Somalia's Foreign minister Mr. Abdirahman Beyle has denied reports from the U.N monitoring group alleging the government to have diverted arms to a militant group and clans.
"Lies! All lies!"
The experts revealed that weapons shipments to the government regularly fall into the hands of the Islamist militant group al-Shabab and some clans. Some of the weapons are also sold in open markets in the capital, the report alleged, adding that they obtained evidences such as documentaries.
''We are really surprised with this accusations; we have never sold out weapons nor misused them.'' Said Mr. Beyle.
How could we ever think such a thing?
Last year, the UN Security Council voted to ease sanctions partially on arms embargo against Somalia which was existing since the overthrow of the Military government led by Siad Barre. The sanction was adopted in 1992 in reaction to the ongoing conflict and deteriorating humanitarian situation by that time.
The experts called for another full arms embargo sanction when the one year partial lift expires next month or an alternative that the government must be subjected to enhance notification and reporting requirements for arms deliveries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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I thought this might be interesting: apparently the different AU contingents to Somalia pay their soldiers different rates. Not surprising, but it does make me wonder how much the commanders and ministry officials are skimming off the top.
I'd vote on some version of some to lots...
The Minister of Defense, Retired Major Alfred Palo Conteh has told members of the public through the media during the usual weekly Government press briefing in Freetown that Sierra Leone is paying their peace keeping mission soldiers in Somalia $828 as monthly salary for each soldier while Djibouti soldiers receive $728.
He also stated that Kenya which he described as the richest country in Africa apart from South Africa is paying each peace keeping soldier $1,028.
Major Conteh argued that if Sierra Leone pays the same amount to its soldiers as the Kenyans then they have to quit the Mission because they cannot afford the expenses of such high salaries.
"It was the savings we made during our deployment in Sudan that we used to buy ammunition and train one thousand Soldiers for the Somalia peace keeping mission," he revealed.
He stated that if those soldiers in the war area feel aggrieved, the will definitely take up arms and go on the rampage, stressing that if the Army collapses the whole country will collapse.
He described the Auditor General's Report that Ministry of Defense has squandered Le 500 million as baseless. He said he is not a signatory to any account of the Ministry of Defense. He reiterated that they as an entity they are open to scrutiny and are accountable like any other Ministry.
He pointed out that the Military is so organized as a Government within the Government because any activity of the Government is replicated in the Army.
There's quite a statement...
The Minister emphasized that his men have been performing exemplary in the peace keeping mission in Somalia.
"I am very grateful to be their Leader,'' he mused.
He noted that Sierra Leone is one of the countries in the world that is strongly fighting against terrorism especially presently in Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Mursi charged he was being muzzled in a soundproof dock at the start of his trial on espionage charges on Sunday, as his defence lawyers staged a protest walk-out.
When you don't have the facts or the law, pound...
The court adjourned the trial, the third for him since his July 3 ouster, to February 23 to allow the lawyers' syndicate to appoint new lawyers.
Mursi, who has shouted that he was Egypt's legitimate and elected president in hearings of other trials against him, said the court was trying to silence him.
"We are in a farce, all this because you are afraid of me. You are afraid that the president speaks," Mursi cried out.
"If this farce continues, don't come to the court," Mursi told his defence.
Mohamed Selim Al Awa, a member of the defence team, said: "We have withdrawn until the court removes the glass cage, we will not get in the room today."
The soundproof dock is designed to stop Mursi and the other defendants from interrupting the proceedings with outbursts.
Duct tape is cheaper...
On Sunday, 20 defendants were brought to court, including Mursi, who was placed in a separate dock with a former aide, and the Brotherhood's supreme guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat Al Shater.
The accused include former presidential aides and renowned political scientist Emad Shahin, who is being tried in absentia.
The latest court case is part of a relentless government crackdown targeting Mursi and his supporters since he was ousted by the military after a single year in power. Mursi and 35 others, including leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, are accused of espionage "for the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood, its military wing and (Palestinian) Hamas movement."
If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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SANAA, Yemen -- Abd al-Wahhab al-Humayqani has some advice for Washington.
