Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Adrienne Dore aka Miss Los Angeles & Miss America 1st Runner up 1925 (age 15) aka The Reno Girl in "Play-Girl" aka Betty Winton in "Undercover Men" aka Frances in "Street of Women" aka Anna in "Alias the Doctor" aka Sadie Crowley in "The Expert" aka Louise in "Love, Honor and Oh Baby!" (Died in 1992 at age 82)
Thanks to everyone who kicked in with last week's bleg. Our new server is on the way from Dell, with a Pentium Core I3 (dual core) processor, a terabyte of storage, and -- most important of all -- 8GB of memory, which is almost three times what we've been tripping along with for the past three years.
Paying for the server left two months' worth of hosting in Paypal and another month or so in Amazon, so I'll likely be blegging again in August, barring emergencies like getting sued again. If you feel like throwing even more money my way that'll help put off the fateful day even longer.
I'll probably spend a month or so getting the new server fitted out with Linux -- Ubuntu 10.4 server -- and the databases and servers and such, and then running it (close to) in sync with Helen, our existing server. I'll probably swap them out around the end of June and then we'll have a week or so of bugs to slaughter. I want to keep it running offline for that first month because that's when something usually happens if there's a gross hardware flaw. Once they've been swapped Helen will run here (close to) in sync so that if anything else goes wrong she can go back to work.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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Helen, nice name for the current server. What ya gonna name the new one? It's got to be as adventurous as the name Helen. I recommend Polydeuces (see below mythological sisters of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra just seems a little too...)
In Greek mythology, Helen (in Greek, Ἑλένη Helénē), known also as Helen of Troy (and earlier Helen of Sparta), was the daughter of Zeus and Leda (or Nemesis), daughter of King Tyndareus, wife of Menelaus and sister of Castor, Polydeuces and Clytemnestra. Her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War. In Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, hers is "the face that launched a thousand ships." wikipedia
#3
Just built a new kernel on my own linux box and was shocked at the size of the NVIDIA module. (About 8 mb)
I would prefer a kernel small enough to fit into the processor's on-chip cache. (for fastest response speed) sigh...
Since you don't need X on a platform display screen for a remote server... do an "lsmod" to see what you are loading in size.
The more you can fit in cache the better your response time.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
05/23/2011 1:17 Comments ||
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#4
Just wanted to let you know you are appreciated and I will keep you in mind. Mr. Lumpy, the breadwinner, isn't an afficiando of RB, preferring cigars instead, and we have lots of celebrations in the immediate future so maybe in a month or two I can make more regular donations to a great cause.
#5
Having a GUI on a server is just a waste of resources. Particularly with Linux where X-server's are resource intensive and you can always startup a remote one and even run it through a SSH pipeline.
Good to hear your getting a new server.
But on to more important matters:
Is that a pic of Helen the server and Helen the Operator? Or is the operator Edsel(Edna? Edith?) - holy holder of Fred's pills?
KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban on Monday rejected media reports that its spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, was killed in Pakistan late last week.
What a dilemma: either we get to cheer having caught another one, or we get to enjoy the idea that he is jumping at every sound and shadow, wondering if this time the Predator missile/SEAL team has him in its/their sights. Being a terrorist isn't just fun and games, as Mr. bin Laden discovered recently.
Tolo News, a private television channel in Afghanistan, reported on early Monday that Omar was shot dead in Pakistan on Saturday. Several other media organizations, including China's Xinhua news agency, later also cited sources saying Omar was recently killed.
But Afghan and Pakistani officials were not able to confirm or deny the reports. "Just like you, we heard it on a local TV. I don't know how much truth is there in this," a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said. One Afghan general told BNO News that he heard the media reports as well. "I hope it's right [that Omar is dead]," he said, but noting he had no information to confirm or deny it.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was also unable to confirm or deny the reports. "[We have] no reporting on our end. We've just heard the same media reports and are looking into them," an ISAF spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, spokesmen for the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban have denied the reports. "He is safe and sound," an Afghan Taliban spokesman told the Afghan Islamic Press news agency.
Yes, and how many resources must y'all devote to keeping him that way?
#5
Update An official from Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said today that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had "disappeared" several days ago from hideout in Quetta, after Tolo News reported yesterday that an anonymous NDS source said Omar had been killed while in transit between Quetta and North Waziristan (AFP, Reuters, Tolo). The Taliban denied the claim, telling reporters that Omar was "alive and well" and in Afghanistan (Reuters, NYT).
According to a report from the German magazine Der Spiegel, Germany is mediating direct talks between the United States and the Taliban on German soil (AFP, Der Spiegel - German). The report indicates that three meetings have been held so far, the first in Qatar and the subsequent two in Germany. And Afghanistan and Pakistan are reportedly in talks to set up a "high-level joint commission" to deal with direct negotiations with the Taliban (ET).
#6
"Mullah, we need your SEAL of approval on this latest fatwa... Aw, shit, he's hyperventilating again."
Posted by: Matt ||
05/23/2011 12:53 Comments ||
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#7
We wuz watchin' him and watchin' him, and suddenly - he wuz gone! Jus' like magic!
We jus' never knew where he wuz. He's gone, tho.
- ISI
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/23/2011 13:14 Comments ||
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#8
Blinky's gone dark to avoid the Binny treatment.
It amazes me that these guys who preach martyrdom and jihad seem so allergic to being killed themselves...whatzamatteryou don't wanna be a martyr?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/23/2011 18:13 Comments ||
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How is going dark going to protect him from the bin Laden treatment? You can't get much darker than the bin Ladens; not unless you want to move to Brooklyn, change your name to Willy bin Loman & start selling hosiery.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/23/2011 19:47 Comments ||
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Just like the Haqqanis, new digs courtesy of the ISI. Check Rawalpindi.
Khost, Afghanistan - Six members of the Afghan security forces died Sunday when the Taliban stormed a traffic police office and two suicide bombers detonated themselves, triggering a nine-hour standoff.
The attack in crazed restive Khost province, which borders Pakistan in the east, came the day after six medical students were killed and 23 wounded when a suicide bomber struck at Kabuls heavily-guarded main military hospital.
It is the latest in a wave of breaches at supposedly secure Afghan government sites as the annual spring fighting season gets under way in Afghanistan.
Yup, the winter league is done in Pakistain so it's time to head north for the festivities. Too bad the naval boomers in Karachi weren't called up...
Four suicide bombers dressed in border police uniforms broke into the traffic police headquarters in Khost city at around 4:30 am. There was then sporadic gunfire for hours as troops tried to control the situation from outside before Afghan and foreign forces eventually stormed the building, bringing the fighting to a close around 1:30pm.
So they eventually brought in a few troops who knew what to do.
