[Bangla Daily Star] BNP policymakers are not interested in making any deal with its ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four-party governing coalition.... for backing pro-Jamaat candidates in the municipality polls scheduled for January 12.
Following strong opposition from many leaders in the main opposition party, both parties failed to reach a consensus on this, sources said.
Party insiders, however, said the BNP top leadership is not interested in Jamaat, which wants BNP's backing for pro-Jamaat mayoral candidates in at least 40 municipalities, considering the current political situation.
BNP central directed leaders of only two municipalities--Gagni of Meherpur and Sundarganj of Gaibandha--to support the pro-Jamaat mayoral candidates there.
Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) gave unconditional support to BNP-backed mayoral candidates across the country while Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... (IOJ), another ally of BNP, will get support from its allies in Sunamganj municipality. BNP and Jamaat do not have anyone to support there.
When asked about which candidates BNP grassroots are to support, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party's local units would decide on this as it is a local government election.
Jamaat acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, who recently met the BNP chairperson along with Jamaat acting chief Moqbul Ahmed, said they did not seek BNP support for the pro-Jamaat candidates in the municipality elections.
"We did not discuss this issue as there is nothing to seek support for. It's a local government election and we will make decisions on our own," he told The Daily Star.
However, The infamous However... BNP insiders said Jamaat did try to get BNP support for 40 pro-Jamaat candidates and BNP chief Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... had also asked for a list of those candidates, who Jamaat claimed were very likely to secure victory.
Jamaat even sent a list of 24 candidates but the BNP decided not to back them, they said.
Talking to The Daily Star, a BNP leader said pro-Jamaat candidates have prospect in winning in 10 municipalities at best but due to the current political situation [hinting at the trial of war criminals], BNP backed off from lending them support.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Brazil has apparently become the fifth largest economy in the world, or something, and is feeling quite too big for its britches.
BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday turned down an extradition demand for an Italian ex-militant, Cesare Battisti, considered a "terrorist" by Rome for murders committed in the 1970s.
Read on and you'll see that he's a terrorist without the scoff quotes...
Another of those vicious Sixty-Eighters?
The decision, announced by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, came on Lula's last day in office, and in the wake of warnings from Italy that it would see such a move as "unacceptable."
"The president today took the decision to not agree to the extradition of Italian citizen Cesare Battisti on the basis of a report by the attorney general," Amorim told reporters.
"This type of judgement does not constitute an affront from one country to another," he said, reading from an official statement.
Yes, it does. A very deliberate one.
Battisti, 56, has spent three decades on the run in France, Mexico and finally Brazil, where he has been in jail since 2007 pending the result of the Italian extradition request.
Lula's government last year tried to declare Battisti a refugee, prompting Rome to withdrew its ambassador in protest, but Brazil's Supreme Court overturned that designation as illegal. It said a bilateral extradition treaty should apply, but that Lula would have to make a final decision.
Battisti, who made a new career as a crime novelist while living in France, has said he is innocent of the murder charges against him, and claims he is the victim of "political" persecution in Italy.
On Thursday, Italy warned a refusal to extradite Battisti would be "absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable."
Except, of course, that Italy can't do anything about it...
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said he would back "boycott initiatives" against Brazil, and called a refusal by Lula "a huge wound in bilateral relations."
Brazil's biggest trading partner is now China, the U.S. having fallen to number two. No doubt they'll get their racing cars from some country other than Italy.
Italy has reacted angrily to suggestions Battisti faced persecution if extradited.
Rome considers Battisti a "terrorist" for his membership in the Armed Proletariat for Communism, a radical and armed left-wing group that killed several people in the 1970s. He was found guilty in absentia for the group's 1978-1979 murders of a prison guard, a special investigator of terrorist organizations, a butcher and a jeweler, and in 1993 was sentenced to life in prison.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to "leave no stone unturned to obtain Battisti's extradition."
Battisti's life on the run from Italian authorities has taken him across several countries and seen him start a new career as a writer. Initially jailed in Italy in 1981 on charges of belonging to an armed group, Battisti escaped that same year and fled to France then Mexico.
When France adopted a law giving refuge to repentant militants, he returned to that country and started a new career as a successful crime novelist.
