#2
I spent time on the Success, ostensibly to observe an exercise. Spent a lot of time answering questions, like whether I wanted "white, black, or green".
US soldiers in eastern Afghanistan beat back a complex attack on a combat outpost by the Haqqani Network in Eastern Afghanistan.
The attack began as Haqqani Network fighters launched rockets and mortars at a small US base in the Zarok district in Paktika province. As the rockets and mortars were fired, a suicide bomber attempted to ram a truck packed with explosives into the combat outpost, but soldiers shot and killed the driver before he could penetrate the base. The attackers also fired assault rifles and machine guns during the assault.
Reports indicate that two US soldiers were killed during the attack. Quqnoos claimed the soldiers were killed when the suicide bomber detonated at the main gate. Other reports indicated the soldiers were killed during the mortar attack. The US military stated that two soldiers were killed during an IED attack, but it is unclear if they were killed during the attack on the base.
The US Army counterattacked with "with counter fire, close air support and attack helicopters," according to a press release. Ten Haqqani Network fighters were killed and one was detained, the US military said. The Afghan Interior Ministry put the number of terrorists killed at 22, while some reports put the number killed at more than 30.
The large number of enemy fighters killed during the counterattack indicates that an assault team was prepared to enter the combat outpost if the suicide bomber created a breach in the wall.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, took credit for the attack. Mujahid claimed that more than 8,000 kg of explosives were used in the attack.
Today's attack was carried out by members of the Haqqani Network under the command of Mullah Sangeen Zadran. The assault force may have been backed up by the Shadow Army, or Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's paramilitary Army that operates along the Afghan and Pakistani border.
#3
Ten Haqqani Network fighters were killed and one was detained, the US military said
I wonder if they first read him his Miranda rights, and if the poor dear will be treated gently.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/04/2009 18:25
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#4
Rambler...Dude, don't laugh. It's about that stupid.
#5
Ten Haqqani Network fighters were killed and one was detained, the US military said. The Afghan Interior Ministry put the number of terrorists killed at 22, while some reports put the number killed at more than 30.
It sounds like the Afghan ability to count works both ways. Presumably the amount of explosives the Haqqani boyz brought is similarly off... although I expect they mistook the direction rather than just an order of magnitude. After all, both kilo and milli mean 1,000, right? Science is haaarrrrdd!
Political tension in Iran following a tumultuous election ratcheted up a notch when a top aide of Iran's supreme leader called the country's main opposition figure a US agent and accused him of committing crimes against the nation in an editorial published Saturday.
Supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi , wearing green wristbands, rally in downtown Teheran, Sunday.
World The editorial marked the first time that Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was the main challenger to incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's presidential elections on June 12, has been publicly called a US agent.
Weeks of demonstrations erupted in Iran after Mousavi lost to Ahmadinejad, claiming the election was rigged; authorities maintain that the protests were instigated by foreign elements.
"It has to be asked whether the actions of [Mousavi and his supporters] are in response to instructions by American authorities," said Hossein Shariatmadari in an editorial appearing in the conservative daily Kayhan.
Shariatmadari, who holds no official position but is a close adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added that Mousavi was trying to "escape punishment for murdering innocent people, holding riots, cooperating with foreigners and acting as America's fifth column inside the country."
He called for Mousavi and former reformist president Mohammad Khatami to be tried in court for "horrible crimes and treason."
The editorial added that there were "undeniable documents" proving Mousavi's foreign links.
When Iran's incumbent president was re-elected by a landslide, Mousavi and other opposition candidates cried foul sparking weeks of giant protests across the country that were eventually crushed.
Police said 20 "rioters" were killed during the violence as well as seven or eight members of the paramilitary Basij militia tasked with putting down the protests.
But the crackdown included severe limitations on press freedom, significantly against international news agencies and foreign reporters in the country. The number of dissidents killed or jailed cited by Iranian officials can therefore not be corroborated independently.
There have been no street protests since Sunday, but Mousavi has maintained his opposition to the results, issuing a defiant statement on Wednesday that he considered the government "illegitimate" in a posting on his Website, and demanded political prisoners, which he called "children of the revolution," be released.
He has been maintaining a low profile, however, and made no public appearances for days amid calls by many hard-liners for him to be prosecuted.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will use next week's Moscow talks to relieve President Barack Obama of mistaken impressions he remains mired in Cold War thinking, Putin's spokesman said on Firday.
The spokesman was reacting to comments Obama made in a pre-trip interview. The U.S. leader told the Associated Press that Putin needed to "understand that the Cold War approach to U.S.-Russian relationship is outdated" and that Putin had "one foot in the old ways of doing business." Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in mildly-expressed comments, said: "I see that he does not possess full information. After visiting Moscow, President Obama will know the realities better. Judging by these statements it is very good that the meeting with Prime Minister Putin is on President Obama's agenda. I am sure that after the meeting with Putin, President Obama will change his point of view," Peskov added.
He dismissed Obama's suggestion that Putin -- who once described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the century" -- needed to understand the Cold War was over.
Putin developed a good personal rapport with Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, which endured despite Russia-U.S. relations hitting their post-Cold War lows. He will meet Obama for the first time for 1 1/2 hours on Tuesday. "Prime Minister Putin is looking forward to the meeting and plans to make the most out of it despite it being a very short meeting," Peskov said, adding that Putin will seek to understand Obama's world view.
Putin has kept a firm grip on the levers of power since handing over the Kremlin to his hand-picked successor President Dmitry Medvedev last year. In keeping with protocol, Obama will spend more time with Medvedev.
There was a lot in Palin's meandering speech announcing her resignation that didn't quite make sense, but one brief part that did was her mentioning of the ridicule of her infant son, Trig. Also note that in the past month or so, we've seen David Letterman joke about Alex Rodriguez knocking up one of her daughters. (The fact that Letterman kept insisting that he meant the elder daughter didn't really make it much more excusable; for some reason, getting an apology out of the acerbic late night host was like pulling teeth.)
It's one thing to step into the public spotlight and know that people are going to ridicule your intelligence, your appearance, your judgment, your voice and accent, etc. But it's another to know that your loved ones will get that scrutiny, too, and in particular your children.
That spurred this terrifying thought: The lesson that the ruthless corners of the political world will take from the rise, fall, and departure of Sarah Palin that if you attack a politician's children nastily enough and relentlessly enough, you can get anybody to quit. Not everybody would just quit - if you push a mama bear hard enough regarding her cubs she may well KILL you.
#1
I understand she has a requests for speaking engagements that even Slick Willie would envy. Gov. Sarah Palin 'on the road again' might be more of a pain in the ass to the dems than having her chained to a desk in Juneau. Moving targets are more difficult to engage, etc. Ima cheering for her Fall Offensive against the scum!
or chain down with endless and malicious 'ethics' charges and investigations to distract from the real work at hand.*
*not that they seem to interested in cleaning their own house. In fact they seem to act as though its a requirement to hold positions of importance and power.
#3
1 - Occam's Razor - It's about money/family. If it were a scandal, or anything else, she'd have said as much. It isn't. It's to permit a single minded focus on earnings for the family, with the side benefit that her future potential has little to do with any ongoing role as governor.
It's the culture we live in, and she's taking full advantage of it. Look for a well orchestrated international media campaign, with even stops on Oprah and Dave along the way.
She'll control it from here on, and watch the media kowtow to her schedule.
Even if she ultimately never runs again, good for her. She has the "it" factors to make her fortune, wherever she finds it.
It's a long-term Nixon/Teddy Roosevelt career she's looking at.
With luck, she'll be there when NBC and the NYTimes close down.
#4
Not everybody would just quit - if you push a mama bear hard enough regarding her cubs she may well KILL you.
Good point Glenmore - Lets hope this is her 'lets stop eating berries and go after these people who are pestering my cubs' strategy.
I for one would like to see someone hoist Letterman, Curic, Williams, or 'Tingels' Matthews liver on a bearclaw meathook (figuratively speaking of course).
#6
I can speculate about her plans about as well as anyone else who doesn't know what they. But I don't see her backing down from a fight. I may be wrong, but hope I'm not.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/04/2009 14:21
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#7
Don't forget, as Governor she represented the people of Alaska and, as a result, had to be careful in what she says. And in may respect the media has exploited that.
Now the leash is off. She can call Letterman a pervert for coming up with a joke about raping a 14-year-old and go after the media. And I don't think the media will lay off because she resigned either.
#10
One thing that has been passed over like it means nothing is those harassing ethics suits caused her to rack up appx. $500 thousand in debts. That's serious money for most of us. No one but a multi-millionaire can ignore that. And now she can sue for defamation when anyone attacks her family. Letterman had better keep his lip zipped.
#11
Everyone makes some very good points. I see her resigning the Governorship as removing the handle by which the Leftists were jerking her around by, and holding her down.
She's decided to not play by their rules, or on their battlefield. I hope she comes out with fangs bared and claws a slashing. Maybe she can shine a light on some of the crustier GOP idiots as well as the shameless Dimwits.
SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea test-launched seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Saturday, South Korea said, in the latest provocation by the communist nation locked in a protracted stand-off with the U.S. and other global powers over its nuclear and missile programs.
The firing of the seventh missile that appears to be a scud type took place on the east coast at around 5:40 p.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.
"It appears to be similar to the previous six missiles fired into the East Sea earlier in the day," a JCS official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
North Korea fired two missiles toward the East Sea from the Gitdaeryong base near Wonsan, Gangwon Province, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., according to the JCS. It fired another one into the East Sea around 10:45 a.m., and three more at around noon, at 2:50 p.m. and at 4:10 p.m., respectively.
"All the missiles are estimated to have a range of 400-500km," another JCS official said, declining to be named and adding the military is analyzing the exact missile models.
Soth Korean officials did not rule out the possibility that what the North fired might have actually been Rodong missiles -- modifications of Scuds -- saying their flight distances may have been shortened deliberately. Rodong-type missiles have an estimated range of 1,000-1,500km and are able to reach many parts of Japan.
The North is believed to have up to 1,000 ballistic missiles alone -- including nearly 700 Scud missiles of various types and 320 Rodong missiles.
Earlier this week, the North fired a salvo of four KN-01 surface-to-ship missiles from the Sinsang-ni base, South Hamgyong Province, into the East Sea, adding to tensions already running high after the North's launch of a long-range rocket in April and its second nuclear test the following month.
Officials here noted the timing of the latest missile launch, which came on the eve of U.S. Independence Day.
"The missiles fired on July 2 were analyzed to be part of military drills, but today's missiles seem to have political purposes in that they were fired a day ahead of the U.S. Independence Day," a government official said.
South Korea's foreign ministry lashed out at the reclusive neighbor's ballistic missile launch, calling it a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the communist nation from any activity related to a ballistic missile program. "It is a provocative act that clearly violates U.N. Security Council resolutions 1695, 1718, and 1874 that bar North Korea's every activity related to ballistic missiles," the ministry said in a statement. "The government expresses deep regret over North Korea's continued acts to escalate tensions in Northeast Asia in ignorance of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and urges North Korea to faithfully implement the resolutions," it added.
