[AnNahar] U.S. 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... on Saturday again pressed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to make concrete progress on economic reforms and rights, warning continued U.S. and global aid was at stake.
There. That'll do it. Tea? The commissary has sent round some lovely little cream cakes...
The Egyptians vowed that they had taken some steps, but Kerry "said we need to be able to show Congress that you've taken the necessary reforms," a senior State Department official said on the sidelines of an 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... summit.
"I have been a strong advocate of support for Egypt. I continue to support aid for Egypt, but we need to see reforms in place that will encourage my former colleagues back at home to act," he told the Egyptian leader, the official said.
Last year the IMF reached a deal in principle to provide a $4.8 billion loan to help finance the Egyptian government while it undertakes reforms.
They have been in talks for months over the loan that is contingent on strong support from Egyptian politicians and a commitment to key reforms.
Authorities believe the IMF loan will help restore investor confidence in Egypt, where unrest that accompanied the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... hammered revenue from the once-lucrative tourism industry.
The loan was close to completion in November when political changes in Cairo set it back. After talks earlier this month, the IMF said it was working with Egyptian authorities to devise a plan to address "growing fiscal imbalances".
But no new talks have been scheduled.
In March, Kerry unveiled the first $190 million in promised aid to Cairo during his first trip to the country as secretary of state, saying the rest of a $250 million pledge would follow once the necessary reforms were in place.
On Saturday, he again pressed Morsi to take "action on making reforms happen now to move towards requirements to get the IMF package," the official said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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The $3 billion in aid that the United Arab Emirates pledged for Egypt in 2011 will "take time" to be transferred, the UAE Finance Minister and Dubai Deputy Ruler said on Friday.
"How much time?"
"A lot. I dunno. How much time you got?"
"We are going in the right way but it will take time. I cannot tell you exactly when but they (the funds) are on the way," Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum told Reuters.
Ask the Swiss, they should know...
An Egyptian source familiar with the matter told Reuters in February that the money had not been transferred mainly due to the political instability in post-revolution Egypt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
You run into this stuff all through the Third World; electronic money transfers travel at the speed of light, but the speed of light is a lot slower out there.
Egypts highest court ruled on Saturday that parts of a revised election law setting out terms for a parliamentary election were unconstitutional, casting fresh doubt over a poll that has already been delayed.
The Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament had approved the law last month and sent it to the Supreme Constitutional Court to check the legality of the voting procedures for a new lower house. Opposition politicians had denounced the text of the revised election law approved by parliament and repeated threats to boycott the vote.
The court ruled that four provisions of the bill were unconstitutional, a judicial source said. The bill will now be sent back to parliament for review.
The ruling is the latest sign of friction between the judiciary, which Islamist lawmakers accuse of being loyal to deposed leader Hosni Mubarak and obstructing elections and legislation, and President Mohamed Mursis Muslim Brotherhood.
Mursi, an Islamist elected last year, originally called elections for April but postponed them when the court annulled the decree setting the dates. Mursi has said elections could now begin in October, completing the democratic transition from Mubaraks rule.
A separate court ruling last year dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood-led lower chamber elected in 2011-12.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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Rolled over from yesterday. I have not found a confirmatory report in Al Jazeera, Arab News or the Straits Times, so the 48 Hour Rule is definitely in effect. Still, an interesting thought to ponder. Who is next in line, and what is known avout him?
Iranian Press TV - salt for flavor
Saudi journalist working for London-Based Asharq Alawsat says the Saudi monarch has been clinically dead since Wednesday.
He also quoted medical sources in Saudi Arabia as saying that the king's vital organs, including his heart, kidneys and lungs, have stopped functioning. after they were removed?
Doctors are said to have used a defibrillator on him several times. He is also reported to be alive with the help of a ventilator. so, he could be dead, alive, a vegetable, or an inert blanket with a fanbelt on it
The Royal Court has yet to comment on the report of King's death. The aging Saudi monarch has not recently appeared in the public and the country's crown prince is attending official meetings on behalf of him.
