[Tolo News] Some Afghan Senators said on Sunday that parliamentary elections were full of frauds and final results were annouced ahead of time
Hailing the recent action taken by Attorney General's Office, Afghan Senators urged the Office to continue its investigations over the frauds and violations in elections.
The senators said those involved in electoral fraud and violations should be brought to justice.
Votes of Afghan people were misused in the elections process and this will make people not to take part in the future elections.
"I want President Karzai and the related justice organisations to give back the trampled rights of oppressed Afghan people," said a member of Afghan Senate House, Mir Hamdullah Munib.
The Attorney General has sent a delegation to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to interrogate four employees of electoral commissions who were accused of organising frauds and violations in the elections.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the IEC said it will accept no pressure to bring changes in the final results of elections in Ghazni province.
Final results of parliamentary elections of Ghazni province was postponed, as IEC officials argued, because of some technical problems in elections system.
The IEC said there are some factions that want to sabotage elections by organising demonstrations.
"There are some hands involved in crucial cases of the country and unfortunately these hands are not short in elections and in a way they want to disrupt the process," said Head of IEC, Fazl Ahmad Manawi.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A report prepared by the US Department of State details drug trafficking and money laundering activities in Kenya. The report could have formed the basis for the banning of five Kenyans from visiting the United States.
The report seen by the Nation says Kenya is not only a significant transit country for cocaine, heroin and hashish, but also a money-laundering hub.
"Quantities of heroin and hashish transiting in Kenya, mostly from Southwest Asia bound for Europe and United States have markedly increased in recent years," the report adds.
The International Narcotics Strategy Report, that reviewed 2009 drug trafficking and money laundering in Kenya, blames lack of resources and rampant corruption for the two vices.
Kenya's financial system, the report adds, may be laundering more than Sh80 billion ($100 million) each year, including an undetermined amount of drug money and Somali piracy earnings. It indicates that money laundering continues unabated, despite Parliament passing the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Law, 2009, which was signed by President Kibaki on December 31, 2009.
However, The infamous However... the law has not come into force because the Ministry of Finance has not gazetted its commencement date although the Act indicates that such date shall not exceed six months after the date of assent.
The failure by the government to gazette the commencement date of the law comes at a time when there is a tug-of-war over the reopening of Charterhouse Bank, which was closed by the government following allegations of money-laundering.
US ambassador Michael Ranneberger has opposed reopening of the bank, saying that more than Sh60 billion was lost through financial malpractices.
On Wednesday, Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara tabled documents in Parliament, which detailed how a police officer who had uncovered the activities of narco mobs at the Coast was sacked from the force.
The report accused former anti-corruption boss Aaron Ringera, former Police boss Major-General (Rtd) Hussein Ali and the director of Police Training College Peter Kavila of frustrating investigations into the matter. Both have denied the accusations, with Mr Ringera threatening to sue the newspapers for defamation.
Parliament has put the Executive under pressure accusing it of not taking the war on narcotics seriously. MPs are now demanding that names of the senior government officers banned from travelling to the US be made public.
Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojodeh told Parliament on Thursday that he could not reveal the names because he was yet to receive the information from the US embassy. On Sunday, the envoy declined to comment on the matter. He said he would give an official statement on the matter this week.
Independent sources told the Nation that those affected are three MPs -- one each from Coast, Central and Eastern provinces. A Mombasa businessman with connections in high places has also been named together with a senior civil servant.
Anti-narcotics officials who spoke to the Nation on condition that they are not named said the businessman is on a list of international traffickers and has been spending millions daily in casinos in Mombasa and Nairobi. He claimed the man "gambles between Sh10 million and Sh30 million in a night in different casinos" in Mombasa and Nairobi. Great way to launder money ...
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11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A proud man, President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad must be smarting. That's because Iran has been losing face in West Africa. It's a lesson.
Two days after Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, a Mr Ahmadinajed bosom buddy, cut ties with Iran, a Nigerian court charged an Iranian with arms smuggling. Mr Jammeh added an insult.
He gave the Iranians 48 hours to get out. As communications go, entering and exiting Gambia isn't easy. Seven days earlier, Nigeria announced seizing 137.75 kilogrammes of heroin shipped from Iran.
Early this month, Nigeria told the UN Security Council that Iran had attempted to transit a consignment of arms through Lagos. That's a possible violation of the council's ban of Iran's arms trade.
Gambia gave no reasons for its action. All indications though are the deal involving the 13 shipping containers of weapons ostensibly destined to Gambia soured.
Incidentally, if black people blushed, Nigeria's officialdom would be red. The containers remained at Apapa port in Lagos for more than three months before officials confiscated them. Moreover, if the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is correct, foreign intelligence agencies tipped off the law abiding Nigerians.
The consignment included 107mm rockets designed to hit stationary targets. They have an 8.5-kilometre range and a 12-metre killing radius.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki flew to Lagos to clear a "misunderstanding," a diplomatic say-nothing.
Assuming Gambia ordered the weapons, whom does a country of 1.8 million plans to fight?
If a legal deal, why disguise the consignment as construction material?
Moreover, why did the Iranian consignee seek refuge in the Iranian embassy and an associate claim and get, through Mr Mottaki, diplomatic immunity?
A plausible explanation of the saga is the arms headed to re-exportation, with the Gambians, obviously, getting a cut. Iran can use the cash, needs friends, and supports proxies--allies, to be diplomatically correct.
Moreover, Iran's Revolutionary Guards--the Iranian the Nigerian court charged is reportedly a member--is in big businesses worldwide.
It's plausible Mr Jammeh abandoned Mr Ahmadinejad when things went awry. He has a history of U-turns.
Libyan leader Moummar Qadaffy can testify. Maybe, though unbelievable, Mr Jammeh took advice: We are too flimsy to face the storm. Anchor.
The heroin affair seems criminal, unless one takes the view that the Revolutionary Guards makes money by whichever means. In all fairness, Iran's effort in fighting the heroin problem is commendable.
However, The infamous However... in Tehran, getting infidels' money, a possible $9.9 million in this case, might qualify as war by peaceful means.
As all cases of illegal arms and drugs come and go, facts and intentions of the arms and the heroin haul, reportedly destined to Europe, remain murky.
One thing is clear, in quickening efforts to make friends, especially African; Iran might be taking too many things for granted.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Gambia juts like a finger into Senegal. It also isn't that far from Mali.
[Yemen Post] The U.S. embassy in Sana'a expressed astonishment and disappointment over the accusations by the Houthi Group that it, namely U.S. envoy Gerald Michael Feierstein, had been involved in the deadly blasts in Jawf and Saada last week.
The accusations were absolutely ridiculous and baseless, the embassy said in a blurb on its website. "The accusations were not honorable to the families which lost their relatives and friends in the two car-bomb attacks that killed almost 26 and injured other Shia people."
The U.S. embassy in Yemen strongly condemns such heinous attacks against innocent civilians on religious ceremonies, the statement said.
Last week, two bombings took place in northern Yemen with one targeting on Wednesday a convoy on its way to celebrate Eid Al-Ghadir in Jawf killing almost 24 and injuring several others. The other targeted on Friday Houthi followers traveling in Saada to show respect at a funeral killing two and injuring almost eight.
The Houthi Group accused the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services of orchestrating Wednesday's attack and said Feuerstein provided funds for sheikhs and tribal leaders on his visits to some areas including Amran to carry out Friday's attack.
Its information bureau said the attacks bore the hallmarks of the U.S. and that none could benefit from them but the U.S.
It also claimed the attacks were aimed at bringing about sectarian conflicts and disturbing the public security and eliminating lives, adding that the recently-appointed U.S. ambassador is implementing a U.S. plan similar to the one he carried out while in Pakistain.
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A senior Muslim cleric who is known as the "Taliban's ideological mentor" has been allowed to enter the UK and address the House of Lords.
