Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/12/2011 17:27 ||
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#1
"Back in the day" DLI was cranking out Russian, Korean, and German linguists by the class full every Thursday. Why are they not doing the same with Pashto and Dari? We should be graduating 500 such linguists a year.
#2
Back in the Day(tm)
There were over a million men in the Army, then 950,000, then 750,000, then 480,000.
They're talking cuts again. The guys who run the shop are Armor, Infantry or Artillery branch. Guess what gets priority with less manpower resources.
#3
Why are they not doing the same with Pashto and Dari? I've been asking that question since 9/12 or so. It's not only a military issue but a diplomatic one. The last time I checked, there were no college courses in Dari taught in the US.
CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt will remain committed to all its regional and international treaties, its ruling military council said on Saturday, implicitly confirming the nation's peace deal with Israel would remain intact.
"The Arab republic of Egypt will remain committed to all its regional and international treaties," the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces said in a televised address.
The announcement was part of "Communique Number 4," issued a day after veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak handed power to the military.
#1
I imagine a lot of phone calls are being made between senior Egyptian military leaders and their Pentagon counterparts, at far lower than official diplomatic levels.
After the US military, on its own, demonstrated an amazing capacity to do field level "country management" in Iraq, they are the world experts in the subject. So their advice would be invaluable in keeping Egypt stable until elections can be held.
#3
I dunno, moose. If I were in Egypt, I'd be real careful before dialing 0-1-202. Those phone records may be subject to review by the new management sooner than you think. And I'm not so sure how many receivers of such calls will be terribly forthcoming, given that the technology needed to implement country management may not be forthcoming from the regime in Washington. Tought time to be in the senior ranks of the Egyptian military.
#4
Gibbs' called for an inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the political process.
Clapper tried to whitewash the MB thereby simultaneously putting a positive spin on a MB takeover (for US/Western audiences) and giving a clear signal to the Egyptians that the current US administration does not oppose and maybe even desires such a development.
In light of this and the Obama administration's position on the Iranian unrest and on Honduras for that matter, any pro-western Egyptian player would be well advised to consider the possibility that the current US administration isn't really pro-western anymore.
[Iran Press TV] Heavy festivities between Somali government troops backed by African Union forces and al-Shaboobs have resulted in the deaths of 10 people in Mogadishu.
Six Somali soldiers bit the dust on Friday after bitter festivities broke out between al-Shaboobs and transitional government troops in Mogadishu's northern district of Hodan. Four al-Shaboobs were among the dead, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Several civilians were also maimed in the skirmishes. Somali ambulance workers ferried those maimed to local hospitals.
Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
And they've had what they strove for, ever since. Hope they're happy.
The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security, but efforts have not yet yielded results in the Horn of Africa nation.
Up to one million people have bit the dust following years of fighting between rival warlords and because of the country's inability to deal with famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Fighting in Southern Sudan between the region's army and a rebel faction has killed 105 people, including civilians, according to a southern army front man. The News Agency that Dare Not be Named earlier inaccurately quoted the front man as saying 140 people died.
Col. Philip Aguer, the front man for the southern army, says a former high-ranking southern army member who had rebelled against the southern government broke a cease-fire by attacking the towns of Fangak and Dor on Wednesday.
Aguer says renegade commander George Athor's troops captured Fangak, and the fighting continued through Thursday until the southern military retook it. No new fighting was reported on Friday.
Aguer says 105 people were killed: 39 civilians, 24 southern police and soldiers and 42 of Athor's men.
In September, Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir offered amnesty to Athor and several other men who had launched armed uprisings against his government.
On Jan. 5, four days before the south held an independence referendum, Athor signed a cease-fire with the army in what then appeared to end one of the largest security threats to the south in the run-up to its self-determination vote.
The independence referendum passed overwhelmingly, according to final results released Monday, and Southern Sudan is set to become the world's newest nation in July.
The vote was the culmination of a 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of war between north and south Sudan.
"We were preparing for peace and we don't know why he is waging war at the time when war has ended in Sudan," Aguer said. "Meanwhile we still maintain the spirit of reconciliation because the amnesty is still holding. So if Athor stops fighting we will welcome him for reconciliation." A UN front man, Kouider Zerrouk, said Friday that the UN mission in Sudan "is very concerned about the renewed fighting ... and the resulting civilian casualties." UN leaders have engaged both sides and are urging an immediate end to the attacks, Zerrouk said.
