[An Nahar] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has ordered a crackdown on "un-Islamic and obscene" televisions shows in response to lobbying by the country's religious council, an official said Wednesday.
Karzai told the culture ministry to block programs "which are vulgar, un-Islamic, obscene and violate social morality, and Islamic morality", according to a statement from his Council of Ministers.
It said the move follows a request from the religious council to ban televised films seen as promoting vice and prostitution.
Afghan society has liberalized since the fall in 2001 of the Taliban, who banned music and female education and prescribed punishments such as amputation and floggings.
But it remains a conservative Islamic nation.
Rafi Ferdous, a front man for the Council of Ministers, said Karzai's decree should not be seen as limiting freedom of speech or of the media.
"The experience of the past 10 years shows that there are people, media outlets that have been exaggerating or misinterpreting the constitutional freedom of media and the media law," Ferdous told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"They have been acting in a way which hurts rather than helps media freedom in the country."
He gave no examples of the type of programs or films which might be banned in future.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain's Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... was in Brussels Wednesday to meet Afghan president Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... for talks over the Afghan grinding of the peace processor as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... prepares to withdraw its troops next year.
The Army chief was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Jalil Jilani.
Talks between Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Karzai and Pak officials were productive but any progress will be measured in results, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
"We had a very extensive and, I think everybody would agree, productive and constructive dialogue ... but we have all agreed that results are what will tell the story, not statements at pressers," Kerry told news hounds after hosting the talks with Karzai and the army chief and Foreign Secretary Jilani.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Organisers of a Jewish pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue, on the Tunisian island of Djerba, are hoping for a revival this year after an Al-Qaeda attack in 2002 and post-revolution unrest caused a slump in attendance.
Some 450 foreign pilgrims as well as Tunisian Jews are expected for the event that runs from Friday to Sunday on the Mediterranean resort island, a pale shadow of the crowds that once thronged to the 2,500-year-old place of worship.
A suicide kaboom at Ghriba in April 2002 that was claimed by Al-Qaeda killed 21 people and triggered a dramatic decline in turnout. While numbers have recovered slightly, they remain far below the 8,000 that came before the attack.
The event was then cancelled in 2011, with the country on edge after an uprising toppled veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The rise of Moslemgunnies in Tunisia since then has only fuelled the fears of potential pilgrims.
Perez Trabelsi, one of the organisers, said he understood why people were reluctant to come, given the instability that has plagued Tunisia since the revolution, but remained defiantly optimistic.
"There could be 1,000 people, but that would be fine. Next year there will be 2,000 and then 3,000. Every year there will be more," he said, while voicing confidence that Tunisia's Islamist-led government would provide adequate security.
"There will be a lot of police, and strong efforts are being made to reinforce security," he said, adding that there were no incidents last year.
A security source, cited by the official TAP news agency, said reinforcements were first deployed on Saturday and that the security forces had been conducting special anti-crime operations in the region since February.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Tunisian MPs on Wednesday adopted a law creating a temporary independent body tasked with overseeing the judiciary, more than two years after the revolution and following months of disagreement.
The law was adopted almost unanimously, with 151 votes in favor and four abstentions, according to national television which broadcast the debate.
The judicial body must now be formed and replace the Superior Council of Magistrates which was in charge of appointing, promoting and disciplining judges, but lost its credibility as a tool of the ousted regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The creation of an independent judicial body was a key commitment of the National Constituent Assembly when it was first elected in October 2011, nine months after the revolution.
Disagreement between opposition groups, the Islamist Ennahda party that heads the coalition government and their allies was the main reason for the lengthy delay in elaborating and adopting the law.
The compromise adopted on Wednesday stipulates that the judicial authority be made up of magistrates, academics and lawyers, including ex-officio members and those elected by their peers, in order to avoid any political interference.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Separatist Tuareg rebels in Mali on Wednesday refused to disarm or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with Bamako.
"The disarmament of the MNLA (the Tuareg's National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) is out of the question. Have you ever seen a group disarm without negotiations?" Gay Paree-based front man Mahamadou Djeri Maiga told a presser.
The MNLA launched a rebellion for independence of the north in January last year which plunged the west African nation into crisis.
Its insurgency sparked a coup in Bamako by soldiers in March 2012, and the crisis deepened when the rebellion was hijacked by its Islamist allies, leaving the north of the country in the hands of hardline beturbanned goons.
As former colonial power La Belle France swept to Mali's aid in January and drove out the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, the MNLA again claimed control of the north-eastern town of Kidal, the heart of the Tuareg homeland which they call Azawad.
French and Chadian troops took charge of securing the town, as the MNLA refused the presence of Malian soldiers, demanding autonomy.
However both countries are now in the process of withdrawing their troops.
"If the Malian army comes to Kidal we will have no other option but to defend ourselves. We have not given up arms," said Maiga, saying that "it is a war which is imminent, not elections."
"As long as we have not sat around a table with representatives from the government in Bamako and the international community to provide us with guarantees, as long as refugees have not come home, we won't talk about elections."
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[Al Ahram] National Salvation Front (NSF) leader Mohamed ElBaradei Egyptian law scholar and Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. After stepping down from his IAEA position ElBaradei attempted to horn in on the 2011 Egyptian protests which culminated in the collapse of the Mubarak regime. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization's Executive Committee. stated on Tuesday that he holds President Mohamed Morsi responsible for the country's polarisation.
ElBaradei called on the president to "withdraw his project that will destroy judicial independence," form an efficient, independent government, appoint a new prosecutor-general, and call for a serious national dialogue.
"Ignorance and stubbornness will destroy the country," the NSF leader added.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki submitted his resignation, citing his unhappiness at Brotherhood-led demonstrations calling for the "purging of the judiciary" and attempts to reduce the retirement age of judges without taking their view on the issue.
In an interview with Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... , Morsi stressed his respect for Egypt's judiciary but suggested Islamist demands for a purge of judiciary were due to concerns about the acquittal of several former regime figures.
The president also revealed a cabinet reshuffle would take place "soon."
There have been widespread calls by the opposition for PM Hisham Qandil's government to be replaced.
