Five visiting Japanese who were abducted decades ago by North Korean spies can stay in Japan as long as they like, the Japanese government said Thursday. Their relatives in Japan say the abductees have indicated they wish to return to Japan for good but the abductees themselves haven't said as much, at least not openly, apparently out of concern for the children they left behind. "The five abductees will stay in Japan," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda. "We will strongly urge North Korea to ensure the safety of families remaining in North Korea and their early return." He said it was "indispensable and urgent" that the hostages abductees' relatives be returned to Japan. "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the collective after they've been to Ginza?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:17 am ||
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Freedom, no matter how little of it, can break the bonds of family. I feel for the returning persons' relatives, but maybe, with all the hubbub swirling around NK right now, they will soon be able to convince the NKs to send them home also.
I remember stories like this growing up. My adoptive parents were Lithiuanian (sp?) and Polish and both had distant relatives on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
Croatian police said they seized military explosives hidden on a cargo ship, which was allegedly bound for Iraq. "Within the search (of the Boka Star ship) conducted so far, a certain amount of explosive devices, which are being used in the military industry only, have been found," Croatian police said in a statement Thursday. Shipping documents accompanying the cargo of the ship, which was sailing under the Tonga island flag, did not "correspond to its real content," said police, adding that the search was set to continue over the next few days. Even the explosives have false documents...
The search of the Boka Star was launched on Tuesday immediately after it sailed into the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka after police acted upon a tip. Carried out with the help of Croatia's "partners from the anti-terrorist coalition," the police said the investigation will include determining all the circumstances relating to the Boka Star and its cargo, including the ship's exact route, final destination and owners of the cargo. It appears the Croatians â the guys we basically ignored while the Serbs were beating the snot out of them â are better friends to us than are some others in the area...
Croatian media reported that explosives and weapons bound for Iraq were found on the Boka Star, allegedly owned by a Montenegrin citizen. The military material was of Yugoslav origin, according to Jutarnji List daily. "It was only business, Mike..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 12:53 pm ||
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The Croats, along with the Slovenes, the Bosnians, later the Kosovars, and perhaps the Montenegrins in the future, all wanted independence from Yugoslavia because of the increasing Serb chauvinism against Yugoslav's other ethnic groups after Tito died. Milsosevic and other likeminded Serbs wanted to turn Yugoslavia into a Serb state that repressed the other nationalities. It's no surprise the other ethnic groups wanted out.
Posted by: Chris Durnell ||
10/25/2002 10:54 Comments ||
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South and North Korean delegatesto the eighth Cabinet-level talks ironed out Wednesday an eight-point joint press statement whose gist is that the two Koreas will aggressively cooperate in settling all issues, including the North's nuclear issues, through "a means of dialogue." "Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah..."
The statement was announced at the plenary session of the talks convened at Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang early in the morning after visiting South Korean chief delegate Jeong Se-hyun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Ryong-song fine-tuned its contents at their final one-on-one meeting. I love fine-tuning contents. That consists of things like making sure all the prepositions are three letters long and no sentence contains more than 12 commas or less than nine...
"South and North Korea will make joint efforts to guarantee peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and actively cooperate to solve nuclear and all other issues via a means of dialogue," the statement said. Of course, the NKors also promised they wouldn't pursue a nuke program, too, so what's their word worth?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 03:24 pm ||
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"The revised US draft, which is worse (than the initial one), is a humiliation for the United Nations and the international community," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Qatar's Al-Jazeera television channel. "The draft is a declaration of war against the United Nations, and not only against Iraq. Its goal consists not only of attacking Iraq but also harming the prestige of the United Nations," Sabri said Thursday. But the UN aren't the ones who're gonna get daisycut, are they?
Iraq had taken "all necessary steps to welcome teams of inspectors," Sabri said, expressing hope that the Security Council "will not adopt measures that will block the missions of these teams... The measures contained in the US draft pose impossible questions." Maybe the first question you should ask yourself is "How do we get out of this mess?"
