BERLIN Britain, France and Germany unveiled proposals on Sunday for an international conference on Afghanistan later this year in order to press Afghans to take more responsibility for their own country.
"What is important, and this is our joint view, is to apply pressure in order to find a way to get the Afghans to appreciate that they have to take responsibility step by step," Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint press briefing with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sorta the way Gordo does in Britain, especially when dealing with terrorists ...
The conference, the location of which is yet to be decided, "is to create some momentum and to say that we are now coming to a transitional phase following the second presidential election" in Afghanistan, she said.
With the help of an upcoming review by the new US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, it will make clear to countries involved in Afghanistan "what job they have to do and what our common aim is", Merkel said.
"The Afghan government will then know what growing responsibilities are going to be coming their way," she said, "and of course so that the international engagement ... can be reduced."
"We believe that with the presidential election, the time has come."
"It is right in my view," Brown said, "that eight years since September 11, and after many achievements in Afghanistan ... that we look at how we can get the Afghans themselves more involved in taking responsibililty for their own affairs."
The conference, which Merkel said had been "informally agreed upon" with the United States and which would include the United Nations, would be focused on three areas: security, government and development, Brown said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So thats your answer, Europe?
We need help so you will have a conference?
Maybe the next time you need help Europe, I will have a conference. I am having one later this year to talk about you new daddy Russia.
When all is said and done, it's still your new daddy.
President Hamid Karzai nudged closer to the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in Afghanistan's election, according to the latest results released today.
The Aug. 20 ballot has been marred by accusations of vote-rigging and election officials said they threw out results from 447 out of more than 26,000 polling sites because of fraud allegations. The head of the Independent Election Commission, Daoud Ali Najafi, said it was not yet clear how many votes were affected.
With 74 per cent of polling stations counted, Karzai is leading with 48.6 per cent. Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah has 30.1 per cent. Karzai needs more than 50 per cent to avoid a second round against Abdullah.
The country's election commission has slowly been releasing partial results, but says it will complete the count from all polling stations later this week.
Those results won't be finalized until later this month, after a complaints commission investigates more than 650 claims of serious violations on voting day and after. These include charges by Abdullah that Karzai supporters stuffed ballot boxes with tens of thousands of votes.
The commission has the power to nullify the results from districts or provinces, or even call for a new election, if it finds large-scale fraud.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Gotta make those votes come out the way we want them to.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/07/2009 12:24 Comments ||
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Six civilians, including a child, were among 54 people killed in a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan that targeted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban, a local official said on Sunday. The driver of one of the trucks and his son were killed separately by the Taliban, Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar said.
"According to our findings, 56 people were killed. Forty-eight men were identified as armed while the rest were civilians. Fifteen were wounded, including two Taliban," Omar said, adding that of the six civilians, one was a child killed inside one of the tankers.Afghan officials have given different death tolls related to the Taliban hijacking and the NATO airstrike, and precise figures are difficult to clarify. "All I know is that 56 were killed and 15 were wounded. I don't have the report of how many of them were civilians," said Kunduz provincial police chief General Abdul Razak Yaqubi. The strike destroyed two fuel tankers hijacked by gunmen as villagers were clamouring to collect free fuel at the Taliban's invitation, witnesses said. While officials insisted most of the dead were militants, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said any targeting of civilians was unacceptable and sent a delegation to investigate.
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] The top NATO commander in Afghanistan has visited Kunduz province, where an alliance air strike has killed up to 90 people on Friday
Gen Stanley McChrystal's visit comes a day after the air strike on two fuel tankers, which had been hijacked by the Taliban militants, leaving dozens of civilians among the dead. The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan visited the strike scene to gain first hand information and assess the situation, a provincial official said.
"As commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), nothing is more important than the safety and protection of the Afghan people," McChrystal addressed Afghan people through a radio message hours before making the trip to Kunduz. "I take this possible loss of life or injury to innocent Afghans very seriously."
He further promised that NATO forces would conduct a detailed investigation with Afghan assistance and all civilians wounded in the blast would be well treated by the ISAF medical facilities.
The deadliest air raid this year since the Farah bombing in May occurred in the wake of changes in the military strategy as Gen McChrystal promised to avoid harming non-combatants.
The United Nations also expressed concern over the killing of civilians in Kunduz, saying the body would send an investigating team, the Deputy to UN special envoy Peter Galbraith said in a statement. An ISAF 10-member team has also been dispatched to the area, visiting a hospital in Kunduz city where some of the injured are being treated.
The NATO attack occurred about 7km south-west of Kunduz city before dawn on Friday.
German forces had reported that the two tankers were hijacked by the Taliban while they were being driven from Tajikistan to supply NATO forces in Kabul. Witnesses said one of the tankers had become stuck in a river and militants asked villagers to extract fuel to make it lighter when the tankers were bombed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Not a good precedent by General McChrystal. I fully expect to see the Germans tell us to piss off soon and leave.
