[Al Ahram] Sudanese officials plan to step up efforts to block "negative" websites, state-linked media reported Tuesday, in a country already labelled an "enemy of the Internet" by watchdogs.
"In coming days, the negative websites will be blocked 100 percent," Mustafa Abdul-Hafiz, of the National Telecommunication Corporation, was quoted as saying by the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC).
The report did not elaborate on which websites it was referring to. It said Internet cafes would be monitored and an educational campaign would target children.
Sudan is a socially conservative society run by an Islamist government.
"It is important to improve the capacity to block negative websites," SMC quoted Khartoum State's minister of culture and information, Mohammed Yusuf Al-Digair, as saying.
SMC, which is close to the security apparatus, said there would be a "continuing campaign to monitor Internet cafes."
Gay Paree-based Reporters Without Borders named Sudan as one of its "Enemies of the Internet" this year.
It said the National Telecommunication Corporation, a regulatory body, has an Internet control unit to decide what content should be accessible.
In response to anti-government demonstrations last year, the agency blocked YouTube and local Arabic news websites, the watchdog said.
"The agency went so far as to cut off the Internet entirely for the entire country," to hamper the organising of protests through social media, it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Kenya on Tuesday restricted all refugees on its soil to two designated camps in the wake of a weekend attack on a church near Mombasa that claimed six lives.
Kenyans were asked to report any refugees or undocumented Democrats outside the overcrowded camps -- Dadaab in the east and Kakuma in the northwest -- to the police.
"Any refugee found flouting this directive will be dealt with in accordance with the law," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said in a statement.
Sunday's attack, in the Likoni district near Mombasa, came amid heightened warnings of a threat of Islamist violence in Kenya despite boosted security in major cities.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks since sending troops into southern Somalia in October 2011 to battle the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab myrmidons.
The latest attack also came just days after police tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! two men with a vehicle stashed full of large quantities of powerful explosives prepared in pipe bombs, which experts said would have been strong enough to bring down a major building.
Ole Lenku said 500 extra police would be deployed in the capital Nairobi as well as Mombasa, Kenya's second city.
Refugee registration centers in main cities will be closed, the statement said.
Kenya, where Islamist commandos attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall last September leaving 67 dead, stepped up defenses around the capital's airport in February amid "increased threats of radicalization" from homegrown Islamist myrmidons.
Ali Omar Abukar (Ali Hamari), the district commissioner of Shangaani in the Benadir region spoke to the press today at the Ministry of Sports where Somali government soldiers where demolishing the building, and said that the Governor of Benadir ordered civilians inhabiting the Ministry are required to leave immediately.
The district commissioner of Shangaani added that before they start demolishing the building, they gave an eviction order to the displaced population housing in the Ministry.
It's not like they're doing anything with a "Ministry of Sport" building in Somalia...
Recently, there has been a surge in construction and renovation of government institutes in Mogadishu causing many citizens to be kicked out of the sites.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] An Egyptian court's sentencing of 529 people to death for rioting has fixed the spotlight on a massive legal war on the Islamist opposition, with thousands in prison and hundreds more convicted in mass trials.
Many of an estimated 15,000 suspects in prison are languishing without charges in overcrowded and filthy cells, rights lawyers say.
The ones who do manage to reach the courts, mostly accused of violence in the months after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July, are usually convicted in quick trials, setting off a confusing and lengthy appeals process.
The 529 defendants sentenced Monday were accused of murder and attempted murder of several coppers.
The court passed sentence after only two hearings, without even ascertaining whether the defendants were present at the start of the trial, lawyers said.
The judgement will likely be overturned on appeal.
Prior to Monday, at least 822 people had been sentenced since December, all in groups of 10 or more. Their prison terms ranged from six months to life, with one sentenced to death.
Dozens have been acquitted.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... 's director for Middle East and North Africa, said Monday's judgement was delivered in "just one of dozens of mass trials taking place every day across Egypt, riddled with serious due process violations.
