The UN envoy to Darfur said Friday that the international community must mount a "massive effort" to bring a political solution to the conflict in Darfur in the next few months or risk submerging the region in a "new generation of conflict." Actually, it hasn't been going on for that long. It only seems like it has.
Jan Eliasson said many of the rebel groups in the region have already told him they are committed to finding a political solution to the conflict and know it cannot be resolved militarily. "The next few months are a period where we have to have a massive effort to find a political solution," Eliasson told reporters at UN headquarters. He warned that while there has been a sharp decrease in clashes between the Sudanese government and rebel groups, the original adversaries in the western Sudan region, new sources of insecurity are emerging.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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new sources of insecurity are emerging.
Those damned Africans and Christians just won't lay down and die, or at least peacefully submit to slavery, as is Sauron'sAllah's will.
Sudanese authorities have closed a leading independent Arabic newspaper and detained two journalists on defamation charges in a dispute over an editorial that ran on Wednesday, an editor said.
Editorial director Abdel Rahman Al Amin of the Al Sudani newspaper, one of Sudan's leading dailies, said the paper was ordered closed on Wednesday night after a columnist wrote a piece accusing the Justice Minister of lying about a court case. Amin said the columnist, Osman Merghani, and the paper's editor-in-chief, Mahjoub Erwa, had also been detained. He said they were expected to be released within several hours. "Last night there was a decision issued to stop the Al Sudani newspaper for an unlimited period," Amin said, adding that the paper would not retract the piece or apologise.
Amin said the paper had filed an appeal to the Justice Ministry to reverse the decision, and had filed a request with the country's constitutional court to overturn it. It was the second time since the start of the year that authorities had shut the paper, which says its readership has climbed to 100,000 since it reopened last year. It had been stopped from publishing in Sudan in 1994 under emergency law.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Can we use this same "Template" on the NYT and Wash-Post?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/19/2007 14:13 Comments ||
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#2
Excuse me, I meant to say "Whitewash-then-Post".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/19/2007 14:15 Comments ||
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SEOUL The United States is willing to sign a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War by September, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea reportedly told lawmakers here.
U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Washington hopes to complete a process of normalizing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, according to Kim Jong-Yul from the ruling Uri Party. Kim released to local media a transcript that had been translated into Korean following a May 9 closed-door meeting between Vershbow and five Uri Party lawmakers, including Rep. Kim Hyuk-Kyu, a close confidant of President Roh Moo-Hyun.
The meeting was arranged to discuss security policies after a recent visit to North Korea by a group of Uri lawmakers led by Kim Hyuk-Kyu. The lawmakers said they conveyed North Korea's denuclearization commitment to Vershbow at the meeting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Paging Nurse Kratchett, paging Nurse Kratchett. "We have a nut loose in South Korea, now".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/19/2007 11:15 Comments ||
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#2
After that we should remove our troops from South Korea.
MIROSLAV Deronjic, a former Bosnian Serb politician who was serving a 10-year sentence in Sweden for war crimes, has died of natural causes, Swedish officials have said. Deronjic, who was 52, had been convicted of ordering an attack on a Bosnian village in 1992 in which more than 60 Muslims were killed.
The war crimes tribunal in The Hague sentenced him in 2004 and rejected an appeal the following year after which he was moved to Sweden to serve his sentence. "He died from natural causes last night in a hospital in Sweden," said Christer Isaksson, head of security at the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. Isaksson gave no more details about the circumstances or place of Deronjic's death.
Deronjic was a prominent member of the Serbian Democratic Party in the Bratunac region of eastern Bosnia during the 1992-95 conflict. He was sentenced in March 2004 after pleading guilty to persecution, a crime against humanity, the previous year.
Yugoslav army and Bosnian Serb forces razed the village of Glogova to the ground, setting alight its mosque, homes, warehouses, fields and haystacks in May, 1992.
LONDON - Britain's support for the war in Iraq was a "major tragedy" for the world, former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday as he criticized Tony Blair's unwavering support for President Bush. The only Major Tragedy was electing Jimmy Carter President. He's worse than having shingles.
Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, a Republican, the former Democratic president said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."
"And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Carter said Britain's support made it more difficult for critics of the war, and that things could have been different if Britain spoke out against the 2003 invasion. Things could have been different if Carter had never been born, too. And probably better.
"I can't say it would have made a definitive difference, but it would certainly have assuaged the problems that arose lately," said Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981. What problems? How would Britain not fighting be better? Better for the Islamonazis deffinately.
