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Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Georgia to support NATO involvement in Afghanistan after 2014
Georgia will support NATO's involvement in Afghanistan after 2014, Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said while addressing a meeting of alliance member country foreign ministers in the ISAF format in Brussels on April 19.
Georgia means well but it's an empty promise, as NATO will be gone long before then.
Vashadze stressed the importance of the alliance mission's success in Afghanistan.

According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the ministers reaffirmed their adherence to the decisions made at the NATO Lisbon summit and Bonn conference on Afghanistan. They also stressed the need to support the transition period in Afghanistan and the international community's long-term involvement in the processes after 2014.

According to the foreign ministers, logistical support for the Afghan national security forces will be provided and is necessary for Afghanistan's socio-economic development. However, the ministers stressed that the Afghan government must continue to fulfill its obligations, such as developing democratic institutions, fighting corruption and implementing the rule of law.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Albania, Romania, Estonia and other former Soviet Block members have come to our assistance. While I believe the mission is absolutely futile, I salute them. If anything good comes from this mess, it will be our association with these brave folks.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 6:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Amen B.! Obama would "trade" them back to the Sovi....errr.... Russians after re-election because he'd have the "flexibility" and after all, you need a gift to go with a Reset Button. Ask the residents of Las Maldives Malvinas how Obama respects the will of the sovereign residents
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 16:19 Comments || Top||


Afghan Militants Return To Peace Talks
'More realism' seen after foiled attack

A Death Eater group responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan has rejoined peace talks with President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's government, and four other factions followed after Afghan cops crushed an attack by gunnies in Kabul earlier this week.

Hizb-e-Islami, led by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
, returned to reconciliation talks after walking out last month.

Mr. Hekmatyar's son-in-law, Ghairat Baheer, led a delegation of beturbanned goons in a meeting with Mr. Karzai in Kabul this week.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All our all powerful impotent leaders have to remember when dealing with the Middle East is this- Milk Milk Lemonade Turn The Corner Chocolate Pudding Is Made Stick Your Finger In The Hole And Pull Out A Chocolate Tootsie Roll. Bag That Bugger Oh Fearless Leaders In The Fight Against Corruption And All That Would Destroy America And Be careful Where You Put Your Mouths. Perhaps One Of The Lovelies From Columbia Can teach The Proper Procedure For Inserting A Condom In Ones Mouth! Maybe they should open up a brothel in Qatar!
Posted by: Rupert Ebbineng4148 || 04/21/2012 9:16 Comments || Top||

#2  There is only one Oracle Joseph Mendiola!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 9:42 Comments || Top||

#3  And Joe provides some good info if you dig a bit.

This stuff is onanism.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/21/2012 11:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Sink trapped. Onanism is best performed in private, where still it leads to hairy palms and blindness.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 14:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Shrink wrapped maybe. But "Comment" #1's still there on me screen.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 04/21/2012 19:05 Comments || Top||

#6  really? You're laying claim to that?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 20:23 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Ousted Mali leader in Dakar, junta frees detainees
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Mali's ex-president Amadou Toumani Toure, who formally resigned after being ousted by the military last month, has taken refuge in Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
as the military released 22 soldiers and politicians.

Abou Abel Thiam, front man for Senegalese President Macky Sall, told AFP that Toure, who arrived late Thursday in Dakar with his family, had been taken to the Residence Pasteur where high-ranking guests are lodged.

"He was calm. He was with his entire family" of about 15 people, Thiam said. Senegalese Foreign Minister Alioune Badara Cisse had gone to pick them up in the Malian capital Bamako in the Senegalese presidential plane, he added.

It was not immediately known if Toure, 63, would stay in Senegal or was just passing through.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egyptians demand army retreat from power
CAIRO: Tens of thousands of Egyptians demanded yesterday that their military rulers stick to a pledge to hand over power by mid-year after a row over who can run in the presidential election raised doubts about the army’s commitment to democracy.
It's not the 'liberals' who are protesting...
Two leading Islamist candidates, one representing the Muslim Brotherhood who was seen as the frontrunner, were among those disqualified this week from a vote that starts on May 23-24, drawing a storm of criticism from supporters and the candidates. Khairat Al-Shater, the Brotherhood’s former candidate, said his ejection showed the generals who have ruled since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year had no serious intention of quitting. The movement is now fielding a reserve candidate.

