Scrappleface, more fake than CNN and AP but also more accurate.
Please note that this is satire, for now, but give it a year.
With Democrats in Congress already alarmed at revelations that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had a covert scheme to kill terrorist leaders like Usama Bin Laden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly set to announce a probe into allegations that the CIA may have also "conspired to conduct espionage operations against America's enemies."
Although the "vague" plans to dispatch small CIA teams to hit senior al Qaeda leaders never materialized due to legal, logistical and diplomatic obstacles, current CIA Director Leon E. Panetta cancelled the program in June, and sold several planning documents to the producers of Fox Network's '24′.
According to a Pelosi staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the top-secret nature of the information he revealed, the CIA has "surreptitiously conducted what amounts to international spy operations without proper notification of its espionage targets, or of the United Nations."
The source, who is not authorized to release any information about the probe, said Rep. Pelosi will conduct hearings in August aimed at unmasking what she "has come to believe is a vast global network of covert operatives who make observations, then report findings back to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia."
The Speaker, who has previously accused the CIA of lying to Congress, is said to be "distraught at the notion that her country has violated the trust of governments that might someday be friendly toward the U.S.," according the source who has regular access to confidential documents and notes from private briefings.
If the Congressional inquiry reveals evidence that the CIA discriminated against foreign nationals, eavesdropping on them simply because they hate America or plan to attack U.S. targets, the anonymous source said, "Heads will roll, I'm not at liberty to disclose who...you know, until I get the actual secret list." I hear they are also looking into reports that the Navy is working on a high tech device that will sink foreign submarines, WITH THEIR CREWS STILL INSIDE THEM! Oh, the horror!
Even worse, the Air Force has reportedly already deployed one or more systems that will destroy airplanes in mid-flight, and they are recruiting college graduates to operate them even as we speak.
There is no telling what the Army and Marines are up to these days.
I might have missed discussion of this operation on Rantburg, back in April or May - but a search of Rantburg archives showed nothing. So - I thought this Spiegel article deserves a read. I think its particularly interesting that the Pentagon went so far as to "loan" the GS9 a helicopter carrier, and put the German forces within spitball distance of the target - and it was then the AMERICAN political administration - led by the Surrender Monkey of Hope and Change - that got the coldest feet, and withdrew its support
The Boxer set sail at 5:00 p.m. on a Thursday, two weeks ago. The next morning, once the warship was no longer in sight, the GSG-9 pilots flew their helicopters from Mombasa to the Boxer. An escort of four German ships with a total of 800 men on board joined the Boxer: the frigates Rheinland-Pfalz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Emden, and the Berlin, a supply ship.
After almost three days, the convoy reached the waiting position off Harardere. Lindner knew that the pirates always kept six hostages on the bridge of the Stavanger, while the rest were hidden below deck. The GSG-9 commander counted roughly 30 pirates, armed with machine guns, pistols, Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers. The weapons were rotated on a regular basis and the ship was kept brightly lit.
The situation couldn't have been more difficult. Lindner weighed his options. He could send the helicopters, but the pirates would hear them approaching and possibly kill the hostages. Instead, he devised a combination approach. The frogmen would approach the Stavanger first, bringing along inflatable dinghies and their underwater tractors. Then they would use suction equipment to climb up the ship's side. The pirates would likely open fire and the frogmen, facing a hail of bullets, would seek to protect the hostages. Only then would the helicopters arrive.
But there were at least two groups of hostages. The frogmen could quickly reach the hostages on the bridge, but the labyrinthine passageways below deck on a typical freighter could become a death trap.
The issue of risk assessment sparked a dispute among government officials. Silberberg requested a written assessment from the federal police. At first, Hanning said that the assessment was not yet available, but then he described the risks verbally, telling Silberberg that the secrecy surrounding the mission prevented him from providing further details.
Steinmeier, who had departed on a last-minute trip to Afghanistan and expected the attack to take place on Wednesday night, took along a telephone equipped with a coding function.
On Wednesday, Silberberg contacted his superior in Kabul to notify him of an unconfirmed piece of news that was making the rounds in Berlin: The US military was strongly opposed to the use of force to rescue the Stavanger and wanted to withdraw the Boxer.
The rumor became official that afternoon, when US National Security Advisor James Jones called Christoph Heusgen, the chancellor's foreign policy advisor. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Heusgen notified the relevant state secretaries of the American decision. It was clear, even before the crisis team met that day, that the operation would have to be cancelled. Hanning acted decisively, as he had done in the preceding weeks, calling for a withdrawal and ordering the GSG-9 team to return to Germany.
Officials in Berlin now face the question of what went wrong. The operation lasted for three weeks, at a cost to the German treasury well in excess of the combined ransom payments of recent years. The failed campaign demonstrated that without American leadership that they can trust improved logistics and available aircraft and ship, the GSG-9 is incapable of operating swiftly enough in comparable situations.
#2
a cost to the German treasury well in excess of the combined ransom payments of recent years
Uh .... a few things here.
First, WTF is the focus on this trivial cost, for actually DOING something? Ya know, shouldering a tiny fraction of your own responsibilities, for your own citizens?
Second, the ransom payments have been a (predictable, obvious, inexcusable) catastrophe.
I forget the date, but back in Baghdad, the week that Berlin had paid ransom for some kidnapped German national in Iraq, I happened to spend some time around the German wire service reporter (DPA?) who was making a visit to Baghdad. Like most western agencies, DPA did not maintain a permanent presence there.
The DPA reporter was furious beyond words at the idiotic ransom payment, and was thinking about shortening the visit to Iraq as a result. Words to the effect of "now ANY German is pure gold in Iraq, what idiots in Berlin!".
OK, so it's better to have a feckless, pathetic, dependent, contemptibly stupid, cowardly, shameless Germany than a genocidal, maniacal, criminal, insane Germany.
And yes, GSG9 is first-rate (I have a SEAL friend that's trained with them), many Germans are not cowardly or pathetic or shameless and are basically adults about world affairs. But ... so what? It's like saying many Americans are honorable, courageous, competent, with a moral compass and a sense of service. But so what? (you fill in the rest)
Mogadishu -- Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed called on all Somalis living in America ...
... who are not necessarily Somali-Americans, or Americans ...
... not to engage in the activities of Al-Shabaab, the Islamist rebel organisation. "I call on the Somali-American community not to send their youth to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab," he said in a press briefing Sunday.
Better just to drive the cab in Minneapolis, boys ...
Somalis began arriving in the United States in significant numbers after the U.S. intervention in Somalia's humanitarian crisis in 1992. American media reports say last year, a group of Somali-Americans left Minneapolis and are feared to have been recruited into Al-Shabaab.
The president showed concern over the high number of Somalis coming from America to support Al- Shabaab's activities. "I am saying to those young men from abroad: 'Your families fled your home to America because of insecurity. You should not return here to ferment violence against your people,'" he said.
Then again, we're not too pleased with them fomenting violence in Minneapolis ...
The US homeland security website acknowledges that Somalis are indeed moving in large numbers to Somalia to support the terror movement's activities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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At least 1 Minnesota kid was executed for "failure to follow orders" and 2 others may have suffered the same fate. That is the best reason of all to stay away from these guys.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/15/2009 11:12 Comments ||
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Kampala -- International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said efforts on the arrest warrant of Joseph Kony had intensified. He said he had asked MONUC, the UN peace-keepers in the DR Congo, to help arrest Kony. He said another reason for his visit to Uganda was to find out what else the ICC could do to speed up Kony's arrest. "If you arrest Kony, the group (LRA) will collapse," Ocampo remarked.
