George and Barack Obama--20 years apart in age--did not grow up together and did not meet as children.
George is the youngest of the senior Obama's seven children and was born six months before his father died.
Little is known about George Obama. The book, tentatively titled "Homeland" and to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama's fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing--a passion shared by the president--and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.
"Even had George Obama not been our President's half brother, his story is moving and inspirational," David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement Sunday. "It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage."
Financial terms were not disclosed, but an official with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal was worth six figures. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the contract, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Other Obama relatives are working on books, including a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng; and the brother of first lady Michelle Obama, Craig Robinson. Duke University Press is releasing the doctoral dissertation of the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995.
Barack Obama has written a pair of million-selling books, "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father," in which he describes George Obama as "a handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze."
#2
Is George going to turn out to be The O's Billy Carter?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2009 7:10
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How many of us would not help out a relative if we had the means? There has got to be some extra rooms in the White House. La Familia, Senior Presidente, La Familia
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declined Sunday to guarantee the safety of his defeated rival Mir Hossein Moussavi in response to a question from CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
"There is rule of law in this country and all the people are equal before the law," Ahmadinejad said when Amanpour asked if he would guarantee Moussavi's safety. She also asked why opposition leaders had been arrested.
"In a soccer match, people may become excited and there may be confrontation between the people and the police force. People who violate traffic regulations will be fined by the police no matter who he is. These are not problems," Ahmadinejad said.
When Amanpour asked a second time if Ahmadinejad would guarantee Moussavi's safety, he said he had already answered the question.
Moussavi's a deader, it's just a question of when ...
There were conflicting reports on whether Moussavi had been placed under house arrest. Some reports indicated that he had been detained. Others said he was at home, conducting meetings but was free to come and go. Guards were stationed outside his house, but it was not immediately clear whether they worked for him or the government.
Analysts had expected Moussavi, a former prime minister who is regarded as a reformist, to defeat Ahmadinejad. Moussavi is credited for successfully navigating the Iranian economy during a bloody eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s. And he enjoyed tremendous support among the youth. Iran's population has a median age of 27.
When the ballots were counted, the government declared Ahmadinejad the winner -- with 62.63 percent of the vote. Moussavi received 33.75 percent. Moussavi disputed the results, blaming "untrustworthy monitors." Independent election observers were banned from polling places.
"The results announced for the 10th presidential elections are astonishing," he said in a statement. "People who stood in long lines and knew well who they voted for were utterly surprised by the magicians working at the television and radio broadcasting."
Angered by the returns, Moussavi's supporters took to the streets Saturday. With handkerchiefs and surgical masks shielding them from the pungency of tear gas, they clashed openly with police in a rare challenge to the regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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There is rule of law in this country and all the people are equal before the law
Wall Street Journal report; it's much as other articles in the news but does provide some on-site descriptions. I'm just posting the protest details here.
The violence in the streets ratcheted up the stakes in the most contentious election since the founding of the Islamic republic 30 years ago. Prolonged strife or a political standoff would heighten the uncertainty hanging over a country that is one of the world's biggest oil producers and Washington's main irritant in the volatile Middle East.
As night descended on Tehran Saturday, supporters of main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed with anti-riot police and plain-clothed militia. The city resembled a military zone as thousands of Special Forces units and anti-riot police stormed streets waving their electric batons and hitting rioters and onlookers.
So far no news on whether people in other Iranian cities are also protesting. If not, this is going to be short-lived.
Military cars blocked large swaths of main throughways and instead of traffic police, the para-military Basijis--trained volunteers in plain-clothes--were directing traffic. Vali Asr, the long Tehran avenue where Mousavi supporters last week formed a giant human chain during presidential campaigning, was covered in smoldered black ash--from burnt campaign posters that had been ripped from walls--and shattered glass. Dark smoke hung in the air from garbage dumpsters that were set ablaze on many streets.
On Motahari Avenue, one of the major streets in central Tehran, three public buses were set afire by demonstrators. Syamak Izadi, 62 years old, said he was riding on the bus in central Tehran when a group of men, dressed in Mr. Mousavi's trademark green, stopped the bus and told passengers to get off. They then doused it with gasoline and set it afire, he said.
Protestors played cat and mouse with the police. They gathered on corners throwing their fists in the air, then ran away when riot police descended. On Hafteh Tir square, several hundred people, including men and women, young and old, marched blocking traffic shouting "God is Great" and asking the public to join them. People gathered on pedestrian bridges and encouraged the protestors while drivers honked their horns.
There was unconfirmed shooting reported in northern Tehran with reports of one woman injured from stray bullets.
"The results are not acceptable to us, Mousavi needs to lead the crowd and depose this government," said a 37-year-old biologist who gave his name only as Kasra.
Shouts of "Allah o Akbar" rocked Tehran, reminiscent of the revolution where residents take to their rooftops and shout God is Great in order to show their protest.
Mobile phone service was suspended across the capital. BBC's Persian language service, which many Iranians listen to for news, was jammed. Social networking site Facebook, used by Mr. Mousavi's young supporters to organize, was blocked. On Vali Asr, a pedestrian bridge was set ablaze near Mellat Park.
Supporters of Mr. Mousavi had begun gathering outside the interior ministry and outside his campaign headquarter in central Tehran early in the morning. At that time, uniformed police and plain-clothes security officials broke up groups of protesters, chasing some away from the buildings.
