The United Nations has launched an investigation into why Afghan jobsworths police failed to stop a massacre of its staff by Muslim 'Kill Teams' protesters who broke into its Mazar-i-Sharif compound on Friday. Eyewitnesses said armed Afghan men whose sole interest lies in cashing their paychecks riot police soiled themselves in terror watched passively as a mob overran the compound. Video footage broadcast on Afghan television showed armed police in disarray, some firing in the air, while barbarians baying for blood protestors atop the security walls used cable-cutters to dismantle barbed wire and toppled a guard tower inside a compound corner. One protester was shown throwing a tantrum smashing a machine against a kerb in a fit of anger.
Police said their firing in the air and at the legs of some of the protesters had caused some to go one way, some to go another several thousand to flee but several hundred remained and overran the compound.
On any normal working day, there would have been 15 UN international staff and around 40 Afghan nationals working inside the compound, but on Friday, part of the Afghan weekly festival of mayhem and murder weekend, there were far fewer.
#1
Oh no! They have decided to launch an investigation! The Afghans responsible had better watch out, or the UN might hit them with a thoroughgoing study!
And, if the fecal matter hits the windsock, the UN might launch an aggressive subcommittee meeting and issue a pre-report on related cost effectiveness that will bring the killer to their knees!
#2
And the end result of the investigation will be a Strongly Worded Diplomatic Memorandum, which will not assign blame to anyone (except maybe the pastor who burned the Koran).
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/03/2011 9:35 Comments ||
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#3
All very, so very sad. We do not understand them, and they do not understand us or the "democracy" we are attempting to thrust upon them. The sooner we depart, the better for both parties involved. Nothing will change in Afghanistan. Little has ever changed. The butcher's bill for this disaster is a national disgrace, as are those who label it "the good war." The entire region isn't worth the life of a single 20 year old soldier. When we depart, and we eventually will, the tribes will return to their slaughter, narcotics running, smuggling, and kidnapping. It's what they do and have always done. Some things are beyond repair. Afghanistan is excellent example.
#4
Video footage broadcast on Afghan television showed armed police in disarray, some firing in the air, while protestors atop the security walls used cable-cutters to dismantle barbed wire and toppled a guard tower inside a compound corner.
But that would mean that the attack was planned, the protest used as cover and the cops either complicit or reluctant to "shoot their own" (or be targeted for later retribution). That concept would run counter to the existing group-think.
#6
The UN will end up blaming the pastor, methinks.
Strikes me that it is like blaming the rape victim for the rape. Like Besoeker says the Aghans would say: "Violence are us." (and always has been).
Personally, I think we should have said phueck em after 911 and removed the mountains from one end of Afghanistan to the other. Maybe northern Pakistan as well. If you are not winning the war, then you are not causing the other side enough pain.
#8
"The UN's chief envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, blamed Friday's violence in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif on the Florida pastor who burnt the Koran on 20 March.
'I don't think we should be blaming any Afghan,' Mr de Mistura said. 'We should be blaming the person who produced the news - the one who burned the Koran. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from offending culture, religion, traditions.'"
From the BBC. Those lynched deserve sympathy, but the UN is indeed full of predictably craven idiots. No, we can't blame the blood-soaked beheading monsters, let's point the finger of blame at some US priest who engages in archetypal non-violent protest.
President Barack Obama has denounced as "outrageous" the killings in Afghanistan that have been triggered by the burning of a Koran by a radical Christian preacher in the United States.
In a statement released by the White House, Obama says "the desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry." Bigotry is a subjective term. Jones expressed his extreme disapproval of Islam, but he did not interfere with anyone's access to the text of the Koran nor did he call for the Koran or Islam to be banned. Mere disapproval is not intolerance.
Oddly enough, what Rev. Jones did was hold a trial of the Koran. The prosecutor was a Christian convert from Islam, the defense attorney was a practicing imam, the jury watched and voted on-line, and the proceedings were live-streamed and recorded. Details here. To a Muslim supremacist, that unbelievers and apostates dared to put the Koran on trial ought to be a greater insult than that it was burnt.
