Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.
Reports of the talks come amid what Afghan, Arab and European sources said they see as a distinct change of heart by the Obama administration toward full backing of negotiations. Although President Obama and his national security team have long said the war would not be won by military means alone, sources said the administration only recently appeared open to talks rather than resisting them.
"We did not have consensus, and there were some who thought they could do it militarily," said a second European official. The Europeans said the American shift began in the summer, as combat intensified with smaller-than-expected NATO gains despite the arrival of the full complement of new U.S. troops, amid rising U.S. public opposition to the war.
The United States' European partners in Afghanistan, with different histories and under far stronger domestic pressure to withdraw their troops, have always been more amenable to a negotiated settlement. "What it really boils down to is the Americans both supporting and in some cases maybe even participating in talking with the enemy," the first European official said. "If you strip everything away, that's the deal here. For so long, politically, it's been a deal breaker in the United States, and with some people it still is." That could be because the war on in Afghanistan ultimately isn't about bringing peace or stability or reconciliation to Afghanistan. It is a reaction to 9/11, a mass fatality attack on the continental United States, unprecedented by anything since Pearl Harbor.
Whatever domestic political difficulties the administration may fear would result from a negotiated deal with the Taliban, this official said, would be resolved by ending the war earlier rather than later. "A successful policy solves the political problem," he said. Peace and stability of some sort might come to Afghanistan, but this 'Peace with Honor' solution (instead of achieving a clear victory over Afghanistan) will also establish a dangerous precedent: An attack on the US is not a deadly mistake at all.
Say goodbye to deterrence, say goodbye to any concept of an American 'security umbrella.'
Taking into account that Iran, an openly hostile islamofascistic regime, will soon be nuclear, I'm looking forward to interesting times in the near future.
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, told reporters last week that high-level Taliban leaders had "sought to reach out" to the top level of the Karzai government. "This is how you end these kinds of insurgencies," he said. How long till Mullah Omar, foreign minister of an Afghan unity government (subsidized by western taxpayers) will visit the UN in NYC?
How long till Mullah Omar will enjoy the vista from the Ground Zero Victory Mosque?
This plan might indeed end the insurgency but it will lose the war for the US and NATO. At this point, an immediate precipitous withdrawal, without any negotiation would be preferable because we could at least avoid an explicit humiliation and submission.
/rant
[Tolo News] The United States President Barack B.O. Obama has told the US congress in a letter that the US war strategy will not change for now, a White House statement said on Monday
President B.O. said in a letter dated September 30, that he is planning to "implement the policy as described in December" and that further changes are not required in the US war strategy in Afghanistan.
He cited the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus as the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan as the only major recent change in the US war strategy in Afghanistan.
According to a statement released by the White House on Monday, Obama spoke with the Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai in a video conference on Monday, and the two leaders discussed a number of issues including the Afghan parliamentary elections and a long-term US commitment to Afghanistan.
The two leaders agreed that they should continue regular engagement to support president Karzai's goal to take Afghan security responsibility by 2014, the While House said.
The remarks come at a time when president Obama has already announced to start pulling US troops out of Afghanistan from July, 2011 on, depending on the conditions on the ground, although he ordered an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan a few months ago that are already deployed in the country.
Obama's letter comes after publication of a book by an American journalist Bob Woodward that showcased difference in opinion among Obama's national security team about his war strategy in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > US PENTAGON SAYS [over] 100 MILITANTS KILLED NEAR BORDER [Afghan-Pak over two weeks].
OTHER = Militant losses may as high as 180???
* SAME > WASHINGTON POST CALLS FOR [Obama-led]ESCALATION OF WAR IN PAKISTAN + US REPORT SAYS PAKISTAN IS REFUSING TO HUNT MILITANTS.
[Al Jazeera] The former leader of Nigeria's armed group has said he was jugged because he refused to tell the group to retract a statement claiming responsibility for last week's deadly attacks in the capital, Abuja.
Henry Okah, currently being held in jail in South Africa, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he received a phone call from a "close associate" of Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, telling him to urge the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) to withdraw its claim for the bombings, which killed at least 10 people and left 36 others injured on the 50th anniversay of Nigeria's independence.
