#1
Rather odd. I doubt he's "held" all that closely if he truly converted. Stockholm syndrome. Perhaps he is setting up to infiltrate, given that he shaved off the jihadi beard.
Go look at the pictures in the article. I bet the only reason they let him in the Taliban Club is that he brought his own motocross bike to the Cycle of Violence (and I haven't seen that pic here in awhile).
[Al Jazeera] The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the Khartoum-based government's army, and its former enemy, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of south Sudan, have signed an agreement to secure the flow of crude oil from Sudanese oil fields, irrespective of the outcome of the upcoming referendum on south Sudan self-determination. Right. That'll work. And I'm gonna lose fifty pounds before Christmas. Al Jizz's Mohamed al-Baggali, reporting from Sudan on Tuesday, said the agreement coincided with growing fears among oil companies over the post-referendum violence in Sudan.
The January 9 independence referendum in southern Sudan is a key element of the 2005 peace deal which ended a two-decade-long civil war between the north and south that killed around two million people.
Under the deal, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the south formed its own government, which has limited autonomy and in which the north has a small representation. South Sudan is nominally represented in the government of national unity, which is led by the Khartoum-based National Congress Party.
The oil treaty calls for joint military units between the SAF and the SPLA to safeguard the oil fields in the south up to July 2011. This will be based on a political arrangement to be reached after announcing the referendum results.
Mass resignations
The uncertainty that shrouds the future of the southern district has triggered mass resignations by oil workers as a precaution against possible violence related to the vote.
"We reaffirm to those working in those companies, as cited by the content of this agreement, the full commitment of the Sudanese federal government and the government of south Sudan to provide security and safety to them and to their activities", Ali Osman Taha, the Sudanese vice-president, said.
Sudan produces around 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, by which the south Sudan government is sustained, while north Sudan gets more than half of its annual revenue.
Garang Deng, the south Sudan oil minister, said: "We hope that crude oil will keep flowing in case of unity or secession. This is because by benefiting from oil, we have improved the living conditions of the Sudanese people up to a certain level, both in north and south Sudan."
"In case the oil flow was interrupted, the living conditions of the people will begin to deteriorate," Garang added.
Uganda 'destabilising'
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the government of Sudan has accused neighbouring Uganda of supporting rebel groups in the Darfur region.
On Monday, Abdul Raheem Mohamed Hussein, the Sudanese defence minister, told Al Jizz that Uganda's role in Sudan is "destabilising" and will have negatives consequences throughout east Africa.
"There is Ugandan intentional intervention against the security and stability of Sudan. This will have a large effect on the security and stability of the whole region," the defence minister said.
The accusations were triggered by leaks to the local Sudanese media and have created diplomatic tension between the two countries.
In November, Betty Akech Okullu, Uganda's ambassador to Sudan, was twice summoned by the Sudanese foreign minister over allegations that Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, promised support to a Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Baywatch as nuclear weapon. Seriously, these shows are mental can openers to people in third world countries, and what has been seen cannot be unseen.
Barbarism requires ignorance as well as poverty to function, and if people get a glimpse of not only a better life, but a better way of life, barbarism tends to go right out the window.
Oddly enough, the leader in this, around the world, are emotionally charged, low budget Mexican soap operas. They translate perfectly, and they are utterly hypnotic to people who are emotionally stunted and culturally inhibited. They see that, and they want to be that.
#3
Baywatch as nuclear weapon
It is a proven concept--get the houswives discontent and there will be no more nookie until life changes. And this very effective concept has been noticed and shut down:
Fox News: "Iran has shut down an office of television channel Farsi1, owned by News Corp. and Moby Group, and arrested at least four employees for 'anti-revolutionary' activity, the Tehran prosecutor was quoted as saying Tuesday. 'With the intention of helping the anti-revolutionary movement, this bureau was tasked with dubbing movies for Farsi1 channel in an office in the center of Tehran,' Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. State television's website quoted him as saying 'four or five people' had been arrested. Hong Kong-based broadcaster Star, equally owned by News Corp. and Afghanistan's Moby, launched the Farsi1 satellite channel in summer 2009, airing soaps and sitcoms dubbed into Farsi and targeting a potential 100 million-strong audience in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. News Corp. also owns NewsCore. Farsi1 was an instant hit in Iran, where private TV and radio stations are also forbidden, but it infuriated hardliners who accused its broadcaster of promoting 'corruption' in the country's conservative Islamic society." http://fxn.ws/gXmbLh
#5
considering how much TV and Sat-TV shows suck.... this is kind of sad in a way...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/08/2010 12:38 Comments ||
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#6
considering how much TV and Sat-TV shows suck.... this is kind of sad in a way...
on the other hand, the Saudis are getting Fox News, with Glenn Beck's expose' of the Puppetmaster, Soros, to feed the Muzzie conspiracies, and all those glamour girls with cleavage...
