#2
SG was shot through the chest and was saved only by the prompt action of a US medic who pushed a large needle between his ribs to relieve air pressure in his chest cavity.
I only did that once in my career. Looks like you're killing the patient while you're saving him. Can't imagine doing that while bullets are whizzing by.
#3
The Dutch military is unionized (really). It probably isn't in their contract to divert from their assignment on the request of foreign forces and besides, they are probably "taking jobs away" from US Apache pilots.
#4
"Unlike many military organizations, Dutch military members are allowed to form and join unions. One of these unions is the General Federation Military Personnel (the acronym is AFMP) was recognized by the Dutch government in 1966 and represents both current and retired military personnel. The AFMP is a member of the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions, FNV."
[Dawn] The Afghan government has been in reconciliation talks for months with members of a Taliban faction closely tied to al-Qaeda and responsible for lethal attacks on coalition forces and bombings inside the capital, Kabul, according to a member of the Afghan parliament.
The parliamentarian, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's government had been in direct contact with Jalaludin Haqqani, the aging leader of the Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistain and is believed to have close ties to Pakistain's intelligence service. The network is being run by his son, Sirajuddin.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that three members of the Taliban's leadership council, known as the Quetta shura, also have taken part in preliminary discussions with the Afghan government, according to an Afghan official and a former diplomat in the region.
The newspaper said the White House and an Afghan who has participated in the discussions requested that the newspaper withhold the names of the three Taliban leaders plus a member of the Haqqani family who were involved in the talks presumably to shield them from reprisal attacks.
Confirmation of talks with the Haqqani network would indicate that negotiations are being held with more than a handful of disaffected low- to mid-level faceless myrmidons as the US and its allies seek an end to the more than nine-year-old war.
While skeptical in the past, the US last week expressed support for the Afghan government's efforts to talk with senior members of the Taliban.
Karzai, meanwhile, has asked Pakistain to hand over 31 Taliban figures who have been detained in the neighboring country, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 leader who was jugged in February in a joint raid with the CIA, according to peace negotiators in Kabul.
The Taliban released a statement Tuesday saying no top leaders of the Taliban, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, have been talking to the Afghan government. The statement was issued by Mullah Abdul Kabir, a member of the Taliban ruling council and rumored to be among the figures open to a peace deal.
''They mention names of a few members of the leadership, saying they have had contacts with them or at least shown willingness to initiate negotiation,'' Kabir said in the statement. ''The enemy has not produced any evidence despite many claims to indicate that the officials of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan were engaged in talks with them.''
US officials have long said they didn't expect the Taliban the hard-line Islamic movement that harbored Osama bin Laden to talk peace as long as the snuffies believed they were winning. The Taliban's refusal to hand over bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US triggered the Afghan war.
That stance changed publicly last week when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton backed exploratory talks between the Afghan government and the bully boys. Top NATO commander, Gen. David Petraeus, confirmed that coalition forces were providing safe passage to some top Taliban leaders who were talking to the Afghan government.
The new acceptance of reconciliation could be seen as an admission that the war is going badly. Or it may reflect the view of US military commanders that NATO troops have damaged the insurgency following the surge of more than 30,000 US forces ordered by President Barack B.O. Obama.
Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistain, attributed an increase in contacts with individuals linked to the Taliban to stepped up military pressure that NATO and its Afghan allies were placing on the beturbanned goons.
Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister and confidant of Taliban leader Mullah Omar also denied that top Taliban leaders were engaged in talks.
''There is no trust line between the US and international community and the Taliban,'' Muttawakil said Tuesday in an interview. ''Because of this, the Taliban are not serious about talking.''
He demanded that the US and its international partners release Taliban prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay and remove the names of Taliban figures from the U.N. sanctions list to build trust. Muttawakil said face-to-face talks would be too difficult right now. He suggested that if formal negotiations are eventually held, it would be better to hold them in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates or Germany.
Some analysts believe the detention of the Taliban figures, including some who were exploring reconciliation, was driven by Pakistain's desire to influence any peace deal in Afghanistan.