Last week in Upper Nile state, which borders Jonglei, more than 60 southern soldiers who are members of the northern Sudanese army died in a mutiny related to the imminent breakup of the country.
Ongoing insecurity, the widespread presence of small arms, and severe underdevelopment due to decades of civil war are just some of the problems facing Southern Sudan in the run-up to its independence declaration.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said Friday it was responding to a huge influx of maimed patients. About 50 patients have been admitted to its health facilities.
"We are mainly seeing patients with gunshot wounds, and many have significant abdominal and limb injuries," said Tim Baerwaldt, head of mission in Southern Sudan.
Medical supplies and personnel have been flown to Malakal, the major town in Upper Nile state, the medical group said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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Followup on the posts below. Lots of festivities in Algiers today, as CNN has figured out what we knew months ago: Algeria is a battleground between nasty Arab military thugs and nasty Arab Islamicist thugs.
Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Tensions erupted in another restive North African nation as security forces in Algeria on Saturday clashed with anti-government protesters who chanted, "Change the power."
Police detained about 100 protesters in the nation's capital of Algiers, according to the Algerian League for Human Rights. The league is one of the main opposition groups that organized the rallies -- unauthorized gatherings that came a day after embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.
More than 3,000 demonstrators, including activists, students, doctors, and parliament members, joined the rally but were blocked by more than 30,000 police officers, said league president Mustafa Boushashi.
Never a good idea to be outnumbered 10 to 1 by the coppers...
"The police attacked the demonstrators," Boushashi told CNN. "Many activists were beaten and over a hundred were taken into custody, including the parliament members from the Rally for Culture and Democracy Party."
Khalil AbdulMouminm, the league's general secretary, called the situation "very tense on the ground" and said police were preventing protesters from assembling, with authorities blocking all entrances to the capital.
"We want this rally to break the wall of fear in the first place," AbdulMouminm said. "And to trigger change in order to reach our legitimate demands, like lifting the emergency law after all these years, liberating media, freedom of political expression."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 14:11 ||
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[Maghrebia] Two men charged in connection with the failed Nouakchott terror attacks appeared on Mauritanian national television on Wednesday (February 9th) to detail the suicide bomb plot and renounce al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, ANI reported.
The police must've used the extra-strong truncheons for their interviews.
The number 7's, of course, with rich Corinthian leather-wrapped handles...
According to Atar-born Saleck Ould Cheikh Mohamedou, 27, the plan to blow up the Defence Ministry and the French Embassy was prepared over a period of 4 months at terror camps in northern Mali. He said he was pleased with the failure of the February 2nd operation, adding that he was deceived into participating and regretted his involvement. Ould Cheikh Mohamedou called on all Mauritanians still at AQIM camps in northern Mali to rejoin their country and repent.
Hopefully he told the police just where those camps are located, too.
He assured them that authorities would forgive all those who renounced terrorism. "No person should destroy his own nation," he said.
Youcef Galissa, 29, the other suspect apprehended with Ould Cheikh Mohamedou, said he was "joyous" over the failure of the bomb plot. The Guinea-Bissau native also called on his compatriots at the Mali camps to abandon their terrorist ideology.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Swiss government has taken steps to freeze any assets belonging to former Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak and his allies, shortly after the 82-year-old transferred power to the military.
"The Federal Council (government) has decided to freeze any assets of the former Egyptian president and his entourage in Switzerland with immediate effect," AFP quoted the Swiss foreign ministry as saying in a statement released on Friday.
The ministry added that the three-year freeze seeks to prevent any possible embezzlement of Egyptian state property.
However, The infamous However... opposition groups including the Moslem Brüderbund were quick to call for the formation of a civilian-led government.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Probably too late. Reports are that assets have been shifted around for weeks so they weren't frozen out. Son Gamal, living large in London, is the reported financial genius of the family as head of Medinvest, and a former Bank of America employee. Following their money could be very interesting.
#3
Dubai and Singapore : two banking centers that tell the rest of the world to f*** off when it comes to their secret bank accounts. Just bounce the money a few times between the two countries into different accounts, and it becomes impossible to trace. Of course, the banks make a bundle on service charges that way, but if you are trying to save a few billion, who cares?
