[Al Arabiya Latest] A group of Muslim youths accused the United States most senior Shiite cleric Hassan Qazwini of the embezzlement of Arab donations and called for the immediate return of the stolen money.
Wasn't sending enough ammo to the Widows in southern Lebanon?
Shiite Muslims gathered at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan where they attended the memorial of the late Lebanese cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. On their way out, they found a statement signed by a group that calls itself the Muslim Youth Congregation posted on the windshields of their cars, accusing prominent Iraqi-born cleric Hassan Qazwini, director of the Shiite dominated center, of embezzlement.
According to the statement, Qazwini collected donations from the Arab community in the United States and transferred them to his father's company in California. The statement called upon Qazwini to immediately return the money, estimated at $350,000, to the center and laid the blame on the center's Board of Trustees for the negligence that allowed Qazwini to get away with stealing the money.
$350K? That's a lot of ammo. Or spending money at the Pole Dancing Club when the hard boyz need R & R ...
The Muslim Youth Congregation also accused Qazwini of slamming supporters of Fadlallah and ordering Shiites not to take him as a role model.
Arab residents of Dearborn said they are not familiar with the group that signed the statement and attributed the accusation to internal disputes between Qazwini and members of the center's Board of Trustees.
According to sources from the center, there have been attempts to remove Qazwini from his post, yet they all failed since he had the support of Shiite youths, also called The Youth Movement. Qazwini's popularity, sources added, is basically due to his ability to preach in English, in addition to Arabic, which is not the case with several Shiite clerics in the United States. This, naturally, increased the number of his supporters.
Oh naturally, since the youts haven't even learned enough of the mother tongue to read the Quran ...
Qazwini vehemently denied all the accusations leveled against him and said that the 350,000 dollar amount is in the center with all the relevant documents and payment receipts.
"I am going to submit all the documents that prove the falsity of these accusations," he told Arab-American press in Dearborn.
As for transferring donations, Qazwinin admitted to sending an amount, a quarter of the sum mentioned in the statement, to orphans in the Iraqi city of Karbala and specifically to a charity organization run by his father.
"Here's the money for the ammo, Pops!"
"Thanks son! Keep it coming!"
"I am not sending money to Iraq because I am Iraqi, but because there are around five million orphans in Iraq and the government only supported 597 of them according to a UNICEF report issued two years ago."
All those poor kids walking around every day without ammo ...
Qazwini added that transferring the money was done with the knowledge of the center's members and Board of Trustees and that his father's organization, called al-Imam al-Sadeq, is licensed and registered in the United States under Development and Relief Foundation.
"I gave a receipt to every single person who donated and all those receipts are registered."
I'd like the names and addresses from each one ...
This article starring:
Hassan Qazwini
Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Head Muzzie robs his followers,
Give a shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/26/2010 10:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds more like an intramural spat.
Y'know - kinda like we have here from time to time.
The Somali militant group al Shabaab yesterday warned African leaders meeting in Kampala against continuing with their "hostile" policy towards war-ravaged Somalia. A militant leader allied to the group, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, said those who would ignore the warning would "cry like they did in Kampala", in reference to the twin bomb attacks that killed over 70 people in the Ugandan capital earlier this month.
Al Shabaabs warning coincided with the start of the AU Heads of State Summit, which is expected to discuss the long-running conflict in Somalia and its potential to spilling over the countrys borders. Uganda tightened security ahead of the AU Summit after Al Shabaab urged people in Mogadishu to participate in a jihad (holy war) against the countrys "enemies".
Sheikh Bilal told a news conference in Mogadishu that African leaders meeting in Kampala should not foment chaos by taking a "wrong approach". He added that the AU had worsened the situation by endorsing what he said was Ethiopias occupation of Somalia, and accused the continental body of presiding over the "massacre" of innocent Somalis by Ethiopia and later Ugandan and Burundian troops operating under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
"Amisom peacekeepers are shelling the Somali people day and night," said Sheikh Bilal adding: "They are acting with the express approval of the African Union." He said AU leaders should draw lessons from the deadly blasts that rocked Kampala a fortnight ago. "The twin explosions showed that the Somali youth more than capable of avenging for their killing of their brothers and sisters in Mogadishu," Sheikh Bilal said.
He warned Guinea, Djibouti and other countries that had pledged to assist the beleaguered transitional government in Mogadishu to think twice before sending troops to Somalia. "This is an American project, implemented through the AU," Sheikh Bilal said. "Our reaction will make people in other African capitals cry like those in Kampala."
