[An Nahar] An 18-year old teenager who claimed that he was kidnapped in the Baalbek village of Brital confessed that he planned his kidnapping with two other accomplices in order to split the ransom, the National News Agency reported.
Brilliant kid, brilliant. Rather like Dr. Evil holding the world hostage for one million dollars...
The two partners demanded the teenager's parents to pay a $100,000 ransom to win his release.
The teenager A. M. told Sherlocks at Baalbek cop shoppe that he faked his abduction after agreeing with H. J., 27, and A. A., 29, to split the ransom.
But the teenager admitted that he changed his mind and returned home.
The two accomplices were jugged and confessed their plot, the NNA said.
On Wednesday, a teenager who was kidnapped in Baalbek has been released by his captors, who demanded $200,000 for his release.
Ali Ahmed al-Mukh, 16, was kidnapped by gunnies on the Ain Bourday road in Baalbek in eastern Leb.
Last week, another teenager was released by his captors after four days of captivity.
Ziad Khaled Abou Esper, 16, was released on the road leading to the town of al-Jamaliya, north of Baalbek.
The kidnappers had demanded a $150,000 ransom after seizing him from his father's cow farm in the town of Adous.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh, and this is news just why, exactly?
I, for one; could care less about these Anti-Christian, fecal-baggers.
Excellent review of the events in Somalia and worth the time to read.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] On the morning of December 3, 2009, an 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... krazed killer dressed as a woman walked into a graduation ceremony at the Hotel Shamo in downtown Mogadishu and detonated his payload.
In the wake of the blast, 24 people lay dead, including three cabinet ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
It looked like a big propaganda coup for al-Shabaab considering the number of senior government officials either killed or injured.
Instead, it proved to be one of the critical turning points that led to the decline of the krazed killer group and its eventual retreat from Mogadishu under pressure from 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... troops.
A military court acquitted on Sunday an army doctor who was charged with carrying out a forced virginity test on a female detainee during protests last year, a court source said.
Samira Ibrahim, an activist, had said she was forced to undergo a test in March. Her case and other similar ones stoked anger against the generals who took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was driven from office on February 11 by a popular uprising.
The source said Ahmed Adel, a doctor conscripted to the army, was acquitted of testing Ibrahim. Egypt's state news agency also carried the report, adding that the court said it issued the ruling because of conflicting witness accounts.
A military court on Sunday acquitted an army doctor who was charged with conducting a forced virginity test on a female detainee during last year's protests.
Samira Ibrahim had said she was forced to undergo a test in March. She was one of seven women who said they had been forced to undergo humiliating tests to find out if they were virgins while detained by the military a year ago. She was given a one-year suspended prison term for insulting authorities, joining an illegal assembly and breaking a curfew.
Ahmed Adel, a doctor conscripted to the army, was acquitted of testing Ibrahim. The court said it issued the ruling because of conflicting witness accounts.
Outside the court, around 30 protesters shouted, Down down military rule and We demanded dignity and change. Instead they stripped our girls in Tahrir.
Controversy over the virginity tests was inflamed after a general was quoted by CNN last year as saying tests were done to prove the women were not virgins when they were detained, so they could not say they were raped in detention. An army official later denied the comments were made.
A civilian court issued a ruling in December ordering the army to stop the practice and a military judicial official then said cases of reported forced virginity tests had been transferred to the Supreme Military Court.
Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- Meetings were held in various cities and counties of the DPRK on March 9 and 10 at which the servicepersons and people vowed to wipe out through a merciless sacred war the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors who hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK.
That would be the Lee Mung Bak who has been president of Souh Korea since 2008, one presumes. He's taken a stronger line against North Korea than his predecessors, which has earnt him a periodic two minutes of hate since last year.
At the meetings the statement of the spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army was read out to be followed by speeches.
The speakers said they would never tolerate the group of traitors who insulted the tear of sorrow shed by the people of the DPRK mourning the demise of the father of the nation and made a mockery of the idea and social system of the DPRK.
They noted those who hurt the supreme leadership of the DPRK even a bit will find no air to breathe in the world in the face of the sacred war of retaliation of all servicepersons and people of the DPRK who have achieved the single-minded unity stronger than nuclear weapons under the leadership of the peerlessly great men.