Also, President Morsi's advisor for legal affairs, Mohamed Fouad Gadallah, resigned on Tuesday, citing the president's failure to resolve the dispute with the judiciary.
National Salvation Front (NSF) leader Mohamed ElBaradei stated on Tuesday that he holds President Mohamed Morsi responsible for the country's polarisation.
ElBaradei called on the president to "withdraw his project that will destroy judicial independence," form an efficient, independent government, appoint a new prosecutor-general, and call for a serious national dialogue.
"Ignorance and stubbornness will destroy the country," the NSF leader added.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki submitted his resignation, citing his unhappiness at Brotherhood-led demonstrations calling for the "purging of the judiciary" and attempts to reduce the retirement age of judges without taking their view on the issue.
In an interview with Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera, Morsi stressed his respect for Egypt's judiciary but suggested Islamist demands for a purge of judiciary were due to concerns about the acquittal of several former regime figures.
The president also revealed a cabinet reshuffle would take place "soon."
There have been widespread calls by the opposition for PM Hisham Qandil's government to be replaced.
Also, President Morsi's advisor for legal affairs, Mohamed Fouad Gadallah, resigned on Tuesday, citing the president's failure to resolve the dispute with the judiciary.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Must be an English newspaper since "polarization" is spelled wrong. :-)
#2
I don't have much use for ElBaradei, I've always suspected him to be an Islamic insider working for a nuclear Iran rather than trying to stop it, since he dithered and fiddled and fooled around with the issue the entire time he was at IAEA.
I thought polarization/polarization was one key product of Islamic thought given their intense debate over the succession to Mohammed, almost 1500 years ago.
As for me, I've always considered ElBaradei to be about an F-6 on intel.
He's a idiot and an enabler for Iran and the 12ers.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2013 10:57 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Veteran judge Ahmed El-Zend, who is head of unofficial judicial union the Judges Club, called on President Mohamed Morsi to apologise for "insults" directed at Egypt's judiciary by Islamist figures.
As the Judges Club held an extraordinary general assembly Wednesday at the High Court, which was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators supporting the judiciary against Islamist criticisms, El-Zend once again hit back at Islamists who have been questioning the integrity of the Egyptian judiciary.
El-Zend, who described the Judges Clubs as the "elected body that represents Egypt's judges," said that Morsi, who hails from the Moslem Brüderbund, "must tender an apology to Egyptian judges for the insults they have faced."
During the Judges Club meeting, a video was shown of a number of Islamist figures taking swipes against the judicial system and the group, including Assem Abdel-Maged of the ultra-conservative Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, pro-Moslem Brüderbund preacher Wagdi Ghoniem, and, in an audio recording, the Brotherhood's former supreme guide, Mahdi Akef.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The U.N's envoy on torture voiced his "deep disappointment" Wednesday after Bahrain, rocked by renewed festivities between security forces and freedom fighters, postponed his planned visit.
"This is the second time that my visit has been postponed, at very short notice," United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez said in a statement.
"It is effectively a cancellation as no alternative dates were proposed nor is there a future road map to discuss," he said.
Mendez said he had received on April 22 a letter from the Gulf kingdom informing him that the ongoing national dialogue was taking longer than expected and that his visit could impact negatively on the proceedings.
"Due to the sensitivity of my mandate there will never be a perfect time for my visit," the envoy said.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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A white British male who converted to Islam was sentenced to jail early Thursday after he pleaded guilty to taking part in planning terror attacks on the heads of MI5 and MI6.
According to The Times newspaper, Thirty-year-old Richard Dart, who is entirely committed to acts of terrorism, also planned to attack the small town of Royal Wootton Bassett.
He will be sentenced to jail at the Old Bailey after admitting his intention to perpetrate a mass-killing and his intention to travel to Pakistan to receive the necessary training.
Dart is on trial with his two team members, Imran Mahmood, 22, and former Metropolitan Police community support officer, Jahangir Alom, 26.
Mahmood and Alom will also be sentenced after pleading guilty to preparing for an act of terrorism, reported The Times on Thursday.
As part of their commitment to fighting Jihad, Dart and Alom had planned to travel to Pakistan to receive terrorist training but were stopped by airport police in Nov. 2011.
They were not, however, arrested until July 2012.
Mahmood, who previously obtained training from Pakistan, acted as an advisor to Alom and Dart.
Queens Council for the prosecution, Jonathan Laidlaw, said Dart and Mahmood, to avoid surveillance, carried out silent conversations by typing into a Microsoft Word document and deleting the conversation. However, the text was recovered by Scotland Yard detectives.
One of the written exchanges that was recovered read: If it comes down to this, it is that or even to just deal with a few MI5 or MI6 heads.
[An Nahar] Britannia has signed a legal treaty with Jordan giving guarantees that Islamist terror suspect Abu Qatada would face a fair trial if deported, Home Secretary Theresa May said Wednesday.
May made the announcement in parliament a day after the Court of Appeal in London refused her permission to challenge its ruling that the radical preacher cannot be sent back due to rights concerns.
The minister also said the British government was "exploring all options" but refused to directly confirm reports that it was considering a temporary withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.
"I can tell the house that I have signed a comprehensive mutual legal assistance agreement with Jordan," May said in a statement to the House of Commons.
"The agreement also includes a number of fair trial guarantees... I believe these guarantees will provide the courts with the assurance that Qatada will not face evidence that might have been obtained by torture in a retrial in Jordan."
May said she believed the new treaty would give the British government "every chance of succeeding" in its years-long battle to deport Abu Qatada.
Both countries had yet to ratify the treaty and it was due to go before the Jordanian parliament shortly, May said.
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[Al Ahram] The top US military officer said on Wednesday Chinese leaders had assured him that they were working on persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.
China is North Korea's main diplomatic and financial backer and fought alongside the North in the 1950-53 Korean War. It has always been reluctant to apply pressure on the North, fearing a flood of refugees into China if North Korea were to collapse.
But in recent months, China has begun to express impatience with North Korea and its threats of nuclear war, and with its 30-year-old leader, Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... , grandson of state founder Kim Il-Sung.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday assured South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se that Beijing will not tolerate North Korea's nuclear arms, according to a diplomatic source.
They seem to be doing a fine job accepting them so far...
