WASHINGTON -- The farmer picking apples in the outskirts of Kabul must pay the Taliban $33 to ship out each truckload of fruit. The governor sends in armed men to chase workers off job sites if the official bribes aren't paid. Poor neighborhoods never get their U.N.-provided wheat, long since sold on the black market.
Ultimately, the enduring corruption and collusion between political elites and insurgents may not define the post-war Afghanistan or what America's nearly 15-year legacy will mean when all U.S. troops have departed. But it does challenge any notion of a clean exit. Is this third world toilet really worth the loss of precious American lives and treasure? Have to snatch the boodle while it's worth snatching...
#1
And this is different from home where pols are ripping off the system and taking kickbacks campaign contributions as revenues sink and they desperately seek to kill any new means to start jobs and employment?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/25/2011 14:51 Comments ||
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#4
No reason to hold back if the infidel gravy spigot is about to be turned off. Islam really is Lord of the Flies, except flies serve a useful purpose.
#5
Remember that the South Vietnamese government just went to pluperfect hell when the first indications came that the Americans were leaving.
The upper classes just immediately booked the next available flight out, because they could see it coming from a mile away, and they owed no loyalty to their rulers.
But the government classes just went on a pillage spree of graft, stealing everything not nailed down. This guaranteed the collapse of their nation, and in the long run did them personally no good, as by the time they decided to flee, there was no means or destination left. So many of them either were shot or put in reeducation camps.
A proper end for such scum.
Karzai has probably stolen enough money to make it out, but most of his kith and kin are going to be disposed of by the next warlord who takes over.
#6
You usually do not have war zones in places with functioning governments that are at least trying to serve the people. Wars start and are sustained in sh*tholes.
Afghanistan was a grand experiment in nation building that, except for individual situations, has not succeeded. Hopefully it will be a lesson learned.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/25/2011 19:59 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Dozens of Afghan MPs unseated by a special election court investigating allegations of fraud and irregularities have threatened to call for protests, including blocking the country's roads.
They finally have roads to block?
"If the special court is not absolved, we will call our constituencies to the streets and the president will bear responsibility for what might happen," Haji Zahir Qadeer, an MP from Nengrahar province, told news hounds.
Democracy offers so many more possibilities for fun that the mere killing of opponents afforded by old-fashioned warlordism.
A special election court set up by 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... unseated 61 members of the Afghan parliament - a quarter of the lower house - including its deputy speaker on claims of fraud.
The parliament has been in session for more than four months.
Sediqullah Haqiq, the head of the tribunal, said it had found evidence of fraud in 33 of 34 Afghan provinces. He called the court's ruling "final."
"Those parliamentarians who won seats in parliament through electoral fraud and violation must be prosecuted," he said.
"If fraud is prevented, that is a good thing because people will believe rule of law exists," Saira Sharif, a member of the parliament from Khost province, ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... told Al Jizz.
"But one questions the manner in which it has been done. Even if the debate over the legality of the special court was settled, why are they announcing the results four months after the parliament opened?"
The court's decision has intensified an ongoing political crisis. For months now, the different branches of the government have disagreed on the results of the vote.
Karzai set up the court to review the results of last year's parliamentary vote that was marred by widespread allegations of fraud.
But Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC), the office responsible for conducting elections, has called the creation of a special court illegal. It says it had weeded out instances of fraud and says the results it announced are final.
Their firmness has been met with threats from the government's attorney general, who ordered the arrest of members of the commission in February.
"Continuing with our initials stance, we fully believe the announcement of election results is the authority of the Election Commission and not any other authority," Tabish Frogh, a spokesperson for the IEC, told Al Jizz.
Frogh, once again, insisted the special court was illegal according to the constitution.
Unseated parliamentary members also claim that the ruling of the court is political, pointing to the fact that major fraud in recent presidential and district level elections went unnoticed. They have called on the international community to intervene.
"The unseated members are saying they will block the roads, that they have people as well. This is definitely building into a crisis," Sharif said.
