On Veterans Day weekend, the Arizona Cardinals will honor the late Pat Tillman with a special halftime ceremony and give him a place on the team's Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium.
But a less-publicized tribute in the Phoenix area is paid to Tillman every time a 24-year-old war veteran and student at Scottsdale Community College takes the stage as the lead singer of the punk rock band Second Stint. Sgt. Brad "Jake" Jacobson was among the Army Rangers on a mission in southeastern Afghanistan when Tillman was killed by friendly fire in April 2004. Jacobson wrote and performs a song called "Combat Suicide" with his band, in memory of Tillman.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/14/2006 11:11 Comments ||
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#2
Tillman's family, especially his brother, are "good-ol' boys", Arizona style. Rough and tumble and straight-spoken.
After Pat's death, the local elites decided to hold a memorial service to "honor" Pat; just the sort of wishy-washy pandering that he would have hated. Which they found out when they invited his brother to speak.
I found that particular speech both refreshing and honest.
A muslim teacher has been axed after she insisted on wearing a veil to teach young children. Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to take it off in class after pupils said they found English lessons hard to understand because they could not see her lips move.
The junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorks, said she could wear her veil in corridors and the staff room - but must remove it when teaching. Angry Miss Azmi refused, claiming the veil was part of her cultural identity, and was suspended.
A council source said yesterday: "It is ridiculous. How can you teach English to young children with a veil over your face?
"The children themselves were complaining. It is about what's best for the children."
And the Muslim Council of Britain said Miss Azmi was wrong to insist on covering her face. Spokesman Dr Reefat Drabu said that in the presence of young children Muslim women were not even required to wear a headscarf, let alone a veil.
Miss Azmi has now taken education bosses at Kirklees Council to an employment tribunal. It will rule on her case in a fortnight.
Many of the 529 boys and girls aged seven to 11 at Headfield Church of England Junior are from ethnic backgrounds where English is not the first language. The school says that because of this it is essential the children are provided with easily-understandable English lessons. Council education spokesman Jim Dodds said: "This is nothing to do with religion. We accepted the veil could be worn anywhere else in school but not in the classroom."
#4
Facial expression and gestures are an equally important element of communication as speech. Sarcasm, for example, is hard to detect without the accompanying lifted brow and roll of the eyes.
Intonation and words alone are not a language. The face is involved - where expression is judged as supporting or denying the words.
Veiled teachers would best be replaced with unveiled video proxies. One's with wordless warm smiles, such as they would never see with Miss Pious.
#5
Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to take it off in class after pupils said they found English lessons hard to understand because they could not see her lips move.
With the usual pro-Muslim bias, this reporter fails to mention that the class is full of deaf kids.
And the Muslim Council of Britain said Miss Azmi was wrong to insist on covering her face.
Color me shocked! What's next, an unconditional condemnation of terrorism?
#6
I'll bet we were dealing with another Muzzie in the forum yesterday who forced the English girl to translate for Pakis in class. The action to take here is straightforward. Fire these fools. They were given a chance to teach, and all they did was try to impose Muzzieness on the entire group of children. End the madness.
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea over its claimed nuclear test. Resolution 1718 imposes weapons and financial sanctions but is not backed by the threat of military force. US President George W Bush said the UN had taken a "swift and tough" step to show its determination to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.
He's just saying that for the record of course.
North Korea's UN envoy, Pak Gil Yon, left the UN chamber after rejecting the "unjustifiable" resolution and accusing the Security Council of neglecting US pressure on North Korea.
"Stand up, sir, and be recognized. Oh, you are standing up."
He warned that any increase in US pressure would be considered as a "declaration of war".
The resolution --
Demands North Korea eliminate all its nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles
Requires all countries to prevent the sale or transfer of materials related to Pyongyang's unconventional weapons programmes, as well as large-sized military items such as tanks, missiles and helicopters
Demands nations freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs
Allows nations to inspect "as necessary" cargo moving in and out of North Korea to check for banned items
Bans export of luxury goods to North Korea
Calls on Pyongyang to return "without precondition" to stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear programme
John Bolton, the US envoy to the UN, warned the Security Council that stronger measures might be required if North Korea did not comply. China and Russia have been concerned that the cargo inspections permitted in the resolution could spark naval confrontations with North Korean boats.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said that both Moscow and Beijing believed the sanctions should not be viewed as indefinite. "If North Korea returns to six-party talks and these talks achieve progress, sanctions... should be automatically lifted," he said.
After hours of talks, China agreed to back the resolution but said it had "reservations" about provisions for cargo checks on North Korean ships. China's UN envoy Wang Guangya called on UN member states to adopt a "prudent and responsible attitude" and refrain from "provocative steps".
Except for the Norks, of course, it's okay for them to be provocative.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says China has taken the slightly confusing position of apparently disagreeing with something to which it has signed up. She says the test of the resolution will be in the implementation of the sanctions.
The US proposed the initial draft resolution but revised it to remove the threat of imminent military action and dilute a blanket ban on defence exports in an effort to allay Chinese and Russian concerns.