Or some even worse thug will step up. Africa seems to have no shortage of thugs ...
If they're the ones I'm thinking of, it's highly likely the replacement thug will not be nearly as well dressed.
And those shoes! Ugh!
He said the rebels had taken advantage of the peace talks to "regain strength" but it was now possible to arrest Kony since all actors in the region had promised cooperation.
"It's important to put him on trial for the crimes he committed in northern Uganda for 22 years. It's time to stop him," Ocampo said. "These massive atrocities are not about the local people, it is about humanity." He commended the collaboration between Uganda and Congo in hunting down Kony who is also accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
State minister for international relations Henry Okello Oryem said when Kony is arrested, he will be handed over to the ICC and not tried in Uganda. "Mat-oput (traditional justice) doesn't apply," Oryem said. "There's an on-going operation to arrest Kony. Those actions continue and we are determined however long it takes."
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07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Kampala -- UGANDA has an obligation to arrest Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir when, or if, he comes later this month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said.
This could be entertaining ...
What does the ICC have against Africa, all of a sudden?
"Uganda has a legal obligation to arrest President Bashir when he comes to Uganda," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said while addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala yesterday. Uganda has invited Bashir to attend the SMART partnership business conference in Munyonyo at the end of this month.
"President Bashir can be here but he should know the obligation of Uganda is to arrest him. He should know that before he comes," Ocampo emphasised. The ICC accuses Bashir of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. So far Bashir has been visiting countries which are not members of the ICC, which are, therefore, not obliged to arrest him.
Meeting in Libya last week, the African Union agreed that African countries, which are members of the ICC, should not cooperate in the arrest of Bashir. Uganda says it supported the resolution to allow the AU to independently investigate the charges against Bashir.
Because if it's anything we need it's more investigation into what a scumbag Bashir is ...
Any excuse not to arrest a colleague.
"It is a legal obligation not a political issue," Ocampo said in a reaction to the AU resolution. The decision, Ocampo added, did not excuse Uganda from its legal obligations under the Rome Statute, which established the ICC.
Arresting Bashir, Ocampo insisted, was the responsibility of ICC member states should Bashir visit them. Ocampo said when Bashir wanted to attend the swearing-in of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, which is a member of the ICC, the host country asked him to send someone else otherwise he would be arrested on arrival. "It's a legal obligation to South Africa and similar to Uganda," Ocampo said.
Reacting to Ocampo's remarks, state minister for international relations Henry Okello Oryem said Uganda was committed to its obligations under the Rome Statute. He said the warrant of arrest for Bashir was already with the office of the Solicitor General. "If and when Bashir arrives in Uganda, it is up to (the Inspector General of Police, (General Kale) Kayihura, to take action," Oryem said.
He, however, added that until Bashir arrived, he could not tell whether he would be arrested or not. He explained that Bashir was not a chicken thief you arrest in an un-ceremonial manner.
Shooting the varmint on sight is what you do to a chicken thief ...
"Let's wait for Bashir to arrive here and we see which action will be taken against him by the government of Uganda," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Does O(shit) plan to visit?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/15/2009 14:19 Comments ||
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Nairobi -- The US sent its military to Kenya to hunt down and kill suspected terrorists... without the knowledge of the Kenya government, according to a UK newspaper. The Guardian on Tuesday reported that one of the suspects was assassinated as part of a wider programme against al-Qaeda under the Bush administration.
Beware, because as we all know, killing al-Qaeda is bad, and killing them without telling Nancy Pelosi is worse ...
The assassination turned out to be a "severe embarrassment" and may have contributed to the termination of the programme, the newspaper said. However, security sources in government who spoke to the Nation on Tuesday said they were not aware of such an operation.
So someone is covering .. or making something up out of whole cloth ...
Kenya has over the years maintained close ties with the US in the fight against terrorism with the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit being a large beneficiary of US funds. The cooperation, for instance, saw a man suspected of being a member of al-Qaeda arrested in Mogadishu by the Americans and brought to Nairobi in 2003.
Kenyan police also surrendered to the US a suspect who had been arrested in Kenya in 2007 and was eventually flown to the US-run Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.
The Guardian did not identify the victim of the US killing in Kenya and based its report on an unmanned former intelligence official who, it said, "did not give details of the operation."
To summarize: someone we don't know says someone else we don't know was killed by Americans, possibly military -- or not -- somewhere in Kenya. If anyone official was told about it they might have been displeased, and if so perhaps conveyed that displeasure to someone else unknown... which may or may not have had an impact on policy in far away North America. Of that we are certain enough to sell newspapers making this claim.
An official close to the government security operations but who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter said a terror suspect was killed in the Ras Kamboni area across the border in Somalia in circumstances that were not clear. The official did not elaborate.
So the bad boy wasn't killed in Kenya after all ...
No, a bad boy was killed in Kenya. He may be a different one than the other one who may or may not have been one of those unknowns who possibly were killed by Americans on Kenyan soil.
US attempts to kill suspected terrorists in Somalia using missiles fired from drones, warships and submarines, are not secret and have been widely reported.
Q.E.D.
In January 2003, Mr William Munuhe, believed to be an informer for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, was shot dead in his house in Karen. He had been involved in the investigation into the whereabouts of Rwandan genocide fugitive Felicien Kabuga and it is not clear whether his is the case in question.
Huh? Who killed him?
Intelligence Attorney General Amos Wako said: "We are not aware of the operation. Security intelligence people may know but the AG is not aware."
"We can say no more!"
And police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said: "No such operation could have been planned with the knowledge of the Kenya police because that would be conspiracy to murder."
"We know nothing! Nothing!"
The assassination programme has been in the news after it was revealed that the spy agency did not brief US legislators as required by law.
Thus triggering that pleasurable paranoia that lurks just above the surface in so many parts of the world. Lost a pen1s lately, after shaking the wrong hand?
The programme was recently cancelled and the CIA said it never progressed beyond the planning stage.
However, The Guardian reported that while the CIA did not proceed with the plan, the US military, which does not need to inform Congress every time it goes out to kill enemies, did.
Since it's just assumed that our military is supposed to, you know, kill our enemies ...
Former US vice-president Dick Cheney ordered the killing project hidden from MPs because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate suspects in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments, The Guardian said.
And because it was never a plan ...
But Vice President Cheney was supposed to have told the CIA not to talk. He didn't have anything to do with the military, which was the brief of the Secretary of Defense (Rum-something, I think his name was...Rumplestiltskin, perhaps? My memory is not what it was).
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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What the hell was Kenya doing putting an Al Qaeda man behind their back for us to kill?
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"No such operation could have been planned with the knowledge of the Kenya police because that would beconspiracy to murder impossible to keep secret and thus doomed to failure."
#4
And there are no British tourist planes that land in Kenya that could have been shot down. Nosiree. Then the Guardian and their ilk could have a fit blaming the Americans for NOT killing terrorists when we knew they were there.
Posted by: ed ||
07/15/2009 10:14 Comments ||
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Sorry, big mistake. Next time we'll whack 'im right in front of the Government's back. Or whatever.