Ishaq Aleko, Karzai's attorney general, has told local media that he will implement the court's ruling very soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] The United States has introduced a UN resolution that would deploy a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Sudan's disputed Abyei region, the scene of heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... in recent weeks.
Did someone at the State Department check to see if the Ethiopians are willing, or is the Obama administration playing Amateur Hour again?
Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, said the resolution will support an agreement signed on Monday by the Khartoum-based government in the north, and the government of south Sudan, to demilitarise the contested border region.
Rice told news hounds that the two parties requested the troops to be deployed under UN auspices and called for swift adoption of the resolution by the Security Council so they can get on the ground in Abyei immediately.
"Ultimately, it's obviously up for the Security Council to decide the strength and the mandate of any UN mission,'' she said. "But the United States, in tabling this draft, has sought to remain faithful to the agreement reached by the parties, which we understand was hard won and inherently fragile.''
She declined to predict how long it would take to adopt the resolution and said that it would not happen overnight.
The violence in Abyei and neighbouring south Kordofan comes as south Sudan prepares to declare independence from the north on July 9, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war that killed about two million people.
The north's invasion of the Abyei region and takeover of the town of Abyei was triggered by an attack on May 19 on northern and UN troops by southern soldiers.
John Temin, of the United States Institute of Peace, spoke to Al Jizz about the draft resolution and said: "It is important to be very clear that this is a temporary agreement that was reached."
"The fundamental question of whether Abyei is part of north or south remains unresolved and we are no where closer to resolving that question as a result of this agreement."
What this agreement does is remove some of the northern troops who moved into Abyei several week ago and put in Ethiopan troops to try and calm the situation, Temin said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- A senior British diplomat have insisted it is a matter of "when, not if" Muammar Qadaffy will go as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... marks 100 days of air strikes against his Libyan regime. The senior Foreign Office official, who does not want to be identified, claimed Friday the momentum had "shifted irrevocably" against the dictator and he was down to a "handful" of followers. "The sands of time are running down for Qadaffy," he told news hounds in London. NATO has now flown 12,000 sorties, including 5,000 attack missions, and hit more than 2,400 targets since launching strikes against Libya 100 days ago on Sunday under a United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
mandate to protect civilians. The British military alone has damaged or destroyed more than 500 targets, including 240 tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and rocket launchers, and more than 150 buildings, including bunkers and ammunition stores. The Ministry of Defence revealed yesterday that the UK's part in the NATO operation is costing taxpayers 43 million pounds per month.
The senior British diplomat said it was "clear" Qadaffy was isolated within Libya and pointed to the "steady stream" of defectors, including ambassadors, ministers and military officers, among them five generals who decamped the country last month. "The momentum has shifted irrevocably against Qadaffy and those around him, " he said. "Qadaffy's actions have stripped him of legitimacy. There can be no future for Libya with him in power."
He added: "The anger against him is simmering. The question is not if he will go, but when."
Certainly there are those who say so. Let's hope they're right, lest the parties of the NATO part run out of missiles and spare parts before Qadaffy actually gets around to leaving the stage he's been at the center of since his hair was that colour without help.
International attention is now turning to what will happen in Libya if and when Qadaffy's regime falls. A UK-led International Stabilisation Response Team has been in the rebel-held city of Benghazi for most of the past month discussing with the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) how the country should be run.
"The NTC and we are planning carefully and comprehensively for the days, weeks and months after Qadaffy has gone," the British diplomat said.
The NATO mission suffered a setback last weekend when a missile strike in a residential area of the capital Tripoli resulted in civilian deaths, something commanders blamed on a "weapons system failure". Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... Senior British military front man Major General Nick Pope said RAF pilots have twice in the past 10 days diverted laser-guided bombs away from their targets at the last second after spotting people who might be civilians in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
NATO broke Milosevic by killing Serb civilians until he surrendered. Qadaffy doesn't care a flying fart about civilians casualties.