"One of the defenses of the Bush administration, in the American public and on a worldwide basis - and it's not been successful in my opinion - has been that, OK, we must be more correct in our actions than the world thinks because Great Britain is backing us. Horsepooky! Balir saw the problems and acted accordingly. Carter is an even bigger idiot than last week. He's going down hill fast.
"And so I think the combination of Bush and Blair giving their support to this tragedy in Iraq has strengthened the effort, and has made opposition less effective and has prolonged the war and increased the tragedy that has resulted." What has prolonged the war has benn in a big part due to people like Carter giving hope to the murderers that we will leave and all they have to do is wait us out.It's not the first time Carter has criticized Britain. Last year, he said he was disappointed with "the apparent subservience" of the British government to Washington on issues such as Iraq and last summer's Israel-Hezbollah conflict. There's the blantant anti-semitism.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/19/2007 09:31 ||
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more shit spewing from the Saudi's 'bought and paid for' whore
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2007 14:19 Comments ||
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#2
Carter - you fucked things up enough when you were PREZ. Please STFU!
#3
Yeah, I really want to take advice on the middle east from the president who presided over the 444 day Iran hostage crisis. Jimmy - stick to what you know: growing peanuts and kissing the butt of foreign dictators.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2007 17:24 Comments ||
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#5
Jimmah obviously has dementia, and needs a long stay in a nursing home. I understand there's one in Fort Leavenworth with nice, fuscia-colored padded walls.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2007 18:23 Comments ||
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#6
The only thing that amazes me is how singularly unaware Carter seems to be of how self-degrading his role is as an Arab shill. Totally revolting.
#7
Now we've a lot of moonbats in Israel (2000 of Diaspora + Stockholm syndrome). But I don't recall any ex major Israeli pol ever condemning somebody for supporting his country.
#1
Risky choice, but an olive branch to the Muslim ingrates. If they don't appreciate the gesture for what it is, then it's time to bring the tramp steamers into port and begin loading them up.
#2
BORN into an immigrant family as the second of 12 children, Rachida Dati started selling cosmetics door to door at the age of 14. Two years later, she started working nights as a nursing assistant in a private clinic where her ambitions were fed by articles on political and business leaders she read in magazines she found in the waiting room.
At the age of 20, she approached Albin Chalandon, then France's justice minister, at a reception and explained her goals. He was so impressed, he decided to help her launch her career. Now, after earning degrees in law, economics and business, Ms Dati has been appointed to the same role as her mentor.
Quite the very model of a modern muslimah minister. Selling door to door at age fourteen doesn't fit the mold of the usual shiftless Islamic immigrant we are all so familiar with. I would also hope that if anyone would take a dim view of the typical layabout Muslim male it would be a female of their species. Time will tell.
Either way this is a brilliant riposte to his detractors by Sarkosy. If Dati cracks down hard upon France's Muslim ingrates it will be justice handed down by a fellow Muslim. If she shows even a scintilla of partiality it will justify even the most cynical views regarding Muslim favoritism. At my most sympathetic, I can say that Dati is in a precarious situation, but it is one of her own making. I wish her well but am not holding my breath in hope of a sudden reversal of France's lax enforcement against Muslim agitators. Sarkosy has made his grand gesture and now need not flinch about dropping the hammer should Dati prove reluctant to do so.
#3
I would be interested to know to what extent she is a practicing Muslim. It would be interesting to see how Muslims in France view one of "their women" in a position of authority, especially one overseeing justice. Hardliners are gonna get riled about that.
#6
The factoid I found interesting was that she was selling cosmetics door-to-door. Not one likely to approve of head to toe veiling.
I agree Seafarious. I doubt her father-brother-uncle escorted young Miss Dati on her rounds, likewise with her being out late at night for her nursing shifts. All of this points away from her being a devout practitioner. If so, then all of that points toward a potential dissatisfaction with the patriarchal status quo of traditional Islam. In light of her illiterate mother it seems doubtless that she's seen her share of abuse as well. So, perhaps, she will be less understanding about Car-Be-Ques and the like.
Hardliners are gonna get riled about that.
You say that like it's a bad thing, Jules. I think Sarkosy has played this brilliantly, precisely by putting a Muslim woman in charge of justice. While I retain deep reservations about Dati's record as a socialist and human rights advocate, Sarkosy's decision regarding Dati and selecting women for nearly half his cabinet posts still shows a reasonable degree of savvy. Time will tell.
A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.
Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, garnered much attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his true discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his "entry level performance and conduct."
A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged him with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration.
"He approached us in early 2006, posing as a war veteran. He seemed very emotionally distressed about his experiences," said Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War, based in Philadelphia. "We later found out he had fabricated a lot of his military record and that he was somebody who had mental problems. We hoped that he would get those issues dealt with."
