[Tolo News] A trilateral forum, which brings the United States and India in a new arrangement with Afghanistan, is not directed against Pakistain, says a senior US official.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said that the main goal of this forum is to bring stability and economic development to Afghanistan and it is not in any means against Pakistain.
"On the contrary, it's to talk about the situation inside Afghanistan but also how we continue to support Afghanistan," Blake added.
"This is certainly not in any way seen as directed against Pakistain."
This comes as US top Senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... believes that US cannot cut off its relations with Pakistain because it could have greater challenge as Pakistain is a nuclear state.
"The US cannot afford to "cut off all relations with Pakistain because then it could become even more unstable and we could have even greater challenges since they have a nuclear inventory, among other things", as Senator McCain said.
Policy makers in Washington believe that the Indians will not send their troops to Afghanistan even if the Americans want them to. And therefore, the US will have to deal with Pakistain if it wants long-term stability in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... Afghan military expert believes that US, Afghanistan and Indian relationships can boost intelligence for either countries even for Pakistain.
"The trilateral forum of Afghanistan, US and India is beneficial for intelligence purposes for all three countries including Pakistain." General Abdul Wahed Taqat said.
The relations between Pakistain and the United States strained more when a deadly NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... air strike killed as many as 24 Pak soldiers near Afghan border.
#1
"New arrangement ... not directed at Pakistan" > perhaps it should be reconsidered ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ZAID HAMID ENDORSES IRAN-STYLE GOVERNANCE FOR PAKISTAN.
Here's the fun part - the majority of Posters-Bloggers AGREE, opining that Iran's form of Govt. is much more efficient or effective than Pakistan's corrupt + chaotic current model???
#2
opining that Iran's form of Govt. is much more efficient or effective than Pakistan's corrupt + chaotic current model???
That's because it's Iranians doing it instead of Pakistanis, JosephM, not because it's a theocratic oligarchy with trappings of representative democracy.
[Tolo News] The United States government has decided to give 146 planes to Afghanistan's National Army air force by 2016, a front man for Afghan Ministry of Defence (MOD) said Wednesday.
The ministry praised the decision adding that more warplanes should be given to Afghanistan in order to protect the country from any kind of threat.
"There is an agreement that US would give us 146 warplanes but we are not satisfied with this, the number should increase. The planes would be used in any kind of situation." General Mohammad Zaher Azimi, MOD front man said.
Don't we still have some Brewster Buffaloes available?
Strengthening the abilities of Afghanistan's Air Force could play a vital role in combating insurgency through the country and protecting the nation from any outside threat.
According to Mr Azimi, a clearing offensive named 'Omid' will be launched by Afghan National Army aimed to clear bully boyz throughout the country. The operation will focus on southern and eastern provinces which have witnessed insurgency throughout the year.
He also added that more than 85 percent of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are being brought to Afghanistan from the neighbouring countries.
#1
you're not satisfied with 146 free planes? that more than likely we will be paying too maintain and train you're cave men too fly! God why haven't these assholes been nuked repeatedly yet?
Posted by: chris ||
06/22/2012 0:23 Comments ||
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#8
#6 There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a commandant of a Soviet Flying school training Arab pilots. Every time he'd get drunk (2,3 times a week---it's Russia) he'd fill forms requesting a transfer to the command of a dog training school.
#17
I believe that this refers to the Light Attack aircraft contract that will provide either a variant of the Brazilian Tucano or the AT-6. The original selection was the Tucano, but politics is forcing a recompete.
#19
You know rwv, I did a little reading and the AT-6 wouldn't actually be a bad first plane for the Afghanistan airforce. It's robust, easy to fix, and has seen combat time in Pakistan. The Afghan Air Force could use them to shoot the heck out of the Taliban (and the like), but they would be pretty much useless against any other regional power, including Pakistan. That would be a *lot* less destabilizing than giving them F-15s!
[Tolo News] 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... warned Thursday that attacks against local police and soldiers were increasing as they prepare to take responsibility for security when NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... combat troops leave in 2014.
His remarks are likely to heighten doubts about the Afghans' ability to take over when the bulk of 130,000 US-led combat troops withdraw.
Karzai was speaking to a special session of parliament a day after a Taliban suicide kaboom on a joint Afghan-US patrol that killed 21 people in the east, close to the Pak border.
"I have noticed that these days, in the past one, two or three months, attacks on our soldiers, police and intelligence officers have increased," Karzai said. "Every day we have at least 20 to 25 casualties, every day at least 20 to 25 of our youths are making the sacrifice for this country and are being killed."
Taliban-led gunnies typically deployed jacket wallahs and roadside kabooms in the ten-year insurgency since being toppled from power by the 2001 US-led invasion.
This week alone bully boyz have staged three major suicide attacks on Afghan-NATO military posts in the troubled east and south of the country.
Karzai admitted his government and its Western allies had failed to bring peace to Afghanistan, which has suffered almost continuous conflict for the past three decades.