The enraged loud voices of the participants could be heard at the meetings that they would immediately turn out in the war of destroying the Lee group of traitors with the arms of Mt. Paektu if an order is issued.
They said they would totally finish off the heinous traitor to the nation Lee Myung Bak and other human scum including Kim Kwan Jin and Jong Sung Jo, thus turning the filthy den of the rabid dogs into their graves.
They called on the party members, workers and servicepersons to mercilessly annihilate the war-like forces and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification, the cherished desire of the nation.
#2
Since all that food is going to their military, it seems only right an proper that there be food additives in it that cause both permanent fatigue and infertility.
[Dawn] Brig Ali Khan, being tried in military court over treason charges and alleged links to attacks on Pakistain Army facilities, has been shifted from Sialkot to Rawalpindi due to serious illness, sources told DawnNews on Saturday.
According to the sources, Brig Khan was shifted to a civilian ward at Rawalpindi's FAIC under the name of 'Feroz Khan'. Court marshal proceedings against the former Army officer have also been postponed for an indefinite period, they said.
Brig Khan and four other officers were jugged in May, 2011 for suspected links to Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... . He was working at the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi at the time of his arrest.
Court marshal proceedings against Brig Ali Khan were stopped temporarily and a doctor was called in on Wednesday after his health deteriorated during the trial.
Colonel (R) Inamur Raheem, Khan's counsel, had expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s over his client's health, alleging that the army had not followed the orders of the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court which had directed the army to provide Khan a physician of his choice.
Mehr Khan, father of Khan, had written a letter last month to the government, requesting it to hold an inquiry into his son's arrest and direct the concerned authorities to release him.
The letter written on Feb. 11 to Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi had expressed concerns for Khan's life.
The letter further had indicated that he suffered a heart attack and alleged that he was not given proper medical treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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The deployment will be the ship's 22nd. Following its return to Virginia in the fall, tens of thousands are expected to be on hand for a deactivation ceremony Dec. 1 that President Barack Obama has been invited to attend.
The following summer, Enterprise will be towed to the shipyard where it was built in nearby Newport News so its nuclear fuel can be removed, a process that will take until 2015. What remains of the ship after that will then be taken to Washington state so it can be scrapped.
The ship, among the first to respond after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, won't be turned into a museum like some other carriers. Crews have to cut large holes in the vessel to remove the nuclear fuel, and it would be too expensive to repair, said Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Self-Kyler, the Enterprise's public affairs officer.
#1
...Sadly, there's no way around this especially as Enterprise's reactors - ancient Westinghouse A2Ws - are not in good shape and have had some problems in recent years that would absolutely preclude any possibility of opening her up as a museum.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/11/2012 7:47 Comments ||
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#2
Well,
Is it too late to sink the Enterprize in the Iranian part of the straits of hormuz with the old reactor primed for meltdown ?
That would give the mullahs a foretaste of things to come and a little whiff of their own medicine.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 8:03 Comments ||
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#3
Would they sink her as a reef?
Posted by: john frum ||
03/11/2012 8:15 Comments ||
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#4
tree huggers would probably bitch abput it being a reef since it had nuke reactors during service and scap metal is too high.
Posted by: chris ||
03/11/2012 10:25 Comments ||
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#5
That's a good argument for sinking her as a reef, chris. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/11/2012 10:29 Comments ||
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#6
So why spend all the $$ for that really long tow to WA? aren't there other shipyards or breaker's yards closer??
Or perhaps it could founder under mysterious circumstances and become that unscheduled reef....
#7
Unfortunately nuclear ships cannot be used for reefs as the enhanced radiation in their steel is too high.
The Russians dumped expended nuclear reactors in the Arctic ocean along with a huge amount of radioactive waste. The Swedes about had a heart attack over it when they found out.
There was even a suggestion that the US could take one of its overbuilt Los Angeles class submarines that it was mothballing, and instead de-mil it, give it a bottom hatch like the Seaview, and use it to entomb such things with a huge amount of underwater concrete, working in concert with a surface cargo ship.
It would be noisy as hell underwater, but it would no longer need to be stealthy, so would mostly run on the surface.
