Top now-retired CIA spy Enrique 'Ricky' Prado has been accused of working as a hitman for mobsters in Miami. According to the UK Daily Mail, it's been alleged that Mr. Prado was involved with the Mafia throughout his career.
#2
No mention of Sinatra, the grassy knowl, or Jack Ruby. The Mail generally lags behind the conspiracy blogs about 2-3 months. Much of what is seen here has been harvested verbatim. It's what they do.
#3
The source of the mail story is Evan Wright's new book: How to Get Away With Murder in America, reviewed a few days ago by the Danger Room. Wright previously wrote Generation Kill, which was based in part on his embed with a Marine recon unit during the 2003 invasion. Wright's Rolling Stone articles from the embed are some of the best reporting of that action.
What Wright describes here is an intelligence/covert operations organization that is not fully under control of the state it serves. This is a problem. It is reminiscent of 1960's episodes in South Florida where CIA officers recruited mafia for covert action against Cuba. You can judge the success of those operations for yourself.
What I suspect Wright probably lacks is proper context -- historical perspective. A few years ago Tim Weiner put out a book Legacy of Ashes which laid out, chapter and verse, the failure of CIA operations. But Weiner drew no conclusions about *why* operations failed, only that they did. I expect Weiner will be able to come out with a new edition shortly.
[Saudi Gazette] Sudan accused unnamed "Zionist institutions" Sunday of fanning anti-government protests as it tries to snuff out disturbances which echo Arab Spring unrest elsewhere.
Of course. Because everything bad that happens to Muslims is due to the connivance of those damned juices. You'd think that after going on a millennium and a half of this, the Muslims would have learnt by now to behave with the utmost propriety and keep their heads down...
For two weeks, anti-austerity protesters have been calling for the resignation of the government of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, one of Africa's longest serving leaders.
Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil revenue after South Sudan gained independence last year, forcing the government to impose cuts that have hit Sudanese who were already grappling with soaring inflation and a weakening currency.
"Zionist institutions inside the United States and elsewhere... are exploiting the latest economic decisions to destabilize the security and political situation," the state-linked Sudanese Media Center quoted presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as saying.
Nafie said the government had evidence of collusion between rebel groups in Darfur, politicians in arch-foe South Sudan and Zionist institutions in the United States to sabotage Sudan. He did not present the evidence.
The demonstrations have rarely gathered more than a few hundred people at a time, but have been an added pressure for Bashir's government, already trying to contain the economic crisis and multiple armed insurgencies.
Police used tear gas to put down protests in Khartoum on Friday.
The Sudanese Commission for Defense of Freedoms and Rights estimated on Sunday that 1,000 people had been tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! since the protests began.
Demonstrators have chanted the widespread Arab Spring refrain: "The people want the downfall of the regime".
Unusually, there was no official ceremony on Saturday to mark the 23rd anniversary of Bashir's bloodless coup.
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07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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SINAI (Ma'an) -- Three Grad missiles were found near al-Reisan village in the Sinai desert Saturday evening, witnesses said.
Congratulations are due to the Gazan rocketeers, who managed to hit Egypt, though it was not what they were aiming for.
The commander of northern Sinai security services Ahmad Bakr told Egyptian media that police arrived on the scene and collected remnants of the explosives. They are trying to determine their origin, he said.
Egyptian officials initially announced finding a simple projectile in the Sinai.
In June the Israeli army said a Grad rocket was fired into southern Israel, possibly from Egypt.
Egyptian security officials said at the time that a sweep of the Sinai border area was carried out and they were certain the rocket was not launched from Egyptian territory.
"Once ze rockets go up
who cares veyr zey come down?
Dat's not my department," says Werner von Braun.
Separately an Egyptian officer was killed and four others were maimed Saturday when their vehicle came under fire by unidentified gunnies near the village of al-Hasana in the central Sinai.
Which implies a certain malice aforethought...
