[Tolo News] The Los Angeles Times published in a report that the US programme in creation of Afghan Local Police has failed in the villages of Afghanistan.
Afghan local police involves in most criminal actions including bribery and annoying of civilians, the Los Angeles Times said.
Afghan Local Police Chief, Ali Shah Ahmadzai told TOLOnews that the role of local police is effective in maintaining security in the country and such a report shows lack of recognition of the Afghan local police.
"Afghan Local police is an effective and legal process for bringing security and stability in all parts of the country," Ali Shah Ahmadzai said.
According to the report the American troops who are advising local police have said that local police commit some illegal actions and misuse civilians. American troops have also accuse local police of being involved in smuggling and sexual assaults, according to the report.
But the local police chief told that sometimes some illegal actions are attributed to local police due to lack of recognition, and people do not distinguish between local police and militia groups.
The local police official stressed that the police will be punished whenever they go against law.
"Afghan local police works under the Ministry of Interior and the local police differs from other gangs like militias, as an example, the Los Angeles Times named Khan Abad district but we do not have local police in the mentioned district," Ali Shah Ahmadzai said.
Currently, nearly fifteen thousand of local police are active in sixty seven districts of all provinces and Washington plans to increase the number up to thirty thousand.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Any country that supports Death Eater groups should realise its hurts themselves more than hurting the US and Afghanistan, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said Monday.
In his recent trip to Jalalabad, Crocker emphasised that Afghanistan's neighbors should change their strategic thinking because the US will stand by Afghanistan in any situation where it is threatened as it clearly states in the Afghan-US strategic agreement.
"I hope they change their strategic thinking and realise that supporting groups like the Taliban and Haqqanis hurts them as much as they hurt you or us. Whatever the case we will stand with Afghanistan," Crocker said at a presser in Jalalabad on Monday.
The Ambassador met with the provincial governor of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. Gul Agha Shirzoy and other local officials to discuss matters of security, development of governance, and economic sectors.
"Electrical infrastructure, roads, and agricultural projects should be completed in the province," Shirzoy said at the presser.
The officials have also talked about the transfer of security responsibilities from foreign forces to Afghan cops.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh.M.Network)- President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... has tasked Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. with taking measures for the release of Pak hostages held by Somali pirates, Geo News reported.
According to sources, President Zardari late Monday night telephoned the interior minister and directed him to leave no stone unturned for the recovery of hostages as the deadline given by the pirates ends today (May 15, Tuesday).
The kin of the hostages are in perpetual pain since the pirates commandeered the MV Albedo ship off the coast of Somalia in November 2010 carrying Pak sailors.
Initially, the Somali pirates had demanded a ransom worth $8 million to set the hostages free. Further negotiations brought the figure down to around $ 2.85 million by April 20, 2012.
Later Ahmed Chinoy, Head of Pakistain Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, bought some more time after entreating with the hostage-takers getting the deadline extended to May 15.
The families, meanwhile, had been struggling to collect the money. They are short of $1.4 million, which they were desperately trying to collect before the deadline.
Earlier last week the families and friends of sailors even camped at Punjab Chowrangi in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and literally begged the passers-by to help them get their loved ones freed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Excerpts from documents apparently seized from Osama Bin Laden's residence in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , Pakistain, where he was killed by US special forces in May 2011, suggest a man somewhat different from the stereotype of a pitiless terrorist leader.
They show someone willing to forsake an Islamic state in Egypt -- surely one of his cherished aims -- if the price was the welfare of the population.
In one of the 17 documents released by the US-based Combating Terrorism Center (CTC), Bin Laden cites the challenges facing Egypt's would-be Islamist rulers.
"Before building a Moslem state, the Islamic Group [Gamaa Islameya] could have thought about food security for the Egyptian people," it is claimed Bin Laden wrote in one memo, referring to the Islamist organization involved in the liquidation of former president Anwar Al-Sadat.
The group had the stated aim of establishing an Islamic state in Egypt and planned to seize control of government buildings, institutions and media outlets. But the Al-Qaeda leader claims their plans overlooked vital issues related to Egypt's economy and food supply.
"If God had willed for the Islamic state to be born in Egypt, it would have not probably lasted more than a few weeks," wrote Bin Laden, explaining that international sanctions would have led to starvation due to the country's then reliance on American wheat.
At that time, Egyptians relied on 150 million loaves of bread per day, Bin Laden claimed.
