[Tolo News] Afghanistan should understand its enemies and friends otherwise condition in the country will fail to improve, a former senior government official said.
Davood Moradian, former senior policy advisor to the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, highlighted that Afghan people should try even more to defend their country.
Mr Moradian who has recently been fired from his post declined to provide comments about his displacement.
"If there is not an exact identity or definition from Afghanistan's rivals and friends, we wouldn't be able to free our nation from the current situation.
It is required that we all should act cautiously and with full mind against our rivals and challenges," he said.
Experts said Mr Moradian was relieved of his post because of pressures applied by Pakistain on Afghan government.
"Mr Moradian has strongly criticised Pakistain during conferences and political talk programmes," said an Afghan analyst, Haroun Mir.
It is believed that After Mr Moradian made some tough comments against Pakistain in a political talk programme in TOLOnews, he was sacked.
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Afghan Peace delegation leading by Burhanuddin Rabbani ... the legitimate president of Afghanistan... flew to Pakistain on Tuesday to discuss peace with officials in Islamabad.
The delegation is consisted of twenty members from Afghan High Peace Council.
One member of the Afghan peace council who is also part of the delegation said they were invited by Pakistain's Prime Minister, Yusuf Reza Gillani, to discuss peace with senior Pak officials so that the ground is paved for talks with anti-government groups.
The delegation is expected to hold talks with top Pak religious leaders and politicians to discuss negotiations and reconciliation with the Taliban.
Taliban leaders, including Mullah Mohammad Omar, are believed to have decamped to Pakistain and are hiding in the southwestern city of Quetta after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. ... where they live at Number 27, Street of the Cloven Hoof...
Afghan analysts say the only way to get rid of gun-hung tough guys and bring peace and stability to Afghanistan and the region is to convince Pakistain to root out terrorist sanctuaries from its territory.
Afghan peace council is consisted of 68 members including two women and was formed in September 21 in 2010.
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Foreigners should cut interferences in implementation of constitution in the country, Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai said on Tuesday.
President Karzai said Afghan constitution could be implemented, when Afghans have full independence to do so.
At a ceremony marking the day on which Afghan constitution was ratified, President Karzai said progress made in the country was along with some failures in the implementation of constitution.
"Fortunately, we have had some success in our work in the past seven years, but of course there were some failures in implementing the constitution," Karzai said. "One of our failures was that we couldn't implement district elections based on the constitution."
President Karzai called constitution as a social contract. He said Afghan government needs Afghans' support so than constitution can be fully implemented.
He said constitution could be fully and seriously implemented when politicians, tribal elders and religious scholars are politically committed to its implementation.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee said constitution should be evenly implemented on all the population.
The first Afghan constitution was ratified in 1936.
Karzai's government approved constitution in a gathering in 2004.
The Afghan government has always insisted on national will, but Afghan analysts believe the constitution has several times been breached by the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It was a serious mistake to put this luser in power in the first place. What Afghanistan needed was a western bureaucracy running the place under a MacArthur (PBUH) constitution.
A new Afghan government to replace the western bureaucracy, judiciary, military & police, and business would have to be educated from scratch, in the equivalent of a polytechnic school in Kabul, which would admit only young children of the upper and upper middle classes, set to inherit familial wealth and power; and orphans whose sole loyalty was to the state.
Once that was set up and running, the next step would be to set up a large number of public boarding schools in secure areas of the major cities, with mandatory, western style education for all children in the country.
The only religious instruction would be their four daily Muslims prayers. No sermons. And children could opt out of these at will without parental notification.
The curriculum would be regimented and authoritarian, with a heavy dose of patriotism, nationalism, and an idealized history, with contempt for tribalism and some degree of xenophobia, as well as distrust of both Iran and Pakistan. Religion and government don't mix.
Their school culture should be internationalist, and they should be very familiar with the culture of the US, Europe, Russia, China and India.
Had this been done at the onset, by now these students would be in place, they would be taking positions of power throughout the country, displacing the old power structure.
Yes, to do this we would have to be total pricks, but the end result would be a strong and viable country.
[Tolo News] Afghan and foreign troops are under great pressures from President Karzai not to conduct large scale operations to target the Taliban, an Afghan official said.
But Karzai's spokesperson said President Karzai is against offensives launched without coordination, leading to civilian deaths and destruction of grinding of the peace processor.
An Afghan official said on condition of anonymity that from the very beginning President Karzai was trying to avoid foreign troops and Afghan cops to launch huge military operations against cut-thoats.