Security sources told Egyptian media that gunnies fired heavily at a military vehicle, and when the driver tried to speed away, it flipped over. As a result, officer Mahmoud al-Khatib died and four others were hurt.
The Egyptian daily al-Masri al-Youm reported thon the lam numbers of Egyptian forces and coppers started to canvas the area looking for gunnies.
The northern Sinai was placed under a security alert last last month due to the Egyptian elections, and authorities deployed special forces and counter terrorism units in the border region.
The changes were made after consultations with Israel, officials said at the time.
Backgrounder on the new president of Egypt, the Moslem Brüderbund's own Mohamed Mursi, beloved by all who know him, according to Rooters -- relatives, colleagues and students alike. An old-fashioned child of the soil, his brother lives in the family home in the Nile Delta village while Professor Morsi, the Moslem Brüderbund's second choice for the presidency, tends to his large extended family and his hardworking engineering students.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/02/2012 01:05 ||
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[Dawn] Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to act "with firmness and determination" against anyone collaborating with a foreign military force that might intervene in north Mali.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a leader of AQIM, which is one of the bully boy groups controlling the huge territory for the past three months, warned Saturday that no one should be tempted to "profit from the situation" in north Mali "by collaborating with the foreign forces who are eyeing the region."
In a statement released by Mauritania's private news agency Nouakchott Informations (ANI), a mouthpiece for AQIM, Belmokhtar said: "We will not stand by with our arms crossed and we will act as the situation demands with firmness and determination."
On Friday another Islamist bully boy group in lawless northern Mali, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), threatened countries who would join a military intervention force.
Mali has been gripped by chaos since disgruntled troops swarmed the capital Bamako in the south in March and ousted the elected president of what had been seen as one of Africa's model democracies.
Tuareg rebels and Islamist hardliners have taken over a stretch of northern Mali the size of Afghanistan.
The bully boys, also including the Ansar Dine group, have since imposed an austere version of sharia law in northern Mali, and they have fallen out with the Tuareg.
The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, is considering sending a military force of 3,300 troops to Mali.
AQIM stems from a group started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists, who in 2007 formally subscribed to al Qaeda's ideology.
These beturbanned goons, numbering around 300, have spun a tight network across tribal and business lines that stretch across the sub-Sahara Sahel zone, supporting poor communities and protecting traffickers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Nigerian Tribune] AS part of a soft approach to the ongoing Islamist insurgency, the Federal Government has commenced discreet contacts with moderate Islamist salafists who, while sharing similar thoughts with the Jihadi salafists within the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect, are opposed to armed struggle.
Previous efforts at reaching the hard boyz had been through mainstream Islamic leaders who, in no way, share the conservative interpretation of Islam, with the Boko Haram sect and, therefore, incapable of motivating genuine dialogue with the Federal Government.
Nigerian Tribune was told that moderate salafi-Wahabists from the North and the South are to be contacted as a starting point in the dialogue process even as it was gathered that Nigeria is reaching outside its shores to moderate salafi organizations across Africa and Middle East.
It was specifically learnt that a particular moderate Islamic organization based in the North-Central part of the country would soon be contacted as the group is widely acclaimed as the umbrella body of salafiya-wahabiya movement and scholars in Nigeria.
The said organization was reported to be very influential and very deep in the salafiya thoughts and principles, just as it was gathered that the group, peopled by very enlightened Islamic scholars, is affiliated to an international body of moderate salafiyat movement based in Riyadh, the Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... n political capital.
While details of the outreach were still scanty, findings showed that the new National Security Adviser is deploying softer tactics, especially in reaching out to the grass-roots salafiyas and Mohammedans population who are reportedly already alienated from the government due to alleged strong arm tactics of the military in the troubled areas.
A source within the establishment told Nigerian Tribune at the weekend that the decision to reach out to the moderate salafists was designed specifically to address the religious component of the Boko Haram crisis.