Fazlur Rehman, the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, came to the UK on Wednesday, at the invitation of the High Commission of Pakistan, and was due to address the House of Lords on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the chairman of human rights group Ansar Burney Trust International and Pakistan's former federal minister for human rights, Ansar Burney, asked Home Secretary Theresa May to block Maulana Rehman's entry due to his "religious extremist ideological threat".
Mr Burney said Maulana Rehman's "unquestionable pro-Taliban ideologies and vowed support for the Taliban may potentially carry a great deal of threat to the British society."
Think tank International Crises Group has claimed Muslim seminaries run by his party are used as Taliban recruitment centres and identified Maulana Rehman as the Taliban's "ideological mentor".
He added that if Maulana Rehman is not banned, he will seek judicial review to challenge the permission.
Earlier this year, Ms May banned controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik from entering the UK on the basis that his presence was not conducive to the public good.
Background: According to Wikipedia, Rehman is presently leader of the opposition in Pakistan's Parliament and is rumoured to hold aspirations to be the prime minister of Pakistan one day.
And according to this article, Rehman's speech was an appeal to the international community "to pressurise India to withdraw forces from the Occupied Kashmir."
"It will be my endeavour to get India to agree to bring an end to the human right violations (there) and release all the prisoners," he said.
#1
What possible purpose would this serve except to convince an implaccable enemy of your waivering commitment to opposition, and to reinforce to domestic friend and foe alike the decline of your national will and culture at home?
#5
What is really going on? Is many many of Britain's men getting 'buggered' by Islamic dudes? Butt sex would explain Britain's weird bottom to Islam's top.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
11/29/2010 21:16 Comments ||
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Who will rid us of these meddlesome mullahs?
(And pay the price for doing so ...)
The King of Saudi Arabia privately urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons programme, according to diplomatic cables leaked by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.
The first tranche of more than 250,000 classified cables released by the WikiLeaks site says American officials were also told to spy on the United Nations' leadership and get biometric information on its secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
Outrageous! Diplomatic service staffers have never behaved so in the history of diplomacy! I say, fire them all, up to their commander in chief, that's the only way to fix the problem.
The cables detail claims of inappropriate behaviour by a member of the Royal family
Good lord -- that's never happened before, either!
and criticism of Britain's military operations in Afghanistan and David Cameron.
The cables include requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs. The communiques last night threatened a global diplomatic crisis and put America's relations with Europe and the Middle East under a cloud.
Gossipy comments about EU leaders at the link.
Boy, that Assange guy is really improving the world by his actions.
If we had a CIA worth anything he'd be caught in bed with both a dead girl and a live boy ...
A breakdown of the 250,000-plus trove of documents shows the Tokyo embassy sent the third largest number or cables of any diplomatic posting, after Ankara and Baghdad.
I wonder who the State Department trainees at the Tokyo embassy thought were poo-poo heads?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm guessing that last sentence should be highlighted. I wonder what color it will be. :-)
#2
The US should tell Sweden (or wherever the Wikileaks founder is a citizen) that they consider this espionage and will consider it an act of war if the spy is not turned over or arrested for the crimes.
Oh, and any Americans who handed over the data should be locked up for life for treason.
This stuff is serious and must end. Otherwise nobody will ever put anything in writing again for fear of it going public.
#3
Assange is an Australian citizen.
Problem is, you can only commit treason against your OWN country. That's why it will be hard to establish a legal case.
Newspapers publish leaked classified info as well. If you go after Assange you would now have to go against the editors of the NYT, Le Monde, El Pais, Der Spiegel and The Guardian. Zero chance.
It's not illegal to publish classified info of another nation. Imagine a Russian publishing secret documents of the KGB abroad. Nobody would extradite him to Russia.
The KGB (sorry FSB) would find "other" ways though.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 1:50 Comments ||
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#4
The US should tell Sweden (or wherever the Wikileaks founder is a citizen) that they consider this espionage and will consider it an act of war if the spy is not turned over or arrested for the crimes.
#5
There ARE a few questions about that leak and who may have facilitated it.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 2:40 Comments ||
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#6
"he US should tell Sweden (or wherever the Wikileaks founder is a citizen) that they consider this espionage and will consider it an act of war if the spy is not turned over or arrested for the crimes. "
Blaming Wikileaks is like blaming the TV set for the show that is on.
It isn't Wikileaks' fault, it is the fault of a damned traitor or traitors ( I believe there is more than one leak ) who gave away this nation's secret communications.
We should not give him a lethal injection, we should burn him alive at the 50 yard line of the next superbowl.
#7
And yet the US State Department needs to address the issue why it was so easy to copy all these documents.
What ever happened to "need to know"?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 4:41 Comments ||
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#8
this latest leak splurge doesn't seem to have hurt the US for all the hype about how potentially damaging it was going to be.
seems pretty tame really
And it clarifies a lot of things
Governments need scrutiny
For all the talk of how many people Wikileaks might "kill" by exposing them, let's not forget that Governments kill people too, especially with bad decisions.
Scrutiny and turning the light on focuses the mind wonderfully and sometimes brings solutions to problems.
Really do you think the world is better off not knowing that the Saudi King is begging for the US to go to war in Iran?
Or that North Korea has been shipping missiles to Iran through Beijing?
I am glad the public knows that now.
Or that the climate change science was all suspect? That was a wikileak leak as well, remember.
Those who call for Julian Assange to be killed scare me far more than al-Qaeda.
Truly those people are the enemy within, not wikileaks - because that is the enemy of freedom and of keeping the public informed.
Our own governments are the biggest threat to our citizens, in terms of invasion of privacy, taking away freedoms or making bad decisions.
I still believe that for all the problems Wikileaks on balance has been more a force for good than ill.
Those who say they want Assange wiped off the earth or desigated a Terrorist - what do they stand to lose? it is the entrenched elites of the polity who just want to make all the decisions and keep us in the dark, drip fed a variety of censored news by "favoured" reporters.
I don't want to end up with the freedom quotient of North Korea or Russia or CHina
i want the West to respect the public's right to know and to protect whistleblowers even when it makes life uncomfortable!!
#9
John Kornblum, ex US-ambassador to Germany, said in a German talk show yesterday that 2.5 million people in the U.S. had access to those files.
Are you kidding me? 2.5 million?
You really think the Russian and Chinese do not know about them?
You really need to clean house. If a German diplomat knows that when talking confidentially to a US diplomat, everything he says ends up in a database accessible to millions of people, he would REALLY weigh his words.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 5:54 Comments ||
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#10
250,000 documents and this is the juiciest among them? It's more like the National Enquirer than National Security. While I generally agree with anon1, the real damage this does is discourage future sources from disclosing information for fear they will be revealed. So this needs to stop. Asange needs to die. Soon.
No. Sorry. If he broke laws, prosecute him.
And he's not Wikileaks. He's just a prominent figure.
And Wikileaks is not the only way to publish stolen documents. Ask the music and movie industry.
First, get your house in order.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 7:03 Comments ||
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#12
Whoever would glorify wikileaks and Assange is either woefully ignorant of the importance of INFOSEC (as anon 1, civilian, can say from the comfort of a chair or couch)...
Or not ignorant but thinks not having any INFOSEC is worthwhile. Either way, you're on the wrong side of history. Smack yourself. Assange and wikileaks are going to get their comeuppance, too.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
11/29/2010 7:16 Comments ||
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#13
Some have made the interesting observation that so very many of these leaks really haven't shown much of any perfidy by the US, but all sorts of scummy behavior by the leaders of other countries, who are utterly two faced and forked tongued.
As such, the leak does much to "clear the air", by sweeping away many of the facades. This can make diplomacy much easier, as so much effort is put into keeping up appearances that substance is lost.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 8:29 Comments ||
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#19
This is another disaster for which the State Department is significantly (probably mostly) responsible.
and yet, I don't hear the name HILLARY CLINTON mentioned as having any responsibility for this.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/29/2010 8:34 Comments ||
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#20
Actually it's the responsibility of those who created that database.
Manning was not a member of the State Department but he had access like so many others.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 8:43 Comments ||
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#21
Obama should hire Sandy Berger to investigate the leaks.
