So it is, however. Within minutes of meeting Marines who patrol this former Taliban stronghold from the Yellow Schoolhouse, a rundown former Afghan school here, I was asked my opinion about Palin, a hero to many politically conservative Americans. Before I had a chance to answer, however, I was introduced to fun-loving Gunnery Sgt. Benjamin Lepping's left butt cheek.
Sure enough, there's a realistic caricature of Palin there, perhaps four inches wide and five inches tall. She's wearing her trademark glasses and smiling, her hair in a bun.
Lepping is attached to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. Lepping, a technician with 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., said he got the tattoo last June while on a routine assignment in Alaska. He and a few colleagues were sent there to clear ordnance from Air Force bombing ranges, and apparently had quite a bit of fun enjoying the nightlife after work each night.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Boss Joluth7350 ||
05/31/2010 15:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Shouldn't that read" ''wearing her trademark glassed and smiling, her face on his bum?"
Millions of dollars of Saudi Arabian money have flowed into Afghanistan over the past four years, the countryâs intelligence officials say, with the sponsorship of terrorism its most likely use.
According to members of the Afghan financial intelligence unit, FinTraca, the funds, totalling more than £920 million, enter from Pakistan, where they are converted into rupees or dollars, the favoured currency for terrorist operations.
âWe can trace it back as far as an entry point in Waziristan,â said Mohammed Mustafa Massoudi, the director-general of FinTraca in Kabul. âWhy would anyone want to put such money into Waziristan? Only one reason â' terrorism.â
The revelations illuminate the difficulties in dividing the Taleban from al-Qaeda influence and the continuing involvement of Saudi donors in sponsoring the insurgency.
Authorities have demanded that Afghan insurgents renounce their relations with al-Qaeda as a precondition for any integration into the political process.
Direct al-Qaeda involvement in southern Afghanistan is seen as minimal. Coalition intelligence officers recently told The Times that only half a dozen foreign voices had been detected among 13,000 intercepted conversations in the area in April.
However, the flow of Arab funds to the Taleban poses a strategic obstacle to the counter-insurgency campaign.
It also suggests that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the offshoot, still has a potent and far-reaching financial ability. Although Saudi Arabia â' the home of the bin Laden family â' is considered a key ally in the war against terror, a US government report last year said that private Saudi backers were the chief source of finance for the Taleban.
Moreover, the influx of Saudi money is on the increase. The £920 million, or five billion Saudi riyals, monitored by FinTraca since 2006 has accelerated, peaking this year. Most of it entered Afghanistan through the Pakistani tribal area, in particular North Waziristan, which is infamous as al-Qaedaâs heartland.
Officials would not disclose the precise route that the Saudi money takes before arriving in North Waziristan â' a repeated target of US drone attacks on al-Qaeda operatives and members of the Afghan Haqqani network. âThat is a question for Pakistan to answer,â a FinTraca official said.
Mr Massoudi said that the Saudi riyals were moved from Waziristan to Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, where Pakistani nationals were used to exchange the cash for local currency or dollars.
Exactly what happens to this cash is unclear, given the murky nature of the transactions and the absence of controls on money leaving or entering Afghanistan. The riyals, in the hands of Pakistani money-changers, are recycled back into regular cash channels, also through Afghanistan.
âPakistan has strict financial regulations so the riyals cannot simply be removed from Pakistan after theyâve been exchanged,â Mr Massoudi said. More
[Quqnoos] British premier has convened a secret meeting of military experts, ministers this week to review strategy on Afghanistan, according to reports
The meeting on Tuesday will also be attended by members of the British new National Security Council, who include Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, Liam Fox, the defence secretary, William Hague, the foreign secretary, and George Osborne, the chancellor.
Last weekend the coalition government in Britain was accused of lacking a coherent strategy in Afghanistan after Fox, on a visit to the country, called for troops to be pulled out "as soon as possible" and said British soldiers were not there "for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th century country".
One of those attending Tuesday's meeting, Conservative MP Adam Holloway, a former soldier who served in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan, suggested publicly last year that he believed the mission in Afghanistan was teetering on the brink of failure.
US President Barack Obama has also formed a war council on Afghanistan to oversee the mission's progress.
UK is the largest troop contributing nation after the US in Afghanistan, with having almost 10,000 soldiers deployed in southern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
UK must Tell Bambi that we are fighting a proxy war against Pakistan and the Pak army/ISI are the TRUE enemy!The Taliban are pawns in this chess game!