The authorities said, however, there is no sign of an imminent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from either its eastern Musudan-ri base or the new Tongchang-ri base on its west coast.
Citing satellite photos, U.S. military officials said the North has not mounted an ICBM on a launch pad or injected fuel yet, a process that takes at least a week.
A British diplomat in Pyongyang also said the North is unlikely to fire an ICBM anytime soon. "We have seen no evidence as yet to state that there will be a launch in the next couple of days of an ICBM," Peter Hughes, the British ambassador to North Korea, said in a news conference with reporters in London via video link from Pyongyang.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2009
11:17 ||
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#1
Plenty of money for rockets and goosestepping goons. Food for it's citizens, not so much.
#2
If the North Korean government wants to commit suicide, just let one of those missiles hit an inhabited part of Japan. Japan will have 30 missiles capable of reaching North Korea within a week, each tipped with a nuclear warhead. The world will see Japan rearming with a vengence. That would be extremely bad for the Norks, who the Japanese have no fond memories anyway.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:21
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#3
opps these firings will force the food adjudication department to work overtime calculating new ratios for grass pebble soup....
sadly, this departments knowledge of the grass available, are based on last years statistics and cannot further does not account for the increased numbers of recipes for grass soups, recently invented by the breakthrough science depatment, production orders requesting delivery now......leaving the food adjudication department with an empty feeling in the stomach.
Drivers found themselves contending with more than holiday traffic Friday when a chicken was found crossing the road. Northbound Interstate 17 remains backed up north of Loop 101 after a rooster tried to cross the freeway about 11 a.m. at Arizona 74.
"It's just a busy holiday - and of course the rooster," said Officer Robert Bailey, a DPS spokesman. "The rooster only compounded matters."
An officer removed the uninjured bird within 40 minutes, but Bailey expects the heavy Fourth of July traffic to remain slow-and-go through late this evening. The officer gave the rooster a ride to New River in the back of a patrol car where the fowl was released.
"Luckily there's a cage back there so the rooster wasn't flying in the driver's compartment," Bailey said.
No, wait, they'd be calling the boys in the moon suits to clean up the toxicity. Golly, it'd take hours and hours to clear the jam. Better stop, maybe someone here is in charge of chickens.
Let's see, if I short out the battery on this laptop, bet it would cook a couple of these hot dogs while we wait and maybe make a few sparks for the 4th while I'm at it. But would that be ok to do? I mean, is it allowed?
In states far from the national spotlight, politics still attracts normal people. You're a mayor or a state senator or even the governor, but you lead a normal life. The local media are tough on you, but they know you, they live where you live, they're tough on the real you, not on some caricature cooked up by a malign alliance of late-night comics who'd never heard of you a week earlier and media grandees supposedly on your own side who pronounce you a "cancer".
Then suddenly you get the call from Washington. You know it'll mean Secret Service, and speechwriters, and minders vetting your wardrobe. But nobody said it would mean a mainstream network comedy host doing statutory rape gags about your 14-year old daughter. You've got a special-needs kid and a son in Iraq and a daughter who's given you your first grandchild in less than ideal circumstances. That would be enough for most of us. But the special-needs kid and the daughter and most everyone else you love are a national joke, and the PC enforcers are entirely cool with it.
Most of those who sneer at Sarah Palin have no desire to live her life. But why not try to - what's the word? - "empathize"? If you like Wasilla and hunting and snowmachining and moose stew and politics, is the last worth giving up everything else in the hopes that one day David Letterman and Maureen Dowd might decide Trig and Bristol and the rest are sufficiently non-risible to enable you to prosper in their world? And, putting aside the odds, would you really like to be the person you'd have to turn into under that scenario?
National office will dwindle down to the unhealthily singleminded (Clinton, Obama), the timeserving emirs of Incumbistan (Biden, McCain) and dynastic heirs (Bush). Our loss.
Our defective press. Before we start hanging politicians, we would be wist to start shooting editors and reporters first. THey have done the most damage to the republic, along with our leftist indoctrination education system and those who have steered it into a union dominated ditch.
#3
I confess I dont understand the point of the McCain staffers in the Vanity Fair hit piece on Palin (and thats what it is, a hit piece) if the staffers were so brilliant, why arent we addressing President McCain today?
Memo to Steve Schmidt: when you run a losing campaign, shut up afterwards.
I generally like Ms. Palin; shes a political natural and an engaging figure who connects with a lot of people, and if shes a welterweight, that was clearly good enough for Alaska. If she made a mistake, it was the very first one she agreed to sign on to the McCain campaign even though her family life was some stressed, she clearly hadnt done enough to be ready at a national level (to be a heavyweight) and, most importantly for a politician, she didnt understand that the McCain campaign was incompetent. It wasnt clear that McCain was a loser at that point; indeed he was only a point or two behind Obama in August. But a savvy pol would have looked at the internal dynamics and would have predicted that the campaign would falter in the stretch. A lot of non-savvy commenters saw it, and she should have seen it.
Sarah didnt see it, and she didnt do her homework. Thats her mistake and Ill bet she sees it now.
Now that she has the experience she has (an experience Id like to avoid for my own family), I wonder if what she might do in the future is, in part, start to deal with the nasty MSM and pols who think that going after family is just fine. She stared down Letterman and made him look a fool; perhaps she can do that to the rest of the MSM. That would be a worthwhile legacy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2009 12:21
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#4
Palin can now take up fundraising in a major way and also take on the MSM at the same time. She's young & could well forge a new identity in the process.
#5
Personally, I'm all for taking the entire McCain staff (and McCain) out behind the woodshed for a little character-building. I don't like McCain. I've never liked McCain. Palin was the reason I voted, instead of sitting this one out. It's time for McCain to fold the tent and slip back to Arizona, permanently. His "staff" should be unemployed and unemployable.
As for the title, it's wrong. We get the political candidates whose ego is so large they're willing to do anything, even murder, to gain power. We'd be better off picking names randomly from the telephone book every two years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:58
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#6
would you hire Steve Schmidt or any other backstabbing little McCain toadie? Cut their own throats.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 14:05
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#7
If Palin waits until she is just a bit younger than Hillary, that will be the 2024 elections.
#8
think of 4 years from now, when that Yahoo Dem who won because the the Stevens fiasco will be up fo r the senate... Palin will be a shoo-in for the senate. Then in 2020 she looks to be 11 years away form this with several years in the senate behind her, and all her kids except Trig are adults...
She's not done yet, not if she doesn't want to be.
#9
McCain lost my respect when he sat out the Abu Ghraib "panties on the head torture" routine. The one sitting senator who could have shut that cr@p down, decided to let GW stew in it for old times sake - piss off old man - once a hero, now a zero.
#11
Sara's a tribute to the real meaning of independent minded American woman. Politically savvy - no, honorable - yes. F*ck the MSM and the east coast elite weenies, I'll take the Air Alaska flight attendant any day.
Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much.
"I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN's John King, released by the network Friday morning.
Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. army general who rose to political prominence after a long and accomplished military career, said that health care reform and many of Mr. Obama's other initiatives are "important" to Americans.
But, he said, "one of the cautions that has to be given to the president -- and I've talked to some of his people about this -- is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all."
"And we can't pay for it all," said Mr. Powell, who was the first African-American to serve as secretary of state, under former President George W. Bush. He was also national security adviser to President Reagan, and was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.
Basically sums up all those Fannie Mae mortgages. Now they're going to do it with Treasury Bonds. When you disconnect the innate value of what the paper represents and treat is as just a piece of paper for speculative purposes, the market will eventually drop the sucker. It's a confidence game. No more, no less.
Colonel Nicholson: What have I done? [Bridge on the River Kwai]
#4
Too late Colin, you're either a liberal or a racist. Either way you need to make a full admission before you will be considered as anything but in the future.
#6
Between the White House press corp questioning the staged "press briefings", and now Colin Powell's uncertainty; are we seeing serious cracks in the god like image(s) of Bambi?? I'm going to love watching the Dems implode and eat each other.
Moneeb Hassan remembers having to choose between a final exam in American history or celebrating the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. In the end, he chose both.
Hassan, 17, is one of thousands of Muslim students in the city who must perform a balancing act between his academic and religious obligations during his holidays. But the nation's largest school district hasn't sanctioned official Muslim holidays. "People came to this country for freedom of religion," Hassan said. "We're just asking for fair and equal treatment."
It's a numbers thingy. Where the population of one group is dense enough, accommodations are made so teachers don't have to repeat lessons for the half of the class that was missing. New York City is an anomaly -- I always had to make up work missed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I ate matzah sandwiches during Passover without accommodation, too. Thus I learnt that important things are worth sacrificing for. *shrug* Somehow my fragile psyche survived.
Muslim activists lobbying to add the holy days to the school calendar -- which takes school off for Christmas and the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- were heartened this week by a City Council resolution supporting the observance of the two holidays -- Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. A handful of school districts in New Jersey and Michigan have recognized Muslim school holidays, while efforts in Baltimore and Connecticut have failed recently.
I imagine they take off Muslim holidays in Detroit, where the numbers support that decision.
New York City has the nation's largest school system. A 2008 study by Columbia University's Teachers College estimates at least 10 percent of the city's 1.1 million students are Muslim. Supporters say the school board needs to be inclusive of the growing number of Muslim students in New York.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke out against approving the holidays this week, saying it would open the door to other religious groups asking for days off. "One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday there won't be any school," Bloomberg told reporters on Tuesday. "Educating our kids requires time in the classroom and that's the most important thing to us more than anything else." A day later, he sounded like he might be willing to give it some thought, saying that he would take a closer look at the resolution. But he still stuck to his original point that honoring every religious holiday isn't practical.
The stress of catching up on school work, rescheduling exams and having to ask for special permission to miss classes for the holidays is a routine Muslim students shouldn't have to go through, Hassan said. He remembers finishing his 7 a.m. history exam in just 40 minutes, racing out of the classroom, jumping into his father's car and speeding off to the mosque. If the exam was later in the day, he would have missed the morning prayer, a significant part of the Eid celebration.
City Councilman Robert Jackson, a Muslim, said he and a coalition of over 80 community groups in the city will begin canvassing the mayor's office for his support for the holiday. If Bloomberg isn't receptive, "we may have to consider legal action," he said. "Discrimination may be an issue in this case." Jackson said a bill that would mandate the holidays as state law has been introduced in Albany.
Susan Fani, a spokeswoman for the Catholic League, said she didn't oppose recognizing Muslim holidays in public schools, but was concerned that Catholics and Christians in the city were not treated with the same amount of respect and sensitivity. "Catholics get a Santa Claus or a tree," but aren't allowed to display nativity scenes in school, Fani said. "We just want to make sure that the enthusiasm that City Council is showing towards Muslims is the same kind of enthusiasm they are showing toward Christians."