#11
As one ENTERPRISE ends, the technology for another develops ... ...???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Space.com] USAF X37B MARKS ONE YEAR IN ORBIT | AIR FORCE'S MYSTERIOUS SPACE-PLANE SURVIVES ONE YEAR IN ORBIT.
The Brits still have their britches/panties in a wad oer the costs + need for the new QE-class CVF - I STILL WOULD RANTHER SEE THE US GIVE THEM THE ENTERPRISE ANDOR A NIMITZ(S) THAN TO SEE 'EM SUNK AS REEFS. I imagine the USDOD-Navy would prolly choose a NIMITZ as testbed for all-purpose, BattleSpace-centric "Motherships".
#12
Sure got Our money's-worth outta that big, hot puppy. Not even a china syndrome meltdown over the decades...How could that even be?
It's just not "fair"!
[Dawn] The ruling Pakistain People's Party's (PPP) Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Saturday said that the use of public funds to undermine democracy was akin to treason, DawnNews reported.
The federal minister was referring to the case being heard by the Supreme Court relating to the doling out of money to politicians by the ISI in the 1990s.
"Conditions could never be bleak if institutions worked in accordance with the constitution," she said. "The Asghar Khan petition has brought out the truth from history. The handing out of money to political parties was an act of treason against the state."
"The court has already unveiled the faces. It shall now punish them," she added.
The information minister also requested the SC to make Roedad Khan a respondent in the case, saying Khan had forced Younus Habib, then head of Mehran Bank, to open fake cases against President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... The SC has said that the proceedings of the case, popularly dubbed by the media as the 'Mehrangate scandal', would now solely focus on the roles played by former army chief Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani and Younus Habib.
Habib has submitted a statement in court, saying that former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Aslam Beg, Durrani and Roedad Khan had forced him to arrange funds for anti-PPP politicians before the elections in 1990.
An affidavit submitted in court by Durrani, which details the amounts of money handed out to different politicians, alleges the Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... received Rs3.5 million from the then ISI head.
Awan today also remarked that the Sharif brothers had a habit of frequenting the SC.
"The Sharif brothers should also present themselves in the Supreme Court now and answer the allegations placed against them," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
The title immediately brought to mind Barry.
Posted by: kia ||
03/11/2012 7:43 Comments ||
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#2
George Soros.
His agents have been expelled from no fewer than five countries to date for trying to undermine their democratic governments, so that Soros could become the power behind the throne of a puppet government.
[Dawn] Interior Minister 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 Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. Saturday said that foreign hands were involved in the Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... bus firing incident.
Talking to newsmen here after attending a meeting on law and order situation, Malik claimed that those involved in the incident have been identified, adding that the culprits will be brought to justice at all costs.
"The list of identified persons will be handed over to local Jirgas who will hand over the culprits to the security forces," he said.
Malik said nobody will be allowed to play with the law and order situation of Gilgit-Baltistan.
He said the number of check posts will be increased in the area to maintain peace.
The minister rejected attribution of the Kohistan incident to sectarianism.
He also announced compensation of two million rupees each for the bereaved families of those killed in firing incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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A sessions court granted on Saturday interim pre-arrest bail to two sons of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Chief Minster Nawab Aslam Raisani in a case pertaining to rioting and beating up of some coppers.
The two sons of CM Raisani --Yadgar Raisani and Rais Raisani -- through their counsel moved their pre-arrest bail applications before Additional District and Sessions Judge (south) Abdul Razzaq, who granted them bail against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each till March 22.
The court directed the suspects to appear in court on the next date for confirmation of the bail or otherwise.
The police booked the suspects along with their 15 to 20 accomplices and claimed that they, allegedly under the influence of alcohol and armed with weapons, arrived at an intersection on Khayaban-e-Shaheen in Defence Housing Authority in the early hours of March 2, stopped passing cars and started thrashing male motorists. Some coppers approached them, but they also allegedly attacked them and snatched their weapons.
A case (FIR 86/2012) was registered under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 337/A (punishment for shajjah) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code at the Darakshan cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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I'd be careful about the use of the word 'targeting' around the Pak military, especially the generals connected with the ISI. They know a thing or two about targeting that the average lawyer doesn't...