Provincial governor Abdul Jabar Naimi told a news conference that four Afghan police and two Afghan soldiers had been killed, while five others, all members of the security forces bar one government employee, were wounded.
All four attackers who were also wearing suicide vests have been killed, Naimi added. Two of the attackers managed to detonate themselves but the two others were gunned down.
Deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqub had said earlier that the four attackers had got into the building while it was vacant except for the police guards and officers on duty. Yaqub said the attackers were dressed in border police uniform and armed with suicide vests and AK-47 rifles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Gunmen wearing boom jackets stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday and engaged in a shootout with Afghan cops who surrounded the compound, officials said.
The attack came a day after a Taliban jacket wallah infiltrated the capital's main military hospital and killed at least six Afghan medical students.
In Sunday's incident, one guard was killed as the attackers - three or four men armed with guns and wearing explosives strapped to their bodies - shot their way into the traffic department compound of Khost city at about 5 am, said Gen. Raz Mohammad Oryakhail, the army commander for Khost province. ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... The gunbattle was still going on more than two hours later, with the assailants inside the second floor of the building and shooting down at police and soldiers outside, he said. Almost all over now. Latest report was three dead bad guyz, one dead cop, trying to take the last bad guy alive...
That sounds like yet another ineffective Taliban attack. Perhaps I don't know enough to appreciate that they actually aren't failing abysmally.
Moral of the story: don't try to take a Talibunnie alive...
Police and soldiers were trying to avoid launching a full assault because they didn't want the gunnies to detonate their boom jackets, said provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai. Afghan cops had the compound surrounded, he said.
No one immediately grabbed credit for the attack, but it matched the pattern of Taliban assaults on government installations.
They don't claim more than they do claim, it seems. Were I one of the cannon fodder, I'd find that demoralizing.
On Saturday, a Taliban suicide bomber on a mission to target foreign-run medical teams killed at least six Afghan medical students and maimed 23 others after infiltrating Kabul's main military hospital,officials said.
The Taliban did claim that one...
The bombing was a blow to Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces who have sharply expanded checkpoints and security cordons in the capital as the Taliban intensifies their attacks ahead of a planned US drawdown in July.
No foreign medical doctors or nurses were among the dead or maimed, Afghan and NATO officials said. There are a number of military doctors and nurses from various NATO countries at the hospital as part of the alliance's mission to train Afghan forces.
All those killed were eating lunch inside a tent used by medical students for meals, Defense Ministry front man Gen. Mohammed Zaher said.
The bombing was condemned by Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and NATO.
The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... called it a violation of "international humanitarian law."
The Taliban have stepped up attacks as part of their spring offensive against NATO, Afghan government installations and officials.
But this spring offensive is doubling as revenge for Osama bin Laden's return to the dust of which he was made at the hands of Americans. You know it's so because they are murdering as many nothing-like-Americans as they can manage.
Insurgents also have promised Dire Revenge attacks after the killing of al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who abandoned all hope when he entered there... by US forces in Pakistain earlier this month.
The effectiveness of the Taliban's campaign will in part determine the size of President Barack B.O. Obama's planned drawdown of American troops. He has said its size will depend on conditions on the ground.
After he said he would unilaterally pull out the troops by whatever the date certain was, so long ago passed without comment, and before whatever he will say next.
NATO has committed itself to handing over control of security to Afghans by 2014.
Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid said Saturday's attack targeted foreign trainers and Afghan doctors who work with them. He claimed two bombers took part, but Defense Ministry front man Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said only one was involved in the attack at the Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital.
The Taliban have promised to carry out attacks in major population centers, and earlier this month tried to take over key government installations in the southern city of Kandahar - which was once their capital and stronghold. But that attack failed and more than two dozen beturbanned goons were killed.
US and NATO military officials, however, have questioned the Taliban's ability to mount large operations. Thousands of beturbanned goons,including midlevel commanders, have been killed or captured and hundreds of weapons caches seized during battles over the winter.
Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the second-ranking US general in Afghanistan, predicted recently that the Taliban - having lost ground during the fall and winter - will employ more indirect tactics such as suicide kabooms and liquidations.
Mujahid said that was part of the Taliban's strategy against the government. "The mujahedeen are able to infiltrate into the ranks of the enemy and using opportunities are able to attack," he said.
It was unclear whether the bomber was a member of the hospital staff, but the ability of the attacker to get inside the heavily guarded hospital raised fresh concerns about possible infiltration of Afghan cops. The facility is in one of Kabul's most heavily protected neighborhoods and close to NATO headquarters, the US Embassy and other diplomatic facilities. Security checks are stringent and all visitors are searched.
In the most embarrassing breach of a government facility, a Taliban krazed killer opened fire inside the Afghan Defense Ministry on April 18, killing two Afghan soldiers. At the time, the Taliban said one of their agents who was also an army officer planned the attack to coincide with a visit of the French defense minister, who was not in the ministry at the time.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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Another version of the story below. I like this one because it demonstrates how clueless Ashton is.
BENGHAZI, Libya - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton pledged support for rebels in east Libya on Sunday, making the most senior visit to the area by a foreign official since the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi began.
"I saw the posters on the way from the airport to here saying 'We have a dream'," Ashton said in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. "This support is not just for now, but for the future and as long as the people of this country wish us here."
Several Libyans surrounded her in the city that was the epicentre of the revolt that erupted in mid-February, flashing "V-for-Victory" signs. One man nearby said: "Every Libyan is very happy."
Visiting to open a representative office for the EU, she said she discussed support for health, education, civil society, border management and security reform.
Perhaps you should be discussing logistics, training and a war strategy. Then discuss how the new rebel team is going to turn over the al-Qaeda boyz to us when it's mutually convenient. After that you can talk about a 'civil society'.
"The Libyan people appreciate this visit and appreciate the European Union for supporting the revolution since its beginning," the head of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said of Ashton.
In the rebel-held port city of Misrata in western Libya, residents also hailed the West for intervening, their city scarred and from weeks of street fighting and bombardment by shells and rockets and damaged shops spilling their meagre wares onto the streets.
Rebels say they have pushed Gaddafi's forces 25 km (15 miles) from the centre after weeks of street fighting and bombardment. Government forces shelled residential areas of Misrata on Saturday, according to rebels.
"If God hadn't brought us NATO, they would have burned us all," said Amran Zoufrey, 84. "Even in the Second World War, when I was young, we didn't have this destruction. Now I wonder when the next rocket will come and kill me."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, has pledged support for Libya's rebels during her first visit to the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
Ashton became the highest-ranking foreign diplomat to visit the city since the revolt against longtime leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
began in mid-February.
She toured the waterfront courthouse square where thousands of people in February called for Qadaffy's ousting and came under fire from army and security forces.
