The best way for the US to tackle its 14-trillion-dollar debt is
a) to end the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and reduce military spending, which is the biggest part of the US budget.
b) to default on its debt.
c) to end tax cuts for the rich.
d) to get loans from foreign banks or governments
Gee...can I pick "all of the above"? I wonder if Harry and Nancy are ghostwriting for Iran PressTV...
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/06/2011 06:21 ||
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* CHINA DAILY FORUM > ITS OFFICIAL: THE UN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT [ICC] HAS ZERO MANDATE | REJECTION BY AFRICAN UNION [AU] OF QADDAFI ARREST WARRANT REVEALS ICC TO BE A HOAX, wid no Authority or Power, etc. as a "World Court" to try anyone for anything.
Given that the UNO is originally + remains a mainly CONFEDERATIST entity by design + intent, despite attempts to improve otherwise IMO INTERPOL + ICC will need a de facto mandate from both the UNSC + General Assembly first.
[Dawn] 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... said Tuesday that he had expressed "deep concerns" to his Pak counterpart about deadly rocket attacks launched across the Taliban-troubled border.
Around 200 Afghans protested in the capital on Saturday against the attacks which have fanned tensions between the neighbours at a time of flagging Western support for the long war with the Taliban.
Speaking at a presser in Kabul alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... , the Afghan leader said he had raised the sensitive issue with Pakistain President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... at a recent meeting.
"The shells and artillery fired from Pakistain territory to Afghanistan have led to the death and injury of a number of our citizens," Karzai said.
"I have been very clear on the position of Afghanistan... We expressed the deep concerns of the people of Afghanistan and asked for an immediate stop to the shelling from Pak territory." Karzai said Afghanistan would not retaliate.
Pakistain disputes the Afghan version of events and says it has not fired deliberately on its neighbour's territory and says it is contending with Taliban attacks from Afghanistan.
The Pakistain army admits only that its security forces may have fired a few accidental rounds into Afghanistan while pursuing Orcs and similar vermin across the porous 2,400 kilometre (1,500 mile) border.
Pakistain said Monday that dozens of Taliban infiltrated from Afghanistan to attack a check post, killing one soldier.
There are Taliban strongholds on both sides of the border, but Afghan and US officials want Pakistain to do more to eradicate krazed killer sanctuaries in its semi-autonomous tribal belt that is used to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
Cameron, appearing with Karzai, struck a diplomatic note over the issue and said Britannia backed an improvement in Afghanistan-Pakistain relations.
"Now is the time for Pakistain and Afghanistan to sit and meet and talk on how we are to ensure what we need to do," he told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... on Tuesday said the Taliban could have a future in the mainstream politics of Afghanistan, with the 10-year war resolved like the conflict in Northern Ireland. Guess he never did pick up on that "victory" idea.
On a day that four 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... soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan, he also announced the creation of a Sandhurst-style military academy to train Afghan officers ahead of the pullout of Western combat forces by 2015.
"In terms of the political process and political reconciliation, firstly I would say to the Afghan people, we are with you, we want to help you," Cameron told a joint news conference with 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... in Kabul.
"To the Taliban my message is very clear. Stop bombing, stop killing, stop fighting, put down your weapons, join the political process and you can join the future of this country." Violence in Afghanistan has been at record highs, nearly 10 years after US-led troops invaded to bring down the Taliban regime for refusing to give up the late Osama bin Laden ... who is currently warming his feet by the fire with Hitler and Himmler... after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"I have seen in it in my own country. In Northern Ireland, we had people trying to bomb and kill police and now they are taking part in politics themselves," said Cameron.
The Taliban have always refused to lay down arms until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan, but in recent weeks officials have said efforts are being made to establish contact between the Islamic exemplars, Kabul and the United States.
Cameron said a British-led military academy hoped to open its doors in 2013 and would train 1,350 Afghan officers a year, with around 120 British military trainers, attracting a funding pledge of $38 million from the United States.
"Today the president and I have been discussing our plan to build an Afghan Sandhurst to train the officers of the future that will form the backbone of the already successful Afghan army," said Cameron.
He also defended plans to increase British aid to Afghanistan, despite austere budget cuts at home, branding opponents "hard-hearted".
The Department for International Development said that British aid to Afghanistan this financial year was #102 million ($164 million) and would be #178 million ($287 million) next financial year.
Cameron declared progress in Afghanistan to be "on the right track" as he sought to regain momentum in a two-day trip overshadowed by the death of a British soldier who had earlier gone missing from his Helmand base.
"This is a great example of a country that if we walk away from, and if we ignore, if we forget about, the problems will come visited back on our doorstep," Cameron said.
He said "some progress" in Helmand province where the bulk of British troops are based, would allow for a "modest" drawdown to be announced for next year.
The British soldier's mysterious death in Helmand province, for which the Taliban grabbed credit, overshadowed Cameron's earlier announcement that security had improved enough for Britannia to withdraw some troops soon.
Cameron said he would make an announcement in parliament on Wednesday about the level of troop drawdowns next year, with weekend media reports saying he would order the withdrawal of 500-800 soldiers by the end of 2012.
Britannia has a total force of 9,500 in Afghanistan -- the second largest contingent of foreign troops in the country after the United States.
Cameron arrived in Helmand on Monday on a previously unannounced visit but decided to abandon a planned trip to the lovely provincial capital Lashkar Gah, one of a handful of towns earmarked for an early handover to Afghan forces.
In recent days a row between Afghanistan and Pakistain over claims of cross-border attacks by both sides has heightened tensions between the neighbours, threatening to disrupt any negotiated peace.
Cameron struck a diplomatic note over the issue and said Britannia backed an improvement in Afghanistan-Pakistain relations.
"Now is the time for Pakistain and Afghanistan to sit and meet and talk on how we are to ensure what we need to do," he told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Clueless, utterly clueless. I am stunned that anyone with his access could conceive, let alone openly discuss the concept of shared outcomes. The madrassas of Chaman and Quetta, Pakistan and their ISI advisors must surely be in ecstatic celebration.
[Tolo News] Some Afghan politicians on their Tuesday session called on President Karzai to step down amid growing tensions between executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the government.
Parliamentarians claimed that President Karzai is sick and has lost the capability to govern the nation.
Some politicians warned that if President Karzai refuses to step down, they will implement the article 69 of the constitution.
The article 69 of the Afghan constitution says president accused of crimes against humanity and national treason could be held responsible by one third of the members of the House of Representative that will follow his resignation in a grand council, Loya Jirga.
Government taking a silence stance against Pakistain missile attacks into Afghanistan and neglecting the demands of parliamentarians have left the House of Representatives infuriated.
"The country is in a very sensitive situation. Lots of things will happen this year from security handover, Core Group summit to conclusion of US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement," Mohammad Shahir Rafiq, an Afghan MP, said. "President Karzai has fallen sick and fails to govern the nation. He should respect the Afghan nation and step down."
Another Afghan MP, Samiullah Samimi, said: "The time has come for the implementation of article 69 of the constitution. The President wants to drag the country to instability, not stability.
Tuesday session of politicians ended up with violence between two female politicians.
But President Karzai said new tensions between parliament and justice institutions are because democracy is young in the country.
"This is a normal process of democracy in Afghanistan and every nation that steps into a democratic system should go through some challenges to reach maturity," President Karzai said.
President Karzai has previously accused Pakistain of firing 470 missiles into Afghanistan which was later denied by officials in Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Assembly (IGAD) wants the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... to impose a No fly zone on Somalia in a bid to cut off arms supplies to the Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader... terrorist group.
President Kibaki led the East African leaders in asking UN to enforce No fly zones on key towns in Somalia controlled by the Al Shabaab in order to cut off the supply of weapons to the terror network during an IGAD meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday.
"The assembly reiterates its call for the UNSC to provide support to AMISOM including mission enablers and to adopt a resolution that enforces a blockade of Kismayu, Barava, Merka and Elmaan and imposes air exclusion zone such as on Balidogle and Cisaley to cut the supply lines to the beturbanned goon groups," read one of the Assembly's key resolutions.