[Arab News] Leb: Celebrations erupted across the Middle East on Friday after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president. From Beirut to Gazoo, people rushed into the streets, handing out candy, setting off fireworks and shooting in the air.
Even in Israel, which had watched the Egyptian protesters' uprising against Mubarak with concern, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing. "The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It's good that he did what he did," former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who knew Mubarak well, told Israel TV's Channel 10.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, and there are fears the 1979 accord could now be challenged.
Moments after Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... made the announcement of Mubarak's resignation, fireworks lit up the sky over Beirut. Celebratory gunfire rang out in the Shiite-dominated areas in south Leb and in southern Beirut.
On Al-Manar TV, the station run by the Shiite MohammedanHezbullies faction, Egyptian anchor Amr Nassef, who was once imprisoned in Egypt for alleged ties to Islamists, cried emotionally on the air and said: "Allahu Akbar (God is great), the Pharaoh is dead. Am I dreaming? I'm afraid to be dreaming." In Tunisia, where a successful uprising expelled a longtime leader only weeks earlier, cries of joy and the thundering honking of horns greeted the announcement. "God delivered our Egyptian brothers from this dictator," said Yacoub Youssef, one of those celebrating in the capital of Tunis.
Tunisia inspired pro-democracy protest movements across the Arab world after a month of deadly demonstrations pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile in Soddy Arabia on Jan. 14.
There was no immediate official reaction from Tunisia's caretaker government.
In the Gazoo Strip, ruled by the Islamic jihad boyHamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, thousands rushed into the streets in jubilation. Gunmen fired in the air and women handed out candy. "God bless Egypt, it's a day of joy and God willing all corrupt leaders in the world will fall," said Radwa Abu Ali, 55, one of the women distributing sweets.
Egypt, along with Israel, had enforced a border blockade on Gazoo after the territory was seized by Hamas in 2007.
There were some expectations that under a new Egyptian regime, the blockade would be eased.
"This is a victory for the will of the people and a turning point in the future of the region," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas front man.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
There were some expectations that under a new Egyptian regime, the blockade would be eased.
Egypt breaks the peace accord, US aid goes bye-bye.
I doubt if the Egyptian military wants that.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/12/2011 9:51 Comments ||
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#2
Egypt breaks the peace accord, US aid goes bye-byesky-high
With Bambi in the the WH, this is more likely
#4
Israel's efforts to prevent attacks on undisputed Israeli territory having been systematically discredited and delegitimized, Israel would be under tremendous pressure not to react militarily to any Egyptian action short of a direct attack.
If Israel made a military move to retake the Sinai the result would be crippling, legally binding UN sanctions which Obama would not veto.
[Arab News] The country has erupted in joy. The traffic has stopped. People are out of their cars, kissing and embracing, screaming, laughing and crying. Egypt is jubilant. The people can't believe what has happened. Egypt has been born anew and on the streets of Cairo it feels like a nation's World Cup victory a million times over.
A common sentiment expressed by young Cairenes after receiving news of geriatric President Hosni Mubarak's exit: tears for the over 300 Egyptians who died for the cause before witnessing the victory.
Despite the absence of police there was no chaos. Army tanks that have been deployed were still parked, their crews smiling. Seemingly every window in buildings, buses and cars displayed the Egyptian flag. It was party time on Friday evening, a national carnival.
The lights on Kasr Al-Nile bridge were still out, but nearby a woman was screaming "Egypt is free today!" Tahrir Square has become the birthplace of freedom, filled and surrounded by the sounds of jubilation, revelry and drum-beating.
Wael Ghuneim, who is Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, was asked whether he felt like crying.
"No," he replied. "Today is the day of happiness."
A passerby told Arab News that the fall of the Mubarak regime has removed "the specter of agony."
"It's a victory of the Egyptian people's will," said a young girl on Kasr Al-Nile bridge.
A couple in their forties also expressed happiness, but they were also a bit concerned about what the coming days will bring.