The trials result "in outrageous sentences that represent serious miscarriages of justice," she said in a statement.
The government says the judiciary is independent, and that the court sentenced the men to death "after careful study of the case."
Police say they make arrests only with the prosecution's permission, and that they apprehend only suspects involved in violent or unlawful protests and attacks on security forces.
At least 1,400 people have been killed in street festivities with security forces since Morsi's overthrow, and more than 200 coppers have died in a burgeoning myrmidon insurgency.
Suspected Islamists have also attacked Christian properties across the country in response to the police's deadly crackdown, singling out the minority for supporting the mass movement that led to Morsi's ouster.
The scope of the arrests, and the subsequent trials of those charged, including a number of journalists, has sent a chill through the country's small but vocal opposition that extends beyond Islamists.
Successive Egyptian presidents had cracked down on the Islamists. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... after Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's overthrow in 2011 the Brotherhood flourished until the ouster of Morsi, freely elected in 2012.
The scale and swiftness of mass trials under the military-installed regime are unprecedented, says leading human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... lawyer Ahmed Seif.
"This is new, the large use of trials over such a geographical spread," said Seif.
His son, leftwing activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, is also on trial for allegedly participating in a violent and illegal protest. A court freed him on bail this week after a three month pre-trial detention.
"The state is trying to use 'soft' methods to control society without using exceptional measures," Seif said of the trials.
This is highlighted by an incident on January 25. That day, as security forces clashed with Islamist protesters across the country, police broke up a small protest against the military-installed government by secular leaning activists in an affluent Cairo suburb.
Even though there also opposed the Islamists, they were initially charged with belonging to the now blacklisted Brotherhood.
The charges were subsequently changed to having engaged in unlawful assembly. After a quick trial, a misdemeanor court sentenced 20 of them to prison terms or gave them hefty fines.
"One of them was bystander, here to bury a relative. He was fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about $7,000/5,550 euros) and is still in jail until he pays, which he can't afford," said Nazly Hussein, one of the defendants.
"I can prove I am not with the Moslem Brüderbund. There are thousands in jail right now who cannot prove they are not with the Moslem Brüderbund," said Hussein, who works with a group that campaigns for prisoners' rights.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] The prosecution in former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's retrial demanded Tuesday that he will be given the death penalty, Egyptian media reported.
Mubarak, his two sons and several former officials from his government are accused of the killing of protesters during the January 25, 2011 revolution.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
where is Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's director for Middle East and North Africa?
Not too worried about this one?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2014 9:52 Comments ||
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[DAILYPOST.NG] Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... leader, Abubakar Shekau has, in a new video, vowed that his group would wipe out the entire country if western education is not abolished.
The bloodthirsty group also grabbed credit for the recent attacks on barracks and other attacks in the north-east which left several dead and many others homeless.
Shekau also declared total war on members of the youth vigilante called Civilian-JTF for daring to challange his group.
The sect leader, who appeared in the video donned in a white gown upon which he wore a black life-jacket with a black turban on his head passed his message in Hausa and interjected periodically with his native language, Kanuri.
He refuted the victory of the military over his members at the Giwa Barracks attack, even as he said he had succeeded in freeing over 2,000 detained members of his group, mostly leaders and warriors, from the military cell in the barracks.
He has also threatened to kill all Islamic holy mans who condemn his group's mission, even as he grabbed credit for the murder of the renowned Zaria-based Islamic holy man, Sheik Albani.
And the oh-so-boring spittle commences below. How many cliches can you count, dear Reader?