[Al Jazeera] Turkey has dismissed a suggestion that it may be breaching United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... sanctions on Libya after Al Jizz reported that Turkish food rations were feeding forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy. ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
The Turkish foreign ministry said on Thursday it has no knowledge of any Turkish company exporting food rations or any other supplies to the Libyan government since UN Security Council sanctions were imposed on March 17.
Among the supplies at three different bases, Al Jizz discovered military rations which - according to their labels - were manufactured in Turkey.
The rations are produced by UNIFO, a Turkish company which specialises in portable rations and meals ready-to-eat, according to its website. Labels show that bread packets from inside the rations were produced in March.
In a statement issued on June 24, UNIFO denied any wrongdoing, saying that its products "can not be classified as military products" and that the company has "not made any sales contract with [the] Government of Libya".
Turkey is a member of NATO, ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... which has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Qadaffy's forces for months, and which participates in the UN sanctions.
Most of the equipment being left behind by retreating Libyan forces is quite old: there is a box of ammunition from Qadaffy's stockpiles, for example, dating back to 1978.
Libyan rebels have been fighting Qadaffy's forces for weeks in the Nafusa mountain range in western Libya. The fighting has been fierce, and the army has periodically shelled a number of towns in the region.
The rebels have been slowly making gains, while Qadaffy's forces have decamped the frontline leaving behind much of their equipment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) - Leaders of the 27-member European Union Friday discussed the situation in North Africa and the Middle East and voiced concern over developments in Yemen, Syria, Gazoo and Bahrain, and reiterated calls on Muammar Qadaffy of Libya to leave. The leaders in a joint statement at the end of their 2-day summit here this afternoon said they remain concerned about the situation in Yemen and urged all parties to stop violence, respect human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... and abide by a permanent cease-fire. and welcomeD the commitment of the Vice President to this end. The statement reiterated "the urgency of an orderly and inclusive transition in line with the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative. " Calling on Qadaffy to quit, the statement noted that Libya's democratic transformation remains a primary interest of the European Union. They stressed the essential role played by the Transitional National Council (TNC) in this process as a representative of the aspirations of the Libyan people.
The EU leaders condemned " in the strongest possible terms the ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its own citizens. " They noted with "grave concern reports of Syrian military activity close to the Turkish border at Khirbet al-Jouz " and called for maximum restraint. "By choosing a path of repression instead of fulfilling its own promises on broad reforms, the regime is calling its legitimacy into question," said the statement and called on the UN Security Council to assume its responsibility and give adequate response to the situation in Syria.
The statement noted that the situation in Gazoo remains of concern. "Humanitarian assistance delivered to the population in Gazoo should be in accordance with the relevant framework and decisions of the UN and should take care not to endanger human lives," it said.
The EU leaders welcomed the steps which are currently being taken towards a democratic transformation in the region, particularly in Egypt and in Tunisia.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy told a presser after the summit that the EU intends to continue to play a key role in the historical developments which are taking place in Northern Africa and the Middle East. "Without Europe, there would have been an Arab Spring, but without us there will be no Arab summer," he said. The Arab spring , said Van Rompuy, is also an invitation to redouble our efforts for progress on the Middle East Peace Process. "Only the resumption of direct negotiations could provide a realistic chance of improving the situation on the ground, thus leading to a lasting and comprehensive solution," he said.
The EU leaders praised the announcement of the main elements of the new Constitution in Morocco, and welcomed the renewed commitment to political reforms, including a review of the Constitution, in Jordan.