The square has become the public heart of the protest movement in Benghazi and is covered in memorials for those who have died in the conflict.
Ashton opened an EU diplomatic mission in the city of around 700,000 people, which stood on the brink of street warfare two months ago, before international air strikes forced the retreat of troops loyal to Qadaffy.
Speaking to Al Jizz in Benghazi on Sunday, Ashton said: "We are here to support them [the rebels] for the long term.
"What I was really interested to discuss with people, with them [the rebels] and with groups of people I've met, women's groups, young people I've met, people from the media here, and so on, is the kind of things they're looking for.
"Some of it is about capacity building, the ability to be able to build the institutions that don't exist, having a political process that's going to last by having [a] political parties system, whatever they decide.
"Also things like security and border management, really practical ways in which people can feel secure here."
Good Gawd. Does she not understand that the Duck of Death is just 30 miles down the road and doing his upmost to kill all these people?
Jalil meeting
Ashton met with Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC), who said her visit "showed the increased support of the European Union in supporting us to have a democratic and free state".
The NTC recently made public the names of six more ministers, bringing the number of identified government officials to 20, a step toward making its operations more transparent, said Al Jizz's Mike Hanna, reporting from Benghazi.
The council has been keeping some members' identities a secret to protect their families from attack.
During the meeting, Ashton said, the two discussed support for health, education, civil society, border management and security reform.
How about logistics, troop training and a strategy to win?
Jalil asked for EU help securing Libya's southern borders with sub-Saharan countries that have been the source of a flow of migrant workers into the country, thousands of whom have decamped because of the conflict, many of them across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Before Ashton, the highest-ranking foreign diplomat to visit Benghazi was Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish foreign minister, who came on May 11.
This article starring:
Mustafa Abdel Jalil
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Libyans armed with guns and a knife stormed a bus carrying foreign journalists in Tripoli on Saturday and a soldier fired volleys of gunfire into the air to disperse the crowd, said a Rooters journalist on the bus.
No one was hurt in the attack but it reflected anger in government-controlled territory over severe petrol shortages, NATO air strikes and government and state media reports that foreign journalists misrepresent the news.
In the contested Western Mountains region, Qadaffy forces surrounded the eastern section of Ryna, positioned snipers on roofs,kidnapped young men and looted stores, Jemaa Ibrahim, a rebel in nearby Zintan, told Rooters by telephone on Saturday.
The soldiers, who included African mercenaries, asked residents to leave their homes and many decamped under duress, some coming to Zintan, he said. There was no independent confirmation of his report.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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It's amazing how belligerent people can become after a few little bombs---employed for impeccable humanitarian reasons---been dropped on their heads.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2011 8:53 Comments ||
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#3
No one was hurt in the attack but it reflected anger in government-controlled territory over severe petrol shortages, NATO air strikes and government and state media reports that foreign journalists misrepresent the news.
This is the MSM simply making up the news.
The likely reason is anger over government vehicles jumping the queue.
[Emirates 24/7] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... staged an Arclight airstrike near Muammar Qadaffy's compound in Tripoli late on Saturday, and an opposition website said Qadaffy loyalist forces shelled residential outside the rebel-held city of Misrata.
Libyan officials said the alliance had attacked close to Qadaffy's Bab al-Aziziyah complex, and Rooters Television pictures showed a column of smoke rising over the capital.
However, The essential However... there was no immediate word on what the target of the attack was, and news hounds escorted by Libyan officials were unable to get close to the site.
NATO says its campaign has crippled Tripoli's ability to attack rebels trying to overthrow Qadaffy and effectively forced the Libyan leader into hiding. Overall the conflict is deadlocked as rebel attempts to advance on Tripoli have stalled.
Earlier on Saturday, the Brnieq opposition newspaper reported on its website that shelling of Misrata's eastern and western outskirts damaged houses but no one was hurt. There was no independent confirmation of the attack.
Three months into the uprising against Qadaffy's four-decade rule, rebels control the oil-producing east of the country and pockets in the west including the port city of Misrata, where hundreds have died in a siege and weeks of fierce fighting.
NATO says its bombing campaign against Qadaffy loyalist forces has helped rebels to consolidate their positions in Misrata,the only western city in rebel hands.
The alliance took command of a UN-authorised mission nearly two months ago to stop Qadaffy's forces attacking civilians, and Western governments including the United States, Perfidious Albion and La Belle France are under pressure to show results.
NATO said it conducted 157 air sorties on Friday. Its targets included a command-and-control node and an armoured vehicle storage depot near Tripoli, and three surface-to-air missile launchers around Sirte, Qadaffy's hometown.
Tripoli calls the rebels criminals and al Qaeda bully boyz and says NATO's bombing is armed aggression by Western nations bent on grabbing Libya's oil.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] An Egyptian police officer convicted of killing 20 protesters during demonstrations that brought down Hosni Mubarak's ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... government in February has been sentenced to death.
Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel-Monem was found guilty in his absence on Sunday of shooting dead "at random" 20 protesters on January 28, one of the most violent days of the uprising that lasted 18 days.
The criminal court in Cairo referred the case to the Grand Mufti, Egypt's religious authority who must approve all death sentences. Abdel-Monem has evaded capture and his present location is unknown.
The sentencing follows long jail terms given to Mubarak-era officials who have been found guilty of corruption in an ongoing campaign by the military-led government to address protesters' demands, including swift trial for people accused of wrongdoing.
Mubarak himself, his wife Suzanne and his powerful sons are being investigated for abuse of power and amassing illegally acquired wealth.
In May, Habib al-Adly, Egypt's former interior minister, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for money laundering and profiteering.
Al-Adly is accused of ordering police to fire upon pro-democracy protesters and is one of the most senior ministers from the former government to be put on trial.
Another former minister, Zoheir Garranah, who headed the tourism portfolio, was sentenced to five years after he was found guilty of handing out tourism licences illegally.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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The criminal court in Cairo referred the case to the Grand Mufti, Egypt's religious authority who must approve all death sentences.
Islamic democracy, eh?
Abdel-Monem has evaded capture and his present location is unknown.
[An Nahar] A special Bahrain court upheld on Sunday death sentences for two Shiites convicted of killing two coppers during unrest that hit the Sunni-ruled kingdom, the official BNA news agency said.
"The National Safety Appeals Court upheld the death sentence Sunday against Ali Abdullah Hasan al-Singace and Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ibrahim Hussein," BNA reported.
The decision came despite international calls for sparing the detainees.
The same court reduced the sentences of two others -- Qasim Hassan Mattar Ahmed and Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed -- both sentenced to death on April 28 in the same case, to life in prison, added BNA.