Notoriety is a great help to a novelist. With it, he needn't even be able to write.
Following Italy's murder conviction against him and France's decision to no longer protect him, he fled to Brazil in 2004 with the help of sympathizers -- among them, he said, French intelligence agents. In 2007, Battisti was arrested in Rio de Janeiro and transferred to the Brasilia jail.
Lula's decision leaves a diplomatic headache for his successor, Dilma Rousseff, who takes over from Saturday. But there was little chance of her going back on Lula's decision.
A former Marxist militant who joined Lula's Workers Party, Rousseff herself spent two years being tortured in jail in the early 1970s for fighting Brazil's then military dictatorship.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
surprised Norman Mailer's not listed as a mentor...
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2011 12:50 Comments ||
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[Chosun Ilbo] North Korean commandos are training to occupy South Korea's five northernmost islands in the West Sea in an emergency, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday. Quoting a Chinese source familiar with North Korea, the broadcaster said sharpshooters under the North's Navy Command and the General Bureau of Reconnaissance have been conducting the drills in waters off Nampo since mid-December.
The source claimed they were ordered by leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir Jong-un.
They belong to an elite unit that invariably ranks first or second in the People's Armed Forces' combat evaluation. Troops are said to practice swimming in full combat gear for 40 minutes even in midwinter.
The source said the aim is to dampen the South Korean military's determination to firmly respond to any North Korean provocations or attacks after the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November.
If North Korean troops take civilians hostage on the five islands, it would be difficult for South Korean and U.S. forces to strike back, the source speculated.
The source claimed an operational plan has the North's Army Corps firing coastal artillery at the five islands on a moonless night and special forces landing in hovercraft and occupying the islands.
But a South Korean government official denied the report. "It's true that North Korean troops are training in waters off Nampo, but we believe that their drills are part of routine winter drills, not practicing landing on the five West Sea islands," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
If North Korean troops take civilians hostage on the five islands, it would be difficult for South Korean and U.S. forces to strike back, the source speculated.
Might be difficult to take them back for awhile. Maybe not so difficult to cut them off and starve them.
A Swedish man arrested in Denmark suspected of plotting a terrorism against Jyllands-Posten has close ties to two men convicted in Sweden of terror-related crimes.
According to Aftonbladet, Munir Awad had shared an apartment in Stockholm with two men who were convicted in December in Gothenburg. The two men, Elias Billé Mohamed, 26, and Mohamoud Jama, 23, were sentenced to four years in prison after finding that they were ready to commit suicide bombings in the name al-Shabaab.
Oooh, connections! Our clever lads and lasses know what to do with those...
Meanwhile, an Iraqi asylum seeker who was also arrested in Denmark but is now released has claimed innocence.
"I am completely clean" he told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
The 26 year old says that he thought his apartment would be used by a Swede and his wife, but when he went to meet them, there were three men there instead.
*gasp* They lied?!? But they're jihadis, noble lions of Islam!
[Dawn] The Tehreek Namoos-i-Risalat has asked the government to dismiss Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and ask Sherry Rehman to resign from the National Assembly for their views against the blasphemy law.
The demand was made by Maulana Asad Thanvi at a presser at the Bloody Karachi Press Club on Thursday.
Qari Muhammad Usman of JUI-F, Muhammad Husain Mehnati of JI, Shabbir Abu Talib of JUP, Maulana Muhammad Salfi of JGA, Allama Jaffar Subhani of Tehreek-i-Islami, Muhammad Naseemuddin of Tanzeem-i-Islami, Allama Ghulam Yasin Golarvi of MJA, Rafique Butt of PML-N, Tariq Hasan of PML-Q, Qazi Ehsan Ahmad of AMTKN, Maulana Yusuf Qasuri of JA and Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqui of ASWJ attended the presser.
They called upon President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to disband a committee headed by Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti for recommending changes in the blasphemy law and make a categorical announcement that the government at no stage would try to amend the law and would carry out the sentence given by a court to Aasia Bibi.
"Sometimes the rulers talk about removing the words Islamic Theocratic Republic from the name of the state and at some other time they want to expunge from the Constitution articles related to Islam. And now their party's governor is talking about pardoning Aasia, who has been convicted by a court of committing blasphemy."