Referring to Nigerian Tribune's publication of last Friday, the official noted that efforts to solve and tackle the political and criminal Boko Haram were well underway but accepted that the hard nut to crack is the religionists constituted by followers of the late Mohammed Yusuf.
"We are identifying the salafis, the wahabiyas, especially their moderate leaders. We want them to be the contact point this time round," the source said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... the issue of Nigerian participation in the Mali intervention force is creating division within the Nigerian security establishment with some arguing that avoiding Mali would amount to capitulating to international terrorists' threats.
A military officer told Nigerian Tribune that Nigeria risked a Kenyan scenario if it should deploy troops in Mali, noting that since Kenya intervened in the Somali conflicts, the Central African nation had become a hotbed of terrorist conflicts.
"We are at a cross roads here. The Malian Islamists are already in league with Boko Haram. If we take them on, then the Boko Haram thing will become internationalised and Jihadists all over the world will face Nigeria," the officer said.
Findings, however, showed that the new National Security Adviser will give formal advice to President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... later this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 12:16 ||
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#1
And kills them? For knowledge that's NOT sacre(Spit)d.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2012 15:03 Comments ||
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#2
AS part of a soft approach to the ongoing Islamist insurgency...
Because that plan has worked so well for the Thais. /sarc off
[Nigerian Tribune] FOLLOWING incessant attack on churches in the northern part of the country by the dreaded Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect, the Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church worldwide (a.k.a Winners' Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo has rained curses on the sect for its activities in recent past.
During last Sunday's service in Lagos, the holy man declared sudden death, calamity in the camp of the sect before the end of this month, "This month ends their activities in the country and calamity will rain on their camp beginning from now," he said.
The pastor added: "Any attempt to Islamise the country will surely fail."
While wondering why the sect has been destroying only churches with no single mosque attacked by the sect, he said: "Enough is enough. Whoever is their sponsor, they should expect the wrath of God over them before the end of this month, except, I'm not called by God."
He admonished Christians to start daily prayers on Boko Haram beginning from now and see what God would do before the end of the month.
It will be recalled that Winners Chapel was among the churches attacked last week by the Boko Haram sect in Bauchi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 11:48 ||
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#1
That'll do it. Curses are even better than a Stiff Note on stiff stationery.
A top Yemeni security official says authorities have uncovered at least 13 al-Qaeda plots targeting foreign diplomats, embassies and senior military and government officials in the capital of Sanaa and other cities.
The official says authorities were tipped off by captured al-Qaeda members.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Historian Muntassir Mamoon yesterday told International Crimes Tribunal-1 how some political parties and their leaders, including 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... and its former ameer Ghulam Azam, aided the Pak occupation forces to commit genocide during the Liberation War.
He said this at his three-hour-long deposition before the tribunal dealing with the crimes against humanity case against Ghulam Azam.
Ghulam Azam was the ameer (chief) of the East Pakistain (now Bangladesh) Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971 and Muntassir was the first prosecution witness at the trial yesterday.
Muntassir, 61, a professor of the Department of History of Dhaka University, narrated the brutal role some auxiliary forces, including the Peace Committees, Razakars and Al-Badr played during the war. The forces were formed by the leaders of the Jamaat and some other political parties.
"We who were in the country [Bangladesh] at the time [during the war] saw and heard about the brutal activities of the Razakar Bahini [force], Al-Badr and the Peace Committees," said Muntassir. He was a third-year history student at Dhaka University and was in Dhaka until October 1971.
With around 40 years' experience in research on the Liberation War, Muntassir said the leaders of those parties, including Ghulam Azam, instigated and provoked members of the Peace Committees and the forces to commit brutal acts like killing, rape and looting.
Muntassir said those leaders gave members of the forces licence to kill through their political speeches.
Muntassir said he was in Pallabi in the capital until March 29, 1971. The majority of the inhabitants of the Mirpur area were not Bangalees and they helped the Pak military kill Bangladeshis and loot their homes. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... some families survived with the help of non-Bangalees.
