#1
Monsanto Clandestine Products Division?
If there's no impact on finances then they were underpricing their product before - which is quite possible. But higher prices should reduce demand, and smaller volumes could increase the effectiveness of inderdiction efforts - if they are manpower limited.
#4
I seem to recall that the Taliban have several years worth of harvested opium in storage. If so, this shouldn't impact the supply side for a while, even if production is down significantly. On the sales side, belief in reduced has driven up prices significantly, according to the article, so the Taliban will be able to stretch out drawing down their reserves for a good deal longer than planned.
#5
A reduced supply with a largely unchanged demand should lead to increased profits.
Posted by: Gaz ||
10/02/2010 9:51 Comments ||
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#6
I could be wrong, but I doubt they have the wherewithall or sophistication required for crop storage and market manipulation. Afghanistan is pretty much a hand-to-mouth, agrarian society. Unless acting and supplied as a surrogate for external states, there is generally a direct correlation between the waring parties ability to raise funds and wage continuous war over extended periods. William Tecumseh Sherman understood this principle all too well. The key is not permitting them to take the winter months off and rest up.
#7
If they wanted a serious impact, they could capture some of the product and adulterate it, then allow it to be resold.
For example, add a durable formulation of Naloxone or similar drugs, which block the effects of opiates so effectively that it is used to treat overdose.
The druggies would get their drugs, but even though it looked, smelled and otherwise appeared to be the real thing, it wouldn't work. In fact taking it would put them into instant withdrawl, even blocking the drugs still in their system.
This would make a lot of addicts blue and sad. Also very pissed off at their suppliers.
And if the authorities could ensure that every single bit of that drug in a country was the corrupt kind, for just a week or two, they would simultaneously detox every one of their junkies.
#8
Check out the comments on the article:
There is a rumor among some of the Afghan people that the fungus (Pleospora papveracea) was introduced by the US and UK. While developing such a bioweapon is prohibited, the strain may have been developed in Uzbekistan when it was part of the USSR. The intriguing details are in a 17 May 2010 article published in the guardian.co.uk and authored by Nushin Arbabzadah. The URL is http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/17/poppy-fungus-mystery-afghanistan.
My niece went through rehab for an opiate addiction--legal painkillers--but with the Rx's hard to come by, heroin is a cheap and plentiful alternative on the streets. One of her acquaintances died of an overdose recently and even young kids in jr. high and HS seem to be able to get it--$2. The articles I've read say the market is flooded with cheap Mexican heroin, and call for tougher border security, but where is this being grown and processed? Wih 90% of production blamed on the Talibunnies, I find it hard to believe that Mexico is solely responsible for the US problem and are most likely just a conduit for all manner of illegal drugs. Plenty of Teheran to Caracas flights, or the Tri-border area of SA, including Ecuador, eg but I guess I hope this really "goes viral". With billions at stake, the problem will just migrate to another failed state, probably closer to home. I like Anonymoose's suggestion of adulterating the supply, too, as reducing demand is key and we can't make ot legal.
#9
Of course you could just poison the supply.
That would cut down on the addict count.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
10/02/2010 12:21 Comments ||
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#10
Wonder if poisoning the supply is illegal. Just covering all the bases, ya know.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/02/2010 14:27 Comments ||
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#11
..remembering the paraquat stink years back. It might not technically be illegal to 'poison' the plants, but you can bet once lawyers get involved it might be as expensive as having a Donk controlled government.
#12
#11: ..remembering the paraquat stink years back. It might not technically be illegal to 'poison' the plants, but you can bet once lawyers get involved it might be as expensive as having a Donk controlled government. Posted by: Procopius2k|
That's why it's so necessary to have an open season on lawyers now and then - as TJ said, "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing". Killing a significant number of over-reaching lawyers would also thin the crop of Donks trying to rule, rather than govern - a twofer.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/02/2010 16:57 Comments ||
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#13
That will do. We aren't going after lawyers, nor doing anything to harm illegal drug users.
I doubt they have the wherewithall or sophistication required for crop storage and market manipulation.
Surely at the first stage it would just involve drying the plants, Besoeker, much like cooking herbs have been dried for millenia. They do that with marijuana and tobacco, as well, right?
#14
@ trailing wife...with all due respect, the opium poppy bulbs on the plant are notched (cut open) and milked for their 'syrup'.
The harvested liquid is filled into jars and drums for chemical processing and turned into refined opiates like morphine and heroin.
I've done it myself, in another younger riskier life.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
10/02/2010 23:47 Comments ||
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#15
the opium poppy bulbs on the plant are notched (cut open) and milked for their 'syrup'.
