[Dawn] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -led foreign forces have stopped handing over prisoners to several Afghan jails ahead of the release of a UN report warning of torture, a move that raises fresh questions about plans to hand security over to Afghan forces.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) declined official comment on prisoner transfer policy.
But an official, who asked not to be identified, said the transfers had stopped "a few days ago" to at least eight facilities -- run by police and intelligence services -- across the country, including western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... , eastern Khost and Kapisa and northern Kunduz and Takhar provinces.
"With appropriate caution, Isaf has taken the prudent measure to suspend detainee transfer to certain facilities until we can verify the observations of a pending (UN) report," the official said.
The UN report is expected to be released within a few days. The UN could not immediately be reached for comment.
Afghanistan's prisons are over-crowded and beset by a range of problems, including inmate violence.
In April, hundreds of prisoners beat feet from jail in Afghanistan's southern Taliban heartland, Kandahar, through a tunnel dug by the myrmidon group.
Officials called the breakout a disaster, and the scale of the operation fuelled suspicions of collusion by guards.
Foreign forces have already begun handing over security control of some parts of Afghanistan to the national army and police, as part of a phased transfer set to be complete by the end of 2014, when foreign combat troops will be back home.
But there have been persistent concerns about the strength of the Afghan cops and long-standing problems, including corruption, abuse of power, high attrition rates, illiteracy and drug use.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Further restrictions on lawful detention are just around the corner. With the easy-escape jails full, it won't be long until ISAF begins issuing misdemeanor tickets and fines for nefarious activity.
Two Swedish journalists entered The Land of the Aethiop without leave in the company of a gang of Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) hard boys. The journalists were wounded when the gang encountered Ethiopian security forces, in which encounter 15 hard boys were killed.
Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye are charged with assisting and promoting terrorism professionally, engaging and participating in terrorist conducts, and entering the country illegally without a permit.
Two Swedish journalists entered The Land of the Aethiop without leave in the company of a gang of Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) hard boys. The journalists were maimed when the gang encountered Ethiopian security forces, in which encounter 15 hard boys were killed.
Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye are charged with assisting and promoting terrorism professionally, engaging and participating in terrorist conducts, and entering the country illegally without a permit.
Sourced to HRW so who really knows? But the implications are disturbing.
Tripoli, Libya -- As Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) hunt for and collect the weapons that fueled Muammar Qaddafi's war machine, they are quickly learning that some choice pieces of his vast stockpile of mines, mortars, and explosives are missing.
At newly discovered weapons-storage sites, thousands of shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) are unaccounted for. At one unguarded facility, empty packing crates and documents reveal that 482 sophisticated Russian SA-24 missiles were shipped to Libya in 2004, and now are gone. With a range of 11,000 feet, the SA-24 is Moscow's modern version of the American "stinger," which in the 1980s helped the US-backed Afghan mujahideen turn their war against the Soviet Union.
With Libya already facing great uncertainty in the post-Qaddafi era, seepage from unsecured weapons stores could further threaten its nascent revolutionary government by arming a loyalist insurgency -- or providing regional rebel groups and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb with a lethal arsenal.
"If these weapons fall in the wrong hands, all of North Africa will be a no-fly zone," says Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), who has brought a number of weapons-storage sites to the NTC's attention.
"That's the Western concern," Mr. Bouckaert tells journalists at the site, noting the interest of Al Qaeda affiliates and regional insurgents in being able to easily target aircraft. "But what poses the biggest danger to Libyan people -- as we know from Iraq -- is what's laying right behind you ... all of these tank shells and mortars, because that's what people turn into car bombs."
The issue here is whether the LTC can provide stability and security to the country or whether it devolves into prolonged civil war ala Somalia. If the latter, the factions will find weapons, whether said weapons come from local warehouses or are shipped in from elsewhere. There's no shortage of guns and ammo in Somalia...
The sophistication and vast size of Libya's military hardware -- and the fact that it was widely dispersed during the NATO airstrikes -- complicates the effort to control it, as the Tripoli Military Council, which is tasked with handling security in the capital, consolidates its grip just 2-1/2 weeks after the fall of Colonel Qaddafi.
"So Western intelligence agencies have been calling us for information about the SAMs; [but] they're not too interested in the stuff that's going to hurt the Libyans, which is what's still here to loot," said Bouckaert.
In other words, western intel agencies prioritize in favor of protecting their own countries first. I find that reassuring though Mr. Bouckaert (unexpectedly?) does not...
"The SA-24 is on the top wish list of Iran; the US tried to block its transfer from Russia to [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez because they were afraid it was going to get into Iranian hands a few years ago," he adds. US reporting from that 2009 sale also emphasized the dangers of the SA-24 being passed on by the anti-American Mr. Chavez, to boost FARC rebels in Colombia or drug lords in Mexico.
At an education ministry book-storage and printing facility in southern Tripoli that was turned into a makeshift weapons depot, the long green shipping crates for the shoulder-fired SA-24 -- along with crates that once contained older versions, the SA-7 and SA-14 -- were found empty. It is adjacent to a Khamis Brigade base commanded by and named after one of Qaddafi's sons.
The SA-24s shipped to Libya apparently can't be shoulder-fired without a different trigger, and must be mounted on a truck, an unnamed senior official of the Russian KBM Machine-building design bureau told Aviation Week last March.
So the Iranians will be on the black market next for triggers. In the meantime, we've finally found a use for disposable Ford F-150s...