The state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... also upheld the life sentence handed down to another detainee but did not clarify the fate of two others who had been handed similar sentences.
The seven Shiites are accused of running over two coppers -- Kashif Ahmed Manzur and Mohammed Farouk Abdulsamad, during pro-reform protests earlier this year.
Their trial began on April 17, with BNA reporting at the time that the defendants were accused of committing voluntary homicide of public officials with "terrorist" intentions.
Witnesses addressed the tribunal, and a video allegedly showing the attackers in cars hitting police, was played, according to the agency.
The national safety court of first instance had issued its verdict on April 28 drawing international condemnation as rights watchdog Amnesia Amnesty International urged Bahrain to halt the executions.
The court was set up under the state of national safety, a lower level of emergency law declared by King Hamad ...King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its emir (from 6 March 1999). He is a Sunni, while the rest of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite... in mid-March, a day before an all-out crackdown on a month-long, Shiite-dominated protest demanding political reforms.
Last month, authorities said that 405 detainees have been referred to national safety courts, of whom 312 were later released.
According to authorities, four police were killed in March after being struck by cars during the protests in the kingdom.
Last week, nine coppers were maimed, four of them seriously, when a car hit them as they were dispersing a protest in a Bahraini Shiite village, BNA said.
Bahraini authorities have said 24 people were killed during the month-long unrest, most of them demonstrators.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Persian Gulf Arab states have suspended mediation efforts in Yemen after the country's president refused to sign a deal aimed at pulling the country out of its political deadlock.
Ministers from the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ... the Medes and the Persians are very sensitive on the subject of the Persian Gulf, which the Arabs refer to as the Arabian Gulf... ([P]GCC)announced Sunday that they would no longer maintain their mediation efforts following Yemen's President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh's failure to sign a transition deal for him to abdicate power, AFP reported.
The [P]GCC had "decided to suspend their initiative in the absence of the propitious conditions," according to a statement issued from Riyadh.
Earlier on Sunday, the Yemeni embattled president balked at signing the deal, proposed by the [P]GCC, mainly because the opposition representatives refused to meet the president's condition to go to his palace to sign it.
Under the deal mediated by the [P]GCC, Saleh would hand power over to the Yemeni vice president within 30 days after the signing of the agreement in exchange for immunity from prosecution by parliament.
A national unity government led by a prime minister from the opposition would then be formed, and a presidential election would be held 60 days after Saleh's departure.
A commission, made up of members of the current government and the opposition and representatives of the US, the EU, and the UN, would be established to "supervise the implementation of the agreement over 30 days."
Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since late January, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment and demanding the ouster of Saleh, who has been in office since 1978.
On Sunday, the embattled president warned against a potential civil war if the opposition steps up its anti-regime protests.
"The opposition coalition will be held responsible if they escalate street protests and drag the country into a civil war ... they will be held responsible for the blood that had been and would be shed during the previous days and in the next days," Saleh said in a speech he delivered through the state television. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... warned on Sunday of civil war if the opposition defied his call for them to be present at his palace for him to sign a Gulf deal on a transition of power, as pro-regime gunnies encircled a meeting of Arab and Western diplomatic mediators.
"If they remain stubborn, we will confront them everywhere with all possible means," he said in a televised address, moments before members of his ruling party were seen signing the Gulf Cooperation Council deal.
But Saleh refused to sign unless opposition were present.
"If they don't bow, and want to take the country into a civil war, let them be responsible for it and for the blood that was shed and that will be shed if they insist on their stupidity," he added.
Gulf Cooperation Council chief Abdul Latif al-Zayani left Sanaa earlier on Sunday after failing to secure Saleh's signature on the deal, a Yemeni official said.
Al-Zayani has "left without getting the signature of the president," the front man of Yemen's ruling General People's Congress, Tareq al-Shami, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Earlier Sunday, al-Zayani and several Western diplomats were airlifted by a Yemeni helicopter out of the Emirati embassy in Sanaa, which was encircled by pro-Saleh gunnies, witnesses said.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan called his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr al-Kurbi urging him to "take swift measures to secure" his country's embassy and those inside, the Gulf state's WAM state news agency said.
Among the Western diplomats pinned down were the ambassadors of Perfidious Albion, the European Union and the United States.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... opposition members said a protester was killed by pro-regime "thugs" blocking roads in Sanaa as hundreds of thousands of Saleh opponents erupted into the streets.
The opposition, meanwhile, urged the United States and Soddy Arabia to pressure Saleh to sign the exit plan and vowed it would press on with protests after four months of deadly street demonstrations.
"Only the United States and Soddy Arabia are able to pressure him," Mohammed al-Qahtan, front man for the Common Forum umbrella group of opposition parties in parliament, told AFP.
"If they make it clear to him that he will be held responsible for the failure of the mediation efforts, he will sign," he said. But, "if Saleh does not sign, the revolt will escalate and he will be thrown out of office."
Opposition sources said on Saturday that they had signed the accord for Saleh to cede power.
Under the terms of the Gulf initiative, Saleh would hand power to the vice president 30 days after the signing, and he and his aides would be granted immunity from prosecution by parliament.
A national unity government led by a prime minister from the opposition would be formed, and a presidential election would follow 60 days after Saleh's departure.
Since late January, security forces have mounted a bloody crackdown on protests demanding Saleh's departure, leaving at least 181 people dead, according to a toll compiled from reports by activists and medics.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Yemen's President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... is refusing to sign a Gulf-brokered power-transfer plan, demanding clarification on "mechanisms" for its implementation, a ruling party member said on Sunday.
"The president refuses to sign until an agreement is reached on mechanisms to implement" the deal that would see him out of office in 30 days, said General People's Congress head Sultan Al Barakani.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Five Somali pirates will go on trial in South Korea Monday on charges punishable by life imprisonment, four months after they were seized in a dramatic commando raid on a hijacked ship in the Indian Ocean.
I s'pose marooning them on a desert island somewhere wouldn't do...
Tight security will be in force at the court in the southern city of Busan when the five answer charges including maritime robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder.
Piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world's most important shipping routes, but many of those caught by an international fleet of warships are freed because there is nowhere to try them.
The trial in Busan is part of efforts to address the problem, and marks the first attempt by South Korea, a major seagoing nation, to punish foreign pirates.
About 100 riot police will guard the Busan District Criminal Court and a limited number of spectators and press will have to pass through metal detectors, said court front man Jeon Ji-Hwan.
"We are doing our best to maintain security and order in our court because this trial will be watched closely by the international community," he told AFP.
A jury - a relative novelty in the country - will hear the case alongside the judges.
The 12-strong panel, including three alternate members, will suggest a verdict and sentence but the judges are not bound by its recommendations.
Four pirates will have their case heard by a jury and a verdict is expected Friday evening.