#2
"As commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), nothing is more important than the safety and protection of the Afghan people,"
No?
I thought your job was to WIN THIS WAR.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/07/2009 12:22 Comments ||
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Not a good precedent by General McChrystal.
Unless he concludes the Germans made the right decision, which I suspect he will.
Libya will resist compensating the families of people killed by Libyan explosives supplied to the Irish Republican Army, the son of the country's leader said Monday.
Victims' families believe Libya should take some responsibility for IRA attacks because the country once supplied weapons and explosives--including Semtex plastic explosive--to terrorists around the world. The explosive was used by the IRA during the 1980s and 1990s.
But Col. Moammar Gadhafi's son, Saif, told Sky News that Libya would fight the issue in court. "Anyone can knock on our door. You go to the court," he said. "They have their lawyers. We have our lawyers."
The compensation issue has grown heated in recent days amid an outburst of rage that followed the release of the Lockerbie bomber, who was serving a life sentence for the 1988 deaths of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
The issue of whether the government struck deals with the Libyans to further commercial ties in exchange for the release of the bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, has dominated headlines--and shows no sign of abating.
Scottish officials freed al-Megrahi, 57, Aug. 20 on compassionate grounds because he is dying of prostate cancer.
In his interview with Sky, Gadhafi's son attacked "disgusting" and "immoral" British politicians whom he accused of manipulating the issue for personal gain. "Politicians, both in the U.K. and America, are trying to use this human tragedy--both Mr. (al) Megrahi and the families--for their own political agenda," he said. "It's a tragedy. It's completely immoral."
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times issued new documents that suggested Britain failed to press the compensation issue because of fears that burgeoning ties with Tripoli might be jeopardized. The report added to questions about whether trade ties also influenced last month's decision to release al-Megrahi.
The news outraged British survivors of IRA bombings--particularly since U.S. victims of Libya-sponsored terrorist attacks have secured a separate compensation deal with Tripoli. Libya last year cut a deal with the Bush administration establishing a compensation fund worth $1.5 billion to cover all U.S. citizens (or if dead, their next of kin) victimized by Libyan-sponsored terror. This includes a handful who were killed or maimed in IRA attacks in London in mid-1970s to early 1980s.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he would offer diplomatic support to private efforts to secure compensation. But British officials have said they will not pursue the issue directly with Libya. "I desperately care about what has happened to the people who have been victims of IRA terrorism," Brown said.
Britain has been at the forefront of efforts to have Libya shed the image of pariah state. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Gadhafi renounced terrorism, dismantled his country's secret nuclear program, accepted his government's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims. Brown and other government officials stressed the need to keep Libya on that route when explaining why they did not press the Libyans for compensation for the IRA's attacks.
But documents released Sunday--including a letter sent from Middle East minister Bill Rammell to Jonathan Ganesh, a survivor of one of the IRA bombings--suggest that the government was also keeping Libya's vast oil wealth in mind.
#1
The court's usual answer when a guilty party says FU, is to sieze their asets.
MAKE IT SO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/07/2009 12:27 Comments ||
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Given that Libya already surrendered on the issue to the Americans, it seems likely they'd lose in a British court. On the other hand, PM Brown has already rolled over, eagerly, in order to get Libyan oil contracts, so Col. Gadhafi is probably feeling pretty confident the PM won't allow the case to get to court. National security, or some such nonsense.
Mohammed Al-Nujeimi, a member of the Ministry of Interior's Advisory Committee, has said that no females have come before him during the course of his work and that the majority of persons coming before the committee in recent years held qualifications no higher than secondary school certificates. "University graduates were very few prior to the list of 44 recently announced by the Ministry of Interior," Al-Nujeimi said in reference to the announcement last month of arrests made between July 9 and Aug. 2 of this year who boasted among their ranks holders of doctorate degrees and university professors specialized in fields such as electronic and electrical engineering and computers, as well as Shariah law, including theology and comparative jurisprudence.
"Really, only the stupid and the ignorant go a'jihading. Perhaps the genetically damaged as well."
Working at the committee which seeks to rehabilitate persons charged with terrorist offenses or submitting to "deviant ideology," Al-Nujeimi said that he, personally, had not been presented with any one holding higher education qualifications. "Many of the people to whom I have given advisory consultation have corrected their ideas and shown regret for them and what has resulted from them," Al-Nujeimi added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Ongoing, BP, ongoing. Problem is the population is dis-armed, and, thus, psychologically disadvantaged.
All and any attacks on us, non-Muslims, piss be on Mo'hamhed. are answered by mealie-mouthed politicians, and excused by bad policing.
A man regarded as one of Britain's most dangerous terror suspects has been freed from virtual house arrest to avoid disclosing secret evidence against him, it was reported today. Home Secretary Alan Johnson is said to have released the man, known only as AF, from a three-year control order -- which involved him being tagged -- despite still believing him a threat.
