According to Airforce-technology.com the United States is now planning to arm Italys fleet of MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with missiles and bombs, in a bid to protect Italian armed forces from enemy threats in Afghanistan.
Until now the United States and Britain had been using drones against enemy elements but almost all drone attacks carried out along Pak-Afghan borders areas had been carried out by American CIA.
The website claimed that the Obama administration was likely to announce the deal within two weeks, following which the US-built drones, operated by Italian air forces, will be equipped with weapons such as laser-guided bombs and Hellfire missiles.
The dramatic details of how the SAS completed a brilliant rescue of a British aid worker and three other female hostages in Afghanistan can be revealed.
[Tolo News] Taliban are pro-peace negotiations and prefer to hold talks with the United States at the first stages, Member of Taliban's Leadership Council, Agha Jan Motasem told BBC.
In an exclusive interview with BBC, Mr Motasem said that currently the war has been imposed on Taliban and they are ready to have talks with the Afghan government and other foreign nations at the second phase of peace negotiations.
He also said that Taliban is led by a single leader and the Haqqani network is an inseparable part of Taliban.
"Taliban are pro-peace negotiations and currently the war has been imposed on them, foreigners have occupied the country," Motasem told the BBC.
"Peace Negotiations can't be a one phase process, it should have many phases. We prefer to negotiate with the US at the first phase, then with the Afghan government and other foreigners."
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the statements and said it's a positive sign, but it stressed that those groups who don't respect democracy and Afghan constitution will not be included in peace talks.
"Ministry of foreign affairs welcomes talks with Taliban who accept Afghan constitution and democracy, we call on Taliban to join the grinding of the peace processor, currently talks with Taliban are underway," Janan Musazai, a front man for the Afghan Ministry Foreign Affairs said today.
"Afghan government will continue fighting those who don't believe in the achievements of Afghan people and never believe in peace," Musazai added.
This comes as Agha Jan Motasem has said that the only demand of the Taliban is a strong Islamic state and stressed that those who claim to be supporting the Afghan constitution are violating it most of the time.
Foreign relations advisor of the Afghan High Peace Council, Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar says that a government which respects the rights of men and women and democracy in Afghanistan is acceptable.
"We want an Islamic and people-owned government which pays respect to human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , rights of men and women in the country, protects the past achievements and brings stability in Afghanistan," Qasimyar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
The talk I'd like would be "Do you have any last words before sentence is carried out?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/03/2012 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
Direct negociations with the US are far more lucrative for the Talban, they remove the middle-man [Karzai].
[Tolo News] In a recent Interview with the Time Magazine World, Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has said that US could have done better in Afghanistan if it respected the homes of Afghans and fought terrorism elsewhere.
"In its time here the United States could have done a lot better for Afghanistan," President Karzai has told Time Magazine.
"But then they did not regard the homes of Afghan villagers as homes that gave the United States and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... a welcome."
"And in the name in the war on terror, which everybody knew was to be fought elsewhere; too many innocent Afghans bit the dust. Too many were maimed, too many homes were violated," Mr Karzai is quoted as saying.
But the Afghanistan's Caped President has also thanked the US and NATO for bringing better education, healthcare, economic growth and somehow stability in Afghanistan, while he has criticised them for not bringing security.
"It did not bring the defeat of terrorism, as we thought it would. It did not fight the war in terrorism in a manner that we felt was right." Karzai told the Time in an exclusive interview.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Karzai could have done a much better job too. For a start his family could have got out of the heroin biz.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/03/2012 2:38 Comments ||
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#2
Fumugate the place and start over with Indian immigrants?
[Tolo News] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... blocked the release of $37 million to a UN-run fund that financed Afghan Police, a Western Official in Kabul told Wall Street Journal.
The European Union, US and Japan are the key donors of the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), while EU has pledged to spend about $175 million for the current phase of the programme covering January 2011 to March 2013.
LOTFA personnel told the Afghan and international monitoring committee that UN officials had abused the $2.2 million fund for paying salaries to nonexistent coppers and creating high payment positions for the personnel with links to Afghan government leaders.