Similarly, Ms Sherry Rehman had submitted a bill in the National Assembly for amending the law, they said.
They said the present set-up had been pursuing the policies of the Musharraf government.
They appealed to businessmen to keep their shutters down and to transporters to keep their vehicles off the road on Friday.
Also on Thursday, addressing a presser in Islamabad, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) secretary general Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri urged the nation, particularly traders to make the strike a success to give a message to the rulers that any amendment to the blasphemy law would not be tolerated.
He said the JUI-F would strongly resist any move to amend the law.
He said that although Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Shah had said that the law would neither be repealed nor amended, the assurance should have come either from President Asif Ali Zardari or Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
"Unless it is done, we are not ready to trust the government," he remarked.
The JUI-F leader regretted that so far no action had been taken against Salman Taseer and Sherry Rehman.
He said Aasia Bibi should prove herself innocent in a court of law because no authority, including the president or prime minister could pardon a blasphemy convict.
Senator Haideri said that the JUI-F would hold a big rally in Bloody Karachi on Jan 2 which had been supported by the Pakistain Mohammedan League-N.
He said an all parties conference on "Tahafuze Namoos-i-Risalat" would be held in Bloody Karachi on Jan 9. He said that all political parties, except the PPP, MQM and ANP, had been invited to attend the conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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How terribly clever that man is. No wonder he ended up at the top.
[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Friday sought help from the parliamentarians to make appropriate laws to curb terrorism and appealed to the PML-N and MQM leaders to show maturity.
He was addressing the National Assembly today. The prime minister pointed out that most bully boyz walked away due to lack of adequate laws to deal with the menace.
The PM said that foreign media was trying to taint the image of Pak institutions by giving false news.
Taking the National Assembly into confidence on the news items reported by foreign media about security agencies of the country, he said Pak security agencies have no need to violate human rights. ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
"If our agencies have to violate human rights then they would have asked us in meetings to make the anti bully boyz law ineffective," he asserted.
He said Anti Terrorist Act needed to be improved because thousands of bully boyz who were apprehended by the law enforcement agencies were bailed out from the courts and again indulged in terrorist activities.
"I will not blame the judiciary but we have to improve the Anti Terrorist Act," he said adding that bully boyz have killed thousands of innocent people and personnel of security agencies.
He called for making the anti terrorist law more effective to ensure zero tolerance for anti- state elements.
He said foreign media wants to defame Pak institutions by giving an impression that Pak agencies are violating human rights.
Gilani said Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance but the foreign media tried to portray wrong image of the religion and Pakistain as well.
Referring to heated arguments between two political parties of the country, he said: "We have to show political maturity and avoid saying anything about politicianship. The politicianship is very respectable".
He said media also have a major responsibility in this regard and it should report facts so that the facts may not be distorted.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How about 'Ineffective PMs (and other 'leaders) Helping Terrorists' as the real headline????
[Iran Press TV] Businesses close down across Pakistain in a strike called by religious parties to pressure the government over plans to amend a blasphemy law.
It's the Land of the bloody Pure. They can't back down now, just because a couple of infidels are unhappy.
Pakistain's religious groups had called for a national strike to block any amendment to the law. Reports say markets remained closed and roads deserted in the cities of Bloody Karachi, Lahore, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Friday.
Demonstrators have warned that any move seeking to alter the existing blasphemy law would unleash a wave of nationwide protests.
"We will not allow the government to bring about any change in the blasphemy law. If it tried to do so, we would send it packing," Hafiz Hamdullah, a local leader of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party, told supporters in the southwestern city of Quetta.
Experts say the strike had more to do with politics than religion.
The strike went ahead though officials said the government had no intention to amend the controversial law.
Former Information Minister Sherry Rehman from the ruling Pakistain People's Party made public fury when she lodged a bill seeking to abolish the death penalty for blasphemy.
The Islamabad government says some political groups were misusing this law against minorities.
The recent row has also triggered a political crisis in the south Asian country which has been run by Pakistain People's Party since 2008.