The move came as the suspect prepared for a legal hearing at which Mr Johnson might have been forced to reveal the secret intelligence on which the state relied to justify confining him to his home for up to 16 hours a day.
The 28-year-old, who has dual Libyan and British nationality, has never been charged. He was said to feel 'numb, almost in disbelief' after having his tag taken off last week for the first time since his control order was granted in 2006.
He was one of three terror suspects who won a landmark Law Lords ruling in July that their control orders were illegal because they had not been given sufficient details of the case against them.
The ruling opened the door for 20 other men under control orders to seek to know the case against them.
Mr Johnson said at the time that the Home Office would contest each case vigorously. But it is understood that there were concerns that intelligence sources may be jeopardised if ministers were forced to disclose the evidence on which the control orders were based.
Lord Pannick, QC, who led the legal team acting for the AF in the House of Lords, said: 'The Home Secretary has some explaining to do. Does he now accept that there was no need for the control order which imposed severe restrictions on AF... or does he still think there is a need for controls but is unwilling to provide details of the allegations against AF?
'If the latter, does he accept that the control order regime is defective and should be scrapped?'
It is understood that he was born in 1981 to a Libyan father and English mother in Derby and now lives in Manchester.
It was reported that Mr Johnson wrote to AF's lawyers to say he was revoking his control order, without giving any reason for the decision.
Now the man's solicitor Carl Richmond told Carl Richmond said that the legal team will seek to have the control order formally quashed in the High Court later this year.
'He feels numb about it all, almost disbelief,' Mr Richmond said. 'The letter came out of the blue, with no warning,' he told The Times.
He added: 'The control order was revoked last week. He has had his electronic tag removed and is just coming to terms with trying to readjust to a normal life. AF has always insisted that he has done nothing wrong. Clearly any evidence was such that the Home Secretary felt unable to disclose it.
'But we would argue that it was not material and could not have been relied upon in any case.'
The Home Office declined to confirm whether the control order had been revoked or to make any comment on the case.
So Bambi's anger was just play-acting. How unexpected.
Downing Street has hit back at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for attacking the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.
President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was disingenuous.
British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahis return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahis release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.
The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britains discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi, said the Whitehall aide. We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahis return was out of the blue.
'They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahis case.
Mr Obama said Megrahis release on compassionate grounds was a mistake while Mrs Clinton phoned the Scottish administration to complain in person.
American politicians claimed the Anglo-US special relationship had been damaged for years to come because the UK had gone back on a joint pledge that Megrahi would stay behind bars in Scotland. Former US Justice Department official David Rivkin said it was duplicitous behaviour.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi's return.
#6
first he coddles Chavez, then denounces the "coup" in Honduras, now he is caught lying with regard to the Lockerbie mess. I think we definitly have the Manchurian Candidate on our hands
[Iran Press TV Latest] Police have arrested 90 people after racially-charged anti-Islam demonstration in the city of Birmingham, central England, turned violent.
The unrest broke out when supporters of an English nationalist group, the English Defence League, encountered anti-fascist activists during a rally on Saturday opposing expansion of Islamic ideas in Britain, West Midlands police said Sunday.
About 200 people were involved in the clashes with both sides throwing projectiles and running from riot police, prompting authorities to arrest 90 people, all under 40 years of age, on suspicion of criminal damage and violent disorder.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 200 belonged to each side, as the youths had their faces covered in most of the television footage of the incident in the city's downtown area.
Clashes also erupted last month at a similar demonstration in Birmingham, a diverse city of about 1 million where nearly a third of the population is nonwhite.
The English Defence League, which denies racism charge, blames counter-demonstrators for inciting violence at its rallies. It has planned protest marches in other cities, including one next month in Manchester.
British nationalist groups and political parties seek to spark anti-Islam sentiment in the UK.
A Muslim community leader in Loughton, Essex, who was abducted and threatened last week over Friday prayer sessions he has been leading, accused the far-right British National Party (BNP) for ordering the assault.
The BNP denies the charge.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Nice try Iran Press at making up fascist propaganda.
Posted by: ed ||
09/07/2009 9:57 Comments ||
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#3
It was not immediately clear how many of the 200 belonged to each side, as the youths had their faces covered in most of the television footage of the incident in the city's downtown area.......
...many were heard chanting "One Country/One Flag/One Language."
#4
The unrest broke out when supporters of an English nationalist group, the English Defence League, encountered anti-fascist activists during a rally on Saturday opposing expansion of Islamic ideas in Britain, West Midlands police said Sunday.
Am I misreading this, or are both groups seeking the same goals? And, if they are both against the "expansion of Islamic ideas in Britain", why would they fight each other? "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".
#8
Am I misreading this, or are both groups seeking the same goals?