"This is the happiest day in my generation," said Ali Al-Tayab, a 24-year-old demonstrator who paid tribute to those who died in festivities with police and Mubarak supporters. "To the martyrs, this is your day." At a presidential palace in Cairo, where demonstrators had gathered in the thousands, people flashed the V-for-victory sign and shouted, "Be happy, Egyptians, today is a feast" and "He stepped down."
Many prayed and declared: "God is great." Crowds began to move toward Tahrir Square, the scene of massive protests against Mubarak that began on Jan. 25.
"Now every part of Egypt is Tahrir Square, " shouted a young woman, her face totally covered in red, white and black.
"We are free! We are free! We are free!, chanted a group of young men and women jumping up and down, their arms around each others' shoulders.
"God bless you children," sobbed a middle-aged woman, while hugging and kissing the young men and women on the street. "You waited it out and you won it for us, for your kids and your kids' kids!" She hid her face sobbing in her headscarf.
"No tears tonight aunt," a young boy comforted her. "Tonight endurance won. Tonight determination won. Tonight the truth won. Tonight is truth's night!" he shouted, his veins bulging in his neck.
"Finally, we are free," said 60-year-old Safwan Abou Stat. "From now on, anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great." In some neighborhoods, women on balconies ululated with the joyous tongue-trilling used to mark weddings and births. Some sang the national anthem.
Mohammed el-Masry, who marched to the presidential palace, said he had spent the past two weeks living in the protest encampment at Tahrir Square.
"We are going to Tahrir to celebrate," he said, weeping with joy. "We made it."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Mubarak is gone, and now you have an Egyptian military Junta.
Big improvement. Paint a doorknob on a rock....and tell yourself its the gate to Paradise.
#2
Utterly corrupt ruling caste, economic chaos, hundreds of thousands marching in the street and the Beltway Mob is OK with the military coup. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
#5
Egypt has had systemic problems for many decades. We bought some peace for almost 40 years with $2 billion a year, but the systemic problems were never addressed. You have youth with nothing to do that are ripe for the pickin's for jihadists. Look at your Egyptian infrastructure: water, sewer, electricity, building codes, etc. Then take a look at other countries in the area: Algeria, Libya, Syria, Jordan, etc. They have not progressed. There is a lot of work that revolution will not address without fundamental systemic changes in society. And Islamists will not do a thing to address these fundamental issues.
The first thing that we must do is to achieve energy independence from the ME, then we are not beholden to them. The same goes for Japan, and other allies. Islamism and oil money are more toxic than anything.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/12/2011 16:11 Comments ||
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#6
Look at the women in the graduation photos from Cairo University to see the problem.
Via the Green Room at Hot Air. It's a clear demonstration of Saudi willingness to play both sides -- support Mubarak and at the same time play nice with the Iranians, since the Saudis now have to fear that Bambi won't support them if trouble stirs the Magic Kingdom. It's also clear that the region's politics and alliances are shifting, and in ways that don't favor either democracy or the U.S.
Iranian peace and friendship flotilla have reached Jeddah port to continues navigation activities, ISNA reported.
"Islamic Republic of Iran's navy flotilla arrived in Jeddah port on Sunday to continue mighty presence in high seas with the aim of fostering amicable relations and sending message of peace and friendship to regional countries," said Iranian naval force commander Habibollah Sayyari.
The flotilla involve Islamic Republic of Iran's Khark warship and Alvand destroyer.
He also expressed hope the country can send message of peace and friendship to regional countries through dispatch of Iranian flotilla to strategic Red Sea, Gulf of Aden as well as friend and Muslim countries' ports including Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's navy is determined to continue presence in high seas to protect interest of the country and spread message of peace and security in sensitive northern Indian Ocean," he added.
And to make sure the guns get to their allies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 14:06 ||
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#1
Also a regularly scheduled placement and maintenance of tracking devices exercise for the USN.
#2
The Saud will never trust the Iranians, because Iranians think the Saud are dogs, want to see them deposed and killed, and they, the Iranians, running Mecca and Medina.
In fact, the very idea that the Shiites might be in charge of Mecca, and snub the Sunnis even harder than the Sunnis snubbed them, gets every Shiite cleric hot and bothered.
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... chaired on Friday evening an expanded meeting with the National Defense Council, politicians and the security committee.
This meeting came after Egyptian President Mobark's resignation in which he handed his authorities to the Egyptian Military Council peacefully after the call of the of Egyptian people to step down.