"On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President Jonathan called me and explained to me that there had been a bombing in Nigeria and that President Jonathan wanted me to reach out to the group, Mend, and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks," Okah said.
"They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government.
"I declined to do this and a few hours later I was jugged. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that Jonathan issued a statement saying that Mend did not carry out the attack."
'Unpatriotic elements'
Jonathan, who hails from the country's south and has declared his intentions to stand in next year's presidential election, said investigations had revealed Mend, which is fighting for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth, knew nothing about the attacks.
He said the bombings had been carried out by a small group based outside Nigeria, sponsored by "unpatriotic elements within the country".
Nigeria will be holding elections in January almost a year after Jonathan assumed the presidency after the incumbent president failed to complete his term due to illness and eventual death.
Jonathan's predecessor, Umaru Yaradua, came from the northern state of Katsina and Nigeria has an unwritten agreement for the presidency to alternate between the mainly Mohammedan north and the largely Christian south.
Al Jazeera did not get any immediate reaction from the Nigerian government about Okah's claims.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the authorities have released nine people they jugged in connection with the kabooms on Monday, including an aide for Ibrahim Babangida, the country's former military leader.
Raymond Dokpesi, the director of Babandida's campaign to become the ruling party presidential candidate, was questioned by the country's intelligence services over the blasts, an aide said on Tuesday.
Dokpesi, who also owns one of Nigeria's leading television and radio stations, was summoned to the State Security Services (SSS) on Monday, Kassim Afegbua, a front man for Babangida, told the AFP news agency.
"He was released yesterday and is to report back today at about 3'oclock (1400 GMT)," Afegbua said.
"They said it is to do with complicity in the bomb incident of October 1."
Several media reports on Tuesday said text messages found on the mobile phone of one of the nine suspects jugged by the state secret police led to the summoning of Dokpesi.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega called on Tuesday at easing tensions between Venezuela and Spain after the statement of two members of Basque separatist group ETA saying they had received weapons training in Venezuela in 2008.
De la Vega welcomed in press conference today the "very clear and cooperative" answer given by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, stressing the need to continue the investigation in cooperation between the two parties.
For his part, President Chavez denied in a statement broadcasted on Spanish television that Venezuela had contacts with ETA, describing such allegations as a "farce" and as part of a "permanent conspiracy" against the Venezuelan government.
Chavez stressed on his country's rejection of "the activities of this terrorist organization without any reservation," and showed his readiness to fully cooperate with the Spanish authorities.
A court order from the Spanish National Court said Monday that two members of Basque separatist group ETA, jugged for possession of explosives and weapons and integration in a terrorist organization, and received training in Venezuela in 2008.
Madrid had requested information from Caracas concerning the allegations made by the two, and activated a judicial and police cooperation mechanism with Venezuela.
Last month, ETA said it had decided to stop armed attacks but the announcement was greeted with skepticism by analysts and the Spanish government since the group has called several cease-fires in the past and broken them.
Some Spanish political figures demanded to cut ties with Venezuela if did not respond to the demands of the Spanish justice, saying it will not be easy having in account the strong ties between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) put forward a new package of proposal that aimed at providing evidence for the probe into the sinking of South Korean warship Cheonan, the official news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
The DPRK made the proposal during the sixth round of DPRK-U.S. senior colonel-level military working contact in the truce village of Panmunjom at the border between the DPRK and South Korea.
The new package included a landmark call for bringing to Panmunjom such "evidence" as torpedo screw and designs for the torpedo and both sides making an analysis before the DPRK-U.S. general-level military talks and inspection of a military base, the report said.
On March 26, South Korean frigate Cheonan, with 104 crew members aboard, sank near the maritime border with the DPRK after an unexplained kaboom. South Korean investigators released the results of their inquiry on May 20, saying the warship was sunk by a DPRK torpedo, a claim vehemently rejected by Pyongyang.
