Fresh off a two-day trip in India to encourage an increased Indian role in Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta arrived unannounced in Afghanistan on Thursday for meetings with military leaders amidst swelling violence (Reuters, CNN, BBC). In remarks to reporters standing alongside Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, Panetta emphasized the increasingly strained U.S. relationship with Pakistan. In unusually blunt language he noted that "it is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan", singling out attacks by the Haqqani network in particular. He added that "we are reaching the limits of our patience here and for that reason it is extremely important that Pakistan take action."
Whoa. Leon is definitely making the surprise meter twitch...
The visit comes after the deadliest day for civilians in Afghanistan this year as twin suicide attacks killed 23 people in Kandahar on Wednesday, while according to Afghan officials at least 18 civilians were killed as a result of a NATO strike targeting Taliban leaders (NYT, CBS). NATO officials have yet to confirm that any civilian deaths took place, but have opened a joint investigation into the matter with the Afghan government. In response to the NATO strike, Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip to China where he was attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and released a statement saying "NATO cannot justify any airstrike which causes harms to the lives and property of civilians."
[Tolo News] Pakistain is the mother of terrorism while Afghanistan is the victim, an Afghan political expert and former Minister of Interior General Hadi Khaled said Wednesday.
"Pakistain's government is now trying to change the ideology of its people by trying different political ways," Khaled told TOLOnews.
"Pakistain is the mother of terrorism and Afghanistan has been the continuous victim."
Khaled's comments come in the wake of strong reaction to US drone strikes in tribal regions of Pakistain, with the country's foreign ministry summoning US embassy officials to express their anger over the continuing strikes against snuffies in tribal regions bordering with Afghanistan.
While recent drone strikes have apparently hit their targets, including most recently an Al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, considered the network's Number 2, the strikes are seen as a threat to Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and have also been known to kill civilians.
"We have confirmation of [Al-Libi's] death," White House front man Jay Carney told news hounds in a news briefing at the White House on Wednesday declining to provide further details about the exact location of the incident.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security front man Lutfullah Mashal has called the death of Al-Libi a major blow to Taliban, going so far as to say that his death could put an end to an ideological war.
"The death of Al-Libi is very important and effective for the grinding of the peace processor. He was responsible for an ideological war; we hope it ends by his death." Mashal said Wednesday.
Al-Libi was considered to be the general manager of Al Qaeda network and was responsible for day-to-day monitoring of the network's activities all over the world.
US officials believe that Al-Libi was newly appointed as deputy of the Aimen Al-Zawaheri, the successor of the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... after he was killed a year ago.
Al-Libi was one of the three inmates who escaped the heavily guarded US-run Bagram prison in 2005, he survived a US drone strike in 2009 but finally he was killed last week with 14 other fellow members in a US drone strike in northern Wazirstan of Pakistain's tribal region.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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The US State department has added seven senior leaders of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, to the Rewards for Justice list.
The rewards, which were first reported by Reuters, range from $7 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Shabaab's emir, to $3 million for other senior figures in the terror group.
The top reward, at $7 million, is offered for Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, Shabaab's senior leader and co-founder. Mohamed, better known as Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr and Godane, was in direct contact with Osama bin Laden before his death, and brokered Shabaab's official merger with al Qaeda in February.
Rewards of $5 million are being offered for Sheikh Abu Mukhtar Robow, a senior military commander and propagandist; Bashir Mohamed Mahamoud, a military commander and al Qaeda leader; Ibrahim Haji Jama, the co-founder of Shabaab; and Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, a senior financier and military commander.
The US will pay rewards of $3 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sheikh Hassan "Turki" Abdullahi Hersi (Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi), a military commander and Shabaab's intelligence chief who is closely tied to al Qaeda; and Abdullahi Yare, a senior Shabaab leader.
Zubayr's reward of $7 million puts him at number six on the Rewards for Justice list of wanted terrorists. Only al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri (at $25 million), and al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Du'a, Taliban leader Mullah Omar, Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed, and senior al Qaeda leader Yasin al-Suri (all at $10 million) have a higher bounty.