The meeting also directed its anger on Eritrea, which they accused of supplying arms to the Al Shabaab through Kismayu.
The leaders also warned of possible terrorist attacks on South Sudan before or after its independence day celebrations set for Saturday by beturbanned goon groups allied to Eritrea.
"The Presidents were really concerned about the role Eritrea continues to play in aiding these violent groups. They were told that the Kampala bombers were trained in Eritrea, which also tried to use the OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) to bomb an AU (African Union) ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... meeting in Addis Ababa in January," said a member of the Kenyan delegation, which accompanied President Kibaki who requested not to be named because he is not authorised to speak on behalf of the President.
The call to impose a No Fly Zone on Somalia underlines the seriousness Kenya and her neighbours are taking the threat posed by Al Shabaab and other Islamic exemplar groups on regional peace and stability.
The Al Shabaab has in the past warned Kenya, Uganda and Burundi of violent attacks over their continued support of the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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"IGAD" > Any relation to the Patriarch character's mighty "OH-H-H GAAADDD" as per the classic holiday film "LIFE WID FATHER"???
* TOPIX > [AllAfrica = Somalia] OFFICIAL:WE ARE PLANNING TO FORM AUTONOMOUS STATES, in Southern Somalia once there is cessation of troubles i.e. once Al-Shabaab is defeated.
Six months after Tunisia's uprising, religious tension is rising over the limits of freedom of expression, as Islamists challenge the dominance of liberals in what was once a citadel of Arab secularism.
Last week several dozen men attacked a cinema in Tunis that had advertised a film publicly titled in French 'Ni Dieu, Ni Maitre' (No God, No Master) by Tunisian-French director Nadia El-Fani, an outspoken critic of political Islam.
Secular media and intellectuals have reacted with alarm, warning that freedoms in Tunisia -- a bastion of secularism under 23 years of tough police rule by Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali -- are in danger of being lost if Islamists across the spectrum of Islamist politics are not stopped.
An unnamed senior Russian official was quoted on Tuesday as saying Muammar Gadddafi is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees.
Thus the Russians send a signal to the Duck-Man...
"The colonel is sending signals that he is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees," the respected business daily Kommersant quoted the official as saying.
Cheez, the Russian papers now copy the New York Times on sourcing...
The Russian source added that France appeared the country most willing to play a part by unfreezing some of the Gadddafi family's accounts and promising to help him avoid trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The Kommersant report came a day after NATO's Rasmussen discussed Libya in Russia with President Dmitry Medvedev and South African President Jacob Zuma, fresh from an African Union summit that tried to forge a regional peace plan.
Russia has advocated the AU taking a leading role in negotiations to end the conflict, and Zuma, highly critical of NATO air raids, told Medvedev he hoped the alliance would better appreciate the AU's concerns.
One of the new elements in the road map agreed by the AU on Friday included provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations. But the rebels have thus far rejected the AU's settlement terms and Russia has also failed to convince Gadddafi to leave.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Does this mean we're NOT talking about DUCKSIDE or the wily "CAPED QUACKER"???
An Egyptian court acquitted three Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... -era ministers of corruption charges on Tuesday while finding a fourth guilty in absentia -- a decision likely to stoke anger among protesters calling for more accountability for ousted regime officials.
The verdicts came a day after 10 coppers charged with killing protesters were ordered released on bail, prompting hundreds of Egyptians to attack a courtroom in Cairo.
Tensions are running high in Egypt over the ruling military council's failure to punish those blamed for killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11 as well as ex-officials accused of participating in corruption and cronyism that was widespread during the former president's nearly three-decade rule.
Many Egyptians feel the courts have not done enough to punish former regime officials, complaining that anti-graft cases have gone too fast to court without proper investigation, leaving them vulnerable to acquittals, while cases pertaining to human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... and the killings of protesters dragged.
Nearly five months later, only one policeman has been convicted in the deaths of at least 846 people killed in the government crackdown on protesters. He was tried in absentia.
Protesters seeking to step up pressure on authorities to speed up accountability efforts plan a major protest on Friday to call for fair trials and measures to purge former regime officials from political and economic life. Mubarak and his two sons also face charges of killing protesters and amassing illegal wealth. Their trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 3.
In an apparent attempt to defuse the anger, Egypt's Prosecutor-General Mahmoud Abdel-Meguid appealed the acquittals shortly after they were issued, Egypt's state TV said. He had taken a similar decision following Monday's decision to release the police.
Relatives of slain protesters cut traffic for at least six hours Monday on the highway from Cairo to the city of Suez, leaving hundreds of cars lined up. The court case involved 17 protesters killed in Suez.
On Tuesday, family members and associates of the acquitted Mubarak-era officials cheered after Judge Mohammed Fathi Sadek of the Cairo Criminal Court read the verdicts. The accused faced prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Sadek found not guilty Ahmed Maghrabi, Yusef Boutros-Ghali and Anas el-Fiqqi, former ministers of housing, finance and information, respectively.
Maghrabi was tried for corruption over the sale of state-owned land to a real estate company, Palm Hills, in which he is still a partner. Three others involved in the deal, the head of a state-sponsored publishing house and two businessmen, were also found not guilty.
Boutros-Ghali and el-Fiqqi were tried for corruption for channeling $6 million to media campaigns to help Mubarak's party in elections and boost Mubarak's image. The judge acquitted the two.
Maghrabi and el-Fiqqi will remain in jail because they are facing other charges. The whereabouts of Boutros-Ghali, a nephew of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, are unknown. He was sentenced in absentia in June to 30 years in prison on separate charges of abusing his authority and squandering public funds.
Maghrabi also was convicted in June of intentionally damaging public finances by allowing a businessman to illegally acquire state land and sentenced to five years and a fine.
On Tuesday, the court found former Trade Minister Rachid Mohammed Rachid and two businessmen guilty of squandering public funds and profiteering. Rachid and one of the businessmen were sentenced in absentia to five years in prison, ordered to each return $335,000 to the state and pay fines of the same amount.
The third got a one-year suspended sentence and must return $2 million to the state, and pay a fine of the same amount.
His lawyer, Maged Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, said his client would appeal the sentence, but called the verdicts proof that Egypt can hold fair trials.
"This is encouraging to those awaiting trial and reassures everybody," he said.
In a fourth verdict, the judge ordered an expert committee to review a number of TV programs and shows produced by the former head of the state TV and Radio Union Osama el-Sheik.
El-Sheik is charged with squandering $1.7 million of public funds producing these programs without authorization. The review is expected to be heard in the next session scheduled for Sept.8.
Nasser Amin, a transitional justice lawyer and activist, said the verdicts were expected given the large volume of reports and complaints against former regime officials that the prosecution is looking into, side by side with their regular schedule. This would inevitably lead to weak cases that can easily be dismissed.
"The danger is there may be similar decisions in the cases of killing of protesters," he said.
He called for exceptional measures, such as having specialized criminal courts deal with post-revolution trials alone.
"The lack of clarity in matters of accountability after the revolution and insisting on regular measures during the transitional period may be a proof that the Egyptian state is still strong and is carrying out its duties, but it is also going to create problems," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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It would have been impossible to even interview Aboud al-Zomor a few months ago. After the interview, Zomor left the apartment. I watched him walk down the street. He was stopped repeatedly. People came up to shake his hand. They wanted to meet him. A poor man pushing a cart bought him a glass of sugarcane juice. Zomor was treated more like a celebrity -- more like a fellow revolutionary -- than an organizer of Egypt's most notorious assassination in modern history.
[Emirates 24/7] The search for a political solution to Libya's war has quietly moved up a gear despite tough-looking declarations by Muammar Qadaffy and his rebel foes suggesting they can fight on.
