#1
This is more than the typical GI bitching. The scenes depict the all to familiar attitude I encountered on my second tour of Vietnam in 68-69. The telltale signs of disciplinary rot are quite evident. What else can we expect when there is a "No Win" strategy emanating from the Commander and Chief". Every day I fear more and more that the outcome will not be good.
#2
I have some doubts about the authenticity of this video. Why is the guy talking the most crap wearing a uniform that is several years out of date? Why doesn't the sound synchronize with the video when they are taunting the kids?
[Quqnoos] The top UN envoy to Afghanistan said on Sunday that resolving challenges facing this country requires holding talks with the Taliban
Stefan de Mistura, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan highlighted that international community will help implement the Afghan peace conference resolution containing 16 articles.
"If the Taliban respect the Afghan constitution, I would find it very difficult for the United Nations Security Council and delay it to keep those people inside the list" said the special UN envoy to Afghanistan.
"It was a good opportunity; it was a good step in the right direction. As in international community, we felt that we could see a lot of unity about one or two major principles," he said. "Principle one: there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict."
The UN envoy also said that serious efforts should be made to implement the Afghan peace conference resolution.
Release of the Taliban prisoners, an immediate end to the illegal search of houses by the foreign forces, equipping the Afghan security forces, and increase of Mujahidin's involvement in the Afghan government were also among the suggestions made by the participants in the Afghan peace conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
i wonder when the UN is gonna give me permission tooo use the bathroom. It's about the only thing they haven't emphasized lately
Posted by: chris ||
06/07/2010 11:06 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami has formally endorsed BNP's anti-government programmes to protest against "the wrongdoings" of the ruling grand alliance.
The decision came at a meeting of Jamaat's executive committee at the party's Moghbazar office yesterday.
The party will participate in the mass sit-in organised by BNP at the Engineers' Institution in the capital on June 9 and give all-out support to make the June 27 hartal a success.
Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed at a press briefing said the party's executive committee unanimously decided to back the anti-government programmes.
He, however, did not clarify whether his party will join the hartal programmes but said they would support the hartal.
"We will do everything to make the hartal a success," the Jamaat leader said.
Referring to the reason for backing the hartal, Mojaheed said it was called to bring an end to people's sufferings.
He claimed it's a way to protest in a democratic system and mount pressure on the government to resolve people's problems.
"It will be a people's hartal," he said.
Jamaat leaders Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Delwar Hossain Saidee, ATM Azharul Islam, and Rafiqul Islam Khan, among others, were present at the press briefing.
On Saturday night, Jamaat leaders led by party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami met the BNP chairperson and agreed to forge a movement jointly against the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON, June 6 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Sunday ruled out a military option against North Korea after the North's torpedoing of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors in March.
"As long as the regime doesn't care about what the outside world thinks of it, as long as it doesn't care about the well-being of its people, there is not a lot you can do about it, to be quite frank, unless you are willing at some point to use military force," Gates said in an interview with BBC. "And nobody wants to do that."
Gates' remarks came one day after he spoke to the annual regional security forum of defense ministers from 28 countries, called the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, and said that the U.S. was reviewing "additional options" against North Korea without specifying, in order not to set "the wrong precedent."
Gates supported South Korea's bid to condemn North Korea in the Security Council. "You can bring together additional pressure; you can do another resolution at the U.N.," he said.
Gates said Saturday that the U.S. would delay the joint military exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea, originally planned for this week as a show of force against North Korea, to wait for the Security Council to take action.
South Korean officials said that the joint naval exercise will be conducted late this month to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, which falls on June 25, with the participation of a U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
In delivering a letter to Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller, the rotating chairman of the 15-nation council this month, to ask for "some action," South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Park In-kook did not elaborate on what kind of action South Korea seeks, saying Seoul will present a concrete position after further consultations with council members.
A senior South Korean official is expected to soon visit Beijing to seek support for rebuking Pyongyang, which China has not yet officially blamed for the Cheonan's sinking. China has only stressed the need to "avoid conflict" and "maintain peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula. China, which wields veto power on the Security Council, has long been lukewarm to any sanctions on North Korea, its staunchest communist ally that is heavily dependent on China for food, energy and other necessities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Projecting this kind of weakness will have a measurable price.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/07/2010 12:52 Comments ||
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#2
WMF > OBAMA'S NEW US NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY SHOWS US RECOGNITION, FEAR OF ITS STEADILY INCREASING GEOPOL WEAKNESS. FEAR BY THE US OF ITS INABILITY TO LEAD NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER DUE TO MORAL AND ECONOMIC CHAOS OR CONFUSION.