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan earlier warned that the "insistence of the criminal US administration on having the Security Council adopt a new resolution is clearly part of US plots to justify an aggression against Iraq." Stay out of Baby Milk Factories, Taha...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:05 pm ||
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Chechen gunmen shot and killed one of the hundreds of hostages being held at a Moscow theater, Russian news media reported Thursday. The killing was believed to have taken place in the early hours of the crisis that began when gunmen stormed the theater at 9:05 p.m. Wednesday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing an unnamed police official at the scene. A television report showed a stretcher with a blanket-covered body being taken out of the theater. The report of the killing came as the crisis showed no signs of resolution. If there's any justice in the world, that should be their death warrant right there...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:19 am ||
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First a French oil tanker, then a Russian theater, is China next?
They seem to be targeting security council countries opposed to the US war with Iraq.
#2
That would make no sense at all, would it? Sounds pretty Islamic, so you might be right...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2002 13:01 Comments ||
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I don't think they would do anything in China. These thugs only understand violence and the overwhelming use of force. The know that China would kill them, kill their families, kill their entire village without thinking twice about it. Just to set an example to any other Jihadi wannabes that the Chinese government will not tolerate that kind of behaviour.
I think they are just practicing their version of "diplomacy". You are right about the pattern-like a pack of dogs they are making sure the sheep do not stray from where the dogs want them to go. And you know dogs-they are not going to get all kissy faced with their sheep. They will threaten them with barking and biting. They might even kill a couple of sheep to make sure all the others get the clue.
The events in Bali were another version of this. They view Australia as the "softest" of the allies of the US. The one who (in their minds) they could put into the herd of sheep if they bit it real hard. Unfortunately for them-they guessed wrong.
On a side note-watch the upcoming meeting between Schroeder and Putin VERY carefully...
Posted by: Just Lurking ||
10/24/2002 14:31 Comments ||
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China has had some incidents (bombings) attributed to their (Muslim) Uigher minority in the north. I wouldn't put it past the Islamaniacs to link up with Uigher rebels to stir something up in China too.
http://latelinenews.com/ll/english/1223043.shtml
#5
I had heard that the Muslims in China were mostly just wanting their freedom of religion, while a few among them went nuts and started being real terrorists, allowing China the chance to call them all terrorists and stomp on them all. This seems quite possible, given China's reputation of clamping down on religion and the example of Indonesia's moderate Muslims to show that there actually is such a thing...
Posted by: Just John ||
10/24/2002 17:34 Comments ||
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My take on the latest attacks:
Al Qaeda (which while murderous and fanatical has adopted a number of Western management techniques including after action assessments, i.e. lessons learned) attacked the center of American power assuming that such an attack would break US will and that we'd roll over and surrender. They failed. They have re-assessed and have decided to isolate America politically by attacking our allies under the assumption that our allies are much less committed to the war on terror, so maybe they'll roll over and surrender, thus stretching us beyond our capabilities. I think that they have also come around to Omar Torrijos' way of thinking (one of the most underappreciated strategists of the 20th century) who said in regards to fighting the US: "You can jerk the chain but never touch the monkey." In other words, grind the US down through a series of small, terroristic actions overseas. Never touch the homeland. Never kill large numbers of Americans. Jerking the chain worked for Giap and Ho Chi Minh as well as Torrijos. Touching the monkey got the Japanese and Al Qaeda's respective asses kicked.
Again, don't underestimate these folks. They are evil, but not incompetent.
Chechnyaâs representative for Europe said Thursday, October 24, that the hostage-takers who have taken several hundred people hostage in a Moscow theater, who are not part of the Chechen army, were trying to draw world attention to the tragedy in Chechnya, where all Chechens are hostages of the Russian military. So they take innocent civilians, just out to see a show, hostage and pack explosives around them? That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense...
Aslambek Kadiyev said that it was âa desperate action of Chechens who are trying to draw international attention to the tragedy in Chechnya where all Chechen people are all hostages of the Russian military campaign.â Kadiyev said the hostage-takers were not part of the Chechen army and that Chechen President Pontius Pilate Aslan Maskhadov condemned the attack against civilians. How very pious of him...