Which means that the resolution means nothing except a check-box on the to-do list.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2006 17:00 ||
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the resolution means nothing except a check-box on the to-do list.
The inspections would prove productive. This cou8ld be better that a ticket punch, but apparently not by much.
Western businessmen who work inside North Korea, including several from Britain, provide a very different view of the country from the goose-stepping parades and patriotic dance festivals that are its most celebrated public face. Many say that behind the military rhetoric of its relations with the United States is a country that is keen to reform itself economically and many of whose residents seem increasingly "normal" to outsiders.
Among foreign investors are British American Tobacco (BAT), which has a joint venture making cigarettes, and a Singapore-based group of investors who have taken part ownership of a gold mine.
Roger Barrett, a consultant, says the introduction of incentives alongside a high quality, low-cost workforce had created opportunities. "I have been visiting for 12 years, and it has changed a lot," he said yesterday. "People are motivated much more by profitability. People can make money for themselves - I know a couple of people who have bought their own cars with money they have made by using their initiative."
This is Mr. Barrett's meal ticket, so you can guess what he's going to say.
In the late 1990s the country suffered a famine that killed millions, while it remains one of the poorest and most repressive states in the world.
Visitors to Pyongyang report that private markets, once banned, now sell a variety of consumer items such as television sets and a wider range of food, albeit expensive, than the rice and cabbage which has been the common diet in recent years. Some residents had even read Harry Potter, while smuggled mobile phones and South Korean DVDs have made ordinary people more aware of the outside world.
Some reforms went into reverse in 2005, when supply of basic foodstuffs reverted to state control, but Huang Yiping, chief Asia economist for the American Citigroup bank, recently visited Pyongyang and in his report compared reforms to what happened in China in the 1980s.
Another British businessman, who asked not to be named, said there was no sign on the streets of the military tensions. "If you ask people [about the nuclear issue] they just say they need it for defence."
Not surprising that you get the party line in a nation where saying anything else gets you, your family and your extended family put into a gulag.
Not surprisingly, several businessmen have volubly attacked American policy, and in particular sanctions such as the freezing of bank accounts related to North Korea.
Not surprising at all.
Mr Barrett's clients, who generally prefer to keep a low profile, lost millions of dollars when accounts were frozen at a bank in Macao, despite their having been subject to rigorous anti-laundering policies. He said the nuclear test showed that American policy had failed and that economic engagement was the only way forward.
"I told 'em, Mr. Kim, just like you said, now would you ask this nice officer to release his grip?"
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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FREEREPUBLIC.com > article - NEW COMMUNISTS USE SAME OLD METHODS. Government [for now] still in charge of everything despite changes and econ/market liberalizations.
#4
He knows two people who bought their own cars with their own money... OK, I'm convinced.
Seriously, how low do you have to be, and just what are you doing, with your twelve years "consulting" in North Korea?
The UN Security Council agreed Friday morning on the text of a resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test. A vote was set for Saturday. Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, the current council president, and US Ambassador John Bolton, who introduced the resolution, announced the vote after a brief closed council meeting to discuss the latest draft resolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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UN Security Council Passes Resolution Sanctioning North Korea
The U.N. Security Council has unanimously passed resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea for conducting an apparent nuclear test.
The vote came less than a week after North Korea announced it had set off a nuclear device underground.
The resolution includes economic and weapons sanctions against North Korea, including a travel ban and financial restrictions. It specifically rules out the use of force in what is seen as a concession to China and Russia.
Earlier today, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said some technical changes to the draft resolution had been made. Diplomats said the issue of cargo inspections had been a sticking point.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/14/2006 15:51 Comments ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to confer on implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea in a trip next week to Japan, South Korea and China. "She will talk about what goes afterward," and other governments also may join in the discussions, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in announcing Rice's trip.
She intends to take off for Tokyo next Tuesday and return Oct. 22, although McCormack said there could be other stops added along the way. One possibility is Russia, another key player in carrying out sanctions on North Korea that McCormack said might be approved as early as Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Post-"test", JAPAN + even AUSSIES are now willing to engage in BLOCKADE, TRAVEL, + CARGO/PORT(S) RESTRICTIONS.
Thousands of South Korean protesters waved flags and shouted slogans Friday as they demanded their country cut off aid and investment to North Korea to punish the communist nation for reportedly testing a nuclear device. "We are facing the most dangerous time since the end of the Korean War," said former lawmaker Lee Cheol-seung at the demonstration, which comprised mostly retirees and veterans.
The protest - which police said drew about 3,000 people - came as the United Nations considered sanctions against North Korea for its proclaimed nuclear test on Monday. The United States and Japan have been pushing for tough measures, but South Korean political parties have disagreed over their country's policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Uh oh! They're figuring it out! I wonder how long it will last.
#2
Still, a remarkably small protest given the gravity of the situation.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/14/2006 5:53 Comments ||
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I think RBs Mac? covered it about 5 days ago. The status quo is the end all be all for the Sorks, the fear of financing the NORKs return to good eating has them paralyzed.