Details of different shipments of SAMs showed that thousands of such missiles remain unaccounted for. The boxes were mixed with stack after stack of heavy ordnance -- 120mm mortar shells, 125mm projectiles, and wire-guided anti-tank rounds among them.
Anti-Qaddafi forces had already taken portions of this stockpile for their own use, shortly after Tripoli fell to rebels, according to a young man who lives nearby. Last week, 10 of the SA-7s were seen on an anti-Qaddafi vehicle -- the clue that led HRW to this site.
Across the street on the edge of a sandy field, loyalist forces had also tucked away some 12,000 mines -- many of them stacked in crates along the wall and concealed with camouflage netting. On Wednesday, a day after being alerted by HRW, men working for the NTC lifted crates into two large trucks for removal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2011 11:01 ||
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We never seem to be able to avoid stepping on cow pies. Where was the CIA advance Indications and Warnings to Obama regarding post-conflict proliferation?
#3
I would think another likely buyer would be Horn of Africa, pirates and al-shabaab/etc wanting some anti-air, perhaps Yemen and Nigeria, all in demand and fairly local. Then north across the Med is also backyard territory...
I see an opportunity to track to routes of supplies and build a case to arrest cartels misplaced morality grouped human organizations. /FAT
#6
 I can see Egypt taking a lot of this stuff to funnel to the PA for use against Israel.
Already happening, DarthVader. An unnamed, new type of missile was reported shot off from the Gaza Strip toward Israel the other day. I should have posted the article, but I didn't catch the implication.v
#7
They'll probably end up in Afghanistan too. What better way for Islamic governments to deniably put the hurt on Americans than with these missing SAMs?
[Tripoli Post] Muammar Al Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland... has probably left the Libyan desert town of Bani Walid and is heading further south with the help of loyalist tribes towards Chad or Niger, Rooters news agency quoted a senior military official in Libya's new leadership as saying.
Hisham Buhagiar, who is coordinating the National Transitional Council's efforts to find the former Libyan leader, said reports indicate that he may have been in the region of the southern village of Ghwat, some 950km south of Tripoli and 300km north of the border with Niger, three days ago.
When the NTC fighters eventually enter the desert town of Bani Walid, one of the last remaining strongholds of the runaway former leader, they won't find Muammar Al Qadaffy there. He did reach the town when he decamped from Tripoli, but with the rebel forces on his heels, there's a certainty that he has now left, and is most probably heading further south.
Loyalist tribes are said to have helped him leave the country towards either Chad or Niger. But even then none of the two countries is expected to be his final destination. The two friendly neighbours are much too poor for him to live there, even if he could just stay for some time.
The fact that the convoy that left Libya without him towards Niger on Sunday was carrying a lot of cash and gold, is taken to man that he wants to live a luxury life in some safe haven with his family
Hisham Buhagiar, a senior military official and member of the National Transitional Council who the man leading the hunt for the deposed leader has been reported saying that he believed that Al Qadaffy has left Bani Walid, and that three days ago he may have been in the region of the southern village of Ghwat some 305 kilometres north of the border with Niger.
He told Rooters: "The last tracks, he was in the Ghwat area. People saw the cars going in that direction .... We have it from many sources that he's trying to go further south, towards Chad or Niger,"
According to Buhagiar, Al Qadaffy could be travelling in a convoy of some 10 cars and may be using a tent as shelter. "It's the tent. We know that he doesn't want to stay in a house, so he stays in a tent. People say the cars came, and then they made a tent," he said, adding that his sources had not themselves seen Al Qadaffy.
Al Qadaffy is long known to have touted his tribal, desert roots, and even received foreign dignitaries in a tent. He also has portrayed himself as an African leader and has boosted his influence in Africa through loans, aid and diplomatic contacts.
The news follows reports that some of Al Qadaffy's brass hats, including security chief Mansour Daw, were riding in a convoy of vehicles that has already entered Niger.
On Tuesday military sources from La Belle France and Niger told Rooters that scores of Libyan army vehicles had recently crossed the desert border with Niger, in what may be a bid by Al Qadaffy to seek refuge in a friendly African state.
Two days ago the deposed leader's front man Moussa Ibrahim insisted that Al Qadaffy remained in Libya and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death. He told Rooters in a telephone conversation: "He is in Libya. He is safe, he is very healthy, in high morale." he told Rooters by telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... US officials said they doubted Al Qadaffy had crossed the border yet and urged Niger to detain any bigwigs from the regime, with US defence secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... saying that the former Libyan leader is still on the run, with no clue of his whereabouts.
The United States also said it believed the convoy was carrying senior members of Al Qadaffy's entourage and urged Niger to detain anyone liable for prosecution for alleged crimes committed during the uprising against the deposed Libyan leader.
Reports also indicate that two of the runaway leader's sons, Saadi and Seif al-Islam are in Bani Walid with witnesses saying that Seif was recently seen in the town that has a population of about 100,000, and is home to the powerful Warfalla tribe, who have been loyal to the ousted regime, holding a meeting with loyalists.
Surprisingly, despite sitings of the Libyan convoy by so many people, Niger's minister of internal affairs, Abdou Labo, denied that a Libyan convoy had entered his country. He would only confirm that Niger had given asylum to Al Qadaffy's internal security chief Abdullah Mansoor on humanitarian grounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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"Abdul, are you sure this is a good place to hide? It is a garbage dump!"
"It is superb, excellency! No one would ever think of looking for you in Detroit!"