He said people read the newspapers to know about the steps of the government and its allies during the war. "We also looked into the activities of 'myrmidons' in those newspapers since the Paks referred to freedom fighters as myrmidons," he said, adding that they also relied on the BBC, Radio Australia, Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra and Akashbani to crosscheck the authenticity of the news.
After March 1971, different wings of the Mohammedan League, Jamaat-e-Islami, PDP and the Peoples' Party helped the central government of Pakistain. "However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... the role of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Mohammedan League, as the main political parties, was more than that of the others," Muntassir said.
Their first step was to meet Tikka Khan, governor of East Pakistain, in the first week of April 1971, when the Pak occupation forces were conducting mass killings and lootings throughout the country, he said.
Nurul Amin and Ghulam Azam were well known among the leaders of the political parties. "Upon their [Nurul Amin and Ghulam Azam] suggestion and persuasion, Shanti Bahini [Peace Committees] were formed," said the witness, adding that the peace committee had later been decentralised right up to the grassroots level.
The collaborator forces--Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams--were formed later on in places where Jamaat-e-Islami influence was more significant.
"When I say Jamaat, I mean Jamaat, including its student wings and front organizations," he explained.
He said if one looked at the newspapers of that period, one would find speeches of the then ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Ghulam Azam prominently displayed.
The leaders of those parties had encouraged others to join the collaborator forces and committees and Ghulam Azam played a vital role in aiding the Pak military, the witness said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Fear gripped areas of Tirah inhibited by Qambarkhel and Kamarkhel rustics as Taliban have accused them of supporting their opponent groups besides warning them of dire consequences, said sources in the area.
They said that the two tribes had started fortifying positions in their respective localities in anticipation of an eminent Taliban reprisal.
They said that the Taliban of Tariq Afridi group who had only recently forced Kukikhel ...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government... tribes to leave their area, were suspicious of the role of Qambarkhel and Kamarkhel tribes and had been accusing them of clandestinely supporting their opponent and spying on them for the government.
It was learnt that after repeated assurances by the elders of the two tribes, Taliban refused to agree to their point of view and asked to cooperate with them or face action.
The sources said that Taliban had now set their eyes on other parts of Bara tehsil after consolidating their position in Kukihkel areas. They said that in view of the recent developments the Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... -led Lashkar-e-Islam had also sent a word of conciliation to its Zakhakhel rival, the Tawheedul Islam (TI).
They said that the LI wanted to form a joint front against the Taliban in order to check their advances in its own dominated areas of Tirah.
But so far, the sources said, these conciliatory gestures had failed to yield any fruit as the Zakhakhels were reluctant to trust LI.
They said that the LI had even offered to release all Zakhakhel captives as a gesture of goodwill, but the TI showed no interest in
any reconciliation.
The TI was formed in March last year after some of the LI commanders from Zakhakhel tribe developed differences with Mangal Bagh over the killing of a Zakhakhel holy man.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... activists of the two rival groups clashed in the border area of Akkakhel and Zakhakhel on the night between Friday and Saturday which resulted in injuries to two LI activists. The LI claimed to have captured two volunteers of its rival group.
In Akkakhel area of Bara, myrmidons targeted a government school with a rocket and damaged its one portion. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... no one was hurt, as the school was closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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Jordan's king is urging his country's Islamist opposition to take part in upcoming elections, despite their dissatisfaction with reforms.
King Abdullah II made the appeal in a rare interview on Jordan TV on Sunday. It appeared to be part of his attempt to engage with Islamists, who make up the main opposition in Jordan. Islamists have made gains all over the region after Arab Spring uprisings and show increasing strength in Jordan.
Paleostinian Authority's labor minister says shortfall in delivery of aid from Arab donor nations means government employees won't receive July salaries
The poor, suffering darlings. Perhaps if they were more loveable, they would be more loved.
The Paleostinian Authority is facing its "worst financial crisis" since its 1994 establishment, the Paleostinian labor minister said on Sunday.