Some questions, which may need an organic chemist to answer: Do the poppy bulbs have to be fresh to be milked, then? How long does it keep stored in drums? I assume that even with generators power would not be steady nor strong enough to maintain refrigerated warehouses... On the other hand, as I recall, the Taliban began doing some of their own refining a few years ago, as the mark-up on the refined product is much higher than for the raw material, and of course the refined product is more efficient to ship -- a useful characteristic for something that, ultimately, needs to be smuggled.
[Al Arabiya] The president of Southern Sudan on Friday warned cheering crowds of a return to violence "on a massive scale" if the region's independence referendum -- now 100 days away -- is not held on time, as thousands of people rallied on the streets of the southern Sudanese capital to support the landmark referendum on independence.
President Salva Kiir's return to this former war garrison town follows meetings at the U.N. last week that focused new attention on the region in the run-up to a Jan. 9 vote on independence.
Kiir predicted the south's vote will pass overwhelmingly. The border region of Abyei -- where much of Sudan's oil is located -- holds a similar vote the same day, in which voters will choose whether the region will join Sudan's north or a possible new country in the south.
"Delay or denial of the right of self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan and Abyei risks dangerous instability," Kiir said, according to prepared remarks. "There is without question a real risk of a return to violence on a massive scale if the referenda do not go ahead as scheduled."
Tensions between north and south are high over stalled preparations for both the southern referendum and the separate vote for Abyei. The B.O. regime has labeled it "inevitable" the south will declare independence, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also called the issue a "ticking time bomb."
Speaking before a crowd of about 1,000 people, Kiir appealed to the armies and people of Sudan to shun war, saying that he is not a coward but only those who have not been in war "still drill for it." He said the south was willing to negotiate with the north.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Two French female students have made a film of the pair of them strolling through the streets of Paris in a niqab, bare legs and mini-shorts as a critique of France's recently passed law.
Calling themselves the "Niqabitches," the veiled ladies can be seen strutting past prime ministerial offices, and various government ministries with a black veil leaving only their eyes visible, but with their long legs naked bar black high heels.
Bemused passers-by can be seen gawking at the pair or asking to take photographs in the clip.
In an opinion piece published on the news website, rue89, the anonymous duo - political science and communication students in their twenties - said the film was a tongue-in-cheek way of criticizing France's niqab ban, which the Senate passed last month and is due to go into force early next year.
"To put a simple burka on would have been too simple. So we asked ourselves: 'how would the authorities react when faced with women wearing a burka and mini-shorts?'" asked the students, one of whom is a Muslim.
"We were not looking to attack or degrade the image of Muslim fundamentalists - each to their own - but rather to question politicians who voted for this law that we consider clearly unconstitutional," they said.
French websites predicted the film would become an Internet sensation.
France's law banning the burka makes no mention of Islam, but President Nicolas Sarkozy's government promoted the law as a means to protect women from being forced to wear Muslim full-face veils such as the burka or the niqab.
France's five-million-strong Muslim minority is Western Europe's largest, but fewer than 2,000 women are believed actually to wear a full face veil.
Once the law is in force, a woman who chooses to defy the ban will receive a fine of 150 euros (pounds 125) or a course of citizenship lessons. A man who forces a woman to go veiled will be fined 30,000 euros (pounds 25,000) and serve a jail term.
It could yet be overturned by France's constitutional court.
I didn't watch the whole thing, got bored in a few seconds. Seemed juvenile.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/02/2010 2:53 Comments ||
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#2
Two French female students have made a film of the pair of them strolling through the streets of Paris in a niqab, bare legs and mini-shorts as a critique of France's recently passed law.
#3
The gals are so edgy! Notice that they had to obscure their eye-slits to try and avoid the wrath of their fellow coreligionists. No beating or fatwa for them!
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
10/02/2010 4:06 Comments ||
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#4
"and mini-shorts"
I thought shorts were all mini? not that they were attractive shorts in any way shape or form, and talk about man hands.
#5
this law that we consider clearly unconstitutional," they said.
"Pay attention to meeeeeeee!!!"
They are students of subjects other than French law, and present their "consideration" without any argument of logic or fact to support their conclusion. Therefor I am forced to conclude they don't know what they're talking about -- feelings do not qualify one to have an opinion. And in the current climate, acting out such fantasies can be quite dangerous. Really, fools displaying their folly for all the world to see.
#6
They have managed to make quite a mockery of the niqab. That isn't going to go down well with some local hard boys. Bonne chance. Est-ce que vous pouvez dire "fatwah"?