It is the second time in the past months that Asharq Alawsat reports the death of King Abdullah.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2013 18:40 ||
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#4
Oddly enough, while there was no news last night whatsoever about King Abdullah beyond the above Iran PressTV report of his death, this afternoon he was remarkably resurrected.
North Korea has offered to renew nuclear disarmament talks, according to the Chinese state media.
At a meeting on Thursday between vice-marshal Choe Ryong Hae and Liu Yunshan, a senior figure in the Chinese Communist party, North Korea heeded China's wishes after months of rising friction between the allies, according to reports. Pyongyang's special envoy praised China's work on behalf of peace and stability and its "great efforts to return [Korean] peninsular issues to the channel of dialogue and negotiation," China Central Television reported. It quoted Choe as saying North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties".
The North's official Korean Central News Agency made no mention of the concession and instead quoted Choe as saying Pyongyang was committed to maintaining friendly ties with Beijing.
Choe's fence-mending visit to China is the first high-level, face-to-face contact between the two governments in six months, an unusual gap during which Pyongyang conducted rocket launches and nuclear tests and other sabre-rattling. The moves angered Beijing, which felt its interests in regional stability were not being taken account of. It showed its displeasure by joining with the US to back UN sanctions and cut off dealings with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank.
China's North Korea watchers said the leadership in Beijing would not have accepted Choe's visit without a promise from Pyongyang that it was prepared to return to diplomacy.
CCTV said Liu, the Communist party's fifth-ranked leader, called at the meeting for "practical steps to alleviate the tense situation" and an early return to six-nation Korean denuclearisation talks involving the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia as well as North Korea and China.
Pyongyang sent Choe to Beijing as a special envoy for the North Korean leader, Fat Boy Kim Jong-un. As such, North Korea watchers said he was expected to hold talks with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. His comments on Thursday will most likely be seen by Beijing as setting the correct tone of deference for such a meeting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"get back there and lie like you have in the past. It's all for show and food aid any way. We don't want to have to support you"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2013 9:15 Comments ||
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#2
Again, IMO NOKOR famine + econ probs are such that it can't wait many years or decades for formal reunification wid SOKOR to take place, while China on its part sees itself as the one-n-only successor to the USA as World/Global #1, + as such wants unrestricted strategic access for the PLA into WESTPAC + SOPAC [South China Sea], + domination or control of roughly 1/2 of the Pacific widout the "weak/declining", excessively debt-burdened US being around to oppose it.
Perhaps not unlike the intertwining recent CHELYABINSK COMET(S), THE US IS FACING TWO-SEPARATE-CRISES-IN-ONE/TWO-SEPARATE-NATIONS-IN-ONE-CRISIS IN NE ASIA.
European Union foreign ministers have agreed not to renew the union's arms embargo on the Syrian opposition.
But there was "no immediate decision to send arms" to Syrian rebels and all other sanctions remained in force, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a tweet.
The decision came after lengthy talks in Brussels.
A far-reaching package of sanctions against the government of Bashar al-Assad was due to expire on 1 June.
Britain and France had been pressing to send weapons to what they call moderate opponents of President Assad, saying it would push Damascus towards a political solution to the two-year conflict.
Mr Hague welcomed the outcome of the Brussels talks, saying it was "important for Europe to send a clear signal to the Assad regime that it has to negotiate seriously, and that all options remain on the table if it refuses to do so".
But other countries had opposed the move, saying it would only worsen the violence that has already cost at least 80,000 lives.
"Member states will not proceed at this stage with the delivery" of equipment that has until now been subject to the ban, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters at a news conference.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday that Hezbollah, or "Party of God" in Arabic, should change its name to "Party of Satan," blaming the terrorist organization for killing thousands of civilians in Syria.
"Those who stand by the Assad regime and kill their own Muslim brothers and indiscriminately kill women and children in the battlefield should not appeal to Islam and the Quran to legitimize their actions," Bozdag said, according to Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman.