Macbeth claimed to have served from May 2001 to June 2004, to have been shot in Iraq and to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, LaMont E. Stokes, an agent with the VA's Office of the Inspector General, wrote in the charging papers. The man collected more than $10,400 in benefits to which he was not entitled, Stokes wrote.
Stokes said he interviewed Macbeth in the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, where he has been serving a sentence for fourth-degree assault, and that Macbeth admitted falsifying the documents because he was homeless and wanted to "sucker" anything he could out of the government.
Iraq Veterans Against the War and other organizations removed his allegations from their Web sites after learning they were false. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: "We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque," he said.
It was not immediately clear when Macbeth moved to Washington state. At his initial court appearance Friday, a magistrate judge ordered him to remain in custody pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Afterward, his public defender, Jay Stansell, declined to comment.
Macbeth also is wanted by the Safford County sheriff's office in Arizona, where he is accused of illegal credit card use. "People posing as veterans do a disservice to those who have actually served," Braxton said.
This article starring:
Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War
his public defender, Jay Stansell
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Jesse Adam Macbeth
LaMont E. Stokes, an agent with the VA's Office of the Inspector General
Which is more efficient: Some jail time in whch we would have to take care of this guy, or just billing him for the $10,000 he took and cut him loose with an Arizona warrant hanging over his head.
#2
"We later found out he had fabricated a lot of his military record"
doesn't the military have their own copy (like the originals?) of the record? Before forking over any money? ""People posing as veterans do a disservice" what an understatement
Posted by: Jan ||
05/19/2007 0:30 Comments ||
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#3
VA screwed up. Alas, poor Yoric, you'll burn in hell.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2007 8:29 Comments ||
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#10
Frank G: Do we have to give him a parachute? I'm just thinking, ya know, we might get lucky when he falls and he hits an Al-Q in Iraq member walking around. Not only could he become a hero, but it would scare the utter living crap out of the Jihadis. Is it a bomb or a flying White-man?
Posted by: Charles ||
05/19/2007 9:17 Comments ||
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#11
A very public conviction would do much for the other "Veterans" out there.
And I hate to ask, but why in the hell would anyone brag about being captured? I'd surrender in a heart beat if necessary, but I'd be damned if'd I talk about it 20 years later.
#14
Lets see, at this rate, in 2032, after serving a stint as Senator from California, he will run for President.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/19/2007 11:20 Comments ||
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#15
not with those eyebrows
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2007 11:30 Comments ||
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#16
These fakers are simply thieves of honor and reputation that are earned with blood and sweat.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/19/2007 11:55 Comments ||
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#17
What's a knife link?
I expressed myself badly, it's just that one noted knifemaker, mick "strider", who sells outragously priced and IMHO very, very ugly knives, had been exposed as a fake vet and this brought me to this website.
#18
"The law now generally denies benefits to anyone entering military service after September 8, 1980, unless the following requirements are met: (1) 24 months of continuous active duty or (2) served the full period for which an individual was committed, whichever is shorter. This requirement does not apply to those released with a service-connected disability."
Since he was "kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his "entry level performance and conduct." He wasn't even eligible for any VA bennies and shouldn't have been in the facility in the first place. Fraud, clear and simple. To paraphrase someone else. "Life is tough. It's a lot tougher if you're stupid."
#19
Jan, the unfortunate truth is that the VA and military have a poor track record of communicating with each other. Military records are routinely "groomed" (trimmed redundant or unnecessary records) by the originator and again by military archives. That adds more confusion.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
05/19/2007 19:05 Comments ||
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FYI most VA Hospitals are of the mindset to help first and conmfirm later. The services are really bad for keeping records and some slip throught he cracks.
#21
too bad hearing about the poor record keeping. I do however like that we treat first, I wouldn't want to see anyone that needed medical care have to wait for anything.
thanks for the info.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/19/2007 23:01 Comments ||
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#3
What dimwits Harvard has today. Please turn off the lights when the last vestige of credibility is pissed away. No concern for the civilians in Israel who were on the receiving end of rockets? Harvard is an apologist for terrorists in Lebanon?
US Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. Sam Brownback are pressuring US companies to stop investing in Iran's oil and gas industries. The two presidential candidates have introduced a measure encouraging divestment from companies that do business with Iran.
The bill would authorize state and local governments to divest their assets from such companies and give legal protection to people who divest. It would also require the federal government to publish a list of companies investing at least $20 million (14.84 million) in Iran's oil and gas industries. "The Iranian regime is the world's biggest state sponsor of terror, proudly flaunts an illegal nuclear program and continues to violate the basic human rights of the Iranian people," Brownback said Friday.