Ahmed Majdalani warned that a shortfall in the delivery of aid from Arab donor nations means the PA will be unable to pay employees their July salaries or pay off debts it owes to private businesses across the West Bank.
"It is the worst financial crisis experienced by the Paleostinian Authority since its founding," he told AFP.
"What is available to the Paleostinian Authority at the moment in terms of funds is not enough to pay government employee salaries this month, with Ramadan approaching," he said.
"It is not sufficient to pay the bills that the Paleostinian Authority owes to private companies."
The Paleostinian Authority has frequently warned it faces a massive financial shortfall that threatens its ability to pay thousands of government employees on time, or even at all.
A delay in salary payments would be particularly sensitive this month, as the Mohammedan fasting month of Ramadan begins in mid-July. Mohammedans often break their daily fast on the lam communal meals, stocking up ahead of time on plenty of food.
Dire funding situation
Last July, Paleostinian 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... said the government would pay workers half-salaries because it faced a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars.
He attended a special meeting of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to urge Arab donor nations to make good on aid pledges.
The executive committee of the Paleostine Liberation Organization also warned on Saturday of the dire funding situation facing the West Bank government.
"The executive committee calls on all the brotherly Arab nations to contribute to the solution of the urgent financial crisis that the national authority faces," it said.
"The continuation of this crisis will threaten both the Authority's short and long-term development and the stability of its institutions," the committee warned.
"The current financial situation is worse than any previous circumstances and requires rapid intervention," it added.
"The Authority is currently unable, with Ramadan about to start, to pay salaries and other financial entitlements that are both necessary and urgent."
The Paleostinian Authority government headed by Fayyad is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the crisis and chart a path forward.
#4
please hillary, don't read this and start sending more $$.
Posted by: jack salami ||
07/02/2012 16:04 Comments ||
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#5
What's the matter with you people? Go to college. Get a job.
Posted by: Eric Cartman ||
07/02/2012 16:16 Comments ||
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#6
Take Western money, live by Western rules. That means layoffs, furloughs, early retirement (I assume the generous foreign aid has paid for retirement benefits for Hamas veterans), government shutdowns, etc, until you can get your own fiscal house in order.
Posted by: American Delight ||
07/02/2012 17:33 Comments ||
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#7
This is an amazing occasion! Many of the west and arab donors are not throwing good money into bad for the Paleos. There is hope. Just no change figuratively or literally yet.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/02/2012 18:32 Comments ||
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As European oil embargo kicks in, Tehran announces three-day surface-to-surface missile drill. Revolutionary Guards general: We'll soon launch missile that can hit Iron Dome defense system
Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh, chief of the Revolutionary Guards' airspace unit, added that Iran will soon introduce a new missile that can also penetrate the Iron Dome missile defense system, threatening that if Israel plans any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, "They will provide us a reason to remove Israel from the earth."
He said Israel is not capable of attacking Iran "since it was defeated by Hezbollah" in 2006.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... in a conflicting report, Fars new agency quoted Hajizadeh as saying that the range of the new missile is only 300 kilometers.
Iran has reportedly a few hundred surface-to-surface missiles with a range of approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), which can reach Israel, southern Europe and other states in the Persian Gulf, where US maintains military bases.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel is not capable of attacking Iran "since it was defeated by Hezbollah" in 2006
[An Nahar] Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they are to fire ballistic and other missiles at desert targets during three days of war games starting Monday in a warning to threats of military action by Israel and the United States.
The more they use up now, the fewer they'll have later. And of course, enemies will be watching from overhead, not to mention the spy squirrels...
"Long-, medium- and short-range surface-to-surface missiles will be fired from different locations in Iran... at replica airbases like those used by out-of-region military forces," the head of the Guards aerospace division in charge of missile systems, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said.
"These maneuvers send a message to the adventurous nations that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is standing up to bullies alongside the determined and unified Iranian nation, and will decisively respond to any trouble they cause," he was quoted as saying by the Guards' official Sepah News website.