How could anyone smuggle 250,00 documents out of their pants? I think someone did it electronically.
On a more serious note:
Why doesn't Saudi Arabia knock out Iran on their own? It would raise their level of commitment to the cause. 'Allah' knows they have enough of our planes to do it.
#23
BTW, I did just a little bit of fact checking this morning. Wikileaks was not involved in the climategate emails. They were sent directly from email anonymizers to interested parties (such as Watts Up With That).
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/29/2010 9:47 Comments ||
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#25
The 'how' is quite well established. A young US soldier who wanted to create worldwide anarchy (his words) was allowed to write them to CDs due to poor security practices. He then uploaded them to the Wikileaks servers.
I tend toward libertarian views. But those who celebrate the publication of these cables need to think long and hard about just what anarchy would bring. It will not be the rich and elite who suffer as a result of the breakdown of order. Tyranical governments are a threat. The lack of any order and security is also a threat, a fact that many in our comfortable modern countries have forgotten.
#26
Someone who leaks "sensitive" info available to 2.5 million people is not the first guy you should go to. Certainly not menacing to kill him.
You're just hyping his ego.
Also, this affair is handled extremely unprofessionally by HRC.
She should not warn and warn and run around like a scared apologizing chicken.
She should have hold a press conference and mention with a winning smile:
"Oh, btw, next week, some gossip from the basements of our embassies on Wikileak. Enjoy but don't get too bored. Now to some important issue... Christmas is upon us..."
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 10:00 Comments ||
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#27
Assange is being investigated by the Australian Govt. Doubt if much will come of it, though.
WIKILEAKS' mastermind, Australian Julian Assange, is being investigated for breaching national security and could be thrown in jail if he ever returns to Australia.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said yesterday the Australian Federal Police is examining whether revealing 250,000 confidential diplomatic cables could be criminal.
The Government's anger at Assange followed the release on the whistleblower website of secret cables between US diplomats and their allies in Canberra, which revealed that Australians who have "disappeared" in the Middle East have been identified by US authorities and branded as potential terrorists.
Assange was still drip-feeding the classified documents out via his website last night, with the contents of 933 cables from the US embassy in Canberra, 75 from the Melbourne consulate, 12 from the Sydney consulate and 11 from Perth still to be revealed.
#29
"Oh, btw, next week, some gossip from the basements of our embassies on Wikileak. Enjoy but don't get too bored. Now to some important issue... Christmas is upon us..."
Indeed, European Conservative, that is what a clever politician or clever diplomat would do, instead of publicly pleading with a man who gleefully turned down similar requests in the recent past. But then, Secretary of State Clinton was qualified for her job by having been a successful politician's wife and an unsuccessful presidential candidate, not by any actual achievement of her own -- typical of those with whom our president has surrounded himself.
#31
Thanks, lotp. I have heard a lot about the content, but little about how it was gotten in the first place. How did Manning have access to State Dept. material? I find it hard to believe that 2.5 M people had access to it. If that's true, any foreign intelligence agency worth it's salt would already have it.
On a related note, I was at a meeting with someone from the US Army Corps of Engineers. They are prohibited from using USB stick drives for security reasons. However, USB portable hard drives are OK. Go figure.
"The documents were apparently taken off an official American internet network, to which 2,5 million persons are said to have access. Ironically, this system was set up after 9/11 to improve international cooperation by ensuring that all relevant information on terrorism would be widely available. But no security system on earth can guarantee safety on a network which offers so many people access to such highly sensitive information. In the highly charged political atmosphere of today's United States, the temptation to make a political point by stealing sensitive information is great."
#37
Ranking head of the Homeland Security Committee just said on FoxNews "Wikileaks should be declared a Foreign Terrorist Org".
That allows anti-terrorism laws and rules to be used against Wikileaks and Assange.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/29/2010 12:50 Comments ||
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#38
"The bigger threat, per the Department of Homeland Security, music downloads, has been contained. /s"
Maybe that's the way to go? Copyright infringement? Why is this site still up?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 13:03 Comments ||
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#39
I haven't heard anything on how these were leaked. Disgruntled employee?
Supposedly this Manning character was upset after a fight with his boyfriend.
After seeing the supposed 'worst' of these cables I have to say it looks to me like somebody purposely SET THESE UP to be leaked - somebody who thinks the world's diplomats are a bunch of (NSFW) and wanted to embarass them all. Can't say as how I disagree with that perspective.
#40
Judging only by a quick glance at the headlines, it doesn't look like much of anything has been revealed that we couldn't/haven't have guessed already. Can't see why everybody's getting their panties in a bunch. The only thing that's really shocking is that such a low level operative got his hands on all this data. He should be in jail, of course, but what about his superiors who implemented the lax security policies that let him walk out of the office with CDs and flash drives full of secrets?
#41
I have a hardened flash drive I wear on a ball chain around my neck, use it to carry medical & identifying information. It's about the size of my thumbnail although it's a bit thicker. Most people wouldn't recognize it as such unless they looked really close.
#44
Sorry, I see the publication of these documents as an act of war intended to harm the US. The previous leaks revealed little and had little effect. This leak reveals little but will have great effect. Manning should be tried for treason and dealt with appropriately. Asange should become a career enhancer for someone at the CIA. Pour l'encouragement autres. If we don't establish that this won't be tolerated, it will be repeated far more frequently.
#48
None of you could have guessed that the Soddies want us to take out the Mad Mullahs for them? You don't think NutJob had that figured out already? These people have been mortal enemies for centuries.
#49
I say again: It is not a revelation that Saudi Arabia is two faced. Actually, none of it is surprising. Except now, diplomacy is set up to fail. Yay, good job wikifreaks and traitor private first class Manning.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
11/29/2010 17:51 Comments ||
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#50
Manning's been in solitary for the last seven months.
As it should be. But if he was able to walk out of his office with a CD then whoever implemented that office's security policy was practically begging him to do it.
#51
And wouldn't it seem that Manning's superiors have some punishment due?
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
11/29/2010 18:39 Comments ||
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#52
NPR today said the punishment for the leaks will be that nobody will tell us things in confidence anymore. They weren't talking so much about spies and informants as about governments and heads of state. Not getting spy information is an invisible cost. When the president of France or the prime minister of Britain won't say anything after the television cameras are turned off, that is a very visible cost.
A cost Mr. Assange was pleased as punch to arrange. He announced two releases back that these leaks were his punishment of the U.S. and its supporters in the War on Terror.
#54
Forbes today had a prediction from Wikileaks: In an exclusive interview earlier this month, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Forbes that his whistleblower site will release tens of thousands of documents from a major U.S. financial firm in early 2011. Assange wouldnt say exactly what date, what bank, or what documents, but he compared the coming release to the emails that emerged in the Enron trial, a comprehensive look at a corporations bad behavior.
It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume, he told me.
I doubt it. Banks' bad behavior is rather generally known already, and whatever investigations & reforms that have happened, don't amount to much. The US Dept. of Justice and the states' Attorneys General continue to sleep like Chthulu.
#55
Collateral deaths aside, it will be interesting to see how the world works if this avenue of communication suddenly disappears. It might force folks to be more practical and communicative instead of dancing around in the shadows. It might be that folks will stop playing head games with the US, and that our politicians will grow up and start doing more practical things.
Julian Assange told Forbes that his whistleblower site will release tens of thousands of documents from a major U.S. financial firm in early 2011
I'm fine with that. Everyone knows their ranks should have been decimated, along with a bunch of corrupt politicians for enabling the situation.
Outgoing Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Monday that fighter jets and warships of South Korean and U.S. forces will immediately strike North Korean targets should the North launch an attack on the South's soil again.
Kim's remarks at a parliamentary session came as the allies were conducting high-profile naval and air strike drills in waters off Taean, about 170 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on the second day of a four-day joint exercise.
"Once the rules of engagement are revised, the Navy and Air Force will be allowed to conduct strikes (on North Korean targets)," Kim said at the National Assembly's Budget and Account Committee meeting.
