[Al Ahram] Reform campaigner and founder of the Constitution Party 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. announced in a Sunday press statement that his party is keen on allying with revolutionary and democratic forces in the coming parliamentary elections.
Elbaradei added that this coalition will campaign to win the largest number of seats in the coming parliament in order to "be in command of pressure tools that will help create a better future for Egypt."
[MAGHAREBIA] A Moroccan MP in the Chamber of Councillors was jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on corruption charges last week in Kenitra after being caught red-handed taking a bribe.
Mohamed El Hassiani, who represents the Constitutional Union party, is also the president of the Sidi Yahya El Gharb commune. He was apprehended in a café on Wednesday (January 2nd) while allegedly in the act of receiving a 200,000 dirham (18,000 euros) bribe from a businessman,
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2013 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Dangerous as it is to be a member of one of the dhimmi religions when Islam is on the march, to believe in other than the accepted dissentions is even more dangerous. While Baha'i was founded by a Muslim visionary/heretic in Persia about 150 years ago, the world headquarters is in Haifa, because in the Middle East only the nation of the Juices allows them to worship freely.
[Jpost] Egypt's Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim on Sunday reiterated that members of the Bahai religion could not enroll in Egyptian public schools, according to Egypt Independent.
"The Constitution only recognizes the three Abrahamic religions," Ghoneim reportedly said, "And as religion is a subject taught in schools, they do not meet the requirements for enrollment."
Ghoneim's statement came on the heels of similar comments he made in November, in which he asserted that Egypt "only recognizes three religions, and the Bahai faith is not among them. Thus their children do not have the right to register in government schools."
Tensions between Egypt's rulers and Bahais have intensified since 1960, when the government confiscated their assets and sold them in a public auction. At that time, the Egyptian government accused Bahais of being loyal to Israel.
Just another step down the primrose path so well outlined by those who have gone down it before.
[Al Ahram] Saudi women will be permitted to work in shops selling female accessories as long as they are subject to the rules of Islamic Sharia, confirmed Abdel-Latif Sheikh, head of Saudi government committee "Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice" (PVPV) Saturday. "Ah, yes. Women selling ladies' underwear. An interesting theological subject. Who better to sell to women than women? After all, they can't go consulting men about their scanties, can they? But women, seeing all those underpants and titties... I mean bosoms... I mean brassieres... and corsets... and... and flimsy night dresses... and... Victoria's Secret catalogs... and... and... Oh, Gawd! I must shoot off! I mean my gun! I must shoot off my gun...!"
Speaking to Saudi newspaper Al-Madina, Sheikh explained that the PVPV will be authorised to restrict women from this type of work if they violate Sharia law. "In any.. [huffa puffa!]... in any [puffa!] respect, mind you! And we'll be stopping by the ladies' underwear places regularly to check up on 'em, you betcha!... Ow. I think I just hurt myself."
In December 2011, the Saudi grand Mufti issued a fatwa (religious edict) prohibiting women from working in accessories and lingerie shops describing the job as "criminal and disrespectful." "You know what women are like with temptation!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
good one!
Posted by: Whomoper Oppressor of the Danes1311 ||
01/07/2013 10:17 Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said Sunday Britannia was prepared to fight militarily to keep the Falkland Islands if necessary, in the face of renewed Argentinian rhetoric over their future.
Cameron said Britannia had "strong defenses" in place on the islands and fast jets and troops were stationed there.
President Cristina Kirchner said this week that Argentina was forcibly stripped of the Falklands by Britannia in "a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism" and demanded they be handed over to Argentina.
Cameron insisted he was "absolutely clear" that Britannia would defend the islands with military force.
In an interview on BBC TV, he said: "I get regular reports on this entire issue because I want to know that our defenses are strong, our resolve is extremely strong."
Asked whether Britannia would fight to keep the islands, he replied: "Of course we would, and we have strong defenses in place on the Falkland Islands, that is absolutely key, that we have fast jets stationed there, we have troops stationed on the Falklands."
Cameron said this week that the 3,000 residents of the Falklands had a strong desire to remain British and would have a chance to express their views in a referendum on their political status to be held in March.
The islanders are expected to vote strongly in favor of continued union with Britannia.
Census data released in September showed that 95 percent of residents considered themselves to be either Falkland islanders, British, or from Saint Helena, another British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2013 00:00 ||
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[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If the Argentine economy gets any worse, you may have to, Dave.
#3
Best way to avoid the fight is to convince the Argentines that they won't just give in. I'd let slip that they might go after naval ships in port this time to ensure the Argentine public knows there is a war on, a war they started.
