[AnNahar] Forces in South Sudan on Thursday fought fierce battles and traded blame for breaking a ceasefire as the civil war entered its sixth month amid warnings of famine if bloodshed continues.
Both sides reported heavy fighting in the key oil-producing state of Upper Nile, which now pumps almost all of South Sudan's crude after intense battles shut down most fields in the other main area of Unity state.
Both army front man Philip Aguer and his rebel counterpart Lul Ruai Koang reported heavy artillery barrages and fierce shootouts at Dolieb Hill, south of Upper Nile's war-ravaged state capital Malakal, and in the northern Renk district.
"We will continue to strictly abide by the peace agreement, but we will not allow this ceasefire to be used by rebels to continue moving and attacking our positions," Aguer said.
Rebel front man Koang charged that government troops Thursday carried out "relentless and intensive shelling" of their positions at Dolieb.
He claimed government troops had fired shells as rebels gathered for a morning military parade to listen to ceasefire "agreement messages being read out to them by their respective field commanders."
Continued fighting comes as aid agencies warned Thursday the young nation faces a catastrophic "tipping point" amid famine and genocide warnings, and as health officials reported the first death from a much-feared cholera outbreak.
"We either act now or millions will pay the price," Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring said.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy said it had begun dropping food by costly air drops, the first time it had done so since Afghanistan in 1997.
The war in the world's youngest nation has claimed thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of lives, with more than 1.3 million people forced to flee their homes.
In the Renk district, a strategic region just north of the main Palouch oil field still left pumping, the rebels said government troops were "continuously attacking."
Aguer said it had been the guerrillas who had attacked.
President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar signed a fresh ceasefire last week but fighting broke out hours later, the second time a truce has failed to stick.
The ceasefire agreement, signed Friday in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa, was the fruit of weeks of mounting international pressure and shuttle diplomacy.
But fighters on the ground appear to have paid little if any notice to it.
The United States on Wednesday called for an immediate deployment of African troops from regional nations to safeguard the ceasefire, with Washington seeking a U.N. resolution to ensure the force is in place as "quickly as possible," said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.
Thomas-Greenfield warned of possible dire consequences should the shaky peace deal fall apart.
"There is a famine that is looming if this fighting does not stop," she said.
U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay, a former head of the U.N. genocide court for Rwanda, has said she recognized "many of the precursors of genocide" listed in a report on atrocities released last week by the organization.
The war erupted on December 15 when Kiir accused Machar of attempting a coup. Machar then fled to the bush to launch a rebellion, insisting that the president had attempted to carry out a bloody purge of his rivals.
U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... this week warned half of the country's population will suffer if war continues.
"If the conflict continues, half of South Sudan's 12 million people will either be displaced internally, refugees abroad, starving or dead by the year's end," Ban said.
[AnNahar] Fighting has intensified between troops and rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan region, adding to humanitarian needs in an area where more than one million people were already affected, the U.N. said on Thursday.
The fighting that began three years ago "has intensified in April-May," the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly bulletin.
It said this followed the government's announcement that a "decisive" campaign against the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N) would continue.
"The recent offensive by the Sudanese Armed Forces supported by the Rapid Support Force -- a government-affiliated paramilitary force -- on SPLM-N areas over the past few weeks has resulted in a number of civilian casualties and repeated massive civilian displacement", OCHA said.
Like the 11-year war in Sudan's western Darfur region, the fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states has been fueled by complaints among non-Arab groups of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated regime.
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... -led peace talks between the government and the rebels were suspended early this month, tentatively to resume later in May.
"The SPLM-N has reported that in total an estimated 90,000 people were displaced in South Kordofan over the past month," adding to about 800,000 who the rebels estimated were already displaced or severely affected in areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile under their control, OCHA said.
The U.N. has no access to rebel zones and cannot verify such figures, "let alone reach affected people with assistance," OCHA said.
Almost 26,000 people have also recently fled from rebel zones into government-held areas, adding to 1.2 million there who were already affected by the war, OCHA said.
At a presser in Khartoum on Wednesday General Abbas Abdelaziz, who heads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), confirmed that his men are "fighting with SAF in South Kordofan."
He denied allegations that the RSF had abused civilians in Darfur.
[Ynet] Egypt will only agree to an arrangement that would see gas exported from a field in Israel via a liquefied natural gas terminal in Egypt if international arbitration is resolved, an apparent reference to a dispute with the terminal operator.
I find the below very confusing, and begin to suspect that various problems at the Egyptian end will prevent them from buying much-needed gas from the juices, however much it would solve numerous problems.