[An Nahar] Libya's new leaders were Wednesday urgently seeking Niger's help in preventing Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... , his family or his troops from crossing the border, as the hunt for the runaway strongman intensified.
Qadaffy's sole remaining media mouthpiece, Mishan al-Juburi, the owner of Syria-based Arrai Oruba television, said the defeated leader was still in Libya, along with his son Seif al-Islam.
"I can tell you that I spoke with Qadaffy very recently," Juburi told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"He is in Libya, in very good spirits, feels strong, is not afraid, and would be happy to die fighting against the occupiers," Juburi, a former Iraqi MP who owns the Syria-based channel, said by telephone.
"His son Seif al-Islam is in the same state of mind," added Juburi, whose channel has broadcast a number of audio messages by Qadaffy and his son since they went into hiding after Tripoli was overrun by rebel fighters last month.
Asked how he makes contact with Qadaffy, Juburi said: "When I need to talk to him, I send him a message, or he contacts me when he wants to pass a message."
Libya's new rulers are anxious to arrest Qadaffy and put him on trial, thus sealing their hold on the country.
They are fearful he may slip across a border into a neighboring country, particularly Niger, where a convoy carrying other bigwigs of his ousted regime decamped to on Monday.
Bidding to cut off Qadaffy's potential escape routes, the now-ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said it had dispatched a team to Niamey.
"We have sent a delegation today that is going to Niger to talk ... about securing our borders to stop any kind of infiltration of Qadaffy troops to Niger, to stop any attempt by Qadaffy or his family to escape to Niger," Fathi Baja, head of the NTC's political affairs committee, told news hounds.
"We ask any neighboring countries to stop Qadaffy people from going to their land," Fathi said, speaking to news hounds in the eastern city of Benghazi.
When asked about the convoy that crossed to Niger reportedly carrying money and gold, he replied: "We don't know how much money this convoy was transporting but according to what we know, security reports provided by groups in this region, from phone contacts and certain people's dispatches, we can say that they have seen money and gold in these cars."
He added: "If that happened, we want that money back."
The large convoy of civilian and military vehicles entered Niger late Monday and drove through the city of Agadez.
Niger was adamant Qadaffy was not with the convoy while Washington said that while some bigwigs of the ousted regime were in the convoy, the fallen dictator was not believed to be among them.
Qadaffy's remaining forces have been a given a Saturday deadline to surrender and lay down their arms, in a bid to spare further bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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For a former high-level official in Israel's security services, the news this week was not upsetting - that Iran on its own had produced new, advanced nuclear centrifuges.
According to a report of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has begun to install the centrifuges in its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. But the high-level source noted that development and production of the new centrifuges began more than seven years ago. That does not speak of a great technological capability on Iran's part.
Ouch. Isn't Russia doing a turn-key installation for them?
Israeli intelligence, like its American counterpart, views 2014 or 2015 as the date when Iran will be able to build nuclear weapons, says the source - if it wants to and no one blocks it. In Soddy Arabia, in contrast, they are a bit more disturbed by the developments in Iran. An American Department of Energy delegation visited Riyad and met with Dr. Hashim Yamani, who heads the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. The talks followed a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries that was signed in August 2008.
Soddy Arabia wants to equip itself with nuclear reactors to generate electricity. The United States is interested in selling Riyad reactors for two reasons - fat contracts worth billions of dollars for the American nuclear energy industry and there's the somewhat covert aspect: Supplying the reactors allows Washington to keep close tabs on nuclear developments in Soddy Arabia. The American administration is concerned that with a nuclear program for civilian uses, Soddy Arabia would actually like to prepare the infrastructure so it could switch to producing nuclear weapons relatively quickly, should Iran possess such weapons.
Using hired technicians, one assumes. The Saudi education system isn't geared toward producing scientists and technicians...and I have a hard time imagining any Saudi taking a job that might scramble his DNA even more than the scrambles he was born with. All sorts of interesting possibilities appear on the horizon under such conditions -- lots of well-educated Palestinians speak Hebrew, y'know.
The French website Intelligence Online reports that the Saudi royal family has been divided over this issue for years. Its defense minister, Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, and the country's former intelligence chief, Turki Bin Faisal, favor the preparation of a secret nuclear program for military uses, in cooperation with a Sunni Mohammedan ally - Pakistain, which possesses dozens of atomic bombs. This would counterbalance Iran's secret military plans.
Soddy Arabia reportedly funded Pakistain's nuclear weapons program
We heard that, too. How odd.
in return for Pakistain's promise to aid the monarchy in this area if need be. According to a 2004 report, the Saudi deputy defense minister visited the Pak nuclear center in Kahuta, which produces bombs. Intelligence Online says Pak nuclear scientists recently visited Soddy Arabia - as pilgrims to Mecca, who made use of their visit for a work meeting with, among others, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the head of the National Security Council and former ambassador to the United States.
Bandar is considered to be among those encouraging the nuclear connection with Pakistain to put his country on a secret path to nuclear weapons. To this end he visited Kazakhstan a few weeks ago and met with the directors of the state-owned company that produces uranium, Kazatomprom.
Shh...it's a secret.
In contrast to the hawks in Riyad, there is also a group, headed by Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal and Interior Minister Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, that opposes establishing a secret nuclear military program reliant on Pakistain and prefers to be defended against Iran under the American nuclear umbrella.
#1
You mean the Soddies don't have a couple Pak nukes stashed away somewhere already? If I were them I wouldn't trust the Yankee "nuclear umbrella" since Obambi might just end up dismantling the whole thing (he got a Nobel prize, ya know).