His mesage below, "The word 'Giwa' in Hausa means elephant; but I assure you that today the barracks bears no status of 'elephant'. It has now turned to pig barracks or dog barracks or rat barracks... Your name is not Civilian JTF but Civilian Trouble. My advice to you so-called Civilian-JTF is you either flee, take up arms, get conscripted into the army or police, because what I'm telling you is that I have started a war against you. It is now that I have started war against you. It has just begun... You don't know my madness, right? It is now that you will see the true face of my madness. I swear by Allah's holy name that I will slaughter you. I cannot be happy if I don't personally put my knife on your necks and slit your throats. Yes! I'll slaughter you! I'll slaughter you! And I'll slaughter you again and again... Now our religion and our way of worship is nothing but killings, killings and killings! Kill and slaughter but don't eat them...
"By Allah, I will kill you. killing is my job. Let's kill them all, we'd rather leave this world. Let the whole world perish! May Allah curse you!
"Oh! Allah, they are your servants but are they assisting (Goodluck) Jonathan, they are your servants who pray but are jesting with the Koran, they are your servants but are assisting Clinton and Obama... Work has started. And for your information, western education is forbidden. University is forbidden, you should vacate university! You should leave university, I hate university. You should quit university, I hate it, bastard.
"Western education is totally forbidden. Girls, you should return to your homes. In Islam, it is allowed to take infidel women as slaves and in due course we will start taking women away and selling in the market...
"Nigerians, let me let you know that you are in serious disaster. Don't think we are northerners, because you are misunderstanding the whole thing. Let me make it crystal clear to you to save you from unnecessary distorted newspaper and radio analyses on issues you don't understand. We are not fighting the north, we are fighting the world. And you will see us fighting the world. This is our job.
"I promise that we will kill all your (Mohammedan) holy mans. Just like I killed Albani and it was splashed all over the newspapers. I'll kill them all. Who was Albani? He was nothing. I'll kill all of them. I'll spare none but who follow Allah and the Prophet. Whoever follows Jews and the west is my enemy.
"My brethren wherever you are, in Abuja, Lagos, or the south-south, wherever you are, commence attacks. Even as an individual, take up your swords and slaughter anyone you come across in his sleep.
"My brethren, take up knives and start slaughtering people. Just pick up your knife and break into homes and kill. I heard some people asking Jonathan to relocate to the northeast to take charge of the fight against us, but let me tell you, Jonathan is too small. Let even Obama, the president of America, relocate to Nigeria and take charge; we will not be deterred."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Helpful tip for Nigerian Prison Guards: dead prisoners can't be "freed". Just saying
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2014 9:53 Comments ||
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#2
Abubakar Shekau has, in a new video, vowed that his group would wipe out the entire country if western education is not abolished.
Shekau has nothing to worry about here in the States. The last vestiges of 'western education' are nearly gone.
[DAWN] Bangladesh war crimes Sherlocks moved Tuesday to outlaw the country's largest Islamic party, accusing it of genocide and other atrocities during the 1971 bloody struggle for independence.
Government Sherlocks handed a report detailing war crimes allegations against Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... to prosecutors, in the latest move against the party which has banned from contesting January elections.
"We want total dissolution of the party," the government's chief war crimes investigator Abdul Hannan Khan told news hounds.
"Jamaat and its wings took the decision to act as auxillary forces of the Mighty Pak Army in committing atrocities in the 1971 war. So the party cannot avoid its superior responsibilities," Hannan said.
Hannan said prosecutors from the country's controversial war crimes tribunal would now proceed with charges against the party which would lead to a trial in the same tribunal.
"The whole nation has been waiting for this trial. It is the first time after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials that a party is to be prosecuted for war crimes," Hannan said, comparing Jamaat to the Nazi party.
The tribunal, set up by the secular government in 2010, has already convicted more than a dozen of Jamaat's leaders over crimes allegedly committed during Bangladesh's war against Pakistain for independence.
A senior Jamaat leader was executed in December after his conviction, sparking a fresh wave of deadly protests by Islamist supporters.
Protesters have repeatedly clashed with police over the tribunal, which Islamists claim is aimed at eradicating its leaders, leaving more than 200 people dead since last January when the verdicts were first handed down.
