[An Nahar] Kuwait will not deport activists who stormed the Syrian embassy back to their homeland due to fears about their safety, Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Humoud said on Tuesday.
"We will provide all guarantees for a fair trial to them and after the ruling is issued, we will deport them to a country of their choice," the minister said in a statement.
The statement came after a large number of MPs in the newly elected parliament warned authorities the activists would be executed if they were deported to Syria.
The independent Kuwait Society for Human Rights also called on authorities to stop any plan to deport the jugged Syrians because there is enough justification to believe they will be tortured or killed.
The minister did not provide a figure for those placed in long-term storage when Syrians and Kuwaiti activists stormed the embassy on Saturday, but a security source said that about 40 people were jugged, two of them Kuwaitis.
Sheikh Ahmed said the Syrians were being jugged by the secret service police.
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The prosecution and the investigation agency probing war crimes have been failing over and over again to produce witnesses in a case against 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... at the International Crimes Tribunal.
Four days after failing to produce any witnesses on February 2, the prosecution yesterday brought forth only one witness who could not even remember anything specific, and completed his deposition in just two minutes. The defence did not even bother to cross-examine the witness.
The prosecution's frequent failure to produce witnesses became an issue at the tribunal yesterday. The judges started their proceedings by asking the prosecution about the number of witnesses they had for the day.
After the prosecution said it had only one witness, tribunal Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq addressed Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo and said, "Mr Chief Prosecutor! What shall we do? You have managed to bring only one witness after four days!"
The chief prosecutor said they appreciate the court's concerns and added that the prosecution's efforts to produce the witnesses have been relentless.
Not satisfied with the answer, the chairman called forth investigation officer Helaluddin. "What is the problem?" asked Justice Nizamul Huq, pointing out that it was the Sherlocks' responsibility to produce the witnesses.
Helaluddin said the prosecution were facing many difficulties and that some witnesses had been sick.
"Bring them to Dhaka and provide them with treatment if they are sick," said Huq. "Take them into your custody and have them treated."
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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and they can't show pictures of him looking fat either But we can...
BBC journalists have been told not to call hate preacher Abu Qatada an 'extremist'.
Using such a term to describe the man once called 'Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe', is making a 'value judgment' and should be avoided, bosses have said.
The corporation's managers have insisted he should be described as 'radical', according to meeting notes seen by the Telegraph.
Journalists were also advised not to use images that suggest the preacher is overweight, the paper says.
But nothing they show can hide the fact that Pastor Abu Qatada is the very definition of not a handsome man, with a beard that looks as if the glue will give way at any moment.
Russia's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday slammed efforts to "poison" relations between his country and the Arab world after Russia's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made the comments as he strongly rejected Arab internet reports that he had threatened the prime minister of Qatar during talks at the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... last week on Syria.
"Apparently somebody is trying very hard to drive a wedge between Russia and the Arab world," Churkin told a presser at the U.N. headquarters.
He said Russia was concerned that the reports will be used "artificially, to try to poison our relations with the Arab world. So the record must be set straight on this."
Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by Arab and European nations which aimed to support 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... plan to end the Syria crisis. Russia has been strongly criticized by western and some Arab leaders for the second veto on Syria in four months.
Unsourced reports of Churkin's encounter with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani last week circulated on Arab websites. They said that Churkin had threatened Qatar.
Churkin said the Russian mission had been "inundated" with calls about the reports. "It is just dishonest and dirty and provocative of course," he said of the reports.
The Russian envoy said the "very exaggerated, emotional, sometimes rude reaction" of western ambassadors to the Russian veto was another sign of efforts to cause trouble between Russia and the Arab world.
"They may have their purposes in mind. But I think the side effect, or maybe purpose of some of those reactions, is to create some hostility toward Russia in the Arab world and that of course is not appreciated," Churkin said.
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Unsourced reports of Churkin's encounter with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani last week circulated on Arab websites. They said that Churkin had threatened Qatar.
I can just imagine that exchange.
bint Jassem "You Ruski infidels will have to face the righteous wrath of the Muslim People"
Churkin "Zatknis, chernozopi'i."
bint Jassem "Allan's shahids will strike you infidels dead in the middle of Moscow!"
Churkin "Try anything, and we'll kill any Qatari who had less than four grandparents."