“We are all here to protect the revolution and complete its demands,” said Sayed Gad, 38, a pharmacist and Brotherhood member. He had joined a protest which attracted both Islamists and liberals to a packed Tahrir Square in central Cairo.

A council of generals, who stepped in 14 months ago after mass demonstrations in Tahrir and elsewhere sapped Mubarak’s power, has led Egypt through a turbulent transition punctuated by spasms of violence and frequent protests against their handling of the move to democracy.

The army says it will stick to its timetable to hand power to a new president by July 1 and has promised to oversee a fair vote. But some remarks from military officials suggesting the army might also seek now to have a new constitution in place before that handover — an impossibly tight deadline for many — has added to popular worries about the military’s ambitions.

Western diplomats expect the timetable for transferring powers to hold but say the army which supplied Egypt’s presidents for six decades, including Mubarak, and which has built up sprawling business interests throughout that time, will remain an influential player behind the scenes for years.

“Down with military rule” and “The people want the execution of the marshal,” some protesters chanted, a reference to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for two decades who now leads the ruling military council.

Some demonstrators sheltered under awnings and umbrellas to shade them from the midday sun. Many waved Egyptian flags.

Thousands also gathered in the second city Alexandria and turned out in some other cities. The hours after weekly prayers at mosques on Fridays are traditional times for protests.

“No to remnants. No to military rule,” read one banner that carried pictures of Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander, and of Moussa, a former foreign minister. They are both strong contenders, especially now that the Brotherhood’s Shater has been disqualified.

From a stage in Tahrir Square where his supporters had also gathered yesterday, people chanted over loudspeakers: “Islamic revolution! With our soul and blood, we sacrifice for Islam!” and “The Qur'an is the constitution!”
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A whiff of grapeshot coming up?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 5:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Straight from the last meeting at the White House surrender or we will put a sand embargo in place!
Posted by: Elmusose Ebbeagum1139 || 04/21/2012 8:21 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Kuwait debates death for blasphemers
A Kuwaiti man accused of using Twitter to defame the Muslim Prophet Mohammad has ignited a debate in the tiny but wealthy Gulf country about imposing the death penalty for the crime of blasphemy.

Muslim preachers, lawmakers and international human rights groups have all jumped into the debate, which erupted after Hamad Al-Naqi, a member of the country’s Shiite minority, was arrested March 28 on charges of “defaming the Prophet” in tweets posted on the social-networking website. He has denied making the posts, claiming that somebody hacked into his Twitter account.

Under Article 111 of Kuwait’s penal code, which prohibits defamation of religion, Naqi faces up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine. But soon after he was arrested calls emerged for Kuwait to follow its bigger neighbor, Saudi Arabia, and impose the death penalty for such crimes.

Within days, Kuwait’s parliament responded to the public outcry and gave preliminary backing to a capital punishment amendment last Thursday. Forty six out of 52 deputies voted in favor. But the fight is still on: the amendment must go to a second vote two weeks after the first and then be approved by the government and Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2012 12:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Zindani calls on Yemenis to stand by Hadi
[Yemen Post] Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani, the Yemeni prominent holy man and Islamic Islah party high-ranking leader, called on Yemenis on Friday to stand by President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi in his efforts to restore security and get things back to track, condemning the spread of violence acts by the bad turban groups across the nation.

In an interview with the daily Akbar al-Youm newspaper, al-Zandani said that it's forbidden to carry weapons or to kill another Moslem, citing Prophet Mohammed when he said whoever carries a weapon on us is not from us.

He called on the National Unity Government and President Hadi to quickly hold the inclusive national dialogue and to base the dialogue on clear objectives, including banning carrying weapons.