However, the statement continues, "to attack and kill innocent people in response" to the burning of a Koran is "outrageous" and "an affront to human decency and dignity." It is also an example of bigotry and intolerance.
The U.S. president's statement adds that "no religion tolerates the slaughter and beheading of innocent people, and there is no justification for such a dishonorable and deplorable act." Some destructive cults like Aum Shinrikyo religions, like Islam in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, do mandate, not 'tolerate', the execution of those who have left said religion. That would be an example of intolerance and bigotry as well.
The burning of a copy of Koran reportedly occurred on March 20 in a small Florida church. Pastor Terry Jones outraged millions of Muslims last year when he announced plans to set fire to copies of the Koran on September 11.
Afghans learned about last month's reported Koran-burning when Karzai condemned the desecration of the Muslim holy book a few days afterward. Reminder: Karzai is a 'friend' and 'ally.'
Protests over the Koran burning have also taken place in the northern town of Sheberghan and the western city of Herat, but demonstrations there were peaceful.
Alem Rahmanyar, a Radio Islamofascistic
Free Afghanistan correspondent in Sheberghan, said some 1,000 people marched in the city on April 1, condemning the desecration of the Koran and demanding an apology from the pastor.
#1
It is also remarkable that Obama, the chief law enforcement officer of the US, speaking to a foreign audience did not mention important facts:
Personal opinion aside, Jones was exercising his free speech rights. What he did was perfectly legal.
It is one of the duties of the US Federal Government to protect the constitutional system in the US, American's constitutional rights and freedoms from outside interference.
This may be obvious to most Americans but it would have been news to the Afghans. Coming from Obama, this would have been a strong message.
#2
President Barack Obama has denounced as "outrageous" the killings in Afghanistan that have been triggered by the burning of a Koran by a radical Christian preacher in the United States.
ahhhh, but what did he say in arabic?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/03/2011 12:18 Comments ||
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#5
And for some additional perspective the US military did burn Bibles in Afghanistan with the intent to keep these books' message from the Afghan people.
Yes, these Bibles were sent unsolicited and proselytizing was against orders, but in the end the US gov burned Bibles as trash, instead of respectfully sending them back.
[Tolo News] Around 28 percent of Americans think the ongoing war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, according to the latest joint poll by the Washington Post and ABC News.
The poll finds Afghans are more optimistic about their future than Americans. Fifty nine percent of Afghans think their country is moving in the right direction.
Americans view Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... as illegitimate, incompetent and corrupt.
The reasons that have increased Afghans' optimism about their country's future would probably be the way they compare the past with the present.
There has been a significant increase in the number of children attending schools in Afghanistan. Now more than 8 million children, a third of them girls, attend schools compared to one million in 2001.
Afghans' access to communication has also increased with half of the population using mobile phone services.
Experts criticise the government over lacking proper approaches and said international community would also lose trust if the trend continues so.
"The government itself is responsible. Afghan government hasn't been able to introduce itself to the international community," Amrullah Aman, an Afghan political analyst, said.
The poll says Afghans are mostly troubled by mounting security challenges.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
I am more and more convinced that the Afghan war is not only unwinnable, but Pak land is a basket case. Pull out of both; let's keep some intelligence assets in both, but pull out people and $$$$.
Bolster India and rebuild Japan to help contain China.
#3
Pull out of both; let's keep some intelligence assets in both, but pull out people and $$$$.
I'd agree with this IF....
A) we had intelligence assets that were competent and reliable; and
B) the As & Ps would stay in the damn box.
If everyone that went to Afghan had stayed there we would not have had the problems we have. The dark age nutters, though, come and go to wreak havoc elsewhere.
#4
Termites. You still end up having the exterminator return for inspections and checks because the environment just breeds them. Like having to deal with enviro-winnies, you're not allowed to use the big stuff that will do the job once and for all because of the impact upon baby chickens, fluffy bunnies and unicorns.
#5
Relative peace could come to Afghanistan if two things took place.