#2
Scroll down and read about the ladies in Detroit returning fire to miscreants. Same principle here. When the state/major power is no longer around for security, the locals start looking to their own means to protect themselves. Fantasy comic book diplomacy [nuke disarmament] creates another 'unforeseen' consequence, nuclear proliferation.
[Yemen Post] Ahmed Sufi, press secretary of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... revealed in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat in London, a dangerous document leaked by dissident officer from the First Armored Division, led by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.
The document classified as «very secret", which « Asharq al-Awsat " reserves a copy of it, condemns General Al-Ahmar of plotting to blow up the situation of the military after he reached a state of despair.
According to the ruling party official site, the document refers to a plan prepared in advance and orders issued by the General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar to «the operating room" to friction members the Central Security during the marches and struck those forces in the «areas of the face and abdomen".
The document also reveals a plan includes bombing 18 mines between the protesters who are in what it is called in the document "points (a)" with a number of snipers to inflict the largest number of victims in the marches, said Sufi
The goal is to mobilize international public opinion against Yemen.
So sorry, guys. The very best Yemen can hope for in terms of international opinion is, "Backward and quaint. Mind the kidnappers, it's what the local boys do for fun when they aren't dribbling green goo down their chins from chewing qat or fighting blood feuds using the beautiful long knives the Jews made before they escaped to Israel."
The document was concluded by the words «Later, we will inform you when the operation, taking all the considerations provided for guidance and previous orders".
Sufi said that the document containing the signature of Major General Ali Mohsen and his stamp.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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German police have detained two men of Middle Eastern origin suspected of buying material for a bomb attack, said a police spokesman in Berlin on Thursday.
They were identified as a 24-year-old German-Lebanese man and a 28-year-old from the Gaza strip.
Neither named Dieter or Johann, then.
They are suspected of buying chemicals to make an explosive device. Police had searched two apartments and an Islamic cultural center in Berlin.
This operation comes just two weeks before Pope Benedict is due to visit Germany and days before the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
BERLIN - An Israeli academic was reinstated as a speaker for a slated October conference on Wednesday afternoon, following Jerusalem Post press queries. Ronen A. Cohen had been expelled from the conference because his affiliation with an academic institution located in the settlement of Ariel.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Cohen received an email on Wednesday informing him that the organizers of the 18th International Congress of DAVO in Berlin on October 6-8 had "accepted the argument that academic freedom should have priority in comparison to considerations of international law."
There are no considerations of international law involved, but clearly German academics can't be expected to know that.
Opposition leader says Erdoğan blunders led to UN legitimization of Gaza blockade, US radar in Turkey will be used to protect Israel.
The Turkish government and opposition exchanged criticism over Turkey's handling of deteriorating relations with Israel on Wednesday, with the opposition claiming that Erdoğan's administration had led to UN legitimization of Israel's naval blockade on Gaza and a blow to Turkish prestige.
Turkey will defend its honor against Israel regardless of the cost, responded Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet.
"Whatever the cost, be it 15 million dollars, or 150 million dollars... Turkey will not give value to that when necessary. What matters for us is to not let anyone trample on our honor," Erdoğan vowed.
Turkey's opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the Republican PeopleÂ’s Party (CHP) also dismissed the recent downgrade in Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations, saying that they "have no function other than deceiving the Turkish people," and claiming that the US radar to be placed in Turkey will be used to protect Israel.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has also criticized the opposition leader, according to Today's Zaman. Davutoğlu on Wednesday said that Kılıçdaroğlu comments would be more fitting from an Israeli official at a press conference..
The minister also advised the CHP to learn solidarity with the government from the main opposition party in Israel.
Opposition leader says Erdoğan blunders led to UN legitimization of Gaza blockade, US radar in Turkey will be used to protect Israel.
The Turkish government and opposition exchanged criticism over Turkey's handling of deteriorating relations with Israel on Wednesday, with the opposition claiming that Erdoğan's administration had led to UN legitimization of Israel's naval blockade on Gazoo and a blow to Turkish prestige.
Turkey will defend its honor against Israel regardless of the cost, responded Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet.
"Whatever the cost, be it 15 million dollars, or 150 million dollars... Turkey will not give value to that when necessary. What matters for us is to not let anyone trample on our honor," Erdoğan vowed.
Turkey's opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) also dismissed the recent downgrade in Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations, saying that they "have no function other than deceiving the Turkish people," and claiming that the US radar to be placed in Turkey will be used to protect Israel.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has also criticized the opposition leader, according to Today's Zaman. Davutoğlu on Wednesday said that Kılıçdaroğlu comments would be more fitting from an Israeli official at a presser..
The minister also advised the CHP to learn solidarity with the government from the main opposition party in Israel.
A military and economic alliance with Egypt is set to be signed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The deal should be clinched when Erdogan visits Cairo next Monday - the first such visit paid by a Turkish prime minister in 15 years.
The alliance is not intended as "Dire Revenge™" against Israel; Erdogan's intention is to extend Turkey's influence to areas it has not reached in past decades.
In other words, another step toward reestablishing the Ottoman sultanate. Revenge on Israel is just a lagniappe.
Under former President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , Egypt rejected Turkish overtures; Mubarak viewed Erdogan as an interloper in regions that were under Egypt's, and Soddy Arabia's, influence. The new Egyptian government, however, seems eager to develop economic and strategic ties with Turkey.
"Ya got money? C'mon over!"