He also said he fears the Russian military will launch an assault on the Moscow theater where hundreds of people were being held hostage by Chechen rebels, resulting in a bloodbath. âWe know from our previous experience when Russian troops take military action, they donât care about the loss of civilians and we are afraid that this time also the civilians can be brought as a sacrifice to the military cause,â said Aslambek Kadiyev in a BBC interview. Mmmm... I'd say more like a sacrifice to the Chechen cause. It wasn't the military who took them hostage, and it's not the military who can spring them any time they want...
âWe would like the situation to be solved peacefully but... in the past, Russia didn't show any mercy against civilians. Thousands of civilians are killed in Chechnya and thousands are held hostages and disappear,â he said. If they act like the guys holding the hostages in Moscow, I think we can all see why that happens...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:44 am ||
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Two women hostages escaped from the terrorist-held Theatre Centre in Dubrovka, shortly before 7 pm. The captors mortar-fired them as they ran, but luck was with the brave girls, reports Kirill Mazurin, city police deputy chief of PR. An approximate 500 hostages remain on the premises. Thanks to Jussi for the headzup!
Chairman of Moscow's education committee Alexander Gavrilov stated on Thursday that 40-45 school children aged between 12 - 16 remained in the hands of terrorists who have seized the capital's Theatrical Centre on Dubrovka Street.
A source in the power structures has informed RIA Novosti that the explosives in the hands of the terrorists who have seized the Theatrical Centre on Dubrovka Street may have been smuggled into the building earlier, possibly several days in advance.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 09:51 pm ||
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Anyone have any ideas why the western media is whitewashing this story. All I hear on CNN is that "Chechen rebels fighting for an end to the war in Chechnya have seized hostages in Russia", then they move on to sports, entertainment or sniper news. Have Islamaniacs taken control of the world media, or what? Ah, those noble Chechens struggling to end war. Gah, it makes me want nauseous!!!
The current Moscow terrorist outbreak is a link in a smoothly coordinated chain of international terrorism, Igor Ivanov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said to a ministerial conference of the APEC forum. "The USA, Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia are geographically distant from each other. It is clear, however, that terrorist acts committed there were masterminded by one centre," he pointed out. "The civilised world cannot withstand the challenge, let alone win the battle, unless it pools efforts in a merciless war on terrorism, whatever its manifestations and geography. We must firmly say once again that the world is to be cleaned of terrorism. Regrettably, we see certain attempts to flirt with terrorists-in particular, in the Chechen context. Such attempts merely encourage them to more crimes." Hey! It's a statement of the obvious! But we also see certain attempts to flirt with the enablers of terrorists, to whit, Sammy in Iraq. We've got the war on terrorism going. Now let's take this guy's advice and make it "merciless war on terrorism." There sure as hell isn't any mercy coming from the Bad Guys, is there?
In this particular case, it increasingly appears that a command center outside Russia allows the hostage-takers to coordinate with other Islamists beyond Moscow. Stratfor currently believes this hostage situation was planned at the international level by al Qaeda-affiliated forces that aim to cause a deep political and security crisis for Russia and for Putin in particular, especially since Russia has become an important U.S. ally in its global war on al Qaeda. In this context, the timing of the attack -- disrupting planned discussions between Bush and Putin on Iraq and Islamist issues at the APEC summit in Mexico -- appears deliberate.
You don't have to take any time off from performing brain surgery to notice the coordinated nature of the current wave of worldwide attacks. Nor do you have to think really, really hard to figure what the impetus is — it's Iraq, just in case you do. Nor do you have to think really, really hard to figure who's doing the coordinating — it's Soddy Arabia, just in case you do. Question is, are the Russers going to see it, or are they going to talk themselves out of seeing it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:53 pm ||
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The real question is when can we perform brain surgery on Saudi Arabia.
#2
This is not the first time. The Chechens and the Rooskies have been banging heads for centuries.
The attack resembles an operation carried out in June, 1995, when Chechen rebels took several hundred people hostage in a hospital at Budyennovsk, in southern Russia. That ended in tragedy. More than 100 civilians died when Russian troops stormed the hospital.
So that begs another question, even if they do see it Fred, can they do anything about it?