ISLAMABAD: Pakistans powerful military establishment is under rare scrutiny from the countrys top court, which after a gap of 16 years has opened an investigation into allegations the army funneled money to politicians to influence elections.
The case has showcased the emerging power of the Supreme Court, which is also hearing a contempt case against the prime minister that could see him imprisoned. The courts activism has led to some uncomfortable headlines for politicians and pierced the perception of the generals invulnerability.
But its unclear who, if anyone, will be held accountable.
I'll go out on a limb and say 'no one'. My second guess is they'll make some dead guy accountable; if they don't have a conveniently dead guy they'll make one...
Indeed, some critics say by moving against the generals now, the court is just seeking to deflect criticism that it focuses solely on the alleged misdeeds of the elected civilian government and wants to dislodge President Ali Zardari, with the supposed nod from the military itself.
Iftikhar Chaudry would like to get rid of both Zardari and the ISI, so this works for him.
The court is also demanding answers from the army and spy agencies over the fate of hundreds of missing Pakistanis: suspected militants or separatists picked up and held by military authorities for months and years in secret detentions.
They can't tell you; it's a secret.
Analysts say the developments are part of jostling between the army, the court and the government, with each wanting to stake a claim on its sphere of influence. There seems to be a balance among them so far, with no side willing or strong enough to strike a decisive blow against another. Speculation of a military coup or the imminent ousting of the government, frequently raised in the media just a few months ago, has receded.
The court is acting on a petition filed in 1996 by former Air Vice Marshal Asghar Khan, demanding it investigate what he claimed were payments to right-wing politicians made by the army-run Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, known as the ISI. The money was to be used to ensure that the Pakistan Peoples Party currently in power would not win the 1990 general elections.
Without explaining why,
...other than it was time to make their move to grab power...
the court began hearing the case last month. Testimony this week has shone a light on longtime allegations that the ISI has tried to influence elections.
On Thursday, Yunus Habib, a 90-year-old banker from the state-owned Mehran Bank, testified that he doled out the equivalent of $1.5 million in bank funds to politicians and ISI officers on the orders of then army chief Gen. Aslam Beg and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who was considered close to the army. Some of the politicians who allegedly took the funds remain powerful political players, including opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He has denied taking any money.
"Lies! All lies!"
On Friday, former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani testified that he was directed by Beg to distribute the money among politicians from the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, a right-wing political alliance allegedly set up by the military establishment to counter the PPP. He said Beg told him the money had been collected from the business community in Karachi.
The alleged bribes didnt give the alliance victory, however. It won 53 seats in the National Assembly, 49 less than the PPP that went on to form the government.
Khans lawyer Salman Raja said he wanted criminal cases brought against all those who distributed and received the money. That would roil the political scene and likely be opposed by the army. Moreover, the nature of the evidence against them is unclear.
Retired justice Tariq Mahmood said the case was a morale booster for the current government, but that it was unlikely anyone would be put on trial. The government now has a chance to bring the intelligence agencies ... under its control, he said.
Political analyst Moeed Pirzada said the case put both the military and Nawaz Sharif on the defensive, which benefits the current PPP government, but would likely remain inconclusive. He said the court saw the case as an opportunity to assert itself following criticism by some over its pursuit of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Supreme Court justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudry has been accused of pursuing a vendetta against Zardaris PPP government. Zardari opposed Chaudrys reinstatement to the job in March 2009. The court has ordered Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gilani to reopen a corruption probe against Zardari.
Gilani has refused, arguing that Zardari has immunity from prosecution so long as he remains president. If found guilty of contempt for ignoring the order, Gilani could be imprisoned for six months and lose his job.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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After more than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel over the weekend, the coastal enclaves terrorist rulers are seeking a ceasefire.
According to a report on Kol Yisrael radio on Saturday night, Hamas is trying to reach a ceasefire through Egyptian mediation.
Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu acknowledged in a conversation with Kol Yisrael said that the terror organizations Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, is handling the contacts with Egypt.
Al-Nunu said Hamas is awaiting Israels response to the request for a ceasefire, which will be delivered through Egypt. Al-Nunu said that if Israel stops attacking in Gaza, Hamas would be willing to discuss putting an end to the rocket fire.