This article starring:
Sen. Barack Obama
Sen. Sam Brownback
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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A May 11th Columbus Dispatch story stated:
Several companies with strong Ohio ties would be affected by a legislative proposal to pull state pension investments from international companies doing business in Iran, according to one pension system's research.
Honda Manufacturing of America, Nestle and Siemens AG were among those included on a list of companies with financial ties to Iran compiled for the State Teachers Retirement System, one of five state pension funds.
All told, 140 companies that employ 51,740 Ohioans could be stripped from investments, according to the research for the teachers pension fund by Institutional Shareholders Services of Rockville, Md.
Pension fund leaders announced their opposition to the bill Wednesday.
Some lawmakers worried that the plan would make Ohio seem unfriendly to large international businesses.
#3
I don't believe US companies, energy or otherwise, are currently allowed to invest in Iran. Presumably what Obama is requesting is that US companies, individuals or funds no longer invest in foreign companies who conduct business with the Iranians, specifically with their energy industry. While it is hard to disagree in principle, it would mean no US investment in pretty much any foreign companies. And it would not make much difference anyway - foreign capital would just get shuffled around a little to compensate.
It does point out the real problem in accomplishing anything regarding Iran - virtually nobody but the US is willing to take ANY action, not even precisely specified sales suspensions. I guess they figure that way the croc will eat them last.
#4
G, one of the problems is what you cite. I could invest in a mutual fund that contains European stocks. These European stocks might contain, say energy investments somewhere else.
(Xinhua) -- Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress offered major concessions on Friday over a war spending bill that would provide money for the Iraq war, but the offers were rejected by the White House. After a close-door meeting with top White House aides on Capital Hill, Democratic leaders said the White House said "no" to everything they proposed. "To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada.
Democratic leaders offered to strip from a war spending bill billions of U.S. dollars in domestic spending that was opposed by President George W. Bush, if the White House agreed to a withdrawal timetable in the bill. They also offered to give the president authority to waiver compliance with a timetable to pull out U.S. troops out of Iraq. But the offers were declined by the White House, and no agreement emerged.
White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, who rejected the deal at the meeting, said any timetable would send the wrong signal to the enemies of the United States. "Whether waivable or not, timelines send exactly the wrong signal to our adversaries, to our allies and, most importantly, to the troops in the field," he said. Even without agreement with the White House, Democrats said they would try to pass a bill next week to provide funding to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not rule out the bill would contain a withdrawal timetable. "Nothing is off the table. The one thing that has to be on the table is accountability and this administration has never been willing to be accountable for this war in Iraq," she said.
This article starring:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Harry & Nancy sent packing with their tails between their legs ? That does it. Now their dander is up.
#2
they keep beating this dead horse to try and satisfy their nutroots. Bush has the public behind him and Harry and Nancy'll eventually give in. I can't wait for the whackos to turn on the Donks....heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2007 8:33 Comments ||
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The Democrats didn't expext W to hold out this long, and it panics them. There will be a spending bill without a timetable before July 4th -- it's just a matter of the Democrats' finding a way to make it look like a victory. Nice to see W still has some fight left.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
05/19/2007 11:21 Comments ||
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"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada.
I imagine ol'Harry emerging from this meeting drenched in flop sweat and Pelosi blinkin' through the Botox an SOS in morse code. Hoist these bastards on their own petard, W.
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/19/2007 13:00 Comments ||
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#5
If Queen Nancy is accountable, as she says W is not, why will she not accept e-mails from anybody other than her district in California?
Harry does. Turban Durbin does. Bush does.
Why not Queen Nancy?
SHE'S NOT ACCOUNTABLE!
Apologies to Joe.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2007 18:07 Comments ||
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#6
FTB, bobby...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/19/2007 23:19 Comments ||
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NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A military jury recommended Friday that a Navy lawyer be discharged and imprisoned for six months for sending a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay detainees. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz was convicted Thursday of communicating secret information about Guantanamo Bay detainees that could be used to injure the United States and three other charges of leaking information to an unauthorized person.
The jury of seven Navy officers recommended that Diaz receive his pay and benefits while incarcerated, but the sentence must be approved by Rear Admiral Rick Ruehe. The dismissal will also be reviewed by a military appellate court, the Navy said.
Seems like a light sentence. Six months, then he'll have a job at the Center for Constitutional Rights and be a celebrity on the progressive circuit.
Diaz, who could have received up to 14 years in prison, gave emotional testimony during the sentencing hearing, apologizing for his actions. ``The prosecutors were right: I'm a meticulous man. I should have done better. It was extremely irrational for me to do what I did,'' Diaz said.