Meanwhile, the top al Shabaab official in southern Mogadishu urged residents of the shattered capital to join the jihad against the government and foreign troops. Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdallah said the group had set up several registration centres, and urged people to contribute their wealth and lives to the holy war against the "puppet government" and Amisom peacekeepers. "We ask everybody to get ready and participate in the jihad, and strongly warn against any hesitation...this is a war that must be won," he said.
US Attorney General Eric Holder was scheduled to address the summit in Kampala yesterday, and was expected to address the July 11 suicide bomb attacks carried out by al Shabaab rebels.
"Now remember, homies, these are attacks by radical racists, not radical IslaIsl I word-ists."
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Uganda's president urged African Union leaders at a summit here today to "sweep the terrorists" out of Africa, following recent deadly attacks by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels.
"Let us now act in concert and sweep them out of Africa," Mr Yoweri Museveni said, referring to the perpetrators of the July 11 blasts in Kampala that killed 76 revellers watching the football World Cup final.
"Let them go back to Asia or the Middle East where I understand some come from," he said at the opening of the three-day summit.
More than 30 heads of state from the AU's 53 members gathered amid unprecedented security in the Ugandan capital, with a debate on boosting the organisation's troops levels in Somalia and crushing the Islamist insurgents in the war-torn nation top of the agenda.
The AU summit observed two minutes of silence for the victims of the attacks two weeks ago.
"The African Union stands with you, my brother President Museveni, and with the people of Uganda," Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi's president and current chairman of the AU, said in his opening remarks.
Museveni also said many of the organizers of the attacks in Kampala have been arrested.
"Their interrogations have yielded very good information," he added.
Ugandan authorities have not been precise regarding the number of people detained for their suspected involvement in the blasts. Last week the inspector general of the Uganda police force, Kale Kayihura, put the figure at "more than 20" but several of those individuals have since been released.
The two bombings were meant to bully Uganda into pulling out of the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the last thing standing between the Shebab and total power.
Uganda reacted by saying it could send 2,000 more troops and urged more decisive international support, while the embattled Somali government argued the attacks were evidence Somalia required the world's attention.
AU chief Jean Ping said on Friday Guinea was ready to send troops to Somalia.
"We are going to quickly top the 8,000 mark... I think the current trend could take us over 10,000."
Angola, Mozambique and South Africa may also pledge troops, whose current deployment consists of just over 6,000 Ugandans and Burundians, according to diplomats.
Mr Ping also reiterated that the African Union was seeking a tougher mandate for AMISOM under the United Nations Charter's chapter seven, allowing it to take more aggressive action.
"If this request is answered positively, our troops will attack," he said.
The Shabab leadership has proclaimed its allegiance to Osama bin Laden and the group's first bomb attacks outside Somalia renewed fears that the Horn of Africa country could become a new safe haven for Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Bangla Daily Star] The BNP ranks are worried about some of their leaders who are on the government's list of suspected war criminals.
To add to their worries, the party high command has yet to decide what steps to take if any leader is arrested for complicity in war crimes in 1971, said BNP insiders.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, senior joint secretary general, said the central executive committee will meet on July 31 to discuss, among others, the war crimes issue and draw up a policy guideline.
Chairperson Khaleda Zia will preside over the meeting, first since the party's national council in December last year.
Asked what they will do if any leader is arrested like five top Jamaat leaders, he said though the standing committee, highest decision-making body in BNP, has not yet discussed anything in this regard, the chairperson can take any decision anytime in consultation with others.
Meanwhile, some senior leaders said since the issue is "totally political", the party will face it politically.
"There's no war criminal in our party. But if the government wants to harass our leaders in the name of trial, we will face it politically," one of them yesterday told The Daily Star in return for anonymity.
Party sources said a top-ranking BNP leader and his brother, both of whom are on the primary list of alleged war criminals, have recently met Khaleda Zia.
The sources however could not say what was discussed in that meeting.
Talking to The Daily Star, a central BNP leader said they will protest if any of their colleagues is detained. The party won't sit idle if its leaders are thrown into jail.
"A person can be arrested if there's enough evidence against him. But the government cannot harass political leaders on the basis of perception," he added.
Another leader said the party should take a tough line if the government tries to arrest any of its leaders on war crime charges.
After the arrest of Jamaat leaders on June 29, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said they will stand by Jamaat, but will not participate in any protest programmes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
[Bangla Daily Star] Forming the special committee to amend constitution is nothing but a conspiracy, and its formation did not follow the rules of procedure of the House, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said.
"The one-sided special committee was formed hurriedly, they [the ruling party] didn't give us enough time. They didn't even reply our letter," he said while addressing a BNP organised protest rally at the city's Muktangon yesterday.