Jamaat, a leading opposition party, was banned from contesting general elections held in January this year which were boycotted by other opposition parties and marred by bloodshed.
The country's top court ruled last August that Jamaat be banned because its charter followed Islamic law that conflicted with the nation's official secular constitution, although the party was allowed to hold rallies.
There was no immediate comment from Jamaat but the party has earlier accused the country's government of organising show trials in an effort to destroy it.
Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. 's government says three million people died in the war, many at the hands of pro-Pakistain militias led by Jamaat leaders who opposed secession from Pakistain on religious grounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Shura will not meet today to pursue peace talks on account of bad weather conditions, DawnNews reported.
Clearly these are not serious people. Have they not heard of roofs? One stands under a roof, and the bad weather causes no trouble whatsoever. By the time Noah built the ark they were considered old hat and rather boring.
Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... chief and a member of the Taliban talks committee Professor Mohammad Ibrahim confirmed that talks between the two sides were postponed for today as it was not possible to travel due to bad weather.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... speaking to media representatives outside the Al-Markaz-e-Islami in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , Ibrahim said the negotiation on prisoners between the government and the Taliban would be very beneficial for peace talks.
He also said the situation in Pakistain was still perilous and that hidden hands were taking advantage of it.
Ibrahim said the ceasefire between the government and Taliban was a major breakthrough and a proposed meeting of the government's negotiators with the Taliban Shura would be a second major breakthrough.
Ibrahim said the government nor the Taliban had presented any list of demands.
He, however, said the Taliban had assured that groups opposing dialogue would be encouraged to join the grinding of the peace processor.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] An Arab summit kicked off in Kuwait Tuesday with a call by Syria's opposition for "sophisticated" arms, while Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... stressed the need for a change in military balance to "end the impasse".
UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, however, insisted on the need for a "political solution" to the conflict, urging an "end to the supply of arms to all parties".
The head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmed Jarba, repeated calls on the international community to supply rebels with "sophisticated weapons".
Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Abdulaziz, whose country is a major supporter of the Syrian rebellion against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... , accused the world of "betraying" the opposition by failing to arm them and leaving them as "easy prey".
Salman urged support for the rebels, insisting that a solution to the conflict, in which regime forces have recently made significant advances, required a "change in the balance on the ground to end the impasse".
The conflict in Syria, which in mid-March entered a fourth year, has killed more than 140,000 people and displaced millions.
Jarba told the summit that a decision not to hand over Syria's seat in the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to the opposition sends a wrong message to Assad, telling him to continue "to kill".
The Syria government's brutal repression of protests which erupted in March 2011 resulted in its suspension from the Cairo-based Arab League.
Its seat was allocated to the National Coalition at the last summit, in Doha in 2013, but has not been handed over because, according to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, the oppossition has yet to meet the legal requirements.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in his address to the gathering, accused the Syrian government of lying in "pretending to accept a political solution" but was in fact "buying time".
Brahimi urged a revival of peace talks.
"I call upon Europe, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... and the United States to take clear steps to reactivate the Geneva talks," whose last round broke off on February 15 without setting a date for further negotiations.
"There is no military solution," stressed Brahimi.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil announced on Tuesday that he withdrew from 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... meeting during Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmed Jarba's speech.
"I pulled out from the hall in harmony with my own convictions and allegiances," Khalil, who is the political adviser of Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... , said via Twitter.
A politer way of saying it than my above...
Berri, who is the leader of AMAL movement, is a strong ally of Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... that is engaged in battles in the neighboring country Syria in support of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... Jarba accused, during his speech at the vaporous Arab League, Hizbullah and Assad's regime forces of desecrating the homes of the residents of the strategic town of Yabrud in the Qalamoun region adjoining the Lebanese border.
"You have all seen the leaked movies, the behavior of the fighters and the sectarian hatred... You have all heard about the sweets distributed in Beirut's southern suburbs to celebrate the fall of Yabrud and the victims."