Farzana Hassan, the newly elected president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a liberal group, is being subjected to fatwas of apostasy by neoconservative Islamists who are said to be running riot in the religiously tolerant Canada. Hassan has asked Ontario provincial authorities to take note of the threats being made to progressive Muslims like her and to preempt any possible attacks.
'neoconservative Islamists'?? There's a loaded message. They're actually called 'fascists'.
She said thinly veiled death threats were being issued against liberal Muslims. We are being subjected to a hate campaign by conservative Islamic groups with allegations of being anti-Islam and of smearing Islam which is tantamount to being accused of blasphemy and apostasy, she said this week in Toronto. She disclosed that she has been labelled an apostate twice and called the younger sister of Satan.
The Muslim Canadian Congress is asking Ontarios attorney general to include the utterance of such allegations under existing hate crime laws. Killing a fellow Muslim accused of apostasy is considered an act of religiosity, according to the groups secretary general Munir Pervaiz. The group has named the Canadian Islamic Congress leaders like Elmasry among those inciting passionate reactions.
When Canadian Muslims find out that allegations of blasphemy and apostasy come under hate crime laws ... you will hear the voices of moderate and progressive Muslims much more, Raheel Raza, interfaith affairs director of the Muslim Canadian Congress told the newspaper Ottawa Citizen.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Canucks, simply follow the lead of the British officer who told the Muzzies they were welcome to follow their customs, then afterwards Brits would follow their own. (Hang Muzzies until thoroughly dead for any murders committed)
#2
Actually, SpecOp35, it was a British General that was in charge of ending suttee in India that made that famous quote about the Indians having a custom for widows being burn with their dead husbands, and the British have a custom of hanging those men who burn women alive.
#5
Killing a fellow Muslim accused of apostasy is considered an act of religiosity,
When Canadian Muslims find out that allegations of blasphemy and apostasy come under hate crime laws ...
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defendant with forethought and malice committed criminal acts against an entire group of individuals because of their perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, and national origin by suggesting the killing of infidels has no place in our society.
So the "neocons", who we know are the Jewish leaders of the Zionist cabal that control George Bush and thus the world, are issuing fatwas against progressive Muslims.
Dang, those neocon, zionist-cabal jews are sneaky bastards.
President George W. Bush signed a law designed to bolster security at US ports and prevent terrorists from smuggling in nuclear weapons. Bush, who has portrayed the opposition Democrats as failing to grasp the nature of the terrorist threat after the attacks of September 11, 2001, used the signing ceremony as an opportunity to hammer home his campaign message on security. "We're going to protect our ports. We're going to defend this homeland, and we're going to win this war on terror," said Bush, surrounded by Republican lawmakers.
Entitled the "Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006," the law provides 3.4 billion dollars over five years to strengthen security at ports and requires radiation detection technology to be installed in 22 of the country's largest ports by the end of 2007. The measure calls for bolstering inspections on some 11 million containers that transit American ports every year, deploying inspectors to foreign ports to check cargo headed to US ports, and speeding up paperwork from private shipowners.
The opposition Democrats mostly supported the law, but said the Bush administration has neglected other vulnerable sectors such as rail and mass transit.
The usual Dhimmi response: if you can't do something perfectly the very first time then you shouldn't do it. And you should be hypercritical. Unless it's health-care, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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DETROIT (AP) - The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal appeals court to throw out a lower court decision that said the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional. Government lawyers said in pleadings filed Friday with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that the surveillance program ``is necessary to protect the nation from an ongoing national security threat of the highest order and is vital to waging and winning the ongoing armed conflict.''
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled Aug. 17 that the program violates the rights to free speech and privacy and the separation of powers. Taylor' injunction ``dismantles a vital tool that already has helped detect and disrupt al-Qaida plots,'' the Justice Department attorneys argued.
A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based appeals court ruled Oct. 4 that the administration could keep the program in place while it appeals Diggs' decision. The judges said their ruling considered the likelihood an appeal would succeed, the potential damage to both sides, and the public interest.
The appeal is likely to take months.
Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Michigan chapter, said Friday that the government's arguments buttressed ``a very dramatic power grab'' by the Bush administration. ``There's an awful lot of hyperbole in there, and fear mongering - suggesting we're at war when Congress has declared no war,'' Moss said. ``They want to act as a kingdom. But we live in a democracy.''
I don't know the color of the sky on Ms. Moss's planet. We've always been entitled to listen to enemy communications in a time of war or national emergency.
The surveillance program monitors international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people suspected by the government of having terrorist links. A secret court has been set up to grant warrants for such surveillance, but the government says it can't always wait for a court to act.