SUEZ: Two Israeli navy ships made a rare crossing of Egypt's Suez Canal on Tuesday, headed from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, a port source told AFP. One of the ships, the Hanit, already crossed the canal both ways in June, in what the source said was the first case of a large Israeli warship using the strategic waterway, although this was not possible to confirm officially.
The 'Gyptos have been increasingly willing to look the other way ...
I don't think they're inclined to forgive that little Hizb'allah plot against them any time soon.
It is thought that Israeli navy vessels did not previously use the canal for intelligence reasons, as they might be equipped with nuclear warheads that could be visible to the Egyptian authorities.
Or the nukes might be kept, you know, below decks. Sheeeesh ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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I suppose it never occured to you, Doc, that the "Egyptian authorities" all have the x-ray glasses? I know you saw those in the comic books. Old technology.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2009 6:13 Comments ||
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The really big question is the Israeli Navy's ASW capability against Iran's Kilo class Russian subs.
A close second are defenses against Iran's Chinese built catamaran ships with ship to ship missiles.
We can but hope and pray to Saint Mk-48 torpedo that the Israeli sink every part of the Iranian navy quickly.
An inter-ministerial meeting will decide today whether the trial of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutineers will be held under the Army Act. The meeting to be chaired by Law Minister Shafique Ahmed will discuss the proposal of BDR authorities on the ways of holding trial of the mutineers and finally take the decision. It may also finalise the names, uniform and other recommendations made by the BDR authorities for restructuring the border force, sources said.
"The meeting will decide under which laws the trial of those involved in BDR mutiny and carnage will be held," Shafique Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.
Asked whether any decision has already been taken to try those who were directly involved in the February 25-26 BDR headquarters mutiny under the Army Act, he replied in the negative and said everything will be decided at the meeting.
Asked about the meeting, BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam said they have already submitted a proposal with recommendations about holding of the trial.
Sources said BDR authorities in a letter sent to the home and law secretaries on June 23 proposed to hold trial of the mutineers at BDR headquarters and elsewhere in the country under the Army Act. The letter signed by the BDR DG also has proposed to make a government announcement of quick trial of the border guards who staged mutiny in 28 other districts following the Pilkhana carnage.
The letter also said if the trial is held under the conventional law, it will be tough to prove the mutiny charge against BDR jawans in the cases filed outside the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- For months, the reports percolated in Washington and other capitals. Iran was constructing a major beachhead in Nicaragua as part of a diplomatic push into Latin America, featuring huge investment deals, new embassies and even TV programming from the Islamic republic.
"The Iranians are building a huge embassy in Managua," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned in May. "And you can only imagine what that's for."
But here in Nicaragua, no one can find any super-embassy. Nicaraguan reporters scoured the sprawling tropical city in search of the embassy construction site. Nothing. Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce chief Ernesto Porta laughed and said: "It doesn't exist." Government officials say the U.S. Embassy complex is the only "mega-embassy" in Managua. A U.S. diplomat in Managua conceded: "There is no huge Iranian Embassy being built as far as we can tell."
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Compare wid GUAM PDN FORUMS > US TO SPEND US$736.0MILYUHN ON ONE BUILDING [propos Islamabad "US Embassy" multi-complex = "huge spy base"].
* On a separate note, as per MUSLIMS needing to go out in the "BEACH, SUN", MVARIETY > POVERTY RISING IN MARSHALLS ISLANDS URBAN CENTERS, + [IIRC] NUI GIVES NEW ZEALAND ULTIMATUM [NZ-vs-CHINA threat oer LAND-ECON DEV SCHEMAS].
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Yonhap) -- The United States has no immediate plans to allow South Korea longer-range missiles to counter North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, the commander of U.S. troops in South Korea said Tuesday. The remarks by Gen. Walter Sharp come amid reports that South Korea will soon call on the U.S. to begin talks on improving South Korea's missile capability, which is constrained to 300 kilometers in range and 500 kilograms in payload under a 2001 agreement.
Until 2001, South Korea was limited to 180 kilometers in missile range under an agreement with the U.S., which feared an arms race between the Cold War archrivals on the Korean Peninsula.
"You'll need to direct that towards the State Department and, you know, again, there's been no request to do that and I really don't see a need for that right now," Sharp said in a video-linked news conference from New York. He was responding to the question if the issue will be discussed at an upcoming Security Consultative Meeting between defense ministers of the sides in October.
Sharp also said that the U.S. military computer system has not been damaged by the recent cyberattacks against scores of government Web sites in South Korea and the U.S. "We in the Department of Defense, our operations have not been affected by the cyberattacks," Sharp said. "Our networks, within our ability to be able to operate from a military perspective, have been protected and were not affected by those. We are on the U.S. military side working very hard to make sure that we have the proper defenses in place across all of our networks to be able to stop any sort of the viruses or any sort of the attacks, and we work on that on a daily basis."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Maybe I missed it, but I don't see any reference to the US declining to "allow" SK longer range missiles. From the article, it seems he said no request had been made, and that the request would have to be made through the State Dept. He also said 'he' didn't see a need for that 'right now', which to me doesn't add up to the headline. Not allowing and not yet having been asked are different.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/15/2009 4:58 Comments ||
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Last I knew, South Korea was a sovereign nation, able to rescind any missile agreements with the US if it should so decide. US dosn't have jurisdiction to 'allow' or not allow longer range missiles.
#3
The South Koreans don't lack for range if they want it. South Korea To Launch First Homegrown Satellite South Korea plans to send its own satellite into orbit before the end of this month, space officials announced on Tuesday.
"It will mark the first time that South Korea will launch a satellite from its own territory, using its own launch vehicle," Park Jeong-Joo, director of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, told reporters on Tuesday.
Park said the launch vehicle, which was developed for $388 million with Russian officials, would carry the 220-pound satellite into low earth orbit on July 20. The craft will liftoff from the Naro Space Center in Gohueng.
Posted by: ed ||
07/15/2009 10:19 Comments ||
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South Korea To Launch First Homegrown Satellite
Programmed to block/override norks "Fixed" radio and TV signals (I hope)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/15/2009 14:29 Comments ||
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Despite its continuing threat to the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, North Korea has increased the number of workers it has sent to the industrial park.
More slaves!
The Unification Ministry on Monday said the number of North Korean workers at the industrial park stood at 40,255 as of the end of June, up 1,324 from 38,931 at the end of last year. The number of South Korean businesses operating at the complex turned out to be 109.
A South Korean businessman at the industrial park said, "North Korean authorities sent about 700 new workers last month to South Korean businesses that had recently moved there."
Cho Bong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Industrial Bank of Korea, speculated that the North increased the number of workers so it could then say it complied with South Korean requests and let the South take responsibility for the closure of the industrial park because it has not complied with its demands for wage increases.
South Korean businesses that recently moved into the Keasong complex still suffer a lack of manpower. But some others have had to cut staff as they are receiving fewer orders.
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07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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A senior U.S. military commander says American and South Korean forces are prepared to counter any attack from North Korea. General Walter Sharp is urging North Korea's leaders to end provocative acts.
General Sharp, the commander of U.S. military forces in South Korea, says he is certain he can defend against any threat from communist North Korea. "The threat as far as on the high end is, of course, the fact that North Korea has so many forces located very close to the demilitarized zone to South Korea," he said. "So we have to be prepared for that type of quick attack and I am absolutely confident that we are and that we would be victorious if there was any attack along those lines."