Approximately 135 rockets had been fired from Friday afternoon and until 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Israel time), according to the IDF. 74 of the rockets struck within Israel. The Iron Dome system intercepted the rockets in 28 out of 31 attempts to do so.
Eight Israelis have been wounded by the rockets. Most suffered light to moderate wounds. One, a foreign worker, was seriously injured on Friday evening and was taken for treatment at the Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva.
#3
Al-Nunu said Hamas is awaiting Israels response to the request for a ceasefire, which will be delivered through Egypt. Al-Nunu said that if Israel stops attacking in Gaza, Hamas would be willing to discuss putting an end to the rocket fire.
Once again, the Paleos offer nothing for something.
Israel will continue air strikes against Gaza "as long as necessary," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, giving no indication that a ground operation was likely for now.
"We extracted a high price from them and will continue to do so," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We will act as long as necessary."
His comments came as Israeli war planes carried out four air strikes on Gaza on Sunday morning, bringing the death toll in three days of clashes to 18.
Violence between Israel and Gaza militants erupted on Friday afternoon when an Israeli strike killed the leader of the ultra-hardline Popular Resistance Committees, sparking a bloody cross-border exchange.
Since then, militants fired 124 rockets at Israel, of which 68 were Qassams and 44 were the longer-range Grad variety, a defence ministry statement said.
In response, the air force carried out 26 air raids, 15 of which targeted militants who were in the act of firing on Israel.
The Iron Dome air defence system set up around the southern cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheva intercepted 30 rockets, it said.
[Dawn] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on Saturday expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... at the worst Israeli-Paleostinian violence in three years which left 14 Paleostinians dead, calling on both sides to restore calm.
A statement from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc "is following with concern the recent escalation of violence in Gazoo and in the south of Israel".
"I very much deplore the loss of civilian life. It is essential to avoid further escalation and I urge all sides to re-establish calm." Medics said Saturday that Israeli air strikes on the Gazoo Strip killed 14 Paleostinians, including a Death Eater group chief, after Paleostinian Death Eaters fired at least 90 rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel, according to an army spokeswoman.
The Paleostinian barrage maimed four people, one of them seriously, Israeli military sources said.
Israeli media said that three of the casualties, including the badly maimed man, were agricultural labourers from Thailand working on a farm near the border with Gazoo.
One of the retaliatory air strikes killed the head of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), Zohair al-Qaisi, and fellow member Mahmud Hanani, the ultra-hardline Death Eater group said.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , said the strikes also killed 10 of its members.
La Belle France also called for restraint and a return to calm in a statement issued by foreign ministry front man Bernard Valero.
Gay Paree was "greatly concerned by the new episode of violence in Gazoo and southern Israel," especially as civilians were at risk, the statement said.
"We condemn the firing of rockets and the humanitarian consequences of this violence and deplore the civilian casualties," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The spokesman for UN special envoy for the peace process Robert Serry on Saturday expressed concern about the escalation in cross border violence between Gaza and Israel.
"We're very concerned about this latest escalation," Richard Miron told Ma'an. "We call on both sides to exercise maximum restraint, and we deplore the fact that civilians are paying the price for this violence."
He added: "This proves that the situation in Gaza is very fragile and very unsustainable." Well, I can see why they made him the special watchacallit to the whatever...
Fifteen people in Gaza have been killed since Friday, with 26 people injured. Eight people in southern Israel have been injured by rocket fire, the Israeli army said.
#2
If you live in a glass house - dont throw stones !
High time for full force retailation against the Gazooans. ( and the hell with the baby ducks, fluffy kittens, baby crockodiles and other collaterals).
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 7:11 Comments ||
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#3
My condolences to the US envoy.
This is a classical example of what happens when you try to impose democracy on stone-age moslems.
Well Mr. Envoy, wait till you see what the new Bamby style Moslem Brotherhood "Democrats" in Egypt will do after being supported and abetted by Champ's impotence.
Repeat slowly after me " there is no god but Allah and Mohamed his prophet...."
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 7:33 Comments ||
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#4
"Tut-tut. Oh, dear! Please pass the shrimp cocktail"
As for "fragile and unsustainable", I say "bushwa!". This has been going on for half a century or so.