Bozdag made the remarks on Sunday at an international symposium in Ankara, titled "Problems of the Islamic World and Solutions," Today's Zaman reports. The deputy prime minister also said Hezbollah, which has bolstered support behind Assad's regime, should change its name to Hezb al-Shaitan -- the Party of Satan.
"The pharaoh gave orders for the killing of innocent children and their mothers to maintain power. What is the difference between what the Pharaoh did and Assad is doing?" he asked.
The senior official also blamed terrorist organizations, specifically Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, for violent activities that insult Islam.
"What the al-Qaeda is doing is causing huge damage to the Muslim world. Muslims have nothing to share or do with people whose hands are full of blood," he added, according to Today's Zaman.
#1
What a retarded imbecile..dont he know that his own Prophet Mohamed decapitated one thousand men in one day and raped their chief's young wife on top of his still pulsating cadaver? Turkey's beasts in power are no less bestial than the shit 'slimes...the sunnis having blown hundreds of people every day the very last week...
More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. A people who lived in eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [more than double the amount of time the invading Islamic Turks had occupied Anatolia, now known as Turkey] lost its homeland and was profoundly decimated in the first large-scale genocide of the twentieth century. At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000 . Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present.
A still frame from the 1919 documentary film Auction of Souls, which portrayed eye witnessed events from the Armenian Genocide, including crucified Christian girls.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has secured simple majority in the National Assembly after eighteen independent members of the House submitted their affidavits with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to join the party.
Reminder of the old political saying about democracy is the system in which people vote for the kind of government they want, and then get it good and hard...
Following the inclusion of the eighteen independents the strength of PML-N in the House has risen to 144. The PML-N secured 126 seats out of 268 on which polls were held on May 11. The National Assembly has a total of 272 seats on which legislators are elected directly. The elections were postponed on four seats because of death of contesting candidates.
The PML-N needs the support of 135 members to elect its leader of House, speaker and deputy speaker, and after securing 144 members, it will not need any support from the other parliamentary groups in the House. However, it has the support of PML-Functional, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, National Peoples Party and National Party which have five, three, two and one members in the House, respectively. With the support of these parties, PML-N candidates for the slot of leader of House, speaker and deputy speaker will have the support of 155 directly elected members of the House.
The PML-N is set to grab majority of the reserved seats for women and minorities. The National Assembly has 60 seats reserved for women and ten for minorities, which take the total strength of the house to 342. For every reserved seat for women, the support of 4.58 directly elected members is needed. Keeping in view the total strength of 144 members, PML-N will bag 32 reserved seats of women, and five of minorities out of the ten reserved for non-Muslims.
With the support of women and minorities elected on reserved seats, the PML-N is sure to achieve strength of 192 on its own which is quite high against the required strength of 170 in the incomplete House of 338. For simple legislation in the House, PML-N will not require the support of opposition by reason of having comfortable simple majority. However, for constitutional amendments, it would need the support of opposition parties like the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
On the other side, the total strength of likely opposition is much lower than the government side. The PPPP has secured 32 directly elected seats and PTI has 28 seats in the House. The MQM has 18 members, JUI-F 10, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) 3, PML-Q 2 and there are seven parties which have only one seat in the House. The combined strength of opposition would come out to 92. However, it has to be seen whether a joint opposition will come into existence or not.
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05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban on Sunday issued a fresh threat to assassinate former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who is currently facing a barrage of legal cases in police custody.
The retired general has been detained in his farmhouse on the edge of the capital Islamabad since April 19 on charges of conspiracy to murder former premier Benazir Bhutto, sacking of judges when he imposed emergency rule in 2007, and the 2006 death of Baloch rebel leader Akbar Bugti. Before his arrival in March, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened to kill him for his alliance in the US-led war on terror and attempts to clamp down on militants, when he was in power.
Both of which caused lots of TTP hard boys to die...