The developments come at a time when the Islamabad government is trying to tackle the growing militancy and economic crisis in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Federal Interior Minister has denied a report, published in a section of press, that the plot for liquidation of Benazir Bhutto was hatched at a brigadier's home, Geo News reported.
Talking to mediamen at Jinnah International Airport here Friday, Malik asserted that plot was hatched at the house a terrorist whose name would be disclosed at appropriate time.
He termed the news item, published in a section of press on Friday, as baseless. He added that there is complete understanding between civil and military leadership.
Interior Minister said that legal action would be taken against the paper for publishing a fake story.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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BRUSSELS - At least 94 journalists died in violence this year, the International Federation of Journalists said Friday, adding that Pakistan was the most dangerous place in 2010 for media workers.
Journalists and media personnel remain prime targets for political extremists, gangsters and terrorists, the Brussels-based organisation said in a report, adding that another three died in accidents over the past 12 months.
The death toll came at the hands of targeted killings, bomb attacks and crossfire incidents, it said.
In 2009, the total was 139 journalists.
The IFJ said 15 media workers died in Pakistan this year, adding that the majority of the annual fatalities comprised victims of violence connected to the insurgency war in Pakistan, the drug war in Mexico as well as the political unrest in Honduras.
Much as we'd be tempted to make fun of this -- for example, saying that 94 dead journalists would be a 'good start' -- it's a serious matter. We at the Burg depend on news from around the world to understand the War on Terror, and it's those very reporters who provide that news who are most at risk, whereas the average reporter at WaPo or the NYT isn't at risk for anything more than being stuck for a lunch tab with a politician. I thank the reporters at places like the Pakistan Daily Times for being brave enough to get out there and report the basic news.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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A war zone is a dangerous place. Wandering around in one is not conducive to longevity. Those who enter such a place to do honest work are very brave souls indeed. Those who have taken a brave stand and made enemies out of the 'wrong' sorts of people I also respect and the ones who have paid the ultimate price for doing so, i mourn.
Most of the rest of them not so much.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
01/01/2011 7:17 Comments ||
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A considerable reduction from the 139 killed in 2009. 40% smaller pool in dangerous places? Dangerous places less dangerous to journalists? Journalists learning safer behaviors for dangerous places?
BAGHDAD - The number of civilian deaths this year from violence in Iraq is set to be the lowest since the 2003 US-led invasion, according to a preliminary report released on Thursday by a monitoring group.
Iraq Body Count (IBC), an independent Britain-based group, put the number of civilian deaths in Iraq as of December 25 at 3,976, down 704 from 4,680 in 2009. But it also noted that attacks remain common across much of the country. The group will release final statistics for 2010 after the end of the year.
An AFP tally based on data released by the Iraqi defence, interior and health ministries shows 2,416 civilians were killed until the end of November 2010, compared with 2,800 for all of 2009. Government figures for December are not yet available.
This is a good indication, though it does not reach the required level, Ali Moussawi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, said when asked about the IBC report.
We hope to eliminate all the danger that threatens civilians, especially terrorist attacks, he said.
There was a big improvement in security in 2010, Iraqi defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed Al Askari said. Unfortunately, there were still victims of attacks.
David Ranz, the spokesman for the US embassy in Baghdad, said: While violence remains a significant challenge for the new government, the statistics reflect the growing capacity of the ISF (Iraqi security forces) to provide stability and security for the citizens of Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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how does this number measure up to the days of Saddam and the plastic shredder?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
01/01/2011 7:19 Comments ||
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Abu,
Even the days before the Surge did not equal "Mr. Plastic Shredder".
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/01/2011 14:32 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] The US will most likely veto a UN Security Council draft resolution demanding a halt to all Israel settlements activities in Paleostinian territories, an expert says.
The resolution, drafted by Paleostinians and Arabs, is due to come before the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council in January, when Bosnia takes the UN bodies rotating presidency from the United States.
"I think it is very predictable what is going to happen, and that is despite this very fine resolution that is going to make its way again to public purview, the Israeli lobby has such a strangle hold on the American electoral process and on Capitol Hill specifically and in the American media that the United States is going to support Israel regardless of what they do or how illegal or irresponsible their conduct become," San Antonio-based political analyst Mark Dankof told Press TV in an interview on Thursday.