Follow-up on what Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has been discussing.
An Arab-American activist who attended an outreach session at the White House complex in April had his Chicago home raided by the FBI last week and appears to be a focus of an unfolding federal terrorism-support investigation.
Hatem Abudayyeh, who serves as executive director of the Arab-American Action Network, took part in a meeting for Arab-American leaders held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 22, according to appointment data posted on the White House website.
"He attended a briefing held by the Office of Public Engagement on April 22, 2010, to update members of the Arab-American community on issues of their concern," White House spokesman Shin Inouye said.
The guest list for the event was drafted by the Arab-American Institute. Inouye said President Barack Obama did not take part in the session, which appears to have involved more than 80 people.
So Champ didn't just drop in?
Last Friday, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Abudayyeh's Chicago home as part of a coordinated series of raids involving at least one other Chicago site, along with the homes of anti-war activists in Minnesota. A copy posted on the web of a grand jury subpoena served on one target of the raids in Minneapolis demands "all records of any payment provided directly or indirectly to Hatem Abudayyeh, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ("PFLP") or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ("FARC")."
He keeps the best company ...
A search warrant served on a Minneapolis anti-war activist, Michael Kelly, ordered agents to seize records relating to Kelly's travels to "Palestine, Colombia, and ... within the United States." It also mentions possible connections to Hezbollah.
The warrant and subpoena suggest the probe, which is being run by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, is focusing on illegal support for terrorist organizations, particularly by a Minnesota-based group called the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. PFLP, FARC and Hezbollah are designated as terrorist groups by the U.S. government. A spokesman for Fitzgerald's office declined to comment on the probe.
Let's hope Fitz has better luck here than with prosecuting ex-governors ...
Abudayyeh has not been charged with any crime, nor do the court documents made public by targets of the searches make any explicit allegation of ties between the Chicago activist and any of the groups.
Oh lord, not more unindicted co-conspirators.
The White House briefing Abudayyeh attended was organized by the Arab-American Institute in connection with its annual dinner and related events, AAI President James Zogby said Friday.
"Each year we do a leadership summit of our institute leadership also of leadership from the Arab-American network. That is a network of Arab --American community and social service organizations and the group in Chicago is one of the network members and so they were invited," Zogby said. "We did, as part of the weekend, a White House briefing and Hatem was included as part of the network."
Zogby said the national network Abudayyeh's group is part of works on domestic issues, such as immigration reform and civil liberties. "I know Hatem is active on those issues in Chicago. He's very much a part of immigration reform coalitions there. That that would have been the purpose of the network's inclusion in this meeting," Zogby said.
Like how to get more Hezbies into the country ...
A lawyer for Abudayyeh, Jim Fennerty, said he was not aware of his client's White House visit. Asked if the investigation into Abudayyeh was underway at the time of his White House visit in April, Finnerty said, "We only became aware of [the probe] when people got their houses raided and search warrants carried out.....I think the grand jury started sitting a year ago though." The lawyer said the investigation may extend back to protests held in connection with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in 2008.
Funny how the spider web comes together -- Arab terrorist symps and nutty domestic terrorist symps. It's the fascist left and the islamofascists.
Fennerty said he believed his client was being targeted because of his anti-war activism. On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the attorney said Abudayyeh supports "a single, secular democratic state," not the two-state solution endorsed by the U.S.
In a 2006 interview with Fight Back News, an outlet run by Minneapolis activist Kelly, Abudayyeh seemed to disagree rather strenuously with at least some of the U.S. government's use of the "terrorist" label.
"The U.S. and Israel will continue to describe Hamas, Hezbollah and the other Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations as 'terrorists,' but the real terrorists are the governments and military forces of the U.S. and Israel," Abudayyeh said. "The vast majority of the world sees and understands this, and are in full support of Lebanese, Palestinian and worldwide resistance to Israel and the U.S.'s naked aggression, war, imperialism and occupation."
Fennerty said he was surprised to hear Abudayyeh was invited to a White House event. "He runs like a social-welfare office that helps people get citizenship, apply for benefits, welfare if they're entitled to it," the lawyer said.
Like Hezbies ...
According to a bio on the AAAN website, Abudayyeh has been affiliated with the group since 1999 and took over as executive director in 2003.
Abudayyeh's White House visit was noted Thursday by several conservative websites, including the Gateway Pundit blog at First Things magazine.
Abudayyeh's group, AAAN, briefly drew attention during the presidential campaign following reports that a foundation on whose board Obama served donated $40,000 to the group for "community organizing" in 2001. Conservative critics said the group and Abudayyeh have promoted anti-Israeli views. AAAN officials said the organization is strictly focused on local community issues and doesn't get involved in international politics.