A senior Pak security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said Islambad has not been asked to assist in the talks and does not know the identities of the participants.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Afghan election authorities have dumped 1.3 million votes, 23 per cent of the 5.6 million ballots cast in last month's parliamentary election, officials have said. In a reasonable world that'd be enough to invalidate the "election." Don't give San Fran Nan any ideas ...
"The valid vote is 4,265,347, and the invalid vote is around 1,300,000," Fazil Ahmad Manawi, the head of the Independent Election Commission, said on Wednesday.
Many observers had hoped that the parliamentary elections would show the Afghan government's commitment to reforming its corrupt bureaucracy.
"These elections will do little to alter Afghanistan's system of patronage politics, and will certainly not alter the balance of power," a Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , said.
The official said the parliamentary poll represented "politics as usual, just as corrupt and just as violent as last year". ... and just as corrupt, just as violent as next year...
The 2009 presidential vote was widely criticised by the country's international donors amid allegations of electoral fraud - included ballot stuffing and voter intimidation - that invalidated 1.5 million votes, mostly for Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai, the Afghan president.
Progress in doubt
The elections are part of a process intended to develop the country's nascent political system, which is seen as rife with cronyism.
The current parliament is stacked with former warlords and power brokers, and many of the candidates in September's election have ties to Afghanistan's old elite.
Afghanistan lacks political parties and parliamentary blocs form according to ethnic or geographical alliances. But despite weak parties, powerful patronage networks, and entrenched corruption, the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament) acts as a check on the power of President Hamid Karzai.
Poll breakdown
Last month, more than 2,500 candidates stood for 249 seats in the the Wolesi Jirga. But authorities disqualified the results from 2,543 polling stations, out of 3,345 stations investigated following the September 18 election.
In addition, suspicious candidates have been identified based on allegations of possible fraud. "224 candidates are now being referred to the Electoral Complaints Commission," Al Jizz's Sue Turton, reporting from Kabul, said.
She said it would take another three weeks for the commission to look into the complaints. "But people are saying the [Independent Election Commission] has done its job," Turton said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed on Wednesday that there will be no return to civil war with the south as an independence vote for the region looms.
Just a week after saying that the only outcome he would accept from the landmark referendum due in January was a vote for unity, Bashir insisted his government was working for peace.
"There will be no return to war," the official SUNA news agency quoted Bashir as saying. "The government is working to keep the peace.
"The referendum result will not be the end of the world," he added.
The January referendum on independence for the south is the centrepiece of a 2005 peace deal which brought an end to Africa's longest-running civil war in which an estimated two million people died.
"Despite our commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, we will not accept an alternative to unity," Bashir had told MPs in Khartoum on October 12.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein hinted that the referendum could be delayed in the face of persistent wrangling between northern and southern leaders about the demarcation line between the two regions.
Southern leaders have warned that if there is any major delay by the Khartoum government in organising the referendum, they will go ahead and hold a vote of their own.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Google Translate. For a map, click here.
The former warden at a Gomez Palacio, Durango prison, was sentenced Tuesday for her role in a number of massacres in Torreon, Coahuila, according to Mexican news accounts.
Margarita Rojas RodrÃguez was sent to a Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Veracruz for a number of crimes including homicide and attempted homicide.
Ten other staff involved were sent to a Mexican Federal CERESO in El Rincon in Tepic, Nayarit to serve their sentences for their involvement in the same crimes.
RodrÃguez and the other staff at the CERESO No.2 in Gomez Palacio, Durango were involved in a series of murders in the Torreon, Coahuila-Gomez Palacio, Durango area known as La Laguna that targeted facilities operated by Los Zetas, murders totaling more than 30 victims.
Google Translate
Several prison staff from a Chihuahua CERESO resigned en masse Tuesday after the newly installed Chihuahua attorney general Carlos Salas met with representatives earlier in the week, and apparently failed to allay their concerns.