Since Galtieri (sp?) spent a good deel of effort ensuring fighters landed at different bases than they took off from to hide the number of splashed I would assume this sort of thing might be important to a leadership hoping to avoid embarrassment.
#4
Accompany that with a scheme (that you can deny as just an idea) that you propose to agree to a soverneignty change with lease option so the current inhabitants can remain there. Even if you never intend to go there, leaking that sort of thing allows you to appear flexible and thinking out of the box.
[REUTERS] It's no surprise the Indian street wants faster, harsher justice for sexual crimes after a horrific gang rape that rocked the nation, but some activists worry the government will trample fundamental rights in its rush to be in tune with popular rage. "Which activists?"
"Some."
Last month's rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus and her death on December 28 in hospital triggered a national debate ... an expenditure of personal wind at the national level that leads to face-making and other histrionics but can't be shown to have ever solved an issue ... about how to better protect women in India, where official data shows one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.
Many women's rights groups are cautiously hopeful the protests and outrage that followed the crime can be channeled into real change - fast-track courts for sexual offences and a plan to hire 2,500 new women police in Delhi are measures already in the works.
But legal experts and some feminists are worried that calls to make rape punishable with death and other draconian penalties will cramp civil liberties and are unconstitutional. They say India needs better policing and prosecutions, not new laws.
"If there are not enough convictions, it is not because of an insufficiency of law, but it is the insufficiency of material to base the conviction on," said retired Delhi High Court judge R.S. Sodhi.
Five men have been charged with the student's rape and murder and will appear before a New Delhi court later on Monday. They are due to be tried in a newly formed fast-track court in the next few weeks. A teenager also accused will likely be tried in a juvenile court.
Ahead of Monday's court appearance the five still had no defense lawyers - despite extensive interrogations by the police, who have said they have recorded confessions - after members of the bar association in the South Delhi district where the case is being heard vowed not to represent them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like lawyers spruiking for more money for lawyers.
Personally, I'd put them in stocks in central Delhi, with only women allowed access.
If they are still around after that, then by all means try them.
#4
Dunno, rjschwarz, but I know which way I'd bet. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/07/2013 15:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I asked that before rjschwarz, didn't get any response but judging by the MSM avoiding mentioning it at all costs - I suspect we're in a game of 'Guess that Religion-of-Peace'....
As far as I can tell India's Muslims as a whole tend to be rather well behaved. Which makes sense when you consider that it has the third larged population of Muslims in the world - and very few of them want to live in Pakistan.
China seems to want a special entry in Rantburg's "Idiot of the Day" listing. To quote the NASA blogs "Top officials in China seem to be unaware of the Kessler syndrome." ...the idea of cascading collisions or Satellite Billiards in Space ...
Or they figure it's others with more in space who have a lot to lose. United States, for instance.
In 2007 and 2010 China conducted anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons tests, both on January 11. Rumors circulating for the past few months suggest that some within the U.S. defense and intelligence community believe China is preparing to conduct another ASAT test.
The first media report on these rumors appeared in October. China's Ministry of Defense challenged the information in that report, but in November contacts in China told us an announcement about an upcoming ASAT test was circulated within the Chinese government. We were unable to find a public statement confirming plans for a test in the Chinese media or on publicly accessible Chinese government websites. Then, just before Christmas, a high-ranking U.S. defense official told us that the Obama administration was very concerned about an imminent Chinese ASAT test.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/07/2013 00:37 ||
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[17 views]
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#1
ION BIGNEWSNETWORK > [Sina] US MILITARY AMBITION IN EAST ASIA FOILED BY REALITY.
ARTIC = ...
- US has too many Debts, no longer has enough $$$.
- US Navy CVBGS dare not patrol at will widin the "First Island Chain".
- New USDOD concept of "Offshore Control", as empowered by resort to China-containing/hugging, anti-PLA "economic blockades", to serve as adjunct to an increasingly obsolete "Air-Sea Battle" whcih the US still intends to use vee China beyond the "First Island Chain" - SEE FIRST ABOVE.
* SAME > [CNBC] 2013: THE YEAR JAPAN INCREASES ITS MILITARY ROLE IN ASIA?
* SAME > [Sina] JAPAN AIRBORNE BRIGADE [paratroopers] MULLS DRILL TO RETAKE ISLANDS.
Overwhelming Paratrooper + Heliborne. Commando-SPECOPS Assault, ,+ irregardless of any mass casualties incurred by same, is likely the main method by which China + PLA will conventionally strike TAIWAN.