The United States is doing more to stoke terrorism, here in the heartland of al-Qaeda's most active franchise, than to defeat it, he says. What the United States ought to do, he argues, is strengthen Yemen's state institutions -- rather than create enemies by carrying out drone strikes.
"The U.S. can protect itself by cooperating directly with local authorities," he said in an interview in Yemen's capital.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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KIRO 7 has uncovered explosive new details in the case of the Capitol Hill arson at a popular gay nightclub.
Suspect Musab Masmari's motive may have stemmed from his "distaste for homosexual people."
Masmari is charged with arson for allegedly setting the fire at Neighbours nightclub shortly after midnight on New Year's Day.
That friend, a member of the local Mohammedan community, went straight to the FBI because he believed Masmari may have also been planning a terrorist attack.
According to investigative documents filed in King County Superior Court, the 30-year old Masmari told a friend "that homosexuals should be exterminated." That friend, a member of the local Mohammedan community, went straight to the FBI because he believed Masmari may have also been planning a terrorist attack.
That friend became a confidential informant.
According to the documents, Masmari first met the informant at Fatima's Cafe near the Masjid at Taqwa Mosque on Seattle's East Union Street, shortly after the fire at Neighbours.
The informant contacted the FBI soon after meeting Masmari because he was "concerned" that Masmari "may be planning some terrorist activity" because he spoke of "something he's planning." The informant told Sherlocks that Masmari told him "he had obtained a rifle."
The unidentified informant also said that, in the numerous conversations after their first meeting, Masmari often expressed a "distaste for homosexual people," and that Masmari "opined that homosexuals should be exterminated."
"Exterminate is a word you think of - you exterminate rodents, you exterminate roaches, not people," said Shaun Knittel, spokesperson for Neighbours nightclub.
Knittel would like to see hate crime charges added on to the arson charge. "If that doesn't fall into the law of a hate crime, I don't know what does," said Knittel.
He said Masmari asked the informant during that conversation "whether they shouldn't be the ones taking the responsibility upon themselves."
Masmari was living in Bellevue when he was enjugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! . Neighbor Doug Poirier recognized Masmari from the picture on the news.
"We were all freaked out and concerned when we found out what happened," said Poirier. "That's just a sad hate crime to do something like that - to try to burn down a night club just because it's gay oriented," said Poirier.
Prosecutors allege it was Masmari who was captured on surveillance video the night of the fire, carrying what appears to be a gas can. He's been charged with one count of arson and remains behind bars with bail set at $1 million. But this new information could lead to federal hate crime charges.
#2
Our majestic and superior cackling UN,
Having bearded the tiger from outside its den,
Clucks, "Potentially, now Kim may be more polite,
Because possibly, maybe, and might could make right."
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/17/2014 21:16 Comments ||
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#7
You and whose army, UN, is going to enforce this?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/17/2014 21:51 Comments ||
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#8
...Kimmie will plead victim: Demonstrably nutty dad, never saw Mom, dysfunctional neighborhood, etc.. He will then be embraced by the American left who will then convince the UN Chihuahuas that it is a problem caused by the Jooos../sarc
[An Nahar] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said Sunday he was not looking "to flood Israel" with returning Paleostinian refugees, at a rare meeting with 250 Israeli students at his West Bank headquarters.
I believe him. But I am universally acknowledged to be extraordinarily gullible.
"Propaganda says Abu Mazen wants to flood Israel with five million refugees to destroy the state of Israel," he told the group at his Muqataa presidential compound in Ramallah, referring to himself by his nickname.
"All we said is that we should put the refugee file on the (negotiating) table because it is an issue we must solve to end the conflict," he told them, adding that any solution must be "just and agreed upon."
"But we will not seek to flood Israel with millions of refugees to change its social character. This is a lie," said Abbas, who is himself a refugee.
Resolving the question of the right of return for Paleostinian families who fled or were forced out of their homes during the war which accompanied Israel's independence in 1948 is one of the most bitterly-disputed aspects of the conflict.
