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Today: 74 articles and 148 comments as of 4:37.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Syrian rebels pull out of Homs after siege
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Catherine Bach aka Daisy Duke in "The Dukes of Hazzard (TV Series 1979–1985)" aka Melody in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)" aka Marcie, Lamborghini Babe in "Cannonball Run II (1984)" aka Peggy Summers in "Hustle (1975)" aka Tamarra in "Street Justice (1990)" (age 58)



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/01/2012 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeeeee haw!
Posted by: gorb || 03/01/2012 4:33 Comments || Top||

#3  For a while, I've been trying to figure out what was different about the turn of the last centry beauties and present day. They all had a certain look. I think part of it is they all had tiny mouths. I mean, compare Ms Adrienne above with say, Julia Roberts....
Posted by: Mercutio || 03/01/2012 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Mercutio, maybe back then the movie producers and casting directors had tiny, um.... well, maybe the stuff in all those sp*m ads works...?
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/01/2012 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Fashions in appearance change, Mercutio. There is no deeper meaning than that whatever our fathers wanted to see in our mothers is not what we want to see nowadays...whenever nowadays might be. the Twenties look was a reaction to the wasp waisted torture of the generation before (for men as well as women, so be grateful we modern girls prefer our uncorsetted men able to breathe freely!), which was a reaction to the wedding cake hoop skirts, etc. Facial features and hair style and colours likewise.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/01/2012 16:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, between Glenmore and TW, I think we've covered the end points of the range of possibilities.
Posted by: Uneash Cliling5082 || 03/01/2012 21:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Two ISAF service members die as two men turn weapons on troops
Two people, one believed to be an Afghan National Army service member and the other in civilian clothing, turned their weapons indiscriminately against International Security Assistance Force and Afghan National Security Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing two ISAF service members.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/01/2012 03:47 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Remember Elphinstone. They do.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/01/2012 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if they remember the Mongols?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/01/2012 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Where's Tamerlane when we need him?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 03/01/2012 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Mongol-style retaliation is way too indiscriminate. The traditional Afghan response is the blood feud. Meaning family members of the culprit are targeted, and perhaps even the tribe. Since the Taliban transcends tribal ties, targeting family members would seem to be the most effective method of deterring such attacks.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/01/2012 17:20 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Pirates held Pakistanis as slaves: Danish Navy
The Iranian and Pak crew of a hijacked fat merchantman were treated like slaves by Somali pirates before their release in a deadly rescue operation, Denmark's navy said on Wednesday.
But... but... But slavery's against the law!
I'm trying to get all worked up about a few Medes and Persians, and a few lords from the Land of the Pure, being held as slaves by their fellow Muslims. It is a character flaw, I admit, that I am unable to get past 'tepid' in my outrage...
A front man for the Danish navy, which carried out the dramatic rescue, said it was not clear that the pirates had any idea how to navigate the Iranian vessel which they had been using as a mother ship.

"They were therefore using the crew as sort of slaves," Kenneth Nielson told AFP, pointing out that the pirates had not demanded ransom for the crew members and had not tried to enrich themselves "on the hostage-taking itself."

Sixteen of the crew were rescued on Sunday night in an operation by the Danish warship Absalon, part of a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-led counter-piracy mission. However two other hostages, one Iranian and one Pak, were killed in the rescue bid.

The navy has now launched an investigation into the operation, and acknowledged that the two casualties could have by killed by the Danes.

"We cannot rule out that we were the ones who caused the deaths," Navy captain Steen Engelbrecht Pedersen told the Ritzau news agency on Tuesday.

A Danish military prosecutor had opened an investigation to "shed light on what happened," he added.

The Danish warship had been following the hijacked vessel for several days off the Somali coast, according to a Navy statement.

"When the pirates tried to leave the coast, Absalon intervened and stopped the mother ship, before it could pose a threat to shipping in the open sea."

NATO, meanwhile, said the Absalon had approached the vessel "that had been previously captured by pirates and was being used as a mother-ship."

"When warning shots were unsuccessful, small arms fire from ... Absalon disabled and stopped the vessel. Shortly after, the vessel stopped and the suspected pirates were seen dropping their weapons overboard."

Seventeen pirates had been taken into custody during the operation, according to NATO.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Africa North
Egypt Lifts Travel Ban on NGO Trial Defendants
[An Nahar] Egypt has lifted a travel ban on democracy activists, including Americans, on trial for receiving illicit foreign funding in a case that has tested relations with Washington, prosecution sources said on Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Chateaubriand ...
quickly welcomed the news but said Washington was still awaiting confirmation.

A day after judges trying the case stepped aside for unspecified reasons, the Egyptian sources said the defendants, which are said to include 19 Americans, may leave the country.

Hafez Abu Saada, a lawyer for some of the defendants, said he had been told the ban had been lifted but that the defendants would have to post bail of two million pounds (roughly $330,000/247,000 euros) each.

None of the defendants have been locked away.

Several of the Americans have sought refuge in their Cairo embassy, including Sam LaHood, the head of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute and son of U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood.

The trial has led to one of the widest rifts between Washington and its ally Egypt in recent history.

U.S. politicians have threatened that pressing on with it could imperil more than $1.3 billion the U.S. yearly gives to Egypt, mostly to the military.

Clinton said in Washington she was encouraged by the latest reports.

"We do not have confirmation that the travel ban has been lifted. We hope that it will be and we will continue to work toward that," she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But she added: "The reporting is encouraging."

At the White House, front man Jay Carney told news hounds: "I don't have any specific information about the reports that you mention."

Carney added: "We have made clear throughout the process that we consider it a very serious matter and that it had the potential of affecting our (U.S.-Egypt) relationship. I don't want to get too far ahead of these reports."

On Tuesday, Clinton had told senators that the administration was moving towards a resolving the case "very soon."

"We've had a lot of very tough conversations and I think we are moving toward a resolution," she said.

Soon after Clinton made her remarks, the judges presiding over the trial, which opened on Sunday, recused themselves. They used a phrase that could have either meant unease at the proceedings or their sense that they were being restricted.

The activists worked with five foreign NGOs accused of receiving illicit foreign funds and operating without licenses.

Four of the groups are American and the remaining one is German, and there are 43 defendants altogether.

Aside from the Americans, they are Egyptian, Paleostinian, Norwegian, Serbian and German. None of them attended Sunday's session.

The defendants and their lawyers have denied the charges, which they said were political.

Prosecutors, backed by police, raided the groups' offices in December, confiscating equipment and sealing their doors.

The investigation came as the country's ruling generals, who took power after an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
a year ago, faced growing protests pressuring them to hand power to civilians immediately.

