The anti-liberation forces have been defeated once again, this time through peoples' verdict. While it is a sweet revenge for Bangladeshis against the war criminals, the verdict will make stronger the demand for their trial.
In the historic ninth parliamentary elections held yesterday, Jamaat-e-Islami, collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971, faced the worst election debacle winning only two seats out of 38 it contested for. Jamaat's big shots including Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and central leader Delwar Hossain Saydee -- lawmakers in the last parliament -- have been rejected by voters.
Nizami, who contested the elections from Pabna-1 constituency, lost to M Shamsul Haque Tuku, while Mojahid managed to grab third position in Faridpur-3. Jamaat candidates Shamsul Islam won in Chittagong-14 and Hamidur Rahman Azad in Cox's Bazar-2. Interestingly, Azad defeated not only the grand alliance candidate but also the four-party one as he was not the official ticket holder of the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2008 00:00 ||
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As we celebrate the majesty of public will and try to understand the stunning results of the national election 2008, the real question that needs to be asked is not why Awami League won so comprehensively, but why BNP got the thrashing that it did. Given our anti-incumbency history and the pattern so far followed since 1991, it can be considered somewhat natural that Awami League should get a turn to run the country in 2008, after BNP did so in 2001.
What however is not explainable by the anti-incumbency factor nor simply by people's desire for a change is the massiveness of the rejection of the BNP. The near rout of this once mighty party, who just the last time got two-third's majority, is the clearest sign that people are sending the strongest possible message of their disgust for what happened from 2001 to 2006 and are punishing BNP and its allies for the way they run the country.
Yesterday votes was a total, complete and comprehensive rejection of the BNP and its allies for corruption, political violence, nepotism, Hawa Bhaban, the role of Tarique, Arafat, Falu, Harris, Babar, etc. for obliterating the distinction between the State, government and the party, politicising every branch of administration, for instituting a culture of impunity where party henchmen considered themselves above the law. Finally for turning a blind eye as terrorism and fundamentalism spread its ugly tentacles throughout the country.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2008 00:00 ||
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A leading member of the Pakistan civil society has exposed the war-mongering ideology of the Jamaat ud Daawa, or JuD, the umbrella organization of the Lashkar-i-Toiba or Army of Purethe terror outfit responsible for the Mumbai mayhem in November that left 200 people dead and over 300 injured.
Dr. Rubina Saigol of Action Aid Pakistan has expressed her disgust at the teachings of the jihadist outfit that had tried to show a softer face to the world immediately after the Mumbai attacks by inviting journalists to its headquarters in Muridke, Punjab.
The United Nations Security Council on December 11 imposed sanctions on the Pakistan-based terror outfit and declared four of its top leaders Dawaa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, suspected Mumbai terror mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zaki-ur-Bahaziq as global terrorists.
Saigol posted her views on a progressive Pakistani public yahoogroups emailing list called SPN, with nearly 5,000 members. She was responding to the views of another liberal Pakistani editor, Omar R. Quraishi, editorial page editor of largest circulation English newspaper The News International.
In his article, Quraishi wrote: "Regrettably, this tendency to act superior than the rest of the world, ignore one's own warts and what not and to blame the rest of the world for all that ills the Islamic world is something that is found in many ordinary Pakistanis as well. Whether they have been influenced by organisations such as the JuD or whether the organisations have been influenced by the society that they have grown up in is not the issue but rather that the value system and worldview of the JuD and the LeT is in fact something that a lot of Pakistanis share -- particularly the view that a Hindu/Zionist/ American conspiracy of sorts has been put in motion to annihilate the Muslim world."
India still has plans to bomb the Muridke headquarters of the terror outfit and many people in the renegade province of Baluchistan believe New Delhi would be fully justified in doing so.
Even Indian Muslims were calling for tit-for-tat against Pakistan's rogue spy service Inter Services Intelligence and elements within the country's omnipotent army--the fourth largest in the world and armed with nuclear weapons. "The attacks were India's 911. The terror infrastructure has to be brought down. If the Congress Party will not act, it will lose the elections," the scion of a leading Muslim family from Mumbai said on a request of anonymity.
Saigol concurring with Quraishi's view on Jamaat ud Daawa gave some glaring examples from textbooks "that they distribute to their students and which are not available openly in the market." She added the books are published by Jamaat ud Daawa press and are given to students free of charge.