The Paleostinians have always demanded that the Jewish state recognize their right of return to homes in modern-day Israel in keeping with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
But Israel rejects the idea, saying it would erode the country's Jewish majority. It is, however, prepared for the refugees to live in a future Paleostinian state.
There are approximately five million registered Paleostinian refugees, mostly descendants of the original 760,000 people who fled or were forced out in 1948.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the Paleostinians recognize Israel as "the state of the Jewish people" in a move to ensure the refugee issue is resolved within the borders of a future Paleostinian state.
But the Paleostinians have dismissed the demand, saying they recognized Israel in 1993 under the Oslo accords and insisting it is not for other nations to define a state's national or religious character.
The fate of the refugees is one of the core disputes under discussion in U.S.-brokered peace talks relaunched last year that have shown little sign of progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Sure.
Posted by: Steven ||
02/17/2014 1:42 Comments ||
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#2
What refugees? After 50+ years the 'Paleostinians' are no longer 'refugees'.
[ChristianScienceMonitor] For years, boycott efforts in Europe seemed to be only symbolic gestures. But several major efforts announced in the past year, including one by the EU, are raising alarm.
The campaign is starting to bite. Last year, Jordan Valley farmers lost an estimated $29 million, or 14 percent of revenue, because they were forced to find alternative markets for their exports, such as Russia, where prices are 20 to 60 percent lower. Pepper exports to Western Europe have stopped completely, and grape exports are likely to be phased out this year because of consumer pressure, says David Elhayani, mayor of the Jordan Valley Regional Council and a farmer himself.
It's not so much that their pocketbook is starting to feel the pressure -- last year's drop in Jordan Valley exports represents a mere 0.01 percent of total Israeli exports for 2013. But there's concern that rising opposition to Israeli policies signals increasing displeasure with the very idea of Israel. "Sanctions are also what we Israelis should fear most -- disenchantment of the world with the very idea that Jews are entitled to have a state of their own," says Yitzchak Mayer, who served as the Israeli ambassador to Belgium and Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... in the 1990s.
#1
They simply can't be left to design their own destiny in a modern world. These boycotts and sanctions can drag on and on. Surely must be some progressive measure or incentive available to move them off center, or simply.... move them off.
Perhaps a UN enforced Ukuthwalwa will force these intransigent, xenophobic Jooos to finally come around. Yes of course, we'll do it for the children !
#2
perhaps an Israeli boycott on selling natural gas and oil to the EU?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2014 8:28 Comments ||
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#3
On the flip side, people in Russia ate better than normal, and food prices were higher in the holier than thou western European countries, so it was a learning experience all around. (Mouth, meet money.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/17/2014 14:46 Comments ||
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#4
Don't know what's the deal with grapes but I see lots of Carmel avocados and oranges in my local supermarket.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/17/2014 19:59 Comments ||
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#5
lessee... we import a significant amount of produce from Latin America... air transport shouldn't be that much more or maybe even less... True, there's MERCOSUR, but I sense opportunity.
A spokesman for Gaza's Hamas rulers said on Sunday that the militant group will oppose any international force in a future Palestine -- adding a new complication to US-brokered peace efforts.
Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to arrange security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians under a final peace deal.
And finding out why he'll fail just as every previous Secretary of State has failed there...
Israel has demanded it retain a security presence in parts of the West Bank after a deal, citing security concerns. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opposes this, but has said he would accept international peacekeepers.
Call in the mighty Uruguayans, because it sure isn't going to be American peacekeepers...
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas will deal with any international force "in the same manner it uses with Israeli occupation forces."
The Hamas spokes-terrorist does have the virtue of clarity...
Also on Sunday, a Palestinian government official in the West Bank said the Palestinian Authority has begun removing details of religious affiliation from ID cards, in an apparent move against discrimination.
Hasan Alawi, the Palestinian deputy interior affairs minister, said that Abbas issued a decision two weeks ago to remove the religion status from the cards. He said the move is in the spirit of Palestinian law. "All citizens are equal regardless if they are Muslims, Christians, black or white," he said.
The step was welcomed by the Palestinians' Christian minority.
No comment from the Palestinians' Jewish minority...