"So, what would happen when Egypt could no longer import wheat from its major supplier, the United States?" he asked, adding that Egypt's wheat reserves were only enough for two weeks' worth of food and that its government had abandoned plans to make the country more self-sufficient.
"How long would the public tolerate having to go without [bread]?" he asked. "That has nothing to do with whether the public liked or disliked the Islamic state. A dangerous shortage of food causes death and people do not want to see their children die of hunger."
The US's release of these comments comes just weeks before Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential elections. Islamists are among the top contenders, including leading light of the Moslem Brüderbund, Mohamed Mursi, and ex-Brotherhood member Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh.
Bin Laden concluded that, unlike Somalia or Afghanistan, where people had humble needs and could depend on agriculture and livestock, Egypt could not survive the "unconventional weapon" of economic sanctions.
"The Afghan population is considered to be outside the modern-state system, and unlike Arab populations," he wrote.
In early May, the Combating Terrorism Center at the US's West Point Military Academy released 17 declassified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid the previous year.
They consist of electronic letters and draft letters authored by several Al-Qaeda figures, including the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... , and totalling 175 pages in the original Arabic.
The CTC website warns of possible problems with its English translations, and recommends the documents be read in the original language.
The earliest document is dated September 2006 and the latest April 2011.
The preface to CTC's study, published on its website, admits that in contrast to his public statements that focused on the injustice of those he believed to be the "enemies" of Moslems, namely "apostate" Moslem rulers and their Western "overseers", the focus of Bin Laden's private letters is Moslem suffering at the hands of their jihadi "brothers".
He advises them to forswear domestic attacks that cause Moslem civilian casualties and focus on the United States, the "desired goal".
Bin Laden's frustration with regional jihadi groups and his seeming inability to exercise control over their actions and public statements is perhaps the most compelling story in the declassified papers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
IOW, "Nobility has to be Earned" - one is not a King or a Great Leader, etc. under Allah just because one wins a decisive battle, led a Coup or Revolution, was Elected or inherited a Title.
* SHAKESPEARE'S RICHARD III - "A HORSE, A HORSE, MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE"!
#2
In other words a barely starving western Egypt creates jihadists for the cause. A starving Islamic Egypt hurts the jihadist recruitment numbers. A wise tactical analysis but hardly warm hearted caring for Egyptians the way the article suggests.
[Emirates 24/7] A man set himself on fire on Tuesday outside an Oslo courthouse where the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for murdering 77 people last July, police said.
The man doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire before attempting to breach the security fence around the courthouse, police front man Kjell Kverme said.
The national daily VG posted a video on its website, vg.no , showing the man with flames on his hat and sweatshirt running toward a security checkpoint and being tackled by police.
Officers ripped his sweatshirt off and stamped out the flames.
Kverme said the man, who appeared to be a Norwegian, had shouted at police before setting himself on fire but officers could not make out what he said.
The man, who witnesses said appeared to be Caucasian and in his 50s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries on his torso.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
STUPID, now he'll die,and NOBODY will know,(Or care)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/16/2012 13:25 Comments ||
Top||
US court finds Iran, Syria guilty of supporting Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... that killed 11 people in 2006 bombing
An Israeli advocacy group says it has won a $323 million judgment in a US court against Iran and Syria for supporting the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad group that killed an American teenager and ten others in a 2006 bombing.
Washington, D.C., judge Royce Lamberth ruled, "When a state chooses to uses terror as a policy tool - as Iran and Syria continue to do - that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation."
Floridian Daniel Wultz, 16, was among 11 killed when a Paleostinian jacket wallah set off his explosives at a Tel Aviv restaurant six years ago.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center said Tuesday that the group had won courtroom victories against Iran but never before against Syria.
The court found that Iran and Syria were responsible for providing material support for the April 17, 2006 attack, in which eleven people were murdered and over 60 others maimed when a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad jacket wallah detonated a bomb laced with nails and other projectiles in a crowded fast food restaurant in south Tel Aviv.
In his ruling, Chief Justice Royce C. Lamberth said the bombing had been a "barbaric act" that had "no place in civilized society and represents a moral depravity that knows no bounds."
#3
Washington, D.C., judge Royce Lamberth ruled, "When a state chooses to uses terror as a policy tool - as Iran and Syria continue to do - that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation."
....followed by endless, strategic night bombing, naval bombardment, and tactical air strafing until the problem is resolved!