BNP, the main opposition, organised the rally in protest at the government's refusal to allow the party to hold a mass hunger strike at Paltan Maidan. Several hundred party leaders, workers and supporters joined the rally with processions, and chanted anti-government slogans.
On July 21, the party announced to hold a mass hunger strike yesterday as part of its anti-government movement to press home a number of demands including release of the party leaders and activists.
Delwar said the government did not make it clear whether the whole constitution or some of its provisions will be amended, which, he said was the proof of having an ill motive behind the initiative.
"They [the government] are conspiring to come to power again by revoking the provision of caretaker government," he alleged.
The BNP secretary general said amending the constitution was not in the ruling Awami League's election manifesto and that there is no provision for keeping the post of a co-chairperson in a parliamentary special committee.
He warned the government of tougher programmes, saying that obstacles incite resistance in politics.
People will not accept any move to amend the country's constitution ignoring the opposition, Delwar added.
He also accused the government of becoming "aggressive" after "losing popularity" for its failure to run the country.
Party leaders Moudud Ahmed, Rafiqul Islam Mian, Adbullah Al Noman, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amanullah Aman, Moazzem Hossain Alal, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
Rinse the article through Google Translate or Babelfish to get a taste.
The gist of the article is that the government of Mexican president Felipe Calderon refuses to call narcoterrorist attack so.
Sometimes, I guess, it takes an American general to call it like it is.
"There is no doubt that what happened in Ciudad Juärez was an act of narco-terrorism to a very high level," he says in an interview with Proceso Barry McCaffrey, retired U.S. general.
"The incident reflected the violence in Mexico has reached another level and clearly intended to terrorize the Mexican state with the specific objective to disable it," emphasizes McCaffrey, who was head of Southern Command of the U.S. Armed Forces 1994 1996, request that during this time trained in narco-terrorism operations against the Army and National Police of Colombia.
Lt Gen Hamid Gul ran the Inter-Services Intelligence from 1987 to 1989, a time when Pakistan and the CIA joined forces to battle Soviet troops in Afghanistan. After the fighting stopped, he maintained his contacts with the former mujahedeen, who would eventually transform themselves into the Taliban.
More than two decades later, it appears Gul is still at work. The documents indicate that he has worked tirelessly to reactivate his old networks, employing familiar allies like Jaluluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose networks of thousands of fighters are responsible for waves of violence in Afghanistan.
Gul is mentioned so many times in the reports that it seems unlikely that Pakistan's current military and intelligence officials could not know of at least some of his wide-ranging activities. One intelligence report describes him meeting with a group of militants in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, in January 2009. There, he met with three senior Afghan insurgent commanders and three "older" Arab men, presumably representatives of Al Qaeda, who the report suggests were important "because they had a large security contingent with them."
The gathering was designed to hatch a plan to avenge the death of "Zamarai," the nom de guerre of Al Qaeda operatie Osama al-Kini, who had been killed days earlier by a CIA drone attack.
The plot hatched in Wana that day, according to the report, involved driving a dark blue Mazda truck rigged with explosives from South Waziristan to Afghanistan's Paktika Province.In a show of strength, the Taliban leaders approved a plan to send 50 Arab and 50 Wairi fighters to Ghazni Province in Afghanistan, the report said.
Gul urged the Taliban commanders to focus their operations inside Afghanistan in exchange for Pakistan turning "a blind eye" to their presence in Pakistan's tribal areas. It was unclear whether the attack was ever executed.
The US has pushed the United Nations to put Gul on a list of international terrorists. Top American officials said they believed he was an important link between active-duty Pakistani officers and militant groups. Gul, who says he is retired, dismissed the allegations as "absolute nonsense."
Posted by: john frum ||
07/26/2010 22:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A whole bunch of ARtics on NEWS KERALA...
To wit,
NEWS KERALA > PAKISTAN IN DENIAL MODE FOLLOWING ISI-AFGHAN TALIBAN NEXUS PROOF IN LEAKED US MILITARY DATA [Wikileaks + Medias], + PAK ISI HAD FREE HAND TO AID INSURGENCIES IN INDIA, AFGHANISTAN [ + helped Afghan Talibs attack US-NATO Soldiers + assassinate Afghan Leaders].
* SAME >ITS OFFICIAL: ISI "HAND-IN-HAND" WID AFGHAN TALIBAN IN ORGANZING ATTACKS AGZ US SOLDIERS + PAK ISI AGENCY ORGANIZES, RUNS NETWORK OF SUICIDE BOMBERS IN AFGHANISTAN [ + PAK, Region].