General Sharp, who spoke by video conference from New York, says American and South Korean forces are ready if any missiles are launched towards targets in the South. "They have a large number of shorter range missiles of which some they demonstrated recently," he said. "We are obviously concerned and call upon North Korea to stop those provocative acts. But from a South Korean and U.S. military perspective for the defense of the Republic of Korea we are prepared for those and we will work very hard to be able to intercept those if they were ever launched."
General Sharp says the world is united in efforts to convince Pyongyang to end the country's nuclear weapons program. "All the governments around the world are hoping and pushing for Kim Jong-il to change his provocations that he has done in the past, to move towards denuclearization as he promised at one time and to take a new path where North Korea can emerge as a nation that takes care of its people and does not continue to threaten the world," he said.
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07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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WORLD NEWS/TOPIX > US GENERAL: ANY NORTH KOREAN ATTACK WILL BE SUDDEN, BUT FUTILE; + ASIA TIMES > NUCLEAR WAR IS KIM JONG-IL'S GAME PLAN.
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- China agreed for the first time to punish senior North Korean government officials for defying United Nations resolutions barring nuclear and missile tests, Chinas deputy ambassador said. Ambassador Liu Zhenmin said his government would support imposing a travel ban and asset freeze on a large percentage of 15 North Korean officials proposed by the U.S. and other Western nations as targets for UN sanctions.
A mosquito bite ...
Liu, in an interview yesterday, declined to identify the officials, other than to say they hold senior government positions and are working on nuclear and missile programs.
Chinas acceptance of sanctions against North Korean officials and companies, as well as material that might contribute to the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, clears the way for Security Council action this week. Russia acquiesced last week, leaving the panel to await Chinas decision. No government officials have been subject to the sanctions the Security Council adopted after North Koreas nuclear test in 2006.
North Koreas nuclear test and missile launches may have irked the Chinese government, said Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Still, we cannot expect China to completely abandon North Korea, they are and always will be staunch allies to one another.
Ambassador Fazli Corman of Turkey, which chairs the Security Council committee charged with implementing the sanctions, said formal agreement by its 15 member governments would come within days.
Kim Yong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Ils most senior aide and president of the Supreme Peoples Assembly, arrived in Egypt yesterday to attend the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, the communist nations official Korea Central News Agency said today. He is not among the list of North Korean officials that may be targeted for sanctions.
The Security Council in April agreed to freeze the foreign assets of two North Korean companies and a bank and also said the government in Pyongyang was barred from acquiring items designated by the Missile Technology Control Regime, a coalition of 34 nations to curb proliferation of missile technology. It was the first time the 2006 sanctions had been enforced.
The Security Council last month adopted a resolution to punish North Korea for its May 25 nuclear bomb test and missile launches. The measure seeks to curb loans and money transfers to the communist nation and step up inspection of cargoes suspected of containing material that might contribute to the development of nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles.
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07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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As per WMF, "COMMITTEE FOR THE DEMOCRAC OF KOREA" CHAIRMAN > NORTH KOREA > argued that KIM JONG-IL is aware that ANY TALKS OF "DEMOCRACY" PER SE FOR NORTH KOREA IS A "DIRECT BURDEN/
THREAT" TO CHINA = BEIJING, as CHIN sovertly does NOT wish to see any UNIFICATION OF THE TWO KOREAS despite public rhetoric to the contrary. CHAIRMAN > Kimmie's intent is to deliber weaken the CHINA-NOKOR ALLIANCE???
Reporting from Washington -- American diplomatic efforts on North Korea are coming under fire within the Obama administration from officials who consider talks futile and instead want to focus on halting the regime's trade in nuclear weapons and missile equipment, U.S. officials said.
What a novel idea!
It seems President Obama hired some honest people.
What? Outrageous! Get Rahm in here immediately!
The administration's official goal has been to coax the Pyongyang government back into the six-nation disarmament talks that began in 2003. Yet privately, many senior officials say they have all but lost hope that North Korea will cooperate, and some are arguing that it is time for a new approach.
"We don't have six-party talks," said a senior U.S. official who described internal discussions on condition of anonymity. "We may have no choice but to move to containment."
The change of heart has come in the last three months, as North Korea quit the talks, restarted a nuclear reactor that had been shuttered and conducted bomb and missile tests that have provoked an international outcry.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first expressed pessimism in April, when she told a Senate committee that North Korea's return to the talks was "implausible, if not impossible. The talks involve the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
It's July now, so one might be excused for thinking this article is another attack via leak by the State Department against the White House.
Abandoning the six-party strategy would mean giving up on a diplomatic tool that has helped coordinate action among North Korea's closest neighbors. It would also mean throwing in the towel on an effort that involved years of grinding diplomacy that at times seemed to offer promise. As recently as September, in the waning days of the Bush administration, some U.S. officials believed Pyongyang would agree to give international inspectors access to North Korean facilities to verify that the nation was living up to promises to abandon its nuclear program.
"Containment" was a term adopted after World War II to describe U.S. and Allied efforts to prevent the expansion of Soviet influence. Used against North Korea, the strategy would entail blocking shipments of banned equipment by land, air and sea.
By sea, yes. Land and air containment are impossible without cooperation from the Chinese and Russians, both of whom have demonstrated over the decades that they won't cooperate with such an effort.
It also would mean trying to prevent Pyongyang from importing equipment that might be used for weapons programs, including so-called dual-use equipment, which is designed for nonmilitary purposes but can be adapted for weapons.
It remains to be seen whether China and Russia would support new efforts to control shipments of suspect material. But U.S. officials point to support by the two countries for U.N. Security Council sanctions adopted in June as a sign that their attitude is hardening.
Or that they're just stringing us along ...
The administration has begun stepping up U.S. efforts under the new United Nations resolution, which permits countries to take steps to block trade in arms and to halt international financial transactions used to fund it.
The Obama administration came to office believing that with high-level diplomacy, it would have more success than either the Bush or Clinton teams in persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.
Because Bambi is such a better talker than either George or Bill ...
But in their attempt to reach out, Obama officials have been "slapped in the face," said Victor D. Cha, who served in the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush and is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Wounded Bambi's pride, did they?
U.S. officials speculate that aggressive North Korean actions may indicate the rising influence of hard-liners in an internal struggle over who is to succeed the ailing North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il.
First, that's speculation bordering on wishful thinking. Second, who cares? We're only interested in the succession to the extent that we can use it to cause North Korea to implode.
Senior administration officials have been signaling that their foremost concern with North Korea is the risk of proliferation. James L. Jones, the White House national security advisor, said in May that the "imminent danger" in North Korea was not the launch of a nuclear missile, but the potential sales of arms to other countries or terrorist groups.
Cha said there would be international pressure on the White House to return to talks if North Korea offered to do so.
Which they'll do the very moment they think our efforts at 'containment' are hurting them ...
U.S. officials believe they also have leverage over Pyongyang through their authorization to block international financial transactions that may be related to North Korea's weapons programs. Such efforts previously have angered Pyongyang. In 2005, North Korea halted its participation in talks after the United States in effect froze Pyongyang's funds by threatening to cut off a Macau bank from the American financial system.
Which should have been reimposed like yesterday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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IIRC WIRED NEWS > LAWMAKER DEMANDS/WANTS US "SHOW OF FORCE" AGZ NORTH KOREA OVER WEBSITE ATTACKS; + THREE REASONS[obscene labels] WHY US CYBERSECURITY SUCKS.
Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist organization in Pakistan, wants the United States out of its country, so much so that the group created a movement based upon this. The movement is far reaching, and unfortunately for America, it stretches to the U.S. itself.
When the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) hit Pakistani shores in 1941, it came with a price. The group had only been around for little over a decade, and already it had established itself as a legitimate threat to governments all over the Middle East. Now, South Asia had to deal with it.
Today, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) continues to cause trouble in the region, aligning itself with extremist elements in al-Qaeda, the Taliban and many other violent factions. It even has its own militant wing, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), which has committed numerous terrorist attacks against Indian civilians. The group's former militant wing, al-Badr, was involved in the 1971 Bangladesh massacre, which reportedly took the lives of up to 3,000,000 mostly unarmed citizens.
With regard to 1971, the mass slaughter of innocent Bangladeshis (then referred to as "East Pakistanis") was not the only important event concerning JI. 1971 was also the year that JI's American affiliate, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), was founded. Both ICNA and ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) were founded by Jamaat-e-Islami immigrants to the US.
As stated in a piece for ICNA's publication, The Message International, titled 'Beyond Malcolm: Muslim Leadership for the 21st Century,' "Using the organizational development methodology of [JI founder] Maulana Mawdudi and the Jamaat Al-Islami of Pakistan, which lays special emphasis on spiritual development, ICNA has developed a strong foundation."
20 years later, in May 1991, a Muslim Brotherhood document bearing ICNA's name was produced detailing a plot to destroy the United States from within. It read, "The Ikhwan [Brothers] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and G-d's religion is made victorious over all other religions."
Today, ICNA, similar to JI in South Asia, represents one of the largest Islamist organizations in North America, possessing huge membership rolls. It has a religious outreach group (Why Islam?), a youth group (Young Muslims), a multimedia group (SoundVision), two charitable arms (ICNA Relief and Helping Hand), a magazine (The Message International), an educational institution (Islamic Learning Foundation), and a book service (Hikmah).
Furthermore, ICNA continues to be associated with JI, through one of JI's leaders in India, Muhammad Yusuf Islahi. Islahi, who was a featured speaker at ICNA's 2009 national convention, is the Chief Patron of ICNA's Why Islam (WI) project. As well, ICNA's official website is registered to a site linked heavily to JI that solely promotes Islahi speeches. ISNA's 2009 national convention featured Valerie Jarrett, Barak Obama's close friend and confident and future US Senator from Illinois.
Given the vast scope of ICNA's organization and membership -- with the assumption that the 1991 document is still in effect and JI's influence is indeed ongoing -- a legitimate threat is being realized right inside America's shores, right now.
In January 2009, Amir Mukhtar Sahib, Moderator for ICNA's Young Muslims (YM) website forum, made the following statement: "The Muslims population need to stand up to their corrupt rulers... You can burn as much American flags as you want but that won't make a difference. The only way to remove America from the Muslim world is to have those in power in the Muslim world to remove them..."
Sahib's words are eerily similar to what JI is saying overseas. The fear is that it happens over here.
Posted by: ed ||
07/15/2009 09:51 ||
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Lets not fergit the EURO-STANS, nor the up-n-comin' AFRI-STANS [Africa] + those still to manifest.
The defense world suffered a minor shock last week, when Marine Gen. James Cartwright, the Joint Chiefs vice chair, said that U.S. generals chose buying more electronics-jamming EA-18G Growlers, over buying more super-dogfightin' F-22 Raptors. Air Force magazine's Daily Report said the Pentagon is "not winning the argument" over F-22s "on the merits," and characterized Cartwright's comments as an "offensive" against the Lockheed-built stealth fighter.
But there's ample evidence that electronic-warfare planes really are more useful in today's wars. In the early days of the Afghanistan conflict, the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines cobbled together a makeshift armada of jamming planes -- Air Force EC-130H Compass Calls and Navy and Marine EA-6B Prowlers -- capable of zeroing out the Taliban's communications. That armada subsequently shifted to Iraq, then back to Afghanistan as the Iraq war winds down. Last week, the small Compass Call detachment at Bagram airbase, in Afghanistan, marked its 2,000th Afghanistan mission. "There are only 14 of these aircraft in the Air Force," Maj. James Bands said. "So it's taken four years of constant flying at about 2,000-3,000 hours on one aircraft a year, in order to accomplish this."
The F-22, by contrast, has never flown a single mission over Iraq or Afghanistan, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is so fond of pointing out.
The EC-130 was designed during the Cold War to listen in on, and jam, Soviet radio networks. For Afghanistan, BAE Systems added $2-million Special Emitter Array pods. Each pod can steer four, separate beams for jamming a wider range of comms, including cell phones and detonators for roadside bombs. In Iraq in 2006, I was on a patrol with the U.S. Army when a Compass Call flew overhead, wiping out all communications in a wide swath down below, all in an effort to disable insurgent booby traps. The soldiers, "deaf" and "mute" due to the protective jamming, had to sit and wait until the Compass Call finished, before continuing their mission.
For some missions, the EC-130s team up with speedier, armed EA-6B Prowler "penetrating" jammers, according to a 2007 report from Forecast International. Prowlers fly from land bases and aircraft carriers. When I visited Al Asad air base in Iraq in 2006, the EA-6Bs were the only planes that were off limits to reporters. "The two made a good jamming team, with Compass Call linguists providing valuable inputs regarding the selection of jamming targets to the Prowler crews," Forecast said. The EC-130Hs usually "focused on discrete, individual targets," while the Prowlers "jammed broader parts of a net."
The problem with both the EC-130 and EA-6B, is age. The Compass Calls are pushing 40 years old, and the Prowlers aren't much younger. The EA-18G is meant to replace the Prowlers, before they start falling from the sky, from age. No one has identified a Compass Call replacement, quite yet.
It's a C-130 frame. We still make those, don't we?
With roadside bombs on the rise in Afghanistan, and the Taliban continuing to rely heavily on cell phones and radios for comms, it's no wonder U.S. regional commanders are eager for more electronic warfare planes, to feed their aging, ever-busier, jamming armada.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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The G's are long overdue and badly needed, but without the Raptors, they will not live long in hostile airspace. Its even a bigger issue for EW big aircraft like Rivet Joints etc.
People forget that we do not magically have air supremacy in every conflict. And there's no bigger target than one of these massive flying emitters.
What is with this constant trashing of the F-22? Its press obeisance to Obama not wanted any more than the 187 built. The USAF needs 224.
I am beginning to think our press needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. Its has become an organ of the state.
#2
It is the official mouthpiece of the liberal socialist movement. And it is being destroyed, if the government doesn't bail it out. People are starting to stop listening to it and finding their news elsewhere.
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday reiterated his partys full support for the people of Balochistan and vowed to make all possible efforts to remove their sense of deprivation. Talking to a delegation of PML-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders and parliamentarians from Balochistan at his Raiwind residence, Nawaz said, The PML-N is determined to fighting for the political rights of Baloch people with the same spirit that it demonstrated during the movement for the independence of the judiciary.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Balochistan, Nawaz said developing the province to bring it at par with Punjab and Sindh was necessary to redressing Baloch peoples grievances. But even development work becomes meaningless if the people are not granted fundamental social and political rights.