#7
Even though oil prices are up, the Saudis have rising expenses due to all the jihadi groups that need funding... and Muslim congregations around the world that need to be kept in fancy new mosques and teaching materials. Fox is partially owned by one of the Saudi princelings; by increasing viewership in this way, he'll have more money to pour into the above investments in the future.
(KUNA) -- Tens of thousands of students from outside the EU will be barred from coming to Britain under new immigration rules to be set out Tuesday, it was announced here.
Two-thirds of the non-EU migrants who enter the UK come on student visas and the Government will aim to bring these numbers down as it tries to fulfil its pledge to cut net migration from 200,000 to under 100,000 by 2015, officials said. Bogus students and colleges that exploit the system will be targeted as student visas for courses below degree level - including A-levels, vocational courses and GCSEs - are axed.
But in a key speech on immigration, Home Secretary Theresa May said last month: "Let me make clear: I will do nothing to prevent those coming here to study degree-level courses and I will protect our world-class academic institutions above and below degree level."
"Even if they are terrorists! So there!"
Mrs May said the Government will cut the numbers of students coming to the UK to study courses below degree level - almost half of those who currently arrive on student visas.
"While we need to preserve our world-class universities, we need to stop abuses," she said.
Students coming to the UK to study a course below degree level - around 120,000 last year - will be targeted, as will those abusing the study route by using it as a means to stay on in the UK. Around 38,000 migrants who came as students in 2009 then looked for skilled work under an "astonishingly generous" system, Mrs May said.
In the future, only students "who can bring an economic benefit to Britain's institutions and can support Britain's economic growth" should be allowed in. The standard of courses, entry criteria and English language requirements will all be looked at, she said, along with the right to work for students and their dependants.
The Government will adopt "a more selective approach, which attracts the highly skilled, the talented and the genuinely needed, but reduces numbers overall by weeding out those who do not deserve to be allowed in".
Home Office data showed migrants granted visas to study in privately-funded colleges "were much more likely not to have left the country than their counterparts in universities" after the end of their course. "I want a more selective approach which prioritises our universities, attracts the brightest and best workers and minimises abuse in the study and family routes," Mrs May said.
From next April, the number of migrant workers coming to Britain from outside the EU will be cut by a fifth and capped at 21,700. And a new minimum salary of 40,000 pounds for firms using intra-company transfers (ICTs) to bring their own people into the UK for more than a year to do specific jobs will also be imposed. The Government is also considering ways to reduce the number of migrants joining family members in the UK, the officials added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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The Government is also considering ways to reduce the number of migrants joining family members in the UK, the officials added.
[Chosun Ilbo] As part of an ongoing propaganda drive to establish North Korean hereditary supremo Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un as his father's successor, the podgy youth has apparently adopted the old slogan "feed the people with rice and meat soup," according to the Yomiuri Shimbun on Monday.
Quoting a source in China, the daily said Kim Sonny Jong-un rehearsed the slogan at a meeting in Pyongyang early last month. "We should restore the people's economy to the level of the 1960-1970s within three years to reach living standards whereby people can enjoy rice and meat soup and live in tile-roofed houses and wear silk clothes," the source quoted him as saying.
The meeting was chaired by Jang Song-taek, Kim's powerful uncle and presumptive guardian, and attended by enterprise managers and economic experts.
"Feeding people with rice and meat soup" was a favorite slogan of regime founder Kim Il-sung. Kim Sonny Jong-un repeated it in a bid to deliver a message that he will play a leadership role in economic reconstruction, the daily speculated.
Since he was established as the heir in September, Kim junior has stressed improvement of people's lives, the daily added. "In the past, it was fine if we didn't have food as long as we had bullets. But now we must have food, but not necessarily bullets," he has been quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
I wonder if this means that Juche propaganda will make its way back into the NorK publicity machine?
I miss the enthusiastic Juche-man and his wildly optimistic propaganda - maybe Pelosi, Reid and Obama will let Kim have him back from his position as a Dem budget forecaster.
#5
Well, TW... I think we all miss the Juche Man propaganda. Its pretty amusing and easy to riff off of, It's got a good beat and you can dance to it - I give it a 92!