Officials at the UN Development Programme, which administers LOTFA, have denied allegations of mismanagement and corruption at the fund
This comes as the Afghan Ministry of Interior said that if the aid gets suspended, it will definitely have negative impacts.
"EU, US and Japan were the main donors of the training and public awareness, LOTFA should be accountable for it, because Ministry of Interior has no role in it," Deputy MOI front man, Dr Najeeb told TOLOnews today.
"If the aid is suspended, it will definitely have negative impacts."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh.M.Network)-The United Nations ...An organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... should beef up its operation in Somalia, and other countries who want to help the war-torn state should actually move in and set up bases there, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Erdogan's direct remarks at a international conference onSomaliainIstanbul, the second hosted inTurkeyin two years, was the latest sign of his administration's growing interest and clout inAfrica.
"Without living there you cannot devise the correct policies and you cannot help. I invite the international community to open representative offices," Erdogan told the conference attended by U.N. Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , the Somali interim president and delegations from more than 50 countries.
"We have really struggled to makeSomalia's voice heard, to make those who do not see or feel what's going on inSomalia, see and feel," he said.
Most aid agencies funding projects in Somalis are actually based in neighboringKenyaor further afield.
Many moved their headquarters out of the country years ago to avoid kidnappings, looting and fighting between al-Qaeda allied forces of Evil and Somali troops backed by African forces.
Somalia has been mired in turmoil since the 1991 overthrow of Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Erdogan made a high-profile and whirlwind visit to the Somali capital in August last year, bringing his family and a plane full of ministers and consultants.
For all its brevity, the trip was still the first time a non-African leader had visited the country in almost 20 years.
While the visit was aimed at drawing attention to the famine that swept across the Horn of Africa nation, it was also part ofAnkara's wider strategy of positioning itself as a growing regional power and influential voice within the Mohammedan world.
Turkeyhas since opened an embassy in Mogadishu, built hospitals and schools and started direct flights between the two countries. It has also sent hundreds of Somali students to study inTurkey.
WhileTurkeyhas been largely applauded for its assistance in Somalia, critics say Ankara's headfirst policy and relative inexperience in the region leaves it vulnerable to manipulation by different political factions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
If nothing else, a big influx of UN corruptocrats might encourage Toyota to set up a few service centers for the usual fleet of white Land Cruisers. They'd have to bring in mechanics from outside the country, but certainly some of the locals could be trained to do vehicle detailing. Just as long as you can keep them from ripping out the leather upholstery to make belts and purses. And I guess Toyota would have to bring in some security staff to make sure the nifty super-duper premium stereo systems remained in place...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
06/03/2012 15:19 Comments ||
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#2
Address first your muslim brothers to do so, Erdi.
Why infidels should do it?
Egyptian officials say a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen has been detained on arrival at Cairo airport because he faces trial in a case of pro-democracy groups receiving foreign funds.
The officials said Sherif Mansour was detained Sunday as one of 43 defendants, including 16 Americans, on trial in the case that has shaken Cairo's ties with Washington.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to reporters.
The trial began in February, with only 14 Egyptian defendants attending.
Mansour was returning to Egypt to attend the next session, set for Tuesday.
The defendants are facing charges over their groups' receiving foreign funds without permits. Six Americans charged in the case were allowed to leave the country in March.
[Al Ahram] General Mounir Ramadan confirmed Saturday that the Mubarak trial verdict would bring further consequences down on the ousted president.
According to Ramadan, Article 123 of the military constitution states that any accused found guilty in a final verdict automatically loses his military rank and all privileges as well as being stripped of all medals.
The general also cited the second paragraph of Article 25 of the penal code that states, "Whoever is found guilty is to be deprived from all military rank or medal."
According to the military code issued by presidential decree 289 in 1972, those who fall under Article 123 of the military constitution are to be handed to civil prison authorities to fulfill their sentence.
Mubarak's lawyer, Fareed El-Dib, mentioned earlier during the trial that as a military man the ousted president is to enjoy his military status until he dies. El-Dib referred to a law issued by former President Sadat in 1979 in appreciation of the military leaders of the armed forces during the October 1973 War.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Some 100 people defied a government ban Saturday to rally in the centre of the Tunisian capital against Salafist extremism, accusing the authorities of double standards.