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan on Sunday issued a fresh warning in a video message posted on Taliban website Umar Media, saying Soon we will punish this Satan (devil) to death for his wicked deed.
Musharraf went to the top of the Taliban hit list after ordering the army in 2007 to storm the Red Mosque in Islamabad. The operation left more than 100 people dead and opened the floodgates to militant attacks in Pakistan.
From Balochistan to Waziristan, Musharraf threw this country in blood and fire, he is the killer of hundreds of innocent students of Lal Masjid (red Mosque), Ehsan said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD: US army confirmed yesterday that Iraq has received the last dispatch of military helicopters, while Baghdad announced it is waiting to receive F16 jet fighters, as reported by London-based al-Hayat daily.
USA was handing three planes each month except for March last due to transport logistics. According to time schedule, Iraq has received 24 combat helicopters.
Iraq approved allocating $1.8 billion to cover the imports of 36 F16 jet fighters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
how many F16s will Nouri pass to Iran?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2013 9:16 Comments ||
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#2
More like if Nouri will start to get a big head of maybe becoming the "Big Dog" himself.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/27/2013 22:00 Comments ||
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Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem landed in Baghdad on Sunday on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a senior government official said. It was unclear how long the visit would last and whether Muallem would meet with any other Iraqi officials.
Maybe setting up asylum for some of the Syrian government?
The foreign minister of Syria, Walid Muallem, arrived in Baghdad at the head of a Syrian delegation, the official said. He will meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
His visit comes after Iraq on Saturday launched a massive operation to better secure its western desert amid concerns it is being used by militants heading to fight against President Bashar al-Assads regime in neighbouring Syria. Among the rebels fighting Assads regime are groups allied to Al Qaeda. That has fuelled fears in Baghdad of a spillover from war-torn Syria increasing tensions and violence in Iraq.
Iraq has sought to publicly avoid siding either with Assads regime or with rebel forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#4
"John Kerry presented on Sunday a plan to develop a "healthy and sustainable" private sector-led Palestinian economy....It would mobilize $4 billion on investments in the private Palestinian sector, grow the GDP in 50% and cut unemployment in 2/3rds."
this for a society that devotes enormous energy and funds to subsidizing hatred, employs 5% of the workforce in no-work jobs and another 5% of the workforce in armed security personnel whose main mission is to protect the interests of the ruling party.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/27/2013 8:26 Comments ||
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#5
If all the self-appointed 'bigwigs' (or 'big-mustaches' as the case may be) didn't take their cut of the largess flowing in, bet there wouldn't be such an economic crisis.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/27/2013 8:53 Comments ||
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#6
Kinda like their greenhouse that was put in place, but then looted and destroyed when the west left. The only economy these rats have is to suck as much aid from the west and build rockets and bombs to throw at Israel. That is all they will ever have.
#7
Politicians never seem to know how to propose a solution to anything without spending someone else's money. Unless he plans on investing in Rocket plants or bomb manufacturing this investment will yield no return on investment.
#9
>this for a society that devotes enormous energy and funds to subsidizing hatred, employs 5% of the workforce in no-work jobs and another 5% of the workforce in armed security personnel whose main mission is to protect the interests of the ruling party.
#17
Since Tony has managed to steal a hundred times as much money in England, on top of filling the country with terrorists, the Palesto-Simian sand monkeys can count on getting near absolute zero of that money...which in itself is not all that bad a thing!
[AnNahar] Israel launched on Sunday a national civil defense drill, which the army said will this year focus on the threat of unconventional weapons at a time of growing regional tensions.
"The threats against the Israeli home front have significantly increased in recent years," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting in remarks relayed by his office.
"Israel is the most threatened state in the world; it is under missile and rocket threat. We are prepared for any scenario," said Netanyahu.
The annual drill, the seventh of its kind, will encompass the army's home front command, the defense ministry, government bodies, municipalities and local authorities, rescue organizations and school systems, the army said in a statement.