President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... discussed several issues regarding economic reforms and the efforts of construction and modernization of the armed forces as well as issues related to improving the wages of government staff and personnel of the armed and security forces.
He also approved new measures to launch the financial allowances for government employees, following the application of the 3rd phase of the strategy of wages and salaries in order to improve their living conditions.
President Saleh endorsed necessary measures to reduce public expenditures of all government facilities and stop purchasing any accessories or building any unnecessary buildings, giving priority to equip the completed buildings and facilities.
During the meeting he stressed the need to combat tax evasion and take legal action against taxes and customs duties evaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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ADEN, Yemen Dozens of protesters in Aden called Friday for the secession of southern Yemen, before police moved in to disperse them, witnesses said.
Security forces backed by tanks fanned out around the capital to head off the so-called day of rage supported by Yemens secessionist Southern Movement. Dozens of protesters nevertheless took to the streets in the districts of Crater, Khor Maksar, and Al-Mansura, chanting out occupation, before they were dispersed, witnesses told AFP.
In Al-Masura, police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The Southern Movement, a coalition of groups seeking autonomy or secession of the once-independent South Yemen, has expressed its support earlier this week to Facebook calls for a day of rage in the south.
Further east, several hundred people, led by a local separatist leader, Tareq al-Fadhli, took to the streets of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, with banners calling for an end to the occupation. No clashes were reported despite a heavy security and military deployment.
Police meanwhile fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse a demonstration in Hadramawts provincial capital Mukalla, in the southeast, where protesters blocked roads and set car tyres alight, witnesses said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalionnabbed two members of banned cut-thoat outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Mohammedan Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually went kaboom!. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Soddy Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Soddy Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt. (JMB) from a rented house in Alokdia of Sirajganj early yesterday.
The arrestees, Mohtasin Billah, 25, was the treasurer of JMB central unit and Al-Amin Hossain, 20, was an ehsar (fulltime) member, said Rab.
The crime busters produced the two before journalists at Rab headquarters yesterday. "Lookee what we found!"
A team of Rab-12 raided the house in Alokdia village under Salonga Police Station and nabbed them around 1:30am, said Commander Mohammad Sohail, director of Rab's Legal and Media Wing.
During the raid the law enforcers seized some jihadi books, paper cuttings of JMB-related news,
How cute -- they were scrapbooking. Probably just as well they never tried for grown-up careers.
documents, CDs, leaflets and Bangladeshi fake currencies worth Tk 25,000 from their possession, added the Rab official. Prolly had been better off doing armed robberies and kidnappings to raise funds. Counterfeiting is too traceable.
They also recovered some hand-written documents containing description on how to operate firearms, guard dens, work in disguise and what to say during police interrogation.
"Oboy -- can I do the interrogation, Sarge? This is going to be a fun one."
"This one is going to require extra mustache wax all around, lad. You haven't enough mustache yet. Maybe next year."
Responding to a query Sohail said they were not sure who had been leading the outfit after the arrest of its chief Maulana Saidur Rahman on May 24 last year. They, however, learnt a Sohel Mahfuz had taken over. Welcome the new capo. The same as the old capo.
The outfit runs with the donations of members and by bake sales selling fake notes, claimed the Rab official adding, presently they are not strong enough to run subversive activities, though they are trying to recruit members by motivating people.
They sound pretty moth-eaten, this particular bunch of lions of Islam.
Mohtasin is a brother of jugged JMB chief's second wife Nurunnahar Himu.
Nepotism has been the ruination of more organizations...
Rab nabbed Himu along with her younger brother Muktasim Billah Rubel's wife Asma Mimi in a drive on November 1, 2009 at Mayakanon of the city's Sabujbagh.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Excellent snark, TW, extra sugar in your tea today?
#2
Always happy to amuse, USN, Ret., thank you. I love it when it goes all multicolour as we spark ideas in one another! But truly, Rab snark just writes itself -- God bless whoever wrote those first reports and set the format.
A Bangladeshi friend told me the Rab are beloved over there, because they actually accomplish the things that the corrupt police and courts ought to, but refuse to do. So it's not just a Rantburg thing. ;-)
[Iran Press TV] Nine people have been killed in a shootout involving suspected narco mob members and security forces in the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas.