Security forces surrounded the demonstrators in Tunis as they shouted slogans calling for the government to resign.
Activists using the Internet had called the protest on the city's main thoroughfare, avenue Habib Bourguiba.
But the interior ministry, in a statement on its Facebook page, said the protest would be illegal because no one had asked for authorisation.
The ministry "reserved the right to react," the statement added.
But Fatma Ghorbal Lassoued, a leader of the Women and Dignity association behind the call, said the request for authorisation had been made according to the regulations on Tuesday.
"There are double standards. The supporters of the government and the Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... can do as they please, but we have obstacles put in our way," she told journalists shortly before the rally.
Participants cited a Salafist gathering on May 20 at Kairouan in the west of the country and a pro-government demonstration outside the Tunis courthouse on Friday, which were allowed to take place.
Saturday's demonstration was called in response to violence last weekend in the northeast of the country, when radical Salafist groups attacked several cop shoppes.
The ultra-conservative Salafists, some armed with clubs and swords, also burned down the shops of alcohol vendors who refused to close. They have been intensifying their attacks over the last 11 days.
On Thursday, responding to the attacks on the cop shoppes, Interior Minister Ali Larayedh warned that police were authorised to use live rounds.
"The state of emergency is still in force and we will take all necessary steps to restore security in the country," he added.
On April 9, a demonstration on the same avenue went ahead despite having been banned but was violently broken up by the security forces, provoking widespread anger.
At least 15 civilians and eight police were hurt in the unrest.
Larayedh was summoned before parliament, and President Moncef Marzouki denounced the "unacceptable violence".
With the fall of president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, secular liberals and radical Islamists have been in constant conflict over whose values should prevail in the country.
Moderate Tunisians have also expressed deep concern over the rising power of Salafists since the revolution that toppled Ben Ali's regime and brought a moderate Islamist party to power.
The Salafist movement comprises several branches. Some adherents focus strictly on religion, some are politicians and some are jihadists who see violence as a legitimate means to impose their faith.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Abubakar Shekau is the leader of the cut-thoat Islamist group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , which has carried out a series of deadly attacks across northern Nigeria. Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar from the BBC Hausa service looks at Nigeria's most wanted man.
The leader of the cut-thoat Islamist group Boko Haram is said to be a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man -- part intellectual, part gangster.
Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Yobe.
Some say he is 34 or 35, others that he may be 43 -- the uncertainty adds to the myths surrounding Nigeria's most wanted man.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi Saturday called on the international community to back and oversee a five-year strategic development plan which must focus on improving various economic sectors in the country, Saba reported. Ahah. A Five Year Plan. Good idea. What could possibly go wrong?
The statement was made at a meeting with a multiple international mission, which has arrived to evaluate the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
The mission is led by the Islamic Organization for Cooperation and has called on the international community to provide urgent support to Yemen, where reports have warned about ten million people are facing famine.
Hadi said the economic crisis has been behind about 75% of Yemen's complicated problems, renewing the call to help the country overcome all challenges before a crisis affects it, region and the world, Saba said.
The 2011 unrest has largely aggravated Yemen's problems.
He also said the security situation remains one of the hardest test at the moment, and with such issues being unsolved, the political mess will persist, according to the agency.
Hadi, however, assured the political transition is going ahead positively, pointing to the strides within the preparations for a national dialogue, it said.
Other issues were discussed at the meeting including the unemployment of about six million youths and graduates as well as the IDPS and African refugees, the agency said.
The Yemeni parties reached in November a power-transfer deal, brokered by the GCC and backed by the UN. The transition is on the right track, despite security concerns and attempts to obstruct it.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Recently declassified CIA documents concerning al-Qaeda, the late Osama bin Laden ... who is no longer with us, and won't be again... and Sept. 11 are now available for your perusal.
Intelwire.com on Thursday posted online nearly 800 pages of documentation received in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request the site filed with the CIA.
#2
Doesn't sound like a wise thing to do until this struggle is over
"J.M. Berger has been a journalist for 25 years, working in every form of media from newspapers to New Media, radio and television. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, the CTC Sentinel, the New York Daily News and the Boston Globe, and on National Public Radio, Public Radio International and the National Geographic Channel."
