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AQAP #2 killed for the THIRD time in Yemen
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
US blacklists Afghan airline accused of smuggling opium
Afghanistan's largest private airline, Kam Air, has been barred from receiving US military contracts amid allegations of drug smuggling, officials say.

The US military says it conducted an investigation which showed Kam Air transported large quantities of opium on civilian flights to neighbouring Tajikistan.

The Central Asian country is a key transit route used by drug smugglers.

The airline's owner has firmly rejected the allegations.

Zemary Kamgar said that he was consulting with his lawyers over the US move and that his legal team would prepare a defence.

The blacklisting of Kam Air first came to light in an article in the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 13:46 || Comments || Link || [336111 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I simply had to post it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 16:12 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Group warns of threat to Libyan oil fields
A group organized to protect journalists said there were "credible" reports that militants may be plotting attacks on oil fields in Libya.
Sounds like a job for the European Army...
The U.S. and British governments warned citizens of the threat of terrorist attacks in Libya one day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified about Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. That attack left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.

The International News Safety Institute, a coalition formed to ensure journalist safety, followed up with its warning advising of potential attacks on Libyan oil fields.

"The International News Safety Institute has been alerted by credible sources that terrorist organizations may be planning to attack oil fields in Libya," the organization said.

It added that it's likely any attack would mirror last week's al-Qaida siege on a natural gas facility in eastern Algeria.

Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 10:11 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Timely (?) advice. Right on top of world news. /s
Posted by: tipover || 01/25/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||


Al Qaeda linked to Algeria attack
The Obama Administration now believes the attack and hostage-taking at a natural gas plant in Algeria last week is the work of al Qaeda operatives based out of northern Mali.
Wow! that was fast
Holmes! How do you do it?!
U.S. officials say al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was behind the attack and may also have operated a communications network from northern Mali. Despite the recent French intervention, large areas of Mali remain in the hands of jihadist groups.

One senior U.S. official said "elements of AQIM" may have carried out the offensive in tandem with fighters loyal to Moktar Belmoktar, a veteran militant based in northern Mali who has claimed responsibility for the assault.

Last year, Belmoktar was said to have been demoted by the Emir of AQIM, Abdel Malek Droukdel, but is thought to have retained links to the organization.

One U.S. official told CNN that American intelligence gatherers are trying to determine if the two factions had reunited for the attack. If so, that would indicate greater communications among North African elements of al Qaeda affiliates and splinter groups than previously thought.

U.S. intelligence believes some of the attackers came into Algeria from training camps in Libya, whose border is about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the In Amenas site.

One of the officials emphasized that the United States is now relying on intelligence it has gathered "by other means" because of the lack of information coming from the Algerian government. It has long been privately acknowledged that the U.S. intelligence community has the ability to gather imagery and intercept communications using a variety of military and CIA platforms such as satellites and aircraft.

"We have other ways of assessing who the perpetrators were," he said, but warned the information on Mali could change as more information emerges.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 09:51 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So now we know that Al Qaeda was linked to this, and to Benghazi, and to the Mali groups that Morsi-who-we're-giving-F16's-to is sticking up for.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/25/2013 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  One of the officials emphasized that the United States is now relying on intelligence it has gathered "by other means" because of the lack of information coming from the Algerian government. It has long been privately acknowledged that the U.S. intelligence community has the ability to gather imagery and intercept communications using a variety of military and CIA platforms such as satellites and aircraft.

....but these special intelligence mechanisms were unavailable due to vacations and annual leave on 9/11/12.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Hm. Its almost like the Algerian government doesn't trust this administration with important information.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/25/2013 11:00 Comments || Top||

#4  ....but these special intelligence mechanisms were unavailable due to vacations and annual leave on 9/11/12

Heavy sunspot activity, plus an additional focus on Facebook voter activity.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Yo Pappy. What you smell ?

Drone vectored to attack site - Check
Attack approaches 7 hour mark - Check
50 vehicle relief column not arrived - Check
Drone orbits on station - Check
W & D use tracers to hold off attackers - Check
Drone orbiting on station - Check
Mortar fire begins - Check
Drone Orbiting on station - Check
W & D fire terminates - Check
Mortar fire terminates - Check
Drone orbits on station - Check
No movement from W & D - Check
Drone orbits on station - Check
Bad guys fade away - Check
50 vehicle relief column shows up - Check
Drone Returns to Base - Check

œ5:04 a.m.: The team from Tripoli arrives at the CIA base. Glen Doherty, one of the GRS men from Tripoli, goes to the roof and joins Woods in firing positions.

œ5:15 a.m.: A new Libyan assault begins, this time with mortars. Two rounds miss and the next three hit the roof. The rooftop defenders never glaser the mortars,h as has been reported. They donft know the weapons are in place until the indirect fire begins, nor are the mortars observed by the drone overhead. The defenders have focused their laser sights earlier on several Libyan attackers, as warnings not to fire. At 5:26 the attack is over. Woods and Doherty are dead and two others are wounded.

œ6 a.m.: Libyan forces from the military intelligence service finally arrive, now with 50 vehicles. They escort the Americans to the airport. A first group of 18, including two wounded, depart at 7 a.m. A second group of 12, plus the four dead, leave at 10 a.m. for Tripoli and then the long flight back to America.

Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 13:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Yo Pappy. What you smell ?

1. Ignatius' timeline coordinates with other open source info indicating Libyan TNG-element collusion or deliberate...'not paying attention' to attack.

2. Mortar deployment and use was performed by highly trained team(s). Two 'missed' (ranging) rounds is about par for an expert team with previously supplied range-to-target data and with a pre-established launch site.

