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Nearly 50 militants killed on Pak-Afghan border
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
'Sharia' Law Firm Secretaries Unmasked as Porn Actresses
Theo van Gogh was not available for comment on this latest development in the Dutch film community.
THE HAGUE, 27/08/08 - Faizel Ali Enait refuses to shake hands with women and prefers them to wear burqas. But on the website of his law firm, two hard-core porn actresses posed as its secretaries.
"Say, Faizel, isn't that the bimbo from Debbie Does Dhahran?"
"Can't tell without the burqa."

Faizel Ali Enait claims to be a lawyer. He works for Jairam Advocaten, a law firm for Muslims in the Netherlands. Ali Enait lost a court case last week against Rotterdam municipality, which he accused of discrimination.

The municipality rejected the Muslim for a job as client manager at the Social Services department because he refused to shake hands with women. The judges ruled that Rotterdam had the right to do so.
Sure, we discriminate against insane dark age bigots around here.
Ali Enait, who regularly appears on talk shows, also wants women to wear burqas. But on the home page of Jairam Advocaten, two porn stars posed as its secretaries. Although wearing clothes, they were identified by news website Geenstijl.nl as well-known 'adult entertainment' models Anetta Keys and Rahilla.
"We have nothing to hide from the film-going public."
Based on cache data, Geenstijl.nl established that the pictures had already been on the website since 2005. They therefore seem to have been deliberately picked by the 'sharia lawyers'.
Didn't some of the 9-11 devils spend their last night at a topless bar?
Jairam Advocaten removed the porn actresses' portraits from its website yesterday, replacing them with a picture of what appears to be its office. This time Geenstijl.nl discovered that the picture chosen was a prestigious office building in Rotterdam. In reality, Jairam Advocaten is located in a shabby building in Amsterdam.
If he'd spend less on porn, he might be able to afford a better office.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 08/27/2008 05:57 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stock photos cribbed from the internet...we've all been there.
Posted by: gromky || 08/27/2008 6:12 Comments || Top||

#2  This thread needs more pictures...
Posted by: Raj || 08/27/2008 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Raj: This thread needs more pictures...

Now. Then.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/27/2008 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Didn't some of the 9-11 devils spend their last night at a topless bar?

Because their handlers made them go. The trip to the nudie bar served two purposes: First, it might help lower any 'red flags' for law enforcement if any of them had actually been paying attention that the plot was 'go for launch', and more importantly, it got the boyz all hot-n-bothered, and also deeply ashamed for failing their faith by lusting after kufr wimminz. One way of cleansing the guilt is by purging oneself through the salutary fire of jihad. Allahu akbar.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/27/2008 10:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks Zhang Fei, those two are pure thoroughbreds! Ima not prejudice... yummy!
Posted by: Red Dawg || 08/27/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||

#6  This is all third party hearsay. I accept none of it.
Posted by: Pancho Velvet || 08/27/2008 17:13 Comments || Top||

#7 
So they don't teach logical reasoning and data validation at the University of British Columbia. "pv"?


Pity.
Posted by: lotp || 08/27/2008 17:33 Comments || Top||

#8  g: Stock photos cribbed from the internet...we've all been there.

Given the poor quality of the photos, I suspect they're frames cropped from the clothed portion of skin flicks.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/27/2008 20:56 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Estranged Somalia gov't leaders agree to cooperate
ADDIS ABABA - Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf and his prime minister signed a deal on Tuesday to work together after a weeks-long rift that threatened to wreck their interim government.

Yusuf fell out with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein earlier this month after Hussein sacked Mogadishu's powerful mayor, a key ally of the president. Both men have been locked in crisis talks for days with officials in neighbouring Ethiopia.