"The United States can say anything that it wants to of course about its opposition to the Israeli illegal settlements, but when push comes to shove, the United States will veto this resolution because of the power of the Israeli lobby," Dankof added.
Direct talks between Israel and the Paleostinians, launched on September 2, broke down three weeks later after a 10-month Israeli moratorium on settlement building expired.
Tel Aviv has refused to renew it and continues the construction in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds.
On December 15, the vaporous Arab League announced it would seek a Security Council resolution against Israel, ordering a total freeze to Israeli settlements.
It also called on the United States, which has vetoed resolutions against Israel in the past, not to obstruct such a move.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has said the imperialist powers have spent $7.7 billion over the past several years to fund efforts to undermine Irans Islamic system.
Moslehi noted that foreigners, and especially British intelligence agencies, played a role in the political unrest of 2009, adding, The global arrogance (imperialist powers) has spent $7.7 billion over the past few years to subvert the Islamic system.
He went on to say that the issue of the sedition of 2009 should be addressed cautiously, but implicitly ruled out the possibility of arresting the leaders of the sedition in the near future.
They want to be arrested, because they seek to become national heroes, so the government should deal with the issue prudently, he stated.
During the sedition of last year, some revolutionary figures who played some roles before and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution questioned the structure of the religious system and the revolution, and now they have shown their true nature, he said.
Meanwhile, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi has again reassured the loyalists of the Islamic Revolution that the leaders of the sedition of 2009 will be put on trial.
The leaders of the sedition are guilty, and the charges (against them) will certainly be heard in a court, Jafari Dolatabadi said in Tehran on Friday.
They will certainly be tried, but because the United States and the Zionist regime supported the seditionists during the political unrest that followed the June 2009 presidential election, officials should take action more cautiously so that the seditionists are not able to find an opportunity to resume their protests, he said.
He went on to say that the seditionist leaders are charged with starting the green movement, carrying out seditious actions, undermining national security, and attempting to topple the system through claiming election fraud, so a heavy punishment is awaiting them.
The charges (against) the leaders of the sedition are more serious than they think, and when we issue their indictments, they will realize it, he stated.
The Tehran prosecutor general said certain opposition leaders have said they will end their activities against the Islamic system if some conditions are met, but we announce that it is the Islamic system that sets conditions for them.
First, they must stop their seditious activities against the system, and second, they must stand trial, he explained.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Judiciary official said that even one day of the seditious activities of 2009 could have overthrown any system, but the Islamic system did not give in and managed to put down the sedition.
[Iran Press TV] Iran's Islamic theocracy Guard Corps (IRGC) has scoffed at allegations of a rift between the army and the government as a "ridiculous" move by British media outlets.
A recent report by the state-funded BBC quoted an alleged diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, claiming the chief of the army had clashed with President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad at a meeting during the 2009 post-election unrest.
"These are the same media [outlets], which claim impartiality but reported the events on [the day of] Ashura of 1388 (2009) by claiming that Tehran is falling and reported the multi-million strong turnout on Dey 9 [December 30 the same year] as numbering to a few hundred thousands," Lieutenant General Ramezan Sharif told Fars News Agency on Friday.
"British, American and Zionist websites have been reporting about the close and unconditional mutual support between the IRGC and the government, and at points falsely claimed that the IRGC was cracking down on the government's opponents," recalled the general.
"But today, for protecting their benefits, they invent the ridiculous allegation of a rift between the IRGC chief and the president. Which one of these reports is true?" he questioned.
Regarding the release of US State Department cables, the IRGC official said those who designed WikiLeaks and threw it into the spotlight are using the website to create trends to which best serve their interests.
He did not rule out the accuracy of all reports concerning the US and other Western powers publicized by the website, but said, "It so appears that its directors are seeking to take advantage of the false reports they publish amidst others."
Given the enemy's failure to impair the close ties between the Medes and the Persians and the country's Islamic establishment, such reports lack truth and credibility and are aimed at misleading the public opinion, Sharif stated, but vowed resistance against enemy plots.
