As the Iranian government's murderous repression of the Iranian people continues, critics right and left agitate over the deafening silence of an American president who, as a candidate, derided the Bush administration's ambitious democracy promotion as too timid. They speculate as to why Barack Obama won't speak out: Why won't he condemn the mullahs? Is he daft enough to believe he can charm the regime into abandoning its nuclear ambitions? Does the self-described realist so prize stability that he thinks it's worth abandoning the cause of freedom -- and the best chance in 30 years of dislodging an implacable American enemy?
In truth, it's worse than that. Even as the mullahs are terrorizing the Iranian people, the Obama administration is negotiating with an Iranian-backed terrorist organization and abandoning the American proscription against exchanging terrorist prisoners for hostages kidnapped by terrorists. Worse still, Obama has already released a terrorist responsible for the brutal murders of five American soldiers in exchange for the remains of two deceased British hostages.
National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) is scheduled for July 27 through July 31, 2009. NLE 09 will be the first major exercise conducted by the United States government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery.
NLE 09 is a White House directed, Congressionally- mandated exercise that includes the participation of all appropriate federal department and agency senior officials, their deputies, staff and key operational elements. In addition, broad regional participation of state, tribal, local, and private sector is anticipated. This year the United States welcomes the participation of Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom in NLE 09.
After years of requests, and complaints, from the infantry, the Department of Defense has finally developed mission planning software that is easy to use, does what needs to be done, and fits on a laptop computer. RealWorld combines digital maps and 3-D gaming technology with military procedures and equipment specifications to produce a program that enables commanders, and troops, to quickly put together a simulation of a mission. This is what mission planning is all about.
RealWorld is just in time, because the troops were already putting together their own mission planning software.
In a year or so, RealWorld will replace TIGR, and the ground troops will finally have a mission planner the equal to those used by the air force and navy.
#1
In a year or so, RealWorld will replace TIGR, and the ground troops will finally have a mission planner the equal to those used by the air force and navy and computer gamers.
The White House has rescinded the invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at U.S. embassies around the world.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said nobody from Iran RSVPed to come, and at this point, the invitations are no longer valid. "Given the events of the past many days, those invitations will no longer be extended," Mr. Gibbs said.
"No hot dogs for you!"
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2009
15:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At least the Iranians have the integrity to not dine with their enemies.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/24/2009 16:03
Comments ||
Top||
Yea right, of the over 300 missions worldwide, not one Iranian called in? Robert Gibbs call them all did he? No plans for last minute walk-in's? This RSVP thing sounds an auwfully lot like a....'precondition.'
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford admitted today that his secret trip to Argentina over the Father's Day weekend was to visit a woman he has been having an affair with for the past year.
In an emotional news conference, Sanford said his relationship with the woman in Argentina would not work, but would not say if it was over. He did not name the woman, but said he met her eight years ago, although their casual friendship evolved into a romantic relationship about a year ago.
"The bottom line is this: I have been unfaithful to my wife," the two-term governor said before a mass of press in the State House outside the governor's office. "Let me apologize to my wife Jenny and my four boys ... for letting them down."
Asked directly if he and first lady Jenny Sanford are separated, Sanford said: "I don't know how you want to define that. I'm here and she's there. I guess in a formal sense we are not."
Sanford acknowledged he misled his staff earlier this week when he lead them to believe he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Sanford said he would resign as chairman of the Republican Governor's Association -- a platform he has used over the past few months to broadcast his opposition to President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package and fueling speculation that Sanford was considering a 2012 run for president.
But Sanford did not respond when asked if he would resign as governor.
Sanford fought back tears several times during a 20 minute news conference, especially when he mentioned his marriage counselor and his long time personal and political friend Tom Davis, Sanford's former chief of staff.
Sanford's relationship with the woman in Argentina became more sexually charged about a year ago, but Sanford's wife did not learn of the affair until about five month sago. The Sanfords have since been in counseling.
In his apology, Sanford acknowledged not only all South Carolinians, but people of faith, people in his own party as well as his family. He denied he had ever had other extramarital affairs.
"I've spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina," Sanford said. "I am committed to trying to get my heart right."
#5
More and more of this seems to be 'popping' up. I suspect the Grand Kennedy Karma(GKK) is engulfing the larger political community as its core member, who with great human effort for decades of gravitationally keeping it in place - his place, is now seriously losing steam in tying down the beast. Pass the popcorn.
#9
This must be somekinda beauty (picture please)for sanford to throw away a political career, a family, and the american people. This will give Obama cover for the cap and trade, medicare, and all the other programs that are being rammed down her/our throuts. Sanford you are a sorry SOB.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2009 18:14
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Idiot.
It's just amazing how many politicians of substantial stature -- governor, senator, big-city mayor, president -- can't keep their pants on.
His career is over. He should resign. That will give him the opportunity to focus on his marriage, assuming his wife still wants him. He can pick up a private sector job somewhere. But get out of the way and let someone else do the job.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009 18:57
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Honey trap?
No, I don't think so...at least not to the degree you're thinking. While I don't think the DNC and its MSM sockpuppets engaged the Argentinean cutie to assist in driving Sanford's political future onto the rocks (he's obviously done a superlative job of that himself), I have no doubt whatsoever that whenever any prominent Republican politician gains public visibility and starts becoming the subject of 2012 speculation, he or she immediately becomes the subject of a dedicated "war room" squad of Dem operatives and MSM journoturds looking for anything that can be used to destroy their political viability. If they can't do it via scandal as with Sanford, they'll try to do it with nonstop ridicule, as with Sarah Palin.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
06/24/2009 21:01
Comments ||
Top||
#14
He is an idiot. Typical "elite" part of the Demopublican Party that has completely lost touch with reality.
Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast.
Wealthy punters pay Ā£3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders.
When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.
Passengers, who can pay an extra Ā£5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and Ā£7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops.
The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya.
The ships deliberately cruise close to the coast at a speed of just five nautical miles in an attempt to attract the interest of pirates.
"They are worse than the pirates," said Russian yachtsman Vladimir Mironov. "At least the pirates have the decency to take hostages, these people are just paying to commit murder," he continued.
#3
Sounds like someone got suckered by that hunt-for pirates-cruise web parody that was floating around recently. But that doesn't mean it's not a good idea.
All of the district's estimated 13,880 workers had to pick up paychecks or direct-deposit slips in person by June 12 as a first step in determining if anyone who is not on the payroll is collecting pay. The audit turned up 257 names that will be subject to an investigation into illegal ghost employees, officials said Tuesday. Ok, but are those ghosts more productive than the "real" employees?
#7
The audit turned up 257 names that will be subject to an investigation into illegal ghost employees, officials said Tuesday.
Translation: They're illegal because their union dues and donations to ACORN and Monica Conyers' legal-defense fund weren't paid up to date. The other 9,372 ghost employees are completely in the clear.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
06/24/2009 21:09
Comments ||
Top||
#1
Misread that at first as the Waxjob-Malarky Bill...
Posted by: Caesar Thavitle5840 ||
06/24/2009 15:45
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The article is an interesting read,worth the time to read.
Could Plimer's book, Heaven and Earth, Global Warming: The Missing Science, (due out 1 July) be one reason that Pelosi is trying to get the "Cap and Tax" bill out of the House ASAP?
#3
Ian Plimer is an a very powerful speaker on the subject- if anyone wants an example, go to Sydneyminingclub.org and find his November 08 talk at the Past Events section. This is where I send anyone who goes all green on me.
#4
There's a good chance the Australian government will call an election over it and lose when they should win (2 terms is the norm for Australian governments).
Politicians across the globe will then run from climate change seeing it as an electoral liability.
This could well be the real climate tipping point when politicians see it as a vote loser.
#5
"The Sun tends to brushed aside as the most impotant driver of climate change" > Becuz since the CLINTON 90's CAPT. JEAN-LUC PICARD has failed utterly to dev the STAR/SUN-DESTROYING "NEXUS" SUPER-MISSLE that would force the Milyuhn-Earths-sized Sun to surrender like France to tiny Earth + the future OWG-NWO!
#6
"The Sun tends to brushed aside as the most impotant driver of climate change" > Becuz since the CLINTON 90's CAPT. JEAN-LUC PICARD has failed utterly to dev the STAR/SUN-DESTROYING "NEXUS" SUPER-MISSLE that would force the Milyuhn-Earths-sized Sun to surrender like France to tiny Earth + the future OWG-NWO!
This is from the Guardian's newsblog (June 24, 3:32 PM)
Newspaper Roozonline has an interview (in Persian) with one of the young plainclothes militiamen who have been beating protesters.
UPDATE: Robert says the man is paid 2m rial per day, which would be about Ā£1220 for ten days of work. A hefty fee, even by UK standards. A reader writes: "You can imagine what that kind of money means to a villager from Khorasan". (Could some of our British readers convert that into $? I think it's ~$225/day)
The Guardian's Robert Tait sends this synopsis:
The man, who has come from a small town in the eastern province of Khorasan and has never been in Tehran before, says he is being paid 2m rial (Ā£122) to assault protestors with a heavy wooden stave. He says the money is the main incentive as it will enable him to get married and may even enable him to afford more than one wife. Leadership of the volunteers has been provided by a man known only as "Hajji", who has instructed his men to "beat the counter-revolutionaries so hard that they won't be able to stand up". The volunteers, most of them from far-flung provinces such as Khuzestan, Arak and Mazandaran, are being kept in hostel accommodation, reportedly in east Tehran. Other volunteers, he says, have been brought from Lebanon, where the Iranian regime has strong allies in the Hezbollah movement. They are said to be more highly-paid than their Iranian counterparts and are put up in hotels. The last piece of information seems to confirm the suspicion of many Iranians that foreign security personnel are being used to suppress the demonstrators. For all his talk of the legal process, this interview provides a key insight into where Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believes the true source of his legitimacy rests.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/24/2009
14:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
Before June 12, ObamaĀs eagerness to negotiate with Ahmadinejad Ā ridiculed by his conservative critics Ā was hailed by the establishment and the Left as proof of his high-minded faith in diplomacy, a healthy antidote to George W. BushĀs allegedly close-minded approach. But now, if the clerical junta prevails, anyone who shakes AhmadinejadĀs hands will have a hard time washing the blood off his own.
For some reason, Obama cannot fully accept this. In his press conference Tuesday, the president finally condemned the outrages in Iran in terms he should have used a week ago. But he also kept alive the idea that the current Iranian regime could be a fruitful negotiation partner, despite what has already happened in that country. ĀItĀs not too late,Ā Obama explained, for the regime to negotiate with the international community. He wouldnĀt even cancel plans to invite Iranian officials to Fourth of July barbecues at American embassies.
That amounts to tacit approval of the bloodshed and fraud that weĀve already seen and acceptance of the ultimate triumph of the regime. And it wonĀt work.
According to many analysts, ObamaĀs still clinging to his hope of talking Iran out of its nuclear program. ThatĀs why he initially said there was little difference between Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Ahmadinejad, and why his recent denunciations only followed similar rhetoric from the Europeans and our own Congress. He just doesnĀt want to let go of the diplomacy option.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2009
14:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You misunderstand, it's only supposed to work FOR Obama.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 15:26
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Like the administration's stance, so spins the centrifuges of Iran.
WASHINGTON -- In the fall, the first squadron of Marines finally will fly V-22 Ospreys into the mountains of Afghanistan, months behind schedule and despite shortcomings that make some in Congress worry whether the hybrid aircraft can do the job for which it was intended.
The aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a plane, has numerous problems. Among them: Marines can't fast-rope out the side door to land in hot zones. It can't land without power -- a key maneuver called autorotation that saved thousands of lives in Vietnam -- without danger of flipping into its own downwash. It isn't capable of maneuvering in combat conditions.
The aircraft also continues to struggle with reliability issues that made its mission capability far below expectations during three tours in Iraq and left Marines cannibalizing other Ospreys for spare parts, despite a price tag that's climbed to $121 million apiece.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat, said at a hearing Tuesday that it was time to end the program. Towns is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has been investigating the cost overruns and mechanical problems of the Osprey.
"It can't be used in hot weather. It can't be used in cold weather. It can't be used in sand," Towns said. "The list of what the Osprey can't do is longer than what it can do."
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs, reviewed the aircraft's Iraq mission reports, interviewed pilots and concluded last month that the Marines ought to revisit the Osprey and look for alternatives.
At the congressional hearing Tuesday, the Marine Corps said it saw no reason to re-evaluate the struggling V-22 program and its squadrons, most of which are based at the Marine Corps Air Station at New River in North Carolina.
Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman III, the Marines' deputy commandant for aviation, said the Osprey was successfully flying high, far and fast across Iraq, carrying troops above the danger of small-arms fire and shrinking the battlefield. In Afghanistan, Trautman said, "this aircraft will not just be a nice new capability. It will be a crucial, capable necessity that wins battles and saves lives."
The V-22 Osprey, decades in development, was designed to replace helicopters that can date to the Vietnam War era. Military leaders wanted a nimble aircraft that offered distance and speed in addition to a helicopter's agility.
The Osprey has been plagued with problems, however. Twenty-six Marines and four civilians have been killed in Osprey crashes since the 1990s. As defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush , Dick Cheney tried repeatedly to kill the program.
There were problems mounting a gun on the front of the Osprey. It couldn't fly well at altitudes above 8,000 feet or in extreme heat.
NASA experts told the Marines years ago that the aircraft had great difficulty landing on aircraft carriers in the rolling open seas.
"The U.S. Marine Corps leadership has shown little or no concern over this issue," A.R. Rivolo, an aviation expert and critic of the Osprey, testified Tuesday. "I believe this is reprehensible. It's a stand the Marine Corps leadership should never have taken."
With the 30-year program projected to cost nearly $75 billion, the GAO recommended a new analysis of the military's needs. It found that in Iraq, the aircraft was capable of conducting missions less than two-thirds of the time because of weather obstacles or breakdowns.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, asked why the military keeps defending the V-22 program rather than looking for ways to repair it.
"The reason we're defending the program is because this airplane will save lives," Trautman answered. "It's already demonstrated it's saving lives."
In Iraq, the Osprey has served largely as a VIP shuttle and troop transport. It ferried Sen. John McCain , R- Ariz., and then-Sen. Barack Obama across Iraq last fall during the presidential campaign.
"The Osprey can complete missions assigned in low-threat environments," testified Michael Sullivan of the GAO. He was less confident about high-threat environments.
Col. Karsten Heckl, the commander of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 from New River, testified that he'd never had problems finishing missions and that he'd accompanied troops on raids into dangerous parts of the country. "I'd fly this airplane in any environment," Heckl said.
Trautman told Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the panel's top Republican, that if the Marines had had the Osprey during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980, they could have rescued the hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. "It would've been a successful mission, and we probably wouldn't have been where we are with Iran today," Trautman said.
For now, Trautman said, the Marines are focusing on getting Ospreys to Afghanistan. Just last week, a squadron of V-22s from North Carolina left the United States aboard the USS Bataan.
By September, Ospreys will have new, belly-mounted guns.
"The Afghanistan environment will be, I think, similar to the Iraq environment, which is a low to medium threat," Trautman said. "In that environment, I think the Osprey will be just as effective as it has been in Iraq."