Irrational, inexplicable, inexcusable, criminial.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Outrageous! And a "military jury" no less. They should be jailed along with Diaz for criminal negligence in the line of duty.
#2
Very light sentence. Pay & benefits probably because he has a wife and kids. I doubt we'll be seeing Diaz on the agitprop circuit. His defense didn't raise the issues or use the media tactics that self-reighteous "political prisoners" usually do, suggesting that he's no true believer. Seems like he's prepared to take his lumps then go crawl in a hole. Bet he won't get a valentine from Barb.
Next on the docket: MAJ Mori. Please. C'mon, Navy, you can do it.
#3
I want to know "why" he did it. What was his incentive or motivation? Is he a plant - both ways? Seems odd.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/19/2007 11:27 Comments ||
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#4
Call it the 'M*A*S*H' effect. A significant number of Navy 'professionals' (lawyers, medical people) tend to view the uniform as a distant second. Most of them are smart enough to remember where they are when they make decisions.
#6
Good, as in "Goodbye and Good riddance" this conviction also tells the next "Moonbat Defender" to cool it or lose your ability to partake in very profitable scams. (IE Law practice)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/19/2007 14:09 Comments ||
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Ghazi called for an end to dance and music shows on TV channels, saying that such programmes were spreading obscenity in society and causing the divorce rate to increase.
prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi demanded on Friday that the government end coeducation in educational institutions across Pakistan. In his Friday sermon, Ghazi called for an end to dance and music shows on TV channels, saying that such programmes were spreading obscenity in society and causing the divorce rate to increase everyday. He warned that his followers would start picking up intelligence agency officials in Islamabad if the agencies did not stop picking up innocent citizens.
This article starring:
MAULANA ABDUL AZIZ GHAZI
Lal Masjid
Lal Masjid
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Police registered a case against the Lal Masjid administration on late Friday for snatching arms of four police officials and taking them hostage, Daily Times has learnt.
Aabpara police have registered an FIR, nominating 72 people. These people include administrators and students of the madrassa, official sources said. The FIR contains charges of terrorism, snatching of arms from police officials, taking them hostage and interrupting in government functions, they said. The students held four policemen to press the government for the release of their 11 fellows, who were arrested last month on the charges of burning CDs and videocassettes at various city shops.
A district administration team held two-hour-long talks with the madrassa administration. Lal Masjid deputy cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi told the team that they would not free the police officials until madrassa students were released.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Napalm their facilities. That will put an end to all this stupidity. It might kill the "hostages", but it'll send a clear, unequivocal message that such activity against the government won't be tolerated. Of course, that would make a lot of folks angry at Perv, and he seems to have a very thin skin.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2007 18:47 Comments ||
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Britain has failed to stop southern Iraq falling into grip of militia
Long, long piece in the Guardian on how the Brits have supposedly failed in the south.
Maybe they should have left their helmets on for awhile.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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When we allowed Iraq politics to include Islamofascist parties, we signalled indulgence of a wide range of activities by same. Iran took the message. However, as an occupying force with objectives of stopping terrorists, there is nothing preventing us from attacking groups represented in the Iraq Parliament.
#2
I think the words "Basra" and "control" cannot be used together in the normal sense. I've got grave doubts about the Brits' approach down there, but if the larger Iraq enterprise gets on track economics and nationalism will make any form of "control" unlikely for Tehran (if the management there hasn't changed by then).
BAGHDAD - Planned talks between the United States and Iran in Baghdad are the first promising step for free and direct bilateral talks between the two adversaries, a cleric close to Iraqi Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said on Friday.
In his Friday sermon in a Najaf mosque, Shia Imam Sadr Eddin al- Qabanji expressed hope that the Iranian-US talks would lead to peace between the US and Iran amid regional concern over a potential war. Al-Qabanji added that although the upcoming talks would be focused on Iraq, Iraqis themselves had to have the final say on Iraqi affairs.
US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker is to meet with Iranian representatives in Baghdad on May 28 amid US accusations that Tehran has been fomenting violence in Iraq by providing material support to Shia militant groups responsible for attacks on US soldiers as well as aggravating Shia and Sunni tensions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia, the chair of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Friday urged immediate United Nations intervention to end the deadly violence in Gaza. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the international community led by the United Nations must seek a solution to bring peace in the region. All this violence must stop. The international community must intervene. I think the United Nations must intervene, Syed Hamid told AFP.
Boy howdy, that oughta do it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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As Lebanon's example shows, to really flourish an Islamic resistance movement must have UN's protection.
Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa has rejected Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offer to meet with Arab leaders to discuss the Saudi Peace Initiative, Israel Radio reported overnight Friday. "Jews! Eeeew! Ucky! Cooties!"