The prominent Islamic holy man, who is on US wanted list, noted that every one complained about the former regime because it repressed peaceful protests, restricted freedoms and violated rights, but now there is new president and new era.

Speaking about the fundamentalist Islamic groups like al-Qaeda, al-Zandani
Showed complete objection to what these groups do such as fighting and killing Moslem soldiers, saying we should correct the misconceptions on which such acts were based.

With regards to the upcoming national dialogue, he said that the national dialogue should be held in a transparent way that all Yemeni people know every thing goes on in it.

"The government should invite all forces and factions in Yemen to participate in the upcoming national dialogue, who ever accept the invitation and takes part in it is welcome and those who refuse to participate and lay down arms the government along with all Yemeni people should take a decisive stance against them. The government should restore security and stability in the country." Al-Zandani suggested.

Al-Zandani further pointed out that it's forbidden in Islam to attack foreigners or their interests.
No doubt one of those abrogated verses or a hudna or something...
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico Seizes butt-load of Ammo Coming From US
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 06:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Additional BBC reporting
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  This isn't the trucker who took the wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of the border, is it? That happened to me once, driving back from Germany to Belgium -- I spent twenty minutes inHolland, trying to find a way back.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 7:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Since the Obama Administration has decided to implement gun control by controlling ammunition, could this be another "Fast and Furious" with ammo. The Border security must not have gotten the memo.
Posted by: SLindsey || 04/21/2012 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  That cauldron has no turn arounds on it which is stupid.
Posted by: newc || 04/21/2012 15:31 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Central Asia prefers street dancing to criminal activities
Trend is spreading even to war-torn Afghanistan
Wishful thinking?
Modern dancing is spreading fast around Central Asia, as more youths become involved in contemporary “street art” culture, characterised by self-expression, freedom of creativity and a passion for music and sports.

“Here young people can do everything themselves: they hold their own festivals and performances and they have complete creative freedom. And it’s great that young people hit the streets not to fill the ranks of criminals or to look for drugs, but rather to express themselves.”

The popularity of modern dancing also has reached Afghanistan. While it has not gained wide popularity yet, youth are actively promoting it.

“I first came across break dancing when I was still in school,” said Timur Tavaliyev, a popular Kyrgyz break dancer and the winner of the First Kyrgyz Festival of Street Culture. “I am very happy that, when we were so young, we picked up on this trend instead of roaming the streets in search of dangerous adventures and ways to commit crime. Now, in turn, we are trying to generate interest in dancing in those who are younger than we are.”

In Kazakhstan street dancing has been around for some time, co-existing with traditional Kazakh dances. Kazakhstani dancers are well trained and have enjoyed international success.

The new Disco craze to sweep the US?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/21/2012 18:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
ROK Unveils New Missiles
South Korea on Thursday unveiled two new missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in North Korea.
That will certainly make life interesting for some north of the border.
The Hyunmu-3 cruise missile has a range of 1,500 km and is capable of precision attacks on key North Korean facilities, including nuclear and missile installations, while the Hyunmu-2 ballistic missile has a 300 km range and can destroy a target the size of scores of a soccer field.

The military had kept the existence of the missiles a top secret but decided to unveil them to ease public jitters after Pyongyang's latest threats to strike Seoul.

Major General Shin Won-sik told reporters the cruise missiles are "capable of striking targets anywhere in North Korea."

The Hyunmu-3 is said to be more accurate than the U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile with a range of between 1,300 km to 2,500 km. It can be launched from both ground-based mobile platforms and Aegis-class destroyers and submarines.

The Hyunmu-2 ballistic missile's range is restricted to 300 km due to a treaty with the U.S. that limits the reach of South Korea's missiles, but could apparently travel up to 500 km. It can hit targets with 30 m accuracy.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As per WORLD NEWS + TOPIX , Jong-un = DPRK may be secretly stashing a second Space Rocket???