40 guards from the Serdan Achilles Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) tendered their resignations Tuesday a week following the massacre of six prison guards in Chihuahua October 14th who were traveling aboard an official vehicle.
Serdan Achilles has been a problem institution in recent weeks with several inmates found dead in their cells and a guardhouse coming under fire from outside the prison.
Problems with other Chihuahua prisons exist as well. The same article claimed that legal authorities in Juarez have had a hard time finding replacement staff because of death threats against them.
North Korean authorities are hard at work drumming up an instant personality cult surrounding leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Kim Jong-un, Radio Free Asia reported last week.
He looks like he eats well ...
Grass + bark soup = yummy!
The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a source in North Pyongan Province, North Korea as saying during the Workers Party's 65th anniversary on Oct. 10, the regime made it mandatory for everyone to watch a program glorifying the "extraordinary" leader, Kim Jong-un.
Is that a Rolex on his wrist?
"According to the program, Kim Jong-un is a genius with a thorough knowledge of politics, the economy, culture, history and military affairs and is able to speak many foreign languages," the source said. It said he mastered English, German, French and Italian during his studies abroad and is learning Chinese, Japanese and Russian despite his busy schedule helping his father lead the country."
But how many holes-in-one did he shoot in his first round of golf?
The broadcast also claimed North Korea became a "self-sufficient" nuclear power because of Kim Jong-un's firm resolve to build up the North's ability to counter other nuclear powers with equal strength. According to the broadcast, Kim realized the importance of nuclear weapons when he learned about the wars launched by the U.S. and its "imperialist allies."
Another source from North Hamgyong Province said the federation of farmers passed out material praising Kim Jong-un's skills and urging farmers to create a new agricultural revolution under his guidance. "The material described an inspection trip by Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un to an agricultural commune in 2008, where the younger Kim surprised experts by spontaneously coming up with a microbial fertilizer that could improve the quality of soil," the source said, and claimed farmers who used it were able to "miraculously" harvest 15 tons of wheat per 9,917 sq. m of farmland.
"Farmers who read the material laughed at it, saying if it was true Kim Jong-un could solve the North's food shortage simply by stepping on all the farms in the country, so all they'd have to worry about is how to dispose of the excess amount of food next year," the source said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
He looks like he eats well ...
Looks like he at a lot of those "bread with minced beef" sandwiches that his father invented.
Except this guy is so smart, he probably got the idea to add pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and a special sauce. And switched it up to a sesame seed bun.
#2
Yet another source from North Hamgyong Province said the federation of famished farmers passed out material praising Kim Jong-un's skills at actually being able to defecate. Later, speaking in ancient Aramaic, Jong-un declared that Mohammad was "a clown, and a tremendous asshole."
#3
With all his family's isolation, in-fighting and the contempt from his older siblings, I'll be surprised if he doesn't turn out to be some sort of 'genius' psychopath. Probably a good defense mechanism for survival, but bad for the folks around him.
From the few photos I've seen of him, he has those 'soulless' eyes and deadpan expression that we've come to recognize when we meet a person without conscience.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/21/2010 8:32 Comments ||
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#4
A see a pattern here in declaring world leaders 'genius' before any accomplishments.
#6
Propaganda Machine Hails Kim Jong-un as 'Genius'
Here we call it the Main Stream Media (MSM) praising the genius of their anointed leader. It appears the accredited ruling elite aren't much different from one socialist system to another.
#7
Hey RsJ did young-in really say Jong-un declared that Mohammad was "a clown, and a tremendous asshole."
I mean that would mean he's smarter thann all that have come before him wouldn't it?
Or are you just josh'n us??
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
10/21/2010 11:28 Comments ||
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#8
Hey RsJ did young-in really say
In ancient Aramaic, no less, which I suspect none of the Radio Free Asia reporters on the Korea beat would recognize, let alone understand. I think dear Johnnie ibn Ralph was indulging in a bit of creative sarcasm.
#5
Can't agree with you TW. SFOAMA is just more of the same "the ONE can persuade everyone to be nice" crap that we've heard all along, to whit...