At one point, groups of supporters near Mr. Mousavi's headquarters shouted "death to the dictator," a chant borrowed from the Iranian revolution. Security forces responded by bludgeoning several with batons.
Several journalists were beaten badly, and a female protester was beaten unconscious by uniformed police. As the police battled the protesters, demonstrators and onlookers from windows and from the sides of the streets shouted, "security forces, shame on you."
"Is this democracy?" said Ali Reza, a 30-year-old Mousavi campaign worker, whose eyes were red from tear gas and his white pants torn and bloodied. "We don't have any power to fight these people, but what they are doing is unfair," he said.
Security forces also used pepper spray and tear gas against workers inside the campaign headquarters, throwing canisters through the front door.
Most shopkeepers had closed their stores along the street. But several also opened their doors to provide refuge to protesters. At a traditional Persian restaurant, security forces knocked down the front door, and dragged out dozens of young men and women.
Iranian universities--in the middle of final exams--suspended classes for a week as of today, students said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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No news out of the Kurdish, Azeri, Arab, Baluchi, Turkmen regions.
The Iranian (Persian) nightmare scenario is to lose control simultaneously in these regions which surround the Persian heartland.
#2
The problem is that these people continue to have faith in a method of change that is inapplicable to their enemies. They look at the peaceful resistance methods of Ghandi and King and think that they are magic wands applicable to all peoople, not realizing that those methods were carefully adapted to trigger change processes built into Western culture by Judaeo/Christianity, and thus do not work in Muslim or Communistic contexts explicitly designed without those influences.
#3
Iran has a young population that doesn't remember life before the '79 revolution but they are tech savvy. Dinnerjacket cut off the news media and Facebook so Twitter became the means of communication. Too bad they didn't have a real choice in the elections or they might have overthrown the mullahtocracy.
#4
I have seen reports in standard MSM sources of disturbances in Resht (a Caspian sea resort) and in Shiraz, on Sunday. It has definitely spread beyond Teheran, but not clear how big those protests are, as MSM has no people (AFAIK) outside Teheran and seems to be relying on phone interviews. Nothing about the Azeri region, that I know of (recall many Azeris live in Teheran, and they are generally more assimilated and more pro-regime than their ethnic cousins in NW Iran)
All in all, this is a great time. Even if this is not THE revolution, it rips the mask off the Khameni-Ahmadinajid-Rev Guards regime.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 11:07
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Last news is that more than a million people have gathered to protest in Tehran.
Reminds me of Leipzig 1989. This could be big.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/15/2009 11:07
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Ptah - clearly some Iranians are quite open to non-Gandhian means, as shown by the videos of rock throwing students, burning cars, and, IIUC, molotov cocktails. Of course the conventional narrative of the history of India leaves out a lot of history of non-Gandhian tactics as well. It was far more violent than you would know watching the Attenboro film.
It is not at all clear to me that using massive violence on the protestors wont have serious costs for the regime. Both in further alienating fence sitters in the population, and in embarassing the regimes friends in the arab world. Even if you discount that, alienating the regimes sympathizers in the West would still be no small thing.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 11:12
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The important thing about the million is that people feel their power.
You can't gun down a million. When I saw a million people demonstrating in Leipzig against the Communist regime they feared weeks ago, I knew this was over.
If the mullah do not get this under control very soon they could face a real revolution.
If Khamenei faces a Mussolini fate that of course would be the max
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/15/2009 11:14
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See how powerful my words are?
Another victory for Marxism me!
Posted by: The One ||
06/15/2009 12:14
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#9
AP:
One of Mousavi's Web sites said a student protester was killed early Monday in clashes with plainclothes hard-liners in Shiraz, southern Iran. But there was no independent confirmation of the report. There also have been unconfirmed reports of unrest in other cities.
Most media are not allowed to travel beyond Tehran and thus can not independently confirm protests in other cities.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 13:10
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You don't need to gun down a million. A million can be dispersed with enough tear gas & rubber bullets. Then you just need to gun down a couple thousand. The recent Burmese illustration suggests that about eight thousand bodies will break any non-military uprising.
This comes to nothing unless military units mutiny.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/15/2009 13:13
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Size of course. A million protestors in Iran is a lot more than a million in China, proportionately.
stability of the regime. Not only had china been ruled by the CCP for 40 years, but in 1989 had it little in the way of civil society. Iran has some non gov political organizations. Much more widespread comm technology.
Regional goals. China in 1989 did not care about its regional influence. Today it exercises influence based purely on its economic clout. Iran, OTOH, has since the Islamists came to power attempted to influence the region using its ideological appeal to disaffected muslim, sunnis as well as Shias.
In China in 89, such divisions within the regime as there were hushed up. The elite feared disorder, based on their exp of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. In Iran, apparently elements of the regime are quite willing to use the street against their own enemies IE the Khameni-Ahmadinajad-IRGC factions against the Rafsanjani-Moussavi faction. The actual antiregime reformers on the streets are a third force - they are trying to use Raf-Moussav while Raf-Mousav are trying to use them.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 15:05
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#15
thank you Steve, you are most gracious. expect me here only occasionaly. This is an example of the kind of time when I most want to be here.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 15:06
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"The actual antiregime reformers on the streets are a third force - they are trying to use Raf-Moussav while Raf-Mousav are trying to use them."