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/31/2010 3:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
When the plague is going on, you don't immediately kill the rats. If you just kill the rats, the fleas simply jump onto other hosts [like humans]. Instead you start killing the fleas with various methods. Once you get the flea population down to a certain level, then you kill the rats to inhibit future return of the pestilence.
#3
#1 UK must Tell Bambi that we are fighting a proxy war against Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Aroooobia, and the Pak army/ISI are the TRUE enemy!The Taliban are pawns in this chess game! Posted by Paul D
[Al Arabiya Latest] President Omar al-Bashir dissolved the Sudanese government on Sunday four days after he was sworn in for a new term, ahead of the formation of a fresh cabinet line-up.
"President Bashir decided to dissolve the government formed after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Accord (between Khartoum and southern rebels) ahead of a broader cabinet," said Omar Mohammed Saleh, a government spokesman.
The minister of state for cabinet affairs, Kamal Abdellatif, will also keep his post until the formation of a new team including the various factions which contested April's general election, the spokesman said.
Bashir's decision was announced at a meeting of the outgoing cabinet.
Negotiations are underway between Bashir's National Congress Party which swept the election and the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to bring smaller factions loyal to the regime into a new cabinet line-up.
Last month's legislative, presidential and local elections were a key part of a 2005 peace agreement that put an end to a devastating two-decade civil war with the SPLM.
Bashir was declared winner in the April 11-15 election with 67 percent of the presidential vote, but the polls were marred by accusations of fraud and logistical problems.
His re-election for another five-year term was virtually guaranteed after the withdrawal of his two main challengers ahead of polling day.
Observers from the European Union and the Carter Centre monitoring the elections said after the vote that it had failed to reach international standards.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
In Great Soviet Sudan, dissolve goverment has different meaning.
[Al Arabiya Latest] An assassination on Yemeni territory of a radical Muslim cleric wanted dead or alive by U.S. authorities would be unacceptable, the Yemeni prime minister said on Sunday. Harboring a criminal intent on making war on the United States should be unacceptable, I'd think.
U.S. President Barack Obama's National Security Council recently gave the CIA the green light to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-Yemeni citizen whom they accuse of having links to al-Qaeda and who is believed to be in hiding in southern Yemen. "We will absolutely not accept that," Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Megawar told Reuters in an interview. "We are a sovereign country." What're y'gonna do? Put him back together?
According to the latest information, Awlaki was still in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa, Megawar said.
U.S. authorities say Awlaki was added to the CIA's hit list after he became "operational" in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane on Christmas Day.
The Nigerian man accused in the attempted bombing met Awlaki while visiting Yemen, and the U.S.-born preacher also had contacts with a U.S. Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at a U.S. Army base in November.
Yemen's foreign minister said earlier this month that Yemen would not hand Awlaki over to Washington, but instead put him on trial if he is arrested.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States and Yemen joined forces to fight al-Qaeda, and Washington has kept a close eye on the impoverished country, which borders the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
Awlaki, whose father is a former minister in Yemen, travelled to the country in 2004, where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al-Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
He was released in December 2007 because he said he had repented, but he was later charged again on similar counts and went into hiding.
Megawar said he disagreed with Yemen being described as a refuge for al-Qaeda.
"Yemen is not a safe haven for terrorists. Yemen has al-Qaeda, we recognise that ... but they are spread out in different areas and are scared as a result of the strict crackdown by the government for all their actions", he said.
"Yes, al-Qaeda is present in Yemen, al-Qaeda is a risk in Yemen, but there is exaggeration by the media," he said.
Last week, a fugitive Saudi Arabian man who was detained for several years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo until his release in 2006, was named as a senior member of Al-Qaeda's Yemen wing, according to a tape by the group.
Megawar said Othman Ahmed al-Ghamdi's appointment as a senior operative was another development in the ongoing fight against militants in Yemen but added, "We have nothing to do with who comes and goes."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#1
Yemen not to accept US killing of Awlaki on land
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/31/2010 3:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I don't think Yemeni society is clever and paranoid enough to become another Pakistan, Paul D. Another Somalia or a Sudan is quite possible, though...
[Bangla Daily Star] Angry comments and deep resentment poured in from all corners as 8 lakh frustrated users of Facebook sat disconnected from each other after the government banned the most popular social networking website.
