[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr, the Ameer (supreme leader) of Al-Shabaab ... successor to the Islamic Courts... , the radical Islamist group vehemently opposing the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, has complained that different groups have formed alliance against his movement.
"An evil treaty is being assembled," said the hardline holy man-cum-militia leader.
Talking to Al-Andalus, an Al-Shabaab run broadcaster, Sheikh Abu Zubayr (also known as Ahmed Abdi Godane) stated that Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Amisom (African Union Mission in Somalia), TFG and Ahlu Sunna wal-Jamea (moderate Islamists allied with the TFG) have formed an aggressive coalition, attacking the fanatical Islamists from different directions.
"This hostile association is constantly attacking our positions in different regions," said the Al-Shabaab leader. "Its perpetrators have a deep-rooted military agenda against us (Al-Shabaab)," he added.
Sheikh Abu Zubayr reiterated that Western, Kenyan and Ethiopian military planes bombarded several Al-Shabaab held positions. He added that the assailants are not going to succeed.
"They are using sophisticated air force in the attacks," said the sheikh. He added that all the air raids will only succeed is to terrorise the public in Al-Shabaab territories.
"They are not capable of concurring the Wilaya (territories controlled by the Islamists)," retorted Sheikh Abu Zubayr. "All they are capable of generating terror."
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... the TFG announced early on Saturday that it began what it termed 'Operation to Restore Peace and Stability across Somalia.'
According to a press statement released by the Office of Somalia's PM Professor Abdiweli Mohamed, the TFG in collaboration with neighbouring countries and with support from International Community is going to stabilise the country.
"Today, the Government and the people of Somalia have stood up against the evils of Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab terrorists," read the statement released in Mogadishu. It indicated that countless Somalis and those in neighbouring countries have long been terrorized and killed.
"Our people have suffered harshly under their occupation (terrorist groups). Today, we have initiated the process to liberate the tyranny of Al-Qaeda and Al-shabaab from Somalia." said Somalia Prime Minister, Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali.
The PM's statement coincided with the seizure of Beledweyne town, the capital of Hiran region in Central Somalia, by pro-government forces supported by Ethiopian troops.
"Our Operation to Restore Peace and Stability is proceeding well and according to plan. Early in this morning (Saturday), the Somali National Army recaptured some Al-Shabaab occupied territories, engaging the enemies in Hiraan and other regions of the country," read the statement.
"We are officially requesting for momentous support from neighboring countries such as Ethiopia and the international community on the lam to assist the Somali people and its government with this historic operation." added Prime Minister Ali.
According to the blurb, the aim of the operation is to free the Somali people from the merciless clutches of turban groups. It was also meant to extend the safety zone for Somalis to receive international aid which they desperately need.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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Nigeria's Christians are losing faith that the government will protect them from attacks by Islamic extremists and will "respond appropriately" to future killings, the country's leading church group warned Wednesday.
In a public message to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Christian Association of Nigeria called the Christmas Day targeting of churches in several cities "a declaration of war on Christians and Nigeria as an entity." The group also criticized its Muslim counterparts for failing to condemn the Islamic militants blamed for Sunday's attacks, calling their responses "unacceptable."
"The Christian community is fast losing confidence in government's ability to protect our rights to religious liberties and life," its president, Pentecostal pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said in the statement. "The consensus is that the Christian community nationwide would be left with no other option than to respond appropriately if there are any further attacks on our members, churches and properties."
#4
Last time the UK strongly supported the Muslims against Biafra and the US sided with the UK. The French supported Biafra under the table.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/02/2012 18:26 Comments ||
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#5
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NIGERIA: AL-QAEDA LINKED GROUP [Boko Haram] GIVES CHRISTIANS THREE-DAY DEADLINE, to move away = get out from their communities ASAP or face attacks.
[Yemen Post] Senior aides in Vice President Abdurabu Hadi's office told Yemen Post that the current announcement of President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... not traveling was propaganda and that he will travel outside the country sooner or later. Good info. Precise data makes for accurate planning.