Fayza Abul Naga, the international cooperation minister believed to be the driving force behind the trial, claimed to investigating judges that the NGOs were part of a U.S. plan to spread chaos in Egypt.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Man arrested in Cairo not Seif al-Adel: security
[Dawn] Egyptian security officials said the man they placed in durance vile at Cairo airport on Tuesday believing him to be a senior Al Qaeda leader is an Egyptian Islamist wanted in his homeland not an Al Qaeda operative.

"He is wanted for involvement with the Al-Jihad (group). He is not Seif al-Adel," said a source at the National Security apparatus.

Officials and state media earlier said the man was the senior Qaeda myrmidon Seif al-Adel.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Caribbean-Latin America
Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin

For a map, click here

Since February 23rd Mexican Army units have seized 5,164.38 kilograms of marijuana, 40 kilograms of opium gum, 30 kilograms of poppy seed, two kilograms of marijuana seeds and MP $361,299.70 (USD $28,170.86) in cash.

  • In Veracruz and Puebla states, army units with the VI Military Region seized a number of contraband items in five incidents February 23rd. The incidents took place in Tempoal, Chicontepec, Minatitlan and Martinez de la Torre municipalities in Veracruz state and San Martin Texmelucan municipality in Puebla state. Materiel seized included four rifles. three handguns, one weapons magazine, ammunition, MP $11,429.70 (USD $891.18) in cash, communications gear and three vehicles. Six unidentified individuals were also detained.

  • A detachment of the Mexican 35th Military Zone seized drugs and weapons in Guerrero state February 22rd. The unit was on patrol near the village of Otatlan the village in San Miguel Totolapan municipality when soldiers found three partially buried containers with 40 kilograms of opium gum. Also found at the scene were 30 kilograms of poppy seed, two kilograms of marijuana seeds, two handguns, one rifle, eight weapons magazines, communications gear and one vehicle.

  • Mexican Army units with the 29th, 26th and 19th Military Zones seized contraband in four separate incidents in Veracruz state February 24th.
    • In Naranjos municipality, a Mexican Army patrol came under small arms fire by an undisclosed number of armed suspects. Army return fire killed one armed suspect. Seized following the encounter were three handguns, one rifle, four grenades, 46 weapons magazines, 1,300 rounds of ammunition and four vehicles. One suspect was detained at the scene.

    • Near Minatitlan, Veracruz, an army patrol on the La Antigua-Minatitlan highway seized two tractors, seven tankers, 110,000 liters of gasoline and three metric tons of polyethylene granules.

    • In Coatzacoalcos municipality, an army unit detained one individual in a traffic stop. Soldiers found personal quantities of marijuana. The vehicle stopped has been reported stolen.

    • In Xalapa municipality, an army unit seized one armored vehicle, stolen armor plating and seven rounds of ammunition.


  • Mexican Army units with the 15th Military Zone in Jalisco state seized several contraband in four separate operations.
    • On February 23rd, acting on a citizen's complaint, in the village of San Miguel Cuyutlan municipality of Tlajomulco de Zuniga municipality, soldiers detained three unidentified individuals and seized 1,550 liters of fuel, two 1,000 liter containers, one tank with a capacity of 20,000 liters, five vehicles, MP $7,870.00 (USD $613.63) in cash, one suction pump and 10 meters of hose.

    • While on patrol near the village of Carranza in Tototlan municipality February 23rd, a Mexican Army unit seized 7,000 liters of fuel, one tank with a capacity of 31,000 liters and one vehicle.

    • Also on February 23rd acting on a citizen's complaint near the village of Santa Maria Transportina in Encarnacion de Diaz municipality, soldiers seized 73 packages of marijuana, 37 packages of glass methamphetamine, three handguns, 220 rounds of ammunition, five weapons magazines. Three unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.

    • On February 24th on the Ojuelos-San Luis Potosi road in Ojuelos municipality soldiers detained one unidentified individual and seized 155 psychotropic pills, 136 rounds of ammunition, MP $342,000.00 (USD $26,666.04) in cash and one vehicle.

  • On February 25th a detachment with the Mexican 10th Military Zone appeared at a safe house near San Juan del Rio in Durango state after receiving a citizen's complaint about a kidnapped individual. Three unidentified suspects were detained. One handgun was seized. One unidentified kidnapping victim was rescued

  • On February 26th Mexican Army units with the 26th and 29th Military Zone on patrol with Policia Federal, Mexican Naval Infantry personnel and Veracruz state police agents found a vehicle in Banderilla municipality with four rifles, 23 weapons magazines and 600 rounds of ammunition.

  • On February 26th in four separate incidents in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Jaltipan, Cosoleacaque, Coatzacoalcos, Xalapa municipalities in Veracruz state, army detachments with the Mexican 26th and 29th Military Zone seized 960 grams of marijuana, one rifle, two weapons magazines, 17 rounds of ammunition, seven vehicles and one motorcycle.

  • On February 26th units with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized drugs found in the ejido of Los Cavazos in Ciudad Reynosa municipality in Tamaulipas state. In an abandoned building soldiers found 365 packages of marijuana weighing a total of 1,753.4 kilograms.

  • In Veracruz state an army unit with the Mexican 29th Military Zone came under small arms fire while on patrol in Melgar colony in Cosoleacaque municipality February 28th. Military personnel returned fire and ended the firefight. Two unidentified individuals were detained at the scene with three firearms, three hand grenades, 17 weapons magazines, 405 rounds of ammunition and two vehicles.

  • On February 29th a Mexican Army unit with the 9th Military Zone while on patrol in Culican municipality in Sinaloa state located 148 packages of marijuana weighing 1,500 kilograms hidden in nearby brush.

  • An army unit with the 8th Military Zone seized more than 1.5 metric tons of marijuana February 29th in Tamaulipas state. The unit was on patrol at a remote rural location in Camargo municipality when it discovered a pit covered with plywood with 321 packages of marijuana weighing 1,910 kilograms.
Posted by: badanov || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
20 Died in Violence in China's Xinjiang
[An Nahar] Twenty people died when a group of gunnies attacked a market in Xinjiang, the latest outbreak of violence in the ethnically divided Chinese region, authorities said Wednesday.

The motive behind the attack late on Tuesday was not immediately clear, but Xinjiang -- a vast northwestern region that is home to the mainly Moslem Uighur minority -- has suffered repeated outbreaks of ethnic unrest in recent years.

The Xinhua state news agency initially put the toll at 12 dead, including two suspects. But the official information website Tianshan said Wednesday the corpse count was 20.

It said 13 were "innocent people" and police potted seven "terrorists". Another two "terrorists" have been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock.

"Nine violent cut-throats rushed into the crowd with knives, killing 13 innocent people and wounding several others," Tianshan said.

A police officer told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone earlier Wednesday that around a dozen Uighurs wielding axes attacked the market in the remote town of Yecheng, killing 10 people and police then shot five of the attackers dead.