The reward of $5 million for each of Robow, Mahamoud, Khalaf, and Jama matches the rewards offered for a host of other terrorist leaders, including Pakistani Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud, senior al Qaeda leaders Adnan G. el Shukrijumah and Saif al Adel, Haqqani Network leader Sirajuddun Haqqani, and Islamic Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov.
Today's addition of the seven Shabaab leaders to the Rewards for Justice list is not the first time that the US has targeted the group. Both Godane and Robow were added to the US' list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists back in November 2008. Also added to the list at that time was Issa Osman Issa, a member of al Qaeda's East Africa cell that was responsible for the simultaneous attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salam in 1998. He served as an al Qaeda recruiter and directed attacks in East Africa. And in 2011, the US added Omar Hammami, an American citizen, to the terrorism list for serving as a Shabaab military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist, as well as for his ties to al Qaeda.
Additionally, the State Department added Shabaab itself to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list in February 2008. State said that Shabaab "has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States."
Background on Shabaab leaders added to the Rewards for Justice list
(Sh. M. Network)- Tensions are rising in northeast Somalia following festivities between Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... forces backed by security for Saracen International and local militias loyal to Raas-Casayr state, officials called on all sides to show restraint.
Sources say on Wednesday that there are a growing build up of arms and troops at Bargal town inside Barri region between rival regional administrations of Puntland and Raas-Casayr state in northeast Somalia.
Farah Mohamud Dooha-Joog, the president of Raas-Casayr state, told his troops warded off an attack from Puntland army against the territories of Raas-Casayr state on Tuesday, saying the intension of the attack was to dread the people and loot the mineral resources, as the put it.
Puntland officials who spoke the Media said they have reached the area to fight the pirates at Bargaal town of Barri region,but not to attack Raas-Casayr state.
Locals say there was a military movement that both sides continued in and around Bargaal town.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh. M. Network)-A judge in Somalia's military tribunal has said the court banned on Wednesday soldiers from collecting illegal tax in the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers north-west Mogadishu.
Judge Hassan Mohammed Hussein better known as (Mungab), warned TFG forces controlling Afgoye, former Al shabab stronghold in southern Somalia to take the unlawful money from the vehicles traveling between Mogadishu and other region in southern Somalia.
On the other hand, the court has issued an order to prohibit people to carry all illegal weapons heavy or slight inside the town to prevent insecurity acts committed by gunnies who are not involved in Somali government forces.
Afgoye town was recently captured by Somali and AMISOM forces from Al shabab fighters who ruled it for three years.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Ok, so soldiers are banned from collecting a checkpoint tax, but al-Shabaab may continue with collecting the very same tax.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/07/2012 5:49 Comments ||
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#3
A bribe? No, I see it differently. Under Islamic tax law throughout antiquity, the caliph authorized the imposition of a tax on traders as they enter the jurisdiction of a tax collector appointed by the caliph. That is why the Taliban instituted checkpoint taxes in Afghanistan and why al-Shabaab does it in Somalia. You could call it extortion, but from their point of view it's perfectly legal in their religion.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/07/2012 20:48 Comments ||
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#4
Ah. I guess we can file it under "yet another misunderstanding" then.
[Yemen Post] The dialogue liaison committee revealed plans to meet with the parties which did not sign a West-backed power-transfer deal after the 2011 events, the Southern Movement, Harak, and the Yemeni opposition abroad to encourage them to participate in a comprehensive national dialogue.
The dialogue is expected to take place in the next few months.
So far, the committee has met with the Shiite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... Group and women's groups and there are also plans to meet with the youth-led protests inside the change and freedom squares.
It held a meeting on Tuesday, which was attended by the Russian ambassador and deputy ambassador t o the EU to Sanaa as well as UN political experts.
"We are communicating the Southern Movement in Aden and a meeting is expected very soon," a spokesperson at the committee said.
The meeting with the parties, which were not part of the transition deal, takes place on June 12 to discuss their representation and participation in the dialogue, the spokesperson said.