In part, the impression of a quickening behind the scenes peace effort stems from the sheer number of statements made by the combatants urging a settlement, aggressive and sometimes contradictory though some of these communiques are.
Speculation, analysts say, that a deal may be in the works has also been heightened by unconfirmed talk that rebels have eased some operations against Qadaffy, as either a short-term military tactic or, possibly, to facilitate negotiations.
And some say an arrest warrant for Qadaffy issued by the world court at The Hague has spurred deal-making by giving the West potential new leverage in the form of a possible offer of immunity in return for him stepping down from power.
"My hunch is that we're not far from the end game," Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, told Rooters.
"There's definitely something going on," said UK-based opposition journalist and analyst Ashour Shamis, referring to his belief that political efforts had been stepped up.
"There are now more efforts to bring things to a conclusion and avoid an armed struggle for Tripoli, which would be very messy," he said, referring to the capital, a Qadaffy bastion.
Qadaffy has rejected all international calls for him to step down and said he will fight to the end, but people in his inner circle have signalled they are ready to negotiate with the rebels, including on the Libyan leader's political future.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Sunday Qadaffy was welcome to live out his retirement in Libya as long as he gave up all power, in the clearest rebel concession to date.
On Monday Jalil issued a statement saying he had wanted to "clarify" that there was no possibility for Qadaffy to stay in Libya and he would have to face justice.
Jalil also said there had been no negotiations with Qadaffy. Qadaffy's administration, for its part, said the government had had meetings in foreign capitals with rebel representatives to try to negotiate a peace deal.
Noman Benotman, an analyst at the British Quilliam thinktank and a friend of former Libya spy chief Moussa Koussa, said he suspected Qadaffy was ready to step down, under conditions.
GADDAFI'S "INSURANCE POLICY"
These were that Qadaffy stay in Libya, with immunity, and a son have an official role in a future Libya.
"He strongly wants a son to be part of the future of Libya, representing the tribes now supporting the regime," he said.
"It's his plan, his insurance policy. He believes that if, later, they go through elections, he and his family will get protection from the tribes whose support they now have."
Saad Djebbar, a former legal advisor to the Libyan government, said arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... last month for Qadaffy, one of his sons, Saif al-Islam, and his security chief Abdullah al-Senussi were a big part of the backdrop to the combatants' latest manoeuvring.
An immunity deal was possible, he said.
"Qadaffy would be a fool not to accept an internationally-binding U.N. Security Council resolution granting him immunity from the court in return for him giving up power and calling on his people to abandon arms," he said.
REPORTED DEAL REJECTED AS "PRESSURE"
To date, the outlook for such a deal appears poor. In remarks to Russian television last week, Saif al-Islam said 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... had already offered the government an "under the table" deal that would see the arrest warrants dropped if they quit power.
He dismissed the warrants and the reported NATO offer as a means of "psychological and political pressure."
But some analysts say that as time goes on such a deal might look more attractive, if only because the alternative of being driven militarily from power without immunity looked grimmer.
"As long as Qadaffy still has some power, he can accept any such offer. But I believe he is losing power by the day," said Djebbar, who thinks Qadaffy has progressed through various stages of denial during the war and may now be ready to compromise.
"We have now got to the last stage, where he actually starts to think he is going to lose ... He sees the difficult Ramadan coming, he sees his friends in places like Russia and Algeria under pressure to abandon him. He has limited time to decide."
Qadaffy's government is in the process of preparing for a Mohammedan fasting month that will test its dwindling resources because it must obtain sufficient food and fuel to enable Libyans in government-held areas to hold family celebrations.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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...said Djebbar, who thinks Qadaffy has progressed through various stages of denial during the war and may now be ready to compromise.
Yeah...seems like alot of that goin around lately.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Russian newspaper said on Tuesday that Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... was willing to give up power in exchange for security guarantees.
The report in the respected daily Kommersant, which did not identify its high-level Russian official source, came a day after the search for ways to end the war in Libya dominated Russia's talks with 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... chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and South African President Jacob Zuma.
"The colonel (Qadaffy) is sending signals that he is prepared to relinquish power in exchange for security guarantees," Kommersant quoted what it called a high-level source in the Russian leadership as saying.
The source said in the report that other nations, potentially including La Belle France, were willing to provide those guarantees.
The Kommersant report also said Qadaffy wanted his son Saif al-Islam to be permitted to run in elections if he steps down, a condition the rebels might not accept.
The Libyan government said on Monday that it was in talks with opposition figures, but the other side stuck to entrenched positions on Qadaffy's fate.
Saif al-Islam told a French newspaper there was no question of negotiating an end to his father's 42-year rule, and the rebel National Transitional Council backtracked on its statement that Qadaffy could stay in Libya if he gave up all power.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] One month has passed since the presidential palace liquidation attempt on President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... and the political arena is as empty as ever.
Opposition parties have just started considering forming a transitional council while President Saleh insists that he will lead the transition process in Yemen.
The international community is lost on how to react in the very fragile country of Yemen.
Reports varied on how serious President Saleh's injuries are, but all reports have estimated that Saleh would not be back to Yemen in the next three months.
Critics feel that the political stalemate will only lead to further crises in the country and possibly a civil war.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Yemen opposition parties have announced that they are on the verge of agreement in forming a transitional council to take lead during the political stalemate in Yemen. A senior presidential aide rejected the opposition claims and said that if the transitional council is formed, a civil war will erupt the next day in Yemen.
Sultan Atwani, the secretary general of the Nasserite party said that the formation of the council could be within a week if the opposition finally agree to accept the transitional government.
The Yemen government spokesperson Abdu Ganadi said that the opposition will have no choice but accepting to join a unified government and can never succeed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Maj.-Gen. (res) Danny Rothschild was forced to cut his trip to the UK short following reports from the Israeli embassy in London that pro-Palestinian groups plan to ask the county court for his arrest, Army Radio reported Wednesday.
Rothschild coordinated IDF operations in the Palestinian territories in the early 1990s during the first Intifada.
The attempted arrest of Rothschild was allegedly in response to the arrest of Raed Salah last week, Army Radio said.
Rothschild entered the UK without any problems earlier this week and on Monday gave a lecture to a large crowd at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Whitehall.
He was due to give a speech in parliament on Tuesday, organized by the Henry Jackson Society, as well as to appear before another think tank but pulled out of both events, and instead hurried out of the country, taking the Eurostar to France -- so as to avoid passport control at Heathrow-- and flying home Tuesday night.
This comes a day after Knesset member and former Labour leader Amir Peretz was also forced to cut short a London visit, for the same reason.
In December, a Police and Social Responsibility Bill passed the power to issue universal jurisdiction warrants to the Director of Public Prosecutions, when it previously lay with individual magistrates.
In practice, this means it would be much harderalthough not impossible-- for courts to issue the arrest warrants. The new system would also delay proceedings, so that any suspect would have ample time to evade arrest by leaving the country.
However, the bill still needs to be approved in parliament to take effect, a process that could take months.
British Ambassador in Israel Matthew Gould said Wednesday that "an amendment to the law has already passed the House of Commons, and is currently making its way through the Lords. It is expected to become law later in the year."
He added that "the proposed change will help ensure that arrest warrants are not granted when there is no realistic chance of prosecution. It will prevent the law from being misused for political reasons. We remain committed to upholding international justice, and continue to believe that those guilty of war crimes must be brought to justice. The change in the law will not affect our ability to do so."
Sir Richard Dearlove says al-Qaida may have passed its zenith but could still muster a spectacular outrage
It's not that al-Qaeda is past its peak. It might well be.
It's all the other Islamicist terrorist groups out there. Seems like we at Rantburg are cataloging new groups every week: same eye-rolling, same gun sex, same vows of Dire Revenge. They're all holy men and talibs with AK's and unlimited ammo.
Stomping al-Qaeda flat into the ground is emotionally satisfying but it isn't sufficient.
The US and South Korea are at odds with the United Nations World Food Program over how seriously North Korea is suffering from lack of food and are in no hurry to resume feeding the North's hungry people.