According to a letter of intent signed earlier this month, the partners in Israel's Tamar natural gas field would export up to 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas over 15 years via the plant in Damietta operated by Union Fenosa Gas - a joint venture between Spain's Gas Natural and Italia's Eni.
The Union Fenosa Gas plant went idle in 2012 due to a lack of gas supply from the government in Egypt, where fuel shortages have prompted the authorities to redirect gas into the domestic grid.
The LNG plant filed a complaint with the International Chamber of Commerce last year, alleging a state partner had failed to comply with the contracts.
In a statement issued by the oil ministry on Wednesday, an official said there could be no Egyptian agreement to the scheme set out in the letter of intent without "resolution of all pending trade arbitration cases".
Texas-based Noble Energy, which has a 36 percent stake in Tamar, said the signatories hoped to finalize a binding agreement within six months, though any deal will require regulatory approvals in Israel and Egypt.
"With all the caution necessary in such cases, we see as positive an announcement of this nature," said a front man for Union Fenosa Gas, who did not want to be named, under company policy.
"While we haven't received a concrete proposal on this, we would like to believe that this means a clear and real signal of a desire to negotiate," he said. He also said that Union Fenosa Gas has always been open to talks and negotiation to resolve the conflict.
The oil ministry statement reiterated Cairo's position that Egypt's permission must be obtained for the agreement to proceed. This will only happen "if the deal realises high added value for the Egyptian economy", the official said.
#1
The oil ministry statement reiterated Cairo's position that Egypt's permission must be obtained for the agreement to proceed. This will only happen "if the deal realises high added value for the Egyptian economy", the official said.
[AnNahar] Health authorities in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Thursday announced the deaths of another three people from the MERS respiratory virus, taking the country's toll to 160.
The health ministry's daily bulletin on the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in the Gulf nation said the latest people to die were two women aged 72 and 54 and a 63-year-old man.
Since MERS first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012 the authorities have recorded 514 infections from the mystery virus for which there is currently no known antidote.
Other nations including Egypt, Jordan, Leb, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have also recorded cases, mostly in people who had been to the desert kingdom.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said its emergency committee, which includes global medical and policy experts, had flagged mounting concerns about the potentially fatal virus.
The WHO called on countries to improve infection prevention and control, collect more data on the virus and to be vigilant in preventing it from spreading to vulnerable countries, notably in Africa.
But it has so far stopped short of declaring an international health emergency, which would have far-reaching implications such as travel and trade restrictions on affected countries.
A WHO team carried out a five-day inspection visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and pinpointed breaches in its recommended infection prevention measures as being partly responsible for the spike in hospital infections.
A rash of cases among staff at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital last month sparked public panic and the dismissal of its director and the health minister.
Because that'll work on the Master Rulers of the Master Religion of the Magic Kingdom.
[AnNahar] Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... on Thursday urged Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... to free two citizens held without trial for two years after converting to an offshoot of Islam banned in the conservative Sunni kingdom.
There is freedom only to join the master religion. The wage of apostasy, on the other hand, is death.
Sultan al-Anzi, aged 33, and Saud al-Anzi, 35, were enjugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! and tossed in the slammer I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in May 2012, three months after joining the Ahmadiyya group and refusing to abandon their belief, New York-based HRW said.
The group said it urged King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah ... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old... back in August 2012 to release the pair, but never received a response.
"Not only have Saudi authorities interfered with the personal beliefs of these two men, but they've left them sitting in jail for two years in legal limbo with no end in sight," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"Saudi Arabia needs to stop policing people's personal beliefs," Whitson said.
"King Abdullah has won acclaim for preaching religious tolerance abroad, but there apparently is no room for tolerance inside his own country."
Under Saudi Arabia's legal system, the penalty for apostasy is death.
HRW said Ahmadiyya activists told it they have had no contact with the two men since their arrest, and do not know their whereabouts or condition.
According to information on the interior ministry's online prisoner database, both men are in detention but have not been formally charged.
The Ahmadiyya community was founded in British India in the 19th century.
Its adherents follow the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, an Indian Moslem who they believe to be the awaited Islamic messiah.
#1
"Not only have Saudi authorities interfered with the personal beliefs of these two men, but they've left them sitting in jail for two years in legal limbo with no end in sight," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
Under Saudi Arabia's legal system, the penalty for apostasy is death.
Seems like the status quo is a de facto commutation to life imprisonment.
If you want religious freedom, best to immigrate to the USA.
In early March, Ukraine's military begged the U.S. for the simplest of gear to help them cope with an advancing Russia. Washington's response was a long, slow pause.