Students of Dhaka University formed a human chain on the campus yesterday demanding immediate withdrawal of the ban which was imposed after someone posted caricatures of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia on Facebook.
"Nothing left to say," a baffled facebooker, Yusuf, commented on The Daily Star's website.
"Dear Prime Minister, Can I urge you to refund my vote which I gave you during the last election to get a liberal, modern and digital Bangladesh?" remarked another user Towfiq.
"This is least expected from Awami League, the party that professes to be the beacon of liberalism in Bangladesh politics," lamented Umran.
"Congratulations! Bangladesh moves towards digital revolution! Next time government have [sic] a headache, they [sic] better chop the head off! "wrote an angry Zakir Kibria.
A few other comments ran like this:
"Very Nice! Great way for the Thought Police to roll out in Digital Bangladesh!"
"This is a complete mockery of the people, who were promised a lot better."
"As a nation we have long way to go to educate ourselves to adapt to tolerance. The system of our reaction is still crude and missing civility."
"You sure don't want to cut your head off in order to get rid of headache? You better take a Paracetamol if Tylenol or Advil is not available."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
after someone posted caricatures of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia on Facebook.
those two battle axes? Wonder if the 'Burg is banned too?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2010 8:59 Comments ||
Top||
[Bangla Daily Star] Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami will hold its scheduled rally at the capital's Paltan Maidan today despite the ban imposed on rallies or processions in and around the venue.
Secretary General of Jamaat Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid announced this at a press conference yesterday held at the party office at Bara Moghbazar in the city.
Mojahid said they will gather at Paltan Maidan to hold their scheduled rally demanding smooth supply of water, gas and electricity. If any untoward situation arises centring the rally, the government will be responsible for it, he said.
DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque has imposed a ban on any kind of meeting at Paltan Maidan and its adjacent areas to avert untoward incidents as both Jamaat and Bangladesh Jubo League are scheduled to hold meetings at the same venue today.
Mojahid said they will be bound to launch a tough movement against the government since it is preventing the party from holding rallies and carrying out other political activities across the country.
Mojahid said that in response to Jamaat's request, Jatiya Krira Unnayan Parishad authorities on May 18 allowed it to hold its rally at Paltan Maidan today. But Bangladesh Jubo League on May 29 declared that it would hold a rally at the same venue on the same day, demanding trial of war criminals of 1971, he added.
The Jamaat leader alleged that the Awami League-led government set Jubo League to create the situation leading to the ban on rallies.
He sought the prime minister's intervention in the issue, withdrawal of the Jubo League programme, lifting the ban on rallies and allowing use of loud speakers at the scheduled Jamaat ally.
Some other senior leaders of the party were also present at the press conference.
Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain condemned the government's decision of imposing ban on the rallies at Paltan Maidan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
Mexican naval intelligence elements arrested a presumed accountant and three associates for Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, âthe Lazcaâ, leader of the criminal organization âthe Zs, according to Mexican news reports.
Mexican officials also a PS90 submachine gun, an AK-47, two 9mm pistols, 411 cartridges, 12 magazines and one fragmentary grenade, as well as two money counting machines, an identification making machine, and four suitcases with around $380,000 and more than 3,400,000 pesos. Authorities also seized three vehicles
Mexican drug lord Pedro Roberto Velazquez Amador, known to many simply as "La Pina" has been killed in a shootout with federal forces in Mexico. A military convoy had been patrolling the San Pedro area in Monterrey when a gun battle broke out on Wednesday.
Velazquez was the alleged leader of the Beltran Leyva drug trafficking organization. According the state-run Notimex news agency, a local newspaper shows the body of a man believed to be in his 30s, believed to be Velazquez, lying in a puddle of water with a firearm in his hand.
While Velazquez was the alleged leader of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, recent reports say the fractured cartel has since splintered into warring groups.
Mexican-American drug trafficker Edgar Valdez, known by his moniker "La Barbie" for his light complexion and blue eyes, is now claiming leadership over the cartel.
The military reports seizing three small arms, 30 rounds of ammunition, a laptop and two vehicles during the shootout.
In December, the co-founder of the Beltran Leyva cartel Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed during a 90-minute shootout with the Mexican navy.
The Mayor of Cancun, Greg Sanchez, has been detained by federal police Tuesday at the airport on suspicions of money laundering and allegedly helping protect the Beltran Leyva and Los Zetas cartel.