1) Pakistan was unified under a single government that controlled every inch of the country. Likely a brutalitarian regime. With its territory expanded to cover Pushtun southern Afghanistan.
2) The area that is now known as Northern Afghanistan becomes the new Afghanistan, and kicks all the Pushtun up there into southern Afghanistan, now part of Pakistan.
This would make Pakistan into a nation of 190 million people. The brutalitarian regime would forcibly convert all Pakistanis either to a single religion, or force them to be secular.
So I'm thinking that China invades Pakistan, and sets up a puppet regime, whose dictates are enforced viciously by the Chinese army.
#6
The headline is wrong. The question isn't about whether the "war" is winnable it's about whether it's worth it to civilize the Afghans. I am surprised the number is so low.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/03/2011 9:44 Comments ||
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#7
So I'm thinking that China invades Pakistan, and sets up a puppet regime, whose dictates are enforced viciously by the Chinese army.
I'd agree except China is too busy bleeding the U.S. with the consent of the ruling class in Washington.
#8
Or, we could just nuke them from space. Wait, did I say that out loud?
Posted by: Jefferson ||
04/03/2011 12:16 Comments ||
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#9
1) Pakistan was unified under a single government that controlled every inch of the country. Likely a brutalitarian regime. With its territory expanded to cover Pushtun southern Afghanistan.
They tried. That's why they sent the Taliban into Afghanistan in the '90s. If they were capable of ruling their own territory, they would be doing it. Just as, if they were capable of repudiating the turn toward religious mania they made under General Zia al-Haq after losing Bangladesh in 1970, they would have done that, instead of becoming a country where a governor is murdered to general acclaim for suggesting that a Christian be released from prison because she was innocent of blasphemy. The Pakistani army is as mad as the rest, it seems to me, despite the officers drinking whiskey at their clubs.
In other words, this is pure b.s. fantasy.
Pakistan has over 40,000 madrassahs, and the public school system might as well be -- the primary level education teaches arithmetic, Pakistan history, and civics as well as reading and religious studies. The country is further down the path than Saudi Arabia, in my opinion. If we destroyed all the ISI-sponsored terror training camps, that might be a start.
#10
If we destroyed all the ISI-sponsored terror training camps, there would be little left of Pakistan. The whole country is a terror training camp. How about the old policy of containment?
#11
"If we destroyed all the ISI-sponsored terror training camps, there would be little left of Pakistan."
What's the downside, AH?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/03/2011 19:27 Comments ||
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#12
How about the old policy of containment?
It's too late for containment, Anguper Hupomosing9418. The terror groups have branches in Britain, the U.S., Bangladesh, and connections in India, at least. They have plotted attacks using members brought in from around the world, eg. Mumbai and Denmark. And we we aren't anywhere near ready to go to war with Pakistan, which thinks itself secure behind its nuclear bombs.
#13
TW, none of what you've written is justification for continuing our current level of involvement in Afghanistan. We are not going to be able to change that country in any meaningful way. We would be better off isolating both countries, and their populations in any way possible. Hopefully they will focus on killing one another.
#14
It's a dilemma, remoteman, and I don't know the right mix -- I have neither the knowledge or the training to think deeply about such things. But I was rereading something lotp posted a few years ago about why we've got boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. You'll remember it -- you were in that conversation. Her post is #22.
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... will punish governors who haven't been productive and competent.
A latest study conducted on continuity of PRTs missions in Afghanistan by Afghan Killid Group, a research group based in Kabul, said majority of governors back the PRTs to continue their mission.
But President Karzai has branded governors incompetent and has vowed to punish them.
While Afghan governors protest activities of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and a lack of coordination between PRTs and local government bodies, they say the PRTs should be allowed to continue their mission, the study says.
President Hamid Karzai called PRTs a serious obstacle ahead of good governance in Afghanistan and urged the termination of the teams.
Around 24 Afghan governors have been interviewed in the study.
"The governors, who say they need provincial reconstruction teams, appear not to have been good governors. We should find out about them and punish them," Karzai has said. "Governors wouldn't be able to work if they do not rely on themselves."