The report said the U.S. forces made an "unreasonable assertion" that they would hold the DPRK-U.S. general-level military talks to unilaterally release its investigation results.
The U.S. side has not studied the DPRK's "reasonable proposal and failed to set forth any alternative to it, thus deliberately throwing a hurdle in discussing the issue," said the report.
"The DPRK can never recognize the results of investigation announced by the U.S. forces side (which is) groundlessly defending the sheer lies" made by South Korea, the report said.
The DPRK and the United States agreed to hold the next round of contact around Oct. 20, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The 21 ddeputies belonging to the Christian Democrat Party (CDA) in the Netherlands finally voted Tuesday afternoon in favour of forming a new coalition government alliance which will involve the anti-Islam Freedom Party, PVV, of Geert Wilders.
Earlier today the CDA had postponed the vote but later decided to hold the meeting of the deputies.
Two CDA deputies, Kathleen Ferrier and Ad Koppejan, who were against the alliance with Wilders had come under strong pressure to fall into line, according to Dutch media reports.
The CDA vote means that the next stage in the coalition formation process which is the appointment of ministers can now be taken. Acting CDA party leader Maxime Verhagen said after Tuesday's meeting that the party will take into account the fact that there is sizeable opposition to the alliance with PVV. Up to 68% of the delegates at the CDA congress on Saturday voted in favour of the alliance and 32% of delegates voted against the alliance with the PVV.
Hurrah! Holland is finally getting a government! Including the one party without which they'd have to hold another election, so congratulations on deciding to be sensible, guys.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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As Iraqi politicians wrangle through a seventh month of government-formation talks, an unexpected casualty is emerging: Iranian influence over the country's fractured Shiite groups.
Before inconclusive March parliamentary polls, Iran had pushed Iraq's Shiite leaders to rally under one umbrella coalition to preserve a sect-based majority in parliament, as they did in the previous elections in 2005, according to several Iraqi politicians. When this failed, Tehran urged Shiites to reunite, post-elections, in an ad hoc coalition backing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a conservative Shiite.
Iran appeared to have scored a big victory on Friday when the Iran-based firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr did an about-face and told lawmakers in his movement to endorse Mr. Maliki, giving the incumbent prime minister a big leg up in trying to form a new government.
That move, however, spurred the defection of other prominent Shiites, including Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq party, or ISCI. Mr. Hakim is traditionally seen as closer than Mr. Sadr to Iran's political orbit. After Mr. Sadr's announcement, Mr. Hakim — a member of a clerical and political dynasty cultivated in Iran — sent representatives to meet with the camp of Mr. Maliki's top rival for the premiership, Ayad Allawi. Mr. Allawi is a former prime minister, a secular Shiite and leader of a bloc with significant Sunni presence. Last week, Mr. Allawi accused Iran of working to block his prospects for the job.
Mr. Hakim and his deputies also met with U.S. officials, who had been quietly pushing a unity government between Messrs. Allawi and Maliki to dilute the influence of radicals such as Mr. Sadr.
Mr. Hakim controls fewer seats than Mr. Sadr, so his defection from Mr. Maliki isn't numerically significant. But he is seen as an important pillar in Iraq's traditional Shiite political leadership, one that other partners Mr. Maliki needs, most crucially the Kurds, insist be represented in the next government. According to several politicians, talks are under way to assemble a possible coalition between Mr. Allawi, Mr. Hakim and others to woo the Kurds, who have emerged as kingmakers.
Mr. Maliki won 89 seats in the March polls, edged out by Mr. Allawi's 91. With Mr. Sadr's 40 parliamentary seats, and the tentative backing of a handful of other Shiite lawmakers, Mr. Maliki is roughly 30 seats short of the majority in the 325-seat parliament.
Both sides are courting the Kurds, who control 57 seats. That courtship, too, could be determined by the strength — or weakness — of Iranian influence. Kurdish support is contingent upon Baghdad making major concessions over oil and disputed internal boundaries to the semiautonomous Kurdistan region, governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The rest of the article details the inside baseball stuff that so thrills political junkies of every nation. If that is you, dear Reader, the link awaits.