Posted by: Charles Tupper Jr ||
10/25/2002 10:54 Comments ||
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Two men wanted for questioning in the wave of deadly sniper attacks were arrested early Thursday after they were found sleeping in their car at a Maryland rest stop. The arrests raised hopes of a conclusion to the intensive and often frustrating investigation of the shootings that have killed 10 people and critically wounded three others since Oct. 2 in the Washington, D.C., area. Told ya there was a turban involved. Ignore the fact that I was wrong on most of the other stuff...
The men were not immediately charged in the attacks, but authorities made clear the arrests were considered pivotal. The lead investigator described one of the suspects as "armed and dangerous," and a newspaper report said the men were motivated by anti-American bias. The rest of us are motivated by anti-Bad Guy bias...
FOLLOWUP 10.20 a.m.
The radio (ABC News) is reporting that President Bush has been briefed that the case is solved. I wouldn't put my entire considerable weight down yet â Kathy has the story behind the "duck in a noose" remark that Chief Moose recited last night.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 09:52 pm ||
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that Anti-American bias sounds like grounds for a hate crime huh? They should execute them, then execute them again for the hate crime...better yet, let Alabama try them first for the killing there..Kathleen Kennedy Townsend would probably commute their sentence
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/24/2002 8:51 Comments ||
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Good call on the turban.
The things that really burns me up is that they were staying in a CHRISTIAN homeless shelter in Tacoma, Washington.
Count on followers of Muhammed to accept the hospitality of an infidel while planning their jihad against the very hand that feeds them...
This provides evidence of the following: there is systemic failure in Islam as a political system and, by extension, as a religion. Look at all of the Nobel prizes won over the last century, look at the increases in standard of living, look at any metric you prefer and Islamic fundamentalist states lose on every account (except possibly corruption and export of instability).
#3
It's interesting to see I was pretty on-target with my comments a few days ago, guessing it was Islamic terrorist wannabes and a 2 person team instead of a loner. (See: ) But in any case it's good to have these nutbags off the streets!
On another note, it's strange how the white van ended up as a blue Chevy Caprice... wonder what the story is with that?
#6
Heres the thing with the "white van", if you watch the background anytime one of the on-the-spot talking heads are talking, you'll see at least one "white van" go driving by. Once someone somewhere early on in all this put out the message about a "white van", thats all anyone saw.
The police-folk say " theres only one thing worse than an eyewitness, and thats two eyewitnesses".
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
10/24/2002 16:02 Comments ||
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Speaking from Bellingham, Washington here, we're being overrun by media looking into the "Whatcom County Connection." Bizarre. I guess it helps that I'm just across the street from the Light House Mission. I knew that William's/Mohammed's mug looked familiar somehow...
Posted by: T. Schultz ||
10/24/2002 16:18 Comments ||
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The militant movement Islamic Jihad said it has cancelled a street rally in the Gaza Strip after coming under pressure from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Islamic Jihad said the PA would not issue them a permit to hold a demonstration Friday to honour Fathi al-Shikaki, its chief who was assassinated by Israel's secret service on Malta in 1995. Bowing to the PA, Jihad noted the rising tensions in Gaza after four supporters of the larger Islamic group Hamas died in clashes with police after a band of Islamists killed the Gaza City anti-riot police chief. "In this dangerous situation, Islamic Jihad decided to cancel the rally, the yearly commemoration which was tomorrow after (Muslim) prayers in Jabaliya refugee camp," the group said. "No. You can't have a riot without a permit, and that's final! And don't even bother trying to assassinate a police chief, 'cuz they're all used up. So there."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 12:59 pm ||
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Israeli undercover units entered the town of Beit Jala, at dawn and arrested Fawwaz Amro, a wanted crazed killer militant of the hardline Islamic movement Hamas. Amro, 30, was accused by Israel of having masterminded several suicide bombings. Israeli troops left the Bethlehem district, which encompasses the towns of Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, on August 20, under a deal whereby Palestinian security would ensure an end to anti-Israeli attacks. It has since then been under the security and political administration of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Authority. A PA copper looking for Bad Guys is kind of like selling school candy: You visit your neighbors and relatives first...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 01:09 pm ||
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The head of the militant Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad said his movement could cease attacks on civilians if Israel does so as well. "If they (Israelis) are ready to stop killing (Palestinian) civilians and to stop the massacres they commit, we could revise our jihad policy targeting civilians or those presented as civilians" in Israel, Ramadan Abdullah Shallah told the Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat on Thursday. I don't particularly believe him, but if he's not speaking with forked tongue, that would be something of a turnaround for Islamojihad...