"This year, the national exercise will focus on preparing the home front for required government, civilian and military response to an unconventional weapons scenario within the home front," the military statement read. The drill will end on Wednesday.
Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not permit the transfer of advanced weapons or chemical agents from Syria's arsenal to Hizbullah or to any other bad boy groups, while also cautioning against Iran's nuclear potential.
But Israel's home front defense minister, Gilad Erdan, played down the risk of a chemical attack on the Jewish state from Syria, in an interview on Channel 2 television.
"This is a scenario that is more probable than in the past, but the use of chemical weapons is still defined as a low probability," he told the television station on Saturday, "even taking into consideration the fall of the (President Bashar) Assad regime."
"Our enemies know that the use of chemical or non-conventional weapons at the citizens of Israel will provoke a harsh and destructive response," he warned.
He added that the drill was part of a multi-year training program, and any link between its chemical emphasis and the events in Syria was "coincidental."
[Ynet] Jordan, which shares borders with war-torn Syria, said on Sunday it is in talks with "friendly countries" to deploy Patriot missiles on its territory after a similar move by Turkey.
"Jordan wishes to deploy Patriot missile batteries in order to boost its defense capabilities and help protect the country," Information Minister Mohammad Momani told a news conference.
"We are currently at the stage of talks with friendly states," said Momani, who is also government front man, declining to elaborate.
A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... source told AFP last week that four batteries of Patriot missiles have arrived in Turkey as part of a mission by the alliance to protect the Turkish border from any spillover of the conflict in neighboring Syria.
NATO approved their deployment in December, saying the use of ballistic missiles by the Syrian regime posed a threat to Turkey.
Jordan, home to more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, has similar concerns as Turkey.
"We wish and we demand Patriot missiles. We always talk about this because we want to protect ourselves," Jordan's Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur told Qatar's Al-Sharq newspaper last week.
In April, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that some 150 U.S. military specialists have been deployed in Jordan since last year and that he had ordered a U.S. Army headquarters team to bolster the mission, bringing the total American presence to more than 200 troops.
[Ynet] In attempt to fight growing phenomenon of West Bank stone hurling, IDF commander says new road is planned to protect drivers; local police commander says 'if stones are thrown at you and no one is critically injured, just keep on driving'
IDF Etzion Sector Commander Colonel Yaniv Alaluf held a meeting with residents of the settlement of Efrat, saying that a new road is to be built in Gush Etzion in an attempt to protect drivers from incidents of stone hurling.
The road construction is expected to be completed within a year.
The meeting was held following the complaints of residents of the settlement against the increasing number of stone throwing incidents in the area.
"There were incidents in which gunfire was used... and as a result Palestinians were critically injured or killed," Alaluf added. "We limit the Palestinians and bolster coordination policies. We will not spare where harsh actions are needed, but no one wants us to get to a state of killing 12-year-old Palestinians all day long."
Commander of the Etzion Police Department, Eyal Atiya said that "In 2012, 580 Palestinians involved in terror activities were arrested, while we received 1,100 reports of stone throwing. We have only two police cars in the station that need to see to these incidents."
The commander added that "if stones are thrown at you and no one is critically injured just keep on driving. Jews drive down these roads horribly too, which is why we bolstered enforcement."
US Senator John McCain has visited Syria to meet rebels in the war-torn country, his office has told the BBC.
Sen McCain has repeatedly called for the US to provide military aid to members of the Syrian insurgency.
He becomes the highest ranking US official to travel to Syria, though McCain spokesman Brian Rogers did not give further details about the visit.
News of the trip came as US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Paris.
The US currently provides non-lethal aid to opposition groups in Syria, where an estimated 70,000 people have been killed since violence broke out in March 2011.
Rebels call for arms
Sen McCain, the top Republican on the Senate armed services committee, is understood to have entered Syria through Turkey and was on the ground there for several hours.
He travelled with the Syrian Emergency Task Force and met General Salim Idris, chief of staff of the rebel Free Syrian Army, as well as 18 other rebel commanders, the BBC has learned.