Since the Taliban were tossed, Afghanistan has been flooded with billions of dollars in Western aid, but the country is awash with graft, and Karzai admitted the problem was worse than ever.
CAIRO: Egypt yesterday braced for a showdown between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood as the electoral commission delayed announcing the winner of a presidential poll claimed by the Islamists.
See why it was important to run out the American NGOs who were watching the vote?
A delay in announcing the results from the run-off, which had been due on Thursday, heightened Brotherhood fears of a soft coup by the ruling military, which has already disbanded the Islamist-led parliament and granted itself sweeping powers.
A senior Brotherhood official warned the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that it risked a confrontation with the people if Hosni Mubaraks last premier Ahmed Shafiq was declared the winner over Mohamed Morsi. Another Brotherhood leader, Khairat El-Shater, said Islamist supporters would rally peacefully if Shafiq was declared the winner, because the Brotherhood had evidence that Morsi won, the groups website reported.
Returning officers had handed stamped results to representatives of the rival candidates after completing their tallies, which Morsis campaign has made public. But only the electoral commission can declare the official result.
The commission said late on Wednesday it would delay its announcement while it studied allegations of fraud from both candidates that might affect the final outcome of the June 16-17 run-off. Shafiqs campaign team, which insists he won despite the Brotherhood claims of victory within hours of polls closing, accuses the Morsi camp of printing almost a million false ballots, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported.
Morsis campaign, which has published the results from counts across the country, denies the allegation and accuses Shafiqs team of bribing voters.
The newspaper of the Brotherhoods political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), ran a large red banner on its Thursday edition saying: Sit-in, above an announcement of an open-ended protest until Morsi is sworn in.
The military has pledged to transfer power to the winner by the end of the month, but Brotherhood members who set up tents in Cairos Tahrir Square, the hub of protests that overthrew Mubarak last year, say they are not convinced. They cite the militarys assumption of legislative powers after a court ordered parliament dissolved, and decrees giving the army powers of arrest and a broad say in government policy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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More than half of Kuwaits members of Parliament have resigned in protest at a courts decision to annul an election that had given the conservative-led opposition a majority. The resignations deepen the political crisis in the major oil exporter.
Wednesdays ruling effectively dissolved the Parliament elected in February and reinstated its predecessor, but the resignations by many lawmakers who were in the previous Parliament deprives the 50-seat Assembly of more than half its members, making it difficult to function. The number of resigning lawmakers had risen by yesterday to at least 26, parliamentary sources said.
It does us no honor to be part of the 2009 assembly which was brought down by the nation, said Jamaan Al-Harbish after Wednesdays ruling, speaking on behalf of several lawmakers.
We thus tender our resignations, he added.
Some parliamentarians and analysts compared Wednesdays court ruling to Egypts constitutional courts decision to annul the conservative-dominated Parliament earlier this month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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[Wall Street Journal] Prosecutors in the trial of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik called for him to be considered insane and asked the court to sentence him to compulsory psychiatric care, prompting Mr. Breivik to smirk and raise his fist in a defiant right-wing salute.
Judges in the trial will have until July or August to deliver their verdict, after the defense finishes its closing arguments on Friday. The defense attorneys are expected to argue on Friday that Mr. Breivik is sane, and demand a prison sentence. Mr. Breivik has asked he be declared mentally fit and released.
Anders Behring Breivik has asked the court to declare him mentally fit and to release him.
Prosecutor Svein Holden told the Oslo District Court on Thursday that he wasn't entirely convinced Mr. Breivik was insane, but that there were enough doubts over his sanity to send him to psychiatric care rather than to prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2012 00:52 ||
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#1
smirk and raise his fist in a defiant right-wing salute.
Those Olympian medal winners of ours in Mexico City would be surprised to learn they engaged in right-wing behavior.
WASHINGTON: The US government has asked a federal court to reject lawsuits demanding the release of documents on CIA drone strikes targeting suspected militants abroad, saying the entire subject is classified. Shortly before a midnight deadline on Wednesday, US government lawyers filed a brief to the district court in New York defending the veil of secrecy around the drone campaign, which has killed numerous Al-Qaeda figures and associates in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
Whether or not the CIA has the authority to be, or is in fact, directly involved in targeted lethal operations remains classified, the government brief stated.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the New York Times had filed lawsuits after having requested papers on the drone bombing campaign under the Freedom of Information Act.
Why didn't the NYT just ask their favorite leaker for the documents? They could have offered to do a special Sunday edition for Champ and his campaign on the subject...
The organizations had requested documents explaining the legal basis for the raids and the killing of terror suspects who are US citizens, such as the US-born cleric Anwar Al-Awlaqi who was taken out last year in a drone strike.
The government not only ruled out releasing documents related to the drone strikes, but argued that merely referring to the number or categories of documents posed a threat to national security.