Zardari's wrong decision
Writing in Jang columnist Irfan Siddiqi stated that it was a wrong decision on the part of President Zardari to be party chief and president at the same time. As party chief he should have stayed away from presidency because president is a mere decoration (araaishi) while Zardari was powerful party leader. Hence the Presidency became a mere party headquarters. He put party interest on top and ignored the interest of the nation as a whole which a president must represent. Even a Lahore High Court decision in this regard did not convince him to give up his office as president.
America caused Indo-Pak wars
America, the all-powerful -- an interesting meme.
Columnist Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that the speaker of Haryana Assembly from India was right in saying that America always gave weapons to Pakistain to fight India
...starting back in the day when Socialist India was firmly in the Soviet orbit...
and it was in fact America who was behind the hostility between Pakistain and India.
Right. As if Pakistan needed help from outside.
Pak leaders kept on receiving weapons from America and fighting India even after 1990 when after being used by the US against the Soviet Union America had no need to arm Pakistain.
Didn't we cut them off for a while because of the nuclear thingy?
Haqqani shouldn't come to Pakistain
Writing in Express Abdul Qadir Hasan stated that when Husain Haqqani came to Pakistain to face the trial of treason against him he met him and told him that he had made a mistake. Pakistain was too much in trouble to think right. Haqqani was treated differently from Mansoor Ijaz, something about which everyone had become aware even the prime minister who was now complaining. The lawyers were making hay while the sun shone and were becoming famous by siding with someone who was clearly no friend of Pakistain against an angina patient who wanted to be treated equally.
America wants civil war in Pakistain
Famous ex-ISI boss Hameed Gul
...still busily pulling strings behind the scenes...
told Jinnah that America was busy conspiring to cause a civil war in Pakistain while making Pakistain and India sign secret deals to the detriment of Pakistain. He said it was no use under these circumstances to hold elections in Pakistain. What was needed was a revolution to save Pakistain from destruction.
Does anyone else think he might have a few candidates lined up, just for funsies?
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed commander of Mujahideen!
Chief if Jamaat Islami Munawwar Hasan said in Jinnah that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... of Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... was a commander of all mujahideen. He was an extremely important person but America erred by not estimating his real value when it put a prize on his head. His real value was hundred times more. Had the government looked at Kaaba as their destiny Pakistain would not have come to this pass.
How Mohammad Asad was treated
Writing in Express Oria Maqbool Jan stated that Pak bureaucracy inherited its nature from the British Raj and after the demise of Jinnah acted against the interest of the Islamic state. They set fire to the office of Muhammad Asad the great convert to Islam and translator of the Koran who was working on Islamic sources of the law to assist the country in making its first constitution. The various nationalities of Pakistain were united by one factor - the Kalima Taiba - but the bureaucracy did not want to see the state becoming Islamic.
Prayer at Ajmer Sharif useless!
Indian demagogue Bal Thackeray was quoted in Mashriq as saying that Pak president Zardari was making a futile effort to go to Ajmer Sharif to pray at the tomb of Moinuddin Chishti because anyone who had evil designs on India will not be looked at with favour by Ajmer Sharif's saint. He said Zardari's visit to India will neither lead to improvement of Indo-Pak relations nor to any lessening in terrorism.
Imran Khan versus Uncle Sam!
Famous columnist Haroon Rasheed wrote in Jang that civil and military views on the US were different. Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... and the religious parties are ready to face up to the US (datt jana) but the PPP and PMLN's billionaire politicians were impressed with imperialism and were reluctant to oppose the US although they indulged in anti-US slogans. Fazlur Rehman and Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... were all naked inside the bath (hamam main nangay) but outside they were all wearing long robes. Ch Nisar Ali Khan was fearless but his party was retreating. The same was true of PMLQ's Mushahid Hussain.