"We had viewed the North's landing operations as the most serious threat to the islands near the sea border," Kim said. "This was the first time that the North had attacked with its artillery, and I admit that we were unprepared for such a provocation."
"As we suffered a surprise attack, we'll come up with firm defense measures and will not allow any more provocations by the North," said the outgoing defense minister who will be replaced by Kim Kwan-jin, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The defense minister-nominee is to undergo a parliamentary hearing in the coming weeks.
The joint exercise by the South Korean and U.S. militaries moved into full swing with a focus on U.S. fighter jets' air-to-air combat, and air-to-ground precision-guided strikes against simulated North Korean aircraft and artillery sites near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the volatile sea border between the two Koreas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
F-18 Hornet aircraft from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington conducted live-ammunition surgical strike exercises with allied warships, including South Korea's Sejong the Great Aegis destroyer, a JCS official said.
"During an air defense simulation drill, our fighter aircraft defeated enemy aircraft infiltrating our territory and subsequently conducted precision strikes on ground targets in the North," the official said. "Enemy aircraft were also intercepted by our advanced ship-to-air missiles."
Approximately 80 U.S. aircraft participated in the exercises. They included F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, F/A-18A/C Hornet fighters, E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft, EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft and SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.
The U.S. Air Force was flying a JSTARS surveillance aircraft to track littoral targets in North Korea, according to the JCS and Combined Forces Command.
U.S. navy ships taking part in the exercise include the guided-missile cruiser Cowpens and the guided-missile destroyers Stethem, Fitzgerald and Lassen.
The South Korean Navy deployed the 7,600-ton KDX-III Sejong the Great whose SPY-1D radar can track about 1,000 aircraft within a 500-kilometer radius simultaneously, 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers, frigates and support ships, as well as P3-C maritime patrol aircraft and anti-submarine Lynx helicopters.
The Air Force dispatched F-15K and KF-16 aircraft for the exercise.
[Chosun Ilbo] The government on Thursday announced a first set of responses to Tuesday's North Korean artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island.
The main focus is the five islands in the West Sea close to the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border. "This type of provocation [by North Korea] can happen again at any time. We must strengthen our alert, especially in the West Sea area," President Lee Myung-bak said in an emergency meeting with top security and economic officials. "Vulnerable areas like the five West Sea islands must be thoroughly prepared with the latest equipment to counter localized provocations and asymmetric warfare threats."
The government decided to overhaul its military rules of engagement, which had been designed to prevent an escalation in fighting, to focus on repulsing attacks. Cheong Wa Dae front man Hong Sang-pyo told news hounds, "We will amend the rules of engagement to shift the parameters in dealing with North Korea's provocations."
South Korea will also drastically bolster ground forces and will put the priority on reflecting these steps in next year's budget. A plan by the previous administration to cut the number of marines on the five islands has been scrapped and troops and equipment will be increased.
Lee and his ministers stressed the need to avoid further civilian casualties like those in Tuesday's attack. Seoul cannot expect North Korea to abide by international rules that make it imperative to avoid civilian casualties, so the rules of engagement will be changed to differentiate between responses to attacks on military and civilian targets. The existing rules of engagement deal only with combat between troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Since NORTH KOREA had said it already views the 1953 ARMISTICE as NON-EXISTING = "TREATISE/DIPLOM NON-GRATA", this decision by Seoul means that the NEXT MAJOR WAR ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA WILL MEAN TOTAL "VICORY-OR-DEATH" BY ONE AGZ THE OTHER.
Hence cometh....
To wit,
* WMF > CHINA SCHOLARS: NEW KOREAN WAR WILL BE TOTAL + NUCLEAR. COLD WAR PREMISES OF DPRK-ROK CONFLICT HAVE CHANGED IN DETRIMENT TO CHINA'S INTERESTS. CPLA SHOULD BUILD A 30-KM WIDE BUFFER ON THE SINO-DPRK BORDERS [YALU RIVER] TO HANDLE REFUGEES IN CASE OF SUDDEN NORTH KOREAN NATIONAL COLLAPSE [poor economy].
* OTOH SAME > US EXPERTS: NATO-RUSSIAN BILATERAL COOPERATION IN PROPOSED MISSLE DEFENSE SHIELD POSES A DIRECT THREAT TO CHINA.
Pragmatically, "THREAT TO CHINA" = is because it will induce BOTH NUC-HAPPY ISLAMIST IRAN + MILITANT GROUPS TO REDIRECT THEIR JIHAD + MIL ARSENALS TOWARDS CHINA.
North Korea has threatened to respond "mercilessly" to South Korean-U.S. military exercise that began Sunday. In time with the start of the joint exercise, the North Korean military fired about 30 artillery shells from the Kaemori region north of Yeonpyeong Island into the West Sea as part of a military drill of its own. It also moved some of its 122 mm multiple rocket launchers and opened more camouflaged artillery gates to coastal positions.
The North moved SA-2 surface-to-air missiles with a range of about 30 km to the coast and placed surface-to-ship missiles with ranges between 83 and 100 km on launch pads on the western coast. Mig-23 fighters are on standby at Hwangju Air Base.
The Eighth Navy Combat Fleet in the West Sea and South Hwanghae Province are in a virtual state of war.
The official Rodong Sinmun daily threatened "a merciless military counterattack against any intrusion into our territorial waters." It repeated the claim that the attack on Yeonpyeong Island last week was an exercise in self-defense.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The political wing of the armed Basque separatist group ETA has announced its plans for forming a new party that opposes violence and advocates democratic measures.
The Batasuna association, which was banned in 2003 by Spain after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA , announced on Saturday that the "new project" will abide by a law that bans groups that "politically support violence and activities of terrorist groups."
The new group "will reject the use of violence or the threat of its use to reach political objectives," said a text read out by the front man of the activists Rufi Etxeberria for news hounds in the northern city of Pamplona.
"The commitment of this new project to exclusively political and democratic channels should be firm and unequivocal, and not subject to variable tactics or fluctuating factors," the text added.
According to sources close to Batasuna, the group hopes that ETA will declare a permanent and verifiable ceasefire by the end of 2010.
Last month, Spanish media reported that Batasuna would introduce itself on December 10 and hoped to run in municipal elections in May 2011.
Top interior official for the autonomous Basque region, Rodolfo Ares, has expressed skepticism over Batasuna's intentions.
Ares says Batasuna should have either convinced ETA to lay down its arms or separated itself from the group, if it wanted to become legal in the first place.
In September, the ETA separatist group issued two declarations calling for an end to violence and an international mediation, both of which have been dismissed by the Spanish government as insufficient.
The group has been blamed for more than 820 deaths during a four-decade campaign for an independent Basque state in northeastern Spain and southwestern France.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
forming a new party that opposes violence and advocates democratic measures.
As long as they win, of course. If they don't back to terror.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/29/2010 1:07 Comments ||
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#4
I've got Basque lineage in my family, and the general consensus among those that emigrated and are still alive is that "those people are crazy intense"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2010 19:20 Comments ||
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#5
"Oh dear. We renounce all use of violence such as you've driven our poor brothers to with your oppression."
[Iran Press TV] A US political analyst says the government of Barack B.O. Obama should put an end to wars and its aggressive policies and instead think of the millions of Americans unemployed.
"Barack Obama should not forget his promises to the American people because the Americans elected him for his promises," IRNA quoted Terrance Cunningham as saying on Sunday.
"Obama promised that he will return American soldiers to their homeland, create jobs and change the health and treatment system but he did not fulfill his promises," he added.
He said many people thought that Obama and the Democrats oppose former president George W. Bush and their appointment would lead to the end of wars, adding, "But they have not done this yet."
The political activist went on to say, "It seems that the change of president has not changed policies and war is still going on."
Cunningham noted that the United States in reality has a one-party system, saying, "This system has been established to serve interests of big firms, the army and capitalists while the cost is paid by the people."
"The US has enough internal problems. An American laborer or employee, who has not lost his job yet, is currently working while earning salary equal to a slave," he pointed out.