Xinjiang, which borders Pakistain and Afghanistan, is home to around nine million Uighurs who complain of oppression under Chinese rule.

The number of Han -- China's dominant ethnic group -- living in the region has increased dramatically over the past decade, which government critics say results from a policy of migration to dilute any Uighur nationalist tendencies.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Uighur] TERRORISTS ATTACK IN XINJIANG - 12 DEAD!

The biggest question here is how many foreign Jihadists will now divert to West China due to this + other incidents, espec as traveled thru China's BFF + "Little Brother" Pakistan???

A bone of future past contention between Beijing + Islamabad???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/01/2012 0:21 Comments || Top||


N. Korea Agrees to Halt Nuclear Program, Let In Inspectors
[An Nahar] North Korea's new leadership said Wednesday it would suspend nuclear and missile tests and its uranium enrichment program as part of a deal that includes U.S. food aid for the impoverished nation.

The agreement, confirmed simultaneously by Washington, represents a potential breakthrough in efforts to halt the North's drive for atomic weapons following the death of longtime leader Kim Dear Leader Jong-Il
... hereditary dictator of North Korea. His definition of reunification isn't the same as the definition in Seoul...
last December.

The deal followed talks in Beijing last week between the two sides, the first dialogue since Kim's young and untested son Kim Jong-Un took power.

A Pyongyang foreign ministry front man said Washington had promised 240,000 tons of "nutritional assistance", with the prospect of additional food aid for the North, which has suffered severe food shortages since a famine in the 1990s.

The North said it would allow the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment.

The enrichment program, first disclosed in November 2010, could give the communist state a second way to make atomic weapons in addition to its longstanding plutonium program.

This is believed to have produced enough material for six to eight atomic weapons.

The North said the U.S. side offered to discuss the lifting of sanctions and provision of light-water reactors to generate electricity as a priority, once long-stalled six-party nuclear disarmament talks resume.

The Beijing discussions were aimed at persuading the North to return to the six-nation talks which it abandoned in April 2009. It staged its second atomic weapons test a month later, following the first in 2006.

There were widespread reports in December that the two sides were close to such a deal, but the sudden death of Kim Jong-Il threw the process into uncertainty.

The new leadership headed by Jong-Un has taken a generally tough tone with the United States and South Korea, blasting joint military exercises which started on Monday as a rehearsal for war.

"The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas, but today's announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Kissinger ...
told U.S. politicians the announcement "represents a modest first step in the right direction". The United States, she said, "will be watching closely and judging North Korea's new leaders by their actions."

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano called the deal "an important step forward" and Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba welcoming it in similar terms. His country is a member of the six-party talks along with the two Koreas, host China, the United States and Russia.

The North said it "agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and uranium enrichment activity at Yongbyon and (to) allow the IAEA to monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment while productive dialogues continue".

It said both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a September 2005 six-nation deal. This envisaged the North scrapping its nuclear programs in return for major diplomatic and economic benefits and for a peace treaty formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War.

In the 2005 deal, the six parties agreed to "respect" the North's desire for light-water reactors to generate electricity. Such reactors are less easily converted to military applications.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  And restart the instant the food is actually delivered,
Count on it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/01/2012 20:32 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Bomb injures ten policemen near Turkey ruling party HQ
A remote control bomb wounded ten police officers on Thursday as their vehicle passed by the Istanbul headquarters of Turkey's ruling AK Party. Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said the device was placed on a motorcycle and detonated by remote control as a police vehicle drove past, near the AK Party headquarters and the offices of a conservative business association.

Capkin said, "As a police vehicle carrying 21 officers was passing by, a remote control bomb on a motorcycle exploded. Our teams are carrying out the investigation. Ten policemen were wounded, but none of them are in critical condition."

One witness said, "There are wounded people, many ambulances are coming here after the explosion."

Another said, "It was a very strong explosion like an earthquake."

The spokesman of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association, whose headquarters are next to the AK Party building, said, "We were afraid the bomb had hit our building because the blast was so loud, windows were broken and the wounded police officers were given first aid in our building."

Fire engines and police vehicles surrounded the location, and shattered glass from nearby buildings littered the streets near the scene in Istanbul's Sutluce district.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/01/2012 03:30 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Pakistani pleads guilty in key Guantanamo case
[Dawn] US NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO BAY: Pak national Majid Khan pleaded guilty Wednesday at a Guantanamo military tribunal in a landmark case that could speed the trials of September 11 suspects.

Majid Khan, 32, a protege of September 11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, murder and attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, and to material support for terrorism and espionage.

Dressed in a dark suit and pink tie, he spoke in English without an interpreter in delivering his plea.

Khan, who has spent the last nine years behind bars, faced possible life in prison but is expected to receive a reduced sentence as part of a plea agreement.

In exchange for the lighter sentence, he will testify against other "high value" detainees, including Mohammed and four others alleged to have taken part in the 2001 attacks.

Many of the terms of the plea agreement remain classified. The Washington Post reported that the military plans to delay Khan's sentencing for four years to ensure he complies with the agreement.

"It's part of a strategy of building more solid cases against the handful of defendants that the government plans to try before the commissions," said Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer who has represented other Guantanamo detainees.

More than 10 years after the September 11 attacks, Mohammed and four co-defendants accused of plotting them are still awaiting trial at the prison, part of a US naval base in Cuba.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Muslim convert indicted in NYC match-head bomb case
NEW YORK - Jose Pimentel, an American Muslim convert accused of building a pipe bomb, has been formally indicted by a grand jury on terrorism charges, authorities said on Wednesday.

Pimentel, 27, will appear in a Manhattan court on March 13 to enter a plea on the charges, which include weapons and conspiracy counts. The indictment was released by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Pimentel, a Dominican-born US citizen, was arrested in November after a police informant secretly recorded meetings with Pimentel over several months as he bought bomb-making materials and read online instructions on how to assemble them, according to court documents.

Authorities have said he planned to attack post offices, police stations and military personnel in and around New York City.
This article starring:
Jose Pimentel
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Match Head" more like weiner head.
Posted by: Steven || 03/01/2012 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Dude, making bombs with match heads and blowing up mailboxes is soooo sixth grade.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/01/2012 2:09 Comments || Top||

#3  SteveS, yeah I know, you too?
Posted by: Steven || 03/01/2012 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  27?? He looks the wrong side of 40.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/01/2012 14:30 Comments || Top||

#5  SteveS, yeah I know, you too?

Heh. Well, not the mailboxes. We were interested in explosions, not petty vandalism. And we quickly graduated from match heads to more interesting ingredients, a educational journey that ended when our search for a better oxidizer was all too successful.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/01/2012 16:11 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Hamid Gul a complimentary member of Stratfor, says report
[Dawn] Former spy chief of Pakistain General Hamid Gul
The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command...
was reportedly a member of the US intelligence firm Stratfor, it emerged on Wednesday.