In 2003, Obama spoke at an AAAN-sponsored farewell dinner for Rashid Khalidi, a professor who was decamping from the University of Chicago to Columbia. During the 2008 campaign, the Los Angeles Times obtained a video of the event and reported that Obama lavished praise on Khalidi, who once served as a spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Other speakers at the event railed against Israeli policies.
The MFM didn't run any further with it, either ...
Late in the 2008 campaign, Republican nominee Sen. John McCain attacked the Times for failing to make the video public. The newspaper said it obtained the video on the condition that it not be released publicly.
High-level contacts between politically active Arab-American leaders and White House officials have stirred controversy in the past after the activists became caught up in terrorism-related probes. In some cases, defense attorneys for those charged have sought to use their White House visits to undermine the prosecution's assertions that the individuals were dangerous.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Beating prisoners. More reasons from the New York Times to get out and leave them to fight it out among themselves. Never mind that if we leave, they'll follow us home, something they're working on even if we don't leave.
[Dawn] Pakistain received a stern message from the United States on Thursday -- stop cross-border attacks into Afghanistan or face the consequences.
The message was delivered forcefully by both US politicians and administration officials.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood (Wormtongue) Qureshi, who is in Washington, received the message from Senator John I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry on Wednesday and from Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Howard Berman on Thursday.
Senator Levin chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, while Mr Berman chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee.
The Pak delegation that participated in the talks came back with the feeling that the Americans were becoming "more and more assertive and less apologetic" on this issue.
The Americans argued that the Haqqani network and other bully boyz were using their bases in Fata to attack US and Nato forces. They urged the Paks to "make the strategic decisions they have to make to help resolve the Afghan conflict" or the Americans would be forced to use their military might to subdue the snuffys.
At the Pentagon, front man Col Dave Lapan strongly defended US troops blamed for accidentally killing three Pak soldiers in a raid along the Afghan border earlier Thursday.
The colonel noted that a statement released by Islamabad showed that Pak troops had fired their rifles, "as a warning", at US helicopters taking part in the raid.
"You fire at a helicopter in a combat zone, they usually take that as hostile and return fire," the Pentagon official said.
The Pentagon is now investigating whether the raid that left three Pak soldiers dead was the result of a breakdown in communication among the two countries.
"That will be part of this process," Col Lapan said. "To determine how this happened, why it happened, were protocols followed, were they not followed -- those types of things."
The US media quoted Pentagon officials as saying that Pakistain's move to block the Khyber Pass supply line in the wake of the deaths of its troops would have little impact on US military operations in Afghanistan.
While the busy border crossing at Torkham is now closed, other key transit points remain open "at last report", according to Col Lapan, who stressed that the US military had alternate means of bringing in fuel, ammunition and food for its soldiers.
But long-term impact of the closure on US supply lines -- and whether it is temporary -- is unclear, he added. "That remains to be seen."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We sever Taliban logistical lines of communication and the Paks sever our own. Should tell us something I suppose.
It's their little game, going on pretty much since we chased out their Taliban in 2002. I s'pose we need to complete the training of more UAV controllers, so that we can spare some from following jihadis home from Afghanistan to overfly the tanker caravans. It wouldn't do at this stage to send UAV missiles through the bedroom windows of those truly organizing the problem: ISI and Pakistani army senior officers.
[Dawn] The United States is urging Pakistain to investigate video clips on the Internet that appear to show Pak soldiers summarily executing six blindfolded young men.
"We have raised this issue with ... the Pak government," State Department front man Philip Crowley said in a briefing Thursday.
"We ... have encouraged them to investigate it fully," he said.
"We take all allegations of human rights violations... very seriously. Human rights and the issue of extrajudicial killings has been a part of our ongoing conversation... with Pakistain," Crowley said.
"It's been recorded in our previous human rights reports, and we are awaiting further information from Pakistain," he said.
One video clip on the Site Intelligence Group website showed men carrying rifles and wearing military uniforms and helmets line up six blindfolded men in long robes, hands apparently bound behind their backs.
The men in uniform stepped back from the young men and opened fire on them. After they dropped to the ground, one of the uniformed men fired shots into their crumpled bodies.
The second video just showed the apparent execution.
Site said the "two clips showing what a jihadist described as Pak soldiers firing upon innocent Mohammedans in Swat, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly NWFP, aka Terrorism Central province of Pakistain, has sparked outrage amongst jihadists.
"The two clips, which seem to have been recorded with two mobile phones, were distributed on jihadist forums on September 23, 2010," it added.