"Saleh does not want to be pressured by the international community. He will leave when he feels he should," the official told Yemen Post.
Observers are worried that Saleh will cause problems for Hadi if he insists on staying in Yemen.
They commented saying that Saleh is not yet willing to realize that he is now only an honorary president with no real authorities.
President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... announced in a closed door meeting with senior ruling party officials that he will not be traveling to the United States for medical treatment.
The announcement comes as Saleh was angered at the new US stance that is indirectly threatening that he be tried upon arrival to the US by rights organizations.
Close aides to Saleh said that the turmoil in the military was also a reason for Saleh to decide to stay back.
By February 21st, Saleh will be forced to step down from presidency giving current VP the chance to stabilize the country during a two-year presidential term.
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Reinforcing the testimonies of two previous witnesses, prosecution witness Mostafa Hawlader yesterday told the International Crimes Tribunal that he saw Sayeedi along with other collaborators looting and burning a number of shops in Parerhaat Bazar in 1971.
Mostafa said he saw Delwar Hossain Sikder (he kept referring to Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... as Delwar Hossain Sikder) direct Pak soldiers to the houses of Hindus and Awami League supporters in Parerhaat Bazar during the Liberation War.
"The Pakistain army then ordered a looting of the bazaar. Delwar Hossain Sikder, Moslem Moulana, Sekander Sikder and Khalil Moulvi along with other peace committee members then looted 30 to 35 shops at Parerhaat Bazar," Mostafa, the eighth prosecution witness, said.
Earlier, Mahbubul Alam Hawlader and Ruhul Amin Nobin, the first two prosecution witnesses, also narrated how the Jamaat leader had been involved in the looting of shops and houses in Parerhaat Bazaar.
Mostafa, 56, concluded his testimony yesterday in the case filed against Sayeedi in connection with crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.
After his deposition, the three-member tribunal led by its chairman, Justice Md Nizamul Huq, began recording Mostafa's cross-examination yesterday. The cross-examination will resume today.
Mostafa, who used to sell chhola muri (a mix of chickpeas and puffed rice) at Parerhaat during the Liberation War, was at the Parerhaat Bazar on May 7, 1971.
According to him, Sayeedi was known as Delwar Hossain Sikder until around 15 to 16 years ago, when he came to be known as Delwar Hossain Sayeedi.
He said he remembers seeing Delwar Hossain Sikder, Sekander Sikder, Danesh Mollah, Moslem Moulana and other members of the peace committee and Razakars (collaborators) waiting near the north end of Parerhaat Bazar.
Later, 52 Pak soldiers arrived at the rickshaw stand near the bazaar in 26 rickshaws.
"Delwar Hossain Sikder, Sekander Sikder, Danesh Mollah, and Moslem Moulana spoke to the soldiers. They showed them the houses of Hindus and Awami League supporters," he said.
It was then that Sayeedi, along with other collaborators and Pak soldiers, looted the houses and shops in Parerhaat Bazar.
According to Mostafa, the looting lasted for around 60 to 90 minutes.
The Pakistain army then left Parerhaat and set up its camp at Rajlakshmi High School, Mostafa said.
The next day, some "15 to 16 Pakistain soldiers and 30 to 35 Razakars went to Badura village", he said, where Delwar Hossain Sikder pointed out to the soldiers the house of Noor Khan.
Mostafa, who was at the other end of an adjacent canal, saw the collaborators and soldiers torch the house of Noor Khan.
The collaborators and soldiers then moved to the house of Raisuddin Poshari, a local Awami League supporter. They looted the house and torched it, he said.
Their next stop was Shahiduddin Poshari's house, where three residential quarters, a guesthouse and a granary were also plundered before they were torched.
Shahiduddin Poshari is the father of Manik Poshari, who is also a witness in the case.
"Two people used to look after the buffaloes in Shahiduddin Poshari's house," Mostafa told the court. "They were Mofiz and Ibrahim Kutti."
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A group of anti-North Korea activists in Seoul on Sunday launched leaflets that criticized the North's new leader and urged its people to rise up against the communist regime, a group leader said.