A report published in the Indian daily Times of India says that approximately five million emails of the Texas-based think tank were revealed by WikiLeaks.

"Whereas seemingly large numbers of Stratfor's subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave complimentary membership to General Hamid Gul, the controversial former head of Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006," the report said.

The former ISI chief, who served from 1987 to 1989, remains a controversial figure in the local and international media.

According to TOI, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused Stratfor of running a network of paid informants, monitoring activist groups on behalf of major multinationals and making investments based on its secret intelligence.

Stratfor, meanwhile, rejected claims that there was anything improper in the way it handled its informants.

WikiLeaks alleges that Stratfor fronts as an intelligence publisher, but is in fact a private intelligence agency. Its clients reportedly include Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and United States government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Marines and the Defence Intelligence Agency.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


LeT militants arrested in foiled New Delhi attack: Chidambaram
[Dawn] India's home minister said Wednesday that police had foiled an attack by suspected Islamic fascisti allegedly from the Pakistain-based Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT) group who were caught with explosives at a rail station.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram told news hounds that two men were tossed in the clink at New Delhi's main station after a tip-off from intelligence agencies and work by three state police agencies.

"They were planning to detonate a bomb or more than one bomb in a crowded locality," he said, citing initial reports from the police investigation.

The pair is to be produced before a local court and jugged for 10 days.

An unspecified number of other suspects had also been jugged in connection with the alleged plot, Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram said it was "an important module" of the group that had been planning a "terrorist incident in Delhi".

Neither he nor the police, who also reportedly said an attack had been imminent, would disclose when the men were jugged.

The arrests, if followed by convictions, would be an intelligence coup for the Indian security forces which have been criticised for failing to prevent, or catch those responsible for, a string of blasts over the last few years.

New Delhi has been a frequent target for terror attacks.

In September, a bomb outside Delhi High Court killed 14 people, while in early February a kaboom badly maimed an Israeli diplomat in the heart of the city near the prime minister's residence.

A senior New Delhi police official, P.N. Agarwal, told news hounds that security forces had recovered material for making bombs from the suspects.

"We have recovered items required for making an IED (improvised bomb), passports and memory cards that show how to make a bomb and training in weapons handling," Agarwal said.

"We are expecting one or two more arrests."
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  At current birth + demographic rates, Muslims will a too-big-n-powerful/influential minority group in India well before 2050 - India's Hindus will likely stay the superior but not by much.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/01/2012 0:15 Comments || Top||


Bomb kills women, child in Khyber agency
[Dawn] Two women and a child were killed on Wednesday when a bomb destroyed their vehicle in a tribal belt on the Afghan border, officials said.

The blast took place on the outskirts of Bara, a restive town of Khyber district bordering Afghanistan.

"At least two women and a child were killed and five others were maimed in a kaboom," Khyber's administrator Mutahir Zeb Khan told AFP.

The bomb was planted on the roadside and detonated remotely as the pick-up vehicle carrying the passengers passed, he said. The target was unclear.

Nobody grabbed credit for the attack, but similar bombings in the past have been blamed on gun-hung tough guys linked to the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Third Swabi school blown up in five days
[Dawn] Unidentified snuffies blew up a government primary school in Razzar tehsil of Swabi district on Tuesday.

It was third incident of its kind in the area during the last five days. "One of the two bombs planted by suspected snuffies at the school went off while the other was defused by Bomb Disposal Squad," police said.

Officials of Kalu Khan cop shoppe said that snuffies had planted two bombs at the school in Muradabad, Karnal Sher Khan Kallay. They said that the school building was destroyed when one of the bombs went off at midnight.

Police from the nearby post reached the site and seized the unwent kaboom! bomb, which was defused later, they said.

The boys and girls, getting education at the said school, were told to remain at home till further order. An FIR was registered in Kalu Khan cop shoppe against unidentified persons.

In the same area, three persons were killed on Feb 10 when hand grenades were hurled at them as they were returning from the public meeting of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
. In Karak, police foiled a bid of terrorism on Tuesday by defusing a missile, planted at a hilltop near the Gurguri oil and gas plant.

A shepherd informed police about the presence of the four-foot long missile, planted ostensibly by unidentified cut-throats on Monday night to target the oil and gas plant.

A heavy contingent of police along with Bomb Disposal Squad was sent to the area to defuse the missile. Police said that range of the missile was 30 to 35 kilometres.

DPO Sajjad Khan told journalists at his office that apparently the cut-throats had come from North Wazoo side as the tribal region was only at a distance of eight kilometres from the border of the district.

The Gurguri oil and gas plant was extremely vulnerable, the DPO said. He added that checkpoints of Frontier Constabulary and Levies should be set up on the nearby hilltops to make the oil and gas plant secure.

Mr Khan said that it was second attempt of its kind in the current month. The first attempt was made by cut-throats on Feb 11 when they targeted the plant with rockets.

"After the first attack on the plant, I provided three new vehicles, heavy weapons and a platoon of Elite Force to Banda Daud Shah police to beef up security of the oil and gas installations," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Militants active in Nowshera, says minister
[Dawn] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said Death Eaters maintain a significant presence in several parts of Nowshera district and warned that their protectors would not be spared any longer.

Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, the minister said Death Eaters had maintained presence in several pockets of Nowshera district, including Badrushee, Bahadur Baba, Akora Khattak and Nowshera.

"Nowshera Death Eaters have links with Darra Admakhel and this channel goes up to North Wazoo Agency," Mr Hussain said, adding that the fresh wave of terrorism in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and Nowshera had its origin in Nowshera's pockets of turbans.He said the Darra Adamkhel forces of Evil couldn't access Peshawar from the main routes and therefore, they had selected Nowshera hills to access Peshawar.

Before a kaboom at Nowshera on February 27, 2012, Peshawar saw two terrorist attacks on two consecutive days, leaving 15 people dead on February 23 and four coppers the next day.

He said his government had lost tolerance and no one from among all those who were protecting Death Eaters in Nowshera district would be spared.

"Hosting forces of Evil in hujras, religious seminaries, houses and hills for weeks and months is not lawful. The tolerance for such acts has been fading away. The time has come to put a strong hand on all those providing refuge to forces of Evil anywhere in Nowshera district," he said. He further said the government strongly appealed to all to withdraw their support to terrorists.

"If they (militants' supporters) did not desist, we would put a hand on them no matter how strong they might be," said Mr Hussain.

When asked if he was referring to Maulana Samiul Haq's Madrassa Haqania in Akora Khattak, the minister said: "I have not taken any name, whoever he might be we are ready to give a respectable passage to the turbans' protectors, requesting them to withdraw their support from them.

"I am not blaming anyone, Death Eaters have established a network from Waziristan to Darra Admakhel to Nowshera that we need to eliminate."