This is a critical point.
What is missing is how we are using the factions and recent developments to achieve our own goals. Iran has factions and internal contradictions to how it is structured and how it operates economically. Our desired end state should be an Iran (or what is left of it when we are done) that:
a) does not threaten freedom of navigation in the Gulf
b) is not aggressive towards its neighbors (this includes supporting terrorism and proxies, not just nukes).
c)Ideally they also become an ally contributing to real peace and stability in which the US is the balancing force between Arab and Persian and Sunni and Shia blocs in the region as well as a bulwark against Russia's ambitions.
We badly want to avoid war, which might help us reach a and b (at high cost and risk) but would come at the cost of c. So we have been patient in dealing with the corrupt mullarchy even as they have fanned the flames of conflict in Lebanon and vs. Israel and killed Americans in Iraq. We hope somehow the regime will reform as younger Iranians and different ethnic groups demand more liberty and less corruption as well as better relations with the west.
This election 'crisis' is probably our last best opportunity for this to happen so we can avoid war. We should be supporting opposition groups materially (and covertly, so maybe it is happening), conducting info and psyops, calling BS in the UN and other fora, asking for international observers, open communications, etc.
Despite my initial hope that the President's Cairo speech was part of an initiative to re-set things in Iran ahead of the 'elections', it appears that our policy is to consider events there an internal matter between the secret police and the voters. Although this policy is more likely to lead to war down the road, it is proudly referred to as 'realism' by the Obama administration which has reversed our evil neocon democracy speading regime changing Bush policy so that people will stop hating us.
I liked it better when we helped -- to the extent -- possible folks taking to the streets to demand liberty to the extent possible. We don't appear to be lifting a finger.
Big irony here. Obama admin seems nervous that ANY US support for the protestors would taint the protestors. BUT the very presence of BHO in the WH, arguably, should go a long way to "untainting" that support, compared to the situation under W. Is BHO being SO realist, he is underestimating his own impact on the perception of the US? I am not sure myself. I dont know if the admin has thought this out, or if they have, have done so clearheadedly.
It seems to me this is NOT what they expected. What they expected and hoped for was a clean Mousavi win, which would have enabled them to start their engagement campaign with the Raf-Moussav faction, without the costs and difficulties of dealing with dinnerjacket. The other situation they were prepared for was a clean dinnerjacket win, which would have meant the pain of dealing with dinnerjacket, but they at least had a course to follow.
This OTOH, I think has thrown them completely offguard, which is why it has taken them days to formulate a response (assuming that is forthcoming this evening)
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 16:03
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And taking those days, is hurting The One with the Iranian people --
I spent a goodly amount of time yesterday (too hot in Texas to do anything) reading the Tweeters coming out of Iran -- lots and lots and lots and lots of comments like "Obama where are you? Obama, help us... we love you.... Obama, we need you..."
And like Doc Steve, good to see you back Liberal Hawk.
#19
The mullahs know that they can't alienate the well educated urban class. Actually they had certain freedoms (look at the headscarves), their life's not too bad.
If they get disillusioned they will vote with their feet and the mullahs can't stop them.
Dinnerjacket is expendable
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/15/2009 16:23
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#20
EC
They certainly are counting on the scientists and engineers to build them their atom bomb, among other things.
I am not sure Dinnerjacket is expendable though - 4 years ago Khameni was more worried about the poor masses overthrowing a corrupt Rafsanjani led regime, and that is still a threat.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 16:28
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#21
I've been doing some checking around the web. Here's a link to the Times of London's weblog, showing additional links to stories coming out of Iran. Michael Totten's link also shows much of what's going on inside the country. Here is a link to the National Council of Resistance for Iran's website, with some very good articles and links.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 16:56
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#22
I agree that they probably expected a Mousavi win, maybe in a runoff and we could then use that as an excuse to improve relations. However, this was probably naive as elections there are highly suspect given the role of the Guardian counsel and how they are conducted. A 'clean' win is hard to define let alone plan for.
Stratfor said A'jad in fact won because he is trusted on key issues of corruption, piety and national security and that we're all clueless because we base our assessemnt of Iran on English speaking, pro Western Iranians.
I disagree on the fraud issue, from what I've read. But it really does not matter: we have a chance to destablize an enemy regime and help liberty seeking people by exploiting the post election crisis and we're not doing it.
I too noted that many of the protestors were begging Obama to help. Obama, in turn, seems unlikely to underestimate his mystical power to 'untaint.' I can only, therefore, conclude that a) he prefers deailing with A'jed vs. taking chance going after the regime or b) he is just not on his game as you say.
Any statements and actions by us would have to have happened already to have an impact.
LAHORE: The major military operation in Swat and other areas of Malakand division has been completed and only small, partial offensives are still being carried out, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said on Sunday.
In an interview with a private TV channel, Mukhtar said militants were losing strength and were attacking religious scholars after being cornered. He said a military operation would be conducted in any part of the country where there was a need to eliminate militancy and terrorism.