In a meeting with Yun in Beijing, Li stressed it is China's consistent policy to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The same day, senior Chinese apparatchik Wang Jiarui voiced support for South Korea's offer of talks between Seoul, Beijing and Washington to ease tensions on the peninsula. So far China had been opposed to the idea. Wang called for North Korea to be involved as well.
Yun said he told Wang that Seoul cannot accept Pyongyang's demands that any disarmament talks between the two Koreas should exclude the issue of denuclearization.
South Korea and China also agreed to install a diplomatic hotline linking the two foreign ministers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
Of course China won't - IT ALREADY CONTROLS THE NOKOR ARMED FORCES + ROCKET FORCES, NOT KIM JONG-UN, KIM FAMILY, OR PYONGYANG BOYZ.
Personally, IMO "Mahanist" China is doing a similar "KJU/Pudgy" or "Senkakus/Diaoyus" sting wid India as per its new LADAKH incursion.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINESE TROOPS REFUSAL TO RETREAT WAS AN UNUSUAL GESTURE - TIMES OF INDIA.
* RELATED SAME > INDIA TO RUSH TROOPS TO LADAKH IFF NO DE-ESCALATION IN FACE-OFF [vee China] - TIMES OF INDIA.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NOW. CHINESE CHOPPERS [Helos] ENTER SEVERAL HUNDRED KILOMETERS INSIDE INDIA.
* REDIFF > INDIAN ARMY TELLS BRIGADE TO PLUG HOLES ON CHINA BORDER.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA DENIES LADAKH INCURSION, ACCUSES INDIA OF [overly/
excessively] "AGGRESSIVE PATROLLING", on the part of Indian troops.
Whats worrisome about this is that Red China under Mao Tse-tung/Zedong levied the same charge agz the then-USSR just before the DEADLY SINO-SOVIET BORDER/RIVERINE MIL CLASHES began back in the late 1960's.
* SAME > LADAKH INCURSION:CHINA REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE INDIA CLAIM ON KASHMIR | [Passive Voices.wordpress]CHINA'S LADAKH IS "KARGIL" OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Reuters] CHINA CONSOLIDATES SEA CLAIMS AS ASIAN DIPOAMCY STRUGGLES.
Any Sino-Nippon andor Sino-US mil clash in NE Asia + SCS can explode all of Asia wide open, as per what I'd said times before about China's using the inter-Sttae disputes in the ECS + SCSto forcibly settle its strategic access issues on multiple fronts, on sea as well as on mainland Asia.
Ultimately, perhaps China's greatest ace is nostsomuch the PLA but a POTUS Obama that many Americans + overseas Allies do NOT trust, + a massive US Debt Burden which US Politicos,
"Globalists" seem to love expanding to new height more than any serious Debt Reduction(s) ...
* E.G. DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US ARMY LEADERS WARN ON [post-2014] WAR FUNDING.
The US Army is requesting three additional years of supplemental funding to offset worldwide, post-2014/Afghan Withdrawal Equipment [Forces?] Reset.
* RELATED SAME > US NAVY STILL SEEKS TO DECOMMISSION MORE SHIPS, espec in 2015.
ADVANTAGE = "POST-US" CHINA, OWG CALIPHATE-HAPPY IRAN, + NUCLEAR HARD BOYZ/NUCLEAR GLOBAL JIHAD.
Lest we fergit, TAIJIKISTAN = is allowing China + PLA to take over Taijik-claimed sovereign or disputed territory in exchange for Debt Relief.
[CHRON] One of two men accused of plotting with al-Qaeda members in Iran to derail a train in Canada became radicalized to the point that his father reached out to a Mohammedan support group for help and advice, a local religious leader said Wednesday.
Muhammad Robert Heft, president of the Paradise Forever Support Group Inc., a non-profit organization that provides support to Mohammedans in Canada, said Mohammad Jaser came to him several times citing concerns about the radicalization of his son.
"He came to me about his son saying he how concerned he was getting about the rigidness of his son and his interpretation of Islam. He was becoming self-righteous, becoming pushy, pushing his views on how much they (his family) should be practicing as a Mohammedan," said Heft.
Jaser's son, Raed, 35, has been charged along with Chiheb Esseghaier, 30 with conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group in their plot to derail a train that runs between New York City and Montreal.
Canadian Sherlocks say the men received guidance from members of al-Qaeda in Iran. Iranian government officials have said the government had nothing to do with the plot.
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04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[WND] The Tunisian man placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... this week on charges of plotting to derail a Canadian train posted all the chilling details of the inner workings of al-Qaeda on his Facebook page -- including numerous links to other notorious terror groups.
Chiheb Esseghaier's Facebook page was captured by Walid Shoebat, a Paleostinian former Mohammedan who converted to Christianity, just moments before it was deleted.
"At the top is a detailed flowchart on al-Qaeda's plans, command and control, and methodology -- from leadership to cell creation," Shoebat explained on his website. "His favorites include several links to some of the most notorious terror groups including a Facebook dedicated for the famed Abu Mus'ab Zarkawi. On that Facebook page, it gives a glimpse of the al-Qaeda recruitment in the Levant (Syria).
"Esseghaier's favorite Mohammedan preacher is Yaser al-Dawsari, who linked to another Facebook page under that name; it too was scrubbed minutes after our discovery."
Shoebat explained that Al-Dawsari is a holy man who works for the Saudi government and is related to Khalid al-Dawsari -- an al-Qaeda terrorist imprisoned for planning to assassinate President George W. Bush and plant weapons of mass destruction.
"Yaser Al-Dawsari even toured Esseghaier's home country of Tunisia a couple of months ago, as part of a program to revitalize Wahhabism in that country," Shoebat reported.
A U.S. Justice Department lawyer said on Wednesday that if a judge agreed to consider a Republican bid to get administration documents related to a botched operation against gun-trafficking it would prompt a flood of requests for courts to referee Washington political disputes.
President Barack Obama is resisting a congressional subpoena for documents related to how the administration responded to the revelation of the failed operation known as "Fast and Furious" on the U.S.- Mexican border. It has already turned over thousands of pages of documents about the operation itself.