Again the MSM conflates the warrant program, designed to safeguard listening TO conversations, with the surveillance program, which looks at the external 'wrapper' of the conversation -- from what number, to what number, when, etc. No warrant is needed for that.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in January seeking to stop the program on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers claiming it has made it difficult for them to do their jobs because they believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Why Pakistan's university students are embracing the fundamentalist life
Like many other universities around the world, Punjab University in Lahore is a tranquil oasis far removed from the rest of society. But to Westerners, there's little else about Punjab U. that seems familiar. Walk around the leafy-green 1,800-acre campus, and you will encounter nothing that resembles frivolous undergraduate behavior. Musical concerts are banned, and men and women are segregated in the dining halls. Many female students attend class wearing headscarves that cover everything but their eyes. This fall, when the university's administrators tried to introduce a program in musicology and performing arts, the campus erupted in protest. "Pakistan is an Islamic country, and our institutions must reflect that," says Umair Idrees, a master's degree student and secretary-general of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (I.J.T.), the biggest student group on campus. "The formation of these departments is an attack on Islam and a betrayal of Pakistan. They should not be part of the university curriculum."
What's most striking about that climate of conservatism is that it is being driven not by faculty or administrators or government officials but by students. At Punjab U., I.J.T. is the most powerful force on campus, shaping not just the mores of student life but also larger debates over curriculum, course syllabuses, faculty selection and even degree programs. Nationwide, the group has more than 20,000 members and 40,000 affiliates active at nearly all of Pakistan's 50 public universities. Students who defy I.J.T.'s strict moral code risk private reprimands, public denouncements and, in some cases, even physical violence.
#6
When asked what would happen if she talked to a boy at the library, for example, she just shrugs. "I don't know. I would never try it. I'm too afraid."
Well, that certainly clears things up. It's the male students driving all this "moral purity crap. The women-folk as just plain afraid. I guess it's kinda difficult to get someone to strap on a bomb belt if he's got a hot date that weekend.
It doesn't take much to raise questions about a teacher's moral qualifications. "Those who could afford to leave, did so,"
Leaving the school with what? Sounds like the bottom of the academic barrel to me.
#7
Slightly OT but semi-related (College kids, dancing, etc).
I tried to post thisas a separate news item but, unlike the Hardley Boys, I don't have a clue.
It's a Punk Rock tribute to Pat Tillman by a Vet buddy from ESPN. There's a video at the link.
On Veterans Day weekend, the Arizona Cardinals will honor the late Pat Tillman with a special halftime ceremony and give him a place on the team's Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium.
But a less-publicized tribute in the Phoenix area is paid to Tillman every time a 24-year-old war veteran and student at Scottsdale Community College takes the stage as the lead singer of the punk rock band Second Stint. Sgt. Brad "Jake" Jacobson was among the Army Rangers on a mission in southeastern Afghanistan when Tillman was killed by friendly fire in April 2004. Jacobson wrote and performs a song called "Combat Suicide" with his band, in memory of Tillman.
#8
From an article by Pak nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy
Pakistan has almost a hundred universities now. Not one of them is world class. Truth be told, not even one of them is a real university, if by a university one means a community of scholars engaged in free inquiry and the creation of knowledge.
Rote learning is common, students are not encouraged to ask questions in class, and courses are rarely completed by the end of the semester. This university has three mosques but no bookstore. It is becoming more like a madressah in other ways too.
Some campuses are run by gangs of hoodlums and harbour known criminals, while others have Rangers with machine guns on continuous patrol. On occasion, student wolf packs attack each other with sticks, stones, pistols, and automatic weapons. There are many campus murders.
Most students have not learned how to think; they cannot speak or write any language well, rarely read newspapers, and cannot formulate a coherent argument or manage any significant creative expression.
Dumbed down, this generation of Pakistanis is intellectually handicapped. Like overgrown children, students of my university now kill time by making colourful birthday posters for friends, do "istikhara" (fortune telling), and wander aimlessly in Islamabad's bazaars.
Understanding the scale of the failure is important. Compare Pakistan's premier university with those in its neighbours' capitals. First to the east: Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Indian Institute of Technology, in Delhi.
Their facilities are simple and functional, nothing like the air-conditioned and carpeted offices of most professors at QAU. And, more important, every notice board is crammed with notices for seminars and colloquia, visitors from the very best foreign universities lecture there, research laboratories hum with activity, and pride and satisfaction are written all around. Conflict on campuses does exist - communist and socialist students battle with Hindutva students over the Gujrat carnage, Iraq, Kashmir, and the BJP doctoring of history.
Angry words are exchanged and polemics are issued against the other, but no heads are bashed. While lecturing at these institutions during a recent visit, I was impressed by the fearlessness and the informed, critical intelligence of the students who questioned and challenged me. I cannot imagine an Indian professor having a similar reception in Pakistan.
Posted by: john ||
10/14/2006 10:54 Comments ||
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#9
Driven by the unfavourable comparison with neighbours, the need for university reform finally became an issue. The first big idea was that Pakistan needed more universities.
So today all it takes is a piece of paper from the HEC and some paint. Some colleges have literally had their signboards taken down for repainting, and been put back up changed into "universities" the next day.