"The arrogant powers should know that [the Iranian] people and all organizations are all standing behind the Leadership and are against the UK, US and Zionist enemies and the seditionists inside [the country] and like the past 32 years will not leave any room for the enemy to infiltrate [the country]." "Saddam, we will defend you with our blood!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian holy man says after their defeat in the 2009 election the heads of sedition tried to hurt the establishment by starting rumors of vote fraud and drawing people to the streets.
"The great epic of December 30 (Dey 9) is the day of amity with the [Islamic] Revolution and pledging allegiance to the Leader, and the day of expressing resentment towards the enemies," IRNA quoted Tehran's interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami as saying.
He was referring to the turnout of millions of demonstrators across Iran on December 30, 2009, when people condemned anti-government protests, rioting and claims of vote fraud -- allegations ruled out by the country's legislative and election officials.
Ayatollah Khatami described weeks of unrest as part of a plot by the enemy who tried to draw people to the street with false accusations and deliver a blow to the Islamic establishment.
The holy man criticized the disregard of the rioters for Islamic and Shia sanctities and the desecration of the mourning ceremonies marking the martyrdom of the third Shia Imam, Hussein (PTUI!), on the 10th day of Muharram, known as Ashura.
"The seditionists made mischief on that day (Ashura) and did not allow the people to peacefully commemorate Imam Hussein (PTUI!)," he complained.
Ayatollah Khatami further described the instigators of the riots as "power-hungry" people who turned a blind eye to the "national interests of Iranians and all virtues."
"The December 30 epic of was able to foil the plots hatched by the seditionists and bring the sedition movement closer to drawing its last breath," he said.
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01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Reports say the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, has collaborated with American and British intelligence to carry out the liquidation of Iranian scientists in Tehran.
Suuuure they did. Along with the squirrels.
Mossad conducted the liquidations "with the help of the CIA and MI6," The Jerusalem Post reported, citing independent French weekly Le Canard enchaine.
It was the Nigerians, in retaliation for what Iran has been doing in their country.
Intelligence sources told the influential French weekly that the liquidations were part of Israeli plots aimed at sabotaging Iran's nuclear program.
On November 29, unidentified gun-hung tough guys detonated bombs in the vehicles of Majid Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi -- both professors at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran.
Professor Shahriari was killed immediately, but Dr. Abbasi and his wife sustained minor injuries and were transferred to a hospital and later released.
Iran has blamed Israel and Western powers for the terrorist attacks.
In October, renowned French daily Le Figaro revealed that Mossad is responsible for the disappearance or death of Iranian scientists and a computer malware that recently targeted Iranian computer systems. The Stuxnet worm is a bug designed to infect computers using Siemens Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) -- a control system favored by industries that manage water supplies, oil rigs, and power plants.
Iranian experts say the worm may have been created by a state-sponsored organization in the United States or Israel to target specific control software used in Iran's industrial sector, including the Bushehr plant -- the country's first nuclear power plant.
Le Canard enchaine also claimed that the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Britain's MI6 helped Israel develop the Stuxnet worm to sabotage Iran's nuclear facilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
We see you when you're sleeping. We know when you're awake.
We're everywhere, boys. Everywhere...
Posted by: The MOSSAD ||
01/01/2011 11:47 Comments ||
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TEHRAN, Iran - Tehrans chief prosecutor said on Friday it was only a matter of time before opposition leaders are put on trial for the unrest following the disputed 2009 presidential election, the latest sign that Iranian authorities may make a potentially explosive escalation of their crackdown.
They'll string this out for a while longer, the better to intimidate the opposition at home. It also becomes a bargaining chip at any 'negotiations' with the Euros and the US -- give us something and we'll let some of these people go. The Euros and Bambi, being soft, likely will go along.
Hundreds of opposition supporters have been arrested and tried in the fierce crackdown that crushed opposition protests in the wake of the election, which the opposition claimed hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
Not to mention the ones murdered...
So far, authorities have stopped short of trying to jail the reform movements top leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have been the real victor in the election, fellow candidate Mahdi Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami apparently out of concern it could spark a new wave of protests and fuel the opposition.
But a series of recent public warnings by hard-liners that they could be tried may be a sign that Irans Islamic clerical leadership believes the opposition has been sufficiently suppressed that their arrest would not bring a significant backlash.