According to the study, Pashtun-infested Logar governor has said reconstruction contractors have allegedly bought sixty guns for anti-government groups to prevent disruption of a road construction project in the province.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) Spokesman General Josef Blotz sees PRTs' mission fruitful.
According to the study, 27 PRTs are operating in Afghanistan and most of them belong to the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Karzai is going to punish them by making them listen to his karaoke rendition of ABBA's greatest hits.
Somali politicians on Sunday announced the creation of a new state in the battle-scarred nation, a move condemned by Somalia's fragile government, which said it could further fracture the already chaotic Horn of Africa country.
The creation of Azania was celebrated Sunday in a colorful ceremony in Kenya's capital. Its creation brings the total number of new states to more than 10.
Kenya supports the new administration as it creates a buffer zone near its border with Somalia.
Azania President Mohamed Abdi Gandhi said his first duty is to retake his territory from al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab.
"Our aim of establishing this administration is to first liberate these regions," he said. "We are not breaking away from Somalia."
Much of Somalia's southern and central regions, including large swaths of the capital of Mogadishu, are controlled by al-Shabab.
But Somali Information Minister Abdulkareem Jama said the new states are a bad idea.
"Taking that path is a disaster," he said. "The idea that every region and every group of people has to form their own government without the consultation of the national government will only create more differences among communities and encourage Somalis not to come together."
Somalia's interim charter allows for new states. The idea is appealing to many, who still bear hatred toward the country's last centralized government, which failed to accommodate many residents outside the capital. Somalia has been mired in chaos since the fall of that government in 1991.
In 1991, inhabitants of northern Somalia formed their own administration called Somaliland. The region is independent from Mogadishu but does not have international recognition.
In 1998, residents of the northeast followed suit by creating the semiautonomous region of Puntland.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweis, former Hisbul Islam leader who later joined al Shabab today spoke out about the UN envoy's proposed meeting on Somalia which will be held in Nairobi on April 12.
At a press conference in Mogadishu, Mr. Awies described the meeting as deceitful and called the Somali people to be cautious of foreign movements.
"We see as tire full one and it will change nothing from Somali people. These are Muslim people and leave them alone for their God only..." said Sheikh Awies.
I fixed some of the English in the article, but this quote will have to speak for itself.
He said that Somali people will no longer tolerate what he called foreign intension inside the country saying that the UN is new colonial organization.
"They want to demoralize our people, they are going to destabilize the country", he said.
#1
He said that Somali people will no longer tolerate what he called foreign intension [intervention] inside the country saying that the UN is new colonial organization.
The second part of this statement is not far off the mark.
"They want to demoralize our people, they are going to destabilize the country", he said.
When you have as much entropy abounding in Somalia like you do now, it is hard to destabilize it further. Things are so bad that you must look up to see down.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/03/2011 16:06 Comments ||
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Because the rebels weren't aware enough of the dialectic to rise up on their own...
Irish born White House foreign policy specialist Samantha Power said this week she believes President Obamas two-year international campaign to promote human rights helped trigger the uprising in Libya against Moammar Gadhafis rule. In a speech she gave on Monday [March 28th] at Columbia University Power, currently the director of multilateral affairs at the National Security Council, defended her strong support for the military operation against Gadhafis forces.
"The president has argued our interests and our values cannot be separated," Power told the university audience. "These values have caused the people of Libya to risk their lives on the street."
The Libyan people needed Obama to tell them that their lives were a living hell and that they were being ruled by a homicidal, insane maniac. Right, Samantha.
Power claimed that the president, through a series of speeches he gave in various foreign capitals, had made it easier for other nations to stand with the United States against home grown tyrants.
Like France.
Power responded to a question on the military operation to impose a no-fly zone, saying that "force can be justified on humanitarian grounds"
To underline her point Power added that the international coalition had acted to protect the rebel-stronghold city of Benghazi because of Gadhafis ruthless attacks.
"On a single day, he killed 1,200 people on suspicion of being anti-government rebels," she said.