[Emirates 24/7] The terror trial of Iraq's runaway vice president accused of running death squads started on Tuesday in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... with witnesses testifying how their relatives were killed in attacks that the authorities have linked to him.
Tariq Al Hashemi was not in court for the opening of the proceedings that were already twice delayed.
Al-Hashemi, who is currently in Turkey, has denied the allegation he orchestrated attacks against pilgrims and government officials, saying the charges against him are politically motivated and that he would not receive a fair trial in Storied Baghdad's criminal court.
In front of a three-judge panel, the victims' relatives on Tuesday described the killings of security officials and lawyers between 2010 and 2011. They said they did not witness the attacks, and only complained against Al Hashemi after hearing the accusations against him in Iraqi media.
Journalists were ordered to leave the court during the testimony of a fourth witness, identified only as a former employee in Al Hashemi's media office.
The case against Al Hashemi threatens to paralyse Iraq's government by fueling simmering resentment against the prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, who critics claim is monopolising power.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW) published a report Monday claiming that a detention facility previously declared to have been shut down by Iraqi authorities is still running in secret. The report is titled "Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions - Notorious Prison in Use a Year After Government Said It Was Shut Down."
The government closed Camp Honor prison after an HRW investigation exposed rampant violations in the prison.
The HRW report cited testimonies and acknowledgments by former prisoners, lawyers, parliamentarians, family members, government and security officials. Based on the interviews, HRW concluded that the Iraqi government carries out mass arrests, illegally detaining hundreds of citizens, dozens of them transferred to Camp Honor.
Two particular waves of mass arrests were mentioned in HRW's account. The first occurred in October and November 2011 when officials and officers were targeted. Those were allegedly Baath Party and Saddam Hussein loyalists and were ordered jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! directly through Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's military office.
The "Baathist arrests" were supposedly to round up plotters against Iraq's regime. Testimonies said those released were forced to sign pledges against public criticism of the government as well as false confessions. Threats of torture (or further torture), family member raping and prolonging imprisonment preceded the signings.
The second wave of arrests was prior to the March 2012 Arab summit in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... . This wave was preemptive, an effort to secure the summit not hosted in Storied Baghdad for decades because of insecurity, claimed now to be secure by Iraq's government.
HRW said witnesses were told by interrogators that the reasons behind their arrest was "to curb criminal activity during the summit and any 'embarrassing' public protests."
An interior ministry official quoted in the report said that "security forces, in the interest of keeping security incidents to a minimum during the summit, while the world was watching, sometimes decided it was easier to just round up people who had been imprisoned years before, regardless of what crime they may have committed."
HRW said that all detainees interviewed claimed no arrest warrant was presented to them to see despite claims by the government that the arrests were legal. The HRW report further describes Camp Honor, providing accounts of torture by prison guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Appears the billions spent on Nation Building law enforcement training failed to take hold. Shocking!
The United States is leading what it described as the "largest military exercises in the Middle East in 10 years" in Jordan on Tuesday.
Eager Lion 2012 is the largest exercise held in the region in the past ten years, Major General Ken Tovo, head of the US Special Operations Forces, told reporters in Amman.
Yesterday we began to apply the skills that we have developed over the last weeks in an irregular warfare scenario They will last for approximately the coming two weeks, he added.
The message that I want to send through this exercise is that we have developed the right partners throughout the region and across the world insuring that we have the ability to meet challenges that are coming to our nations, Tovo said.
Over 12,000 soldiers are taking part in the war games, representing 19 countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Australia.
Jordanian army operations and training chief Major General Awni Adwan said the military exercise has been in the planning phase for the past three years.
No forces will be deployed north the exercise is not connected to any real world event, Adwan said when asked if the war games were related to the ongoing violence in Jordans northern neighbor Syria.
"This has nothing to do with Syria. We respect the sovereignty of Syria. There is no tension between the Syrians and us. Our objectives are clear, Adwan said.
Israel despite having extensive security agreements with Jordan was not invited to participate in the exercises. Several Arab nations participating in the drill are still formally at war with the Jewish state.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"Syria" also read, IRAN.
*"Not connected to any real world event" > OOOOOOO, nice try but no Empanada or Bananas for you today.
In what was clearly an officially-sanctioned leak, the U.S. sent Iran a clear message just a few days before the next round of Iran-West nuclear talks in Baghdad.