He said it was too early comment on the termination of any high-profile targets in the Swat operation. Mukhtar said some mass graves had been discovered in areas where the operation was still underway.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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When are they going after Mullah Omar in Quetta? I won't believe anything until they do that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2009 14:49
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#2
ION INDIA, BHARAT RAKSHAK > MP SEEKS INDIAN AIR FORCE BASE IN ARUNUCHAL PRADESH [ + more Govt. funding for Indian Army FOOT, PACK ANIMAL PATROLS along Indian-CHIn border.
* SAME > INDIAN ARMY AGZ PULLOUT OF TROOPS FROM IHK/KASHMIR.
#3
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > GOVT. OF BALOCHISTAN DEMANDS CONTROL OF GWADAR DEEP SEAPORT [+ cancellation of agreement wid SINGAPORE PORT AUTHORITY, + construx of 2 ea. new deep seaports at ORMARA and GADANI].
Karzai lauded the large turnout and congratulated the Iranian people "for making a decision about their destiny," according to a statement from the presidential palace.
The Afghan president said that relations between Afghanistan and its western neighbor "expanded" during Ahmadinejad's time in office and that he hoped ties would continue to strengthen.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said here Sunday that there was a Syrian-US agreement based on a roadmap for a normalization of relations in political, security and cultural domains.
Oh great, what are we giving away to this set of thugs to have 'normal' relations?
Al-Muallem was quoted by Syria News as telling the US Foreign Policy magazine that he had recently agreed with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton over a roadmap for a normalization of relations between Damascus and Washington. He said they had a similar vision based on three points, notably Iraq's stability, comprehensive Middle East peace and fight against terrorism.
He was also quoted as voicing his country's willingness to improve ties with the US, hoping that US President Barack Obama could honor his promise to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East region.
Syrian-US relations have improved since Obama took over in January 2009, with US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell having traveled to Damascus in the first visit of its kind by a senior US official since 2005.
On US-Iranian relations, the Syrian foreign minister offered that his country could act as a facilitator between Washington and Tehran.
For a big cut of whatever action there is to be had, of course ...
D'ya think Tehran or Chicago-on-teh-Potomac will notice which "cuts" get taken and when?
PESHAWAR: At least nine people were killed and 36 injured in a remote-controlled bombing in the Dera Ismail Khan district on Sunday, police and locals have said.
A police official told Daily Times by telephone that a remote-controlled bomb had been planted in a cart in the Tijarat Gunj area. He said it detonated at around 12:15pm, adding most of the deceased were civilians. The bomb was planted in a cycle-rickshaw and it was rush hour in the bazaar at the time of the blast, Syed Mohsin Shah, the district commissioner officer (DCO) of DI Khan, told AFP.
Government official Inayatullah said five to six kilogrammes of explosives were planted in a fruit vendors pushcart. Police official Muhammad Iqbal put the death toll at eight, with 20 wounded, the Associated Press reported. He claimed the attack had to be in response to the Swat operation.
At a hospital where some of the wounded were taken, wails and cries filled the air. It was crowded there when something big exploded, said 30-year-old Ilyas Ahmad, whose legs were wounded. It was a big noise. Everybody was crying. Bodies were lying there. People were lying around in blood.
A total of seven shops were destroyed as a result of the blast. A police official confirmed that two of the deceased were Afghans. The DCO told APP that one suspect had been arrested from the site of the explosion.
Meanwhile, sources told Daily Times the blast occurred in the Landa Bazaar area. They said a local had seen a man parking the pushcart and had tried to stop him but the bomb had exploded, killing both of them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened a meeting of security-related ministers on Sunday to review contingency plans in case of a North Korean provocation during his upcoming trip to the United States, Lee's aides said.
The meeting came a day after the North issued a verbal threat to take military action against any U.S.-led attempt to form a "blockade" around it. The warning was a response to a U.N. Security Council resolution punishing Pyongyang for its latest nuclear test by calling for tighter cargo inspections and an arms embargo. The defiant communist nation also announced a plan to produce more plutonium-based nuclear bombs and begin an uranium enrichment program.
South Korean officials took the threats seriously, noting the North has put its threats into actions including the second nuclear test. "President Lee instructed the ministers to take thorough measures so that the people can be free from care about national security during (his) trip to the United States," said Kim Eun-hye, a spokesperson at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee is scheduled to head for Washington on Monday for a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama. Their meeting is expected to focus on ways to deal with North Korea. Lee will return to Seoul on Friday. It is not unusual for the president to hold such meetings before taking overseas trips, the official added.
Another Cheong Wa Dae official said the security meeting was aimed at "preparing for a possible provocation from North Korea, although the possibility of such an action appears slim, while President Lee is visiting the U.S."
In attendance were Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee, National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon, and Kim Sung-hwan, senior secretary to the president for foreign affairs and security. The defense minister was quoted as saying in the meeting that, "We can't rule out the possibility that North Korea could provoke an armed conflict. We will counter it decisively through cooperation with the U.S."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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After a week of bloody suicide and bomb attacks across the country, Pakistan Sunday night announced operation against Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who also masterminded the 2007 killing of Pakistans former Prime Minister.
Awais Ghani, Governor North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), addressing a press conference here said that the government has decided to launch operation against Baitullah Mehsud and the military was already conducting it.