Usually when foreign militaries ask the United States for equipment, it's the kind of high-tech weaponry for which America is known: fighter jets, advanced radars, and missile systems. But for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Crimea, the list was more basic: boots, uniforms, body armor, and spare tires. And yet, for more than two months, these simple requests have gone unfulfilled. This sort of stupidity usually is planned in advance...
The Daily Beast has obtained the original detailed request Ukraine's armed forces made to the United States and NATO in the first days of March after the world watched Russian special operations forces in uniforms bearing no flag or insignia seize Crimea's transportation and infrastructure hubs.
The list of requested materiel provides a window into a hollow and outmatched Ukrainian military. And the document shows why Kiev is losing the fight against the upstart civilian militias U.S. and Western leaders say are supported and paid by Russian intelligence officers and special operations forces.
Ukraine's military lacks the logistical equipment, functioning vehicles and trained soldiers to support expeditions for long periods of time away from their military bases. As a result, Ukraine's military has taken to raising funds online and relying on locals to provide everything from spare parts to hot meals.
Vice President Joe Biden on April 22 said the United States would be sending Kiev communications equipment, bomb detection gear, and other technology to root out infiltrators. But he made no mention of the more rudimentary requests Ukraine's military leaders had asked for since early March. Standing beside Ukraine's prime minister, Biden said, "We will stand with you. It's been inspiring to watch you and your fellow countrymen."
The Obama administration, to its credit, has sent meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) and has committed to enhance military training that the U.S. provided before the crisis. In addition, the Obama administration has approved $18 million in military assistance, but has placed strict limitations on that funding. Defense Department spokesperson Eileen Lainez said that the U.S. Embassy in Kiev has, for now, "purchased and delivered fuel pumps, concertina wire, vehicle batteries, spare tires, binoculars, and communications gear to the Ukrainian Border Guards."
But the Obama administration has also not shared with the public the full extent of the aid that Ukraine requested back in March. At an April 10 hearing, for example, Assistant Secretary of Defense of International Security Affairs Derek Chollet told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "The most urgent needs they have identified to us have been in the more non-lethal and humanitarian space, the MREs and the medical supplies in particular."
Chollet's remarks were not inaccurate, but they were also incomplete. The list of equipment requested from Kiev includes, for example, a request for 20,000 night vision goggles, 277 secure radios and 12,000 pieces of body armor and 2,000 Kevlar helmets.
"What they considered the most important part of the request was the body armor, night vision devices and secure digital radios," said Philip Karber, a former strategy adviser to former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. "They are going up against highly trained Russian Spetznas forces and snipers who are equipped with those items. If you ask anyone who has served in combat they will tell you the Ukrainian forces will be half as effective as the far better equipped Russians." Who basically have all that sort of equipment thanks to France and Germany.
Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman, declined to go into detail about what Ukraine's military has requested. "The review we're undertaking with the State Department is ongoing," she said. "Our focus continues to be on supporting Ukraine economically and diplomatically; as the President has said, we do not see a military solution to this crisis. Throughout the review, we're looking at items with the intent that whatever is approved will stabilize the situation in Ukraine."
Karber, however, is furious about how long it has taken the Pentagon to provide Ukraine with just the equipment it has requested. "This request went in right after the Russians seized Crimea before the destabilization campaign in the east started," he said. "We could have put all that equipment on planes and sent it to Ukraine and have it delivered in a couple of weeks."
As it turns out, the Obama administration decided against even flying the MREs into Ukraine and instead has transported them by trucks. On Wednesday, Republican Senator John McCain was incredulous about this decision. "You can't fly in MREs with American aircraft, you have to lease trucks from Germany to bring MREs in, so you don't provoke Vladimir. Whatever you do, you don't want to provoke Vladimir," he said in a mocking tone. I guess it's the flexibility he was talking about before the election. I remember you in particular saying we had nothing to fear about this petty little sociopath.
For now, however, Ukraine's military is in dire straits. Karber, who remains in touch with Ukraine's commanders, said the country's forward-deployed troops have yet to receive any of the promised assistance from the United States. "They have told me that the MREs and the sleeping bags are on the way," he said.
The sorry state of Ukraine's military has not deterred other citizens from trying to take back some of the cities that have fallen to separatists. The New York Times is now reporting that steel workers fanned out across the streets of Mariupal on Thursday to reclaim the city from pro-Kremlin militias.
Karber said his assessment is that Ukraine "did not invest in the logistics, equipment, trucks and support units needed for long deployments away from the base." He said he remembered in one of his deployments to the field with a tank battalion he watched as local visitors brought the soldiers hot meals on carts drawn by ponies.
All told, Karber interviewed more than 200 soldiers. In the last 10 days, he said, some of those troops whom he met have been killed in action in skirmishes in the east with highly trained Russian irregular units. "It's now been two and a half months and those kids are being killed and they still don't have those assets their government requested, that the kids were begging for."