Also, SAMe > US ANALYSTS = believe that the DPRK's Missle Launchers don't work, which has led a number of MilBloggers to ask how, iff true, whose "Space Rocket" [Iran? Al-Qaeda? Other?]did the DPRK launch as its own.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/21/2012 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, it's not as if the launch were successful.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/21/2012 11:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks to its missile and nuclear proliferation to its proxies, China gets another neighbor arming itself with missiles.
Posted by: john frum || 04/21/2012 12:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, and in a side note, I found this handy chart:

Distance Calculator: How Far Is It From Seoul...

Vladivostok is farther than any location in S. Korea, and still only uses half the Hyunmu-3's range.

This missile's range is almost far enough to reach Mongolia.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/21/2012 12:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Thing.
Given the geography of the region, ROK ought not keep anything in Seoul, including Seoul.
It's an interesting starting point for your exercise, but someplace in the mountains a bit further south might be safer from a commando raid by sleepers or something, or being destroyed by Nork's ten thousand gun tubes and rocket launchers in the first three minutes.
For grins, look up "redleg rumba". That rate of fire is too fast for sustained fire, but if you want steel on target and don't care about the barrel, you could put a lot of bad on a target the size of a city--which means you don't have to check and if necessary redeflect and elevate--in a couple of minutes. Ten thousand of them....
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 04/21/2012 16:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Let's just say for a lot of the interesting targets within 1500 km that won't make a whole lot of difference.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/21/2012 16:26 Comments || Top||

#7  DEFENCE.PK/FORUM > NORTH KOREA THREATRENS TO "BLOW UP SEOUL" | NORTH KOREA WARNS OF WAR AS SEOUL UNVEILS NEW MISSLE.

versus

* SAME > FAMINE SPREAD IN NORTH KOREA. 20,000 DEAD IN SINGLE PROVINCE [South Hwanghe]THIS YEAR, since Big Daddy's Jong-Il's passing last December.

And its a MAJOR NK RICE-PRODUCING PROVINCE TOO!

SHADE OF "STAR TREK":TOS' CAPT. JAMES T. KIRK > KLINGON-POISONED TRIBBLES = "IN A [Starbase] STORAGE BIN FULL OF [tasy]GRAIN, THEY STARVE TO DEATH"!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/21/2012 23:00 Comments || Top||


Europe
Philosemitic Sweden: Swedish Airport Bans Israeli Security Procedures
Because extra security is well known to be a bad thing.
(Ma'an) -- Stockholm's international airport has refused to allow Israeli security inspections to take place, forcing an Israeli airline to stop its service, daily Haaretz reported Thursday.

Israeli security procedures, which often involve ethnic and personal profiling, were prohibited from taking place at Denmark's Copenhagen airport last summer.

The measures, which are formulated by Shin Bet security services, are now also prohibited at Sweden's Malmo and Stockholm airports, Haaretz said.

Israeli airline Arkia has stopped flying to Stockholm's airport in light of the restrictions.

"We are talking with security authorities in Sweden and other countries where problems have surfaced, to understand the meaning of the new restrictions imposed on Israeli flights," Haaretz quoted Israel's Transport Ministry as saying.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  F*ck them. Once they become extinct, Scandinavia can be resettled from Minnesota & and Dakotas.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 5:49 Comments || Top||

#2  I liked Sweden, it was like California without the sun. The women were just as hot though
Posted by: Devilstoenail || 04/21/2012 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Actually, Sweden is quite polarised, either blåögat Lefties steering the agenda or hypocrytic Nazis muttering under their breath for fear of breaking cover in the PC world. As for the women, most of them are crazy.
Posted by: kia || 04/21/2012 18:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Er, the timing of this wouldn't be some kind of sop to the Saudis re the arms.thingy that just went sour?
Posted by: Harry the Galactic Hero8388 || 04/21/2012 19:14 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Iraq Calls Turkey 'hostile State' As Relations Dim
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday branded Turkey a "hostile state" with a sectarian agenda, the latest in a series of bitter exchanges between the neighbors.

Maliki was responding to comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in which Erdogan accused the Iraqi leader of fanning tensions between the country's Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds with his "self-centered" ways.