(Ma'an) -- The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday accused Gaza government security forces of appropriating their name.
The movement said it bore no affiliation to the newly formed Islamic Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a branch within Gaza's security forces.
"There is no link between this group and the PFLP ... stealing the name of the Popular Front is a desperate attempt that will not affect it," the statement read.
"Splitters!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Haaretz] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has warned that a failure in Israel-Paleostinian peace negotiations would lead to "violence and terrorism" across the world. ... as opposed to what we have now, which is... ummm... violence and terrorism across the world.
In an interview with the journal of the Egyptian armed forces, given to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he said he has told several leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that "if the peace processor collapses, violence and terrorism will erupt in the Middle East and all over the world." ... which is currently in the throes of a smothering peace. Entire days, weeks, months go by without anybody exploding or assassinating somebody in the name of religion or politix or even fambly...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to convene his forum of top ministers Tuesday to discuss extending Israel's moratorium on West Bank settlement construction for another 60 days. In return he will receive a reluctant restart to talks that are determined to go nowhere. Once the talks do restart Hamas and other Iranian surrogates will kill a few Hated Zionists™ in an attempt to derail them. The blood of that mother or mothers and her/their children will be on the hands of Bibi and George Mitchell and Hillary and the PLO. Of those, the PLO is not only used to having blood on it hands but proud of it. Hillary will blame the Republicans, possibly George Bush. Mitchell will ignore it because he's really a nonentity. And Netanyahu won't sleep well for a few months...
Israel initially halted construction for 10 months only, which ended on September 26. But the Paleostinians have said they would not continue the recently resumed negotiations unless Israel agreed to halt construction again. The B.O. regime has urged Israel to reconsider its rejection of this demand. The concession for a 60-day freeze would be in exchange for a series of U.S. guarantees regarding Israel's negotiations with the Paleostinians. I have my own idea about what a B.O. "guarantee" is worth. "If you like your country you can keep it."
Netanyahu announced Monday that he was canceling a planned tour of the Jerusalem area in order to hold today's session. If he succeeds in convincing his seven top ministers to extend the freeze, he will bring the matter to a vote in the diplomatic-security cabinet later Tuesday.
Netanyahu will try to persuade the ministers to accept the guarantees the American administration has offered Israel in exchange for extending the construction freeze.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I've read suggestions that Egypt and Saudi Arabia and all do not want de facto President Abbas to screw things up by walking away from the talks just when things with Iran are getting touchy. After all, they need Israel to take care of the problem for them.
In early Sept 2010, the Iranian Rial was trading at about 10,500 to one dollar. By the end of Sept 2010, the Iranian Rial had fallen to about 12,500 to one dollar. This happened as many money bazaars and almost all gold bazaars were closed.
The Radio Free Europe article reports that the Rial has recovered to 10,900 as of a few days ago.
The Tehran stock exchange today has a cumulative value of about 490 billion rial which would amount to about 40 Million dollars
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/06/2010 08:49 ||
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[Iran Press TV] An official with the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says Tehran has started the first phase of a ten-year project aimed at sending the country's first astronaut into space.
Mohammad Mardani, ISA deputy head for space technology, said on Tuesday that the project had commenced following an official order from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"The first round of assessment studies on the astronaut project have been concluded and delivered to the ISA. The agency is now in the process of designing its first phase," Mardani told reporters at a news conference marking the International Space Week (October 4-10).
Mardani went on to say that the ISA had completed the construction of the Rasad 1 satellite and would send it into orbit by March next year.
"In the years to come, Iran will launch a joint satellite with nine members of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA)-Asia Pacific (AP)," he said, adding that Iran is now cooperating with some Islamic countries in the construction of a joint satellite.
According to Iranian officials, the country's Aerospace Organization kicked off a 12-year project in 2009 to send an astronaut into space by 2021.
In August, President Ahmadinejad said Tehran had reviewed the space mission and decided to launch a manned shuttle into space by 2017.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
An Iranian shuttle? Talk about science fiction.