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05/16/2014 11:16 ||
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More consequences from The Smartest Diplomacy In the World.
[AnNahar] Nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set out his case Thursday for beefing up pacifist Japan's rules of engagement, saying he wants the armed forces to be able to enter battle in defense of allies.
Citing a rising climate of disquiet in north and southeast Asia, Abe said Japan needs to cast off constitutional strictures that have prevented its so-called Self Defense Forces from firing a shot in combat since 1945.
"As prime minister, I have the responsibility to protect the lives of people under any circumstances," he told news hounds in Tokyo. "I don't think the constitution says we have to abandon the responsibility to protect the lives of people.
"If we can enhance our deterrence, it will prevent our country from being involved in war."
Around 500 people demonstrated against the prime minister's plans near his official residence, with some carrying banners that read "Exercising collective defense is equal to waging war."
The prime minister has long nurtured a desire to see more flexibility in Japan's pacifist constitution, which was imposed by the occupying United States in the aftermath of Tokyo's World War II defeat.
Article 9 of the document -- which has reportedly been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize -- says Japan forever renounces the use of force as a means of settling international disputes. For decades, governments have held that this means Japan's military may only open fire if fired upon, even if that entails leaving U.S. counterparts in danger on the same battlefield.
Unable to change the constitution because of deep domestic resistance, Abe has argued for the next-best thing: a reinterpretation of the laws to permit "collective defense".
A panel of academics, diplomats and military advisers convened by the prime minister has come up with a series of proposals on possible legal frameworks for military action. Over the coming months, Abe will use this document to persuade a sometimes-skeptical public of his case as he looks to shepherd his plans through the labyrinth of Japan's political system.
The move is controversial and risks forcing a split with his ruling party's coalition partner, New Komeito, secular Buddhists without whom Abe does not have an outright majority in the upper house of parliament.
"It will be the first reinterpretation of the constitution by a politician in Japan," said Tomoaki Iwai, professor of Japanese politics at Nippon University in Tokyo.
"It's going to be a turning point in the country's politics," Iwai said, adding he expected the formal reinterpretation that Abe wants by the end of the year.
Voters are lukewarm on the idea; a poll of more than 2,000 adults nationwide showed 63 percent oppose the concept of collective defense, the Asahi Shimbun reported last month. That was up from 56 percent last year and more than double the 29 percent who support the idea, the poll showed.
Abe wastes no opportunity to remind his audience, both at home and abroad, of Japan's track record since 1945.
"We have consistently walked on the path of pacifism for 70 years after the war and there will no change to this," he said Thursday.
Despite this repeated reassurance, Abe's drive to strengthen the military triggers intense emotions in China and on the Korean peninsula, where memories linger of Tokyo's brutal expansionism in the last century. Beijing has sought to paint the prime minister as an atavistic militarist, bent on resurrecting the warmongering of imperialist Japan.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... his position is welcomed in Washington, where there have long been calls for Japan to pull its own weight in a very one-sided security alliance.
U.S. President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... welcomed the move when he held a summit with Abe in Tokyo last month.
Unease in Japan about China's increasing assertiveness, and specifically its strident claims to disputed islands in the East China Sea, has helped bolster Abe's push to enhance the role of the military.
#1
See also RELATED JAPAN TIMES > CHINA VOICES CONCERN OVER ABE'S BID TO END PACIFIST DEFENCE POLICY.
* SAME > PACIFISM AT A CROSSROADS FOLLOWING PANEL'S VERDICT.
ARTIC = As an example, denotes that widout Japan having the Right to Collective Self-Defense, Japan may not be able to help its ally the US intercept any NOKOR LR Missle heading over the Pacific towards any sovereign American territory, e.g. GUAM.
IMO a NOKOR or PLA LRBM strike would be an act of last resort - personally, as resident of Guam I'm more concerned about a mass Conventional First-Strike via the Motherly PLA Airborne Forces + Air, Sub SPECOPS.
* NEWS ON JAPAN > JAPAN SDF TO DEFEND COUNTRIES WID CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS [Ties]| JAPAN MAY ALLOW SDF TO SUPPORT MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES [Coalition] IN COMBAT.
* CHOSUN ILBO > JAPAN'S ABE TAKES FIRST STEP TO ALLOW JAPAN TO GO TO WAR AGAIN.
versus
* TOPIX > CHINA THWARTS US CONTAINMENT WID VIETNAM OIL RIG.
Yuuup.
* SAME > A SECOND VIETNAM-CHINA WAR?
PHIL likely won't go to war agz China widout US backing; Vietnam on the other hand has the spunk to take China by itself widout the US but Vietnam = PHIL = lacks everything.