The PML-N believes in the equal distribution of the countrys natural resources among the four provinces. The provision of provincial autonomy according to the 1973 Constitution will remove the alienated provinces sense of deprivation and will go a long way in cementing ties between federal and provincial governments.
Talking about the ruthless killings of Baloch leaders, Nawaz urged the government to hold an impartial judicial inquiry into the killings and bring the criminals to justice.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: NWFP government has no contact with Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Sufi Muhammad and such rumours will only benefit the Taliban, NWFP Informatrion Minister Iftikhar Hussain said on Tuesday.
Anyone check the local ammo dump mosque?
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Iftikhar rejected the impression created by certain quarters about the government's backdoor-diplomacy with Sufi Muhammad, saying that such stories were propagated by elements wanting to strengthen militancy in the country.
He said July 13 was a significant day in the countrys history, as on this day, the world's biggest wave of displaced people began moving back to their homes in a disciplined manner. "It is a day of jubilation for all of us that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have started moving back to their homes," he said, adding that the repatriation process began in an organised fashion and would culminate in accordance with the set schedule.
Iftikhar said he had recently addressed a public gathering in Khwazakhela, where all bazaars were open and the people went about their lives as usual. The response of the people gathered on the occasion was indicative of the fact that terrorists will never come back, the minister said, adding that times had gone when the people of Swat had to give their hard-earned income as donation to the Taliban.
The minds of the people have changed in Swat and they are earnestly demanding of the government wipe out the criminals from their soil who fooled them in the name of Islam, slaughtered the innocent desecrated corpses and ruined public property, Iftikhar said.
The information minister said that government would increase the strength of the police force and in order to avoid the re-emergence of the Taliban.
Oh that's going to work well. The local coppe shoppe would never canoodle with the Talibs ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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ASIA TIMES > TALIBAN LET THEIR GUNS DO THE TALKING [Mullah Omar back in charge of everyone and everything belabled as "Taliban" includ MILTERR VIOLENCE].
ISLAMABAD: The three-member UN inquiry commission constituted to investigate former prime minister Benazir Bhuttos assassination is expected to reach Islamabad today (Wednesday).
Comprising Chiles Permanent Representative for the United Nations Heraldo Munoz, Marzuki Darusman from Indonesia and Peter Fitzgerald from Ireland, the UN has mandated the commission to investigate the incident and file a report with the UN and Pakistan. The specially appointed body is responsible for collecting data and information related to Benazirs assassination. However, Islamabad would retain the right to determine the punishment for the accused.
Sources said the UN commission had prepared a list of people it would like to investigate, but it would be subject to final approval by the government of Pakistan. They said the UN commission was expected to interview Benazirs close aides in addition to the government officials who worked with her during her last days.
OJ will be searching the golf courses ...
Meanwhile, sources said, the government would accommodate the UN commission at Sindh House, Islamabad, instead of a five-star hotel for security reasons. They said the government was also maintaining secrecy about the movement of the commissions members for the same reason. Movement in and around Sindh House would remain restricted during the commissions stay, they added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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SHARM EL SHEIKH: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said he will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with an open heart and a positive mind.
Now I know he's lying ...
Gilani said, Efforts should be made to build bridges between the two countries instead of building walls.
He said Pakistan was determined to fight terrorism and would continue efforts to eradicate it, adding that the country was a frontline state in the war against terror and its role in securing regional peace must be acknowledged.
Before his departure, talking to reporters in Islamabad, Gilani had said he hoped discussions with his Indian counterpart would get peace talks back on track. I am sure such interactions would be really beneficial for the country, he said, referring to the meetings in Egypt.
Gilani said the two countries had been moving in the right direction until the Mumbai attacks and the pause India put on the talks had only benefited the terrorists.
Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna described Thursdays meeting as crucial. However, he declined to elaborate on what his prime minister would discuss with his Pakistani counterpart.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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...after Qaddoumi alleges Abbas involvement in 'assassination' of Arafat
The PLO on Tuesday condemned one of its veteran leaders as "deranged" and vowed to expel him from the organization. The attack on Farouk Qaddoumi, the estranged PLO leader who is also a top representative of Fatah, came after he accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and former PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan of being accomplices in the "assassination" of Yasser Arafat.
The PLO Executive Committee, a key decision-making body, said its members were planning to hold an emergency meeting soon to discuss Qaddoumi's allegations and the possibility of taking legal and disciplinary measures against him. The committee described Qaddoumi's accusations as "hysterical," adding that the veteran PLO official had "lost his political and psychological balance." It said that Qaddoumi was a man suffering from a "sick mind," saying that if he had evidence to back up his charges against Abbas and Dahlan he should have made them public when Arafat died five years ago.
Dahlan responded by hinting that Qaddoumi was a senile man who is not to be taken seriously. "Apparently his advanced age is responsible for the remarks he made," Dahlan said, adding that he consulted with Abbas about the most appropriate way to respond to Qaddoumi.
Hakam Balawi, a senior PLO official closely associated with Abbas, said that Qaddoumi was renowned for his "fabrications" and "hallucinations." Balawi said, however, that what was extremely serious about Qaddoumi's accusations was that he was exonerating Israel from involvement in the death of Arafat. False accusations of assassination are one thing, but to take the focus off of demonizing Israel really crosses the line.
"He's a man with a sick mind and character," Balawi said of Qaddoumi. "He has always excelled in spreading corruption and lies about our leadership." Balawi called on the PLO and Fatah to expel Qaddoumi from all their institutions and to deprive him of any funding.
Qaddoumi dropped a bombshell earlier this week when he told reporters in the Jordanian capital of Amman that Arafat had handed him before his death a protocol of a meeting where Abbas, Dahlan, former prime minister Ariel Sharon and US intelligence officers allegedly planned to assassinate the former PA chairman.
It's called "The Protocols of the Elders of Palestine," and bound in blue. Arafat used to always keep it on his desk.
Qaddoumi presented the reporters with a summary of the ostensible protocol in which Sharon allegedly told Abbas and Dahlan that they must also work toward eliminating the political and military leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah's armed wing, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Sharon was also quoted - according to the "protocol" - as telling Abbas and Dahlan that the first step should be to kill Arafat with poison.
Abbas was quoted in the same documents that were presented by Qaddoumi as saying that he would face "many difficulties" if Arafat died before he (Abbas) managed to take control over all the PA institutions, Fatah and events on the ground. The documents also quoted Dahlan as informing Sharon that he had established a special force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip whose main task was to monitor the movements of all the leaders of various Palestinian organizations, including Hamas and Fatah.
Qaddoumi told the reporters that the special force was responsible for the elimination of several armed groups in the PA-controlled territories. Lashing out at Abbas, Qaddoumi accused him of stealing some of Arafat's titles and of establishing an autocratic regime in the PA territories. "The man (Abbas) has fallen in love with titles used by president Arafat," Qaddoumi added. "First he asked to be named overall commander of the Palestinian revolution and then the exiled president of Palestine."
Qaddoumi's charges are believed to be linked to Abbas's controversial decision to convene Fatah's sixth assembly in Bethlehem next month. Qaddoumi and many Fatah officials living outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip have announced that they would boycott the conference, insisting that it be held in one of the Arab countries and not "under Israeli occupation." They believe that Abbas's decision is aimed at undermining their power in Fatah since the majority of those who are expected to attend the conference will be Abbas loyalists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Fatah assembly, which last met some 20 years ago, is expected to set a date for holding internal elections in the ruling faction - a step that is almost certain to see the rise of young grassroots activists to the top echelons.