I think you're misreading it, WolfDog. The anti-fascists are multi-culti leftists who fancy themselves on the side of the oppressed natives (in the little, brown-skinned sense) against the fascist, imperialist Brits who won't even allow the natives to speak their native language... or something equally confused and stupid. Elsewhere the EDL are accused of being Britain's KKK.
#11
It's like the tea parties here, tipper. The Establishment really needs to think about what changed so drastically that normally apolitical types have decided to get involved in large numbers, and not with the traditional parties.
Korea's Kim Jong il has suspended a propaganda campaign to promote his youngest son as future leader after apparently winning the regime's support for the succession plan, analysts say.
After securing acceptance of Jong-un's position as eventual heir, Kim may be concerned not to weaken his own authority in the interim, they say. Succession speculation began in earnest after Kim, now 67, suffered a stroke around August 2008.
For months afterward the hard-line Communist state made a series of bellicose moves, including missile launches and a nuclear test.
US and South Korean officials said they suspected the ailing leader was staging a show of strength as he tried to put a succession plan in place. In early August the regime began a series of peace overtures, starting with a pardon for two jailed US journalists after former president Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang.
Cheong Seong-chang of Seoul's Sejong Institute think tank said the conciliatory moves "reveal Kim's confidence that the son has firmly established his position."
Clinton spent three hours with Kim and found him "unexpectedly spry," the New York Times reported. "Kim, who is believed to have recovered his health to some extent, appears to be no longer concerned about a power struggle," Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-hwan told AFP. "That means, in other words, that the regime has regained stability. Now Jung-un's position (as heir) appears to be firmer than before."
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Residents in Urumqi city demanded further action Sunday after the sacking of two top officials in restive Xinjiang region over hundreds of syringe attacks that sparked deadly protests.
The sceptical reaction to the sackings came as the under fire Communist Party head in Xinjiang said the government would send 7,000 officials -- 'harmony-makers' -- to Urumqi to ease tension, state media reported.
The city's party chief and the region's top police official were dismissed in the wake of mass protests that left four people dead and 14 in hospital, but residents said this was not enough.
'They will have a small impact but this is not really what we wanted,' said Du Xuelian, a clerk in a shop selling eyeglasses in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Xinjiang.
'We want them to solve these problems. Changing officials isn't really the answer.'
The protests in Urumqi began on Wednesday with angry citizens demanding the government act to stop a spate of mysterious syringe attacks, just under two months after ethnic riots in the city left nearly 200 mostly Han Chinese dead.
An uneasy calm only returned to the city of 1.8 million on Saturday after three days of protests -- mostly by Han who said members of the mainly Muslim Uighur minority had carried out the needle stabbings.
Liu Jialong, the owner of another glasses shop, called on the new officials to act firmly.
'This (the sackings) will definitely have an impact. But long term, to solve all these problems, it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort,' he said.
'We hope the new officials will have greater resolve in handling these affairs.'On Sunday, life in Urumqi began to return to normal, with pedestrians and traffic back on the streets.
But in a sign of continued tension, thousands of armed police were spread out in the city and officers searched the bags of passing men and women in the traditional Uighur district, as plainclothes officials looked on.
'It's really sad to live like this,' said a 37-year-old store owner, who refused to be named -- a member of the Uighur minority.
'We don't know how long it will be before we can relax again.'More than 530 people have gone to hospital after being stabbed with syringes in Urumqi in the past few weeks, official media said, and authorities have stressed that both Han and Uighurs were victims of the attacks.
China has arrested four people in connection with the stabbings, and four others are to be prosecuted.
A statement by law enforcement authorities on Sunday said the attackers would face harsh punishment and even death if the syringes were found to have passed on poisonous or harmful substances, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Separately, Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, said the protests were triggered when four people stabbed a Han Chinese woman with syringes in a shopping area in Urumqi, Xinhua reported.
Wang, whom protesters had demanded be sacked over the syringe attacks but survived Saturday's cull of top-ranking officials, said the government would send more than 7,000 'harmony-makers' to the city.
'The officials will go door to door to explain policies and solve disputes,' Xinhua quoted Wang saying late Sunday.
The mass dispatch of officials was intended to 'smash the separatist sabotage,' the report quote him saying, adding Urumqi was now stable but also fragile with sporadic needle stabbings still occurring.
Urumqi city prosecutor Udgar Abdulrahman has said that in one of the needle attacks, a 47-year-old Uighur man assaulted police with a syringe containing heroin.
In another case, two drug addicts -- a Uighur man and woman -- threatened a taxi driver with a syringe and robbed him, before being arrested.
A panel of medical specialists told reporters it had examined the records of 217 victims and that so far there was no evidence they had contracted diseases related to radioactive substances, anthrax, hepatitis B or AIDS.
Tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs have been high since the July unrest, blamed by China on 'separatists' but which Uighurs say was sparked when Chinese security forces reacted harshly to peaceful protests.
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik on Sunday said he saw Jammu and Kashmir as an independent and secular state in the future, a private TV channel reported. "I am not talking about Western secularism but pointing towards the secularism which is based on religious mysticism," he explained.