The EU leaders took a positive note of the lifting of the state of emergency and planned constitutional reform in Algeria. On his part, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the joint presser that the situation in the different countries is very diverse with worrying development in Libya, Syria and Yemen with more positive signs from Morocco and Jordan. "We need to work together. I visited Tunisia in May and I will visit Egypt next month to engage with the current authorities to see what more we can do to help",he said. On Croatia the summit agreed that the EU membership negotiations should be concluded by the end of June 2011 Migration was another issue on today's agenda. Noting the difficult situation currently faced by some EU Member States, the statement reaffirmed the need for genuine and practical solidarity towards the member states most affected by migratory flows. The EU will continue to provide the necessary operational and financial support as the situation evolves, noted the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- China has told South Korea that it will no longer take the side of its traditional ally North Korea if Pyongyang makes additional provocations after tensions spiked over the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year, President Lee Myung-bak was quoted Friday as saying, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.
"China delivered its intentions (to South Korea) that it won't stand by the North if it makes an additional provocation," Lee made the remark during a lunch meeting with members of the parliamentary defense committee Thursday, a politician who participated in the meeting said, according to Yonhap.
It was unclear when China delivered the position. China is the North's last-remaining major ally and has propped up the impoverished, provocative neighbor with food and energy assistance and diplomatic support. Beijing has long been criticized for trying to protect Pyongyang even when the regime makes grave provocations, such as last year's sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of a border island that killed a total of 50 South Koreans. The North's attacks last year sent the already frayed relations between the two Koreas plunging to their lowest levels in decades, clouding the prospects of resuming the long-stalled six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Lee also called for the parliamentary committee to endorse a series of defense reform bills this month, saying that if the envisioned reform had been implemented earlier, the South could have struck back at the North at the time of the artillery attack, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So South Korea will be supporting China in China Sea disputes?
#3
Hopefully neither Beijing nor Washington, DC + UNO/UNSC will underestimate the DPRK's willingess to attack one or both of them iff need be for their agendum, NOT JUST THE ROK = SOUTH KOREA - ditto as per RUSSIA, JAPAN, etc.
The desire of World Politicos to protect the STATUS QUO = ANTI-REFORMIST PRESERVATION OF POWER is a fickle thing.
[Al Jazeera] The House of Representatives has voted down a measure which would have granted congressional consent for American involvement in military action in Libya.
But the House also rejected a subsequent bill which threatened to halt US air strikes in the embattled country by cutting off funds for military operations.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Tallyrand ... welcomed the House's decision not to cut the funding.
"We are gratified that the House has decisively rejected efforts to limit funding for the Libyan mission," Clinton told news hounds at the State Department.
While the first vote is unlikely to affect US involvement in the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... -led campaign, the rejection of congressional approval represents a symbolic blow to US President Barack B.O. Obama.
The first vote on Friday saw 295 representatives - mostly Republicans - oppose the measure, brought by Obama's Democratic allies, while 123 voted in favour. About 70 Democrats broke with Obama to defeat the measure, and just eight Republicans backed the resolution.
The second bill received 180 votes in favour and 238 against, with 89 Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the bill.
Members of both parties angrily denounced Obama's decision not to seek permission for the US role in Libya as required under the 1973 War Powers Act, which names congress as the only body legally able to declare war.
'Absolute monarch' "The president is becoming an absolute monarch, and we must put a stop to that right now if we don't want to become an empire instead of a republic," said Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic representative, as debate opened.
A decade ago, then-US president George W Bush ignored the War Powers Act at the beginning of the NATO-backed US invasion of Afghanistan,
That is absolutely not true.
but representatives now face a US public frustrated by a massive debt crisis and a decade of overseas conflicts in Afghanistan in Iraq.
Some Democrats accused Republicans of playing politics with national security.
"I, myself, believe the president has the latitude to do what he is doing as long as there are no boots on the ground," Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi, Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... the leader of the Democratic congressional minority, told news hounds.
But, she added, "I also always say that consultation strengthens the resolve of our country, and the more consultation the better."
Al Jizz's Patty Culhane said that the votes were really a question about the power of the presidency, and were more of a "congressional stab" at Obama.
"For those on the ground in Libya, do not expect to see an end to drone [or other] strikes," she said.