On June 20, a meeting will be held with the Yemeni opposition abroad in the Egyptian capital Cairo , the source said, pointing out that the committee and the ministerial liaison committee in charge with contacting with the youth-led protesters have agreed to start arrangements to meet with the protesters. "Meetings with the protesters including different political groups across the republic takes place on June 18".
The preparations for the dialogue have got underway amid big challenges including alarming security disorders and an intensified offensive against Al-Qaeda jihad boys, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and persistent social unrest.
Earlier, observers said there should be suitable measures and efforts to make any dialogue a success in Yemen, after the 2011 uprising which ousted the former regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Security Council is to sanction ,in a session to be held on Tuesday, Yemeni officials who impede the political settlement in the state, an Emirati newspaper Al-Khaleej said, pointing out to the former 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... and his relatives.
It made clear that the council will take a crucial resolution after its draft was distributed to the Security Council five prominent members .
The newspaper quoted political sources as saying that the UN's resolution will depend on a report presented by the UN Envoy Jamal Benomar about the political situation in Yemen.
Media sources said that the resolution supports efforts by Yemen's president to advance the country's transition to democracy and threatens non-military sanctions against those trying to undermine the country's national unity government.
Relatives of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh still refuse decrees of President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... who attempt to reorganize the military and security services.
Benomar had witnessed the handover of the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade of the Republican Guard from Tariq to the newly-appointed commander Abdul-Rahman Al-Halili.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... after the departure of Benomar, Al-Halili was prevented by officers loyal to Saleh from entering the brigade.
Saleh and his family insisted to not hand over the 3rd brigade as it is among the most heavily armed and its units are centered in the mountains surrounding the Yemeni Capital Sana'a.
Benomar told the council last week that despite Hadi's "strong leadership," the country's transition is taking place "against a backdrop of serious security concerns, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and many unresolved conflicts."
Benomar also said al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "continues to pose a major threat."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
Or a starving one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/07/2012 10:26 Comments ||
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's Transport Minister, Waed Bathib, late on Tuesday said he had received threats before an kaboom occurred just three meters from his office inside the Transport Ministry in downtown the capital Sanaa.
A blurb issued by the minister's office said Bathib received a telephone call from an unidentified number early on Tuesday, with the speaker threatening to assassin him inside the ministry.
"The unknown speaker threatened to use explosives to assassinate Bathib because he crossed the red lines," the statement said.
One employee was injured in the kaboom, which was blamed on a gas leak inside the buffet responsible for serving the minister, according to officials at the ministry.
The ministry formed an immediate panel to investigate in coordination with the interior ministry the kaboom, which was arranged to target the minister at a meeting on ministry issues.
The timing of the meeting was changed, with the kaboom missing the target, according to officials.
Since he became Transport Minister, Bathib has been known for his strict management including practical steps to reconsider a deal with DP World, which was signed in 2008 to run and develop the Aden port.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] BNP's soft posture towards the recent political development, including sending of opposition bigwigs to jail, filing of cases against alliance leaders and disappearance of Ilias Ali, has broadened its gap with Jamaat.
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 maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. 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... , key component of the 18-party opposition alliance, expected tougher programmes like back-to-back hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... s, but Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , chairperson of the main opposition BNP, decided not to go for any drastic agitation right now.
BNP insiders said Khaleda was not interested to go for tougher movement before Ramadan, which would start from the third week of July.
They said despite pressure from the allies, BNP was not likely to declare tougher movement from its June 11 rally. Opposition policymakers, however, want to show their political strength by ensuring huge gathering of supporters in the rally.
Jamaat and a few other alliance leaders had expressed dissatisfaction over BNP's go-soft strategy in an alliance meeting held at Khaleda's Gulshan office after a daylong hartal on May 17. The previous day, BNP acting secretary general and 32 other opposition leaders had been sent to jail in an arson case.
Khaleda had told the meeting that they should not misuse their strength by declaring non-stop hartals before the June rally, but the argument did not make Jamaat men happy, said a senior BNP leader present in the meeting.