Separately, Erdogan's office clarified that private trade relations with Israel are not subsumed by the sanctions; these commercial ties are valued at three billion dollars a year. Instead, military agreements are being suspended. This clarification was issued after Turkish businessmen demanded to know whether they are being required to cut off ties with Israel, lest they face legal punishment.
It sounds like Israeli businessmen will be finding new arrangements, though. They know how the Turks treat their own, dhimmified Jews, and have other options.
The alacrity with which Turkey reached its decision to impose sanctions derives partly from the fact that it believes Israel is responsible for leaking the UN's report on the flotilla to Gazoo. Turkish sources insist that Israel made a U-turn regarding the UN investigation, since it originally demanded that the report's release be deferred.
"We agreed to defer release of the report for a few weeks, but not for six months, as Netanyahu wanted," one senior Turkish official explained. "We could have discussed issues regarding the text's formulation, and even forged an agreement, but Israel's leak of the document broke all the rules."
Y'all were being the consummate arrogant Islamist ass -- there are consequences for that.
This demonstration of strength against Israel is backed by the big shotship of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... some members of the party have doubts about specific steps taken by Erdogan.
"Sometimes the prime minister acts on gut feelings, and then later tries to repair what he's done," explained one member of parliament who asked to remain anonymous. "But you have to distinguish between Turkey's widespread support for the demand that Israel apologize and pay compensations, and criticism about the country's diplomatic procedures. We were the ones who demanded that an international investigatory panel be formed; we send a delegate, and now we must come out and challenge the panel's conclusions. The report does not order Israel to apologize; instead it merely recommends that Israel express regret. In other words, there is a need to discuss the matter with Israel and work out acceptable language," the parliamentarian said.
Turkey's media is divided in its response to Erdogan's actions regarding Israel. "Was there really a war that we have to win?" asked Murat Yetkin, a prominent journalist for Hurriyet Daily News. "The answer to this question is simple. No, there is no such war."
Yusuf Kanli, former editor of the Turkish Daily News, wrote that, "were the Turkish government to respond to developments in the Middle East with a less emotional, non-religious attitude, relations between Israel and Turkey would not degenerate to their current state."
In contrast, Prof. Aysan Dey from Ankara suggested that Israel ought to get used to the fact that this is a "new Turkey," that Israel must realize this is not the 1990s when Israel maintained working relations with the Turkish government and the Turkish army, "and showed disdain for what the public really wanted."
Recently, the foreign policy of the "new" Turkey suffered a blow when Syria ignored Turkey's "advice," and when Iran decided to criticize the Turks for their policy toward Syria.
*Snicker*
Turkey is now trying to rebuild its foreign policy, founding it upon a new strategy of appealing to resurgent Arab states such as Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the nascent state of Paleostine.
Operation Gunwalker, the rogue ATF operation to arm Mexico's cartels, extends now to three White House officials. A bell goes off with the one named Dan Restrepo.
Late last Friday, CBS News and the Los Angeles Times almost buried the news that Restrepo, the National Security Council's top man for Latin America, and two other officials, were in on ATF memos from the Gunwalker operation called "Fast and Furious."
That blows apart White House claims that it had no idea the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was encouraging frontmen for Mexico's cartels to buy weapons from U.S. gun dealers -- to "trace" them afterward.
Some 2,000 U.S. guns were sold in Gunwalker but simply disappeared -- until they turned up at massacres in Mexico and at the murder scenes of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata.
Restrepo is a political operative whose interests are more domestic than Latin American. As a result, he's botched every Latin American operation he's had his hand in, appeasing enemies and blaming the U.S.: Ah, so he's a bagman...
Honduras: In 2009, Restrepo was behind a U.S. bid to swiftly declare Honduras' constitutional ouster of its president "a coup" and sanctioned the country, playing into the hands of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who had attempted to make Honduras a colony. There were articles about Project Gunwalker: Honduras style
Cuba: Restrepo was behind loosening sanctions on Castro's Cuba, which has emboldened the regime to act against Americans. While Castro imprisoned Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor who was distributing satellite phones to dissidents, the Obama administration said nothing.
Colombia: Its troops captured drug "kingpin of kingpins" Walid Makled, who had extensive knowledge of Venezuelan official involvement in trafficking. U.S. attorneys wanted him extradited, but Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said President Obama never asked. When IBD asked Restrepo whether he advised Obama to ask, Restrepo defensively said he did. But that's at odds with what Santos said.
Venezuela: Treasury Department officials complained Restrepo kept names of high-ranking Venezuelan officials with ties to drug dealers off its "Kingpin List," in a naive effort to keep pressure off Chavez.
Now Restrepo tries to pin Mexico's drug war not on Hugo Chavez's trafficker allies, but on gun dealers from the U.S.
There's little doubt that's his line, because blaming U.S. gun dealers and calling for a U.S. assault weapon ban were his ideas from his days spent at the Center for American Progress, an Obama-linked think tank.
The U.S. "will work to inhibit the flow of weapons ... across our border," Restrepo told Mexican media.
Meanwhile, when Obama met with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, both erroneously declared that U.S. weapons fueled Mexico's drug war -- on Restrepo's advice.
Blogger Mike Vanderbroegh thinks that if Restrepo wasn't the author of Gunwalker he'd know who is and should be called to tell Congress. Either he's kept Obama in the dark about Gunwalker, or Obama should be impeached.