The jihadist who posted the clips wrote in a message posting: Is Mohammedan blood cheap or amusing. To all the agents of America, may Allah curse you for your monstrous actions in what you call the war on terror in Swat.
"Allah, such actions are truly terrorism, and those shedding the blood of Mohammedans are biggest traitors to the Islamic Ummah,'" Site said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
I'd be more concern with executions happening right now just across our own border to the south. Or for that matter, in the 'hood back here by their agents.
[Arab News] Bookies have started to take bets on when the Zardari government will collapse.
TV anchors, political pundits, leading journalists and opposition politicians have started dishing out dates. Some say it will be Oct. 15, while others are a bit more optimistic and say it will be between November and January.
"Unfortunately, bets are being placed on future of the government," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told news hounds outside Parliament on Thursday.
Former Prime Minister Uncle Fester Mian Nawaz Sharif termed the Army chief's meeting both with President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani a "mere photo op."
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira also responded to the speculation by saying the current democratic government was not under any threat and it would continue to strengthen the political system.
The federal minister termed the recent speculation of a regime change as "conspiracies by the followers of dictatorship who can never tolerate the democratic system."
He said that such elements exist among in all segments of society with designs to benefit from dictators and they cannot survive in a democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Pak Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani told the parliament on Friday that Pakistain will consider other options if NATO continued trampling its illusory sovereignty in future. You mean giving them all that money somehow violates their sacred sovereignty?
Pakistain says that NATO helicopters carried out three air strikes in its northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency, home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism in a week, killing the local equivalent of soldiers and civilians.
A NATO front man had defended the strikes and said that the action was taken after beturbanned goons attacked an Afghan border post from the Pak side.
Pakistain lodged a formal protest with NATO in Brussels, calling for an end to such attacks in future, officials said. If we're not going to shoot back when we're attacked our troops will be a lot safer someplace else, like Colorado.
"I want to assure you and the whole nation through this House that if intrusion into Pakistain's sovereignty is made, we will think of other options," said Prime Minister Gilani in the National Assembly after an opposition politicianranted and rolled his eyes.
"Pakistain can in no way tolerate collateral damages by strikes inside Pakistain and will not allow anyone to interfere into our illusory sovereignty and putative security," said the prime minister, warning that "If you (referring to NATO) do not explain it, compensate it or apologize it, we may consider other options too."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya] An alliance of Iraq's Shiite political blocs picked incumbent Nuri al-Maliki on Friday as its nominee for prime minister, alliance officials said, ending months of wrangling that had stalled formation of a government.
The decision by the National Alliance, a merger of Maliki's Shiite-led State of Law coalition and the Tehran-friendly Iraqi National Alliance (INA), marked a breakthrough in talks among Iraq's political factions for a new government after a March 7 parliamentary election that produced no clear winner.
"We have nominated Maliki as the candidate of the National Alliance," Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of Maliki's Dawa party said.
The United States said it is "now encouraged" that Iraqi political leaders are finally beginning to take steps to form a government, months after the March elections.
"The United States of America does not have a favorite candidate," State Department front man Philip Crowley told news hounds.
"But obviously we've been recognizing and communicating to Iraqi political leaders that they have to find ways to form a political coalition, strong enough to stand up a government," he added.
"These are the kinds of steps Iraq has to take and we are now encouraged that they are beginning to take these steps," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya] A total of 273 Iraqis were killed as a result of violence in September, the lowest figure since January, according to government figures released on Friday.
Thank you, American marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen. Thank you, George Bush.
The toll, released by the health, interior and defense ministries, showed that 185 civilians, 55 police and 33 soldiers died in attacks in the first month after Washington officially declared an end to combat operations here.
The overall monthly corpse count was the lowest in Iraq since January, when 196 people were killed in violence, and represents a 35 percent drop from August, when 436 people died.
The sharp decline in attacks comes after July and August recorded two of the highest monthly tolls since 2008, shortly after a brutal sectarian war across the country left tens of thousands dead.
A further 485 people -- 284 civilians, 90 police and 111 soldiers -- were maimed last month. In addition, 78 cut-throats were killed and 487 jugged.
The month's deadliest day came when two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked Storied Baghdad on September 19, killing 29 people and wounding 111, while a boomer killed six more people in the nearby town of Fallujah.
Seven civilians and two Iraqi soldiers died when a firefight broke out as U.S. and Iraqi troops tried to nab a top al-Qaeda leader in Fallujah on September 15. Overall, 18 people died across the country that day.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... seven U.S. soldiers died in September, though only two in "hostile" actions, bringing to 4,424 the number of American troops to have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.