I hope the good people of Iran have more spine than that.
On Friday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi told worshippers at Tehran University that the opposition leaders are criminals who sought to topple the ruling Islamic system through street protests.
Weve said many times ... that leaders of sedition are criminals and charges against them will be investigated. That they will stand trial is definite, Dowlatabadi said in his address, broadcast live on state radio.
They (opposition leaders) undermined public trust in the system ... and disrupted security in the country. Heavy punishment awaits them, Dowlatabadi said. But since their backing is connected to the dirty hands of the U.S. and the Zionists, we need to handle the case with more care.
The repeated warnings may have a double aim to discredit the opposition leaders as criminals in the eyes of the public and to test the waters to see if their arrest would prompt a new wave of protests. Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami are already barred from leaving the country. Though no travel ban had been officially announced, Khatami was forbidden to travel to Japan in April to attend a conference on dialogue between cultures.
Mousavi and Karroubi said earlier this month that they are already living in a big prison and didnt care if they were put behind bars in a small prison for defending the trampled rights of the Iranian nation.
That's a good turn of phrase...
Mousavi recently likened Irans ruling system to a North Korean style dictatorship with a few cosmetic democratic gestures and criticized the disputed June 2009 election as a coup against democracy.
Last week, State Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi indicated that the countrys political leadership is debating whether to arrest the three, pointing to considerations ... at the top level.
There are considerations about arresting the sedition leaders, Ejehi told reporters. Rest assured that should these considerations clear it, we wont postpone their arrest until tomorrow. I would order the Tehran prosecutor to arrest them before sunset.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2011 00:00 ||
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A Tulsa man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly sending an intimidating letter to the Islamic Peace Academy and posting a video showing him desecrating a Koran, according to court records.
Threatening letters are not ok.
Jesse Quinn Harrison was charged on Tuesday with one count each of transmitting a threatening letter and malicious intimidation or harassment - a hate crime by Oklahoma statutes.
Harrison was accused of sending a nine page letter to the Islamic Peace Academy in Tulsa "with the intent to intimidate."
If it's more than five short paragraphs, just don't send it. You'll only have to apologize later.
He also made a video showing him "smearing pork on the Quran and an Islamic religious figure and grilling those items."
The charge states that the video was created to "produce violence directed to others because of their religious beliefs."
A man with the same name and address as those on the charges posted on Facebook a YouTube video that matches the one from the charges.
The video is attributed there to a "Rockwell Porter" - a name listed as an alias for Harrison.
The video juxtaposes images from 9/11 with the grilling of a Koran, a picture of an Islamic figure and two pork chops. After the items are grilled, they are placed on a bun and fed to a dog. Merle Haggard songs "The Fightin' Side of Me" and "Okie from Muskogee" are the background music.
At the end of the video, a tribute to Michele Heidenberger, a flight attendant who died when terrorists crashed her plane into the Pentagon, is shown.
The charges say that Harrison also uses Heidenberger's name as an alias.
The video and a brief message were posted by Harrison's account on several other Facebook pages, including those of the White House and the FBI.
In a Dec. 15 Facebook entry, Harrison threatens to "march on the Tulsa Islamic Mosque" on New Year's Eve.
Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of CAIR, said he was unaware of the details of the case, but he said more hostility toward Islam has recently worked its way into the mainstream.
"The rhetoric has not helped," Awad said. "It has forced people to take an extreme stance."
#1
"Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of CAIR, said he was unaware of the details of the case, but he said more hostility toward Islam has recently worked its way into the mainstream."
I do wonder why.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
01/01/2011 5:55 Comments ||
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#2
Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of CAIR, said he was unaware of the details of the case, but he said Islamic hostility has recently worked its way into the mainstream."
FTFY
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2011 13:31 Comments ||
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#5
Some drunk Okey burned a Koran and fed a hot dog to his dog is a hate Crime??? If the Fu()ing FBI were to spent half the time they spend of Drunks and dip wad preachers on real terrorist we just might be safe in this country!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/01/2011 18:43 Comments ||
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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.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has said the imperialist powers have spent $7.7 billion over the past several years to fund efforts to undermine Irans Islamic system. 
A senior Iranian 