#6
Has any other nation ever set the goal to reach their level of affluence of 40-50 years in the past? Is France longing for Vichy?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
12/08/2010 19:43 Comments ||
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#7
That "Chicken soup" comment triggered an old memory, An old Western, the captured indians are complaining about "Soup that Chicken ran through".
Commandant sent troops out Buffalo hunting for food.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/08/2010 20:10 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] China says promoting the atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation is the only way forward to help deal with tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The responsibility for maintaining peace should be "shouldered by all parties in the region," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said during a regular news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
The South Korean military has staged a second day of major live-fire military exercises despite warnings by the North.
The exercises come a day after the US and Japanese fighter jets staged dogfight drills over the Sea of Japan. The drills also come two weeks after an artillery exchange on a border island left four South Koreans dead.
The US military has held several joint martial drills with Korean and Japanese forces over the past months in the troubled region.
The US, South Korea and Japan have wrapped up a meeting in Washington on the Korean Peninsula crisis, in which they warned Pyongyang over its aggressive behavior.
Seoul has also said it will hit back in any future attack.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill... said talks with North Korea could resume if Pyongyang improves its ties with Seoul.
Top US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen is visiting Seoul to analyze Pyongyang's intentions and discuss measures to deter further provocations.
North Korea, on the other hand, has warned that the war games could bring the Koreas closer to the brink of war.
Pyongyang accuses US President Barack B.O. Obama of plotting with regional allies to topple the country's government, insisting that its nuclear program is a deterrent against US forces in the region.
China has warned that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could run out of control if not properly handled, stressing that all sides need to exercise restraint.
"Especially with the present situation, if not dealt with properly, tensions could well rise on the Korean peninsula or spin out of control, which would not be in anyone's interest," state-run Xinhua quoted Chinese President Hu Jintao as saying during a Sunday telephone conversation with Obama.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The chairman of the JCS contributed this to the dialogue [WaPo]: "The Chinese have enormous influence over the North, influence that no other nation on Earth enjoys," Mullen said. "And yet, despite a shared interest in reducing tensions, they appear unwilling to use it. Even tacit approval of Pyongyang's brazenness leaves all their neighbors asking, 'What will be next?' "
[Al Jazeera] The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking into whether North Korea's recent shelling of a South Korean island and the sinking of a warship could constitute war crimes. Right. Something's sure to happen, probably right after they arrest Shoulder Boards Man in Sudan.
The court's prosecutor announced the investigation in The Hague on Monday, as South Korea began nationwide live-fire naval exercises, despite warnings from Pyongyang that the drills are "provocative".
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been mounting since the two countries exchanged artillery fire on November 23. Artillery shells from the North hit Yeonpyeong Island, close to a disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea killing at least four people.
"Luis Moreno-Ocampo confirmed that [his office] has opened a preliminary examination to evaluate if some incidents constitute war crimes under the jurisdiction of the court," a statement from the prosecutor's office said.
On March 26, a torpedo allegedly fired from a North Korean submarine sunk the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors.
'Hell-bent on war'
North Korea, which has denied sinking the Cheonan, has said that the latest military exercises, expected to last for a week, showed that the South was "hell-bent" on setting off a war.
The exercises are scheduled to take place at 29 sites in seas near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL).
Al Jizz's Marga Ortigas, reporting from Seoul, said the timing of the naval drills seemed "rather inappropriate considering the way things have been here over the last two weeks".
She said it is part of the South Korean government's efforts to "take more forceful steps when it comes to dealing with North Korean provocation".
"The previous defence minister was let go for failing to protect the country," she said.
"But now South Korea has a new defence minister who is determined to show he is a man of his word. There are many expectations resting on his shoulders."
North Korea disputes the NLL, a sea border established by the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, without Pyongyang's agreement, at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The locations of the drills include the Daecheong Island, one of five major islands near the Yellow Sea border, where the Cheonan, a 1,200-tonne South Korean naval vessel, was hit by a suspected North Korean torpedo in March. An international investigation blamed North Korea for the sinking.
But military officials have previously said the drills would not take place near Yeonpyeong.
The live-fire exercise came as Japan and the US stage one of their biggest-ever joint military exercises, which began on Friday, just days after the United States and South Korea conducted smaller exercises aimed at deterring an aggressive North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- WikiLeaks said it will continue releasing the leaked US embassy cables in spite of the arrest this morning of its founder, Julian Assange, over allegations in Sweden of sexual offences, the Guardian newspaper said Tuesday.