'My father's funeral was in Kaaba'
Issuing rebuttal in Nawa-e-Waqt 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... said that Zardari was guilty of indecent language when he said that Nawaz's father Mian Sharif had a desolate funeral in Lahore and no one came to bless him forcing the family to take the hearse to Data Darbar. He said his father's funeral prayer took place in Kaaba 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 their national face... , the most sacred place in the world. Mariam Nawaz said that it was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
Siachen belongs to Pakistain
Columnist Hamid Mir stated in Jang that since Siachen was included in Gilgit-Baltistan it was not mentioned in the Simla Agreement of 1972. In 1984 India grabbed Siachen when General Zia was in power after which the Pak Army had to go and set up posts against the India army on Siachen. Since 2003 the two armies are not firing at each other but casualties are many due to frostbite. Both India and Pakistain contain people who hurt their countries' own interest and that includes people like Ajmal Kasab who confess after four slaps (char thappar).
Rafiq Tarar reveals facts
Ex-President Rafiq Tarar told Nawa-e-Waqt when Nawaz Sharif was tossed by Musharraf he was pushed around by General Mehmood and thrown in a black car and taken to jail (kaal kothry). Earlier president Tarar was told by Nawaz Sharif over the phone that 'they were coming'. Tarar stated that he accepted to remain president under Musharraf because he feared that Nawaz Sharif too would be killed like Bhutto. He said Nawaz told him to remain president. Musharraf too asked him to stay on because otherwise Pakistain would have been declared rogue state (badmaash).
CIA is 'Porus ka hathi'
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that CIA was once called Porus ka hathi because it harmed its owner, the US. Raja Porus fought Alexander with elephants that turned around and crushed the army of Porus underfoot.
It was the Greek mice, as everyone knows.
Now when Pak parliament was about to deliver its verdict on an independent foreign policy trouble in Gilgit-Baltistan has been started. He stated that parliamentary committee debating recommendations revealed that no party had asked to bring Pakistain's secret services under any kind of control.
My 'chamak' is my own!
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif stated that 'chamak' (shine) of PMLN was not given by Zardari but was original and could not be robbed by Zardari. He said he could swear on God that Zardari had made money through fraud and stashed it away in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... . He said he will not receive the president on his visit to Lahore. Federal Interior minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. warned Shahbaz Sharif that he should hear the warning that the PPP was pitching its tents in Lahore. He added that he wanted to register a case against Sharif brothers but Zardari stopped him.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steven ||
06/03/2012 15:14 Comments ||
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#2
Dear TW, it was supposed to be TW
Posted by: Steven ||
06/03/2012 15:17 Comments ||
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#3
*sigh*. I seem to betting 1.000 on this stuff today, Steven, and I've no idea what I did wrong -- but there seems to be no question whatsoever that I did something, dammit. And I can't even see it on the iPad, whatever it is.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A series of intertwined political crises that began with accusations that Iraq's prime minister was consolidating power have escalated into calls to unseat him, and paralysed the country's government.
The protracted drama has seen Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's deputy revert to decrying him as a "dictator" and the leader of the autonomous Kurdish region call for him to go on one side, while the premier insists he has sufficient backing to stay on the other.
"The political crisis has reached its highest level since its beginning, but it is still running within the framework of the democratic game," Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said.
"The country is paralysed on all levels; there is a clear political paralysis paralleled by governmental negligence and a failure of the legislative authority, while the people are disappointed and afraid of the security consequences," Shammari said.
The trouble began in earnest in mid-December, when the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc began a boycott of parliament and the cabinet over what it said was Maliki's centralisation of power.
For his part, Maliki sought to sack Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, an Iraqiya member who had labelled the premier "worse than Saddam Hussein."
That month, an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, also of Iraqiya, for allegedly running a death squad.
Hashemi fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in north Iraq, which declined to hand him over to Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and then permitted him to leave on a regional tour that took him to Qatar, 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 their national face... and Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Israel is equipping submarines built in Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, according to an in-depth report in Der Spiegel magazine.
The magazine also reported Sunday that the German government has known about Israel's nuclear weapons program for decades, despite its official denials.
Last month, Israel received its fourth Dolphinâclass submarine from Germany, which is slated to become operational in 2013.
Germany has largely funded Israel's purchase of the submarines.
According to Spiegel, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the magazine that Germans should be "proud" that they have secured the existence of the state of Israel "for many years."
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it has a nuclear weapons program.