* SAME > US SAYS PAK "SAFE HAVENS" FOR TERRORIST GROUPS POSES AN "INTOLERABLE THREAT" TO IT AND AFGHANISTAN.
Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's statement that radical Popular Front of India (PFI) was aiming to convert the southern Indian state into a 'Muslim country', has evoked strong protests from various quarters. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a partner of the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front, termed his remark an insult to the entire Muslim community in the state.
"It is a besmirching without parallel!"
The Congress has described it politically motivated. The CM had reportedly made the statement at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday in the wake of arrests of several PFI activists in connection with the chopping off of the hands of a college lecturer after he had prepared a question paper that allegedly carried a blasphemous question.
"Achuthanandan's charge that the PFI was trying to encourage youth from other communities to marry Muslim girls in order to increase the Muslim population in the state is the language of Hindutva man", IUML General Secretary, P.K. Kunhalikuty said.
Take that, V.S.!
He told reporters at Calicut on Sunday that he could reply to the chief minister in the same language. "We are maintaining restraint because we do not want to destroy the obvious communal harmony prevailing in the state", he added. He said that both the PFI and People's Democratic Party (PDP) led by Abdul Nasser Madhani had become a liability for the community. "Because of them, mosques and other Muslim institutions were being raided by the police".
"If the PFI was indulging in activities as alleged by Achuthanandan, then stringent action should be taken against them', he said, adding 'but, to accuse the community as a whole is in bad taste".
*gasp!*
He pointed out that the CPM had aligned with such organisations in the last Assembly elections in order to weaken the IUML. "That way the CPM is responsible for promoting extremism in the state", Kunhalikutty said.
Jamaa-e-Islami chief Arif Ali has also expressed the fear that Achuthanandan's charge would weaken the effort from the community to isolate the extremist forces. He pointed out that the chief minister had talked like a Sangh Parivar spokesman.
Gadzooks!
Achuthanandan had earlier courted controversy by saying that the Congress was promoting Muslim and Christian communalism in the state.
Autoedited by Rantburg [Tolo News] The US Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in a press conference held in Kabul on Sunday that Osama bin Laden is in safe havens in Pakistain.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said that bad boyz have sanctuaries on Pakistain's soil and Pakistain's intelligence organisation in some cases helps them carry out attacks.
Pakistain is the main haven for the bad boyz and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provides them with aid to carry out attacks in other countries, he said.
The US is in an effort to launch attacks against rebels in Pakistain, he added. "They have havens that still exist in Pakistain, not for the leaders of these organisations, but also many others, and it is the focus of this overall mission to eliminate those safe havens.
"And we do it in support of those who are executing the mission in Pakistain as obviously as well as with the continued efforts here in Afghanistan. But it is our intent and I believe that we will eliminate those safe havens as we execute this mission," he said.
While saying that Pakistain is not fighting honestly against the bad boyz, Admiral Mullen highlighted that the US will act seriously against sources backing insurgency.
The United States of America has done many things in the fight against terrorism in Pakistain and further improvements take time, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Yup, Pak/Iran border. Bouncing back and forth. Even money on that bet...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/26/2010 0:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Turning a 'haven' to glass may not have an immediate effect, but it is a lot like terminex.
Fewer pilgrims go to the gravesite.
#3
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said that bad boyz have sanctuaries on Pakistain's soil and Pakistain's intelligence organisation in some cases helps them carry out attacks.
Mind like a steel trap that Mullen. After nine years, virtually NOTHING escapes him, NOTHING!
#4
When you're the Chairman, what you know isn't necessarily what you say in public.
Unless of course you are sending a serious message on behalf of the administration. Note that Mullen is speaking in Kabul, after a few months during which the Karzai government and Pakistan were flirting with one another.
Sounds to me like recycled depleted uranium is bad nonsense using photos from the aftermath of the chemical attacks on the Kurds as evidence. Then using hiroshima and nagasaki as a headline grabber. Shoddy all around.
#3
not too mention I doubt Fallujah was one of the cleaner plkaces on earth before the siege. Looked like a shithole before the war.
Posted by: chris ||
07/26/2010 12:52 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Fallujah was one of Saddam's favored communities before the war. However, by the time the seige rolled around, it had turned into Somalia by the Euphrates. Funny how letting Al Qaeda take over will do that to you.
As for the accusation of depleted uranium causing these cancers, very few AP rounds were used during the battle.
One thing I remember reading about after the battle was how hard it was to get the townspeople to take care of their own sewage and clean water systems.