#1
NASA experts told the Marines years ago that the aircraft had great difficulty landing on aircraft carriers in the rolling open seas.
Ummm, being ex-Navy this is a fake problem, in "Rolling Seas" Carrier operations are suspended anyway.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 14:41
Comments ||
Top||
#2
By September, Ospreys will have new, belly-mounted guns.
So much for the original mission requirement funding statements. What ever happened to that golfcart size USMC mini-Hummer personnel ground vehicle that was supposed to fit in the cargo area?
#3
This is a good list of it's shortcomings. What can it do that will help the mission in Afghanistan?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/24/2009 14:46
Comments ||
Top||
#4
From Wik, take it for what it's worth:
The Osprey has provided support in Iraq, racking up some 2000 flight hours over three months with a mission capable availability rate of 68.1% as of late-January 2008.
A 69.1% Operational Readiness (OR) rate for a military aircraft is the worst kind of pi** poor.
#5
golfcart size USMC mini-Hummer personnel ground vehicle that was supposed to fit in the cargo area?
You just described the oiginal Jeep, it was designed so four soldiers could pick it up if needed.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 14:53
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The V-22 is a turkey; the program should have been ended years and billions of dollars ago. Nice idea, poor execution, and a fine example of what happens when you platinum plate your mission requirements.
For a lot less money the Marines would have had a new helicopter. Those copters would have been slower and less 'nimble', but they'd be hardier, cheaper and here today.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009 15:25
Comments ||
Top||
#7
MH-47G is still the best aircraft in that class. The Marines got sold down the river on this one. I feel for them and for their families when the aircraft fails under fire.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/24/2009 15:44
Comments ||
Top||
#8
I'm 31, and I could swear I remember hearing about this thing being a major developement headache before I was old enough to drink.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/24/2009 15:57
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Just last week, a squadron of V-22s from North Carolina left the United States aboard the USS Bataan.
My niece is deployed on the Bataan (avionics tech). Now my wife's gonna start worrying even more, given the destination.
/proud uncle
#11
USMC reserve aviation guy retired this year, finally got to fly in an Osprey in Iraq. He remembers his first enlistment being told to apply for flight because they would have the Osprey by the time he got his wings.
(Reuters) - Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.
In March, Fannie Mae (FNM.N)(FNM.P) said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70 percent of the units have been sold, up from 51 percent, the paper said. Freddie Mac is due to implement similar policies next month, the paper said.
In a letter to the CEO's of both companies, Representatives Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Anthony Weiner warned that a 70 percent sales threshold "may be too onerous" and could lead condo buyers to shun new developments, according to the paper.
The legislators asked the companies to "make appropriate adjustments" to their underwriting standards for condos, the paper added.
In an interview with the paper, Weiner said the rules have "had a real chill on the ability to get these condos sold," at a time when prices of condos have fallen enough to attract potential buyers.
In addition to the 70 percent sales threshold, Fannie Mae will also not purchase mortgages in buildings where 15 percent of owners are delinquent on condo association dues or where one owner has more than 10 percent of units, as the firm sees these as signals that a building could run into financial trouble, the paper added.
Both Fannie and Freddie are preparing a response to the lawmakers, according to the paper.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.
#1
Where's tha help for First-Time home buyers? I do qualify for the 8 grand tax credit but not the 5 grand "Grant". I actually work, pay taxes, and have a good credit score so I don't qualify to have the tax credit put toward the down-payment. Same reason for not getting the "Grant". Try getting someone to finance a condominium.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/24/2009 14:53
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Plain idiocy. Lower requirements on both borrowers and developers is what created the housing bubble in the first place.
Not everyone can buy a home. Live with it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009 15:27
Comments ||
Top||
#3
"'Cause, yannow, it worked so well the first time."
Wonderful. How about a townhouse development with fewer than ten units? Like, oh, say, the one I just made a mortgage application on?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2009 16:34
Comments ||
Top||
#6
So Bawney is trolling for votes from the low income again. Does this guy never learn? He never took credit for his part in the U.S. financial debacle the first time. Please Massachusetts do the country a favor and don't re-elect him again. Is there some kind of Iran vote-counting thing going on in Massachusetts that he keeps getting re-elected?
#2
You'll notice that this is a Fox News report. I'll bet Fox is trying to help our Military after the bad collateral damage news of late.(Not helped by Obama's pathetic statements, thank you)
Except for Fox the rest of the MSM wants to publish old pics of Abu Ghraib.
This morning, from a cave somewhere in Pakistan, Taliban Minister of Migration Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that if military actions against Iraq continue, Taliban authorities intend to cut off America 's supply of convenience store managers and possibly Motel 6 managers.
And if this action does not yield sufficient results, cab drivers will be next, followed by Dell And AOL customer service reps.
Finally, if all else fails, they have threatened to send us no more candidates for President of the United States!
#5
We're fighting a war. Are our front line supposed to hold off on hotsilities if communiciations are disrupted? Ridiculous. No wonder after 7 years plus we're still a long way from finishing the job.
#6
This is nothing new. GW-1, we waited nearly 30 minutes for clearance to engage an Iraqi surface craft. By the time it was given, the craft had escaped into Iranian waters.
...After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated the overflowing White House briefing room to a surprise. "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," he announced.
Obama knew this because White House aides had called Pitney the day before to invite him, and they had escorted him into the room. They told him the president was likely to call on him, with the understanding that he would ask a question about Iran that had been submitted online by an Iranian. "I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet," Obama went on. "Do you have a question?"
Pitney recognized his prompt. "That's right," he said, standing in the aisle and wearing a temporary White House press pass. "I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian."
Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row.
The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world -- Iran included -- that the American press isn't as free as advertised. But yesterday wasn't so much a news conference as it was a taping of a new daytime drama, "The Obama Show." Missed yesterday's show? Don't worry: On Wednesday, ABC News will be broadcasting "Good Morning America" from the South Lawn (guest stars: the president and first lady), "World News Tonight" from the Blue Room, and a prime-time feature with Obama from the East Room.
"The Obama Show" was the hottest ticket in town yesterday. Forty-five minutes before the start, there were no fewer than 107 people crammed into the narrow aisles, in addition to those in the room's 42 seats. Japanese and Italian could be heard coming from the tangle of elbows, cameras and compressed bodies: "You've got to move! . . . Oh, God, don't step on my foot!" Some had come just for a glimpse of celebrity. And they wanted to know all about him. "As a former smoker, I understand the frustration and the fear that comes with quitting," McClatchy News's Margaret Talev empathized with the president before asking him how much he smokes.
Obama indulged the question from the studio audience. "I would say that I am 95 percent cured. But there are times where I mess up," he confessed. "Like folks who go to AA, you know, once you've gone down this path, then, you know, it's something you continually struggle with."
This is Barack Obama, and these are the Days of Our Lives....
...During the eight years of the Bush administration, liberal outlets such as the Huffington Post often accused the White House of planting questioners in news conferences to ask preplanned questions. But here was Obama fielding a preplanned question asked by a planted questioner -- from the Huffington Post....
Milbank is a reliably liberal member of the MSM herd, and definitely no friend of conservatives. If he's disgusted by the staged spectacle,....
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2009
10:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Bush was able to give up alcohol cold turkey, Obama can't get beyond 95% cured. Could you imagine the reaction if GWB would have said that he has an occasional beer?
#6
Dana's just pissed because he wasn't picked to ask The One a planted question.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009 12:52
Comments ||
Top||
#7
As if to compensate for the prepackaged Huffington Post question, Obama went quickly to Fox News for a predictably hostile question from Major Garrett. "In your opening remarks, sir, you said about Iran that you were appalled and outraged," Garrett said. "What took you so long?
"I don't think that's accurate," Obama volleyed testily, calling his toughening statements on Iran "entirely consistent."
The host of "The Obama Show" dispatched with similar ease a challenge from CBS's Chip Reid, asking whether his hardening line on Iran was inspired by John McCain. "What do you think?" Obama replied with a big grin. That brought the house down. And the studio audience laughed again when ABC's Jake Tapper tried to get Obama to answer another reporter's question that he had dodged. "Are you the ombudsman for the White House press corps?" the president cracked.
The laughter had barely subsided when the host made another joke about Tapper's reference to Obama's "Spock-like language about the logic of the health-care plan."
"The reference to Spock, is that a crack on my ears?" the president asked.
Hostile question? Sounds to me like Major Garrett is the only one of the bunch who takes his job as a reporter seriously. And notice how 0 avoids any tough questions by mocking them and cracking jokes in lieu of a real answer.
If there's one thing he's mastered as a politician, it's the three Ds:
#8
Saw a video yesterday of the ONE at a bill signing in the Rose Garden. He walked up to the table doing the "Chicken Strut" like he was back in the "Hood". The backwards ball cap crowd must have loved it.
I've often contended that the ball cap is on correct, the head is on backwards.
The head of Pakistan's Taliban attended a funeral shortly before a suspected U.S. missile struck, killing about 80 people, two intelligence officials said Wednesday, but a top Taliban aide denied that the leader had a close call. Should have used cluster bombs. Or a MOAB. We only have to be lucky once ...
Intelligence officials had said Tuesday night that Mehsud was at the funeral and that militants lost contact with him for a while. Media reports suggested he had a very close call.
Two intelligence officials said Wednesday that although Mehsud had visited the village where the funeral took place, he left before the drone-fired missiles killed 80 people -- reportedly including several senior Taliban leaders -- and wounded dozens more. The two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media, said it was unclear how long before the attack Mehsud left.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009
08:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is the first time I've heard of the US bombing a funeral, I hope they bomb the next 80.
#4
I'm sure that the Talib chiefs will soon learn that it is unhealthy to go to funerals - they turnout to be your own. Like Lumpy, I haven't seen much that was obvious followup targeting. I doubt that it is because our military has suddenly gotten smarter. They're smart enough already. Rather, it looks like this may be the result of having a bigger inventory of drone capable of watching and booming. I don't know how many drones and crews it took to keep watch on this village for the last few days, but it probably took several. The capabilities of these crews continues to grow and to astound.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/24/2009 16:14
Comments ||
Top||
#5
The reason this funeral was targeted is because so many big taliwhackers (and I suspect, AQ) were there. There was a big powwow taking place and this funeral was for a chief who just got Predatored.
The body count could have really been run up if a few six packs of MLRS were used gravesite in addition to the drones. For this aircraft and SF should have crossed the border. In the following day, we'll find out just how big a hit this really was.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009 17:27
Comments ||
Top||
#6
But-but-but how many fluffy kittens and bunnies were toasted murdered?
Enquiring minds, etc....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2009 18:21
Comments ||
Top||
#7
You don't need monitor drones when you have satellites.
Afghan and coalition forces killed 23 suspected Taliban fighters in a clash in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan army general said Wednesday.
The authorities recovered the bodies and the militants' weapons after the fighting Tuesday near Tirin Kot, the capital of southern Uruzgan province, said Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazai, an army officer in charge of southern Afghanistan.
A known Taliban commander in the region, Mullah Ismail, was killed during the clash, which took place in a mountainous area, Zazai said.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009
08:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Another 25 in Helmand: The Afghan defence ministry reported separately that troops had killed 25 "terrorists" in a three-day clean-up operation that ended on Tuesday in the southern province of Helmand.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009 9:35
Comments ||
Top||
#4
And in other news....Workers at an agricultural cooperative in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture, check square-shaped watermelons. The cooperative will ship 600 of the watermelons, with a price tag of about 14,000 yen each. The melons are grown this way by being put into cubes of translucent plastic while still on the vine. The idea is to make it easier for them to fit into refrigerators.
#5
We have now entered the official "end game" for the United States Government. They are broke. Bankrupt. They have no hope of ever repaying their debts. Countries around the world know this and are starting to dump U.S. debt and U.S. currency because it will all become worthless very soon.
There's no stopping it. There's no avoiding it. There's no way to patch things up to make this go away.
The United States of America has been bankrupted by its own government. That government bears sole responsibility for the economic collapse that is coming. When the collapse happens, the American people - the most heavily armed population on Earth - will probably take up arms and overthrow the government by force. In our view, forcible overthrow is a fate the U.S. Government richly deserves.
I hope you don't mind two Kass articles in one week. I think this offers an interesting perspective. Excerpt here:
...For the past several days, Obama has been thwacked by Republican critics, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, for being too timid and weak on Iran. Other critics have pummeled him with images of the late President Ronald Reagan standing up to the Soviet repression of a democratic Poland, as the evil empire began to crack under Reagan's resolve.
But Iran isn't Poland. The themes involving freedom and self-determination may be similar, but the dynamics aren't the same.
After an extremely cautious first several days, Obama ratcheted up the rhetoric just a bit at his Tuesday news conference, saying he's appalled and outraged. But not enough to do anything about it publicly.
"I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran's affairs," Obama said carefully....
#1
Obama's tougher talk is welcome. His "I've been consistent" bullshit is not. He's a vacillating empty suit and a facile liar. Nobody asked him to send troops. All anybody expected is that the "Leader of the Free WorldĀ" show some f*cking spine and support a people struggling to overthrow a corrupt theocratic thugocracy. A simple "we stand with the people of Iran and support them in seeking a free and fair society" would've been acceptable, especially compared to the mealy-mouthed stumbling and ice cream/golf outings this tool gave us. Jebus. We're only 5 months in....gird your loins!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2009 8:41
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Liz Cheney: ĀPresident Obama said that weĀre going to offer unconditional talks if you unclench your fist and in response theyĀre shooting young women in the streets in Tehran.Ā
The New York Times used a private security company with ties to the CIA to bribe Taliban guards as part of its seven month effort to gain the freedom of reporter David Rohde and two others taken hostage with him in Afghanistan, according to people involved in the case.
The bribes were reportedly paid in small amounts of only a few hundred dollars at a variety of locations where Rhode was held. It was not clear what role, if any, they may have played in Rohde's daring escape early Saturday.
The company, the Boston-based American International Security Corporation, AISC, also proposed a possible armed assault to free Rohde but called off those plans when Rohde was moved from Afghanistan into Pakistan where such an assault was deemed more difficult to pull off, the people said.
Also: Taliban Wanted $25 Million for Life of New York Times Reporter
The Taliban leader who held New York Times reporter David Rohde hostage for seven months initially demanded a ransom of $25 million and the release of 10 prisoners from Guantanamo, according to people involved in subsequent negotiations.
Rohde's captor was reportedly identified by the FBI and CIA as Siraj Haqqani, the son of a senior Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani AKA The ISI Poodle
who is considered to be close to al Qaeda. He and his Taliban associates reportedly referred to the American journalist as their "golden rooster."
Haqqani demonstrated his violent ways by reportedly killing a messenger sent to establish that Rohde was still alive, according to people familiar with the FBI criminal investigation of the kidnapping.
The U.S. posted a $5 million reward for Siraj Haqqani's capture during the time he held Rohde.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009
07:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If we had a CIA worth anything we'd be spreading the word about the large bribes paid to multiple, multiple people, including people who had nothing to do with it. Let them sort it out. With shootin' irons ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009 9:40
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Or just mention the size of the bribe as about 50% greater than it actually was.
Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) A feeder organization to islamic jihad and terrorist groups
has indicated that it has transitioned from its covert status to a public phase of operations by issuing an announcement, signed in its own name, that it will host a conference in July 2009 to support the establishment of a Caliphate. The promotional video can be viewed on YouTube. The event, titled "The Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam," is scheduled for Sunday, July 19th, 2009, at the Aqsa School in Bridgeview, Illinois.
Bridgeview is a suburb of Chicago. Chicago has been a major hub of HTA's activities for the past ten years, approximately. According to information available on the internet, the Aqsa School is a private Islamic primary and secondary school. Although HTA's Khilafah conference will be held at the school, there is no public indication that the school, its staff, or its board members are directly involved with HTA.
Last fall, after HTA issued a leaflet in its own name calling for Muslims not to participate in the U.S. elections, I wrote a brief post on CTB about the possible transition of HTA to the second stage of its development. According to party doctrine, Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) implements its strategy in three stages--The first stage is the covert level of development in which members are recruited and trained. In the second stage, members promote the party's methods and objectives publicly in order to win the support of the Muslim population. The final stage is the establishment of an Islamic government and military, in order to carry HT's "message to the world."
Indeed, HTA's announcement that it will host the Khilafah conference in July indicates that the U.S.-based branch now perceives itself as solidly prepared to emerge from its covert status into the second stage. HTA has held Khilafah conferences, and other major conferences, in the past, but has only done so from behind fronts and covers.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009
07:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I thought "Aiding and abetting terrorists and terrorist organizations" was a crime?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 15:14
Comments ||
Top||
At this point, only the short-term future of Iran's clerical regime remains in doubt. The current protests could be repressed, but the unelected institutions of priestly rule have been fatally undermined. Though each aspect of the Islamic Republic has its own dynamic, this is not a regime that can last many more years.
When it comes to repression, Iran has a spectrum of security instruments that can be used synergistically. The national police can take care of routine crowd control; riot-police units can beat some demonstrators in order to discourage others; the much more brutal, underclass Basij militiamen enjoy striking and shooting affluent Iranians; and the technical arm of the regime can block cellular service to disrupt demonstrations, as well as stall Internet services. If the protests were to seriously escalate, the Revolutionary Guard troops with their armored vehicles might also be called in, though at some risk to the regime, given that reformist presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai was their longtime commander. The alternative -- calling in the regular army -- would be much more risky since the loyalty of the generals is unknown. So far the regime has required neither.
What has undermined the very structure of the Islamic Republic is the fracturing of its ruling elite. It was the unity established by Ayatollah Khomeini that allowed the regime to dominate the Iranian people for almost 30 years. Now that unity has been shattered: The very people who created the institutions of priestly rule are destroying their authority. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leading rival for the presidency, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was prime minister from 1981-89 when the Islamic Republic acquired its administrative structure, including its unelected head, the supreme leader. Though the supreme leader must be obeyed in all things, Mr. Mousavi now flatly rejects the orders of Ali Khamenei to accept Ahmadinejad's re-election. In this, Mr. Mousavi is joined by another presidential candidate, former parliament speaker and pillar of the establishment Mehdi Karroubi, and a yet more senior founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. President from 1989-97, Mr. Rafsanjani is also chairman of the Assembly of Experts, whose 86 members choose the supreme leader and can ostensibly remove him.
During the campaign, Ahmadinejad accused Mr. Rafsanjani and his children of corruption on live television. So if Ahmadinejad's re-election is to be "definitive" and even "divine," as Supreme Leader Khamenei has declared, Mr. Rafsanjani would have to resign from all his posts and his children would have to leave Iran. Instead, he is reportedly trying to recruit a majority of the Assembly of Experts to remove Khamenei, or at least force him to order new elections. The other key undemocratic institution of the Islamic Republic, founded in part by Messrs. Mousavi and Rafsanjani, is the 12-member Council of Guardians that can veto any laws passed by the elected parliament and any candidate for the parliament or the presidency. In recent years, the Council has persistently sided with extremists and Ahmadinejad, using its veto powers aggressively. Supreme Leader Khamenei logically chose the Council to deal with the election dispute.
Last week, the Council of Guardians announced that it might recount 10% of the ballots and summoned Messrs. Mousavi, Karroubi and Rezai. All three rejected the recount offer, and only Mr. Rezai showed up before the Council. Messrs. Mousavi and Karroubi simply refused to appear, explicitly denying the Council's authority as well as that of the supreme leader. This is highly significant. Were it not for the office of the supreme leader and the Council, Iran would be a normal democratic republic. In theory, if Ahmadinejad, Khamenei and the extremists of the Council of Guardians were all replaced by consensus figures, the Islamic Republic could continue as before. But in practice, that is impossible. Huge numbers of Iranians haven't been demonstrating at risk of beatings and worse for the uncharismatic and only marginally moderate Mr. Mousavi. His courage under pressure has certainly raised his popularity, but he is still no more than the accidental symbol of an emerging political revolution.
What's clear is that after years of humiliating social repression and gross economic mismanagement, the more educated and the more productive citizens of Iran have mostly turned their backs on the regime. Even if personally religious, they now reject the entire post-1979 structure of politicized Shiite Islam with its powerful ayatollahs, officious priests, strutting Revolutionary Guards and low-life Basij militiamen. Many Iranians once inclined to respect clerics now view them as generally corrupt -- including the Ahmadinejad supporters who applauded his attacks on Mr. Rafsanjani. Had Mr. Mousavi won the election, modest steps to liberalize the system -- he would have allowed women to go out with uncovered heads, for example -- would only have triggered demands for more change, eventually bringing down the entire system of clerical rule. In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev's very cautious reforms designed to perpetuate the Communist regime ended up destroying it in less than five years. In Iran, the system is much newer, and the process would likely have been faster.
Some important clerics have long suggested that men of religion should strive to regain popular respect by voluntarily giving up political power. That may provide a way out eventually. But for now, Supreme Leader Khamenei is in the impossible position of having to support a president whose authority is not accepted by much of the governing structure itself. Even the extremist Parliament Speaker Ali Larjani has declared that the vote count was biased. Therefore, even if he remains in office, Ahmadinejad cannot really function as president. For one thing, the parliament is unlikely to confirm his ministerial appointments, and he cannot govern without them. If Khamenei is not removed by the Assembly of Experts and Ahmadinejad is not removed by Khamenei, the government will continue to be paralyzed.
The great news is that, below the eroding machinery of priestly rule, the essential democratic institutions in Iran are up and running and need only new elections for the presidency and the parliament.
#1
Somehow, when we look back on this period in Iran, I hope we don't end up regretting our approach much like we ended up regretting and criticizing Bush 41's approach to leaving Saddam alone in 92 after we destroyed his Army in Kuwait. The Shia misunderstood our intentions and look what happened to them. I see the same thing happening in Iran - very similar to Tianamen.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/24/2009 9:47
Comments ||
Top||
Two Muslim inmates held in a special unit at the federal prison in Terre Haute say they aren't allowed to pray in groups as often as their religion commands and have asked a federal judge to ease worship limits imposed by the Bureau of Prisons. The prison in western Indiana houses several high-security inmates, including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding Afghanistan's now-defunct Taliban government.
The June 16 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana challenges limits on Islamic worship in the prison's restrictive Communications Management Unit, where about 30 of the 40 inmates are Muslim. Muslims are required to pray five times a day, but the lawsuit, filed on behalf of inmates Enaam Arnaout and Randall T. Royer, says inmates in the CMU are allowed to pray as a group just one hour a week. The ACLU claims that violates a federal law barring the government from restricting religious activities without showing a compelling need. The lawsuit echoes a 2007 complaint from convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid that he was denied access to group prayer at the Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo.
The Indiana lawsuit is one of two the ACLU has filed in the past week concerning conditions in the CMU. Its other lawsuit claimed the unit was created in secrecy and keeps its mostly Muslim inmates in virtual isolation. A Justice Department spokesman said last week that the government followed federal rules in creating the special unit in November 2006. Designed to house prisoners who require additional security, the unit closely monitors inmates' outside contacts. Bureau of Prisons officials declined Tuesday comment on the prayer lawsuit.
Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, questioned policies allowing prisoners out of their cells to watch television, play cards or engage in other group activities but limiting group worship to one hour on Fridays. "That means four people can sit around the table playing cards or talking about the basketball game but they can't worship," Falk said.
Lindh's attorney George Harris confirmed Tuesday that Lindh, a convert to Islam, is held in the CMU. He declined to comment on the lawsuit or say whether Lindh has had problems practicing his religion at the prison.
The lawsuit asks the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate daily prayers that were held in a multipurpose room for several months after the CMU opened. Louay Safi, director of leadership development with the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America, said Muslims try to pray in groups whenever possible. "Muhammad said there is a much greater reward for people who pray in congregation than those who pray individually," he said.
Arnaout, 46, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, is serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering after admitting in 2003 that he defrauded donors to his Benevolence International Foundation by diverting some of the money to Islamic military groups in Bosnia and Chechnya. Royer, 36, a former spokesman for the Muslim American Society, is serving 20 years for his participation in what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network." The group used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as military training in preparation for holy war against nations deemed hostile to Islam, prosecutors say.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
06/24/2009 7:10
Comments ||
Top||
#2
So, what about kids who want to hold a voluntary prayer meeting before or after classes in schools? Oh, wait a minute, never mind....
But, they're children. Then why do you insist they get full adult due process rights in juvie courts and equal protection against curfews? Oh, wait a minute, never mind....
#3
Just consider that these feloniously faithful are on an extended trip. Then the Friday hour becomes the shortened/combined Reader's Digest version. Of course there is less time for Death to Infidels! chants, but that can be done in the privacy of the cell.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009 7:54
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Dave UK, the ACLU are shit disturbers and their only imprimatur is, "If we can stick the majority in the eye, then that's good!"
Posted by: jack salami ||
06/24/2009 8:52
Comments ||
Top||
Prior to this month's disputed presidential election in Iran, the Obama administration sent a letter to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations, according to interviews and the leader himself.
Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the letter toward the end of a lengthy sermon last week, in which he accused the United States of fomenting protests in his country in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential election.
U.S. officials declined to discuss the letter on Tuesday, a day in which President Obama gave his strongest condemnation yet of the Iranian crackdown against protesters.
An Iranian with knowledge of the overture, however, told The Washington Times that the letter was sent between May 4 and May 10 and laid out the prospect of "cooperation in regional and bilateral relations" and a resolution of the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Not sure why this is a big deal, but it is reported as an "Exclusive" in the Washington Times, DC's 'other' newspaper.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2009
06:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Speculation time: The O-Team sent a craftily worded letter hinting that they would prefer the Mullahs to ĀselectĀ anyone other then Short Round for President. That way it would allow for the ĀappearanceĀ of a complete new era of Bi-lateral negotiations. They probably also insinuated about the possibility of street protests if the election was seen as a sham. And that a crack down on those protesters would make overt talks near impossible. That might explain the PoobahĀs reference to foreign agent provocateurs. It might also explain ObamaĀs reluctance to find his throat until he actually saw the Persian middle finger. Of course, the Mullahs always blame everything on external forces and Obama has proven to be a neophyte on all things foreign Ā but itĀs one angle.
#2
Speculation time: The O-Team sent a craftily worded letter hinting that they would prefer the Mullahs to "select" anyone other then Short Round for President.
Doubtful. Obama really does believe that the Iranian leadership is made up of reasonable people with legitimate grievances. The letter was probably directed to Khamenei to reinforce that Obama would like to push the reset button regardless of who won the election.
#3
It's not a big deal, but if they ever need to defend themselves, The Washington Times can now point to this and say the broke and exclusive Bad Obama story.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/24/2009 16:03
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Again, Obama promoted status quo tyranny, while a democratic-revolution brewed. What a bastard!
The choice presented by the democracy protests in Iran could hardly have been clearer.
On one side: a brutal theocratic regime that jails and tortures its critics at home and is a deadly sponsor of terrorism abroad; that loudly proclaims its enmity for the United States and has murdered many Americans to prove it; that barely conceals its drive to amass a nuclear arsenal; that lusts for the annihilation of Israel; and that for 30 years has pursued a far-flung Islamist jihad. On the other side: throngs of Iranians calling for an end to their governmentĀs abuses.
With whom should America stand - the bloody tyranny or the people opposing it? For most Americans the question answers itself, which is why both houses of Congress voted all but unanimously last week to condemn the Iranian government and support the protestersĀ embrace of human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law. So why was President ObamaĀs response initially so ambivalent? Why was he more interested in preserving ĀdialogueĀĀ with IranĀs dictatorial rulers than in providing moral support for their freedom-seeking subjects? Why did it take him until yesterday to declare that Americans are Āappalled and outragedĀĀ by IranĀs crackdown and to Āstrongly condemnĀĀ the vicious attacks on peaceful dissenters?
A disconcerting answer to those questions appears in the new issue of Commentary, where Johns Hopkins University scholar Joshua Muravchik isolates the most striking feature of the young Obama administrationĀs foreign policy: Āits indifference to the issues of human rights and democracy.ĀĀ In an essay titled ĀThe Abandonment of Democracy,ĀĀ Muravchik - the author, most recently, of ĀThe Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle EastĀĀ - observes that every president since Jimmy Carter has made the advancement of democracy and human rights one of his foreign-policy objectives. Now, he writes, Āthis tradition has been ruptured by the Obama administration.ĀĀ
The rupture was telegraphed at a pre-inauguration meeting with the Washington Post, during which the incoming president argued that Āfreedom from want and freedom from fearĀĀ are more urgent than democracy, and that Āoftentimes an election can just backfireĀĀ if corruption isnĀt fixed first. Muravchik points out that when Obama gave Al-Arabiya, an Arabic-language satellite channel, his first televised interview as president, he focused on US relations with the Middle East and Muslim world, yet Ānever mentioned democracy or human rights.ĀĀ
In February, Obama traveled to Camp Lejeune, N.C., to announce his timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. His strategic goal, he said, was Āan Iraq that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant.ĀĀ But other than a glancing reference to the successful Iraqi election that had taken place a few weeks earlier, he again had nothing to say about democracy.
Muravchik isnĀt alone in noticing ObamaĀs reticence. In its editorial on the Iraqi election, which it termed a Āpolitical triumph,ĀĀ the Washington Post celebrated IraqĀs progress Ātoward becoming the moderate Arab democracy that the Bush administration long hoped for.ĀĀ Ironically, it noted, one major beneficiary of that election Āmay be President Obama, who has been a skeptic both of progress in Iraq and the value of elections in unstable states.ĀĀ Bush would have cheered the Iraqi vote as further evidence of the countryĀs democratic advance. Obama merely acknowledged that the election made it easier to withdraw Āa substantial numberĀĀ of troops.