[Iran Press TV] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad has said Western powers have pursued a "hidden agenda to dominate the Middle East region."
Addressing people in Gorgan in Iran's northern Golestan province on Tuesday morning, President Ahmadinejad accused the Western powers of "orchestrating different programs and schemes" in order to plunder the region's oil reservoirs.
"They [the West] tried to implement their programs through the Israeli regime but they failed. Then they came to the conclusion that they need to occupy our region with hundreds of thousands of military troops to have access to the region's oil in an effort to save their troubled economy," the Iranian chief executive told the crowd.
Highlighting the September 11 attacks on US targets in New York in 2001, the Iranian president criticized the US administration for pointing the finger of accusation against Mohammedan nations and the people of the region.
President Ahmadinejad raised doubts about the sincerity in the claims of the US government, which he said was used as an excuse to wage two wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
In his recent address to the UN General Assembly in New York, the Iranian chief executive called for the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate the truth behind the 9/11 attacks.
Ahmadinejad's new proposal triggered Washington's outrage, prompting the state to denounce his remarks as hateful and unacceptable.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Outside of the oil, who the heck would want it?
And, as I recall, the British pretty much had much of it and even they gave it up!
#2
This is why I am all for Fusion, better solar and battery technology and other fuel sources. In 50 years or so, we can get off the oil, provide our own energy and tell the ME they can eat all their oil and gas. A decade after the world can get off oil the ME will be a backward, desolate place that no one cares about and the funding for Jihad will die very quickly.
[An Nahar] Former head of Leb's General Security Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed said arrest warrants could include Prime Minister Saad Hariri if he was found to be guilty in the false witnesses' case.
"I'm convinced that the false witnesses' case is being steered by Hariri personally with his money and everything," Sayyed told Al-Jadid television.
"During the investigation, police intelligence chief Wissam Hasan or State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza could testify that they brought the false witnesses to meet Hariri's desire," Sayyed said, "At this point, Hariri is likely to be included in the arrest warrants. "
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat wondered on Tuesday why the March 14 forces "went crazy" over Syria's issuing of arrest warrants against Lebanese individuals.
He asked after meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Leb Maura Connelly: "What's wrong in issuing warrants?"
"I don't understand the March 14 forces. Whenever we take one step forward in relations with Syria, their positions take us ten steps backwards," he stated.
Jumblat stressed that the arrest warrants can be tackled politically and legally.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Former head of Leb's General Security Department Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed warned of "political and security unrest" in the event the Special Tribunal for Leb indicted Hizbullah in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.
"If the indictment accused Hizbullah, this will change Leb," Sayyed said in an interview with the French newspaper, Liberation, adding that "power today is based on national consensus."
"The system will collapse from top to bottom and this would lead to political and security unrest, and everything is likely to happened," he added.
Hizbullah expects the STL to issue an indictment in December that is likely to accuse Hizbullah "unjustly" of involvement in Hariri's assassination.
Hizbullah has demanded trial for those involved in the issue of false witnesses.
Syria on Sunday ordered the arrest of 33 people over false testimony given in the UN-backed probe into Hariri's murder.
Sayyed said the top investigating judge in Damascus had issued arrest warrants "against judges, security officers, politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials and individuals."
Among those named in the warrants is Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the early stages of the UN investigation into Hariri's assassination in a massive bombing, Sayyed said in a weekend statement.
The Lebanese defendants include police chief Gen. Ashraf Rifi, deputy Marwan Hamadeh, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and former justice minister Charles Rizk.
Sayyed's office on Tuesday said the 33 arrest warrants do not include Judge Ralph Riachy and former Cabinet minister Bassem al-Sabaa.
Sayyed has said arrest warrants could include Prime Minister Saad Hariri if he was found to be guilty in the false witnesses' case.
"I'm convinced that the false witnesses' case is being steered by Hariri personally with his money and everything," Sayyed told Al-Jadid television.
"During the investigation, police intelligence chief Wissam Hasan or State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza could testify that they brought the false witnesses to meet Hariri's desire," Sayyed said, "At this point, Hariri is likely to be included in the arrest warrants."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah on Tuesday noted that "Christian areas would be spared" the violence of a potential civil strife in the country if Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea avoided resorting to weapons.