By such sleight of hand the current tally of public universities, according to the HEC website, is now officially 47, up from the 23 officially listed in 1996. In addition, there are eight degree awarding public sector institutes.
Unfortunately, this is merely a numbers game. All new public sector universities lack infrastructure, libraries, laboratories, adequate faculty, or even a pool of students academically prepared to study at the university level.
The HEC's "generosity" extends even into largely illiterate tribal areas. There are so-called universities now in Malakand, Bannu, Kohat, Khuzdar, Gujrat, Haripur, and in many other places where it is difficult to detect the slightest potential for successfully establishing modern universities.
Another poorly thought-out, and dangerous, HEC scheme involves giving massive cash awards to university teachers for publishing research papers - Rs 60,000 per paper published in a foreign journal.
Although these stimulants are said to have increased the number of papers published in international journals by a whopping 44 per cent, there is little evidence that this increase in volume is the result of an increase in genuine research activity.
The fact is only a slim minority of Pakistani academics possesses the ethics, motivation, and capability needed for genuine scientific discovery and research. For the majority, the HEC incentives are a powerful reason to discover the art of publishing in research journals without doing research, to find loopholes, and to learn how to cover up one's tracks.
Established practices of plagiarizing papers, multiple publications of slightly different versions of the same paper in different research journals, fabricating scientific data, and seeking out third-rate foreign journals with only token referees are now even more common. The HEC has broadcast the message: corruption pays!
The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's massive PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees.
Thereby Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant students, armed with hefty HEC fellowships, has sallied forth to write PhD theses.
Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy literacy and numeric test.
In my department, advertised as the best physics department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble with high-school level physics and even with reading English.
Nevertheless there are as many as 18 PhD students registered with one supervisor! In the QAU biology department, that number rises to 37 for one supervisor. HEC incentives have helped dilute PhD qualifying exams to the point where it is difficult for any student not to pass. The implications of this mass-production of PhDs are dire. Very soon hundreds and, in time, thousands of worthless PhDs will be cranked out. They will train even less competent students.
Eventually they will become heads of departments and institutions. When appointed gatekeepers, they will regard more competent individuals as threats to be kept locked out. The degenerative spiral, long evident in any number of Pakistani institutions, will worsen rapidly, and become infinitely more difficult to break.
Posted by: john ||
10/14/2006 11:03 Comments ||
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#10
A downward spiral to 7th century hell. A major confrontation with this Islamic factory has to be coming. The whole place needs to be leveled so a fresh start can be made. There is no hope with this crowd.
#13
And yet, these are the folks the US imports by the thousands each year.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2006 13:27 Comments ||
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#14
only Time magazine reporters could be dense enough not to see the contradiction in this paragraph.
What's most striking about that climate of conservatism is that it is being driven not by faculty or administrators or government officials but by students. ..... Students who defy I.J.T.'s strict moral code risk private reprimands, public denouncements and, in some cases, even physical violence.
Yeah, I guess most students who want a degree won't protest too loudly about not being able to party or sing or dance when they are afraid of other "students" who will beat them up.
I guess it gets down to how you define "students", but then I suppose the "disadvantaged youth" macro doesn't fit well here.
#16
"We are compelled by our religion to use force if we witness immoral public behavior," says Naveed.
This just about sums up the problem. The West argues endlessly about the source of Islamic violence; is it religiously mandated or more commonplace political greivance? The believers are not vexed by this dichotomy. They know Mohammed told them to fight the infidel until Allah's word is established as law. They understand that they must defeat unislamic behavior by any means available. The death of freedom this sort of ethic entails is not of concern to them. It must be to us.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
10/14/2006 18:19 Comments ||
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#17
"We are compelled by our religion to use force if we witness immoral public behavior," says Naveed.
Which wouldn't be so bad except that in Islam, every-damned-thing imaginable by the Western mind is immoral, haram or humiliating.
Eight weeks after the detention of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the group's parent political organisation has resumed issuing public threats of terrorist operations directed against India.
Last month's issue of the Jamaat-ul-Dawa's house journal Majallat al-Dawa has proclaimed that its fidayeen commandos would soon "butcher every Hindu and Kashmir will be freed." The magazine flatly noted that "our fidayeen love to slit the throats of Hindu dogs," adding the "Hindus understand the language of knives and guns only."
Majallat al-Dawa's express linkage of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa with terrorism flies in the face of official Pakistani protestations that the organisation has no links with the internationally proscribed terror group. In a recent interview to The Hindu , Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri argued that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa "is doing charitable work." He said no proof had emerged that its members were engaged in acts of terrorism.
Dr. Saeed himself has been issuing threats of violence from his home-turned-prison. "I will not sit in comfort," he told the Nawa-i-Waqt in a September 9 interview, "unless I emancipate the Muslims from the atrocities of India, Israel, the U.S. and Britain. Jihad will not stop in Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine with my arrest. I am an ordinary person. There will be thousands of Hafiz Saeed who will take birth from this soil."