Shafiqul Islam Masud, a member of Jamaat's highest policymaking body, Central Majlish-e-Surah, has recently said, "There is no resentment between us. But it is true that the grassroots-level workers and supporters expected something more against the government after Ilias Ali had gone missing and the imprisonment of top opposition leaders."
He said a true leadership needed to consider many things before announcing agitation programmes, but at the same time the government might increase the degree of repression if they [opposition] failed to mount pressure immediately through a tougher movement.
"We have conveyed the expectation of field-level workers in the meeting," Masud continued, "BNP should overcome the hesitation about the so-called war crimes trial as it is nothing but a conspiracy to weaken the opposition."
Asked about Jamaat's resentment, BNP standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman said the two parties had their own strategies.
"BNP needs to consider many things before making any decision and that is why, all its decision cannot make everybody happy," he said.
For the last couple of months, Khaleda Zia has been silent about the top Jamaat leaders who are facing war crimes trial. She did not even make any mention about them in the March 12 rally, added the BNP leaders.
The last time Khaleda categorically demanded release of the top Jamaat leaders was at a rally in Chapainawabganj last October.
A BNP vice-chairman, however, pointed out that Jamaat men were not found in the streets for the last few months, during different programmes, although they had been always mounting pressure in alliance meetings for declaring tougher programmes.
A number of Jamaat workers, who were present in a protest rally in front of BNP office recently, told The Daily Star, "Why was BNP silent when our top leaders were nabbed I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in 2010? Had they been vocal then, the government could not have sent its acting secretary general to jail now."
Asked about the crisis between BNP and Jamaat, Tariqul Islam, another member of BNP standing committee, said their chairperson always took decisions in consultation with all.
"We are passing through a bad patch; it's not the time to wrangle. Everyone now needs to work united to live through the government repression," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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North Korea on Monday threatened to launch "a holy retaliatory war" against President Lee Myung-bak and the South Korean press unless they apologize for casting aspersion on a big propaganda event.
The North's official KCNA news agency said the General Staff of the People's Army unveiled the map coordinates of the conservative Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo, hinting at the possibility of targeted attacks.
"The South Korean media are unequivocally criticizing the grand ceremony celebrating the 66th anniversary of North Korean Children's Union in Pyongyang and are engaging in new vicious defamations of our highest dignity," the military command said. "If they recklessly challenge the rage of our military, we will answer with our own merciless, holy war of retaliation."
No sea of fire?
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters the government takes the threat seriously because it mentions specific map coordinates. But a military official said, "We haven't noticed any unusual movements in connection with the threat" but South Korean and U.S. forces are watching the North Korean military closely.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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WSJ comments:the coordinates North Korea published were wrong.
Perhaps that shouldnt be surprising. But only one Seoul newspaper, Seoul Shinmun, noticed the coordinates didnt match the locations of the newspapers KCNA said the Norths military had in its rocket sights. Martyn Williams, a former Tokyo-based technology journalist now on a fellowship at Stanford University, also took the few minutes needed to determine how they were screwed up. (We saw the statement Monday and gave it only a passing read because the bluster seemed the same as ever.)
The KCNA statement described one newspaper as being at 37 degrees, 56 minutes and 83 seconds North and 126 degrees, 97 minutes and 65 seconds East. But as everyone who has finished third grade knows, the minute and second numbers shouldnt exceed 60 when it comes to expressing geographic coordinates.
Perhaps the Norks will blow themselves up.
The military will procure about 360 weapons from the U.S. capable of destroying up to 40 tanks each. The U.S. Defense Department notified Congress last Friday of the South Korean government's recent request for a US$325 million deal involving sensor fused weapons (SFW), missiles and other equipment and relevant services, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release Tuesday.
The package includes 367 CBU-105D/B wind-corrected munition dispenser SFWs, 28 captive air training missiles, and seven dummy air training missiles.
The most important part in the package is the CBU-105D/B wind-corrected munition dispenser SFW. It consists of BLU-108 SFWs, each of them with a payload of four Skeet warheads with a passive infrared array and active laser sensor allowing it to detect a heat source such as the engine of a vehicle or tank and hit the target.