South Korea and the U.S. are treading carefully in taking steps against North Korea over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan amid a rift between Washington and Beijing about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
Always something, isn't it ...
The two allies reportedly agreed to put on hold any measures that could upset China and are giving top priority to persuading the UN Security Council to adopt a strong resolution against the North.
Seoul and Washington agreed in a bilateral security meeting in Singapore on Saturday to postpone a joint military exercise which they had decided to stage as soon as possible until late this month.
Beijing had apparently called for a cancelation or drastic reduction of the scale of the exercise. Beijing has declined a fence-mending visit by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to express its displeasure at Washington's sale of US$6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan.
Gates and Defense Minister Kim Tae-young therefore decided to waffle proceed softly and canceled their scheduled press conference in Singapore. Second Vice Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo may visit Beijing to explain South Korea's position.
According to diplomatic sources in Washington, Seoul is concerned that the UNSC, where China is a permanent member, almost certainly will not may be unable to arrive at a sufficiently strong resolution.
They recall that after a 1996 incursion by North Korea into waters off Gangneung, the UNSC adopted only a chairman's statement, rather than a proper resolution, 12 days after the South Korean government brought the issue up, which only expressed concern and called for the armistice agreement to be upheld. "The UNSC chairman's statement at the time was nothing but a piece of paper that failed to point to the culprit behind the provocation," a diplomat recalled.
The threat of a veto from China, North Korea's staunchest ally, could again rob the UNSC response of any teeth.
Some officials within the U.S. administration are already reportedly in favor of a strongly worded UNSC chairman's statement rather than a watered-down resolution.
As opposed to actually doing anything ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Well, it's not like the Norks simply murdered forty some people in what would normally be considered an act of war. Uhhh, no, on second thought, it is *exactly* like that.
#5
Something is odd about this whole deal. I gather that just 75 miles away from the sinking, the US and SKor were conducting Asub operations.
To make matters more interesting, while it was officially stated that the Cheonan was sunk with a heavy torpedo, it has been proposed that it was instead sunk with a much more modern supercavitating torpedo.
Russia provided Iran with such advanced torpedoes, on the assumption they couldn't reverse engineer them, but allegedly they did. And they, Iran, might have in turn sold them to NKor.
According to James G. Zumwalt(*), son of the Admiral, there was tremendous interest around the world to see how a supercavitating torpedo knock-off would perform against a modern warship. This is because it is believed there is no effective defense against them.
Which would keep the US Navy away from the territory of any nation that possesses them. Which might explain why both Iran and NKor are increasingly bold.
(*) Not to be confused with diplomat James P. Zumwalt. James G. is all USMC and a combat vet.
#7
Supercavitating torpedoes are very cool but the parts recovered are from a typical counter rotating prop shaft used by torpedoes since forever. Someone suggesting the use of a supercavitating torp might be trying to link to the US ships nearby. A plot by US or SK or a friendly fire incident would pull the NK feet from the fire.
Torpedoes are noisy enough but the supercavitating torp is outrageously loud and detectable. All types I have read about have no terminal guidance and are fired down a bearing at the target. The weapon is referred to as an engagement breaker. Fire in the direction of target and run as fast as ever you can in the opposite direction. Lack of guidance means the preferred warhead is a small nuke.
Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
SPC Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad, where he was arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. A family member says he's being held in custody in Kuwait, and has not been formally charged.
Manning was turned in late last month by a former computer hacker with whom he spoke online.
Thank you, sir. You are a patriot.
In the course of their chats, Manning took credit for leaking a headline-making video of a helicopter attack that Wikileaks posted online in April. The video showed a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of several innocent civilians.
He said he also leaked three other items to Wikileaks: a separate video showing the notorious 2009 Garani air strike in Afghanistan that Wikileaks has previously acknowledged is in its possession; a classified Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a security threat, which the site posted in March; and a previously unreported breach consisting of 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables that Manning described as exposing "almost criminal political back dealings."
There is a big difference between almost criminal and actually criminal.
"Hillary Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going to have a heart attack when they wake up one morning, and find an entire repository of classified foreign policy is available, in searchable format, to the public," Manning wrote.
Wired.com could not confirm whether Wikileaks received the supposed 260,000 classified embassy dispatches. To date, a single classified diplomatic cable has appeared on the site: released last February, it describes a U.S. embassy meeting with the government of Iceland. E-mail and a voice mail message left for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday were not answered by the time this article was published.