In recent weeks, President Karzai has doubled pressures on both Afghan and foreign forces to prevent them from carrying out such operations, the official said.
In Kandahar operation, Karzai had set the will of Kandahar residents as a condition and lessened achievements of the offensive.
"It was said that we should take permission from locals before the operation begins. How can an operation be carried out with people's permission?," the official said.
Karzai's Spokesperson, Wahid Omar, said: "President Karzai disagrees with the launch of operations without coordination, and against the will of people, especially night raids that claim civilian lives."
The official told TOLOnews that still night raids are launched in some parts of the country.
But night raids are carried out secretly to keep people unaware of the civilians' vulnerability in the offensives.
The official said "Now Afghan and foreign forces have a very different potential compared to past years."
During the winter season, if the forces are used properly and they apply huge pressure on the Taliban that would reverse cut-thoats' momentum in most parts of the country and may even make Taliban leave Afghanistan forever.
Karzai's Spokesperson commented that the President does support some operations in which hard boyz are targeted.
"President Karzai has no problem with operations in which hard boyz are targeted. Our army and police forces with the help of coalition forces launch such operations on daily basis," Mr Omar said.
It is believed that the pressures are only to prevent damage to the grinding of the peace processor.
An official in Afghan High Peace council said: "We urged that civilian casualties and night raids should be stopped.
Military officials said special operations including night raids have been effective to hunt Taliban operatives and other cut-throats in the country.
US special forces, divided into white and black sections, have been a great help in the counter-insurgency operations.
US special operation forces related to black section take part in night time attacks and the white groups co-operate Afghan commando forces in day time operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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Benedict Killang hopes this weekend's secession referendum in southern Sudan brings some peace to a country that has been plagued by civil war, religious strife and genocide.
"They will definitely break apart, and that is good," said Killang, 41, of Castle Shannon, a southern Sudan native who came to the United States nine years ago.
Killang plans to attend a noon rally tomorrow at the City-County Building, Downtown, in anticipation of the referendum.
Most people expect the oil-rich, mainly Christian south to vote for independence from Sudan's mainly Muslim north. The two sides fought a bloody civil war that stretched over two decades. Sunday's vote is the culmination of a peace deal that ended the conflict in 2005.
Conflict in the predominantly Muslim region of Darfur now receives less attention than it did five years ago, but the coalition hopes the rally will remind the U.S. government to step up diplomacy in that region.
(KUNA) -- The International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC) announced on Tuesday that almost 7,800 people affected by recent fighting and tensions around Shangyl Tobay, in North Darfur, have received emergency assistance over the last three days.
"Most of these people decamped their homes in search of security, taking with them only the most basic belongings," said Anne-Marie Altherr, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Alfashir in a blurb lanched in Geneva. "They have been sleeping in the open, with no shelter or bedding, in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius at night. Most are women and kiddies. Many are less than five years old," she added.
The people were forced to flee the towns of Shangyl Tobay and New Shangyl Tobay following festivities between the Sudanese armed forces and various armed opposition groups in the area. They sought refuge in three camps for the displaced and near an African Union/United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) military camp.
Between 2 and 4 January, the ICRC provided them with plastic sheeting, blankets, sleeping mats, bed sheets, clothes, kitchen utensils and hygiene items. It also delivered shovels and, with the help of community members, started building 16 temporary latrines to improve hygiene conditions.
The ICRC is monitoring the situation carefully and stands ready to respond to any need for humanitarian aid.
The ICRC has been assisting the victims of the armed conflict in Darfur since 2004. In partnership with the Sudanese Red Islamic Thingy Society and local authorities and communities, it provides emergency and long-term assistance for people displaced by the conflict, supports local health-care facilities and promotes compliance with international humanitarian law.
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] A tribal leader in Sudan's flashpoint region of Abyei has given a war warning, six days before south Sudan votes on whether to split from the north.
Bishtina Mohammed El Salam of the Misseriya, one of two dominant tribes in Abyei, said his people will not accept joining the south following the January 9 referendum.
His tribe shares the region with the Dinka, who say they want to join the south.
"If the Dinka take this decision - to annex Abyei to the south - there will be an immediate war without any excuse," El Salam told Al Jizz.
"We think they should be reasonable and think about it. They should know that those who are pushing them to take that decision will not give them any back-up."
Under a 2005 peace agreement, a separate referendum is to be held for Abyei's people to opt to join the north or the south.