IMO WORST-CASE SCENARIO: VIETNAM = PHIL = ALLOW CHINA TO MILITARILY INVADE BUT THEN WAGE
"DEFENSIVE" GUERILLA/PEOPLE'S WAR ON LAND AGZ THE PLA. FYI this option has been brought up in recent past by both PHIL + Vietnam officials in response to possible mil conflict agz China.
* SAME > [The Hill] NUKE DEAL WID VIETNAM GOOD FOR THE US.
* SAME > [SCMP] PLA GENERAL BLAMES US, VIETNAM FOR UNREST + VOWS CHINA WILL NOT CEDE ["one inch"] OF DISPUTED TERRITORY.
PLA General Fang Fenghui.
* SAME > [VOA] PHILIPPINES MAY OFFER US NAVAL BASE ON WESTERN PALAWAN ISLAND, i.e. Oyster Bay.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA TOLD TO MAKE FOES PAY AN "UNAFFORDABLE PRICE".
"CHINA DAILY" State-run media.
-------------
FYI all the above + more is why I believe the US should base more BMD-capable AEGIS ships + THAAD on Guam, CNMI, + Iwo.
#3
The Obama administrationlast week sent to Congress the text of a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement signed in December by the United States and Vietnam. If lawmakers do not object during an ensuing 90 days of continuous session and review, the agreement will then enter into force.
Some critics argue that unless this agreement is renegotiated, the United States would take a step back in its global nonproliferation leadership role and thereby ease the way for Vietnam and other states to develop nuclear weapons capabilities.
#8
As per "HAMBURGER HILL", dats M-I-S-T-E-R
VICTOR CHARLIE!
Iff OWG Globalism says Islamist Hard Boyz can get Nukes-WMDS, why NOT any + all other post-Cold War, 9-11 "Black Groups" e.g. Pro-Separatist ATZLAN MOVEMENT, + MEXICAN CARTELS, ETAL.???
Again, however rough or imperfect what matters is GLOBAL/UNIVERSAL "PARITY", NOT "INFERIORITY".
[AnNahar] Hungary asked Brussels on Thursday to lift the immunity of an MEP from the far-right Jobbik party, amid reports he was being investigated on allegations of spying for Russia.
"Hungary's chief prosecutor Peter Polt has turned to European Parliament President Martin Schulz to suspend the parliamentary rights of MEP Bela Kovacs," Polt's front man Geza Fazekas told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"A serious crime investigation has been launched which could lead to a prison sentence of between two and eight years," he added about the reasons for the request, without providing further information.
The daily Magyar Nemzet had earlier cited unnamed sources in Hungary's intelligence agency as saying the 54-year-old Kovacs was being investigated at home for "espionage against European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... institutions."
They said Kovacs regularly met in a "conspiratorial manner" with Russian diplomats, and traveled once a month to Moscow.
Kovacs himself however called the allegations a "smear campaign" to damage Jobbik's prospects in the upcoming election, at a presser in Budapest on Thursday.
"I've never been a member of any security service, Hungarian or foreign," he insisted.
A front man for Schulz, Armin Machmer, confirmed to Hungarian news agency MTI that Schulz had received the request from Budapest but said the case would only be considered if Kovacs was reelected.
Kovacs is third on Jobbik's candidate list for the European Parliament elections on May 25.
No thanks. The cost to electrify and plumb the things alone is enough to put a respectable former kingdom in the poorhouse, never mind cleaning the gutters and repairing the leaky roof.
[Ynet] The Ukrainian army destroyed two military bases of pro-Russian bully boyz in overnight operations, the country's acting president said Thursday, as the government returned to the offensive a day after the start of European-brokered talks which have yet to draw in the warring sides.
Ukrainian forces destroyed an murderous Moslem base outside the town of Kramatorsk, 150 kilometers (95 miles) west of the Russian border, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told the parliament on Thursday.
[Ynet] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Thursday that the United States and Europe hope Russia will play a constructive role in the May 25 presidential election in Ukraine, but if Moscow or its proxies disrupt it, the US and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... will move to impose more economic sanctions.
No doubt The Second Smartest Man In The Room thinks this a brilliant diplomatic move.
"I'm not going to get into announcing today what the sanctions are," Kerry said following a meeting with his counterparts in Britannia, La Belle France, Germany and Italia. "We have completed our work. We know what they are. ... If they have to go into effect, they will have an impact."