If they want to investigate the chemicals in the water, soil etc. looking at the town's own infrastructure maintenance would be a good place to start.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/26/2010 13:14 Comments ||
Top||
#5
If Fallujah was one of the Husseins 'favored' places would it not be likely there were some of the elusive WMD facilities located there? And given the level of maintenance of public infrastructure in general, would it surprise if nasty stuff got loose from those elusive sites into the Fallujah environment?
#6
Our intrepid "journalist" has a profile on linkedin. His main claim to fame seems to be a big ego and that he can't hold a job very long.
Too bad Journolist folded up, kid. You'd have been a natural...
#7
College dropout too. But he has 'mid-level' HTML knowledge and 'advanced' Photoshop skills. He'd be a natural for the Daily Kos.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/26/2010 17:26 Comments ||
Top||
#8
...and the comments... geeeze more 'tools' than Harbor Freight catalog.
These guys are so ready and willing to hate America and believe anything and everything bad said about her.
No need to ask for proof, or investigate outrageous claims.
It's like they bend over backwards each trying to outdo each other with Hate-America propaganda and more outlandish lies. disgusting
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
07/26/2010 22:48 Comments ||
Top||
MOSUL, Iraq -- When the U.S. ends its combat mission in Iraq five weeks from now, the nation's safety will be in the hands of its homegrown, American-trained security forces. The army is almost up to the job, the police are hit-and-miss, and the Kurdish militia is nowhere close to ready.
Iraq's military chief says that without a U.S. presence, the Iraqi forces won't be able to fully fend for themselves before 2020. Anthony Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessment in the Pentagon, agrees it will take years.
That view has also come across in conversations on various sides of the sectarian divide in recent months as the Associated Press spent time with the military, police and Kurdish militia on the job to get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses as they prepare for the Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. combat mission to end.
Continued on Page 49
Mossad chief Meir Dagan visited Saudi Arabia recently, if unofficial reports published over the weekend on the WorldNetDaily website are accurate. The Internet news site attributed the story to Arab sources. According to the reports, the talks conducted in Saudi Arabia with the head of Israel's espionage agency dealt with Iran and its nuclear program.
#4
Again, the longer the Clock ticks, the greater the odds are that the US-ISRAEL, etc. will have to de facto launch a FULL-SCALE GROUND INVASION + OCCUPATION OF ISLAMIST IRAN.
ANy IRAN-SPECIFIC DECLARATION OF NUCENERGY + espec NUCWEAPS [2012?] is just a broad SYMBOL > THE REAL/TRUE THREAT IS NOTSOMUCH IRAN PER SE BUT POST-2012+ REGIONAL, GLOBAL NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM [Nukes-WMDS].
The above being said, NUKE-HAPPY ISLAMIST IRAN does NOT have the CURR + LT FOOD + ECON PROBS that KIMMIE = DPRK HAS RIGHT NOW, NOR IS IRAN EXPECTED TO SUFFER SUCH COME YEARS 2012 OR 2015.
Telecommunications minister Mashhur Abu Daqa said Sunday that his ministry would close down local radio and television stations operating without licenses.
Abu Daqa said 30 of the 130 stations in the West Bank do not have licenses, and while some have responded to ministerial requests to amend this situation, others have failed to do so including some which have been broadcasting unlicensed for 20 years.
His ministry has formed a committee with the information and interior ministries to address this issue, setting a deadline by which pirate stations must obtain licenses or be shut down.
A number of local stations received orders to stop transmissions if they do not obtain licenses within one month. The ministry's licensing director, Ahmad Muneizel, said if stations do not comply with the regulations, their frequencies will be withdrawn.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate expressed its solidarity with the stations threatened with closure, but added that they must abide with the ministry's demands.
Regarding poor Internet services in the West Bank, Abu Daqa said licenses have been granted to 10 new internet companies, which will use the existing network.
The ministry has agreed with telecommunications company PalTel to invest in new infrastructure over the next three years which will work with Next Generation Network technology, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the new companies will offer eight to 10 megabytes of internet access, and subscribers will be billed for this on top of their PalTel bill, Abu Daqa explained, adding that the Internet market had been opened up and initial prices will be reduced within three months.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
What about Radio Yerevan? I always liked their broadcasts.
A mysterious epidemic has paralyzed Syrias army, Israels Channel 2 reported Thursday.
So far, 14 Syrian soldiers have died from the unidentified disease and thousands more have been hospitalized, forcing the army to cancel training exercises, the channel reported.
The report added that the epidemic began in army camps in the north and has slowly spread south, with no indication yet of the cause.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/26/2010 15:30 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Northern Syria has had a severe drought, so I'm thinking migrating rodents brought their diseases with them. The most popular would be plague and hantavirus.
Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, said that during his tenure "a strike was way down the list of options." But he tells CNN's State of the Union that such action now "seems inexorable."
The former CIA chief predicted Iran, in defiance of the international community, planned to "get itself to that step right below a nuclear weapon, that permanent breakout stage, so the needle isnt quite in the red for the international community."
Hayden said that reaching even that level would be "as destabilizing to the region as actually having a weapon."
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran has expressed willingness to have talks with the European Union on its nuclear program after the month of Ramadan ends in early September, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday.
He also said after a meeting with his Iranian and Brazilian counterparts that Iran would send a letter on Monday to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) asking for a start to separate "technical" talks on implementing a nuclear fuel swap.
The West fears Iran's secretive uranium enrichment program is a veiled quest to develop nuclear weapons capability. Tehran denies this, saying it seeks only electricity from enrichment so it can export more of its oil wealth.
Brazil and Turkey have characterized the proposed fuel deal as a way to build confidence for broader negotiations involving six world powers, represented for now by the EU's foreign policy chief, on an overall nuclear settlement with Iran.
"The Iranian Foreign Minister confirmed once again they are ready to start negotiations with Mrs Ashton... (He) stated that immediately after Ramadan they would start with negotiations," Davutoglu said, adding they could meet in Istanbul.
Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign affairs chief, wrote to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili last month inviting him to resume negotiations. The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan ends in the first half of September.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Iranian lawmaker says Tehran plans to file a lawsuit against the US over the inhumane policies adopted by Washington towards the people of Iran.
"It has been agreed that the issue of US violation of human rights as well as its double standard policies be raised in the international community and a lawsuit be filed to seek compensation for some of the damages inflicted on Iran because of it," member of the Majlis Human Rights Committee Zohreh Elahian said on Sunday.
The Iranian lawmaker said American media have turned human rights into a tool by means of which they manipulate world public opinion, adding, "The US uses human rights to pressure Iran while this country does not observe even the most basic articles of the human rights law."
Elahian went on to describe the US as the biggest violator of human rights as is evident in its conduct in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
"US presence in any of these countries and their military occupation is in violation of the human rights of these nations."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
IRAN LAWSUIT versus
To wit,
ISRAEL NN > NORTH KOREA FOR 1972 ATTACK AGZ ISRAEL. US Fed Court in Puerto Rico = FLYING NUN-ISLAND awards two families US$378.0MILYUHN for deadly 1972 terror attack at Israel's then-QODS Airport, now BEN GURION Airport, as carried out by the JAPANESE RED ARMY in sympathetic attack for the PFLP GROUP.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its "hostile" attitude despite Iran's full cooperation.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with the IAEA for years so that all could observe Iran's peaceful activities and now we are certain of their (the IAEA) animosity," Mehr News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying on Sunday.
Addressing European countries, Ahmadinejad said, "Iran does not welcome disputes, tension, sanctions or resolutions" and is instead a proponent of "amicable relations and logic."
"Any country that has befriended the Iranian nation has reaped the benefits," said the Iranian president, warning against the inspection of Iranian vessels.
"Should you make any decisions against Iran, including ship inspections, you will see the Iranian nation's immediate response. Everybody knows that the Iranian nation's response will cause [the enemy to] rue the day."
"In confronting the US and its followers (allies) we have no need for war. Instead, Iranian wisdom, culture, and policy will bring them down," he added.
Ahmadinejad reiterated that the West is looking for an excuse to launch wars on more countries in the Middle East to destabilize the region.
"You (the West) cannot bully Iran, so you decided to attack other regional countries and this will also prove futile."
On June 9, the UN Security Council passed a US-drafted sanctions resolution targeting the country's shipping industry as well as financial and military sectors.
The US and EU have since adopted unilateral measures against Iran over allegations that Tehran is pursuing a covert military nuclear program.
Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed Tehran is commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which it is a signatory, and argue that as a member of the IAEA Iran has the right to civilian nuclear technology.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has slammed Western approach to Iran, urging all European countries to rectify their policies and observe rights of nations.
"We recommend them not to continue with their misconducts and observe the rights of nations if they seek to improve their position in the future. This will serve their own interests," Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.
He stressed that the Iranian nation does not welcome sanctions, resolutions and tension and added, "We advocate logic and friendship. Every country that establishes friendly relations with Iran benefits this policy."
He specifically addressed European countries and said, "Your misbehavior will bring nothing to you but discredit. It will have no impact on the Iranian nation."
Ahmadinejad warned over the potential inspection of Iranian ships and of a plane fuel embargo, vowing a "swift reaction" to any decision against the country.
