[Tolo News] Gen. David Petraeus recently told ABC that Afghanistan cannot be turned into Switzerland in a decade or less
The Commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus in a recent interview with ABC's "Good Morning America", said that corruption had been a part of Afghanistan's history and culture since the country has existed.
Discussing corrpution within the Afghan government, Gen. Petraeus said no one has accused Karzai of enriching himslef, but those around him have been alleged for corruption.
"But again, this is Afghanistan. And again, you're not going to turn Afghanistan into Switzerland in a decade or less," he told ABC.
On governance legitimacy in Afghanistan, the general said: "The question is really whether, over time governance can be seen by the people as being sufficiently legitimate to gain their support."
The interview with ABC is done after the recent disclosures by the WikiLeaks questioned President Karzai's US-backed government's ability to connect with the people if his key officials commit corruption.
Gen. Petareus also denied that he had warned to resign after the Afghanistan's Caped President slammed US forces' night raids in an exclusive interview with the Washington Post.
He said he has a good relationship with the Afghanistan's Caped President, adding that he had sat down with him after the Washigton Post interview, and was reassured.
Gen. Petraeus commented that he is a military commander and Karzai is the leader of a sovereign country, having a political foundation to maintain.
"And we do need occasionally, I think, to walk a mile or a kilometer in his shoes and in these mountains to understand the challenge that he has," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, if you can't turn Afghanistan into Switzerland in a decade or less, maybe you can turn Switzerland into Afghanistan.
#2
It will take three generations to turn that country into anything resembling what we call a "nation state". We are about halfway through the first generation. How are they doing in school? The first step is building a literate population. That generation will build infrastructure that the second generation will grow up with as their sense of "normal". Not until the third generation will there be any sense of Afghan and not tribal identity.
You need a national communications infrastructure, you need to teach the kids in a common language across the nation and give them some common culture (tv, radio, newspapers, etc. in that common language). You need to get them mobile and moving around mixing together.
What is now a two day trip on a donkey should be a few hours in a car over hard, smooth roads.
Once they can read, write, and have all grown up with their version of Gilligan's Island, they will all have more of a common identity.
#3
Gorb, maybe you can turn Switzerland into Afghanistan.
Seems Swiss have no inclination in that regard. Not the politicos, but people in general. They have a reasonably unblurred concept of what it means to be a Swiss and the concepts related to Afghanistan are very far from it.
#4
It will take three generations to turn that country into anything resembling what we call a "nation state".
Well, we did take a state with a couple hundred years of militaristic social history and altered their behavior to something much less aggressive. Of course we bombed the hell out it and then removed the biggest trouble spot out of it, Prussia, to let someone just as nasty ethnically cleanse it.
#6
#5 First step is to keep Saudi Arabian (and Iranian)influence(Taliban) out of Afghanistan as you see what is has done to Pakistan(Taliban/Le T etc)!
Posted by: PaulD
#7
I am of the mind that the way to build a nation from a chaotic pile of crap like Afghanistan, is to do something that in a civilized nation is evil and abhorrent, but might be just the thing to restore order and prosperity.
Go authoritarian on them. MacArthur did a wonderful job in restoring Japan, because he acted as an intelligent dictator, not working for his own behalf, but for the Japanese people. And that is all the difference in the world.
Right at the start, we should have dispensed with any politically correct "sensitivity" to Afghan "culture and traditions", both of which are worthless and decadent. Instead, our attitude should have been to wipe the slate clean and create a new Afghanistan based on pragmatism.
While actively fighting both al-Qaeda and the Taliban, we should have:
Built an enormous boarding school in Kabul, in the middle of a safe military garrison. Then round up every orphan and upper class child in the country and set them to have a modern, western education by American military teachers, under strict discipline and ethical training. Entirely secular, no religion at all.
The purpose of this is to raise and train them to be a new generation of government, with no connection at all to any existing power structure.
Second, because of the uniquely tiny Afghan wage, we could have literally hired every unemployed Afghan male in the southern half of the country to work on giant national infrastructure projects involving lots of manual labor. And this would cost just $1B a year in wages. Peanuts.
They would do a massive improvement of farmland, rebuild entire towns, dig canal systems and water projects, plant both natural and commercial forests, set up agricultural co-ops, etc. Millions of men productively employed, producing infrastructure that will eventually generate jobs and prosperity.
The rural caretaker governments should be entirely female, and any male with no visible means of support would be detained. All women would be required to take self-defense and paramilitary training, along with basic literacy schooling.
While at first this would of course all have to happen at the barrel of a gun, the end result, even after a decade, would be to create a future for Afghanistan, not just more chaos and misery, as things are now.
Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/07/2010 21:00 Comments ||
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Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/07/2010 21:04 ||
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#1
I suppose Anon1 will argue this is why we have Wikileaks, but I - for one - am not surprised by the headline. Maybe Mumamar will be embarrased?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/07/2010 21:07 Comments ||
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#2
Weakness emboldens thugs. Didn't we bomb the shit out of them over Lockerbie? Sept 2009, just last year Kaddafi was with Hugo Chavez and said "The worlds powers want to continue to hold on to their power. Now we have to fight to build our own power."
CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubaraks party won 419 of 508 seats in parliamentary polls, the electoral commission said Monday after the opposition cried foul and monitors charged the vote was marred by fraud.
Hmmmph. Da Mayor would have done better ...
Trailing far behind Mubaraks National Democratic Party (NDP) was the opposition with 15 seats, after most of the opposition boycotted the polls, while independents garnered 70, according to figures released to the media.
Monitors had previously charged that the polling, which ended with a second round on Sunday, was marked by widespread fraud, while the European Union voiced concern on Monday about reports of irregularities and violence.
Egypts main opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and liberal Wafd party, had refused to take part in Sundays runoff after the NDP swept 209 out of 211 seats in the first round of voting on November 28.
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif insisted on Monday that there had been no interference by the police or authorities in the polling. His government has dismissed the fraud charges, acknowledging only minor irregularities without any impact on the results, and the NDP accuses the opposition of engineering its own ouster through its decision to boycott.