The American analyst reiterated that the current situation in the United States does not greatly differ from the times of slavery in the South.
He pointed to the allocation of thousands of billions of dollars to save banks and insurance companies from bankruptcy and said, "Millions of American people are living in poverty but the banks of Wall Street are escaping from bankruptcy by taxpayer money in the hands of the government."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The political activist went on to say, "It seems that the change of president has not changed policies and war is still going on."
#2
This made the front page at Open Salon this morning. Lots of luvvies moaning about it, and the tragedy of our lovely, lovely diversity. Not much sympathy in the comments to the original linked story, though.
#4
initial report says there was a lot of damage which would seem to argue against a false flag operation unless they recently changed insurance policies or recently moved books out of the damaged area
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/29/2010 19:57 Comments ||
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#6
This kind of vandalism is counter-productive. It extends the meme that Muslims are Victims.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/29/2010 20:34 Comments ||
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#7
Total incineration or nothing at all.
Keep it Real.
Posted by: pan ||
11/29/2010 21:44 Comments ||
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#8
Was walking into a high rise office building in Dallas this afternoon followed by a Muslim and his two head covered 6 and 8 year old daughters who happened to be coming up to the building at the same time as I was.
Upon entry into the lobby, an elderly building maintenance man greated us and we all said "Hello" in return. As I waited at the elevator the Muslim family continued through the lobby and the maintenance man kindly asked them, "How was your Thanksgiving?". The Muslim father was stunned and fired back, "I was in New York City."
I entered the elevator thinking that once not too many years ago in America that would have been a nice thing to say to anyone...
I am very pleased that there are those who still think that way today, while there is but a little more time left to do so.
Long, superb piece from WaPo (really) on the management of severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The writers discuss the problems the military medical units have had and how those problems were solved. It's an inspiring piece if you're medically oriented, or even if not when you realize what dedicated people we have, both medical and soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We ought to have a separate category for "American Ingenuity and Know-How" or maybe "American Valor". Both of which are exceedingly relevant to the WOT.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/29/2010 14:22 Comments ||
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Karachi is the pulsating heart of Pakistan, but the city of 18 million is descending into a maelstrom of violence. While NATO uses the port to support its war in Afghanistan, international jihadism has established strongholds in the metropolis's slums and suburbs.
The circle had to be closed with blood, in order to wipe out the disgrace of the previous day. That's the way of life here — the way of life in Karachi.
The six men were heavily armed, and yet they still managed to get through all the checkpoints and reach Club Road in the red zone, a highly secured district in the heart of the city. The head of the provincial government has his official residence here, not far from the American consulate, two luxury hotels and the police headquarters, where the office of the young inspector Omar Shahid is located. As the head of the anti-extremism unit, Shahid was at the top of the attackers' hit list.
The terrorists started shooting at the entrance to the police station. For 10 minutes, they fired at the guards, who returned their fire, until a vehicle packed with 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs.) of explosives rammed the gate of the police station. The massive explosion destroyed the three-story building occupied by the counterterrorism division and set off a firestorm.
At least 20 people, including the suicide attackers, died on the evening of Nov. 11. Some 120 police officers, residents and passersby lay bleeding under the wreckage, as well as an unknown number of members of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had already been in custody at the police station.
It was a retaliatory attack committed by al-Qaida's foot soldiers. On the previous day, a counterterrorism unit had arrested half a dozen of their fellow terrorists.
[Pak Daily Times] King Abdullah of Soddy Arabia called President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... the greatest obstacle to Pakistain's progress, according to a cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables released to The New York Times and other organisations on Sunday.
The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, which intends to make the archive public on its website in batches.
The cables disclosed frank comments behind closed doors. Dispatches from early this year, for instance, quote the aging monarch of Soddy Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistain.
Speaking to an Iraqi official about Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, King Abdullah said, "You and Iraq are in my heart, but that man is not." The king called Zardari the greatest obstacle to that country's progress. "When the head is rotten," he said, "it affects the whole body."
Also, it said that since 2007, the US has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pak research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device. In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W Patterson reported that Pakistain was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pak official said, "if the local media got word of the fuel removal, 'they certainly would portray it as the US taking Pakistain's nuclear weapons'," he argued.
The leaks depict the B.O. regime struggling to sort out which Paks are trustworthy partners against al Qaeda, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.
Also, the cables reveal that Frances Fragos Townsend, the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (AFHSC), met Mossad Director Meir Dagan on July 12 for a general discussion on regional security threats. Dagan and Townsend surveyed political developments in North Africa, Turkey and the Gulf, and shared concerns about 's ability to withstand the challenge of hard boy radicals.
Townsend and Dagan then embarked on an informal tour of the region, comparing notes on countries critical to combatting terrorism. Dagan characterised a Pakistain ruled by radical beturbanned goons with a nuclear arsenal at their disposal as his biggest nightmare. Al Qaeda and other "Global Jihad" groups could not be relied upon to behave rationally once in possession of nuclear weapons, said Dagan, as they do not care about the well being of states or their image in the media. "We have to keep (President Pervez) Musharraf in power," said Dagan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
You know Pakistan is bad when Mossad see them as a bigger threat than Iran!
The King wants the Punjabi leadership/Govt in power as they are more Islamist than Zardari.
#2
This man has a big say in Pakistan alongside Hamid Gul http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2694.htm
Posted by: Paul D ||
11/29/2010 14:44 Comments ||
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#3
The head of Mossad has been wandering freely through Pakistan, all unnoticed, collecting who-knows-what Pakistani secrets? How amusing, although perhaps not for the amateur and professional paranoids of Pakistan.
How long until they realize they'd been infested by their very own Stuxnet computer virus, d'you suppose?
[Iran Press TV] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has condemned any direct negotiations between the Paleostinian Authority (PA) and Israel, saying the talks will not bring Paleostinians peace but humiliation.
In a presser in the Syrian capital on Saturday, Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal said the US-sponsored talks would lead to a sell-off of Paleostinian rights, Rooters reported.
Meshaal pointed to the huge challenges the resistance is facing, especially in the West Bank, which is controlled by the rival Fatah party, and described the resistance to Israeli occupation as the only way to keep the Paleostinian cause alive.
"Our inalienable rights are threatened with extinction if the scene in the West Bank does not change by launching the resistance against the Israeli occupation and the settlements," he told news hounds in Damascus.
He also insisted that the Paleostinian people would never relinquish their legitimate right to their land.
"The Paleostinian people will not be bribed. They will not be cowed by Dayton's forces," he said, in a reference to PA forces trained by US Lieutenant General Keith Dayton.
"We are not talking about a business deal or making a profit. Our only capital is the land, identity and dignity," Meshaal stated.
"When there is such an imbalance of power, negotiations become a process of daily humiliation," he noted.
Hamas says all the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War must be returned and all Paleostinian refugees must be granted the right to return to their homeland.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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U.S. diplomatic cables released by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks include remarks from an Iran source in 2009 saying Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has terminal cancer.
The document, written by a U.S. diplomat, says that Rafsanjani, a critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has expressed sympathies with Iran's reformist movement, decided on learning of Khamenei's illness to start preparing himself to be a successor.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said an indictment by the Special Tribunal for Leb will not undermine Hizbullah's morale, warning that the STL could be a cover for a new Israeli war.
"The Special Tribunal for Leb could be a cover for a new Israeli war," Nasrallah said in a televised speech during graduation ceremony paying tribute to Hizbullah students.
Nasrallah said that in Israel, "they have begun to celebrate the fact that the indictment" will implicate Hizbullah.
He called on the Lebanese to unite and "protect the country" ahead of indictment.
"What we fear, in light of the Israeli-American plot, is that if we wait until the indictment is issued to begin to close ranks and unite... it will be too late," Nasrallah cautioned.
He hailed Hizbullah, the Lebanese army and the telecoms regulating body for uncovering Israel's "invasion" of the telecommunications sector.