3. Drone deployment and implementation brings up a lot of questions, like expertise level of the operations team and the C4 situation.

4. I won't venture an educated opinion as to USG and administration response and actions - at this point.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  I agree with your assessment. I might add that the timing of the arrival of the relief column [approx. 30 minutes after the shi* stops] appears a bit suspect. Shades of PAK relief effort - 1993, Blackhawk Down, or worse. Seven hours is a very long time to be waiting on the cavalry. Guess I'll leave it at that.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#8  "Its almost like the Algerian government doesn't trust this administration with important information."

I don't - why should they?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/25/2013 17:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Seven hours is a very long time to be waiting on the cavalry

As I mentioned before, think "attacks on USS AGERs" and the politically-driven motivations for the NCA responses (or lack thereof.)
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 17:52 Comments || Top||


More soldiers for Benghazi
[Libya Herald] Three hundred and sixteen new soliders graduated at a ceremony in Benghazi yesterday, Wednesday. Aged between 24 and 40, they will serve as members of the combat security division of the city's Department of Military Intelligence, part of the national army.

The ceremony was attended by Colonels Abdel-Jalil Houti and Abdel-Samad Houti from the General Staff as well as Colonels Rafa Akasha, Director of the Benghazi Department of Military Intelligence, Salah Attia, commander of the combat security division of Benghazi military department and Ayman Abdali, director of the Management Affairs Department.

A number of those who completed the training were enrolled into the security unit by the Warriors Affairs Commission.
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Wonder if they were trained by Blue Mountain?
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Our colleagues the Turks have at least part of the training mission. They appear to be.... hmmm hmmm very well funded.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Well-funded indeed.

Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. All players here.

The phrase "used like a downtown bus" appears to be applicable.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 14:30 Comments || Top||


Quit Benghazi advice is overreaction
[Libya Herald] The Undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Abdullah Mansour Zwai has condemned the call by Western embassies for their nationals to evacuate Benghazi as "an over-reaction".

Mansour insisted that the security problems in the city did not warrant this response. He also said that the Libyan Foreign Office had not been told formally by the British government of the change in travel advice issued today.

The British embassy told Libya Herald this evening: "We don't feel it is an over-reaction. The safety and security of British nationals is our priority." As yet the British government had not received any official reaction from the Libyan government.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  other carriers, including Turkish Air, Qatar, Jordan and Egyptair continue to fly into Benghazi on their normal schedules.

Yeah, but can you get a drink on those flights?
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/25/2013 1:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Quit Benghazi? That's another way of trying to say the situation is untenable. It isn't. It wasn't. Hillary, Panetta and BO effed up. Big time bad.
Posted by: gorb || 01/25/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  "What difference does it make"!
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Methinks Qatar's flights are cargo runs.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Only the pilots I think.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/25/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#6  I listened to Hillary in the Senate hearing today. The Donks fell all over themselves praising her as the greatest SOS in history. She was then asked softball questions. And then she prattled on about nothing.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/25/2013 19:06 Comments || Top||


Stratfor's Analysis of Mali's Kidnapping Brigade
Good historical background on the group -- they were always in the kidnapping of groups of foreigners for ransom biz, a good fundraiser for the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, and an even better one for Al Qaeda in North Africa.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian President Appeals for Help Against Boko Haram
[VOA News] Nigeria's 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...
calls the Nigerian-based Islamist terror group 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...
a threat to all of west, north and central Africa.

In an interview with CNN television Wednesday, Jonathan called on the rest of the world to work with Nigeria to contain the group. He said Boko Haram members have gone to northern Mali, which is under control of al-Qaeda-linked turbans.

The president denies that alleged corruption in Nigeria is helping fuel the violence. He also denies charges that Nigerian soldiers have carried out human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
abuses against civilians under the guise of fighting terrorism.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Elihu Root ...
mentioned Boko Haram during her testimony before Congressional committees Wednesday. She called it part of the same global jihadist movement as al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia
...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends...
.
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  Gonna Pay in Billion Dollar Bills?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/25/2013 8:40 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen- America's new terrorist battleground (Video)
Because Mali belongs to the French?
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 12:09 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi prince calls for Syrian rebels to be armed
A senior member of Saudi Arabia's monarchy called on Friday for Syrian rebels to be given anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to "level the playing field" in their battle against President Bashar al-Assad.

Insurgents in Syria have seized territory in the north of the country and control suburbs to the east and south of the capital, but Assad's air power and continued army strength have limited their advances 22 months into the conflict.

"I'm not in government so I don't have to be diplomatic. I assume we're sending weapons and if we were not sending weapons it would be terrible mistake on our part," said Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief and brother of Saudi Arabia's foreign minister.

"You have to level the playing field. Most of the weapons the rebels have come from captured Syrian stocks and defectors bringing their weapons," he said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

"What is needed are sophisticated, high-level weapons that can bring down planes, can take out tanks at a distance. This is not getting through."
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 10:32 || Comments || Link || [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Prince Turki ought to keep in mind that those same weapons may very well end up being used against the Magic Kingdom later.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Update
NEW TALIBAN IN SYRIA?

Noting that Jordanian forces were still fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan alongside NATO troops, he said: "The new Taliban we are going to have to deal with will be in Syria."

Even in the most optimistic scenario, it would take at least three years to "clean them up" after the fall of the Assad government, the monarch said.

He called for major powers to craft "a real and inclusive transition plan" for Syria, saying the army must be preserved intact to form the backbone of any new system and avoid the anarchy that prevailed in Iraq after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 11:59 Comments || Top||


Human Rights Minister condemns use of drones in Yemen
[Yemen Post] Yemen Human Rights Minister, Hooria Mashour openly criticized and condemned the use of drones - unmanned planes - in targeting al-Qaeda hideouts and forces of Evil in the country, arguing the collateral loss of lives much out-weighted the benefits of such a policy.