By April, former New York Times correspondent Joel Brinkley was explaining ĀHow ĀdemocracyĀ got to be a dirty wordĀĀ in the new administration. Since taking office, he wrote, Āneither President Obama nor Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has even uttered the word democracy in a manner related to democracy promotion.ĀĀ Of the 30 releases issued by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Ānot one . . . has discussed democracy promotion. Democracy, it seems, is banished from the Obama administrationĀs public vocabulary.ĀĀ
Authoritarian regimes naturally welcome the new approach. According to AP, EgyptĀs ambassador to the United States expressed satisfaction Āthat ties are on the mend and that Washington has dropped conditions for better relations, including demands for Āhuman rights, democracy and religious and general freedoms.Ā ĀĀ Just as Obama has downplayed democracy efforts in the Middle East, he has also done so with regard to China, Russia, and even Sudan.
Obama may see himself as the un-Bush, cool to democracy because his predecessor was so keen for it. But to millions of subjugated human beings, he is the leader of the free world - an avatar of the democratic freedoms they hunger for. On the streets of Iran recently, many protesters held signs reading ĀWhere Is My Vote?ĀĀ There are limits to what the American president can do for IranĀs beleaguered democrats. But is it too much to ask that he take their question seriously?
A chic sheath dress in a bold color -- that is the unmistakable Michelle Obama look, one she has made her own as first lady of the United States, according to two new books celebrating Obama's fashion sense. As usual, it's about selling new books. And sucking up to power ...
Her image is everywhere you look I try not to these days: Last week, Obama was given a Board of Directors' Special Tribute Award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which noted her "meteoric rise as a fashion icon." Slurp.
Last month, she was in Paris, where she once again shone next to super-chic French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. In the same dress, almost. Did they discuss it? Pic at link.
But she especially stands out these days in bookstores, striking a pose on Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion by Mandi Norwood (William Morrow, $19.99 ) and on Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion and Style by Susan Swimmer (Black Dog & Leventhal, $9.95). There's even a Michelle Obama 2010 wall calendar featuring 20 color pictures of her ($15.99 at Amazon.com). Doesn't take much time for these 'authors' to write their best-seller.
Both book authors are veteran fashion editors, and both say Mrs. O is an original and at the same time a woman with whom anyone can identify. Both books are packed with color photos and sketches of Obama's fashion choices over the past year or outfits famous designers have imagined for her. Both analyze what Obama is doing and how she's doing it -- and what effect she's having. Ms. Wife to the white courtesy phone, please. Trailing Wife to the white phone, please.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/24/2009
05:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hear the next venue Michelle is set to conquer is the WWF. She already has the belt.
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2009 7:29
Comments ||
Top||
#2
And each of those books is available at Amazon, on the sidebar to the right ---->
#12
I typically avoid commenting on physical appearances, both good and bad, because it's just too easy. But in this case I'm going to make an exception.
I'm willing to acknowledge that Michelle Obama is an objectively attractive woman. And while she's not really my type, her thighs look to be nearing the stature and girth of Her Thighness, HRC.
Must be something in the water at 1600 Pennslyvania Ave.
#19
WHoa, first the two FIRST LADIES then MODELS > D *** NG IT, CATFIGHTS EVERYWHERE + ONLY ONE PIC OF MICHELLE AND CARLA, W-T-H KIND OF QUALITY PAPARAZZI ARE WE TURNING OUT THESE DAYS!
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 19:47
Comments ||
Top||
#21
I would normally refrain about this, but since the Obama-worshiping press, fashion media sycophants, and assorted Dem remoras insist on calling her faaaabulous(!), let me just say - I've seen more graceful T-rex animations, the Klingon forehead, bite-a-wall overbite and all around bitter entitlement attitude make me wanna puke. Classy? Non! Graceful? Non! Tasteful? Non! Bitter Klingon wid da wide load? Oui!
As a fashion maven in my Levi's jeans, steel-toed Timberlands, and polo shirt/hawaiian shirt rotation, my word is good
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2009 22:34
Comments ||
Top||
#22
she's heinous, patrick ewing in a skirt - case closed.
President Obama has decided to return a U.S. ambassador to Syria after an absence of more than four years, marking a significant step toward engaging an influential Arab nation long at odds with the United States.
The acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, Jeffrey D. Feltman, informed Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, tonight of Obama's intention, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision had yet to be made public. By returning a senior U.S. envoy to Damascus, the Syrian capital, the Obama administration is seeking to carve out a far larger role for the United States in the region as the president works to rehabilitate U.S. relations with the Islamic world and the Arab Middle East.
The Bush administration withdrew its ambassador in February 2005 to protest the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. Syrian intelligence officials are suspected of being behind the bombing in Beirut that killed him, a claim Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has long rejected.
The loss of U.S. diplomatic leverage in the region -- because of opposition among many Arabs to the Iraq war and a perceived U.S. favoritism toward Israel -- has left a vacuum in recent years filled in large part by Iran. The decision to return the ambassador to Syria, senior administration officials said, represents the restoration of a sustained U.S. diplomatic presence in a secular Arab country central to many U.S. interests in the region. "It did not make any sense to us not to be able to speak with an authoritative voice in Damascus," the senior administration official said. "It was our assessment that total disengagement has not served our interests."
"We're determined to engage in a comprehensive way in the region," the official said. "This is an important step we are taking as part of that strategy." The official said the administration tonight also informed the ambassadors of other countries in the region, including Israel.
A question for someone smarter: is this a good thing in that it gives us a base for intelligence and espionage? Not that gentlemen would read each other's mail, of course.
Seem to be abusing Fred's hospitality at present. For now, please ignore the spamalicious posts while the 'Burg's IT staff builds Troll-B-Gone Mark 3.6.
The mod squad may or may not be available to swat every spammer during work hours. We'll deploy the mop/bucket combo and banhammer as time permits.
Thanks for your patience and thanks for your continuing participation.
North Korea has banned all vessels from passing through waters off its eastern coast for 16 days starting from June 25 due to "a military exercise," the Japan Coast Guard said late Monday, cautioning Japanese ships to avoid the area during the period.
The North informed Japan via e-mail of its plan to conduct a shooting drill off the coastal city of Wonsan between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. from June 25-July 10, according to the coast guard. The ban covers an area about 450 kilometers in length and 110 km wide from Wonsan. The area includes stretches of sea from which North Korea issued two similar warnings earlier this month. It was the first time that North Korea has specified a reason for imposing a navigation ban along its coastline.
Pyongyang also imposed a similar ban before it conducted the nation's second nuclear test and fired six short-range missiles from the area near Wonsan between May 25 and 29.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that they have identical views on almost all issues of common concern, notably the Middle East question.
Speaking to reporters after the summit talks with his host, Medvedev, who started a visit to Egypt on Tuesday, said the talks dealt with various regional and international issues including the Middle East conflict and Iran's nuclear program, as well as African issues.
He appreciated Mubarak's efforts to build confidence among the different parties in the Middle East, renewing Russia's commitment to host a Middle East peace conference before the end of 2009.
Continued on Page 49
TEHRAN: After winning a landslide victory in Iran's closely-contested and disputed 10th presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in before parliament between July 26 and August 19.
On Tuesday, parliament's board of directors set July 26 to August 19 as the period for the president's swearing-in and the introduction of the new cabinet, Iranian media reported.
Parliamentary deputies will also review the credentials of the proposed ministers during the same period.
Iran's Interior Ministry declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the June 12th election with almost two-thirds of the vote.
The defeated candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei, have cried foul once the results were announced and reported over 600 irregularities in the electoral process to the Guardian Council.
However, the council which is tasked with supervising the elections ruled out the possibility of nullifying the presidential election, saying there has been no record of any major irregularity.
Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman of the council, said late on Monday that most of the complaints reported irregularities before the election, and not during or after the vote.
TANK: An attack on the office of Baitullah MehsudĀs opponent group commander Turkistan Bethni has been averted.
According to sources, unknown gunmen attacked office of Baitullah MehsudĀs rival group commander Turistan Bethni in Mal Mandi, which was averted through retaliatory action of Bethni group armed men. The attackers were managed to flee from the scene.
Iran's clerical establishment is considering scrapping the position of the Supreme Leader, currently held by Ayatollah Khamenei and forcing out President Ahmadinejad according to reports.
The country's Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts is reported to be considering the formation of a collective leadership to replace the position of supreme leader, according to Al Arabiya, citing sources in the holy city of Qom.
Both groups are headed by former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key rival to Ayatollah Khamenei and a strong supporter of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
On Saturday five members of Rafsanjani's family were arrested for taking part in demonstrations against the controversial re-election of President Ahmadinejad. They have subsequently been released.
The Assembly of Experts, a body of Islamic clerics, is responsible for overseeing the Supreme Leader and can even remove the Supreme Leader should they decide to. The Expediency Council is responsible for mediating disputes between the parliament elected by the people and the unelected Guardian Council.
Members of the Assembly of Experts are reported to be considering making changes to the Iranian system of government that would be the biggest since Ayatollah Khomeini set up the Islamic system in the revolution of 1979, by removing the position of the supreme leader.
Secret meetings are said to have taken place in Qom and included a representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most prominent Shiite leader in Iraq.
Clerical leaders are also said to be considering forcing the resignation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following over a week of unrest since he was elected in what senior opposition leaders claim was a fraudulent election.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
06/24/2009
00:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Sistani consulting with Rafsanjani to pop A'jad and Khamenei and adjust the system of clerical control. Even if its rearranging deck chairs after a contrived crisis over a bogus 'election', it means the rearanging is guided from Karbala, not Qom. I'll take that.
Also, once the door is opened we have seen that reforms can progress out of control even when the reforms are intended to preserve an totalitarian system, not destroy it.
#6
If this happens, watch for Obama to unjustifiably take credit for it, with the full assistance of the infotainment and education industries. They'll be manufacturing the narrative as they go.
Can't happen? In terms of factual history, it was a weak, dissembling JFK meeting with Kruschev that emboldened the Soviets to place missiles in Cuba. The world barely escaped nuclear war as a result.
What do the Democrat-controlled history texts teach instead? That Kennedy was brilliant in "defusing" the Cuban missile crisis and that on that basis alone he was a great president. This assessment has, of course, no basis in reality.
But most Americans, if they've heard of the Cuban missile crisis, believe the lie that it was resolved by the great JFK, instead of knowing the truth that it was precipitated by his incompetence and inexperience.
Look for the education and "news" industries to start pushing a similar meme for what happens in Iran. NPR is doing it already, with your tax dollars.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/24/2009 5:53
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Of course it's due to Obama - why, he made a speech in Cairo!
#8
This looks like an echo report from the rumor over the weekend. I'm guessing no new news, just a rumor sanitized into "news" by Fleet Street clowns.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2009 10:05
Comments ||
Top||
#9
The Iranian system is modelled on the Soviet communist system. The Assembly of Experts is the equivalent of the Central Committee. The Supreme Leader being the General Secretary.
As in the Soviet Union, the Assembly of Experts is nominally in charge. In practice the Supreme Leader becomes a de facto dictator or at least leader for life.
The Soviet Central Committee only ever dismissed one General Secretary I recall and that was Khruschev for being too reformist. But who knows with Iran.
#10
This looks like an echo report from the rumor over the weekend. I'm guessing no new news, just a rumor sanitized into "news" by Fleet Street clowns.
Actually it appeared in the June 21st edition of a Saudi newspaper. So if it's an fabrication, it's a Saudi one.
#12
it would be interesting to see some mullahs executed by other mullahs
sort of a revolution eats its children kind of thing
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/24/2009 13:19
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Pappy, I didn't call it a fabrication, I called it a rumor. It could be true, I hope it is. And that Gulf Arab report from the weekend was the rumor I was talking about, although I could have sworn I saw it first in one of Ledeen's crap-I've-heard-today rumor-dumps on the Corner.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/24/2009 16:27
Comments ||
Top||
#14
When Fleet Street reported it, the general- consenus-commentary immediately labeled it a Saudi fabrication. Hence my remark.
#15
But, Ahmadinejad controls the pampered bureaucracy, while Khamenei controls hundreds of mosques and madrasas. It is impossible to force a democratic-revolution anywhere in the world, when the US President is unsympathetic to same.
South Korean military authorities plan to introduce a defense system against an electromagnetic pulse wave unleashed by a nuclear explosion into major strategic facilities next year in case of a nuclear attack from North Korea.
Military authorities will further beef up capabilities to respond to nuclear attack by reinforcing equipment for reconnaissance aircraft earlier than scheduled. The military will also introduce long-range, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as the U.S.-made Global Hawk ahead of schedule next year to strengthen monitoring of North Korean moves to launch a nuclear provocation.
The military will spend W64 billion (US$1=W1,290) to buy GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs by next year, four years earlier than the original target of 2014. The bombs are capable of penetrating up to 30 m into the earth, enabling them to strike North Korea's underground nuclear facilities or command posts.
The Defense Ministry on Tuesday reported the plans to a session of a Grand National Party ad hoc committee, according to committee members. The ministry mooted a budget of W6 billion in the 2010 government budget for the anti-EMP defense system for major strategic facilities such as Cheong Wa Dae. It wants to allocate W8 billion in next year's budget for the purchase of Global Hawk high-altitude UAVs from next year. It previously planned to introduce them in 2011.
And W10 billion is to pay for more Geumgang aerial video reconnaissance and Baekdu communications monitoring reconnaissance aircraft, some of which are already in operation. Some W269.5 billion is to be spent on ballistic missiles and an early-warning radar system; W84.1 billion on GPS-guided joint direct attack munitions (JDAM); and about W71.2 billion on GBU-24 laser-guided bombs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
See? President Obama is creating American jobs.
/sarcasm. Honestly, the idea that jobs not lost is the same as brand new jobs makes me want to reinstate corporeal punishment in the schools.
#2
OTOH WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC CHINA CANNOT AFFORD TO GO TO WAR, espec wid increasingly unstable rear = hinterland regions???
* SAME > A SECOND KOREAN WAR MAY FORCE CHINA TO DIVERT ITS BEST UNITS/MIL FORCES FROM AGZ INDIA, PAKISTAN AND TAIWAN. CHIINA NEEDS FIVE YEARS OR MORE TO BE READY FOR MODERN WAR AGZ US-ALLIES.; + RUSSIA IS HIGHLY FEARFUL OF CHINA'S TRANS-ASIAN ENERGY DEALS BECAUSE OF INCREASE IN CHINA'S PRESTIGE, GEOPOL AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSIONISMS AT THE EXPENSE OF RUSSIA'S, IN ADDITION TO RUSSIA ALREADY EXPERIENCING STEADY LOSS IN INFLUENCE WID ITS FORMER CENTRAL ASIAN SSR'S [ -Stans]!?
#3
OTOH WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC CHINA CANNOT AFFORD TO GO TO WAR, espec wid increasingly unstable rear = hinterland regions???
* SAME > A SECOND KOREAN WAR MAY FORCE CHINA TO DIVERT ITS BEST UNITS/MIL FORCES FROM AGZ INDIA, PAKISTAN AND TAIWAN. CHIINA NEEDS FIVE YEARS OR MORE TO BE READY FOR MODERN WAR AGZ US-ALLIES.; + RUSSIA IS HIGHLY FEARFUL OF CHINA'S TRANS-ASIAN ENERGY DEALS BECAUSE OF INCREASE IN CHINA'S PRESTIGE, GEOPOL AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSIONISMS AT THE EXPENSE OF RUSSIA'S, IN ADDITION TO RUSSIA ALREADY EXPERIENCING STEADY LOSS IN INFLUENCE WID ITS FORMER CENTRAL ASIAN SSR'S [ -Stans]!?