Justice Department lawyer Ian Gershengorn told a hearing the matter was best left to the give-and-take of the U.S. government's two elected branches, the president and Congress, and should not be a matter for the courts.
"That is how it has worked for 225 years," said Gershengorn, referring to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was skeptical and told Gershengorn, "There are three branches here, not just two." She did not say how she would rule, but questioned Gershengorn for more than twice as long as she did House of Representatives lawyer Kerry Kircher.
Kircher told Jackson that if she did not intervene, presidents could withhold documents from Congress at will with no consequence and thwart oversight of government agencies.
The fear about more subpoena cases is overblown, he added. "You will not be flooded by lawsuits," Kircher said.
Both sides agree that the question of whether Jackson will step in goes to the heart of how the U.S. president and Congress interact with each other.
Lawyers cited court precedents from the Watergate era and from a more recent document fight in which Democratic lawmakers sent a subpoena to aides of President George W. Bush.
In a decision that now helps Republicans, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled in 2008 that he did have the authority to enforce a subpoena by congressional Democrats in connection with the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.
In the "Fast and Furious" operation federal agents trying to build a case against big gun traffickers supplying firearms to Mexican drug cartels did not immediately prosecute low-level traffickers even as they bought 2,000 potentially illegal guns.
The operation came to light after two of the firearms were found in Arizona at the scene of a shooting where a U.S. Border Patrol agent died.
Gun rights activists denounced the operation as part of a broader gun control agenda by the Obama administration and urged Republicans to investigate.
A report by the Justice Department inspector general faulted the operation's tactics but dismissed accusations of wrongdoing against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
#1
Three equal institutions. You're no better than Nixon. Show em.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2013 12:06 Comments ||
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#2
Checks and balances, Mr. Gershengorn. Checks and balances. You didn't seem to mind when the Supreme Court ruled that ObamaCare was a constitutional tax, did you?
[Ynet] US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel indicated on Wednesday that he was caught by surprise when Israeli officials publicly revealed their assessment that Syria had used chemical weapons in its civil war.
Hagel told reporters that his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Ya'alon, did not alert him to the assessment when they met in Tel Aviv on Monday. The assessment was announced publicly on Tuesday by a senior official with Israel's military intelligence office.
I'm not sure why The Third Smartest Man In The Room was surprised. This has been discussed and reported for days. Perhaps the honourable Secretary of Defense should complain to his own nation's CIA about keeping him in the dark.
#1
I guess he just does not read Rantburg. Issuing edicts forward about Assad locks options down. So now we are faced with the Russians and proving their crap control caused this, and also the risk to stockpiles.
To investigate Homs may be enough but Israel had eyes on stock so maybe it was chlorine attack or busted something somewhere. Proving Assad at fault? Were not some of these used on Assads Army too?
Anyways Squirrel.
It is all dicey and champ has a fundraising trip to go on or something.
The father of the two Boston bombing suspects said Thursday that he is leaving Russia for the United States in the next day or two, but their mother said she was still thinking it over.
The parents of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev returned last year to Dagestan, one of several predominantly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, where they lived briefly before moving to the U.S. a decade ago.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a gun battle with police, spent six months last year in Russia's Caucasus, which has been ravaged for years by an insurgency led by religious extremists.
His father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said his son stayed with him for three months in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, and spent one month with relatives, but he was unclear on where his son was for the remaining time.
Investigators have been trying to determine whether Tamerlan was radicalized during his stay in the Caucasus, where he regularly prayed at a Makhachkala mosque.
The suspects' father has expressed a desire to go to the U.S. to find out what happened with his sons, defend his hospitalized 19-year-old son Dzhokhar and if possible bring his older son's body back to Russia for burial. He told journalists on Thursday that he is leaving "today or tomorrow."
Their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who was charged with shoplifting in the U.S. last summer, said she has been assured by lawyers that she would not be arrested, but said she was still deciding whether to go.
Tsarnaeva said she now regrets moving her family to the U.S. and believes they would have been better off in a village in Dagestan.
Freshman Congressman Tom Cotton (R-AR) delivered some thought-provoking comments on terrorism and the Obama administration on Wednesday during a speech on the House floor. "In barely four years," he said, "five jihadists have reached their targets in the United States under Barack Obama."
But he wasn't done there.
"In the over seven years after 9/11 under George W. Bush, how many terrorists reached their target in the United States?" he added. "Zero! We need to ask, 'Why is the Obama Administration failing in its mission to stop terrorism before it reaches its targets in the United States?'"
And here's the full transcript:
"I rise today to express grave doubts about the Obama Administration's counterterrorism policies and programs," said the freshman congressman from Arkansas. "Counterterrorism is often shrouded in secrecy, as it should be, so let us judge by the results. In barely four years in office, five jihadists have reached their targets in the United States under Barack Obama: the Boston Marathon bomber, the underwear bomber, the Times Square Bomber, the Fort Hood shooter, and in my own state--the Little Rock recruiting office shooter. In the over seven years after 9/11 under George W. Bush, how many terrorists reached their target in the United States? Zero! We need to ask, 'Why is the Obama Administration failing in its mission to stop terrorism before it reaches its targets in the United States?'"
The Boston bombings should spur stronger security cooperation between Moscow and Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, adding that they also show that the West was wrong in supporting militants in Chechnya.
Putin said that "this tragedy should push us closer in fending off common threats, including terrorism, which is one of the biggest and most dangerous of them."
The two brothers accused of the Boston bombings are ethnic Chechens who had lived in the U.S. for more than a decade.
Putin warned against trying to find the roots for the Boston tragedy in the suffering endured by the Chechen people, particularly in mass deportations of Chechens to Siberia and Central Asia on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's orders. "The cause isn't in their ethnicity or religion, it's in their extremist sentiments," he said.
Speaking in an annual call-in show on state television, Putin criticized the West for refusing to declare Chechen militants terrorists and for offering them political and financial assistance in the past.
"I always felt indignation when our Western partners and Western media were referring to terrorists who conducted brutal and bloody crimes on the territory of Russia as rebels," Putin said.
The U.S. has urged the Kremlin to seek a political settlement in Chechnya and criticized rights abuses by Russian troops during the two separatist wars since 1994, which spawned an Islamic insurgency that has engulfed
the entire region.