After the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, Aoun said that Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, former head of General Security Department, filed his lawsuit with the Syrian judiciary "as a result of the judicial vacuum in Leb."
"If Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar had submitted his report on the false witnesses issue to the cabinet and declared that the Lebanese judiciary has exclusive jurisdiction to tackle the case, the Syrian judiciary would have taken no action," Aoun added.
"With which court should Sayyed and his lover companions file a complaint if the Lebanese and the international judiciaries have washed their hands of the complaints over the investigation?" Aoun wondered.
On the other hand, the FPM leader noted that "the bloc's ministers didn't receive Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar's report on the false witnesses issue during yesterday's (Monday's) cabinet session."
"There are criminals in power, and the blame falls on the silent majority that is encouraging crime, as well as on the civil society and the media," Aoun decried.
Asked about the uproar about Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's upcoming visit to Leb, Aoun said: "Insolence itself is when domestic objections are voiced over Ahmadinejad's visit, while the foreign objections are not surprising."
Aoun rejected the accusations that the opposition was perpetrating a "coup", noting that "the State has been turned upside down since 2005, and the opposition is now seeking to rebuild it according to laws and regulations."
"Their State has been acting contrary to the norms since a while: it doesn't respect the other (opinion); it is ridiculing our security and even working to incite civil strife through its apparatuses," Aoun added.
On a separate note, the FPM leader revealed that he was preparing lawsuits against MP Elie Marouni over remarks that FPM members have been stockpiling weapons, as well as against ex-MP Antoine Andraous "who talked about Iranian weapons in the possession of a number of FPM partisans" in the Mount Leb town of al-Kahaleh.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"There are criminals in power, and the blame falls on the silent majority that is encouraging crime, as well as on the civil society and the media," Aoun decried.
[An Nahar] Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky stressed that the Special Tribunal for Leb was moving forward regardless of whether Leb will approve or disapprove Court funding.
Nesirky said the STL will continue to work regardless of attempts by the Lebanese Opposition to block Leb's share of funding,
He reiterated that Court work is "significant" for Leb.
Asked about financing of the Tribunal in the event the Opposition succeeded in blocking Leb's funding, Nesirky said:
"We reaffirm the importance of the Tribunal work for Leb," he said, pointing out that the Court has a mandate from the Security Council "and we will strongly seek to make sure it will work."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN raises 2 billion comments on france24. The information is published by the site of the official news agency Fars news. FRANCE 24 has slightly different numbers ...
We do not know how Fars news resulted in of 2.2 billion comments. Knowing that there are 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, the figure announced by the Iranian agency is somewhat surprising.
The Iranian president spoke from the rostrum of the UN National Assembly on September 24 last. In his speech, he mentioned a "U.S. plot" behind the attacks of Sept. 11, causing the departure of Western delegations.
FRANCE 24 has actually published an article on this subject, available in French and English. Six comments were posted on the English version and 25 on the French version. We do not know how Fars news resulted in of 2.2 billion comments. Knowing that there are 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, the figure announced by the Iranian agency is somewhat surprising.
This is not the first time a speech by Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad at the UN General Assembly followed by fanciful statements. After his first appearance on the rostrum of the UN in September 2005, the Iranian president had said a halo of light surrounded him while he was speaking and that diplomats in the room had not blinked eyes for 27-28 minutes.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/06/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Itchy "submit" finger resulting in multiples? I have that problem sometimes.
#2
Any western leader demonstrating similar behaviour would have been committed long before now. Neurotics build castles in the air. Psychotics live in them. Psychiatrists collect the rent.
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.
Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.
[Tolo News] The United States President 
(KUNA) -- Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega called on Tuesday at easing tensions between Venezuela and Spain after the statement of two members of Basque separatist group ETA saying they had received weapons training in Venezuela in 2008.
An official with the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says Tehran has started the first phase of a ten-year project aimed at sending the country's first astronaut into space.