The whistleblowers' website has made arrangements to continue publishing the classified documents, the airing of which has embarrassed the US government.
As it was designed to do from the start.
The leaked cables have provided a daily flow of revelations about the superpower's involvement in the most sensitive issues around the world, including those affecting Iran, Afghanistan and China.
The decision to press on will help allay fears among Assange's supporters that his arrest would hobble the organisation's work, the paper commented.
Assange has also pre-recorded a video message, which WikiLeaks is due to release today.
But the Guardian understands the organisation has no plans to release the insurance file of the remaining cables, which number more than 200,000. It has sent copies of the encrypted file to supporters around the world.
Assange and his lawyers, Mark Stephens and Jennifer Robinson, attended a London cop shoppe at 9.30am today, by appointment.
The 39-year old Australian was jugged under a European arrest warrant.
He is wanted by Swedish authorities to face one charge of unlawful coercion, two charges of sexual molestation and one charge of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010. Assange and his legal team kept changing the location of the planned arrest up until last night in a successful bid to avoid a media scrum.
He is expected to appear at City of Westminster magistrates court later today.
On 18 November, Stockholm's district court approved a request to issue an international and European arrest warrant, which itself was disputed by Assange's legal team.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So, since it's never going to stop
and since the general public loves Wikileaks and Julian Assange
and since the Government's heavy handed tactics to get him have backfired so spectacularly
perhaps it might be better to find a positive way to respond to the situation?
Perhaps working with Wikileaks instead of against it - eg: to ensure nobody gets their cover blown?
you know like Wikileaks asked to do before the file dump began and the US refused?
Wikileaks or similar is here forever. So might as well learn how to deal with it positively.
(KUNA) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday authorized "significant" action in the investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, for putting the country's national security "at risk" by publishing the controversial U.S. diplomatic cables online.
"National security of the United States has been put at risk," Holder said at a news conference at the Justice Department. "The lives of people who work for the American people have been put at risk. The American people themselves have been put at risk by these actions that I believe are arrogant, misguided and ultimately not helpful in any way. We are doing everything that we can".
The WikiLeaks site has been hit with denial-of-service attacks, which seek to make a website unavailable. It also has been kicked off servers in the United States and La Belle France.
Holder declined to answer questions Monday about the possibility that the U.S. government could shut down WikiLeaks, saying he does not want to talk about capabilities and techniques at the government's disposal.
Holder said he recently authorized a number of steps related to the WikiLeaks investigation, but would not detail those steps when pressed by news hounds.
"I authorized just last week a number of things to be done so that we can, hopefully, get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable as they should be," he said.
"With regard to all the tactics that we can do or can use to ameliorate the consequences of these actions, I do not want to get into those as well," he added. "But we will do everything that we can both to hold people accountable and to minimize the harm that will befall the American people".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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Holder, there is nothing you can do to ameliorate them. You can't even mitigate them. You might have prevented their increase had you acted effectively in a timely manner. But you have let several herds out before even thinking about closing the barn door. And you don't even know the English language, just obsfucational bureaucratese.
#9
All Holder has to do is stall, something well within his skill-set. Assange "believes he is promoting democracy" and is very well-funded--I'm still marveling over the Swedish James Bond bunker he uses for storage. I smell Soros money behind Wikileaks and since he has also dictated Obama's policies, this could be the biggest terrorist attack we have never even dared to imagine. We haven't begun to realize the fall-out but hopefully their sinister plan to collapse the US will all backfire.
[Iran Press TV] A rights group based in the US state of Arizona has accused the White House of severe human rights violations against immigrants and minorities.
Border Action Network on Monday called on the US government to adhere to human rights laws recognized by the international community.
The group's executive director, Jennifer Allen, told Iran's official news agency IRNA in an interview that Washington rarely prevents violations against immigrants and minorities in the United States.
She also accused local and federal US law enforcement agents of violating the rights of legal immigrants and even American citizens.
Border Action Network is an organization that works with immigrant and border communities to ensure their rights are respected.
The comments come as Arizona officials grapple with a controversial immigration law introduced by the state's governor, Jan Brewer.
According to the Arizona law, which took effect on July 29, immigrants in the state will be treated as criminals if they fail to provide proper immigration documents.
The law also allows law enforcement agents who are not necessarily federal agents to stop suspected people and check their status.
Supporters argue that the law is intended to be race neutral, but critics believe it will inevitably open the way for racial profiling against Latinos in a state on the Mexican border.