According to Moussa, Olmert's proposal from Petra last week to meet with leaders without set conditions, was a "trick".
According to Moussa, Olmert's proposal from Petra last week to meet with leaders without set conditions, was a "trick" that "[the Arab League] has already been witness to in the past." Moussa, who was speaking at Jordan's National Finance Forum, said that to date, Israel has not given any answer that could be interpreted as an outstretched hand for peace. A serious answer, he said, could pave the road for negotiations.
This article starring:
Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Israeli Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday accused the government of not doing enough to protect residents of Sderot and the western Negev from the Qassam rocket attacks from Israel. Calling for power and water cutoff in Gaza, Netanyahu said
"The government can do a lot of things to protect its citizens. It can impose a closure on the Gaza Strip, stop providing certain services to the Palestinian Authority such as electricity and water, and temporarily enter Gaza."
"The government can do a lot of things to protect its citizens. It can impose a closure on the Gaza Strip, stop providing certain services to the Palestinian Authority such as electricity and water, and temporarily enter Gaza."
He even called for military operations into the Palestinian territories to halt rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should launch a limited ground excursion into the Qassam firing area, around four km deep into the Palestinian border, Netanyahu was quoted by local daily Ha'aretz as saying.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in reference to the IDF activity in Gaza that "we cannot ignore the Qassam launching" and that "the response should be military as well as political." "Launching the Qassams into Israel is aimed at drawing the Palestinian attention away from the clashes between the factions in Gaza," she added.
This article starring:
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu
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05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I dunno about this. Seems like political posturing. If I read Tzipi right, she's saying that if you hit them too hard, the bad guys will stop killing each other and you'll go right back to where you started. Just keep them pushed back enough with firm but less dramatic/collective action and let the festivities continue unabated. Perhaps Tzipi should take over the Ministry of Defense.
A spokesman for Hamas military wing on Thursday denied any plan that targets the ineffectual Palestinian President
... a tunnel full of explosives was found under a road used by Abbas' convoy...
Mahmoud Abbas when he comes to Gaza. Israeli reports said Abbas has canceled his visit, scheduled for Thursday, to Gaza after a tunnel full of explosives was found under a road used by Abbas' convoy. "These are lying reports aimed at poisoning the atmosphere," the spokesman, Abu Obaida, told reporters in Gaza. He's toast.
He added that the security chiefs, loyal to Fatah movement that Abbas leads, were interested in block Abbas' visit to Gaza "so he will not see the facts and the harsh conduction of his forces."
This article starring:
ABU OBAIDA
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Oh heavens no. We wouldn't do that. But if a tunnel of explosives just happened to go off under Abbas, well, what can we say? /sarc off
(KUNA) -- Palestine's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Ambassador to Austria Zohair Al-Wazir condemned Friday attempts to link between terrorism and Islam. "The Palestinian people are a stark reminder of life under occupation and state terrorism as the Israeli occupation forces have been practicing state terrorism against them, their sanctities and lands over long decades," Al-Wazir told KUNA on the sidelines of the first anti-terrorism forum here.
"The Palestinian people are against all forms of terrorism, he said, asserting the need to uproot all causes of terrorism including oppression and state terrorism. "Among the roots of terrorism are the adoption of double standards in dealing with political issues, occupation, and infringement on human rights. "The Palestinian delegation to the forum renewed commitment to the resolution of the Arab League foreign ministers' meeting of March on opposition to all forms of terrorism and all attempts to link this global phenomenon to Islam.
"Islam advocates tolerance, moderation and coexistence," he pointed out. He voiced concern over rising terrorism waves in the Middle East and other hot spots of the world . Palestine is for launching a global anti-terrorism center to coordinate the efforts of world countries and regional organizations in this field, Al-Wazir said, asserting support for the initiative of Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali for holding an international conference on anti-terrorism.
Government officials and experts from around the world met in the Austrian capital, Vienna, Thursday to discuss means of fighting terrorism, in the first anti-terrorism forum. Head of the crime prevention and anti-narcotics office of the UN Jean-Paul Laborde told KUNA the two-day forum would discuss issues related to the international strategy against terrorism and enhancement of security measures at local, regional and international levels.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Y'know, Zohair, I'll bet even you don't believe this bullshit anymore.
But a man's gotta eat...
#3
condemned Friday attempts to link between terrorism and Islam
1. if he's saying that the terrorism that's being perpetrated isn't islamic, at least he's admitting it's terrorism
2. Of course islam is linked to terror. Mohammed Atta was, by no stretch of the imagination, "oppressed" nor were the London bombers, Madrid bombers, the myriad Indonesian, Thai, Phillipino, etc bombers. They are Muslim. They spew quranic references. They claim they're doing it in the name of Islam. Am I missing something?