A long-standing human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
activists and member of the Joint Meeting Parties - JMP - before she was appointed Human Rights Minister in Yemen's transitional government, Minister Mashour has been known for a stance against violence and civil rights advocacy.

Only a week after Yemen's National Security Chief, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi told the press "U.S drone strikes against al-Qaeda will continue as the two government - U.S and Yemen - keep up their counter-terrorism cooperation, Minister Mashour is voicing her disapproval, joining a long list of protesters.

Although the HR minister did nor per se rejected America' counter-terrorism strategy in Yemen she was keen to note "I am in favour of changing the anti-terrorism strategy. I think there are more effective strategies ...
Lay one out. Run it in parallel with the drone strategy and see which is the more effective. If the other one's that much more effective, replace the drone strategy with it. Dumping an effective strategy in anticipation of a newer, more effective strategy in the sweet by-and-by would be the kind of thing you'd expect from an entrenched Qaeda sympathizer or fifth columnist. Never mind.
We're committed to fighting terrorism but we're calling for changing the means and strategies... Strategies can be applied on the ground without harming civilians and without leading to human rights violations."

Human Rights activist in Yemen welcomed Minister Mashour comments, stressing the government needs now to devise a new strategy, in accordance with international law and human rights conventions.

"One cannot justify using terror to fight terror, the rule of law needs to be our weapon ... Otherwise we are no better than the Death Eaters we are opposing," said Mogib Hassan al-Sharafi a youth activist in Aden.
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Britain
Suspected terrorist wins appeal
You just can't make this sh*t up YJCMTSU
A suspected terrorist from Algeria with links to supporters of al Qaida has won his appeal to stay on British soil over fears he may kill himself if deported.

The North African fanatic, who does not dispute posing a threat to national security and is currently free on bail, is believed to have provided travel arrangements and fake passports to terrorists.

But in a blow to the Home Office, a special immigration court has allowed the 43-year-old to remain in Britain amid concerns his human rights will be breached because he is likely to commit suicide once returned to his home country.
That doesn't make a bit of sense, even for Britain...
Question: do they mean he would hang himself, or become a jacket wallah?
There you go, they wouldn't want him to be a splodydope, unless he can take out a bunch of Zionist wimmins and babies...
In the same judgment, Mr Justice Mitting - who recently upheld hate preacher Abu Qatada's appeal to remain in Britain - told six other Algerian terror suspects they must leave the country.

But the senior immigration judge warned that despite his ruling there was "no end in sight" to removing the men, who are also free on bail and include two fundamentalists linked with an alleged 2003 plot to commit mass murder using the poison ricin.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 09:01 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
81 disgraced La Laguna cops resign

For a map,click here. For a map of Durango state, click here. For a map of Coahuila state, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 81 disgraced municipal police agents in La Laguna resigned their jobs Thursday despite being offered training and tests that could have reinstated them, according to Mexican news accounts.

Last Friday 158 municipal police agents and clerks from Gomez Palacio and Ciudad Lerdo in Durango were detained after being disarmed by a Mexican Army unit, placed on six buses and then transported to Centro de Readaptacion Social Numero 1 in Durango city to face investigation and possibly charges. Among those detained were the Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP) or police chiefs of Gomez Palacio, Victor Hugo Cordero and Ciudad Lerdo SSP Andres Balderas Perez.

According to a news report posted on Animal Politico website, however, 64 municipal police agents remain in detention with the two SSPs facing charges and six other unidentified municipal police agents under arrest warrants. A total of 91 police agents were released Wednesday.

The 91 police agents were offered military training as well as confidence tests by the Mexican Army as a condition of retaining their employment, but apparently all refused. The Mexican Army is currently operating La Laguna's 066 emergency system, and operates patrols in the area.

It has been reported in the Mexican press that an undisclosed number of military and police operatives have been deployed to La Laguna to aid with a security situation which has been characterized as deteriorating, including Mexican Army, Naval Infantry, and Policia Federal.

Thursday, according to a news item posted on El Siglo de Durango news daily, a Durango state deputy, José Antonio Rodriguez Ochoa, said that La Laguna has been forgotten and abandoned by state authorities.

According to the news report José Antonio Rodriguez Ochoa said, "The state of Durango state is not acting with the strength that such a complicated situation requires."

The deputy also referred to a recently passed Ley de Extincion, or Law of Forfeiture, the resources of which have not been diverted to use in confidence and control tests used to decide whether a police agent can retain his or her job.

According to a news item posted on the website of Yancuic news agency approximately ten clerks and police agents appeared at the Gomez Palacio Palacio Municipal or city hall Thursday to inquire about their employment status and any possible severance. According to the municipality human resources director, Jose Herrera, police agents asked about reassignment in other areas of the municipality while the security situation is being normalized.

Herrera was quoted as saying a severance of MX $2,000.00 (USD $158.25) was offered for voluntary resignations, and that was all that could be discussed. The subtext in the news report is that Gomez Palacio may not have sufficient funds to offer severances to all the resigned police agents.

Meanwhile in Durango city Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto visited the state to promote his latest social initiative, the Cruzada Nacional contra el Hambre, or National Campaign against Hunger before he leaves for a tour in South America.

According to a news report posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango, President Pena Nieto said in a brief radio interview that he was "aware"of the situation in La Laguna, and that violence might not be quelled until the medium term. In the interview Pena Nieto failed to specify a time frame for ending violence in La Laguna.