Once again the UN apparatchiks are bound and determined to get a two-fer: preserve and protect their phony-baloney jobs while aiding a 'socialist' government.
That conclusion emerges from a study by a US government team that spent 10 days in North Korea assessing the needs -- and how likely North Korea is to guarantee enough transparency to determine who gets the food.
South Korean leaders appeared relieved when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently made it clear that the US did not believe North Korea had addressed "serious concerns about monitoring" food distribution. The US still wants to know what happened to 20,000 tons of rice that's strongly believed to have gone to North Korean soldiers when a US food aid program was suspended two years ago.
Ms. Clinton's remarks echoed those of South Korean officials who have been extremely anxious to see whether the US would yield to North Korean entreaties after a team led by US human rights envoy Robert King went to North Korea last month.
"We should be sure the food should not be misdirected and we have a clear monitoring system," says Park Jin-eun, director of the inter-Korea policy division at South Korea's foreign ministry. "The US is in the same position."
A central question is whether North Korea needs emergency shipments as called for by the World Food Program. Yes, Ms. Park acknowledges, "The problem this year is changed by flood and winter cold," but the widespread view here is that North Korea basically has enough food.
It's believed that North Korea wants to stockpile food for celebrations planned next year to mark the 100-year anniversary of the birth of the late Kim Il-sung, the long-reigning "Great Leader" who died in 1994 after passing on power to his son, current leader Kim Jong-il.
And for the military, to the extent they can.
"There's a need, but we don't know how great it is," says a knowledgeable western observer. "My hunch is it's less about a shortage of food and more about unequal distribution. You can buy rice in the markets if you have the means."
Unequal distribution has always been the problem in a workers paradise, hasn't it. The elites at the top take care of themselves and their agendas first, and if the kulakspeasants proletariat starve, well that's the fault of imperialism.
He strongly questions the "emergency assessment" issued by the World Food Program last winter that indicated more than six million people would need food assistance this year. "How do you generalize?" he asks. "Six million people is a quarter of the country... It's overstated."
Marcus Prior, the WFP's Asia spokesman, says "the situation is not at the level of the mid-1990s" when as many as two million people are believed to have died of starvation and disease. But he notes that "bilateral and humanitarian assistance has declined dramatically in recent years."
There's a reason for that, Mr. Prior, can you elucidate what it is?
South Korea's conservative President Lee Myung-bak cut off almost all food aid in 2008 after a decade in which his two predecessors, in pursuit of the "Sunshine policy" of reconciliation, had authorized shipments of several hundred thousand tons a year of rice and fertilizer.
The UN's concerns
The WFP is concerned at the level of food stocks and the health of the most vulnerable women and children, says Mr. Prior.
Shades of the New York Times...
"High food prices have meant commercial imports have been hard hit, and the bitter winter has damaged stored food and reduced the early spring harvest of winter and barley," while cereals distribution is "only about a quarter of the full ration."
Kwon Eun-kyung, an editor at the Daily NK, which puts out daily reports here about North Korea problems, says defectors and other sources inside North Korea contradict the WFP's assessment.
"Within the boundary of authority, the food situation may be difficult," she says. "People get by, farming themselves. They find a way to survive by bartering or selling goods. It is not the same as the report by the WFP."
North Korea "uses many tactics to get more aid, she says. "The US right now is not in such a hurry to help North Korea with food. The situation is not so desperate."
Nor is Ms. Kwon impressed by recurrent reports of cannibalism.
"That is not the latest news," she says. "We have had many stories since the last famine" -- that is, in the 1990s. "Some defectors have testified to that. Not many people believed that story."
Update at 1000 CT: in response to Angimp's comment (#1 below), it's too bad we don't follow the Jerry Pournelle rule on this one.
Recall that the good Mr. Pournelle pointed out that we could solve the Libyan problem by offering $200 million and a blank, valid US passport in exchange for the severed head of the Duck of Death.
Apply this to North Korea: if the people of that long-suffering country will simply string up Kimmie, his son and their henchmen to the closest convenient lampposts in Pyongyang, we'll guarantee fine dining for all the people there for the next five years.
We would, of course, want video. And autopsies.
It's cheaper than maintaining the defense of South Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Overthrow your dictator and we'll have a buffet!
(KUNA) -- South Korea is still assessing conditions before resuming government food aid to North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday, a day after the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU) announced a plan to provide its own emergency aid to the impoverished communist nation.
"The South Korean government continues to review the necessity and feasibility of aid to North Korea, given various conditions such as food demand in the North and transparency in distribution," Foreign Ministry front man Cho Byung-jae was quoted as telling news hounds in Seoul.
Cho reaffirmed that the government has no plan to resume any government food aid for North Korea, but has selectively allowed civic groups to send aid to the North on humanitarian grounds.
The EU said Monday it will send EUR 10 million (USD 14.5 million) in food aid to help at least 650,000 people in North Korea. South Korea suspended its annual aid of 400,000 tons of rice in 2008 when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office with a policy of linking assistance to progress in efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear programs.
Seoul is also known to have reservations about Washington's move to resume food aid to Pyongyang, which has not shown any clear sign of keeping its earlier denuclearization commitment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Something has to give, ideally ala both sides as South Korea has a common interest wid the North = KORCOMS in preventing a Chinese takeover of North Korea.
IFF ALREADY DPRK-DOMINATING RISING CHINA DOESN'T TAKE OVER NORTH KOREA DUE TO WAR ANDOR
"NATURAL/NORMAL" STATE COLLAPSE, IT WILL VIA THE NEW SINO-DPRK FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS - BOTH NORTH + SOUTH KOREA LOSE EITHER WAY.
The New South Wales government has pushed through legislation allowing police to force the removal of head coverings to identify suspected criminals. The laws, among the toughest in the world involving Muslim female attire, follow the recent row over a Sydney woman who claimed police tried to tear off her veil after her car was pulled over.
The woman, Carnita Matthews, was charged with falsely accusing police of assault. She was cleared by a judge who concluded she could not be positively identified because of her head covering.
Under new laws, approved by the state cabinet and due to be enforced soon, anyone who refuses to remove a head covering for police will face up to a year in jail or a $5,570 fine.
Barry O'Farrell, the premier of New South Wales, said, "I don't care whether a person is wearing a motorcycle helmet, a niqab, a face veil or anything else, the police should be allowed to require those people to make their identification clear."
Many Muslim groups accepted the changes but some said a female officer should oversee any removals. The Muslim Women's Association said if a female officer supervised the removals then "nobody could really complain".
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which called for Australian Muslims this week to repudiate democracy, said the new laws were designed to intimidate Muslims. The laws were rejected by civil liberties groups as well.
More Australian states may adopt similar laws, with the Western Australian government indicating that it would consider the NSW legislation.
#1
ION AUS = OZ, PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUMS > AUSTRALIA, US NEVER TALK ABOUT BASING US TROOPS IN AUSTRALIA.
America would like to expand Bilateral Cooper + its influence or interests as per Ozzie Defense-Security Planning + Requirements, but preferably widout any need to permanently base US Troops, Planes, or Ships there.
* SAME > CHINA, JAPAN TRADE WORDS [again] OVER THE DAOYUS [Senkakus], as per China-alleged
"illegal" activities by Japanese fishing boats.
INTERESTING > ARTIC = includes a MAP showing general area of Southern Japan, Okinawa, Okin Islands, + Taiwan, BUT WIDOUT ANY SPECIFIC LABEL OR NAME DEPICTING WHICH SMALL ISLANDS BETWEEN OKINAWA + TAIWAN IS THE DAOYUS OR DAOYUS AREA PER SE.
Iff I were to speculate, I would say that China via the Artic is attempting to lay subtle sovereign claim to the whole of the Map = entire East China Sea includ Seas of Japan, Korea, + Taiwan widout actually saying or labeling as such???