About 70 activists floated large gas-filled balloons carrying some 50,000 leaflets and instant noodles after an anti-Pyngyang rally at Imjingak, a tourist site near the border north of Seoul, said Choi Woo-Won.
The leaflets contained photos of former leaders such as ex-Romanian strongman Nicolae Ceausescu ...late Communist dictator of Romania, where he was executed by a firing squad organized by his indignant subjects. While he was alive Old Nick was the subject of periodic mandatory adoring rallies and was respected in Washington because he wasn't Like All the Other Commies... , Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... when they were being executed or killed by rebels, he said.
"We want North Korean people to know that dictators in other parts of the world faced miserable deaths, and that they should also rise up against the repressive Kim dynasty," Choi told AFP.
The leaflets also called for North Korean people and soldiers to "exterminate the repressive, three-generation power transfer of the fat murderer family of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Dear Leader Jong-Il ... hereditary dictator of North Korea. His definition of reunification isn't the same as the definition in Seoul... and Kim Jong-Un," he said.
The Kim dynasty has ruled the impoverished, reclusive communist state with an iron fist for more than six decades.
Jong-Un, aged in his late 20s, was proclaimed the "great successor" after his father and longtime leader Kim Jong-Il died on December 17.
The senior Kim himself took over from his father and founding president, Kim Il-Sung, after his death in 1994.
South Korean activists have regularly sent leaflets over the border lambasting the ruling Kim dynasty or carrying news of the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in the past year.
The North, which tightly controls news from outside, has threatened to fire across the heavily fortified border to stop the launches.
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] North Korea called on its people to rally behind new leader Kim Sonny Jong-un and protect him as "human shields" while working to solve the "burning issue" of food shortages by upholding the policies of his late father, Kim Jong-il.
The North's three main state newspapers said in a policy-setting editorial traditionally published on New Year's Day that Kim Sonny Jong-un has legitimacy to carry on the revolutionary battle initiated by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and developed by his father, the iron-fisted ruler who died two weeks ago. "Kim Sonny Jong-un, the supreme leader of our Party and our people, is the banner of victory and glory of Songun (military-first) Korea and the eternal centre of its unity," the 5,000-word editorial carried by the North's state KCNA news agency said.
Asserting that the inexperienced young Kim, in his late 20s, is "precisely" identical to his father, the editorial said "the whole Party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction that they will become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Sonny Jong-un unto death". Notably, the editorial called North Korea's food problem "a burning issue" for the ruling Workers' Party to solve and build "a thriving country". "Glorify this year 2012 as a year of proud victory, a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding, true to the instructions of the great General Kim Jong-il," read the editorial.
The destitute North has been suffering from chronic food shortages, relying heavily on outside aid. A UN report said in November the isolated communist state needs food assistance for nearly 3 million of its 24 million people in 2012. Many Korea-watchers in Seoul say the editorial did not suggest any major new changes in social or economic policies but appeared to be sensitive over the food issue. "In order to solidify and stabilise his grip on power, tackling the food problem is one of the top agenda topics Kim Sonny Jong-un should deal with for now," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Koran Studies, told Rooters.
The editorial also assailed the South Korean government for pursuing confrontation despite efforts by the North to reopen dialogue, and it repeated its demand for the withdrawal of the US military from the South.
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Pakistain Syed Munawar Hassan ... The funny-looking Amir of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He joined the National Students Federation (NSF), a lefty student body, and was elected its President in 1959. He came into contact with the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan and studied the writings of Mawlana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, The Great Apostasizer. As a result, he joined IJT in 1960 and soon he was elected as President of its University of Karachi Unit and member of the Central Executive Council. He was Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistain in 1992-93, and became Secretary General in 1993. After years of holding Qazi's camel he was named Amir when the old man stepped down in 2009... called up on the nation on Sunday to be prepared for bringing a revolution in the country and viewed that elections held after the revolution will bear better results.