UNRWA: Serving your "refugee" needs. For over sixty years...
Filippo Grandi, commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, told a news conference that UNRWA is especially targeting the newly emerging economic and political powers including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Boys, have I got a deal for you...
Sounds like a hard sell. Wonder why that is?
He expressed hope that these countries and others would "step up to the plate" and share the burden of financing UNRWA's main operations with the current donors, including the U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia and many countries in Western Europe. C'mon, folks, step up to the plate. Think of the benefits.
OK. Like?
Well. There's....ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...gimme a minute......
I'll get back to you on that.
Grandi praised Brazil for contributing $7.5 million for UNRWA operations in Gaza this year and India for contributing in the last few years and expressed hope they would become permanent donors. Nice Olympics ya got there. Be a shame if something happened to screw them up...
He said China is not a major donor to UNRWA and expressed hope that Beijing will "accompany its very good political support with some financial contribution as well." Fortune cookie say: "Very good political support much cheaper than financial contribution".
He said there is a risk that the Palestinian issue will get eclipsed "because so much else is going on in the region" and that "within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the refugee question gets further eclipsed." Oh, no. Not that...
Asked whether any Palestinian refugees had been involved in the yearlong conflict in Syria or had left the country, Grandi said: "we have not seen any significant movements." Of course, we haven't looked...
"There has been no instance of involvement, and my appeal is for this situation to continue," he said. "It's very, very important that the Palestinians continue as a group of vulnerable refugees to be isolated and to remain outside of the conflict." They must play their part in this internationl kabuki thing. And we'll play ours.
#1
Muslims want foreign infidels to stay out of the Middle East, but they'll take the money...
Posted by: American Delight ||
03/11/2012 11:20 Comments ||
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#2
It's only early March, and they are already out with hat in hand.
Business is booming in Gaza, thanks to the tunnels under the Egyotian border, with official unemployment before the latest outburst down to 28%. This despite a significant fall in international donations to the various relief-for-Palestinians organizations, showing them to be unnecessary after all.
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a defiant TV speech Sunday in which he taunted the West, saying the Islamic Republic is unfazed by the threat of Western military action.
"As God is my witness, the Iranian nation will not give a damn for [your] bombs, warships and planes," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in Karaj, west of Tehran, reported by the official IRNA news agency.
"They say all [options] are on the table. Well, let them rot there. You yourself will rot," he added.
The hard-line leader accused the US and other Western nations of bullying Iran, adding that the West "should talk politely, and recognize the rights of nations, and cooperate instead of showing teeth, and weapons and bombs."
#1
Apparently he doesn't know about Halliburton's secret weapons developments, such as Zombie reanimation, "Remote Jewing", herds of Veloci-raper dinosaurs and Hogzillas, "Monster X", and my favorite, "the thingy that makes you go 'SQUEEEE!'".
#2
They sure will rot in storage if Champ is reelected - We got to admit there is something in what the guy says - good assessment of Bambi's futile threats.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 14:49 Comments ||
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#3
Both sides with the tough guy talk. Tough guys are just as scared as everybody else. America would benefit from having the same respect for nuke and non-nuke countries.
#6
"Let them rot there" > IMO this comment by Moud/Ahmadinejad supports my contention that as long as any US-NATO/Allied warships [ + airpower] stay offshore, + no ground invasion of Iran per se takes place, IRAN IS CONTENT TO CONTINUE ["as is"] WID DEV ITS NUCPROGS, ALA THE "JAPAN/EGYPT" MODELS. IOW, IRAN WILL GET ITS NUKES.
So did ancient Persia, so does modern Iran.
* TOPIX > [US Senator Carl] LEVIN: US SHOULD CONSIDER [imposing]NAVAL BLOCKADE ON IRAN.
* SAME, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN TO FIRE 11,000 MISSLES AT ISRAEL, US IFF ATTACKED: ENVOY.
#8
PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > PENTAGON: NDN IS GREAT, BUT WE STILL NEED PAKISTAN.