A senior State Department official said the US shared its strategy to use a "scalpel rather than a hammer" to target vulnerabilities in Russia's business, banking, mining, energy, defense or other sectors.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Ukrinform] PUTIN CALLS ON CRIMEAN TATARS TO ACCEPT ANNEXATION OF THEIR HOMELAND, + that their interests are now linked to Russia's.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Long War Journal] MUHAJIREEN ARMY COMANDER [pro-Al-Qaida = Al-Nusra]
CALL FOR [Crimean + Ukrainian] MUSLIMS TO WAGE JIHAD IN THE UKRAINE.
And so it begins ...
Unfortunately, this is what I had feared would be the outcome of the Ukraine-Crimea Crisis.
Iff PUTIN = RUSSIA becomes destabilized + falls to Radical Islam ...
> So also will CHINA + INDIA ultimately.
> The US-West will now have more to fear wid Russian, etal. Nukes-WMDS under Hard Boyz' control, NOT just post-2014 Pakistan's or even a Nuclear Iran + KSA, etc.
> Iff Russia goes, so also likely will BABY ASSAD + potens even IRAN; AL-QAEDA PREVAILS, US LOSES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
> NUCLEAR TERROR/JIHAD IN THE USA + NORAM.
Now I really would like to see 1960-70's = 2014 "EDGE OF TOMORROW" [Live, Die, Repeat] NEW MOVIE STARRING TOM CRUISE.
Whats left of the JudeoChristian + Free World may NOT even the UK to use as a staging area to invade a Jihadi-occupied Europe andor Eurasian continent wid RoboSoldiers + LR Drone Fleets, etc. THANKS MAINLY TO ITS OWN NEPOTISM + CORRUPTION + STUPIDITY.
#1
It will be interesting to see if Modi can leverage his majority to stop or slow the corruption embedded in the system or will he abuse his power and punish his opponents and reward his friend?
#2
To his credit, Modi conducted an election campaign in which he, personally, focused almost exclusively on his ideas for economic growth and better governance, two areas in which the Congress-led alliance had performed appallingly.
Since his opponents were benefiting from corruption, cleaning up corruption will benefit both Modi and India. Sounds like a perfect storm.
[DAWN] MUZAFFARGARH: Former MPA Malik Bilal Mustafa Khar was incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by Kot Addu police on Thursday in the court attack case.
DSP Kot Addu Ashiq Husain Khosa said a case was registered against Bilal Mustafa Khar and 1,900 others under the Anti-Terrorism Act for attacking the court, trying to snatch the ballot boxes and results of polling in the last general elections.
On the next day, Bilal and his accomplices allegedly attacked Additional District and Sessions Judge Tariq Muhammad's office where results were officially announced and allegedly thrashed the judge besides issuing him threats. The police did not arrest Bilal at that time. On Thursday, he was arrested after he got interim bail from Lahore High Court Multan bench in the murder case of one Amjad who was allegedly killed by him last week.
While talking to Dawn, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar alleged the cases against his son were pressure tactics by the PML-N government as he had moved the Election Commission against rigging in his constituency. He said the government was pressuring him to withdraw the case. He claimed that his son was innocent in both the cases.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Prime Minister 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... on Thursday decided to involve the Pakistain Army to ensure security on all FATA borders points and to regulate ingress of people from FATA to settled areas only if polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... drops have been administered.
National Coordinator for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq called on the prime minister today in Islamabad, where she briefed him on the initiatives taken at the federal and provincial levels to make the campaign successful.
Sharif said that it was his earnest desire to make Pakistain a country where no parents see their child crippled by polio.
He noted the importance for demonstrating mutual resolve and collective will to achieve the cherished goal of complete eradication of polio from the country.
Assuring complete support from the federal government, the prime minister expressed the hope that the provincial governments would further enhance their efforts and target the specified areas for optimal results.
Besides these, the national coordinator was also directed to meet the Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... to ensure better access of polio workers.
Sharif also decided to convene a meeting of the national task force on polio as soon as possible.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] After 14 years in prison, Israeli Bedouin Ouda Tarabin accuses Netanyahu: 'You and your government have forgotten me'.
An Israeli citizen serving a 15-year jail sentence in Egypt wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently, criticizing the government for what he called their incompetence in attempts to secure his release.
"I'm the Israeli citizen, Ouda Tarabin, who you and your government have forgotten, imprisoned in Egypt," he wrote.
Tarabin, a resident of Rahat in southern Israel, is a member of the Bedouin community in Israel. He was tossed in the slammer I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! 14 years ago in Egypt where he was convicted of being an Israeli spy.
"Your government hasn't helped me unfortunately because I'm an Arab and that's completely clear," wrote Tarabin in the letter obtained by Ynet before being passed on to the Prime Minister's Office.
"If I were a Jew or a Druze, the government would be fighting for me and my freedom, and I wouldn't have been sitting in an Egyptian prison for 14 years."