A fifth, identified as Abdulahi Husseen Maxamuud, 20, pleaded guilty to all charges and will answer questions separately in court on Tuesday. He will be sentenced on June 1.
South Korean navy Seals raided the South Korean-owned chemical freighter Samho Jewelry on January 21, six days after it was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, killing eight pirates and seizing five.
All 21 crew were rescued but Captain Seok Hae-Kyun, 58, was shot several times and remains in stable, pH balanced condition in hospital after multiple operations. His written testimony will be read to the court on the third day.
Seok was hailed as a hero for his attempts to slow down his ship after it was hijacked, as were the commandos.
Prosecutors have said a pirate identified as Araye Mahomed shot the captain when commandos launched their raid, although he was also hit once by crossfire from the South Koreans.
Prosecutors said one bullet that seriously injured Seok matched Mahomed's gun. The suspect, who denies shooting the captain, will answer questions on Thursday.
Investigators say some of the pirates had last year taken part in the hijacking of a South Korean supertanker owned by the same firm as the Samho Jewelry.
The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew were released after a reported $9 million (Dh33m) ransom payment was made.
Despite the scale of piracy off Somalia, only a few perpetrators have been brought to justice so far.
In March a US court sentenced five Somali pirates to life in prison plus 80 years for their attack on a US naval vessel deployed on anti-piracy patrol.
A month later a Somali was sentenced to 25 years in Washington for his role in holding a merchant ship and its crew hostage for 71 days.
On Friday another Somali pleaded guilty in Norfolk, Virginia, to piracy and hostage-taking for a yacht hijacking that left four Americans dead, in a deal with prosecutors that saw him avoid a possible death sentence.
In May a Spanish court sentenced two Somalis to jail terms totalling 439 years each for their role in the hijacking of a fishing trawler and its crew in 2009.
In February a Malaysian court charged seven suspected Somali pirates with firing at Malaysian forces during a Gulf of Aden raid to free a hijacked tanker, under laws that carry the death penalty.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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A shadowy man suspected of fighting against US soldiers in Iraq has sparked a far-flung terror probe after entering New York Harbor as a stowaway aboard a freighter and taking up residence in a fenced-off Port Authority warehouse, The Post has learned.
Asem Ellbahnsany Haroon, 26, managed to easily infiltrate Port Newark -- where there are just the kind of oil refineries that Osama bin Laden talked about blowing up as part of a global-chaos plot in papers found in his Pakistan hideout.
"There have been reports . . . that indicate al Qaeda is trying to use explosive to blow up oil tankers to disrupt the world's economy. What's right next door to Port Newark? All of these oil refineries that line the highway there," said one law-enforcement source.
Authorities are now scrambling to figure out how Haroon managed to elude border checkpoints at the port -- and they are also nervously wondering whether he came here with others who have yet to be caught.
Haroon was arrested Jan. 31 after Port Authority cops found him hunkered down near the waterfront inside a warehouse that has remained unoccupied for about a year. When Haroon was found, it appeared he had been squatting inside for several days and had set up a makeshift camp.
"When I first saw him, he was so weak," a law-enforcement source said. "But he might be a terrorist and possibly be a threat because none of the answers he gave ever made any sense."
Haroon told investigators that he was an Iraqi citizen who had arrived at Port Newark two weeks earlier on an unspecified Italian freighter.
It turns out he's an Egyptian who was once denied a visa to enter the United States. Federal authorities told a judge that Haroon "had fought as an insurgent against the American forces in Fallujah."
Sources could not say whether he was suspected of being a member of the Taliban or al Qaeda, although it does not appear he was on any international terror "watch list."
At least seven people were killed in a U.S. drone strike launched Monday evening in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, Xinhua reported according to local English TV channel Express.
According to the report, the U.S. drones fired two missiles at a vehicle in the Machi Khel area of the Mir Ali district in North Waziristan, a place bordering Afghanistan, which is believed to be a stronghold of militants.
Monday's strike is the 32nd of its kind in Pakistan in 2011. Up to date, at least 234 people, most of whom are believed to be suspected militants, have reportedly been killed in such strikes since this year.
Pakistani commandos have regained control of a naval base after more than 17 hours of fighting with Taliban gunmen, in an attack that raised questions about Pakistan's ability to defend itself from terroristsfourth-gradersanyone militants.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Monday that 10 security personnel and 14 others were wounded in the brazen attack on the base in the southern port city of Karachi. He said four to six heavily armed terrorists militants dressed in black used ladders to climb into the base late Sunday, setting off intense gunbattles and several explosions. Malik said four terrorists attackers were killed but two terrorists may have escaped.
A Taliban terrorist spokesman said the attack was launched to avenge the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid on May 2 in Pakistan.
Interior Minister Malik said six Americans and 11 Chinese contractors were on the base at the time of the attack and had been evacuated safely. Two P3C maritime surveillance airplanes were destroyed. The planes were recently given to Pakistan by the United States.
#5
This base is the HQ for their Navy commandos.
Probably indicates how deep the rot (islamization of the military) has set in.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/23/2011 17:40 Comments ||
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#6
whether they put up a tough fight or not it still took 17 hrs. for COMMANDOS too get them? And they talk all that shit about attacking our SEAL teams if they ever try another Bin laden move again.
Posted by: chris ||
05/23/2011 18:30 Comments ||
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#7
whether they put up a tough fight or not it still took 17 hrs. for COMMANDOS too get them? And they talk all that shit about attacking our SEAL teams if they ever try another Bin laden move again.
Posted by: chris ||
05/23/2011 18:30 Comments ||
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#8
Probably indicates how deep the rot (islamization of the military) has set in
#9
DEFENCE FORUM OF INDIA > US SAYS PAKISTAN MODIFIED [Harpoon NLCMS] TO STRIKE INDIA, in Land Attack missions + besides also the US-supplied P-3's for same.
IOW, THE TALIBAN MAY HAD IRONICALLY JUST SAVED INDJUH'S B *** FROM SOME FUTURE TROUBLE???
#10
As for allegations that PAK AF Airmen were sabotaging their own US-supplied F-16's, it may be related to ...
To wit,
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > CHINA AGREES TO GIVE J-20/FC-20 FIFTH GENERATION STEALTH FIGHTERS TO PAKISTAN.
However ...
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN CANNOT SELL
[SIno-Pak produced] JF-17's FOR TEN YEARS.
* SAME > PAKISTAN ASKED CHINA TO INDUCT THE JF-17 INTO PLA, as per the above Artic in order to make PAK mass-produced versions saleable on the international warplane markets.