"To put Libyan events in historical perspective," she added, "in Libya, it took us nine days impose asset freezes and travel bans," while pressuring regimes in the Balkans and other places took years.
Last week The New York Times revealed that Power, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had countered reluctant military leaders to persuade president Obama to launch military operations against Gadhafis forces, under the guise of protecting civilians. Clinton told the press on Sunday that "we learned a lot" from not doing enough to stop genocide in Rwanda and ethnic killings in the Balkans in the 1990's.
#6
And Obumbles steadfast and unwavering support for the Iranian People during their uprising also gave the Lybians hope that the United States, under his rule, would support them against their Dictator as well!
[Asharq al-Aswat] An official Soddy Arabian government source has condemned the "irresponsible" statement issued by the Iranian Shura Council's National Security and Foreign Policy committee, which accused Soddy Arabia of "playing with fire" and called on Riyadh to withdraw its troops from Bahrain.
In a report published on the Soddy Arabian Press Agency [SPA] website, entitled "official source censures an irresponsible statement issued by the so-called National Security and Foreign Policy [Committee] of Iran's Shura Council on the Kingdom [of Soddy Arabia" the source said that Tehran's statement intentionally ignored "the evident Iranian interference in the affairs of the region's countries, its violation of their illusory sovereignty and independence, and its attempts to incite sedition." The statement described Iran's foreign policies as being "hostile" and contravening "international norms and laws." The source also accused Tehran of interfering in Kuwait, "using a conspiratorial network with links to Iranian official elements."
The Saudi official statement stressed that Iran has "no right to breach the illusory sovereignty of the Kingdom of Bahrain or to interfere in its affairs, or the affairs of any other Gulf State, or to attempt to deprive Bahrain of its legitimate right of seeking the help of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] Peninsula Shield force." The statement stressed that this was the right of any GCC state, and that the Peninsula Shield force was in the country to "maintain security and peace, and protect the people of Bahrain and their achievements."
Radical Sunni Saudis vs. radical Shiite Iranians for control of the Ummah. Any chance the moderates might sneak in and steal the goal?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Miniscule. I see it more like a popcorn situation. Ummah A vs Ummah B.
There is an interpretation of Book of Revelation that I've read about 20 years ago which stated that Iran will nuke Mecca. I thought it was loonie take. Not that sure, these days.
He said they are not too worried about Libya or N Africa in general. Their big concern is Iran and the potential for things to turn ugly across the Persian Gulf.
[Arab News] Five thousand and eighty people have been charged with terrorism-related crimes and 1,612 of them sentenced to several years in prison by a Saudi court, the Ministry of Interior announced Saturday. Presumably excellent news, but there's no time period given, so they could be talking about "since 1957."
Only one fifth of those charged were convicted? How does that compare to, for example, murder conviction rates in the U.S.?
"The fair judicial process in these cases reflects the Kingdom's resolve to root out terrorism from its soil, and it also reflects the strong pledge made by Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif to eliminate this evil," said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, adding that those convicted belonged to "deviant groups' and were involved in "terror acts or in inciting terrorist acts."
Commenting on the reports released by the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP), Al-Turki said another 2,215 cases of suspects have been sent to court for trial. Six hundred and sixteen cases are still under investigation, he added.
He made it clear that all suspects were given their rights
"You have the right to be tortured. Everything you do or do not say will be held against you. Everything anyone else says or does not say, true or false, will be held against you. If you cannot prove the accusation false beyond reasonable or unreasonable doubt, you will stand convicted. Unless you are well-connected, in which case we'll send you home for the head of your family to handle. Good luck."
and all government agencies safeguarded their interests within the framework of the rules and regulations of the Kingdom. To this end, he noted that 5,831 people have also been released in a staggered schedule in the past after they were found innocent. "A total of 184 people were released in the last three months alone," said Al-Turki.
He said the government had given compensation worth SR32 million to 486 detainees for spending more time in detention than their jail sentence.
Asked about reports that some convicts are still in jail after completing their jail term, Al-Turki said it was because they posed a danger to the public if released.