Clearly I'm not mystical enough. That made absolutely no sense to me.
Malik asked India and Pakistan to resume peace talks and include the Kashmiri leadership in the process as well. He said all stakeholders, including mujahideen, should be included in the peace process. "We don't want to listen to decisions about Jammu and Kashmir on television or radios," he said, adding Pakistan and India were just "informing" Kashmiris about their decisions.
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Afghan Taliban declined a request for help from the militants in Swat by reminding them of their policy of non-interference in Pakistan's affairs.
Talib Unity strikes again.
Sources among the Afghan Taliban told The News that the Swat Taliban had approached them recently and sought help in their battle against Pakistan's security forces. The sources didn't provide details as to how and where the Afghan Taliban were approached. It wasn't possible to seek comment from the Swat Taliban about the issue as all their commanders and spokesman Muslim Khan have gone into hiding to avoid capture.
A senior Afghan Taliban official, requesting anonymity, contacted The News from an undisclosed location to confirm that they were approached by the Swati militants for help in their fight against Pakistan's armed forces. "We told them that the Afghan Taliban have a standard policy not to interfere in Pakistan's affairs. We reiterated our policy and requested the Swat Taliban not to involve us in Pakistan's internal matters," he explained.
Please don't hurt us! We're being good and staying on our side of the line.
It may be added that the Afghan Taliban have often been linked to the Pakistani Taliban. There have been credible reports that Taliban leader Mulla Muhammad Omar has been sending emissaries to mediate between warring Pakistani Taliban leaders and request them not to fight with each other. Every Pakistani Taliban commander ranging from the late Nek Muhammad to Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan on August 5, and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Maulvi Nazeer, Maulana Faqir Muhammad to Hakimullah Mehsud has pledged allegiance to Mulla Omar and often referred to him as their Amirul Momineen, or Commander of the Faithful.
Faithful. Uh huh.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, an important Afghan Taliban commander operating in Khost, Paktia, Paktika and Kabul provinces, has often mediated between the rival Pakistani Taliban factions on behalf of Mulla Omar. He and other Afghan Taliban officials have also played a role in arranging truce and peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistan government in some of the tribal areas.
However, there have been only a few instances of Afghan Taliban commanders becoming involved in the fighting between the Pakistani militants and security forces. One such commander was Saeedur Rahman in Charmang area in Bajaur Agency who fought the Pakistani security forces along side the local militants. The other Afghan Taliban commander, who became part of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was Yahya Hijrat, who operated out of Jamrud in Khyber Agency and was blamed for most of the attacks on the Afghanistan-bound trucks carrying supplies for Nato forces. Hijrat was captured some months ago and was later found dead along with a few other militants near Peshawar in an incident that was described by government officials as an encounter with the police.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like they know where their paychecks come from.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani revealed on Sunday that the terrorists who attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year were financed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Talking to reporters after visiting Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi at the Al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday, Gilani said that he had been told by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse -- during his recent visit to Libya -- that the Tamil Tigers had funded terror attacks in Pakistan, including the commando-style attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore's Liberty market roundabout. The PM said that both countries were investigating this possibility, adding that the LTTE may have funded other attacks in Pakistan as well. The prime minister also said that Interior Ministry officials will visit Sri Lanka to follow up on this lead.
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an/Agencies -- Senior Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al on Sunday warned Arab states to be wary of Israel's proposal to temporarily slow settlement construction in exchange for normalization of ties, describing it as a "dangerous equation."
"There is an Israeli effort to avoid the American demands, Mash'al said, referring to US call for a total settlement freeze. "We warn against any Arab rush toward normalization."
Speaking during a news conference in Cairo on Sunday, Mash'al said he welcomed the Obama administration's calls for a settlement freeze, but said he awaited concrete US measures in the peace process
The Hamas political chief was referring to reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to demand a normalization of relations with Arab states in exchange for a partial freeze on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Mash'al, who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria, was speaking alongside Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa after the two held meetings on the internal Palestinian conflict and the larger Arab-Israeli confrontation.
It would indeed be difficult for Hamas to normalize relations with an entity they are committed to destroy and replace.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, why rush? Maybe the Juice will all throw themselves into the sea. Or maybe they will finally lose patience with your murderous ass-hattery and have it out in one final Armageddon. Either way, the question will be moot.
Ma'an -- Pacifist Islamic movement Hizb Ut-Tahrir released a statement on Sunday arguing that "elections under occupation" would be "abominable and criminal act" regardless of being held upon national agreement or not.
The comments came in response to Gaza government Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's remark last week that "elections in the West Bank without national agreement would be a criminal act."
Haniyeh himself was responding to President Mahmoud Abbas' declaration that he plans to proceed with elections as scheduled in January.
