Hi there, !
Today Sun 06/26/2011 Sat 06/25/2011 Fri 06/24/2011 Thu 06/23/2011 Wed 06/22/2011 Tue 06/21/2011 Mon 06/20/2011 Archives
Rantburg
531695 articles and 1855968 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 74 articles and 145 comments as of 13:00.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
AL chief slams NATO bombing in Libya
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 00:00 Frank G [1] 
12 00:00 swksvolFF [1] 
2 00:00 Rob Crawford [] 
4 00:00 Barbara [2] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
5 00:00 Mitch H. [1] 
1 00:00 Slomoter Wheatch9268 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Mitch H. [] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [1] 
1 00:00 Anonymoose [1] 
1 00:00 Glenmore [] 
0 [1] 
1 00:00 DepotGuy [] 
24 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [2] 
0 [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [1]
0 [2]
15 00:00 Barbara [1]
0 []
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [1]
3 00:00 tipper [1]
3 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
3 00:00 texhooey [1]
2 00:00 Nimble Spemble [1]
0 []
0 [2]
0 [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [1]
0 [1]
5 00:00 Bulldog [2]
0 [2]
10 00:00 Frank G [2]
2 00:00 gorb []
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
4 00:00 john frum []
0 []
0 []
3 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [1]
0 []
5 00:00 Threating Sforza2803 []
1 00:00 Anonymoose [1]
5 00:00 Frank G [2]
0 [2]
8 00:00 Dale [1]
1 00:00 Anonymoose [2]
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [2]
1 00:00 SteveS [1]
Page 4: Opinion
4 00:00 Chavinter Hupavirong3890 []
4 00:00 My two cents [1]
1 00:00 charger [1]
3 00:00 ryuge []
Page 6: Politix
4 00:00 trailing wife [2]
0 [1]
6 00:00 Pappy []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Selma Blair aka Cecile Caldwell in "Cruel Intentions" aka Shawn Holloway in "Kill Me Later" aka Vivian in "Legally Blonde" aka Liz Sherman in "Hellboy" aka Stevie Wayne in "The Fog (2005 film)" aka Beth Hagan in "The Night of the White Pants" aka Abigail, the reclusive heiress in "Columbus Circle" (age 39)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/23/2011 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Panetta's predecessor said, "Any President who puts a large land army in Asia, should have his head examined." How could he top that?
Posted by: Slomoter Wheatch9268 || 06/23/2011 3:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I like that picture of Maude. Is she one of the Touchy-Fealys?
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 06/23/2011 19:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Go to your room, CS. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 06/23/2011 22:43 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate in Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold
h/t Instapundit
The average monthly casualty rate for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan has increased 5-fold since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.

1,540 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct. 7,2001, when U.S. forces began action in that country to oust the Taliban regime that had been harboring al Qaeda and to track down and capture or kill al Qaeda terrorists.
During the Bush presidency, which ended on Jan. 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama, U.S. troops were present in Afghanistan for 87.4 months and suffered 570 casualties--a rate of 6.5 deaths per month.

During the Obama presidency, through today, U.S. troops have been present in Afghanistan for 29.1 months and have suffered 970 casualties--a rate of 33.3 deaths per month.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/23/2011 03:57 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What a disappoinment! I was sure this was on the front page of the New York Times, or the Washington Post.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/23/2011 6:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Is that what he meant by 'Hope and Change'?
Posted by: Louisiana Steve || 06/23/2011 9:27 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not surprising, given that the level of operations has increased.
Posted by: Gloria || 06/23/2011 9:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Funny how you don't see the MSM report each and every casualty anymore. I still remember Andrea Mitchell's reporting them from the White House with almost orgasmic glee back when Bush was president.

Of course it has nothing to do with who's in the White house now....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/23/2011 10:11 Comments || Top||

#5  please. Do not mention Andrea Mitchell and any form of the word orgasm in the same sentence. TYVM
Posted by: Frank G || 06/23/2011 10:29 Comments || Top||

#6  How much of this might be attributed to the war in Iraq winding down and the bad guys redeploying, combined with our own surge. Not really an Obama issue the way I see it. Just the ebb and flow of a multiple theater conflict.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/23/2011 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  fatalities this June are going to be well below what they were in June 2010 and the US 'aggressive kill' strategy has taken an enormous toll on the Taliban

the horrible thing is that after nearly 10 years, the Afghan army has only a few moving parts that are worth much and the Afghan govt is corrupt, double dealing, deceitful and incompetent.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 06/23/2011 10:55 Comments || Top||

#8  I second that. The Taliban has, and will continue to have, mass production jihadis coming in from Pakistan for the foreseeable future. It was noted that years ago, their number of fighters was between 10-30,000. And despite killing thousands of them, their basic enemy force composition hasn't changed, still 10-30.