US politicians in both the House and the Senate have been harsher on Democratic presidents than Republican presidents in recent decades, and Friday's vote marked the first time since 1999 that either US government chamber had voted against a military operation.
The last time was over then-president Bill Clinton's authority in the war in Kosovo.
When Bush asked for approval to use government funds for the war in Afghanistan, a small group of congressional representatives voted against the measure.
Throughout the rest of Bush's tenure, Democratic representatives introduced measures to stop war funding as well as articles of impeachment, but none got far in the legislative chambers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A decade ago, then-US president George W Bush ignored the War Powers Act at the beginning of the NATO-backed US invasion of Afghanistan
To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.
Sept. 18, 2001 - [S.J. Res. 23]
#2
As much as I oppose this whatchamacallit in Libya, loath the fact that the US is borrowing 42 cents out of every dollar wasted on this fiasco and enjoy seeing Euroweenies be flumoxxed by a North African tinpot, it is good that the defunding measure failed.
A disastrous precedent has been avoided
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/25/2011 10:52 Comments ||
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WHEN Islamabad's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, lectured army officers last month at Pakistan's National Defence University, he asked the assembled colonels whom they regarded as the greatest enemy. A third of them named America--with which Pakistan supposedly has a military alliance.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/25/2011 15:56 ||
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#1
No problem. "Congratulations to the 2/3rds of you that have graduated. As far as the rest of you go, we wish you the best in your future endeavors as civilians."
[Dawn] The Afghan government on Friday called for an end to cross-border attacks from Pakistain, warning that such incidents could affect "improving trust and cooperation" between the two wary allies.
"The ministry of foreign affairs of Afghanistan expresses its serious concern about the continuing Pak artillery shelling of Afghan villages in Kunar and Nangarhar ...on the main road from Lovely Peshawar. The capital is Jalalabad. The population of 1,334,000 consists mostly of Pashtuns with a few Arabs and Pashais... provinces," it said.
The ministry said that Pak shelling killed four children late Thursday in the northeastern province of Kunar, the latest in a series of incidents.
"The Afghan government calls for the immediate cessation of the artillery fire against Afghan villages," it said.
"The continuation of such incidents could adversely affect the spirit of improving trust and cooperation between the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain."
The border between Afghanistan and Pakistain is porous, and relations between the two countries have long been strained over the presence of faceless myrmidons fighting against both governments.
Both sides have made a string of claims and counter-claims in recent days.
Last week, Pak officials said five people were killed when several hundred faceless myrmidons crossed from Afghanistan and targeted civilians in the Mamoond area of the lawless border tribal district of Bajaur.
But Afghan officials denied any attack and accused Pak troops of killing six people in a rocket strike in Kunar, as well as other attacks in volatile Kunar and Nangarhar.
The statement came after Afghanistan's foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul met the Pak ambassador to Kabul over the issue Monday. Pakistain had earlier summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires over the dispute.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] India's president urged outlawed Maoist guerrillas ...China's Fifth Column in India... on Friday to "leave violence" and accept the government's offer of peace talks.
Pratibha Patil's appeal followed a string of Maoist-led attacks which left 18 security personnel dead earlier this month in the insurgency-riven central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
"I appeal to the Maoists and others involved in violence, to leave violence and engage in talks," Patil said in an address to the legislature in the state capital, Raipur.
Patil's comments were the second presidential appeal since last August to the guerrillas, who are active in 20 of India's 29 states.
"Violence and killings are condemnable offences which cannot be accepted by any civilised society...they should join the mainstream and allow the development of the tribals in this country," the president added.
Tribal groups and many rural areas have been left behind by the country's economic development, and the poverty and discontent is seen as a major source of the Maoist uprising which kicked off in 1967.
Chhattisgarh is in the eye of Maoist-led violence, which peaked with the massacre of 76 coppers in a brutal attack in April last year.
The guerrillas have also stepped up attacks elsewhere in response to the Indian government's "Operation Green Hunt" offensive launched in 2009 in Maoist-hit areas across north and eastern India.