Addressing a public meeting at Banaras Chowk area of Bloody Karachi on Sunday, the JI chief also said that the nation should be prepared for elections. He claimed that bearded men and Hijab-wearing women would change the fate of the country.
Munawar Hassan criticized the government saying it speaks of supremacy of parliament but its deeds were contrary to that. He urged the Chief Justice of Pakistain to ensure implementation of Supreme Court verdicts.
Touching the Memo issue, JI chief said it was aimed at defaming the armed forces of country. He also emphasized the need of reviewing foreign policy of country and added that 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... attack on Salal checkpost was an attack on the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain.
The USA with the help of India had been trying to weaken Pakistain. The JI chief said his party has never been involved in corruption and therefore there is no such allegation on it.
"We dont have any feudal lord in JI," he said. Syed Munawar Hassan severely criticized the present rulers for making miserable the lives of the people of Pakistain by inflation and skyrocketing prices of petroleum and other things.
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
SONG > There's got to be a Revolution-n-n ... We've got to change the World.
[Pak Daily Times] President Barack Because I won Obama signed a wide-ranging defence bill into law on Saturday, which freezes some $700 million in assistance until Pakistain comes up with a strategy to deal with improvised bombs.
The president gave approval to the bill despite having "serious reservations" about provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists. The bill also applies penalties against Iran's central bank in an effort to hamper Tehran's ability to fund its nuclear enrichment programme. The B.O. regime is looking to soften the impact of those penalties because of concerns that they could lead to a spike in global oil prices or cause economic hardship on US allies that import petroleum from Iran.
In a statement accompanying his signature, the president chastised some politicians for what he contended was their attempts to use the bill to restrict the ability of counterterrorism officials to protect the country. Administration officials said Obama was only signing the measure because Congress made minimally acceptable changes that no longer challenged the president's terrorism-fighting ability.
"Moving forward, my administration will interpret and implement the provisions described below in a manner that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which this country was founded," Obama said in the signing statement. Signing statements allow presidents to raise constitutional objections to circumvent Congress' intent. Obama's signature caps months of wrangling over how to handle captured terrorist suspects without violating Americans' constitutional rights. The White House initially threatened to veto the legislation but dropped the warning after Congress made last-minute changes.
Among the changes the administration secured was striking a provision that would have eliminated executive branch authority to use civilian courts for trying terrorism cases against foreign nationals. The new law now requires military custody for any suspect who is a member of al Qaeda or "associated forces" and involved in planning or attempting to carry out an attack on the United States or its coalition partners. The president or a designated subordinate may waive the military custody requirement by certifying to Congress that such a move is in the interest of national security.
The administration also pushed Congress to change a provision that would have denied US citizens suspected of terrorism the right to trial and could have subjected them to indefinite detention. Lawmakers eventually dropped the military custody requirement for US citizens or lawful US residents. "My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens," Obama said in the signing statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
What a great ally! You wanna open the vault for these people.
[Dawn] The provincial elementary and secondary education (E&SE) department has expressed displeasure over supply of 'substandard' goods to government schools in Malakand division and asked United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... Children's Fund (Unicef) to replace them with those of good quality without delay.
The Unicef had sent the 'relief goods', including teaching kits, student bags, stationery, blackboards, plastic mats and sports kits, for distribution to students of the schools in the division, especially in its militancy-hit areas, under an agreement with the provincial government, according to an official source.
"Of late, minister (for E&SE) Sardar Hussain Babak directed the bosses of the education department to issue a letter of displeasure to Unicef for supplying substandard items to schools," the source told Dawn on Saturday.
The source said the officials in the department learned about the poor quality of the goods after many schools had got them, while their supply to the rest was underway.
The source said in line with the minister's directives, the department conveyed to Unicef its displeasure over the substandard goods' provision and asked it immediately stop their further supply and replace the ones already sent to schools.
When contacted, secretary E&SE Mushtaq Jadoon confirmed the supply of substandard goods to Malakand schools and said he had taken up the matter with Unicef and asked the relevant officials to match the dispatched items with the specimen shown by contractors at the time of securing the contract.