The law has raised the ire of Latin American countries and has sparked protests in Arizona, especially among the Hispanics and labor activists.
The United States is home to an estimated 11 million illegal residents, with Hispanics comprising the majority of them.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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Who knows, maybe someday we can get this level of security at the polls. Hey, I can dream!
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/08/2010 5:07 Comments ||
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#2
Racist!
/sarc stays on
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/08/2010 9:06 Comments ||
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#3
Sometimes less is more. Just yesterday there was a huge bust at the Mesa, AZ DMV. The same people who issue driver's licenses, and *would* have issued the REAL ID if AZ hadn't refused it, were doing so to illegal aliens, drug gangs, etc.
Importantly, if AZ had been a REAL ID State, these criminals would have had a national "all access pass", under the illusion of "better security". But just having State driver's licenses limited them to AZ.
Speaking from personal experience, the proliferation of photo IDs make things less safe, as most of the time, all security people care about is that you have *a* photo ID, not whether it is genuine or not, or even has your picture on it.
A "funny"-type anarchist friend used to crank out bogus IDs for imaginary corporations, which he would use to gain access to 'secure' corporate offices. Out of the entire metro area, he said that only a few dozen military-industrial high security facilities truly cared enough to scrutinize his stuff. The rest just waved him through.
I still have the fake ID he made for me, and it's a hoot. Zyklon Chemical Corporation, as an Asst. Neuroproctocology Engineer. Along with the photo is a fake fingerprint, and the back has a fake magnetic strip. On the front is the ball and stick chemical model for TNT, and on the back one for LSD.
The slogan on the front is "We don't just make chemicals, We make solutions!" The back has a list of Dilbert-esque corporate babble about "proactive synergies in the paradigm matrix", etc., with #6 saying simply, "safety first".
I only used it for free parking when there were sports events, so they were charging a fee for an otherwise free parking lot. I never even needed to roll down my window.
#4
Many moons ago I developed my expertise in MS Publisher by 'fabricating' executive parking passes for our manufacturing plant. One day I waved one at the security gate as I was driving in and the Security Chief came running out and grabbed it. "Oh s&&t, I'm busted!" I thought.
He took it back in the guardhouse and waved it in front of a group of new hires, "See, this is what they look like."
He handed it back to me and said "Thank You for waiting , Sir!"
[Dawn] French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned Pakistain on Tuesday for allowing hard boyz "safe havens" in its tribal border areas, as he paid tribute to the victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sarkozy, in Mumbai on the last day of a four-day visit to India, said it was "unacceptable" that terror networks could find refuge in Pakistain and use it as a springboard to attack India, French troops in Afghanistan or other countries.
"It is unacceptable that India's security can be threatened by groups of gun-hung tough guys acting from neighbouring countries," he said at the Oberoi hotel, one of the luxury hotels besieged by gun-hung tough guys in November 2008.
"It is unacceptable for Afghanistan and for our troops that the Taliban and al Qaeda find safe haven in the border regions of Pakistain. We know the price that the Pak people are paying for terrorism.
"But it is unacceptable for the world that terrorist acts should be criminal masterminded and carried out by terrorist groups in Pakistain."
"I call on all Pak authorities to step up their efforts and show that they are resolute in combating these criminals," he added, vowing that "there will be no limit to operational co-operation" in counter-terrorism with India.
Sarkozy, accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni, earlier placed a wreath at a memorial in the south of the city for 18 coppers who bit the dust in the carnage.
Sarkozy's comments on India's troubled neighbour mirror similar pronouncements made by US President Barack B.O. Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, who have both visited New Delhi in recent months.
While visiting India's tech hub Bangalore, Cameron caused a diplomatic spat with Pakistain when he said Islamabad could not "look both ways" in promoting the export of terror while publicly working for stability in the region.
Pakistain's government says the country is a victim of terror as well and that it is doing all it can to combat extremism, including in the mountainous tribal border areas where its army has struggled to exert control.
Sarkozy's visit to Mumbai -- which later includes an address to business leaders at an Indo-French industry forum -- wraps up a trade-focused visit heavily weighted on nuclear and defence deals.
Sarkozy and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday unveiled plans for a 9.3-billion-dollar deal for La Belle France's Areva nuclear group to provide two reactors for a new plant in Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital.
The deal is short of a final sale contract but makes Areva a front-runner in the highly competitive race to sell nuclear technology to India, which wants atomic energy to supply a quarter of its electricity demands by 2050.