The German government recently signed a contract for the delivery of the sixth vessel, with one-third of the cost being subsidized by Germany. The delivery of the sixth sub has been conditioned on Israel stopping building in the settlements and allowing the completion of a sewage treatment plant in Gaza partially financed by Germany.
#2
Looks like a US showdown wid China is looming SOONER THAN LATER ...
To wit,
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > VIETNAM FRUSTRATED AS INDIA CHICKENS OUT |[Deccan Herald = Indjuh] BEATING A RETREAT.
Failed bilateral/joint Indo-Viet energy venture that has larger strategic = MilPol implications for Vietnam as per the disputed SCS???
* WORLD MIL FORUM > YIN ZHAO: US BUILDUP OF BASES IN ASIA-PACIFIC INCREASES LIKELIHOOD THAT CHINA WILL USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN WAR.
* SAME > JAPANESE MEDIA > CHINESE SHIPS [PLAN] HAVE NEVER NETURED THIS FAR/DEEP INTO THE PACIFIC [700-kms east of Okinotori Reef-Atoll close to waters of the US CNMI].
* SAME > EXPERTS: SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES CAUSING CHINA TO STEADILY ALTER PLA'S STRATEGIC WAR DOCTRINE + US-CHINA-WAR SCENARIO OER TAIWAN FROM "ACTIVE DEFENSE" TO "DEEP OFFENSIVE/
STRIKE". TAIWAN WAR SCENARIO TO CHANGE INTO FULL-SCALE AIR, SEA, SPACE BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF THE OKINAWA-TAIWAN-PHILIPPINE TRIANGLE ["Dragon Triangle"]. NEW DOCTRINE ENVISIONS OFFENSIVE CHINA BLITZ AGZ TAIWAN PHILIPPINES, + EAST-SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS. PREEMPTIVE OR FIRST-STRIKE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO SINK THE US NUCLEAR CARRIER + AGZ JAPAN.
HHHHMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, IIRC from the History Channel time back, the so-called "Dragon Triangle" [Asia's "Bermuda Triangle"] stemmed from Okinawa to PHIL to Guam-CNMI???
* TOPIX > [PHIL Star] > PHILIPPINE NAVY NEEDS P$5000BILYUHN TO UPGRADE War CAPABILITIES.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Japan Times] ISHIHARA [intentionally?]RATTLES US SABRE AGZ CHINA.
ARTIC > ISHIHARA = claims that JAPAN IS WEAK IN NEARLY EVERY FIELD, INCLUDING THE ECON + DEFENSE.
* SAME > CHINA'S EXPANDING CORE ["Core/Strategic Interests"] IS WORRYING ITS ASIAN NEIGHBORS.
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > [Fox News]PANETTA URGES MORE US NAVAL ACCESS TO VIETNAM HARBOR.
POSTERS = remind that the US had major bases throughoutthe former South Vietnam of which Cam Ranh Bay is only one, e.g. Da Nang + around Saigon. PHIL, VIETNAM US BASES + RUSSIA, INDIA, JAPAN, ISLAMIC NATIONS' PRESENCE = CHINA WILL ALL ABSOLUTELY LOSE ITS CLAIMS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEAS; CHINA MUST EITHER GIVE UP ITS CLAIMS, OR ELSE WAGE WAR.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PANETTA IS FIRST TOP US OFFICIAL SINCE WAR IN CAM RANH BAY.
* SAME > THE NEW GUAM DOCTRINE. Bammer/US-favored "Concert of Powers in Asia-Pacific".
ARTIC > denotes that for AUSTRALIA, EVERY AUS = OZ DEFENCE WHITE PAPER SINCE 1976, + prior 1969 NIXON/GUAM CONFERENCE, HAS BEEN A "POST-GUAM CONFERENCE" DOCUMENT.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > US WIL BE BACK IN CAM RANH BAY, VIETNAM.
POSTER = opined that besides all of the US Navy's conventional force assets, e.f. Surface Warships, Aircraft Carriers, + Subs, THE OTHER MAJOR US THREAT TO THE REGION + CHINA WILL BE ALL OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS THE US WILL HAVE ON USN SHIPS ANDOR STORED IN ALLIED LAND BASES IN HOST COUNTRIES.