#1
As often as I've been on Vlad about his "royalty" and his channeling of "Uncle Joe," I have to say that I agree with him on this one.
I think we Americans were dupped by some very big lies about the Chechnyan unrest and the bleeding heart liberal press crying about Russian brutality.
The problem with the liberal press is that once they romanticize some group or some individual, they cannot come to ever criticize them. For example, the NVA, and the VC, romanticized in the radical chic of the 60s, once the reeducation camps and the indoctrinations and the show trials and the executions started, the liberal press didn't report on it. They also knew all about Pol Pot but gave him a pass until the French came out with the real story.
Now we have the "freedom fighters" in Chechnya who the press will never criticize even after Beslan and the movie massacres. Now that is why they are going all fuzzy bunny on the two in Boston and why they'll try to paint the parents (who are in this up to their eyeballs) as poor suffering grieving parents.
They are both raving frothing fanatics, the radicalization started at home.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2013 10:39 Comments ||
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#2
I think we Americans were dupped by some very big lies about the Chechnyan unrest
Speak for yourself. I'm pretty sure the Rantburgers recognized the monsters from day 1.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/25/2013 12:12 Comments ||
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#3
What Rob said.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/25/2013 13:41 Comments ||
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#4
Did I miss some neocon push to support Chechen separatism? I seem to remember the line on this was generally "the Chechens are increasingly-jihadi-addled maniacs, but the Russians are prone to Mongol-style brutality and corruption on a truly squalid scale". And coverage of the Beslan tragedy tended to emphasize both the horribleness of the Chechen terrorists, and the sloppy, careless aggressiveness of the Russian response.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/25/2013 14:29 Comments ||
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#6
I was following Chechnyas in the late 90s and I have to say I was impressed with their balls. A lot of Red Army muslim veterans from the Afghan war that took on the Red Army in Grozny (in some cases with swords) causing the worst tank battle loss the Russians had faced since WW2 (the Russian tankers were raw conscripts without infantry support mind you). All the while keeping a blog of sorts running on the action.
Of course the bits about them hanging wounded Russians in front of machine gun nests to slow down counter-fire was also noticed. I had no delusions that they were tough and they were scum. Even Team America noticed that.
Still, I don't think the US ever actually supported Chechnya.
#8
"I don't think the US ever actually supported Chechnya"
And I'm sure Bambi, et al., think they missed a golden opportunity there. ("Caucasian Spring"? Oh, wait....)
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/25/2013 15:42 Comments ||
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#9
IIRC, and I don't claim to have been paying much attention, Yeltsin tried giving the Chechens a certain degree of autonomy but they kept on committing acts of terrorism. I seem to recall losing a lot of sympathy for them as a result of that. Maybe that's why Putin decided to crack down on them again.
I understand that the Russians have their faults and I don't mean to be an apologist for them. But if I had to chose between sharia and Putin that'd be a no brainer, it'd be Putin.
g(r)omgoru asks a pertinent question and Russia's relationship with Iran is very disturbing as well. But I've thought for a long time that as far as jihad goes we could be cooperating a lot more with Russia and India...and a lot less with Pakistain, Turkey and Soddy Arabia.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev immediately stopped talking after a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office entered his hospital room and gave him his Miranda warning, according to four officials of both political parties briefed on the interrogation. They insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.
Before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old suspect told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently had recruited him to be part of the attack that detonated pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line, two U.S. officials said.
The CIA, however, had named Tamerlan to a terrorist database 18 months ago, said officials close to the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with reporters.
The new disclosure that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was included within a huge, classified database of known and suspected terrorists before the attacks was expected to drive congressional inquiries in coming weeks about whether the Obama administration adequately investigated tips from Russia that Tsarnaev had posed a security threat.
#1
Between the drone zaps and Miranda, the administration definitely doesn't want anyone to know terrorism is an Islamic phenomenon.
They manage to dry up, close off, seal up, and lock down every source of good intell they find.
Before this idiot of an empty suit leaves office, something will happen to make Boston look like preschool recess, something very big, very nasty, and impossible to deny the origin.
By the time this is all over, every man woman and child not receiving an Obama phone will be screaming for his resignation/impeachment.
Worse yet, how long after this guy is out of office will it take to root out all of the drones and true believers from our intelligence network and our military?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2013 10:44 Comments ||
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#2
My question: Who gave these turds their marching (Mirandizing?) orders...?
#1
Because of Sequester many fed employees are being furloughed without pay. How about starting with the those responsible with, once again like 9/11, being unable/unwilling to act on key information. Obviously, they can't do any worse in their job by sitting at home.
[Jpost] The two bombs that went off at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding 264, were detonated with the kind of remote device used to control a toy car, US Sherlocks told a House of Representatives panel on Wednesday.
"It was a remote control for toy cars," US Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told news hounds after officials from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and National Center for Counterterrorism briefed the committee.
"Which says to me, and brother number two has said, they got the information on how to build the bomb from Inspire magazine," Ruppersberger added.
"Which says to me, and brother number two has said, they got the information on how to build the bomb from Inspire magazine," Ruppersberger added.
Inspire was created by the American-Yemeni preacher Anwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... , a leader of al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen who was killed in a US drone strike.
Ruppersberger said the article on bomb-building in Inspire was headlined: "How to build a bomb in your mom's kitchen."
Ruppersberger also confirmed that at least some of the explosives used in the attack had come from a fireworks shop in New Hampshire.
#7
They switched their reports from a 'SafeLink' (nee ObamaPhone) initiation device to a remote controlled solenoid type device to tone down the growing debate over the free phones.
An RC control/solenoid system would be easier to set up, but the range isn't that great (1/4 mile). Of course, they really didn't need any real range in this instance, so it's possible.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/25/2013 18:32 Comments ||
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[UPI] A federal judge in New York resentenced Wadih El-Hage, who was the late Osama bin Laden ... who abandoned all hope when he entered there... 's secretary, to life in prison for conspiring to commit terrorism.
When U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan resentenced El-Hage, 52, to life in prison Tuesday, he said he thought if El-Hage were ever freed, he would work to advance terrorist acts against the United States "until your last breath," The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported Wednesday
"You sir, in my judgment, are a committed terrorist who has betrayed your country," Kaplan said.