Eight gunnies and one soldier were killed during a shootout Wednesday night in the town of Tabasco, Mexico's Defense Department reported.
Two other soldiers have been maimed.
Tabasco is 190 kilometers (118 miles) north of Guadalajara.
The soldiers found six assault rifles, three radios and two bulletproof jackets, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named stated.
The shootout reportedly erupted when the soldiers came under attack by gunnies while investigating a tip off.
Although no details were given about the gunnies, media reports have linked the violence to cartels that smuggle drugs into the US.
On Monday, the bodies of five men were found slain on the side of the road in Zacatecas.
The deaths raised the number of people killed in drug-related violence to 41 since last weekend, AFP stated.
Violence has erupted in Mexico since 2006 when President Felipe Calderon ordered a military crackdown on the cartels, deploying about 50,000 troops across the country.
An estimated 34,200 people have been killed since President Calderon's war on drugs began.
The government claims that its offensive has resulted in the capture of 19 of the 37 most-wanted criminals in Mexico.
Nearly half of the drug-related killings have taken place in the three northern states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Another glorious battle in the Nanny State Alliance's tireless War To Try To Prevent Stupid People Doing What Stupid People Will Do Anyway.
[Arab News] Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon instructed his security services on Friday to tighten control over religious education and mosques, which he said were often used to foment religious radicalism in the Central Asian state.
Rakhmon was speaking two days after the main opposition Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan censured the secular government of the majority Mohammedan state, accusing it of corruption and trampling on religious and political rights.
Rakhmon, whose ruling People's Democratic Party has rejected these charges, said the unchecked proliferation of mosques and religious schools posed a major threat to stability in the country of 7.5 million, which shares a border with Afghanistan.
"Under the guise of teaching the basics of Islam, criminals recruit teenagers and young people to their ranks and then send them to Islamic exemplar religious schools in Islamic states," Rakhmon told a meeting of Tajikistan's Security Council.
"Some mosques are giving the floor to those who propagate Islamic exemplar ideology and are turning into places for recruiting youths to the ranks of Islamic exemplars," he said.
Tajikistan, the poorest of five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, fought a civil war between 1992 and 1997 in which tens of thousands were killed. The Islamic Revival party formed the core of the alliance that fought against the government.
The opposition's unprecedentedly strong statement and Rakhmon's riposte, in which he said thug Islamists were gaining a foothold in rural areas, underscore the fragile peace in a mountainous nation where the average monthly wage is $80.
Critics of the government say crackdowns on believers and abject poverty drive many young people to radical Islam. Others say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely because many young men -- the key population group for protest -- can find jobs in Russia and Kazakhstan, and memories of the civil war are fresh.
Rakhmon said the number of mosques in Tajikistan exceeded the number of secondary schools and included 1,250 "illegal" mosques that had not officially been registered.
He said the State National Security Committee, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, was not doing enough to control the spread of thug Islam and called on it "to purge its ranks of random people who discredit the honor of their service."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How about a "Crackdown" On ALL Mosques?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/12/2011 12:47 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain's military said Friday it had killed 11 cut-throats in the Swat valley, raising fears that rebels are again infiltrating the one-time tourism hub.
"Security forces foiled an attempt to disrupt peace in the Swat valley when they killed 11 hard boyz overnight," a military front man said.
The front man said the fighters had decamped fromMohmand, ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot for the most part. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... a nearby tribal district where Pakistain is waging its latest air and ground offensive against homegrown Taliban blamed for near daily kabooms in the northwest.
"These people decamped the Mohmand operation and wanted to commit acts of terrorism in the valley," said the front man.
Pakistain declared Swat under control in the summer of 2009 after a major air and ground offensive to evict bad turbans.
For two years the Taliban paralysed much of the district by promoting a repressive brand of religious law, opposing secular girls' education and beheading opponents, until the government ordered in thousands of troops.
Since then, sporadic attacks, shootings and bad turban operations have suggested lingering insecurity in a region, just 125 kilometres (80 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.
Separately, police in the town of Mardan said they had picked up five bodies from a field one day after a teenage jacket wallah dressed in school uniform killed 31 army recruits at a parade ground outside the town.
A chit was attached to each body, listing the name and hometown of the dear departed, and one scrap of paper said "long live Taliban Pakistain," said local police officer Samad Khan.