"Mr. Prime Minister, this is the truth that everyone knows," he continued. "Mr. Prime Minister, this government is a tragedy for my country, that's supposed to be a democracy in the Middle East."
In his letter, Tarabin tells the prime minister of his hardships in prison, claiming that he has been deprived and treated poorly for being an Israeli citizen.
"They sentenced me with 15 years in prison by a military court for being an Israel spy and I've never made an appearance in court. I haven't even been allowed to see a judge to try and defend myself," he said.
"The Egyptian government knows I'm innocent but because I'm an Israeli citizen, I've been very obviously targeted."
Tarabin wrote about the difficulties of being far from his homeland, his family and judged that Israel was to blame saying, "You're government hasn't raised a finger for my release by the Egyptians who are considered a friendly country and one of joint interests with Israel."
Despite the lack of past action by the Israeli government, Tarabin's letter urged the prime minister, "to act immediately to put an end to my suffering and the suffering of my family, to engage the Egyptian government, and act quickly to ensure my release."
He concluded by saying that, "I want to feel that I'm a citizen who has a country and government that cares for its citizens, that worries about their interests and doesn't discriminate between them."
Tarabin's lawyer, Itzhak Meltzer, told Ynet, "You can't blame Ouda. He saw how Azzam (Azzam, an Israeli Druze locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in Egypt for eight years) was released while he stayed in prison. He saw what Israel did in order to secure the release of Gilad Shalit and Ilan Grapel while he stayed in prison."
"Tarabin's incarceration in Egypt puts a heavy financial burden on his family," said Meltzer. "I turned to different sources like the finance minister and his deputy, the prime minister and president of the country and I asked them to support the family, but none of them paid any attention."
Tarabin was imprisoned in 2000 for 15 years after being convicted of collecting intelligence information for Israel. His trial was carried out without his knowledge or presence. According to Tarabin, he was taken into custody after crossing the border to visit his family in Sinai.
More than three years ago, there was hope that Tarabin would be released as part of a deal in which Ilan Grapel, who was in Egyptian prison for four months, but in the end Tarabin wasn't included in the agreement.
The launch went abnormal on the 540th second of the flight, when an emergency engines shutdown kicked in in response to the rocket deviating from its intended trajectory, the Russian Federal Space Agency reported after the crash. The third stage, which is called Briz-M, was approximately 150km above the ground at that moment and had some 40 seconds to go before deploying its payload into the orbit. I know, let's follow ULA's lead and make our launch capability dependent on these guys. It's too bad we don't have any other space companies with heavy lift capacity who are willing to lift satellites for us. Oh wait...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
05/16/2014 10:52 ||
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#1
I looked it up; SpaceX engines have a little less specific impulse, and their rocket has 90% of the payload to LEO of Zenit/Sea Launch... and I keep thinking, ok, so the engines aren't those Monster Staged-Combustion Liquid-Cooled engines, but maybe the best is the enemy of the Good Enough.
#2
Iff this were still the Cold War, I would suspect this "accident" to be an intentional self-destruct or fake on the part of the Soviets meant as a PCorrect-Deniable warning to Russia's strategic partner, SCO-CSTO BFF, + South China Sea NAVEX partner the Chinese.
Where "SPACE/SATELLITE CARRIER ROCKET" = STRATEGIC NUCLEAR ICBM = STAY OUT OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST + -STANS NO MATTER WHOM SHOOTS FIRST.
[AnNahar] Lawmakers once again failed on Thursday to elect a new president as differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances led to a lack of quorum in the fourth parliamentary session aimed at choosing a new head of state.
Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... set May 22 as the fifth round to hold the elections.
Only 73 politicians out of 128 were present at parliament.
MPs of the March 8 Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... bloc did not attend the session, while the majority of March 14 alliance members were present, reported Voice of Leb radio (93.3).
March 14 MP Nabil de Freij accused the March 8 of deliberately obstructing quorum, while MP Robert Ghanem rejected calls for a constitutional amendment regarding the elections.
Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader and presidential candidate Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... had demanded, prior to the failure of the session, that such an amendment be introduced.
MP Sami Gemayel of the Kataeb Party stated from parliament after the session that he had hoped that Berri would call for daily presidential election sessions in order to elect a head of state before the term of President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... ends on May 25.
Commenting on the possibility of vacuum in the presidency, he said: "Some members of parliament are deliberately obstructing the election of a president."
"These MPs are responsible for the vacuum," he added.
"They must exercise their duties to elect a president, whether through casting a blank vote or voting for a candidate," he stressed.
"They are not adopting democratic practices through boycotting parliament, but they are simply playing an obstructive role," noted Gemayel, deeming the March 8 boycott as "unjustified."