Taliban on Tuesday amputated the hands of a man in Orakzai Agency in compliance with a punishment ordered by a "Taliban court" on charges of theft, locals said. Locals told Daily Times that the "court" in the Mamuzai area ordered the hands of Najibullah to be amputated. The punishment was carried out in the presence of several tribesmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Maybe the Taliban should have their hands amputated for trying to steal Afghanistan and Pakistan?
[Geo News] The death toll in suspected US drone strike in the South Waziristan Agency has risen to 65, witnesses and officials said late on Tuesday adding that the missiles hit a funeral procession.
Sohail Mehsud from the town of Makeen in the South Waziristan tribal region said he saw three unmanned drones fired missiles on Tuesday afternoon at the funeral procession for suspected militants killed by a similar strike earlier in the day. At least two missiles were fired at the funeral prayers, killing at least 17 people earlier and injuring several others but later in the day the death toll mounted to 65.
That's going to play hell with attendance at the next holy martyr funeral ...
The missile attack targeted the hideouts of Baitullah Mehsud, where Commander Sangeen is reported to have been killed. Commander Sangeen belongs to Afghanistan.
U.S. officials concede missiles fired from drones have targeted suspected militant leaders in the tribal zone for months, but they do not comment on individual strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#5
unmanned drones fired missiles on Tuesday afternoon at the funeral procession for suspected militants killed by a similar strike earlier in the day.
[Kyodo: Korea] China stressed Tuesday that any interception and inspection of North Korean vessels on the high seas should be based on ''sufficient evidence,'' and called on all parties to refrain from any action that could intensify an already tense situation.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the U.N. Security Council resolution calling on all 192 member states to carry out cargo inspections of North Korean vessels suspected of carrying nuclear or missile-related cargo is a ''complex and sensitive issue'' that should be based on ''reasonable grounds.''
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Is sinking them less complex and sensitive? Maybe we should try that.
#3
Complex my a$$. Declare war or something like it. Stop ship. Search. Seize nuclear contraband and evidence. Remove crew. Sink ship. Return crew to South Korea and they can go home if they want. Parade evidence before world. Done.
Piddly little country with no ability to do anything about anything. That's why man invented war. Bypasess all the inconvenient rules related to peacetime behavior. Demonstrated behavior does not relate to peacetime behavior. They are just hoping people apply peacetime logic as an excuse to avoid going to war.
Now if it was China or India or Russia, then it would be complicated.
Two Iranian diplomats have been expelled by the British government, after two UK envoys were told to leave Iran. The Iranians yesterday ordered the expulsion of the two officials for "activities inconsistent with their diplomatic status" - diplomatic language for spying.
But Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Iran's actions were "unjustified" and "absolutely without foundation".
Mr Brown told MPs in the Commons: "In response to that action, we informed the Iranian ambassador today that we would expel two Iranian diplomats from their embassy in London. "I am disappointed that Iran has placed us in this position."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Britain and the US on Sunday to stop interfering in Iran's internal affairs after the disputed presidential election, which led to days of protests.
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said Iran's decision to expel the diplomats relates to an "internal issue", aimed at the anti-government protesters in Tehran. "It serves as a warning that if arrested, they will be accused of collaborating with foreign powers against Iran," Marshall said.
Conservative leader David Cameron said the expulsion of the British envoys was "clearly not acceptable" and backed the retaliatory measure.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office described the claim as "baseless".
A spokeswoman said: "We think the Government of Iran is seeking to blame the UK and other outsiders for what is an Iranian reaction to an Iranian issue. "This has a potential impact on our staff safety and is unacceptable. We have taken the decision to reciprocate."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Well, this is a no-brainer. Obviously the response if much nicer than the evocation.
.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 14:58
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Watch Iran's "Press TV" on the Live Station website, and you will see one "witness" (read: coached collaborator) after another claim they participated in riots, after hearing alleged BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle "incitement." At least a couple can be positively identified as Agent Provacateurs. The "tell" is: they are obviously reading from a script.
[Geo News] An Indian court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for 22 Pakistani nationals accused of masterminding last year's deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks, including the founder of an Islamist militant group recently freed by a Pakistani court.
An Indian prosecutor demanded that Islamabad extradite all the suspects, though Pakistan has vowed that it will not transfer any Mumbai suspects to longtime rival India, saying instead it will try them in its own courts.
The warrants were issued in response to a prosecutors' motion in the ongoing trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving suspected gunman in last year's attacks that left some 166 dead in a three-day siege.
Among those sought for arrest were Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, founder of the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba -- which India blames for the launching attacks -- and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, two leaders of the group.
Pakistan arrested all three in December after Indian diplomats provided a dossier of evidence in a rare sharing of intelligence between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence.
However, a court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore earlier this month freed Saeed, a hard-line Islamic cleric, saying there was no evidence against him. Indian officials heatedly condemned the move.
The Indian's court's issuance of arrest warrants Tuesday had been expected, since New Delhi has long identified the 22 suspects as terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
[Quqnoos] Eight Kazakh and Afghan drivers were killed and injured Monday in a tanker blast in northern Balkh province. An Afghan driver died and seven others including six Kazakhs were wounded as a tanker caught fire in the border town of Hairtan in northern Afghanistan, according to a statement of the Afghan Interior Ministry.
"The incident occurred when the drivers were busy in downloading oil tanker during which an Afghan driver was killed and seven others, including an Afghan and six Kazakh national, sustained injures," the press release added.
Two oil tankers were damaged in the incident, the statement further said. The statement termed the incident took place due to the reckless handling the oil tankers, adding the fire was quenched by fire fighters and thus more damage has been avoided.
Hairatan town on the Afghan-Uzbek border has been heavily using for business purposes and a major part of Afghan oil has been transiting through this border to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Here is the one immutable fact of Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. The rule book he came in with is as irrelevant as a tourist guide to the Austro-Hungarian empire.
If the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone. And if the forces of reform are crushed into submission by the regime, Obama's plan is moot, because the regime will still be there.
If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei come out on top, even the most soulless realists will be repulsed by the blood on the regime's collective hands. Politics and decency will demand that the world condemn or shun the regime.
Before June 12, Obama's eagerness to negotiate with Ahmadinejad -- ridiculed by his conservative critics -- was hailed by the establishment and the left as proof of his high-minded faith in diplomacy, a healthy antidote to George W. Bush's allegedly close-minded approach.
But now, if the clerical junta prevails, anyone who shakes hands with Ahmadinejad will have a hard time washing the blood off his own hands.
What is dismaying is how reluctant the administration is to accept this. As even some of Obama's most stalwart defenders are admitting, the president was caught flat-footed by the events in Iran. There's no shame in that; everyone was surprised.
His most ardent defenders might claim that he's been adept at "calibrating" his response all along, but it's obvious that he's been playing catch-up. His initial instinct, according to Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post, was to cling "to the pre-election paramount goal of keeping alive the chances for a nuclear deal with any government in Tehran." To that end, Obama said there was little difference between Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Ahmadinejad, and he refrained from "meddling." Within a week, he gave a full-throated denunciation of the regime's clampdown and a statement of support for the protesters. But he only did so after the Europeans and our own Congress.
Why is it so hard for Obama to get a handle on the Iranian challenge? Hoagland and others are surely partly right that the president is determined to negotiate with Iran. But Obama has made it clear that he sees the elimination of Iran's nuclear problem not as a stand-alone priority but as one part of his Middle East two-step. His inseparable goal is to also push Israel into a peace settlement with the Palestinians. As an unnamed Iran expert in contact with White House officials told Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen, "Obama is dedicated to diplomacy in a manner that is almost ideological. ... He wants to do some stuff in the Middle East over the next eight years. He may not be able to achieve half of them unless he gets this huge piece of the puzzle [Iran] right."
That "stuff" seems to be some grand Middle East transformation, whereby Obama promises to negotiate away Iran's nuclear program in return for Israeli movement on an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. In effect, Obama would be using the threat of a nuclear-armed Ahmadinejad as a Medusa's head to petrify Israelis into concessions.
Whether such a strategy would have worked is open to huge quantities of skepticism. Now, after what's happened in Iran in recent days, such a plan is simply impossible.
For years, conservatives or, if you prefer, neoconservatives, have said that the Iranian regime can't be negotiated with. Some emphasized that anti-Americanism is at the core of the regime's identity. Some noted that Obama-style "open-handed" overtures to Iran were rebuffed. (Obama may have acknowledged U.S. support for the 1953 overthrow of the Mohammed Mossadegh regime in the hope that such frankness would win him goodwill from the regime. But no such goodwill followed Madeleine Albright's apology in 2000.)
Others pointed to the messianic and conspiratorial zeal that animates Iran's clerical junta. Many invoked Iran's steadfast animus toward our ally Israel as well as its endorsement and sponsorship of "scholarly" Holocaust-denial and the more tangible support for Hezbollah and others bent on murdering Jews. Iran's efforts to derail democracy and stability in Iraq by, among other things, supporting attacks on American troops is also part of the talk-is-folly brief.
None of that was sufficient evidence for Obama, in part because anything associated with Bush's freedom agenda was deemed absurd and ideologically rigid.
Well, Bush is gone. Obama has extended his hand. And the regime is supplying fresh evidence of the absurdity of his approach. All that's left for Obama now is to abandon his own ideological rigidity and start over.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Obama does not believe in regime change ie. nothing will change in Iran.If anything they will get braver as they see weakness in Barry!
#2
Well, if the lion can get slapped down by Dorothy Gale of Kansas, then what happens to those under the lion's food chain? Exuding weakness and naivete led tin-horns Chavez and Ortega to show up with the balls to upbraid Obambi during the Latin summit a while back.
Posted by: jack salami ||
06/24/2009 9:09
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Obama says, "Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history." (From his prime time speech)
If he does not 'stand up' against Iran's theocratic dictatorship (that means act, IMO), isn't he on the wrong side of history - according to himself?
Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly gave celebrity blogger Perez Hilton a black eye outside a Toronto nightclub. Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show.
Molina turned himself in and has been charged with assaulting Hilton, Toronto Police Constable Tony Vella said. Molina is due in court Aug. 5.
Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, complained about the incident on the microblogging site Twitter. He tweeted at 4 a.m.: "I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke."
Hilton, who is a dumbass openly gay, said in interview with The Associated Press that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site. "He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me," Hilton said. "I was like 'I don't need to respect you. I don't respect you and I did say this, and I knew that it would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him because he was acting the way he was. I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'" And I was, like, I toadally can't respect a dipshit was uses "like" as punctation and goes around calling people "faggots" and doesn't expect an occasional bust in the mush. Wotta maroon. Don't forget the part where he twittered his friends to call the police. What, the '9' and '1' buttons on your cell phone are broken?
Hilton, who was at the club with Lady Gaga, said he then left the club and was punched from behind. The pop stars and the blogger were among celebrities in Toronto for the MuchMusic Video Awards on Sunday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Won't someone tell me the number to 911? I mean, like, really, I am bleeding."
Una Maroon
#19
Dunno much about their music but I think I'm gonna have to buy a Black Eyed Peas CD.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/24/2009 13:05
Comments ||
Top||
#20
I think this is a case of red-on-red: will.i.am is the guy who did all those Obama worship videos last fall.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/24/2009 15:51
Comments ||
Top||
#21
Dunno much about their music ...
OK, here's some lyrics to "My Humps" by the "Blacked Eyed Peas".
What you gon' do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps (Check it out)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday extended the tenure of Mossad chief Meir Dagan for an eighth year, a testament to the spymaster's perceived success in waging shadow wars against Iran and its allies. Dagan, a former commando and retired general, took over Mossad in 2002 with what security sources described as a mandate to monitor and sabotage the Iranian nuclear program ahead of any decision by Israel to launch full-scale preemptive strikes.
The Mossad has also been credited with spotting an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor which Israel bombed in 2007, and with assassinating Islamist guerrillas such as Imad Moughniyah of Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, who was slain in Damascus in 2008.
"This is an excellent man who, at the head of an excellent team, has improved the country's capabilities," an aide to Netanyahu quoted him as telling the Israeli cabinet in its weekly session.
The son of Holocaust refugees, Dagan, 64, has spearheaded assessments that a nuclear-armed Iran would present a mortal threat to Israel. Iran - which denies seeking the bomb - could produce its first such warhead by 2014, Dagan said last week.
He also played down prospects of the current civil upheaval over Iran's disputed June 12 election leading to a change in government, but said Tehran could be persuaded to curb sensitive nuclear technologies if U.S.-led sanctions are intensified.
Failing that, Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has hinted at a military option, though many analysts think Iranian sites are too dispersed and fortified for its air force to take on alone. That leaves covert action as a stop-gap countermeasure, something Israeli officials privately confirm is under way.
But don't tell anyone because it's covert ...
Western media reports have spoken of Mossad involvement in sabotage at Iranian nuclear facilities and sneak attacks on Iranian scientists and military personnel. Iranian media have reported the disruption of some suspected Israeli spy cells.
Mossad's purview is "human intelligence" - recruited agents with first-hand information about, and access to, enemy plans. Security sources say this has lent Dagan authority among Israeli decision-makers reluctant to design their Iran strategy around satellite pictures or electronic eavesdropping transcripts.
Mossad's headquarters, north of Tel Aviv, has almost doubled in size since 2002 - an indication of Dagan's budgetary clout.
"If there is one service that has brought us close to knowing what's really going on in Iran, it's Mossad," said a recently retired government official, who formerly had a top post in a rival Israeli spy agency.
Israel's military top brass and civilian defense chiefs generally serve for four years, with a traditional one-year extension. Dagan's tenure was extended twice before. He is now due to step down in 2010.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Quqnoos] NATO-led British forces have launched a massive air operation in the southern Helmand province, the Taliban stronghold. According to a statement of the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) the offensive was launched Friday in Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, the provincial centre.
The British troops are using 25 aircrafts in the operation -- a largest one -- including Chinook choppers, Apache and Black Hawk gunship choppers accompanied by Harrier jets and unmanned drones.
Operation 'Panther's Claw' has been carrying out by Scottish troops in Helmand, aiming to destroy Taliban centres along a river in the Babaji area.
"This has been a major air assault operation with a large number of helicopters. The Black Watch met some resistance but we were able to establish a firm foothold in the area," said Lieut Col Stephen Cartwright, Commanding Officer of The Black Watch.
According to the offensive forces, a number of the Taliban militants have been also killed in the operation but an exact figure has not provided to the media. Taliban militants who also vowed to intensify their spring offensive have not made any comments on the fighting.
The British forces seized 1.3 tons of poppy seed and a number of IED and anti-personnel mines in the operation, the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Finally, someone has released the British hounds... and even properly equipped, it appears. How lovely to finally be able to wish them happy hunting as they deserve.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran ruled out on Tuesday overturning the disputed presidential election as U.S. President Barack Obama said there were significant questions about the poll's legitimacy and condemned the crackdown on post-election protests. But supreme goon leader Ayatollah Khamenei agreed to a request by the top election watchdog, to extend by five days Wednesday's deadline to examine vote complaints, ISNA news agency said.