El-Hage is a Lebanese-born American citizen.
He is serving a life sentence at the supermax prison in Florence, Colo.
El-Hage and three others were convicted in May 2001 of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, including the 1998 bombings that killed 224 people at U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In 2008, an appeals court upheld the conviction but ordered reconsideration of the life sentence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] US authorities learned that the Tsarnaev brothers, who were behind the bombing at the Boston Marathon last week, were planning to carry out another attack in New York once they left Boston.
The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday that Tamerlan (26) and Dzhokhar (19) Tsarnaev did not succeed in carrying out their plans only because they were tracked down by Massachusetts authorities a few days after the marathon attack.
For which we all are profoundly grateful. Also to the various federal agencies involved, and the NYPD, who always seem to be found somewhere in the mix. If y'all weren't perfect, you certainly were good enough to be going on with, and all the others who ran toward the sounds of trouble. Thank you.
After carrying out the Boston bombing, in which three people died and over 200 were maimed, the brothers still possessed several homemade grenades and an explosive laden pressure cooker.
Those would be the items they threw at the police when Tamerlan got himself killed.
A man who had been kidnapped by the brothers as they fled authorities told police that the brothers had planned to travel to New York.
The man told Sherlocks that although the brothers did not speak English, he picked up on the word "Manhattan" in their conversation.
The CBS network reported that once authorities learned of the Tsarnaevs' possible New York attack, Amtrak service between Boston and New York was halted and police launched extensive searches on trains.
#1
At last check, the toll of wounded from the Boston Marathon blasts stands at 264, includ the 10-year old? sister of the 8-year old boy that was killed, + whom AFAIK is still listed in very serious condition in hospital. She may or may not survive.
The good news for Dzhokhar is that the burden remains as before on the US + all Non-Islam to adopt Sharia, NOT FOR THE ISLAMIC WORLD TO COME OUT + OVERTLY CONDEMN THE BOSTON BLASTS OR VIOLENT JIHAD.
Plus Mommie Dearest whom raised her boys to be loyal to Islam + Jihad.
Given the above, I suspect Dzhokhar will end up getting life in prison, wid either no possibility of parole, or else eligible for parole after 45 years. He may also end up offcially on "Death Row" but the ACLU + Sharia Lawyers, etc. routinely intervene to delay his execution because he's clearly a suffering
"victim" of US Society + JudeoChristianity - HEY, HIS MOM SAID SO???
#2
One can only hope that the intel we get from Joker will be worth the cost of keeping alive for the next 60 to 80 years. Not that I trust Obummer to do the right things with the intel. But, hey, I'd kick in for a carton of smokes.
Two months old, but a pointed reminder while some try to be good citizens, some are citizens of something else altogether. A taste of an article that covers the mosque's connections to CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhod-linked organizations, the previous employment there as imam of Al Qaeda in Arabia's Anwar al Awlaki, and the concern that, while the authorities arrest those engaged in jihad, they do nothing about those who promote it in mainstream Muslim organizations. That this imam, like al Awlaki and one of the Boston Marathon Bombers, is an American citizen, is mentioned in passing.
[DailyCaller] The controversial imam of a prominent mosque in Arlington, Va., has urged immigrant Mohammedans in the United States to wage war for Islam.
"The enemies of Allah are lining up. The question for us is, are we lining [up] or are we afraid because they may call us terrorists?" Shaker Elsayed told a crowd of Æthiopian Mohammedans during a lecture at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va.
"Let me give you the good news: they are already calling us hard boyz anyway. Whether you sitting at home, watching TV, drinking coffee, sleeping or playing with your kids, you are a terrorist because you are a Mohammedan."
"Well, give them a run for their money. Make it worth it. Make this title worth it, and be a good Mohammedan," said the Cairo-born Mohammedan
And then came the fig leaf:
At the end of the imam's incendiary speech, a representative of the Æthiopian group walked to the podium and declared the speech was not calling for jihad.
"Just a disclaimer," the emcee said. "Imam Shakir, he's not advocating for armed struggle in Æthiopia. He's just simply giving us a lesson. We'll just continue with our non-violent struggle until these guys who are in prison [in Æthiopia] who did not bow down for this repressive government ... are free."
"If Dar al-Hijrah were like most American religious institutions it would fire Elsayed, but it's not like most religious institutions," John Rossomando, a researcher at the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
"The mosque operates as a front for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, ... [and] has the distinction of being connected with more terror plots than just about any other mosque in America," he said in a statement to TheDC.
#3
And of course you won't mind if we wage jihad right back.
He needs to get out more. Maybe living in the NoVa/Beltway bubble, he doesn't realize it, but out here in the hinterlands, we have the capability of jihading your sorry asses if you try.
And we will.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/25/2013 13:45 Comments ||
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[DailyCaller] The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), the Cambridge, Mass., mosque attended by Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, contacted the FBI to identify the suspects on Friday, April 19, a mosque spokeswoman confirmed to the Daily Caller.
"Please don't hurt us!"
The FBI did not contact the mosque in the four days after the Monday attack and had no communication with the mosque until the ISB reached out Friday.
By the time the mosque contacted the FBI, the suspects had allegedly shot an MIT police officer and engaged in a fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... shootout with law enforcement in Watertown, Mass., where Tamerlan was killed.
"We were the ones who reached out to them. We contacted them on Friday, once we became aware" of the suspects' identity based on the photos, ISB spokesperson Nichole Mossalam told TheDC.
The FBI first released photos of the suspects Thursday evening.
After causing a previous disturbance in Nov., 2012, on Jan. 18, 2013, Tamerlan interrupted an ISB preacher who had praised Martin Luther King, Jr., calling him a "nonbeliever," before being shouted down by other attendees, ISB said Monday.
A handful of volunteer mosque leaders confronted Tamerlan and told him he would not be welcomed if he continued to interrupt the sermons, ISB said. Tamerlan continued to attend congregational prayers after that and did not cause further disturbances.