Each CBU-105D/B has 10 BLU-108 sub-munitions. This means each CBU-105D/B is capable of destroying a maximum of 40 tanks or armored and ordinary vehicles.
The F-15K, the South Korean Air Force's fighter jet, can carry up to 15 CBU-105D/Bs. "The procurement of CBU-105D/Bs will contribute significantly to incapacitating the North's mechanized units, where we're numerically inferior," a military source said. "We're going to arm F-15Ks and KF-16s as well as the Korean-made light fighter FA-50s with CBU-105D/Bs."
The CBU-105D/B proved its formidable power when it was used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Seoul also asked Washington last month for a separate $1 billion deal including eight Seahawk helicopters and 18 Harpoon missiles, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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Turkey will not attend any event Cyprus presides over when the divided nation assumes the European Union presidency in July, Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday, although it will continue to collaborate with the EU.
Turkey does not recognize Cyprus as a sovereign nation and opposed it taking over the EU presidency until a solution to the dispute is found.
The island was split into an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south and a breakaway Turkish-speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of a union with Greece. Only the Greek section is part of the EU.
"EU-Turkey relations and the political contacts we are currently establishing will continue as they are," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. "Yet no ministry or organization of the Turkish Republic will take part in any activity that will be presided by Southern Cyprus."
[Iran Press TV] Eight Mohammedans filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in New Jersey to force the New York Police Department to end its surveillance and other intelligence-gathering practices targeting Mohammedans in the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The lawsuit alleged that the police activities were unconstitutional because they focused on people's religion, national origin and race.
It is the first lawsuit to directly challenge the NYPD's surveillance programs, which were the subject of an investigative series by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named since last year.
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said his department is obligated to do this type of surveillance in order to protect New York from another 9/11. Kelly has said the 2001 attacks proved that New Yorkers could not rely solely on the federal government for protection, and the NYPD needed to enhance its efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
simple, if you'e truly doing nothing, allow the surveilance.(NOT GUILTY)
BUT,If you're up to something (GUILTY)then STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY.
Convicted by your own actions.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/07/2012 10:20 Comments ||
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[] NEWARK -- Calling the New York Police Department's spy operations unconstitutional and discriminatory, a group of New Jersey Moslems will be the first to file a legal challenge against the NYPD over its years-long surveillance operation targeting Moslem-owned businesses and houses of worship.
The lawsuit will be filed in federal court in Newark this morning, according to officials from Moslem Advocates, a nationally renowned advocacy organization, who are filing the suit on behalf of a group of New Jersey residents.
The group will hold a presser at 10 a.m. in New York City to discuss the suit, which calls for an immediate end to the surveillance of Moslems and the destruction of records the NYPD compiled during its secret operations.
The plaintiffs in the suit include a U.S. Army reservist, a small business owner who is a Vietnam veteran, students and imams from New Jersey, Khera said.
The NYPD's chief front man issued a swift response, citing a recent review by the New Jersey Attorney General's office that found New York Sherlocks did nothing wrong when they crossed the Hudson River to gather information on Moslems in the Garden State.
The president of the state's Arab American League, Ared Assaf, said the lawsuit will show the "chilling effect" the NYPD's actions had on the New Jersey's Mohammedan community."We are seeing quantifiable evidence of membership decline in mosque attendance. We're seeing businesses not wanting to promote themselves as Mohammedan or Halal stores," said Assaf, who was involved in conference calls over the past few months to discuss possible legal action.
But Frank Askin, a Rutgers-Newark law professor and one of the American Civil Liberties Union's four national general counsel attorneys, said any lawsuit targeting the NYPD for discriminatory spying on Mohammedans "would need to show more specific injury than a mere chilling affect on speech."
"They're going to have to show exactly what the facts were" in regard to the spying and surveillance activities, and "secondly, they have to show some injury, how were they injured," he said.
Askin said that under current law, the plaintiffs must prove the NYPD's actions have done more to them than simply curtail their freedom to speak about various topics.