He said it had become clear that Death Eaters had pockets in Nowshera to carry out activities in the district.

On the occasion, Mr Iftikhar announced on behalf of his government a compensation package, including Rs300,000 for each of the four persons killed in Nowshera's bombing and Rs100,000 each for the injured. He said the district administration had also been directed to employ to vacant posts one person from the families of each dead.

He said terror victims were workers of Awami National Party, including Mohammad Israr, Sabz Ali, Tariq and Hussain.

The minister said Death Eaters had said they carried out the attack to target ANP and by coming up with that reason, they wanted to divide the society into political and sectarian groups to achieve nefarious designs.

"Before ANP's Nowshera public meeting, Death Eaters had carried out attacks against Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
, 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 close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. 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...
, Pakistain People's Party, mosques, imambargahs, bus stands, schools and other places in fulfillment of their 'grand strategy' to break up the society into many segments.

We appeal to all political parties and people belonging to different ideologies to lend their support to it for fighting Death Eaters out," he said.

Mr Hussain said ANP firmly believed that Pakistain, Afghanistan and the US were not left with much time and that they needed to act cohesively to take on terrorists.

"They are losing time and are left with no option but to adopt a common strategy and agenda for negotiations with terrorists.

Stakeholders to Pakistain-Afghanistan regional peace, including terrorist (Taliban) should announce their respective agenda and negotiators for future," he said.

He said if Death Eaters didn't cooperate, then the governments of the three countries should jointly crush them.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Gunmen kidnap Christian hospital staff
Karachi - Gunmen on Wednesday abducted two Pakistani Christians working for a South Korean-run hospital in a violent slum area of the country's largest city Karachi, police said.

Kidnappings by criminal groups for ransom are relatively common in the nuclear-armed country and victims can be sold onto Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militant groups based along the north-western Afghan border.

Four armed men stopped a car taking local staff to the Good Samaritan Hospital in the western neighbourhood of Orangi, an impoverished area that was last year hard hit by political and ethnically linked shootings.

"They asked the occupants: 'Who is Korean among you?'" said local police station chief Sabir Khan. "They replied: 'None of us.'

"However they snatched two hospital employees - a computer operator and an administration assistant. Both are members of the Pakistani Christian community, and fled in a car."

No foreigners were in the vehicle that was stopped, Khan said.

"We have sent teams to track down the kidnappers and recover the staff members," he added.

Male nurse Austin John, a 30-year-old Pakistani, said he had narrowly escaped being kidnapped along with his colleagues.

"A blue car intercepted us and four men who looked Pashtun from the northwest came out. They ordered us to get out and asked: 'Who is Korean among you?'" he said.

Their driver fled and the three hospital staff members were bundled toward the kidnappers' car, John said.

"But there wasn't enough space and they dropped me. One of them said 'shoot him in the back' but I got unexpected courage and ran for safety behind the van and shouted for help. They fled," he said.

The Good Samaritan Hospital treats mostly poor Pakistanis and has been run by a South Korean charity for more than a decade, one of its doctors said.

Five foreign aid and development workers have gone missing or been kidnapped across Pakistan since August, and the doctor said that there had been rising concerns about security at the hospital. nTwo months ago, a South Korean affiliated to a nearby church was shot and wounded, and three years ago a local employee was briefly abducted but released unharmed, she said by telephone.

"But this is the first time that our employees have been abducted in an armed hold-up like this," she said. "There were no direct threats to the hospital, but we had felt insecure over the past few months and police beefed up security."

Ten doctors work at the Good Samaritan Hospital, six of them foreigners, and the clinic treats mostly poor Pakistanis for a nominal fee.

The country director of Save the Children has said more expat aid workers are being held captive in Pakistan than in any other country in the world.

There is a tiny Christian minority in Pakistan, where only 3% of the population of 174 million are estimated to be non-Muslim and where the Vatican has said Christians are often victims of violence and discrimination.

Targeted killings in Karachi have been linked to ethnic tensions between the Mohajirs, the Urdu-speaking majority represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and Pashtun migrants affiliated to the Awami National Party.
Hate to say it, but all foreign NGOs, particularly and especially Christian ones, should leave Pakistain, and the U.S. ought to offer protection and visas to the Christian and other non-Muslim minorities there. Settle them in the American southwest along the Mexican border, and they could help us in return for sanctuary.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
At least ten injured in grenade attack in southern Thailand
At least ten people in the Rueso district of Thailand's Narathiwat province were injured after two teenagers wearing school uniforms tossed a hand grenade at the crowd on a sidewalk early Thursday morning. Two young men wearing Islamic school uniforms rode a motorcycle to downtown Rueso district where a number of people were buying food at the roadside when a man riding pillion threw a hand grenade at the crowd.

At least ten people were wounded, including six women, three men and a three-year-old boy were hurt in the attack. Among these two were severely wounded.

Three wounded in two attacks

Two soldiers and an assistant village leader were injured in two attacks, one each in Narathiwat and Yala provinces, on Thursday.

In Narathiwat, terrorists militants detonated a home-made bomb while a pick-up truck with six soldiers on board was heading toward a local village. Sub-Lt Rapeepat Mongkol, 25, the team leader, and Sgt Sompot Noochan, 32, were injured. The vehicle was damaged.

In Yala, Makruri Mani, 40, the assistant leader of a village was shot at by gunmen while delivering some articles to a tea shop early this morning. He was hit in the left arm.

Multiple arson incidents in Pattani province

Fires broke out almost simultaneously at six different locations in Pattani province early Thursday morning.

In Muang district, a fire began in the Super Department Store in the business district of Pattani town about 1 a.m. Fire engines rushed to the scene and the fire was brought under control in about 20 minutes after causing damage to part of the building and some stock. A security guard said he heard an explosion before seeing the fire and smoke. Police said the fire was caused by an incendiary bomb thrown into the store.

About the same time, another fire occurred in the front of Big C superstore in Muang district. The fire was quickly put out by security guards after causing some damage.

In Khok Pho district, the first fire was in a warehouse and the second at the KP Minimart in the Khok Pho municipality.

Pattani governor Theera Mintrasak said each of the four fires were started by an incendiary bomb.

In Sai Buri district, a fire broke out at a highway office on the Pattani-Narathiwat road. The fire partly damaged the highway office and another building nearby. A hand grenade was also found inside a can and disposed of by police arriving at the scene.

Another fire was set on the tires of an 18-wheel truck parked on a road causing little damage.