The State Department said it was not aware of the arrest or the allegedly leaked cables. The FBI was not prepared to comment when asked about Manning.
Army spokesman Gary Tallman was unaware of the investigation but said, "If you have a security clearance and wittingly or unwittingly provide classified info to anyone who doesn't have security clearance or a need to know, you have violated security regulations and potentially the law."
Manning's arrest comes as Wikileaks has ratcheted up pressure against various governments over the years with embarrassing documents acquired through a global whistleblower network that is seemingly impervious to threats from adversaries. Its operations are hosted on servers in several countries, and it uses high-level encryption for its document submission process, providing secure anonymity for its sources and a safe haven from legal repercussions for itself. Since its launch in 2006, it has never outed a source through its own actions, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Manning came to the attention of the FBI and Army investigators after he contacted former hacker Adrian Lamo late last month over instant messenger and e-mail. Lamo had just been the subject of a Wired.com article. Very quickly in his exchange with the ex-hacker, Manning claimed to be the Wikileaks video leaker.
#2
The United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, will provide him with many years of gainful employment, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and performing many varieties of useful activity, such as mowing grass, raking leaves, washing vehicles, and pulling weeds.
#4
The question is whether he should be charged and tried under the UCMJ or existing laws covering this kind of behavior in a civilian court. I'd prefer that it would be a civilian court cause if he were to be found guilty he'd go into the general population of a fed prison rather than the USDB. Regardless of what opinion we may have of some of our population behind the bars, there are, shall we say, people who take this sort of stuff dead seriously. On the other hand, we need to ascertain where the leak occurred because that will determine who should have jurisdiction. If it occurred out of any continental jurisdiction then the military better handle it. If the action occurred within the boundaries of US territory or possessions, then the civies can have him for as long as they can keep him alive.
A taste. For the full report plus photos, go to the link. Perhaps Rantburg's experts could tighten up the estimate of the crowd size.
Pam Geller: Robert and I were expecting 500; imagine our wonder when close to 5,000 showed up. This is just the beginning. We are going to sue to designate the Burlington building a war memorial. There is a large piece of an airplane in that building. That is a war memorial. Instead of a mega mosque at ground zero, let's build a 911 war memorial to the victims. The current plan for a 911 museum is several floors underground, like a dungeon. And the mosque plan calls for the mosque to be on the top floor, looking down triumphantly on the burial ground of Ground Zero.
Robert Spencer: They started showing up long before the rally began at noon today. They came from Washington state, California, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina, Florida, and elsewhere. They were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, Muslims of conscience. They were lovers of freedom.
By the time the rally was in full swing, the crowd filled the pens, the park, and the other side of the street. Police estimated that 5,000 people were there, and other estimates ranged as high as 10,000. The crowd carried signs expressing their love for freedom, their contempt for Sharia, and their anger at Islamic supremacism and insult to the memories of those murdered on 9/11 that this mosque represents.
And we had a full spectrum of top quality speakers. There were 9/11 family members, including C. Lee Hanson, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter on 9/11. There were people who experienced the oppression of Sharia firsthand, such as the Egyptian ex-Muslim Nonie Darwish, the Sudanese ex-slave Simon Deng, and the Hindu human rights activist Babu Suseelan. There was Dennis McKenna, who worked recovering remains from the ruins of the World Trade Center; Alan T. DeVona, the patrol sergeant on duty on September 11, 2001; and Keith LeBow, an ironworker who was one of the first responders on the scene on September 11. There was Herb London of the Hudson Institute and Beverly Carlson of the Band of Mothers -- and a host of other speakers, all lovers of America and lovers of freedom.
The theme among all the speakers was common: the mosque is an insult to the Americans who were murdered there. It is a manifestation of a radically intolerant belief system that is incompatible with the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. And even with all the political elites against us, and the mainstream media indifferent or compromised (5,000 to 10,000 people at the rally, and no mainstream media coverage!), we will prevail. All we have on our side is the truth.
Pamela Geller did interviews with Al-Jazeera, AP, Chilean television, Italian television and many others; I was interviewed by Italian television and TV Asia. ABC? NBC? CBS? CNN? Even FOX? AWOL.
#2
Not sure why I posted the letter to Helen Thomas here. Or maybe in my disorganized mind, I thought that Helen Thomas and protests should go together. Probably early morning and I was not awake. Oh well.