#1
Notice whenever they complain about some countermeasure we are using, it means that it's effective and working. They have no counter move. Same with the drone attacks. They complain bitterly about them too.
#3
The lawsuit will be filed in federal court in Newark this morning,
Uhhhh, unless there is evidence that NYPD was spying in nearby NJ, shouldn't this be thrown out just based on jurisdiction? Not saying it won't be heard, but just as a matter of which court to file in....
Posted by: BA ||
06/07/2012 9:22 Comments ||
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#4
"Don't you look at me! Don't you f***'n look at me!" - Frank Booth
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/07/2012 10:07 Comments ||
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#5
You know your case is bad when its anti-american and still the ACLU says its a bad case.
[Dawn] The Pak government should investigate allegations that elements in the Pak military and intelligence agencies have plotted to kill prominent lawyer and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. activist Asma Jahangir, the Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said Wednesday.
Jahangir made the allegation in a television interview on June 4, 2012, the HRW said in a blurb.
Pak authorities should urgently and thoroughly investigate the alleged plot against Asma Jahangir and hold all those responsible to account, regardless of position or rank, said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistain director at Human Rights Watch.
"A threat against Jahangir is a threat to all those in Pakistain who struggle for human rights and the rule of law."
Jahangir told news hounds on June 4 that through a security leak brought to her attention by a highly credible source, she had discovered that an liquidation attempt was being planned against her from the highest levels of the security establishment.
She said that she thought it best to go public with the information as she feared that she could be killed and a member of her family framed for the murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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Pakistain will release the transport containers carrying thousands of school books for Afghanistan after they were stopped with the other NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... supplies from crossing the border.
Pakistain President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... told the Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... of the decision to release the school books during a meeting on Wednesday at the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Beijing, China.
Zardari told Karzai that Pakistain "sincerely wanted to help the Afghan brothers facilitating them in all possible manners in their journey towards socio-economic development and progress," according to statement from the Pakistain Embassy.
"He said that keeping in view the importance of education for the children, the containers carrying books for Afghan children were being released," the statement said.
It is not clear how long the school books have been delayed in Pakistain, but the supply route into Afghanistan has been closed since November 26 when a US Arclight airstrike mistakenly killed 24 Pak soldiers near the Afghan-Pakistain border.
Pakistain had claimed that the educational books were transported by a NATO-related transport company and that was why the trucks were blocked, according to Afghan officials last week.
Zaradari also said in his meeting with Karzai that Pakistain looks forward to the visit of new chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council Salahuddin Rabbani, saying that "Pakistain firmly believes that permanent peace and stability can only be ensured following an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process in the country".
The statement comes a fortnight after Pakistain pledged $20 million towards supporting the Afghan National Security Forces.
Zardari added that Pakistain was prepared to consider any additional requirements, as indicated by Afghanistan, for the purpose of strengthening and capacity building of its security forces.
The Pak Embassy said the pair also discussed issues related to prisoners and detainees, facilitating visa processes for Pak businesses and investors to work in Afghanistan, and the need for economic development along the border regions to help reverse "tendencies towards extremism".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Pentagon chief Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... says the US would continue its drone attacks in Pakistain despite complaints from Islamabad that the strikes violate its illusory sovereignty.
"We have made it very clear that we are going to continue to defend ourselves," the US defense secretary said during a conference in India on Wednesday.
Panetta also dismissed suggestions that the strikes could violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty.
"This is about our illusory sovereignty as well," he added.
On Tuesday, Pakistain's Foreign Ministry summoned the US Charge d'affaires Richard Hoagland over Washington's continued liquidation drone attacks in the country.
The move came following a recent hike in the number of the unauthorized air attacks, which Pakistain has repeatedly criticized as counter-productive.
Washington claims its drone strikes target krazed killers, though casualty figures clearly indicate that Pak civilians are the main victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Washington claims its drone strikes target krazed killers, though casualty figures clearly indicate that Pak civilians are the main victims
Maybe the machine learning and target identification algorithms have decided the two classes are pretty much one and the same.