Dutch UN peacekeepers have been found legally responsible for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men in the Srebrenica massacre.
Judges in the Netherlands ordered the government to compensate the men's relatives, which could open the way to other claims by relatives. It could also have repurcussions for countries sending troops on UN peacekeeping missions, as it sets a precedent for national governments being taken to court for the actions of their troops even when under UN control.
The ruling said even though the Dutch soldiers were acting under a UN mandate, they were under the "effective control" of top Dutch officials in The Hague when they ordered hundreds of Muslim men and boys out of their compound.
The ruling said the three men were among the last to be expelled and by that time the "Dutchbat" peacekeepers already had seen abuses and should have known they faced a serious threat of being killed.
"Dutchbat should not have turned these men over to the Serbs," a summary of the judgment said.
The Hague Appeals Court has not yet set a compensation figure. Victims' lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said the sum would "not be in the millions."
All it took was for good soldiers to stand their ground and the massacre doesn't happen. The Dutch didn't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 8:18 Comments ||
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#4
..not much different than the forced repatriation of Russian POWs back to Stalin after WWII. Similar fates. Just like the Dutch soldiers, ours just followed the orders of their political authorities. At least Stalin was nice enough to wait till he got them beyond the border and out side the view of the West before dealing with them.
#6
Just think what everlasting glory the Dutch would have covered themselves in if they had refused and fought. But no, military heroes are forbidden in Europe.
The deal with Stalin was a deal with the devil, to be sure. The Dutch were not in a similar situation of needing something from the Serbs.
Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson participated in a transcribed interview regarding Operation Fast and Furious and related matters with both Republican and Democratic staff. He appeared with his personal counsel, Richard Cullen of McGuire Woods LLP. His interview had originally been scheduled through the Justice Department to occur on July 13 in the presence of DOJ and ATF counsel. As you know, however, under our agreement Department witnesses who choose to attend a voluntary interview with their own lawyer are free to exercise that right rather than participate with counsel representing the Department's interests.
After being made aware of that provision of our agreement, Acting Director Melson chose to exercise that right and appeared with his own lawyer. We are disappointed that no one had previously informed him of that provision of the agreement. Instead, Justice Department officials sought to limit and control his communications with Congress. This is yet another example of why direct communications with Congress are so important and are protected by law.1
Acting Director Melson's cooperation was extremely helpful to our investigation. He was candid in admitting mistakes that his agency made and described various ways he says that he tried to remedy the problems. According to Mr. Melson, it was not until after the public controversy that he personally reviewed hundreds of documents relating to the case, including wiretap applications and Reports of investigation (ROIs).
By his account, he was sick to his stomach when he obtained those documents and learned the full story. Mr. Melson said that he told the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) at the end of March that the Department needed to reexamine how it was responding to the requests for information from Congress.
According to Mr. Melson, he and ATF's senior leadership team moved to reassign every manager involved in Fast and Furious, from the Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations down to the Group Supervisor, after learning the facts in those documents. Mr. Melson also said he was not allowed to communicate to Congress the reasons for the reassignments. He claimed that ATF's senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process.
However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear. If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively
muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand.
That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department's inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical information that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI.
Con't at site The Role of DEA, FBI, and Other Agencies
Top Republican lawmakers have authored an explosive new letter containing details of secret testimony by acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson, which reveal for the first time the extent to which his agency was involved in an international gun selling scandal.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, fired off the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday detailing what Melson told Congressional investigators in a secret July 4 testimony.
One key takeaway from the meeting was that Melson acknowledged to investigators that agents had witnessed transfers of weapons from straw purchasers to third parties without following the guns afterwards. Straw purchasers are people who could technically legally buy guns in the U.S. but their intent was to turn around and sell them to drug cartels in Mexico.
Another point Melson clarified for investigators was that the ATF group carrying out the mission of Operation Fast and Furious was placed under the direction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney's office. The U.S. Attorney in Arizona, Dennis Burke, is a political appointee of the Obama administration.
Melson appeared with only his personal attorney at the secret meeting with Congressional investigators. Melson was originally scheduled to conduct the interview on July 13 with Justice Department attorneys and his personal attorney present, but Melson abandoned DOJ representation after learning of a provision in his agreement to testify that allowed him to do so. (Issa staffer: Gunrunner investigation points much higher than ATF director)
"We are disappointed that no one had previously informed him of that provision of the agreement," Issa and Grassley wrote to Holder on Tuesday afternoon. "Instead, Justice Department officials sought to limit and control his communications with Congress. This is yet another example of why direct communications with Congress are so important and are protected by law."
Issa and Grassley wrote that Melson's interview "was extremely helpful to our investigation." They said Melson told them he did not review the "hundreds of documents" the DOJ is withholding until after the public controversy about the operation. Issa and Grassley said Melson claims he was "sick to his stomach" when he obtained the documents and learned the full story.
The DOJ has not been fully cooperative with a number of Issa's and Grassley's requests for documents and other evidence in this investigation. According to the July 5 letter, Issa and Grassley said Melson told them he asked the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) to be more cooperative with Congressional requests for information, evidence and documents.
#1
Pajamas Media's Bob Owens writes about who knew and how high:
n email cited in Senator Charles Grassleys testimony in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Operation Fast and Furious indicates that knowledge of the program was spread across the highest levels of the Justice Department. This lends even greater suspicion to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holders claim that he knew nothing about the program until well after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed.
The October 27, 2009 email from ATF Phoenix Field Division Special Agent in Charge (SAC) William Newell regarded a Southwest Border Strategy Group meeting that focused on Fast and Furious. It contained a laundry list of high ranking Justice Department officials that attended the meeting, including:
Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Lanny Breuer,
Kenneth Melson, Acting Director, ATF
William Hoover, Acting Deputy Director, ATF
Michele Leonhart, Administrator, DEA
Robert Mueller, Director FBI
Four other Justice Department directors or their representatives came from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), Bureau of Prisons (BOP), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA). The chair of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee (AGAC) also attended the session. Their names were redacted in the released document. U.S. attorneys for all four southwest border states also attended.
...While it has been known since the beginning of the investigation that the ATF, DOJ, DHS, and the IRS were heavily involved in Gunwalker, the Newell email confirms that every major agency within the Department of Justice was briefed on Gunwalker, including the AGAC, which has the formally ordered functions of giving U.S attorneys a voice in department policies and advising the attorney general.
It strains credibility to claim that the assistant attorney general, the AGAC, the directors of the five major DOJ agencies in charge of law enforcement, and all the U.S. attorneys in the Southwest region were privy to Gunwalker, but that the attorney general himself was unaware of the operation. It suggests that either Holder is being untruthful about what he knew about the operation, and when he knew about it, or that he is so out of touch with a major operation conducted by his key law enforcement agencies that he is too incompetent to fulfill his official duties.
Embattled ATF director Kenneth Melson gave a surprise July 4 interview to Congress, disclosing new lapses in a bungled gun sting that allowed U.S. guns to be trafficked to Mexican drug gangs, John Solomon reports exclusively.
In a secret deposition on the Fourth of July, the embattled head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed to congressional investigators new potential lapses in a bungled U.S. gun trafficking sting that has stirred controversy on both sides of the Mexican border, according to people familiar with the interview.
While many Americans celebrated over barbecues and fireworks, acting ATF director Kenneth Melson arrived Monday with a private attorney on Capitol Hill for the interview, the sources said, speaking only on the condition of anonymity.
During hours of questioning, Melson told investigators for the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he has recently learned that other federal agencies may have withheld crucial information about possible drug cartel connections to the gun trafficking ring that his agency had tried to crack during a 15-month operation that used controversial tactics, the sources said.
His testimony about possible lapses in information sharing among the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and ATF in the war on drugs sounded eerily similar to communication breakdowns that hampered the governments ability to piece together prior warning signs before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the sources said.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter late Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder laying out concerns raised by Melsons testimony, the sources said.