Clearly feeling the heat and hoping to string this out out until the heat dies down ...
As international alarm mounted over the crisis, the most serious challenge to the Islamic regime in its 30-year history, Britain said it was expelling two Iranian diplomats after a similar move by Tehran. At the same time, other European nations hauled in envoys to protest at the election and the repression of protests.
Five-day extension
The top election watchdog, the Guardians Council, insisted the vote would stand. "We witnessed no major fraud or breach," spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said on English-language state television Press TV. "Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place."
However, it was later disclosed that council head Ahmad Jannati asked Khamenei for for a five-day extension "to remove any ambiguity" of irregularities, the ISNA news agency reported. Khamenei responded by saying "I give my agreement to your proposition. Act accordingly."
The council, which has acknowledged there were more votes cast than eligible voters in 50 of 366 constituencies, had been due to make its final ruling on Wednesday.
The opposition claims that the June 12 poll that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power for a second four-year term was rife with fraud. Defeated challengers listed 646 irregularities and are demanding a new election.
Defeated opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi plans to issue a "full report of electoral fraud and irregularities," a statement on his official website said. But the interior ministry warned Mousavi "to respect the law and the people's vote" after his defeat, state-run IRNA news agency said.
The authorities reject opposition charges of vote fraud, although analysis by a British think tank showed "irregularities" in the turnout and "highly implausible" swings in Ahmedinejad's favor.
The defeated candidates have submitted a total of 646 complaints about the election. Earlier this week, a Guardian Council spokesman said one common complaint was that the number of votes surpassed eligible voters in some constituencies.
State media said at least 17 people have been killed and many more wounded in the unrest that has convulsed the nation for 11 days. Hundreds of protesters, prominent reformists and journalists have been rounded up by the authorities -- even figures close to top regime officials including powerful cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Mousavi has urged his supporters to continue demonstrating but to adopt "self-restraint" to avoid more bloodshed.
Defeated reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi called for a ceremony on Thursday to mourn slain protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The old ring-a-ding-ado of making it look like you are doing something but not really.
[Al Arabiya Latest] There may be sectarian tension on the streets of Iraq but in the country's newly reopened nightclubs the tension dies as people gather to drink and dance the night away and mend ties with shout outs to different ethnic groups.
For one of Baghdad's elegant bars the fun kicks off at midnight when Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish youth flock to a night of fun, which until recently was banned by Saddam Hussein's government.
Club-goer, Sayyed Ali, moves between the tables to reach the stage where he throws money at the singer before he whispers something in her ear, the woman responds by shouting out a salute from the people of Nasiriyah to the people of Anbar.
Another person stands up and hails the Awakening Council, a coalition of tribes that maintain security in different parts of Iraq. As a third man salutes the people of the south, it becomes clear that this is the place where sectarian tension comes to die.
A favorite pastime
For the females dotted around the bar venturing out after midnight is in itself unusual but now they dance and freely mingle without a worry in the world.
"Senior police and army officers protect night clubs that were previously shut down under pressure from Islamists," one of the females clubbers said.
For a gratuity, of course ...
"Looks like the sons of the new officials are not different from their predecessors in the way like to spend their nights in Baghdad."
Under Hussein's government all bars and nightclubs were shut down as part of what was called the "Faith Campaign," said the bar owner, who also used to run a similar one in the 1980s.
"Our customers have always been sons of officers and officials," he said. "We give them a special welcome since they guarantee the safety of our investments as well as the rest of our customers."
He added that the sons of officers and officials, together with Hussein's son Odai, were also the first to violate the Faith Campaign in the 1990s. "However, officials feared for their sons and had to give in to pressure. Many of those sons settled later in neighboring countries in search of night life."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Starting to get back to where they were in the 70s I see.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Pakistani Police arrest several Taliban operatives who have been involved in kidnapping of Shia Muslims in order to demand huge ransoms from their family members. Police in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi said Tuesday the men had kidnapped several members of the Shia community at gun point in the hope to receive ransoms for Taliban's notorious commanders in the country's troubled northwest.
"We have arrested five men who were involved in bank robberies and kidnapping of Shiite Muslims to generate funds for Baitullah Mehsud's Taliban militants," police official Raja Umer Khitab said.
The revelation comes after a string of sectarian attacks on Shia Muslims in recent months undermined the already deteriorating security of the insurgency-hit country.
Countless incidents of massacres took place in Dera Ismail Khan and Kurram Agency over the past few months.
This is while the Taliban-linked Wahhabi groups in Parachinar, Hangu district and much of the Kurram tribal agency have embarked on a series of fatal attacks on Shia Muslims.
Some sources say thousands more Shia community members have been killed in the region over the past few years. Shias say they make up one-third of Pakistan's 160 million-strong population.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- Three relatives of Hwang Jang-yop, a former North Korean Workers' Party secretary who defected to South Korea over a decade ago, fled the North last month and are now in a third country en route to the South, sources said Tuesday.
The defectors are members of Hwang's extended family, one of the sources who is also a North Korean defector and frequently communicates with defectors abroad, said on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Aren't they worried about what will happen to them when the Norks overrun South Korea?
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Sindh Police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested five men belonging to the 'criminal wing' of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and seized weapons and illegally-obtained money from their possession. Senior Superintendent of Police Umer Khattab, head of the SIU, said the men were arrested from Kunwari Colony in Manghopir after a brief encounter in the early hours of Tuesday. "We have arrested five men who were involved in bank robberies and kidnappings to generate funds for [TTP chief Baitullah] Mehsud's Taliban," Khattab told AFP. Khattab said five other suspects in another car had fired on police, but escaped.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
Iran's oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari was likely to keep his job in any new cabinet formed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian industry sources said on Tuesday.
The world's fifth-largest oil exporter has seen the worst unrest in 30 years after a disputed presidential election earlier this month. Deputy oil minister Akbar Torkan was replaced on Monday. Sources said he was sacked for political reasons.
Nozari is not politically affiliated to Torkan and there were no signs the minister would follow the deputy, sources said.
"I don't think the president would want to replace Nozari," one said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The president had lots of problems initially getting parliament to accept his choice for oil minister. I don't think he'll want any problems like that now."
Ahmadinejad appointed Nozari, a technocrat, to the job in 2007, in what was seen at the time as a presidential move to exert more control over the strategic ministry.
After coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad struggled to fill the oil portfolio. Parliament rejected his first three candidates for the oil ministry before accepting fourth-choice Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh. He later sacked Vaziri-Hamaneh in favour of Nozari.
While Ahmadinejad has sought to increase control over the oil ministry, final say on all major policy matters in Iran lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad has until August 18 to form a new cabinet. Each minister must be approved by parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
So this time they shot the deputy, but NOT the sheriff.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
06/24/2009 14:53
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Ummm, let me guess, fired because he couldn't keep the price up high?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 19:21
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Grenter - nice Marley ref!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2009 21:15
Comments ||
Top||
[ADN Kronos] Iranian police attacked hundreds of protesters with teargas on Monday who were gathering at a main square in the capital Tehran, despite a warning from Iran's powerful military force or Revolutionary Guard against holding rallies.
The protesters - mainly supporters of pro-reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi - gathered at Tehran's Haft-e Tir Square but were quickly dispersed by anti-riot police who also fired weapons into the air.
The protesters were also confronted by the volunteer and pro-government Basij militia, which take orders from the Revolutionary Guard.
"We warn the main elements behind the riots and their deceived supporters to ... halt their acts of sabotage and end their riots or be prepared for a decisive and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security and disciplinary forces," said the Guards in a Monday statement quoted by English-language network PressTV.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iranians need to learn a few things others have learned over the years:
A 30-inch piece of pipe will cripple a motorcycle, and can split the heads of anyone not wearing a helmet. If the jerkwad IS wearing a helmet, aim for the space between the 6th and 7th cervical vertebra.
If you're a strong guy, wrap your arms around the torso of the individual you wish to harm and squeeze. You have one of three possible outcomes: his ribs crack, you "separate" a rib or two, or you force him to fall limp from lack of air. Once he's limp you can cut his throat with his own knife.
Find a copy of Mila-18, and read about some of the terror tactics used by the dastardly Jews in killing German soldiers. It'll also work for Iranians killing Basijis.
Piano wire has many, many uses.
A two-by-four in the face of a motorcycle rider is a sure-fire argument-winner.
Dump a pail of soapy water in front of a motorcyclist and then try to force him to make a turn.
Empty a CO-2 fire extinguisher in someone's face. If he survives, he'll never be worth much afterwards as a terrorist.
Pikes work as well against motorcyclists as they did against horse cavalry. You need to have an element of surprise to make 'em work, though, so don't be brandishing them or standing them upright until the last minute.
See what Uncle Sam's military training and a curious mind can lead to...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/24/2009 16:13
Comments ||
Top||
#2
FREEREPUBLI **BREAKING** > Witness in Tehran claims that the BASIJ had suddenly attacked and FIRED UPON? a large group of demonstrators, and have allegedly killed a unknown number of same???
[Iran Press TV Latest] The ousted Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi's son urges Israel to support post-election riots in Iran to bring down the government of Tehran.
Reza Pahlavi, who is seen as a promising figure in pushing for a change of the government in Iran, told Maariv that Israel should back up recently sparked riots in Iran following the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the next president of the country.
The very existence of the ruling government in Iran could lead to a nuclear Holocaust, the former crown prince said but warned against an Israeli attack on the country. He said that any military attack against Tehran could prompt the Iranians to stand by the government instead and therefore it would shatter hopes of any resumption of ties between Iran and Israel.
Iran and Israel had close ties before the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the US-backed monarchy in Iran. The two cut off all relations following the revolution with Iran refusing to recognize Israel as a state.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi criticized certain Western countries for their meddling in the country's internal affairs. Iranian officials have blamed US and British media outlets for the recent post-election turmoil across the country.
"Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are state-funded channels and not privately-run. Their budgets are ratified in the US Congress, as well as the British Parliament. The two channels serve as mouthpieces of their respective governments," Qashqavi stated on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The ousted Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi's son urges Israel to support post-election riots in Iran to bring down the government of Tehran
#2
In a sense it would be far better to overthrow Iranian government by street fighting than by nukes.
I personally think a few selected assassinations
(All "Holy Men") would solve around 90% of the world's troubles)far less damaging than by nukes, it'd cost far less lives too.
You read world history, and somewhere around 99% of the world's troubles/deaths and wars were directly caused by religion, of one sort or another.
Knocking of a few "Religious Dictators" will have the same future effect as strangling Adolf Hitler in his cradle.
Gawd, for a time machine.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 14:31
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hitler wasn't a religious authority,
nor was Stalin,
nor Mao
nor Pol Pot
99% may be an overestimate
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/24/2009 19:24
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Knocking of a few "Religious Dictators" will have the same future effect as strangling Adolf Hitler in his cradle.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has a $5 million bounty on his head, but despite the rich reward, the fear he commands among tribesmen makes him an elusive foe.
The military is steeling for an assault into the Waziristan agencies along the Afghan border to hunt down the Al Qaeda-linked warlord blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people in terror attacks over two years. Analysts and security sources say infighting among his Mehsud tribe and Taliban factions may bring him down before the army manages to unseat him from his fiefdom in South Waziristan.
"Baitullah Mehsud is the top man in his own tribe... he must have around 15,000 to 20,000 hardcore elements or armed men under him," said Brigadier Mehmood Shah, political analyst and former security chief of the tribal belt. "People are scared of him, they are afraid of him. They are terrified but they don't like him," he added.
The army has vowed to go after Mehsud, but analysts say troops would face a tougher challenge than in Swat, with Mehsud's network entrenched and influential in the mountains after the years of failed peace deals.
Emerging rifts: However, splits are emerging among the once-cohesive tribal Taliban, with Mehsud's rivals accusing the commander of covertly working with India and the US. "Most people in the tribal belt consider Mehsud an enemy of Pakistan and an enemy of Islam," said Shah. "They believe they have lost a lot of tribal elders and innocent people because of him."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Raise it to $10M and the warring tribes will kill each other off to get it.
[Quqnoos] A suicide bomber stuck a convoy of US forces Tuesday morning, killing two civilians in the southern Ghazni province. The suicide attacker rammed his car bomb into a convoy of the US forces in Qala-e Ashraf village, about 4 km east of Ghazni city, the provincial capital.
The incident took place at around 8:30 am on Tuesday while the US troops were heading to a district outside the city, said a spokesman for the provincial administration, Sayed Esmaiel Jahangir. According to the spokesman, the US troops who were in their armored humvees were not harmed in the explosion.
It is the first shocking suicide attack happens in Ghazni in 2009 so far, Quqnoos's Sayed Qadeer said.
A Taliban spokesman claimed that 16 US soldiers have been killed and three vehicles were destroyed.
Roadside Bomb
Moreover in the nearby Kandahar province, a roadside bomb struck a police convoy that left three policemen dead and 4 others wounded. The incident occurred Monday evening in Dand district of the Kandahar province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
Kandahar Police Chief, Gen Matiullah Qateh said the injured policemen were taken to a state-run hospital at the provincial centre.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the Taliban elements planted the mine; according to him, all the people on board have been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Security forces have killed at least five militants allegedly from the Islamic Movement for Uzbekistan (IMU) in western Kyrgyzstan, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
This was one of the worst incidents to hit Kyrgyz districts in Ferghana Valley -- a poor region sprawling across the three Central Asian (CA) countries, which has been a centre of continuous ethnic and religious strife.
Troops surrounded a house outside Jalalabad on Monday and tried to arrest a group of fighters allegedly from the IMU, the ministry said. The forces met stiff resistance from the militants who were armed with machine guns and explosives, it said.
At least five militants and a security official were killed in the shootout. Another official was wounded in the clash, the ministry said. The National Security Ministry said the militants might have come from outside Kyrgyzstan.
The shootout took place after a series of violent incidents in Ferghana, which spreads across the ex-Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Last month, gunmen attacked an Uzbek border post near Kyrgyzstan, stoking tensions between the two CA nations. Uzbek officials said a suicide bomber later killed a police official in a separate attack in a nearby town. In the past years, Kyrgyzstan has suffered a series of incursions and bombings blamed on radical Islamic groups that have grown popular in CA since the fall of Soviet Union in 1991.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Shops remained closed throughout the day on Tuesday in cities in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, Iran Focus has learnt.
Two separate sources have confirmed that Kurdish shop-owners went on strike on Tuesday in protest to a major crackdown on anti- government protests in Tehran and other parts of the country.
In Saqqez, which has a majority Kurdish population, more than 80 percent of shops remained closed.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) warned on Monday it would unleash its wrath on anyone breaking a government ban on demonstrations. It ordered demonstrators to "end the sabotage and rioting activities" and said their resistance is a "conspiracy" against Iran.
In a statement it warned demonstrators to "be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the IRGC, Bassij and other security forces". The hard-line Bassij militia is a paramilitary force that acts as the clerical regime's storm troopers to put down anti-government demonstrations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea on Tuesday blasted Japan for its moves to enact a new law aimed at enabling its coast guard to inspect North Korea cargo on the high seas. The moves are ""aimed to justify their war actions"" against North Korea, its official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
A U.S. senator called for the forcible search of a North Korean vessel that is suspected of carrying illicit weapons.