But the Independent Coalition for Elections Observation said widespread violations, including violence and fraud, had marred both rounds, raising serious questions over the legitimacy of the new parliament.
Both rounds of elections witnessed violence in the presence of security which directly resulted in the death of a number of citizens, the exclusion of candidates and their representatives, and attacks on independent monitors.
Polling stations and ballot counting premises have become breeding grounds for forging ballot cards and manipulation of the will of voters... This was especially apparent during the second round, the Egyptian group added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Egyptian authorities leaving no stone unturned in bid to discover mysterious shark attacks which left German tourist dead. 'Mossad plot not out of the question,' says South Sinai governor Nah, sharks are too dumb to be trained for this kind of work. I'm sure SeaWorld could supply some orcas who could handle it, provided the water isn't too warm for them.
Shark attacks on tourists in the Red Sea have triggered a flurry of speculation as to what could have caused them, with suggestions ranging from overfishing to an Israeli plot to harm Egyptian tourism.
The body of a 70-year-old German woman washed up on the shore at Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea after an attack on Sunday. Officials said the shark had taken a chunk out of her right thigh and bitten through her right elbow.
Egypt had just lifted a ban on swimming in parts of the area imposed after three Russians and a Ukrainian were injured in shark attacks last week.
The government has invited international experts to help locate the killer shark but officials were at loss as to what could have caused its behavior.
"There is not one reason that will be ignored. We are seeking any reason that causes a change in shark behavior," Ahmed el-Edkawi, assistant secretary for the South Sinai region, told Reuters. It was a practice run for Julian Assange's next snorkeling expedition to the Great Barrier Reef.
Some said sharks had been drawn to shallow waters after cattle being shipped in for last month's Islamic feast of the sacrifice, or Eid al-Adha, had died and were thrown overboard.
Others suggested it could have been part of a secret plot by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
"What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark (in the sea) to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm," South Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha was quoted as saying by state news site egynews.net.
Egyptians often blame neighboring Israel for a variety of problems such as drug and weapon smuggling, or say it supports media that seek to portray Egypt in a bad light.
Local diving experts said single shark attacks are extremely rare in the area and were mystified by as to why so many people were attacked in such quick succession.
The attacks grabbed the attention of world media and raised fears of a long-term hit to a tourism sector that is a lifeline for the desert peninsula's population and the biggest foreign currency earner for Egypt.
"We've seen more attacks in a few days than in the previous 15 years," said Florian Herzberg, dive operations manager at the Reef 2000 centre in Dahab resort north of Sharm. "It could be a shark with behavioral problems that was deliberately fed different things and now associates humans with food."
Water sports centers said business had dried up after officials banned snorkeling and swimming, leaving tourists with little to do but speculate over the cause of the attacks.
"Egypt is full of rumors and one does not know what to believe," said Gasser Mohamed, a diving instructor at CFun Divers centre in South Sinai. "I see that there are a lot of sharks in the sea and the possible rarity of tuna fish due to over-fishing seems to be causing the attacks." At least there's one sane person in Egypt.
[Ennahar] A hero of the anti-colonial struggle in Algeria sentenced to death for shooting a repentant Islamist leader who threatened him, was pardoned and should be able to regain his freedom, said Monday one of his son to the press .
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has made a gesture toward my father, "Mohamed Gharbi, former Mujahid and retired officer of the Algerian army, said his son Mourad Gharbi to the daily "L'Expression". "This is a presidential pardon, we were somewhat appeased," he added.
The sentence against Mr. Gharbi, 75, was commuted to 20 years imprisonment, his son said. "We expected the release. My father is an old man, tired and sick," he regretted, however, adding that a file will be submitted to apply for parole.
His lawyer, Abderrahmane Boutamine told the daily El-Watan that the convict had already spent "half his sentence, ten years in prison, and is therefore entitled to apply for parole."
But he must pay the legal fees and "civil damages", valued at over one million Dinars (over 10,000 euros, more than 13,000 dollars), he added.
The veteran has been imprisoned since February 2001 for having shot with his Kalashnikov Ali Merad, a member of the Islamic Army of Salvation (AIS) who was taunting and threatening him in his home town of Souk Ahras, some 600 kmAlgiers, near the Tunisian border. southeast
Gharbi had created in his area in the 90s a group of self-defense to counter the violence of the terrorists.
No complaints against Merad, who had laid down the arms in exchange for amnesty under the policy of national reconciliation by president Bouteflika, had succeeded.
A vigorous campaign was launched in the country to secure the release of the convicted and the Coordination for the release of Mohamed Gharbi (CLMG) welcomed the pardon. But one member, Mohammed Baghdadi, has dampened the enthusiasm: "It's hard to claim victory because you never know how the Islamists will react."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, at the opening of the 31st summit of the GCC, condemned the terrorist acts in Soddy Arabia and voiced solidarity with Riyadh in the fight against all types of terrorism.
Sheikh Sabah, the former President of the GCC's previous session, said the GCC countries rejected all forms of terrorism and were thus condemning all terrorist actions plotted and carried out in Soddy Arabia.
He expressed GCC's full solidarity with Soddy Arabia in the fight against terrorism.
Sheikh Sabah regretted the stalled grinding of the peace processor between the Paleostinians and Israelis due to the Jewish state's stubbornness and continuing with the building of settlements on occupied Paleostinian territories.
He called on the parties concerned, specially the US as a major sponsor of the grinding of the peace processor, the Middle East Quartet and the international community to force Israel halt the settlement activities, and implement the UN resolutions to achieve just and lasting peace.
This peace, added the Kuwaiti leader, would be only achieved via the establishment of the independent and viable Paleostinian state.
Sheikh Sabah said the developments in Leb required collaboration of efforts to confront domestic challenges.
He called on Iran to take serious steps to ending the occupation of the three United Arab Emirates (UAE) islands -- Greater and Lesser Tonbs and Abu Moussa -- either by direct negotiations to seeking the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Sheikh Sabah called for addressing the Iranian nuclear file via peaceful and diplomatic means.