Gen Idris called for weapons to continue their fight, as well as a no-fly zone and air strikes on government targets.
EU member states are divided on lifting the arms embargo
These are all steps that Arizona Sen McCain has previously urged the Obama administration to take.
Gen Idris also urged airstrikes on the forces of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group whose forces have been fighting in Syria on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.
#4
Nabbing a US Senator will be a huge thing for AQ. Especially since he's a former US Presidential Candidate. McCain had better be on his way back already.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/27/2013 21:57 Comments ||
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[AnNahr] The rebel Free Syrian Army on Sunday condemned "in the strongest terms" the morning rocket attack on Beirut's southern suburbs, distancing itself from a threat by an FSA official that the "fire raging in Syria will spread into Leb."
"Please don't hurt us!"
"We condemn in the strongest terms the act of sabotage and terrorism that targeted Dahiyeh and reiterate our commitment to Leb's security, illusory sovereignty and stability," Fahd al-Masri, head of FSA's Central Media Department, said in an interview with MTV.
In another interview with Voice of Leb radio (100.5), Masri strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! any role for the FSA in the rocket attack, describing remarks voiced by FSA secretary Ammar al-Wawi as "irresponsible."
"I will telephone Captain Wawi and rebuke him for his remarks and I will ask him to withdraw his statement, because we have nothing to do at all with the launching of the rockets," Masri added.
He described the incident as "deeply worrisome," noting that "it confirms what we had revealed about an Iranian plot to make bombings in Shiite areas to cover up for Hizbullah's failure in (the Syrian town of) Qusayr."
Earlier on Sunday, FSA secretary Wawi called on 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... and the Lebanese government to "put an end to what Hizbullah is committing in Syria or else the fire raging in Syria will spread into Leb."
"The Syrian people will not stand idly by regarding what Hizbullah is doing in Syria," Wawi said in an interview with LBCI television.
"Should the Lebanese government fail to stop Hizbullah, there will be repercussions against Beirut, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and the Rafik Hariri International Airport," Wawi said, claiming that the airport "has become a corridor for Iranian planes that are shipping weapons to Syria."
He added: "Our honorable people in Leb from all sects will not stand idly by regarding what Hizbullah is doing in Syria, and therefore there will be repercussions, such as what happened today in the rocket attack on the southern suburbs."
He warned that "in the coming days, we will do more than that, and this is a warning for Hizbullah and the Lebanese government."
Four people were maimed on Sunday morning in a rocket attack on Beirut's southern suburbs. The Lebanese army said in a statement that a rocket was fired at a car dealership near the Mar Mikhael church and another landed in the Maroun Misk neighborhood.
The incident comes just hours after Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... vowed "victory" in Syria, where Hizbullah fighters are engaged in fierce battles against Syrian rebels in Qusayr.
[AnNahar] Hizbullah has hurled itself into the war in Syria at the behest of its mentor Iran at the risk of damaging its reputation in the Arab world, experts say.
The powerful Shiite movement has won widespread support outside Leb for standing up to Israel on the battlefield.
But its involvement in Syria fighting alongside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... 's troops against rebels has tarnished its reputation in the region, analysts told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Hizbullah's participation in the war in Syria stems from an Iranian decision to support the regime until the end through regional actors, starting with Hizbullah," said Ziad Majed, professor in political sciences and the Middle East at the American University of Gay Paree.
Hizbullah sent almost 1,700 fighters to the central Syrian town of al-Qusayr a week ago to support the regime's assault on the rebel stronghold.
Its chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... had previously justified the organization's involvement in Syria by saying they were defending Shiite villages and holy sites.
But the offensive on the mostly-Sunni town of al-Qusayr forced the movement to change its argument.
"Syria is the rear guard of the resistance (Hizbullah's fight with Israel), its backbone, and the resistance cannot stay with its arms folded when its rear guard is exposed," Nasrallah said on Saturday in a speech for the 13th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Leb.
"We are idiots if we do not act," he added.