Congressional investigators have long wanted to talk to Melson to determine who above him knew about the investigation or approved of the tactics.
In his interview, Melson said most of the operational decisions for the Fast and Furious operation were approved by the U.S. Attorneys Office in Phoenix, which was leading a special strike force on gun trafficking, and that even he didnt know about the specific orders to let straw buyers walk off with guns until after the controversy erupted, according to the sources.
He told the investigators he has subsequently learned that ATF agents during the operation did observe straw buyers transferring guns they had purchased to third parties, a possible legal violation, but did not interdict the weapons at the instructions of their immediate supervisors, the sources added.
Under questioning, Melson confirmed information the congressional investigators had received elsewhere that DEA and FBI had information about possible cartel connections to the gun trafficking ring under investigation but did not share it with ATF at the time. He expressed his own concerns about the flow of information from other agencies during a critical time in the war against Mexican border violence, the sources said.
Congressional investigators now want to know whether any of the players belatedly disclosed to the ATF had been working as assets or informants for other federal agencies, the sources said.
Melson also disclosed the existence of documents about the ATF case that have not yet been turned over to congressional investigators, the sources added.
#3
I suspect Mr. Holder's asshole puckered when he heard Melson had testified
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2011 13:08 Comments ||
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#4
Dis is gettin' interesting. :-D
Bet they granted Melson immunity for his testimony.
I agree with EU - Melson better have a non-gummint guard on him and his family 24/7. Maybe Blackwell (or whatever they call themselves now) is available.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 13:15 Comments ||
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#5
Sooo...on the 4th of July, Melson was getting GRILLED?
#6
No. On the Fourth of July Melson was doing a Deep Throat data dump in exchange for Issa and Grassley covering his back. Chicago rules backfired. And Issa got out a letter with obstructing in it twice. This should be perking just in time for the election. I'll bet Issa is ready to hold public hearings by, say, June or July.
After Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the White House released a photo of President Barack Obama and his Cabinet inside the Situation Room, watching the daring raid unfold.
Hidden from view, standing just outside the frame of that now-famous photograph was a career CIA analyst. In the hunt for the world's most-wanted terrorist, there may have been no one more important. His job for nearly a decade was finding the al-Qaida leader.
Arizona plans to open a website on the 20th of July, whose URL has not yet been released to avoid donor frustration, to raise funds that will be used to build border fence on private and State land, with inmate labor.
"It's because the federal government won't do it and because the state doesn't have the money to do it," said state Senator Steve Smith (R-Maricopa), the lawmaker who sponsored the fence bill.
Democrats called it, "A feel-good distraction from pressing for more comprehensive action on border and immigration issues." In past, State Democrats have done everything in their power to prevent any laws that reduce illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
The new site will be modeled after the successful site that Governor Jan Brewer (R) has already used for a year to collect millions of dollars of donations to support the legal fight to keep Arizona's anti-illegal alien law, in the face of the Obama administrations efforts to prevent reductions in illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
#3
"suing AZ in order to support . . . the Mexican Drug Cartels"
Not to mention supplying them with guns....
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 13:24 Comments ||
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#4
I'll post the URL as soon as it is announced, if I see it before anyone else. I doubt it will be tax deductible, but I don't think that anyone will care.
An official commission probing the killing of Osama bin Laden has said that the Al Qaeda leader's family members should not be repatriated without their permission.
Osama was gunned down by US commandos May 2 in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in front of his family members, who are now reportedly in the custody of Pakistani security agencies.
The panel asked the interior ministry and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) not to send back the Osama family, which includes his two wives and six children, the Dawn reported Wednesday.
The four-member commission is headed by Supreme Court's Justice Javed Iqbal.
More than 1,100 people have been shot dead in political violence in the Pakistani city of Karachi since the start of the year, campaigners say. The Human Right Commission of Pakistan criticised city officials for failing to stop the targeted killings.
Much of the violence is associated with battles between rival criminal gangs.
But the chairman of the human rights commission also alleged that many of these armed gangs have the support of the city's main political parties.
As a result they are allowed to act with impunity, commission chairwoman Zohra Yusuf told a news conference.
Shahzeb Jillani in Karachi says planned killings and drive-by shootings are now an almost daily occurrence in Karachi, the largest city and port in Pakistan and a major industrial and commercial centre.
Our correspondent says the city, which generates nearly half of Pakistan's total revenue, is plagued by extortion rackets, mafia-run land-grabs and turf wars waged by armed groups fighting for their share of resources.
Many fear that with last week's resignation from the government by the city's main political party - the MQM - increased violence and instability could bring Pakistan's economic capital to a grinding halt.
According to human rights organisations, 775 people died in political and sectarian shootings and bomb attacks in Karachi in 2010. The government put the figure lower, at about 500 people.
[Dawn] Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Tuesday said Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were a "lethal weapon" that needed to be snatched from the snuffies to ensure peace in Pakistain and at the same time in the region.
Practical measures were being adopted with the support of United States to check for IEDs, he told a joint press briefing with US Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law, William Brownfield.
After attending the first round of the fourth Pak-US ministerial-level strategic dialogue on Law Enforcement and Counter Terrorism being held here with specific focus on countering IEDs, he said the border between Pakistain and Afghanistan was a major concern as the Pak security forces were being attacked through the IEDs by the terrorists.
He said the world had now realised that the fabrication of this deadly weapon should be stopped.
Giving details, Rehman Malik said Pakistain, in collaboration with United States, would soon start a programme to impart training to our law enforcers to check IEDs.
"We are going to make laws against IEDs, we are also going to constitute a forum with members from law enforcement agencies including the army." It's difficult for me to conceive of a nation that doesn't have laws against manufacture and use of IEDs.
"We are grateful to the US for their help and support," he added.
Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law William Brownfield said that the main agenda of the strategic dialogue taking place in Islamabad was to save lives of people around the world, especially Pak, Afghani and American lives.
Brownfield said both sides are set to discuss matters related to enhancing professional capabilities of the law enforcement agencies in view of the new strategy announced by the B.O. regime.
He said the meeting also discussed ways and means to curb the use of IED explosives and highlighted other bilateral issues.
Both the leaders said Pakistain and United States have common interests and the strategic dialogue was the right step to benefit each other in different areas.
"We need to have common strategy so as to combat the menace of terrorism and extremism," Rehman Malik said.
Replying to a question, Malik said the majority of terrorist attacks had been conducted in the border area of Pakistain and Afghanistan and confirmed violations from the Afghan side.
"The need here is to protect our borders with a special check on snuffies coming from Afghanistan to avoid terrorist activities," he said, adding that during the next two weeks he would visit Afghanistan or his Afghan counterpart would visit Pakistain on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] US officials believe Pakistain's spy agency was behind the killing of a Pak journalist who reported that hard boyz had infiltrated the military, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported Monday.
The newspaper quoted two bigwigs as saying that intelligence showed that senior members of Pakistain's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency ordered the killing of Saleem Shahzad, 40, to muzzle criticism.
The report was likely to further raise tensions between the uneasy allies following the US commando raid north of Islamabad in May that killed Al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... and was carried out without Pakistain's knowledge.
One of the US officials quoted by the Times described the actions of the ISI -- which has historic ties to Islamist hard boyz in neighboring Afghanistan and disputed Kashmire -- as "barbaric and unacceptable."
It quoted another bigwig as saying: "Every indication is that this was a deliberate, assassination that was most likely meant to send shock waves through Pakistain's journalist community and civil society."
The ISI has denied as "baseless" allegations that it was involved in the murder of Shahzad.
The news hound, who worked for an Italian news agency and a Hong Kong-registered news site, went missing en route to a television talk show and his body was found last week south of the capital, bearing marks of torture.
A senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , Ali Dayan Hasan, said that the 40-year-old had recently complained of threats from the ISI, adding: "In the past the ISI has been involved in similar incidents."
Shahzad disappeared two days after writing an investigative report in Asia Times Online saying Al-Qaeda carried out a recent attack on a naval air base to avenge the arrest of naval officials held on suspicion of Al-Qaeda links.