OMG!!! They utterly pulverized a defenseless bit of desert!!!1!
Although Iran frequently holds war games, these exercises appeared to underline Tehran's threat to strike U.S. military bases in neighboring countries -- in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... -- if it comes under attack by Israel or the United States.
Tel Aviv and Washington have said that military action against Iran remains an option if diplomacy and sanctions fail to convince the Islamic republic to curb its sensitive nuclear program.
Hajizadeh said the war games, titled Great Prophet 7, would "test the accuracy of missile warheads and systems" by hitting the mock camps in the Kavir Desert in central Iran.
He mentioned two types of ballistic missiles that would be used: the Qiam, which has an estimated range of around 500 kilometers (300 miles), or 750 kilometers according to Iranian media; and the Khalij Fars anti-ship missile, which has a range of 300 kilometers.
Tehran refers to its ballistic missiles as "long-range" although other world militaries qualify them as "short-range".
The longest-range ballistic missile Iran possesses in its arsenal is the medium-range Shahab-3 which, with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, is capable of hitting Israel. There was no indication in Hajizadeh's remarks that a Shahab-3 would be used in the maneuvers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Both official media and an opposition group on Sunday branded as a failure a world powers deal on a transition plan for Syria a day after at least 120 people were reported killed in violence nationwide.
World powers meeting in Geneva on Saturday agreed a transition plan that could include current regime members, but the West did not see any role for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... in a new unity government.
Russia and China insisted that Syrians themselves must decide how the transition happens, rather than allow others to dictate their fate.
Moscow and Beijing, which have twice blocked U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria, both signed up to the final agreement that did not make any explicit call for Assad to cede power.
Official Syrian media and the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) group demonstrated rare agreement in slamming the outcome.
The meeting "failed," trumpeted Al-Baath, newspaper of the ruling party.
"The agreement of the task force on Syria in Geneva on Saturday resembles an enlarged meeting of the UN Security Council where the positions of participants remained the same," it said.
The LCC, which organizes protests on the ground in Syria, said the outcome showed once again the failure to adopt a common position.
It called the transition accord "just one version, different in form only, of the demands of Russian leaders allied to the Assad regime and who cover it militarily and politically in the face of international pressure."
Burhan Ghalioun, a senior member and former head of the SNC, told pan-Arab television Al-Arabiya that "this is the worst international statement yet to emerge from talks on Syria."
According to the opposition coalition's official Facebook page, he described the plan as a "farce."
Ghalioun called a "mockery" the notion that Syrians should negotiate with "their executioner, who has not stopped killing, torturing... and raping women for 16 months."
SNC spokeswoman Basma Qadmani told AFP in Ankara there were some "positive elements" in the deal, although "important elements remain too ambiguous... and the plan is too vague to foresee real and immediate action."
"The first one is that the final declaration says that the participants agree to say that the Assad family cannot rule the country any more, and therefore the Assad family cannot lead the transition period."
"The second positive element is the agreement that the transition should comply with the legitimate aspirations of Syrian people.
"For us this means that Assad should go because Syrian people have already said that they want Assad to go."
At least 120 people were killed, mostly civilians, on Saturday, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said.
On Sunday, at least nine people were killed, the watchdog said.
Regime forces also shelled several neighborhoods of the central city of Homs and blasts were heard in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... , it added.
The Geneva deal came despite initial pessimism about the prospects of the talks amid deep divisions between the West and China and Russia on how to end the violence that the Observatory says has killed more than 15,800 since March 2011.
U.N. and 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... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... said it was up to the Syrians to decide who they wanted in a unity government.
But he added: "I would doubt that Syrians... would select people with blood on their hands to lead them."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Saudi Gazette] Iran has stored up imports and hard currency for a "battle" against "dastardly" EU sanctions, officials said Sunday, the day that the measures aimed at pressuring Tehran over its controversial nuclear program take effect.
Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said the country has stockpiled the population's daily needs to reduce the impact of the embargo hitting the oil and banking sectors.
"Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions and we ask people to help officials in this battle," Rahimi was quoted by state television's ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
website as saying at a religious conference. He said the "dastardly sanctions" might cause "occasional confusion" in the market, but that the Medes and the Persians would not be stopped.
Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani also told the semiofficial Mehr news agency that Iran has "plans" to deal with the embargo and enough hard currency to meet its import needs.
The EU said earlier this week that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated from Sunday. Also, European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.
The measures come on top of previous sanctions levied by the US and the West that have already hit Iran's economy. US officials say the American sanctions have cut exports of Iranian crude from about 2.5 million barrels a day last year to between 1.2 and 1.8 million barrels now.
"We have not remained passive. To confront the sanctions, we have plans in progress," said Bahmani. He did not elaborate on the plans.
On Saturday Bahmani said Iran is "easily" selling its oil despite all current and future sanctions because some countries have received waivers from the US to import some Iranian oil despite the punitive measures.
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi, meanwhile, ordered his staff to "mobilize" against "illegal sanctions," Mehr said. It did not say what the measures were.
Late Saturday Ghasemi told state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
that Iran has weathered previous rounds of sanctions. "I do not see it as a problem that enemies have imposed an embargo today," he said. "Simply, because they have imposed similar sanctions years ago, and nothing happened," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, hey, hey, its "wily dastardly", not just "dastardly"!
Syria's president Bashar al-Assad says his country is at war. Rebels in Idlib province who are better armed, more numerous and stronger by the day agree, reports the BBC's Ian Pannell.
Last July we filmed refugees fleeing government attacks on largely peaceful protests, and interviewed army defectors living in makeshift camps on the Syrian side of the Turkish border who revealed that they had been ordered to shoot at protesters. By the end of that month the opposition Free Syrian Army was formed: a weak and disparate group, with neither the men nor munitions to represent a physical threat to the government. President Assad dismissed them as a few "terrorists" funded by his foreign enemies.
But since then the Free Syrian Army has become more battle hardened. The opposition now has effective control over large swathes of contiguous land in parts of the north. Faced with having to fight fires across the country government forces seem unable to hold significant amounts of territory, and the insurgency is better equipped, experienced and motivated than ever before.
Significant quantities of weapons have begun entering Syria from Turkey. We were told that two shipments, paid for by what one commander called "friends in the Gulf", with a senior Lebanese middleman acting as a broker, had been delivered to groups affiliated with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Three months ago we were told emphatically by a local commander that the "mafia" - the Turkish underworld - had been instructed not to sell weapons. Now, a senior commander in Idlib Province said, rebels were obtaining rocket propelled grenades and other arms from those very same sources. "We think a green light has been given by the West," he said.
Even rebels with the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade, who have not been sent arms from abroad, were better armed than we had ever seen before - partly because they are now churning out their own ordnance in secret workshops: improvised explosive devices (IEDs), crude but effective pipe and nail bombs, and home-made grenades.
The fighters are upbeat, confident and assertive. While still ill disciplined and poorly equipped, they now believe they are winning. What this means is more fighting and ever more death. The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people have been killed during the uprising. It is hard not to conclude that increasing numbers will die as the violence spirals out of control. It is hard to see what pressure the international community can bring to bear to reverse this.
Last week, as bombs erupted in Damascus, Mr Assad said for the first time that Syria was now in "a real state of war". On that point, at least, both the rebels and the Syrian president agree.
#3
The BBC consistently reported that the Sunni Arab rebels in Iraq were winning. I'm still waiting. I suspect this bias is due to the vast majority of Muslims (90%) being Sunni and therefore overrepresented among the people it relies upon to provide translations and act as facilitators. While there may be institutional factors involved, I suspect the key factor is demographic.