Lest we fergit, Iran supposedly lays atop a "sea of oil", which strongly infers that as an Oil State it can weather the fluxes in [anti-US] world oil prices, + neither Russia nor China, etc. are likely to allow anything to interfere wid Iran's routine trade flows into or from the Gulf, be it by land, air, or sea.
STILL COMES DOWN TO THE US-VS-POLITICAL-LEGAL-ELECTORAL-JIHAD N AFPAK.
Lest we fergit II, the accused PAK AIR FORCE BGEN KHAN allegedly desired + conspired to set up an OVERT ISLAMIC/ISLAMIST STATE IN PAKISTAN, a Nuke-armed Muslim country many of whose Politicos + Military already covertly support Radical Islamism.
A US-Iran, or US-Israel-Iran, War need not begin wid Iran.
#9
JM. A fairly grim assessment, but most probably accurate...It rather clouds the harsh fog of war even more--and begs closer monitoring IMHO. atroll.
[An Nahar] Russia on Saturday said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made clear to the U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy for Syria Kofi Annan that Moscow is opposed to "crude interference" from the outside into Syrian internal affairs.
"A particular emphasis was placed on the inadmissibility of trampling on international legal norms, including through crude interference in Syria's internal affairs," the foreign ministry said after a meeting earlier between Lavrov and Annan in Cairo.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the crisis in Syria amid Western and Arab-led efforts to pile pressure on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's regime.
The Arab League committee on Syria -- comprising Egypt, Sudan, Oman, Algeria and Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi -- met at the organization's headquarters ahead of a wider meeting of Arab top diplomats and Lavrov.
Lavrov, who arrived on Friday, has already met with the foreign ministers of Soddy Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, an Arab diplomat told AFP.
The talks at the vaporous Arab League come as Annan arrived 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... for crucial talks with Assad.
The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... says that well over 7,500 people have died in the year-long crackdown on dissent that has seen an intensive assault by government forces on protest cities such as Homs.
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in November.
Russia said on Friday it opposed an "unbalanced" Washington-backed U.N. draft resolution on Syria because it called on the government only to end violence but did not mention the rebels.
Russia and China have previously blocked two U.N. initiatives because they singled out Assad for blame.
World powers have been under pressure from Moscow to tone down their condemnation of Assad's regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Saturday told his Arab and Russian counterparts that a Russian-Chinese veto of a U.N. resolution condemning Syria allowed the regime's "brutality" to continue. He sez that like he's surprised...
The stand of "the countries that thwarted the U.N. Security Council resolution and voted against the resolution of the General Assembly on Syria gave the Syrian regime a license to extend its brutal practices against the Syrian people, without compassion or mercy," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad told UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday that no political solution was possible in Syria while terrorist groups were destabilizing the country.
Syria is ready to make a success of any honest effort to find a solution for the events it is witnessing, state news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling his guest.
No political dialogue or political activity can succeed while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos and instability, the Syrian leader said after about two hours of talks with the former UN secretary-general.
While they discussed Annans peace mission, Syrian troops were assaulting the northwestern city of Idlib, a rebel bastion.
Regime forces have just stormed into Idlib with tanks and heavy shelling is now taking place, said an activist contacted by telephone, the sound of explosions punctuating the call.
There was no immediate comment from Annan after his meeting with Assad, aimed at halting bloodshed that has cost thousands of lives since a popular uprising erupted a year ago.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met Annan in Cairo earlier in the day, told the Arab League his country was not protecting any regime, but did not believe the Syrian crisis could be blamed on one side alone. He called for a cease-fire and humanitarian aid access, but Qatar and Saudi Arabia sharply criticized Moscows stance.
Annan also planned to meet Syrian dissidents before leaving Damascus on Sunday.
Brilliant idea. Pencilneck's goons will track the meeting and whack the dissidents the moment Annan hops back into his Land Cruiser.
He has called for a political solution, but the opposition says the time for dialogue is long gone.
We support any initiative that aims to stop the killings, but we reject it if it is going to give Bashar more time to break the revolution and keep him in power, Melham Al-Droubi, a Saudi-based member of the Muslim Brotherhood and of the exiled Syrian National Council, told Reuters by telephone.