Even to describe the numbers and details of most of these documents would reveal information that could damage the governments counter terrorism efforts, it said.
The ACLU called the governments argument absurd, saying the drone war was an open secret that government officials have boasted about to reporters.
Senior officials have discussed it, both on the record and off. They have taken credit for its putative successes, professed it to be legal, and dismissed concerns about civilian casualties, Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement. The public is entitled to know more about the legal authority the administration is claiming and the way that the administration is using it.
He's got a point. Once you start leaking secret information to score political points on the campaign trail, you really can't come back with an argument about national security. The proper thing for Champ and his administration would have been to keep their mouths shut from day one about the drones, and blame it all on the Ruritanians.
The Obama administrations brief to the court acknowledged the use of lethal force is undoubtedly of the utmost public concern but said it had to take into account legal prohibitions against the release of classified information.
So when will you discipline the ones who leaked the rest of this to the press on behalf of your campaign?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
The NYT is looking for FOIA cover for documents it already has via Obama's "White House leadership and advisors"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/22/2012 11:35 Comments ||
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#2
Why didn't the NYT just ask their favorite leaker for the documents?
[Guardian UK] The US policy of using aerial drones to carry out assassinations presents a major challenge to the system of international law that has endured since the second world war, a United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... investigator has said.
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions, told a conference in Geneva that President B.O.'s attacks in Pakistain, Yemen and elsewhere, carried out by the CIA, would encourage other states to flout long-established human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... standards.
In his strongest critique so far of drone strikes, Heyns suggested some may even constitute "war crimes". His comments come amid rising international unease over the surge in killings by remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Addressing the conference, which was organised by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a second UN rapporteur, Ben Emmerson QC, who monitors counter-terrorism, announced he would be prioritising inquiries into drone strikes.
The London-based barrister said the issue was moving rapidly up the international agenda after China and Russia this week jointly issued a statement at the UN Human Rights Council, backed by other countries, condemning drone attacks.
If the US or any other states responsible for attacks outside recognised war zones did not establish independent investigations into each killing, Emmerson emphasised, then "the UN itself should consider establishing an investigatory body".
Also present was Pakistain's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Zamir Akram, who called for international legal action to halt the "totally counterproductive attacks" by the US in his country.
Heyns, a South African law professor, told the meeting: "Are we to accept major changes to the international legal system which has been in existence since world war two and survived nuclear threats?"
Some states, he added, "find assassinations immensely attractive. Others may do so in future ... Current targeting practices weaken the rule of law. Killings may be lawful in an armed conflict [such as Afghanistan] but many assassinations take place far from areas where it's recognised as being an armed conflict."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2012 10:43 ||
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#1
But he has a Nobel Peace Prize! That make it OK, right?
#2
50 years of failed enforcement threatens international law. You mean all the pretense and meetings and useless declarations are being called for what they are? Quick, we need to protect our phoney baloney jobs!
#4
Hey, the UN rapp'er is just blowing smoke out the posterior. They cannot even control their own employees or contractors, much less certified and licensed terrorists.
Send them a FOAD letter, or better yet, ignore them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/22/2012 15:05 Comments ||
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#5
Or even better, fire them all and burn the place down, then demand a refund of ALL our dues and anything else we paid.
A nephew of Saddam Hussein, wanted by Iraq for membership in a terrorist organization, has claimed asylum in Austria saying he fears persecution, Austria's interior ministry announced.
Terrorists usually do fear prosecution...
A spokesman for the ministry said the man, whom they named only as Bashar N., had been detained without identity documents on Thursday in the town of Traiskirchen, a well-known center for asylum-seekers since the Cold War, along with two other people.
The ministry spokesman said, "Asylum proceedings are now under way in Austria. Regardless of his origin, everyone has a right to a legal process."
Bashar N. has been on an Iraqi wanted list since 2006, he is not under arrest. His identity was established by fingerprints.
Bashar N. claimed he had come to Austria by plane from Turkey using a false passport, which was then taken away by the people smuggler who had assisted him. He is being held at a secret location for his own safety.
[An Nahar] The speaker of the Iraqi parliament said on Thursday that he had ordered a halt to all work at the legislature until concrete blast walls removed in recent days are put back.
Osama al-Nujaifi said that if the government were confident that the security precaution was no longer necessary, then all of the protective barriers around the entirety of the Green Zone, Storied Baghdad's ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... fortified government and embassy compound, should be removed.
"I suspended the working hours... and we requested the return of all the blast walls," Nujaifi told a news conference at the parliament building inside the Green Zone.
"Removing the blast walls at this time is very dangerous for the employees of parliament," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2012 00:57 ||
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U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Israels military for signs it will conduct strikes on Syrias stockpiles of chemical weapons, amid concerns the deadly nerve agents could fall under the control of Hezbollah or al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. officials said.
As usual, Champ and Hilde are more worried about Israel than about Pencilneck...