Iranians are abandoning traditional eating habits, being thrown out of work at alarming rates and face running short of medicines as the nation braces itself for fresh sanctions aimed at forcing its leaders to scrap their suspect nuclear programme. Price rises have spread across the food spectrum. Undercover student researchers surveying 20 supermarkets and four government food distribution centres in Tehran, discovered that 10 basic foods had risen in price by an average of 70% since March while the average family's weekly food basket shrunk by half. Unemployment in Iran's industrial heartland has soared to an unofficially estimated 35% because factories unable to import vital goods and equipment due to sanctions are forced in turn to sack their workers.
Despite the grim backdrop, Iranian officials have affected a lack of concern about the EU oil embargo, insisting that they have alternative customers. In truth, many non-European customers are taking flight, fearful of simultaneous new US sanctions that punishes nations for buying Iran's oil. Even China and India -- two of Tehran's most reliable clients -- have announced in recent days that they will only continue buying Iranian crude if Iran provides its own tankers and insurance. With fresh OPEC figures showing Iran's production down by 720,000 barrels in the past month, Iranian officials have resorted to desperate measures, including offering heavily discounted sales to traditional customers.
Inevitably, the climate of austerity has sparked dissent, prompting a predictably harsh response. A 10,000-signature petition addressed to Mr Ahmadinejad's government outlining workers' grievances recently resulted in mass arrests of trade union activists in Karaj, near Tehran. Even the regime's most cosseted insiders are not immune. Staff in the elite revolutionary guards have experienced salary delays, with officials blaming budgetary disagreements between parliament and Mr Ahmadinejad. And in a potent irony for the ruling theocracy, the price of textile for clerics' turbans has risen 15% in three months.
#1
Debka says Iran is building up a strategic wheat reserve:
The Fars news agency reports Tehran purchased 2 million metric tons of wheat from various unidentified countries despite financial restrictions. An Iranian official reported that a delegation from Tehran visited India in June to discuss wheat imports from Madhya Pradesh at prices lower than those offered by Pakistan.
That's 4.5 billion pounds of wheat. Assuming each person eats 1 lb of bread a day, that's enough to feed 12 million for a year. Or 72 million people for 2 months.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/02/2012 12:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It's a Bloomberg report regurgitating a Fars report, original is here:
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.
Sudan accused unnamed "Zionist institutions" Sunday of fanning anti-government protests as it tries to snuff out disturbances which echo Arab Spring unrest elsewhere.
Boko Haram
[Bangla Daily Star] Historian Muntassir Mamoon yesterday told International Crimes Tribunal-1 how some political parties and their leaders, including 
Paleostinian Authority's labor minister says shortfall in delivery of aid from Arab donor nations means government employees won't receive July salaries
Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they are to fire ballistic and other missiles at desert targets during three days of war games starting Monday in a warning to threats of military action by Israel and the United States.
Both official media and an opposition group on Sunday branded as a failure a world powers deal on a transition plan for Syria a day after at least 120 people were reported killed in violence nationwide.
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
[Saudi Gazette] Iran has stored up imports and hard currency for a "battle" against "dastardly" EU sanctions, officials said Sunday, the day that the measures aimed at pressuring Tehran over its controversial nuclear program take effect.
Syria's president Bashar al-Assad says his country is at war. Rebels in Idlib province who are better armed, more numerous and stronger by the day agree, reports the BBC's Ian Pannell. 
Iranians are abandoning traditional eating habits, being thrown out of work at alarming rates and face running short of medicines as the nation braces itself for fresh sanctions aimed at forcing its leaders to scrap their suspect nuclear programme. Price rises have spread across the food spectrum. Undercover student researchers surveying 20 supermarkets and four government food distribution centres in Tehran, discovered that 10 basic foods had risen in price by an average of 70% since March while the average family's weekly food basket shrunk by half. Unemployment in Iran's industrial heartland has soared to an unofficially estimated 35% because factories unable to import vital goods and equipment due to sanctions are forced in turn to sack their workers.