"The recent announcements by Mr. Erdogan represent another return to flagrant interference in Iraqi internal affairs," Maliki said in a statement on his website.

"His announcements have a sectarian dimension. To insist on continuing these internal and regional policies will harm Turkish interests and make it a hostile state for all."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Sunni vs. Shia battle arrays are forming.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 5:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
DoD seeks new authorities for counterterrism fight
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 08:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is an important move - thanks for pointing it out, Besoeker.

For some years now, people like Major General (ret) Bruce Lawlor have been pointing out the convergence of terror groups with crime networks. The illicit economy not only funds a lot of terror activities, but the lines have begun to blur very badly - as Rantburg's Chris Covert has been informing us with regard to the narcos to our south.

Posted by: lotp || 04/21/2012 21:08 Comments || Top||


Judge rules against CIA whistleblower
Follow-up to an earlier story.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 06:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


FBI reverses course on intel sharing shutdown after PJM reporting
Those stupid pajama-clad bloggers strike again.
On a conference call this afternoon the FBI announced a reversal of their decision to cut off the intelligence sharing of information from the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). The FBI shut down reporting to the 77 fusion centers on March 1st, and we reported on the shutdown yesterday.

The FBI had announced that they would be resuming the TSC reporting this coming Monday, but without the Personal Information Intelligence (PII) that fusion centers had previously had access to (as I updated on the article yesterday afternoon). Fusion center officials had said yesterday that resuming the TSC reports without the PII would be "effectively useless".

According to Sena, the TSC will be establishing a coordinating council to help improve relations between the FBI and the fusion centers, and to possibly plan even more enhanced intelligence sharing.

One fusion center official I spoke with this afternoon following the conference call said, "This is a stunning reversal. It's doubtful we would have gotten a 180 degree reversal from the FBI in less than 48 hours without the exposure from PJ Media."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It was not only PJ Media. Intelwire was there with bells on.
Posted by: newc || 04/21/2012 2:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Little more could be said that wasn't said yesterday. The entire organization needs an daily barium enima.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 6:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
400,000 new TB cases surface
This doesn't happen in advanced countries...
ISLAMABAD - The District Health Department of Islamabad Capital Territory Administration on Thursday organized a 'Stop-TB' awareness walk at Rural Health Center, Bhara Kau, with a view to raising awareness in the masses about the disease and seeking early treatment and avoiding its transmission to the healthy people.

The walk was started at the Rural Health Center, Bhara Kau, Islamabad. People from all walks of life including TB experts, healthcare providers, lady health workers, children, students, notables of the area, private medical practitioners, traders community, farmers and representatives of NGOs took part in the awareness walk.

DHO Islamabad Dr. M. Azhar, additional DHO Dr. Najeeb Durrani and officials of National TB Control Programme attended the walk with a commitment to stop the TB and make the country free from tuberculosis.

Addressing the participants, Director, National TB Control Programme, Dr. Ijaz Qadeer, said that each year 4,00,000 new cases of TB were reported in the country and over 5000 health facilities in the country were providing treatment facilities to the TB patients. He said that the role of lady health workers was of vital importance for creating awareness in the masses and providing counselling services for early treatment. He further said that the main focus of the TB control programme was its eradication and early detection of new cases of TB and to provide patients testing and treatment facilities for which community mobilization was also under way.

DHO, ICT, Dr. M. Azhar also spoke on the occasion and urged the lady health workers to create maximum awareness of the disease in the masses and facilitate them for their early treatment. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Najeeb Durrani, additional district health officer of ICT who is in-charge disease surveillance said that ICT health department was taking effective measures to implement the national TB control programme in the capital in its true spirit under.

"Capacity building of medical officers, lady health workers working at rural health facilities is also underway and they are imparted special training for better monitoring, supervision and clinical management of patients as per WHO guidelines," he added.