"We hope the agreement will end the differences between the Somali leaders," Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said after the pair signed the deal in Addis Ababa. "Ten days ago, the very existence of TFG (transitional federal government) was at a critical point. The differences were a deciding factor that makes or breaks the transitional period, including the peace agreement in Djibouti."
Posted by: Steve White || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Fifth arrest over 'PM death plot'
Detectives investigating a suspected plot to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown have arrested a 29-year-old man in Derby under the Terrorism Act 2000. Five people are now in police custody as part of an ongoing operation, following the arrest on Tuesday. A police spokesman said: "A search of the address in Derbyshire is under way and is expected to take several days."

The arrest is part of an inquiry into threats made against the prime minister and Tony Blair in January. Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit and Lancashire Constabulary are conducting the probe.

Three of the five people being held as part of the investigation were arrested on 14 August at Manchester Airport and in Accrington. And a fourth, who is understood to be a Muslim convert, was arrested on Tuesday in Blackburn. Detectives have until Thursday to charge or release them, or seek an extension to their custody.

The threats against the prime minister and his predecessor were made on a recognised jihadi website, by a group calling itself "al-Qaeda in Britain".
Posted by: ryuge || 08/27/2008 05:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Bank of China denies aiding terrorists
A major state-owned Chinese bank on Wednesday denied accusations in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles that it transferred money to terrorist groups and said it would fight the case. "The accusation is absolutely groundless," Bank of China Ltd. said in a statement. "Bank of China is prepared to fight the suit."

The lawsuit filed last Thursday by victims of terrorism in Israel accused the bank of putting through dozens of wire transfers totalling several million dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad and ignoring Israeli demands to stop the practice. The lawsuit said the money helped to finance attacks between 2004 and 2007. The Beijing-based bank "knowingly assisted Hamas and the Islamic Jihad," the lawsuit alleged.

Bank of China, the country's third-largest commercial lender by assets, said it adheres to U.N requirements on anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing. It said the bank's own policies forbid providing financial services to terrorist groups.

The U.S. lawsuit says Israeli officials met with Chinese police and central bank officials in 2005 seeking action to prevent Bank of China from making more transfers but the practice continued. Transfers for Hamas and Islamic Jihad were initiated in the Middle East, sent to branches in the U.S., then to an account at a bank branch in Guanzhou, China, the suit said. It said the money was then wired to group leaders in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The plaintiffs, who include the family of a 4-year-old boy killed during 2004 attack, are being represented by attorneys in Los Angeles, New York and Israel.

China's first anti-money laundering law took effect in 2007 and requires banks and other companies to keep a database of clients' background information and to report large and suspicious transactions. A total of 1,239 cases involving 387.1 billion yuan ($56.5 billion) were reported to police by the end of 2006, according to the Web site of the central bank's China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center. It gave no details of whether any cases resulted in criminal penalties.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/27/2008 05:50 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Norks stay on terrorism blacklist
Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea will stay on a U.S. terrorism blacklist until a mechanism is in place to verify its nuclear dossier, the White House said, after the regime said it stopped disabling a reactor to protest a delay in its removal. ``The United States will not take North Korea off the state sponsor of terrorism list until we have a protocol in place to verify the dismantling and accounting for Korea's nuclear program,'' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday.

Kim Jong Il's regime said yesterday it stopped disabling the Yongbyon reactor Aug. 14 after the U.S. failed to lift the terrorism designation, potentially disrupting six-nation talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear-weapons program. The U.S. ``has created a significant stumbling block to resolving the Korean nuclear problem,'' the official Korea Central News Agency said in a statement. ``Since the U.S. has broken its agreement, we must take countermeasures according to the `action-for-action' principle.''