Baitullah Mehsud is the head of Tehriki Taliban Pakistan (TTP)-South Wazoo chapter. Though he claims leadership of all Pakistan Taliban, the TTP is divided into three factions with two others led by Mullah Nazir and Commander Gul Bahadur of North Wazoo tribal agencies. While the North Wazoo chapters of TTP are believed to be linked to Pakistans military intelligence agency ISI, Baitullah, according to the intelligence authorities, has links to anti-Pakistan foreign elements. His force largely comprises foreign militants of Central Asian origin and locals from Southern Punjab.
He claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide attacks in Lahore and Naushehra that killed over 20 including renowned anti-Taliban scholar Allama Sarfraz Naqvi and wounded over 130 others. He also was held responsible for the 2007 killing of Benazir Bhutto.
LAHORE: For a Rs 50 bill, Ishaq Khan, a 12-year-old schoolboy was asked to carry a bag to a busy bazaar in Kohat. As he proceeded, the bag exploded, throwing him to the ground, shattering one of his feet and leaving shoppers dead and injured all around him.
Under a new strategy, the Taliban have begun paying children to plant lethal bombs across Pakistan, a report in The Sunday Times said.
Rat bastards ...
Ishaq, who hails from a family that barely survives on the money his father earns painting houses, worked at the Orakzai bus stop to earn a few rupees a day by helping people to load buses. Two weeks ago a man approached him and offered him the money to leave the blue plastic bag in a crowded area between several shops.
I was excited to get 50 rupees, Ishaq said. Thats more than I earn the whole week, he told the paper. Pocketing the money, he proceeded to place the bag, thinking of ways to spend the bounty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2009
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#1
What do Baitullah Mehsud and the Taliban who sent this kid have in common?
Couldn't agree on who would wear the bejeweled turban, could they?
LAHORE: An influential leader of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan Agency, Qari Zainuddin, said he had mobilised 3,000 armed followers to attempt to wipe out Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud and drive his Al Qaeda supporters out of the country.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Zainuddin declared that Mehsud had betrayed both his religion and his tribe. Zainuddin told the paper that Islam did not allow these bombings in mosques, in markets, in hospitals. Ha said he did not agree with Mehsud, responsible for sending out hundreds of suicide bombers and staging attacks across the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Looks like Baitullah Mehsud's actions are not considered to be in the best interests of the tribe as a whole. Ejection called for.
#3
The Zach Mousawi pattern seems to be repeating. These guys seem to have a problem figuring out where effective intimidation ends and vengeful retaliation begins.
Ike hosted Khrushchev. Let's bring Kim Jong Il for a visit. By Peter Carlson
Kim Jong Il, the eccentric and unpredictable North Korean dictator, has been misbehaving lately -- firing his missiles, testing his nukes, jailing American journalists and scaring the hell out of everyone by suggesting that he will appoint his 26-year-old son, Kim Jong Un, to succeed him.
So what should President Obama do? Some people suggest diplomacy, others advocate overthrowing the regime, and yet others want to deploy Al Gore to Pyongyang. I've got a better idea: Obama should invite Kim to the United States and let him wander around for a couple of weeks, sipping cocktails with capitalists, visiting a home economics class in Iowa and mingling with Hollywood stars.
This is perhaps the dumbest idea I've read in WaPo. This year, at least. Kimmie lives in the best homes in North Korea. He has the best movie collection (no, Bambi won't dazzle him by giving him a box set of DVDs). He drinks the finest cognac. He gets whatever he wants. Letting him wander around Des Moines for a week isn't going to do a damned thing to change his views, and it's the usual combination of hubris and idiocy that only a liberal publication can concoct that brings us nonsense like this.
Fifty years ago, in similar circumstances, that's what President Dwight D. Eisenhower did. And it worked, sort of.
If you didn't mind waiting thirty years. How many people in the Soviet Union in that interval were imprisoned? How many dissidents ruined? How many ordinary people put upon? How many sent to 'corrective labor camps'?
And oh, remind me, Mr. Carlson, who decided that the old Soviet Union was an 'evil empire'? And who put the plan in motion to get rid of it rather than live in 'detente'? Remind me, because it sure didn't seem at that point that Mr. Khrushchev's visit had done a damned thing.
South Korea's president ordered his top security officials Sunday to deal "resolutely and squarely" with new North Korean warnings of a nuclear war on the eve of his U.S. visit. In Washington, Vice President Joe Biden said "God only knows" what North Korea wants from the latest showdown.
President Lee Myung-bak travels to Washington on Monday for talks with President Barack Obama that are expected to focus on the North's rogue nuclear and missile programs.
The trip comes after North Korea's Foreign Ministry threatened war with any country that stops its ships on the high seas under new sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council in response to its May 25 nuclear test.
It also vowed Saturday to "weaponize" all its plutonium and acknowledged a long-suspected uranium enrichment program for the first time. Both plutonium and uranium are key ingredients of atomic bombs.
A commentary published Saturday in the North's state-run Tongil Sinbo weekly claimed the U.S. was deploying a vast number of nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.
North Korea "is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world," it said.
Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. military command in Seoul, denied the allegation, saying the U.S. no longer has nuclear bombs in South Korea. U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea in 1991 as part of arms reductions following the Cold War.
President Lee summoned his top security ministers Sunday and ordered them to "resolutely and squarely cope" with the North's threats, his office said. The Unification Ministry, responsible for ties with the North, issued a statement demanding that it stop inflaming tension and resume talks with the South.