Obama would be better off skipping symbolism and working to improve the effectiveness of Middle Eastern states in delivering services and expanding the participation of their citizens in public policy. The case of Egypt and its upcoming presidential election is a good place to start. The White House must try to ensure that the 2011 contest be fair and legitimate, for Egypt's sake and ours. But America's good work with grassroots activists needs to be complemented by a bolder public stance and even tough measures when governments fail to advance the most basic democratic reforms.
These are all dictaturships that don't give a crap about "their citizens". Why on earth would they listen to him?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
10/21/2010 14:09 Comments ||
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#6
Read the one about the green check. Sounds like a call to international carbon currency completely dependent upon Chinese conditions.
#8
The best advice I could give is: don't listen to any of these "experts". Of course, Obama won't, because he's smarter after all. He'll just do sh*t that's even more stupid.
Also encouraged attacks on "South Park" creators, solicited others plant dummy bombs to desensitize law enforcement, and took his infant son with him to the airport to distract those who might have noticed he was trying to get to Somalia.
One hopes the mother of the boy was the one who turned him in. One is not, however, sanguine about such people.
Zachary A. Chesser pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to providing material support to a terrorist organization, communicating threats and soliciting crimes of violence. He will be sentenced Feb. 25 and faces up to 30 years in prison.
President Obama will visit Pakistan next year as his administration attempts to shore up its relationship with a key ally in which recent polls found both he and the U.S. share abysmal approval ratings.
Mr. Obama dropped in on a meeting between top U.S. and Pakistani officials at the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Wednesday and sought to allay Pakistani concerns about his trip to India next month.
"The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011, as well as welcoming [Pakistani] President [Asif Ali] Zardari to Washington, the White House said in a statement.
Mr. Obama will be visiting Pakistan's arch rival and neighbor India between Nov. 6 and Nov. 9.
It seems that the whole socio/political culture is right up his alley. Corruption, cronyism, dictatorial powers, what's not to love for the Obamanation?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
10/21/2010 13:53 Comments ||
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#3
His first visit was in 1981 when US Citizens were prohibited from going there as I recall.
#4
Oh, for the love of Mike... are they *planning* on getting him killed? It'd be safer for him to take an announced open-air walk through a Baghdad souk!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/21/2010 14:12 Comments ||
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#5
He'll use his Indonesian passport like he did in '81.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/21/2010 14:41 Comments ||
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#6
Gotta get past the smoke and mirrors mythbuster first.
[Geo TV] A day after giggling, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist involved in the 26/11 attacks, on Tuesday threw a fit making angry gestures at coppers and spat on webcam during hearing in the Bombay High Court on confirmation of his death sentence.
Kasab, facing capital punishment for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, suddenly got angry with coppers at the Arthur Road jail and was seen on the video screen put up in the court arguing with them.
23-year-old Kasab could not, however, be heard at that stage as the audio system was not working. Towards the end of the first session, Kasab spat on the camera and said in an aggressive tone "Main aana chahata hoon (I want to come to the court)."
The division bench, comprising Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R V More, had left the court room by then for lunch.
Earlier, after the hearing began, Kasab urged the Judges to allow him to attend the court personally instead of appearing through video conference.
"Madam, main court mein aana chahata hoon" (Madam, I want to come to the Court), Kasab said after seeking permission to go to the washroom.
Justice Desai replied, "This is not the practice. We are not looking at evidence. We are only hearing arguments. Speak to your lawyer."
She told him that the bench would hear him later and asked him to leave for the washroom.
However, The infamous However... after some time Kasab grew restless and picked up an argument with coppers, which was not audible.
When hearing resumed, Kasab said, "Send me to the US. I want to see the outside world. Why have you put me here?"
The judges told Kasab to talk to his lawyer about his plea to go to the US.
Kasab was then seen walking away in a huff from the video conferencing, prompting the judges to remark there is no requirement in law that he should remain present in the court.
"Spitting is not expected and as Kasab has walked out on his own, the court cannot help it," the judges said after getting a complaint that he spat on the camera during lunch recess.