[Kyodo: Korea] About 100,000 North Koreans rallied Sunday for the overthrow of the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in the wake of Seoul"s sanctions on the North over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. During the rally at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, citizens also criticized the United States for siding with South Korea and blaming North Korea for the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea, which left 46 sailors dead. "I need 100,000 demonstrators for an 11 o'clock rally!"
"Yes, Your Immensity!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
While his comments sounded innocuous, they were very loaded.
From the start of the WoT, the Germans have been very careful to say the *only* reason they are sending forces out of country is to defend themselves against terrorism. This was done very incrementally because of strict rules against war for any other reason than strict self defense.
However, his comments were interpreted by everybody to the effect that Germany should be able to deploy soldiers internationally for economic reasons. Which freaked out their political classes.
What hasn't been mentioned is how much the typical German on the street agrees with him. And this is a poll which will *not* be taken, because there is a good chance that a lot of Germans do agree with him.
#2
I have also thought about this and have watched in surprise while Germany has gradually re-entered the war theater.
Posted by: Dr. Strangeluv ||
05/31/2010 12:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
What he said has been German military doctrine since 1992. (If you need the German documents I can link to them)
It's a case of massive hypocrisy. But Köhler acted like a "beleidigte Leberwurst" (like a prima donna). He deserted. Lost my respect.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
05/31/2010 17:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Perhaps he sees his piece in this as done. He has started a discussion that cannot be put to bed without much further examination. What is Germany's function in world affairs? In NATO? They F*cked up royal 70 years ago, should they pay for that forever? Most living Germans have no blood on their hands, why should they sit back and let those pigs in Brussels browbeat them into a subjugate position any longer.
The administration of Barack Obama sees its new National Security Strategy a statement the White House sends Congress from time to time as a work of great importance, a radical departure from its predecessor's thinking. It is neither; nor, for that matter, is it a strategy.
Ordinarily, one might be unconcerned. A document is just a document, after all: actions are what count. The worrying thing is that the US president and his team seem so deluded about what they have produced.
I might be prejudiced. To judge the content of the statement, you have to overlook the way it is expressed, which is not easy. It was run through a management-speak machine. It emerged, repetitious and full of misprints, with added verbiage and reduced intellectual content. Then it was put through a second time.
Imagine 50 pages of this: To prevent acts of terrorism on American soil, we must enlist all of our intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security capabilities. We will continue to integrate and leverage state and major urban area fusion centres that have the capability to share classified information.'
Previously, as you know, many people denied that homeland security capabilities should be used for homeland security. So much for that false doctrine. And notice how state and major urban area fusion centres will in future share information. Another bold departure. The previous approach to these strangely impaired fusion centres was different, entirely different. Thankfully, those days are over.
This is the all appropriate measures' school of policy analysis. One should do everything that is appropriate in an integrated, leveraged, cost effective and sustainable way while rejecting anything inappropriate, disorganised, ineffective or bound to fail.
According to this paper, the aims of Mr Obama's national security policy include every desirable outcome. Curbing climate change is an aspect of national security. By similar reasoning, available resources embrace every aspect of his domestic and foreign policy: not just strong armed forces and a prosperous economy but also access to quality, affordable healthcare'. National security includes everything and therefore means nothing.
The authors contrast Mr Obama's enlightenment with the brainlessness of his predecessor. But as his actions have departed little from late-period George W. Bush, this boils down to mood and pedantry. The White House does not like to say war on terror' or terrorism'; terrorism is a tactic not an enemy, it explains. One can still say (indeed the administration insists) the US is at war with terrorists, violent extremists, and al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Good to have this cleared up.
Taking care not to mistake tactics for enemies, Mr Obama has increased the US commitment in Afghanistan, much as Mr Bush would have. His strategy fails to clarify the rationale. He retains the right to act unilaterally. He excludes rogue states such as Iran from his (qualified) promise to use nuclear weapons only in retaliation for an attack with weapons of mass destruction. He has scaled up drone strikes on and off the battlefield, a policy of doubtful legality. He renounces torture as did Mr Bush but detains terrorist suspects indefinitely without trial. He promises to close Guantánamo but the prison is still there.
Unlike many critics of Mr Obama, I see these policies as defensible. The world does not surrender to good intentions, and the administration is doing its best in difficult circumstances. Also, tone matters. It is right to encourage allies not disdain them; to cajole rivals as well as threaten. In his second term, a chastened Mr Bush came to understand this which makes it wrong to say security policy under Mr Obama has changed that much.