[An Nahar] A U.S. judge Tuesday set an October 22 trial date for an Iranian-American accused of plotting with senior Tehran officials to hire Mexican gangsters to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
Federal Judge John Keenan rejected a request for more time by the defense lawyer for Manssor Arbabsiar, a used car salesman from Texas with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship.
Arbabsiar's lawyer, Sabrina Schroff, had asked for a later trial date, arguing that "the case is complex and the indictment is complex," but the judge denied the request.
"I'm giving you eight months," he told the defense lawyer. "And it's 363 days between the first time I saw him and the trial."
The judge ordered prosecutors to turn over relevant documents in the case to the defense by March 9.
Arbabsiar was locked away last September at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, leading to a major legal and diplomatic drama between Washington and Tehran, amid already tense relations.
He and co-defendant Gholam Shakuri, a senior member of Iran's Quds Force who is on the lam, conspired to "kill the ambassador to the United States of Soddy Arabia, while the ambassador was in the United States," according to court documents.
Iran has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! any involvement in what the United States says was a plot by the Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force to kill the ambassador by hiring assassins from a Mexican narco mob for $1.5 million.
To set up the alleged hit, Arbabsiar allegedly arranged for $100,000 to be wired to the United States as a down payment, the indictment says.
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#2
The article dissed the MH-53s as old and outdated, but they can still do a good job. there really is nothing that would prevent moving the minsweeping gear to the 3 engined -53E ( several variants to choose from, flown by the USN, USMC, and USAF). that bird is about 50% bigger, has a bigger payload (again about >50%) and has an active logistics tail. cheap and shovel ready.
#3
Seems to me the 53 is airworthy enough to tow expendible sonar for mine mapping, and 'rubber' hulled boats would appear an excellant choice to deploy disposal ordinance.
#6
The USN has been suspiciously low key about naval mines for decades now. My guess is that there is some type of aerial or even satellite system that can map a broad area of ocean, spotting every mine in it.
Do that two or three times in an hour and you can tell if the mine is stationary or free floating, and in either case, drop a bomb next to it.
#12
AFAIK the 53's were supposed to had been replaced by super-techy, anti-Miney navalized Blackhawks + OSPREYS, but those died in the Congresscritter budget battles + espec finally when ex-POTUS Dubya invaded Saddam back in 2003.
As for the Dolphins, however proficient unfortunately for the USN too many Americans remember + adore FLIPPER [PR problem].
The "new hope" now rests firmly on the Drones - UAVS + USVS. NO DOUBTS, THOUGH, THAT THE 53'S WILL STILL KICK MINE BUTT IN THE GULF.
------------
* FYI TOPIX > REPORT: IRAN SAYS COULD HIT US FORCES [ + Interests] ANYWHERE/WORLDWIDE IFF ATTACKED.
* SAME > IRAN: US RISKS SELF-SUICIDE IFF IT ATTACKS IRAN.
Once again, NOSTRADAMUS > " ... Until the SEVEN/SEVENTH HOLDS THE LINE".
[I'll go today wid YOUNG MEL "TINA TURNER CALLED ME A RAGGEDY MAN IN THUNDERDOME" GIBSON in "GALLIPOLI" here].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA BUYS UP SAUDI, RUSSIAN OIL TO SQUEEZE IRAN, i.e. influence bilateral negotiations for cheaper or discounted oil from Tehran.
CHINA'S LARGEST FRESHWATER LAKE HAS ALSO DRIED UP, wid possible **surprise, surpise ** links to THREE GORGES, but thats another story.
#13
1960's = 1980's OLIVER STONE'S "PLATOON" >
[paraph] "We were not the only Battalion in the Valley - there were Others there as well. But somewhere out there was an entire Enemy Regiment".
[Dawn] Chief of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... on Tuesday said that the trio of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari, ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... has brought much harm to Pakistain, DawnNews reported.
Speaking at a presser in Islamabad, the PTI chief said that corruption and incompetence has cost the country over Rs3.1 trillion. He alleged that Zardari, Nawaz and Fazl were responsible for the losses.
The former cricketer added that PTI was ready to "topple all three wickets in one delivery", and that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) was not an issue for his party. Ayup. Imran seems to have a pretty good handle on that one. Not that it requires 20:20 vision to notice.