But others welcomed the idea, saying it is a chance for the city to extend an olive branch to the Muslim community. "The more we support one another in our spiritual quest, the better off we become as a society," said Rabbi Michael Weisser of the Free Synagogue in Queens. "Children are exempted from school during Rosh Hashanah. A fair minded person would have to agree that our brother religion of Islam should have the same sort of benefit. It's an issue of fairness."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 9:27
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Good Lord, NO! In India, between observing all of the Hindu and Muslim Holidays/Festivals and what not, they only go to school about 7 months out of the year. Do that here and our kids really will be uneduca...ted. Never mind.
Nine Chechen policemen sent to crush an insurgency in the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia were gunned down on Saturday, Interfax reported, intensifying the cycle of violence now unfolding in the region.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov ordered his troops across the border into Ingushetia to avenge a suicide bomb attack against fellow Kremlin appointee in the region, Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who is fighting for his life in hospital. The militants ambushed a convoy of Kadyrov's troops on Saturday, firing automatic weapons and grenade launchers in one of the deadliest attacks in the volatile North Caucasus region in recent years. The head of Chechnya's interior ministry, Ruslan Alkhanov vowed retribution for the ambush. "We will take all measures to hunt down and destroy these bandits," Itar Tass quoted him as saying.
The Chechen death toll may rise as 10 other policemen are being treated for severe injuries. The cars in the convoy, which was carrying 35 troops, were left burning as the Chechen troops scrambled to return fire into the surrounding forests, Itar Tass reported.
The June 22 suicide attack on the Ingush leader prompted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to order Kadyrov to hunt down militants in Ingushetia, giving him a free hand to carry out military operations outside of Chechnya for the first time. "We will take no captives, we will destroy them. As long as they exist there will be blood," Kadyrov told Reuters after receiving permission for cross-border operations.
Kadyrov's harsh tactics have brought relative stability to Chechnya since he took power in 2007 after more than a decade of war. But fellow Kremlin appointees have failed to stem violence in neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Abdul Aryuksoto, an assistant village chief of Moo2 Tambon Na Pradu of Pattanis Khok Pho district was shot dead in front of his stall in the Tambons fresh market by terrorists suspected insurgents late afternoon on Saturday, police said. Witnesses told police that while Mr Abdul was packing his belongings after finishing his trading, two suspected militants on a motorcycle parked their vehicle at the fresh market, walked straight to the victim and shot on him several times. The assistant village headman died at the scene.
Blind, deaf, dumb, stupid and corrupt pandering like this needs to be recorded. These people need to be held responsible when the worst happens.
The incoming head of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog said on Friday he did not see any hard evidence that Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear weapons. "I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this," Japan's Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Iran's nuclear program since his election to head the International Atomic Energy Agency, when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability. I wonder if he'll change his mind when Tel Aviv goes up in a fireball?
Why would he? It's only Tel Aviv, not Tokyo or someplace important to humanity.
Current IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei told the BBC last month it was his "gut feeling" that Iran was seeking the ability to produce nuclear arms, if it desired, as an "insurance policy" against perceived threats from neighboring countries or the United States. "I'm not going to be a 'soft' director general or a 'tough' director general," Amano told Reuters, when asked how he would approach issues like Iran and Syria, which are both subject to IAEA probes.
Earlier Friday, IAEA members unanimously designated Amano as the organization's next director general, ending a rift between developing and industrialized countries over his nomination. With the official confirmation of his election on Thursday, the Japanese diplomat is now set to assume his post in December, succeeding Mohammed ElBaradei, who retires as director general after 12 years in office.
Amano, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, narrowly won a run-off vote against South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty. Developing countries backing Minty had for several months blocked Amano's election. I guess it could have been even worse (shudder).
I think Dr. Khan of Pakistan is at loose ends these days, other than his newspaper columns.
But on Friday, developing countries grouped in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 issued statements expressing their support for Amano, 62, who is seen as closely aligned with the United States.
Minty congratulated Amano, and offered his country's support, saying that "our future objective is to assist in fostering a cooperative spirit and to focus on what unites us, namely; creating a better life for all free from the threat of the use of nuclear weapons."
Meanwhile, the Japanese government put high hopes in the next IAEA leader. "We hope that Amano will tackle the nuclear issues in the areas of non-proliferation and disarmament," top government spokesman Takeo Kawamura said in Tokyo. If Amano had been around in 1945:
"I see no evidence the Americans have an atomic bomb. The disaster in Hiroshima was caused by a gas leak. A big one. Yeah, that's the ticket, a gas leak. And the flash was a secondary in a magnesium flare factory."
#1
Depends on what he means by 'hard evidence'. I don't have any 'hard evidence' the Norks have a bomb - it's all just hearsay.
Come to think of it - I personally don't have any 'hard evidence' the Rooskies have a bomb.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/04/2009 6:28
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#2
Bobby,
We have no hard evidence the US has any bombs either. We had some but we used some and took others apart - who really knows how many are left.
#7
Nah, Glenmore (#2), I've seen pictures of US tests.
Waitaminute...They could be photoshopped...like the moon landings.
[/moonbat]
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/04/2009 12:11
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#8
Bobby,
On July 16, 1945 we had 1-3 nukes. On July 17 we had one less. On August 9 I don't think we had any. We kept making them and we kept testing them - prove we still have any. Everybody assumes we do, but 'everybody' thought Saddam had WMD too.
#11
I'm not really sure why we tolerate such nonsense from the UN. The Human Rights Group have made a mockery of Human Rights. The IAEA is an even bigger joke. The US should hold nations accountable for their votes and start pulling back aid and attention.
The US should push for Japan to become not only a permanent member of the security council but the new home of the UN. We should push for enlargement all around and dillute the power and force the French/Russians and Chinese to fight against it to preserve their little bits of power, thus putting us on the side of the little nations. If it enlarges the UN is weaker, if not, we look better to half of the world. Win/win.
Bernard Madoff has hired a veteran prison consultant to help him to find the best possible jail in which to serve his 150-year sentence for Wall Street's biggest fraud. After his sentencing this week Madoff, now Prisoner No 1727-054, met Herb Hoelter, of the National Centre for Institutions and Alternatives, whose previous clients include the jailed Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman and the financiers Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky.
The draconian maximum sentence imposed by the judge means that Madoff, 71, will be assigned to a tougher category of prison than most white-collar criminals. He could be forced to mingle with murderers, rapists, drug-dealers and white supremacist gangs with a hatred of Jews. Madoff is Jewish. Ahhhh
"He was incredibly disappointed. He knew he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I don't think that was ever an issue," Mr Hoelter told The Times. "But it's patently unfair to cast him as a symbol of all evil." No, he's a victim. Not very good with figures.
Federal convicts are assigned to minimum, low, medium, high-security prison, or even the sole Supermax facility, by the US Bureau of Prisons using a score-card known as Form BP-337 to calculate an inmate's "Security Point Total". A first-time non-violent white-collar criminal convicted in a US federal court would normally qualify for incarceration at a minimum-security "prison camp" with easygoing rules and no perimeter fence. But the length of Mr Madoff's jail term means that he has no hope at all of going to one of them. "Independent of the length of his sentence, he would score out as a minimum-security inmate," said Mr Hoelter. "But because of the length of his sentence, they apply a 'public safety factor' and would never put him in a minimum security facility."
Madoff's lawyer asked the judge to recommend that he should serve his term in the medium-security Otisville Correctional Institute, 70 miles from New York, which has an unusually large Jewish inmate population. The judge refused. That might not be a good idea since most of his victims were Jewish.
A sentence above 30 years usually places an inmate in a high-security category, meaning that Madoff would be assigned to a prison housing violent offenders including murderers and rapists. Ed Bales, of Federal Prison Consultants, which is not involved in the case, said that Madoff was likely to be held in isolation, known as "the hole", at least at first. "He could cause a lot of problems because it's a very high-profile case. People may react very badly to him," Mr Bales said. "He is going to have white supremacists who do not like the Jewish population. He has got some enemies he is going to have to face." It is even possible that Madoff could be upgraded for his own safety to the only Supermax facility, where inmates are locked up for 23 hours a day and never get to mix with the general prison population.
John Webster, of National Prison and Sentencing Consultants, said: "Next to being a sex offender, people who are perceived as stealing from the elderly are not perceived as very popular folk in prison. Everyone has a mother. I think there is going to be some form of retaliation."
Mr Webster, a lawyer who once served a 13-month sentence for lying to investigators, said that white-collar criminals often struggled to adapt to jail. "I have a former client who is a judge," he said. "The first time he was brought to an isolation unit in handcuffs, he said to the guard, 'Would you get me a coffee?'. That was a guy who did not realise where he was yet." Mr Hoelter says that Madoff can at least look forward to moving from the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan, where he has been held since pleading guilty in March.
The centre is a maximum-security prison. "He has been incarcerated under very difficult conditions in these past months. Anywhere he goes is likely to be better than where he is now, unless they throw him into the Supermax," he said. "He will be able to get exercise. He will be able to do something that makes him productive. He may be able to tutor other inmates." QuickBooks, general accounting and managing your money.
Does he think he'll actually get to pick his prison? And would the prison system actually go along with it? (Scratch that- of course they would, the idiots.)
What does the judge think about that?
He's in New York, right? Howzabout Sing-Sing? I know there are some high-profile white collar criminals there. He could make new friends and they could try fleecing each other of their prison store toothpaste-and-gum credits.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/04/2009 9:32
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#2
hint to the warden: if he offers to do your books, rent "Shawshank Redemption" on DVD
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 9:50
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Very productive swine and feeder pig operation ongoing at the London, Ohio penal farm. Eligability rules dictate inmates must be within five years of eligibility for release. Maybe Bernie could get an age waivor.
#5
It's high time that the US create a new Supermax, solely because the Florence ADX provides far too much horizontal area for its prisoners, to insure their isolation. Instead, the facility needs to be underground, to increase the available area by adding a third dimension to the facility.
The way to do this on a budget would be to take an abandoned hard rock mountain mine and refurbish it as a prison. Some of these, like the Mule mountains in Bisbee, AZ, have dozens of miles of mine shafts, both horizontal and vertical.
Each prisoner's cell could easily be surrounded by a hundred feet of live rock.
#7
The best way to dispose of a body in Colorado is to drop it down the air shaft of an abandoned mine. The usual drop is 2-300 feet, there are tens of thousands of abandoned mines, and the danger of collapse prevents anyone from going there. It would be perfect for Bernie.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:34
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"Madoff has hired"
Ummmm - where'd he get the money to hire anyone?
He shouldn't have access to one thin dime - all his money should have been seized to repay the idiots who gave him their life savings.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/04/2009 17:03
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#9
Obama could pardon him and put him in charge of social security given his considerable experience running similar operations in the private sector.
#11
I understand SuperMax runs at a loss. I'll bet there are a number of people who would be willing to fund an annuity to cover his cell (and a few more). And no laptop.
Via Frontpage Magazine It turns out that the woman at a White House-sponsored healthcare forum who pulled the heartstrings of the media by asking President Obama for help in treating her cancer -- as if she were channeling the afflicted who, in the New Testament, besought Jesus of Nazareth for a healing touch -- was an Obama plant.