The Kuwaiti Amir, meanwhile, congratulated Soddy Arabia for the successful operation of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, praising Allah to bestow him with lasting health to serving his country and supporting the development of the GCC.
He congratulated the UAE and Bahrain for their 39th National Days.
He congratulated Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed on the occasion of Oman's National Day.
Sheikh Sabah also congratulated Qatari Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani for winning the bid to hosting the World Cup 2022, "which is a sport achievement not only for Qatar but the entire Gulf countries and Arab countries." Sheikh Sabah, who hoped the new Iraqi government will meet ambitions of the Iraqi people, said the 31st summit was an "added pillar" for the GCC march, which has been backed by the GCC leaders during the past three decades thus enabling the GCC to occupy a leading role at the regional and international levels.
The Kuwaiti Amir appreciated GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah for his services. Al-Attiyah will be succeeded in Abdullatif Rashed Al-Zayyani of Bahrain next April.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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THE elusive head of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by British police in relation to an international warrant issued by Sweden over alleged sex offences there.
Sky News reported that he was due to appear before magistrates later Tuesday local time.
#1
Remember they didn't get Capone on racketeering charges, but on income tax evasion [cause he couldn't swing an government appointment with the administration].
#5
Mr. Assange apparently walked into the police station and turned himself in. NPR had a report on the charges, and it sounds as much a misunderstanding due to cultural differences as general caddish behaviour by a man who thinks himself entitled.
#6
Hello TW - in actual fact the women never complained about sex with Assange. They only went to the police to find him so he could be tested for STDs.
The prosecutors made a rape charge out of that.
It's just a pretext so the US can get extradition and try him for espionage, and lock him up forever.
If the US does this it will lose forever any semblance of fairness, or of being a beacon of liberty in the world, which it has been until now.
It will become just another scary big power like China or Russia. Not democratic, not with respect for rule of law untainted by the polity. Just another Party dictatorship.
#7
If we scrubbed this POS from the face of the Earth...I would be surprised. Then take a nap
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/07/2010 22:55 Comments ||
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#8
If the US does this it will lose forever any semblance of fairness, or of being a beacon of liberty in the world, which it has been until now.
It will become just another scary big power like China or Russia. Not democratic, not with respect for rule of law untainted by the polity. Just another Party dictatorship.
IF we so much as charge him with the espionage he is most certainly guilty of?
That would make us equivalent in your mind to the empires of the gulag and the laogai?
#9
It's just a pretext so the US can get extradition and try him for espionage, and lock him up forever.
Mr. Assange is trafficking in stolen property for the stated purpose of making my government non-functional. Should my government become non-functional, it will not be able to fight against those who might give you a chance to convert and wear a burqah, but intend to kill every Jew on the planet, including me and the trailing daughters. Me knowing that the government of Pakistan secretly passed information on jihadis to the government of Israel, that Turkey has been supporting Iran's effort to obtain nuclear weapons, or that some junior functionary toiling in the American embassy in Paris thinks President Sarkozy is a posturing pissant does not have nearly the weight to me of preventing a group of viciously insane men and women from completing what Hitler tried to do to my parents.
So I don't care if the charges on which Mr. Assange was arrested are trumped up, although it's my personal opinion -- as a child of the '80s, when AIDS was noticed -- that any man who has multiple s3x partners and refuses to use condoms should be shot out of hand* as a deliberate threat to the survival of the species... which no doubt that is the basis for the Swedish law. But it has become my considered opinion Mr. Assange should be treated like a spy instead of a potential spreader of deadly diseases, which nowadays means a lifetime stay in Guantanamo Bay or in solitary confinement for the rest of his life in that Super Max prison.
* Sometimes selfishness is the kind of stupidity that gets Darwin involved.
(KUNA) -- The coming decade could witness "the decline of the West" if Britain and other western powers fail to respond to the rise of Asian economies like China, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown ... the hapless former British PM ... warned Monday.
Brown said that the harsh public spending cuts being imposed in the UK and elsewhere could rob western governments of the firepower they need to develop the skills and technology needed to win business in China and India. He warned that the deficit-slashing policies being pursued by the coalition Government will be viewed by later generations as one of the "great misjudgments of history".
Brown was speaking to The Guardian newspaper today ahead of the publication of his book "Beyond The Crash, looking at the global financial crisis of the last few years and the policy response needed in the years to come".
The book calls for a global compact between the G20 nations - which include both the historical powers of Europe and North America and the rising economic giants in Asia and South America - to spur growth and create 30-50 million jobs worldwide.
He said "On current trends, Europe and America face high unemployment for a decade and worsening youth unemployment to come.
"If the story of the coming decade is not to become 'the decline of the west', then Europe and America have to change tack, rise to the biggest challenge of all - restructuring the world economy - and equip themselves to benefit from the next great global challenge - the dramatic rise in the consumer spending power of Asia." Despite winning accolades for persuading world leading to join a co-ordinated response to the financial crash at the G20 summits in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Brown has come under relentless attack from the coalition Government here, who blame him for allowing Britain's state deficit to swell to record levels.
He today acknowledged his views were no longer fashionable, but compared the coalition's package of deep spending cuts to the fiscal retrenchment which tipped the world into lengthy depression following the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
"As the 1930s showed, the economic orthodoxies for which people are feted today will quickly come to be seen as the great misjudgments of history," he said.
The 30's showed that Keynesian economics were a colossal misjudgement, so why then are Keynesians still being feted today?
Mr. Keynes apparently proposed that countries save during prosperous years in order to have funds to prime the economy during the lean years to follow. The politicians only noticed the latter part.
Brown has stayed largely out of the spotlight since stepping down as prime minister after the May election, rarely spotted in Parliament and emerging from his Fife home in Scotland only to give his backing to favoured campaigns on issues like global poverty.
In another interview published last Saturday, he said he had no interest in writing an instant memoir like his New Labour sparring partners Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, whose books he said he had not read.