Hardline polemic has often preceded waves of Lashkar violence against India. Speaking at the Takmeel-e-Pakistan Conference in Lahore on August 14, 2003, Dr. Saeed argued that the "Muslims of Aligarh, Calcutta, and Bombay are being killed because they were involved in the crime of creating Pakistan. Today, the voice of jihad has reached the Muslims of Ahmedabad and Gujarat."
India is not the only subject of recent Lashkar invective a fact of no small significance given that Dr. Saeed was detained after allegations emerged that the terror group had trained members of terror cells which targeted the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the al-Qudsia mosque in Lahore on September 27, Jamaat-ud-Dawa second-in-command Abdul Rehman Makki described Jews as "the worst and eternal enemies of Prophet Muhammad and Islam." "The Jews," he continued, "are the worst nation. They are the most sinful people. They do all the forbidden things."
Mr. Makki proceeded to demand that Pakistan's "foreign policy should be the Koran. Koran gives the Muslims the courage to stand up. A foreign policy that hinges on the U.S. policy can never be strong and stable." He ended his talk with a taunt evidently directed at Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam: "Such countries which follow the U.S. policies appoint female spokesmen."
Other prominent Islamists have thrown down similar challenges to the regime of President Pervez Musharraf. On August 4, the Daily Ummat quoted Pakistan's former army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg as arguing that "Iran should attack Israel and Pakistan should attack India. This is the only way to bring a change in the world. Otherwise, humiliation will be the future of the Muslims."
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Hafiz Husain Ahmad asserted last month that the "concept of Islamic jihad cannot be left to a formal army or the state" again a frontal challenge to General Musharraf. "In fact," he argued, "in Islam there is no concept of state or the formal army." Mr. Ahmad ended by demanding that ``every person above the age of 18 and under 60 should be provided jihad training.''
Posted by: john ||
10/14/2006 07:27 ||
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#1
Drop the big one, we can't do anything with people of this mentality. They will eventually find a way to hurt us if we give them time.
The UN refugee agency will urge Muslim nations to boost multilateral cooperation to support the Islamic worlds nine million refugees at a meeting in Pakistan next month, said a senior official. Wider collaboration would help the UNHCR deal with crises such as the Lebanon war, the Pakistan earthquake and the Asian tsunami, said Indrika Ratwatte, the UNHCR assistant representative in Pakistan.
The conference of ministers from the 57-state Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), is being jointly convened by the UNHCR from November 27 to 29 in Islamabad. Refugees and displacement issues in the OIC region are not going to go away. It is going to require a strategy, said Ratwatte. I think all the participants would like to see a platform to foster some multilateral cooperation, he added. The conference will be the first held by the OIC to focus exclusively on the problem of refugees in the Muslim world.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Who the fuck's kidding whom?
These shitheads can't even find space for relocating the Palestinians and thereby ending one of the most horrendous conflicts in the entire Middle East. Yet the UN persists in hoping that the world's Muslims will take on the adoption of even more backward and parochial yokels?
#3
Well, as far as I understand, it's not they can't find the place to relocate the paleos, it's just they need the "palestinian people" to fight Israel on their behalf. The paleos refugees-from-generations-to-generations are a festering wound that is left open on purpose.
And on top of that, the paleos are given the usual arab treatment for minorities, umma or not. Truth is, charity is not a trait universally shared.
#4
You're right about that, A5089. Don't think the coming Muzzy majority will exhibit the same patience toward non-Muzzy Frenchmen as you've displayed up to now. I think your women better get ready for a much tougher life lived inside a burka.
Posted by: mac ||
10/14/2006 7:17 Comments ||
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#5
Don't be silly. Muslims don't pay jizya. That's the infidels job.
The Ummah has no state or borders, it's all the same to most muzzies. There are no "refugees" and "displacement issues" are simply the Ummah growing or shrinking or punching it's way into infidel countries.
Muzzi nations don't see it the same way the UN does. It's all jihad and demanded by faith. Kill the infidels and less pious among you - run ululating to join the jihad - borders don't exist. Or, stay home and kill the tribe next door - but jihad you must. Natural disasters? Inshallah.
So let the infidels keep paying their jizya while we get on with destroying everything our burkha-blinded religion sees.
The muslim world - the ummah - has no refugees as they see it. Just muzzies following their jihad.
#7
Well, as far as I understand, it's not they can't find the place to relocate the paleos, it's just they need the "palestinian people" to fight Israel on their behalf. The paleos refugees-from-generations-to-generations are a festering wound that is left open on purpose.
Many Shiites in Iraq City Say They Want British Soldiers to Leave Despite Persistent Killings And with that subheadline, we see that AP / ABC are just too stupid to be allowed out without a chaperone.
BASRA, Iraq Oct 13, 2006 (AP) Many Shiites in this southern port city say they want British troops to leave, though the region is still bloodied by a persistent grind of killings, including Sunni insurgent bombings and Shiite-on-Shiite slayings amid a competition for political control.