Debby Smith is a member of Organizing for America, a network of volunteers whose mission is to rouse public support for President Obama and his political and social agendas; it is also a project of the Democratic National Committee. Smith was invited to the event not by an outside group but by the White House itself.
Posted by: ed ||
07/04/2009
01:35 ||
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#1
This should be illegal with a firing squad for punishment.
#2
Issue Helen Thomas a "Lady Smith" and couple of boxes of ammo. Chip Reid can help her reload. They sit close enough to make on the spot corrections. Puffboy Gibbledigob beware.
#3
In honor of the Day: That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness... But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea sought payment through a bank in Malaysia for its suspected shipment of weapons to Myanmar that is being carried on a freighter tracked by the U.S. Navy, a source said Saturday.
The visit by a U.S. envoy to Malaysia this weekend will focus on ways to cut off the payment transaction for the cargo from the bank in Malaysia to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the source said. "Kim will have a hard time collecting his money," the high-level source said, speaking strictly on condition of anonymity. The source declined to identify the bank due to diplomatic concerns.
The freighter will return to North Korea. The weapons will be loaded onto train cars. The train will go through China all the way to Burma. More expensive but no way to track or stop it. Then Kimmie will have to find a way to get his money.
Malaysia is a Muslim country. I'm sure someone there is tied into the Muslim cash transfer system. Getting the money to North Korea is only a matter of Kim Jong-Il saying the Shahida a few times before the appropriate witnesses. Sunni is probably better because its' more widespread, but the Shiites have more formal channels for supporting terror organizations, and North Korea is nothing if not a terror organization masquerading as a country.
Philip Goldberg, the U.S. coordinator for the implementation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that punishes North Korea for its May 25 nuclear test, is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday. The visit comes after the White House said late last month that U.S. President Barack Obama discussed North Korea and financial regulations with Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razakon by phone.
It also comes as North Korea's Kang Nam freighter is apparently returning home after being tracked by a U.S. Navy destroyer that suspects it is carrying cargo banned under the resolution. According to another source in Seoul, the Kang Nam is believed to be carrying small Soviet-era arms such as AK-47 rifles and RPG-7 anti-tank launchers. AK-47s and RPG-7s are two of the most widely traded Soviet-era weapon types that North Korea is capable of producing on its own.
"Kim appears to have received earnest money for the shipment, but it is a small sum compared to the payment held up in Malaysia," the source said.
The U.S. believes there are "multiple" North Korean ships used to export weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Malaysia is a Muslim country.
Malaysia also has a sizable ethnic Chinese population.
[Geo News] Twenty-six army troops were martyred when a cargo helicopter of Pak Army crashed in Orakzai Agency on Friday. Official sources have said that investigation into the tragic incident is being carried out. According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the helicopter crashed in Orakzai Agency after developing a technical fault.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Kyodo: Korea] South Korea believes North Korea's test-firing of short-range missiles are aimed at intimidating South Korea, a Defense Ministry spokesman indicated Friday. ''I interpret whatever military activities North Korea does are mostly aimed at our armed forces or the Republic of Korea,'' Won Tae Jae told a press briefing. ''Unless it is a mid-range or a longer-range one, we believe it is aimed at (South) Korea.''
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[ADN Kronos] Two boats carrying 44 illegal immigrants from Algeria arrived off the coast of the Italian island of Sardinia late Thursday, the same day that the country made illegal immigration a crime. The migrants were spotted by the Italian coast guard 10 nautical miles off Capo Teulada, on the island's southwest.
The immigrants made the perilous journey on two wooden boats propelled by outboard engines.
A pregnant woman among the migrants reportedly suffered strong abdominal pain during the journey.
After they were intercepted by Italian authorities, the migrants were transferred to an immigration centre in Elmas, near Cagliari, the provincial capital of Sardinia.
Thirty-eight other Algerians arrived in Sardinia on Wednesday, media reports said.
However, the Italian parliament on Thursday approved controversial security bill making illegal immigration a punishable offence.
The law also a triples the amount of time illegal immigrants can be detained in holding centres from two to six months.
Under the provisions, people entering Italy without permission face fines of up to 10,000 euros and immediate expulsion.
In May Italy began returning to Libya migrants rescued or intercepted in international waters, triggering criticism from the Vatican and the United Nations Refugee Agency or UNHCR.
The repatriations followed a deal Italy struck with Libya last year to combat people trafficking in the Mediterranean. However the latest landing arrived from Algeria.
Some 36,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea in 2008, with around 30,000 landing on the islet of Lampedusa which lies between Sicily and North Africa. A fewer number manage to arrive in Sardinia, located further north.
Italy has the European Union's longest coastline - 4,500 kilometres - making it difficult to police and a preferred destination for migrants.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Geo News] The rival groups have signed a peace agreement in Dera Ismail Khan, said Jamat-e-Islami Chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on Friday. "The groups will give the wanted people in police custody in the next ten days while the ceasefire has begun from today," he said while addressing a press conference after chairing a Jirga meeting represented by the concerned parties here at Circuit House Dire Ismail Khan. District officials, senior police officials and notables were also present at the Jirga meeting. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said the police presented a list of wanted men during the meeting. The implementation of the peace pact will be completed when the wanted men are handed in police custody, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] An unmanned surveillance aircraft has gone down on the outskirts of al-Kut city in the southern Iraqi province of Wasit which borders Iran. A local police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Voices of Iraq news agency that the drone crashed on Friday close to the Delta Base of American forces. The base is situated seven kilometers (5 miles) west of al-Kut.
Unmanned US drones on a regular basis venture the Iraqi air space to apparently track down insurgents and also save American lives in conflict-plagued Iraq. Pentagon officials say that these remotely piloted planes have become one of the US military's favorite weapons despite many technical shortcomings resulting from the rush to get them operating.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Surprisingly reasonable reporting, considering the source - certainly less distorted than we have become used to from the NYTimes. One could dispute just how many technical shortcomings there are and how many of them result from the 'rush' to deploy - but I'd be stunned if there were not at least some.
#2
"No evidence" usually means: they found exactly what they were predisposed to look for. Third Worlders see some advantage to joining the nuke club. And Hussein O says the US doesn't have a veto over proliferation.
A drone strike targeting a stronghold of a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud killed around 12 Taliban in South Waziristan on Friday, said political administration officials. "The office of commander Mufti Noor Wali was targeted in the drone attack in ... Mochikhel area of Sarwakai tehsil, South Waziristan," said the political administration officials over the telephone. It was not clear if the dead included Wali. The AP news agency reported that missiles also a struck a training facility operated by Baitullah in Mantoi village and a communication centre in Kokat Khel village, killing 17 Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan today, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders on the second day of the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001.
On the other side of the border, U.S. missiles struck a Pakistani Taliban militant training centre and communications centre, killing 17 people and wounding nearly 30, Pakistani intelligence officials said. Both U.S. operations were aimed at what President Barack Obama considers as the biggest dangers in the region: a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency allied with al-Qaida that threatens both nuclear-armed Pakistan and the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan.
The 4,000-strong U.S. force met little resistance today as troops fanned out into villages in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, although one Marine was killed and several others were wounded the day before, U.S. officials said. Despite minimal contact, the Marines could see militants using flashlights late Thursday to signal one another about American troop movements.
Military spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier said the goal of the Helmand operation was not simply to kill Taliban fighters but to win over the local population -- a difficult task in a region where foreigners are viewed with suspicion. It's made more difficult by the knowledge that next year at this time the Marines are going to be somewhere else, whereas the Haqqani forces expect to be right where they are now.
Marines also hope to cut the routes used by militants to funnel weapons, ammunition and fighters from Pakistan to the Taliban. The new U.S. operation will test the Obama administration's new strategy of holding territory to let the Afghan government establish a presence in rural areas where Taliban influence is strong. Haqqani is telling himself right now that the Marines are doing what the Russers used to do -- surging, then withdrawing to base.
As Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," entered its second day, Marines took control of the district centres of Nawa and Garmser, and negotiated entry into Khan Neshin, the capital of Rig district, Pelletier said.
In Nawa, Marines met with about 20 Afghan men and boys, seeking to reassure them that the Americans wanted to protect them from the Taliban. "Are you going to enter our houses?" asked Mohammad Nabi, 25, who was there with five of his younger brothers. "We are afraid that you will leave, and the Taliban will come back." Bingo.
They also complained that local police were thieves not to be trusted.
Marine officers promised not to enter homes and said they would remain in the area to keep out the Taliban.
One elder with a grey beard asked the Marines whether they would prevent residents from saying Muslim prayers. The troops assured him they would not.
In one village near Nawa, however, the atmosphere was tense. "When we asked if they had a village elder or mullah for the American commander to talk to, the answer was no," said Capt. Drew Schoenmaker, a Marine company commander. "It's fear of reprisal. Fear and intimidation is one thing the enemy does very well."
Taking territory from the Taliban has always proved easier than holding it. The challenge is especially great in Helmand because it is a centre of Afghanistan's thriving opium production, and drug profits feed both the insurgency and corrupt government officials.
On Wednesday, a British lieutenant colonel was killed in an explosion in Helmand. Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, commander of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was the highest-ranking British officer killed in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
They will use Chechen tactics. That means ambush and infiltration. The latter tool commands use of suicide bombers. Ergo: response tactics must involve shoot-on-suspicion. Unfortunately, the Commander in Chief has ordered shoot-when-certain. That isn't going to stop field troops from wasting any approaching peasant looking type who disobeys lie down orders.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam -Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rahman ultimately succeeded in striking a peace agreement between the rival sects in the volatile district on Friday.
Sources said amid target killings, kidnappings and lawlessness that had gripped the Dera city for the last several months, the peace committee, headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, with the help of Federal Minister for Tourism Maulana Attaur Rahman and Qari Muhammad Nawaz Tahir brought the elders of Shia and Sunni communities to the table for talks.
For durable peace and harmony between the two communities, a peace agreement was signed at the Circuit House, where the JUI-F chief read out the agreement in the presence of both the stakeholders.
The leaders of the two communities -- Abdur Rauf Baloch, Allama Ramzan Tauqeer, Maulana Muhammad Ibrahim, Syed Inayat Ali Shah, Muhammad Akhtar, Syed Fayaz Hussain Bukhari, Abdul Aziz and Syed Ghulam Abbas Shah -- were present on the occasion.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Commissioner Muhammad Hamayun, Deputy Inspector General of Police Muhammad Ishtiaq Marwat and District Police Officer Gul Afzal Khan Afridi.
Maulana Fazl read out the names of the peace committee members and the points of the peace agreement during the press conference. He said it was the responsibility of all the residents to play their due role in evolving a pluralistic peaceful society in the city. He hoped that the peace accord would help end the lawlessness in the area.
Fazl said sensible people honoured the decision made through talks and negotiations and it was the responsibility of each community to keep the promise. The points that were agreed and signed by both the stakeholders were as under:
The list of the persons from both communities wanted to the administration for acts of violence would be handed over to the district authorities as the names produced by the district administration were acceptable to the two sides.