One could dismiss the paper as a campaign flyer unworthy of analysis. But the administration has hard choices to make, and more than a year's experience to think about. The strategic analysis the paper claims to provide is necessary. One only hopes the White House does not mistake this so-called strategy for the work it still needs to do.
Above all, strategy must focus on priorities and constraints. The White House says it agrees with this the US cannot do everything, and it must have partners. But aside from such statements of the obvious, the paper is silent about what is vital in national security, what is desirable and affordable, and what is desirable but not affordable. It correctly says that ends must be aligned with means, but fails to align them. All right goals will be pursued; all available assets will be brought to bear. That is not a strategy.
Over everything hangs the greatest challenge facing the US: coming to terms with diminished power. To judge by the paper, the administration is unwilling even to think about this. Yes, it underlines mutual interest and calls for co-operation but with American characteristics. The US will continue to lead, it insists. Its interests will not be subordinated. We are no less powerful, but we need to apply our power in different ways,' said Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, last week.
No less powerful? US military strength is fearsome but the limits to its use bind ever more tightly. Increasingly, the co-operation the US seeks will not be on terms it dictates. Painful subjects for a mighty nation but ones that the next strategy might start to address.
#1
The worrying thing is that the US president and his team seem so deluded about what they have produced.
To prevent acts of terrorism on American soil, we must enlist all of our intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security capabilities. We will continue to integrate and leverage state and major urban area fusion centres that have the capability to share classified information.
One place to start is to tell the American people the truth. Get rid of PC feel-good garbage such as above. Get politics out of the way. Enlist the help of the American people. I don't think our Federal government trusts Americans. They have never attempted to enlist everyday people to participate in the WOT--it has always been a Federal show.
I have been walking my dogs in a place where up until a few years ago was fairly wild. In the last few years, an industrial business/park has been created in this wild area and an FBI building has been built. I always marvel at the security around this buidling. Blast walls, guard buildings, cameras, high fences, location on a high hill, circuititous drives, etc. I always wonder if there is not a streak of paranoia going through our Federal government. I also wonder who they are at war with?
Pakistan lifted a ban on Facebook on Monday after officials from the social networking site apologized for a page deemed offensive to Muslims and removed its contents, a top information technology official said. Facebook assured the Pakistani government that "nothing of this sort will happen in the future," Malik said.
Bangladesh also decided to block Facebook on Sunday but said it would restore access to the site if the offensive material was removed.
anon1, please put the article URL in the Source box in the future, not linked to a subtitle within the text. Thank you. A good post, though.
#2
thanks moderator, technology is so hard for me of little brain :)
Hey Parabellum, i proudly drew a cartoon then watched as the link stopped working, then started working again, then stopped again. It now just redirects me to my own home page.
i will try again in case it is up again but FB definitely took it down at some stage
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday that terrorists from south Punjab had begun unveiling themselves.
While talking to the media in Model town Lahore, Malik said Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba were allies of Taliban and al-Qaeda. He said terrorists were trying to spread sectarianism in the country after their failure.
Malik requested the media not to promote terrorists as heroes and said Ulema from all the sects should condemn terrorism and try not to become instruments in the hands of terrorists. He said that terrorists were operating throughout the country and were not confined to a single province.
Responding to another question, Malik said he cannot say any thing about the involvement of the Indian agency RAW in the Lahore attacks because there was no evidence to support it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Geo News] Federal Interior Minister Rehman A Malik said the terrorists could not enervate the government of Pakistan, as it would bear down upon the havoc-wreaking assassins in concert with the entire nation for the national integrity, Geo News reported Sunday.
Talking to media while on visit to the worshipping place of the Qadianis here, he said the anti-Pakistan forces which were defeated in Fata and Swat, have unleashed their activities in Punjab.
The interior minister added the outfits like Laskhkar-e-Jhangavi and Jaish-e-Muhammed were part to Al-Qaieda and on receiving training, they were busy with sabotage activities in Punjab.
The federal minister said at least 1764 people of banned 29 groups belonged to Punjab, adding the terrorists holed up in Southern Punjab, were making appearances now and that he spotted them to have links even in Balochistan as well.
Malik said, 'I am here not to grapple with the Punjab government; instead, we hand in hand, will put to an end the terrorism.'