However, again, because China has a long history of preferring [USSR-style]inter-State econ barter to cash assistance, ECON-TROUBLED PAKISTAN RISKS BEING ON ITS OWN TO UNILATER ABSORB THE BULK [all?] OF THE JF-17'S DEVELOPMENT + PRODUCTION COSTS???
IOW, MUSLIM PAKISTAN GETS STUCK WID A HANDFUL OR SMALL NUMBER OF NEXT-GENERATION ADVANCED FIGHTERS, WHOSE UPKEEP + MAINTENANCE IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE ABLE TO $$$ AFFORD WID OR WIDOUT CHINA, AS RELATIVE TO PAK-PERCEIVED WILY DASTARDLY HISTORICAL FOE HINDU INDIA???
E.G. DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN WILL [have to] [militarily?]RESPOND IFF US DRONE STRIKES DON'T STOP: ISI CHIEF [LTG. Ahmed Pasha].
* DAWN.COM > EXPERTS WARN GOVT. OF FAMINE THREAT IN PAKISTAN. National Sovereignty = Security linked to FOOD SECURITY, espec iff Islamabad Politicos hope to prevent USSR-style collapse = post-USSR Russia geopol weakness.
[CHINA'S problematic "THREE GORGES" DAM here].
Iff Pakistan is expecting serious Regional, Global geopol troubles 2011-2020/2025 ["perfect storm"], then given their country's steadily worsening econ woes it behooves Islamabad + Pak Armed Forces to diversify their resources for thier own effec National Security.
WASHINGTON: It's a subject Americans can't stop discussing and one Pakistan hates talking about. The terrorist attack on the Pakistani military facility in Karachi has once again focused world (and Washington's) attention on the security of the country's fast-growing nuclear arsenal. And the fact that Pakistain is a failed state...
The Obama administration on Monday did not publicly go beyond "strongly" condemning the attack on Pakistan Naval Station (PNS) Mehran and appreciating the "service and sacrifices of their brave Armed Forces," but the incident has re-ignited the simmering debate about vulnerability of its nuclear weapons. US analysts noted that Mehran is only 15 miles away from the Masroor Air Base, where Pakistan is believed have a large depot for nuclear weapons that can be delivered from the air. Maybe the Talibunnies were mis-informed as to the location of the nukes...
While Pakistan insists that its "crown jewels" are under foolproof security, at the heart of the debate is worry that they are vulnerable to internal pilferage or attack by a "jihadized" military, judging by multiple attacks on military facilities by terrorists who seemingly have the inside track on security, including in the Mehran strike. A recent Wikileaks cable citing Pakistani military officials admitting sabotage of F-16s by "Islamists amongst the enlisted ranks" has added to the concern.
Pakistani militant attacks over the last five years include strikes against three nuclear facilities, in Wah, Sargodha, and Kamra, according to Prof Shaun Gregory, a security specialist at Bradford University. But each time, the Pakistan military establishment, which has itself suffered attacks at its General Headquarters and training and recruitment centers, insists that there was no danger to its nuclear assets. But Gregory says the attacks illustrate "a clear set of weaknesses and vulnerabilities" in Pakistan's nuclear security regime, a danger brought home by the ease with which militants are now penetrating military installations. Concern is growing in the west about the internal dynamics in a military that was once thought to be "westernized and professional."
Washington is leery of expressing its views openly, but New Delhi, which has more proximate reasons to be troubled by a nuclear heist, isn't holding back. "We are concerned with the safety of Pakistan's nuclear installations," senior officials traveling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Africa were quoted as saying on Monday. "The real risk is internal -- who guards the guardians." It's almost as if he reads Rantburg... The US has forked out over $ 100 million to improve Pakistan's nuclear security but Washington now admits it has no idea how the money was spent. There's a no-surprise moment...
There is consternation in Washington about the speed with which Pakistan is ramping up its nuclear arsenal with some analysts predicting that it could soon have the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal, behind US, Russia, and China, and ahead of France and UK. Not that fourth place means that much...
Like Singh, President Obama is also currently out of the country on a six-day, four-country tour of Europe. But Pakistan is never far from his mind; he has held at least half-a-dozen White House Situation Room meetings with key principals where the sole topic of discussion has been the deteriorating situation in Pakistan.
Washington is thick with speculation about American contingency plans in the event of a nuclear heist in Pakistan, notwithstanding assurances (most notably by Senator John Kerry) that the US has no designs on Pakistani nukes. But every U.S statement is dissected in Pakistan for hidden meanings amid fears that Washington is planning to neutralize its nuclear arsenal.
On Monday, in the aftermath of the naval base attack, the Obama administration merely said it is "committed to working with Pakistan in our joint effort to combat violent extremism and bring to justice those behind this attack." The pledge came after Wikileaks cables revealed that US special forces have been embedded with Pakistani troops in joint operations since September 2009.
#1
I'll go with the idea the Talinuts were misinformed about the presence of nukes at the base.
The destruction of the P-3's was a diversionary tactic to get the military to go there while the terrorists took a nuke and beat it out the back gate.
This is bad very bad, I believe the Taliban/Al Qaeda/whoever else is fanatical enough are now committed to some form of a nuclear attack on the US.
After looking at the entirety of this attack and the global view of the Mumbai massacre, I know my pucker factor went through the roof, I don't know about yours but it should be pretty high. I have a feeling it is very high at the Pentagon.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/23/2011 17:24 Comments ||
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#2
What would Obumbles do in a situation where militants gain control of a PAK nuclear site?
Will he play with himself for 16 hours before doing (or allowing India to do) anything about it? (Thus allowing the terrorists 16 hours to sneak some out...).
#3
Will these alleged sabotaged PAK F-16's weirdly-n-mysteriously become PDeniably "un/non-sabotaged" iff a new major war breaks out wid Indjuh???
Properly handled, the US F-16's should be more than match for anything India'S flyboyz havenot that the Pilots of the crash-happy Indian Air Force qualifying for "PLAAF ACE" STATUS.
* IIRC 1970's "BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON" > PAPPY BOYINGTON > IS PROUD BECAUSE HIS PILOT NEEDED TO CRASH ONLY TWO MORE USMC CORSAIR FIGHTERS TO QUALIFY AS A "JAPANESE ACE".
One person was killed and eight others were maimed in exchange of fire between rival tribes in different areas of the troubled Kurram Agency. ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended... Separately, two suspected cut-throats were killed in a remote controlled blast at Teyarza area of South Wazoo tribal region on Saturday.
The festivities in Kurram broke out between the residents of Sadda and Balishkhel areas when a funeral ceremony was attacked on Friday. The residents of the area said that one person identified as Saqleen was killed and six others got injuries in the attack.
The residents of Balishkhel retaliated with heavy weapons. Local people said that jihad boys, who had relocated to Kurram from Waziristan and other militancy-hit areas, were behind the festivities.