Syrias arsenal remains vulnerable as the result of the internal conflict currently underway in Syria between government forces and opposition rebels, one official said.
Everyone suspects Syria maintains an active chemical weapons program; and it would be dangerous not to plan accordingly, the official said.
As for concerns the weapons will be captured or transferred, the official said: Most countries that have CW stocks view it as a strategic, not tactical, tooland strategic tools are usually pretty well protected and arent given away lightly.
Which doesn't mean that it could never happen...
However, other U.S. officials said special operations forces are prepared to take action inside Syria in the event the regime falls and the country spirals further into chaos. The teams would seek to secure or destroy stockpiles of chemical arms to keep them from being taken over by terrorists. Hezbollah has been very active in Syria, and there are reports that al Qaeda terrorists have moved into Syria during the current crisis.
Whose special teams, ours or Israel's?
The exact size of the Syrian chemical arsenal is not known. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported several years ago that Syria has stockpiled 500 to 1,000 metric tons of chemical agents. The weapons are said to include long-lasting VX nerve agent and less-persistent Sarin nerve agent, as well as mustard blister agents. Most but not all of the weapons stockpiles are known to U.S. intelligence agencies.
The New York Timesleaked reported Thursday that CIA operatives are working in southern Turkey to coordinate foreign assistance to Syrian rebel forces.
Recent statements by senior Israeli military officials prompted U.S. concerns over an Israeli strike on Syria. Senior officials in Israel told the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that if Syrias army gave chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorists an Israeli attack would be needed.
That would seem to be a pretty bright red line. Why would we restrain Israel in that situation?
The newspaper reported May 31 that Israel failed to prevent Syrias transfer of M-600 rockets to Hezbollah and the weapons can now threaten central Israel. One military source was quoted as saying that mistake would not be repeated.
Israeli Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, commander of forces deployed on the Syrian and Lebanese front, was quoted in press reports expressing concerns about Syria being used as a warehouse for war materiel that feeds terrorist elements in the region.
Golan also said there were reports that al Qaeda terrorists are working against the regime in Damascus and those terrorists eventually would target Israel, perhaps in the coming months.
IDF Deputy Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh also said June 11 that Israeli forces must be on alert because Syrias military has the largest chemical weapons arsenal in the region, which can reach any spot in Israel. He expressed worries that the weapons could fall into the hands of the rebels or the terrorists.
A State Department arms compliance report from 2010 stated that Syria is also believed to have an offensive biological weapons program in addition to the chemical arms.
Calls for military intervention could increase if Syrian forces begin using the deadly chemical weapons in battling opposition forces.
Daddy Bashir doesn't worry about that much when he gassed Hama...
A Syrian rebel leader, Col. Riad al-Asaad of the Syrian Free Army, told Al Jazeera June 8 that Syrian military aircraft had dropped chemical bombs that poisoned people, and that government forces had distributed gas masks to troops 10 days earlier in preparation for the use of the weapons against northern areas of the country.
State Department cables disclosed last year revealed Syria had obtained large quantities of chemical weapons precursor agents from China, Italy, and other states.
A July 10, 2008, cable said: While Syria proclaims its desire to cooperate with the IAEA in investigating serious evidence of a covert nuclear program and allowed an extremely restricted June 22-25 IAEA visit to investigate a covert nuclear program, Syria has never accounted for its [chemical weapons] stocks, refuses to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, and is modernizing its long-range missile systems in cooperation with Russia, North Korea, and other countries.
There remain suspicions Syria could be sharing missile technology with Hezbollah, the cable said, noting, Just as Washington has done in past demarches regarding Syrian WMD and missile programs, Post believes a new scrub of releasable intelligence would strengthen our arguments regarding the gap between Syrian rhetoric and actions.
A June 20, 2006, cable reported that Iran was assisting Syrias chemical warfare program with construction of four to five precursor chemical production facilities.
Iran would provide the construction design and equipment to annually produce tens to hundreds of tons of precursors for VX, sarin, and mustard, the cable said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 14:28 ||
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#1
That really should be "Obama is worried..." I have no problem with Israel turning Iran into a parking lot or a land fill.
#2
More likely, Obama doesn't want to deal with anything that might impact the election adversely for him. A complete lack of leadership ability. Amateur hour.
#4
Rather than all this theater, what is Bambi going to do about Syria now that they admitted shooting down a Turkish F-4 Phantom? since Turkey is a NATO country, all NATO membera are obligated to come to their aid if that is how things develop. Might actually force Sh!tforbrains to make a decision.
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Syria had admitted it had shot down a Turkish warplane in the Mediterranean and apologized, BBC Monitoring reported, citing Turkey's state news agency Anatolia.
The report could not immediately be confirmed. Turkey's military earlier announced it had lost contact with a fighter jet while it was over the sea off the southeastern coast. It did not give any further details.