He said that comprehensive treatment facilities were available to the TB patients at Rural Health Center, Bhara Kau. District Health Department Islamabad has also signed memorandum of understanding with the private medical practitioners of rural areas in February 2012 and over 1500 private medical practitioners have been imparted training at the PIMS with internationally recommended medicine regime protocol for treatment of TB patients, he further said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somebody told Muzzies that Calmette and/or Guérin were Jewish?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 5:58 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Lawfare: 50 civil suits vs. Barghouti for violence during 2nd Intifada
Transcripts of the Shin Bet interrogations of Marwan Barghouti a decade ago show the former PLO leader avoided taking responsibility for terror attacks during the second intifada while bankrolling them.

On April 15, 2002, 10 years ago this week, Marwan Barghouti, the secretary general of Fatah's Tanzim militia, was jugged by members of the undercover Duvdevan unit of the Israel Defense Forces in Ramallah. His capture was preceded by two weeks of cat-and-mouse games with the IDF and the Shin Bet security service, during which the Israelis also disseminated threatening hints about an intention to assassinate him.

In April and May of 2002, immediately after Barghouti's arrest by the IDF during Operation Defensive Shield, the Shin Bet interrogated him at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. The records of the interrogation, which are being published here for the first time, were revealed during judicial proceedings that are now taking place and related to civil-damages suits filed against Barghouti and the Paleostinian Authority. There are some 50 civil suits brought by victims of intifada violence and their families now pending before Israeli courts, and Barghouti is a plaintiff in many of them, together with the PA. These include a claim by victims of the March 5, 2002, Sea Food Market bombing in Tel Aviv, and others by relatives of Aharon Obadyan and Moshe Dayan, who were killed in attacks in July 2001 and March 2002, respectively. Barghouti's general line of defense is that he does not recognize the authority of Israeli courts.
"I've covered my eyes, so you aren't there!"
The records were obtained by Haaretz correspondent Chaim Levinson. They include memoranda by Shin Bet officials written during the course of Barghouti's investigation, which in one instance are also backed up by an extensive and detailed transcript. Haaretz does not have either audio tapes or video footage of the interrogation sessions.

While Barghouti was being questioned, the IDF and the Shin Bet were hunting down the assemblers of bombs and dispatchers of jacket wallahs in the casbah of Nablus and in the ruins of the Jenin refugee camp. In Rishon Letzion, on May 7, a Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, suicide bomber went kaboom!" in the Sheffield Club pool hall, murdering 16 Israeli citizens. Under American pressure, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ended the siege of the Muqata headquarters of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, and changed his mind about expanding Operation Defensive Shield to the Gazoo Strip as well.

Each of the Shin Bet interrogations of Barghouti - who also served as secretary general of Fatah in Judea, Samaria and Gazoo; was a member of the Paleostinian legislature and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - went on for hours. Barghouti's partial confessions, which were recorded, were used two years later as evidence to indict him for three terror attacks: the June 12, 2001, murder (due to mistaken identity ) of a Greek Orthodox monk near Ramallah; the murder of Yoela Chen near Givat Ze'ev on January 15, 2002; and a Tel Aviv shooting attack of March 5, 2002, in which three non-combatants were killed at the Sea Food Market restaurant. The details Barghouti gave also helped to build a case against other Fatah military activists, who also spoke about him in their own interrogations. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
the court eventually acquitted Barghouti of involvement in additional attacks in 2001-2, which the prosecution was unable to prove.

Barghouti's confessions indicate that PA Chairman Arafat issued a general directive to carry out terror attacks, but made sure not to get personally involved in any way that might incriminate him. Barghouti was convicted in 2004, and sentenced to five concurrent life sentences. Despite his hopes, the senior Fatah leader was not recently released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

At the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, Barghouti - a seasoned political activist who previously had spoken in favor of implementing the Oslo Accords, and marched in demonstrations shoulder to shoulder with Israeli leftists - was drawn into the wave of terror that swept through the territories. According to the court's verdict, he played a substantial role in the barrage of shooting attacks (and later suicide kabooms ) initiated by Fatah.