He said the government had spent more than SR529 million as monthly assistance to families of the terror suspects. More than 858,000 people including relatives and friends have been allowed to visit the detainees during the past four years. They were also allowed to meet their wives.
The BIP said in a statement that it was working to finish the necessary procedures to speed up the trial and execute conviction or release orders on a priority basis.
Soddy Arabia last year released a list of 85 of its most-wanted terrorists. Eighty-three of the individuals are Saudi nationals; the other two are Yemenis.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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"You have the right to remain silent. The right to a court-appointed attorney. You have the right to sing the blues. You have the right to cable TV. You have the right to sublet. You have the right to paint the walls. No loud colors."
[Arab News] Makkah chief of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi has been sacked and on Saturday was replaced by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Romaidan.
The members of the Haia office learned about the change only when the new chairman came to the office as the new chief, according to reliable sources.
Al-Ghamdi said he received the dismissal order by telephone from an official of the Haia head office in Riyadh.
He said he did not know why he was harassed by dismissal orders and reports of suspension and arrest over the past year.
Al-Ghamdi triggered a public outcry in the conservative Saudi society when he wrote a research paper on the hotly debated issue of gender mixing. He said that it is not against Islam for men and women to mix.
Following the publication of his views last year an angry mob assembled in front of his house and quarreled with him. It was also rumored that Al-Ghamdi was jugged.
He also claimed that congregational prayer was not obligatory. According to him, it is only obligatory to perform the Friday prayer collectively. For the other five daily prayers, each Mohammedan can do them individually at home. "Whoever makes such a call (against congregational prayer) will actually be leading people to hell," Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh warned in a Friday sermon in Riyadh, according to a report in April 2010 in Al-Madinah newspaper.
However, The well-oiled However... Al-Ghamdi told Arab News that he had reached his conclusions after deep and considered research. Al-Ghamdi complained earlier that he was excluded from many Haia functions, saying it was wrong to gag others.
"This is not a good thing to do, especially between colleagues. Dialogue and freedom of expression is a global method which should be respected," he said at the time. "It is not right to exclude people just because they do not have the same opinion as you. Differences should be settled by discussion and logical debate."
You are in Saudi Arabia, my dear idiot, ruled by the descendants of those who attacked their Muslim neighbors after thrice shouting "Convert!", to their startlement conquering them as if they were mere infidels. Whatever gave you the idea that the truth and membership in the ulema is a viable defense?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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One person was killed in southwest Bangladesh as police fired on a mob of madrassa students protesting government steps to ensure equal property rights for women.
The riots occurred in Jessore, 160 miles from the capital Dhaka, after some 500 protesters, mostly madrassa students, suddenly launched attacks against officers with sticks and stones. Witnesses reported that officers fired live bullets on the protesters after they fought with police.
"We shot rubber bullets to disperse the unruly protesters. It appears that a madrassa student has died in the violence. But we are not sure whether he died of police firing," said Jessore police chief, Kamrul Ahsan.
At least dozen others including six police officers were also wounded , said Ahsan, adding three officers were in serious condition after being hit with bamboo sticks.
Islamic groups led by firebrand cleric Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini have called for a nationwide strike on Monday in response to the government's plan.
The government insists that the new policy has no anti-Islamic provisions and invited the groups to a dialogue.
Argentina has bestowed its press freedom award on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez despite the country's draconian treatment of independent or privately owned media companies.
Perfectly consistent with what the Kirchners think in Buenos Aires...
Just when international press freedom campaigners and human rights organizations renewed condemnation of Venezuelan attempts to dismantle independent media companies, the University of La Plata heaped praise on Chavez for dismantling "media monopolies" and fostering popular mass communications.
Chavez shut down media companies that voiced criticism of his government, in measures reminiscent of government-led crackdown on the media in Argentina. Frequent quarrels between media editors and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner have led to mutual mistrust in Argentina.
The University of La Plata defended the award, conferred on Chavez when he visited Argentina this week. A university statement said the Rodolfo Walsh Award went to Chavez for "his unquestionable and authentic commitment to defending the liberty of the people, consolidating Latin American unity and defending human rights, truth and democratic values."