An ISI official said last week that Shahzad's "unfortunate and tragic" death was a "source of concern for the entire nation" but "should not be used to target and malign the country's security agencies".
The government has ordered an inquiry into the kidnapping and murder, pledging that the culprits would be brought to justice, but angry journalists say past investigations into killings of journalists have come to nothing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Almost all mainstream political parties demanded of the government during a jirga here on Monday to hold negotiations with the non-state actors instead of conducting military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
The jirga was organised by All Political Parties (Fata), a conglomeration of different political forces including Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, Pakistain People`s Party, Awami National Party, Pakistain Tihrek-i-Insaf and both factions of Pakistain Mohammedan League, at Nishter Hall.
The jirga rejected the newly introduced Aid of Civil Power Regulation, 2011 in Fata and Frontier Crimes Regulation and demanded political and administrative reforms in tribal areas. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the participants of the jirga failed to develop a consensus whether the tribal areas should be integrated with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... or left as they were.
A tribal elder proposed at the jirga that Fata should be declared a separate province named as `Pakhtunistan`. Other participants rebuked him for demanding a separate province. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... leader of PTI from tribal area supported the elder`s proposal and assured him that his party would give status of province to Fata if it came into power.
The JI favoured limited autonomy for Fata and proposed elected council for the region, but unlike PPP and ANP it did not support its integration with the province.
The jirga through a joint declaration called upon the government to bring gunnies in Fata to the negotiation table. The declaration said that the US had announced troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and started talks with Afghan Taliban.
"Our government should stop military action and resolve issues through talks in the light of joint resolution of the parliament," it said. The jirga condemned detention of people by security forces during military operations and demanded open trial of them.
The jam-packed hall echoed with anti Obama slogans when the jirga opposed drone attacks in Fata, terming them inhuman and unlawful.
The jirga took strong exception to detention of 170 elders of Safi tribe by the political administration of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. 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... Agency and demanded their immediate release.
The participants of the jirga said that administration jugged the 170 elders when they refused to set up a lashkar against snuffies in their area about two months ago.
The declaration asked security forces to refrain from forcing rustics to raise lashkar, illegal detention and imposition of fines. It also asked President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... to extend Political Parties Order, 2002 to Fata and bring major amendments in FCR. Addressing the jirga, JUI leader from Fata Ainuddin Shakir said that despite presence of over 100,000 troops tribal people were feeling insecure.
"We don`t know whether army has been deployed for security of tribal people or rustics will provide security to the troops," he said, adding the honour and dignity of local people were at stake. He alleged that tribal people were treated as slaves. He demanded restoration of fundamental rights of the people of Fata. He said that federal government should abolish unnecessary checkposts and checkpoints in Fata.
PPP parliamentarian from Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central Akhunzada Chattan in his address rejected the new regulation signed by the president for Fata. He said that government should take all stakeholders on board before introducing the regulation in Fata. JI provincial chief Senator Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Vice-chairman of Pakistain Bar Council Abdul Lateef Afridi, PPP leader Malik Waris Khan Afridi and JUI provincial chief Maulana Amanullah addressed the jirga.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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A new report of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is highly critical of Israel for its handling of incidents on the border with Lebanon on May 15 - Nakba Day. It concludes that the Israeli soldiers used disproportionate force against Lebanese demonstrators, which resulted in seven deaths.
The report notes that some 8,000-10,000 demonstrators participated in the Nakba Day demonstrations in Lebanon, most of them Palestinian refugees. "Organizers included Palestinian and Lebanese organizations, among them Hebollah," the report said.
About 1,000 protesters broke off from the main demonstration, which took place without disorder, and moved toward the border fence with Israel, throwing stones and firebombs, and removing 23 anti-tank mines, the report notes.
"Following a verbal warning and firing into the air, the Israel Defense Forces then directed live fire at the protesters at the fence," according to the report, "killing seven civilians and injuring 111." At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the IDF Planning Directorate which is responsible for dealing with Lebanon, they had expected a particularly critical report, especially because of the tension between Israel and the UN coordinator Michael Williams, who prepared the report on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Hours after the Nakba Day incidents, Williams assailed Israel and blamed it for the incidents, without condemning the attempt to breach the border fence from the Lebanese side.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/06/2011 10:22 ||
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#1
Perhaps instead of firing their weapons, the Israelis should have responded in kind, throwing rocks, firebombs, and anti-tank mines at the massed protesters...
#2
Better yet, Israel should issue arrest warrants for those critical of it defending itself for supporting terrorism and after they suddenly vanish and reappear in an Israeli court, put them in jail with their buddies.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
07/06/2011 12:57 Comments ||
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#3
I think the best thing for the Israelis to do to (unarmed) "protestors" trying to invade is to spray them with liquified hog fat/bacon grease. If the Israelis don't want to touch the stuff themselves (though I think the proscription is to eating it, not touching it), I'm sure they could find some willing gentiles to help.
If the invading clowns are armed, shoot them.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 13:29 Comments ||
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Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
Barbara,
The Jewish problem with pigs includes not touching the carcass.
However, the problem for Israel was that they had only about 20 soldiers at that section of the border that day; had they allow the Paleos to cross the border, it would have been a nightmare rounding them all up. You could argue that Israel should have had more troops at the border but since nobody told them what was going on, they didn't. Basically an intel failure on the part of Israel as opposed to the incitement to murder on the part of Hez b allah, etc. The problem with citing Hez b allah for incitement to murder is that they do that 24/7
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/06/2011 14:19 Comments ||
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IRAQI authorities uncovered a mass grave with 900 corpses near the central city of Diwaniyah overnight, believed to be Kurds killed during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, an official said.
The corpses were found in the Shanafiya region, 70 kilometres west of Diwaniyah.
"The corpses were buried in a trench. There were 900 bodies," said Dakhil Saihoud, provincial head of the Justice and Accountability Commission that investigates issues related to Saddam's regime.
"Initial indications show the remains are those of Kurds. They were transferred to laboratories in the city of Najaf to help in identification," Mr Saihoud said. The corpses apparently dated back to the 1980s.
Last April, authorities said they had found another mass grave in Anbar province of western Iraq containing the bodies of more than 800 people, including women and children, executed during Hussein's regime.
During Iraq's 1980-1988 war with Iran, deserters were executed and the Sunni Arab dictator intensified a crackdown on Shiites suspected of sympathising with Iraq's predominantly Shiite neighbor.
Kurds were persecuted because they were the main opposition to Hussein.
The number of people missing as a result of atrocities committed by Hussein, who came to power in 1979, is estimated at anywhere between 300,000 and 1.3 million, according to various sources.
Human rights groups believe there are hundreds of mass graves in Iraq of people killed during Hussein's rule.
#1
Bin Laden's fatwa against "Jews and Crusaders" referred to alleged victims of sanctions against Iraq. He was well aware that Iraq's tyranny was carrying out mass murders at the time.
BAGHDAD -- The White House is offering to keep up to 10,000 troops in Iraq next year, US officials say, despite opposition from many Iraqis and key Democratic Party allies who demand that President Barack Obama bring home the American military as promised.
Any extension of the military's presence, however, depends on a formal request from Baghdad -- which must weigh questions about the readiness of Iraqi security forces against fears of renewed militant attacks and unrest if US soldiers stay beyond the December pullout deadline.
Iraq is not expected to decide until September at the earliest, when the 46,000 US forces left in the country had hoped to start heading home.
Already, though, the White House has worked out options to keep between 8,500 and 10,000 active-duty troops to continue training Iraqi security forces during 2012, according to senior Obama administration and US military officials.
In Baghdad, the debate over whether US troops should stay past the deadline is topic No. 1 for Iraq's government. Iraq's top military commander, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, has long maintained that Iraqi security forces need another decade of training and aid before they are ready to protect the country alone, especially its air space and borders. Iraq sits on the fault line between Shiite powerhouse Iran and mostly Sunni nations across the rest of the Mideast, which share US concerns about Tehran's influence growing in Baghdad if American troops leave.