"Those obstructing quorum will be held responsible for the consequences of the vacuum," warned the MP.
Two previous rounds of the elections were not held over the lack of quorum.
The first round of the elections was held in April, but neither candidates Geagea or Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou, obtained the necessary 86 votes at the time to be elected head state.
Helou said after Thursday's session: "We now have a weekly appointment with the politicians' inability to hold the elections."
"This unfortunate series of developments will continue should the political divisions persist," he lamented.
He therefore suggested the proposal of "bold initiatives" to extract Leb from "the crisis that will begin after a few days" when Suleiman's term ends.
By law, if no president has been chosen by the last 10 days of the incumbent's mandate, parliament cannot meet for legislative sessions except to elect a new president.
That means, starting on Thursday, legislative action will grind to a halt.
At least the army's round up of miscreants, jihadis, and illegal immigrants is proceeding apace.
#1
In a parliamentary style of government the President is the head of state. Let's see, in Lebanon, article 49 makes the President Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. That is different from most other parliamentary democracies.
Article 52 says that the President may negotiate and ratify international treaties in agreement with the Prime Minister. That is pretty standard.
Article 53 enumerates other powers including the power to "designate the Prime Minister in consultation with the President of the Chamber of Deputies based on binding parliamentary consultations, the content of which he shall formally disclose to the latter." Again, pretty standard.
Article 62: "Should there be a vacancy in the Presidency for any reason whatsoever, the Council of Ministers shall exercise the authorities of the President by delegation." I guess not electing a President would count under "for any reason" so what is the problem. :-)
Article 75 says "The Chamber meeting to elect the President of the Republic shall be considered an electoral body and not a legislative assembly. It must proceed immediately, without discussion of any other act, to elect the Head of the State." So Parliament is on hold until a President gets the nod.
[AnNahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... said that he will end his political activity at the end of the current parliamentary term as he "is seriously considering not to run for the elections."
"I will be folding my political page and my voting for a new head of state would be my last," Jumblat said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.
He pointed out that his son Taymour is preparing himself to run for the parliamentary elections and running the affairs of al-Mukhtara.
"Everything will be announced in its time," Jumblat noted.
The Druze leader said that he will remain at the helm of the PSP as his term ends in two years.
"After 37 years in politics I have had a rich experience, which included some black marks, but it's up to history to write it... I will not write my biography... Let others do," Jumblat said.
He stressed that he "will not run for a parliamentary seat but will continue as a political observer."
In 2011, Taymour was appointed as a "guiding member" of the party, in a step that would allow him to later run for its leadership council and consequently head the party.
"I am not ashamed... My conscience is at ease," the PSP leader said.
Concerning the ongoing dispute over the presidency elections among the political arch-foes, Jumblat didn't expect politicians to succeed in electing a new head of state during Thursday's parliamentary session.
He believed that the parliamentary session will be similar to its precedents.
The first presidential elections session was held on April 23, but neither Geagea nor Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou garnered the necessary 86 votes to emerge victorious.
Two other sessions were supposed to be held, but they failed over lack of quorum after a March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commemoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... boycott on the ongoing disagreement over a candidate.
Jumblat told the newspaper that he "accepts" vacuum at the helm of the country's top Christian post.
"I can provide either March 8 or 14 coalitions with the majority of votes for their candidates but I can't end the lack of quorum," the veteran official said.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... he said that he doesn't want to "be biased to any of the two coalitions," continuing that he is holding onto his candidate to the presidential elections Henri Helou, who meets all the characteristics of a head of state.
"There is no vacuum but a vacant presidential post until a settlement is reached... We have a cabinet capable of running the country," Jumblat added.
Jumblat has backed Helou's candidacy, describing him as a "voice of moderation."
The Aley MP garnered 16 votes during the first round, while 48 politicians voted for Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... chief Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... , one for Kataeb party chief ex-President Amin Gemayel and 52 MPs cast blank ballots.
Asked about the repercussions of the Syrian war on Leb, Jumblat expected the influence of Damascus and Tehran to grow locally "more than ever."
"Some Lebanese sides rushed into concluding that the Syrian regime will swiftly fall while others got involved with the regime," he told Asharq al-Awsat.
"Engagement in the Syrian crisis was a historical and a moral mistake but my aim is to re-target the arms of the resistance against Israel," Jumblat said.
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.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[AnNahar] Health authorities in 
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
[AnNahar] Hungary asked Brussels on Thursday to lift the immunity of an MEP from the far-right Jobbik party, amid reports he was being investigated on allegations of spying for Russia..jpg)
[DAWN] Prime Minister 
Samir Geagea
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