"I am not interested in gossip. I am not saying 'never' but I am better concentrating on the things I am doing," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile POTUS BAMMER > says AMERICA is in a defining, NEW "SPUTNIK" MOMENT, ala the OWG = expanding Global Econ + doubts being raised oer America's ability to effec lead + respond to International Ideo, Geopol Challengers.
ONE WORLD ECON = O-W-E = Wehell, America = Amerika at 83-93% Debt-to-GDP ratio most certainly does OWE its Creditors, espec CHINA.
#2
ION DAILY TIMES.PK > MEDVEDEV: NATO MUST INCLUDE RUSSIA IN MISSLE DEFENSE.
ARTIC. Iff not, come YEAR 2020 the concept of a NATO-ONLY MISSLE DEFENSE SHIELD may become a SERIOUS DESTABILIZING FACTOR between NATO-RUSS as far as Moscow is concerned + ultimately induce a NEW ARMS RACE between same.
and
* PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > NATO HAS A SECRET PLAN TO DEFEND THE BALTICS [agz Russia].
ARTIC > Nine NATO Divisions, Key Ports allegedly identified + earmarked for BALTIC SECURITY.
#3
I think someone put it best when they said that, "As a young man, Gordon Brown watched Monty Python, yet did not discern that it was either surreal or a comedy."
Brown said that the harsh public spending cuts being imposed in the UK and elsewhere could rob western governments of the firepower they need to develop the skills and technology needed to win business in China and India.
Brown is right. How can we expect to compete with the BRIC countries if we don't have more lawyers, English Lit professors and Left-handed Lesbian Midget Studies majors?
Israel assailed Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay on Tuesday for declaring recognition of a Palestinian state, calling it "highly damaging interference" by countries that were never part of the Middle East peace process.
"They never made any contribution to it ... and now they're making a decision that is completely contrary to everything that has been agreed so far," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. "It is absurd."
Palmor said Israel would convey its disappointment to the governments concerned and warn "any country that will follow suit" they risked creating more confusion about peace prospects.
Argentina announced on Monday it was recognising "Palestine as a free and independent state" and said the decision followed Uruguay and Brazil, which last month recognised "the state of Palestine based on its pre-1967 borders."
Israel disputes the Palestinian claim on all the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land it captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and has since extensively settled.
"Such a declaration today only harms the peace process, because it merely encourages the Palestinians to keep digging in and hoping the miracle will somehow descend from the heavens or from the international community, that will impose some kind of accord on Israel," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said.
"And what is important is that the Americans don't accept this either," he told Israel's Army Radio.
Most of the world ignored the declaration of a Palestinian state by Yasser Arafat in 1988. But as the peace process withers, Abbas has said other options could include seeking recognition at the United Nations -- though he has acknowledged it would unlikely ever get American support.
#1
There is some weirdness down in Paraguay. In the last two decades, the Unification Church (Moonies), bought a large ranch. Then the US leased a small base for some 1500 US Marines nearby, for just 18 months.
Then H.W. Bush bought a very large ranch, next door to the Moonies, and managed by the former US ambassador to Paraguay, whose purpose seemed to be an intelligence op to monitor the border area with Bolivia and Argentina. Rather large airstrip.
Controversy about the Bush ranch was such, that the State Department used its USINFO branch to put out nebulous disinformation about it. They no longer comment about its existence, nor are visitors welcome.
Even the Paraguayan government was very nervous about it, out of fear of a possible US intervention.
On the other side of Paraguay is Ciudad del Este, their second largest city. The city has a large Asian-born population, specifically Taiwanese, Koreans, Arabs and Iranians, evident in the city's mosque and pagodas. The Taiwanese government paid for the construction of the city's town hall in exchange for Paraguayan support in the United Nations, hence the Taiwanese flag that flies on the building.
The Iranians, of course, have long been up to mischief in the region. They used Hezbollah to conduct two anti-Israeli/anti-Jewish bombings in Argentina in the early '90's. By now Paraguay is probably loaded with al-Quds, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Syrians.
Senator Lieberman did a South American tour based on US concerns that Venezuela and Bolivia were planning to provide Iran with uranium. But he also wheeled and dealed in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia.
#3
Wasn't Paraguay where a lot of Nazis fled after the war?
Most of the region was blessed after the war with that peculiarly German mix of efficiency and hate. But, as many of the countries were already ruled by military fascists, eg. Peron, they fit right in. Their children went to private German schools, where about half of the students were children of the German Jews who'd fled the Nazis before the war. An entire generation didn't ask their classmates who their fathers were, on both sides.
#4
Most of the region was blessed after the war with that peculiarly German mix of efficiency and hate. But, as many of the countries were already ruled by military fascists, eg. Peron, they fit right in. Their children went to private German schools, where about half of the students were children of the German Jews who'd fled the Nazis before the war. An entire generation didn't ask their classmates who their fathers were, on both sides.
That's the sort of comical situation that gives me hope that there is a God and he does have a sense of humor.
(KUNA) -- South Korea's new defense minister said Monday he ordered his military to exercise the right of self-defense if North Korea attacks the South again, allowing the South's military to quickly respond with force, Seoul's media reported. What took so long ...
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, who took office Saturday after his predecessor resigned amid mounting criticism for the country's feeble response to the North's attack on a front-line island on November 23, said the right of self-defense means "we can immediately retaliate if North Korea provokes first, " according to Yonhap News Agency.
Kim, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the right of self-defense will be applied separately from the rules of engagement to allow the military to respond faster and with more muscle.
The current rules of engagement, jointly governed by US troops stationed in the South, are more focused on preventing a military skirmish with the North from escalating to a greater conflict.
"The extent to which we invoke the right of self-defense is until the enemy surrenders its will for provocation," said Kim. "From now on, such principles won't be applied if North Korea attacks first." For instance, if there is another attack like the November 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea will use fighter jets and bomb the North's artillery bases so that the North cannot provoke again, Kim said.