"It could help in job promotions, unfortunately there is still some (bigotry) in some areas in the West Bank," said Rand Abdo, 30, from Ramallah. "When I tell them I am Christian, some people get surprised and say, 'You don't look like a Christian,' but should a Christian look any different?" she said.
The move was condemned by the Hamas government in Gaza.
Like we said at the beginning...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] 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... visited Southeast Asia's largest mosque during his visit to Indonesia Sunday, paying tribute to Islam in the world's most populous Mohammedan-majority nation.
After removing his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta, Kerry walked through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub.
Calling it an "extraordinary place", the top U.S. diplomat told Indonesian news hounds: "I am very privileged to be here and I am grateful to the grand imam for allowing me to come."
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... has worked hard to try to repair relations with the Mohammedan world, which were badly frayed under the previous administration with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The United States and other Western powers have often referred to Indonesia -- the world's third biggest democracy -- as a bridge to the Mohammedan world.
Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, also visited the mosque in 2010 when he traveled to the archipelago.
In signing a note to be placed in the mosque's guestbook, Kerry wrote: "It has been a special honor to visit this remarkable place of worship.
"The amazing space and light and the extraordinary dome are the perfect way to welcome prayers.
"We are all bound to one God and the Abrahamic faiths tie us... together in love for our fellow man and honor for the same God. May peace be with you."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
See also CHINA DAILY FORUM > KERRY'S VISIT BODES WELL FOR US, CHINA TIES.
More not-good-news for Hillary's 2016 POTUS campaign from John "Presidential" Kerry.
Like him or hate him, Jaawhn aka the Blogosphere/Net's "Lurch" is clearly dynamic + getting lots of positive press which Hillary isn't.
The good news for Hillary is that Joe "Grandpa" Biden hasn't either, + Bobby Jindal hasn't formally declared for 2016.
AND
* CHINESE MILKITARY FORUM > HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING + LOVE GLOBAL WARMING BY A. KARLIN.
The Sun's "Red Giant" phases demands to feel the love.
RELATED VOICE OF RUSSIA = PARTS OF EUROPE COULD BE SUBMERGED BY 2050.
Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypereles, VP of IEGCC.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO - Jean-Pascal, as compared to Star Trek:TNG's Jean-Luc.
#5
Another opportunity for Kerry to take the 2016 spotlight from Caroline Kenedy = Hillary???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IN BOW TO IRAN [Rising China?], US KEEPS CARRIER AWAY FROM GULF [NE = East Asia] "TO GIVE SPACE" FOR NUCLEAR DEAL [China-vs-Japan-Phil-ASEAN Compromise].
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > KERRY WARNS OF CONFLICT RISK IN ASIAN SEAS | KERRY CALLS FOR MARITIME CODE OF CONDUCT TO REDUCE RISK OF ASIAN CONFLICTS, as due to on-going ECS + SCS disputes.
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > CHINA WANTS [non-Nuclear] JAPAN TO BE NUKE-FREE, i.e. no Nuclear WEapons of any sort.
RELATED CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > WILL THERE BE WAR [INCLUD NUCLEAR] BETWEEN CHINA + JAPAN IN THIS DECADE [2014-2020 NLT 2024] | [Yahoo News] CHINA CONCERNED JAPAN HOLD WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM. JAPAN STOCKPILING WEAPONS-GRADE NUCLEAR MATERIALS FOR COUNTER-ATTACK AGZ CHINA!?
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > DEFENSE SPENDING: BRACE FOR [Rise of] CHINA'S MILITARY MIGHT.
VERSUS
* TOPIX > [HuffPo] DOES AMERICA EVEN HAVE A NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY?
Its called OBAMA-ISM + GLOBALISM, where America = Amerika proudly + unilaterally surrenders like France to anti-US OWG-NWO + OWG "Co-Superpower"-ism = Global Multi-Polarism = "Multipolar/
Polycentric World", where "America-n-only-Amerika must be restrained and controlled" + where America = Amerika can no longer go to war because its economy is directly controlled by foreign Govts-States including Rivals or Enemies.