"In fact, it was a grant of the Saudi Development Fund that was utilised through Unicef," he said, adding that the first consignment of the pledged goods had already reached many schools in Malakand division.
Communication specialist of Unicef in Islamabad A Sami Malik said the organization received some complaints about the quality of different items dispatched to schools in the insurgency-hit Malakand division. He said the goods sent were not imported and were purchased from the local market.
"For the purchase of these items, we followed the competitive bidding process. A tender was floated in the national press, while the contract for supplying the said goods was awarded to the lowest bidder after fulfillment of the prescribed criteria," he said. He further said: "It is in the knowledge of Unicef bosses that something wrong has been committed during the supply," he said.
Mr Malik said Unicef had already ordered an inquiry into the matter and would ensure by all means that the items to be supplied to schools was of good quality.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"It is in the knowledge of Unicef bosses that something wrong has been committed during the supply"
Apparently a degree from a prestigious university is good for something.
Ahmed al-Azami said, "People started to question my origins. Why don't you live in Azamiyah?"
He felt so nervous and unwelcome that he began looking for a house in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah a few weeks ago. Referring to his Shiite neighbors, he said, "I will always be a stranger to them."
[An Nahar] Anti-U.S. Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... sharply criticized an offshoot of his movement on Sunday, accusing them of killing Iraqi soldiers and coppers and being beholden to neighboring Iran.
It is the first time Sadr, who is himself judged by critics as close to Tehran, has publicly stated that Asaib Ahel al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, is supported by the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
The holy man said that the Shiite militia, which is blamed for the killing of U.S. troops, had only recently decided to lay down their arms because a political standoff in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... has raised the specter of early elections. The group was also behind the kidnap of a British IT consultant and his four bodyguards.
"I have asked the people who are in charge of them in the Islamic Theocratic Republic to change the name of Asaib, and change their dual leadership," Sadr said in a written response to a letter from a follower, published by his office on Sunday. "But these people refused."
Washington has long blamed Iran for training and equipping Shiite militias, including Asaib Ahel al-Haq, that have carried out attacks against US and Iraqi soldiers, charges Tehran denies.
Sadr did not specify what he meant by the group's "dual leadership" but Asaib Ahel al-Haq is jointly led by the brothers Qais and Laith al-Khazali.
The holy man long ran his own feared Mahdi Army militia, and while that has been deactivated as a violent force, the offshoot Promised Day Brigade is seen as close to Sadr.
"They (Asaib Ahel al-Haq) handed over their weapons to be part of the political process," Sadr said, referring to Qais al-Khazali's December 26 remarks that the group would join the political process.
Sadr said those weapons were used to kill "honest people", charging the organization with killing Iraqi soldiers and coppers, as well as Saleh al-Ogayly, an MP who was killed by a booby-trapped cycle of violence in the Shiite bastion of Sadr City in Storied Baghdad in October 2008.
"Today, the opportunity of an election has come, and their intentions have become clear," Sadr said.
He was referring to political discord in Iraq between the Shiite-led government and the key Sunni-backed Iraqiya party, with several groups, including the parliamentary bloc loyal to Sadr, calling for early elections to resolve the standoff.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Geez,
Has tater had an epiphany about what Iran was up to? Is he more of Iraqi nationalist than we thought.
What have they been feeding this kid so that is starting to sound like the only adult in the political conversation in Iraq?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/02/2012 2:38 Comments ||
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#2
"Has tater had an epiphany about what Iran was up to? Is he more of Iraqi nationalist than we thought."
I think he is sensing that the Iranian regime isn't very popular in Iran. He might also be angling for some of that Zakat from Iranian pilgrims who have been increasingly tithing to Iraqi clerics rather than to Iranian.
#3
I think the more obvious reason is that tater wants to be the sole source through which Iranian influence flows. He's a turkey, which everyone knows, and if someone comes around who is more competent, the Iranians will drop him like, dare I say it? A hot tater.
#4
Has tater had an epiphany about what Iran was up to?