The word Iran appears only once in Wednesday's report in the Washington Post on American assistance to rebel forces in Syria, which includes coordination of larger and much improved arms shipments. That mention was buried at the end of the long piece, almost as an aside - but Tehran's address is written all over the report.
Administration sources emphasized to the Post that it's not material aid either, the money and arms are coming from the Sunni Gulf states. What the U.S. is providing is "assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure" for the Gulf arms suppliers. Or in other words, America is the go-between, the crucial link ensuring that the most useful weaponry goes through to where the rebels need it most.
Since it's not clear when the American aid began and from the wording of the report, it is clear that this was an officially-sanctioned leak, accurately timed to come out just a few days before senior American diplomats and other representatives of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany are to meet with a senior Iranian delegation in Baghdad.
Iran may have used a secret cable published by WikiLeaks to target and hang an alleged Israeli spy, The Times of London reported Wednesday.
While the report is inconclusive and the evidence anecdotal, it notes striking similarities between a WikiLeak cable's description of its Iranian source and twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi, hanged in Tehran on Tuesday in connection with the murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist in 2010.
Though WikiLeaks redacted the source's name before releasing the cable penned by an intelligence operative in Baku, Azerbeijan, it published the description of the source as "a licensed martial arts coach and trainer." According to the Times, Fashi, a professional kick-boxer, had visited Azerbaijan for a kick-boxing tournament days before the cable was sent.
The report, which The Jerusalem Post could not independently verify, speculates that the leak may have called Iran's attention to Fashi, or simply served as a pretext against him.
Iran alleges that Fashi traveled to Israel from Azerbeijan and received Mossad training. The Islamic Republic convicted Fashi in a closed trial after extracting a televised "confession."
Don't worry about Iran, Israel will take care of it, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as telling him years ago.
Aznar, speaking Wednesday at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on a meeting he had with the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2002, said Putin's comments came after he entreated him not to sell S300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
"We can sell them anything," Aznar quoted Putin as saying, because in the end "Israel will take care of it."
Aznar, one of the few western leaders to have met Khamenei, said the Iranians made it clear when they met in October 2000, that "Israel was a historic cancer and an anomaly condemned to disappear."
Aznar said he found in Khamenei a man not only inspired by faith, but also "more nationalistic than I imagined."
Aznar said the Iranian leader wanted Iran to flourish in all fields, especially science and technology, in order to attain self sufficiency and independence. It was this desire for self-sufficiency, he said, which has led the Iranians to strive to develop nuclear weapons, rather than buy one from North Korea or Pakistan.
All the man needs is a little living space...
Aznar said that during their conversation Khamenei said that "an open confrontation with Israel and the US was inevitable," and that "he was working for Iran to prevail in such a confrontation. "
#1
Russian military hardware in the hands of Arabs has a long history of failure against the IDF. It remains to be seen how the Persians will do with their Russian weapons.
Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad's government are beginning to get more and better weapons in an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated partly by the United States, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
The report cited opposition activists and US and foreign officials.
Obama administration officials emphasized the United States is not supplying or funding the lethal material, which includes antitank weapons, the report said.
Instead, they said, the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure, the Post said.
"We are increasing our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," said a senior State Department official, one of several US and foreign government officials who discussed the evolving effort on condition of anonymity, the Post reported.
[An Nahar] Iran warned on Tuesday that Riyadh's plans to form a union with Manama would deepen the crisis in Bahrain, a day after Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... told Tehran to keep out of its relations with the tiny Gulf kingdom.
"Any kind of foreign intervention or non-normative plans without respecting people's vote will only deepen the already existing wounds," foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
"The solution to the crisis in Bahrain is in response to the legitimate demands of the people and is fulfilling them," he added, repeating Tehran's stance on the situation in the Gulf Arab state.
Iran "believes that the real power of the regional nations emanates from (governments) enjoying their peoples' backing," the front man added.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Monday that "Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity."
The prince was speaking at the end of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit at which leaders discussed plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Iranian MPs have condemned the planned union between the two Gulf countries.
"Bahraini and Saudi rulers must understand that this unwise decision will only strengthen the Bahraini people's resolve against the forces of occupation," they said in a letter, referring to Saudi military support for Manama.
In response, Prince Saud said that "The Iranian threat is not accepted.
"Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity," he told news hounds at the end of the summit in Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
IRAN MILITARY FORUM > US CONGRESS VOTING ON PRO-WAR IRAN RESOLUTION TODAY [HR 568], which would authorize MilAction agz Iran iff Iran is deemed to be de facto dev the "CAPABILITY" FOR NUCWEAPS, as oppos to ACTUALLY MANUFAC OR PRODUCING NUCWEAPS.
The perceived or subjective Threat from Iran, NOT the real or objective one.
* SAME > TURK NEWS CLAIM "SOUTH AZERBAIJANIS" PREPARE FOR "UPRISING" IN IRAN. Anti-Tehran/Govt Iranian Azeris.
versus
* SAME > IRAN WILL SHOW STRONG REACTION TO SETTLEMENT OF MKO [aka MEK] TERRORISTS IN AZERBAIJAN, or in other Regional Muslim countries.
Tehran sezzes the MKO/MEK is funded by the US, Saudis, Turkey + Israel hence frowns on such wily dastardly shennanigans taking place in Azeri-land.
* TOPIX > RISE OF JIHADIS IN CAUCASUS.
* IRAN DEFENCE FORUM > NETANYAHU FEARS IRAN + P5+1 MAY 25 NUCLEAR DEAL A "STRIKE BACKWARD", agz Israel.
* SAME >(P)GCC CLAIMS TO 3 ISLANDS MEDDLING IN IRAN'S AFFAIRS: MEHMAPARAST [Iran FM Spox].
Iran = Rising China = STAR WARS' HANS SOLO = helping Luke Skywalker find out that "soft power/diplomacy" is no substitute/match for a good high-powered Laser Blaster.
#2
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > YEMENIS CHOOSE JIHAD OVER IRANIAN SUPPORT, "CHE GUEVARA" OF SOUTH YEMEN [Leader "Jemajem" = HIRAK Group]DESCRIBES HOW ACTIVISTS FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE HAVE BECOME PAWNS IN A LARGER [Regional, International] POWER STRUGGLE.
> US vs. Al-Qaeda.
> GCC vs Iran.
> Saudis vs. Iran.
> Sunni Islam vs. Shia Islam, Salafis vs Wahabis.
"JEMAJEM" = HIRAK GROUP = claims that ...
> Iran seeks foothold in Arabian Peninsula.
> Desires to see the STRAITS OF BAB-AL-MANDAB = RED SEA CLOSED OFF IN TO US= US-NATO/ALLIES INCASE OF US-IRAN WAR.
> Pressure Saudis + GCC in favor of Iran, Shia Agenda.
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian troops on Monday pushed an assault on a central rebel bastion, with dozens reportedly killed across the country, as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... warned that Kofi Annan's ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... peace efforts appeared to be failing.
The EU, meanwhile, slapped fresh sanctions on Damascus, ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... while Russia said it was "absolutely clear" Al Qaeda was behind last week's twin kabooms in Damascus that killed 55 people and vowed to continue to arm the regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three troop carriers were destroyed in festivities that erupted at dawn on the outskirts of Rastan, a rebel-held city in restive Homs province of central Syria.
At least 23 soldiers were killed in the Rastan festivities, it said.
Four rebel fighters, among them a lieutenant who defected, also died in the fighting as well as two civilians, and regime gunfire reportedly left three civilians dead in the nearby city of Homs.
Regime forces launched an offensive on Rastan at the weekend, encountering heavy resistance from rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al Assad's regime.
"The regime forces in the course of two hours fired 300 rockets at Rastan before launching their assault," Sami Kurdi, a front man for the rebel Free Syrian Army, told AFP from Rastan.
The Observatory also reported deadly violence elsewhere on Monday, putting the total daily toll of at least 37.
The bloodshed comes despite a month-old ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Annan as part of a plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011 when a popular revolt erupted against Assad's regime.
Part of the plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 UN military observers. By Sunday, 189 observers were on the ground, the UN mission in Syria said.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister warned Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the relentless bloodshed.
"Confidence in the efforts of the international envoy is falling rapidly because fighting and bloodshed continue," Prince Saud al-Faisal told news hounds after Riyadh hosted a summit of Arab leaders of the Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Los Angeles Times published in a report that the US programme in creation of Afghan Local Police has failed in the villages of Afghanistan.
[Tolo News] Any country that supports
Asif Ali 
Somali pirates
US court finds Iran, Syria guilty of supporting 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