According to a news item posted on El Universal news daily, President Pena Nieto is planning to attend a meeting of the Communidad de Estados Latinamericanos y Caribenos (CELEC) or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to bevheld in Santiago, Chile. President Pena Nieto is also planning a brief visit to Uruguay.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Council of Europe alleges use of torture in north Caucasus
The Council of Europe on Thursday accused Russian authorities of administering electric shocks, asphyxiation and other tortures on prisoners in an effort to suppress an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus.

The report was released after Russia for the first time allowed the publication of findings gathered by the council's committee on torture on a 2011 trip to Chechnya, Dagestan and North Ossetia.

The report by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) gives weight to human rights groups' assertions that regional governments turn a blind eye to abuses in the name of cracking down on the terrorists militants.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ryuge || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Kim Jong Eun surgery rumors force open a sliver of daylight with China
North Korea’s official news agency has taken the unusual step of publicly rebuking a rumor about young leader Kim Jong Eun, and has chastised China, its sponsor and only real ally, in the process. The vitriolic report insists that the 30-year-old Kim absolutely, positively did not receive plastic surgery to look more like his deceased grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Such rumors have been around for years, but just as rumors. So why condemn them now, at the risk of just lending them greater legitimacy?

Since taking control of the country, Kim Jong Eun has aggressively cultivated an image in his grandfather’s likeness. Kim Il Sung, considered North Korea’s national founder, is practically deified. His son and heir, Kim Jong Il, rarely appeared in public and never fully inherited his father’s cult of personality. Now, Kim Jong Eun seems to be doing everything he can to draw comparisons between himself and his beloved grandfather, which could help him considerably in consolidating and maintaining power.

The long-running rumors, that Kim Jong Eun’s resemblance to Kim Il Sung is more than just genetic, got a big boost from a mainland Chinese station called Shenzhen TV. The network, based in the country’s more liberal southeast, cited a “diplomatic source” who said he or she had traveled to Pyongyang recently, where a North Korean official had confirmed the rumor.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 12:32 || Comments || Link || [336115 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What, they couldn't do a tummy tuck while they were in there?
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/25/2013 13:07 Comments || Top||

#2  If we had a CIA worth anything at all we'd be spreading the rumor that the surgery made him look more Japanese...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 14:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Did they surgically implant that "E" in his last name?
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 01/25/2013 18:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Did they surgically implant that "E" in his last name?


The Koreans go family name first, Dopey Sinatra9196. So Kim is the family name, Jong Eun (prob'ly pronounced something like Yun is his personal name. Were I Korean, I would style myself Wife Tray Ling, and everyone except my immediate family and childhood friends would call me Mrs. Wife. Come to think of it, only my immediate family and childhood friends would even know my personal name -- manners are different over there.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 20:01 Comments || Top||

#5  a Korean named Kim? What next? A Vietnamese named Nguyen? Where does the madness stop, Mr. Chin?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/25/2013 21:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Many of the Vietnamese refugees that made it safely gave their surname as 'Nguyen' to officials.

Regardless of what their last name was.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 21:35 Comments || Top||


N. Korea threatens South if it supports U.N. sanctions
The threat comes a day after North Korea vowed to target the USA, its "sworn enemy," with a nuclear test and further long-range missile tests.

North Korea warned Friday it will take "strong physical countermeasures" against South Korea if Seoul takes part in United Nations sanctions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for the rocket launch.

"Sanctions mean war and a declaration of war against us," the Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 10:51 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yup. South Korea is going to sit there and be "peacefully unified".
Posted by: tipover || 01/25/2013 11:07 Comments || Top||


#3  For who?
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 17:50 Comments || Top||

#4  China doesn't want SOKOR to be Nuke-armed, as ostensib in response to NOKOR Nukes.

Personally I'm interpreting this news as another indirect threat by the DPRK [read, CHINA] agz the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CVN, Battle Group, + USFJ in general - iff a shooting war does break out between China + Japan oer the disputed Senkakus/Daoyus. CHINA + PLA WILL WANT TO TAKE OUT THE NEAREST USN AIRCRAFT CARRIER(S) [+ Subs].

Histoire' suggests that China likes surprise attacks, espec iff its Enemy is tech-superior - that puts the burden on the USA = Bammer Admin, USDOD, + INTEL to discover when China is ready to strike.

AGain, the catalyst or cover for a Sino-Japanese mil conflict can be the Senkakus/Doayus, but what China ultimately wants is TAIWAN - it is ready-n-willing to accept prohibitive casualties in any campaign [Airborne-led?] to take Taiwan. IN CHINA'S MIND/VIEW WIDOUT TAIWAN THERE IS NO "POST-US", "FUTURE WORLD #1", "MANIFEST DESTINY".

NONE, NADA, "THATS A BIG NEGATIVE, GHOSTRIDER"!

At least NOT in Year 2050-2100.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 19:07 Comments || Top||


Kerry raises N. Korean gulag issue in confirmation hearing
That twitched the surprise meter, just a bit...
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, the nominee to be secretary of state, said Thursday that the Obama administration should be more vocal in criticizing the issue of North Korean political prisoners.

Testifying at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which he was long chairman, Kerry emphasized that American foreign policy is "defined by leadership of life-threatening issues like climate change, or fighting to lift up millions of lives by promoting freedom and democracy from Africa to the Americas and speaking out for the prisoners of gulags in North Korea and victims of human trafficking."