The two U.S. soldiers were killed when an Iraqi comrade gunned them down following an argument on a local military base while the American troops were visiting on September 8.
The United States declared an official end to combat operations on September 1, though American troops can still fire their weapons in self-defense and conduct joint counter-terror operations with their Iraqi counterparts.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It is interesting we have to go to Al Arabiya to get this news.
Meanwhile the MSM has been bombarding us with stories of how the counts in Iraq keep going up, Al Qaeda is getting stronger etc. etc.
It's enough to make you think the MSM has an agenda, or something.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/02/2010 16:48 Comments ||
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Not surprisingly, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's speech to the UN General Assembly this week drew condemnations, with Palestinian delegates walking out on the speech.
Israel's left-wing daily Haaretz ran an article claiming U.S. Jews were "outraged."
We were? I guess I missed that.
There might have been one or two. Perhaps Rahm was upset.
In Israel, among prominent commentators denouncing the speech was Ron Ben-Yishai in Yediot Aharonot, the country's largest daily.
Ministers from the left-of-center Labor Party -- part of Netanyahu's coalition -- also skewered the speech.
What did Lieberman actually say? A perusal of the short address reveals nothing morally or intellectually objectionable.
"More than ninety percent of the wars and war victims of the [region] since the Second World War did not result from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are in no way connected to Israel, stemming rather, from conflicts involving Muslims or conflicts between Arab states. The Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war, the wars between North and South Yemen, the Hamma atrocities in Syria, and the wars in Algeria and Lebanon, are just a few examples of a list that goes on and on."
[Iran Press TV] A top Paleostinian official has accused Israel of deliberately ruining the new round of talks between Paleostinian Authority and Tel Aviv by resuming its settlement activity.
"Yeah! And they expect us to acknowledge that they're a Jewish country. The cheek!!"
Senior Paleostinian Authority official Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Friday that Israel's refusal to halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank is equivalent to a refusal to continuation of the US-sponsored direct talks.
Rabbo made the remarks after acting Paleostinian Authority Chief the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas told US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that the Paleostinian side would not engage in further negotiations with Israel as long as Tel Aviv is expanding its Jewish settlements on occupied Paleostinians lands.
Paleostinians believe that expansion of Jewish settlements on their lands will make the establishment of a Paleostinian state in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip impossible.
The two sides have reportedly agreed to continue talks indirectly.
Tel Aviv intensified its illegal construction work in the West Bank on Monday, hours after the expiry of a partial freeze on settlement constructions despite worldwide calls for the expansion and extension of the partial freeze.
Paleostinian Authority had repeatedly threatened to leave the US-sponsored direct talks with Tel Aviv if Israel resumes settlement construction. the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas is expected to respond to the decision after a meeting of Arab leaders in Egypt on Wednesday.
The settlement construction on the occupied Paleostinian lands is in violation of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council Resolutions 446, 452 and 465.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya] There has been no breakthrough in talks to salvage peace negotiations between Israel and the Paleostinians, a top Paleostinian official told AFP on Friday after two days of meetings with U.S. and EU officials. Did anyone expect anything different? This was show for the US midterms.
"The American efforts are ongoing but there has been no breakthrough so far because Israel is pursuing settlement activities," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, front man for Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas.
"President Abbas made it clear to Senator (George) Mitchell that no negotiations will take place as long as the settlement activities are ongoing," he said after Abbas held his second meeting with the U.S. envoy in 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah will not take the initiative of starting any security mishap, but sometimes we must put an end to civil strife, by any means necessary, if others start it, the party's deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ... Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... stressed Thursday.
Like they didn't start that last war with Israel by kidnapping Israeli soldiers? One or two more [Pyrrhic] victories like that and there won't be a solid roof in Lebanon.
In an interview on LBC television, Qassem noted that Hizbullah has not yet been informed of "the outcome of contacts conducted by the parties of the tripartite summit on the (Special Tribunal for Leb) indictment issue."
"We may receive an answer within two weeks," Hizbullah Numbah Two announced.
"Any indictment that accuses Hizbullah is an unjust indictment because we have nothing to do with this case whatsoever, and we even reject mere accusations," he added.
Qassem said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri "can exert his diplomatic and international efforts in order to reach the truth instead of an unjust accusation."
"Whoever is betting on a dispute between Hizbullah and Syria, or the possibility that Syria might use the party as a card to get certain gains, is delusional," Hizbullah's top official said.