OTHER POSTER = opined that that is clear the US INTENDS TO CLAIM THE BASES ARE ONLY FOR RR/MWR PURPOSES BUT IN REALITY WILL BE USED TO MONITOR + "AMBUSH" PLAN SHIPS MANEUVERING/OPERAT IN THE SCS IN TIMES OF CONFRONTATION OR WAR.
* SAME >[Inquirer Global Nation = Global Filipino] "GREATER NUMBER" OF US WARSHIPS TO VISIT PHILIPPINES. PHIL Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario.
Also from INQUIRER GLOBAL NATION > US "PIVOT" MAY STIR ASIAN SENSITIVITIES; + ...
> SINGAPORE REVIEWS [Canada] LOGISTICS FACILTY PLAN IN SUPPORT OF US SHIFT.
The Mackenzies are coming, the Mackenzies are coming!?
> CHINA WON'T BE ALLOWED TO CONQUER SCARBOROUGH SHOAL, SAYS [Philippine]MILITARY OFFICIAL.
> "WE DON'T WANT ANOTHER COLD WAR IN ASIA".
Ex-PHIL Speaker Albert Venecia.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > MANCHURIAN INDEPENDENCE GROUP SETS UP IN FACEBOOK.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > CHINA SAYS TO STEP VIGILANCE [but NOT Hard = Mil Retaliate] AFTER US NAVY SHIFT.
* TOPIX > [English Dong-A] SOUTH KOREA SHOULD GET NUCLEAR WEAPONS: REP. CHUNG.
* SAME > [News Kerala] IS TO IMPROVE TIES WID CHINA WHILE "REBALANCING" TOWARDS ASIA-PACIFIC.
* SAME > PANETTA: US OPEN TO DEFENCE TIES WID MYANMAR.
[Al Ahram] The UN's top human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... official said Saturday that there should be no amnesty for serious crimes committed in Syria, even if the threat of prosecution might motivate members of the regime to cling to power at all costs.
Asked if Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... should be allowed to leave power in exchange for safe haven, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said international leaders seeking peace may be drawn to "politically expedient solutions which may involve amnesty or undertakings not to prosecute."
But she said that would be wrong under international law.
"You cannot have amnesty for very serious crimes," she told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named during an interview in Brussels. "So my message is very clear -- there has to be accountability."
Lawyers for former Liberian President Charles Taylor The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually. , who was sentenced Wednesday by the Special Court for Sierra Leone to 50 years in prison, had argued that giving him a long sentence would send the wrong message to Assad.
Courtenay Griffiths, an attorney for Taylor, criticized the court for refusing while setting Taylor's sentence to take into account his decision to step down from power after his indictment in 2003.
"What lesson does that send to President Assad?" Griffiths asked. "Maybe the lesson is: If you are a sitting leader and the international community wants to get rid of you, either you get murdered like Qadaffy, or you hang on until the bitter end." Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... was killed by a mob in October.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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#1
I prefer a long, bloody Syrian "civil" war. But, I thought, UN has different preferences.
#3
On second thought, I think Turkey's in the same situation. They can't afford to appear to be pro-Syria but they can sure talk about how horrible the regime is while they o so carefully avoid doing anything effective. Quel Horrible! If only we had a military!
[An Nahar] French President Francois Hollande ...the impending Socialist president of La Belle France... said Friday that no solution is possible in Syria without "the departure of Bashir al-Assad."
He spoke at a presser with Russia's Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... "There must be sanctions" against the Syrian regime, Hollande added, noting that he recognized "the risks of destabilization, the risks of civil war" in Syria.
"Bashir al-Assad's regime has conducted itself in an unacceptable and intolerable manner. It has committed acts that disqualify itself" from governing, Hollande said.
He said Assad's departure was "a prerequisite for a political transition" in Syria.
Putin, who met separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... and Hollande, warned the situation in Syria was "extremely dangerous" and said he saw emerging signs of a civil war.
But he struck a fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... tone in the joint presser with Hollande, saying "sanctions hardly ever work in an efficient manner" and indicating that Assad's departure would not in itself resolve the crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Al Ahram] International peace envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... warned on Saturday that Syria was slipping into "all-out" war, and a Syrian opposition figure said Russia had become part of the problem and should urge Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... to quit power.