Anyone found involved in acts of violence after the agreement would be handed over to the police. If a community failed to produce the involved person (s), it would be the responsibility of the respective community to renounce affiliation with him/them besides cooperating with the law-enforcement agencies to apprehend the person at large.
Soon after the implementation of the agreement, the process of handing over the wanted persons would start. It was agreed that this process would be completed within 10 days. If a person in question did not surrender, his respective community will renounce any relation with that person.
Sub-committees were also formed to monitor the enforcement of the agreement that included the district level officer. MPA Khalifa Abdul Qayyum and Murid Kazim would also oversee the agreementís implementation.
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[ADN Kronos] Hamas activists arrested by the Palestinian Authority have admitted to tracking the movements of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to assassinate him, PA sources told Israeli daily Haaretz.
"Hamas' intention was to scuttle the reconciliation talks [between Hamas and Fatah] in Cairo and to create chaos in the West Bank, in contrast to the sense of security that has characterised the territory for the past two years," the spokesman of the West Bank-ruling Fatah movement Fahmi Zarir told Haaretz.
On Monday, Palestinian Authority secretary Taib Abd-Arahim had said earlier this week that PA security forces had arrested 10 Hamas members who were allegedly planning to attack PA institutions.
Haaretz said the detainees admitted they were planning to assassinate several PA officials on 1 July.
According to the PA sources, the Hamas activists were caught with weapons, maps and photos of senior Palestinian officers.
Confessions extracted by Palestinian security forces revealed that the suspects also planned to assassinate several PA officials.
The Hamas cell had three to five members, between the ages of 25 and 30.
However, a spokesman of the Islamist movement's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades has denied the claims.
Fatah, the group who controls the West Bank, and Hamas, who controls the Gaza Strip have been divided by a serious rift since Hamas took control of the coastal territory by force in mid-2007 after Abbas dissolved a Hamas-Fatah unity government in June 2007.
Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.
However, it immediately faced widespread international political opposition and an economic boycott from western powers including the European Union due to its refusal to comply with three conditions: recognition of Israel, rejection of violence and respect for previous accords between Israel and the Palestinians.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#2
Nah. The 'Hamas of the West Bank' is to blame. Or is it the 'Hamas On the West Bank'? Or it could be 'Hamas of the 25-30 Year-olds'? Maybe the 'Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade on Tuesday'?
[Kyodo: Korea] The Myanmar military government's third-ranked leader made a top-secret visit to North Korea in November last year during which the two sides pledged to significantly expand cooperation in military training and arms production, Radio Free Asia online reported Friday, quoting a leaked report purportedly drafted by the junta.
The 37-page report in Burmese claims to contain details of the Nov. 22-29 visit to North Korea by 17 Myanmar officials, billed as a goodwill visit to China and reportedly led by Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, Myanmar's third-ranked leader and armed forces chief of staff, the Radio Free Asia report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ADN Kronos] Senior Bahraini officials have made an historic visit to Israel to meet a group of Bahraini detainees that were arrested with other activists this week when they tried to enter the Gaza Strip to deliver aid, the country's official news agency BNA said on Friday.
BNA said the detainees were freed by Israeli authorities after Bahrain's efforts to free them.
"The efforts resulted in the approval of the Israeli authorities to hand over detainees to the representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain. As a result, the ministry of foreign affairs in cooperation with the ministry of interior sent a mission to Ben Gurion Airport to receive the Bahrainis detained," said BNA.
According to official sources, the Bahrainis were met by the government delegation and are safe and in good health.
Bahrain - despite being a staunch United States ally - does not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
The Bahraini detainees are part of an international group of activists, volunteers and politicians known as the Free Gaza Movement, an organisation that aims to deliver aid to the coastal strip by bypassing Israel's economic blockade of the war-torn territory.
The activists were arrested in international waters this week by Israeli authorities and were awaiting deportation orders.
The move prompted an independent United Nations human rights expert to denounce what he described as "the unlawful naval seizure" by an Israeli gunboat of a ship carrying medicine and reconstruction material for the people of the Gaza Strip.
"Nonetheless, the 21 peace activists on the boat were arrested, held in captivity, and have been charged with 'illegal entry' to Israel even though they had no intention of going to Israel," said a media release by the office of Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
A former United States representative Cynthia McKinney, Irish peace activist and Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire were among those held.
Israel said in a statement that the navy had previously contacted the activists' boat at sea and warned them that it would not be permitted to enter Gaza waters due to "security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
They couldn't have left McKinney? Thanks a lot, fellas.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/04/2009 3:30
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#2
"Israel said in a statement that the navy had previously contacted the activists' boat at sea and warned them that it would not be permitted to enter Gaza waters due to "security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade." "
Next time "warn" them with a shot through the midsection of the boat across the bow.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/04/2009 9:37
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"Senior Bahraini officials have made an historic visit to Israel"
Wonder what kind of magic they used to prevent getting Juice cooties while they were there?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/04/2009 9:39
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#4
I was about to suggest that Michael Jackson brokered the deal for McKinney's release but.....
#5
RE#4 - He still can, Bersoeker. It'll do as much good as anything else. Cynthia McKinney is a mush-headed idiot, and deserves anything that happens to her.
RE#2 - Barbara, the first shot should be through the wheelhouse (along with shots 2-24), followed by a couple of rounds at the waterline. 76MM isn't as good as an 8-inch round, but it's something. Either that or drop a couple of depth charges just in front of the bow. There won't be a need for anything else.
These self-important idiots need to learn that they're just people like everybody else, and can bleed and die just like everybody else.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:31
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran said on Friday that some local British embassy staff arrested for allegedly playing a role in post-election violence will be put on trial as the European Union said it was seeking ways to object to Iran's crackdown on opposition.
The head of Iran's powerful Guardians Council, Ahmad Jannati, said embassy staff have "made confessions" and said "in these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some people were arrested. Naturally they will be put on trial."
"Allegations that our staff were fomenting unrest are wholly without foundation...We will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Iranians"
Foreign Office spokesperson
Minutes later, Britain said it was "concerned" and was seeking clarification about the announcement.
"We are concerned and we are checking the reports," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. "Allegations that our staff were fomenting unrest are wholly without foundation."
"We will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Iranians."
According to the British government, seven of nine local staff originally detained by the Iranian authorities have now been released.
Iran accused the embassy employees of instigating riots in the unrest that erupted over the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which was ratified on Monday by the Guardians Council.
Britain has rejected the allegations as baseless and demanded the immediate release of the staff still in detention.
In his first speech since the unrest began, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed Britain as the "most evil" or the Islamic Republic's enemies, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown said was "unfortunate" as tension between the two nations rose.
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[ADN Kronos] An Iraqi soldier was killed and ten others were wounded when a bomb exploded in central Baghdad on Thursday, a police source said.
"An explosive device went off Thursday on the main road in al-Karada region in central Baghdad while an Iraqi army vehicle patrol was passing, killing a soldier and injuring ten as well as damaging one of the patrol's vehicles," the source told the news agency, Voices of Iraq.
"Security forces cordoned off the region, while ambulances rushed the wounded to a nearby hospital," he added.
The attack occurred only two days after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities according to the security agreement signed between the two countries on December 13, 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Sunni terrorists identify Iraqi soldiers based in Baghdad, as part of the new Shiite majority. That might explain the bombing.
Russia will allow the United States to ship weapons across its territory to Afghanistan, a top Kremlin aide said on Friday in a gesture aimed at bolstering US military operations and improving strained ties between Washington and Moscow. The deal is expected to be signed during US President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow next week, Kremlin Foreign Policy Adviser Sergei Prikhodko said. Russia has been allowing the US to ship non-lethal supplies across its territory for operations in Afghanistan and Kremlin officials had suggested further cooperation was likely.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
While I am actually glad to see this I do wonder what we had to give the Russians in the deal. Ukraine?
Posted by: ed ||
07/04/2009
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#1
The US-China relationship will only get more complicated, and none of the "experts" on either side has a grasp of the issues. I went shopping for a wooden closet rod at the Home Depot and was astounded to find they were all imported from China and cost $3.87 for 3 feet. I'll take a spokeshave to a 2 x 4 before I buy something like that.
#2
AH, do you have access to a lathe? It would have taken me about 10 minutes to turn your 2x4 into two 8-foot curtain rods you could cut to the length you wanted (a minute to rip it in half, 2 minutes to get the lathe extension out and hook it up, two minutes to turn it, and a few minutes to sand out the splinters). If you don't maybe some of your friends do?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:43
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Good point OldSpook. Some people are not as dependant as others.
#4
A lot of the stuff made in China could be made in Mexico with cheaper shipping. The fact that Mexico hasn't stepped up (start with wood and work your way into more advanced plastics) says alot about our failed neighbor.
#5
I'll proudly call myself a "Country Boy" even though I don't like most "Country" music, that one hit home"
I can hunt, farm, fish and clean/cook whatever I kill, but I'm just as comfortable with a Computer as a Rifle.
I'm a technical git, and can repair/rebuild/make whatever I want. and overall I'm just as happy with air conditionong as a big fan.
I'm doin' OK.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2009 18:46
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Finding a 2x4 straight enough to mount on a lathe at HD would be quite the challenge.
[Iran Press TV Latest] African Union members have refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court over the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a war crimes warrant against al-Bashir alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity and has called for his arrest. But AU members have decided not to cooperate with the international body and have assured Bashir that he can travel freely across Africa without fear of capture.
*snicker* How many legions does the ICC have?
The AU has also appealed once again to the United Nations to delay the case, delegates said Friday at the 13th AU Summit held in Sirte, about 600 km east of Tripoli, Libya. Two delegates from different member sates said the AU summit had agreed to a text reading: "The AU member states shall not cooperate... for the arrest and surrender of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir." The text was backed by Libyan leader and current AU chief Muammar Gaddafi, who has said the ICC represents a 'new world terrorism', and won support from many countries who felt the court was unfairly targeting Africans.
Thirty African states have signed the Rome Statutes creating the court, and apparently have treaty obligations to arrest al-Bashir if he travels on their territory. But the text adopted at the summit voices frustration felt by many African nations who say the UN Security Council ignored an early AU resolution calling for a one-year delay to the indictment. The UN Security Council can ask the court, via a resolution, to suspend investigations or prosecutions for 12 months, under Article 16 of the Rome Statute. The stay can be renewed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Geo News] The lawyers in Malakand, effected by military offensive in the area, have decided to go on hunger strike in Peshawar High Court (PHC) from today in protest of unpaid pledged aid money of Rs30,000 for each lawyer, Geo news reported. The President Swat District Bar Association (SDBA) Aftab Alam said government announced Rs.30,000 aid money for Malakand lawyers which have not been paid to them thus far for which, lawyers set a deadline. He said as the deadline has ended on Friday so lawyers will stage hunger strike from today (Saturday) here in PHC on daily basis.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
starve, counselor!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 9:23
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#2
What's the old joke? Good Start.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2009 14:05
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes. Biden met General Ray Odierno, the top US officer in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, who briefed him on the military and political situation, three days after a major US troop pullback.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Shiite anti-American cleric
hey, Beirut Daily Star, you left out "Iranian stooge". Perhaps because you are as well?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 9:20
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Nah, "Iranian sock puppet" has more of a appropriate proctological allegory to it.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) stand accused of rigging last year's municipal elections to steal more than 40 mayor's seats -- including the capital city of Managua. The widespread allegations and documentation of fraud have led to $130 million in foreign-aid cuts from the United States and the European nations, creating liquidity problems for the government that now jeopardize Nicaragua's program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Does that mean Nicaragua will be threatened with expulsion from the OAS, too?