The MSM-Net, Pert verified "Weak/Declining USA".
Our OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA Global SSR National Security will be dependent or in collusion wid the Principal Powers of the various OWG Global Federal Unions, IFF ONLY BECAUSE OWG AMERIKA + NORTH AMER UNION = EURO-SOCIALIST? OWG EUROPEAN UNION = MASSIVE WELFARE-NANNY STATES CAN'T DO ANYTHING UNLESS ITS MEMBER-STATE(S) ACT IN COLLECTIVE COALITION WID OTHER EURO ANDOR INTERNATIONAL POWERS.
GLOBAL WELFARE-NANNY STATES = LOCAL MILITARIES ARE TOO EXISTENTIALLY SMALL + WEAK SUCH THAT CAN NO LONGER ACT INDEPENDENTLY OR EFFECTIVELY ON THEIR OWN.
> GOOD NEWS = POTENTIAL END TO MAJOR WARS AMONG TRADITIONAL OR LONG-ESTABLISHED ORGANIZED GOVTS-STATES.
> BAD NEWS = LEAVES THE SAME OPEN OR HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO ANTI-OWG, NON-GLOBALIST INDEPENDENT POWERS + ESPEC INDEPEDENT OR AUTONOMOUS NON-STATE OPERATORS = NGOS = "BLACK GROUPS-ACTIVITIES" = E.G. NUCLEAR RADICAL ISLAMISM + MILTERR GROUPS-CELLS.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > LARRY SUMMERS: AMERICA RISKS BECOMEING A "DOWNTOWN ABBEY" ECONOMY - FT.COM.
* SAME > IRAN OFFICIAL: US HAS ACCEPTED COUNTRY'S NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT.
[Jerusalem Post] Excerpt: What is disturbing about the Syrian civil war is that it may very well turn out to be a kind of mirror-image of the internecine 15-year civil war in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990.
Anti-interventionist governments in the US and Europe (with the exception of France) show a lack of interest in stopping the war. Interventions cost money, great lots of it. What if they gave a war and nobody came could afford to attend? What luck!
US President Barack Obama's interventionist Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power has been reduced to Twitter diplomacy. A further reduction hoped for, with no lingering memories.
The major democratic powers invoke the grammatical form of the imperative (e.g, stop dropping barrel bombs!) to influence a change in Assad's behavior. Meanwhile, the number of deaths has surpassed 140,000 since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. Think of the lives actually saved by the martyrdom of these, years 2025 - 2050 and beyond.
Pure exhaustion helped contribute to the end of the Lebanese civil war. The possibilities are continued stalemate, victory by Assad or the rebels, or the parties' collapse into utter fatigue, leading to hammering out a peace agreement. Collapse and fatigue likely. A peace agreement, most unlikely.
#1
I was curious how the Leb war wound down, so I'll share. From Wikipedia:
The Taif Agreement of 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the fighting. In January of 1989, a committee appointed by the Arab League began to formulate solutions to the conflict. In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that pardoned all political crimes prior to its enactment.
I liked this point of view:
During the course of the fighting, alliances shifted rapidly and unpredictably: by the end of the war, nearly every party had allied with and subsequently betrayed every other party at least once.[citation needed]
Maybe the war ends when they get tired of betraying each other?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/17/2014 11:10 Comments ||
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#2
I should have italicized During ... needed]
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/17/2014 11:11 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Most of the Syrian opposition fighters in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Yarmuk in southern Damascus have withdrawn, a Paleostinian official told Agence La Belle France Presse on Sunday.
Anwar Abdel Hadi, an official with the Paleostine Liberation Organization, said the pullout came after an agreement between the rebels and Paleostinian factions in Yarmuk.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the accord may help ease a crippling army siege imposed more than 200 days ago that has trapped thousands of civilians and sparked famine.
"Most of the gunnies have pulled out of the camp," Abdel Hadi said.
"Paleostinian fighters have deployed to the outskirts of the camp to prevent the entry of any non-Paleostinian gunnies," he added.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the departure of fighters could pave the way to an easing of the siege on Yarmuk, where more than 100 people have died of malnutrition and lack of medical aid.