Kasab was seen smiling and yawning yesterday showing no signs of remorse when hearing on his death sentence commenced.
For security reasons, instead of being brought to the High Court for daily hearings, he is beamed in through video conference.
Kasab has been kept in a special bomb-proof and bullet-proof cell in the high security jail. He had applied, through his lawyers, to be physically present in the High Court but this was rejected by the court for security reasons.
On May 6, the trial court had awarded death sentence to Kasab. In accordance with law, death penalty was referred to the High Court for confirmation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain's former leader Pervez Musharraf said Tuesday that the United States may have been able to avoid its long hunt for Osama bin Laden if it had recognized Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
Musharraf, who is trying to stage a political comeback, supports talks with "moderate Taliban" to find a settlement in Afghanistan where US-led forces have been fighting for more than nine years.
Pakistain was the chief supporter of the Taliban regime, which imposed a rigid brand of Islam over most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Musharraf reversed course overnight following the September 11 attacks.
"The world did not recognize them and we were being reprimanded for doing that," Musharraf said at the Asia Society's Texas Center in Houston.
"I always proposed that we need to have a different strategy. We need to recognize the Taliban and try to change them from within," he said.
"Had we had 18 missions there, including the US mission, with the Taliban, I think we could have saved the Buddha statue and maybe we could have resolved this Osama bin Laden tangle. (It) may not have erupted, even," he said.
Months ahead of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban defied global pressure and demolished world-famous, 1,500-year-old statues of the Buddha, considering them idolatrous in violation of Islam.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai recently set up a peace council to open up dialogue with the Taliban and broker peace in Afghanistan, where more than 150,000 US and Nato troops are deployed.
Musharraf sounded a note of vindication, saying he was accused of "double-dealing" when he advocated negotiations with the Taliban after the regime was toppled.
"The difference between now and then is now we are trying to do this from a position of weakness," Musharraf said.
Pakistain has long faced US criticism for maintaining contact with Afghanistan's Taliban, in what US analysts believe is a strategy by Islamabad to ensure it maintains influence in its neighbor.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the only countries other than Pakistain that ever recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Yet another useful idiot telling the families of the people in those planes and towers than their deaths were OUR fault somehow.
#2
Pakistan not only recognized the Taliban they created and supported the Taliban. The question is did they create a monster they couldn't control, or did they maintain control and dodge US wraith after 9/11.
[Geo TV] The Shiv Sena A Hindoo nationalist political movement that presents a resistance using the same nasty tactics to aggressive Islamists and that's a pain in the underwear to other Indian political parties... wants the burqa to be banned saying it is being misused for stealing children from hospitals. It does make a pretty good disguise for anybody who has nefarious activities in mind...
"A two-month-old boy has been stolen from VN Desai hospital at Santacruz. It was found that a burqa-clad woman stole the baby," the editorial said, addressing its questions to home minister RR Patil. "The CCTV footage showed a person wearing white shoes but clad in a burqa. What is the use of such footage?"
The party has appealed to Mohammedan organisations to support the demand and prevent the misuse of the garment. "The burqa is being used to steal children. This is against Islam and Mohammedans should support the ban," the editorial said. It's also used to disguise hard boyz running around with guns and boom jackets...
Editorials are often seen as Sena chief, Bal Thackeray's, stand on various issues. The editorial called French President Nicolas Sarkozy a "revolutionary" for banning the burqa despite opposition. I dunno if I'd go so far as to use the word "revolutionary." Commonsensical, perhaps...
It also cited the example of Turkey where President Kemal Pasha banned the burqa after a man from the enemy camp attended a secret meeting wearing one.
Could the writer possibly mean Ataturk? His Christian name was Kemal...
"If a Mohammedan country and a Mohammedan leader could do it, without letting the issue of Islam come in, India should not fear," the editorial said.
It said the burqa poses a threat to hospitals and in election voting queues because there is no way of knowing who is behind the veil.