#3
See FREEREPUBLIC this AM > FOUR CHINESE SURVEILLANCE SHIPS PUSH THEIR LUCK WID JAPANESE PATIENCE.
and
* SAME > THE STARK EVIDENCE OF US, UK NAVAL DECLINE.
IMO Artic also read, DECLINE OF THE UNSC AS WE KNOW IT.
Not good news for desired future OWG-NWO as Seapower, along wid ground elements, is likely to remain in the forefront = "tip of the spear/baton" as per post-UNO OWG Peacekeeping.
MORESO IFF THE US = US-ALLIES FAIL UTTERLY IN ELIMINATING THE ROOT CAUSES OF MILITANT OR RADICALIST ISLAMISM, WHERE THE ONLY COUNTRIES, IDEOS THAT HAVE TO CHANGE ARE THOSE IN THE NON-ISLAMIC WORLD.
INSTEAD OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD ADOPTING WESTERN-STYLE LIBERAL DEMOCRACY/SECULARISM, THE US-WEST OR NON-ISLAMIC WORLD BECAME STEADILY BUT IRREVERSIBLY ISLAMIZED BECAUSE OF THE DRIVE TO FORCIBLY IMPOSE LEFTISM-GLOBALISM = GLOBAL SOCIALISM.
Japanese trucker Toshifumi Fujimoto is bored with his humdrum job, a daily run from Osaka to Tokyo or Nagasaki hauling tanker loads of gasoline, water or even chocolate.
Yet while the stocky, bearded 45-year-old could spend his free time getting a jolt of adrenaline by bungee-jumping or shark hunting, he puts his life on the line in a most unusual way.
He's become a war tourist.
Fujimoto's passion has taken him from the dull routine of the highway to Syria, where as part of his latest adventure in the Middle East's hot spots he shoots photos and video while dodging bullets with zest.
He was in Yemen last year during demonstrations at the US embassy and in Cairo a year earlier, during the heady days that followed the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak. Later this year, he plans to hook up with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But for the moment, he is wrapping up a week's tour of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which for going on six months has been one of the hottest spots in a conflict that has cost more than 60,000 lives, according to UN figures.
He already spent two weeks in the war-torn country at the end of 2011, taking advantage of a tourist visa, but this time he has entered the country clandestinely from Turkey.
Dressed in a Japanese army fatigues and armed with two cameras and a video camera -- Japanese, of course -- Fujimoto heads for whatever frontline he can every morning to document the ongoing destruction of Syria's second city and one-time commercial capital.
Fujimoto, who doesn't speak English, much less Arabic, has picked up a few words, such as "dangerous" and "front line."
The only way to interview him was to make use of Google Translate.
"I always go by myself, because no tour guide wants to go to the front. It's very exciting, and the adrenaline rush is like no other.
"It's more dangerous in Syria to be a journalist than a tourist," he said, describing how "each morning I walk 200 metres (yards) to reach the 'front', and I'm right there on the firing line with soldiers of the (rebel) Free Syria Army."
"It fascinates me, and I enjoy it," he says, as some FSA fighters stop him in one of the Old City's streets to have their picture taken with him.
"Most people think I'm Chinese, and they greet me in Chinese," he smiled.
He takes his time getting his shots right, as the rebels he hangs out with shout from both sides of the street: "Run! Run! There are snipers. Run!"
But he ignores them, finishes shooting and casually walks away with photos that he will later post on his Facebook page to share with his friends.
"I'm not a target for snipers because I'm a tourist, not like you journalists," he told a reporter. "Besides, I'm not afraid if they shoot at me or that they might kill me. I'm a combination of samurai and kamikaze."
Fujimoto won't even wear a helmet or a flack jacket.
"They are very heavy when it comes to running and it's more fun to go to the front without anything. Besides, when they shoot it's fun and exciting."
Fujimoto said his employers don't know he's in Syria.
"I just told them I was going to Turkey on holiday; if I'd told them the truth, they'd tell me I'm completely crazy."
But though some might doubt his sanity, no one can question his financial foresight, which is rooted in the sadness of his personal life.
Fujimoto is divorced, and says "I have no family, no friends, no girl friend. I am alone in life."
But he does have three daughters, whom he hasn't seen for five years, "not even on Facebook or the Internet, nothing. And that saddens me deeply," he said as he wiped away a tear.
So he's bought a life insurance policy, and "I pray every day that, if something happens to me, my girls might collect the insurance money and be able to live comfortably."