Iraqi Kurds, who have long relied on American forces to protect them, are lobbying for US troops to stay.
But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refuses to publicly endorse a troops' extension. One of his critical political allies -- a Shiite movement headed by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- has threatened widespread violence if troops stay. Al-Sadr's militias once waged fierce attacks on US forces.
Some of Iraq's Sunnis also oppose an extension. The Sunni Islamic Party in Iraq's northern Ninevah province, in a statement this week, called allowing the so-called "occupation forces" to remain "a great mistake against Iraq and its people."
President Jalal Talabani plans a meeting as early as this week of Iraq's political leaders to discuss the troop issue -- which al-Maliki says he does not want to make alone.
"All political groups should be making this decision, because we do not want to shoulder the responsibility alone for such a grave and sovereign issue," said Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Shilah, a member of the State of Law coalition headed by al-Maliki. "The situation is still complicated because all the political blocs are avoiding giving a final and clear decision on this."
One of the main sticking points is how to ensure that troops on duty all have legal immunity from Iraqi courts if they remain. Al-Shilah called it "very difficult, if not impossible due to the complicated political situation."
Update at 1200 CT: Drudge and the LA Times have caught up to the Khaleej Times.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: U.S. ambassador to Baghdad James Jeffrey inaugurated the American consulate in Basra today, according to an official statement. In the statement, as received by Aswat al-Iraq, he declared that Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) status was raised to General Consulate, pointing out that his country will continue in supporting development in Iraq.
The new consulate will cover Basra, Muthanna, Missan, and Thi Qar provinces.
The U.S. presence in Basra dates back to 1869. During the previous regimes, American consulate in Basra was closed in 1967.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] A top Paleostinian official said on Tuesday that Russia is supporting his government's bid to seek recognition of a Paleostinian state at the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... this fall.
Nabil Shaath, head of a Paleostinian delegation that met on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said "our plan to go to the United Nations will get support from Russia."
He didn't specify exactly what he meant by Russia's "support," and the Russian Foreign Ministry wouldn't comment on Shaath's claim.
UN membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly, or 128 countries.
With the US poised to veto the approval of Paleostinian statehood at the UN Security Council, the Paleostinians plan to turn to the General Assembly, whose decision would be nonbinding but could send a strong international message and put heavy pressure on Israel.
Shaath, an aide to Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas, ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said, however, that the Paleostinian campaign for statehood will not replace his nation's determination to resume stalled peace talks with Israel.
"Going to the United Nations is not a substitute for going to negotiations," he said, voicing hope that Russia's mediation will help resume peace talks.
The Paleostinians insist they will not resume peace talks until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- areas it captured in the 1967 war and which the Paleostinians claim for their future state.
Israel maintains that the Paleostinians should not be setting conditions for talks and that settlements didn't stop them from negotiating in the past.
Russia is a member of the so-called "Quartet" ... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy.... of Mideast peace makers along with the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United Nations. The group is set to meet in Washington next week to spur the resumption of the talks.
Lavrov said the aim of talks by the Mideast Quartet is the creation of an "independent, democratic Paleostinian state."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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If growing numbers of Muslims in Egypt have an intrinsic hatred for all things Christianmost recently demonstrated by the torching of eight Christian homes on the rumor that a church was being builtlet us not forget that this hate has instrumental, that is, economic benefits: the extortion of money from the non-believertribute from the conquered infidels to their Islamic overlordsotherwise known as jizya.
Consider: on June 24, hundreds of Muslims surrounded a Coptic church in Egypt, vowing to kill its priestwho was locked inside serving morning mass to several parishioners. The Muslims cried We will kill the priest, we will kill him and no one will prevent us, adding that they would cut him to pieces.
[An Nahar] Francois Roux, the head of the Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Leb, urged Tuesday four Hizbullah members indicted in the 2005 liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri to quickly consult a lawyer.
Those wanted by the STL, which last week handed Lebanese authorities four arrest warrants for the Hariri murder, are now runaways from international law, Roux noted.
"As of the moment the arrest warrants are issued, whoever is charged is no longer a free person and becomes a runaway," Roux told Agence La Belle France Presse in an interview during a visit to Beirut.
"My only advice to those charged is that they consult a lawyer as soon as possible. Now is the time for defence." he said.
"Their families, friends, communities can protect them, but ... the only person who can now free the charged of the charges, and again render them free individuals, is a lawyer," said Roux.
The tribunal last week issued a sealed indictment for the liquidation of Hariri, along with arrest warrants for four Lebanese.
Lebanese officials have confirmed the four are operatives of Hizbullah, including Mustafa Badreddine, a brother-in-law of Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated in 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... in 2008.
While Roux said he had come to Leb to be "close to those indicted," he denied he had been informed of the names on the arrest warrants.
He also urged anyone indicted by the STL -- the first international court with jurisdiction to try an act of terrorism -- to appoint a lawyer of their choice or contact his office, which had a list of 100 lawyers from 25 countries including Leb to provide defendants with court representation.
"The office of defense was set up to ensure defendants a fair trial, to give them arms in court equal to those of the prosecutor," he said, adding his "door is always open".
The STL has triggered a deep political crisis in Leb, leading to the collapse in January of the country's unity government.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday said he would never hand over the four members of his group, adding that the Netherlands-based court was heading for a trial in absentia.
The whereabouts of the four accused is unknown.
Nasrallah has repeatedly dismissed the tribunal as a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy against his Shiite group, charging that Israel itself was behind the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut.
Leb now has 30 days to find and arrest the four named in the warrants.
If no arrests are made, the court can publicize their names and call on the accused to surrender within a month, after which Roux can himself appoint lawyers from his office's list to represent defendants in absentia.
An absent defendant or his lawyer who appears before the tribunal at any point during or after the trial can also request a new trial. Defendants can also appear in court via video link.
Roux said he expected defense lawyers to begin building their cases by October and would need at least six months whether the accused came forward or not, noting the investigation leading to an indictment took six years.
While Roux ducked a question on whether he had been in contact with Hizbullah officials, he said he urged anyone with grievances against the STL to voice them before the court.
"I have heard that there are those who are contesting the credibility of the tribunal," he said. "One can criticize the tribunal in ... the press, but these debates must also be held in court.
"I have complete respect for political parties, which are necessary in any democratic society," he added. "Any party can make any declaration it wishes, that is their job.
"But at the end, individuals will be either sentenced or acquitted. It is the tribunal that will make this decision, and not political parties".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 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.
Asif Ali 
David Cameron
Some Afghan 
l-Shabaab
It would have been impossible to even interview Aboud al-Zomor a few months ago. After the interview, Zomor left the apartment. I watched him walk down the street. He was stopped repeatedly. People came up to shake his hand. They wanted to meet him. A poor man pushing a cart bought him a glass of sugarcane juice. Zomor was treated more like a celebrity -- more like a fellow revolutionary -- than an organizer of Egypt's most notorious assassination in modern history.
Qadaffy and his rebel foes suggesting they can fight on.
International Criminal Court
Qadaffy
The US and South Korea are at odds with the United Nations World Food Program over how seriously North Korea is suffering from lack of food and are in no hurry to resume feeding the North's hungry people.
North Korea
The New South Wales government has pushed through legislation allowing police to force the removal of head coverings to identify suspected criminals. The laws, among the toughest in the world involving Muslim female attire, follow the recent row over a Sydney woman who claimed police tried to tear off her veil after her car was pulled over.
Rehman Malik
[Emirates 24/7] US officials believe Pakistain's spy agency was behind the killing of a Pak journalist who reported that 
[Dawn] Almost all mainstream political parties demanded of the government during a jirga here on Monday to hold negotiations with the non-state actors instead of conducting military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Mohmand
Quartet"
[An Nahar] Francois Roux, the head of the Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for 