So a short term goal of grunt attrition won't work. Likewise a mid-term goal of attriting their middle managers and any upper leadership also fails, because any nitwit can become the new boss if he pulls off a few fast ones and doesn't get killed.

Since at the start we tried to be "sensitive" to Afghan feelings by letting them keep a primitive and worthless form of government, instead of forcing an efficient and modern variety on them, they will never have even the possibility of a functional country.

So all we can do is help what factions there are in Pakistan that wants to put down the fanatics and unify their country.

This is a suck scenario. It may be too late for a major rewrite, as well. And since Pakistan now has 188 million people, about all we could hope for is that they piss off India so much that they reduce the Pak population by 3/4ths.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/23/2011 11:47 Comments || Top||

#9  I second that. The Taliban has, and will continue to have, mass production jihadis coming in from Pakistan for the foreseeable future. It was noted that years ago, their number of fighters was between 10-30,000. And despite killing thousands of them, their basic enemy force composition hasn't changed, still 10-30.

What's worse is that in 07-08, our guys killed the Taliban at roughly the same rate as Obama's first two years, 09-10, but friendly deaths tripled. The kinder/gentler strategy is losing us more GI's without killing more Taliban.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 06/23/2011 12:21 Comments || Top||

#10  Likewise a mid-term goal of attriting their middle managers and any upper leadership also fails, because any nitwit can become the new boss if he pulls off a few fast ones and doesn't get killed.

I disagree, Anonymoose. Men can be promoted, yes, but get within the training cycle and the level of skills and knowledge transmitted before the predecessor requires replacement drops steeply and continuously -- this is basic management stuff, why small businesses fail when the founder retires or dies. We did this in Iraq, and saw a change in tactics and execution as Number Fours were moved up too quickly -- perfectly good specialists but not able to do the planning and leadership tasks a properly trained Number Threes are expected to do. In general it's not about wiping out raw numbers of middle managers, but repeatedly emoving the trained before they can train their potential successors.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/23/2011 13:50 Comments || Top||

#11  TW

Would not make a difference if the Pak Army/ISI are doing the training/logistics in Pakistan
Posted by: Paul D || 06/23/2011 14:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Agreed, imagine a football team losing its 1st and 2nd quarterbacks, especially so without free agency. I do agree that with basically unlimited grunts they could just throw people at it until something works, eventually creating a middle group by sheer trial and error alone. Without the Coalition performing a real war of attrition and/or discouraging recruitment for real it is easy to question what the point is.

I have had concern that by pulling punches we actually improve their chances of learning from their mistakes, and I mean no slight to coalition troops who are the baddest mofos on the planet.

The story here is that there is no story according to the msm, as compared to other coverage.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/23/2011 14:32 Comments || Top||


Suicide Bomber Kills 6 Afghan Police in Ghazni
[Tolo News] A jacket wallah detonated his explosives at an Afghan police check post in southern Ghazni on Wednesday killing 6 Afghan police, local officials said.

The incident occurred at 08:30 am local time in Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province when a boomer detonated his explosives in the area killing 6 police, Dawood Shah Wafadar, chief of Tundar 203 military Corps told TOLOnews.

Mr Wafadar said Afghan forces are in control of the area and fire fighting still continues with Talibs in the area.

Qara Bagh, Gaghoori and Moqur districts are among the insecure areas where Orcs and similar vermin have been active in most villages often carrying out attacks on Afghan police check posts.

The attack happens a day after a suicide bomber attacked provincial office of Parwan killing two civilians including a 14-year-old girl walking by at the time of the incident.

The Tuesday attack occurred while Parwan provincial governor Basir Salangi was in his office and he survived the attack.

The Taliban have grabbed credit for the attack.

The Taliban have recently increased their activities in the country targeting government officials and sites.

Violence increased as foreign forces to hand security responsibility to Afghan forces in July months this year.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics:...
as the first phase of security transition to Afghan lead is approaching, the US President Barack B.O. Obama is expected to announce the size of troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in a speech on Wednesday evening.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Five Militants Killed in Afghan, Nato Forces Operation in Paktia
[Tolo News] Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Wednesday that five Orcs and similar vermin were killed in joint Afghan and foreign forces operation in Paktia province.