He also pointed out that today's world has become "more complicated" partly due to the emergence of China. He did not elaborate in his prepared opening remarks, which focused on a broad diplomatic vision.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336109 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Still unanswered question is whether JFK has paid the back taxes on his boat.......
Will the spineless R's ask that simple Y/N question? nope, they don't have 2 balls to rub between all of them, the wusses.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/25/2013 8:42 Comments || Top||


Park will not tolerate N. Korea's nuclear weapons program
DAVOS, Switzerland -- South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will not tolerate North Korea's nuclear weapons program and will respond firmly to any additional provocations from the communist country, a special envoy said Thursday (local time).

Rep. Rhee In-je, Park's special envoy to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, made the remarks in a briefing to the foreign press while outlining the incoming president's policies on North Korea.

"President-elect Park has proposed a 'Korean Peninsula trust process' as a real solution to the North Korea issue," Rhee said. "If there is trust, the two Koreas can do a lot together, and if the trust accumulates, that could provide the key to solving the North Korean nuclear issue."

The envoy, a six-term lawmaker of Park's ruling Saenuri Party and a co-chief of her presidential campaign last year, added that the president-elect is open to dialogue with the North and will provide food and medical aid to the North Korean people.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A firmly worded letter is being crafted as we speak.
Posted by: gorb || 01/25/2013 10:24 Comments || Top||


Norks Threaten Fresh Nuclear Test
North Korea on Thursday seized its brief moment in the international spotlight with threats to conduct a fresh nuclear test and target its "sworn enemy," the U.S.

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets we will launch, as well as the high-level nuclear test we will carry out, are targeted at the United States, the sworn enemy of our people," the North's National Defense Commission said in a statement on Thursday. "Accounts with the U.S. need to be settled with force, not with words."

The statement carried by the official KCNA news agency came in response to Wednesday's UN Security Council resolution that condemns last month's rocket launch and intensifies sanctions against the renegade country.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I doubt this has to do with politics. It's much more likely that it's a business deal for N. Korea. It's possible that the Iranians have paid them to run this test. For all we know, this next bomb might be a prototype Iranian design. It makes sense that Tehran would test their own design, before staging a nuclear detonation inside their own country.
Posted by: Raider || 01/25/2013 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  As long as the "TEST" is FAR from America.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/25/2013 8:38 Comments || Top||


Xi Backs Denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
China's president-in-waiting Xi Jinping on Wednesday said Beijing remains committed to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Xi told envoys of president-elect Park Geun-hye that denuclearization and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destructions are "essential conditions" to peace and stability on the peninsula, according to delegation head Kim Moo-sung.

Xi's remarks came as the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the North's rocket launch in December and expanded existing sanctions, prompting the North to announce it would hold no more talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

Xi "probably wanted to send North Korea a warning amid signs of another provocation by the North," said a diplomatic source in Beijing.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging North Korea to refrain from doing anything that could worsen the situation, though it added the usual formula calling on other countries to remain calm.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336129 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OTOH WORLD MILITARY FORUM > EXPERTS:SOUTH KOREA SHOULD PROVE TO CHINA THAT IT IS NOT A PROXY FOR THE US + JAPAN IN THE ISOLATION OR CONTAINMENT OF CHINA IN EAST ASIA.

* Also from SAME > PHILIPPINE FM [Albert del Rosaro] FORMALLY RECOGNIZES CHINA'S EFFECTIVE OR "ACTUAL CONTROL" OF HUANGYAN ISLAND [PHIL = Panatag Shoal]. PHILIPPINE GOVT., COMMERCIAL SHIPS HAVE NOT ENTERED DISPUTED AREA, PHILIPPINES TO SEEK POLITICAL, LEGAL, + DIPLOMATIC OPTIONS IFF CHINA REFUSES TO WITHDRAW.

* TOPIX > [ABS-CBN News] BAJO DE MASINLOC CLAIM CRUCIAL TO CHINA' CLAIM OF ENTIRE SOUTH CHINA SEA.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > UN TO CONSIDER VALIDITY OF CHINA'S CLAIM OVER DISPUTED ISLANDS [East China Sea = China-claimed "Diaoyu Dao + afiliated islands"].

ARTIC > CHINA = informed the UN Panel that the "OKINAWA TROUGH IS THE NATURAL TERMINATION OF THE 'CONTINENTAL SHELF' IN THE EAST CHINA SEA".

RELATED SAME, TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > [Various = old] CHINA SAYS [Underwater] GEOLOGY BACKS CLAIM TO DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA ISLANDS, + also History.

CHINA = Geology + Histoire' = ECS + Okinawa Islands, Surface + Sea Floor, is ALL THEIRS.

* SAME > NORTH KOREA THREATENS PHYSICAL COUNTER-MEASURES AGZ SOUTH KOREA.

Pragmatically, the US is in SOKOR, OKINAWA, + SUBIC BAY - where the US is NOT is NORTHERN PHILIPPINES, I.E. NORTH OF SUBIC BAY + CLARK + MANILA BAY WHICH FLANKS CHINA'S ULTIMATE TARGET TAIWAN. AFAIK the Philippine Armed Forces are focused mainly in the SCS vee China, + Mindanao vee Moros, etal.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Xi "probably wanted to send North Korea a warning amid signs of another provocation by the North," said a diplomatic source in Beijing

Methinks China is more concerned with potential specweps in SKOR.

Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 12:47 Comments || Top||

#3  China's president-in-waiting Xi Jinping

Oh, *that* Xi. When I saw the headline, I was thinking the Company Formerly Known As Blackwater.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/25/2013 15:34 Comments || Top||

#4  This is China's way of trying to prevent the ROK's from acquiring nukes. China doesn't need multi-national talks to stop NK's nuclear program - all it has to do is cut off its aid to NK.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/25/2013 17:41 Comments || Top||

#5  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINESE MEDIA [Global Times] THREATENS NORTH KOREA AID CUT OVER ATOMIC TEST.