Mosab Hassan Yusef has a knack for controversy. The son of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, founder Sheikh Hassan Yusef, he has already broken every taboo in the Paleostinian book. He has worked for Israeli intelligence and converted to Christianity. Now he is developing a new film which is sure to be no less sensational: a biography of the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.
Yusef, 33, broke ranks with Hamas in 1997 and began working for the Israeli internal intelligence service Shin Bet. Ten years later, after helping Israel thwart dozens of terror attacks and arrest many members of his former movement, Yusef left for the United States where he sought political asylum and later converted to Christianity.
Today, he says, he is back in Israel for the first time on a personal visit to inspire a new generation of Paleostinians.
I love Israel because I love democracy, Yusef told journalists in Jerusalem
I love Israel because I love democracy, he told journalists in Jerusalem Tuesday. I am here to protest religions absolute control of peoples lives.
Standing next to his retired Shin Bet handler, Gonen Ben-Itzhak, Yusef refused to answer questions in Arabic. He said he was on a mission to educate the public about the true nature of his former religion.
Islam is not a religion of peace. Its a religion of war, he said. Moslems dont even know the true nature of their own religion.
He saved many lives and stopped many attacks, Ben-Itzhak says. I think that we, as Israelis, must show our gratitude to people like him
To that end, Yusef decided to produce a film about the touchiest subject of all: the revered prophet of Islam, Muhammad. He says the film is based on a traditional biography of Muhammad written by the eighth-century Moslem historian Ibn Ishaq.
He said the film is unique in that it will be produced by Moslems, or people of Moslem background, unlike recent European attempts to tackle the complex historiography of Muhammad. With a written screenplay, guaranteed funding, and a celebrity actor (whose name he would not divulge) in the lead role as Muhammad, Yusef said he hoped filming will commence next year.
Muhammad is still untouchable, Yusef said, noting that controversial as it was, Mel Gibsons 2004 film The Passion of Christ touched many people worldwide.
Another film, expected to be produced before Muhammad, is a cinematic adaptation of Yusefs 2010 autobiography Son of Hamas, in which he recounts the tale of his cooperation with Israeli intelligence. Yusef said the book was already translated into 25 languages and is available for free download in Arabic on his personal website.
When asked what he would tell his father if he were in the room, Yusef said only: Leave Hamas. You have created a monster.
Gonen Ben-Itzhak, Yusefs handler who appears in the book under his operational pseudonym Captain Luay, said he considers Yusef his brother and has become his close friend after their professional paths parted in 2004.
He saved many lives and stopped many attacks, Ben-Itzhak told The Times of Israel. I think that we, as Israelis, must show our gratitude to people like him. Even while working for us he was always against bloodshed, on both sides.
Ben-Itzhak noted that Israeli officials voiced their concern about Yusefs arrival in Israel as his life is still under threat, but added that Yusef was allowed into the country with neither visa nor passport.
His story is very unusual, Ben-Itzhak added. I cant recall the last time an asset came out like this.
#1
How in the name of all that's holy is this dude still alive?????
Having read about him before I don't think that this is an extended Taqiya performance. But boy if nothing else will do it a movie about Mo-ham-head???? Hope he's not planning on visiting Holland anytime soon.
#2
With a written screenplay, guaranteed funding, and a celebrity actor (whose name he would not divulge) in the lead role as Muhammad, Yusef said he hoped filming will commence next year.
Muslim educated? A friend of Hollywood elite? Loves golf? Currently embroiled in a nasty Mexican weapons scheme? Available for....on-site work next year?
#3
When asked what he would tell his father if he were in the room, Yusef said only: "Leave Hamas. You have created a monster."
Secretly his father is already aware he has created a monster.
In a UN peace talk meeting in Jerusalim with the founder of Hamas, Israelis, etc., a Christian negotiator was given the opportunity to make one last statement like everyone else in that room that afternoon. And he said, "If all the people of this world would accept the fact that not far from this room, God's own son came and not far from here died for the sins of us all, if all the world would realize that, our children would no longer be dieing in wars for the percieved greavances of our so called enemies."
The room went silent.
He said the Hamas founder, big, hard looking man followed him outside the building and the negotiator at first feared for his life, but when he got to the car, the big man caught up with him, put his arms around him, and said, "You are a good man, a very good man."
Two Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,forces of Evil died Thursday after inhaling gas in a tunnel which was bombed by Israel on Tuesday, the Paleostinian Islamist movement reported.
According to recent reports, the two forces of Evil went to inspect the bombed tunnel in northern Gazoo and suffocated to death from an unidentified gas.
[Ynet] Egyptian daily releases information on terrorist who executed attack on security fence; Khaled Saleh belonged to al-Qaeda linked organization, participated in Libyan revolt. 'He was determined to die a martyr,' says friend
Egyptian independent daily al-Masry al-Youm released on Thursday new information on the terrorist who executed the terror attack against Said Pashpashe near the Israel-Egypt security fence on Monday.
detonated an improvised bomb and then opened fire on two vehicles carrying construction workers. Following the attack on Israel's southern border, Golani soldiers who were scrambled to the area engaged the cell, killing Saleh and one other terrorists.