The announcement by North Korea probably amounts to a bargaining tactic, said Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group.
Boy howdy, what would we do without analysts ...
``North Korea would like to have the most lax verification regime,'' Pinkston said in a telephone interview from Seoul. ``This is part of the process of bargaining for the best that they can get.''
Posted by: Steve White || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And what would we do without newpaper journalists and editors who take quotes out of context and only print part of the discussion so it sounds sexy for wanker readers and their blogs.
Posted by: Pink Man || 08/27/2008 2:07 Comments || Top||

#2  What is the entire quote, context and discussion, then, Mr. Pink Man? Is this open source information that we commoners can access, or are you revealing that which you were sworn to keep hidden? We only do open sources here, but whenever possible I prefer to wank over complete than partial information. Thanks ever so!
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/27/2008 7:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Pink Man is supposedly posting from S. Korea

Must be Odious-Regime-Sycophants Month at the Burg.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/27/2008 11:34 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought Pink Man was the guy in the bunny suit?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||


Europe
Switzerland denies desire for bin Laden talks
Switzerland said on Tuesday there was "no question" of talks with the world's most wanted man Osama bin Laden, after the Swiss foreign minister on Monday questioned what limits should be put on international diplomacy.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry (FDFA) said in a statement on its website that "in practice there is no question of the FDFA proposing a dialogue with Osama Bin Laden." Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey "did not state that she would promote such a dialogue, nor has she proposed such a dialogue," the statement added.
She never said it and she'll never say it again ...
In her speech on Monday to 170 assembled Swiss ambassadors in Bern, Calmy-Rey said they needed to talk to "heavyweight political figures" on the world stage even if they are considered persona non grata by other powers. "It is important to get away from a Manichean view of the world in black and white, where peoples and countries can only be allies or enemies," she said.

If this view prevailed, Israel would never have held talks with the Palestinians, Nepal would never have talked to Maoist rebels -- and the international community would have boycotted the Olympic Games in Beijing, she said. "So should we listen to these 'wise figures'? Or should we continue dialogue without discrimination -- even sitting down at the same table as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden?," she asked rhetorically. "The refusal of dialogue is always a sterile choice," she said, adding that for Switzerland, "the only force we have ever had is that of words."

Calmy-Rey also stressed that dialogue did not mean "accepting the unacceptable," and conceded that it could sometimes lead to tensions and "complex political blockages."
There's no "w" in "fatuous," is there? I thought not.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  What I said was not what you heard me say.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  tu? you know my wife?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/27/2008 10:50 Comments || Top||

#3  No, but I know mine.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Sen Obama: I am The Surge!


We now have a strategy for success in Iraq. General Petraeus' new counter-insurgency strategy is working to create a safer Iraq and a safer America.

The Surge worked, but you wouldn't know it from Senator Obama's comments. We have documented his unwillingness to acknowledge America's successful strategy here.

We invite you to read Senator Obama's thoughts on our current winning strategy and then call his office at (202) 224-2854 and ask him to support Senate Resolution 636, a bi-partisan resolution in the United State Senate sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Graham.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These guys are pretty much noin-partisan, they are endorsing Dems and Repubs based on their stand on Iraq and Afghanistan, and thier attitude and treatment of the military and veterans.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/27/2008 0:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a feeling Obama's going to be too busy to participate in that vote. He will, however, probably have some kind of one-lung endorsement for it after the votes have been tallied.
Posted by: gorb || 08/27/2008 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3  I am Barak Obama,
and I vote "present"...
except that I never am...
Posted by: Barak Obama || 08/27/2008 12:53 Comments || Top||

#4  This isnt good for my children, Barack make it go away.
Posted by: Michelle Obama || 08/27/2008 13:33 Comments || Top||

#5  I have this sneaking feeling that if Obamessiah is elected he's going to be absent from a lot of things, including actually being President. He'll be far too busy building temples to himself to run the country which will fall to his wife and the likes of rev. Wright, Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense MacNamara, and Secretary of State George Soros (unless Queen Hillary gets that position).



Posted by: FOTSGreg || 08/27/2008 19:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Nuclear war with India better than dying in desert state
LAHORE - Eminent journalist and Chairman Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust Majid Nizami has said that without Kashmir, Pakistan's future is bleak and it would be better to wage an atomic war against India rather than die in a state of desert after 10 years. He was addressing the meeting of Advisory Council of Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust here on Tuesday at Aiwan-e-Karkunan Tehrik-e-Pakistan in collaboration with Tehrik-e-Pakistan Workers Trust.