Reports said that tension mounted in upper Kurram after rockets were fired at Shalozan, Bughdai and Luqmankhel areas near the Afghan border. Two persons including a minor girl were maimed in the rocket attack, which sparked festivities among the rival tribes.
Political administration said that ceasefire was brokered between the residents of Balishkhel and Sadda in lower Kurram on Saturday evening and rival groups had vacated their positions.
Corps Commander Lt-Gen Asif Yaseen Malik had told a joint jirga in Parachinar on Thursday that a military operation would be launched in the area. The tribal elders had welcomed the announcement and assured full support to army in this regard.
The residents of the areas said that outsiders and their local supporters planned the attack on the funeral as they wanted to divert attention of government. Supply of goods to the area has been suspended after fresh festivities and tension in the area.
Two suspected cut-throats were killed in remote controlled blast at Teyarza area of South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday.
Security sources said that two suspected persons were planting a remote controlled along the Wana-Teyarza Road near Manzakai area when the bomb went kaboom! prematurely.
"As a result the suspected persons identified as Ikhlas and Ghaniur Reham of Masud tribe were killed on the spot," they said.
Security officials said the two men, having links with Taliban, were involved in sabotage activities. They were planting explosive to target the security convoys passing through the road, they said.
The Wana-Razamak Road is in the control of security forces and frequent movement of army convoys could be seen on it. The road has badly affected on various points by the last year`s flash floods and lukewarm attitude of the government to repair it due to militancy in the region.
The census staff, who recently visited various areas by travelling via this road, said that except military vehicles no other vehicles could be able to ply on the road due to its dilapidated condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least 10 people were maimed as blasts and gunshots rang out at the sprawling base used by the Air Force and Navy in the centre of Bloody Karachi, where the local government confirmed that the base was under "terrorist attack".
An AFP news hound saw scores of soldiers and navy commando reinforcements entering the base, where flames and smoke could be seen rising into the night sky. An AFP photographer heard seven blasts and periodic bursts of gunfire.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistain's military has long been on the frontline of gun, suicide and kabooms blamed on the country's main Taliban faction and other Al-Qaeda-linked hard boy groups.
The Taliban have recently repeatedly threatened Western and Pak government targets to avenge the killing of bin Laden by US Navy SEALs in the garrison city of Abbottabad near the capital Islamabad on May 2.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned Sunday's attack, and ordered his interior minister to Bloody Karachi and to "coordinate the security efforts being taken by the civil and military officials," his office said in a statement.
Commander Salman Ali, front man for the Pakistain Navy, told AFP that members of the security forces were fighting against gunnies.
"An exchange of fire with gun-hung tough guys is continuing. Their firing is fading away and we have launched a search operation," he said.
"It's a terrorist attack. More than 10 gun-hung tough guys are inside. They have attacked a navy air station located in a Pakistain Air Force base," said home ministry official Sharfuddin Memon from the southern province Sindh.
"One of the four aircraft inside the premises has been damaged," he said, adding that at least 10 people had been maimed.
"I have no information whether they are the attackers or Navy personnel."In October 2009, Talibs beseiged the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi for two days, killing 22 people and raising serious questions over why it took the military so long to put down the assault.
Bloody Karachi, Pakistain's financial capital whose sea port is used by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... to ship supplies to the estimated 130,000 US-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, has recently seen a spike in attacks on the military.
On April 28, four naval personnel and a passing motorcyclist were killed in a bombing, two days after four others were killed in navy bus bombings.
Last week, a Saudi diplomat was killed in a hail of bullets on his way to work at his country's consulate in the city, just days after attackers threw grenades at the diplomatic mission.
Pakistain's seemingly powerful security establishment was left humiliated by the discovery and killing of the Al-Qaeda terror chief in a unilateral American Navy SEAL raid that has rocked relations with wary ally Washington.
In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Sunday, US President Barack B.O. Obama said he stood ready to order a similar mission to that which killed bin Laden if another high-value target was discovered in Pakistain, or any other country.
"We are very respectful of the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain, but we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people, we can't allow those kinds of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, thousands demonstrated in Bloody Karachi to demand an immediate end to US missile strikes in Pakistain's northwestern tribal belt on the Afghan border and urge the blocking of NATO supplies passing through the country.
Activists from the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) led by former cricket hero Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... held a two-day sit-in outside the Arabian Sea port, urging the government to end its cooperation with Washington's "war on terror."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A comment on the FT.COM article quoted in Long War Journal:
Posted by Victor at May 22, 2011 9:10 PM ET:
Eric:
Welcome to the paranoid world of Pakistan, where every leaf which falls from a tree is the result of a major international conspiracy. A part of it is a reflection of the insecurity of an illegitimate state; another is a reflection of their delusion about how critical they are to the rest of the world. Wait till you hear about they are the only nation in the history of mankind to have destroyed (sic) two super-powers in twenty years.
------------------------
Some of the better connected posters on these forums had originally claimed that was an inside job. Even if they were outside elements involved they seem to have had strong inside support.
There is a lull in the operations because the attackers are in a building with sensitive assets. There is some speculation that it could be nukes.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
05/23/2011 2:21 Comments ||
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#2
Another question on the LongWar Journal:
The one question I have is that aren't the Chinese supposed to keep off the bases where the latest US equipment is being kept? These PN P3's were upgraded recently with the latest AEW suite. How secure is our equipment if Chinese engineers are working in the same hangars?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
05/23/2011 2:25 Comments ||
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#3
There is a lull in the operations because the attackers are in a building with sensitive assets. There is some speculation that it could be nukes.
"Sensitive assets" could be anything from cryptological equipment and codes, to intelligence assets (including infomation as to Pakistan's ASW assets are in relation to where India's submarines are), to battle plans.
#4
I was the one here wondering about the possibility of nukes because I thought they might have tried to make a nuclear-armed antisubmarine weapon of some kind.
[Emirates 24/7] A series of bombings in and around Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... killed 13 people, including seven coppers, and maimed 65 on Sunday, security officials said.
A total of 11 roadside kabooms, two vehicles packed with explosives and one suicide kaboomer struck in the spate of morning blasts, although it was not immediately clear if the violence was coordinated.
The deadliest attack saw seven coppers killed and 10 others maimed in a suicide kaboom in the town of Taji, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the capital, an interior ministry official said, on condition of anonymity.
A car boom had initially gone off at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) in the town, and when residents and ambulance crews arrived at the scene, a jacket wallahwent kaboom!", the official said.
Four roadside kabooms and a car boom near a cop shoppe in the south Storied Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Amil killed two people and maimed 15, including three policeman, while a roadside kaboom in Saidiyah, also in the south, maimed three people.