The Maoists also feed off police brutality and government corruption, and are strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, many of which are rich in natural resources.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has identified Maoist insurgency as the number one threat to domestic security.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Pakistain army condemned on Friday a report in the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that a cell phone found in the raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who is currently taking a long nap in the dirt... urm... water... contained contacts to a cut-thoat group with ties to Pakistain's intelligence agency. "No, no! Certainly not!"
The newspaper, citing senior US officials briefed on the findings, reported on Thursday that the discovery indicated that bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistain. Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen is headed by Fazlur Rahman Khalil, who signed Binny's declaration of war against the West...
The cell phone belonged to bin Laden's courier, who was killed along with the al Qaeda leader in the May 2 raid by US special forces on bin Laden's compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, the Times said. Since HuM is an element of AQ it's not surprising there was a speed dial setup...
Pakistain army front manMajor General Athar Abbas ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... said in a statement sent by text message that the military "rejects the insinuations made in the NYT story". "Tut tut. And tut!"
"It is part of a well orchestrated smear campaign against our security organizations," he said. "All part of an international conspiracy by western powers, I can assure you..."
The army has been angered by media reports that elements in the Pak security establishment may have helped bin Laden hide in Pakistain. "Simply unthinkable, regardless of what they might admit in court..."
"Pakistain, its security forces have suffered the most at the hands of al Qaeda and have delivered the most against al Qaeda; our actions on the ground speak louder than the words of the Times," Abbas said. "Nobody suffers like we do!"
In tracing calls on the cell phone, US analysts determined that Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen commanders had called Pak intelligence officials, the Times reported, citing the senior American officials. They're called "handlers" in the biz...
The officials added the contacts were not necessarily about bin Laden and his protection and that there was no "smoking gun" showing that Pakistain's spy agency had protected bin Laden. Unless there are transcripts, of course...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
There are lies, damned lies and, er, Pakistanis.
(KUNA) -- Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) warned against the continuation of heavily publicized political campaigns against Mohammedan immigrants.
"These political campaigns are moving gradually to the United States," the OIC's report of 2010-2011, on the phenomenon of "Islamophobia", ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... said on Friday.
The report will be submitted to freign ministers of the OIC's member states in their upcoming conference in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
"Animosity against Islam and Mohammedans are not considered individual and spontaneous acts any more. It has become a calculated phenomenon of hostility. If developed from mere direct insults to a full-fledged distortion of Islam, then it would lead to a real threat of cultural clash," the report cautioned.
This Islamophobia methodology, which was stirred from the ideologies of some European right-winged parties, has started moving to the United States, the report noted.
Therefore, UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Marshall ... warned against blowing this phenomenon out of proportion, especially after the increasing European demands on prohibiting wearing hijab (head cover for Mohammedan women) and applying more restrictions on Mohammedan immigrants.
The most influential incident that triggered Islamophonia was the Holy Koran burning campaign launched by Pastor Terry Jones against building an Islamic center near Ground Zero, in New York, the report said.
It also mentioned that Studies and surveys done by European institutions said that European society elites take advantage of the Mohammedans immigrants' economical and social Mohammedan burdens to serve their political agendas; hence negatively effecting the Mohammedans' chances of getting job and better health care services.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
A phobia is by definition an IRRATIONAL fear of something.
My fear of Islam is quite rational, thank you, based on 9/11, and other terrorist attacks and threats before and after.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/25/2011 13:28 Comments ||
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#3
So resistance to a Stone Age ideology masquerading as a religion as practiced by the lying and murdering will develope into a 'Culture Clash?' Might be so, if the Culture contained within Islam could be measured in a Petri dish.
WASHINGTON US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said she opposed plans by pro-Palestinian activists to sail aboard several ships to the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.
We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza, the chief US diplomat told reporters.
Just this week, the Israeli government approved a significant commitment to housing in Gaza. There will be construction materials entering Gaza, Clinton said.