The men came from Rawalpindi, the garrison city that is the headquarters of the Pakistain military, as well as from the towns of Charsadda and Swabi, he said.
They were aged 20 to 45 and had all been rubbed out, he added.
The northwest has been a flashpoint since Taliban and Al-Qaeda gunnies sought refuge after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, later giving rise to a homegrown insurgency against Pak security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Two helicopters belonging to the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) force have penetrated Pak airspace in breach of the country's illusory sovereignty.
The incident occurred at around 7 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Friday as NATO helicopters went in up to 200 meters inside Pak territory. They hovered over the border town of Chaman in Baluchistan Province, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The NATO overflies spread panic among the locals, who remained inside their homes, fearing that the area, close to the Afghan border, would be bombed.
They see you when you're sleeping,
They know when you're awake,
They know if you've been bad or good,
So you better be good for goodness' sake!
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvLCptAHT8
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/12/2011 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
soverienty? they want even go into the areas themslves most the tim. Fuck we should violate it alot more often and see howmuch shit gets taken out thats headed its way too afghanistan
Posted by: chris ||
02/12/2011 9:47 Comments ||
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#3
Chris,
Keep in mind that the Pak military is very often pointing out the targets to the US military and CIA for US drone zaps. The complaints about violation of sovereignty are for domestic consumption.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/12/2011 10:58 Comments ||
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#4
The NATO overflies spread panic among the locals, who remained inside their homes, fearing that the area, close to the Afghan border, would be bombed.
Just doing their best to spread panic among the Iranians, it sounds like.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces on Friday prevented hundreds of protestors from entering the fortified Green Zone, a security source said.
Security forces prevented scores of protestors from entering the Green Zone, while a number of lawmakers are preparing to go for the angry men to negotiate and listen to their demands, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Faisal Abdulameer, a protestor, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, that they have demands; better services, fighting corruption and offering job opportunities, noting that massive demonstrations will be staged from other regions in Baghdad after the Friday prayer to al-Tahrir square with demands to improve living conditions.
Aswat al-Iraq correspondent asserts that helicopters are hovering over the Green zone, while security forces have intensified their deployment to protect protestors and to prevent security violations.
Protests of various sizes were held in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Karbala, Najaf, Diwaniya, Kut, Ramadi, Samawa, and Amara. Members of the Iraqi union of lawyers joined demonstrations in Baghdad, Karbala, and Samawa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: The police discovered a mass grave with 153 decomposed bodies south of Baaquba on Friday, according to the Diala police chief.
A mass grave was found south of Buhrez district, (5 km) south of Baaquba, in which 153 decomposed bodies of civilians, policemen and army soldiers were discovered, Maj. General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The burial of these bodies dates back to the period between 2005 and August 2008, which has witnessed the control wielded by the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an armed group affiliated to Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), over the area prior to the Bashaer al-Khayr (Promise of Good) campaign to eliminate the organization, added Shimari.
Baaquba, the capital city of the volatile province of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE government and Maoist guerrillas have agreed to observe a seven-day ceasefire as formal peace negotiations resume next week in Oslo to end an insurgency that began in the 1960s.
Since 1986, there have been stop-start talks to find a political solution to one of the world's longest-running Communist insurgencies.
The talks, brokered by Norway, had been stalled since 2004 after the Maoists were placed on terrorist blacklists by Washington and some Western European states.
There was a also ceasefire over Christmas.
'Our most optimistic projection is that this process can be completed in 18 months, and peace achievable in three years if both sides are focused and sincere in finally ending senseless violence,' Alexander Padilla, the head of the government's five-member peace panel, told news hounds.
Active in 69 of 80 provinces across the country, mostly in poor but resource-rich rural areas, the 4,000-member New People's Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been fighting to overthrow the national government.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN man who risked his life to film a mob brutally lynching members of his minority Islamic sect is in grave danger and has gone into hiding, rights activists said on Friday.
The harrowing video of Sunday's attack shocked the mainly Mohammedan nation and graphically illustrated rising levels of intolerance and violence directed at religious minorities such as the Ahmadiyah sect.
It showed police running away as hundreds of Mohammedan thugs screaming 'holy shit! Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) attacked a house belonging to an Ahmadiyah leader.