"India is hatching malicious conspiracies against Pakistan by constructing over 50 dams that would stop Pakistan's water share and convert it into desert. Time and again letters were written to the Pakistan Foreign Office but they issued a statement protesting informally and meekly to India.

"The way our foreign affairs department had adopted in this regard is not result-oriented and fruitful and concerned authorities in Pakistan should understand the gravity of this problem as world analysts are predicting that future wars would be fought over water, Nizami said. "We always kept the government informed through NPT platform that Pakistan came into being on the basis of Two-Nation Theory and India is our arch-enemy and we have to depend on our muscles to confront Indian hegemony.

"Somehow our leaders sitting in government could not understand our point of view and sometime they talked against Two-Nation Theory," he said.

To PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari's statement that first trade then Kashmir, Nizami said: "I replied him that first Kashmir then trade is possible."

He also vehemently said former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also wanted to have trade relationships with India pushing aside Kashmir issue but he also advised him to solve Kashmir issue first and then have trade relationship with India.
He said 16 years ago, Punjab former Chief Minister Ghulam Haider Wyne had laid foundation stones of Nazari-i-Pakistan Trust and Tehrik-e-Pakistan Workers Trust and provided adequate funds for its functioning. "We are using the same funds in holding different functions in its premises," he added.

He said every function being held in this building had direct link with two-nation theory in which they had tried utmost to transfer this theory to new generation and with the grace of Allah Almighty have been successful in the mission. "The credit goes to Vice-Chairman NPT Prof Dr Rafique Ahmad, Secretary NPT Shahid Rashid and their team who had devoted themselves for this noble cause," he said.
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 15:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tune in again tomorrow for another episode of "Paranoid in Pakistan"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 15:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Why not both?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/27/2008 15:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Wage war against a neighbor for the better part of fifty years, and you reliquish all "woe, woe, woe is me" credit when they cut you off at the knees.

If you gormless miserable vicious curs had not been flooding Kashmir with the most rabid of terrorists and cut-throats for thirty years, maybe the Indians would be in more of a sharing mood.

There's precious little charity in the heart of a mark who's just been kicked in the shin.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 08/27/2008 15:31 Comments || Top||

#4  How could India block Pakistan's water? I mean Pakistan has mountains to the West, they must have some snow from that brutal Afghan winter to fill up rivers and such, right?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/27/2008 16:11 Comments || Top||

#5  The evil and wicked Indians are helping the Afghans build a dam on the Kabul river that will deprive Pakistan of its water.
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 16:31 Comments || Top||

#6  I should certainly hope so, John!

Anything we can do to speed things up?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/27/2008 19:19 Comments || Top||

#7  "Better to wage an atomic war against ... than die inthe state of desert after ten years" > ECHOES OF THE RADICAL MULLAHS.

* Global Mutual Destruction + "GReat Powers" Milpol Confrontationism is to Islam = Radical Islamism's advantage.
* DITTO GLOBAL WARMING AND PAN-ENVIRON/RESOURCE CRISES.
* DITTO ANTI-US, ANTI-INVASION ASYMMETRIC DEFENSIVE NUCLEAR WAR ON IRANIAN SOIL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/27/2008 20:23 Comments || Top||

#8  perhaps India wants in on missile defense?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/27/2008 20:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Save water, drink beer.
That's all the sympathy I can muster for Wakiland.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/27/2008 21:52 Comments || Top||

#10  I thought that Pakistan already was a desert.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields || 08/27/2008 23:13 Comments || Top||


Pakistan's Musharraf: Lucrative Speaking Fees?
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned from office this past Monday, rather than face a divisive impeachment trial in parliament, may be out of power. But he is not out of the money. When the 65-year-old former army chief finally leaves his British colonial-style residence inside Rawalpindi's military garrison for an expected pilgrimage to Mecca in the next few days, he may continue traveling on a lucrative speaking tour through the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Chicago-based Embark LLC is just one of the international public-relations firms trying to land Musharraf as a highly paid keynote speaker. Public-relations executives say the articulate and brash 44-year army veteran's earning power could approach that of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who famously snubbed him during a lightning visit to Islamabad eight years ago.