The operation was launched in Jani Khil area of Zormat district of Paktia province in which four other Orcs and similar vermin were captured by Afghan forces, Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement.

Militants have been active in some villages of Paktia province fighting against the government.

Afghan and foreign forces have launched military operations in different parts of the country to clear volatile regions of turbans.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Afghans Ready to Retaliate Against Pakistan Missile Attacks
[Tolo News] Afghan Defence Ministry is ready to retaliate against Pakistain's missile attacks in the best possible way, a senior Afghan military official said on Wednesday.

At a presser Defence Ministry Spokesman Gen. Zaher Azimi said around 150 missiles fired from Pakistain have landed in different regions in eastern Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral...
in the past week.

Gen. Azimi said the Pak missile attacks are not justifiable.

He said Afghan Defence Ministry is waiting for a decision from politicians and the House of Representatives.

"The National Army is prepared to retaliate with a suitable response if we are permitted by Afghan politicians," Gen. Azimi said. "Not only the National Army, Kunar residents would be able to give an appropriate response to such an act."

"We are making efforts to resolve the issue through diplomatic approaches."

Twenty civilians have bit the dust and some have been maimed in the attacks, according to the Defence Ministry.

Pakistain keeping up its missile attacks against Afghanistan would deteriorate relations between the two nations, Gen. Azimi said.

The Defence Ministry says it was shocked to hear about the attacks.

"I see no reason for such an attack from Pakistain. There hasn't been any attack by our troops. Without any apparent reason, they have started to fire heavy arms and most of those killed in the attacks have been civilians," Gen. Azimi said.

This is not the first time that Pakistain is targeting provinces located close to long and mostly non-existent borders.

Yesterday the Afghan House of Representatives strongly criticised government's silence towards the Pak attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  AFGHAN "SUITABLE RESPONSE" ...

versus

* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PLAN TO MINE, FENCE PAK-AFGHAN BORDERS. Pakistan repor giving serious consideration to proposed schema now that Kabul = Afghan Govt. is more amenable to idea.

* TOPIX > AFGHANISTAN: ARMY READY FOR US DRAWDOWN.

*** cough *** cough *** ...

[Fingers Crossed here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/23/2011 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The Paks say they want Afghan border regions better policed. I would like to see Pakistan policed.
Posted by: Slomoter Wheatch9268 || 06/23/2011 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Pakistan is getting desperate for the war to continue/expand!
Posted by: Paul || 06/23/2011 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Afganistan delares war on Pakistan,
India delares war on Pakistan,
Iraq delares war on Iran,
Lebanon declares war on Syria,
Problem solved.
Posted by: Louisiana Steve || 06/23/2011 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah, that would be the Pakistani military sabre-rattling I was speculating about the other day, the one that shows they still have big swinging dicks and epic mustaches to go along with them.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 06/23/2011 11:02 Comments || Top||


Six Afghan police killed in checkpoint attack
[Dawn] Six Afghan police were killed Wednesday when Taliban attacked their checkpoint, a brazen assault likely to raise fresh security questions as the United States prepares a troop drawdown.

The Taliban, which is leading a nearly 10-year war against the Afghan government and US-led foreign troops, grabbed credit for the attack in Qarabagh district about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of Kabul.

"The attack started at around 7:00 am and six coppers were killed during a shootout with the attackers," Sayed Amir Shah, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency in Ghazni province, told AFP.

"The gunfire is still ongoing," Shah said.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy provincial governor of Ghazni, confirmed the toll. "Police teams have gone to the area and the festivities between police and gun-hung tough guys are still ongoing," he said.

The assault came just hours before President Barack B.O. Obama is to use a prime time speech to order a US troop drawdown from Afghanistan, which one official said would likely see 10,000 soldiers back in America this year.

Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahid grabbed credit for the attack in a message sent to AFP. On June 19, three police were killed in a similar bully boy attack on their checkpoint in the same district.

Obama's address may come to be seen as the moment when Washington began to disengage from Afghanistan, after a bloody war that has become increasingly controversial in the wake of the late Osama bin Laden's
... who no longer exists...
killing in Pakistain last month.