Also, work is underway to make the rules of engagement more aggressive, giving more power to commanders in the field, Kim said. Two civilians and two marines were killed by the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, marking the first assault on a civilian area in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Earlier in the day, South Korea started seven-day live-fire drills off all three coasts of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea on Sunday lashed out at the South's drills that it said are "rapidly driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula to an uncontrollable extreme phase." Asked about the North's latest threat, Kim replied, "I don't dwell on North Korea's response as it does not deserve even a little consideration. North Korea is acting the way it always did." As for concerns that South Korea's tough retaliation may lead to an all-out war, Kim played down such a possibility, saying North Korea isn't ready for a full-scale war because of its moribund economy and internal instability due to an ongoing power transfer from leader Kim Jong-il to his youngest son.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > RUSSIA TO DEPLOY S-400 ADS IN EAST [Russ Far East] OVER NORTH KOREA MISSLE TESTS.
ARTIC = Russia wants to prevent the fragments of any "FAILED DPRK MISSLE/ROCKET TESTS"? from falling back to earth + "landing" inside Russia???
* TOPIX > [Dong-A] NORTH KOREA WANTS FIVE YELLOW SEA ISLANDS UNINHABITED, in perceived bid to claim same for Pyongyang.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA HEIR-APPARENT [KJong-Un] PLEGES ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN 3 YEARS [circa 2013].
ARTIC > "Year 2012" designated by the DPRK as the "FIRST YEAR" OF THE DPRK AS A "GREAT + POWERFUL NATION".
#2
OOOPSIES, forgot SAIPANTRIBUNE > [Okinawa Delegation] JAPAN TO PAY FOR THE RELOCATION OF 4000 MARINES FROM OKINAWA TO TINIAN, iff the US Govt can agree to the move???
A number of MPs have criticised former VVD leader Frits Bolkestein for suggesting orthodox Jews should leave the Netherlands because of rising anti-semitism.
Geert Wilders used the microblogging service Twitter to say it is not Jews who should emigrate but 'the Moroccans who are anti-semitic'. And GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema said: 'people who are being threatened deserve protection in their own country'.
The Christian Democrats have called for a summit about combating anti-semitism involving both Muslim and Jewish organisations.
And the Dutch Moroccan information centre CIDM said Bolkestein's comments were scare-mongering. 'This is nothing other than the lastet generalisated insult targeting Dutch Moroccans,' a spokesman told the Telegraaf.
Because nothing more insults the Moroccans than advising Jews to move out.
Of course, there's another explanation: someone at a higher level of trust than Pfc. Manning is the real source, and Manning is just a convenient fall guy.
We can draw a picture of that source, just from what we know already. The source has access to diplomatic cable traffic, U.S. war reports, and even gun sight video across both major theaters of the war. Compartmentalization puts that person back inside the Washington, D.C., theater. I was asking recently about the source of these leaks. I'm not a big conspiracy fan, but I've wondered if Manning was the sole source. I'd love to know the whole story.
#1
The source has access to diplomatic cable traffic, U.S. war reports, and even gun sight video across both major theaters of the war. Compartmentalization puts that person back inside the Washington, D.C., theater.
#2
The US government bureaucracy is seriously "challenged". They put a lot of energy into getting something done, then fuc& it all up by leaving holes in the process.
I'll bet a dollar to a dog turd that someone like Manning could very well do this very easily.
AFAIAC, TOTUS although TOTUS may be waiting for an opportunity to use this crisis, he may be angry and his hands may be tied. It's a high-profile case. It would look bad if we were caught red-handed in Switzerland.
#3
If he had access to JWICS (which he allegedly did), and a couple of other intelligence networks, then it was probably easy for him to grab some of this stuff if his job gave him need to know and access to the networks and data therein.
#5
Just because there is the possibility of additional sources doesn't mean Manning is a fall guy, it just means he's the only one caught at this point.
#6
WikiLeaks was founded in 2006.[19][37] That year, Assange wrote two essays setting out the philosophy behind WikiLeaks: "To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not."[38][39][40] In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organisation is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. ... Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance."[38][41]
Assange sits on Wikileaks's nine-member advisory board,[42] and is a prominent media spokesman on its behalf. While newspapers have described him as a "director"[43] or "founder"[21] of Wikileaks, Assange has said, "I don't call myself a founder";[44] he does describe himself as the editor in chief of WikiLeaks,[45] and has stated that he has the final decision in the process of vetting documents submitted to the site.[46] Like all others working for the site, Assange is an unpaid volunteer.[44][47][48][49][50] Assange says that Wikileaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined: "That's not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are â rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It's disgraceful."[37] Assange advocates a "transparent" and "scientific" approach to journalism, saying that "you can't publish a paper on physics without the full experimental data and results; that should be the standard in journalism."[51][52] In 2006, CounterPunch called him "Australia's most infamous former computer hacker."[53] The Age has called him "one of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter."[35] Assange has called himself "extremely cynical".[35] The Personal Democracy Forum said that as a teenager he was "Australia's most famous ethical computer hacker."[20] He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics,[23] and as thriving on intellectual battle.[54]
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/07/2010 19:16 Comments ||
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#7
At least now some of the typical leftists are on our side regarding classified information. Imagine their glee if this happened under Bush. No one on our side is defending Assange because it embarrassed the Big O.
(KUNA) -- Israeli and Turkish officials met in Geneva to draft an agreement to mend strained relations between the two countries due to the Israeli raid on the "Gazoo Freedom Flotilla" last May, the Haaretz newspaper said on Monday.
The Haaretz added that the Israeli and Turkish diplomats speculated that this agreement would demand an Israeli apology to Turkey for the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara ship of the Freedom Flotilla, in addition to compensations in relation to this incident.
In exchange, Turkey would return its ambassador to Tel-Aviv and agree to appoint a new Israeli envoy in Ankara, the newspaper added.
This meeting came upon the initiative of the Israeli Prime Minister, following the Turkish aid and assistance dispatched to help put out the Mount Carmel fires.
It is expected that other meetings will follow to finalize the draft, the paper noted.