Senator John McCain appearing on a CBS program on Sunday said the U.S. military should board the North Korean ship it is tracking if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo that violates UN Resolution 1874. He said if the vessel is indeed carrying such cargo it would contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to countries that pose a direct threat to the United States.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If only McCain had ACORN working on his and Palin's side...
#9
FOX NEWS/WAFF > NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO WIPE OUT THE USA FROM THE MAP [once final and forever iff it starts another Korean war] + NORTH KOREA THREATENS USA AS WORLD ANTICIPATES MISSLE LAUNCH.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM POSTER THREAD > OBAMA MAY FALL INTO THE TRAP OF ATTACKING NORTH KOREA, US ECONOMY WILL FREE-FALL???
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2009 21:05
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Senator John McCain says "John McCain should intercept NORK ship."
Naval musings: The John McCain is a Burke class destroyer. The Jimmy Carter is an intelligence sub (the hull is made of pure irony!). Any speculation as to what sort of vessel the Joe Biden will be?
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned on Tuesday violence that followed elections in Iran and said he was concerned about the situation. "We have seen violence that we have to condemn," he told a news conference after talks with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. "We expected that the election process would be something clearly positive for the international community. Unfortunately what we have seen today is something very different."
Iranian authorities said earlier on Tuesday they would teach a lesson to "rioters" detained after the worst unrest to befall the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hundreds have been detained by police to clamp down on protests triggered by results of a June 12 election that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.
Bildt said Sweden, which is due to assume the revolving EU presidency on July 1, had called the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to condemn the clamp-down by authorities as well as the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Not the election rigging, the resultant violence.
Iran lashed out at UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday over remarks the foreign ministry said smacked of "meddling" in its affairs, the state broadcaster reported. "These stances are an evident contradiction of the UN secretary general's duties, international law and are an apparent meddling in Iran's internal affairs," ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.
"Ban Ki-moon has damaged his credibility in the eyes of independent countries by ignorantly following some domineering powers which have a long record of uncalled-for interference in other countries? internal affairs and colonisation," he said.
The Mad MullahsĀ are so rattled they're even whining about ineffectual world leaders ...
On Monday, Ban called on the Iranian authorities to stop resorting to arrests, threats and the use of force against civilians in the post-election unrest that has gripped the country for more than 10 days.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Things must be pretty bad if they are actually worried about the UN.
#2
Has the UN ever done anything? The accusation of meddling is almost ludicrous.
Iran should know something about meddling. They meddle in Iraq. They meddle in Gaza and Palestine. They meddle in Lebanon. How about we send some of the IEDs that they send to Iraq and Afghanistan to the people in the streets of Iran to use against their corrupt government? Now there is payback.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Dozens of Israeli protestors blocked crossings into Gaza on Tuesday to push for the release of a soldier held captive by Islamists in the Hamas-run enclave as the Israeli Defense Forces released the head of the Palestinian parliament after three years in prison.
Jewish Israelis demonstrators held back lines of aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza demanding that its Hamas rulers give a sign of life of Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Palestinian fighters on June 25, 2006.
"The message is for the Hamas government to give an answer from Gilad Shalit so Israel can know if he is alive," David Gilboa, one of the organizers of the rally, told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Some here have called this pointless. Maybe so, but I like seeing someone protest for the murdered rather than the murderers.
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have successfully fired the high-power laser aboard the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft for the first time in flight.
During the test, ATL took off from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and fired its laser while flying over White Sands Missile Range, N.M., successfully hitting a target board located on the ground. ATL, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Air Force, is a C-130H aircraft equipped with a chemical laser, a beam control system, sensors and weapon-system consoles.
"This successful test is a major step toward bringing directed energy capability to the warfighter," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems.
"We have demonstrated that an airborne system can fire a high-power laser in flight and deliver laser beam energy to a ground target. ATL's ultra-precision engagement capability will dramatically reduce collateral damage."
#5
The Star Wars version of "Spooky" is really going to be something. Maybe we can name it "Puff the Magic Dragon" again, because that's what will happen to the target. Puff!
[Al Arabiya Latest] A group of youths shot dead an American national on Tuesday in the center of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, police sources said.
The man, whom investigators said ran a private language and computer school, was shot several times in the head from close range after he resisted an apparent kidnap attempt, a witness told AFP.
Al-Qaeda fighters were blamed for the killing of four French tourists in Mauritania on Dec. 24, 2007 that heightened concerns about extremist attacks in the country.
The latest shooting happened outside the school run by the American and close to a mosque at about 8:30 a.m. (0830 GMT).
"A foreigner has been shot dead, apparently by youths who fled. We are investigating the case," the police source said, adding that the victim was an American and that U.S. embassy officials were at the scene. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
According to a resident who witnessed the incident, the man apparently tried to resist being bundled into a black Toyota car by a group of youths. "When they failed to get him into the car, the youths killed him with three bullets in the head, fired at point-blank range," the witness told AFP by telephone.
High-level security officials, the governor of Noukchott and the state prosecutor visited the scene of the shooting, with the body still in the street. The U.S. ambassador to Mauritania did not comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Sweden on Tuesday summoned Iran's ambassador and conveyed its concern over violence in the wake of last week's elections, a foreign ministry official said. Sweden, which is due to assume the European Union presidency on July 1, expressed its concern over developments in the country after the elections as well as the restrictions imposed on media, the official said.
The Czech Republic, the current EU president, on Monday called on the bloc's members to consider summoning the heads of Iran's missions in Europe to protest against violence which followed the June 12 elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
If everyone is so concerned about what is happening in Iran why not just recall all their diplomatic missions? Isolate them diplomatically. Then kick out their missions which are nothing more than intelligence gathering and security missions to follow and hassle local Iranian expats anyway.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/24/2009 9:40
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Will our Leader follow the lead? Maybe if he gets too much flack for not being strong enough. But he wont do it willinly. Maybe after sharing hot dogs with Irans diplomats.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/24/2009 11:35
Comments ||
Top||
#3
If the embassies are closed, Jack is Back!, where will the wounded protesters hide?
#4
Bingo, tw. I'd use the embassies to spread subversion. If a diplomat is caught he/she is PNG'd. Small price to pay for that. If I were the PM of, say, Canada, I'd have my diplomats on the street gathering information, spreading encouragement, and standing up to the rats with clubs. My embassy would push to the limit to help the protesters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009 16:14
Comments ||
Top||
[Geo News] Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a lady accused of selling her 15-year-old niece in Dubai and has been moved to undisclosed place for further investigation, Geo news said on Tuesday. According to Geo Television, a lady by the name Yasmeen took her young niece Naseema to Dubai on June 10 and handed her over to some unknown persons for sexual abuse at a local hotel. Subsequently, she started screaming in fear and as a result, hotel administration inform Pakistan embassy in Dubai. Pakistan embassy arrested both of them and deported them to Pakistan where FIA arrested Yasmeen at Jinnah International Airport, T.V said. Yasmeen was said to be real paternal aunty of young Naseema, Geo T.V claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly made public remarks indicating the reclusive dictator is in the midst of justifying his alleged plan to transfer power to his youngest son, Jong-un.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper published by the Workers' Party, on Tuesday quoted Kim as recently saying, "A revolutionary tradition created by our founding leader (Kim Il-sung) is the strong root of our party and its revolution. Our revolution has been successful because the blood of juche (self-reliance) has been inherited by successive generations."
The paper said Kim made the remark during his tour of one of the communist North's revolutionary sites in northern part of the country. The paper explained the remark by Kim apparently paves the road for North Korea to follow to carry on the tradition of revolution, but North Korea watchers in Seoul said the remark apparently suggests his wish for another father-to-son power transfer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb blast killed three employees of a humanitarian organisation Tuesday in the relatively peaceful Jawzjan province. The improvised explosive device struck a vehicle of the Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan (DHSA) at around 08:00 am in a village Aqcha district, northeast of Shibrghan city, the provincial capital.
"This incident occurred in Balahisar area of Aqcha district, as a result three employees of the humanitarian organisation lost their lives," said deputy governor, Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani.
No parties including the Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for the attack.
It is the first time that aid workers were targeted in the relatively stable northern Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents are struggling to expand their presence.
DHSA is an Afghan organisation focusing on humanitarian assistance to support development of civil society through its education and various community development projects in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
It was to be "the Battle of Toronto," a three-day bombing assault aimed at shutting the downtown core, crippling the economy and killing civilians.
Members of the so-called Toronto 18 would pack three U-Haul vans with explosives and park them at three locations: the Toronto Stock Exchange; the Front St. offices of Canada's spy agency; and a military base off Highway 401 between Toronto and Ottawa.
If they got their act together in time -- if they procured the necessary ammonium nitrate fertilizer and nitric acid -- maybe the bombings could begin on Sept. 11, 2006.
And if all went according to plan, they would wait three months and launch another attack on the Sears Building in Chicago or the United Nations building in New York City.
The destruction in Toronto would make London's 2005 subway bombings appear "very small." And, it would "screw" with the prime minister, government and military so much that they would pull Canada's troops from Afghanistan.
Those were some of the comments made by the alleged Number 2 guy of the bomb plot while speaking to undercover police agent Shaher Elsohemy in the months leading up to the mass arrests on June 2, 2006.
The remarks were contained in a "statement of uncontested facts" presented yesterday in a Brampton court on the first day of a sentencing hearing for Saad Khalid. The 22-year-old Mississauga man pleaded guilty to his role in the bomb plot, marking the first time a member of the group admitted to the existence of a bomb plot.
For the first time, more specific details of the plot surfaced -- such as the "Battle of Toronto" moniker, trying to coincide an attack with the Sept. 11 anniversary, the targeting of an Ontario armed forces base and the name of the agent who orchestrated the purchase of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
Based on the evidence read aloud by Crown prosecutor Croft Michaelson, Khalid was neither the alleged mastermind of the plot nor the Number 2 guy. But he clearly played a role. Khalid arranged for the rental of warehouse space in Newmarket, where they had planned to store the fertilizer, and he was tasked with receiving the delivery truck when it arrived.
A video played in court showed Khalid and a co-accused unloading a truck and carrying bags labelled "ammonium nitrate" into the warehouse. To avoid suspicion, they wore T-shirts with the words "Student Farmers" on them.
Before the two finished unloading the truck, police officers with guns drawn swooped in to arrest them.
A series of similarly dramatic arrests played out across the GTA that day, garnering international headlines of a homegrown terror cell.
Khalid was charged with knowingly participating in a terrorist group, receiving training for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a terrorist group and doing anything with "intent to cause an explosion of an explosive substance that was likely to cause serious bodily harm or death."
He pleaded guilty to the last count. The other counts likely will be withdrawn, said Khalid's lawyer Russell Silverstein.
Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno ordered a publication ban on the identities of Khalid's co-accused.
Since the arrests of the 14 adults and four youths, charges against seven have been stayed. A youth was convicted in the fall of belonging to a terror group.
Yesterday, the courtroom was largely filled with reporters and relatives of the accused -- many likely wondering what this plea means for their loved ones still behind bars and awaiting trial.
Central to the Crown's case are two alleged conspiracies: that some of the accused attended a terrorist training camp and some were involved in a bomb plot.
Court was told that Khalid attended a jihadist training camp in Washago, Ont., in December 2005.
By March 2006, the group's two alleged ringleaders -- one from Scarborough and the other from Mississauga -- had a falling-out. After the rift, the Mississauga leader is alleged to have developed the bomb plot. His Number 2 guy was the one who most often met with the agent.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
They are all innocent, they were probably doing charity work for Amnesty International or something.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
06/24/2009 7:05
Comments ||
Top||
Iranian authorities said they would teach an exemplary lesson to "rioters" held in the worst unrest since the birth of the Islamic Republic, and accused Western powers on Tuesday of inciting the violence.
Riot police and Basij militia on Tehran's main squares warded off the mass protests that have marked the 11 days since disputed elections. Iran's hardline leadership appeared to have gained the ascendancy, at least for the moment.
The conflict, which has revealed unprecedented division in the religious leadership, began to play out on the diplomatic arena, with Britain so far bearing the brunt of Iran's anger.
But that was before President Barack Obama, whose comments on Iran had been highly restrained, on Tuesday said the United States was "appalled and outraged" by Iran's crackdown. The United States would not interfere in the protests over Iran's contested election, and accusations it was instigating them were "patently false and absurd," Obama said.
"I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost," he told a news conference. "We must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place."
Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, rejected demands for a vote rerun from former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi, who says the election was rigged and he is the rightful victor, and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi.
EXTENSION GRANTED
But in an apparent concession, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who holds all the key levers of power in Iran, accepted a request from the 12-man council for a five-day extension to the deadline for candidates to make complaints over the election.
The troubles have erupted against a background of tension between the West and Iran, a major oil and gas producer and pivotal factor in regional stability. Tehran's hardline leadership is locked in dispute with Western powers over its nuclear program, which it says is intended for generating electricity but which the West suspects could yield nuclear weapons that could destabilize the region.
London said two of its diplomats had been expelled from Iran and it had ordered out two Iranians in retaliation. About 100 hardliners gathered in front of the British embassy in Tehran, chanting "British embassy should be closed."
Supporters of hardline anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a news conference in the building of the old U.S. embassy that was seized by students after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and held with 52 U.S. hostages for 444 days. "We don't need to have such useless relations with Britain," said one of the student leaders. "If Britain continues its interference...we will destroy their houses over their heads."
Mousavi, himself a scion of the religious establishment, says he does not seek to undermine the Islamic Republic but to purge it of what he calls lies and deceit.
FOREIGN BROADCASTS BLAMED
Iranian state television, in broadcasts clearly intended to discredit opponents defying a ban on protests, paraded people it said had been arrested during weekend violence. "I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the VOA (Voice of America) to take such immoral actions," one young man said. His face was shown but his name not given.
A woman whose face was pixilated said she had carried a "war grenade" in her hand-bag. "I was influenced by VOA Persian and the BBC because they were saying that security forces were behind most of the clashes. I saw that it was us protesting ... who were making riots. We set on fire public property, we threw stones ... we attacked people's cars and we broke windows of people's houses."
At least 10 protesters were killed in the worst violence on Saturday, and about seven more early last week.
Mousavi was quoted by an ally on Saturday as calling for a national strike if he was arrested and Karoubi signaled on Tuesday opposition would continue, calling on Iranians to hold ceremonies on Thursday to mourn those killed at protests.
The official IRNA news agency quoted senior judiciary official Ebrahim Raisi as saying on state television late on Monday: "Those arrested in recent events will be dealt with in a way that will teach them a lesson." He said a special court was studying the cases. "The rioters should be dealt with in an exemplary way and the judiciary will do that," Raisi said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry accused U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of interfering in Tehran's affairs "under the influence of some powers" -- an apparent reference chiefly to Britain and the United States.
Iranians on social networking sites called for mourning for "Neda," a young woman shot dead on Saturday. Footage of her death has been watched by thousands on the Internet. Iranian TV, quoting an unnamed source, said Neda was not shot by a bullet used by Iranian security forces. It said filming of the scene, and its swift broadcast to foreign media, suggested the incident was planned.