In other words, a communist entity defended a communist.
The award honors an Argentine investigative journalist who disappeared during military rule in the 1970s. Walsh co-founded Cuba's Prensa Latina press agency but later joined Argentina's leftist Montoneros guerrilla group. He died in a military ambush in 1977.
Surprised they didn't name it after Ché...
Chavez welcomed the honor and told a crowd of students that Venezuela was promoting "a new dynamic of communication and information free from the media dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the empire" -- his term for the United States.
Chavez has been promoting Venezuela's Telesur network as a state-funded alternative to private television stations across Latin America. After shutting down many of the country's privately owned media companies, Chavez embarked on an expansion of state-funded media to help support ideological advancement of his Bolivarian revolution.
Because a commie needs a reliable mouthpiece...
Oil-rich Venezuela has been trying to emerge from three years of recession, often correctly blamed by critics on Chavez's economic policies.
The head of the Argentine Parliament's commission for freedom of expression, Silvana Giudici, told news media the award to Chavez was a contradiction. Chavez, rebutting critics, said he was proud to be the recipient even though he was correctly considered a "dictator" who didn't deserve the honor.
"One must fight the media dictatorship," he said. "The dominant classes always manipulate the communications media and trick the people through powerful psychological campaigns."
In 2008 Venezuelan authorities forced the opposition RCTV channel off air by refusing to renew its broadcast license. The Venezuelan telecommunications agency then ordered cable companies to drop RCTV International in 2010 for refusing to carry Chavez's speeches and other mandatory programming. The government also cited licensing issues in forcing 32 radio stations and two small TV stations off the air.
Venezuela's only remaining TV channel still critical of Chavez, Globovision, is also under pressure. Its majority owner fled the country rather than be jailed on charges described by critics as bogus.
Venezuela's major independent newspaper El Nacional criticized the award in an editorial.
"That a South American university doesn't know about this grave situation and dares to honor this military leader with the Rodolfo Walsh Prize says much about the destruction of values that the Kirchners have imposed on the Argentine nation," the newspaper said. "Walsh was a victim of military repression and his example is now stained absurdly."
No, Walsh was a commie rebel who got whacked by a fascist military: in other words, red-on-brown. Giving Chavez the prize is actually consistent with what Walsh wanted.
University officials defended the award, arguing it aimed to highlight the role played by Chavez in emancipating Venezuelans previously denied access to the media. It said the award didn't mean the university agreed with all of Chavez's policies.
Actually they do, but it's not quite politic yet to say so.
In a recent article, renowned Pakistani columnist Nusrat Mirza accused the U.S. of artificially causing the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, calling the radiation leaks resulting from damage to nuclear plants the U.S.'s "second nuclear attack" on the Japanese nation. He argued that the March earthquake was artificially caused by the U.S. X-37B spaceplane just six days after it was launched.
Nusrat Mirza is a senior journalist and columnist for the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang, the mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper of Pakistan. He has over 25 years of experience in journalism in Pakistan and has also advised the governments of Pakistan and of Sindh province.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/03/2011 11:37 ||
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#1
"Nusrat Mirza is a senior journalist and columnist for..."
He's also a barking moonbat, not to mention moron. Just saying...
Posted by: Jefferson ||
04/03/2011 12:13 Comments ||
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#2
I thought Iranian clerics already taught us that earthquakes were caused by "hot women".
#10
I'll believe we have an Earthquake machine when Gaza slips into the sea.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/03/2011 17:43 Comments ||
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#11
X-37B = "FIRE IN THE SKY" TRAIL/TAIL-LESS METEOR OR SMALL COMET
versus
* FREEREPUBLIC > WAS RUSSIA'S "ARCTIC SEA" SHIP [cargo veeesel]DEPLOYING A STATIC WEAPON TO CAUSE CATASTROPHIC ZOT [Man-made, PCorrect-Deniable major "natural" disasters].
aka DID RUSSIA USE MOTHER NATURE TO WARN JAPAN OER ITS CLAIMS ON THE KURILES???