It further said that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss a comprehensive agreement that would put an end to the strained relations between the two countries.
The newspaper quoted Israeli Foreign Ministry sources saying Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was briefed on the diplomatic communications which were handled by national security adviser, Uzi Arad.
The sources said, they believe Lieberman has reservations over these diplomatic efforts, as he had said that Israel would not apologize or pay compensation to the Turks.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized the opportunity of the Turkish support to the Israeli fire-fighting effort to initiate attempts to mend relations. He sent Israel's representative on the UN committee investigating the Gazoo flotilla incident, Yosef Ciechanover, to Geneva to meet with the Turkish Undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry.
Israeli-Turkish relations deteriorated following Erdogan's criticism of Israel's military attack on Gazoo Strip in 2008 which lasted for 22 days.
The diplomatic ties were strained even further after Israeli soldiers killed nine Turks onboard the "Gazoo Freedom Flotilla" leading vessel.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How about Israel apologize for killing the Turks, and Turkey apologize for sending terrorists to Israel.
ISLAMABAD - The Lahore High Court (LHC) has barred the government from amending the blasphemy law, till the final decision of the court in a case involving death sentence awarded to a Christian woman Asia Bibi under blasphemy law. Let the seething commence ...
The unprecedented move by the court that abridges the authority of the legislature to enact laws follows an earlier direction by the LHC to pre-empt and stall presidential pardon for the accused.
The court gave the orders during the hearing of a petition filed to stop the government from tabling an amendment bill in the blasphemy law 295-C. Former Information Minister Sherry Rehman who has moved a draft for the amending the law promulgated in 1986 by Military ruler Gen. Ziaul Haq, has also been made a party to the petition.
Notices have been issued to her and the federal government for submitting response by December 23 when the regulaqr hearing of the petition will resume.
Meanwhile, the court extended the stay order in the Asia Bibis case till December 23. It declared that the government cannot proceed further on Asia Bibis mercy application till the set date.
Religious lobbies have unleashed a fierce campaign against plans for any amendment in the law or pardon to Asia Bibi. Critics of the law say it is flawed and provides a lax procedure in registration of the caqse that is liable to be widely abused as has been the case in the past.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] The Indian government is likely to grant permission to Pak officials to meet the witnesses of Nov. 26 Mumbai terror attacks.
The federal government is to file a petition in the Bombay High Court shortly to enable the Pak officials to visit Mumbai and interview the witnesses of the 26/11 terror attacks.
The Pak government had requested the Indian government to allow its officials to visit Mumbai and collect information from the witnesses who will help them to make their case stronger in the Pak courts against some of the suspected accused jugged in Bloody Karachi and other parts of Pakistain for their alleged participation in the Mumbai terror attacks.
Following this request from Pakistain, the Indian government has agreed to grant permission to the Pakistain officials for which it will file a special writ petition in the Bombay High Court.
If the Bombay High Court accepts the plea, then the Pak officials would be allowed to meet and take statements of Mumbai city Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) R.V. Sawant, Investigating Officer (IO) Ramesh Mahale, those injured in the 26/11 terror attacks and the relatives of those dead in the attacks.
In another development, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi, said that the migration of workers to Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra has reduced drastically, but this is not due to the threats or attacks on the Bihari workers by goons of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) but mainly due to the vast development by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar.
Modi, who was in Nagpur to attend the wedding ceremony of BJP President Nitin Gadkari's son on Saturday, said: "The Congress ruled Bihar for 40 years while Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) enjoyed power for 15 years, but during their reign, Bihar remained a backward state. But under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the NDA government in the state has made tremendous progress in development during the last five years."
Modi further said: "Bihar was famous for criminalization. However, The infamous However... the NDA government in its previous tenure punished more than 50,000 criminals, which included 120 criminals who were sentenced to the gallows and 10,000 were sentenced to life imprisonment. And this led to the stability and reduction in crime in the state."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Pakistain's right-wing Islamic Party, the Jamat-e-Islami, Sunday staged a sit-in rally against the presence of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. Of course they're against a U.S. presence in Afghanistan. THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE!
Jamat chief Syed Munnawar Hasan told a fairly large public meeting, attended by over 10,000 people, "We oppose the 'New World Order.' This order is meant to divide and harm Mohammedan countries." Actually they prefer the Olde Worlde Order, ca. 622 A.D.
He also said that the party opposes the ongoing military operations in Pakistain and Afghanistan. These operations do not eliminate terrorism, but instead have increased incidents of terrorism.
Hasan said the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have not ended the scourge of terror, but is the root cause of militancy and terrorism in Mohammedan countries.
He said the Jamat-e-Islami would launch a countrywide movement against these military operations because these operations have entailed dronezaps inside Pakistain, harmed Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and as a result Pakistain are imposed with corrupt and incompetent rulers.
He said after these military operations were launched the rule of law too was violated. "Many innocent citizens have gone missing," he said.
Hasan said his party was also opposed to the Reformed General Sales Tax. "If Mian Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... wants to oppose the RGST then his party-led government in Punjab can easily reject it in the Punjab Assembly."
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, former head of the Jamat-e-Islami, in his speech said terrorism was a direct byproduct of US aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said, "We will oppose further military operations inside Pakistain. There is no question of a military operation in North Wazoo."
He said peaceful negotiations was the only way out to resolve issues relating to Afghanistan.
The meeting was also addressed by Dr. Afia's sister Dr. Fauzia and provincial heads of the Jamat-e-Islami.
A four-page declaration was issued at the end of the daylong sit-in Sunday demanding end of assassination in Bloody Karachi and Baluchistan, freedom for Dr. Afia Siddiqui, end of military operations in Pakistain's tribal agencies, solidarity with the people of Kashmire and Paleostine, and stemming attempts to erode the base of Pakistain - that is Islam, end of unprecedented corruption by coalition governments at federal and provincial levels, urgent provision of relief assistance to flood-affected people, establishment of rule of law in Pakistain, urgent recovery of 'missing persons', introduction of pro-people economic policies, removal of corrupt rulers and restitution of Pakistain's independence, illusory sovereignty and an immediate end to dronezaps in Pakistain.