The Sena also said the garment represses Mohammedan women. "Is the Rs 65,000-crore being spent on upliftment of Mohammedan women, following the recommendations of the Sacchar committee, only to keep them inside a burqa?' the editorial asked.
Minister of state for medical education, Varsha Gaikwad, dismissed the Sena's demand. "Tut tut, my good man! And tut!"
"It is only a political stunt. The issue is very sensitive. I have asked hospitals and the police to keep vigil. Vigil for what?
"I will meet home minister RR Patil on Wednesday and we will look at how the issue can be resolved," Gaikwad said.
This article starring:
Bal Thackeray
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
white shoes after Labor Day? The horror!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2010 21:14 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said army was not being called in Karachi to restore law and order, and stressed that the politicianship was capable of addressing the issue.
Talking to media representatives, Prime Minister Gilani dismissed remarks by Pakistain People's Party leader Nabeel Gabol of calling the army to take control of the city. Gilani said that was Gabol's "personal view".
"It is not the point of the view of my party," Gilani said.
He said the army could be called in to assist the civilian government, but added that "the politicianship of the country was capable of containing the situation".
When asked whether he had any information that the unrest in the city was being manipulated by foreign hands, Gilani said he would respond once he received a detailed report from Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Condemning the killings in Karachi, Gilani said he had personally spoken to the stakeholders in Karachi and that efforts were underway to bring peace to the city.
To a question regarding the Supreme Court's decision on the 18th Amendment expected tomorrow, Gilani said he hoped for a positive verdict. He further said that the PPP held the court in high esteem.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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An aid flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists from around the world has docked at El-Arish port in Egypt.
Organizers of the flotilla said at first that they had planned for thousands of activists, but delays and Egypt's refusal to grant entry permits to some hopefuls, including British politician George Galloway, limited the count. Galloway had previously clashed with Egyptian forces during other flotillas he led and is currently persona non-grata in the country.
Judging by a referenced news article, it's a regular loony-fest of the usual suspects - with giant puppets even.
Enriched to 20%, strong enough for a medical research reactor, not near the 90% needed for a fission bomb. But this is twice as much as Iran claimed to have in June.
Turkey is sanguine. Prime Minister Erdogan aims to triple Turkish trade with Iran over the next five years, despite some hesitancy by Turkish banks unwilling to risk sanctions by the U.S. For perspective, currently Turkey trades as much with Iran as with the U.S. No doubt that trade will be aided by continued Turkish opposition to sanctions proposals at the U.N.
#1
ISRAELI MIL FORUM > [FrontPage Magz] WHEN MULLAHS PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR WAR: A TOP ADVISOR TO IRAN'S DM PUBLISHES A TROUBLING ARTICLE | THE NUCLEAR WAR THE MULLAHS WANT.
ARTIC = IRAN must prepare a NUCLEAR response Strategy agz ANY US or US-LED "UNCONVENTIONAL ATTACK", e.g. CYBERWAR [STuxNet]?, SPECOPS, etc. as SUBJECTIVELY/AMBIGUOUSLY DEFINED; IRAN NEEDS THE NATIONAL CAPACITY TO QUICKLY PRODUCE POTENT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, albeit not necessarily to use them.
Also, IRAN MUST BE ABLE TO REASONABLY OR RATIONALLY EXPLAIN HOW ITS SELF-PROCLAIMED "ENERGY-ONLY" NUCLEAR PROGRAMS WEIRDLY + MYSTERIOUSLY had Had HAD H-A-D HHHHAAAAADDDDDD, spelled H-A-T-T/Z-Z "HAD" D *** YOU, TO CONVERT INTO A NUCWEAPONS PROGRAM(S).
ARTIC AGAIN = And BTW, Iran SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH intended a NUCWEAPS Program all along???
VERSIES
* TOPIX > VARIOUS > IS NORTH KOREA PREPARING FOR A THIRD NUCLEAR TEST?; + [paraph]SOUTH KOREA DENIES NORTH KOREA PREPARING NEW NUCLEAR TEST DESPITE DETECTION/MOVEMENT OF PERSONNEL, VEHICLES AT TEST SITE.