"North Korea should give up its nuclear program ... and stop any kind of military threat," it said. "We urge North Korea to respond in a sincere dialogue to improve South-North Korean relations."
The new U.N. sanctions approved Friday are aimed at depriving the North of the financing used to build its nuclear program. They also authorize searches of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit ballistic missile and nuclear materials.
Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press" that it's crucial that the U.S. and other nations "make sure those sanctions stick."
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, reportedly had a stroke 10 months ago and analysts believe there may be a plan in place to name his inexperienced 26-year-old son, Kim Jong Un, as the future leader.
"God only knows what he wants," Biden said of Kim. "There's all kinds of discussions. Whether this is about succession, wanting his son to succeed him. Whether or not he's looking for respect. Whether or not he really wants a nuclear capability to threaten the region. ... We can't guess his motives.
"We just have to deal with the reality that a North Korea that is either proliferating weapons and or missiles, or a North Korea that is using those weapons ... is a serious danger and threat to the world, and particularly East Asia," the vice president said.
Lee Sang-hyun, an analyst at the Sejong Institute, a South Korean security think tank, said he believes the North will continue to conduct nuclear tests until it masters the technology to mount nuclear warheads on missiles and will give credit for it to Kim Jong Un.
"Kim Jong Un's status is still unstable. Kim Jong Il appears to be trying to give the son a powerful means to strengthen his succession," Lee said. "Kim Jong Un could also get the credit for nuclear weapons development."
North Korea is already believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs.
North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it accuses of plotting to invade and topple its regime. Washington, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly denied having any such plans.
#5
They're getting a little hysterical, even by Nork standards. Is the harvest looking to be that awful, or are there internal signs of a full-on succession war?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/15/2009 13:23
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#6
VARIOUS > NORTH KOREA claims the USA had deployed approxi 1000 NUCWEAPS in SOKOR, + "vast numbers" of same to SOKOR-JAPAN???
Posted by: Scott R ||
06/15/2009 19:07
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#8
PRAVDA > [North Korea Nuctests]THE WORLD DRAWS/MOVES CLOSER TO NUCLEAR WAR; + CHINA DOOMED TO COOPERATE WID RUSSIA TO BECOME THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE ECONOMY [SCO-CSTO]; + [old] CHINA MOVES CLOSER TO THE USA'S BORDERS.
#9
WAFF > WILL CHINA PLAY A MORE "DIRECT ROLE" IN THE PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN CONFLICTS [AFGHANI + PAKI GOVTS formally asking CHINA for help in national assistance agz MilTerrs]/PLA TO BOOST MILITARY CAPABILIYTIES FOR MOOTW [Mil-OPers-Other-Than-War = CHANGE FOCII TO OUTSIDE OF CHINA]???
#10
WORLD MILITARY FORUM > IIUC KIM JONG-IL ON THE EDGE OF A SERIOUS/DANGEROUS "TACTICAL CLIFF": AMONG ALL COUNTRIES IN EAST ASIA, NORTH KOREA'S MISSLE, NUCLEAR TESTS IMPACTS CHINA THE MOST. NORTH KOREA LIKELY DID NOT TAKE INTO THE ACCOUNT THE RISK OF ITS ACTIONS TO CHINA. NORTH KOREA IS "NOT IRREPLACEABLE" TO CHINA. CHINA WILL ACTIVELY OR MILITARILY INTERVENE IFF NORTH KOREA BECOMES A GREAT DANGER TO CHINA AND NORTHEAST ASIA.
Iraq's president has congratulated his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election. Jalal Talabani is the second head of state in the world to offer support for the hard-liner following Afghan President Hamid Karzai's statement.
Talabani says the victory shows support for Ahmadinejad personally as well as "the approach taken by the Islamic Republic" under Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Talabani expressed confidence "that the friendly and neighborly relations" will improve in the coming years.
Ahmadinejad said at his first press conference after his re-election, that 70 million have celebrated the June 12 elections, yet only 40 million people who celebrated the victory. He added "Protestation is a natural way to be acted by some, due to the fact that they have not achieved enough votes as advertised." In addition, he stressed on the fact that Iran lives high "freedom".
Moreover, he commented on The Council of Guardians, stating that they only rely on law and justice, in order to give any opinion.
Translation: "The mullahs still love me best. Cross me at your peril."
He refused the fact that many have condemned and questioned the elections, therfore, he said that Iran have chose thier representative by their own.
Translation: "c.f. my comments about the Guardian Council."
In addition, Ahmedinejad said now the election procedure was wrapped up it is now time for friendship and construction of the country.
Translation: "c.f. my comments about the Guardian Council."
Meanwhile he said that airspace is open for whoever wants to discuss politics, yet there is no problems with the election and nothing to be discussed in this matter.
Translation: "c.f. my comments about the Guardian Council."
Highlighting the great potential and splendid capacities of the Iranian nation for development and advancement in different arenas, he will focus on consolidating infrastructures in cultural, political and economic domains.
EL ARENAL, Mexico -- When Jesus Barrera Lopez had a sweet job laying tile floors in Phoenix, he did what every migrant from his home town in central Mexico does: He sent home money, bundles of it.
"Before the economic recession started, I usually sent $300 or $400 every two weeks to my family. But when the crisis came, I only sent like $100," said Barrera who recently returned here to the hot, rocky hills in the state of Hidalgo after the construction industry in Arizona imploded and work became nearly impossible to find.