The reasons for this about-face by that organization, whose leader, Arafat, had participated in the July 2000 peace talks at Camp David, were varied. At the basis was the ideological argument advocating the need to return to the armed struggle after the failure of the grinding of the peace processor (Barghouti told his Shin Bet interrogators that an independent state must be achieved through bloodshed ). Furthermore, the more the mass demonstrations in the first month of the intifada deteriorated into exchanges of fire with the IDF, in which the Paleostinians suffered dozens of casualties, the greater the desire for taking Dire Revenge™ against Israel.

Barghouti was also motivated to act initially because of competition with fellow Fatah member Hussein al-Sheikh. Within a short time, the severe losses suffered by the Paleostinians pushed them to become more extreme in their views, with the Fatah leaders afraid of losing the street to Hamas and Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which spearheaded the spate of suicide attacks. Fatah, led by Barghouti, crossed two red lines in the winter of 2002: Its members began to carry out suicide attacks (something they had refrained from in the past ). They also resumed attacks within the Green Line, as opposed to the declared policy of a battle against the IDF and the settlers only.

The wave of attacks in the "Terrible March" of 2002 (with 133 Israeli dead, most of them civilians ) led to Sharon's decision to recapture the cities of the West Bank in Operation Defense Shield. Thus Israel in effect crushed the Arafat-led PA. The Authority emerged from its ruins only two-and-a-half years later, after the death of Arafat and the appointment of the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
as his successor.

Following are abridged versions of the records from Barghouti's interrogations:
See article link for details.
Ten years later

Marwan Barghouti will soon be 54 years old. Ten years in jail have not been kind to him, although in recent years he has been more diligent about working out. He reads Hebrew newspapers, watches television (when he isn't in solitary confinement ) and maintains close contact with other PA leaders. Occasionally family members or his attorney Elias Sabag come to visit. According to all the public opinion polls in the territories, Barghouti is still seen as the certain successor of the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
(Abu Mazen ). Barghouti's views are hawkish compared to those of Abbas, and only recently he called for stopping Paleostinian security coordination with Israel.

His attorney Sabag refuses to comment on the texts of the Shin Bet interrogations, because, "not everything that is written in them is correct. Since the age of 17 Marwan has never sighed a confession, and in any case we don't recognize the authority of the Israeli court." Sabag claims that Barghouti has yet to make a decision as to whether to run for the presidency of the PA. He says that Paleostinian politics are presently three-sided: PA chair Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
and Barghouti. "As long as the third side is in prison, the triumvirate does not function well."

Sabag avoids replying on behalf of Barghouti as to the possibility of Fatah's renewing the armed struggle, and says: "I can't say in his name whether he regrets the intifada. Today, like the entire Paleostinian leadership, he supports the idea of the nonviolent popular struggle. Israelis also participate in those demonstrations. I can only say that he's a great believer in the two-state solution. He considers it an acceptable and feasible solution."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bracing Honesty: Senior Hamas Official Says No Permanent Israel-PA Deal
Moussa Abu Marzouk's statements, made in interview to The Forward, reflect a harder line than the stance of the group's political leader, Khaled Meshal.
Bottom line, it's hudnas all the way down, except when it's taqqiyah.
Any agreement the Paleostinian Authority might reach with Israel would be subject to significant changes, a senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, official has told the American newspaper The Forward.

Moussa Abu Marzouk said in an interview to be published next Friday that if Hamas came to power, any treaty would be an interim truce, a hudna,
One of those maximum ten years jobbies Mohammed specialized in, back in the day, to be broken as soon as the Muslim party was rested and rearmed.
not a permanent accord. This would be the case even if a referendum ratified the deal.

Marzouk's statements reflect a harder line than the stance of the group's political leader, Khaled Meshal, who is seen as Marzouk's main rival.

Meshal has repeatedly said Hamas would honor any agreement signed between the PA and Israel if the Paleostinian people supported it.

Marzouk told The Forward there is no sign of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas on setting up a unity government.

Marzouk opposed Meshal's recent efforts to achieve a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. According to an agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
would serve as prime minister of a caretaker government until elections for the president and parliament.