Russian news agencies are reporting that Russia has opposed Irans full membership at Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) until the country is under UN Security Council sanctions. Iran now has an observer status at SCO. President Ahmadinejad is attending the SCO summit in Beijing and Iran has pushed for full membership at SCO at an early date, a move that has apparently faced the Russian opposition.
Meanwhile, the SCO has issued a statement denouncing as unacceptable the use of force against Iran over its nuclear program.
Saddam Hussein's trusted personal secretary, once No. 4 on the U.S. most-wanted list in Iraq, was executed by hanging on Thursday, the Iraqi Justice Ministry said.
Abed Hamid Hmoud was the latest in a series of former senior regime officials to be executed by Iraq's new rulers since the toppling of Saddam during a U.S.-led invasion nine years ago. Hmoud's body was to be handed over to his family later Thursday, officials said.
Hmoud, a distant cousin of Saddam, was captured by U.S. forces in June 2003, three months after the invasion. At the time, he was No. 4 on the list of wanted regime officials, after Saddam and sons Qusai and Odai. He was known as the "ace of diamonds" on the U.S. deck of cards that ranked leaders of Saddam's government.
Hmoud, in his mid-50s, was executed for persecuting members of the Shiite opposition and religious parties that were banned under Saddam, a court official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case with reporters. Hmoud was also among 15 high-profile defendants tried for their role in the brutal crushing of a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.
As Saddam's secretary, Hmoud controlled access to the Iraqi president and was one of the few people he was said to have trusted completely, U.S. officials said in 2003. Like Saddam, who was executed in 2006, Hmoud was from the northern Iraqi town of Tikrit.
The Palestinian anti-corruption court on Thursday convicted the fugitive moneyman of the late leader Yasser Arafat of siphoning off millions of dollars in public funds, sentencing him to 15 years in prison.
The court, concluding its highest-profile probe, found Mohammed Rashid guilty of embezzlement and money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, he was also fined $15 million and his properties were ordered confiscated.
He and two associates were convicted of taking a total of $33.5 million from the foreign donor-financed Palestinian Investment Fund.
Rashid, who in the past has denied wrongdoing, was sentenced in absentia by the court in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He left the Palestinian territories after Arafat's death in November 2004 and has rarely been seen since. He is said to hold business interests in four Middle Eastern countries and Montenegro.
The Palestinian Authority has asked those countries to freeze his assets and extradite him. "Without doubt the money of the Palestinian people will return to the people, sooner or later," promised Rafik Natche, head of the Palestinian anti-corruption commission, after the conviction.
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.
[Tolo News] Pakistain is the mother of terrorism while Afghanistan is the victim, an Afghan political expert and former Minister of Interior General Hadi Khaled said Wednesday.
(Sh. M. Network)- Tensions are rising in northeast Somalia following 
(Sh. M. Network)-A judge in Somalia's military tribunal has said the court banned on Wednesday soldiers from collecting illegal tax in the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers north-west Mogadishu.
The dialogue liaison committee revealed plans to meet with the parties which did not sign a West-backed power-transfer deal after the 2011 events, the Southern Movement, Harak, and the Yemeni opposition abroad to encourage them to participate in a comprehensive national dialogue. 
[Yemen Post] The 
[Yemen Post] Yemen's Transport Minister, Waed Bathib, late on Tuesday said he had received threats before an 
Khaleda Zia
North Korea on Monday threatened to launch "a holy retaliatory war" against President Lee Myung-bak and the South Korean press unless they apologize for casting aspersion on a big propaganda event. 
Eight 
The Pak government should investigate allegations that elements in the Pak military and intelligence agencies have plotted to kill prominent lawyer and 
Pakistain will release the transport containers carrying thousands of school books for Afghanistan after they were stopped with the other 
Pentagon chief 
Saddam Hussein's trusted personal secretary, once No. 4 on the U.S. most-wanted list in Iraq, was executed by hanging on Thursday, the Iraqi Justice Ministry said.