[Dawn] LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday ordered the Foreign Office to write a letter to an American court, hearing Dr Aafia's case, bringing all material and documents about her innocence into the knowledge of the court.
The LHC also directed the Foreign Affairs secretary to provide all evidence of Dr Aafia's innocence to her lawyers for presenting it before the court which was hearing her case.
Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry gave the order in a detailed judgment released here on Saturday on a petition seeking a court order to the federal government to submit evidence in the shape of documents to the American court regarding Dr Aafia's innocence.
The court observed that since Dr Aafia was a Pakistani citizen, therefore, it was the duty of the government to make diplomatic efforts to defend her in foreign courts.
The court gave these directions on a petition filed by petitioner-counsel Barrister Iqbal Jaffery in which he submitted that Dr Aafia had gone missing on way to Karachi from Islamabad along with her three children in 2003.
He submitted that a case regarding her abduction was registered at Karachi. Thereafter, her two children were recovered from Afghanistan.
The petitioner prayed that since Dr Aafia was being tried by the American court, therefore, the Pakistan government be directed to furnish evidence in the shape of documents showing that she had been kidnapped on her way to Karachi along with children so that the lawyers defending her in the American court be able to properly defend her and take a definite stand.
The petitioner also prayed that the federal government be directed to write a letter to the American court, hearing Dr Aafia's case, bringing into its notice all facts regarding her innocence so that she might get justice.
Earlier, on Friday, deputy attorney general Naveed Inayet Malik submitted that it was possible for the government to submit any document relating to investigation in Afia"s abduction case.
Present on the occasion, a Foreign Office official also assured the court that the government would make an all-out effort for bringing back Dr Aafia to Pakistan and it was excepted that the government would take up the matter with a high-level American delegation visiting Pakistan in near future.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI A day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Kashmir trip, the Indian Army on Sunday removed a colonel from his command and suspended a major over three civilians' killing in an alleged staged shootout on April 30, officials said.
Commanding Officer of 4 Rajput Regiment Colonel D.K. Pathania has been removed from his command and Major Upender Sharma, named as the prime suspect in the alleged staged gun battle case, has been relieved of active duty pending an inquiry, officials said.
Colonel (Pathania) has been removed from the command. The second officer (Upender Sharma) has been suspended as of now and the inquiry has been ordered,' Lieutenant General B.S. Jaswal, who heads the army's Srinagar-based Northern Command, told reporters.
Jaswal assured people that the inquiry will be totally transparent' to seek the truth in the killing of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Riyaz Ahmad Lone and Mohammed Shafi Lone of Nadihal village in Kupwara district of north Kashmir.
The major on April 30 had filed a police report claiming to have foiled an infiltration bid at Machil, some 100 km north of Srinagar, and killed three militants. Some arms and ammunition were also claimed to have been seized fro the site after the gunfight with the three. But three families from Nadihaal village in Kupwara claimed that the killed were their kin and have been murdered.
The families recognised them from the pictures the police had taken of the bodies. The bodies were also exhumed as the police became suspicious when they saw that all the three were in summer clothes as opposed to warmer clothing needed while crossing the snowbound Line of Control that separates India and Pakistan.
Police also found bullet wounds in their heads, which they say was unlikely to happen during a gunfight.
Jaswal said the army's genuine concern is to be transparent' in the probe ordered by the army.
This (action against the officers) is the first step. And this should be the indicator that subsequently we will be coming out with the truth,' he said.
The action against the accused officers comes a day before Manmohan Singh's two-day visit to Kashmir Monday to oversee developmental work.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Sunday held a meeting of the Unified Command, where senior army and civil administration officials were present, to take stock of the situation following the uproar over the killings.
Army sources in Delhi said the colonel has also been asked not to leave the Kashmir Valley till the probe into the case is completed. Pathania was to join his regiment that has been relocated to Meerut.
Police have arrested three co-conspirators Abbas Hussain Shah, Bashir Ahmad Lone and Fayaz Ahmad. The police inquiry relies heavily on the statement of Abbas Hussain Shah, who is a soldier with the 161 Battalion of the Territorial Army.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barazani discussed with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara means to further bilateral relations between the two sides, according to a Kurdistan presidential release on Sunday.
Turkish President Gul received today (June 6) Iraqi Kurdistan President Barazani, who is currently on an official visit to Turkey, at the presidential palace and discussed ways to further bilateral ties,' read the statement as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Gul termed the visit as important' and expressed hope it would have positive impact on enhancing economic and political relations between the two sides.