But issues over borders and residency rights have delayed that vote, which was due on January 9th.
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Hassan al-Turabi, the Sudanese opposition leader, once seen as the real power in his country, has said that opposition parties are working on peaceful ways to overthrow the government of president Omar al-Bashir.
"As dialogue with the regime took a long time, and after opposition leaders realised that the elections were hopeless... they have agreed to topple the regime," Turabi, once Bashir's mentor but now one of his fiercest critics, said on Monday.
"Sub-committees have been designated to prepare... the means by which to overthrow the regime right after the results of the referendum are announced," added Turabi of the upcoming vote on independence for south Sudan.
Al Jizz's Omar al-Saleh, reporting from Khartoum, said the government was facing a lot of opposition calls to be toppled.
"The Popular National Congress Party led by Hassan al-Turabi, the Ummah Party led by Sadiq al-Mahdi and other parties in Sudan are calling for the government to step down after the referendum," he said.
"They threatened that they will take to the streets to do so - there is no talk about violence in this process and they said that the means will be peaceful."
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. told southerners on a rare visit to Juba on Tuesday he would celebrate the result of Sunday's referendum on southern independence, "even if you choose secession."
"I personally will be sad if Sudan splits. But at the same time I will be happy if we have peace in Sudan between the two sides," Bashir said in a speech to senior southern officials at the start of his one-day visit.
"I am going to celebrate your decision, even if your decision is secession."
On his arrival at Juba airport, the president was given a red carpet welcome by southern leader Salva Kiir, senior politicians, religious leaders and a guard of honour from the combined armed forces of north and south Sudan.
Around 500 people gathered outside the airport, shouting slogans in favour of separation, such as "no to unity", and waving southern flags, but the atmosphere was festive.
In his speech, Bashir said unity was the best choice for southerners but he also insisted he wanted good relations with the south if it chooses independence, and repeated his message that the links between north and south Sudan were unique.
"Anything you need in terms of technical, logistical or professional support from Khartoum, you will find us ready to give it," he said.
"The benefit we get from unity, we can also get it from two separate states."
A heavy security presence was deployed in Juba, where armed soldiers were seen patrolling the streets.
After his speech, Bashir held talks with Kiir at the presidency on key post-referendum issues that both leaders have committed to negotiate within six months of the vote.
These include future citizenship arrangements, security and the shareout of oil wealth and debt. They must also forge a consensus on border demarcation, with around 20 percent of the north-south border yet to be agreed on.
Southern information minister Barnaba Marial said the leaders had during their meeting pledged to resolve all outstanding issues by July, when south Sudan would gain independence should the vote go that way.
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Egypt's Coptic Pope Shenouda III appealed for calm as Christian protesters clashed with police for a third day in a row after a New Year's Day bombing killed 21 churchgoers.
The spiritual head of the Middle East's largest Christian minority also called on the government to address his flock's grievances.
The unrest came as police went on high alert and tightened church security for Christmas, which Copts celebrate on Friday, as Sherlocks hunted the perpetrators of the Alexandria church bombing.
Tensions spilled over again late on Monday as protesters in a northern Cairo neighborhood threw rocks at police who tried to block a march by thousands of Copts.
Riot police responded by throwing rocks back at the protesters, who also pelted armoured police cars with stones and bottles.
An AFP correspondent said at least 10 protesters were maimed, several of them carried away bloodied by stones hurled from police lines.
The official MENA news agency reported that two officers and 12 coppers were maimed in the clash.
"I call on our sons for calm, as calm can solve all issues," the Coptic leader said in a television interview, the text of which was also published by the MENA.
"The slogans used by some have transgressed all values and manners... and some have tried to use violence, while violence is absolutely not our method," he said, blaming unspecified people he said were unrelated to his community.
Protesters also blocked a ringroad in two districts of the Nile Delta province of Qalubiya, burning tyres and stoning cars, MENA reported.
Monday's unrest came a day after 45 coppers were maimed in a confrontation with Coptic protesters outside St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, where the Coptic pope has his headquarters.
Protesters also threw rocks at a minister who had come to visit the pope, and a health ministry official said 27 other people were maimed in the clash.
Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people, have been targets of sectarian attacks and complain of discrimination, such as the legal requirement for them to obtain presidential permission to build churches.
In the interview, Shenouda said the state must address Coptic complaints.
"If it finds a law that harms some, the state has to correct the law or legislate new ones," he said.