Yabrud's capture was celebrated in Damascus by hundreds of residents who erupted into the streets to celebrate. And in Leb, Hizbullah supporters fired celebratory gunshots in the air in Beirut and its southern suburbs.
Hizbullah is believed to have played a key role in the town's capture.
Hizbullah's involvement in Syria has prompted retaliatory bomb and rocket attacks by bully boy groups against areas in Leb sympathetic to the movement. The attacks have mostly killed civilians.
The group and Lebanese security forces have said many of the boom-mobiles used in those attacks originated in Yabrud.
Jarba criticized "the yielding of Assad and his ally (Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah before Israel."
[Al Ahram] In his speech Tuesday at 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... summit in Kuwait, Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour called on his Arab counterparts to join in the fight against terrorism.
An amusing thought, Arab countries together implementing anything more complicated than a boycott.
Terrorism is "threatening the whole region," said Mansour, but he insisted that terrorist groups would only make their opponents "more determined to uproot them."
Mansour urged those attending the summit to reactivate the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, an anti-terrorism pact signed in 1998 by 18 out of 22 members of the vaporous Arab League, but which has never been enforced.
Mansour suggested that a meeting be held before June with Arab justice ministers and interior ministers to gauge how much of the pact is currently being implemented.
The pact stipulates that signatories must not give shelter to terrorists, Mansour noted, which means that Arab states must hand over persons for whom Egypt has issued arrest warrants.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's crown prince said Tuesday the international community has "betrayed" Syrian rebels by failing to arm them against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath...
"The legitimate Syrian resistance has been betrayed by the international community and left easy prey to tyrant forces," Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz told the Arab summit in Kuwait City.
He was referring to unkept promises by several nations to arm fighters battling to topple the Assad government, which is backed by Russia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia is one of the main backers of the rebellion against Assad that erupted three years ago and has become a full-fledged civil war after loyalists launched a crackdown against protesters seeking democratic reforms.
"Syria has become a (battle) field open to killings and destruction carried out by an iniquitous regime with the participation of foreigners and armed bully boyz who come from everywhere," said the crown prince.
He also called on the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to speed up the handover of Syria's seat in the 22-member organization to the opposition National Coalition, in order to give it formal status that could cement its recognition by world powers.
"This must be sorted out... in order to send a strong message to the international community so that it will change its attitude towards Syria," said the crown prince about the seat.
The seat -- vacated after the vaporous Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the conflict -- was promised to the opposition at last summit in Doha.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said the opposition must meet certain legal requirements before taking over the seat.
As a result National Coalition chief Ahmed Jarba addressed the summit in Kuwait City Monday but was not allowed to speak from the spot reserved for Syria.
For his part, the emir of Qatar called for "comprehensive dialogue" in Egypt to achieve political stability and insisted on good ties with Cairo which accuses Doha of supporting banned Islamists
"We wish Egypt, our elder sister, political stability and all the good for its people," said Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the opening of the Arab Summit in Kuwait.
"We stress on the brotherly links we have with Egypt," he said.
Relations between Egypt and the Gulf state have been strained over Doha's backing for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , who was ousted by the army in July following nationwide protests.
Sheikh Tamim said he hoped that stability in Egypt would be achieved through "a comprehensive dialogue" between the government and all parties -- an apparent reference to Morsi's blacklisted Moslem Brüderbund.
The Brotherhood is banned in much of the region, and the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia pledged billions of dollars in aid to Egypt after the overthrow of Morsi.
Tensions between Qatar and fellow Gulf states have escalated to unprecedented levels when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE recalled their ambassadors from Qatar, accusing Doha of interfering in their internal affairs.
[Ynet] US official, regional sources say Israel insists rockets were Gazoo-bound to spare interim Egyptian government embarrassment.
Lots of lovely photos of the captured weaponry at the link. Enjoy!
Some US intelligence analysts and Middle East security officials believe that a rocket shipment seized by the Israeli Navy in the Red Sea this month was destined for the Egyptian Sinai and not for the Gazoo Strip, as Israel says.