"The [speaking] fee for Musharraf would be in the $150,000-200,000 range for a day," says Embark President David B. Wheeler, "plus jet and other V.I.P. arrangements on the ground." Wheeler says Clinton, for whom Embark has arranged speaking engagements in the Middle East, commands up to $250,000 per appearance. "If we did multiple events in multiple cities, [Musharraf] could get closer to the $500,000 to $1,000,000 range [for a series of talks]," he said. Embark, which promises "unique experiences that educate, entertain and enlighten," has also booked speeches for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Pakistanis who know Musharraf well say this is good news for the former president, who is not believed to have salted away a fortune as some of his predecessors have done (Musharraf will only receive a modest army retirement pension). But he is a long way from the poor house. Workers are putting the finishing touches on a mansion, said to be worth some $2 million dollars, that he is building on five acres of prime land just outside Islamabad. Since his resignation he has been playing golf and tennis with friends, surrounded by heavy security, and is also planning to write a sequel to his successful 2006 autobiography, "In the Line of Fire," which could easily net him another seven-figure windfall.
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 11:06 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nawaz Sharif will die from envy.
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2  I've never met or heard of a poor retired General of any army.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/27/2008 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I just flew in from Rawalpindi...and are my arms tired.
Hiiiiiiiiiooooooooooo...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 15:16 Comments || Top||


Draft of shariah laws for Malakand finalised
The draft of shariah laws to be implemented in the Malakand division has been finalised and the provincial government will send it to the NWFP governor for signing in the next two days, NWFP Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah said on Tuesday.

Abdullah told Daily Times that a four-member committee representing the NWFP and the federal governments had suggested amendments to the Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 1999.

"The committee has added a clause of mediation in the 1999 regulation. First, the jirga will play its role as mediator and try to resolve a dispute between two parties within 15 days, before the case can be filed in the Qazi courts," Abdullah said.

The minister said the committee had also increased the period required to decide criminal cases. He said the NWFP government had initially proposed that criminal cases must be decided within three months, but the committee fixed a four-month timeframe. For civil cases, he said the committee had bound the Qazi courts to dispose of the cases within six months.

"There will be no adjournment in a case under the amended regulation and any party seeking an adjournment will be fined," the law minister added. He said that a Shariah High Court would also be established in Malakand for appeals against the verdicts of the Qazi courts. Abdullah revealed that the NWFP Shariah Act, 2003 and the Consumer Protection Act would also be extended to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas. The law minister added that the draft of shariah laws would be sent to the NWFP governor who will sign it and send it to the president for approval.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1499...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 12:24 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq says U.S. sought troop presence to 2015
The United States asked Iraq for permission to maintain a troop presence there to 2015, but U.S. and Iraqi negotiators agreed to limit their authorization to 2011, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

"It was a U.S. proposal for the date which is 2015, and an Iraqi one which is 2010, then we agreed to make it 2011. Iraq has the right, if necessary, to extend the presence of these troops," Talabani said in an interview with al-Hurra television, a transcript of which was posted on his party's website on Wednesday. U.S. officials in Baghdad were not immediately available for comment.

Details have been slowly emerging about negotiations for the bilateral security pact, which U.S. and Iraqi officials say are close to conclusion. The agreement will provide a legal basis for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of this year.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that, while overall negotiations continued, the two sides had accepted the end of 2011 as an end date for the presence of the approximately 145,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

The emerging points of agreement reflect the increasing assertiveness of the Maliki government as it seeks to define the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq. They also reflect the political pressures that Maliki faces at home more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

U.S. officials stress that no final agreement has been made. A final deal will need to be approved by the Iraqi parliament.
Posted by: ed || 08/27/2008 06:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So we got a lot of people need kilt, and not a lot of time to do it in.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/27/2008 11:30 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Middle East: UN expert hails activists for breaching blockade
(AKI) - An independent United Nations human rights expert has hailed the landing of two wooden boats in Gaza carrying 46 human rights activists as a key symbolic victory.