And we think that it's not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves, Clinton said.
A group of pro-Palestinian activists, led by several Turkish groups, have said they plan to sail within the next few days to Gaza, mainly from Greek ports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Makes her job of convincing der Juden to commit national suicide more difficult?
(KUNA) -- Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Friday urged Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leaders to immediately release Gilad Shalit after five years in captivity and prove to his family that he is alive, expressing hope that his release would lead to the release of a number of Paleostinians in Israeli jails, his press office said in a statement.
"On the fifth anniversary of the captivity of Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit, the Secretary-General calls for his immediate release. He also joins the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC) in calling on Hamas to protect his life, treat him humanely, prove that he is alive and allow the Shalit family to have contact with their son," the statement said.
It added that the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... on the ground will continue to support the conclusion of negotiation efforts to secure his release, "which would also entail the release of a number of Paleostinian prisoners. The Secretary-General is convinced that this issue must now be resolved." He was captured in June 2006 by Hamas in a cross-border raid.
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06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (center) holds a trilateral meeting with his counterparts Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan (2R) and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan (2L) in Tehran. The three heads of state were scheduled to discuss ways to combat terrorism and drug trafficking in the region, especially in the aftermath of the drawdown of the US forces in Afghanistan.
#1
Update The presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan agreed to join forces in combating militancy as they attended a counterterrorism summit in Tehran
The joint statement by the three neighbours also came hot on the heels of an announcement by US President Barack Obama that Washington will withdraw 33,000 of its 99,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer.
All sides stressed their commitment to efforts aimed at eliminating extremism, militancy, terrorism, as well as rejecting foreign interference, which is in blatant opposition to the spirit of Islam, the peaceful cultural traditions of the region and its peoples interests, the statement said.
BRUSSELS The shocking crackdown in Syria puts the regimes legitimacy into question and those responsible for the violence must be held accountable, EU leaders say in a draft declaration obtained by AFP on Friday.
The text to be formally adopted at an EU summit later Friday condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its owns citizens.
What comes after a letter of protest in the strongest possible terms?
By choosing a path of repression instead of fulfilling its own promises on broad reforms, the regime is calling its legitimacy into question, the draft says. Those responsible for crimes and violence against civilians shall be held accountable.
The leaders will also welcome the adoption of fresh sanctions against Syria, in which seven individuals and four businesses were added to a list of people targetted by an assets freeze and travel ban. They also call for the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning the crackdown, a move oppose by veto-wielding member Russia.
The declaration lends its full support to diplomatic efforts aimed at ensuring that the UN Security Council can assume its responsibility and give adequate response to the situation in Syria.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
What comes after a letter of protest in the strongest possible terms?
#7
..you mean the same EU that refused to accept the plebiscites by the other Euro nations in not buying into the Constitution? You know the 'do over till you vote the result we want' Euros?
AMMAN - The United States is concerned by reports that Syria is massing troops near the border with Turkey, which could escalate the crisis in the region, and is discussing the issue with Turkish officials, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton said the reported move by Syria to surround and target the town of Khirbat al-Joz just 500 metres (yards) from the Turkish border marked a worrying new phase of Syrias attempt to quash anti-government protests.
If true, that aggressive action will only exacerbate the already unstable refugee situation in Syria, Clinton said. Unless the Syrian forces immediately end their attacks and their provocations that are not only now affecting their own citizens but (raising) the potential of border clashes, then were going to see an escalation of conflict in the area.
Clinton said she had discussed the situation with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and that President Barack Obama had also talked to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
The United States has steadily sharpened the tone of its rhetoric toward Assad, saying he is losing credibility and must either implement promised reforms or get out of the way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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Wouldn't war between Turkey and Syria be nice? Maybe we get to see what WMD Bashar has.
[Emirates 24/7] As the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... watched his organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that Al Qaeda was suffering from a marketing problem.
His group was killing too many Mohammedans and that was bad. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead and he barely knew their replacements.