Hizb Ut-Tahrir, worldwide movement favoring the peaceful creation of a transnational Islamic state, sees both the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government in Gaza as illegitimate. The group has a small but devoted following in the West Bank and Gaza.
The statement also criticized Haniyeh saying he would not oppose a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital while making sure Palestinian refugees return to Palestine.
Hizb Ut-Tahrir also slammed Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) official Hasan Khreisha for saying, "If elections are not held in time, all officials will become illegitimate."
According to the Hizb Ut-Tahrir, "All political actions which are not based on Sharia (religious law) are illegitimate. Everybody who agrees on a Palestinian state within 1967 borders is illegitimate because that will mean giving up on Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.
In this regard, Hizb Ut-Tahrir says the de facto government in Gaza is similar to the Palestinian Authority in religious terms. "Continuing to speak about accepting a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, the authority in Gaza proves to be following the footsteps of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah as they have the same political proposal," the statement explained.
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09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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A dispute between Hamas's political leaders and military commanders is hindering mediation efforts to reach a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend.
The sources told The Jerusalem Post that one of the commanders of Hamas's armed wing, Muhammad Sinwar, is insisting that his brother Yahya be included in any prisoner swap.
Yahya Sinwar is one the founders of Hamas's military wing and has been in Israeli prison since 1989 for his involvement in terrorism.
The sources said that Muhammad Sinwar, who was directly involved in the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006, had threatened to harm him if his brother were not included in a prisoner exchange.
Last week Hamas's political leaders informed the Sinwar family in Khan Yunis that their son would most likely be released from prison, but would be deported to Syria or another Arab country.
The family has rejected the offer, insisting that Yahya Sinwar be allowed to return to his home in Khan Yunis.
The sources said that Muhammad Sinwar's threats to harm Schalit had angered the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip and Syria.
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was said, according to the sources, to have phoned Muhammad Sinwar to reassure him that his brother would be freed. Mashaal also promised to make sure that the brother was permitted to stay with his family in Khan Yunis when and if he's released.
Sinwar's demand is believed to enjoy the full backing of Ahmed Ja'bari, overall commander of Izzadin Kassam, the armed wing of Hamas, the sources added.
The row between the armed wing and the political leadership of Hamas was likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian and German mediators who had been working hard to forge a deal between the Islamist movement and Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas representatives gave conflicting statements regarding Mashaal's visit to Cairo over the weekend. Some said the trip was linked to efforts to reach a prisoner agreement with Israel, while others said it came in the context of Egypt's efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Yar! We'll dig him up and kill him again!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/07/2009 9:35 Comments ||
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In the last few weeks, a new mortar shell was successfully tested by the Raytheon Company. The mortar shell is part of the Guided Accuracy system, which is produced by the Israel Military Industries (IMI).
The system is directed by GPS and has new abilities considered very accurate. The modern technology allows soldiers to navigate the course of the mortar shell to the target through a GPS system, up to a distance of ten meters from the launching point.
The mortar shell is expected to be used by battalions of the US military, among other things in the framework of the military operations in Afghanistan. This is the only mortar shell worldwide that reaches such high accuracy, Bill Peterson, the director of the project at Raytheon pointed out.
The mortar shell has the ability to cope in an advanced way with wind and stormy weather in the mountains. We are ready to quickly deliver the system to be used by the forces in the Afghan mountains, he added. A member of the IMI claims that the system could also be used by the IDF, and according to him, the IDF might purchase it within the next few years.
The system was tested by the US military throughout the last few weeks. During the tests, the shells were fired at a variety of targets in mountainous areas. The shells were fired under conditions similar to battle, including extreme temperatures, and the mortar shell hit precisely seven out of eight times.
IMI chairman Avner Raz is satisfied with the results of the tests and explains that the development of new technology for combat soldiers has become a supreme objective of the strategic program of IMI. The CEO of IMI, Avi Felder, concluded that the success of Raytheons demonstration helps both companies.
#3
If crunch time comes that means a mortar crew can bring fire within 30-35 feet of the tube. Now that's barely outside the kill radius and I think they would call that "close" fire support.
The backside of a wall, hill or onto a rooftop? Cool!
A former Al-Qaeda member alleged to have funded deadly suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital in July challenged his arrest in court on Monday.
Lawyers for radical publisher Mohammed Jibril Abdurahman, 24, who goes by the online moniker 'Prince of Jihad', argued in the South Jakarta district court that his August arrest be overturned. 'Mohammed Jibril Abdurahman's arrest was illegal because no arrest warrant was issued... his family were not given any letter of his arrest,' defence lawyer Mohammed Hariadi Nasution said. 'There is insufficient proof to detain Mohammed Jibril Abdurahman... we ask for his release and removal of his detention status,' he said.
Police have alleged Mohammed Jibril channelled money from abroad to fund the two July 17 suicide bombings, which killed seven people and two bombers in Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. Police have not said where the money has come from, but have been investigating the possibility the attacks were funded by phone or Internet banking from the Middle East. Police have said the money could have come from brokers for Al-Qaeda.