We hope that Annan convinces Bashar to stop the killings, step down and call for a parliamentary election, he said, expressing skepticism that Assad would respond positively.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON: A 13,600 kg bunker buster bomb designed to smash through some 65 meters of concrete before exploding is a "great weapon" that could be used by US forces in a clash with Iran over its nuclear program, an Air Force general said late on Thursday.
Not while Champ is present, we won't...
Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, said the massive ordnance penetrator, which the military began receiving only last year, is part of the US arsenal available for strikes against countries like Iran, which has some buried nuclear facilities.
"The massive ordnance penetrator is a great weapon. We are continuing to improve that. It has great capability now and we are continuing to make it better. It is part of our arsenal and it will be a potential if we need it in that kind of scenario," Carlisle told a conference on US defense programs.
The Pentagon has begun working on military options if sanctions and diplomacy fail to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear weapon.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the National Journal in an interview on Thursday that planning had been going on "for a long time."
Panetta, who has said diplomacy and sanctions should be given more time, told the National Journal he did not think Israel had decided whether to order a high-risk raid on Iran's nuclear sites. He said the United States was committed to preventing Iran from acquiring atomic weapons and would have a greater impact than Israel if it decided force was necessary.
"If they decided to do it there's no question that it would have an impact, but I think it's also clear that if the United States did it we would have a hell of a bigger impact," Panetta said.
Carlisle also told the Credit Suisse-McAleese defense conference that a conflict with Syria or Iran could see US military operations influenced by new tactical thinking at the Pentagon known as Air-Sea Battle. That approach aims to take advantage of highly networked and integrated US forces.
Carlisle said the tactics focus on operating in multiple domains, from air and sea to space and cyberspace, while networking and integrating information from the different areas, like satellites and sensors on stealth fighters and unmanned aircraft.
"There's a space capability, there's a cyber capability, there's fifth-generation, low-signature force capability," he said.
"All those things are on the table and being thought about as we do this operational planning," Carlisle added, noting that Syria and Iran have developed significant defenses aimed at keeping potential attackers at a distance, a strategy Air-Sea Battle was designed to circumvent.
Carlisle said cyberspace could be a factor in a conflict with the two countries.
"All of the leadership has said nothing is off the table with respect to what we would employ and use," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
How many of those were needed to make that crater? How deep would it be if you doubled the number of bombs used on the same spot?
#2
Another piece of ammunition destined to sit in storage and rot.
Champ will use it against Iran exactly in the same way he uses it against the NORKS
meaning zilch !
He is a (dumb bordering on childish)negotiator !
The US military (their master's voice) keep fearfully listing all the horrible consequences of a strike on Iran.
in a few months the price of attacking would triple (but that would be the punishment of the next POTUS, or so Bambi hopes- knowing full well that he has very little chance of getting reelected - assuming American voters can analyse the mess he's left behind).
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 7:22 Comments ||
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#3
Credit Suisse-McAleese defense conference
...What, now they're offering low-cost loans to DOD?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/11/2012 7:51 Comments ||
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#4
Mike,
Credit Swiss is in to assess their future profits from Rehab operations after we're through with the Iranians.
They also need to plan the financing of selling new nuke reactors and spare parts to the Ayatollahs after the present ones are destroyed.
and finally they are there to assess the ability of their fortified vault rooms to withstand the bunker busters :)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/11/2012 7:58 Comments ||
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#5
You know with all the major computing power in the world, the technology at hand, and a little nudge, a lot of problems can be wrapped up in the region.
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
Brig Ali Khan, being tried in military court over treason charges and alleged links to attacks on Pakistain Army facilities, has been shifted from Sialkot to Rawalpindi due to serious illness, sources told DawnNews on Saturday.
The ruling Pakistain People's Party's (PPP) Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Saturday said that the use of public funds to undermine democracy was akin to treason, DawnNews reported.
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
[Dawn] Interior Minister 
A sessions court granted on Saturday interim pre-arrest bail to two sons of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad told UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday that no political solution was possible in Syria while terrorist groups were destabilizing the country.
WASHINGTON: A 13,600 kg bunker buster bomb designed to smash through some 65 meters of concrete before exploding is a "great weapon" that could be used by US forces in a clash with Iran over its nuclear program, an Air Force general said late on Thursday.