"The Mullahs [Islamic cleric] say that the books are meant to 'inspire' and to inculcate a truly Islamic spirit among students and to enable them to view Islam as a complete way of life, rather than as a set of rituals," Saigol said. "Through these textbooks children are given inspirational ideas and introduced to the objectives of Islam as seen by the Mullah. They are thus introduced the glorious Muslim past to inspire them to violence to re-create the past."
She said Jamaat ud Daawa argues that Muslims alone have right to rule the world and are allowed to kill infidels that stand in the way of Islam and this is being taught in textbooks used by the Jamaat ud Daawa.
Saigol said Daawa glorifies violence and hate and teaches the new version of alphabets in which children learn Bandook for Bai, Talwar for Tai, Tank for Ttai, jehaz for jeem and khanjar for khai, rocket for rai and tayyara for To-ay. [In English, all this will translate into G for gun, S for sword, T for tank, J for jet, K for knife, R for rocket and A for airplane.]
"In the Urdu textbook, children are told that infidels are cowards by nature and when a holy warrior attacks them, they scream with terror and fear," she said. "Mujahideen are glorified as being on a mission from Allah and they are superheroes that kill Hindus and make infidels cower in fear," she said, referring from the pages of the textbook.
She deplored games are organized around violence and killing and the children play with guns and learn to shoot at balloons, adding they play guerilla games of ambushing infidels, and in one story, a ten year old boy kills hundreds of Russians in Afghanistan .
She said poems and stories are taught about young boys that wage jihad and children read fictitious letters from jihadis killed in battle. If I am killed in battle, celebrate, reads one letter to a mother and sister in the seventh grade textbook, and then admonishes, Make sure you conceal your body and never wear perfume. Obscurantists among Muslims call this decadent and sexist practice hijab.
"India is presented as an enemy and Saudi Arabia as a best friend. Kashmir appears as Pakistani territory forcibly snatched by Hindus and Pakistan as a country created only for Muslims."
Saigol said children are instructed to mercilessly beat up non-Muslims and are told in the second grade textbook that every student should become a holy warrior and that they should be willing to lay down their lives for the great nuclear power that is Pakistan.
Quraishi notes: "Another (JuD) post is devoted to Mother's Day, or rather to equating it more or less with paganism. In fact, another post is on how Muslims should beware of doing actions that make them equal to kaafirs [infidels] -- such as celebrating their holy days and festivals. Also, it is clearly mentioned that non-Muslims are kaafirs and should not be even befriended."
Even after passage of one month, Pakistan is still in self-denial about the identity of the Mumbai terrorists. Though Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari initially admitted his country's non-state actors were involved in the Mumbai attacks, under the rogue army's instructions he has made a U-turn since then and said recently there were no solid proofs the lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab is a Pakistani national.
Pakistan's leading English newspaper DAWN--owned by a cousin of Hussain Haroon, Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations-- recently carried an interview of Kasab's father from the Punjab town of Faridkot, confirming his son's identity. Baring one, all the 10 Mumbai terrorists were from Punjab, stronghold of the Pakistan army.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/30/2008 08:29 ||
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December 30, 2008: The navy blockade continues unbroken, despite desperate LTTE attempts to ship weapons and munitions in. There are only a few bits of coastline where the LTTE can land stuff, so it's easier for the navy to catch the smuggling attempts.
The fighting around the LTTE capital of Kilinochchi is apparently attracting the best fighters the LTTE has left. That's because some army units have been hit with well prepared and led counterattacks. These were attempts to push the army back, but these offensive operations failed. Sometimes there were heavy army casualties, but the soldiers stood their ground and stopped the LTTE attackers. That didn't happen 5-10 years ago, and is one reason why the LTTE are on their last legs. The rebels no longer have a qualitative edge on the battlefield.
Advancing troops have captured an LTTE airstrip, hidden under nets and foliage. The army is advancing up the east coast, past the town of Mullaitivu, and down the east coast along the Jaffna peninsula. The LTTE defenses consist of recently recruited fighters holding out in recently built bunkers. The morale of the LTTE fighters is rapidly declining, as is their battlefield effectiveness.