Mohammed Jibril was allegedly a member of an Al-Qaeda linked group in Pakistan. He could also face charges of conspiracy and aiding terrorism as well as immigration violations and falsifying documents.
A group of Japanese experts, who had been given access to the LTTE-held area shortly after tsunami in December, 2004 had helped terrorists build a channel to launch underwater craft.
The foreigners had worked on the project for some time in a high security zone in the Puthukudirippu area, well informed sources said. Responding to our queries, sources said that though the 58 Division had found a 360-foot long and 25-foot wide tunnel and a 300-foot long and 30-foot deep dock early May, the involvement of Japanese experts in this project had not come to light until recently.
Sources said that the then Brigadier Shavindra Silvas troops had captured the tunnel in the Irattavaikkal area three weeks before the army finished off the LTTE leadership on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon on May 19.
Sources said that the LTTE planned to float the submersible from the dock to the sea through the camouflaged tunnel. Sources asserted that the LTTE could have used the same technique to take in a submersible.
In the wake of tsunami, the then UNF government allowed experts from many countries to launch rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the LTTE-held area. According to information from LTTE suspects in custody, the Japanese team had also helped them develop submersibles though their first attempt to test the first craft ended in failure.
Divers subsequently recovered it close to Farah III, a Turkish ship which had run aground at Vellimullivaikkal.
The Sri Lankan government said Sunday it had ordered a senior United Nations official to leave the country over comments he made about the recently ended war against Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.
James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), appeared regularly on foreign television news channels and in print media discussing the bloody ethnic conflict and its effects on young people.
"His visa has been cancelled from Sept. 7 and he was ordered to leave immediately. But the UN appealed for more time and we extended until Sept. 21," P.B. Abeykoon, Controller of Immigration and Emigration, told AFP. Abeykoon said the government took the decision some months ago based on "adverse remarks made to the media", but he declined to give further details.
Elder, an Australian passport holder, has been working for UNICEF in Sri Lanka since July last year and had a residency visa valid until 2010.
The Sri Lanka government maintained tight control of media coverage of the fighting, banning virtually all access to the conflict zone in the northeast and issuing few visas to international reporters.
Before the government's defeat of the Tiger rebel forces in May, Elder spoke of the "unimaginable hell" suffered by children caught up in the last stages of the war. In April he said hundreds of children had been killed in the previous months of battle and that those who survived were "living in dire circumstances, caught in the crossfire".
Mr. Elder neglected to mention the children were being placed in the crossfire by the Tamil Tigers, most deliberately.
Elder had also called for the government to lift its restrictions on aid groups that have been trying to help hundreds of thousands of war refugees still detained in makeshift state-run camps. The Sri Lanka government has shown little patience with critics of its military offensive to crush the Tigers, dismissing concerns expressed by the United Nations, the United States and dozens of rights groups.
UNICEF said Sunday it was seeking more details on Elder's visa status. "James Elder has been UNICEF's voice advocating on behalf of those who do not have a voice - children and the most vulnerable," Sarah Crowe, UNICEF's regional chief of communications, told AFP from New Delhi. "We strongly feel that he should continue to act as an impartial advocate on behalf of Sri Lanka's most vulnerable women and children."
And so he shall. Just not from Sri Lankan soil.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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A CARGO ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel.
The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth £1.3m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24. It was recovered off west Africa on August 17 when eight alleged hijackers were arrested. The Kremlin has consistently denied that the vessel was carrying a secret cargo. It claims the ship was hijacked by criminals who demanded a £1m ransom.
The official version was challenged by sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow who claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.
It would have been terribly embarrassing if it became known that yet another Russian client had its head handed to it by Israel just after yet another cutting edge Russian military system was installed.
Mossad, which closely monitors arms supplies to Iran, is said to have tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld.
"Former military...linked to the underworld." What a lovely, face-saving statement.
The Kremlin then ordered a naval rescue mission which involved destroyers and submarines. Any evidence that the Kremlin had let advanced weaponry fall into the hands of criminals or be sold to Iran would be highly embarrassing, so military officials believe a "cover story" was concocted.
Sunshine is indeed the best disinfectant.
"The official version is ridiculous and was given to allow the Kremlin to save face," said a Russian military source. "I've spoken to people close to the investigation and they've pretty much confirmed Mossad's involvement. It's laughable to believe all this fuss was over a load of timber. I'm not alone in believing that it was carrying weapons to Iran."
The alleged hijackers, four Estonians, two Russians and two Latvians, will go on trial in Moscow. According to the Kremlin's account, they boarded the Arctic Sea in the Baltic by claiming their inflatable craft was in trouble and then took over the ship at gunpoint.