Iran has asked Hizbullah to commit itself publicly to the conflict in Syria because its outcome could decide the future of the alliance between the two countries, and even of the region, said Ghassan al-Azzi, professor of political sciences at the Lebanese University.
"Hizbullah did it, even though it has affected its reputation in Leb and the Arab world," he added.
But there are other reasons behind its military involvement, until now aimed exclusively at Israel.
"The fall of the Assad clan would have deadly consequences for Hizbullah, not only in terms of the free flow of weapons, men and money, but also because it would no longer enjoy the total support of the Syrian regime as it has over the past three decades," Waddah Sharara, sociology professor at the Lebanese University and author of a book on Hizbullah, told AFP.
But Majed said it is also a matter of pride for Hizbullah, which wants to be seen as "a key actor in the region and not just in Leb."
"It means that it is capable of intervening decisively in operations outside the country," he said.
In his speech on Saturday to mark Israel's withdrawal for which Hizbullah takes credit, Nasrallah said: "I have always promised you a victory and now I pledge to you a new one."
But it is not clear what the price of this victory would be.
Experts agree that Hizbullah's deployment of fighters to Syria has tarnished its image and, more seriously, aggravated tensions between Sunni and Shiite Mohammedans inside Leb itself.
"Hizbullah's reputation has suffered not only in the Arab world but also in Leb. Gone are the days when polls named Nasrallah as the most popular political leader in the Arab world for his resistance against Israel," after a 2006 war between Hizbullah and the Jewish state, Azzi said.
Majed said that Hizbullah was very conscious of its image in the Arab world until 2011, but since it realized the Syrian regime could fall, it has adopted a new outlook.
"It is only concerned about its image among its social base and in the short term, it has not weakened," he said.
"But we still do not know the danger Hizbullah is causing Leb by stirring tensions between Sunnis and Shiites," he added.
The reaction of the Sunni leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. to Nasrallah's speech was damning.
With Pooty Poot Poutine supplying the shit muslims and O'Bammy feeding the sunnis...we have a wonderful massacre of varmint that want our
perdition every way they can.
Finally Barry's doing something right...BANKRUPT PERSIA-IRAN...(Iran-ARYAN is the name Hitler gave Persia)
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is a "terrorist" who must be stopped, Bahrain's foreign minister said on Sunday.
Got it right in one...
"Terrorist Nasrallah has declared war on his nation," said Sheikh Khaled al-Khalifa on his Twitter account. "Stopping him and rescuing Lebanon from his grip is a national and religious duty for all of us," he said.
The minister's remarks come a day after Nasrallah vowed that he will bring victory in the fight against Syrian rebels in the town of Qusayr.
Nasrallah had previously justified the organizations involvement in Syria by saying they were defending border villages inhabited by Lebanese residents and holy sites in Damascus province. But the offensive on the mostly-Sunni town of Qusayr forced the movement to change its argument.
"Syria is the rear guard of the resistance (Hizbullah's fight with Israel), its backbone, and the resistance cannot stay with its arms folded when its rear guard is exposed," Nasrallah said on Saturday.
"We are idiots if we do not act," he added.
Sunni-ruled Bahrain with a Shiite majority has repeatedly described Hizbullah as a terrorist organization and called for blacklisting it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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London, Asharq Al-AwsatIn the run up to the June 14 presidential elections, Irans judiciary and security services have started cracking down on supporters of President Ahmadinejad and disqualified presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Elsewhere, an anonymous security official speaking to FARS news announced that the security services have dismantled a group of active agents connected with the Mujahidn Khalq Organization (MKO).
These agents recently infiltrated the country to arrange anti-regime activates, particularly to incite strife prior and during the elections, the unnamed official added.
Hojjat al-Islam Bahman Sharif Zadeh, known to be a strong supporter of Rahim Mashaei, has also been summoned for questioning on two separate occasions over a period of 48-hours, according to IRNA. The report also revealed that at least 5 pro-Ahmadinejad websites have been closed.