Several prominent Basra leaders on Friday agreed with an assessment by Britain's army chief that the British presence only worsens the violence and the soldiers should withdraw soon. Gen. Richard Dannatt backpedaled Friday from the comments he made in an interview a day earlier, saying he meant troops should leave within years, but the statements caused a political storm in Britain.
In Basra, Shiites insist the British presence only provides a target for attackers seeking to end the "occupation" and some said the troops are doing nothing to rein in party-backed Shiite militias that have risen to prominence.
"To tell the truth, (the British) have caused the chaos and the security decline in southern Iraq, especially Basra, by their leniency with the militias and their parties," said Ghali Nijm, head of the Shiite Wifaq party in Basra.
Added Aqil Talib, a member of the Basra provincial council from the Shiite Fadila party: "The British presence is no longer desired, as is that of the Americans and others, even though the British are kinder than the Americans."
It's a change in attitude from early in the Iraqi conflict, when Shiites across the country welcomed U.S.-led coalition troops that toppled Saddam Hussein, who had persecuted the Shiite majority. British troops in Basra were even praised for taking a gentler approach to policing the region than American troops further north, who were seen as heavy-handed.
But with the violence wearing on, anti-U.S. sentiment has been growing among Shiites across Iraq, and with it the feeling that international troops should go. The militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which deeply opposes the U.S.-British presence, has been growing in power.
The central government in Baghdad underlined on Friday that it wants U.S. and British troops to remain, saying they are needed to contain the violence and train Iraqi forces.
In early October, British and Iraqi forces began a neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweep of Basra code-named "Operation Sinbad" similar to one launched in August by U.S. troops in Baghdad. The sweep has gone through three districts including two with a heavy militia presence clearing out weapons, arresting about 100 people and launching reconstruction projects.
"The presence of these forces is necessary so that they can participate in establishing stability in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
The predominantly Shiite south has long been less violent than Baghdad and the Sunni regions of central and western Iraq, where the anti-U.S. insurgency has been based.
But there has still been steady bloodshed, and it has increased this year with the swelling of sectarian killings across the country. Basra province home to about 3 million people, where most of the 7,000 British troops are based sees a constant toll of bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
They come in part from Sunni insurgent attacks against British troops and Iraqi civilians with bombings, mortars and rocket fire. But increasingly the area has seen killings between Shiites as party-backed militias vie for influence.
On Thursday, a prominent al-Sadr cleric, Sheik Radhi al-Assadi, was gunned down near his home. His slaying came days after another cleric also named Radhi al-Assadi, a distant relative, but connected to the rival Badr Brigade militia was killed by gunmen.
Shiite militias also intimidate residents, enforcing strict Islamic laws in some districts, such as banning haircuts seen as Western, forcing women to wear the veil and closing video and music shops.
The desire to see foreign troops leave is also fueled in part by Shiite insistence they can run their own affairs.
"The British forces entered Iraq and liberated it from the Saddam regime," said one Basra resident, Essam Mohammed. "Since they have fully accomplished their mission, they should now leave Iraq because they are creating some obstacles and problems for the Iraqi people."
I understand that at one point a bunch of elders in some major city complained that marines should not use snipers because they were so "indiscriminate" or some such crap like that. Hell, why not ask. The worst that can happen is that the marines say "No"!
He keeps saying that, over and over, day after day, month after month. It's like he's stuck on vicious...
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday said Hamas would never recognize Israel's right to exist, rejecting a key demand of the international community and signaling further deadlock in efforts to forge a Palestinian coalition government. Haniyeh's declaration was likely to increase tensions with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been urging Hamas to recognize Israel as a way to ending Western sanctions against the Palestinians. Hamas has refused, and talks over forming a power-sharing government with Abbas' Fatah movement have stalled over the issue.
"Israel might have secured the recognition of some of our people, and some in the Arab world and in the international community. It is now seeking another recognition, Islamic recognition," Haniyeh said in a sermon after Friday prayers in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. "I say we will not give it this card." Hamas will not recognize Israel "no matter for how long," he said, adding that the group will not give up its armed struggle against the Jewish state. "Resistance is a legitimate right™ ... We will not give up our right to defend ourselves."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel needs to "recognize" this psycho asshole with a slug.
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says the movement doesn't want to rule the PA alone, and that the group is interested in establishing a government with Fatah, Israel Radio reported Friday morning. Mashaal added, however, that such a government would need to take its orders from the Palestinians and not from the US or Israel. At a press conference in Damascus, Mashaal announced that Hamas would not submit and would not recognize Israel. He called for Arab nations to break the siege on the Palestinian people and to hold a summit meeting to set up a timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. According to Mashaal, the Palestinians would never give up on their settlement rights.
Regarding kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Mashaal said Hamas had no interest in holding the soldier, and that he was prepared to release him as part of a prisoner swap, as had been done in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They probably want to set up a unity government so they can blame Fatah for recognizing Israel while they continue to deny its existance.
#3
he was prepared to release him as part of a prisoner swap, as had been done in the past.
But Mashaal, no-one is doing things the way they have been done in the past. Did you not notice? How well did kidnapping him and others work out for you and Hezb as well? Wasn't quite the same reaction from Israel as in "the past", was it?