No, no, certainly not, it's different when a leftist does it, ev'ryone knows that ...
Despite the continuing controversy over last year's elections, the Sandinistas refuse to discuss the issue with critics. Instead, they have cracked down on dissidents and routinely clashed with any attempt at opposition protests. The government has also endeavored to silence critical voices in the media -- sometimes with an excessive show of force.
Last week, 30 armed men in civilian clothing raided, shut down, and confiscated all the equipment of a small radio station whose owner is affiliated with an opposition political movement. Though Radio La Ley only had a weak, six-mile broadcast frequency in the northern town of Sébaco, it was the only radio station in the area and therefore a threat to the government, according to owner Santiago Aburto. The closing of the radio station -- allegedly because its broadcast license was expired (even though a 2007 law extended all media broadcasting licenses indefinitely) -- was condemned by the Radio Broadcasters Union, the national press and the Inter-American Press Association.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A day after American troops pulled out of Iraq following their seven-year invasion, Iraq's defense minister said in an interview to air Friday that it was "not unlikely" that American troops could return to at Baghdad's request.
"Iraqi forces are ready to defend American troops and bases in case of any attack in accordance with the joint security agreement between the two countries," Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obeidi told Al Arabiya in an interview that will air Friday on Min al-Iraq (From Iraq).
When asked about the current role of American troops in Iraq, Obeidi replied that it revolves around providing support. This involves firearms and surveillance support as well as air force backup, especially for evacuating the injured in case of an attack.
"American troops are also involved in carrying out sophisticated communications processes all over Iraq and which are used in detecting complicated bombs until Iraqi troops become capable of doing that themselves," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Your time is very limited, Iraq. Get your crap together.
She hasn't even announced her Senate candidacy yet, but New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney's likely challenge of Sen. Kristen Gillibrand in the state's Democratic primary already is stirring dissension among party leaders.
The White House has played an active role in clearing the primary field for Gillibrand, who was appointed by Gov. David Paterson earlier this year to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton when President Obama tapped Clinton to be his secretary of state.
But former President Bill Clinton is headlining a fundraiser for Maloney in what could be seen as a snub to the Obama White House. And New York Rep. Charles Rangel rebuked Obama for meddling into the primary as Rangel defended Maloney's right to run.
"I really don't understand why President Obama got involved in our primary," Rangel told the New York Daily News. "I don't want to use the word wrong, but it doesn't seem like the astute political thing to do."
Just days ago, Vice President Biden called Maloney to discuss the race, a sign that the White House didn't want a primary fight next year. Obama already has asked Rep. Steve Israel not to challenge Gillibrand, a request he honored. And White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told reporters last week that the White House would help Gillibrand's re-election bid.
Rangel said he hasn't yet decided who he will endorse, but he offered a glowing review of Maloney.
"I really cannot say anything negative about a senior member who wants to run and whose polls, at this point in time, appear to be in her favor," Rangel told the New York Daily News.
"Nobody can challenge that she's not a hardworking member of Congress," he said, citing her work on behalf of Sept. 11 victims and her landmark legislation protecting credit card holders. "She is certainly one of our most active members."
Maloney's record has won her the support of one prominent Democrat. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, said the former president will be attending a July 20 fundraiser in New York for the congresswoman.
McKenna disputed any suggestions that Clinton is taking sides in the race, saying Clinton's attendance at past or future fundraisers should not be perceived as an endorsement.
"We agreed to this event some time ago as a way of saying 'thank you' to Congresswoman Maloney for her efforts on his wife's behalf last year," McKenna said.
Bill Clinton also did a fundraising event for Gillibrand, but word of the Maloney event comes as the congresswoman moves toward formally announcing her candidacy. An adviser said this week she is running.
Both Maloney and Gillibrand supported Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid, and Bill Clinton had made a point of thanking her supporters.
During the Democratic primaries last year, Bill Clinton publicly criticized Obama as untested and unready for the job of president. Hillary Clinton engaged in a grueling and ultimately losing battle with Obama for the party's nomination. Bill Clinton and Obama made amends and the former president campaigned for the Democratic nominee.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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Anyone who acts like a doormat when he visits one foreign ruler should not be surprised when other rulers come along and act as arrogantly as the first. From day one we have let the world understand that we are a country with no self-respect, that we can be insulted and punched and will respond, if at all, with restraint and meekness. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was able to say what he said about Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman because for years Israel has been getting across the message: You can treat us arrogantly.
It isn't the Americans who formulated the belittling and trivializing formula "natural growth" at which the Obama administration is now chipping away in an arrogant and bullying manner. An Israeli government, headed by Ariel Sharon, was responsible for the trivializing. And instead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring, here at home, that no independent nation can agree to have "natural growth" dictate its rate of construction, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has gone off to the United States to plead for this poor little lamb.
And to whom has he gone? To the president? To the vice president? To the secretary of state? No. To an envoy, who holds the mere rank of ambassador. The State of Israel's defense minister has tried to extract an agreement to build kindergartens in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. And since George Mitchell has apparently sent the defense minister away empty-handed, the prime minister himself is about to go to him hat in hand. Maybe he'll change his mind.
The British government is on the brink of collapse. And with what is the British foreign minister busy? He "completely deplores" an Israeli decision to build 50 housing units in the settlement Adam in Judea and Samaria. Foreign diplomats in Israel are speaking in a lordly way to Israeli statesmen, and foreign journalists are asking them questions that are often biased, intrusive and insolent. These correspondents would never allow themselves to behave so crudely in their own countries. And why shouldn't they? Here, after all, everyone including prime ministers feels obligated to justify himself to them and gratify them. Only rarely does someone put them in their place.
The scorn for Israeli sovereignty and dignity runs from the lowest to the highest. Israelis, in contact with foreigners, tend to be self-abasing and massively critical of their country and its leaders. Those who excel at this in particular are people from Israeli organizations who get their funding from foreign governments and foreign NGOs, and in return, wittingly or not, serve their interests.
Azerbaijan, a Muslim country, has a dangerous border with Iran. Many of its interests, especially economic interests, inevitably intersect with Iran's. About three weeks ago Iran's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Hasan Firuzabadi, paid a surprise visit to Baku. The aim: to prevent a visit to the republic by Israeli President Shimon Peres. Although it was made clear to them that Iran would take a dim view should they refuse (and indeed while Peres was there, Iran recalled its ambassador), the Azerbaijanis rejected the demand outright. Azerbaijan is a country with self-respect. They made it clear to the bullying Iranians that no one was going to tell them which guests to receive, or to whom to export goods, or especially from whom to import. Only Israel fired the director general of its Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, because that's what the Americans dictated.
When the norm is to submit to pressure, the pressures only increase. If right at the start of the pressure campaign Netanyahu has bowed down to the Americans and given up his most basic principle - opposition to a Palestinian state - what is left for him to give when the next wave of pressure comes along? This is weakness and this is its wage.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Humorous that this article appeared in Haaretz which has Gideon Levy on the editorial board and publishes work of people like Danny Rubenstein. Levy and Rubenstein constantly attack Israel and their work is frequently quoted by the people who villify Israel.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] The political unrest in Iran over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election marks a key point in the ideological struggle between ultra-conservatives and reformers, according to analysts. Thirty years after the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the two factions are finding co-habitation increasingly difficult and the show of force in the wake of the disputed elections has unleashed a chain reaction.
The final effect on the nature and orientation of the regime in Iran remains unpredictable with some influential figures yet to take sides.
One key element is that the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who "has always tried to play an arbitration role in order to maintain the illusion of being an honest broker came out so quickly in support of Ahmadinejad," said Rouzbeh Parsi, Iran researcher at the Paris-based Institute of Security Studies.
While there are plenty of indications that the opposition supporters who have taken to the streets to cry foul over the election results have a valid grievance, in a place like Iran proof is hard to come by, analysts say.
"Nobody was allowed to follow the ballot boxes, that is why the opposition does not accept the partial recount," said Parsi.
"A lot of things make it [the result] impossible even if we don't have proof," argues Shahram Chubin of the Carnegie Institute.
Thierry Coville, of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Paris, has no doubt that massive electoral fraud has been committed.
"There's been an electoral hold-up," he said."They massively rigged it so you have two thirds, one third in order to eliminate the reformists," he added, speaking of a "coup d'etat in disguise."
According to the official results, Ahmadinejad won by a thumping majority of 63 percent against just 34 percent for opposition runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi, a gap of 11 million votes.
But if the electorate is being cheated then the goal for the "extremist right wing circles" around Ahmadinejad "is to see an Islamic state established once and for all," said Parsi.
"They do not trust the people," he stressed. Chubin sees the emergence of "two very different assumptions of what Iran should be."
On the one hand there are those who want to see "political accountability and institutions that work properly" while the other faction "emphasises the religious legitimacy, lives on crises, on confronting the world".
The hardliners stole the election not just because the reformers were a threat to their candidate, the incumbent president, at the June 12 election but because they were openly challenging the regime's view of what Iran should be, he argued.
What is clear at the moment is that Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist Iranian leader and also a candidate in the presidential election, are getting worsted because the ultra-conservatives have "the means of repression," he added.
Nevertheless "the regime has been weakened" and its ultimate victory remains uncertain in the medium to long term due to the fissures in their own ranks, he opined.
"The row is not limited to the students and the middle-class. It is very diversified geographically and socially," due to the modernisation of Iranian society over the past 30 years, according to Coville.
The "conservative traditionalists" like parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Khamenei "will have to take sides if the confrontation persists," he added.
According to Tehran press last week, Larijani and over 100 MPs refused to attend a victory party hosted by President Ahmadinejad.
The "conservative modernists" grouped around former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will similarly have to choose sides.
Rafsanjani, head of state from 1988-1997, remains an influential figure and is chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the only body which can elect, monitor or even dismiss the supreme leader of Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Kyodo: Korea] There is no evidence North Korea is planning a missile launch soon, but the prospects cannot be ruled out, British Ambassador to North Korea Peter Hughes said Friday. Speaking on a satellite link from Pyongyang, Hughes told reporters in London that he had ''no evidence yet to state there will be a launch (of an intercontinental ballistic missile) within the next few days.''
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was behind the deadly suicide attack that targeted the northern garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday. According to unnamed sources, the attack which killed one person and injured 29 others, was carried out on the orders of the tribal warlord through his extensive militant network in the Punjab.
Police had earlier said that six people had been killed in the attack but Nasir Durrani from Rawapindi police told AKI that the figure had been revised and only the suicide attacker was killed.