The United States and Japan are looking to increase civil nuclear cooperation, while Russia is already building two nuclear power plants in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Sarkzoy's office has said that deals totalling 15 billion euros (20 billion dollars) have been or are about to be signed with Indian companies.
They include a leasing agreement for 14 Airbus planes and the modernisation of 51 French-made Mirage fighter jets.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"It is unacceptable for Afghanistan and for our troops that the Taliban and al Qaeda find safe haven in the border regions of Pakistain."
While I agree with Sarkozy on this, the safe havens have not proven to be all that safe from our explosives from the sky.
Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b) (d) Feb 26, 2010
A court decision preventing (Taliban leader Mullah) Barader`s extradition to Afghanistan comes amid renewed anti-American hostility in the media. The Americans speculate that the Pakistanis might swap Barader for a Baloch nationalist leader hiding in Kabul, but feel he `knows too much`.
The Beradar arrest was raised at a Feb 24 tripartite meeting in Islamabad of FBI Director Robert Mueller, (Interior) Minister Rehman Malik and (Afghan interior) Minister Atmar Hanif. There was no agreement from either side about the transfer of "wanted persons".
In the meeting, Malik provided a list of Pakistans Most Wanted to Atmar, and requested the same from Atmar. Malik named one of the Most Wanted, known Baloch separatist Bramdagh Bugti, and asked Atmar to assist in locating the individual and returning him to Pakistan.
Malik also stated that both countries had expressed interest in passing prisoner lists naming the nationals of one country being detained by the other country. Atmar said his government did not know where the Baloch separatists were located and would need more information from the GOP (Government of Pakistan) to find them.
Atmar highlighted that three Afghan Taliban leaders, including Mullah Beradar, had been recently detained in Pakistan and advised that Afghanistan would be interested in developing a dialogue to have these three deported.
Malik noted that these detainees currently were not pending in the courts, but the he would seek additional information on the matter.
Atmar further advised that pursuant to discussions between ISI and Afghan NDS, 38 Afghans were to be deported/repatriated in the near future, but these Afghans had not been sent back to Afghanistan.
Director Mueller strongly suggested that, as the two countries moved forward, the "prisoner" and "Most Wanted" lists should not be made public.
He urged both Minister Atmar and Minister Malik to restrain from comments to the press (advice which was apparently ignored). The names on the lists could be key to sensitive investigations and making the names public might jeopardize investigations, the FBI Director explained.
The tripartite meeting was a follow up to the earlier May 2009 meeting in Washington. It made progress on a number of fronts, which will be reported septel. But the issue of "wanted persons" dominated the press play after the meeting. Rehman Malik was at pains to convince us that no deal had been made with the Afghans.
As most of our readers know, the presence of Baloch separatists Bramdagh Bugti in Afghanistan has long been a neuralgic one with the GOP, particularly with the GOP military.
Accordingly, post believes that we should watch out for consideration of some type of exchange of Barader with Bugti. But we do not believe that the Pakistani government, especially those who control Barader`s fate -- Kayani and Pasha -- would willingly lose control of such a huge potential propaganda pawn in Bradar.
While Bugti may be a core issue at some political level, the "truths" Barader could tell about ISI, not to mention a host of other Pakistani notables, likely outweigh any potential wins in bringing Bugti to Pakistani justice.
Comment: To state the obvious, the consistent press leaks in the media about American intelligence operations in the US have lots of unexpected consequences. Most obviously, press leaks enabled the highly unpredictable and anti-American Lahore High Court to issue a judgment decrying the presence of US intelligence agents in the Barader case.
PATTERSON
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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Zero Bravo asserts that the Paks jugged Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Talibans operational commander and number two leader because he was conducting peace talks with the Afghan government that excluded Pakistan.
We protect the Taliban. They are dependent on us. We are not going to allow them to make a deal with Karzai and the Indians.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
12/08/2010 5:49 Comments ||
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#2
While Bugti may be a core issue at some political level, the "truths" Barader could tell about ISI, not to mention a host of other Pakistani notables, likely outweigh any potential wins in bringing Bugti to Pakistani justice.
Says it all who we are really fighting in Afghanistan ie Pak Army/ISI
(KUNA) -- Despite past indications that La Belle France could do so if Middle East talks stalled, French officials said Tuesday that they "did not want to anticipate discussions between the parties" and they would not recognize an independent Paleostinian state within the 1967 borders at this time.
Foreign Ministry front man Bernard Valero noted that the principle of a Paleostinian state had been agreed by the European Union in Berlin in 1999.