As an aside, Breitbart notices that the mosque was founded by a convicted terrorist, and is closely connected to other suspicious characters including a certain Mr. Jamal Badawi:
The Islamic Society of Boston was founded in part by Abdurahman Alamoudi in 1981, according to the New York Sun, and was the first president of the mosque. Alamoudi is currently serving a 23 year sentence in federal prison as he was convicted in 2004 of participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
Additionally, according to the Sun, Alamoudi raised funds for Al Qaeda.
In addition, according to an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post co-authored by local pro-Israel activist Charles Jacobs, a man named Jamal Badawi is allegedly a trustee of the ISB Cultural Center. Badawi was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial.
USA Today, on the other hand, accuses the mosque of creating a path to extremism, and lists terrorists with which it and its sister mosque in Boston have been associated, including the charming Aafia Siddiqui, beloved of Pakistan.
[Dawn] A division bench of the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi registry dismissed the bail petition submitted by former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case. The bail was dismissed on the grounds that Musharraf's counsel did not pursue the case on bail plea.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)'s Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar said that following the cancellation of his bail petition, Musharraf could be incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! any time now.
The bench had resumed the hearing over a petition filed by Musharraf seeking bail in the case pertaining to the murder of former two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.
The bench had earlier given the counsel for the petitioner an hour's time to makes make its argument over why the former military should be granted bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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Kurdish rebels will start withdrawing thousands of guerrilla fighters from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq, a rebel commander said Thursday, in an important milestone toward ending the nearly three-decade old insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
In a news conference held in northern Iraq's Qandil mountains, rebel commander Murat Karayilan said the extraction would be gradual, but warned it would come to an immediate stop should the rebels be attacked as they leave Turkey.
He also outlined for the first time "obligations" the Turkish government needs to fulfill for peace, including enacting a new constitution, the dismantling of special security units established to fight the rebels and an amnesty for all imprisoned guerrillas. A video of the news conference was aired by Turkey's private Dogan news agency.
Fragile relations between the Thai army and Muslims in the far South showed again after a female teacher suspected of a possible connection with a bombing was taken in for questioning by security officers.
The Federation of the Students in the Border Southern Provinces (Perman) organised a protest by about 300 students at the central mosque in Muang district of Yala on Wednesday, and sent representatives to meet with officers of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) at their forward command post.
They delivered a letter demanding an explanation for the detention and questioning of teacher Padilah Sorman. Some members of the delegation demanded her immediate release.
Mrs Padilah, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher teacher in Pattani province, was taken from her class on April 16 for questioning at a base by paramilitary rangers.
A security officer said the teacher was suspected of having information about the Jan 22 bombing of security officers guarding teachers in Khok Pho district. He said her mobile telephone number was the one used to detonate the explosive.
The student protesters called it the lastest example of threats to teachers in the South. The signs at their rally in Yala urged officials to end suspicions of their teachers. One of the banners said: "Kindergarten teachers are not insurgents".
The conflict between the students and army happened as the National Security Council prepared for a second round of peace talks with the Barison Revolusi Nasional (BRN) in Malaysia on Monday.
Security forces began implementing Wednesday the election agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to ensure safe and fair elections on May 13.
Tension has been rising in Maguindanao, triggered by the reported endorsements of a senior, allegedly apolitical, MILF military official, of candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance. The reported partisanship of a top MILF official contradicted the earlier assurance of neutrality of the insurgent groups central committee.
Many MILF ground commanders have been attending the political appearances of candidates of the Liberal Party in Maguindanao after their chief negotiator, Muhaquer Iqbal, announced two weeks ago that they would allow guerrillas to back candidates who support the Mindanao peace process.
Many peace advocates are worried about possible repercussions from an animosity between the top MILF official campaigning for UNA candidates and the groups ground commanders and guerrillas backing the candidacy of LP members for local and provincial positions.
Posted by: ryuge ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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U.S. intelligence has concluded with "varying degrees of confidence," that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its fierce civil war, the White House and other top administration officials said Thursday.
However, officials also said more definitive proof was needed and the U.S. was not ready to escalate its involvement in Syria beyond non-lethal aid, despite President Barack Obama's repeated public assertions that Syria's use of chemical weapons, or the transfer of its stockpiles to a terrorist group, would cross a "red line."
The White House disclosed the new intelligence Thursday in letters to two senators, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in Abu Dhabi, also discussed it with reporters. The letters were sent in response to questions from members of Congress who are eager for the administration to arm the rebels or get involved militarily.
The Syrian civil war has dragged on for more than two years, with an estimated 70,000 dead. In addition to members of Congress, Leon Panetta and Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretaries of defense and state, have urged Obama to increase U.S. involvement.
"Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin," the White House said in its letters, which were signed by Obama's legislative director, Miguel Rodriguez.
Shortly after the letters were made public, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Capitol Hill that there were two instances of chemical weapons use.
It was not immediately clear what quantity of weapons might have been used, or when or what casualties might have resulted. Hagel said many of those details were classified.
#4
Smells like setup. I have heard rebel terrorist freedom fighters have their own supples. Tide has turned for Assad. Figures some dirty tricks would be employed now. Pull USA in deeper. Help EU out and Obama can look like World figure Nobel peace keeper. Lots of money to be made here and political deals. The Turks will do very well. This is good business for them. Their economy stinks otherwise.
[An Nahar] Syria's main rebel Free Syrian Army on Wednesday rejected calls for jihad (holy war) by Lebanese Islamist holy mans.
"Our official position as the Supreme Military Command of the Free Syrian Army... is that we thank them but we reject any calls for jihad in Syria," FSA political and media coordinator Louay Muqdad told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We reject any presence of imported muscle, regardless of where they are from. We have said that what we are missing in Syria is weapons, not men," he added.
Thousands of imported muscle have joined Syrian rebels pitted against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... Lebanese Salafist holy mans Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi have called on their followers to join rebels fighting in Syria and to support Sunni residents of the embattled central province of Homs.
Their calls come after Syria's opposition and a monitoring group accused Hizbullah of fighting in Homs alongside troops loyal to Assad's regime.
In a speech on Monday, Asir announced the establishment of "Free Resistance Brigades" in Sidon, the southern city where he is based.