A leaflet distributed by Fatah members in Ramallah described Qaddoumi as a pathetic and deranged opportunist and liar, and called for his dismissal from all PLO and Fatah governing bodies.
#1
...he accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and former PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan of being accomplices in the "assassination" of Yasser Arafat.
Considering what he died of, did they use their meat missiles as the murder weapons?
U.S. President Barack Obama met with 15 American Jewish leaders at the White House for the first time on Monday. The president and the Jewish officials huddled for talks aimed at clearing the air following allegations that his administration was taking a tough line with Israel over settlement activity.
At the meeting, Obama told the leaders that he wants to help Israel overcome its demographic problem by reaching an agreement on a two-state solution, but that in order to do so, Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection."
I'm waiting on him to tell the Paleos the same thing. I'd like to hear him remind the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas and the murderous Hamas thugs that peace requires them to love their children more than they love death. Wonder how that would go over.
On the Iranian nuclear issue, Obama told the leaders that "the door to dialogue is open. If the Iranians do not walk through it, however, we will have to see how we proceed. But it would be a mistake to talk now about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it."
One of the participants at the meeting asked the president to take a lower profile regarding the public differences between his administration and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the United States' demand that Israel freeze all settlement construction activity in the West Bank. "This situation is not helpful," he told the president, who rejected the request, saying that during the eight years of the Bush administration, such disagreements were never made public but that such an approach was not helpful in advancing the peace process.
Obama added that there is a narrow window of opportunity for advancing the peace process and that he plans to speak openly and honestly with Israel - "a true friend of the U.S." - just as he did with the Arab nations in his speech at Cairo University in June.
We can look for an address to the Jewish world from Jerusalem in the near future then?
Much more Q & A follows ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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I think newc above actually captures the essence, even if he (she?) squanders some eloquence on the toxic embarrassment that occupies the WH.
This jackass couldn't hold up his end of a 5 minute discussion of the history, merits, or strategic implications of the Isr-Pal conflict (or, for that matter, a discussion on anything else of consequence, including the US Constitution, on which his utterances leave one slack-jawed in amazement and disgust at his illiteracy).
Yep, you affirmative action dipshit, there's a "narrow window" for a lasting peace. Because ... because ... uh ... uh .... there's some unique aspects to, uh .... the current situation ... uh ... ya know, insane implacable racist hostility from the idiotic Arab world, and ... uh ... whatever.
Here's hoping Bibi steps up and takes huge risks and puts the pathetic US on the spot by attacking Iran's nuke program (hint: kill key people, don't just bomb sh*t). Imagine the disarray and meltdown among the Beltway third-tier mediocrities in the WH.
#14
It's amazing how many "narrow windows" there are, every administration has one. It's that "legacy" crap again. For one who professes to "listen to all sides", Obama certainly loves to lecture. He's the Professor In Chief - and therein lies his problem.
#15
Remember one thing. He was a community organizer. C-o-m-m-u-n-i-t-y. Not country. His mentality is still of a community organizer. His politics is still Chicago style.
Posted by: Art ||
07/15/2009 10:28 Comments ||
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Israel: Obama should engage reflexively in sexual congress.
#17
Just a reminder - last year 78% of American Jews voted for Obama.
Many in the U.S. Jewish community are quite liberal in views and thus voted for BO. Why are they liberal? I don't know. Bush did more for Israel than the Donks. Many in Israel got it and liked Bush.
Israeli authorities on Tuesday refused to allow more than a dozen French diplomats entry into the Gaza Strip, where they planned to take part in a Bastille Day celebration.
You have to go to Gaza to celebrate Bastille Day? What's wrong with Paris?
A senior security source said the 15 diplomats and East Jerusalem consulate employees were denied entry as part of an Israeli protest over the fact that Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit is still captive in the Gaza Strip without basic rights. "They [the diplomats] should not be allowed to celebrate a holiday marking freedom and human rights for the people of Gaza while Gilad Shalit remains in captivity," said the source.
Was it Gilad Shalit who holds dual citizenship -- Israel and France? I recall that one of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers does.
Israel objected to France's plan to hold a Bastille Day celebration in Gaza particularly in light of the fact that Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas militants in a 2006 cross-border raid, has dual French-Israeli citizenship.
It seems the answer to my question is yes.
During a Bastille Day celebration at the French embassy in Jaffa, Ambassador Jean Michel Casa declared that Shalit must immediately be freed, a sentiment shared by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French Consulate in East Jerusalem serves as liaison with the West Bank and has a small delegation in the Gaza Strip, as well. Israel officially denied the consulate's request for 15 entry visas - made earlier Tuesday - on the grounds that such requests must be submitted 48 hours in advance.
A Foreign Ministry source said that French Consulate must have been well aware that the diplomats would not be granted the permits, accusing them of "trying to be provocative" and blame Israel for ruining the French holiday. "The French consulate employees are known to be provocative and every week it's a different story with them," said the source.
He's a diplomat, so he didn't describe them as "antisemitic French pigs."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Isn't bastille day when they bar-be-cue cars and blow up things?
They'd feel right at home.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/15/2009 0:19 Comments ||
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They do that all the time, Redneck Jim. It's just moreso on Bastille Day, in the spirit of national celebration. The yoots of Gaza are engaged in healthier persuits.
The Foreign Ministry is furious over news that Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official based in the Gaza Strip, recently headed a Hamas delegation to Switzerland for talks with Swiss diplomats. A senior Foreign Ministry official said the visit will further destabilize already shaky relations between Jerusalem and Bern, after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Switzerland in April for the "Durban 2" United Nations anti-racism conference.
China's news agency broke the story of Zahar's visit nearly two weeks ago. Officials at the Israeli Embassy in Bern were surprised by the report, since they knew nothing about the June visit.
The embassy has requested clarifications from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, but Israeli officials say the responses have not been satisfactory. One Jerusalem officials said it was many days before the Swiss confirmed the Hamas visit to the embassy. Swiss officials told Israel's ambassador in Bern, Ilan Elgar, that the Hamas delegation was invited to Geneva by a nongovernmental research institute.
The Foreign Ministry source, however, noted that Swiss diplomats, including the Swiss envoy to the Middle East, met with the delegation during a conference at the institute.
Of course they did. The Swiss have favored Hamas and the PA for quite a while -- you always take care of your large depositors ...
The Swiss preen themselves on being what they think of as neutral. Another example is their long-held refusal to allow the Israeli branch of the Red Cross to mark their ambulances with a Star of David instead of a cross or crescent.
When Elgar requested official clarification regarding the visa issued to the delegation, he was told by the Swiss foreign ministry, "In Switzerland, Hamas is not considered a terrorist organization."
They're considered 'customers' ...
Tensions between Jerusalem and Bern began to build about a year and a half ago, when the Swiss foreign minister went to Iran to sign a major gas purchase contract. In May, in the wake of Ahmadinejad's visit to Geneva and the official working meeting with him held by Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, Israel recalled Elgar to Jerusalem for consultations in protest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Israel will soon test an Arrow interceptor missile on a U.S. missile range in the Pacific Ocean in an exercise that will also involve three U.S. missile defense systems, a top U.S. general said on Tuesday. Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said the test will allow Israel to measure its advanced Arrow system against a target with a range of more than 620 miles (1,000 km), too long for previous Arrow test sites in the eastern Mediterranean.