"The telecommunications sector, which is a very important sector, has been invaded and dominated by Israel. The violation poses a high risk" to Leb, Nasrallah said.
Before moving to the telecoms issue, Nasrallah praised graduates for achieving academic success "during difficult times.".
"The Israeli enemy is locked in a conflict with the brains of Leb. The Resistance is the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... of big minds, big hearts."
Nasrallah stressed that the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... will "triumph in the face of any coming confrontation on Leb."
"The important issue here is to have -- as a people and a nation -- confidence in ourselves, in our men and women, sons and daughters.
Turning to the telecoms issue, Nasrallah said "efforts of experts and specialists in the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... , the Lebanese army and the telecoms regulating body for uncovering Israeli violations of the telecommunications network are considered a breakthrough both at the scientific and technical levels."
He criticized the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... coalition for not coming out into the public and condemn Israel's violation of the telecoms sector.
"Doesn't this issue necessitate national denunciation?" Nasrallah asked.
Back to the STL, Nasrallah believed that all past experience "shows that there is a court which adjusts its rules and procedures in a manner that facilitates the issuance of a political indictment in advance."
"We are facing a delicate issue and a delicate indictment."
Nasrallah said that Hizbullah has asked international experts about recent STL amendments.
"Are there precedents for trials in absentia in international courts? Did the International Tribunal set a precedent regarding keeping silent about a witness?" he said.
Nasrallah slammed the STL for not considering Israel as a suspect in the 2005 liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"Did this probe ... ever investigated Israel? Are we convinced that this indictment is a threat to Leb? Some see in this decision a step to eliminate the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch....
Nasrallah had high hopes for the Syrian-Saudi mediation which he hoped would "reach positive results."
He believed, however, that there were two visions for a solution in this regard -- one that believes in a Lebanese solution under a Syrian-Saudi initiative, and another that favors a settlement after an indictment had been issued.
Nasrallah said sarcastically that the indictment is already "found" in the Der Spiegel report and in another released recently by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in which it said that U.N. Sherlocks had evidence that "points overwhelmingly" to the involvement of Hizbullah members in the murder.
"We saw how Bellemare was bewildered by the CBC report. Take a look at these reports to see if there is sufficient evidence to issue an indictment?" Nasrallah said.
On the border village of Ghajar, Nasrallah thought that the Israeli-occupied town should return to the illusory sovereignty of Leb.
"The (Lebanese) State would then decide if the Lebanese army will deploy, since UNIFIL is not a substitute for the army. It is a supporting force.
"Gone is the time when you were able to threaten us and undermine our presence and our dignity," he warned Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... who's been on every side in Leb at least four times... said Sunday that some foreign powers were most probably using the international tribunal's upcoming indictment to ignite strife in Leb.
At a ceremony held by the Scout Association of the PSP on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of its foundation, Jumblat said that friends in Soddy Arabia, Syria and anywhere else should "ward off" strife and know the truth behind ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's liquidation.
The Druze leader also said a new tripartite or quadripartite alliance has emerged in 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says Washington has long been considering military options against Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
In an interview aired on Sunday on CNN, Mullen again accused Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons and said he does not believe "for one second that Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful."
"Iran is still very much on a path to be able to develop nuclear weapons," he added.
"We've actually been thinking about military options for a significant period of time. And I've spoken with many others, that we've had options on the table... And we will continue to do that in the future," the official said.
Earlier in November, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO... also urged Washington to launch a military attack on Iran.
Mullen's remarks come as US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has earlier this month rejected the idea of any future military action against Iran, saying no strike can stop Tehran's nuclear program and diplomacy is the best way to resolve Iran's nuclear issue.
Mullen made the remarks following Iran's announcement that the Bushehr nuclear power plant in south of the country has started to generate electricity.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Saturday that the fueling of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is complete and expressed hope that the plant would hook up with the national grid in one or two months.
Amid a standoff over Iran's nuclear program, both Tel Aviv and Washington have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the possibility of military attack on the Islamic Theocratic Republic, based on the unfounded but constantly repeated allegation that Tehran's nuclear program may consist of a covert military agenda.
While the US possesses and has used nuclear weapons in the past, Washington, in a politically-motivated move, is imposing unilateral sanctions against Iran, which does not possess nuclear weapons nor does it seek to develop such weapons.
The UN Security Council imposed a US-engineered sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9 over its nuclear program, and the United States and the European Union have imposed additional sanctions of their own.
Tehran has repeatedly declared that it will not give up the legitimate nuclear rights of the Medes and the Persians under Western pressure and threats.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and thus has the right to enrich uranium to produce fuel.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Besides Iran's NORK-derived LR Missles potens threatening both BERLIN + MOSCOW, as per WIKILEAKS.....
* FREEREPUBLIC > US EMBASSY CABLES: SAUDI OFFICIAL WARNS GULF STATES MAY GO NUCLEAR.
Read, NUCWEAPS. Good for protection agz IRAN, BUT ALOS USEFUL AGZ SSSSSSSSHHHHH SAUDI ARABIA.
IOW, GULF-STATES = SAUDI ARABIA'S "KURILS" VEE JAPAN-VS-RUSSIA.
Lest we fergit, RUSS MILBASE(S) IN FORMER JAPANESE KURILS = KEEPS JAPAN OUT WHILE SIMIL SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH BLOCKING SCO-CSTO ALLY + STRATEGIC PARTNER "RISING CHINA" FROM NORPAC + ARCTIC ROUTES + espec RUSSIAN FAR EAST.
D **** NGED AMISH POLAR BEARS!
* TOPIX > WIKILEAKS: IRAN SMUGGLED CHEMICAL WARFARE SPECIALISTS, WEAPONS INTO IRAQ.
#2
If the Iranians launched a nuclear missile that detonated on Tel Aviv, the IAEA would *maybe* go so far as to suggest that meetings be held to speculate on the possibility that Iran may have "exceeded its stated enrichment goals."
#3
Before they meet Israel would already have ended any enrichment in Iran for the next thousand years.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/29/2010 8:05 Comments ||
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#4
NEWS KERALA > WIKILEAKS: CHINA BELIEVES IRAN NUKE TECHNOLOGY IS "NOT AS ADVANCED" AS SOME BELIEVE.
Well thats what "2012" + NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM = NUC MILTERR GROUPS is for???
Versey versies
* GUARDIAN.UK > {Wikilieaks Docs] US EMBASSY CABLES: NORTH KOREA GAVE 19 MISSLES TO IRAN.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > WIKILEAKS: USTRYING TO [covertly = quietly] REMOVE PAKISTAN'S ENRICHED URANIUM [HEU], since 2007.
IMO read, US TRYING TO DETER OR PREVENT UNIVERSAL/PAN-ISLAMIST = IRAN, MILITANT NUCLEARIZATION [aka NUKE-WMDS TERROR].
NETTERS = Another reason to remember/luv Ex-POTUS DUBYA???
* XINHUA/TOPIX > CHINA VOWS TO FURHER MILITARY TIES WID THAILAND.
ARTIC > GEN. MA XIAOTIAN, Deputy Chief of PLA General Staff > "COMPLEX + PROFOUND CHANGES ARE TAKING PLACE IN REGIONAL SITUATIONS".
Pragmatically, CHINA > finding itself all but absolutely blocked = denied strategic access throughout the FIST ISLAND CHAIN.
MAHA-RUSHIAN WORLD POLITICAL, MILITARY HISTOIRE' > DESIRE FOR OTH = INTERNATIONAL "WARM-WATER PORTS" > Ideally, "GREAT NATIONS/POWERS" + GEOPOL AGGRESSIVE WANNABES DESIRE SOLE SOVEREIGN OR "MAJORITY" CONTROL [unconditional use] OF SAID PORTS.
IOW, RISING CHINA is at its "MAHAN MOMENT" [Alfred Thayer Mahan], that will "MAKE-OR-BREAK" IS HEGEMONIC AMBITIONS. The alternative is for Chin to remain a MAJOR REGIONAL POWER = POWER-BROKER, BUT NOT A TRUE "GLOBAL SUPERPOWER" in the MAHANIST VIEW.