"There is a religious duty on every Moslem who is able to do so... to enter into Syria in order to defend its people, its mosques and religious shrines, especially in Qusayr and Homs," he told supporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm interpreting this Artic as indicat or inferring that Myanmar aka Burma's Buddhists are safe for a while.
To wit,
* IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS [paraph?] > SYRIAN REBELS TIRED WID SYRIA, NOW PLAN TO KILL BURMA'S BUDDHISTS.
Salafist Cleric calls on all Muslims to wage Jihad + attack Buddhists, plus their interests.
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... received a phone call from Syrian Opposition leader George Sabra on Wednesday, during which both men discussed the involvement of Hizbullah fighters in Syria's conflict.
They also tackled how this issue might be reflected on the people of both countries.
"We reject any security or military interference of a Lebanese group in Syria's internal affairs," Geagea stressed to Sabra.
He stated: "We demand Lebanese authorities to urgently take all necessary measures regarding any Lebanese involvement in Syria's war."
Geagea condemned during a presser on Tuesday Hizbullah's fighting in Syria alongside the Syrian regime, accusing the party of violating the Baabda Declaration that calls for Leb to distance itself from regional crises.
He said: "The government must hold a session to put an immediate stop to Hizbullah's fighting in Syria.
He explained that the government is obligated to address the country's national interests, especially when Hizbullah's actions are threatening to drag Leb towards the Syrian crisis.
Moreover, he said that Iran is employing Hizbullah in order to defend its expansionist ambitions in the region.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... In the first speech after being named caretaker Syria National Council leader, Sabra described Hizbullah's role in fighting in the central province of Homs as a "declaration of war against the Syrian people."
"The Lebanese president and the Lebanese government should realize the danger that it poses to the lives of Syrians and the future relations between the two peoples and countries," he said.
Sabra accused Hizbullah of "occupying villages in Homs, terrorizing the residents and preventing them from expressing their opinions."
He warned that Syrians "will not be tolerant with any group occupying their land, be it Lebanese or non-Lebanese."
"We urge our Shiite brothers in Leb to call for an end to the killing of their Syrian brothers," Sabra added.
His condemnation of the role of the party follows reports that elite Hizbullah fighters were taking the lead in the Syrian regime's battle against rebel fighters in the Qusayr area of Homs.
Hizbullah has announced that it is offering assistance to Lebanese residents of Syrian border towns who are defending themselves against attacks by Syrian rebel groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria's main opposition bloc insisted on Wednesday that any talks between U.S. and Russia on ending their country's war be based on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's departure.
"According to news sources at the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... foreign ministers conference in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov met and seemed to share similar views regarding the Syrian crisis," said the National Coalition.
"Any solutions must take into account the demands of the Syrian people, which include freedom from tyranny, and most importantly, the departure of Assad," it added.
Kerry's one-on-one meeting on Tuesday with Lavrov was largely devoted to the deteriorating situation in Syria and the need for a political solution "based on the Geneva framework," a U.S. official said.
The June 2012 Geneva accord laid down plans to ensure a political transition in Syria, but it makes no specific mention on whether Assad should give up power.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... said on Wednesday it will stop cooperating with international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi unless he severs his ties with 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... , which it accused of involvement in a conspiracy against Syria.
"Syria has cooperated and will cooperate with Brahimi only as U.N. envoy, because the vaporous Arab League is complicit in the conspiracy against Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media.
It lashed out at the U.N.-Arab League envoy and said there was "a lack of neutrality" in his work.
Brahimi was named to the joint post in August to replace former U.N. chief 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... , who stepped down after failing to get the two sides to implement a peace plan he had proposed.
Last month, the Arab League granted the Syrian seat to the main opposition National Coalition, in a move that sparked rage from Damascus.
"Brahimi's report (on April 19) to the U.N. Security Council was marked by (a tone of) interference in Syria's internal affairs and a lack of the neutrality required by his mission as international mediator," the statement said.
Brahimi told the council that Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... is "not in the mood for dialogue."
The veteran Algerian diplomat also urged the council last Friday to impose an arms embargo on all sides of the Syrian conflict, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Information Minister says Syria will not use chemical weapons neither against citizens nor in event of war with Israel
Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... will not use chemical weapons against its own citizens, or in the event of war with its neighbor Israel, Syria's Information Minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"Even if Syria does have chemical weapons, our leadership and our military will not use them either against Syrians or against Israelis, above all for moral reasons and secondarily on legal and political grounds," Omran al-Zoubi was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying at a Moscow university.
He said Syria would not resort to chemical weapons even if it had to go to war with Israel and use "all resources".
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, then. I feel a whole lot better from that assurance.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/25/2013 16:19 Comments ||
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#2
Which of course means they WILL, and soon too. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/25/2013 16:29 Comments ||
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#3
That regime is swirling the drain and still they talk about going to war with Israel?
Methinks they got more pressing problems at the moment. The barbarians are at the gate.
[Ynet] The EU's anti-terror chief has told the BBC that hundreds of Europeans are now fighting with rebel forces in Syria against Bashir al-Assad's regime.
Gilles de Kerchove estimated the number in Syria at about 500.
I haven't been keeping track: Is this a new number, or the same as before?
#2
al Nustra has, as of early 2013, about 6000 active fighters and it is thought that the majority of al Nustra is comprised of non Syrian jihadists in Syria
That being said, it is possible that as many as 500 Euro jihadists are there but, if it is more, it is not likely to be many more.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/25/2013 9:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
So we do have an International Brigade fighting in Syria.
I wondered how long it would take.
I was hoping this would siphon off some of the crazies tormenting Iraq but apparently that is not going to happen.
I had some good times in Iraq and made some dear friends. I am very saddened by the continuous upheaval and discord there.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/25/2013 10:53 Comments ||
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#4
Named Hans & Sven & Juan & Guillermo, & maybe Andrew.
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.
[Al Ahram] National Salvation Front (NSF) leader 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
[An Nahar] The U.N's envoy on torture voiced his "deep disappointment" Wednesday after Bahrain, rocked by renewed 
[An Nahar] 
North Korea
[CHRON] One of two men accused of plotting with al-Qaeda members in Iran to derail a train in Canada became radicalized to the point that his father reached out to a 
Pervez 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Samir Geagea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...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...