Obama will stick with his vow to begin pulling out US forces after an 18-month troop surge, but apparently heed Pentagon warnings that an overly swift withdrawal could imperil hard-won gains against the Taliban.

A senior defense official said on condition of anonymity that the president would "likely" order the return of about 5,000 troops this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year.

Another 20,000 troops, part of a 30,000-strong surge ordered in December 2009, would be withdrawn by the end of next year, meaning elevated force levels would remain through two more Afghan summer fighting seasons.

It would still leave more American troops in Afghanistan than when Obama was elected to office in November 2008.

But war sceptics argue that after the deaths of more than 1,600 US service personnel and at a cost of nearly dollar 10 billion a month, the American commitment is unsustainable at its present size of 99,000 US troops.

All 130,000 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 style of the American pants...
-led international combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. A limited withdrawal of troops is expected to begin this July.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Obama Opts for Faster Afghan Pullout
Of course he does. He doesn't dare alienate the Nutroots on this one.

Update: rolled over to Thursday.
WASHINGTON -- President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 "surge," by the end of next summer, according to administration officials and diplomats briefed on the decision. These troop reductions are both deeper and faster than the recommendations made by Mr. Obama's military commanders, and they reflect mounting political and economic pressures at home, as the president faces relentless budget pressures and an increasingly restive Congress and American public.
The mounting economic pressure has nothing to do with it: we've afforded Afghanistan all along, and in the context of a $1.7 trillion deficit this year Afghanistan is small potatoes. Political pressure, yes.
The president is scheduled to speak about the Afghanistan war from the White House at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
He does like the limelight, doesn't he.
Mr. Obama's decision is a victory for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has long argued for curtailing the American military engagement in Afghanistan.
Joe also argued that Iraq should be chopped into three. If you do the opposite of what Slow Joe recommended you'll usually be right.
But it is a setback for his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, who helped write the Army's field book on counterinsurgency policy, and who is returning to Washington to head the Central Intelligence Agency.
Wonder if he goes to CIA now that the Democrats have trashed him publicly, yet again. Imagine the heartburn Axelrod and Jarrett will have if he just resigns his commission and comes home.
Two administration officials said General Petraeus did not endorse the decision, though both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is retiring, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reluctantly accepted it.
If even Hilde sees that this is a mistake...
General Petraeus had recommended limiting initial withdrawals and leaving in place as many combat forces for as long as possible, to hold on to fragile gains made in recent combat.
To borrow from Michael Yon, we haven't yet finished stomping the monkey.
In announcing the withdrawals, which represent about 30 percent of current American troop strength in the country, Mr. Obama will fulfill a pledge he made in December 2009. At that time, he coupled the deployment of 30,000 additional troops with a promise to begin winding down America's engagement by the middle of this year. Still, the speed and scope of this plan is striking.
Again, he has to move fast or else the Nutroots will start to consider a primary challenge. Bambi can't afford the Left to think that he has feet of clay.
It amounts to a broad rethinking of the military's troop-intensive counterinsurgency strategy that Mr. Obama adopted 18 months ago after a painstaking review. Officials have indicated that the administration now plans to place more emphasis on focused counterterrorism operations of the kind that killed Osama bin Laden -- which the president is expected to cite as Exhibit A for a substantial American drawdown.
Yet that wasn't working before we started the current operation. It was what we were doing during the Bush administration; but George had the excuse that we were so involved with Iraq that we didn't have the people to spare for Afghanistan. Clear, hold and build requires sufficient troops to do the holding, or else you never get to build.
About 68,000 American troops would be left in Afghanistan after the withdrawals, roughly twice the number who were there when Mr. Obama took office.

Administration officials have said an intense campaign of drone strikes and other covert operations in Pakistan had crippled Al Qaeda's original network in the region, leaving its leaders either dead or pinned down in the rugged region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Of 30 top Al Qaeda leaders indentified by American intelligence, 20 have been killed in the last year and a half, the officials said.
All true as far as it goes, and we at Rantburg applaud the drone-zaps. But while rooting out and killing al-Qaeda terrorists is important, doing that alone doesn't fix the problem in Afghanistan.