The government is also getting more information on the day-to-day whereabouts of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran. The air force is bombing these locations, hoping to kill or wound Prabakaran (whose death would be a major blow to the LTTE). In any event, the army believes they will have Prabakaran, dead or alive, with six weeks. While there's always a chance that Prabakaran will flee the island and attempt to keep up a terror campaign from exile, that is considered unlikely. Sri Lankan diplomatic efforts have gotten the LTTE declared an international terrorist organization, and it's unlikely any nation would allow Prabakaran to operate within their borders.
Through the first three days, the strategic effect is all too predictable. Oil prices up, the US dollar is down. Is oil actually threatened by actions taking place out of Israel? Uhm, no. Is the dollar in danger because Hamas and Israel are in another conflict? Again, no. What has everyone concerned is that the conflict will escalate, and right now with the options on the table, this is the most likely scenario. How far will the conflict escalate? Right now, that is difficult to predict, but following the patterns of history, if indeed Iran is involved, I believe the expectation should be high that Israel is about to find themselves fighting on more than one front as soon as they commit ground troops into Gaza.
The next few days will tell the whole story, but predicting the results is not difficult. When Israel commits ground forces into Gaza to go after Hamas, the expectation should be that Hezbollah will begin a major military attack in northern Israel, likely using unguided rockets striking at civilians. The strategic ramifications will result in even higher gas prices and a further hit to the US dollar, with global outrage from the worlds most vocal actors to quickly condemn Israel. Unlike the Arab countries, Israel will protect their citizens and the death toll of Israeli civilians will not be great, but the retaliation against Hamas and Hezbollah will be, resulting in another mess similar to 2006. The question at that point, particularly if the US economy takes a huge hit from these actions, is what will we do and how will the world react?
I could be wrong, but absent any information that shows a strategic objective for Hamas in starting this conflict, it appears to me this conflict is specific to the strategic objective of weakening the US economy, and thus weakening the economies of nations like Israel. In other words, this may look like a simple Israeli conflict with Hamas, and perhaps Hezbollah in the near future, but the intent is to ultimately harm Americans economically. As that objective becomes more apparent to Americans over time, it will be interesting to see how both the outgoing and incoming administrations manage this emerging problem, and if we do nothing in response as per our historical track record, who we blame for the problem.
It's that brutal time of year again, when the ruthless meritocracy that is the National Football League does its annual reckoning with its head coaches. Three of the league's 32 coaches got the sack yesterday, following three who were fired during this season, and there are undoubtedly more to follow.
Two of yesterday's dismissals weren't surprising: Rod Marinelli of the 0-16 Detroit Lions (that city can't catch a break) and Romeo Crennel of the 4-12 and perennially hapless Cleveland Browns. On the other hand, the New York Jets gave the boot to third-year coach Eric Mangini, whose team finished 9-7 and who only two years ago was called "Mangenious" because he took the team to the playoffs in his rookie year as coach. . . . However, the Jets lost four of their last five games despite a big offseason investment in players, and the local tabloid writers were calling for Mr. Mangini's head. Off it went. . . .
NFL coaches are highly paid celebrities who know the perils of their trade, so it is hard to feel sorry for them. But in this age of government failure and corporate bailouts, there is something refreshing about a line of work that is so unforgiving about performance. In the phrase of Bill Parcells, the head of football operations for the (11-5) Miami Dolphins and former Super Bowl coach, "You are what your record says you are."
Members of Congress can thank their lucky gerrymandered districts that they aren't judged by the same standard.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/30/2008 06:38 ||
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#1
Based on record, Ratgini did not deserve this; however Tannenbaum was not about to take the fall for hiring Brett Fartve.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/30/2008 10:15 Comments ||
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#2
Mangini is responsible for the calls but st.brett is responsible for executing the calls - 3 picks isn't executing the calls. Favre - a fun guy to watch but also the most over rated qb in history.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/30/2008 21:45 Comments ||
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#4
Here in Berkeley-on-the-Lake, the pro Favre/anti Favre debate has been raging since spring. It has generated almost as much heat in the press as Obamania.
Today's sports page pundit (Tom Oates): "OK, NOW Brett Favre should retire and begin taking those first awkward steps on the road toward reconciling with Packer Fans....he has now succeeded in disappointing fans in both the smallest and largest NFL markets in a span of 6 months...."