And now? "There's nothing," said Barrera, 29, hanging out in his half-finished house and remembering the boom times, when he and 50 migrant workers from El Arenal sent money home at Christmas to host a party for the whole town.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
The nanoviolins of Summer wound my heart with a monotonous languor...
#2
Remittances sent home by Mexicans in the United States are the second-largest source of legal foreign revenue in the country,
That an interesting twist by a propagandist. It's like writing about income from "pharmaceutical" trade rather than "drug" trade. Being a foreigner in the US without authorization is illegal. While not all remittances are from illegals, a lot were and are. That is one of the key reasons the government in Mexico City gave lip service to Washington about the illegal practice.
#8
Tracking a million $400 monthly transactions south is about as easy as tracking a couple million just under $200 anonymous debit/credit card donations to a political campaign.
#13
i didn't say anything about assasination or getting banned i have no idea what you are talking about. I wrote that i was also a construction worker and am currently unemployed and am not mexican. Also i guess some think that like i was told by a local cop that i must be a piece of shit because i was a construction worker. Nothin about assasination or getting banned
June 11, 2009, comment #6 in "Bonds found on 2 Japanese Trying to get into Switzerland" post:
I KNIOOW I WILL GET BANNED
kill ob*ma [redaction mine]
#15
Its funny that this article is out today, because on my way to work I was listening to BBC world news (Sirius) and a VERY similar story of woe for the illegal (european) alien. Its almost like the MSM is on some sort of playbook (listserv) and someone is calling the stories that will be posted for the day. Coincidence? Probably not.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Palestinian leaders to restart Middle East peace negotiations without preconditions, in a highly anticipated foreign policy address at Bar Ilan University.
"I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions," he said. "Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all the other parties to fulfill their obligations as well."
In an apparent reveral of Israeli policy, Netanyahu also declared that he was prepared to see the creation of a Palestinian state, so long as the international community can guarantee that it not have any military capabilities.
"Israel cannot agree to a Palestinian state unless it gets guarantees it is demilitarized," Netanyahu said. He also said that Jerusalem must remain the unified capital of Israel.
That is indeed an 'apparent' reversal: Israel has long said it will keep all of Jerusalem and has long said that a Paleo state had to be demilitarized. This is old wine in a new bottle; apparently he's borrowing a trick from the Paleos ...
The Drudge headline sums it up nicely: Yes in a no kind of way.
The address at Bar Ilan came in the wake of the Obama administration's insistence that Israel impose a complete freeze on West Bank settlement construction and recognize the two-state solution.
During the speech, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not build any new settlements and would refrain from expanding existing Israeli communities in the West Bank. Still, he said the government must be allowed to accommodate natural growth in these settlements. Netanyahu has until now been adamant that a settlement freeze is unfeasible and that he would concentrate on strengthening the Palestinian economy, rather than agreeing to their statehood.
Wait til you see how much 'natural growth' these settlements have ...
The prime minister said he was prepared to meet with the leaders of neighboring Arab countries at any time, to promote regional peace and to gain their contribution to the Palestinian economy.
Nice offer since they'll never agree afraid of Juice cooties ...
Netanyahu reiterated that Israel has no desire to control the Palestinian people, and declared that both nations should be able to live side by side in peace. "We want both Israeli and Palestinian children to live without war," Netanyahu said, but added: "We must ask ourselves - why has peace not yet arrived after 60 years?"
Because the Paleos love death more than they love their children?
Israel would not accept any situation in which it was forced to exist beside a terrorist state. Every withdrawal from settlement territories would contribute to such terror, said Netanyahu.
The prime minister also said that Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state, and cited the root of the regional conflict to "even moderate" Palestinian elements' refusal to do so. "When Palestinians are ready to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we will be ready for a true final settlement," the prime minister said.
Another nice one: Hamas will never agree, and Bibi turns the issue back to them ...
He emphasized that the Jewish people have been linked to the land of Israel for over 3,000 years and ruled out the option of granting Palestinians refugees the right to settle within Israeli borders.
So no 'right-of-return' which makes this a dead issue for the Paleos.
Netanyahu said that Israel would not negotiate with terrorist who wish to destroy it, and said that Palestinians must choose between path of peace and Hamas.
The prime minister opened his address by saying that he had formed his new government earlier this year with three major challenges facing Israel: the economic crisis, the Iranian threat, and the Middle East peace process. He stressed that the greatest threat to the world today was the link between Islamist extremism and nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu, who until now had not endorsed U.S. President Barack Obama's goal of Palestinian statehood, used this policy speech as an opportunity to reverse course and try to narrow a rare rift between Israel and its closest ally.
The prime minister met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres over the weekend for consultations about his speech. Peres and Barak reportedly pressed Netanyahu to announce in the speech his acceptance of the road map and willingness to recognize a Palestinian state with security limitations.
"Look, Bibi, nothing's happened the last fifteen years. Give the Americans what they want, and nothing will happen for the next fifteen years."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Talk about a savvy political move. He says yes, but in terms the Paleos will NEVER, EVER accept. Now they will start looking like the bad guy. He can even look like he is cutting things away at negotiations, and the Paleos will still say no. He can walk away and say, "Meh, at least I tried in good faith."