Three sect members were stabbed, clubbed and stoned to death.
'There was a warning from the national police detective that if the man appears in public, his life could be in danger,' National Human Rights Commission deputy chairman Joseph Adi Prasetyo told news hounds.
'Based on information from the police intelligence unit, the situation was very dangerous and could lead to his death.' The commission cancelled a presser with the man, identified only as a civil servant called Arif, due to the unspecified threats. Arif was seen being led away to secure location wearing dark sunglasses.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Sounds like a "blasphemer". Get a rope, Mahmoud...
[Straits Times] INDONESIAN police said on Friday they had nabbed 13 men over two incidents of religious mob violence which left three people dead and churches in flames.
Five people have been jugged over the brutal lynching of three members of a minority Islamic sect in West Java on Sunday, after graphic footage of the incident was released on the Internet, police said.
'A total of five people involved in the attack against Ahmadiyah followers have been nabbed. More will be nabbed as they have been identified through the YouTube video,' Banten province police front man Gunawan Setiadi told AFP.
'At least five people are still on the lam and our team is still searching for them,' he said.
More than 1,000 bully boyMohammedans assaulted a house belonging to a leader of the Ahmadiyah sect, screaming 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest) as they beat and stoned three sect members to death.
Police knew of the attack but failed to intervene to protect the Ahmadiyah, who have been subjected to regular abuse and persecution since their sect was slapped with restrictions at the urging of mainstream Mohammedans in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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The BBC's Persian TV service is being jammed from within Iran due to its coverage of the unrest in Egypt.
It appears that the trigger point was a joint broadcast on Wednesday by the corporation's Persian and Arabic services in which Iranian and Egyptian callers exchanged views. Many Iranian viewers said during the interactive programme that they were watching events unfold in Cairo extremely closely.
Peter Horrocks, head of BBC Global News, called for an end to the jamming, saying: "It is wrong that our significant Iranian audience is being denied impartial news and information...
"The BBC will not stop covering Egypt and it will continue to broadcast to the Iranian people."
BBC Persian TV launched in 2009 and has suffered similar attempts to interfere with its signal intermittently ever since. But it continues to stream live online.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
It appears that the trigger point was a joint broadcast on Wednesday by the corporation's Persian and Arabic services in which Iranian and Egyptian callers exchanged views.
Oh. Well, I didn't think it was for none of that "And now some messages for our friends in Europe Tehran" stuff...
TEHRAN Authorities placed one of Irans opposition leaders under house arrest Thursday, posting security officers at his door and detaining one of his aides, in response to his calls for a rally in support of anti-government demonstrations in Egypt, his website said.
Irans hard-line rulers who have also tried to capitalize on the uprising against their regional rivals in Egypts US-allied regime are seeking to deprive their own opponents at home of any chance to reinvigorate a movement swept from the streets in a heavy military crackdown.
The leader confined to his home, Mahdi Karroubi, had joined Irans other top opposition figure, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in asking the government for permission to hold a Feb. 14 rally in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
State Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi rejected the demand on Wednesday and warned of repercussions if the rally takes place. Instead, he said those seeking to show solidarity with Egyptian protesters should join a state-organized rally marking the 32nd anniversary of Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution on Friday.
Security officers were stationed at the entrance of Karroubis house in Tehran on Thursday and prevented relatives, including his children, from meeting him, according to Karroubis website, sahamnews.org. A security official informed Karroubi that the restrictions would remain in place until after Feb. 14.
He and Mousavi are the main political adversaries of the hard-line leadership. Both men ran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an election in June 2009 that the opposition believes was heavily rigged. Mousavi, who campaigned on a platform calling for social and political reforms, maintains he was the rightful winner and that Ahmadinejad was declared the winner through massive vote fraud.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
What, he is still alive?
Wussies, quaking in fear.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/12/2011 9:53 Comments ||
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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.
[Iran Press TV] Heavy 
Omar Suleiman
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
[Iran Press TV] Nine people have been killed in a shootout involving suspected 
Mohmand,
[Iran Press TV] Two helicopters belonging to the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) force have penetrated Pak airspace in breach of the country's 
The BBC's Persian TV service is being jammed from within Iran due to its coverage of the unrest in Egypt.