"The situation has become unbearable," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"People are hungry and the situation has worsened over the past four months, that is why this agreement was reached," he added.
Last month, Paleostinian factions negotiated a deal under which the U.N. agency for Paleostinian refugees, UNRWA, was able to begin distributing food to Yarmuk residents.
Under the operation, 1,500 civilians were also evacuated.
The aid distribution, however, was halted on February 8 following renewed fighting in the camp between opponents and supporters of the Syrian regime.
Abdel Hadi said aid could re-enter the camp once all the fighters leave.
A Paleostinian delegation is due to tour the camp on Sunday "to ensure it is free of gunnies" and within 24 hours bomb disposal experts will go in to defuse explosives and mines.
"Humanitarian aid can resume immediately after these processes are completed and state institutions return to the camp," he said.
The camp was once home to some 150,000 Paleostinians, as well as Syrian residents.
But large parts of it have been destroyed by fighting and many residents have fled, with just 18,000 left behind and under a tight army siege imposed after rebels took control of the camp.
On Saturday, UNRWA urged renewed access to Yarmuk, warning the supplies it had delivered would now be running out.
"We have not distributed food there over a week now which is potentially life-threatening for the besieged civilians trapped by the conflict," UNRWA front man Chris Gunness said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Coalition on Sunday congratulated Prime Minister Tammam Salam on the formation of the cabinet after an 11-month deadlock, urging the new government to "withdraw Hizbullah's militias" from Syria.
"In its name and in the name of the Syrian people, the Syrian National Coalition congratulates Lebanese premier Mr. Tammam Salam and the entire brotherly Lebanese people on the formation of the new Lebanese cabinet," the Coalition said in a statement.
"As the Coalition wishes this government success in addressing the Lebanese domestic issues and achieving the demands of the Lebanese people and its urgent needs at the economic and social levels, in addition to the issue of Syrian refugees and the burdens the Lebanese are facing while hosting them, it reminds ... PM Salam that the first decision of his cabinet must be related to the withdrawal of Hizbullah's militias from all Syrian regions," it added.
The Coalition said the step must take place "in line with the Baabda Declaration and (Maronite) Patriarch (Beshara) al-Rahi's latest charter."
"The presence of these militias on Syrian soil represents a blatant violation of international and Lebanese laws and a treason against the deep-rooted relations between the two brotherly peoples," the Coalition added.
Hizbullah argues that its military intervention in Syria is necessary to fend off the threat of Qaeda-linked groups seeking to infiltrate Leb and to prevent the fall of Syria in the hands of "Israel and the U.S."
The party's rivals in Leb have strongly rejected the presence of its fighters in Syria, saying that contradicts with the Baabda Declaration, which Hizbullah had endorsed and which calls for neutralizing Leb from regional conflicts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] 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... Sunday blamed "obstruction" by the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... for the breakdown in talks in Geneva between the sides in Syria's civil conflict.
"None of us are surprised that the talks have been hard, and that we are at a difficult moment, but we should all agree that the Assad regime's obstruction has made progress even tougher," Kerry said.
In a statement released in Washington, Kerry urged the regime's supporters to press for the creation of a transitional government, warning they would bear the responsibility "if the regime continues with its intransigence in the talks and its brutal tactics on the ground."
The peace talks broke off Saturday with no result at the end of a second round of negotiations seeking an end to the brutal three-year-old conflict.
No date was set for a third round of talks and it was unclear whether any would be held, but Kerry said the United States remained committed to the Geneva process and all diplomatic efforts to find a political solution.
"There's no recess in the suffering of the Syrian people, and the parties and the international community must use the recess in the Geneva talks to determine how best to use this time and its resumption to find a political solution to this horrific civil war."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Then why not issue some 'Executive Orders'. That's what you do to get around the Constitution in the US.
#2
Who represents "the Syrian people" and tell me they haven't been hardheaded. Syrian National Army? Al Qaeda? Any one of a dozen other groups fighting for an opportunity to rule?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/17/2014 10:59 Comments ||
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GAZIANTEP, Turkey -- The U.S.-backed leader of the moderate wing of the Free Syrian Army was fired Sunday in what appeared to be an attempt to revive the moribund rebel command ahead of a promised arrival of weapons.