I hate football, so I guess I can be a little more objective than my Packer fan neighbors in this matter. Do as the baseball umpires say: "Penalize the team that caused the problem." Favre's dithering about retirement caused the problem, therefore he is the one to blame here.
#1
E.g. FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > There's also been two big asteroid or meteor fireball sightings over the USA dur this Holiday season.
Iff this were ancient or medieval times, or even the turn of the 20th century, these SOLAR FLARES {ee Late Cycle "24"], FIREBALLS, etc would be interpreted by Astrologers and other "Wise Men" as "DIVINE/HEAVENLY SIGNS" OF A COMING EVENT ANDOR GREAT LEADER.
As said or argued times before, IFF THERE IS ANY ISLAMIST MESSIAH = HIDDEN-IMAM/MAHDI, HE CAN'T ASK FOR BETTER LOCAL-WORLD CONDITIONS TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE THAN THE 2008-2012/2016 POST-DUBYA PERIOD, + DESTROY THE INFIDELS IN THE NAME OF GOD AND ISLAM.
HISTORY CHANNEL Prog > GLOBAL WARNING!? = As per GW, the Earth will be getting HOTTER + HOTTER + ..... in the years and decades to come. Iff one believes that God is "in tune" wid ANY AND ALL NATURAL FORCES INCLUD SPACE, THEN BY LOGIC THE ABSENCE OR DESTRUCTION OF GOD = MESSIAH [God into Man] WILL UPSET THE NATURAL-DIVINE ORDER???
OTOH > END-TIMES = TO KILL THE MESSIAH IS TO KILL THE SUN [among other].
What more iff POTUS Obama indeed proves to be a CARTER II, i.e. CARTER-ERA SOVIET EXPANSION IN ASIA + AMERICAS, AS COUPLED WID ROLLBACK OF US GEOPOL INFLUENCE AND CREDIBILITY???
* NO ISLAMIST "MESSIAH" = WORSENING OF GLOBAL WARMING/SOLAR HEATING ON EARTH, and thats NOT even counting the RUSSIAN SPACE ROCKS 2013-2022/24.
More likely scenario, if things get that bad, is that we will eat the Mexicans and Canadians, feed the Russians and Chinese to our livestock and burn the Iranians for fuel.
#4
Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence.
That's the bit that most clearly identifies him as a loon. It's more probable that the city of Lubbock will annex Mexico.
That said with total government (state, federal, & locsl) spending running over 40% of GDP, governments at all levels essentially insolvent, regulatory compliance (and non-compliance) costs running another 10-20% of GDP and the whole host of other economic issues in the US it's tough to see a way out that doesn't involve very near-term and very dramatic reductions in the size & cost of government ... precisely the opposite of where we're heading. As much as I hate to admit it he may be on to something with the idea of an '10 financial meltdown that will drastically alter the USA.
#7
Hell, if you just count the Army and Air National Guards of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma as one unitary military - you have the strongest military in all of Latin America. At least on land and in the air. If Texas were to split off, what would most likely happen is that Texas would control Mexico and not the reverse. Also, Alaska and Western Canada would form a Confederation LONG before Alaska would be part of Russia again.
#8
Besides which, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona would probably go with Texas; as would North and South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, and most of Virginia excluding that which is within 50 miles of Washington DC.
Also, there would be a good chance that the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) would go to a Confederation with Canada, rather than be shackled to a Californian republic.
The man is just looking at existing borders and not the social and economic factors involved.
#9
Throw in Colorado with TX - the Guard here interoperates with TX, full squadron of F-16s and the whole of the 3/19 Special Forces, a special forces capable helicopter unit.
Add to that Northcom in Colorado Springs and Ft Carson (4th ID and 10th SF Group).
Colorado provides the capstone ans strategic depth with central geopolitical positioning (rail and air) to the "Republic of Texas".
#11
A long, long time ago I read a book "The Nine Nations of North America" (or some such) which theorized the breakup of the United States. It was fairly well done. The author drew upon a lot of cultural/regional history to make his projections. This Russian guy, however... looks like he just took his crayons and colored a map.