Coptic Christmas this year falls on the weekly Mohammedan day of prayer and rest, and Shenouda said he intended to say mass as usual on Christmas Eve.
Egyptian security forces cancelled leave for senior officers and tightened surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation.
Saturday's attack also maimed 79 people when an apparent suicide car boomer detonated his payload as hundreds of worshippers were leaving Al-Qiddissin (The Saints) church in Alexandria after midnight.
It immediately sparked protests by angry Copts who called for protection and justice.
A security official said on Sunday that about 20 people were nabbed for questioning but there was no evidence that any of them was directly connected to the attack in the northern Egyptian city.
No one has yet grabbed credit for the attack, which came two months after an Al-Qaeda-linked group said it was behind a deadly Storied Baghdad church hostage-taking and threatened Coptic Christians as well.
The group demanded the release of two women, both priests' wives, saying the Coptic church was holding them against their will after they converted to Islam. The church denies they have converted.
An Al-Qaeda-linked website that published that threat posted in December a list of Coptic churches in Egypt and Europe it said should be attacked, including Al-Qiddissin church in Alexandria.
In Europe, a French security official said on Monday that police were investigating threats against Coptic churches and would reinforce security at 19 of the churches.
The Austrian interior ministry said it would secure the country's seven Coptic churches.
The Alexandria bombing has further underscored the vulnerability of the Copts.
Last year began with a massacre of six Copts and a Mohammedan security guard after a Coptic Christmas Eve mass and ended with two Coptic protesters killed in festivities during a protest over a Cairo church permit.
In the West Bank, the Paleostinian Authority Cabinet condemned the attack on the Alexandria church, saying it was against the "targeting [of] innocent civilians celebrating New Year's Eve" and offered its "deep condolences to the families of the victims and Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian government and people."
The PA called for greater Arab coordination and "efforts to put an end to such terrorist attacks and promoting values of tolerance and coexistence."
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01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested a suspected Mossad spy when they captured a vulture.
The bird, tagged at Tel Aviv University for a science study, flew into Saudi territory, where it was nabbed, according to Haaretz News Service.
The bird was wearing a transmitter and leg bracelet as part of a migration research project, but the tags bore the words 'Tel Aviv University' and prompted suspicion.
Residents and local reporters told Saudi Arabia's Al-Weeam newspaper that the Israeli bird seemed as though it could be a 'Zionist plot.'
News of the bird's arrest went viral and people on Arab-language blogs started insisted Zionist had trained and released the vulture to spy.
Last month a politician in Egypt suggested that the deadly shark that killed and maimed multiple tourist may have been sent by Mossad.
The animal could have been, the Sinai regional governor claimed, an Israeli agent.
'What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark in the sea to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm,' Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said at the time.
The Chinese military will consider launching a preemptive nuclear strike if the country finds itself faced with a critical situation in a war with another nuclear state, internal documents showed Wednesday.
The newly revealed policy, called ''Lowering the threshold of nuclear threats,'' may contradict China's strategy of no first use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances, and is likely to fan concern in the United States, Japan and other regional powers about Beijing's nuclear capability.
The People's Liberation Army's strategic missile forces, the Second Artillery Corps, ''will adjust the nuclear threat policy if a nuclear missile-possessing country carries out a series of air strikes against key strategic targets in our country with absolutely superior conventional weapons,'' according to the documents, copies of which were obtained by Kyodo News. I guess we know one of the reasons why the SKorea and the Japanese are getting so cozy.
#1
"...if a nuclear missile-possessing country carries out a series of air strikes against key strategic targets in our country with absolutely superior conventional weapons,''
In other words, hit us back and we'll nuke you. No intermediate steps, no negotiation. We will go nuclear if you make ANY attempt at all to defend yourselves.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/05/2011 19:52 Comments ||
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#2
Again, the US desires to turn over many of its Cold war security responsibilities to Regional Allies, e.g. JAPAN + SOUTH KOREA etal., which the latter rightfully interprete as meaning andor inferring they will need not only potent Conventional,RR Forces but also indigenous Nuclear Weapons + better.
CHINA, on its part, has linked its MANIFEST DESTINY AS "SOLE" POST-US GLOBAL SUPERPOWER to its procurement of CHIN-CONTROLLED/DOMINATED
"WARM-WATER" OVERSEAS PORTS IN + BEYOND THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN".