He expressed his belief that what was published in the German weekly Der Spiegel "had aimed at testing Hizbullah's reaction so that they would be able to capitalize on such a reaction and close the holes in the indictment."
"The Intelligence Bureau of the Internal Security Forces was the source of some of the information obtained by the international investigation commission about Hizbullah's alleged role in the assassination," Qassem charged.
He revealed that his party has information that President Michel Suleiman would ask the ministers appointed by him in the current cabinet to abstain from voting on the issue of financing the STL should it be put to the vote of the cabinet.
On a separate note, Qassem accused the Lebanese Forces of stockpiling weapons and conducting military exercises, noting that Hizbullah possesses intelligence information in that regard.
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10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said the Special Tribunal for Leb will do its work in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution, pointing out that "not any world political power or the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society can stop the work of the STL prosecutor."
"Nor can they bully the U.N. Secretary General to stop (STL) funding or instruct the Security Council to annul its decision," Abul Gheit said in remarks published Friday by pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
"I'm not sure what is behind this campaign on the Court," he said. "I'm very carefully not being smart enough to figure it out, even though it requires a conscious suspension of intellect to about the smarts level of Spongebob Squarepants..."
This article starring:
Ahmed Abul Gheit
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10/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Major General Jamil al-Sayyed ... who is owned by the government of Syria, but presently rented out to Hezbullies... has appealed on Friday against Special Tribunal for Leb Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare's order to suspend Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen's ruling on his request to access certain documents linked to fat red herrings and maybe smelt.
Sayyed's press office issued a statement saying that Sayyed's lawyer, Akram Azouri, had made a counter appeal urgently demanding the STL to reject Bellemare's demand and continue with Fransen's ruling.
He has also requested to be provided with the names of judges on the appeals body so that he may ask for the stepping down of Lebanese judges if any are part of the body, seeing as Sayyed and Lebanese Judge Ralph Riachy have a personal dispute.
This article starring:
Daniel Bellemare
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday snapped back at Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ... Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... over the latter's remarks that the article on funding the Special Tribunal for Leb will not be passed in Cabinet, stressing that "the STL was established under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757 and the successive governments, including the current one, have been committed to Security Council's resolutions, including the aforementioned."
Speaking to news hounds after his meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Leb Maura Connelly in Maarab, Geagea lamented that "a prominent dignitary such as Sheikh Qassem proclaimed totally false and unbased information suggesting that the LF was stockpiling weapons." Well, that'd be totally unfair, since Hezbollah's not stockpiling weapons... Oh. Wait. Never mind.
Geagea asked Qassem to "submit this information, if there is any, to the relevant judicial authorities."
Asked about the possibility of "confronting a new May 7," Geagea said: "The State is the side to confront (such a possibility) and not us, because it is responsible for civil peace and the security of citizens, and this question shouldn't be addressed to us, because the parties concerned are the ministries of interior and defense."
The LF leader ruled out that the government might soon be toppled by Hizbullah and its allies, noting that the other camp was "incapable" of making such a step.
He said that "there is no proof" that the STL was targeting Hizbullah, calling on the Lebanese people and politicians to read the biographies of STL's officials -- its president Antonio Cassesse, Prosecutor Danielle Bellemare, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen and others.
Asked about the possibility of sectarian violence in Leb should the STL accuse members of Hizbullah of murdering ex-PM Rafik Hariri, Geagea said: "Why? I don't understand the link between the two things."
Geagea wondered if Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was "revealing what 'would' happen or what he 'wants' to happen" when he warned of sectarian violence in Leb over STL's anticipated indictment.
This article starring:
Antonio Cassesse
Danielle Bellemare
Judge Daniel Fransen
Samir Geagea
Walid Muallem
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[An Nahar] Al-Akhbar newspaper snapped back Friday at the Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces over the latter's communiqué the same day in which it denied that any of its officers had made any interview with the daily.
"Given that the communiqué of the ISF Directorate General avoided to deny the occurrence of a meeting between the article's writer and one of the directorate's most prominent officers, and given that the same communiqué avoided to deny the information mentioned in the article, Al-Akhbar is concerned with stressing that publishing the content of the interview between the article's writer and one of ISF's most prominent officers had occurred according to the traditional work mechanism," the daily said, adding that "it understands the embarrassment of the officer concerned."
Al-Akhbar stressed that "what was published is a part of the information revealed by the officer to the article's writer," adding that the journalist's supposed visit to the officer's office was both "professional" and "personal."
"We are convinced Hizbullah killed (ex-PM) Rafik Hariri and the international investigation (commission) has evidence to prove that," Al-Akhbar on Friday quoted an "authoritative security source" close to Premier Saad Hariri as saying.