The "past" didn't work - decades of trying. Reaction and treatment will be different going forward. Wake up or die.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said Friday that in another few months, the Lebanese army would be able to fire anti-aircraft missiles at any IAF planes flying over Lebanon. In an interview with the London-based newspaper Al Hayat, Murr said the army had received clear instructions to fire at any aircraft that violated Lebanese airspace or infiltrated the country's skies without authorization. He added that the government in Beirut submitted complaints of IAF overflights to the UN on a daily basis. Murr also said that 8,600 Lebanese troops were currently deployed along the country's border with Syria, where they were successfully preventing any type of smuggling.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Try it birdbrain and see what happens to the launchers.
EU foreign ministers are to formally end negotiations with Tehran over Irans nuclear ambitions at talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday because of a lack of results, a European diplomat said on Friday.
The ministers are due to declare that negotiations with Iran have terminated because of a lack of results, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. However, a draft of the meetings conclusions does not include that sentence.
The ministers are due to declare that negotiations with Iran have terminated because of a lack of results, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. However, a draft of the meetings conclusions dating from October 11 and seen by AFP does not include that sentence.
Other diplomats said that the most recent version was not as strongly worded and left the door open to further negotiations. At the meeting in Luxembourg, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to give an account of talks with Iran, which the major world powers have asked to end its uranium enrichment activities. Solana acknowledged last week that talks had ground to a halt, sparking discussions about possible sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council. He also said that he planned no further meetings with Irans top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
And you're f**king extended talking has resulted in what ? Zero. Zip. Nadda.
The dance will continue as soon as someone from Iran wants to pull another thread and the EU comes running
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/14/2006 6:03 Comments ||
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#4
Keep in mind that for the EU, the only game in town is talk
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/14/2006 6:03 Comments ||
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#5
Notice, of course, how their finding that Iran has been uncooperative is unaccompanied by any mention of Tehran's deceptiveness or, perish the thought, actual punitive measures. How many more years of this dithering will substantive action require?
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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 UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea over its claimed nuclear test. Resolution 1718 imposes weapons and financial sanctions but is not backed by the threat of military force. US President George W Bush said the UN had taken a "swift and tough" step to show its determination to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to confer on implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea in a trip next week to Japan, South Korea and China. "She will talk about what goes afterward," and other governments also may join in the discussions, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in announcing Rice's trip. 
Thousands of South Korean protesters waved flags and shouted slogans Friday as they demanded their country cut off aid and investment to North Korea to punish the communist nation for reportedly testing a nuclear device. "We are facing the most dangerous time since the end of the Korean War," said former lawmaker Lee Cheol-seung at the demonstration, which comprised mostly retirees and veterans. 
Farzana Hassan, the newly elected president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a liberal group, is being subjected to fatwas of apostasy by neoconservative Islamists who are said to be running riot in the religiously tolerant Canada. Hassan has asked Ontario provincial authorities to take note of the threats being made to progressive Muslims like her and to preempt any possible attacks. 
The UN refugee agency will urge Muslim nations to boost multilateral cooperation to support the Islamic worlds nine million refugees at a meeting in Pakistan next month, said a senior official. Wider collaboration would help the UNHCR deal with crises such as the Lebanon war, the Pakistan earthquake and the Asian tsunami, said Indrika Ratwatte, the UNHCR assistant representative in Pakistan. 
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday said Hamas would never recognize Israel's right to exist, rejecting a key demand of the international community and signaling further deadlock in efforts to forge a Palestinian coalition government. Haniyeh's declaration was likely to increase tensions with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been urging Hamas to recognize Israel as a way to ending Western sanctions against the Palestinians. Hamas has refused, and talks over forming a power-sharing government with Abbas' Fatah movement have stalled over the issue. 
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says the movement doesn't want to rule the PA alone, and that the group is interested in establishing a government with Fatah, Israel Radio reported Friday morning. Mashaal added, however, that such a government would need to take its orders from the Palestinians and not from the US or Israel. At a press conference in Damascus, Mashaal announced that Hamas would not submit and would not recognize Israel. He called for Arab nations to break the siege on the Palestinian people and to hold a summit meeting to set up a timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. According to Mashaal, the Palestinians would never give up on their settlement rights. 
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said Friday that in another few months, the Lebanese army would be able to fire anti-aircraft missiles at any IAF planes flying over Lebanon. In an interview with the London-based newspaper Al Hayat, Murr said the army had received clear instructions to fire at any aircraft that violated Lebanese airspace or infiltrated the country's skies without authorization. He added that the government in Beirut submitted complaints of IAF overflights to the UN on a daily basis. Murr also said that 8,600 Lebanese troops were currently deployed along the country's border with Syria, where they were successfully preventing any type of smuggling.
EU foreign ministers are to formally end negotiations with Tehran over Irans nuclear ambitions at talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday because of a lack of results, a European diplomat said on Friday. 