The international activists from the Free Gaza Movement left the Greek island of Cyprus and sailed to the port city of Gaza on Saturday in breach of the Israeli blockade.

Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories said the activists seek to draw attention to the plight of the area's 1.5 million residents who have been "under siege" for the past year. "That siege, the coast blockade, and the overflights by Israeli aircraft all bear witness to the fact that despite Israel's claimed 'disengagement' in 2005, these realities on the ground establish that Gaza remains under Israeli occupation," he said. "As a result Israel remains legally responsible for protecting the human rights of its civilian population."

He called on the international community to take measures to ensure that human rights are respected in the Gaza Strip, calling the situation in the area one "that has been ignored, despite overwhelming evidence of deteriorating mental and physical health that has reached crisis proportions."

Falk noted that Israel's willingness to allow the two ships to enter the port could be a sign of a change in the country's approach, possibly reflecting a greater respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.

Another sign of progress, he said, would be Israel allowing the Palestinian winners of Fulbright scholarships to travel to the United States unimpeded so they can study.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Ah, yes. Certainly sounds "independent" to me.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Those 5,000 baloons will go a long way towards easing the suffering of the Paleostain people.
Posted by: Jumbo Shaique9016 || 08/27/2008 10:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Falk noted that Israel's willingness to allow the two ships to enter the port could be a sign of a change in the country's approach, possibly reflecting a greater respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.
I'm sure the Israeli coast guard could have blown them to Mars in about a second, but weren't going to play into this media-ploy.
Posted by: Free Radical || 08/27/2008 15:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Especially since the Israelis knew that the cargo was mainly balloons. I'm sure if the blockade runners had included AK-47s and RPGs in the hold, they would be sitting at the bottom of the Mediterranean right now.
Posted by: Rambler in California || 08/27/2008 20:45 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran launches submarine production line
Iran has launched a submarine production line to ensure its forces are equipped to maintain security in the vital oil shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz waterway, the defense minister said on Monday.

Iran's armed forces "have been the protector of the security of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and regards the security of this waterway as vital for itself and the countries of the region," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said.

Najjar, whose remarks were carried by Iran's ISNA news agency, was speaking at the inauguration of a submarine production line.

The agency said it was for a "semi-heavy" class of submarine called Qaim that could "carry and fire various kinds of torpedoes and subsurface missiles, as well as transport special operations personnel".

In 2005, Iran said it had launched a production line for midget submarines that experts said would most likely be used for troop transport in amphibious operations.

The experts say Iran's navy has three Russian Kilo class submarines and other smaller submersibles, including the Qadir.

Iran's state-owned Press TV's website said Iran also operated a submersible called the Nahang, a word meaning whale.

Military experts say Iran rarely reveals enough detail about its new military equipment to determine its efficacy but say the Islamic Republic, despite having much less fire-power than U.S. forces, could still cause havoc in Gulf if it was pushed.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Hmm. About time to reveal the existance of our nuclear depth charge.
Posted by: gorb || 08/27/2008 1:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I think one Los Angeles class sub could handle their entire fleet.
Posted by: Jumbo Shaique9016 || 08/27/2008 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm thinking in the other direction. The Iranians have the attitude of "a lot of little boats will win" for surface warfare, so why not the same attitude for underwater?

That is, mass produced littoral submarines with just a two or three man crew and a torpedo, or just to ram other ships and boats. A suicide submarine bomb.

That might actually be pestiferous. And it would not have to be subtle in any way. Active sonar pinging from a dozen such boats would be really annoying to a real submarine.