The confident minister appealed on the occasion to Punjab Chief Minister to make public the inquiry report on Gojra Tragedy.
The Interior Minister informed that the government is bringing a bill in connection with the rights accorded to the minorities enshrined in the Constitution.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A retired U.S. diplomat, Edward L. Peck, was among 11 Americans who had joined the flotilla of activist ships that were forcibly diverted Monday from Gaza, where they were planning to unload humanitarian supplies and demonstrate their ability to break the years-long Israeli blockade on the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Peck is an interesting and controversial character. A former Army paratrooper, he was in the Foreign Service for three decades, serving in a number of posts in the Arab world, including as chief of mission in Baghdad under the Carter administration. In the Reagan years, he worked on terrorism issues in the White House. He has sinced emerged as an outspoken critic of U.S. and Israeli policies the Middle East. (Here's the transcript of a 2006 interview he gave with Democracy Now, the left-wing radio show, in which he describes certain actions by the United States and Israel as fitting the defintion of terrorism.)
In an interview on CNN in October 2001, Peck warned that invading Iraq would be a mistake. "But when you take out Saddam Hussein," he said, "the key question you have to ask then is, what happens after that? And we don't have a clue. Nobody knows, but it's probably going to be bad."
Peck also supposedly inspired President Obama's former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, to say "the chickens are coming home to roost" after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He was also highly critical of the U.S. handling of the 2006 Lebanon War, accusing the Bush administration of deliberately extending the fighting.
Although there are reports that Israeli toops fired shots at the ship Peck was on, the Sfendoni, I'm told he is OK and headed home through New York (all of the casualties seem to have taken place on the Marmara, much larger vessel). Peck was among four other Americans representing the Free Palestine Movement, an activist group from California.
Gaza-Based Yemeni Professor Abd Al-Fatah Nu'man: As Much as the Heroes on the Flotilla Want to Reach Gaza, The Option of Martyrdom Is More Desirable to Them.
Video at link. Echo of discussion items here today.
Ahead of a meeting with US President Barack Obama, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas says the Israeli premier is not a real peace partner.
Abbas, who has been invited by the US president for discussions over indirect peace talks, has reportedly told US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that the Palestinians do not consider Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as committed to peace negotiations, the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported.
"Abbas told Mitchell that the Israelis are no longer peace partners as much as the Americans are," member of Fatah's Central Committee Abbas Zaki quoted Abbas as saying over the weekend.
According to the Fatah official, the acting Palestinian Authority chief said he would negotiate with the Obama administration rather than with Israel.
The proximity talks have long been stalled due to disagreements over key issues such as settlement activities in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the final borders and the status of al-Quds.
However, earlier in May Mitchell made a visit to the region to revive talks between the Israeli and the Palestinian sides.
In line with the US push for peace negotiations, Abbas is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington in June while Netanyahu will meet the US president on Tuesday, the White House announced.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Could have something to do with all Peace Partners getting stabbed in the back by Paleos...?
[Quqnoos] Israel on Saturday rejected a declaration of a Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that urged it to sign the pact and make its atomic facilities subject to U.N. inspections
All the 189 parties to the NPT, including the United States, called on Friday in a declaration that singled out Israel for a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
"As a non-signatory state of the NPT, Israel is not obligated by the decisions of this conference, which has no authority over Israel," the Israeli government said in an emailed statement.
The 28-page declaration said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key states would arrange a conference that would include all nations in the region, in particular bitter enemies Israel and Iran.
"The real problem with WMDs in the Middle East does not relate to Israel but to those countries that have signed the NPT and brazenly violated it: Iraq under Saddam, Libya, Syria and Iran," the Israeli government statement said.
Obama welcomed agreements on a range of non-proliferation issues at the NPT meeting but said he would oppose efforts to isolate Israel and any actions to endanger its security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We don't have any nukes. And we definitely don't have some of them targeting EUropean capitals."
[Ma'an] The Gaza government's Environment Authority chief warned of potential environmental damage that the Israeli army could cause by harming the Freedom Fleet whilst preventing it from docking in Gaza on Monday.
A statement issued by Yousef Ibrahim said Sunday that vast amounts of pollution could be released into the sea should the Israeli navy damage one of the boats in an attempt to deter it from arriving in Gaza such as fuel leaking into the sea, the spillage of medical supplies and medicines, and the seeping out of cement, all items the convoy hopes to bring into the coastal enclave.