Security in the capital Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi has been increased recently.
However, for the past two days, security arrangements were relaxed as there were no intelligence reports on militant activity in and around the city.
Taliban 'safe houses' in Rawalpindi had been monitoring fluctuations in security arrangements and on Thursday moved to attack a bus belonging to Pakistan's main weapons manufacturer at Chur Chowk, at the crossroads of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
According to sources, Baitullah Mehsud does not want to exhaust his resources while he is under siege from Pakistani security forces and US drone attacks.
But the recent security changes forced him to take such steps.
On Wednesday, Pakistani security forces successfully convinced the Mullah Nazir, Taliban chief in the tribal area of Wana in South Waziristan, to abide by his ceasefire accord with the security forces and not follow his ally in neighbouring North Waziristan, Gul Bahadur, who recently unleashed a devastating attack on the Pakistani security forces convoy.
Security forces have decided not to avenge the attack and according to sources, Mullah Nazir has been given assurances that the military will not enter his region and only aim to blunt Mehsud's influence.
Mullah Nazir has assured military commanders that if the sanctity of his area is not violated he will not carry out attacks on military convoys.
Haji Gul Bahadur, the chief of the Taliban in North Waziristan is also likely to resume his ceasefire agreement.
In this new situation, Baitullah Mehsud could be isolated and so powerful retaliation in an urban area may be his only choice for deterring a military operation against him.
Thursday's attack showed that Pakistan's security apparatus has failed to eliminate militant cells in and around the capital city of Islamabad and the garrison town of Rawalpindi and therefore more attacks are expected in the coming days.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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[Straits Times] MALAYSIA has arrested three men who allegedly met a top Singaporean terror suspect in a bid to revive the activities of the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiyah, a news report and a rights activist say.
Police arrested the suspects in southern Johor state on June 25 under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, said Nalini Elumalai, a representative of the Movement to Abolish the ISA.
The Star newspaper, quoting unidentified officials familiar with the investigation, said the three Malaysians were believed to have met with Mas Selamat Kastari, Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged former Singapore commander, who was also arrested in Johor on April 1.
Mas Selamat, a Singaporean citizen of Indonesian origin, is alleged to have plotted to hijack a plane and fly it into Singapore's international airport. He was caught by the Indonesian police in 2006 and handed over to Singapore.
The three detained were believed to be ordinary members of Jemaah Islamiyah who were attempting to revive the group's operations in Malaysia, the report said.
Malaysia has arrested dozens of Jemaah Islamiyah members over the past eight years. Authorities were investigating if the three men have recruited any new members recently, The Star's report added.
Malaysian Police Chief Musa Hassan declined to immediately comment, saying he was in a meeting. A Home Ministry official said he could not speak about the arrests.
Mas Selamat was arrested in Johor more than a year after he escaped from a high-security prison in neighbouring Singapore in February 2008 by wriggling out of a bathroom window.
Malaysia's government has said it will continue to hold Mas Selamat under the Internal Security Act to obtain more information about his activities.
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07/04/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A senior Iranian dignitary says Western powers are regretting the inappropriate stance they adopted in the wake of the June 12 presidential election.
"Western countries have now realized their stance on the Iranian elections was undoubtedly out of line," head of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Friday.
Boroujerdi said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's recent telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki shows that political heavyweights in Europe are retracting their wrong claims on Iran.
"After three weeks of resentment, [European countries] have a long way to go before rebuilding trust with Iran," said Boroujerdi.
European countries adopted a critical stance toward the events ensuing Iran's June 12 election, despite the Iranian government's stern warning against foreign interference.
"With the main goal of sowing ethnic discord, Western powers have interfered in the election process by dramatizing recent developments," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi on June 23.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has also criticized what he believed to be "irresponsible and intrusive remarks" made by political heavyweights in Europe and the US.
Mottaki said Western countries need to have "a clear picture" of the historic elections, which saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reelected to second term in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Speaking as a Westerner, my only regret is that we didn't throw the full weight and might of the U.S. into toppling the Supreme Leader and his Insane Clown Posse.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Friday asked the PPP-led government to take a look again at the Charter of Democracy (CoD) he had signed with late Benazir Bhutto to get Pakistan on a truly democratic path or else the loser would be the State.
Talking to the Pakistani media here, Nawaz devoted most of his interaction castigating former president Pervez Musharraf, who fearing uncertainty about his future in Pakistan, had taken up a permanent residence in London, only a stone's throw from the posh abode of Nawaz Sharif himself.
Goading the former general, the PML-N Quaid said Musharraf's crimes against Pakistan were so horrific that he had no choice but to stay out of Pakistan.Nawaz said it was regrettable that the former military general had not yet been brought to stand trial for his misdeeds.
He said it took him and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto two years to sign the historic Charter of Democracy (CoD), which clearly recommended accountability of Pervez Musharraf, restoration of the judiciary, supremacy of the rule of law and formation of a truth and conciliation commission.
"By implementing the charter in its true spirit, the PML-N and the PPP could have achieved what has not been achieved in the last 60 years. "The milestone document became the basis for our election manifestos, but today, its value is not more than a piece of paper, signifying nothing.
"Its implementation could have formed the basis for punishing the military dictator, who tampered with the Constitution of Pakistan, killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, and threw out my constitutional government," lamented Nawaz, adding that unrest in Balochistan, terrorism in Pakistan, and drone attacks were the legacy of the Musharraf era.
Even more regrettable, he said, was the continuation and preservation of Musharraf's legacy by the current federal set-up.Nawaz said Pakistan had been pushed to the brink by military dictators, who never respected the supremacy of the Constitution and trampled over it whenever they desired, without taking into account the possible implications for the progress of the nation.
"If Pakistan was not de-tracked again and again by military adventures, we would today not be staring in the face of total gloom. I absolutely have no doubt that all the problems that we face today, including extremism and militancy, would not have raised their head were it not for the military coups."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Nawaz is going to push one step too far, and Musharraf's friends in the Army will cap him. Some people seem dead-set (pun intended) on proving how stupid they can be.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 13:39
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SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea test-launched two missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, the eve of U.S. Independence Day, in what South Korean officials viewed as a politically motivated move.
"North Korea fired two missiles, which appeared to be a Scud type, toward the East Sea from the Gitdaeryong base near Wonsan, Gangwon Province, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. today (Seoul time)," a South Korean government official said, requesting anonymity. "The missiles are estimated to have a range of 400-500km."
The official said the missiles which the North fired Saturday -- ground-to-ground ones -- are more dangerous than the four previous ones as they have a relatively long range among short-range missiles, enough to cover the entire South Korean area. "The missiles fired on July 2 were analyzed to be part of military drills, but today's missiles seem to have political purposes in that they were fired a day ahead of the U.S. Independence Day," he added.
North Korea is believed to have nearly 700 Scud missiles of various types.
The North has been preparing for the launch of new mid-range missiles and Scud missiles since early last month, according to the South Korean military authorities. The authorities, however, said there is no sign of an imminent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from either its eastern Musudan-ri base or a new Tongchang-ri base on its west.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2009
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#1
Seven this morning. How's that waffle, assh*le?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2009 9:02
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#2
Unless their targeting systems have improved, Scuds go off-course about .02% per mile. They are only valuable against cities.
[Mail and Globe] Darfur rebels signed an accord with one of Sudan's main opposition parties in Cairo on Wednesday, agreeing to push for a new transitional government, both sides said on Friday, a move that will infuriate Khartoum.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which attacked Khartoum last year, and the opposition Umma party told Reuters the deal was a "declaration of principles" and shared ideas, but did not amount to a political or military alliance.
But the sight of Umma, led by Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi, sitting with insurgents will be deeply unsettling to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, currently beset by a string of political crises.
JEM commander Suleiman Sandal told Reuters the group would continue its struggle against Khartoum, but was also interested in finding ways to unseat the government through politics. "We agreed that our country is in danger with many problems, and that those problems should have a national solution," he said.
"We are still separate organisations. We are working to achieve one strategic target, but there are differences in means. The one target is to work against the government."
The agreement comes almost 20 years to the day after al-Bashir overthrew Mahdi's government in a bloodless coup in 1989.
A new government would include all political groups in Sudan, including al-Bashir's National Congress Party and Darfur's main armed groups, to pave the way for delayed elections, JEM and Umma said.
Sudan is led by a north-south coalition government set up in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended more than two decades of civil war between the country's Muslim north and its mainly Christian south.
Under the deal, Sudan's national Parliament is dominated by al-Bashir's National Congress Party, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by south Sudan's president.
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07/04/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Obama Administration has planned to authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor government computer traffic on private-sector networks.
The main aim of reviving the Bush-era project is to safeguard the sensitive information on government networks against cyber attacks launched from outside the US, the Washington Post quoted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as saying, according to AFP.
"We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has. But... they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security," Napolitano said.
The Homeland Security has been charged with preparing the NSA to tackle cyber-terrorism, she said.
Napolitano said the NSA would only be charged with screening the data exchanged between private sectors and the government system.
"Each time a private citizen visited a 'dot.gov' website or sent an email to a civilian government employee, that action would be screened for potential harm to the network," the Post wrote.
The project which was first introduced by the previous administration of President George W. Bush has been delayed mainly because of opposition by the privacy advocates.
The program was due to be launched in February.
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#1
The main aim of reviving the Bush-era project..
But, but, where is the usual outrage from the usual suspects that accompanied the project back then. /sarc off
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Egyptian Islamist lawyer has filed a complaint with the prosecutor general calling for banning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from entering the country or his arrest, in advance of a meeting he is expected to attend in Egypt later this month.
" Ahmadinejad's visit to the Sinai Peninsula is a threat to national security and he has to be banned from entering the country, and if he does, he has to be arrested and prosecuted "
Lawyer Mhamoud Ismail
In the filing, the embattled president, whose re-election last month has been rocked by street protests throughout the Islamic Republic, was accused of fraudulently winning the elections and insulting two of the Prophet Muhammad's companions in a campaign speech.
OOhhhh -- this is going to be amusing. The Islamist lawyer is against stealing an election? I thought they were the One Man, One Vote, One Time people.
The complaint, filed by Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Mamdouh Ismail, calls for arresting and trying the Iranian president, who is scheduled to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh in mid-July. "Ahmadinejad's visit to the Sinai Peninsula is a threat to national security and he has to be banned from entering the country, and if he does, he has to be arrested and prosecuted," Ismail told Al Arabiya.
Rigged Elections
The lawyer asserted that there was ample proof the Iranian elections were fraudulent and that therefore Ahmadinejad is not the legitimate president and should not be received as such. "If he is not the legitimate president, then he shouldn't be received in Egypt as such. His illegitimacy is obvious in the protests against him inside Iran," said Ismail.
Although Cairo and Tehran have made moves to normalize frosty relations recently, Egypt remains the only Arab state without an embassy in Iran and declined to congratulate Ahmadinejad's victory last month.
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#1
Islam is an arab supremacist dogma. Arabs are more anti-Persian than anti-Shiite.