Partly, as 'moose says, because he wants to be the go-to Iraqi for all Iranian-related issues. And partly it's deflection: the Iranians have decided to diversify their influence and Sadr, while he likely agrees, is trying to keep the violence from damaging him.
[An Nahar] Leader of a country that regularly suffers deadly attacks, Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... joked on Sunday that while Iraq needed to unleash the explosive energy of its people, he did not mean "like a car boom."
Marking the end of an agreement with Washington that allowed U.S. troops to be stationed in the country, Iraq's prime minister said that though the task of rebuilding would be difficult, he believed there was "energy in our people."
"We have to work to explode this energy," Maliki said during a speech at Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... 's Al-Rasheed hotel, in the capital's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
"I do not mean, by exploding, to explode it like a car boom," he added, before smiling.
Maybe Moktada al-Sadr will die from laughter when he hears the joke.
Figures released on Sunday showed that while violence was markedly down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, when Iraq was in the throes of a sectarian war, 2,645 people were still killed in attacks last year.
On December 22, more than a dozen attacks in Storied Baghdad itself killed 60 people in the worst violence to strike the country in more than four months.
U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq on December 18, and on Saturday, a bilateral security pact between the two countries that allowed American troops to be stationed in Iraq expired.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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Posted very late yesterday, so rolled over to today.
-- tw at 1:25 a.m. ET
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy Isaac Molho will meet with top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in Amman Tuesday for preliminary talks aimed at setting an agenda for peace negotiations, even as the Palestinians are preparing a diplomatic campaign that aims to put Israel under "a real international siege."
Among those who have been pushing hard for the meeting Tuesday, the first official meeting between Israeli and Palestinian representatives in several months, are Jordan's King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and the Quartet's Mideast envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Senior Israeli officials said there was very little chance that the meeting would lead to the renewal of negotiations.
The diplomatic offensive the Palestinians are planning to launch later this month could include pushing the UN Security Council to pass a resolution condemning settlement construction and urging the International Criminal Court to try Israel for war crimes related to its 2008-2009 incursion into the Gaza Strip.
2012 "will be the start of an unprecedented diplomatic campaign on the part of the Palestinian leadership, and it will be a year of pressure on Israel that will put it under a real international siege," said Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath, according to an Israeli Foreign Ministry document. "The campaign will be similar to the one waged against apartheid in South Africa."
Posted very late yesterday, so rolled over to today.
-- tw at 1:25 a.m. ET
Al-Quds Al-`Arabi reported that Saudi Arabia requested that Hamas cuts all ties with Iran before it can have relations with Hamas. It added that Hamas said that it needs Saudi Arabia to replace Iran as its financial backer before it can cut off ties with Iran. I did hear that Isma`il Haniyyah asked Saudi Arabia to host him during his tour but that it refused. That only means that Hamas is now officially for sale.
[An Nahar] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks on Sunday with Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, prime minister Ismail Haniya and voiced his support for Paleostinian reconciliation efforts, media reports said.
Haniya is in Istanbul as part of his first official regional tour since his Islamist movement seized power in the Paleostinian enclave in 2007, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Ankara has sought to mediate in efforts to reconcile Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ' Fatah faction and Hamas despite Israeli ire over its contacts with the Islamist movement ruling the Gazoo Strip.
Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in May after years of bitter and often deadly rivalry, but its implementation has since stalled.
Haniya's trip follows a visit to Turkey in November by Abbas, who angered Israel when he met a woman freed under a prisoner deal who had been sentenced to life for luring an Israeli teenager to his death through an Internet chat room.
Erdogan's government insists that peace cannot be achieved in the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict if Hamas is excluded from the process.
The Turkish premier has rejected the "terrorist" label for Hamas, defending the Islamist group as "resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land".
Relations between Israel and Turkey also soured after Israeli commandos launched a raid on a Turkish boat trying to break the Gazoo blockade in May 2010, killing nine Turkish nationals.
Haniya is due to visit the vessel on Monday and meet relatives of the victims, as well as holding a presser.
Since 2007, the Paleostinian territories have been politically divided into two separate territories, with Abbas' Fatah largely ruling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gazoo.