A US official and two non-Israeli regional sources said Israel appeared to be insisting on the Gazoo destination in order to spare the military-backed interim Egyptian administration embarrassment as it struggles to impose order in the Sinai.
Israel has little compunction about drawing scrutiny to the rocket arsenals of Gazoo's governing Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, Islamists and other armed Paleostinian factions, with whom it has regularly clashed.
"Were the Israelis to say the rockets were going to Sinai, then they would also have had to say who in Sinai was going to receive the rockets," one source told Rooters, adding that such a statement would draw attention to the bully boyz resisting Egypt's security sweeps in northern Sinai.
Israel says the Syrian-made M302 rockets and other munitions were hidden aboard the Panamanian-flagged Klos C while it docked in Iran. The ship was intercepted on March 5, en route to Sudan - where, Israel says, the arms would have been offloaded and trucked to Gazoo through Egypt, a standard trafficking route.
Israel's allegation, echoed by its Western allies, was dismissed by Iran and Hamas as a fabrication. Officials in Egypt declined comment, saying they knew nothing about the rockets.
Israel has been hazy in public about how the 5.5 meter-long (18-foot) M302s might have entered Gazoo. The coastal enclave is under heavy Israeli surveillance, and Cairo has clamped down on the Egypt-Gazoo frontier and the smuggling tunnels there.
Asked on the day of the ship seizure which Paleostinian snuffies were to have received the arms cache and how, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said: "I don't know, but it is clear this was meant to reach terrorist groups in the Gazoo Strip ... The route is well known and it seems that they tried to revive it."
Rockets hard to smuggle
An Israeli military officer who took part in planning the naval interdiction told Rooters that, in the month before it happened, "not once did I hear anyone mention anything other than Gazoo as the end-point for these weapons".
A US official said Washington had confirmed the Syrian and Iranian provenance of the rockets and believed they were to have been used against Israel. But half of US intelligence analysts thought Sinai, not Gazoo, was the destination, the official said.
"You look at those things and it's obvious they couldn't have been slipped into Gazoo," the official said, adding that the M302s were not designed to be disassembled for easier smuggling.
Israel said it had also found 181 122mm mortar shells aboard the Klos C, and some 400,000 7.62-calibre bullets.
The US official agreed that the mortar shells were meant to go to Gazoo, saying: "You can fit each of those in a backpack." But the bullets, the US official said, may have been meant for another client elsewhere in Africa.
With their 160 km (100 mile) range, the M302s could have been launched from areas of Sinai well away from Israeli spotters along the Egyptian border, and struck Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
A regional security source said Israel would have kept Egypt informed about the seizure but that both countries would have kept the contacts discreet. Many Egyptians dislike their 1979 peace accord with Israel and would resent being reminded of Israeli cooperation in efforts to rein in militancy in the Sinai.
Egyptian military officers, visiting Israel two weeks ago as part of routine security meetings, were taken to Eilat to view the Klos C in dock, a source briefed on the visit said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Some US intelligence analysts and Middle East security officials
I'd say "dumb & dumber", except I'm not sure about the order.
#3
It's good the Israelis have them now. They would have wound up there sooner or later.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/26/2014 12:14 Comments ||
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#4
So now our illustrious government making excuses for the Gazookians?
Who'da thunk it?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/26/2014 13:15 Comments ||
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#5
The same intelligence anaylsts who published the 2007 NIE.
Connect the dots Gaza-Sinai. Who are the dominant counter-revolutionaries Sinai? MB. Who runs Gaza? Hamas. Hamas = MB. Sinai or Gaza, does it matter?
"You look at those things and it's obvious they couldn't have been slipped into Gazoo"
It's obvious... Obvious this analyst doesn't use open source intel - like Google. If you can smuggle refigerators and cars via Gaza Smuggling Tunnels, you can move M302s no problem.