"The spectre of an all-out war, with an alarming sectarian dimension, grows by the day," Annan told a meeting of members of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , co-sponsor with the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... of a peace plan aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria.
Burhan Ghalioun of the Syrian National Council, the divided body claiming to speak for political opposition to Assad, said: "With its support of the regime and for Assad remaining, Russia has become part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If it cooperates to find a formula that makes Assad leave, it will become part of the solution."
Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar - which has backed arming Sunni Moslemforces of Evil fighting to topple Assad, a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect - said Annan should set a time limit for his mission.
He also called on the U.N. Security Council to put Annan's plan - based on a ceasefire that has yet to take hold, and that is meant to lead to a negotiated end to the Syrian crisis - under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, a measure that could authorise the use of force.
"We want the Security Council to refer the six-point (Annan) plan to a Chapter 7 resolution. We, the international community, cannot accept the situation to continue as it is," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Somehow, a sectarian war in Syria seems like red-on-red. It is hard to know whom to root for (or against).
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/03/2012 1:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The work of mother nature and the Almighty. Stay out of it!
Natural Selection is the process by which biological organisms with favorable traits survive and reproduce more successfully than organisms that do not possess such traits, and, conversely, organisms with deleterious traits survive and reproduce less successfully than organisms lacking such deleterious traits. This selection process is in response to forces in the natural world, as opposed to artificial selection, whereby selection is made by a human being, such as a farmer selecting his breeding stock or variety of plant. Traditionally, natural selection has been applied to biological individuals; however, the process has also been applied to levels both below the individual (the gene) and above the individual (species, higher taxa) (Dawkins 1988; Gould 2002).
[Al Ahram] Iran's former Revolutionary Guards commander says Turkey, 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 their national face... and Qatar are delegated to achieve the US and Israeli interest of toppling Bashir al-Assad's regime in Syria
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[An Nahar] Arab leaders called for U.N. action on Saturday as at least 27 people were killed in Syria amid growing concern that Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... 's peace plan is failing and the country descending into all-out civil war.
Annan himself warned of sectarian warfare, singling out Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... and his regime as key to resolving the conflict.
"The spectra of an all-out war with a worrying sectarian dimension grows by the day," he told a ministerial meeting on Syria in Doha.
"The situation is complex and it takes everyone involved in the conflict to act responsibly if the violence is to stop. But the first responsibility lies in the Syrian government and President Assad," he said.
Up to 300 unarmed U.N. military observers have deployed in Syria since a putative ceasefire brokered by Annan went into effect in April as part of a six-point peace plan, which also stipulated that the army must pull out of towns and cities.
"I told Assad he must act now to implement all points of the plan, and must make bold and visible steps immediately to radically change his military posture and honor commitments to withdraw heavy weapons and cease all violence," Annan said.
He also said he told Assad to release detainees, open up the country to international humanitarian aid and allow freedom of expression as "this is essential to demonstrate his seriousness to the Syrian people and the international community."
Earlier, the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 's ministerial committee on Syria had called on Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy on the crisis who met Assad earlier this week, to set a time frame for his mission.
"We request Mr. Annan to set a time frame for his mission because it is unacceptable that massacres and bloodshed continue while the mission is ongoing indefinitely," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said.
"We demand the U.N. Security Council refer the six-point (Annan plan) to Chapter VII so that the international community could assume responsibilities," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Maybe it's time to arm both sides and let them have at it until they've both had enough.
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
[Al Ahram] General Mounir Ramadan confirmed Saturday that the Mubarak trial verdict would bring further consequences down on the ousted president.
Some 100 people defied a government ban Saturday to rally in the centre of the Tunisian capital against Salafist extremism, accusing the authorities of double standards.
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of the
[Yemen Post] Yemen's President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi Saturday called on the international community to back and oversee a five-year strategic development plan which must focus on improving various economic sectors in the country, Saba reported. 
Zardari's wrong decision
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A series of intertwined political crises that began with accusations that Iraq's prime minister was consolidating power have escalated into calls to unseat him, and paralysed the country's government.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Charles Taylor
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