Exclusively, NORTH KOREA desires "NORTH KOREA FOR NORTH KOREANS/KOREANS" + NORTH KOREA-CENTRIC/CONTROLLED -ISMS, INCLUDING NORTH KOREA'S VERSION OF COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM-GOVTISM, NOT CHINA'S OR ANYBODY ELSE.
SEOUL = ROK = nominally supports the concept of "NORTH KOREA FOR KOREANS", NOT CHINA OR ANY OTHER.
E.G. CHOSUN ILBO > CHINESE SHIPPING FROM NORTH KOREAN PORT IN FULL SWING.
* SAME >[old] NORTH KOREA'S CROSS-BORDER BUSINESS WITH CHINA PICKING UP.
ARTICS > Alleged "STRICTLY BUSINESS" between the DPRK + CHINA - HOWEVER, VARIOUS NETTERS > repor that CHINESE COMPANIES OPER INSIDE NORTH KOREA OBEY CHIN'S PROTOCOLS + REGULATIONS, NOT PYONGYANG'S???
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea called Wednesday for "unconditional and early" talks with rival South Korea to put an end to months of tensions. Seoul quickly dismissed the offer as insincere and said it's waiting for an apology for two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang. Norks cracking? Desperate?
APEE so see link for rest.
#1
PEOPLES DAILY > DPRK CALLS FOR AN EARLY END TO CONFRONTATION. wid South Korea in favor of peace + setting up a common effort towards FORMAL NATIONAL RE-UNIFICATION.
* OTOH TOPIX > CHINA PLAYS THE LONG GAME IN KOREA, espec as per the DPRK.
ARTIC = CHINA gives the DPRK JUST ENOUGH ASSISTANCE TO SURVIVE = GET BY ON, A
"TUMULTOUS DECADE" [geopol dangerous?] lies potentially ahead for the Two Koreas + US-CHINA + Region.
Satellite images show that there are more than 70 luxury residences and villas for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the ruling clique, Radio Free Asia reported on Tuesday.
The U.S.-funded radio station quoted satellite photo analyst Curtis Melvin as saying the villas are concentrated in Yongsong District in Pyongyang, Sinuiju, Wonsan, Hamhung, and Hoechon. They are typically a hybrid of Korean and Western-style buildings in thick forest with lakes and manicured gardens. Some 20 residential complexes in Pyongyang, Sinuiju, Wonsan, Hyesan, Kanggye, Mt. Myohyang, Hungnam, and Sinchon even have exclusive train stations.
Most of Kim Jong-il's own residences are surrounded by walls and security checkpoints, and trains stations are sometimes inside the compounds, Melvin said.
South Korean intelligence speculate that Kim has as many as six exclusive trains with a total of about 90 cars and 19 train stations. Kim owns up to 33 villas in the mountains or on the beach across North Korea, they believe.
The Daily Telegraph last Saturday reported the chronically impoverished country is spending upwards of US$150 million building luxury residences for Kim's son and heir Jong-un in Pyongyang and near a hot springs area in North Hamgyong Province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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An increasing number of North Korean soldiers are showing AWOL behaviors to avoid intense physical training and look for food, the local daily, Chosun Ilbo, said Saturday, sourcing it to RFA.
Its hard to punish them because there are too many of such soldiers, an unnamed North Korean informant, told RFA in the report.
Some of the soldiers display on-off AWOL behaviors, for example, leaving the barracks in the morning looking for food and coming back in the evening.
The en masse absence is even causing difficulty in carrying out training according to schedule, the source said.
The sorry state of the military even earned Kim Jong-uns ire, who reportedly said: Those incapable military commanders should resign.
The informant, introduced in the report as a soldier, put the low morale in the North Korean military this way. If there were 10 AWOL reports, the actual number would be about 50.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if they take their guns with them when they go "looking" for food.
They sure aren't into the relaxed fit. Hat tip to Josh Stanton.
SKINNY jeans, blue crabs, pig-intestine rolls and even human manure were some of the hottest items among North Korean consumers this year, according to a South Korean professor who has interviewed recent defectors from the communist country.
Kim Young Soo, a political science professor at Seoul's Sogang University, said in a conference on Tuesday that adult movies, television dramas and instant noodle 'ramen' made in South Korea are also selling 'like hot cakes' in North Korea.
Skinny jeans refer to slim-fit pants that have gained popularity around the world, said Prof Kim who interviewed about 2,000 defectors this year as part of a research project for the government. He said that skinny jeans are so popular in the North's capital, Pyongyang, that people there sometimes mistakenly believe Chinese wearing the stylish clothes are roaming their capital.