Prior to the attack, Saleh was filmed in a video clip
...which can be seen at the link. Click on the article title to go there.
which was later released by a jihadist organization calling itself the Mujahideen Shura Council.
Iraq used to have one of those, back when Al Qaeda in Iraq was actually scary.
The organization is most likely linked to al-Qaeda.
Saleh lived in Egypt's Matrouh region and visited Libya just after the full-scale revolt against the country's leader Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... which began on February 17, 2011.
The newspaper further reported the Saleh, 25, joined one of the Libyan jihad organizations that took part in attacks against Qadaffy's forces.
Saleh remained in Libya for five months following a bullet wound to his right leg. He then returned to Egypt where he received further medical attention.
One of Saleh's friends said that "he was determined to die a martyr."
"Saleh disappeared for four months. No one had heard from him up until we saw him in the video, where he declared his intention to execute an attack in Israel," he added.
The Egyptian daily attempted to contact Saleh's brothers but the two refused to speak with the press. Sources close to the family said that the notice of his death has not yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... the jihadist organization's video, which also grabbed credit for the border attack in Israel, is currently being examined 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... Mansour al-Turki, a front man for the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Wednesday to the Saudi newspaper Ukaz, that the country is currently investigating the involvement of a Saudi citizen in the shooting attack against Israelis on the Egyptian border on Monday morning.
Syrian President Bashar Assad Thursday night, June 21, ordered his entire Air Force fleet of fighter bombers grounded, for fear that more pilots might defect after Col. Hasan Merhi al-Hamadeh flew to Jordan aboard a MiG-21.
Officials in Damascus noted that the same day was chosen by Washington to confirm that CIA officers were present in southern Turkey to help the Free Syrian Army rebels fight the Syrian government. Syrian officials are convinced that the defection of the pilot with his plane was organized by the Americans and that more are in the pipeline in an attempt to show the Syrian people and Arab world that even the Syrian air force, the part of the armed forces most loyal to Assad, was in fact slipping out of his hands.
DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report that, early Thursday, Col, al-Hamadeh flew out of the Khalkhala air base, which is situated between the southern towns of Deraa and Suweida not far from the Druze Mountain.
While his MiG belonged to the 73rd Air Brigade, he was a member of the Syrian Air Force's 20th Division and commander of the MiG-21 test squadron, which regularly inspects those aircraft at southern air bases to check if they are flight worthy.
That is why no one at the Khalkhala base saw anything amiss when this officer climbed aboard one of the aircraft and suddenly pivoted the plane at a sharp angle - even when he failed to respond to control tower signals.
But before they could catch on, the MiG-21 was gone over the border to Jordan, a flight of no more than 90 seconds.
Because the Jordanians were not forewarned about an incoming Syrian air force plane, Col. Al-Hamadeh requested permission from the control tower at Al Hussein air base in northern Jordan to make an emergency landing. As soon as the MiG came to a stop on the runway, the Syrian colonel jumped out, shed is uniform and prayed.
Our sources disclose that the defector came from the village of Meles in the Idlib district of northern Syria where he has left his wife, four children and family. This village is one of the few parts of the embattled district to remain in Free Syrian Army rebel hands. Their agents were certainly involved in helping to arrange his escape.
Our sources disclose that the defector came from the village of Meles in the Idlib district of northern Syria where he has left his wife, four children and family.
In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Idlib had a population of 97,969 (2004 census). The inhabitants are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims.
The Flame computer virus is not only capable of espionage but it can also sabotage computer systems and likely was used to attack Iran in April, according to a leading security company, Symantec Corp.
Iran had previously blamed Flame for causing data loss on computers in the country's main oil export terminal and Oil Ministry. But prior to Symantec's discovery, cyber experts had only unearthed evidence that proved the mysterious virus was capable of espionage.
Symantec researcher Vikram Thakur said on Thursday that the company has now identified a component of Flame that allows operators to delete files from computers.
#1
Obvious. But even more fun than espionage and deleting stuff would be to subtly alter the files or data. "The daily report says everything is fine! Continue operations"
[An Nahar] Syria that calls on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... to leave power and go into exile was not workable because he would not quit.
"A scheme according to which President Assad should leave somewhere before something happens in terms of a cessation of violence and a political process, this scheme does not work simply from the very start," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. "It is infeasible because he will not leave."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2012 00:55 ||
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#1
Mama Russia doesn't want any regional explosions vee Iran + espec the Caucasus - iff that means keeping Baby Assad in power so be it.
versus
* WAFF > KREMLIN ORDERS PLANS DRAWN UP FOR EVACUATION OF RUSSIAN ADVISORS + CITIZENS FROM IRAQ.
ARTIC = there are potentially up to 100,000
Ex-Soviet Mil Advisors, Engineers, etc. whom had married Syrian locals + chose to stay, reside in the country.