Even one presumes that China does cut off aid, in the current climate vee Japan it only means China + PLA get to take over the DPRK that much faster - brings the PLA Airborne + LR Strike Air [PLAAF] much closer to Japan + espec TAIWAN.

Lest we fergit, to deter or prevent China takeover, THE DPRK + NorKoms = JONG-UN CANNOT "NOT NUCLEARIZE".

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 21:40 Comments || Top||


China calls for talks after North Korean threat
[LATIMES] With North Korea openly threatening the United States with nuclear weapons, China called Thursday for a new round of diplomacy and appears to be growing increasingly frustrated with its longtime ally.

Beijing's calls for intervention come amid a torrent of belligerent language from Pyongyang, angered by a United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
resolution earlier in the week expanding sanctions over its missile and nuclear program.

The latest escalation came Thursday when Pyongyang lashed out at the United States, which it called the "archenemy of the Korean people.''

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defense Commission said in a statement released by the official news service.

"Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words," it said.

North Korea's confrontational stand dampened hopes that the country might be following a more moderate course under its new 30-year-old leader, Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the hereditary potentate of North Korea...
, who took over 13 months ago following the death of his father Kim Jong Il.
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  As things stand wid JAPAN over the disputed Senkakus/Diaoyus, a PLA takeover of the DPRK puts it that much closer to China's ultimate target TAIWAN, as well as the Taiwan-flanking Northern Philippines aka WHERE THE US + PHIL ARMED FORCES ARE NOT.

The US is back at SUBIC, + of course the ROK + Okinawa, but AFAIK not in the regions far north of Subic + Manila Bay [Central, North Central PHIL]. The PHIL Armed Forces per se are focused on the SCS vee China, + in Mindanao vee Muslim Moros.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 1:04 Comments || Top||


Europe
2 convicted of al-Qaida membership in Germany
A German and an Austrian have been convicted of membership in al-Qaida and sentenced to several years in prison.

Yusuf Ocak, 27, from Luebeck, Germany, was also convicted of being a founding member of the German Taliban Mujahideen and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Maqsood Lodin, 23, an Austrian of Afghan background, was sentenced to 6 years 9 months.

Both can appeal.

The pair met in July 2010 in Pakistan's Waziristan region and were assigned by al-Qaida to collect money and recruit members for the terrorist group in Europe upon returning there in the spring of 2011. Ocak also posted a threat video on the internet in 2009.

Ocak was arrested in Vienna and Lodin in Berlin in 2011. Neither defendant made statements during the trial.

Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 09:21 || Comments || Link || [336125 views] Top|| File under:


74% of French say Islam is 'intolerant'
I offer this not to endorse the survey or the findings. There has been a disconnect between the European nomenklatura and ordinary Europeans over Islam, just as there has been in America. This survey illustrates that divide.
ROME, JANUARY 24 - A new survey by Paris-based Ipsos research company on Thursday showed 74% of French respondents believe the Muslim religion is ''intolerant'' and incompatible with their social values.

The survey, published on the Le Monde newspaper website, also showed eight out of 10 French people believe the Islamic religion tries to impose its views on others, 10% believe a majority of Muslims are fundamentalists, and another 44% believe a many but not all Muslims are fundamentalists. Most respondents did not know how to define fundamentalism, however.

The data varied across age groups and political affiliations, but represents a majority in each category of respondents.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Even in moderate, liberated and allied Afghanistan ideological deviation from Islam carries the death penalty.

Islam is objectively intolerant, or else the terms tolerance and intolerance are meaningless letter sequences.
</rant>
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/25/2013 3:27 Comments || Top||

#2  EH, that's objectively, explicitly, in writing, speech, thought & mind intolerant.

Most respondents did not know how to define fundamentalism And why should they? The Muzzies themselves can't/won't define it for the simple reason that if they did they would have to admit that the Gospel according to Mo IS FUNDAMENTAL. So anyone who purports to believe in Islam is, by definition, a fundamentalist.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/25/2013 7:08 Comments || Top||

#3  26% of the French are mentally incompetent and belong in care institutions. Or maybe it's only 18%, once you subtract out the Muslims. No, I was right the first time.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/25/2013 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/25/2013 8:29 Comments || Top||

#5  To be fair, the other 26% are Muslims.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/25/2013 10:21 Comments || Top||

#6  26% of the French are mentally incompetent and belong in care institutions. Or maybe it's only 18%, once you subtract out the Muslims. No, I was right the first time.

One and the same.
Posted by: gorb || 01/25/2013 10:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Figured that out all by their lonesomes, did they?
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/25/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#8  it's only 18%, once you subtract out the Muslims. No, I was right the first time


Once you subtract the Commies (who have allied with every enemy of France? Nazis included since the Party was founded) and the Greens (Commies in disguise who are also very pro-Araba and Pro-Paleo you can substract another 15%. There are only 3% netally incompetente. Unless you consider Commies and Greens to be mentally incompetent. I do.
Posted by: JFM || 01/25/2013 12:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Hey, credit where credit is due! Props to 74% of your countrymen, JFM.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 01/25/2013 18:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Being French, they have all sorts of strong opinions. From Ynet:

French poll: 40% say Jews too powerful in business

More than 40% of France's population believe that Jews have "too much power in the business world," according to a survey on anti-Semitism in France conducted by the World Zionist Organization ahead of the International Day for Countering Anti-Semitism, which will be marked on January 27.