This article starring:
Dan Restrepo
Posted by: Sherry in Arkansas ||
09/08/2011 11:49 ||
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#2
Figures. Top Radical Behind Obama's Flawed Honduran Strategy Weaned at Soros Think Tank The Obama Latin America Team is composed of: Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Frank Mora, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs and most importantly Dan Restrepo, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at The National Security CouncilÂ… Since assuming the presidency in January of 2009, the Obama White House mainly follows the expertise of Mr. Daniel Restrepo on issues pertaining to Latin America.
Indeed. At the risk of wandering off topic (moi?), go see this movie. Ignore the fact that Roger Ebert liked it. It is the real deal, without the usual Hollywood sucker punch we've come to expect. You will be awed. You will be moved. It will give you hope.
As for Ah, so he's a bagman..., is there anyone in this administration who isn't?
#4
Maybe the democrat leadership is holding this to the side in case Obama becomes completely unelectable and refuses to step aside. Nothing like impeachment proceedings to make a loser want to vacate.
#5
To no surprise, the top radical advising Obama, Dan Retrepo, was weaned at the Far Left Soros-funded Center for American Progress run by strategist John Podesta.
There never was a vast right-wing conspiracy as Hillary said. This was a "red" herring. It was a smoke screen to hide and divert attention from the vast left-wing conspiracy.
[Dawn] Pakistain's president and prime minister condemned the deadly kaboom on New Delhi's High Court on Wednesday and said they hoped those responsible would be brought to justice.
The powerful bomb, hidden in a briefcase, destroyed a busy crowd outside the court, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens more.
A foreign office statement attributed to President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... condemned the attack on arch-foe India.
"The Pak leadership has expressed their deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of the bombing, to the government and people of India."
"They have expressed the hope that the perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice." The device had been placed near an entrance gate reception area, where more than 100 people were queueing for passes to the court complex, located in the heart of the Indian capital.
It was the first major attack on Indian soil since triple blasts in Mumbai on July 13 killed 26 people.
Relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistain remain severely strained over the Mumbai assaults in 2008, which left 166 people dead and were blamed on faceless myrmidons based in Pakistain.
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09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How sweet. Indian police have already detained three, including an internet cafe owner in the Kishtwar region of Kashmir. Apparently it was from there that an email was sent, claiming that Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, an al-Qaida affiliate with bases in Pakistan and Bangladesh, dunnit.
[Dawn] Although the commission investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... by US commandos in Abbottabad in May this year seems to be heading nowhere,
They dunnit, they're proud, and whatcha gonna do about it, anyway?
on Tuesday it barred people involved in the probe from going abroad.
In a terse blurb, the commission barred all relevant people from travelling abroad. The blurb carried only one name, that of Dr Shakeel Afridi who allegedly helped conduct a phoney polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination campaign at the behest of the CIA to secure DNA of Osama bin Laden and his family.
So it's really only one person. Effective commission you've got there, guys.
It said: "Abbottabad commission has imposed a ban on travelling for all persons related to Abbottabad incident, including Dr Shakeel Afridi, till further orders. No such person should be allowed to leave the country without clearance from Abbottabad commission."
Dr Afridi is already under custody of the Inter Services Intelligence. Confirming the detention of Dr Afridi by the ISI, a security bigshot said the agency was interrogating the medical doctor because he had been found involved in anti-state activities.
Asked about the reason for specifically mentioning the name of Dr Afridi in the blurb by the Abbottabad commission when he was already in jug, the official said the commission might have thought that the doctor could leave the country if released by the ISI.
Earlier, the commission had stopped the government from releasing Osama's widows and children without permission.
One conjecture why Dr Afridi by name has been barred from travelling abroad is the reported telephone call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Abel P. Upshur ... to President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... a week ago for his release. According to media reports, the president turned down the request, arguing that Dr Afridi was facing a judicial inquiry.
The opposition PML-N has already rejected the setting up of the commission.
Talking to Dawn, PML-N information secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan said his party knew from day one that the commission was a waste of time because it was formed without consulting the leader of the opposition, negating the collective wisdom of parliament. He said one shouldn't expect anything concrete from the commission because some of its members had a "questionable track record".
The PML-N wanted a certain timeframe for the commission to give its final recommendations, but the government has included no such provision in its terms of reference.
The commission is headed by a recently retired senior judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Javed Iqbal, while a former chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Lt-Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, former inspector general of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... police Abbas Khan and former career diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi are its members.
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09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] All snuffies had been flushed out of Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... valley and they were no more capable of staging a comeback, claimed ISPR front man Col Arif Mehmood while talking to media persons here on Tuesday.
He said that the security forces had restored peace with the cooperation of local population and now snuffies would not be able to return as borders had been sealed to check infiltration.
He said that the security forces were capable and responsible to provide security to the people of the region so that efforts could be made to revive the local economy of the district. The official said that some elements were spreading rumours about the entry of jacket wallahs in Mingora city to create panic among the people. He said that strict action would be taken against such elements.
In Laddah, a security official was killed and another injured when a checkpost came under rocket attack in the Raghzai area of Birmal tehsil of South Wazoo Agency on Tuesday.
Sources said that two rocket shells hit the checkpost, killing sepoy Qaisar.
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09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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The Palestinians have officially launched their bid to join the United Nations as a full member state, saying they will stage a series of peaceful events ahead of the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly later this month.
About 100 Palestinian officials and activists gathered at the U.N. offices in Ramallah for a short ceremony, where they announced their plans in a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is currently visiting Australia. The "peaceful" events will include:
[An Nahar] Hizbullah deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... stated on Wednesday that the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... movement and the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... camp are experiencing a period of low morale over former Premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. 's presence abroad, their failure in tackling social, economic, and political affairs, and the withdrawal of a number of officials from the camp's ranks.