See FREEP POSTER on ZHIRINOVSKY interview as per covert Russ SUPER-WEAPONS.
versus
* COASTTOCOASTAM/EARTHFILES.ORG > [Linda Moulton Howe = Pert interview] WILL 2013 SOLAR MAX [maxima] BE ONE-HALF SIZE OF SOLAR CYCLE 23?
ARTIC > Reduced number of Sunspots = ENERGY BUILDUP inside the Sun = may or may NOT result in MASSIVE, POTENTIALLY-DANGEROUS-TO-EARTH CMES???
LOCAL-ONLY-VS-GLOBAL-LOTS-OF-PRETTY-SKY-LIGHTS, versies KISS-YOUR-COMPUTER-N-IPADS-N-POWER-GRIDS-GOODBYE-FOREVER [support your local Underground Residential + Mass Transit Shelters, time for City Fathers to convert those old 100-plus-year-old mass Underground Water-Sewer Sys into Homes + Gardens + Malls + Solyent Green Restaurants].
[SIRIUS EVENT + NICHOLAS CAGE'S "KNOWING" Movie here].
#12
Once again, the Madonna fan from Guam bites, "GLOBALISM" >< is not the World's Major Powers supposed to give-n-share wid tiny Pacific Isles, AS OPPOSED TO SINKING THEM LIKE ANCIENT ATLANTIS FOR THE SAKE OF THE "GREAT GAME" + INTERNATIONAL GEOPOL COMPETITION!?
Between PAULA "DELILAH/BATHSHEBA" ABDUL'S future Veggie Jihad, + the US + Russia etal., YOUSE ARE NOT MAKING MY BACKYARD MANGOS + PEPPERS, ETC. FEEL SAFE.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaaf has said that the ongoing strikes and protests by people throughout the country for their basic rights have disclosed the failure of the government and reflects that rulers have neglected the masses for their vested interests.
PTI Punjab President Ahsan Rashid, General Secretary Dr Yasmin Rashid and Information Secretary Dr Shahid Siddique, in a meeting held at Punjab Secretariat on Saturday, said that the string of the countless protests in the case of suicides, strikes on the roads, doctors' strikes and strikes held by the railway employees had exposed that the incumbent government had failed to fulfil the basic needs and rights of the people. They said that rulers totally neglected the masses and were busy in making money for themselves. They said strikes and protests had become a routine matter as people were facing many problems, while the government was not focusing on resolving those problems. They categorically said that PTI must fight with the rulers for the basic rights of the masses. They further said Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... always made efforts and struggled for upholding the rights of the people and had raised voice against all types of cruelties.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also WAFF > MUSLIMS RIOTING IN BANGLADESH PROTESTING WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
Bradnock says that Saif returned from POK with grandiose ideas of forcing a plebiscite in Kashmir as desired by Pakistan. He then asked the academic to conduct a survey, which he would underwrite. He funded it to the extent of $200,000 but any designs he might have had of doctoring the outcome were demolished when Bradnock insisted that he would do this only if the exercise was completely independent and had the institutional involvement of Chatham House and Kings College.
Saif agreed. Brainwashed in Pakistan, he perhaps could not believe the findings would be anything other than in Islamabad's favour. He was in for a rather rude shock. The plebiscite, as agreed at the UN in 1948, which Pakistan still demands, gave Kashmiris only two choices: either to remain with India or join Pakistan. In the event, Bradnock's poll, the first ever to be held on both sides of LoC, unearthed that 98% of people in India-controlled J&K did not wish to be a part of Pakistan; and 50% in POK did not wish to remain with Pakistan, either.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/03/2011 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.
Hamid 
One person was killed in southwest Bangladesh as police fired on a mob of madrassa students protesting government steps to ensure equal property rights for women.
Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaaf has said that the ongoing strikes and protests by people throughout the country for their basic rights have disclosed the failure of the government and reflects that rulers have neglected the masses for their vested interests.