"Within this perspective, we want a resumption of peace talks, which must address all questions; the final status, the setting out of the parameters of a Paleostinian state and allow for its creation. We want a viable Paleostinian state, which means with 1967 borders, with exchanges of territory." Valero was reacting to a KUNA question on La Belle France's position on Paleostinian statehood after three Latin American countries said they were going ahead and recognizing Paleostine as a state.
Israel has strongly protested the move Monday by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which said they will recognize the Paleostinian state within its 1967 borders, an area under Paleostinian control before Israel occupied large tracts of Arab land and also Jerusalem over 40 years ago.
"We support the construction of this future state and the setting up of its institutions," Valero said of plans to establish a Paleostinian nation once the stalled and ailing peace talks are concluded.
The French official noted that to bolster its support for the emerging Paleostinian state, La Belle France has upgraded the diplomatic ranking of the Paleostinian representative in La Belle France and the "delegation" had been upgraded to a "mission" with a full ambassador who handed in his credentials to President Nicolas Sarkozy last week.
This, however, is far from what was hinted at several times by former Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner before he left office last month, when he had said La Belle France would seriously consider unilateral recognition of Paleostine if the grinding of the peace processor did not make progress and obliquely, it was hinted, if Israel did not halt illegal settlement-building.
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[Iran Press TV] The European Union has warned that current Israeli policies would not let the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to be the future capital of a Paleostinian state.
"If current trends are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of east Jerusalem as the future capital of a Paleostinian state becomes increasingly unlikely and unworkable," said an annual EU report seen by AFP on Tuesday.
"This in turn seriously endangers the chances of sustainable peace on the basis of two states, with Jerusalem as their future capital," the report added.
Beside settlement projects, Israel's restrictive planning policies and the continuing demolitions and evictions have "serious humanitarian consequences," the EU said.
Such policies cause East al-Quds to be increasingly isolated from the rest of the occupied West Bank, the report warned.
Refusing to extend partial settlement freeze, Israel has approved the construction of more settler units in the occupied Paleostinian territories, including East al-Quds.
The settlement issue stalled direct talks between Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Paleostinian Authority Chief the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas, which began early September.
Abbas has clarified that he would not return to the US-sponsored negotiations unless Tel Aviv extends its 10-month freeze, which expired late September.
On Monday, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted that Tel Aviv has no plan to extend the partial moratorium on the settlement activities.
Israel occupied and annexed East al-Quds in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community and the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society.
"Jerusalem is not a settlement -- Jerusalem is the capital of... Israel," said Netanyahu's office, adding that Israel had never stopped settlement construction in the occupied city since the 1967 war.
Paleostinians argue that the settlement projects, which contravene UN Security Council Resolutions 446, 452, and 465, are aimed at preventing the establishment of an independent Paleostinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.
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12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't you people have some problems that require your, urgent, atttention at home?
#1
Rather odd. Perhaps he is setting up to infiltrate, given that he shaved off the jihadi beard.
Go look at the pictures in the article. I bet the only reason they let him in the Taliban Club is that he brought his own motocross bike to the Cycle of Violence (and I haven't seen that pic here in awhile).
[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian holy man and politician says the six world powers known as the P5+1 must be held accountable over spying operations which focus on the country's nuclear facilities.
Ayatollah Qorbanqoli Dorri Najafabadi said on Tuesday that the P5+1 member states - Britain, China, La Belle France, Russia and the US plus Germany -- should be answerable over allegations that certain countries were "spying on Iran's nuclear sites under the guise of IAEA inspectors, and offering information to foreigners and terrorists."
Ayatollah Dorri Najafabadi is a member of the Assembly of Experts and a provincial representative of Leader of the Islamic theocracy Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in the central Markazi province.
"The West and the 5+1 should recognize the rights of the great Iranian nation," Fars News Agency quoted the holy man as saying.
"The Iranian nation will not step back an iota when it comes to nuclear energy and its inalienable rights, and sanctions, threats and acts of terror will only make the nation more resolute in [continuing] the path it has chosen," the Leader's representative said.
"The liquidation of scholars and nuclear scientists is the most obvious sign of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Security Council's weakness," he said.
Ayatollah Dorri Najafabadi slammed international organizations for not having condemned the terrorist attacks on two Iranian scientists in Tehran several days ago, which killed one and slightly injured the other.
He also called on the P5+1 to decry terrorist acts carried out against Iranian scientists and scholars.