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01/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministerial colleagues on Sunday that he planned to strengthen barriers along his country's border with Jordan, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The English-language daily's website said Netanyahu told ministers from his Likud party that he feared illegal migrants who currently enter Israel from Egypt would head to the less-fortified Jordanian border once the Jewish state completes a fence along its southern border.
The Post said the new fence would cost 630 million shekels ($166 million).
The northern part of the 238 kilometer border runs along the river Jordan and is dotted on the Israeli side with cliff-side army bunkers, barbed wire, lookout towers and electronic listening devices.
South of the Dead Sea, the frontier runs through rugged desert and mountains, pierced in places by canyons used as smuggling routes from Jordan.
As the Negev desert tapers toward the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat, only a few miles separate the Jordanian border on its western side and Egypt to the east.
Israel is currently erecting a giant, impenetrable security barrier along its 240-kilometer border with Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
Work began a year ago, in a project initially aimed at stemming a growing tide of African migrants, as well as clamping down on cross-border trafficking in drugs and women.
The pace of work has sped up since August, when gunnies from Sinai sneaked across the border and staged a series of bushwhackes in the Negev, putting fresh emphasis on security.
The Post quoted Israeli government data published on Sunday as saying that in 2011 a total of 16,816 Africans entered Israel illegally from Egypt. In December alone, 2,931 people sneaked into Israel, it said.
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The US really needs to hire these Israeli fence builders for our border with Mexico. They erect more good fence in a month than we erect in a year.
Phillipine police say suspected Muslim militants have demanded ransom for the release of a kidnapped Australian and have sent proof he is alive. Police Senior Superintendent Ruben Cariaga said the kidnappers mailed four pictures of 53-year-old Warren Richard Rodwell to his Filipino wife before Christmas and called her to demand an initial ransom of $23,000.
Rodwell was abducted by six gunmen on December 5 in southern Zamboanga Sibugay province by armed men who fled in speedboats. Bloodstains were found at the house from which he was taken.
Police say that Rodwell's wife, with whom he runs a store in the seaside town of Ipil on Mindanao, said she can't raise the ransom. Muslim rebels in talks with the government said they are helping to free him.
[An Nahar] Iran's central bank will confront new U.S. sanctions with "strength," President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, a day after U.S. leader Barack We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us Obama signed into law extra measures against the institution.
"The central bank is the backbone of dealing with the enemies' pressure and it must with strength and self-confidence have the solidity to eliminate all of the enemies' plots," he told an annual assembly of the bank's bigwigs, according to a statement on the presidency website.
"We should protect the people and the nation against the enemies' plots so people are not pressured," he was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad added that "currently there is no particular problem in the economic sector," discounting the effects of previous sanctions.
The new U.S. sanctions seek to further squeeze Iran's crucial oil revenues, most of which are processed by the central bank.
Under the measures, foreign firms will have to choose between doing business with the Islamic republic or the economically mighty United States.
The sanctions, meant to punish Iran for its nuclear program, were contained in a mammoth $662 billion U.S. defense bill. Obama signed them into law despite reservations they would ties his hands on setting foreign policy.
Iranian leaders and military officials have warned that such sanctions could push them to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.
Twenty percent of the world's oil passes through the strait, making it the "most important choke point" globally, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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WORLDNEWS > [IRNA = Albert Stahl] SWISS ANALYST: IRAN THE WINNER OF [big]REGIONAL CHESS, THE US HAD BETTER START TALKS, instead of beating the sanctions or war drums.
[An Nahar] The home of former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr near Gay Paree was burgled overnight and cash stolen, police and his daughter said Sunday.
Police were called to Bani Sadr's Versailles home which was empty at the time of the break-in early on New Year's Day, police said.
His daughter Firouze Bani Sadr said police protection for her father had been lifted years ago.
Bani Sadr was president between February 1980 and June 1981 in the immediate aftermath of the revolution that overthrew the shah, before going into exile in La Belle France when he fell out with the new Islamic regime.