And what would a real sub do if it was in fairly shallow waters itself, and had only large torpedoes to attack pissant targets? Parts of the Strait of Hormuz are only 100-500m deep.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/27/2008 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Wouldn't some explosive device in the swarm do some serious damage, like a duPont spinner does in a school of fish? Shock waves propagate quite well in a water medium.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK || 08/27/2008 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  From Strategy Psge...

Iran And the Paper Submarine

August 26, 2008: Iran has announced that is has begun production of a new class of submarines that can fire both torpedoes and missiles. Iran has, as far as anyone can tell, no submarine building capability. Over the last few years, Iran has announced several new submarine construction projects. But no one can find any evidence that any of these subs exist. But all this is nothing new for the Iranians.

For the last month, Iran has made about one new weapons announcement a week. All these breakthroughs in military technology involve new systems that, on close examination amount to, well, nothing. First there was the announcement of a new robotic submarine. No details were given, but it was soon discovered that such devices are available on the commercial market, mainly for scientific research. Some nations buy them for military purposes. Apparently Iranian submarine designers know how to use Google, but their counterparts in the publicity department did not.

Then came the announcement of having combat aircraft that can fly 3,000 kilometers without refueling. Amazing? No, as Iran has had such aircraft (the U.S. F-4 fighter) for over thirty years. What were the Iranians thinking when they issued this press release?

Then a ballistic missile launch, which the Iranians touted as a successful test of a satellite launcher. Up until now, Iran has been buying satellite launching services from Russia (as does the United States and many other countries). The reality, as monitored by the radars of U.S. warships off the Iranian coast, was a launch failure. When the missile reached an altitude of about 16 kilometers, it broke up as the second stage fired. Information later leaked out of Iran that the missile was carrying a low tech communications satellite. Apparently even the Iranians were not willing to entrust this new version of their Safir ballistic missile with an expensive satellite. Finally, there was the recent announcement of the new submarine entering production, as well as two other Iranian built (over the last three years) subs that were delivered (but never seen by anyone).

The real mystery here is, why go ahead with these lies when it is so obvious that the truth will eventually come out? Apparently the Iranians believe that the initial lie will impress more people, than the eventual debunking. The Iranian religious dictatorship is preaching to their base, which tends to be poorly educated and suspicious of anyone who would criticize their religious leaders.

All this hype is nothing new. It's been going on for years. If you go back and look at the many Iranian announcements of newly developed, high tech, weapons, all you find is a photo op for a prototype, if that. Production versions of these weapons rarely show up. Iranians know that, while the clerics and politicians talk a tough game, they rarely do anything. Even Iranian support of Islamic terrorism has been far less effective than the rhetoric. The Iranians have always been cautious, which is one reason Arabs fear them. When the Iranians do make their move, it tends to be decisive. But at the moment, the Iranians have no means to make a decisive move. Their military is mostly myth, having been run down by decades of sanctions, and the disruptions of the 1980s war with Iraq. Their most effective weapon is bluster, and, so far, it appears to be working.

But the Iranians know that nuclear weapons would make their bluff and bluster even more muscular. Even the suspicion that they had nukes would be beneficial. And that appears to be the current plan. One new weapon the Iranians do put a lot of money and effort into are ballistic missiles. They are building an extended range (from 1,300 to 1,800 kilometer) version of their Shahab 3 ballistic missile. The new version puts all of Israel within range, even if fired from deep inside Iran. Chemical warheads (with nerve gas) are thought to be available for these missiles. But Israel has threatened to reply with nuclear weapons if the Iranians attack this way. Iran would probably get the worst of such an exchange, and the Iranians are aware of it.

Not all of the clerics that run the country are eager to go to war with Israel, or even threaten it. But because the clerical factions do not want to appear at odds with each other in public, the more radical leaders are allowed to rant away about attacking Israel. That's also the thinking behind the many IRGC press conferences announcing imaginary new weapons. The clerics are not going spend billions on mass production of second rate systems that are most notable for being designed in Iran, and not much else.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 10:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Iran's Nahang class...