Her fiance Caspian Makan told BBC Persian TV that Neda Agha-Soltan had been caught up accidentally in the protests. "She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic," it quoted him as saying. "She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just a few minutes."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
So your courts are used to teach your people a lesson rather than to determine truth or guilt or innocence. Screw you dinnerjacket and you so-called religious men, you self-serving jerks.
#2
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about Israel's daily Farsi language radio show, which has been broadcasting with the same Persian-born reporter for half a century. They claim to have an audience of between two and six million regular listeners. link
[Geo News] At least three policemen perished including a Sub-Inspector as unknown militants carried out rocket ambush on an Arbab Tapo police checkpost located in the outskirts of provincial capital early on Wednesday, Geo news reported. According to police officials, the checkpost was located in the Matni, an area in the outskirts of Peshawar, where unknown miscreants fired rockets early on Wednesday. As a result, three police officials were killed on the spot including a sub-inspector Noran Shah and two constables Faqeer Muhammad and Jan Dad Shah. The ambush left checkpost entirely damaged but militants managed to flee following police retaliation, sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Mohsen Rezaii, who finished in third place in the June 12 presidential election, is ready to hold televised debates with Interior Ministry officials, an MP said on Tuesday.
Holding face-to-face live debates on the national network Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is the best way to clear up any misunderstandings or lingering doubts about the election, MP Omidvar Rezaii told the Mehr News Agency.
Omidvar Rezaii, who was a senior member of Rezaii's campaign office, suggested that all sides involved in the presidential election should express their views and then let the people judge for themselves.
Omidvar Rezaii, a trained physician who sits on the Majlis Health Committee, said it is necessary to act transparently in order to clear up any lingering doubts about the election results.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Denying that Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the pro-Kashmir jehadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has been arrested from the Sialkot city of Punjab, the Pakistani authorities have said his whereabouts are unknown and he might have fled to the trouble-ridden Waziristan region. But some intelligence officials believe that Masood Azhar, who had to be released by India following the hijacking of an Air India plane in 2000, could be living under the protection of the Inter-Services Intelligence in the garrison town of Rawalpindi which also houses the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army and those of the ISI.
Following the June 17 arrest of five JeM activists from Punjab's Sialkot district, there were rumours that among them was Azhar, whom the Indian government wants extradited. But Pakistani intelligence sources say a consensus exists in the establishment that Masood Azhar should not be handed over to India under any circumstances. The sources said the official stance of the Pakistani government remains that Azhar had abandoned his Bahawalpur headquarters following the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and is still at large. However, some intelligence sources did not rule out the possibility of the JeM chief's moving to some ISI safe house in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, as had been the case with Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the ameer of the Harkatul Mujahideen, already renamed as Jamiatul Ansar,
The sources pointed out that earlier this month, the Indian government's efforts in the United Nations to place sanctions on Maulana Masood Azhar received a major setback, after London surprisingly joined hands with Beijing to block New Delhi's request for proscribing the JeM chief under the United Nations' Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions resolution No 1267. The sources claimed that this would not have been possible had Britain and China not been persuaded by Pakistan government to do so. India had wanted Azhar to be included in the sanctions list just as the Jamaatul Daawa and its head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed along with other LeT operatives were proscribed after 26/11.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) or "the Army of the Prophet Mohammad," is one of the deadliest militant groups operating from Pakistan and waging 'jehad' against the Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir. It was launched by Maulana Masood Azhar at the behest of the ISI in February 2000, shortly after he was released from an Indian jail, in exchange for hostages on board an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked by five armed Kashmiri militants and taken to Kandahar in December 1999.
While resuming his activities in Pakistan almost immediately after his release, Maulana Masood Azhar announced the formation of his own militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, with the prime objective of fighting out the Indian security forces in Kashmir. Masood Azhar was the ideologue of another militant group, the Harkatul Ansar, which was banned in 1997 by the US State Department, due to its alleged link with Osama bin Laden. Therefore, the Jaish is ideologically an extension of the Harkatul Ansar which rechristened itself as Harkatul Mujahideen in 1998, a year after being banned.
In December 2008, almost a week after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistani authorities placed restrictions on the movement of Masood Azhar by confining him to his multi-storied concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur. The action was taken in the wake of Indian government's demand to hand over three persons to Delhi --Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon. India had sought their extradition by citing a 1989 agreement signed by Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency which binds both the agencies to collaborate with each other to trace out the most wanted terrorists and criminals and hand them over to their respective counterpart. The Indian demand said that Masood Azhar was wanted for his alleged involvement in the 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament.
However, the Indian demand was followed by media reports that Masood Azhar has abandoned his Jaish headquarters in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur and temporarily shifted his base to the trouble-stricken South Waziristan region in the wake the mounting Indian pressure for his extradition. However, in the second week of April 2009, Masood Azhar was declared 'officially' missing from Pakistan.
A 13 January 2009 new report in Daily Times quoted official sources in Islamabad as having said that the Jaish chief has abandoned his headquarters in Bahawalpur and was missing now. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik officially declared that Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim were not in Pakistan adding that Islamabad would not provide protection and refuge to any criminal. However, Indian External Affairs Minister Paranab Mukherjee ridiculed Pakistan for denying the 'obvious presence' of the Jaish chief, saying: "India had several times got different information from Pakistan on Masood Azhar and it was not unusual to hear such denials from Pakistani officials".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad
#1
The mighty Pak army dont learn still using extremist as proxies!
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the building of 300 new homes in the West Bank, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth.
Activists for Bimkom association, which works for justice and human rights in planning and knows a thing or two about the situation in the territories, have discovered that Barak recently authorized the Civil Administration to submit a plan for the construction of 300 housing units in the unauthorized outpost of Givat Habrecha, near the community of Talmon.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pressed Israel to halt settlement activity as part of a bid to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Take that, Bambi ...
The new construction is located around 13 kilometers east of the Green Line, on the "Palestinian" side of the separation barrier. According to the Sasson Report, this outpost was built without government approval and without a master plan and damaged private Palestinian property.
The objections submitted by Bimkom (with the Al-Ghaniya village council) say the planned construction is on lands formerly declared "state lands" and the plan apparently is a bid to whitewash the illegal construction of 60 housing units that have already been put up and to allow the construction of another 240 housing units, public buildings and roads.
Bimkom argues that adjacent to the area of the plan on the ground, which even according to the Civil Administration is private Palestinian land, several permanent structures were put up by the residents. So far there have been wide-scale building violations at Givat Habrecha, including the paving of roads and the building of public structures and residential buildings - all without permits and contrary to the master plan defining the area as agricultural. In its objection to the plan the association argues that approving the construction would be tantamount to blessing the start of unmonitored construction in unauthorized outposts.
Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs and smaller outposts built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/24/2009 14:56
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Israel has figured out that allies of the US get screwed and flip the middle finger appropriately. I'd do the same. Teh OneĀ will immediately send a diplo-team to apologize and offer reparations
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2009 21:07
Comments ||
Top||
GHAR-E-HIRA CAMP: Deep in the tunnel, a small wooden cabinet is the only piece of furniture, a syringe still in its plastic wrapper and a disposable razor scattered on the shelves. A pair of sky-blue pants lies on the rocky ground by the remnants of a threadbare sleeping mat.
"This was their safest haven," said Waseem Shafique, a Pakistani Army major whose men stumbled onto this hand-hewn cave and the militant camp around it earlier this month. "Nothing can touch them in here, it is safe from shelling, they cannot be seen."
Rare insight: The hillside camp offers rare insight into conditions, tools and tactics being used by the Taliban. It may also be a foreboding sign of the much tougher fight to come as the military moves into the grotto and tunnel-ridden Waziristan region, the scene of the next operation where battle-hardened militants have had much longer to dig in.
The military took a small media group on Saturday to view the Ghar-e-Hira Camp, a facility spread over three tiers cut into a pine-forested hillside in the upper reaches of the Swat Valley.
A simple tunnel system formed the Taliban's living quarters -- a 120-foot-deep corridor chipped into the rock hillside -- with two antechambers branching off in a rough T-shape. Shreds of clothes lay scattered on the ground along with the scraps of sleeping mats. The battered cabinet leaned precariously, charred by a kerosene fire set in the tunnel by troops.
Outside, soldiers displayed items found in the tunnel and a smaller cave they said was an ammunition store: a machine gun and ammo belts, a pistol, mortar rounds, and an empty box of rocket-propelled grenades stamped 'government explosive' in English. The government was not identified, and soldiers said they could not identify the box as Pakistani or otherwise.
There were bags of gunpowder, two small pipe bombs, a half-dozen alarm clocks and television remote controls - the makings of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that are often used to attack security forces convoys in Pakistan's northwest.
In the kitchen area nearby, a pot of sweetened rice sat rotting - evidence of the soldiers' account that the camp was discovered on June 11 as the Taliban were preparing breakfast. The Taliban spotted a patrol on a nearby ridge and dropped what they were doing to open fire.
Dangerous Taliban regrouping: In another worrying sign, commanders and experts warn that some of the most formidable Taliban leaders and fighters who have escaped from Swat may be heading for the tribal zone of South Waziristan.
Asad Munir, a former intelligence chief with responsibility for the tribal zone, said militants there would welcome fellow Taliban from Swat who volunteer for a fresh battle in South Waziristan.
"Foot soldiers, the remnants from the Taliban side in Swat, they would be coming to South Waziristan to reinforce Baitullah's forces," he said. "Fighters would also be coming from the Afghan side."
Maj Gen Sajjad Ghani, the Swat offensive's northern commander, said foreigners were among the roughly 100 fighters at the camp, and that some were killed.
Officials also showed journalists a grainy photograph of several corpses, but their ethnicity was not discernible. Ghani said it was easy to spot foreigners by their different appearance from Pakistanis, and named Afghans, Chechens, Uzbeks and Tajiks as among those believed to be in the camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
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.
Before June 12, ObamaĀs eagerness to negotiate with Ahmadinejad Ā ridiculed by his conservative critics Ā was hailed by the establishment and the Left as proof of his high-minded faith in diplomacy, a healthy antidote to George W. BushĀs allegedly close-minded approach. But now, if the clerical junta prevails, anyone who shakes AhmadinejadĀs hands will have a hard time washing the blood off his own.
That amounts to tacit approval of the bloodshed and fraud that weĀve already seen and acceptance of the ultimate triumph of the regime. And it wonĀt work.
WASHINGTON -- In the fall, the first squadron of Marines finally will fly V-22 Ospreys into the mountains of Afghanistan, months behind schedule and despite shortcomings that make some in Congress worry whether the hybrid aircraft can do the job for which it was intended.
(Reuters) - Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.
Dana Milbank, Washington Post
At this point, only the short-term future of Iran's clerical regime remains in doubt. The current protests could be repressed, but the unelected institutions of priestly rule have been fatally undermined. Though each aspect of the Islamic Republic has its own dynamic, this is not a regime that can last many more years.
Two Muslim inmates held in a special unit at the federal prison in Terre Haute say they aren't allowed to pray in groups as often as their religion commands and have asked a federal judge to ease worship limits imposed by the Bureau of Prisons. The prison in western Indiana houses several high-security inmates, including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding Afghanistan's now-defunct Taliban government.
A chic sheath dress in a bold color -- that is the unmistakable Michelle Obama look, one she has made her own as first lady of the United States, according to two new books celebrating Obama's fashion sense.
Seem to be abusing Fred's hospitality at present. For now, please ignore the spamalicious posts while the 'Burg's IT staff builds Troll-B-Gone Mark 3.6. 
North Korea has banned all vessels from passing through waters off its eastern coast for 16 days starting from June 25 due to "a military exercise," the Japan Coast Guard said late Monday, cautioning Japanese ships to avoid the area during the period.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that they have identical views on almost all issues of common concern, notably the Middle East question.
Iran's clerical establishment is considering scrapping the position of the Supreme Leader, currently held by Ayatollah Khamenei and forcing out President Ahmadinejad according to reports.
Taliban on Tuesday amputated the hands of a man in Orakzai Agency in compliance with a punishment ordered by a "Taliban court" on charges of theft, locals said. Locals told Daily Times that the "court" in the Mamuzai area ordered the hands of Najibullah to be amputated. The punishment was carried out in the presence of several tribesmen.
[Geo News] The death toll in suspected US drone strike in the South Waziristan Agency has risen to 65, witnesses and officials said late on Tuesday adding that the missiles hit a funeral procession. 
Two Iranian diplomats have been expelled by the British government, after two UK envoys were told to leave Iran. The Iranians yesterday ordered the expulsion of the two officials for "activities inconsistent with their diplomatic status" - diplomatic language for spying.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Britain and the US on Sunday to stop interfering in Iran's internal affairs after the disputed presidential election, which led to days of protests.
Jonah Goldberg
Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly gave celebrity blogger Perez Hilton a black eye outside a Toronto nightclub. Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager. They were at the club following a Sunday night video awards show.
[Quqnoos] NATO-led British forces have launched a massive air operation in the southern Helmand province, the Taliban stronghold. According to a statement of the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) the offensive was launched Friday in Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, the provincial centre.
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- Three relatives of Hwang Jang-yop, a former North Korean Workers' Party secretary who defected to South Korea over a decade ago, fled the North last month and are now in a third country en route to the South, sources said Tuesday.
[ADN Kronos] Iranian police attacked hundreds of protesters with teargas on Monday who were gathering at a main square in the capital Tehran, despite a warning from Iran's powerful military force or Revolutionary Guard against holding rallies.
[Quqnoos] A suicide bomber stuck a convoy of US forces Tuesday morning, killing two civilians in the southern Ghazni province. The suicide attacker rammed his car bomb into a convoy of the US forces in Qala-e Ashraf village, about 4 km east of Ghazni city, the provincial capital.
Security forces have killed at least five militants allegedly from the Islamic Movement for Uzbekistan (IMU) in western Kyrgyzstan, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
Shops remained closed throughout the day on Tuesday in cities in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, Iran Focus has learnt.
Sweden on Tuesday summoned Iran's ambassador and conveyed its concern over violence in the wake of last week's elections, a foreign ministry official said. Sweden, which is due to assume the European Union presidency on July 1, expressed its concern over developments in the country after the elections as well as the restrictions imposed on media, the official said.
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly made public remarks indicating the reclusive dictator is in the midst of justifying his alleged plan to transfer power to his youngest son, Jong-un.
Iranian authorities said they would teach an exemplary lesson to "rioters" held in the worst unrest since the birth of the Islamic Republic, and accused Western powers on Tuesday of inciting the violence.
Denying that Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the pro-Kashmir jehadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has been arrested from the Sialkot city of Punjab, the Pakistani authorities have said his whereabouts are unknown and he might have fled to the trouble-ridden Waziristan region. But some intelligence officials believe that Masood Azhar, who had to be released by India following the hijacking of an Air India plane in 2000, could be living under the protection of the Inter-Services Intelligence in the garrison town of Rawalpindi which also houses the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army and those of the ISI.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the building of 300 new homes in the West Bank, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth. 