#12
There's a game called "Crimson Skies" that is set in 1930s America, and the premise is that the USA has broken up due to the stress of the Great Depression. It's pretty well-written for a game, and the story leading up to the breakup is interesting, if you have a spare 10 minutes or so. It appears the authors actually studied history, unlike most producers of popular content these days.
#13
this professor is guilty of extrapolation. He's witnessed russias identity crisis and concluded that all states will necessarily face the same end. In his extrapolation he fails to attribute the single constitution of the 50 states, versus the cobbled together expropriation of the russian cabal. russia has an identity crisis, which wont go away anytime soon. Its thugery, is its ultimate betrayer. Having experienced living under russia prime, no one cares for a repeat of the experience. No amount of wishfull thinking or extrapolation by way of identity projection can change what is flawed due to its inherently corrupt underpinnings.
#14
Canada would split too:
West: NWT, Yukon, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
Central: Ontario and Cree Quebec, Nunavut
Quebec: A tiny French speaking sliver in southern Quebec
Atlantic provinces: NS, NB, NF, PEI--They would cluster with other "New", New Yawk, New Hampshire New Jersey...
Alaska to Russkis--no way. Fuggetaboutit. Forming a confed with Western Canada. In any case, Siberia would be Chinese, Russkis would be nowhere near Alaska.
Oregon, WA, Idaho joins Western Canada
California splits into Shasta Republic (North + coastal strip SF, LA, including Berzerkly) Orange Free State, and South joins Texas -- (AZ, NV, UT, NM, CO, OK, TX, KS maybe too) which consequently colonizes northern Mexico states. I said "colonizes".
Southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala form Maya Republic and reestablish a capital in Chichen Itza. Corrupt officials will be thrown into the famous well, stripped of any gold or precious metals. Chac Mool feeds on humans, not gold!
MI, IL, parts of OH, PA join the North Atlantic cluster.
Southeast: from LA to SC would try on their own, but likely join with Texas at some point.
Centralia: the rest.
Russia splits into Volga Republic (south) and Moskva Republic (north). Volga joins Ukraina later. As said, Siberia (anything east of Ural) goes to China.
#17
Colorado might split in two. The areas of Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins are heavily liberal and would not be thrilled to go with the heavily conservative south. Colorado is in effect, two separate cultural areas.
Maybe we could take the military forces from the south, conquer the north and drive the liberals out once and for all.
#19
In fact, thinking of it, why not make a collection, purchase Baffin Island, move all the libs over there? They can hug polar bears all year long and make snow angels too! We'd promise that they'd have an uninteruptible supply of kool aid. That is a small price to pay, I think. Trees, that is a bit iffy, they are none there, but perhaps we can make enough fake plastic ones to give them something to hug beside polar bears.
Ben & Jerry can move there--ideal condition for ice cream production!
#20
Mr. Panarin's apocalyptic vision "reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today," says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. "It's much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union."
And french wingnuts will eat that up too, given that "nationalist" russia is now overhelmingly their champion against the Empire, and Strong Leader putin their beloved Man on A Horse.
#22
Spike, Trees, that is a bit iffy, they are none there
No trees NOW, but once the glbal warming takes full effect Baffin will be a tropical rain forest.
#23
Vladdy Posner? Wasn't he Nightline's in house real, live commie many moons ago?
I'll bet Putin makes him sport wood. Just like the good old days...
#29
Penn State will not kick USC's ass until hell freezes over.
Figure it will not happen until after 2020 or after Paterno retires (which ever comes first).
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/30/2008 18:31 Comments ||
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#30
We're not going back to Russia. No way. Been there, done that. Dead end. Russia will eventually lose Siberia and Chukotka to the Chicoms by neglect and squatting. Our Yukon Territory friends are good. BC needs to throw out their socialists. Joe from Guam can join us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/30/2008 21:01 Comments ||
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#31
Kansas comes with Colorado. Except KC. That can go to Missouri.
#32
We are in MO, but my better half is from TX, sooo we would be Texas bound. Maybe STL would become a free city, it is already independent from STL county.
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.
As we celebrate the majesty of public will and try to understand the stunning results of the national election 2008, the real question that needs to be asked is not why Awami League won so comprehensively, but why BNP got the thrashing that it did. Given our anti-incumbency history and the pattern so far followed since 1991, it can be considered somewhat natural that Awami League should get a turn to run the country in 2008, after BNP did so in 2001. 