"This reaction will make you regret," he said.
The president went on to add that the Iranian nation will turn sanctions and threats into opportunities and stressed that such moves will lead to the downfall of enemies and the promotion of Iran's policy for global management.
"Sanctions and threats against Iran, for example sanctions on gasoline, are all valuable opportunities for the Iranian nation which speed up its advancement, development and self-sufficiency," IRNA reported him as saying.
"Western powers said they intend to impose sanctions on gasoline. I wish it will happen as soon as possible. It is one of my dreams that they impose sanctions on gasoline," he added.
Ahmadinejad stressed that the West should know that Iran has the capability to add 17 million liters to the current gasoline production capacity right now.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Dawn] Iran will react swiftly if its commercial shipping or aviation are subjected to inspection, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.
A UN Security Council resolution on June 9 imposed restrictions on Iranian shipping and other sectors to try to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear enrichment activities.
Under the latest sanctions, countries would have the authority to inspect cargo ships heading to or from Iran.
"You should know whoever takes a decision against the Iranian nation, such as the so-called inspection of the Iranian ships or so-and-so towards its aircraft, will immediately receive Iran's reaction," Ahmadinejad told a conference in a speech broadcast live on radio.
Earlier this month, the European Union banned more planes operated by Iran Air from flying into the airspace of the 27-country bloc on safety grounds.
It denied reports there was a ban on Iranian commercial airliners refuelling in Germany and Britain as a result of US sanctions. However, some oil companies have stopped jet fuel supplies to Iranian aircraft outside Iran.
Restating that the Islamic state did not seek hostility with any country, Ahmadinejad said: "We are in favour of friendship and logic."
Iran, the world's fifth largest oil producer, has been the subject of four rounds of UN sanctions over its defiance to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
Iran says its nuclear programme is designed to produce electricity and sanctions will not bring about any change.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran will react if ships inspected:
Yup they'll scream and whine impotently just like before, only harder and with added whine.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/26/2010 10:13 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] The display of the Arab name of the Iranian city of Abadan on the in-plane screens of Qatari Airways sparked wide protests and triggered incriminations of alleged historical frauds.
Iranians accused Qatar of tampering with history by discarding the Persian name of the southwestern city of Abadan and using instead the Arab one on the screen maps the carrier uses for showing passengers where they are , the Iranian news website Tabnak reported.
Abadan is located in the Khuzestan province, which has a predominantly Arab population, also called Ahwazis. The province is also called Arabistan.
The website, owned by the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, added that this action raises questions about the intentions of Qatar, especially that this same name was used by "enemies of the Islamic republic" like Saddam Hussein and Arab-Iranian separatists.
"This is proof of Qatar's sinister intentions against the safety of Iran," added Tabnak, which is one of the most widely-read websites in Iran.
The website said the Arabs colonized Iran and stated that, contrary to Arab claims, it is the Arabs who changed names of cities in order to wipe out the Persian identity.
"Now the Iranian government and people are determined to get back their national identity and it was normal to start referring to cities with their original names."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hezbollah says the US machinations against the Lebanese resistance movement are invariably mired in failure, citing the Washington-waged armed and smear campaigns.
"Ever since 1982...what was being written in America and in Europe and in the world, even in the Arab world; ever since we have been founded, we have been targeted," the movement's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday, addressing the faithful in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
He called the most recent war on Lebanon a brainchild of the United States which enjoyed Israeli implementation.
"...America is the one which waged the war, which created the war in July 2006. Israel implemented the war...."
The hostilities killed about 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians. Repelled by the resistance fighters, however, the Israeli forces were forced into withdrawal, without the regime having achieved any of its objectives.
Having tasted defeat, "they resorted to a new measure which was to tarnish the image of the resistance," Nasrallah said.
He cited former ambassador to Beirut and the current US Assistant Secretary of State Jeff Feltman as saying that Washington had "paid $500 million" to damage Hezbollah's reputation.
"But what was the result?...the result was a failure...," Nasrallah said.
"...not $500 million were spent for 28 years. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to tarnish the image of this resistance...."
The mudslinging, though, has turned out to be futile as "the opinion polls always show that the resistance comes first and foremost...," the Hezbollah leader noted.
"...Do not the Americans know that their plot in Lebanon has failed? Off course they do."
Nasrallah also said that despite apparent American overtures, the movement refuses to hold talks with the US authorities "because from our perspective America is Israel. America supports Israel. America has always protected Israel. And America is employing Israel."
The movement is an active player in Lebanon's politics, holding seats in the country's parliament.
Hezbollah has, as well, been included in national dialog, aimed at planning a unified national defense strategy.