The poll also shows that 47% think French Jews are "more loyal to Israel than to the country they live in" and that 19% of young men up to the age of 24 have negative sentiments towards the Jews of France, while 43% of people with higher education expressed positive feelings towards them.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 18:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Ex-CIA man Kiriakou gets 2 1/2 years for leaks
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou was sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison by a federal judge who rejected arguments that he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert officer's name to a reporter.

A plea deal required the judge to impose a sentence of 2 1/2 years. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she would have given Kiriakou much more time if she could.

Kiriakou's supporters describe him as a whistleblower who exposed aspects of the CIA's use of torture against detained terrorists. Prosecutors said Kiriakou was merely seeking to increase his fame and public stature by trading on his insider knowledge.

The 48-year-old Arlington resident pleaded guilty last year to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. No one had been convicted under the law in 27 years.
Posted by: tipper || 01/25/2013 11:38 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
UN Secretary-General outlines UN priorities for 2013
[GBCGHANA] UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
has outlined the United Nations
...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
priorities for 2013. He told the General Assembly's 193 member States that this year, they were meeting amid tremendous turmoil and uncertainty.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336115 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is "move it all to Geneva" on the list?
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Same as priorities for 2012, with the addition of extended lunch hours and the addition of April 25th, the Africa Day Holiday.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/25/2013 16:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Is one of the priorities to insure a gourmet Halal menu is provided? Is another to try to bilk the U.S. taxpayers out of more money for nonsense?
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/25/2013 19:12 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu begins informal coalition talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted two potential coalition partners Thursday, in his first, informal, steps towards forming the country's next government, DPA reported.

The final results of Tuesday's elections gave the right-wing and religious bloc of parties in the 120-seat Knesset a one seat majority, according to the Central Election Committee. Votes from soldiers, diplomats and prisoners, which were counted Thursday, gave one more seat, under Israel's proportional representation system, to the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party at the expense of the United Arab List.

Netanyahu, whose Likud-Beteinu coalition won 31 seats, met in Jerusalem with Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, which unexpectedly became the second largest faction in the parliament with 19 seats. No details emerged from the two-and-a-half hour meeting. Lapid was the first party leader with whom Netanyahu has held face-to-face talks since the election.

The premier also telephoned Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, whose party is the fourth largest in parliament with 12 mandates.

President Shimon Peres is to consult separately with representatives of all 12 parties next week. He will then entrust one party leader - the only realistic possibility being Netanyahu - with the task of forming the next government, after which official negotiations can begin.

Former foreign minister and Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman said the new government should focus on domestic issues rather than the Palestinian peace process, where serious rifts exist between potential coalition partners Yesh Atid and Jewish Home. Lieberman, who will not hold a ministerial portfolio unless he is acquitted in an impending trial for fraud and breech of trust, also rejected the long-standing Palestinian demand for Israel to freeze construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before peace talks begin.

"We are not willing to accept any diktats on the issue of a freeze," he told Israel Radio.

"There won't be a freeze, not in Jerusalem and not in Judea and Samaria," he added, using the Biblical terms for the West Bank.

Peace talks have been moribund since September 2010 after Netanyahu refused a demand by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to extend a partial 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.

"At the end of the day, we really want to reach here an agreement for peace," said Lieberman. "But if the other side doesn't want this, that's its problem."
Let the Paleos make a compromise proposal, and let them carry the burden of selling it to their people.
He said a prospective coalition consisting only of Likud-Beteinu, Yesh Atid, and the Jewish Home could find common ground by agreeing to reduce the cost of living, and ending blanket military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, two issues which dominated the recent election campaign.

But an incoming Yesh Atid legislator told Israel Radio that reviving the peace process was one of three conditions under which his party would join a Netanyahu-led government.

"Without peace negotiations, we will not join the government," said Rabbi Shai Piron.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336141 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I won, President Obama. Get over it."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 20:21 Comments || Top||


Hamas To Establish Military Academy For Schoolkids
[Jpost] Haniyeh says inaugural Gazoo school will prepare kids as young as 12 to establish Paleostinian state "from the river to the sea."

Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, plans to establish a military academy in the Gazoo Strip to train and educate schoolchildren.

Hamas Prime Minister 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...
announced on Thursday that the military academy, the first of its kind in the Gazoo Strip, would prepare the children for the "phase of liberating Paleostine."

He said that children in grades 7-9 could join the school and graduate with a diploma or a BA in military affairs.

Haniyeh made this announcement during a ceremony in the Gazoo Strip marking the birth of the prophet Muhammad. More than 10,000 schoolchildren attended the ceremony, which included a "military parade" by some of the teenagers.

The prime minister said he has instructed the Hamas-run Education Ministry to draw up plans for the establishment of the military academy. Haniyeh said that the new academy would educate and prepare children for the establishment of a Paleostinian state "from the river to the sea."

The decision to establish a military academy follows Hamas's announcement that it would create its own "defense ministry" in the Gazoo Strip. That announcement was made shortly after the IDF's Operation Pillar of Defense in Gazoo in November.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  I see lots of "work accidents". And flaming hoops...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/25/2013 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  According to The Times of Israel, there's also the "military training" elective offered in all Gaza high schools, which yesterday graduated its first class of 3,000. Granted, it's only an hour each week, but the lads are ready for jihad by the time they're done, by golly.