The secretary-general of the Jamat, Liaquat Baloch, initially led a caravan of thousands of dedicated activists to the front of the Parliament building chanting slogans.
Astroturf!
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Girls now go to school in this mountain town and the military patrols keep security. But Saira Bibi's eyes still flash with pain and anger through the small gap in her veil as she recounts how the Taliban who once ruled here dragged her from home and flogged in front of her neighbors.
It didn't matter that she always wore a body-covering burqa, nor that she rarely left her mud-brick home. It didn't matter that her conservative in-laws scoffed at the accusation she was an adulterer. To the snuffies who had taken over her tiny town above Pakistain's Swat Valley, a rumor was enough.
"They came and took me to the school, where 150 or 200 people had been gathered. They pushed me to the ground and hit me 15 times," says Bibi, 30, holding her 1-year-old son as he reaches for the safety pin keeping her veil in place. Her right hand fidgets under the fabric as she recalls her humiliation nearly two years ago.
Bibi is one of the first women to openly speak about being publicly punished during the Pak Taliban's rule over this resort area. Her tale is a painful reminder of how Swat's conservative, ethnic Pashtun culture descended into harsh theocratic rule that banned girls from school, women from markets and executed anyone who resisted.
An iconic video of a flogging much like Bibi describes helped galvanize Pak public support for last year's army offensive that finally drove the Taliban out of the Swat Valley, following several failed peace deals with the krazed killers. The footage of the beating was shown repeatedly on national television, stirring outrage among many who were getting their first up-close glimpse of the Taliban's brutality.
More than a year since the offensive, life is starting to resemble normal in Swat. Schoolgirls again flock giggling on the streets of the main city, Mingora. Veiled women shop for food and clothes. Most of the 2 million who decamped Taliban oppression and the fighting to oust them have returned.
"Our enrollment is increasing all the time," says Anwar Sultan, principal of the state-run Saidu Sharif girls' high school in Mingora. A loudspeaker recites Koranic verses as some 1,500 teenagers pour into the courtyard, some wearing high heels with their traditional tunics and bright shawls.
But not everything is as it was. Soldiers now stand on street corners and at checkpoints. The jagged mountain trail leading to Bibi's village of Ashar Band is strewn with the rubble of damaged buildings. Some 300 schools the Taliban burned in the region have not yet been rebuilt. Occasional attacks -- a raid on a checkpoint last month maimed one soldier -- remind residents that militancy is still a threat.
The Taliban takeover of Swat, which was near-total by 2008, came as a shock to many Paks accustomed to thinking of the hard boyz as far away, a mostly Afghan movement fighting American troops across the border. No one expected the homegrown version to start beheading people in a middle-class honeymoon destination only 175 miles (280 kilometers) away from Islamabad, the capital.
Many in the area were initially supportive when Swat Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah began preaching hard-line Islam over local radio. Some women even donated their jewelry to the cause, according to Sultan, the school principal. But over the months, gunnies started roaming through the area, meting out harsh punishment for anyone who opposed them and driving out local authorities.
Bibi was one of dozens of women who fell victim to the krazed killers' zeal. On the porch of the couple's tiny dirt-floor home, Bibi and her husband, Fazal-e-Azim, say a vindictive cousin spread the false rumor she was unfaithful while Azim was working in another city.
Punishment was swift, even though Azim's own family argued her innocence.
"I only wish the same punishment for the people who unjustly punished my wife," Azim says.
Villager Sharif Khan, 70, recalls being forced at gunpoint to watch Bibi being beaten repeatedly with a stick, along with other villagers rounded up to the area.
"I felt sorry for her," Khan says. "But we were all helpless."
With the military now in control, the army has made efforts to improve lives of women in Swat. Among the initiatives outside Mingora is a vocational training center, where women study embroidery, glass-painting, hairstyling and other work they can do at home.
"According to our culture, women may make clothes or crafts to sell, but they do all this inside their homes, not outside," explains Uzma Nawaz, the center's 27-year-old director.
As for Bibi and Azim, they are moving on with their lives. Sitting by a cradle hanging from the rough-log roof beams, Bibi eyes soften as she nods to confirm she is pregnant again. She doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl, or what the family will do if the hard boyz return, as some still fear in the valley.
Her husband, however, answers firmly.
"If the Taliban return," he says. "We will leave."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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KARBALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Around 25,000 security elements will implement the security plan during Ashuraa visit, next month, a media source said on Monday. Something will still go kaboom ...
The police department in Karbala mapped out a plan, with the participation of 25,000 security elements to be distributed throughout the province during Ashuraa, Major Alaa al-Ghanemi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Ashuraa is an occasion marking the death of Imam al-Hussein, the prophet Muhammads grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar).
Thousands of Shiite Muslims from all over Iraq and neighboring countries head to Imam Husseins tomb in Karbala as well as to Shiite shrines in other provinces to celebrate the occasion.
Karbala lies 108 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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The United States on Tuesday abandoned its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, officials said, dealing a blow to efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
President Barack Obama brokered the direct talks that were relaunched in September but broke down over the issue of settlements built on captured land that Palestinians seek for a state.
"We reached the conclusion this is not the time to renew direct negotiation by renewing the moratorium," a senior U.S. diplomat told reporters in Israel, ending weeks of intense U.S. diplomacy aimed at forging a settlement deal. First he caves on taxes, now this. Nice job, Bambie. Nice job.
THE rift between Israel and Turkey may be on the way to resolution.
This is according to a report yesterday on the US-sponsored Arabic-language television network al-Hura.
The report said an Israeli negotiator, meeting this week with a senior Turkish diplomat in Geneva, had agreed to Istanbul's demands that Israel apologise for the killing of nine Turkish activists last May when a flotilla of civilian vessels attempted to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Israel had also agreed, the report said, to Turkey's demand that it pay compensation to the families of the dead. Both sides have confirmed a meeting of their representatives in Geneva.