On Saturday (June 5), a Kurdistan presidential statement said that Barazani lectured a group of researchers and academics on some political issues like relations between the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Turkey as well as the current situation in the region.
Barazani had started an official visit to Ankara on Wednesday (June 2) at the head of a high-ranking delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). His several days' visit, paid upon an official invitation from the Turkish government, is the first one he pays to Turkey as president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, not as the leader of a party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Israel must send Turkey a clear message that if Turkish warships are sent to accompany the next flotilla trying to break the embargo on Gaza, these will be considered acts of war by Israel , Uzi Dayan, former deputy Chief of General Staff, told Army Radio Monday morning.
"If the Turkish Prime Minister joins such a flotilla," Dayan said, "we should make clear beforehand this would be an act of war, and we would not try to take over the ship he was on, but would sink it."
"If Israel doesn't make this clear beforehand, the Turks will grow increasingly self-assured, and we may indeed find ourselves facing such a scenario, which could have been averted." Erdogan is deliberately manufacturing a crisis. Maybe to buy time for Iranian nukes, maybe to give Obama a pretext to implement the Samantha Powers plan.
Its going to be a hot summer, perhaps hot enough for a two million sunblock...
#2
I'm beginning to wonder if Erdogan sees himself as the next caliph ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 10:43 Comments ||
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#3
You can quit wondering, Steve - he does.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/07/2010 15:11 Comments ||
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#4
What price is Erdogan likely to play for his ploy? Barry will kick him out of NATO? The Russians will send warships through the Dardanelles? Not likely.
Erdogna calculates, correctly, that he and Turkey have everything to gain and nothing to lose by stepping into the breach created by
a) Saddam's ouster
b) Barry's weakness and confusion
c) Russian and European weakness
Turkey's rise to prominence-- at our expense-- in the eastern Med. will prob'y be viewed by future historians as the most significant of the many f-ups on Barry's watch.
#5
I posted this yesterday that links to a very interesting article about Turkey and Brazil. We are going to see more of these challenges for reasons that have less to do with us than with the changing world in which the other party lives.
Lex has the correct question, what price will Erdogan pay, and Barry has not yet pondered the issue sufficiently. He needs to start thinking about Erdogan as if he were a Republican.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel rejected on Sunday a proposal by U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon for an international investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship and said it had the right to launch its own inquiry. Cards are marked with Magic Marker on that suggestion.
"We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, said on the U.S. TV program "Fox News Sunday."
The U.N. chief had suggested establishing a panel that would be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey, Israel and the United States, an Israeli official said earlier in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the proposal for a multinational panel with Ban in a telephone call on Saturday but told cabinet ministers from his right-wing Likud party on Sunday that Israel was exploring other options, political sources said.
Nine Turks were killed on Monday in the Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara, part of a six-vessel convoy that set out to challenge an Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Several thousands Turks rallied Sunday to condemn Israel's deadly raid on aid ships, calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "pirate" and urging a boycott of Israeli goods.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place
The Israelis are pretty good at knowing who is on their side. Do they really trust this guy, or is it some kind of olive branch?
JERUSALEM - Israel on Sunday banned its soldiers from travelling to Turkey, amid tensions since a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish-owned ship, its anti-terrorism office said. The office, which answers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the ban applied in particular to reservists planning holidays in Turkey, a favourite destination for Israelis.
The Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships on May 31, in which nine Turks were killed on the Turkish vessel, has plunged the fragile ties between the onetime strong allies into a deep crisis.
Authorities in the Jewish state last week urged Israelis to put off travel plans to Turkey, where a series of anti-Israeli demonstrations have been held since the raid. According to Turkey's culture and tourism minister, Ertugrul Gunay, between 10,000 and 200,000 Israelis have since cancelled trips to his country.
That's an awfully wide range. At both ends it represents substantial losses for the Turks, whose economy has been on a roller coaster since the '90s.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
NEWS > Once heavily promoted by Israeli Govt + Tourism/Travel companies, ISRAELI TOURISTS are now being asked to divert from Turkey to BULGARIA in light of Turko-Israeli Crisis oer Gaza Flotilla.
#2
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [Zaman] ISRAEL MAY HAD ORDERED KURDISH TERROR ATTACK, conducted agz Turkey. IISS org in Ankara claims that ISRAEL ORGS have been covertly cooper wid KURDISH REBELS' IRANIAN ARMS/BRANCHES???