[Ynet] Hours after Abbas slammed Israel for 'adding new demands that did not exist before,' Kerry announces surprise meeting, expected to talk to Netanyahu as well.
Adding another leg to his current trip, in the hope of somehow securing his legacy as competent. The utterly boring and pointless details are at the link, for anyone interested.
Someone forgot to pretend they're the non-terrorist PA...
[Ynet] Paleostinian leaders on Tuesday threatened to renew their diplomatic push at the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... if Israel fails to free Paleostinian prisoners as scheduled this weekend.
"We shall turn to the UN's international organizations if Israel does not release the fourth and final group of prisoners," said Yasser Abed Rabbo ... Paleostinian politician and a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee. He holds an M.A. in economics and political science from the American University in Cairo..... , secretary-general of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's executive committee.
"The release of the prisoners is in return for the freeze on seeking membership in international organizations," he told official Voice of Paleostine radio.
#1
Hold breath and pout or go to UN. Same difference.
Posted by: Steven ||
03/26/2014 2:47 Comments ||
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#2
You had an opportunity for statehood in '48. You and your ancestry chose to destroy Israel rather than take advantage of the opportunity. You lost (and in '56, '67, '73). There are consequences.
that aids Palestinian refugees urged Israel and Egypt on Tuesday to lift their border restrictions on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Organization (UNRWA), said Israel and Egypt had legitimate security concerns
A UN official admitting that Israel has legitimate security concerns? No wonder Filippo's out of a job...
but that the plight of the 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza should also be taken into account.
"I think the world should not forget about the security of the people of Gaza," he said. "Their security is worth the same as everybody else's security so we appeal to the humanitarian sense of all."
Maybe if they didn't fire off Qazzams, and charge security fences, and plant bombs on busses, maybe they wouldn't be in the security situation they're in, Filippo. It's that "cause and effect" thingy...
Israel, which maintains a naval blockade of Gaza in a declared bid to prevent arms from reaching militants, has eased overland restrictions since 2010 but continues to block most exports from the territory. Palestinians say goods coming in through the lone commercial crossing with Israel meet only 35 to 50 per cent of their needs.
Egypt has meanwhile clamped down on smuggling tunnels in the Sinai desert that served as a commercial lifeline for Gaza. The military-backed government that toppled the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas's ideological kin, in Cairo last year deems the Palestinian faction a security threat, although Hamas insists its hostility is directed exclusively at Israel.
And what a surprise, boys, no one believes you! Shocka...
Israel's blockade, Grandi said, is "illegal and must be lifted".
Shooting off Qazzams is illegal too, but you guys don't seem to wound up about that...
He said that while Israel had allowed importation of building materials for a limited number of UNRWA-run projects, another $150 million in new tunnel construction was still blocked.
Why not have an accounting for all the bags of cement. Most of that's underground with the gophers...
"I also want to make a strong appeal for export to resume because the lack of export is the main reason for the poverty of Gaza," said Grandi, who leaves his post next week.
The Paleos seem to export plenty of terrorism...
Official Palestinian statistics put Gaza's unemployment rate at nearly 40 per cent. UNRWA says 80 per cent of the population of Gaza receives aid.
Those numbers seem low, especially since most of the hard boys and Dog-mushes also get aid. But if the Paleos in Gaza-land weren't hell-bound to destroy everything they touch they'd likely have some jobs and an economy...
Grandi, an Italian who was appointed UNRWA chief in 2010,
...with a pension, white Toyota land cruiser and his choice of mistresses...
also urged Egypt to open its Rafah crossing with Gaza, especially for those seeking medical treatment and students.
In the past 45 days, Egypt has opened the passage three times to allow some pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia.
Did they allow the faithful to return?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[AnNahar] Tensions are running high on the Turkey-Syria border following the shooting down of a Syrian warplane by Turkish forces at the weekend, the Turkish army said Tuesday.