The Tel Aviv daily Ha'aretz quotes Turkish diplomatic sources as saying the discussions have been "very positive".
#1
Bad move on Israel's part. After all, in addition to sponsoring a shipload of terrorists, Turkey has been aiding Iran's quest for nuclear weapons. Not at all the kind of people who should get the blackmail money they demanded... unless the Mossad is using the meetings as an opportunity to get into Turkey's phone and computer systems...
#2
I don't know if it's a bad move. The two countries have been getting along until just recently. Israel doesn't need any more enemies, and having Turkey as a friend, or at least as a semi-friendly non-enemy, has certain advantages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2010 14:53 Comments ||
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#3
I don't like the idea of paying blood money to violent terrorist sympathizers.
YouTube, the video- sharing site owned by Google, is employing additional people to help review content before and after it goes live, following a spate of al-Qaeda videos which it was forced to take down.
[Iran Press TV] Hezbullies says it will oppose any indictment by the US-sponsored tribunal charged with investigating former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri's liquidation back in 2005.
Hezbullies will react to any indictment from the US-backed Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) which is aimed at incriminating the Resistance, That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... Hassan Fadlallah, Hezbullies's MP in the Lebanese parliament, said on Sunday.
The warning comes while the STL is expected to announce its initial findings regarding Hariri's murder on February 14, 2005 in a massive bomb kaboom in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The tribunal, which is heavily funded by the United States, is widely viewed as misled by false testimonies from Western-backed elements against Hezbullies and Syria.
The issue has caused a rift among Lebanese factions as calls for the prosecution of the false witnesses and those criminal masterminding the attempt to mislead the probe into Hariri's killing fall on a deaf ear.
Leb's pro-Western factions, including Prime Minister Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal party, accuse Hezbullies and the Syrian government of involvement in Hariri's murder.
The incumbent prime minister, however, admitted early in September that the allegations about his father's death were erroneous and politically motivated.
In a televised speech in August, Hezbullies Secretary General Seyyed Hassan presented footage taken by Israeli drones of the routes frequented by late Hariri prior to his liquidation.
The resistance movement later handed in the evidence it had unveiled to STL.
But the tribunal said the evidence Hezbullies delivered through the Lebanese prosecutor general's office was "incomplete," and requested that the Lebanese authorities provide the remaining material -- without specifying what evidence was missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Mustaqbal MP Atef Majdalani on Monday accused the Hizbullah-led Opposition of crippling the Government, stressing the need to convene Cabinet.
He said Cabinet should convene to discuss forest fires, appointments and other pending issues.
"I do not know when the Syrian-Saudi efforts could achieve results. But what I see is very painful," Majdalani told the Voice of Leb radio station.
"The other team is violating the Constitution by imposing its agenda," he said, stressing that it is the Prime Minister, in consultation with the President, who plans Cabinet agendas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Leb warned "Iran telecom" was taking over the country after uncovering a secret communications network used by Hizbullah two years ago, a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks showed on Monday.
The Beirut government was shocked at the discovery in April 2008 of the extensive communications system used by the powerful Shiite party, which receives military and financial support from Iran, according to the cable.
Leb passed on information about the fibre optics network -- allegedly financed by Tehran -- to the U.S. and Soddy Arabia, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy was "stunned" by the discovery, according to the correspondence revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Marwan Hamadeh, the Lebanese minister of communications, warned the U.S. charge d'affaires of the risks after Hizbullah indicated it would see any action against the telecoms network as "equal to an Israeli act of aggression," said the cable.
According to the correspondence, the minister highlighted "the system as a strategic victory for Iran, since it creates an important Iranian outpost in Leb, bypassing Syria.
"He sees the value for the Iranians as strategic, rather than technical or economic."
But for Hizbullah it was "the final step in creating a nation state," according to the cable.
"Hizbullah now has an army and weapons; a television station; an education system; hospitals; social services; a financial system; and a telecommunications system."
Hamadeh described the U.S. cable quoting him as "a story full of slanders and fabrications" and declined to comment further, according to the Guardian, citing Lebanese media.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If the US was serious about things, it could easily create propaganda to advance the notion, which at least might be partially true, that Hezbollah plans to take over Lebanon, and *then* systematically exterminate everyone else.
That is, genocide, and no bones about it.
This would be to make clear to everybody else in Lebanon that hiding from, ignoring, cooperating with, or doing anything but fighting Hezbollah will end up with all of them: men, women and children, dead and buried.
That there is no other choice: crush Hezbollah or die.
(KUNA) -- Only days ahead of the visit here by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, La Belle France said that it continues to call on Damascus to cooperate with the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with regard to alleged nuclear sites or activities in Syria.
Al-Assad arrives in Gay Paree on Thursday to take part in a "working lunch" with President Nicolas Sarkozy and to discuss bilateral and regional questions.
But this has not shaken La Belle Frances determination to urge Syria to fully disclose information on its nuclear programmes or intentions to the IAEA.
"The last report of the Director-General of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published on November 23 last, shows that several questions, notably on the nature of the Dair Alzour site, remain pending," the French Foreign Ministry said here.
The Dair Alzour site was bombed by Israeli jets in September 2007 after accusations Syria was collaborating with North Korea to develop a nuclear program there. Syria denied the accusations.
"La Belle France continues to call on Syria to cooperate fully with the IAEA," Foreign Ministry front man Bernard Valero.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2010 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.
CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubaraks party won 419 of 508 seats in parliamentary polls, the electoral commission said Monday after the opposition cried foul and monitors charged the vote was marred by fraud.
Egyptian authorities leaving no stone unturned in bid to discover mysterious shark attacks which left German tourist dead. 'Mossad plot not out of the question,' says South Sinai governor
THE elusive head of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by British police in relation to an international warrant issued by Sweden over alleged sex offences there.
[Arab News] Pakistain's right-wing Islamic Party, the Jamat-e-Islami, Sunday staged a sit-in rally against the presence of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The United States on Tuesday abandoned its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, officials said, dealing a blow to efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