Two separate roadside kabooms, one near a hospital and another near a popular market, in the predominantly Shiite north Storied Baghdad district of Sadr City left two people dead and 14 maimed, the interior ministry official said.
Also in north Storied Baghdad, a roadside kaboom targeting a police brigadier general's convoy killed a civilian and maimed five people, including two of the senior commander's bodyguards.
Two roadside kabooms in central Al-Wathiq square killed one person and maimed 12, six of them coppers, while a kaboom in eastern Beirut Square maimed six.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved the construction of 294 new illegal Jewish settler units in the occupied Paleostinian land.
Good idea. The longer the Palestinians refuse to give up their "Resistance", the more of their land they lose.
The settlements are to go up in the Beitar Ilit settlement in the occupied West Bank, AFP reported on Sunday.
The Israeli regime occupied the West Bank alongside the other Paleostinian territory of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in 1967 and later annexed both. The international community has refused to recognize neither the capture nor the annexation.
The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... and the European Union call the settlements illegal as they are constructed on the occupied territories.
The UN also considers the settlement expansion to be illegal under the international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to lift a partial freeze on the settlement activities last September, thus occasioning a halt in the United States-based direct talks with the Paleostinian Authority (PA).
Anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said Israeli settlers have started building about 2,000 settler units since the moratorium was lifted.
Israel has, meanwhile, turned down a call by the US to negotiate with the Paleostinians and withdraw behind the borders of territories it seized in 1967.
Netanyahu has told US President Barack B.O. Obama that Tel Aviv would carry out the pullout to help make way for the establishment of an independent Paleostinian state.
The premier has also said the PA must choose between a deal with Tel Aviv or unity with the Paleostinian resistance movement of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
Hamas and Fatah have recently reached a deal, agreeing to hold elections and form a unity government.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Oldest rule around: Somebody wins and somebody loses. Happens every time. If you dont win, then you lose. Cant get around it.
The Jews are going to win. The Palestinians not only ARE losers, they are going to go on losing. They are NOT going to win.
Its more sure than 2+2=4. The Palestinians are going to lose.
Negotiation? Who wants to "negotiate"? You only "negotiate" when you perceive you are not strong enough to win by cutting the other guy off at the knees. Peace? Peace is when you win.
Peace is when the other guy loses.
Settlements are a beautiful, creative and efficient way to win. You bite a piece of the other guy off, you chew him up real fine, and you swallow him. Then you bite off another piece.
It works like a charm. Settlements take his flesh and blood and bones, bite them off, chew them up and swallow them. You get bigger and he gets smaller. Whether you nibble away at his guts like a rat or guzzle him like a boar hog...the effect is the same. Its all effective and it just involves steady determined resolute merciless time.
Settlements are a VERY good idea.
Have no pity on the Palestinians, they never had any pity themselves. They cant expect any pity and dont deserve any.
Sink you teeth into them, bite a piece off and chew it up. Crush them.
The Palestinians are NEVER going to live in Peace with the Jews.
Negotiation is NEVER going to be a solution. Its a TOTAL waste of time AND its stupid. A "two state solution" is useless and its stupid.
Bite, chew, swallow. Bite chew swallow. Bitechewswallow.
Get rid of them and take it all.
The smart ones will move to Brazil.
Posted by: de Medici3489 ||
05/23/2011 7:06 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Army troops managed Sunday to liberate three Iraqi nationals kidnapped on May 20 in the northern border town of al-Bqaiaa after a shootout with the kidnappers in neighboring Wadi Khaled, the Army Command's Orientation Directorate said in a statement.
"After the army's intelligence directorate acquired information about the disappearance of three Iraqi citizens in the al-Bqaiaa area on May 20, the directorate conducted a series of investigations that led to locating them," the orientation directorate said in its statement. The three "appeared to be Iraqis carrying the Swedish citizenship," the directorate noted.
Following the investigations, "an army unit raided several locations in Wadi Khaled this afternoon ... and managed to liberate (the abductees) after an exchange of gunfire with the nine kidnappers, who were all placed in durance vile after one of them was maimed" in the shootout, the directorate clarified.
"The detainees are being interrogated under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities in order to unveil the incident's circumstances and motivations," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 00:00 ||
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Protesters in Syria have defied a security crackdown, turning out in thousands to attend the funerals of pro-democracy demonstrators and calling for the removal of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad, One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... witnesses say.
Mourners at Nour Mosque in the central city of Homs on Sunday shouted "Leave, leave," at the funeral of six out of 11 people that rights groups said were killed by security services a day earlier.
"The shooting was in cold blood. People were streaming peacefully out of the cemetery," a resident of Homs said.
Anti-government demonstrators also rallied in an eastern town after an activist immolated himself on Friday, echoing the self immolation of a Tunisian vegetable trader last year that sparked protests across the Arab world.
A human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... campaigner said 17-year-old activist Mohammad Akram al-Tumah set himself alight in the eastern town of Mayadeen, days after he was released from custody by state security agents.
"He set fire to himself in front of the state security building as a demonstration was taking place there demanding the release of political prisoners in the compound," the rights campaigner said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ... for fear of being murdered...
"Protesters rushed to stop him but it was too late. Tumah died in hospital on Saturday," he said.
In Saqba, a witness told Rooters by phone that mourners also chanted the name of "Martyr Ziad al-Qadi", reportedly killed when security forces fired live rounds at a demonstration in the suburb of capital Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... on Saturday.
Death toll
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Perfidious Albion, said it had the names of 863 civilians who had been killed in shootings by security forces since the pro-democracy uprising erupted 10 weeks ago.
Assad has largely dismissed the protests as part of a foreign-backed conspiracy to sow sectarian strife in Syria.
Syrian authorities blame most of the upheaval on "armed saboteur groups", backed by Islamists and foreign powers, who they say have killed more than 120 soldiers and police.
Syria has barred most international media since the protests broke out two months ago, making it difficult to verify accounts of the violence.
The unrest has posed a grave challenge to Assad's rule.
In response, he has lifted a 48-year state of emergency and issued a decree to grant citizenship to stateless Kurds. But he has also sent tanks to several cities to stamp out demonstrations, witnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2011 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.
Thanks to everyone who kicked in with last week's bleg. Our new server is on the way from Dell, with a Pentium Core I3 (dual core) processor, a terabyte of storage, and -- most important of all -- 8GB of memory, which is almost three times what we've been tripping along with for the past three years.
KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban on Monday rejected media reports that its spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, was killed in Pakistan late last week.
Yemen's President 
Somali pirates
At least seven people were killed in a U.S. drone strike launched Monday evening in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, Xinhua reported according to local English TV channel Express.
Kurram Agency.
al-Assad,