The military reported a dozen incidents involving its aircraft and Syrian anti-aircraft defenses on Monday alone.
"During one mission... five F-16 jets were followed by anti-air missiles... deployed by Syria, which were locked on our aircraft for 10 minutes, 53 seconds," it said in a statement.
Local media also reported that Turkey has deployed specialist elite units on the border.
Damascus accused Ankara of "flagrant aggression" after the plane was shot down and crashed on Syrian territory on Sunday as Syrian loyalists and rebels battled for control of a frontier crossing.
Ankara said the jet had flown into its territory, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... warning of a "strong response" if Syria violated its airspace again.
Last year, Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian helicopter which Ankara said had flown two kilometers (over one mile) into Turkish airspace.
Turkey changed its rules of engagement after one of its combat planes was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft in June 2012.
Resolutely hostile to the Damascus regime, Turkey is currently providing refuge to more than 750,000 Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict in their country.
[AnNahar] President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... demanded Arab nations on Tuesday to share the burden of hosting Syrian refugees, urging also encouraging factions to neutralize the country from the ongoing turmoil in Syria.
"We urge convincing the largest number of Arab countries to share the burden and the number of Syrian refugees," Suleiman said in a speech he gave at the Arab Summit in the Kuwaiti capital.
Suleiman emphasized on the necessity of hosting refugees in safe regions inside Syria, stressing that Leb cannot bear the refugees' crisis on its territories.
"The long-term negative consequences on Leb's economy require many years of care and follow-up," he noted.
The influx of nearly one million Syrian refugees, according to U.N. figures, has swollen Leb's population by 25 percent since the war broke out across the border in March 2011.
The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... forecasts that registered refugees in Leb could reach 1.5 million by the end of the year.
The president also called on Arab nations to continue supporting Leb in all fields, particularly urging them to "encourage the different factions to commit to neutralizing Leb, control the border with Syria, and draw an end to Israeli violations."
"Amid the current challenges, an international support committee was formed to help Leb and we have reached several conclusions that enable us to face the refugees' crisis," Suleiman said.
He continued: "The committee also called for disassociating Leb from regional turmoil and implementing the Baabda Declaration."
"We also agreed on new policies to support the army and we welcome the exceptional Saudi donation to the military institution."
Suleiman described the situation in Syria as the "worst misery since World War II."
"Leb is concerned with the developments in Syria and we are keen on supporting dialogue and communication to reach a political solution in the country," he said.
"We want a solution that ends the worst misery since WWII, that helps in releasing the kidnapped, on top of them the two kidnapped bishops, and a solution that preserves the rights of all Syrians without any foreign meddling," he added.
Suleiman also demanded increasing the financial support given to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), to strengthen its support to the Paleostinian refugees in the country.
"We also call for financial aid to continue rebuilding the (northern) Nahr al-Bared refugee camp," he said.
Separately, Suleiman pledged "to work on holding the presidential elections according to Leb's democratic traditions."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/26/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
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.
[AnNahar] Kenya on Tuesday restricted all refugees on its soil to two designated camps in the wake of a weekend attack on a church near Mombasa that claimed six lives.
Apartheid konsentrasiekamp, who knew? Thankfully the Kenyan Gov't is not encumbered by evil British or Dutch colonials. 
Ali Omar Abukar (Ali Hamari), the district commissioner of Shangaani in the Benadir region spoke to the press today at the Ministry of Sports where Somali government soldiers where demolishing the building, and said that the Governor of Benadir ordered civilians inhabiting the Ministry are required to leave immediately.
[AnNahar] An Egyptian court's sentencing of 529 people to death for rioting has fixed the spotlight on a massive legal war on the Islamist opposition, with thousands in prison and hundreds more convicted in mass trials.
[DAILYPOST.NG] 
[DAWN] Bangladesh war crimes 
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Ynet] US official, regional sources say Israel insists rockets were 
Yasser Abed Rabbo
The outgoing head of the UN agency 