The source added, explaining in chronological order, that in 2006 and before the Israel-Hizbullah July war, ISF's Intelligence Bureau had reached data and evidence of the involvement of Hizbullah members in the execution of the murder.
He said that head of the Intelligence Bureau, Col. Wissan al-Hasan, informed Hariri of the data. The prime minister, in turn, dispatched al-Hasan to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
But Nasrallah did not agree with Hasan, neither did he deny, the source added.
He said three other meetings were held between Hizbullah and security officials to discuss the evidence, the source said.
The security source went on to explain the series of meetings and contacts between Hariri's team and Hizbullah and between ISF and Hizbullah which he said could be summarized in simple words:
We offered the party an exit that calls on Hizbullah to announce its readiness to prosecute members for evidence implicating them in Hariri's murder, just like the road map presented by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who has stated several times that Syria would try any of its nationals proved involved in the assassination process.
"We suggested that Hizbullah hide these persons or liquidate them or convict them morally," the source said.
By doing so, the source explained, the investigation will not be able to get to the side that ordered the killing.
"But we were surprised when Nasrallah closed the door on us, saying he is responsible for any act done by any Hizbullah member as if the party is not penetrated, and we know that it is and we gave him evidence for that," the security source told Al-Akhbar.
He said the three Hizbullah officials found to have ties with Israel have been "liquidated" after police informed Hizbullah of them.
Argument over the so-called false witnesses in the Hariri case, the source added, "in addition to those trying to suggest that this is a big issue, is a distortion of the facts."
He said police has information that Hizbullah and its allies intend to take street action following the visit to Leb by Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad planned for mid-October.
The source believes that Hizbullah will try to control most of the country, "and I can assure you that no one will confront Hizbullah."
"Security forces will protect the areas they can protect. Citizens will not face up to Hizbullah in the streets, but they may block alleyways in several areas ... men will protect themselves with individual weapons the same way Al-Ahbash prevented Hizbullah from entering its base for nearly six hours."
Certain regions, like north Leb where there is a Sunni weight, will be closed, adding that the Lebanese Forces, which has the ability to mobilize, will not resort to weapons because its leader Samir Geagea has chosen to stand by State institutions.
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[Iran Press TV] Hezbullies says it will 'politically' defend itself in the vent of being accused by the UN tribunal probing the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
Hezbullies Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday that due to the resistance movement's devotion to the country's stability and in order to prevent civil strife, Hezbullies would fight against the accusation politically or through the media.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the special tribunal plans to indict some Hezbullies members in connection with the assassination of Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bomb kaboom in 2005 along with 22 others.
Hezbullies has strongly denied any role in the Hariri assassination and does not recognize the tribunal and describes it as an "Israeli project" to harm the resistance movement. The group also accuses the tribunal of basing its investigations on testimonies provided by "false witnesses."
"Any indictment that accuses Hezbullies is an unjust indictment because we have nothing to do with this case whatsoever, and we even reject mere accusations," al-Manar quoted Qassam as saying on Friday in an interview with LBC.
Hezbullies's deputy secretary general once again questioned the impartiality of the UN-backed tribunal and accused the Netherlands-based court of ignoring documents proving Israel's role in the Hariri assassination.
In August, Hezbullies Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah presented a series of documents proving Israel's involvement in Hariri's murder.
The evidence included footage taken by Israeli drones of the routes frequented by Hariri prior to his assassination as well as recorded confessions by Israeli fifth columnists substantiating that the February 14, 2005 killing of the late Lebanese prime minister was carried out on orders from Tel Aviv.
"Why Israel wasn't accused despite the fact that we presented evidence to the Tribunal. Did it summon any of the Israelis or the Mossad for investigation?" Sheikh Qassem queried.
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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.
[Arab News] Bookies have started to take bets on when the Zardari government will collapse.
(Xinhua) -- Pak Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani told the parliament on Friday that Pakistain will consider other options if NATO continued 
[Al Arabiya] An alliance of Iraq's Shiite political blocs picked incumbent Nuri al-Maliki on Friday as its nominee for prime minister, alliance officials said, ending months of wrangling that had stalled formation of a government.
[Al Arabiya] There has been no breakthrough in talks to salvage peace negotiations between Israel and the 
[An Nahar] Hizbullah will not take the initiative of starting any security mishap, but sometimes we must put an end to civil strife, by any means necessary, if others start it, the party's deputy chief 
[An Nahar] Al-Akhbar newspaper snapped back Friday at the Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces over the latter's communiqué the same day in which it denied that any of its officers had made any interview with the daily.