Gen. Salim Idriss, who was anointed last year by Secretary of State John F. Kerry as the sole conduit for aid to Syria's rebels, was voted out of office by the 30 member Supreme Military Council at a meeting at a hotel in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, according to commanders who were present.
So we backed the wrong horse. Again. This is a common theme in our foreign affairs going back to the end of World War II.
He was replaced by Abdul-Illah al-Bashir, a little-known rebel leader from the province of Quneitra who is fighting on the southern front and did not attend the meeting, the commanders said.
He's out fighting? That's one point in his favor, unless "fighting" means that he stays at the camp and eats a goat in honor of the guys sent out to die...
The move comes as the breakdown of peace talks in Geneva shifts attention back to the increasingly complicated battlefield in Syria, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad has steadily been making advances against the deeply divided rebels.
Even before the talks were suspended Saturday, Syrian opposition leader Ahmad al-Jarba, who has close ties to Saudi Arabia, had been signaling his intent to refocus on the military struggle against Assad by visiting the front line and promising rebel leaders that new weapons are on the way.
"You will get weapons, including quality weapons," he said during a videotaped visit on Friday to Jamal Maarouf, an increasingly powerful rebel commander in the northern province of Idlib.
Several rebel commanders at Sunday's meeting said Idriss had been replaced at the insistence of Jarba, who wanted to see a more effective leader in place ahead of the arms supply, which the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday will include antiaircraft weapons.
The mild-mannered Idriss, who derived his authority primarily from the support he received from Western countries, was widely considered to have failed to provide meaningful leadership to the chaotic rebel movement or to have effectively channeled what little support he received to the rebels under his command.
So he and Jahwn Kerry were birds of a feather...
His credibility collapsed further in December after Islamist rebels seized the warehouses he oversaw on the Syrian border, prompting a suspension of aid by his chief ally, the United States.
Idriss's failure last month to respond to the needs of rebel units caught up in the eruption of fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an al-Qaeda splinter group, sealed his demise, said one of the commanders who voted him out. "When we started the fighting against ISIS, Idriss turned off his phones and couldn't be reached," said Ziad Haj Obaid, a commander from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. "That was the main reason we replaced him."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[Aypee] Proving once again that community organizing and politics simply do not mix.
In the late Saturday statement, al-Sadr said his move was to "preserve the reputation of the al-Sadr (family)... and to put an end to all the wrongdoings that were conducted, or could be conducted, under their title." It did not explain further.
"I announce here that I will not interfere in politics. There is no political entity that represents me anymore nor any position in parliament and government," it said. "Whoever acts against this will be subjected to legal and religious action." He also ordered all al-Sadr political offices to be closed down.
The move did not appear to be expected. Al-Sadr officials could not be reached for contact. The movement announced a news conference, only to cancel it.
#1
Maybe he's retiring to be kingmaker, 'above the fray', so to speak -
Al-Sadr has made such announcements before, but the current declaration comes only two months before national parliamentary elections. Sadrists hold 40 out of 325 seats in the legislature, making them the largest single Shiite bloc, and hold six Cabinet seats.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/17/2014 13:30 Comments ||
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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.
Somalia's Foreign minister Mr. Abdirahman Beyle has denied reports from the U.N monitoring group alleging the government to have diverted arms to a militant group and clans.
Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Mursi charged he was being muzzled in a soundproof dock at the start of his trial on espionage charges on Sunday, as his defence lawyers staged a protest walk-out.
[An Nahar] Paleostinian President 
[ChristianScienceMonitor] For years, boycott efforts in Europe seemed to be only symbolic gestures. But several major efforts announced in the past year, including one by the EU, are raising alarm.
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
GAZIANTEP, Turkey -- The U.S.-backed leader of the moderate wing of the Free Syrian Army was fired Sunday in what appeared to be an attempt to revive the moribund rebel command ahead of a promised arrival of weapons.