But Marzouk and two top Hamas leaders in Gazoo - Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
and Mahmoud al-Zahar - objected. Zahar even said Meshal had reached the agreement without consulting the other members of the leadership.

In recent weeks, Hamas has held a number of election campaigns for the group's political bureau - in Gazoo, in prisons and in regional councils abroad.

Marzouk's statements are seen as a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to advance the peace talks with the PA, because he can only "do business" with Hamas.

Hamas' leaders and the Israeli government appear to agree it is impossible to solve the conflict at the moment, only to manage it.

The Forward's assistant managing editor, Larry Cohler-Esses, met Marzouk in Cairo, where the Hamas leader moved after leaving Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
Marzouk, 61, said his organization would not recognize Israel as a state. "It will be like the relationship between Leb and Israel or Syria and Israel," he said. This means a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty as Israel has with Jordan or Egypt.

Cohler-Esses told Haaretz the interview had been arranged by the Hamas official's American attorney Stanley Cohen.

"On a personal level he was very interesting with a sense of humor. But I was certainly not optimistic after the things he said," Cohler-Esses said.

He said it was hard say who Marzouk was targeting with his comments, noting that Marzouk would be running in elections. Cohler-Esses said he sometimes "wondered if he was talking only to me or to his Shura council" - Hamas' political and decision-making body.
Ynet adds:
Abu Marzook was deported from the US in the mid 1990s after Hamas was officially entered into the State Department's terror watch list. He moved to Damascus and has since served as Khaled Mashaal's deputy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Won't stop EUros (and USDA which is EUro ideologically) from pressuring Israel.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 6:00 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's Parchin complex: Why are nuclear inspectors so focused on it?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 06:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iran threatens to cut oil to "whole Europe"
Claims to have alternative buyers

Iran will cut oil export to all European countries if they do not lift sanctions on Tehran after the next round of talks in Baghdad, country's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Thursday, Mehr reported.

Qasemi said the Oil Ministry has "officially" cut crude exports to Britain and France, however, he added a stop of Iran's oil export to refiners in Greece, Spain, and Germany is not "official". He added that Greece is paying a large sum of its oil debts to Iran.

The minister went on to say that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed new contracts with some customers so that if oil export to Europe is halted completely Iran will have alternative buyers.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe Europe will wake up and get mildly excited. Nah.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/21/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Iraq is subsidizing Iran by allowing it to tap into its reserves to the tune of billions of dollars. The Rial fell by 70% compared to the dollar last month, yet Iran seems unconcerned.
I suppose if your belligerency is being subsidies by your coreligionists next door you can keep going for a long time
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2012 14:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Refusing to sell to people who refuse to buy your stuff, eh? It's the economic version of "You can't fire me. I quit!"
Posted by: SteveS || 04/21/2012 18:40 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-04-21
  Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
Fri 2012-04-20
  8 die in Michoacan state as conflict goes hot
Thu 2012-04-19
  Qaeda leader suicide bombs himself and family in Iraq
Wed 2012-04-18
  Hadi Refuses to receive Former Yemen President
Tue 2012-04-17
  UN Camp in South Sudan Targeted by Sudanese Warplanes
Mon 2012-04-16
  US drone strike kills senior al-Qaeda Militant in Yemen
Sun 2012-04-15
  Afghan capital hit by blasts, gun attack
Sat 2012-04-14
  U.S. drone strike kills 7 al-Qaeda members in Yemen
Fri 2012-04-13
  23 Reportedly Dead as Syria Regime, Opposition Trade Charges of Breaking Ceasefire
Thu 2012-04-12
  Nork rocket launched, then 'breaks up'
Wed 2012-04-11
  Syria denounced for not adhereing to agreed peace plan
Tue 2012-04-10
  Syrian Rebel Army Ready to Respect Truce
Mon 2012-04-09
  84 Dead, 200 Arrested as Violence Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-04-08
  Hugo off to Brazil for Emergent Care
Sat 2012-04-07
  Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys

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