#5
Palestinian diplomat raps attempts to link terrorism to Islam - Oh? he's rapping it?
Rapping? - Where's Snoop Dog when you need him?
Dere's a story in da nooz
Great Satan be a spillin
But I not a thrillin
Dat dere be radicala mulla
radicalla mulla - no such thing
Hey!
a - no such thing...
We are peacful with beards and schmocks
Do not be fraid just cause we don't like ham hocks
(Chorus)
Go baby
Go Baby
yeah!
"They have started to publicly say things about ethnic groups and women, but there is no formal strategy. We still dont know what the U.S. wants to do with this regime." No kidding.
"I came to Lebanon because I know it is a free and open country so I can enter easily," said a Shi'a fighter who claims to be from Iraq's Mehdi Army - a militia that is widely accused of brutal sectarian killings against Sunnis. IRIN interviewed him in a small rented room in Beirut's southern suburbs. "But it is also a sectarian country so I feel safe here in the [Shi'a] suburbs," said the fighter, who was recuperating inside the security zone controlled by Hezbollah, Lebanon's militant Shi'a organisation. He agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
After a month lying low in his dingy flat praying, reading and watching DVDs of fire-brand Shi'a religious leaders, the young man - who said he had made no contact with Hezbollah - was due to travel back to Iraq last week to re-join "the fight against occupation" for "the creation of an Islamic Iraq".
Testimonies by self-confessed sectarian militants show they are using Lebanese territory for increasing numbers of deadly attacks which are threatening stability in the country and across the region. The wider security breakdown inside Lebanon is creating a fertile breeding ground for extremist groups, and the country is becoming a stop-off point for foreign jihadists, say experts, reviving memories of the Lebanon's multi-factional 15-year civil war.
Lebanon still bears deep scars from its civil war, which left more than 100,000 people dead, another 100,000 handicapped by injuries and some 900,000 people, representing one-fifth of the pre-war population, displaced from their homes. Analysts say up to a quarter of a million Lebanese emigrated permanently. While Lebanon's divided leaders bicker over national sovereignty and arms, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed "great concern at the allegations coming from various sides and parties about illegal arms trafficking and the possible arming of a variety of Lebanese and non-Lebanese groups." A return to Lebanon's darkest days "must not happen," he said.
Ban made the remarks in his fifth report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which demands the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon and the extension of government authority throughout the country. Ban warned that Lebanon's fragile post-civil war status quo was in danger of unravelling, and this could lead "to widespread rearming and thus raise the spectre of a renewed confrontation among the Lebanese."
South of Beirut, in Ein al-Hilweh, the largest and most lawless of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps where a majority of the 400,000 refugees live, two Fatah members were killed last week in clashes with Jund as-Sham, a Sunni militant group whose name translates as 'Soldiers of the Levant.' The group, whose active fighters are believed to number fewer than 50 out of an estimated membership of up to 250, according to local media reports, has frequently been blamed by the Syrian authorities for a string of failed attacks in Syria over the past two years. A revenge attack on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen in the camp wounded two Jund as-Sham members, according to a Palestinian security source quoted in Lebanon's The Daily Star.
A senior official in Hezbollah, which remained Lebanon's only armed group after the country's 1975-1990 civil war and whose political wing is leading the opposition, told IRIN he believed the Sunni-led government "and its US allies" were funding the growth of Sunni extremist groups in Lebanon. US officials have consistently denied these accusations and consider Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. "Jund as-Sham is sponsored by the pro-government group," said Nawaf Mousawi, Hezbollah's foreign affairs spokesman. "The government and US administration have found no way to contain Hezbollah so they are provoking sectarianism to drive the Sunni population towards extremism and against the Shi'as."
Jund as-Sham has pledged to destroy Israel, but last week reported that four of its members, including two senior commanders, were killed by Syrian forces as they attempted to enter Iraq - in a clash that left five Syrian soldiers dead. Syria has not reported the deaths or confirmed there was a clash.
The Ein el-Hilweh attacks followed a similar security breakdown in Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon close to the Syrian border. Lebanese soldiers surrounded the camp and one of them was killed recently by unidentified armed assailants.
The two most significant reported violations of Resolution 1559's demand for disarming militias over the past six months were weapons seized from members of the Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) in north Lebanon and a truck full of rockets and mortars seized in the eastern Bekaa Valley, which Hezbollah said was bound for its fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Good hunting to the IDF. Please bag a few thou goblins.