Sources in Moscow suggested Mossad may have played a part in the alleged hijacking by setting up a criminal gang, who were unlikely to have known anything about a secret cargo. "The best way for the Israelis to block the cargo from reaching Iran would have been to create a lot of noise around the ship," said a former army officer. "Once the news of the hijack broke, the game was up for the arms dealers. The Russians had to act. That's why I don't rule out Mossad being behind the hijacking. It stopped the shipment and gave the Kremlin a way out so that it can now claim it mounted a brilliant rescue mission."
According to Israeli military sources, Israel received intelligence that weapons bound for Iran were being loaded in Kaliningrad, a port notorious for gun runners. "A decision was then taken to inform the Kremlin," said the source. Had the S-300 missiles been delivered, Iran would have significantly strengthened its air defences. An Israeli air force source said that in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear installations, such missiles could increase Israeli casualties by 50%.
Since the Arctic Sea was retaken, Russia has imposed a security blackout. The hijackers, the crew and two investigative teams were flown back to Moscow in three Il-76 air freight planes. For more than a week after being freed the crew were not allowed to talk to their families. The captain and three crew are still on board the ship, which has resumed its voyage to Algeria, but they have not been able to call home.
Resumed its voyage carrying the original cargo of missiles? I'm confused.
Last week Mikhail Voitenko, an outspoken piracy expert who disputed the Kremlin's original version of events, fled Russia, claiming he had received threats from an official angered by his statements.
Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia's armed forces and the European Union's rapporteur on piracy, has infuriated Moscow by saying the only plausible explanation of the mystery is that the ship was transporting weapons. A spokesman for the Finnish owners denied that missiles could have been secretly loaded onto the ship.
Sources who suspect Mossad's involvement point to a visit to Moscow by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, the day after the Arctic Sea was rescued. Peres held four hours of private talks with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president. Although the Israeli foreign ministry would not be drawn on the Arctic Sea, it confirmed that the two leaders had discussed the sale of Russian weapons to countries hostile to Israel. According to Israeli officials, Peres received verbal guarantees from the Russians that they would not sell advanced weapons systems to Iran or Syria.
Guarantees worth exactly the value of the air playing over the tonsils of President Medvedev as he spoke. But perhaps I am overly cynical.
"Clearly the Israelis played a role in the whole Arctic Sea saga," said a Russian military source. "Peres used the incident as a bargaining chip over the issue of arms sales to Arab states, while Israel allowed the Kremlin a way out with its claims to have successfully foiled a piracy incident."
"I could have got away with it, if it weren't for those damned juices!"
[Iran Press TV Latest] Influential Iranian cleric and politician Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani says no one should get cold feet in restoring one's rights.
"It is a vital need of the Islamic Republic and establishment to find a way to strengthen national unity and establish peace in the country," said Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who heads both the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts, on Sunday.
Referring to Iran's post-election developments, he said, "In the recent events, the sides should act in a way which will guarantee national unity," adding that efforts to vindicate the rights of people should be emphasized, the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported.
Rafsanjani made the remarks in a ceremony to commemorate Ayatollah Ali Qoddousi, the first Iranian prosecutor general, who was killed by the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) in Tehran in 1981.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Of course they did. Using science and piped meringue.
Iran said on Sunday it had developed weapons systems to intercept stealth cruise missiles, state-run Press TV reported.
Israel and the United States have not ruled out possible military action if diplomatic efforts fail to curb an Iranian nuclear program the West suspects could yield atomic weapons. Iran insists it seeks only to generate electrical power.
"The Iranian air force has managed to build tens of anti-aircraft batteries and missile systems in addition to sophisticated radar systems," said General Ahmad Miqani, an air defense commander, quoted by Iran's English-language satellite news network. "Today, the military is able to both detect stealth cruise missiles and destroy them," the television quoted Miqani as saying. He gave no further details.
That's because there aren't any, not even the ones he just gave.
Cruise missiles are designed to fly low to their targets, hugging the contours of the land to avoid radar.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What stealth cruise missiles?
Not they are not a good idea...
#3
Anuyway, IIRc the 1999 serbia bombing campaign, I would think that cruise missiles are actually quite vulnerable to standard AA fire; didn't the serbs down quite a few, as they knew the "bottlenecks" passages over which they had to flow? (Not to mention the french officer who was arrested for passing out classified flight infos to serbs; note that interestingly enuff, this one still is somewhat active, at least online, mostly as a - rightwing - conspiracy theorist/truther).
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.
BERLIN Britain, France and Germany unveiled proposals on Sunday for an international conference on Afghanistan later this year in order to press Afghans to take more responsibility for their own country.
President Hamid Karzai nudged closer to the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in Afghanistan's election, according to the latest results released today.
Libya will resist compensating the families of people killed by Libyan explosives supplied to the Irish Republican Army, the son of the country's leader said Monday. 
Korea's Kim Jong il has suspended a propaganda campaign to promote his youngest son as future leader after apparently winning the regime's support for the succession plan, analysts say.
A CARGO ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel. 