Faced with these challenges, Bin Laden, who hated the United States and decried capitalism, considered a most American of business strategies. Like Blackwater, ValuJet and Philip Morris, perhaps what Al Qaeda really needed was a fresh start under a new name.
The problem with the name Al Qaeda, bin Laden wrote in a letter recovered from his compound in Pakistain, was that it lacked a religious element, something to convince Mohammedans worldwide that they are in a holy war with America.
Maybe something like Taifat Al Tawhed Wal-Jihad, meaning Monotheism and Jihad Group, he wrote. Or Jama'at I'Adat Al Khilafat Al Rashida, meaning Restoration of the Caliphate Group.
As bin Laden saw it, the problem was that the group's full name, Al Qaeda Al Jihad, for The Base of Holy War, had become short-handed as simply Al Qaeda. Lopping off the word "jihad," bin Laden wrote, allowed the West to "claim deceptively that they are not at war with Islam." Maybe it was time for Al Qaeda to bring back its original name.
The letter, which was undated, was discovered among bin Laden's recent writings. Navy SEALs stormed his compound and killed him before any name change could be made.
The letter was described by senior administration, national security and other US officials only on condition of anonymity because the materials are sensitive.
The documents portray bin Laden as a terrorist chief executive, struggling to sell holy war for a company in crisis.
At the White House, the documents were taken as positive reinforcement for President Barack B.O. Obama's effort to eliminate religiously charged words from the government's language of terrorism. Words like "jihad," which also has a peaceful religious meaning, are out.
"The information that we recovered from bin Laden's compound shows Al Qaeda under enormous strain," Obama said on Wednesday in his speech to the nation on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. "Bin Laden expressed concern that Al Qaeda had been unable to effectively replace senior forces of Evil that had been killed and that Al Qaeda has failed in its effort to portray America as a nation at war with Islam, thereby draining more widespread support."
Bin Laden wrote his musings about renaming Al Qaeda as a letter but, as with many of his writings, the recipient was not identified. Intelligence officials have determined that bin Laden only communicated with his most senior commanders, including his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahri, and his No. 3, Mustafa Abu Al Yazid, according to one US official. Because of the courier system bin Laden used, it's unclear to US intelligence whether the letter ever was sent.
Al Yazid was killed in a US Arclight airstrike last year. Zawahri has replaced bin Laden as head of Al Qaeda.
In one letter sent to Zawahri within the past year or so, bin Laden said Al Qaeda's image was suffering because of attacks that have killed Mohammedans, particularly in Iraq, officials said. In other journal entries and letters, they said, bin Laden wrote that he was frustrated that many of his trusted longtime comrades, whom he'd fought alongside in Afghanistan, had been killed or captured.
Using his courier system, bin Laden could still exercise some operational control over Al Qaeda. But increasingly the men he was directing were younger and inexperienced. Frequently, the generals who had vouched for these young fighters were dead or in prison. And bin Laden, unable to leave his walled compound and with no phone or Internet access, was annoyed that he did not know so many people in his own organization.
The US has essentially completed the review of documents taken from bin Laden's compound, officials said, though intelligence analysts will continue to mine the data for a long time.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Dozens of Afghan MPs unseated by a special election court investigating allegations of fraud and irregularities have threatened to call for protests, including blocking the country's roads.
[Al Jazeera] The United States has introduced a UN resolution that would deploy a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Sudan's disputed Abyei region, the scene of 
Qadaffy will go as 
[Al Jazeera] Turkey has dismissed a suggestion that it may be breaching 
(KUNA) -- China has told South Korea that it will no longer take the side of its traditional ally 
Hillary Clinton
"The president is becoming an absolute monarch, and we must put a stop to that right now if we don't want to become an empire instead of a republic," said Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic representative, as debate opened.
Maoist guerrillas
[Dawn] The Pakistain army condemned on Friday a report in the 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Hillary Clinton
[Emirates 24/7] As 