Whereas it's just starving North Koreans in childrens' clothing.
'These are signs that North Korea is easing its isolation,' Prof Kim said in a telephone interview, noting that such lifestyle changes are conspicuous in Pyongyang and areas near the border with China.
The professor said many of the defectors he has interviewed had stayed in China no longer than a month before they came to South Korea, allowing him to have a relatively up-to-date glimpse of the latest culture in the communist country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Iff the Soviets were any measure, wait until the NOKOR Girls catch eye of BARBIE + the BRATZ, etc. + everybody as per a MCDONALD'S???
YEAR 2010 = was an OUTSTANDING YEAR FOR POPCORN FUTURES, + 2011 is STARTING OUT JUST DANDY.
Bet the folks in Beijing are real happy about this...
Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa will visit Seoul next month for talks with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin over agreements on mutual military support and the sharing of military secrets.
Seoul and Tokyo reportedly plan to sign the agreements this year. They would mark South Korea's first-ever military pacts with the former colonial power following several memorandums of understanding in the past. Military experts believe the aim is to deal with an emergency on the Korean Peninsula including the collapse of North Korea, but the Defense Ministry denies the plans.
Or an invasion, but invasion and collapse might be one and the same.
Responding to a Japanese media report, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said, "We have not considered or discussed the new declaration with Japan." The Yomiuri Shimbun reported the two countries are preparing a joint declaration to be signed when President Lee Myung-bak visits Tokyo in the first half of this year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
BEIJING = CHINA should be real titillated about..
* PEOPLES DAILY > JAPAN OPEN TO TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA [this year]: FOREIGN MINISTER [SEijii Maehara].
* SAME > CHINA'S ANTI-CARRIER MISSLE [DF-21's] NOY YET EFFECTIVE: ANALYSTS [US Navy = ONI]. The Navy considers the DF-21 ASBMS as a "WORKING DESIGN" ONLY THAT WILL NEED SEVERAL MORE YEARS OF DEV, IMPROVEMENT TO BECOME A TRUE THREAT TO US CARRIERS.
versus
* SAME > WHY CHINA IS STILL ANXIOUS?
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > WATCH OUT FOR RUSSIA'S "WILD CARD" IN ASIA-PACIFIC.
ARTIC = Iff Russia fails to secure its Far east, it will likely LOSE EVERYTHING THERE TO CHINA IN TIME, THE KEY TO CONTROL OF EURASIA IS CONTROL OF ITS WEST, SOUTH, + EAST ASIA REGIONS.
#2
Pragmatically, CHINA may move into the DPRK + elsewhere due to...
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > CHINA MAKES GAIN IN BATTLE AGZ DESERTIFICATION, BUT HAS A LONG FIGHT AHEAD [Over 1/4 of China is environ degraded + slowly turning into DESERT, China may need up to 300 Years to recover lost or damaged lands].
#5
One bad multi-year drought, and the world will see the Chinese Army moving north and south to "reconnect lost pieces of China to the Chinese homeland" again. It worked for them in Tibet and on the border with India, so they will recycle the rationale.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan raised hackles in Korea on Saturday by saying Tokyo will consider dispatching troops there to rescue Japanese citizens in case of an emergency. Kan told reporters his government will consult on the matter with the South Korean government and revise Japanese laws to allow the country's Self-Defense Force to engage in such rescue operations.
Oh that's just going to go over well in Beijing. Define 'rescue operations'...
The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported on Sunday that the Japanese government already sounded out to the Korean government the possibility of dispatching SDF transport aircraft and vessels to Seoul, Incheon and Busan to rescue around 28,000 Japanese citizens residing in Korea. But the daily said the Korean government rejected the proposal citing a potential public outrage among Koreans who may be reminded of the forced occupation of their country by the Japanese imperial military from 1910 to 1945.
If the Norks invade the people of the south will rapidly revise their opinion...
Seoul was also reportedly concerned that the consultation itself could give the impression that a war is imminent.
Perhaps because it is...
But Seoul denied knowledge of the plan. "Japan neither raised the issue nor discussed it with us," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "We don't know in what context Kan made the comments."
Another Korean official said the dispatch abroad of Japanese troops "is a matter of controversy even within Japan" and the remarks "were almost totally unexpected." He added the comments "appear rather imprudent considering they came from the Japanese leader and concerned sensitive national security issues."