A U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be Israel's third Arrow test in the United States. The test flight would likely occur within the next several days off the central California coast, roughly between Santa Barbara and Point Mugu. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice to aircraft to avoid the area, the official said.
The Arrow system, jointly developed by Israel and the United States, is designed to defend the Jewish state against possible ballistic missile attacks from Iran and Syria.
"They are having a flight test soon this summer," O'Reilly told reporters. "They're limited to the range of the missile they can test in the eastern Mediterranean. There's a safety issue," he said. "That's the primary purpose of them coming to the United States to use our test range."
"The upcoming test also provides us the opportunity to have the Patriot system, the THAAD system and the Aegis system all interacting with the Arrow system so that we're demonstrating full interoperability as we execute this test," he added.
The U.S. defense official said the exercise would involve only the "sensor assets" of U.S. missile systems and emphasized that the test would be mainly Israeli.
Israel carried out a successful test launch of its Arrow II interceptor missile in April, shooting down a target designed to simulate an Iranian Shehab missile over the Mediterranean. Israel Radio said the April exercise was the 16th test launch of an Arrow. A defense source in Israel said 90 percent of the tests have been successful.
At least two Arrow batteries have been deployed in Israel, which has been testing the system to improve its performance at high altitudes against multiple incoming missiles. Israel fears Iran's uranium enrichment program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons that could be placed on medium- to long-range missiles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 00:00 ||
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THAT'S what those Israeli ships were doing passing through the Suez.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/15/2009 0:15 Comments ||
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#2
And ISRAELI = USAF, USN anti-BM aircraft tests???
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency believes Iran is capable of producing and testing an atomic bomb within six months, much sooner than most analysts estimate, according to a report in German weekly Stern. The report, which quotes BND experts, says the agency has information supporting the view that Iran has mastered the enrichment technology necessary to make a bomb and has enough centrifuges to make weaponised uranium.
"If they wanted to, they could detonate an atomic bomb in half a year's time," the story quoted a BND expert as saying. The BND did not return two calls from Reuters seeking comment on the report.
Some analysts say Iran may be close to having the required material for producing a bomb, but most say the weaponisation process would then take one to two years due to technical and political hurdles.
What political hurdles? And what technical hurdles? It's a uranium bomb -- you slam two subcritical masses together and kaboom.
"Weaponising" enrichment would not escape the notice of U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), unless it was done at a secret location.
Oh no, the IAEA could never miss nuclear weapons developments, shucks no ...
Until now there have been no indications of any such covert diversion, a point made by the IAEA's incoming director-general shortly after his election earlier this month. Current IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said it is his "gut feeling" that Iran is seeking at least the capability to build nuclear weapons, in order to protect itself from perceived regional and U.S. threats.
His gut tells him where the free food is, and that's about it ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 09:26 ||
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#1
If the Iranians don't already have several then they are incompetent fools.
Posted by: ed ||
07/15/2009 10:08 Comments ||
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#2
Well, that puts BO in the catbird kittybird seat. O.K. Israel it is up to you.
#3
"Weaponising" enrichment would not escape the notice of U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), unless it was done at a secret location.
#4
The only way the savage Islamic Iranian dictatorship can develop nuclear weapons is due to Putin's Kremlin supplying the nuclear fuel, the Russian nuclear technicians, complete with advanced Russian anti-aircraft installations, surrounding each and every nuclear weapons development site.
Since it's alarmingly evident Obama and his handlers won't lift a finger to oppose Iran's fanatical Shi'ite tyrants, (the same Iranian tyrants who export Iranian trained terrorists whose goal is to murder our troops in Iraq), then it's up to Israel's ruling conservatives, under Bibi's leadership, ready to action against Moscow's Persian proxies, prior to the unthinkable happening -- attempted national genocide directed against Israel from Tehran's controlling Shia thugs.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/15/2009 20:08 Comments ||
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Reporting from Beirut Iran's leading opposition figure and his wife emerged Tuesday night to pay their respects to the family of a 19-year-old man slain during recent weeks of violence, according to witnesses and reports on news websites. Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his popular wife, Zahra Rahnavard, visited the family of Sohrab Aarabi in Tehran, paying tribute to the teenager whose death and whose mother's desperate weeks-long quest to find her son have emerged as a symbol of the protest movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Photographs posted on the Gooya website showed the couple swarmed by supporters as they approached the family's home in the city's north-central Apadana district.
Mousavi has been relatively quiet in recent days as authorities successfully put down protests that erupted when Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of their election faceoff last month. But Mousavi plans to forge a new reformist political front that would challenge the country's dominant conservatives, and will have most of the rights given to a political party, his top aide Ali-Reza Beheshti said Tuesday.
"Establishing the front is on the agenda of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and we will announce the relevant news in the near future," Beheshti, the son of a famous cleric, told the semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency, or ILNA.
Hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's green-clad supporters took to the streets last month in displays of civil disobedience, asserting that the June 12 election was rigged. Mousavi could build on the momentum created by the so-called green wave to create a formidable force.
Reformists have tried for years to break through Iran's legal and political restrictions and fend off ideological challenges and accusations of complicity with the West to obtain and exercise power. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, a reformist political grouping, has been operating for years without gaining influence. Unlike a party, a front cannot call political rallies.
But Mousavi's new organization could gain political muscle with the help of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric who is a pillar of Mousavi's support. Rafsanjani said he would endorse Mousavi's plan for a "united moderation front," according to Mohammad Hashemi, his brother. "He had even formulated the charter to a certain extent, but this front did not materialize for certain reasons," he told ILNA.
At least one prominent conservative, Habibollah Asgaroladi, head of the decades-old Islamic Coalition Party, endorsed the creation of a Mousavi-led political group. "Establishing a party to voice one's ideas and political perceptions is a wise move," he said, according to the website of the state-owned Press TV channel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2009 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.
Kampala -- International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said efforts on the arrest warrant of Joseph Kony had intensified. He said he had asked MONUC, the UN peace-keepers in the DR Congo, to help arrest Kony. He said another reason for his visit to Uganda was to find out what else the ICC could do to speed up Kony's arrest. "If you arrest Kony, the group (LRA) will collapse," Ocampo remarked.
Nairobi -- The US sent its military to Kenya to hunt down and kill suspected terrorists... without the knowledge of the Kenya government, according to a UK newspaper. The Guardian on Tuesday reported that one of the suspects was assassinated as part of a wider programme against al-Qaeda under the Bush administration.
The defense world suffered a minor shock last week, when Marine Gen. James Cartwright, the Joint Chiefs vice chair, said that U.S. generals chose buying more electronics-jamming EA-18G Growlers, over buying more super-dogfightin' F-22 Raptors. Air Force magazine's Daily Report said the Pentagon is "not winning the argument" over F-22s "on the merits," and characterized Cartwright's comments as an "offensive" against the Lockheed-built stealth fighter.
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday reiterated his partys full support for the people of Balochistan and vowed to make all possible efforts to remove their sense of deprivation. Talking to a delegation of PML-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders and parliamentarians from Balochistan at his Raiwind residence, Nawaz said, The PML-N is determined to fighting for the political rights of Baloch people with the same spirit that it demonstrated during the movement for the independence of the judiciary. 
...after Qaddoumi alleges Abbas involvement in 'assassination' of Arafat