He said: "Their failures have forced them to point blame at other sides and this strategy will in turn backfire against them and lead to more losses within their ranks."
"We are proud to be working for Leb and its illusory sovereignty, but we are not proud of being affiliated with the American-Israeli agenda for the region," he added.
"We are proud of the equation of the army, people, and Resistance," he continued.
"We are proud of respecting the country's constitutional mechanisms as in the past, we had accepted that we were part of the parliamentary minority, and we now accept that we are part of the majority," Qassem noted.
"We took part in government when we believed it useful and refused when we believed it beneficial, but we did not work on destroying the country," he stressed.
"We have not yet heard a single objection to our performance, but all we have heard are curses and repeated statements similar to Israeli ones on the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... and the need for it to lay down its arms," said the Hizbullah official.
"Let them at least present one objection so we can discuss it for Leb's sake. They haven't said a word because they don't care," he declared.
"Let it be clear that Hizbullah won't be dragged into strife no matter how hard they try," he emphasized.
"Let them yell as much as they want and we will confront them with achievements. They have led the country to the edge of the abyss, what have they accomplished throughout their years in rule?" Qassem asked.
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[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... 's Change and Reform bloc has denied that its ministers would resign from the cabinet if it fails to approve a controversial electricity project on Wednesday.
Minister Charbel Nahhas, one of the bloc's representatives in the government, told al-Liwaa daily that Change and Reform ministers have no willingness to resign.
"We want to reach a consensus or else we will have to resort to voting," he said, although President Michel Suleiman rules out such an option for fears of division among cabinet ministers that would lead to the collapse of the project inside parliament.
"Our objective is not to pull out of the cabinet or stir any problem," Nahhas said in other remarks to Voice of Leb radio station (93.3). "What we ask for is a decision."
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... al-Liwaa said that the bloc's ministers would withdraw from the session if a solution on the project's funding isn't reached. This doesn't mean they would suspend their participation in future cabinet meetings.
The project proposed by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil calls for the allocation of $1.2 billion to generate 700 Megawatts of electricity. The cabinet has so far failed to approve it over reservations expressed by ministers of other blocs, mainly of MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... 's National Struggle Front.
Nahhas said that last-ditch efforts to resolve the crisis before the cabinet session that is scheduled to be held at Baabda palace didn't reach decisive results.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... he hoped that the consultations among different parties on Wednesday would resolve the deadlock and pave way for the endorsement of the plan later in the day.
The cabinet should approve the project and postponement is not acceptable, the minister told As Safir daily. "It's time for each side to decide on its stance and announce it without double-crossing."
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[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian commander has slammed NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... 's plan to deploy a US-sponsored missile system in Turkey, insisting that it will neither tighten security for regional countries, nor prevent all attacks.
"The deployment of the NATO missile shield in regional countries will not provide security to them," the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base, Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, told IRNA on Wednesday.
He added that many modern and advanced equipment of different countries cannot prevent all threats, emphasizing that the deployment of such a system against intercontinental ballistic missiles in Turkey or Russia will not completely avert all aggression.
US Defense Department has said an 'early warning' radar system belonging to the Washington-led military alliance of NATO will become operational in Turkey by the end of 2011.
Turkish Foreign Ministry front man Selcuk Unal announced the country's intention to host the apparatus on Friday.
Esmaili pointed to Turkey's agreement with the deployment of high-powered US radar on its territory and said Ankara had to agree with the plan because it has defense agreement with Russia or the United States.
He noted that imposing limitation on Russia is among the objectives of Western countries to station the missile shield in regional countries.
Deterrence is amongst purposes which are pursued through NATO's plan, the commander concluded.
Following Ankara's announcement, Russia criticized the plan and denounced NATO's efforts to advance eastward.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Turkey's collaboration would mark another step in the direction of the deployment "of the European segment of a global US missile defense system."
In September 2010, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen proposed to develop a 200-million-euro (253-million-dollar) US-backed missile system around Europe against possible attacks by "rogue states."
The NATO chief then named Iran's nuclear program as one of the reasons that justify the necessity of a missile system.
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09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > IRAN: NATO RADAR [missle defense] IN TURKEY COULD CAUSE CLASHES IN REGION.
and
* SAME > NEWLY ISLAMIZED TURKEY VOWS JIHAD AGZ ISRAEL: TURKEY TO TAKE "LEGAL ACTION" AGZ [Israeli] SOLDIERS DEFENDING THEMSELVES.
Gaza Flotilla.
* WAFF > [Global Research] TURKEY MUST PROVE ITS NOT A PAPER TIGER.
#3
Can't stop all threats, that is true. But the fact that anyone launching enough to overwhelm it will undoubtably be targetted before any missiles hit targets will prevent most from such idiotic moves.
For the rest, the ones who just might be crazy enough, well we're hoping Israel will deal with them.
#4
Oh, the west will bash Israel afterwards, don't get me wrong, but they hope they'll do the dirty job anyway since the rest of the West may not have the spine at this point.
#6
Tripoli was a different scenerio. They directly threatened Europe with a flood of refugees and the nulification of TotaFinaElf oil contracts. Europe wanted them out.
Europe kind of likes the way Iran threatens Israel and the US population and government doesn't have the spine for another conflict.
[An Nahar] La Belle France on Wednesday accused Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... regime of committing crimes against humanity and expressed hope that Russia would soon join sanctions against its old regional ally.