Police believed the arson was the work of southern terrorists militants.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/01/2012 03:11 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:


Improvised bomb discovered at Philippine airport
Posted by: ryuge || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION MABUHAY, CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > MANILA DISPUTES BEIJING'S SOUTH CHINA SEAS CLAIM, asserting its right to ask or invite foreign companies to search for Oil-Gas, etc. in SCS areas extending from the PHIL's West Coasts to Phil-claimed island groups.

versus

* WORLD MIL FORUM > CHINESE EXPERTS: PHILIPPINES' INTERNAL OR DOMESTIC PROBLEMS IS LEADING IT TO PICK ON CHINA IN SOUTH CHINA SEAS DISPUTES. PHILIPPINES HAS MASSIVE CORRUPTION, COMMUNIST, ETHNIC + MUSLIM GUERILLAS IN ARMED STRUGGLES FOR RIGHTS AND SOVEREIGNTY. NEW EX-US "HAMILTON" CLASS COASTAL WARSHIPS IS NOT ENOUGH TO STOP CHINA FROM ASSERTING ITS RIGHTS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA OR HUMILIATING THE PHILIPPINES IN WAR.

* Also from WMF > CHINA DEMANDS JAPAN IMMEDIATELY CEASE UNILATERAL SURVEY IN EAST CHINA SEA. REJECTION BY JAPAN OF LINES OF DEMARCATION + PROPOSED JOINT SINO-JAPANESE DEVELOPMENT OF EAST CHINA SEA.

* SAME > TOKYO'S ISHIHARA: JAPAN MAY BECOME A "SIXTH STAR" IN CHINA'S NATIONAL FLAG. JAPAN IN TIME TO BECOME A COLONY EITHER OF THE US OR CHINA UNLESS IT TAKES STEPS TO MILPOL PROTECT ITSELF. MAINSTREAM JAPANESE TORN BETWEEN UNHAPPINESS OVER ON-GOING, POST-WW2 US-JAPAN SECURITY TREATY, WHILE ALSO NOT WANTING TO CHANGE TREATY BUT DESIRING FOR THE WORLD TO SEE POST-COLD WAR JAPAN AS A LEGITIMATE MAJOR/GREAT POWER.

ME > Ishihara is once again trying hard to infer that JAPAN NEEDS NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Can't really blame ole' Ishi given ...

* RUSSIAN MILBLOGGERS/POSTERS = opine that RUSSIA SHOULD RE-OCCUPY HOKKAIDO VEE TERMS OF JAPAN'S SURRENDER TREATY, iff Nippon keeps bothering or foolishly dares to go to war wid Russia oer the South Kuriles; or iff CHINA REGAINS RIGHTS TO OKINAWA = FORMER RYUKYU VASSAL KINGDOM, i.e. when it is clear that Japan can't or won't any longer defend Japanese territory and its ally the US didn't stop it.

-------

FYI GUAMPDN FORUMS > JAPAN NEVER RECOVERED FROM [Tohoku/Fukushima]EARTHQUAKE.

Like Charlie Sheen, Nippon is [not] winning???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/01/2012 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2  CHINESE EXPERTS: PHILIPPINES' INTERNAL OR DOMESTIC PROBLEMS IS LEADING IT TO PICK ON CHINA

The poor darlings. So they see themselves as the big, dumb lug bullied by smaller, nimbler opponents? Interesting, that.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/01/2012 11:18 Comments || Top||

#3  ME > Ishihara is once again trying hard to infer that JAPAN NEEDS NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

More fallout (heh) from the fear that the US is no longer providing regional security guarantees.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/01/2012 15:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels pull out of Homs after siege
Weary Syrian rebels left a shattered district of Homs on Thursday after a 26-day military siege aimed at crushing a symbol of the almost year-long revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Activists said a few fighters had stayed on in Baba Amr, which has endured weeks of shelling, sniper fire and privation, to cover the "tactical withdrawal" of their comrades.

"The Free Syrian Army and all the other fighters have left Baba Amr, they pulled out," one activist said from Homs.

A statement in the name of the fighters urged the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups to enter Baba Amr and bring aid to 4,000 civilians who had stayed in their destroyed houses.

"We warn the regime against any retaliation against civilians and we hold it fully responsible for their safety," the statement said.

One activist said Syrian soldiers had begun moving into Baba Amr from all directions after most of the fighters left and were hunting the rest. At least 17 rebels were killed, he said.

Posted by: tipper || 03/01/2012 13:13 || Comments || Link || [336106 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And now the 'pacification' begins.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/01/2012 13:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Rebels? I thought these were unarmed demonstrators. Sounds like a re-run of Fallujah without the drone and JDAM strikes. And just like Fallujah, the Sunni Arab rebels used human shields. Unlike Fallujah, the Sunni Arab rebels hope to get the Western powers to win their war for them.

Now that Assad has crushed the rebel stronghold in Homs after using limited artillery prep to inflict perhaps 1000 casualties on rebels and their hostages/human shields (as opposed to Assad pere's 30K killed in Hama 30 years ago), he will move on to Hama, the Islamist heart of Syria. Will the pacification of Hama prove as restrained* as that of Homs, or will it be a repeat of Hafez's WW2-style block-by-block demolition in 1982?

* Pictures of Homs have tended to be tight shots of individual structures destroyed, instead of wide angle shots of rubble in every direction. The latter was what happened to Hama.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/01/2012 15:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Are there any good photos of Hama after its 1982 destruction?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/01/2012 18:38 Comments || Top||

#4  'any good photos of Hama after its 1982 destruction?'
one here
http://0.tqn.com/d/middleeast/1/0/w/E/-/-/hama-massacre.jpg
Posted by: linker || 03/01/2012 20:52 Comments || Top||


Students in Syria's Aleppo Urge City to Revolt
[An Nahar] Hundreds of students in Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, Syria's second city largely spared anti-regime protests and the ensuing crackdown, called on Monday for the city to join the revolt, monitors and activists said.

"Hundreds of students protested Monday against the regime at the University of Aleppo," the country's economic hub, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Protesters at the science and computer science faculties called for the "execution of president" Bashir al-Assad, according to activists calling themselves "the Union of Free Students in Syria," contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse on Skype.

At the department of dentistry, a statue of former president Hafez al-Assad was demolished, they said.

"Aleppo, rise up! Shake the presidential palace," chanted students at the faculty of civil engineering, according to a video posted online whose authenticity could not be confirmed.

"Martyrs, rest in peace, we will continue the fight," students shouted in a hall of the dentistry school, in another video posted by activists.

Dozens of pro-regime gunnies, known as Shabiha, stormed the dentistry department to end a sit-in protest by hundreds of students, the Syrian Observatory said, adding that gunshots were fired and 16 students jugged.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Kuwait MPs Vote to Recognize Syria's Opposition National Council
[An Nahar] Kuwaiti MPs overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Wednesday calling on the government to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Forty-four members including all cabinet ministers present voted in favor of the non-binding resolution, while five MPs opposed it.

The motion noted that the "Syrian people are facing bloody massacres at the hands of the brutal Baathist regime of (President) Bashir al-Assad."