"If they want this, they must take the initiative, but we are not going to beg them," he said, in an interview given shortly after a car bomb attack claimed by Islamic Jihad on a bus in northern Israel on Monday killed at least 13 people, plus the two bombers. "All in the Zionist entity are targeted, except children. For us, the whole entity is an entity of war that has raped our land," Shallah added. "We let al-Aqsa Brigades take care of killing the kiddies, and we're working on a deal where Hamas kills all the people between 12 and 40, and we get everybody older than that..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 01:15 pm ||
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This conflict could be done in a week if Joe Stalin were only available.
Undercover Israeli soldiers entered the Palestinian refugee camp Balata near Nablus, and nabbed five Fatah activists, reports said. The soldiers entered Balata in a mini-bus. As they started to detain the Palestinians, they became the targets of Palestinians fighters in the camp. Israeli reinforcements entered the camp and extricated the undercover unit. Palestinian sources said that the abandoned mini-bus exploded a short time later, injuring 11. A car bomb? The Paleos aren't laughing, but it'd be kind of funny, wouldn't it?
Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that "terror" groups are trying to sabotage new efforts to negotiate a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Today's the day for statements of the obvious...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:08 pm ||
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An explosive device blew up at a shopping mall in the city of Bandung on Thursday, slightly wounding two people, and police safely removed two others at a different mall. The devices were small and apparently intended to frighten rather than kill, Police Lt. Col. Masguntur Loupe told Metro TV, an Indonesian television station. There was no claim of responsibility, but the explosion took place as security has been stepped up around the country. The devices were similar to large firecrackers, said Rochyat, an assistant police inspector in Bandung, 125 miles southeast of Jakarta. Like many Indonesians, he uses only one name. There's a message there: "Us Islamists don't care about your lives, much less your thumbs. What we care about is having our way."
Janitor Agus Sudarto, one of the injured, told El-Shinta radio station that he found the device — which looked like a gift package — inside a cleaning cart in the basement of the Bandung Supermall. It blew up as he was trying to move it to a trash can, first giving off a shower of sparks like a firecracker fuse, Sudarto said. His hand was slightly wounded. The other wounded man was also a janitor. "He's a little present for you, infidels..."
Three hours earlier, two similar packages were discovered at another mall and were removed by bomb squad officers and defused. Officials said the devices contained low explosive.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:23 am ||
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Indonesia pledged its support Thursday for a United Nations effort to list Jemaah Islamiyah as a terrorist organization. The move would hinder support for the extremist group accused of numerous attacks in Southeast Asia. The United States put Jemaah Islamiyah on its own terror list Wednesday, saying it was linked with al-Qaida. Washington joined a campaign with Australia to bring U.N. pressure on the group following the Oct. 12 bomb attacks on Bali, which killed more than 180 people and injured more than 300. Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Thursday that the government supported moves to have Jemaah Islamiyah listed as a terrorist organization. What? No denial of the obvious?
"If that is accepted and the United Nations declares Jemaah Islamiyah a terrorist group, we will fully implement that declaration," he said. But Natalegawa challenged the perception that Jemaah Islamiyah is an Indonesia-based group. "Nobody knows where its real base is. A terrorist network is invisible and flexible in character. It can appear anywhere," he said. Yeah, except that its head is an Indonesian, and so's its operations chief. It's international in the sense that it also has some Malays and Singaporeans and Filipinos in its ranks of cannon fodder and it lives on Soddy money...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/24/2002 10:40 am ||
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...and as more and more countries shut down the financing of terrorist groups, it will become blatantly obvious to the source of all Islamopath money.....House of Soddy.
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.