* SAME > [Turkey] MILITARY CHIEF: WE CAN DESTROY KANDIL [PKK base in Iraq] ON THREE CONDITIONS.
> ANKARA must give consent.
> US must give consent.
> PUBLIC willing or ready to accept high Mil, Civilian? casualties = losses???
#2
OOOPPPSSS, forgot DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN OPPOSITION SUSPEND NUKE NEGOTIATIONS | IRAN TO SUSPEND NUCLEAR TALKS UNTIL SANCTIONS ARE LIFTED: WEBSITE.
Website is repor close to influential Moderates widin the Tehran Govt.
IMO the real news here is notsomuch Iran's decisions but the pressures that must be mounting on the USA = POTUS Bammer + Admin to take major action agz Iran's Nucprogs above + beyond what has already been done???
(Xinhuanet) -- A Syrian fighter pilot who flew his MiG-21 warplane to Jordan has been granted political asylum. This is the first defection with a military aircraft during 15-month conflict.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense said the breakaway fighter pilot is a traitor to his homeland and his military honor. The ministry said that communication with the Jordanian government was underway to retreive the aircraft. It added that penalties would be imposed on the defected pilot in accordance with the law.
The pilot, identified as Colonel Hassan Hamma-deh, allegedly removed his Syrian air force tag and kneeled on the tarmac in prayer after landing his plane at King Hussein Air Base in Ma-fraq, Jordan. Jordan already has taken in 125-thousand Syrian refugees, including hundreds of army and police defectors, and Syria is seeking their return.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2012 00:50 ||
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[Times of Israel] Serving envoy, trusted by Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , has detailed how Iran arms Hezbollah via Syria, according to TV report
A serving Syrian diplomat, trusted by the Assad regime, has been passing intelligence material to Israel and to the United States, an Israeli TV station reported on Thursday night.
The information that has reached Israel includes details of the means by which Iran has been channeling arms on land and sea via Syria to Hezbollah in Leb, Channel 10 News reported.
The intelligence information is being transferred via a reliable intermediary, the report said. Israeli recipients include a minister in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a Knesset member with a background in the security establishment, it added.
Though trusted by Damascus, the diplomat is actually a firm supporter of the Syrian opposition, the report said, and his activities are part of wider efforts at contact between Syrian opposition figures and Israel.
The TV report came on the same day as a far more overt display of disloyalty to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... : A Syrian fighter pilot on a training mission flew his MiG-21 warplane to Jordan and asked for political asylum, the first defection of an air force pilot with his plane during the 15-month uprising against Assad.
#1
Last night's night news stopped just short of reporting CIA operators in Turkey had been training the Syrian opposition on the ground in Syria. The opposition weapons pictured in the broadcast were of Soviet or Eastern Block manufacture and all appeared to be very new.
Appears to be another Obama "good war" distraction in the making.
The Iranian navy has announced plans to build more warships and increase its presence in international waters at a time of growing tension in the Middle East over Tehran's nuclear programme, IRNA reported.
Navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the deployments would protect Iranian cargo ships around the world, in particular in the Gulf of Aden and the northern part of the Indian Ocean, according to IRNA. State-owned Press TV quoted Sayyari as saying: "Our presence in international waters is aimed at safeguarding the interests of the Islamic Republic and strengthening military power to defend Iran."
"So we will multiply our efforts to enhance our military might and have a presence in international waters," he said.
The navy's deputy chief for technical affairs said the force planned to build 10 more vessels, including destroyers and missile-launching frigates, Press TV said. Work on building the ships would start after construction of "Velayat" a Mowj-2 class destroyer is completed.
It's a frigate, but whatever...
Iranian military officials often talk crazyboast wildlysay stupid stuff assert their military strength in the region, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil transit channel carrying supplies from Gulf producers to the West.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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That way he doesn't have to walk as far to withdraw the Krugerrands...
Britain and the United States have discussed offering Pencilneck Syrian President Bashar al-Assad immunity from prosecution if he steps down as part of a political transition package, reports said Thursday. Britains Foreign Office said there was no new offer on the table when asked to comment on the reports in several UK newspapers, which cited anonymous British government officials.
Discussion of a possible initiative came after US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron received encouragment from Russian President Vladimir Putin in talks at the G20 in Mexico, The Guardian reported.
Britain was ready to discuss clemency for Assad if it meant a Yemen-style transition of power conference could be arranged, possibly in Switzerland, reports said.
After all, look how well Yemen's turned out...
Those of us who had bilaterals thought there was just enough out of those meetings to make it worth pursuing the objective of negotiating a transitional process in Syria, the Guardian quoted a senior British official as saying.
The Daily Telegraph said Assad could be offered safe passage to take part in talks in Switzerland. The Independent newspaper said the peace conference could take place in Geneva at the end of this month, and said a clemency offer could involve Assad being allowed to flee to another country.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: There is no new offer. The longer the killing goes on, the fewer options Assad will have. But it is for the Syrian people, including the opposition, to decide the details of a transition including the options for Assad.