#4
I dunno, a demilitarized Palestinian state is cool, but it's akin to dehydrated water, it's a bit hard to get, and when you do, you realize it's just not the same thing.
#7
SW - A pal state, subject to the cavearts in the speech is a long standing Israeli positions. It is a NOT long standing Bibi position. Basically (Jerusalem aside) Bibi has adopted the position of Kadima and its last three leaders (Sharon, Olmert, and Livni). It is also the position of Ehud Barak, Bibi's coalition partner. It has never been Likud policy (if, unlike US leftists, you don't count Sharon as Likud after he founded Kadima)
This is a big change, in that sense. And a wise and pragmatic one. Whether Bibi in his heart of hearts really wants a Pal state, or is hoping the Pals will refuse a compromise, this lays out the isues more clearly. This is not about settlements, land hunger, or water rights, since under the peace that would follow Bibis plan, Israel would lose access to land and resources in the WB. It is about the security of Israel "proper". Period. End of story. That changes the debate in the West, and is a wise chess move in response to Obamas speech, which purports to acknowledge Israels security concerns. This speech divides those less sympathetic to Israel, and perhaps more importantly, reunites Israels supporters, and its own citizens.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/15/2009 11:21
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#8
ISRAELI MIL FORUM > [heavy machine gun] DISPUTE HALTS APC TRANSFER FROM JORDAN TO PA. Installation of same on approxi 50 Russ-supplied, Jordanian BTR-70 APC's.
RAWALPINDI: Security forces said on Sunday they killed 65 Taliban, including foreigners, and injured 50 in various army operations in South Waziristan and Bannu during the last 24 hours.
Thirty terrorists were killed, including a few foreigners, and 50 were injured at Makeen, South Waziristan due to the airstrike on Saturday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claimed in a statement.
It said the offensive was partially in response to the suicide attack on Dr Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemis madrassa, in which seven civilians were killed, and the suicide attack on the Nowshera mosque in which four security forces personnel were martyred.
Another 35 Taliban were killed in fresh action by security forces in Bannu, a private TV channel reported. It said the security forces, continuing the operation against the Taliban, had bombarded suspected Taliban hideouts from Janikhel Fort.
The ISPR also said one soldier had been martyred and three injured in exchange of fire with Taliban in Kabal. Taliban in Kala Kale injured another soldier. A cordon-and-search operation is continuing in Loe Namal, Kuz Shaur and Matta, the statement added.
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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.
The news that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered an investigation into charges of voter fraud in his country's presidential elections has been greeted with skepticism by many in the West. After all, it was Ayatullah Khamenei, who holds the ultimate authority in the theocratic nation, who rushed to embrace incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the victor long before the ballots were counted. But his order to the Guardian Council, the powerful watchdog of the Iranian constitution, to start an investigation may not be as cynical as it appears. 
WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton has told an Arab-American audience of 1,000 people that the U.S. is no longer just a black-white country, nor a country that is dominated by Christians and a powerful Jewish minority 
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday that "everyone guessed wrong" on the impact of the economic stimulus, but he defended the administration's spending designed to combat rising joblessness. 
WASHINGTON -- It's hard to know whether President Obama's health care "reform" is naive, hypocritical or simply dishonest. Probably all three. The president keeps saying it's imperative to control runaway health spending. He's right. The trouble is that what's being promoted as health care "reform" almost certainly won't suppress spending and, quite probably, will do the opposite.
KABUL (AFP) -- The US military along with Afghan security forces backed by war planes killed nearly two dozen insurgents in a clash in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, the US side said Monday.
Yemeni authorities say rebels have kidnapped nine foreigners, including women and children, in a mountainous northern region.
Yemeni authorities declared on Sunday arrest of a leading activist of the notorious Al-Qaeda organization saying he was in charge of securing funds for the clandestine group.
ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated Rs 102.4 billion ($1.28 billion) for the Armed Forces Development Plan (AFDP) in the upcoming fiscal year 2009-10, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique said on Sunday.
The government doubled the amount of bounty for tipping off the whereabouts of the absconders involved in the February 25-26 carnage at the BDR headquarters in which the entire command of the border force was eliminated.
Vice President Joe Biden says the United States is committed to enforcing enhanced U.N. sanctions against North Korea, despite defiant statements from Pyongyang. North Korea says new U.N. sanctions could bring about war on the Korean peninsula and will not slow its nuclear program.
Fred is going to be out for a few more days. Apparently Nurse Ratchet was a little too exuberant in physical therapy so Fred is having an adjustment. 
PESHAWAR: At least nine people were killed and 36 injured in a remote-controlled bombing in the Dera Ismail Khan district on Sunday, police and locals have said.
After a week of bloody suicide and bomb attacks across the country, Pakistan Sunday night announced operation against Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who also masterminded the 2007 killing of Pakistans former Prime Minister.
Ahmadinejad said at his first press conference after his re-election, that 70 million have celebrated the June 12 elections, yet only 40 million people who celebrated the victory. He added "Protestation is a natural way to be acted by some, due to the fact that they have not achieved enough votes as advertised." In addition, he stressed on the fact that Iran lives high "freedom".
RAWALPINDI: Security forces said on Sunday they killed 65 Taliban, including foreigners, and injured 50 in various army operations in South Waziristan and Bannu during the last 24 hours. 