Fujimoto doesn't make any money off his photography, and spent $2,500 (1,894 euros) out of his own pocket for the flight to Turkey. Then there's another $25 a day that he pays a local resident, who puts him up in his house and gives him Internet access.
In his week in Aleppo, he has covered all the battle fronts -- in the districts of Amariya, Salaheddin, Saif al-Dawla, Izaa -- and though he's shared many of the images he's captured, one of them has stuck in his mind.
He opened a file on his laptop to show the partly decomposed body of a seven-year-old girl in Saif al-Dawla, gunned down by a sniper, which has lain unclaimed for months.
One wonders if any of his daughters could be the same age, but there was no way to pry more out of him, as he wept every time they were brought up.
"I love children, but Syria is no place for them. A bomb can snuff out their lives at any moment," he said, as some FSA fighters asked him to join them in Saleheddin and he ambled off down the street toward the sound of fighting.
#2
"Most people think I'm Chinese, and they greet me in Chinese,"
An interesting little tidbit. I would expect Russian to be more common as a 2nd language in Syria. But then we're talking the Free Syrian Army here. Maybe they have a different set of patrons.
#3
He won't last long.(Bugle plays Taps)
Sayonara.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/07/2013 17:13 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Darwin in action.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/07/2013 18:51 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I suspect Assad has given orders to not shoot at any Chinese-looking individuals, given the aid he's presumably getting from China, and the rebels won't do anything against someone Chinese-looking because they'd prefer to avoid having the Chinese government increase aid to Assad. I just had a peek at the Chinese GDP. It is now larger than all of the Muslim countries put together. ($7.2b vs $6.1b).
#6
The fact that this guy is running around without getting shot tells me that a lot of the civilian casualties are collateral damage from being used as human shields by the rebels. And if this guy consents to being used as a human shield, he will end up a statistic.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
01/07/2013 19:39 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Mr. "Half-Samurai, Half-Kamikaze" may have to return home soon iff Nippon finds itself involved in major shooting war agz China come April-June 2013 over the disputed Senkakus. IFF HE WANTS TO BE, STAY A HAPPY "WAR TOURIST" IN SYRIA + LATER IN AFGHANISTAN, HE SHOULD KEEP HIS HIS FINGERS CROSSED THAT SOME KIND OF PEACEFUL COMPROMISE CAN BE REACHED SOON.
------------
Latest on China-vs-Japan [USA?] vee Net ...
* TOPIX > [Daily Star.LB] TOKYO CANNOT YIELD TO THE CONFLUENCE OF BEIJING IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA.
Or in the East China Sea either.
* WAFF > JAPAN SENDS FIGHTER JETS AFTER SECOND EVER CHINESE INVASION OF ITS AIRSPACE.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN PM SHINZO ABE SINGS [WW2 = Imperialist/Militarist] NATIONAL ANTHEM AS STEP TO "TAKE BACK JAPAN".
* SAME > MYANMAR'S TIES TO INDIA, JAPAN, + WESTERN NATIONS CONCERN CHINA.
"Mahanist" Rising China + competition for East Indian Ocean warm-water ports.
Taiwan, Hainan, + Myanmar = China + PLAN's rough mil equivalent of Pearl Harbor, Bremerton/
Bangor, + [future] Norfolk???
* SAME > NEW US LAW [Obama-signed NDAA 2013] SEEKS ANSWERS TO [secretive]CHINESE NUKE TUNNELS, i.e. the so-called "Underground Great Wall" of far, deep Tunnels + Complexes where China + PLA allegedly stores much of the country's nuclear LRBMS + Warheads.
#5
They laughed when I strode into the ER with my cuttin face on. But when I asked for the #7 truncheon and 2 pair of triceps they suddenly stopped.
It's all about your moves, your attitude and what you've seen on TeeVee and watched on the YouTubes. Anyone can do anything with the proper attitude. They may not do it well, but they can try, and trying should be enough amirite?
#7
I think it's a function of demographic change. From lowest to highest self-esteem, the ethnic/racial groups are ordered as follows: Asians, Caucasians, Hispanics, blacks.
#11
And of course, my wife says the administration is pushing for student success! Which means they all get A's to C's and screw it if they actually learn or not.
And of course, now with Tyrantcare, they're not hiring fulltime faculty now, just part timers. At least the oil industry can't and won't do that.
#12
They are clueless. They are entitled to the massive debt. Our country has a demographic ponzi scheme going and the current generation in college is gonna get stuck and they voted for it.
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.