"This is a butcher regime that is killing its own people and has lost its legitimacy," opposition MP Mussallam al-Barrak said.

A number of Shiite MPs opposed the recommendation.

Thirty-three MPs also filed a motion calling to debate the Syrian issue on Thursday with the aim of calling for "moral and material support" for the Syrian people.

Last week, five opposition MPs, including parliament speaker Ahmed al-Saadoun, submitted a bill calling for the scrapping of all economic cooperation agreements with Syria.

The bill would also require the government to cancel a host of agreements, sever diplomatic ties with Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
and ban all loans to Syria.

Earlier this month, Kuwait joined other Gulf states in expelling the Syrian ambassador and recalling its own envoy from Damascus.

Kuwaitis have held repeated demonstrations against the deadly crackdown in Syria by Assad's regime, which the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
says has left more than 7,500 people dead since last March.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syria Refuses Entry to U.N. Humanitarian Chief
[An Nahar] Syria on Wednesday refused to let U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos enter the country to assess the growing crisis blamed on the government's deadly clampdown on protests, the U.N. official said.

The U.N. undersecretary general had been in the region waiting for a visa to go to Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
. But Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
's government did not respond to U.N. requests, diplomats said.

"I am deeply disappointed that I have not been able to visit Syria, despite my repeated requests to meet Syrian officials at the highest level to discuss the humanitarian situation and the need for unhindered access to the people affected by the violence," Amos said in a statement.

The rejection came as Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary general who has been named as the international envoy on the Syria crisis, prepares to head to the region.

Annan was to hold talks in New York with U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
on Wednesday. Diplomats said Annan was expected to leave for the Middle East on Friday -- probably for Cairo to meet the head of 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...
, Nabil al-Arabi.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian Opposition Forms Bureau to Lead 'Armed Resistance'
[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Council announced Wednesday setting up a military bureau to supervise the "armed resistance" against the regime, as Washington raised fears of al-Qaeda taking advantage of arming the rebellion.

"The SNC has decided to set up a military bureau, acknowledging the importance of putting controls on the armed resistance in Syria and in support of the Free (Syrian) Army," the umbrella exile-alliance of several opposition groups said in a statement.

It said the new body will be made of officers and civilians and will be charged with "organizing the ranks of the armed resistance forces, as well as assessing its needs and managing its finances and operations."

The armed rebellion will be "put under the political supervision of the SNC," it said.

Mohammed al-Sarmini, a front man of the SNC, told Agence La Belle France Presse that the decision was taken in "coordination" with the rebel Free Syrian Army, comprised mainly of army deserters.

He said the head of the SNC, Burhan Ghalioun, was to hold a presser on Thursday in Gay Paree to give further details on the new body.

The White House said Tuesday that al-Qaeda's efforts to take advantage of violence in Syria meant now is not the time to send arms to rebels in Syria, days after Soddy Arabia and Qatar appeared in favor of arming the rebels in the face of a deadly crackdown by regime forces.

More than 7,500 people have been killed in Syria since protests against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
erupted in March 2011, according to U.N. figures.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


23 Civilians, 8 Troops Dead as Syrian Forces Launch Ground Assault on Baba Amr
[An Nahar] Syrian forces on Wednesday killed 23 people across the country and launched a ground assault on a rebel-held district of Homs after shelling it for 26 straight days, as world pressure grew for humanitarian access to besieged protest cities.

A security source told Agence La Belle France Presse in Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
that Baba Amr "is under control," after activists had earlier said that elite troops of the Fourth Armored Division had taken up position around the holdout neighborhood of Syria's third-largest city.

"The army has started combing the area building by building and house by house. Now the troops are searching every basement and tunnel for arms and terrorists," the security source said.

"There remain only few pockets" of resistance.

A human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
watchdog and an activist in the central city however denied that troops had moved into Baba Amr, insisting that festivities were taking place only on the outskirts of the flashpoint neighborhood.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights insisted that rebel forces were "preventing an attempt to storm" Baba Amr and that gunfire could be heard in several districts of Homs.

Homs-based activist Hadi Abdullah reported festivities and heavy shelling of Baba Amr but insisted that ground troops had not entered the neighborhood.

"Regime forces did not enter Baba Amr until this moment. They are surrounding the district, while festivities are concentrated in the neighborhoods of Inshaat and Malaab," he told AFP by telephone.

Abdullah said activists were "evacuating families because shelling has been targeting places that were considered safe in the past."

The arrival of the Fourth Armored Division, which is under the command of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's brother Maher, was a likely prelude to a final assault, he added.

Rebel commanders said access to Homs was now completely blocked after regular troops blew up an underground aqueduct that had been the last viable route for smuggling of desperately needed supplies.

Abdullah added that power had been cut to most of the city, a measure he said was another sign of possible looming attack.

Efforts to bring out Le Figaro journalist Edith Bouvier, who is trapped inside Baba Amr with multiple fractures, intensified after her British colleague Paul Conroy was successfully smuggled out to Leb on Monday night.

"We expect the government in Damascus to put all the conditions in place for a safe and rapid evacuation, in particular an immediate ceasefire in Baba Amr," said French foreign ministry front man Bernard Valero.

Thirteen Syrian activists were killed trying to help Bouvier and Conroy and to bring in aid to Baba Amr, international activist group Avaaz said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
security forces killed 11 civilians in the province of Homs, the Local Coordination Committees said.

Elsewhere, three people were killed in Damascus' countryside, three in the southern province of Daraa, two in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, three in the northwestern province of Idlib, one in the central province of Hama and another in the coastal city of Latakia, the LCC said.

The Observatory said eight members of the security forces also died on Wednesday in festivities with rebel fighters and attacks in the Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
region in the north and Daraa in the south.

At the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
, diplomats said Washington had begun work on a new draft Security Council resolution demanding humanitarian access to besieged protest cities, such as Homs.

"This resolution will concentrate on humanitarian access to the cities, but it will indicate that the government is the cause of the crisis," one Security Council diplomat said.

Western nations hope that focusing on the humanitarian crisis will persuade Russia and China not to use their veto powers as permanent members of the 15-member council as they did against previous Western-drafted resolutions last October and again in early February.

The French foreign ministry front man said the new text calls for a halt to violence and "immediate, unhindered access for humanitarian aid to the most threatened sites and the most vulnerable populations."

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "I solemnly appeal to Russia and China that they do not block this new resolution at the Security Council."

Work on the new draft started after Arab and Western governments met for an inaugural Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis last week, diplomats said.

"We really hope that by concentrating on an appeal for an end to the violence and getting humanitarian access we can get the support of everyone, including Russia and China," said one Western envoy.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has told 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...
chief Nabil al-Arabi that international humanitarian aid should be allowed into Syria, Chinese state media said.