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus... , the chief of Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) a charity organization accused by West and India for exporting terror from Pakistain, has confessed for the first time about his meeting with al Qaeda founding father the late Osama bin Laden ... who knows that it's like to live in the belly of a whale only he's not living... and said that he studied from the same scholar who taught bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... "Yes once I had met Osama bin Laden but that is an old story I met him probably in 1982 in Soddy Arabia and in that meeting we just waived at each other," said Saeed in an interview with Dawn.com.
Saeed's organization was banned by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council days after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 for its alleged involvement in the attacks and Islamic fascistiactivities. However local courts have allowed the organization to work in Pakistain.
Saeed, the most wanted man by India, is a holder of double master's degree in Islamic Studies and also is a former teacher at Engineering University, Punjab.
He said he was a proud student of Sheikh Bin Baz.
Bin Baz was the grand mufti (scholar) of Soddy Arabia from 1993 to until his death in May 1999.
AfPak head and a retired CIA officer, Bruce Riedel in his book titled "The Search for Al Qaeda" has described Bin Baz as one who "preached a very reactionary brand of Islam, proclaiming earth is flat, banning high heels for women as too sexually provocative, barring men from wearing Western suits and imposing other restrictions on behavior." When asked is it not a coincidence that he studied under the same holy man who taught Osama bin Laden and Aiman al al-Zawahiri? Saeed said it was the honour for both the students and the teacher.
When asked about the reports regarding the financial help by Osama bin Laden for establishing Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... back in 1989-90, Saeed denied by calling it "baseless allegation."
Asked how it was possible that he could not have met Bin Laden in neighboring Afghanistan while he was waging Jihad next door in Indian administered Kashmire, Saeed brushed aside the question saying, "put this matter aside."
Saeed declared the killing of Osama bin Laden as extra judicial act and in the same breath he said that it was yet to be verified if the al Qaeda chief was in the Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... compound or not.
He said that US was the biggest terrorist who did not prove anything against bin Laden in any court of law.
When asked if his men or he himself were helping the jihad in Afghanistan, Saeed said that the Afghanis were doing well themselves and they did not need anybody's help. "We are doing what we can do for them," he added.
Saeed who used to hide from cameras has started appearing on television screen these days, when asked about the reason behind this change of mind he said that he has taken this decision to counter the propaganda against himself and his organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Shocka!Saudi is jihadi Idelology Central.
Pakistan and Saudi are our allies.Why?
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/08/2012 7:33 Comments ||
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#2
Still need directed meteors...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/08/2012 11:30 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. wants the Punjab government to take to task its officials who allegedly let two firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... leaders of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP) sneak into Islamabad last Friday to make provocative speeches, Dawn learned on Monday. Having "snuck" (or maybe it's "sneaked," I'm not sure), doesn't it negate the sneakiness when you give a speech? Especially a high-spittle content stem-winder?
Police sources here said the interior ministry had demanded the Punjab home department take action against the administration and coppers of Kamalia and Khanewal who failed to prevent Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi and Maulana Mohammad Khalid Dhillon from leaving their hometowns in violation of restrictions imposed on the leaders of the banned SSP under Section 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Such "restrictions" don't include anything about iron bars making a prison or breaking up big ones to make little ones...
Interior Minister Rehman Malik's ire was aroused when he was made target of ridicule in National Assembly on Friday for what friends and foes accused his ministry of sleeping over the activities of hate-mongers and terrorists. Ahah! The "wudn't me" defense!
The very next day the minister suspended SHO Irshad Abro of Margalla Police Station for not arresting the two sneaky leaders ... or maybe "snucky" leaders?
for making provocative speeches and display of hate material and banners at a religious ceremony.
According to the sources, the ceremony had been a long tradition and the Margalla police came to know about the presence of the leaders only because it was there to provide security. It was considered prudent not to incite religious frenzy by arresting them.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the event was noted in the cop shoppe's daily diary and the senior officers were informed same night about the unexpected presence of the SSP leaders the same night. Paperwork was started but nothing else was done against them on Sunday. But the FIR was sealed because of the sensitive nature of the case, the sources said.
They claimed that the organisers of the Paighumber-e-Islam.
Conference had met the Margalla police on Thursday and assured that no banned leader would be attending nor any hate speeches be made at the conference, a tradition going on for 18 years.
Several sitting politicians addressed the conference.
It may be that law does not allow banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations and their leaders to remain in business, but what seemed to arouse the federal government to action was politics.