“My officer taught me the values of courage, sacrifice and love of jihad, as well as some battle tactics,” said Radwan Wasfi, 15, whose black-painted face dripped with sweat after going through a drill. “I feel that I can free my energy in a good way. I can do for real what I do in video games.”
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 2:38 Comments || Top||

#3  If my HS gym class had involved explosives I might have gone more...
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/25/2013 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  the school nurse is a trauma team
Posted by: Frank G || 01/25/2013 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  I can do for real what I do in video games

You can jump on turtles and eat mushrooms?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/25/2013 11:03 Comments || Top||

#6  I can do for real what I do in video games

Hint: You don't get to restart the game when you get killed.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/25/2013 12:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Learning curve is very steep without maxing out intelligence.
Permadeath ruins re-playability.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/25/2013 16:30 Comments || Top||


2012 Sees 55% Drop In Israeli Casualties From Terrorism
Terrorism fail.
But they make faces most fearsomely...
Fortunately, there's that saving grace. Do note that these statistics include Gaza's excessive rocketry brouhaha in November.
Lesson to Gazookian rocketeers: if you want to cause casualties, you have to hit something other than sand...
[Jpost] The past year saw a 55 percent drop in the number of casualties from terrorism compared to 2011, according to figures released by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Thursday.

Ten Israelis bit the dust in terrorist attacks in 2012, compared to 22 in 2011. Six of the casualties were civilians and four were members of the security forces.

Nine out of the ten casualties in 2012 were killed in terror attacks that originated from the Gazoo Strip (7) and the Sinai Peninsula (2). Paleostinian rocket fire during Operation Pillar of Defense in November resulted in the murder of six Israelis - four civilians and two members of the security forces. One Israeli was rubbed out in a terrorist attack in Ramle, central Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what the casualties look like from year to year? A 55% reduction is a good thing for whatever reason.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/25/2013 19:02 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Authorities Call for 'Million Man Prayers' on Friday
[An Nahar] Syrian authorities have called for "million man prayers" at mosques on Friday to appeal for the re-establishment of security in the country, ravaged by 22 months of bloodshed, a minister said.

"Prayers will be held after Friday services in Syria's mosques with the appeal for a return to security and safety in the homeland," Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Abdel Settar said in a statement.

Syria "will prevail against the conspiracy launched by hostile states, carried out by their proxies and slaves, and led by Wahhabi infidels from abroad," he said in the statement released Thursday by state news agency SANA.

Wahhabism is a strict form of Sunni Islam practiced mainly in Saudi Arabia.

Syrian authorities have consistently labeled the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime as a "conspiracy" backed by the West, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


US has plans for surgical strikes on Iran, sez Ehud Barak
In this lifetime, or the next?
The United States are now considering the use of surgical strikes, rather than heavy-handed attacks, to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Israel's outgoing defence minister, Ehud Barak, said Thursday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, DPA reported.

Barack said the US military plans had been changed under the administration of President Barack Obama to "extremely fine noodles scalpels."

"I used to scorn my American friends, I used to tell them: When we talk about surgical operations, we think of scalpels - you think of a chisel with a 10-pound hammer," he said at the meeting of government and business leaders in the Swiss town.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336134 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OTOH XINHUA [Drudgereport]> JOHN KERRY PLEDGES DIPLOMATIC RESOLUTION TO IRAN ISSUE.

IMO Artic also read, US = ANTI-WAR, PRO-DIPLOMACY BAMMER ADMIN HAS NO REASON TO UNILATERALLY STRIKE OR INVADE IRAN.

Sub-read,IRAN WILL GET ITS NUKES.

Sub-Sub-read, GOOD FOR COMMIES, GLOBALISTS, + AMERIKKA ALA FUTURE NUCLEAR GLOBAL JIHAD = NUCLEAR MILTERR'ISM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 19:19 Comments || Top||


Iran unveils third generation fighter jets
Iranian Defense Minister will soon unveil the third generation of Iranian fighter jets, defense ministry official said, MNA reported.
Readers should click the link for a look. I think it's a cleaned up F5...
Reports quoted Ahmad Vahidi as saying; "a new fighter jet to be unveiled soon, is designed as a bomber and performs both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. It is fully engineered by Islamic Republic of Iran's scientists and is considered a very important achievement for Iran."

This will be the third generation of Iranian fighter jets unveiled by Iranian defense ministry since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Previously, Iran Defense industry had revealed "Azarakhsh" and "Saeqeh" for first and second generation of fighter jets respectively.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/25/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336120 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like that to me, Dr. Steve.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/25/2013 8:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Code-named "Splash"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/25/2013 8:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Revolutionary paint job.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/25/2013 9:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Kinda fancy for a target drone.
Posted by: gorb || 01/25/2013 10:28 Comments || Top||

#5  They forgot the "We Brake For NOBODY" sticker...
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/25/2013 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Yep. They just rework the F5 electronics a bit and call it a new generation.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/25/2013 20:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2013-01-25
  AQAP #2 killed for the THIRD time in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-24
  US drone strike near Sanaa kills 7 hard boyz
Wed 2013-01-23
  Nuristan Airstrike Kills 14 Insurgents
Tue 2013-01-22
  French seize control of Diabaly, Douentza
Mon 2013-01-21
  Nigeria: Gunmen attack Kano emir's convoy
Sun 2013-01-20
  Algeria crisis: Hostage-takers 'taken alive' at gas plant
Sat 2013-01-19
  Boko Haram leader Shekau shot, escapes to Mali
Fri 2013-01-18
  1,400 French soldiers in Mali for ground assaults: minister
Thu 2013-01-17
  41 snatched by AQIM in Algeria gas plant attack
Wed 2013-01-16
  France deploys armoured vehicles towards northern Mali
Tue 2013-01-15
  Pakistan paralysed after court demands PM arrest
Mon 2013-01-14
  Famed Tunisia Mausoleum Torched by Salafists
Sun 2013-01-13
  19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage
Sat 2013-01-12
  French commandos attack al-Shabab base, explosions, gunfire heard
Fri 2013-01-11
  France confirms Mali intervention

Better than the average link...



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