#5
MOre from NEWS KERALA > [Israeli DM Ehud Barak] ISRAEL WARNED US THAT STRIKES ON IRAN WERE VIABLE UNTIL END OF 2010. Milstrikes become less-n-less reliable or effec, etc. oer time in stopping Iran's Nuclearization. [Also read, NUC MILTERRS].
Oh yeah, you can just f-e-e-l the "2012" can't ye?
Actor WARD BOND > "D *** NG IT, FEEL, FEEL - SPELLED F-I-L-L - FEEL"!
[Iran Press TV] ran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says Israel planned to use its "mercenaries" in a recent hijack attempt to create media hype against the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
On Friday, an Iranian man equipped with a "cold weapon" claimed he had planted bombs on the IranAir flight number 517 en route to Damascus from Tehran and tried to hijack the plane.
The man was jugged by flight security onboard and no bomb was found on the airliner after careful search.
This individual's intention from hijacking the plane was to navigate it towards the Zionist Regime [of Israel], IRNA quoted Moslehi as saying on Sunday.
Head of the Islamic theocracy Guards Corps' public relations department, Lieutenant General Ramezan Sharif, said earlier on Sunday that the hijacking attempt was aimed at overshadowing the Lebanese premier's visit to Tehran.
"Israel intended to use its mercenaries in the recent skyjacking affair to create media hype against Iran," Sharif said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in the Iranian capital of Tehran for a three-day visit on Saturday.
In his first visit to Tehran as the Lebanese prime minister, Hariri held talks with senior Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, about bilateral and regional issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
An absolutely ridiculous report. Be very careful of what you are served to eat, Hariri.
[Iran Press TV] Senior politician Avaz Heidarpour has called for countermeasures against efforts by the United Arab Emirates to obtain intelligence from Iranian nationals.
"The [Iranian] Foreign Ministry and security agencies should react to the UAE government's exploiting of Iranian nationals to gather intelligence [from them]," Heidarpour, who is a member of the Majlis National Security Committee, was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying on Sunday.
"Exploiting Iranian nationals to gather intelligence is an impudent and ugly move, and the [Iranian] Foreign Ministry and security apparatus will definitely react to such a move," the politician added.
He said such a move by the UAE could tarnish its reputation in the eyes of the Iranian officials and people.
"If the UAE makes such a rude move, Iranian security agencies will react and undoubtedly travel to this country will be widely controlled because if part of the intelligence falls into the hands of the Emiratis, the same intelligence could be passed on to other countries and create security problems in the country (Iran)," Heidarpour said.
The UAE intelligence apparatus had tried to obtain intelligence from Iranian nationals by offering them money and special travel cards in exchange for information.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"Exploiting Iranian nationals to gather intelligence is an impudent and ugly move, and the [Iranian] Foreign Ministry and security apparatus will definitely react to such a move," the politician added.
Aren't the multitude of Iranian agents throughout the Persian Gulf impudent and ugly? Esp since the Iranian theocracy is pushing toward world war?
[Iran Press TV] Hezbullies has accused the US-backed UN tribunal, investigating the liquidation of the country's former premier, of disregard for Israel's role in the murder.
"Look over there, folks! It's a red herring wearing the Star of David!"
On Sunday, the Lebanese resistance movement's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech, accusing the Special Tribunal for Leb of using faulty procedures, including issuing convictions in absentia and hiding witness identities.
"In international tribunals, we never have sentences made in absentia. Indictments are made, but they never hold a trial until the accused comes [and is] present in front of the judge," he said.
Withholding the identity of the witnesses, Nasrallah said, means "those who are accused can never question the witness. They can never ask the witness "where did you see me? What are accusing me [of]? Based upon what?"
The former Lebanese leader Rafiq Hariri was killed alongside more than 20 other people in a massive car booming in the Lebanese capital, Beirut on February 14, 2005.
Nasrallah said in July, 2010 that he had been informed by the slain leader's son and successor, Saad Hariri, that STL "will accuse some undisciplined [Hezbullies] members." Nasrallah has rejected the allegation, warning that the plot was part of "a dangerous project that is targeting the resistance."
During his speech, the resistance leader questioned the neutrality of the court, saying the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council is an instrument in the hands of Washington.
In an August speech, he presented evidence proving that Israel had criminal masterminded Hariri's liquidation. The televised address featured a video captured by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as recorded confessions by Israeli fifth columnists, substantiating that Tel Aviv had been behind the killing.
On Monday, leading Lebanese newspaper As-Safir also warned of the "intensive" pressure, Washington is applying under the slogan of "no discussions before indictment is issued."
Political analysts have warned that such indictments are meant to sow discord in Leb.
Hezbullies would accept the indictment issued by the tribunal only if it is supported by credible evidence, Nasrallah said.
He further broached the issue of Tel Aviv's spying on Beirut.
Nasrallah confirmed the news about Israeli-waged intelligence warfare against the country, which aims to incriminate members of the resistance movement in espionage.
He recounted how Tel Aviv would "implant" phone lines in the telephone devices used by Hezbullies members.
Aided by technical experts and the Lebanese Army Intelligence, the movement carried out "a comprehensive investigation" into the matter.
"We discovered that there are two phone lines in the telephone. One, which belongs to the individual and another, which was planted by the Israelis," Nasrallah said.
"And in your telephones, they can plant numbers, which you have no idea about and they can make phone calls by these numbers. The Israelis can make phone calls to these numbers and hence they can make it look like you're a spy...."
A Friday report by the leading Lebanese daily As-Safir showed that Israeli infiltrators used duplicated numbers to contact the telephone devices.
The newspaper warned that the application of the numbers, which appeared to be coming in from Austria, marked "serious chapters" of Israel's ability to control Leb's telecommunications sector.
The report, however, hailed that members of Hezbullies's security service, the Army Intelligence bureau and a number of employees at the country's Telecommunications Ministry had been able to cope with Tel Aviv's techniques and advanced software.
The act of domestic defense, it added, was enabled through several tests and tryouts.
On Tuesday, Hassan Fadlallah, a parliamentarian representing the resistance said Israel had arranged for the sale of doctored phones to some Hezbullies members, enabling wiretapping of their communications and dispatch of Tel Aviv-desired texts, Lebanese portal Naharnet reported.
"After a lengthy, complex investigation ... it was revealed that three resistance members were using local mobile phones which had been deliberately sold to them after being implanted with secret Israeli lines" by a Tel Aviv-hired Lebanese, said Fadlallah, who also chairs the parliament's media and telecommunications committee.
Also on Tuesday, Leb's Minister of Telecommunications Charbel Nahas said Beirut had found new evidence confirming the infiltration of Israeli espionage apparatuses into the telecommunications sector.
The resistance leader similarly spoke of the infiltration, adding that Tel Aviv was using wiretapping against all Lebanese people.
Leb has jugged more than 100 people, including members of the country's security forces and telecommunications personnel, since April 2009 on suspicion of spying for Israel.
Beirut has also filed a complaint to the United Nations over Israel's espionage activities within the country, expressing concerns that Israeli agents have gone as far as spying on the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and other brass hats.
The letter bewailed that the spy networks "constitute an aggression on Leb and on its illusory sovereignty in a clear violation of international resolutions, particularly [the United Nations Security Council] resolution 1701."
The resolution ended Tel Aviv's 2006 war on Leb that killed about 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians.
Israeli agents had been responsible for assassinations, the letter said.
A number of the suspected Israeli operatives, captured in Leb, have admitted to their roles in helping Israel identify targets inside Leb, mostly belonging to Hezbullies.
Nasrallah further criticized some Lebanese official for remaining silent on Israeli espionage activities in Leb.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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From the NYT Wikileaks dump this weekend. The NYT undoubtedly thinks the document dump harms the U.S., which is why they were eager to publish the documents. We know better. Americans will read articles like this and understand that Bambi isn't defending us the way he needs to.
More to the point, this will remind Americans that there actually is a need to defend ourselves.