#2
Trent Telenko's view is that Iran has had the opportunity to buy pre-enriched Uranium on the international black market, and therefore Iran is capable of building nuclear weapons. It is a mistake to view Iran's nuclear program in isolation; it must be considered alongside others, particularly North Korea's. He's been saying this for years now.
#5
Yeah, two thieves making a deal: Turkey and Iran. Good luck with the payments. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/21/2010 21:24 Comments ||
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#6
Silentbrick: I would not rule out accident in the case of a nuclear explosion at an Iranian installation. Will Iran pour massive resources into the design of Safing, Arming, Fuzing, and Firing mechanisms? Is the Iranian leadership's goal a warhead first and foremost, content to fill in details later?
The first nuclear power might have learned this lesson the hard way:
#7
Is the Iranian leadership's goal a warhead first and foremost, content to fill in details later?
Given that some of their objectives str 1) to become the superior-power in the Mid East, and 2) develop an insurance policy to cover their world-wide 'al quds' activities, I'd say that's highly likely.
[Al Arabiya] The United States and Israel early Tuesday said Iran is among the "greatest challenges" to stability in the Middle East and reaffirmed their commitment to preventing the country from developing nuclear weapons.
After talks in Washington, senior U.S. and Israeli officials said in a joint statement that Iran's nuclear program, along with its support of anti-Israel Islamic exemplar groups, are of "grave concern," and they pledged to keep Iran from acquiring atomic arms. The discussions were part of the semiannual U.S.-Israel Strategic Dialogue.
Israel views Iran as a looming threat and the U.S. has led international efforts to pressure Iranian authorities into coming clean on its nuclear program, which Western intelligence believes is a cover for atomic weapons development. Iran denies the charges but has defied international pressure and sanctions to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.
"While today's strategic dialogue covered many subjects, it is clear that Iran is among the greatest challenges we face today in the Middle East," said the statement, which was released by the State Department in the names of Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon.
"Iran's continued noncompliance with its international obligations related to its nuclear program, as well as its continued support for terrorist entities, are of grave concern to our two countries and the entire international community," they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought everybody in a Beltway agreed that "settlers" are a prime risk to Middle East?
[Al Jizz] Iran has confirmed that three US citizens accused of spying after being jugged'>jugged near the border with Iraq will face trial in November 6.
Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been held in a Tehran jail for more than a year, while the third American, Sarah Shourd, was released due to her ill health last month on $500,000 bail.
They are facing charges of espionage and entering the country illegally, but the three friends have repeatedly said they mistakenly crossing the border while hiking in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
"We will hand any evidence we have to the judiciary," Heidar Moslehi, the Iranian intelligence minister, said on Wednesday.
Masoud Shafii, the three Americans' lawyer, said he had informed their families of the trial date.
"The three are accused of espionage and illegally entering the country," he said, adding it was up to the family of Shourd, who returned to the United States on her release, to decide whether she should attend the trial or not.
"If she is not present, it will hurt her bail. I cannot request that she be present. It is up to them to decide. I as a lawyer have only informed them of the time of the trial and I will execute my duty to defend the three," he said.
After Shourd's release on bail, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, warned that if she did not appear in court, the surety would be "seized" and she would be tried in absentia.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, told news hound'>news hounds on Tuesday that she had heard Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would be tried early November, but she still hoped they would be released.
"We do not believe that there is any basis whatsoever for them to be put on trial and we regret that they and their families are being subjected to a criminal system that we do not think in any way reflects their actions," she said.
"So it's our continuing request to the Iranian government that, just as they released the young woman, that they release these two young men," Clinton said, adding "it's unfortunate" the pair had been held for more than a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So they are going to try a couple of granolas for something they obviously didn't do. Fine. It'll just swing public opinion against them for the day that we have a president with huevos that much more.
[An Nahar] The Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... bloc noted on Wednesday that U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon latest report on the implementation of resolution 1559 was "blatantly biased towards the Zionist enemy and its violations of international resolutions." We can take that to mean that the ephemeral Ban's statement didn't echo verbatim the Hizbullah position...