This crackdown is understood to be taking place nationwide although the Iranian authorities have yet to release any information about the identity of individuals arrested.
Prior to the disqualification of Rahim Mashaei, who is a close aide of Ahmadinejad, there was widespread speculation that the outgoing president would seek to expose corruption cases surrounding his opponents in a bid to counter pressure from the hardliners.
Looks like Short Round played with fire and got burned...
More than 4 days after the verdict issued by powerful election watchdog the Guardian Council to disqualify both Hashemi Rafsanjani and Rahim Mashaei, there has been no serious reaction from the Ahmadinejad camp despite his previous threats.
Todays arrests follow the routine pattern of security services raiding the residencies and work-places of suspects, detaining them under vague circumstances with no record of whose organization they represent or where they are being held.
It's sorta like a police state, you see...
On Friday morning, a number of local websites published statements by Mashaei who threatened to reveal unknown scandals surrounding public figures, emphasizing that they have not been held accountable to the law. However it was later revealed that Mashaei had made these comments one day before the Guardian Council disqualified his presidential candidacy.
News of the arrest of Ahmadinejad supporters was not widely reported by the reformist media while the majority of Friday Prayer imams announced their support of the Guardian Councils decision to disqualify Rafsanjani and Mashaei, rejecting calls for Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei to intervene and overrule this verdict.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
So short round is a shoe-in?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/27/2013 16:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't believe he's allowed to run but twice. Time to hide more likely.
British efforts to persuade the European Union to lift the arms embargo to Syrian rebels are likely to be rejected on Monday in the face of continued opposition from EU members alarmed that weapons could fall into the wrong hands.
The foreign secretary, William Hague, is to join with the French to table a call for watering down the embargo at a meeting of other EU foreign ministers. But several countries notably Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden oppose it for fear that weapons might fall into the hands of Islamic extremist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra. Germany has been trying to fashion a compromise.
Perhaps the proper 'compromise' is to stay out of it and let the Syrians and various jihadi hard-boys whack each other...
Britain and France have been pressing for a partial lifting of the arms embargo to the moderate sections of the Syrian opposition since last November. Hague has argued that lifting the arms embargo would complement, rather than contradict, a peace process since a militarily strengthened Syrian opposition can force the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to the negotiating table.
But Labour has questioned whether lifting the embargo is legal or politically wise.
"How would the government prevent British-supplied weapons falling into the wrong hands, and how does supplying weapons help to secure a lasting peace?" asked Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary. "Syria today is awash with arms and in the House of Commons this week MPs on all sides expressed real concern about the identity, intent and tactics of some of the rebel forces.
"In Washington the prime minister clearly failed to convince President Obama of his case, so tomorrow in Brussels the UK's use of the veto would confirm that the prime minister had also failed to convince our European partners."
The UK-French attempt to lift the arms embargo has not been made any easier by the continued lack of unity within the rebel movement. Talks failed on Sunday to end a factional dispute over proposals to dilute Qatar's influence on rebel forces, with Saudi Arabia angling to play a greater role now that Iranian-backed Hezbollah is openly fighting for Assad.
Labour argued that the EU common position an agreement that is usually a precursor to legislation says member states must deny an export licence if there is a clear risk that the equipment might be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law or human rights. The UN commission of inquiry in Syria reported in February that the rebels have committed war crimes, saying "war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, were perpetrated by anti-government armed groups".
A broader package of EU sanctions against Syria must in any case be renewed at this week's meeting, and if there is total deadlock on the related issue of an arms embargo the entire EU sanctions regime could collapse.
Many obstacles remain in the way of a peace conference taking place, including Russia's insistence that Iran be allowed to attend.
Iran is happy to be Russia's catspaw...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2013 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea has offered to renew nuclear disarmament talks, according to the Chinese state media.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday that Hezbollah, or "Party of God" in Arabic, should change its name to "Party of Satan," blaming the terrorist organization for killing thousands of civilians in Syria.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