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12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Iran will refuse to talk about stopping its enrichment of uranium at the next meeting in January on its nuclear programme with six major powers, the country's chief nuclear negotiator says.
"I am announcing openly and clearly that Iran will not discuss a uranium enrichment halt in the next meeting in Istanbul with major powers," Saeed Jalili said on Tuesday, after two days of talks with the six powers in Geneva.
Any discussions between world powers and Iran on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme must be based on co-operation, he said, and not pressure.
"A dual strategy is not helpful - it will not help talks to reach fruition," the Iranian official added.
Diplomats from delegations at the table with Iran confirmed that Tehran didn't agree to freeze its uranium enrichment programme, as demanded by the UN Security Council.
"We didn't get anywhere on substance,'' said one of the officials. ``It was an exchange of views.''
A senior U.S. administration official, in a similarly sober assessment, said: ``Our expectations for these talks were low, and they were never exceeded.''
The negotiations over its controversial nuclear programme in the Swiss city took place 14 months after a previous round of negotiations were broken off.
But the two sides agreed to reconvene early next year, indicating that Tehran may be willing to address concerns about its nuclear program. But Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad warned that unless they lift U.N. sanctions the six face failure in the next round.
High tension
The talks were spearheaded by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top diplomat, who is representing the five UN Security Council members - Britain, La Belle France, the US, Russia and China - plus Germany.
Officials from each of the countries were present for the talks, including William Burns, the US undersecretary of state.
Tensions rose ahead of the talks when Tehran announced on Sunday that it had mined and enriched its first domestic uranium yellowcake, the raw material needed to produce highly-enriched uranium.
The talks have also been overshadowed by the death last week in Tehran of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist, who was killed in a bomb attack on his car. The attack left another scientist maimed and Iranian officials have blamed the blast on the West.
Cooperation with N Korea
Concern that North Korea could be actively engaged with Iran in exporting weapons systems and possible nuclear expertise also rose on Tuesday, after a former Iranian diplomat who defected to the West this year says he saw North Korean technicians "repeatedly" travel to Iran.
Mohammad Reza Heydari, who resigned in January from his post as Iranian consul in Norway, said he's "certain" the cooperation is continuing between his home country and North Korea.
Heydari spoke Tuesday at a conference in Gay Paree, where he was promoting his efforts to unite international opposition against Iran.
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12/08/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] An Israeli military intelligence official on Tuesday expressed concerns that Hizbullah "might seize control of Lebanese government institutions" when the Special Tribunal for Leb issues an indictment in the Hariri case, Israeli news website Ynet reported. That'd be a putsch or perhaps a coup d'etat that everyone but the Hated Zionists would carefully avoid referring to as a putsch or a coup.
"In a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee debate, senior Military Intelligence official Colonel Yossi Adler estimated that there is a small chance that the tensions will affect Israel," Ynet said.
"He noted that Hizbullah continues to arm itself with weapons that threaten Central Israel," the website added.
Adler presented a possible scenario of Leb the day after the indictment was published: "Dozens will be killed when Hizbullah uses force and takes over government institutions. In this case, there is a chance that the tensions would trickle in Israel's direction.
"Even though it has been four years since the end of the last war, the organization has a score to settle with Israel following the murder of Hizbullah (military) commander Imad Mughniyeh."
As an alternative to that "harsh" scenario, Adler presented another less extreme assessment.
According to the alternative scenario, "Hizbullah will pressure Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the more moderate of the Arab nations to try and reach a compromise."
Hizbullah, Adler warned, "continues to build up its strength through cooperation with Syria and Iran and has advanced arms that can reach central Israel."
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12/08/2010 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.
The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the Khartoum-based government's army, and its former enemy, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of south Sudan, have signed an agreement to secure the flow of crude oil from Sudanese oil fields, irrespective of the outcome of the upcoming referendum on south Sudan self-determination.
[Chosun Ilbo] As part of an ongoing propaganda drive to establish 
[Iran Press TV] China says promoting the atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation is the only way forward to help deal with tensions on the Korean peninsula.
[Al Jazeera] The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking into whether North Korea's recent shelling of a South Korean island and the sinking of a warship could constitute war crimes.
[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian 
[Al Jazeera] Iran will refuse to talk about stopping its enrichment of uranium at the next meeting in January on its nuclear programme with six major powers, the country's chief nuclear negotiator says.
[An Nahar] An Israeli military intelligence official on Tuesday expressed concerns that Hizbullah "might seize control of Lebanese government institutions" when the Special Tribunal for 