President Michel Sleiman has insisted that Hezbollah hold on to its firepower in favor of national defense, while parliamentary spokesman Nabih Berri has called the resistance "a necessity and a national need."
Nasrallah further called for the establishment of a Lebanese committee to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
On Thursday, he said he had been personally informed by the late leader's son and current Premier Saad Hariri that the international tribunal, which is investigating the case, was about to implicate alleged resistance members and strictly rejected any Hezbollah involvement.
Adding to his Sunday comments, Nasrallah warned that the tribunal had been formed by the US and Britain, saying that the witnesses in the case had provided false testimony.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[Iran Press TV Latest] Four people have reportedly been killed following an explosion at a petrochemical factory on Iran's southern Kharg Island.
Mr. Murphy has been busy in Iran, these last few years.
Operation Lemony Snicket ...
High pressure in the central boiler of the factory is believed to have triggered the blast on Iran's largest oil terminal,
A switch accidentally flipped the wrong way, perhaps?
IRNA reported on Sunday, citing administrative officials at the adjacent coastal Bushehr province.
"At present the fire is under control and rescue teams are aiding the wounded," said Provincial Disaster Management Authority Gholamreza Keshtkar, without elaborating on the number of those injured in the incident.
Keshtkar said that three bodies had been identified, adding that search for the body of the fourth victim continued.
Iran is OPEC's second largest oil exporter and the world's fifth producer.
Despite the large output of around 4.2 million barrels of oil per day, Iran's oil industry has maintained a clean safety record.
The Kharg Island, located some 750 miles (1200 kilometers) south of Tehran, was once the world's largest offshore crude oil terminal.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Anglo-Persioan Oil Company safety and maintenance culture lives on despite nationalization.
Have you been paying attention to the controversy in New York over the building of a 13 story Mosque near Ground Zero?
Islam has a rich history of building Mosques at the sites of great Muslim conquests.
The organization behind this $100 million dollar Mosque is called the Cordoba Initiative. The Mosque is to be called the Cordoba House. When the Muslims conquered Spain they took a huge Christian cathedral and turned it into the Cordoba Mosque. So the very group planning this Mosque at Ground Zero is named after a Mosque built at the scene of a previous Muslim conquest.
There are other such mosques:
When Muslims conquered Jerusalem they built the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
When Muslims conquered Constantinople (now Istanbul) they transformed the St. Sophia Basilica into a Mosque.
There are reports that they plan to open this Mosque next year on September 11, 2011. Sounds like a schedule stretch to me.
This Mosque will be nothing less than a symbol to Muslims of their supremacy over the people of New York and America ... a reminder of a great victory and a promise of more victories over the infidels to come. Even if this mosque is being built with the purest of intentions - which I don't believe for a second - it would be in incredibly poor taste to select such a time and place for it. It fits right in with the strange design of the memorial in Pennsylvania. Will Zero build a minaret at the Pentagon?
#1
IMO the proper venue for this proposed Mosque should be in Washington DC, near the NATIONAL CATHEDRAL - correct me iff I'm wrong, but doesn't the National Cathedral already allow NON-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP to be held inside their grounds???
#2
Here's the website link hosted by families very much opposed to this latest mosque outrage, who lost loved ones at "Ground Zero" on 09/11/2001... 911familiesforamerica.orghttp://www.911familiesforamerica.org/
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 Somali militant group al Shabaab yesterday warned African leaders meeting in Kampala against continuing with their "hostile" policy towards war-ravaged Somalia. A militant leader allied to the group, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, said those who would ignore the warning would "cry like they did in Kampala", in reference to the twin bomb attacks that killed over 70 people in the Ugandan capital earlier this month. 
Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's statement that radical Popular Front of India (PFI) was aiming to convert the southern Indian state into a 'Muslim country', has evoked strong protests from various quarters. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a partner of the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front, termed his remark an insult to the entire Muslim community in the state. 
[Tolo News] The US Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in a press conference held in Kabul on Sunday that Osama bin Laden is in safe havens in Pakistain.
Mossad chief Meir Dagan visited Saudi Arabia recently, if unofficial reports published over the weekend on the WorldNetDaily website are accurate. The Internet news site attributed the story to Arab sources. According to the reports, the talks conducted in Saudi Arabia with the head of Israel's espionage agency dealt with Iran and its nuclear program.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran has expressed willingness to have talks with the European Union on its nuclear program after the month of Ramadan ends in early September, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The display of the Arab name of the Iranian city of Abadan on the in-plane screens of Qatari Airways sparked wide protests and triggered incriminations of alleged historical frauds.