It was Minister of State for Health Sheikh Waqas Akram of PML-Q, who on Friday rubbished the government's anti-terrorism efforts "a drama." He said he knew that a Paighumber-e-Islam Conference planned in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Company that day as part of Eid-e- Milad-un-Nabi celebrations was in fact meant to provide a stage for religious faceless myrmidons to spread venom.
Former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, who is under detention facing fraud charges and attends the assembly on parole, interjected that families of the judges trying cases of terrorism have been receiving threats.
Even PML-N's Sahabzada Fazal Karim joined the criticism of the freedom gun-hung tough guys groups enjoyed in the country. He said the Punjab government allowed the Defence of Pakistain Council hold a rally at Minar-e-Pakistain in Lahore but denied the same venue to Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... .
This article starring:
Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi
Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan
Maulana Mohammad Khalid Dhillon
Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
The size of the embassy was going to be 16,000 people, designed to give the U.S. a robust presence in Iraq even without U.S. troops there, but now Ambassador James Jeffrey is reconsidering the size of the embassy, according to the report.
The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
The size of the embassy was going to be 16,000 people, designed to give the U.S. a robust presence in Iraq even without U.S. troops there, but now Ambassador James Jeffrey is reconsidering the size of the embassy, according to the report.
Iran will not ask Hezbollah to intervene in the event of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, the leader of the militant group has told his followers. The Hezbollah chief also made the unusual acknowledgement that his group receives both material and financial aid from the Islamic Republic -- no secret to regional and world governments.
In a speech delivered Tuesday evening by video link to throngs of supporters, a black-turbaned Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Tehran will not ask Hezbollah for anything if Israel strikes Iran. He said, however, that Hezbollah would consider its options if such an attack occurs, ruling nothing out.
The U.S. government labels Hezbollah a terrorist group.
Recent reports about a potential Israeli military strike at Iran's nuclear facilities have spurred speculation that Lebanon-based Hezbollah could launch retaliatory attacks into Israeli territory.
While acknowledging that his group receives aid and support from the Islamic Republic, something that Hezbollah has generally left opaque, Nasrallah denied that Hezbollah takes its marching orders from Tehran.
"Yes, we have been receiving moral and political support and financial aid in all its possible ways and available forms from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982," Nasrallah said, according to Lebanese media accounts, in a speech marking the birthday of the prophet Muhammad.
Nasrallah was essentially confirming recent comments by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian leader affirmed that Iran has assisted Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.
In his address, Nasrallah also denied allegations of Hezbollah involvement in money-laundering and drug- smuggling to finance its activities.
"We have sufficient money, weapons, ammunition and financial ability to carry out our duty," said Nasrallah.
#5
I suspect the truth of the matter is that Hezbollah quite reasonably suspects that if the balloon goes up, it will be "no more Mr. Nice Guy" from Israel, and they will annihilate Hezbollah for good.
Last time, Hezbollah fled across the Litani River, which Israel designated as the point beyond which civilians had to flee. But those Hezbollah who stayed south of there just got the snot pounded out of them. Only after the Israelis left could they return.
More recently, they have gotten crafty and moved a lot of their assets into Beirut proper. But that will be of no help if Israel is well and truly pissed off. The Hezbollah owned parts of Beirut would be just as likely to get a MOAB stuck in them.
Hamas, as well, has been trying to distance itself from Iran, likely using much the same calculation.
#7
More recently, they have gotten crafty and moved a lot of their assets into Beirut proper. But that will be of no help if Israel is well and truly pissed off. The Hezbollah owned parts of Beirut would be just as likely to get a MOAB stuck in them.
As I recall, Anonymoose, last time Israel bombed the Hizb'allah sections of Beirut, as well.
[An Nahar] The United States on Tuesday voiced skepticism of promises by Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... to Russia's foreign minister and said that he should instead immediately end the violence.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States would withhold judgment on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... but criticized Assad for making new pledges of domestic reforms.
"You can understand that the international community as a whole would be pretty skeptical of, instead of focusing on ending the violence, what we seem to have is a re-upping of this same offer that Assad has been making for months and months and months," Nuland told news hounds.
Lavrov -- whose country is Assad's main supporter -- said that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed and that he would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution.
The idea "sounds like another promise by the Assad regime to put forward a piece of paper that they control for a vote that they can control and, frankly, how that gets us to the kind of peaceful national dialogue about a democratic future for Syria that we all want to see is not very clear," she said.