So his timing was a little off...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A little bluntness is good as an icebreaker. However, it would serve the Japanese to start a friendship campaign with the Koreans, providing all sorts of non-military goodies to a disadvantaged, but sympathetic to Koreans segment of Korean society.
It is important to change the Korean mental paradigm about the Japanese, which is a long process.
#2
It is important to change the Korean mental paradigm about the Japanese, which is a long process.
If the Japanese don't go into the situation thinking of the Koreans as equal, respecting the Koreans having made the same by-their-bootstraps climb Japan made, Japanese hauteur will be noticed and resented. A good first step would be to make equal the Koreans living as very second-class citizens in Japan, despite having been there for generations. Koreans resent Japan not only for the invasion in World War II, but for their ongoing bigotry.
#3
IMO the real LT question for the US STATE DEPT. + INTEL is what might or will NORTH KOREA = KIMMIE + REGIME BOYZ do to threaten NIPPON CITIZENS-NATIONALS on the Korean Peninula???
Again, IMO CHINA is unlikley to accept INTER-KOREAN MERGER + RE-UNIFICATION UNLESS US MILFORS ARE WITHDRAWN FROM SOUTH KOREA + LIKELY THE WHOLE OF NE ASIA. + PORTS RIGHTS IN SAME + BOTH SOOUTH KOREA + JAPAN AGREE NOT TO DEV NUCLEAR ARSENALS THAT CAN BE USED AGZ CHINA.
"RISING CHINA " can wait for a formal US-Allied response to the above - ITS DUBIOUS IFF STARVING NORTH KOREA CAN DO SAME WIDOUT CATASTROPHICALLY COMPROMISING = CHANGING ITS ETHNO-NATIONALIST CONCEPT OF "NORTH KOREA FOR NORTH KOREANS/
KOREANS"???
(KUNA) -- Three Mohammedan organisations in the Netherlands have offered to help protect three Coptic churches in the Netherlands from possible attacks, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported Tuesday. The names of the three churches -- in Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam -- are listed on a website which is considered to have links to Al Qaeda.
"Especially we must do this because al-Qaeda claims to operate in the name of Islam. Christian Copts, indeed all the Dutch and we have exactly the same enemies: the terrorists. It is high time to clarify this loud," said the three Dutch Mohammedan organisations in the statement.
Police have already taken action to increase security around the Coptic churches in Holland.
The Coptic church celebrates Christmas on January 7, and the website had called for bomb attacks against Coptic churches on targets around Europe on that date. The priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Amsterdam, in response, thanked the Mohammedan organisations and said they will give their proposal "serious consideration."
If they're Muslim Brotherhood-connected, no way in hell. If they're Ahmadiyya, absolutely. The Ahmaddiyas have been putting themselves out there to demonstrate not all Muslims are jihad-mad killers... even though to the mainstream they are not Muslim at all.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Gambino Family to the NYPD: Let us provide security in the garment district.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
01/05/2011 10:07 Comments ||
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#2
My sentiments as well, JS. You do not accept favors from a mafia, you will not break even.
(KUNA) -- Bishop of the Coptic Church in Rome, Barnaba el Soryany, on Monday, announced that he will not accept participation of Mohammedan community representatives in Rome in a demonstration slated for next Sunday. "Fuhgeddaboudit."
The demonstration is called to commemorate the victims of the suicide kaboom that targeted a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year's Eve. The attack resulted in some 21 killed and 97 others injured. No telling how many boomers would show up, just dying to detonate in a crowd.
"I shall never accept that representatives of Rome's Mohammedan community should join us for next Sunday's demonstration," The Italian News Agency (ANSA) quoted el Soryany as saying earlier today.
The Bishop told ANSA that he was nonetheless "heartened" by the many other religious communities and institutions joining in the demonstration.
In reference to his wish to exclude both Mohammedan religious and political representatives, el Soryany added he was "unafraid to say so".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq discussed on Tuesday with Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaie ways of doing as the Iranians tell him to do boosting bilateral ties, according to an official statement.
Al-Mutlaq received the diplomat at his office in Baghdad, with whom he underlined Iraqs desire not to be invaded in the near future to foster relations with its neighbors and to stop Iranian meddling open new cooperation horizons in security, economic and diplomatic fields, said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
For his part, the Iranian ambassador stressed the importance of Iraq doing as it is told boosting relations between Baghdad and Tehran in commercial, service and tourism sectors.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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Nine new bomb suits recently purchased by the Royal Thai Police should arrive in Thailand late this month. It is hoped this will calm fears about substandard bomb suits used by security forces in southern Thailand, following the death of two officers last Friday in a bomb disabling operation.