* SAME > [Video]AL QAEDA THREATENS TO ABDUCT/KIDNAP SAUDI ROYALS + MINISTERS [launch "major" Terrops inside KSA]. AQIY aka AQAP deemed a RELIABLE/TRUSTWORTHY ALLY = AQ-AFFILIATE GROUP by Osama + top Boyz.
Here's a nugget from Space War that will be useful in the performance of drone zaps ...
The U.S. Marine Corps Harvest Hawk aircraft will soon be equipped with Northrop Grumman-built Viper Strike stand-off precision guided munition as part of an effort under way to bring greater utility to the Marines' KC-130J refueling and cargo aircraft.
Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman will deliver 65 Viper Strike munitions beginning this year to the Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Office within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal for eventual integration onto the KC-130J platform.
Viper Strike is a gliding munition capable of precision attack from extended stand-off ranges using GPS-aided navigation and a semi-active laser seeker. Its small size, precision and high agility provide a very low collateral damage weapon that can be used in the difficult operational environments where U.S. troops may be deployed.
"In today's irregular warfare environment, Viper Strike provides the right characteristics needed to support our warfighters in the current fight - high precision and agility to hit targets in complex terrain and with very low collateral damage," said Steve Considine, programs director, Aviation and Weapons for Northrop Grumman's Land and Self-Protection Systems Division.
"The KC-103J represents the latest military airborne asset to be equipped with Viper Strike's formidable capabilities."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Them's our Marines! Even their cargo planes will waste your sorry ass.
#4
with the tribal/muslim warrior mentality in the stan, a doctrine of extreme collateral damage would probably win more hearts and minds in the long haul than the portrayed weakness and lack of aggression of our current policies. to the locals we look unwilling to engage the Taliban and afraid. with an assurance that any operation Taliban would mark the center of a large area of total destruction, the locals would drive them out/turn the away/drop the dime on them the second they left instead of supporting and cheering them on. there is a reason that the Mongols were the only invaders to successfully occupy the area.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/07/2010 20:14 Comments ||
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The Iranian Red Crescent has decided to send two aid ships to Gaza this week and has called for volunteers to act as relief workers and accompany the vessels, the state IRNA news agency reported. One does wonder about the skills of these relief workers.
Iranian Red Crescent director Abdolrauf Adibzadeh told IRNA late on Sunday that the decision to send the ships was taken after a meeting with the foreign ministry.
"One ship will carry donations made by the people and the other will carry relief workers. The ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week," Adibzadeh said.
#6
Since "March of Folly" have not read anything more recent by B. Tuchman...Prolly got too wrapped up with Lee Child, etal. So much great stuff; so little time.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.
The RG 'Navy' consists of a few patrol boats. The Iranian navy has a few frigates and destroyers. None of them could operate in the eastern Med without substantial logistical support which the Iranians can't project. There are, however, two states between Cyprus and Gaza who I am just betting will 'volunteer' to provide basing and support. The over/under is 48 hours ...
"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Any intervention by the Iranian military would be considered highly provocative by Israel which accuses Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza.
Israel and its ally the United States decline to rule out military action against Iran if it looks like acquiring nuclear arms capability, something Israel sees as a threat to its survival.
Tehran says its nuclear program is for energy generation and medical purposes and calls its nuclear-armed adversaries hypocrites for trying to block its technological progress.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA said on Sunday Iran would try to send humanitarian aid to Gaza in ships under an Iranian flag. It said Iran had decided to ditch previous plans to send its aid in ships flying the flag of another state.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Like I said yesterday, don't discount a nation selling vessels to an Iranian gov't agency or ministry, then the IRGC 'requisitions'.
#6
VARIOUS > TURKISH PM ERDOGAN has repor vowed = threatened to personally visit Gaza aboard new Gaza Aid Ships-Flotilla + break the Israeli blockade as backed up by TURKISH NAVAL ESCORT. * PM ERDOGAN THREAT has repor now been DENIED BY TURKISH FM???
IRAN'S RGC = repor offered to provide mil escort for new Gaza Aid vessels iff Erdogan is on-board???
* WAFF > DEBKA Artic > [PM Erdogan] TURKISH TROOPS DEPOYED TO CYPRUS [Turk sector], TOP INTELLIGENCE RANKS ISLAMIZED.
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.
South Korea and the U.S. are treading carefully in taking steps against North Korea over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan amid a rift between Washington and Beijing about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