The official warned against the detonation of mines and explosives by Israel's navy in a bid to intimidate the flotilla, citing the potential killing of sea life and fish, "particularly significant because it is the high season for fishing."
"Since it was announced that the Freedom Flotilla was en route to Gaza, Israeli officials have officially sought to bar them from reaching their destination, threatening to use all means necessary, even if it is obliged to use force ... or to break onto the boats, placing them at risk," Ibrahim said.
The ships are loaded with tons of humanitarian aid and goods banned from entering Gaza by Israel including school supplies, cement, medical equipment and food.
Ibrahim urged international environment organizations, the International Environmental Monitor in particular, to prevent any attempt by Israel's navy to damage the convoy to ensure no dire environmental consequences as a result, and lift the siege on Gaza.
Any pollution that would occur in the Mediterranean because of an attack against the boats would solely be Israel's responsibility, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
cuz he's all about the fishes, natch
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2010 9:02 Comments ||
Top||
A top Iranian lawmaker has called for "serious measures" against possible Israeli threats, amid reports that Tel Aviv is to deploy submarines in the Persian Gulf.
According to a Sunday Times report, Israel plans to send three German-made submarines with nuclear cruise missiles to the Persian Gulf near the Iranian coastline.
"If the report on the entrance of Israeli nuclear submarines is true, this will be a threat to the Persian Gulf region's security," the head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.
"[Iranian] officials should seriously consider the issue and take the necessary measures to prevent this security threat in the region," he added.
Israel has never ruled out military action against Iran to halt the country's nuclear program. Iran says it will give a "crushing response" to any act of aggression.
Israel and the US, along with their Western allies, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran has categorically denied the allegations, saying it has the right to a nuclear program for peaceful purposes as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that the approach the West has taken over the Tehran declaration is not fair and sincere.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on the sidelines of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Erdogan criticized Western leaders for backpedalling from conditions they had set for Iran after Turkey and Brazil secured those terms in the declaration and for their silence about the undeclared nuclear arsenal of Israel.
Erdogan said he and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would maintain diplomatic efforts to gather support for the nuclear fuel swap declaration.
He went on to say that he would most probably discuss the issue with US President Barack Obama during the G-20 summit in Canada next month.
Erdogan hit back at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said on Thursday that the Brazilian-Turkish mediation effort's effect of "buying time for Iran... makes the world more dangerous, not less."
"The step that we took is not one that puts the world in danger. On the contrary, it is a step to prevent attempts to put the world in danger," AFP quoted Erdogan as saying.
"We have said it from the very beginning -- we do not want nuclear weapons in our region," he added.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration in the Iranian capital on May 17 that commits Tehran to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey that would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
Iran, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says its nuclear activities are totally peaceful and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have never found any evidence of diversion in Iran's nuclear program.
And Tehran has always emphasized that access to civilian nuclear technology is the inalienable right of all IAEA members and all NPT signatories.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Erdogan was Un-Fair to the 4th ID, the US military, the US Nation, Motorola and Nokia.
He and his are pirates.
#2
Enjoy your new buddies, Erdogan. Your old ones are through with you. Just remember, to burn down a house, you first have to build one, heh. You will one day run out of suckers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/31/2010 1:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Thats funny coming from a True enemy of the West/Europe.
Isnt there a quote somwhere from this Islamist that he is using democracy to get Sharia as the universal law!
Posted by: Paul D ||
05/31/2010 3:23 Comments ||
Top||
An Iranian lawmaker says Tehran must "seriously" downgrade relations with Russia and China if the two fail to veto the US-pursued UN sanctions resolution against Iran.
"If Russia and China vote against Iran in the UN Security Council, Tehran must seriously and broadly downgrade relations with them," Mehr News Agency quoted member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmat Allah Falahat Pishe as saying on Sunday.
"I believed we must work hard on avoiding the imposition of another round of sanctions against us," the lawmaker added.
The call comes amid mixed signals of support from Moscow and Beijing.
Both governments have welcomed Iran's recent tripartite nuclear declaration, but have struck deals with Washington to join its sanctions campaign.
Under the May 17 nuclear declaration issued in Tehran, Iran expressed readiness to swap its low enriched uranium on Turkish soil with fuel for its research reactor -- a proposal originally outlined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff.
Western powers received the declaration with skepticism, vowing to press on with the sanctions campaign as it failed to answer all demands.