Three suits made in Canada will be given to police EOD units in the three southernmost provinces, national police chief Pol General Wichean Potephosree stated. Wichean expressed regret about the deaths of two bomb squad officers killed in the operation last Friday, and called for an investigation.
Some 26 EOD officers from the Army have been assigned to help police bomb squads in the deep south because of a police personnel shortage.
[Straits Times] COMMUNIST rebels in the Philippines vowed on Tuesday to launch attacks against the military and companies that rejected extortion demands, ahead of a planned resumption of peace talks this month.
Arman Guerrero, a front man for the New People's Army's (NPA) political front, said all cadres were to launch the attacks after an 18-day Christmas ceasefire with government officially ended at midnight on Monday.
'Starting today... all members of the revolutionary movement... must launch tactical offensives to punish human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... violators,' Mr Guerrero said.
The NPA typically accuses the army of massive human rights abuses to justify their attacks, although Mr Guerrero said companies who 'do not follow the rules and policies' in its areas of influence were also fair game.
The NPA has been known to demand illegal 'revolutionary taxes' from mining and logging firms that operate in remote areas under its sway, as well as from local politicians.
The NPA's threat came as both sides were preparing to resume preliminary peace negotiations to be held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo this month, their first talks since 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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HMMMM, HMMMM, I'm not convinced - my reading of VARIOUS NET ARTICS on is that this is just a covert cover by the NPA to hide a possible violent break in relations wid the MILF, etc. Muslim factions.
[Arab News] A top opposition leader has offered to stand trial over the deadly unrest that erupted across Iran after the 2009 presidential elections -- but on condition the proceedings are open, a reformist website reported Monday.
Mehdi Karroubi's offer is the latest challenge to the government over the disputed balloting.
Hundreds of opposition supporters have been jugged and tried following the fierce crackdown that crushed weeks of protests. Authorities have not jugged top reformists, however, apparently fearing a new outbreak of unrest.
But last week, in an abrupt about-face, Tehran's chief prosecutor said it was only a matter of time before opposition leaders would be put on trial over the rioting that followed the disputed 2009 presidential balloting.
On Monday, the kaleme.com website cited Karoubi as agreeing to take part in an open proceeding. "I wholeheartedly would welcome a trial and have strong evidence to support my case," Karoubi said. "But I have a request: that the court be open if the authorities are honest."
Reformists say opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was the election's real victor and that President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
Hard-line media and activists have been pushing to try opposition leaders in recent weeks, in a possible sign Iran's leadership believes the opposition has been sufficiently suppressed so their arrests would not provoke a significant backlash.
However, The infamous However... Iran's Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie has said the trial of opposition leaders was unlikely to be held in the near future as certain "conditions" had to be met.
"Those who have committed crimes will definitely be prosecuted, especially those who gave hope to the enemy and inflicted a great injustice on the people," Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
By demanding an open trial, Karoubi challenged the ruling establishment to take a step that could ignite a new wave of protests throughout the country.
The deadly protests that erupted after the June 2009 election presented Iran's leadership with its severest challenge since it came to power in the 1979 revolution. Hundreds of thousands erupted into the streets in support of Mousavi, and some powerful preachers sided with the opposition.
But government forces harshly suppressed the protests and the opposition has not held a major demonstration since December 2009.
Iranian opposition figures say more than 80 demonstrators were killed in the turmoil.
The government, which puts the number of confirmed deaths at 30, accuses opposition leaders of being "stooges of the West" and of seeking to topple the ruling system.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
[Tolo News] Foreigners should cut interferences in implementation of constitution in the country, 
(KUNA) -- The International Committee of the 
Pope Shenouda III appealed for calm as Christian protesters clashed with police for a third day in a row after a New Year's Day bombing killed 21 churchgoers.
The Chinese military will consider launching a preemptive nuclear strike if the country finds itself faced with a critical situation in a war with another nuclear state, internal documents showed Wednesday.
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea called Wednesday for "unconditional and early" talks with rival South Korea to put an end to months of tensions. Seoul quickly dismissed the offer as insincere and said it's waiting for an apology for two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang.
Nine new bomb suits recently purchased by the Royal Thai Police should arrive in Thailand late this month. It is hoped this will calm fears about substandard bomb suits used by security forces in southern Thailand, following the 