"The Syrian regime has committed crimes against humanity," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said during talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
"The way it (the Syrian regime) suppressed the popular protests is unacceptable," La Belle France's top diplomat said after a round of Moscow meetings that included talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.
Juppe was accompanied by French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet for delicate negotiations that also touched on recent disagreements over Libya and the phased withdrawal of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... troops from Afghanistan.
But both sides acknowledged that one of their most immediate disagreements concerned finding a peaceful solution to a Syria crisis that comes on the heels of a Libya war that also deeply upset Moscow.
"I hope Russia will back us in the Security Council even if our positions do not yet fully agree," Juppe said in reference to Russia's past decisions to block U.N. condemnation of Assad's government.
Juppe said the Syrian authorities should be sent "a powerful signal that such actions cannot continue."
But Lavrov gave no signs of being ready to ease a Russian position that last week saw Moscow lash the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... for imposing a crippling oil embargo on the Arab state.
"We are convinced that the essential thing is to start dialogue at the talks table," Lavrov said.
"We consider that inciting certain forces within the opposition to boycott the invitation to dialogue is a dangerous path and risks a repetition of the Libyan scenario, which neither Russia nor La Belle France wants."
Moscow has been calling for political dialogue and urging world powers to put more pressure on the opposition to engage in direct talks with Assad's regime.
Members of the Syrian opposition will meet Mikhail Margelov -- the upper house of parliament's foreign affairs committee chief who represents Medvedev in Africa -- on Friday in a bid to convince Russia to be more forceful with Assad.
But a top Russian arms exports official has said that Moscow intended to fulfill its weapons delivery contracts to Syria and Lavrov said Wednesday that the opposition was also responsible for some of the current violence.
"Russia has submitted a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that calls on all sides to end all types of violence ... and calls on the opposition not to resort to armed provocation, which we have seen before, and not to reject invitations to talks," Lavrov stressed.
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09/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Russia has a very different idea of what "human rights" and "humanitarianism" means. It is far more Asiatic than western.
A superb example of Russian "humanitarianism" is from their adventure in Afghanistan. They had used an old US Vietnam-era trick(*) of rounding up village women and children and putting them into camps where they would not be able to support their militant men.
However, Afghan women and children need a LOT of guards, as they are mischievous, and Russia did not want to take too many combat soldiers off the line for guard duty.
So their solution was to suggest digging a slit trench, lining it with plastic, then putting very weakened mustard agent in it. Then force the women and children to walk its length. This would cause all the skin on their feet to blister off, so they would have to walk on their hands and knees for some months while their feet healed.
"The only other alternative," suggested the Russians, "would be to kill them. Thus incapacitating them temporarily would be the "humanitarian" thing to do."
Needless to say, just about everyone else in the world disagreed with the Russians, who discarded the idea, mumbling that the rest of the world was being "unrealistic".
#3
(**) Elevated to a science by the British during the second Boar War where farms were torched and 25,000 women and children perrished. First usage of the term "concentration camp."
Intelligence officials say Hamas operations in China are financial and include money laundering; In Turkey, Hamas recruits operatives.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has established a command post in Turkey that it uses to recruit new operatives and oversee some of its operations in the Middle East, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Wednesday.
Command post in Turkey? These days they could open an embassy...
Hamas's presence in Turkey came up during the Shin Bet investigation into the 13 terrorist cells that it recently discovered operating in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
One of the cells was working to carry out a suicide-kaboom in Jerusalem; the attack was thwarted. A senior Shin Bet official stressed, however, that the Hamas command post in Turkey was not directly involved in the cells that were captured, although one of the senior Hamas members who lives in Jordan also oversees operations in Syria, Turkey and China.
Shin Bet officials said Hamas operations in China were financial and included money laundering and procurement of equipment. In Turkey, Hamas is believed to be active in recruiting operatives.
On Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon accused Ankara of cooperating with Hamas and Iran. "How can you trust a government that consorts with Iran and Hamas?" Ya'alon asked during a speech he gave at a conference in Tel Aviv.
Hamas's best-known overseas presence is in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , home to its political leader Khaled Mashaal. Hamas is believed to be the strongest overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Leb -- but could potentially work together with other groups, such as Hezbullies, to increase its reach.
The liquidation of senior Hamas military commander Mahmoud Mabhouh in 2010 in Dubai, blamed on the Mossad, shed light on Hamas's extensive operations overseas and how the group does not just operate in the Gazoo Strip and the West Bank.
Mabhouh was reported to have been in charge of procuring weapons for the group and working together with terrorist infrastructure in a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
#1
I wonder if this was intended to put a flea in the ear of the Chinese government, indirectly suggesting that, while saying, twice, that their interest in China was financial, implying that Hamas is giving terrorist expertise to the Uighurs.
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.
For a former high-level official in Israel's security services, the news this week was not upsetting - that Iran on its own had produced new, advanced nuclear centrifuges.
Opposition leader says Erdoğan blunders led to UN legitimization of Gaza blockade, US radar in Turkey will be used to protect Israel.
A military and economic alliance with Egypt is set to be signed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The deal should be clinched when Erdogan visits Cairo next Monday - the first such visit paid by a Turkish prime minister in 15 years.
Asif Ali 
Hillary Clinton
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Michel Aoun
Walid 
President-for-Life Bashir 
Intelligence officials say Hamas operations in China are financial and include money laundering; In Turkey, Hamas recruits operatives.