The US demands Iran completely halt its uranium enrichment to avoid a fourth round of sanctions, while Washington's European allies do not object to Iran's 3.5% enrichment activities.
Iran rejects Western allegations that it is seeking a military nuclear program, arguing that as an IAEA member and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has a legal right to a peaceful nuclear program aimed at electricity generation and medical research.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Ouuu... I bet Russia and China are just quivering in fear of Iran....
#3
ION WMF > US PACOM COMMANDER WILLARD: AS US-CHINA TIES IMPROVE, THE US MAY ALLOW PLA + CHINA'S NEW AIRCRAFT CARRIERS TO VISIT PEARL HARBOR.
* SAME > "JAPAN ECONOMIC TIMES" MEDIA: CHINA WILL BE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE ECONOMY BY 2030, FOLLOWED BY US, JAPAN, + INDIA. CHINA + INDIA ALONE TO COLLECTIVELY COMPRISE OVER ONE-QUARTER OF WORLD GDP. GLOBAL ECONOMY IN 2030 WILL BE CHINESE-, ASIA-LED.
* SAME > BEIJING + PLA FRUSTRATED BY TANGLED INTERNATIONAL LINES OF DEMARCATION IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEAS.
#2
See today: when Israel attacked the Flotilla heading to Gaza...
"The activists were not carrying guns, but television footage shown by al-Jazeera and Turkish television channels show hand-to-hand fighting, with activists wearing life-jackets striking commandoes with sticks." (from google news story)
Now just imagine.
Israeli army might have been attacked with knives (they said one was stabbed) or shot at.
But if Al Jazeera gets to frame the story then maybe that won't be the news to get out
but Al Jaz will be the news source of record for all the middle east and Africa.
#4
The Arab Street are winning the propaganda war in many parts of the world including remote parts of Africa.
The war in the media against Israel is not an instrument of the Arab Street, anon1. Rather it is one battlefront in the war, waged by the Left of the world. They use the media because they undertook what they call a long march to control the media, just as they undertook a long march through the universities. This situation was set up for Israel to fail, and it really didn't matter whether she failed by allowing the the flotilla to unload at Gaza -- ie having been defeated -- or by stopping the flotilla short of their goal, in which some sort of incident would have been manufactured. How, after all, did Al Jazeera get tv footage?
After Rachel Corrie, how many chose to stand up against Israeli bulldozers? I recall no more such stories.
#5
It has unlimited funds thanks to the oil and gas profits of the sheikhs.
We have not had a coherent energy policy for 40 years; we have always been running away from self-sufficiency in the name of environmentalism. The result is that we fund terrorism which is then inflicted upon us. What the hell kind of craziness is this?
Al Jiz has a captive audience. The muzzies don't trust anyone else to get out the message. Our MSM has become Al Jiz--a propaganda tool.
#6
tw: After Rachel Corrie, how many chose to stand up against Israeli bulldozers? I recall no more such stories.
PR disaster aside, this may be the silver lining to the clouds of pro-Palestinian propaganda that will emerge from this incident. Deterrence may have been established. Either that or Muslims may see this incident (and a conveniently supportive US president) as the ideal opportunity to wipe Israel off the map. In other words, another 1948-type attack from all sides.
#7
Meh, nothing so end-of-the-worldish Zhang, just an excellent reason to really, really, fire up the processor of peace and bring that sucker to the forefront of the worlds attention. 220 Volt? 3 Phase?
#9
Al Jazeera is a well founded op because the emir of Qatar. It (the arabic version) carries essentially nothing that makes the emir look bad but carries a lot of content that Egyptian and other authorities consider to be sladerous.
You may be surprised to know that Al Jazeera is carried by Israeli cable TV both in arabic and english (at least this was true in 2009). The english language version of Al J is leftist, anti American and anti Israel but nowhere near as much as the BBC or the international version of CNN.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/31/2010 14:52 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Mexican drug lord Pedro Roberto Velazquez Amador, known to many simply as "La Pina" has been killed in a shootout with federal forces in Mexico. A military convoy had been patrolling the San Pedro area in Monterrey when a gun battle broke out on Wednesday.
The administration of Barack Obama sees its new National Security Strategy a statement the White House sends Congress from time to time as a work of great importance, a radical departure from its predecessor's thinking. It is neither; nor, for that matter, is it a strategy.