In late May 2009, Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, used a visit from a Congressional delegation to send a pointed message to the new American president.
In a secret cable sent back to Washington, the American ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham, reported that Mr. Barak had argued that the world had 6 to 18 months "in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable." After that, Mr. Barak said, "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage."
There was little surprising in Mr. Barak's implicit threat that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities. As a pressure tactic, Israeli officials have been setting such deadlines, and extending them, for years. But six months later it was an Arab leader, the king of Bahrain, who provides the base for the American Fifth Fleet, telling the Americans that the Iranian nuclear program "must be stopped," according to another cable. "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it," he said.
His plea was shared by many of America's Arab allies, including the powerful King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who according to another cable repeatedly implored Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
These warnings are part of a trove of diplomatic cables reaching back to the genesis of the Iranian nuclear standoff in which leaders from around the world offer their unvarnished opinions about how to negotiate with, threaten and perhaps force Iran's leaders to renounce their atomic ambitions.
The cables also contain a fresh American intelligence assessment of Iran's missile program. They reveal for the first time that the United States believes that Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could let it strike at Western European capitals and Moscow and help it develop more formidable long-range ballistic missiles.
In day-by-day detail, the cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations, tell the disparate diplomatic back stories of two administrations pressed from all sides to confront Tehran. They show how President George W. Bush, hamstrung by the complexities of Iraq and suspicions that he might attack Iran, struggled to put together even modest sanctions.
They also offer new insights into how President Obama, determined to merge his promise of "engagement" with his vow to raise the pressure on the Iranians, assembled a coalition that agreed to impose an array of sanctions considerably harsher than any before attempted.
Slightly less ineffective sanctions, in other words.
When Mr. Obama took office, many allies feared that his offers of engagement would make him appear weak to the Iranians. But the cables show how Mr. Obama's aides quickly countered those worries by rolling out a plan to encircle Iran with economic sanctions and antimissile defenses. In essence, the administration expected its outreach to fail, but believed that it had to make a bona fide attempt in order to build support for tougher measures.
The article continues for a long time from here. The NYT attempts to slurp its way into Bambi's good graces by noting his 'tough' diplomacy. But the bottom line is that Iran continues to make progress on all the technologies required to deliver a nuclear warhead by IRBM and shorter-range missiles. They have not been stopped, they have not been deterred, and they have not been contained.
Bambi has failed. Only the NYT thinks otherwise.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The NYT attempts to slurp its way into Bambi's good graces
From the NYT Wikileaks dump this weekend. The NYT undoubtedly thinks the document dump harms the U.S., which is why they were eager to publish the documents. We know better. Americans will read articles like this and understand that Bambi isn't defending us the way he needs to.
Secret American intelligence assessments have concluded that Iran has obtained a cache of advanced missiles, based on a Russian design, that are much more powerful than anything Washington has publicly conceded that Tehran has in its arsenal, diplomatic cables show.
Iran obtained 19 of the missiles from North Korea, according to a cable dated Feb. 24 of this year. The cable is a detailed, highly classified account of a meeting between top Russian officials and an American delegation led by Vann H. Van Diepen, an official with the State Departments nonproliferation division who, as a national intelligence officer several years ago, played a crucial role in the 2007 assessment of Irans nuclear capacity.
The missiles could for the first time give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe or easily reach Moscow, and American officials warned that their advanced propulsion could speed Irans development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The NYT, in other articles, is putting a gloss on the Bambi administration's handling of Iran. While Bambi fumbles about, the Iranians are learning to build a nuke-capable IRBM by reverse engineering a proven Russian design. Gee, all they need know is a nuke warhead small enough to go on top ...
There has been scattered but persistent speculation on the topic since 2006, when fragmentary reports surfaced that North Korea might have sold Iran missiles based on a Russian design called the R-27, once used aboard Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads. In the unclassified world, many arms control experts concluded that isolated components made their way to Iran, but there has been little support for the idea that complete missiles, with their huge thrusters, had been secretly shipped.
Well, except for the photograph in the article of the complete missile on parade in Tehran ...
The Feb. 24 cable, which is among those obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations, makes it clear that American intelligence agencies believe that the complete shipment indeed took place, and that Iran is taking pains to master the technology in an attempt to build a new generation of missiles. The missile intelligence also suggests far deeper military and perhaps nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Iran than was previously known. At the request of the Obama administration, The New York Times has agreed not to publish the text of the cable.
They'll just summarize it ...
The North Korean version of the advanced missile, known as the BM-25, could carry a nuclear warhead. Many experts say that Iran remains some distance from obtaining a nuclear warhead, especially one small enough to fit atop a missile, though they believe that it has worked hard to do so.
Still, the BM-25 would be a significant step up for Iran.
It's all about assembling all the needed ingredients. The Iranians are working on missile tech, warhead tech, nuclear tech, enrichment tech, propellant tech, and so on. Eventually it all comes together. The NYT and the progressive-Left fascists keep pointing to one of these efforts and say that 'that alone doesn't make Iran a threat to us'. But the combined effort does, and that's what the Left-fascists don't want to admit.
Today, the maximum range of Irans known ballistic missiles is roughly 1,200 miles, according to experts. That means they could reach targets throughout the Middle East, including Israel, as well as all of Turkey and parts of Eastern Europe.
The range of the Russian R-27, launched from a submarine, was said to be up to 1,500 miles.
Rocket scientists say the BM-25 is longer and heavier, and carries more fuel, giving it a range of up to 2,000 miles. If fired from Iran, that range, in theory, would let its warheads reach targets as far away as Western Europe, including Berlin. If fired northwestward, the warheads could easily reach Moscow.
All that gives the Mad Mullahs the leverage they need. While they can annihilate Israel with shorter-range missiles armed with nukes, the IRBMs allow them to threaten the region and get away with it. What American or Soviet Russian government will stand up to them when Berlin and Moscow are in range?
A range of 2,000 miles is considered medium or intermediate. Traditionally, the United States has defined long-range or intercontinental ballistic missiles as having ranges greater than 3,400 miles.
The fuel for the advanced engines goes by the tongue-twisting name of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, according to the secret cables. It is a highly toxic, volatile clear liquid with a sharp, fishy smell.
International concern about advances in Irans missile program increased last year, after Tehran sent its first satellite into space. Experts said it was clear that the second stage of the rocket, known as the Safir, had employed a new, more powerful class of engines that took advantage of some elements of the Russian technology. American government experts say the engines of the Russian R-27 represent an improvement of roughly 40 percent in lifting force over the kerosene-fired engines that power most Iranian missiles.
Without this higher-energy output, the Safir would have failed in its mission to orbit a small satellite, said a report issued in May by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, an arms analysis group in London.
The London groups report, though, gives no indication of access to the American intelligence assessment. Indeed, the report argued that while Iran had some elements of the R-27 technology, the available public evidence suggested that it had made no purchase of either the complete North Korean missile or its Russian parent.
The cables say that Iran not only obtained the BM-25, but also saw the advanced technology as a way to learn how to design and build a new class of more powerful engines.
Iran wanted engines capable of using more-energetic fuels, the Feb. 24 cable said, and buying a batch of BM-25 missiles gives Iran a set it can work on for reverse engineering.
The cable added that Tehran could use the BM-25 technologies as building blocks for the production of long-range missiles. But it offered no information to back up that assessment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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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.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A proud man, President 
A senior Muslim cleric who is known as the "Taliban's ideological mentor" has been allowed to enter the UK and address the House of Lords.
North Korea has threatened to respond "mercilessly" to South Korean-U.S. military exercise that began Sunday. In time with the start of the joint exercise, the North Korean military fired about 30 artillery shells from the Kaemori region north of Yeonpyeong Island into the West Sea as part of a military drill of its own. It also moved some of its 122 mm multiple rocket launchers and opened more camouflaged artillery gates to coastal positions.
[Iran Press TV] The political wing of the armed Basque separatist group ETA has announced its plans for forming a new party that opposes violence and advocates democratic measures.