The spokesman added we continue to do everything we can to bring an end to the violence in Syria. The way forward is to implement the Annan plan, to have international support for it in order to reduce the number of killings and the violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Transition of power to whom?
Posted by: European Conservativ ||
06/22/2012 8:58 Comments ||
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#2
That is indeed the big question, European Conservative.
WASHINGTON: Irans uranium enrichment effort has picked up speed in the past three years and has not been crippled by cyber sabotage from the Stuxnet virus, experts told US lawmakers on Wednesday. As a result, Iran could produce enough fissile material needed for a nuclear weapon within four months, if the leadership decided to go ahead, the experts told the House Armed Services Committee.
Based on the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), its clear that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon very quickly should it wish to do so, said Stephen Rademaker of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
Iran has produced 3,345 kilos of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent, according to the IAEA, which if it was enriched further would provide enough uranium for at least two atomic bombs, Rademaker said.
If the Iranian leadership made the decision to produce an atomic weapon, it would take them 35 to 106 days to actually have the fissile material for a weapon, he said.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), told the same hearing that it would take Iran at least four months in order to have sufficient weapon grade uranium ... for a nuclear explosive device.
Uranium 235 must be enriched close to 90 percent for use in an atomic bomb.
The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has said that it was technically feasible Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon in one or two years.
More than 9,000 Iranian centrifuges are churning out 158 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium a month, three times the production rate compared to mid-2009, when the Stuxnet virus struck the program, Rademaker said.
The enrichment rate is three times the rate of production prior to the Stuxnet virus, which many people have suggested somehow crippled their program.
So Stuxnet may have set them back, but not by very much, at least not sufficiently, he added.
According to leaks provided toThe New York Timesby the Obama campaign, President Barack Obama, and his predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush, approved the use of the Stuxnet virus to disrupt Irans nuclear program, in the first known sustained US cyber attack.
Stuxnet a complex virus developed jointly with Israel sowed confusion at Irans Natanz nuclear plant, the Times reported, but the virus later accidentally spread outside of Iran, appearing in computer systems in other countries.
Some analysts and former US military officers have touted cyber attacks as a more effective weapon against Irans nuclear ambitions than bombing raids, which they say would carry big risks without causing permanent damage to the program.
US intelligence agencies believe Irans leadership has not yet decided to pursue nuclear weapons, even as the regime presses ahead with uranium enrichment and other activities that could provide the capability to create an atomic arsenal.
We really dont know if theyre going to decide to build a nuclear weapon, but the indications are at least that theyre on a trajectory to do so, Albright said.
If Iran decided to start producing weapons-grade uranium, either the UN nuclear watchdog or US intelligence likely would detect the move within one to three weeks, he added.
Oh yeah, the UN nuclear watchdog, that's a fierce bunch...
Wednesdays congressional hearing came after two days of tense talks between world powers and Iran in Moscow that failed to produce a breakthrough over Tehrans disputed nuclear program.
Former US senator Chuck Robb, who also testified at the House hearing, said diplomacy could only succeed if Iran believed there was a genuine threat of military force if they failed to compromise. Robb said it is a credible threat of force when pursued together with diplomacy and sanctions that proves the best hope for peace.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
It seems that everyone thinks that once they have one bomb that they are untouchable. Better to hit them before they got a second one.
Once they have one, they can hardly claim it is for "peaceful purposes".
Oh, nevermind. Mad Mullahs and all. I suppose they need the bomb for peaceful purposes - to keep safe from the Big Bad Satan.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2012 5:50 Comments ||
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#2
Not to worry...
would take them 35 to 106 days to actually have the fissile material for a weapon
and
If Iran decided to start producing weapons-grade uranium, either the UN nuclear watchdog or US intelligence likely would detect the move within one to three weeks
Assuming those timelines are precise, what's anybody gonna do in the ten days between discovery and deployment?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2012 5:53 Comments ||
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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.
John 
Prosecutors in the trial of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik called for him to be considered insane and asked the court to sentence him to compulsory psychiatric care, prompting Mr. Breivik to smirk and raise his fist in a defiant right-wing salute.
The US policy of using aerial drones to carry out 
Syrian President Bashar Assad Thursday night, June 21, ordered his entire Air Force fleet of fighter bombers grounded, for fear that more pilots might defect after Col. Hasan Merhi al-Hamadeh flew to Jordan aboard a MiG-21.
The Flame computer virus is not only capable of espionage but it can also sabotage computer systems and likely was used to attack Iran in April, according to a leading security company, Symantec Corp.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
(Xinhuanet) -- A Syrian fighter pilot who flew his MiG-21 warplane to Jordan has been granted political asylum. This is the first defection with a military aircraft during 15-month conflict.