It accused in a statement after its weekly meeting headed by MP Mohammed Raad the United States of supporting division among the Lebanese "under the pretense of international justice." "After all, nobody in Leb really cares who bumped off poor old Hariri the Elder. That was a long time ago, and we were all so much younger then...
It called for taking "positive local and regional action in thwarting the tensions that are truly threatening Leb as a result of the resistance ... to whit, the Hezbullies...
being targeted through harsh and fabricated accusations." The bloc stressed the need for sides to assume their national responsibility against this "dangerous provocation."
The meeting also addressed Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's visit to Leb last week, saying that it confirmed Iran's official and popular support for Leb's right to security, independence, and confronting Israeli assaults.
The bloc also repeated its demand that the false witnesses file be referred to the justice council as that is the logical way to reach the truth in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and end tensions in Leb.
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10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... General Secretariat called on Wednesday Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah to lift bank secrecy off his accounts and those of his family. They could check through Hizbullah's files, too, to see where they keep the receipt from when they bought him...
It noted in a statement after its weekly meeting "Aoun's obvious confusion during Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's visit to Leb and his attempts today to ease this confusion through coming up with illusory battles under the pretext of reform."
It also stressed the need to address local matters with dialogue and calm, repeating its support for the Special Tribunal for Leb and Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar's efforts in tackling the false witnesses file.
It also condemned the way in which Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad was welcomed upon his arrival to Beirut's airport during his visit to the country last week, saying: "The Lebanese state was not allowed to welcome him in a proper official manner and the scenes at the airport and outside it differed from all other official welcomes in that it appeared as if the guest were greeting himself." After all, he did own the welcoming committee.
Furthermore, the general secretariat pointed out too the discrepancies in Ahmadinejad's speeches in that while he was at the presidential palace, he discussed respecting Leb's illusory sovereignty and then he contradicted these statements when he attended the popular gathering at Dahiyeh during which he said that the Islamic resistance in Leb would liberate Paleostine.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Hizbullah on Wednesday criticized U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, saying his report on Resolution 1559 was meddling in the political affairs of the Special Tribunal for Leb.
Ban's report "written by staff member of the Zionist entity, Terje Roed-Larsen, is interference in Lebanese internal affairs and political interference in the affairs of the International Tribunal," said a statement issued by Hizbullah. Ummm... What makes you say that?
The report by the U.N. Secretary-General said Leb has been hit by a new climate of "uncertainty" that could cause new instability across the region.
Ban said Hizbullah's arsenal "remains distinct from and may exceed the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces, adding that Hizbullah's military strength "creates an atmosphere of intimidation and poses a key challenge to the safety of Lebanese civilians and to the government's monopoly on the legitimate use of force." Anybody but Hezbollah and its sock puppets would call that a cool statement of fact. In the alternate reality of Hezbollah, however...
"It seems that Mr. the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon was in a deep sleep and he did not realize that Hizbullah, for a long time, has been at the heart of the Lebanese political equation through its presence in Parliament and in Government. "For this reason, (Ban) apparently is unaware of the right of all peoples, including the Lebanese people, to resist occupation. That statement says nothing about the fact that Hezbollah is an armed camp within the Lebanese state and outside the state's control.
"It seems that he did not have time to examine the ministerial statement which gives the right to Lebanese Resistance," said the statement. ... a statement made under intimidation...
Hizbullah said Ban also had "forgotten" the position announced by President Michel Suleiman when he addressed the U.N. Security Council last month in which he affirmed Leb's and Lebanese right to use all available means to liberate Lebanese territory and the right of self-defense."
This article starring:
Terje Roed-Larsen
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Jazeera] Afghan election authorities have 
North Korean authorities are hard at work drumming up an instant personality cult surrounding leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Kim Jong-un, Radio Free Asia reported last week. 
[Geo TV] The 
[An Nahar] The Loyalty to 
The 
Hizbullah on Wednesday criticized U.N. chief 