Human rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed as Assad puts down a nearly 11-month revolt. Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have put pressure on Assad.
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02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israel will reportedly take the necessary measures to halt any attempt by the Syrian regime to transfer large amounts of highly developed weapons to "terrorist organizations" including Hizbullah as violence is mounting in the country.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that the escalating threat against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime is raising the Israeli officials' concerns over the possibility of "terrorist groups" obtaining weapons from Syria.
"Large amounts of weapons could be transferred to Hizbullah in Leb or to other organizations," defense officials told the newspaper.
According to the officials, the weapons include advanced SA missiles, high-trajectory long-range rockets and missiles, and biological and chemical weapons.
The officials noted that the "concern is greater now because Assad's forces seem to be losing their grip on the state. This could result in passing weapons to Hizbullah, or in radical Sunni factions taking over the arsenals."
Israel is considering attacking convoys carrying weapons from Syria to Leb, Haaretz said, however the daily added that these reports are still not confirmed by the Israeli officials.
Speaking last week at the Herzliya Conference, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "It is difficult to predict exactly what will happen in Syria. We're watching for attempts to pass advanced weapons systems that could edge the delicate balance in Leb to Hizbullah."
In January, head of the Israeli military's planning division Major-General Amir Eshel revealed that Israel has serious concerns about what will happen to "huge stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons in Syria when the Assad regime collapses.
"The question is when, not if. And the big question is what's going to come the day after," he said.
The regime has spearheaded a bloody crackdown on freedom fighters seeking to overthrow Assad, who has vowed to remain in power, raising the specter of civil war between Syria's many religious sects if he steps down.
On January 10, Israel's Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told MPs that the military was preparing for the possibility of an influx of Syrian refugees, particularly on the occupied Golan Heights.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Future secondary explosions when Israel shoots the storage sites.
[An Nahar] Senior Republican senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... urged the United States Tuesday to consider arming the opposition fighting the forces of Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... "We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The blood-letting has got to stop," he told news hounds.
McCain, who stopped short of calling for military intervention, made the remarks as he and other Republican senators were about to meet with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
He also called for "a contact group, a joint coalition" on Syria but did not specify what that meant.
His comments came a day after the United States closed its embassy in Syria and pulled out all its staff, amid an escalating crackdown on the opposition by the Assad regime.
President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... shied away from talk of military intervention, however, and vowed to pursue diplomatic means.
Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the violence, which human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... group say has claimed some 6,000 lives since the outbreak of the revolt almost a year ago.
U.S. Senator John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden... said the crisis in Syria was "very different" from events that led to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -led strikes in Libya and called for a new push to get Russia and China to back U.N. action.
"This is a very different playing field, very different set of players, very different set of possible prospects," he said as he met with Lieberman.
"I think we have to approach it differently. I think we have to condemn what is happening -- and we have. I think we have to work very diligently with China and Russia to see if we can move them, change their positions," he said.
"I think we have to approach it as we are: thoughtfully but very clear about where our preferences lie," said Kerry.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, held talks with Assad in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... Tuesday and insisted that Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.
Later on Tuesday, the United States said it was working with friends to discuss how to provide humanitarian aid to Syrians caught in the government crackdown, but said it was not clear how much it would be able to help.
"We are exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians," White House front man Jay Carney said, saying any such move would come as Washington and partners ratchet up pressure on Assad's government.
But pressed on how any such aid would be delivered and how it would be targeted, Carney said no such "mechanisms" currently existed.
State Department front man Victoria Nuland also weighed in on the question of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians, but made clear any such help would fall well short of direct aid to rebels battling Assad's fierce crackdown.
"It's frankly not clear how much we're going to be able to do, but we want to help," said Nuland, adding that suggestions like creating humanitarian corridors or safe zones for Syrian civilians were not yet realistic.
"Some of these proposals that people are brooding about could not be done without foreign military intervention -- as we have said, we don't think more arms into Syria is the right answer," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
So how's that 'Humanitarian Aid' thingy to North Korea working John? going for the sequel?
#3
I read all this stuff about Syria and I have just one question that no one seems to have an answer for. BTW it's the same question I had about Daffy...
What are the policy / principle differences between the two sides? It seems that both sides are anti-west, anti-Israel, anti-others in the country and pro-themselves. Why should I care who wins?
[An Nahar] Syria and Turkey are negotiating the conditions for the release of 49 jugged Turkish intelligence officers, a radio station close to the government 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... said on Tuesday.