"This break-in may have a criminal nature but it can also be something else," his daughter told Agence La Belle France Presse. "One has the impression that the home is under surveillance, so they acted when there was nobody," she added.
Bani Sadr's wife was attacked outside the house on November 26.
Firouze Bani Sadr said the two incidents showed that her father needed more security.
But a judicial official told AFP there was no obvious link between the break-in and Bani Sadr's present or past political activities, or the attack against his wife, but added that Sherlocks were looking into all possibilities.
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[Emirates 24/7] An Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... advisory body called on Sunday for the immediate withdrawal of the organization's monitoring mission in Syria, saying it was allowing Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... to cover up continued violence and abuses.
The Arab League has sent a small team to Syria to check whether Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... is keeping his promise to end a crackdown on a nine-month uprising against his rule.
The observer mission has already stirred controversy. Rights groups have reported continued deaths in festivities and tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to show the observers the extent of their anger.
The Sudanese head of the mission also infuriated some observers by suggesting he was reassured by first impressions of Homs, one of the main centres of unrest.
The Arab Parliament, an 88-member advisory committee of delegates from each of the League's member states, on Sunday said the violence was continuing to claim many victims.
"For this to happen in the presence of Arab monitors has roused the anger of Arab people and negates the purpose of sending a fact-finding mission," the organization's chairman Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas said.
"This is giving the Syrian regime an Arab cover for continuing its inhumane actions under the eyes and ears of the vaporous Arab League," he said.
The Arab Parliament was the first body to recommend freezing Syria's membership in the organization in response to Assad's crackdown.
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[An Nahar] Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour praised on Saturday Russia's position on the Syrian crisis, noting that it had called against foreign meddling in the Arab state since the beginning of the unrest.
He made his statements after holding a meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin during which he received a letter from his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Syria.
Mansour said after the talks: "Due to its position in the Arab world, Russia can play an effective and important role in ending the Syrian crisis while maintaining the country's unity, stability, and security."
"Dialogue is the best way to end the crisis," he stressed.
For his part, Zasypkin stated that the Arab observer mission monitoring the situation in Syria is facing a difficult task because it needs political and moral support.
He added that the Syrian opposition should take a constructive position on holding dialogue with the Syrian regime.
The developments in Syria indicate that there can be no substitute for an internal political settlement as stipulated in the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... initiative, he stressed.
Earlier in December, the United States urged Russia to back U.N. Security Council action on Syria, after U.N. officials said the corpse count in the months-long Syrian protests had exceeded 5,000.
"Frankly we think that it is past time for the U.N. Security Council to speak up," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told news hounds, denouncing Security Council silence on the Syrian regime as "unconscionable."
"And we are again calling on our partners on the Security Council to be willing to take action and speak out for the innocents in Syria who are suffering at the hands of the regime, including Russia," Nuland said.
Lavrov had slammed as "immoral" Western accusations it was blocking U.N. action condemning the deadly crackdown by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime.
Russia and China in October used a rare double veto to block a Western-backed resolution condemning Assad's regime. Brazil, India, Leb and South Africa abstained.
Moscow said then that the action was one-sided and on Tuesday argued that "armed bad boy groups" were becoming increasingly reckless as Western pressure on Assad grew.
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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.
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
[Bangla Daily Star] Reinforcing the testimonies of two previous witnesses, prosecution witness Mostafa Hawlader yesterday told the International Crimes Tribunal that he saw Sayeedi along with other collaborators looting and burning a number of shops in Parerhaat Bazar in 1971.
North Korea
Kim 
Syed Munawar Hassan
[Pak Daily Times] President 
[Dawn] The provincial elementary and secondary education (E&SE) department has expressed displeasure over supply of 'substandard' goods to government schools in Malakand division and asked 
Ahmed al-Azami said, "People started to question my origins. Why don't you live in Azamiyah?" 
Moqtada 
handed over their weapons
Nouri al-Maliki
[An Nahar] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministerial colleagues on Sunday that he planned to strengthen barriers along his country's border with Jordan, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Mahmoud 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