[Iran Press TV Latest] An eye witness says Pakistani gunmen Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismael used him as a 'human shield' to escape police at Mumbai's Cama Hospital.
Chandrakant Tikhe, who works as generator operator and liftman at the hospital told Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam at a special court hearing the Mumbai case on Friday that on November 26 2008, after hearing gunshots, he rushed to the hospital's terrace and came face to face with the gunmen.
According to Tikhe, the two men asked him the way to escape and when he told them that they could go down through the same staircase, they held a gun on his head and asked him to lead them downstairs.
He said that they had made him a 'human shield' while trying to escape from the police who were at that moment coming up the staircase.
When Kasab saw the policemen, he threw a hand grenade and there was an explosion. Tikhe said a splinter hit him in the neck and he was injured but managed to escape in the midst of smoke caused due to the explosion.
The witness also said that Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai terror spree, had also fired at police in which two personnel were injured and two others killed.
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[Geo News] Over 800 Pakistanis, went to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia, have been betrayed by Travel Agent Mafia working in Pakistan, as the money of their return tickets have been refunded here in Pakistan, leaving them in Lurch in Saudi Arabia.
Over 800 Pakistanis went Saudi Arab through separate airlines belonging to various cities who are unable to get back to country due to lack of their return tickets while travel agents in Jeddah have denied them of any support or help to avert this malfunction.
According to sources, the corrupt travel agents in Pakistan have refunded the money of the return tickets of over 800 Pakistanis currently staying in Jeddah for Umrah and their subagents have advised the Saudi authorities to hand them over to Saudi Security Agencies.
Reports have also reached here regarding the involvement of country managers of some airlines in all this corruption while those victimized told Geo news that they cannot afford to buy return tickets again.
Complaints have been registered with Saudi Ministry for Hajj and the investigations are underway in this connection, sources said adding that the money for their return tickets will be deducted from their banks in Pakistan which they had deposited as guaranteed money for Umarh travel.
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Last week, the daily newspaper al-Shorouk reported that important figures in Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (N.D.P.) are meeting to decide the name of the party's 2011 presidential candidate. The article didn't cite any sources, and the N.D.P. issued a flood of statements denying the occurrence of such a meeting. However, the rumor has caused the issue of succession in Egypt to resurface. It doesn't matter how hard the N.D.P. denies the speculation and conjecture, it is going to have to name a candidate in the near future.
Although President Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, managed to make a quiet, backroom entry into the political scene, his emergence as the N.D.P.'s next candidate is clear. He gives major speeches, tours poor villages and has a say in all the economic, social and political issues. As Egypt has always been run as a one-man show, the elite usually reflect the ruler's ideology, identity and beliefs. Egypt's economic, political and social trends indicate that Gamal Mubarak already has a wide breadth of influence.
The rise of Gamal Mubarak started in 2002 when he was appointed head of the policy committee in the ruling N.D.P. Two years later, a new cabinet was appointed, headed by the Western-educated technocrat Dr. Ahmed Nazif. Vital ministries were given to unfamiliar young neo-liberalist faces who spoke perfect English, were roughly Gamal Mubarak's age and received some, if not all, of their education in the West. This cabal is currently known in Egypt as the "businessmen's cabinet."
#5
Happy Birthday, too, to the United States of America. Let us all repeat our vows to support and defend our nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic (I.E., our "president", Congress, Liberals, Democrats, and most college professors). Let us, too, swear to devote "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor" to the continuation of a free, independent nation that honors individual freedom.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2009 2:56
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Happy Independence Day.
It saddens me to say but the way your economy is being run. I think you might need another one soon!
#12
Had my Fourth today as the guest of a 5-star resort in the hinterlands of China. They invited me for a 500m swim competition - not only was I dead last, but I'm out of shape, my backstroke got turned around halfway through, and I barely finished. No way I was going to quit with all those eyes on me, though.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds. "Simply put, the whole affair does not concern Najaf," said Sheikh Ali al-Najafi, son of and spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Bashir al-Najafi, one of the city's four top Shiite clerics. "We will not interfere in the internal affairs of a dear, next door neighbor."
The four - who include Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - have remained quiet on the upheavals in Iran since the disputed presidential election June 12. The reasons have to do with both religion and politics.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, lived here in exile for 16 years. Najaf also is the world's oldest and foremost seat of Shiite learning, and the Imam Ali shrine attracts hundreds of thousands of Iranian visitors every year.
A short distance away from his shrine lives Sistani, who came to Iraq more than 50 years ago but has retained Iranian citizenship.
Despite the deep ties between the clerical establishments in Najaf and Iran, there are important differences.
The Najaf strain of Shiite teaching emphasizes that top clerics should be background figures - though influential - on most political affairs.
They did not speak out even during the crackdowns on Shiites by Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1990s. Nor have they spoken publicly about US accusations that Iran has been aiding Shiite militias in Iraq as part of indirect pressure on American forces and the US-backed government in Baghdad.
Iran's Islamic system, by contrast, bestows all main powers on the non-elected Shiite theocracy.
There had been expectations that the top Najaf clerics could break their traditions and publicly comment on the unrest - appealing for calm or even coming to the defense of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following the protests over claims that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election was rigged.
But any sign of interference in Iran's affairs by the Najaf clerics, particularly Sistani, could prove costly at a time when many Iraqis fear that Iran will try to broaden its influence in their country as the Americans reduce their military presence.
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Police have taken the control of Mingora as normalcy returned to the city in the wake of operation Rah-e-Rast and people thronged bazaars to get daily-use items on Friday.
Also, security forces demolished 10 more houses of militants in Sangota and Bara Bandai areas of Swat Valley. The authorities have also started registration of the residents who were left behind during the operation in the city. The teams continued the registration of the people of union councils Naway Killay, Faizabad and Amankot in Wadoodia Hall of Saidu Sharif. The officials said the registration of the people of other union councils would also follow.
Police sources told The News that the force had taken control of the city and patrolled all its major streets and localities. Water supply and other facilities have also been restored. There was a great rush of people in the bazaars as curfew was relaxed from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, enabling the city dwellers to buy daily-use items. Security forces also continued action against militants and demolished eight houses in Sangota.
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Key Republicans in both the House and the Senate are accusing the White House of giving "incomplete and misleading" information to investigators probing the president's abrupt firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. In return, the White House is hinting that documents concerning its actions in the Walpin affair may be protected by executive privilege.
This case continues not going away.
Both developments are part of an escalating conflict between GOP lawmakers and the Obama administration. Republicans are deeply skeptical of the White House explanation for the June 10 firing of Walpin, a tough investigator who had been probing misuse of AmeriCorps money by Sacramento, Calif., mayor -- and prominent Obama supporter -- Kevin Johnson. And the administration seems determined to conceal its dealings with AmeriCorps and the organization that oversees it, the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Walpin was dismissed without warning on June 10, when he received a call from Norman Eisen, the special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform.
The situation reeks of irony.
Eisen told Walpin he had one hour either to resign or be fired -- an apparent violation of a law giving special job protections to inspectors general. When Walpin refused to quit, he was terminated.
After lawmakers demanded an explanation, the White House said Walpin had been "confused, disoriented [and] unable to answer questions" at a May 20 meeting with the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Johnson case was discussed at that meeting, with Walpin harshly criticizing board members for their support of a decision to let Johnson off easy.
There's no question that members of the board, both Democrat and Republican, were unhappy with Walpin's criticism of them. They agreed that Alan Solomont, the Democratic fundraiser appointed by President Barack Obama as chairman of the board, should tell the White House what had happened. But now, at least three board members have told congressional investigators they did not specifically recommend that the administration fire Walpin. Instead, they simply wanted the chairman to express their concerns.
The White House claims it investigated the matter; Eisen told House and Senate aides that officials did an "extensive review" of complaints about Walpin's performance before deciding to fire him. But there are serious doubts as to whether the White House did, in fact, conduct a serious investigation before getting rid of Walpin.
The three board members have told Congress that the White House did not contact them during the review. (One was told about Walpin's firing at about the time it happened, and the other two were contacted days later.) No one from the White House contacted Walpin himself, or his top assistant, as part of the review. All were present at the contentious May 20 meeting. If officials at the White House were really trying to discover what happened at that session, congressional investigators say, it would have wanted to hear their version of events. But no questions were asked.
In particular, investigators are puzzled by the White House's failure to contact Walpin concerning the charge that he was "confused" and "disoriented" at the meeting. Was he, in fact, confused? If so, was it the result of some medical condition or other problem the board might not have known about? Some other distraction? The White House never asked.
All in all, the "extensive review" appeared more of a sham review -- an exercise designed to support a decision that had already been made. Nor has the White House been open about it. "Information provided to my staff by Mr. Eisen has been incomplete and misleading," Republican Rep. Darrell Issa wrote in a July 1 letter to White House counsel Gregory Craig.
For its part, the White House is hinting broadly that it might invoke executive privilege to keep documents from Congress. "Your questions seek information about the White House's internal decision-making process," Craig wrote to Sen. Charles Grassley on June 30. "These questions implicate core executive branch confidentiality interests." At another point, Craig pledged to cooperate "to the fullest extent possible consistent with constitutional and statutory obligations."
The message, apparently, is for GOP investigators to back off. But that hasn't happened. In his letter to the White House, Issa is still trying to get information. "The White House's willingness to provide the facts" about the Walpin firing, wrote Issa, "will go a long way to demonstrate the president is committed to running the most transparent White House in history."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much. 
Bernard Madoff has hired a veteran prison consultant to help him to find the best possible jail in which to serve his 150-year sentence for Wall Street's biggest fraud. After his sentencing this week Madoff, now Prisoner No 1727-054, met Herb Hoelter, of the National Centre for Institutions and Alternatives, whose previous clients include the jailed Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman and the financiers Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. 
It turns out that the woman at a White House-sponsored healthcare forum who pulled the heartstrings of the media by asking President Obama for help in treating her cancer -- as if she were channeling the afflicted who, in the New Testament, besought Jesus of Nazareth for a healing touch -- was an Obama plant.
[Kyodo: Korea] South Korea believes North Korea's test-firing of short-range missiles are aimed at intimidating South Korea, a Defense Ministry spokesman indicated Friday. ''I interpret whatever military activities North Korea does are mostly aimed at our armed forces or the Republic of Korea,'' Won Tae Jae told a press briefing. ''Unless it is a mid-range or a longer-range one, we believe it is aimed at (South) Korea.''
U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan today, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders on the second day of the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001.
She hasn't even announced her Senate candidacy yet, but New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney's likely challenge of Sen. Kristen Gillibrand in the state's Democratic primary already is stirring dissension among party leaders.
[Straits Times] MALAYSIA has arrested three men who allegedly met a top Singaporean terror suspect in a bid to revive the activities of the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiyah, a news report and a rights activist say.
Key Republicans in both the House and the Senate are accusing the White House of giving "incomplete and misleading" information to investigators probing the president's abrupt firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. In return, the White House is hinting that documents concerning its actions in the Walpin affair may be protected by executive privilege.