Looks like a North Korean mini sub
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 12:33 Comments || Top||

#7  FWIW.. wikipedia

Displacement: 350-400 tons [1]
Length: 20 meters
Beam: 3 meters
Draught: 2.5 meters
Propulsion: Diesel-electric
Armament: 2 torpedo tubes, missiles
Posted by: john frum || 08/27/2008 12:36 Comments || Top||

#8 
It's a technological follow-on to the Ghadir minisub; likely based on NorK and Italian/Pakistani sub designs as well.


Think cheap, small, and lots of them.


 
Posted by: Pappy || 08/27/2008 13:06 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm thinking even simpler, like the Japanese WWII Kaiten mini subs. Very cheap to build, looked like a big torpedo with a periscope.

If they really wanted to get crafty, don't even make it out of steel, just 3" thick PVC pipe with a 5' diameter. The front end is full of explosives, the back end a battery engine. Max depths would be just a little over max scuba depth of 100m.

They could even be used to attack real submarines underneath them by making their front end detachable, a pressure sensitive depth charge. Their sneaky way to detect a submarine beneath them would be simple--it's called a light. Something I'm not even sure our submerged submarines can detect.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/27/2008 14:08 Comments || Top||

#10  Looks like it'd be ideal for smuggling drugs.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 08/27/2008 15:45 Comments || Top||

#11  I recall the old saying.
"Any ship can go down, but it takes a lot of work to come back up".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/27/2008 16:21 Comments || Top||

#12  That a Kaman class corvette in the background?

C802 vice the old harpoons (thus the humongous launchers)

Damn, where's my Janes...
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/27/2008 16:55 Comments || Top||

#13  They got a Subway franchise?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 08/27/2008 17:28 Comments || Top||


Iranian Fearless Leader backs Ahmadinejad's second term
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Wally: Lebanon united against Israel
Leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt has vowed a crushing and unified response to any aggression by Israel. "The entire Lebanese nation would repel any Israeli aggression," Jumblatt wrote in an article published by al-Anbaa newspaper.

Jumblatt made the remarks after Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert threatened to wage a new war against Lebanon if the Lebanese government allows Hezbollah to gain more power.

He said Israel must have taken lessons from its failure during the summer 2006 war against Lebanon and abandon its plans for any aggression against the country.

Jumblatt warned that any such invasion would be a blatant violation of the UN Security Councils Resolution 1701.

The resolution ended the 33-day war during which Israel destructed Lebanon's infrastructure and killed many civilians but failed to achieve all its goals including destroying Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has also vowed a crushing response to any Israeli aggression against his country.

The Druze politician also called on all political parties to be united in lines with the Doha Accord and the defense strategy endorsed by Lebanon's political camps.
Posted by: Fred || 08/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does he think this is the way forward of Lebanon?
He's helping them dig the hole.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/27/2008 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  I think Wally's trying not to end up in a hole. A six foot deep one...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/27/2008 15:18 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2008-08-27
  Nearly 50 militants killed on Pak-Afghan border
Tue 2008-08-26
  Pakistain bans TTP
Mon 2008-08-25
  Afghan commanders sacked over deadly strike
Sun 2008-08-24
  Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq arrested
Sat 2008-08-23
  Bali bombers execution to be delayed
Fri 2008-08-22
  37 more killed in Kurram festivities
Thu 2008-08-21
  TTP suicide bombers hit Pak ordnance plant; dozens dead
Wed 2008-08-20
  MILF warns Manila against ''declaring war''
Tue 2008-08-19
  10 French soldiers die in Afghan battle
Mon 2008-08-18
  Pakistan's Musharraf steps down
Sun 2008-08-17
  Baitullah launches parallel justice system for Mehsuds
Sat 2008-08-16
  36 militants killed in Afghanistan
Fri 2008-08-15
  Gunships Blast Pakistani Madrassa; Faqir Mohammad rumored titzup
Thu 2008-08-14
  Feds: Siddique wanted to poison Worst President Ever
Wed 2008-08-13
   Russian troops roll into strategic Georgian city


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