Presidential elections cannot be held in Lebanon until a solution is reached to the six-month old political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the ruling anti-Syrian majority, a senior Hezbollah figure said. The term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, extended at the behest of Damascus in 2004, expires in November. Since last year, the country has been locked in a standoff over opposition demands for greater power and its rejection of the government's calls for an international tribunal to try suspects for the killing of ex-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Mohammad Fneish, a former Hezbollah minister, told Al Hayat daily in an interview published on Friday that rival parties had to find an agreeable government formation. "It is not feasible that this (presidential elections) happens in the midst of the current political divisions and while there is a party (ruling coalition) that is resorting to monopolizing power and getting strength from external support," he said referring to U.S. support of Siniora's government.
Fneish, who along with other pro-Syrian ministers resigned from cabinet last November in protest against Siniora's refusal to give the opposition a greater say in government, added: "If there is no real consensus on partnership, on the political future of the country and on the identity of the president, the opposition will not allow this faction (ruling coalition) from ruling the country...."
The rival camps accuse each other of working to foreign agendas to the detriment of Lebanon. Hezbollah describes the cabinet as a U.S. puppet while the governing coalition says the opposition takes orders from Iran and Syria. Lahoud has said he will not hand over his authorities to the current government, a procedural step towards the election of a new head of state. He might instead appoint a new government, leaving Lebanon with two cabinets.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Note: I found the picture at Atlas Shrugs, not sure where she got it...
(Xinhua) -- Mohammad Larijani, Iran's national security chief said Friday that his country was not intending to wipe Israel "off the map." Larijani made the remarks during a session of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East which is opened on the shores of the Dead Sea earlier in the day. Larijani said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had spoken of "erasing the practices" followed by Israel against the Palestinians, rather than erasing Israel. The Western media deliberately distorted President Ahmadinejad's words in their reports, he said, adding "let me tell you one thing about taking Israel off the map. It was a by-product of the Western media."
Ahmadinejad has reportedly made verbal attacks on Israel and has also provoked outrage by describing the Holocaust as a "myth." Larijani said if Israel and the Palestinians can reach a viable settlement, Iran would support it. "When peace will come, Iran will be part of it." When asked whether that meant he could envisage a day when Iran would recognize Israel, Larijani said "this is a premature question."
The World Economic Forum opened its meeting in South Shuneh on Friday. More than 1,000 participants, including 16 heads of state, from 56 countries gathered here to discuss ways to advance economic diversification and peace in the troubled Mideast region.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Can you spell taqqi- er ... takiyy- er ... taqkee - er ... bullshit?
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.
Sudanese authorities have closed a leading independent Arabic newspaper and detained two journalists on defamation charges in a dispute over an editorial that ran on Wednesday, an editor said. 
SEOUL The United States is willing to sign a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War by September, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea reportedly told lawmakers here. 
US Democratic 
(Xinhua) -- Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress offered major concessions on Friday over a war spending bill that would provide money for the Iraq war, but the offers were rejected by the White House. After a close-door meeting with top White House aides on Capital Hill, Democratic leaders said the White House said "no" to everything they proposed. "To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said 
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia, the chair of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Friday urged immediate United Nations intervention to end the deadly violence in Gaza. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the international community led by the United Nations must seek a solution to bring peace in the region. All this violence must stop. The international community must intervene. I think the United Nations must intervene, Syed Hamid told AFP.
Israeli 
A spokesman for Hamas military wing on Thursday denied any plan that targets the 
(KUNA) -- Palestine's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Ambassador to Austria Zohair Al-Wazir condemned Friday attempts to link between terrorism and Islam. "The Palestinian people are a stark reminder of life under occupation and state terrorism as the Israeli occupation forces have been practicing state terrorism against them, their sanctities and lands over long decades," Al-Wazir told KUNA on the sidelines of the first anti-terrorism forum here.
"I came to Lebanon because I know it is a free and open country so I can enter easily," said a Shi'a fighter who claims to be from Iraq's Mehdi Army - a militia that is widely accused of brutal sectarian killings against Sunnis. IRIN interviewed him in a small rented room in Beirut's southern suburbs. "But it is also a sectarian country so I feel safe here in the [Shi'a] suburbs," said the fighter, who was recuperating inside the security zone controlled by Hezbollah, Lebanon's militant Shi'a organisation. He agreed to speak on condition of anonymity..JPG)
Presidential elections cannot be held in Lebanon until a solution is reached to the six-month old political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the ruling anti-Syrian majority, a senior Hezbollah figure said. The term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, extended at the behest of Damascus in 2004, expires in November. Since last year, the country has been locked in a standoff over opposition demands for greater power and its rejection of the government's calls for an international tribunal to try suspects for the killing of ex-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