"The international community should create favorable conditions in this regard and provide humanitarian aid to Syria," state news agency Xinhua quoted Yang as saying.

On Tuesday, Russia had urged Syria to cooperate with the Red Thingy to allow the relief agency to deliver aid.

"It is important that the Syrian government cooperates with the International Committee of the Red Thingy," said Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.

U.N. political chief B Lynn Pascoe told the Security Council "well over 7,500" people have been killed Syria since protests against Assad's regime erupted in March last year.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem asked U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
to clarify the precise objective of the mission entrusted to Kofi Annan, his predecessor who has been appointed as U.N. and Arab League envoy, according to ministry front man, Jihad Makdissi.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Russia upgrades radar station in Syria to aid Iran
JERUSALEM -- Russia has upgraded a surveillance station it maintains in Syrian territory in order to provide Iran early warning of an Israeli attack, according to the Israeli security-related blog Debkafile.
Grain of salt but this certainly sounds reasonable. If there's ever a time for Putin and Co. to put their markers down, it's to defend Iran from an Israeli air strike. If the Israelis pull it off no one is going to want Russian air defense systems ever again.
The surveillance station, located south of Damascus, had been able to monitor air traffic in Israel as far south as Tel Aviv, as well as northern Jordan and western Iraq.

Since the upgrade, its range reportedly extends to all parts of Israel and Jordan and as far south as the northern part of Saudi Arabia.

According to the report, Russia has introduced cutting-edge technology to the station and expanded its manpower.
Is it good enough not to be jammed (again) by the Israelis? That's the key question.
Russia has taken a firm stand against any military attack on Iran or any attempt to force Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.
This then adds to the reasons why Russia would veto any attempt to remove Pencilneck from Syria: both Russia and Iran need Syria as part of Iran's defense, and the Russians don't think that Assad's successor will be nearly as cooperative. That's a big flaw in their thinking; they should have had a successor lined up in the wings for just such occasions. Then they could have offered Assad a dacha on the Black Sea and kept things nice and quiet.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this week that Russia is concerned about the threat of an attack against Iran.

"If it happens, the fallout would be truly catastrophic," he said, also warning that any outside attempt to displace Mr. Assad would open Syria to "a Libyan scenario."

Debkafile said the upgrade of the electronic surveillance station at Jabal Al Harrah was in response to concern expressed by Iran that the station's resources were being stretched to the limit by providing so much intelligence to the Assad regime in Syria that Tehran no longer could rely on its real-time warnings of an Israeli attack.

The monitoring station had been providing Mr. Assad with information on the Syrian resistance movements.
That's a little strange: Pencilneck needs radar warning of what the resistance is doing?
Russia also has expanded the capabilities of a Russian-equipped Syrian radar station on Lebanon's Mount Sannine in order to extend its range to include Cyprus and Greece, and observe U.S. and Israeli naval and aerial movements in the eastern Mediterranean.

This expansion also would permit Russia to provide Tehran with a warning if American planes head east from the Mediterranean in the direction of Iran.

While the upgrade of Jabal Al Harrah was under way from January through mid-February, the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov was in the Syrian port of Tartus, where its electronic systems maintained an alert for possible Israeli air formations heading east.
It's interesting that the Russians were worried enough to do this. Wonder what is going on behind the scenes...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fine. They can use their new senses to add a new dimension to mess with their minds. It also suggests that everyone thinks the attack will be airborne.
Posted by: gorb || 03/01/2012 4:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Is it good enough not to be jammed (again) by the Israelis? That's the key question.

But they didn't jam it. They spooked it, so the Syrians watching the screens didn't even know they'd come until they'd left.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/01/2012 9:31 Comments || Top||

#3  "If it happens, the fallout would be truly catastrophic,"
An interesting turn of phrase, given northernly winds.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/01/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Wikileaks reported Israeli tech sold to Georgia and Russian codes for surveullance system they sold to, Iran exchanged so so Putin has made his strategic play to cover his butt with the mullahs--he better have a 360 pivot on his neck as he'll never know where or when the Reaper will come....
Posted by: Omoluque Hapsburg8162 || 03/01/2012 10:29 Comments || Top||

#5  "If it happens, the fallout would be truly catastrophic," he said,

depends on the prevailing wind
Posted by: Frank G || 03/01/2012 10:41 Comments || Top||

#6  "It's interesting that the Russians were worried enough to do this. Wonder what is going on behind the scenes..."

a russian firesale and extraction - the impending disress on russian foreign affairs needs to be nipped in the bud by the Kremlin - call it 'cover ya asses boys , the truth may come out '

lex parsimoniae aka Okkams razor
Posted by: MacNails || 03/01/2012 16:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Or to preclude a "kinetic action".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/01/2012 16:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Nice turn of phrase g(r)omgoru , unfortunately we are beyond the point of preclude . To give a British understatement ... I cant see anything on the horizon apart from a major situation aka fuck up based on Russian and Chinese arse covering . It will be interesting to see how they untangle the fish nets on this one , especially when they've had 20 years to sort their backyard out yet happily sat on the apathy band wagon whilst raking in the finances .
Posted by: MacNails || 03/01/2012 17:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Incidentally, the carrier and its support group in Tartus could actually be backhanded support for a strike on various complexes in Iran - a buy off during the clean up . Internationally, the scales need to be balanced to save face

Who knows ? - half the fun though eh , this is the most fascinating and interesting play of gamesmanship and brinkmanship for a loooong time
Posted by: MacNails || 03/01/2012 17:25 Comments || Top||

#10  they should have had a successor lined up in the wings for just such occasions They are most likely working on that right now.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/01/2012 18:53 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2012-03-01
  Syrian rebels pull out of Homs after siege
Wed 2012-02-29
  Singapore: Iran assassination plot against Israeli Defence Minister Barak foiled
Tue 2012-02-28
  Yemen's Saleh formally steps down after 33 years
Mon 2012-02-27
  Congressmen Attacked on Mount of Olives
Sun 2012-02-26
  Afghan interior ministry employee sought in NATO killings
Sat 2012-02-25
  Yemen gets new president after 33 years
Fri 2012-02-24
  Air strke kills al-Shaboobs
Thu 2012-02-23
  Ansar as-Sunna Chief Arrested on Syria-Iraq Border
Wed 2012-02-22
  Hugo has new tumor
Tue 2012-02-21
  Afghans rescue 41 child suicide bombers
Mon 2012-02-20
  Syrian army reinforcements head to Homs
Sun 2012-02-19
  Iran stops oil sales to British, French
Sat 2012-02-18
  SWIFT To Cut Off Iran - No Financial Telecommunications
Fri 2012-02-17
  Feds arrest another thinks-he-is suicide bomber heading to Capitol building
Thu 2012-02-16
  U.S. drone kills five insurgents in Miranshah

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