Sham FM said the officers had been jugged while operating undercover, although there has been no word from Ankara on any such arrests.
The radio said Syria had laid down three conditions for any release: an exchange of the Turkish officers for rebel Free Syrian Army members in Turkish territory, for Turkey to halt infiltrations by the FSA, and for Turkey to stop training its members.
Erdogan is really mad at his old vacation buddy.
The radio said Damascus wanted its ally Tehran to be the witness of any accord with Ankara.
Turkey, which once had close ties with its neighbor Syria, has called for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... to step down and condemned his crackdown on dissent that opposition activists say has cost at least 6,000 lives since March.
Leadership of the FSA, made up mostly of Syrian army deserters, has been based in Turkey across the border from northwestern Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
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#1
Sounds like these 49 fouled up royally to get caught.
#2
sounds like a nice development. Turkish honor demands a smashing attack on Syria. If they ask us to use Incirlik to help out, we should remind them of their refusal in our Iraq II push. "Sorry, we're washing our hair"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2012 22:10 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday Syria was pressing ahead with the reform program Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... had promised in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the dominant role of his Baath party.
Syria's state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... SANA said that Assad would receive the text drawn up by an appointed panel on Wednesday.
The panel tasked with drafting the new constitution had decided to limit presidential terms to a maximum of two seven-year mandates, Al-Watan newspaper reported in January.
Assad on January 10 said the referendum would be held early March.
The new text also provides for the abolition of the presidential referendum which has been in force since 1971, replacing it with pluralistic elections.
"If one of the candidates fails to secure 51 percent of the vote, a second round is expected between the two candidates" who secure the largest number of votes in such an election, the newspaper said.
Each candidate must obtain the support of "15 percent of members of parliament," which has 250 seats, to qualify to run in the elections.
Assad, who is facing an unprecedented uprising against his regime, appointed on October 15 a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution.
Under the current constitution, which dates to 1971, the president can be re-elected for an unlimited number of mandates. The late president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, ruled for five consecutive terms.
Assad succeeded his father in 2000.
The newspaper did not specify whether the new constitution would have a retroactive effect. President Assad is due to complete his second seven-year mandate in 2014.
The committee also proposes to scrap article 8 of the constitution, which enshrines the ruling Baath party as the "leader of state and society," replacing it with clauses on "political pluralism" and "free elections."
The removal of this controversial article has been one of the central demands of the opposition since protests erupted in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like the AK-47s are starting to vote against Pencilneck more and more lately.
[An Nahar] Iran is detaining more than 65 members of its Arab minority after security sweeps in Khuzestan province in the southwest ordered over the past few months, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said on Tuesday.
At least some of the arrests were linked to graffiti sprayed on public property hailing the "Arab Spring" revolutions and calling for a boycott of Iran's parliamentary elections due on March 2, the New York-based watchdog said in a statement citing reports by local activists.
Two of those set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock -- identified as Mohammed Kaabi, 34, and Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan, 19 -- died in jug, apparently from torture, Human Rights Watch said.
A news "blackout" has been imposed in Iran on the security sweep, which began in November, the group said.
It called for the others being jugged to be given access to lawyers and family members, and for anyone responsible for torture to be brought to account.
Khuzestan, a province on the border with Iraq with up to two million Arabic speakers, has been the scene of chronic anti-government sentiment in recent years, Human Rights Watch said.
Iranian officials have accused U.S. and British intelligence services of fomenting ethnic unrest in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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DUBAI: Gulf Arab countries announced on Tuesday they were recalling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling Syrian envoys in response to worsening violence in Syria. Syrias rulers had rejected Arab attempts to solve this crisis and prevent the bloodshed of the Syrian people, a statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council said.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, current head of the council, announces that the GCC states have decided to withdraw all their ambassadors from Syria and also demand that all ambassadors of the Syrian regime in its lands leave immediately, said the six-member council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The council considers that it is necessary for the Arab states... to take every decisive measure faced with this dangerous escalation against the Syrian people. Nearly a year into the crisis, there is no glint of hope in a solution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Bangla Daily Star] The prosecution and the investigation agency probing war crimes have been failing over and over again to produce witnesses in a case against 
Russia's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday slammed efforts to "poison" relations between his country and the Arab world after Russia's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis.
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Zawahiri.
Punjab
The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
John 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