To wit: Afghanistan isn't strong enough to fight and win against the Taliban/ISI. They may never be, but pulling the troops now allows the Taliban/ISI to win for sure. Clear, hold and build would at least allow the non-Pashtun parts of Afghanistan to build to the point that they at least could stand up successfully against the Taliban/ISI. But they need more time, and it looks like Bambi is pulling the rug from under them.
But the withdrawal of the entire surge force by the end of next summer -- before the fighting season ends in Afghanistan --
and before the fall election, which is in the end what is driving this decision, no matter what gloss the White House puts on it
would change the way the United States wages war in Afghanistan. Analysts said the administration may have concluded that it can no longer achieve its grandest ambitions for the nearly-decade-long military campaign in Afghanistan.

In 2009, speaking to an audience at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., Mr. Obama laid out a broad range of goals that included defeating Al Qaeda and stopping the Taliban, but also giving Afghanistan the breathing space to build up its own security forces and a functioning government.
A noble goal, and one that would re-pay us for decades.
Even as the president eschewed the grand nation-building of the Bush administration, he authorized a "civilian surge" of diplomats and aid workers to help Afghans build local ministries and farmers to switch to healthier crops.

The decision also reflects the rapidly changing domestic political landscape. Mr. Obama faces a sagging economy, intense budget pressures and a war-weary Congress and public as he looks ahead to his reelection campaign.
It's not that we're war-weary, we are -- much like the country was in the fall of 2006 -- not being well informed of what's happening and what successes we're having. With Iraq it was clear that the 2004-05 strategy wasn't working. In Afghanistan the American people simply don't get that the Petreaus strategy is working and that it takes time. If Bambi cared about this he would have used his limelight at a number of points this year to educate the public.
Leading Republican hopefuls like Mitt Romney are demanding a swifter withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Democrats on Capitol Hill and elsewhere complain that the cost of the war -- $120 billion this year alone -- is siphoning money away from efforts to build roads and create jobs in the United States.

"From a fiscal standpoint, we're spending too much money on Iraq and Afghanistan," a senior administration official said. "There's a belief from a fiscal standpoint that this is cannibalizing too much of our spending."
It's not like you're going to use the money to reduce the deficit...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/23/2011 16:56 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But while rooting out and killing al-Qaeda terrorists is important, doing that alone doesn't fix the problem in Afghanistan.

We can't fix the problem in Afghanistan in Afghanistan, we can't only fix the problem of Afghanistan in the shit-matrix that is GreaterPakistan. Withdraw, rethink, keep the killing going from the carriers and prepare for the main event.

Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where || 06/22/2011 17:22 Comments || Top||

#2  What do you think will be the main event, Goldies, et al?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/22/2011 18:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Iff PAK has "Big Brother" = BFF CHINA, Aghanistan still has RUSSIA despite the outcome of the Soviet Afghan war + afterwards.

IMO there's no way in hell = borsch that Moscow is going to allow a pro-MilTerr Govt in post-US Pak to threaten Iran's Oil, Central Asia energy pipelines, or support Caucasian Militants.

MOWSCOW HAS ALWAYS BEEN FOR MOSCOW [Russia] - THEY'LL HAVE NO QUALMS ABOUT GENOCIDING OR NUKING, ETC. EVERYONE IN AFPAK FIRST, ALLIED TO RUSSIA OR NOT, BEFORE TOLERAT THE ABOVE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/22/2011 18:43 Comments || Top||

#4  I have thought all along that Bush shifted the WOT from A'stan to Iraq because he COULD, and because he recognized A'stan as a potential quagmire that would make Viet Nam look firm (Cam Ranh Bay vs Khyber Pass for logistics???) I actually agree with Zero's move to effectively 'declare victory and leave.' But not leave entirely, of course. Maintain covert ops, hunter-killer teams, drones, and air support. Can't fight a war when the enemy wins by using human shields. I feel for Karzai - he can't publically support us or he loses 'politically' and he can't survive (literally) without us. Maybe he can move back to Baltimore.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/22/2011 19:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Part of Pak deal for OBL's head?
Posted by: Iblis || 06/22/2011 20:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Can you say "Vietnamization," boys and girls? I knew you could!
Posted by: Tom || 06/22/2011 20:54 Comments || Top||

#7  The A'ghan surge was never going to work, because there is for practical purposes an unlimited number of foot soldiers available to AQ and the Taliban.

The only winning strategy is assasination (dronezaps) and cutting off the money flow that pays for the foot soldiers.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/22/2011 21:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Afghan is a graveyard for empires, so don't try to conquer it. The best strategy is the oldest in the book, divide and conquer. The beauty of Afghan is they hate each other. Back the side that is least hostile, making sure that it well compensated and using that area as a staging point for for special ops and drone bases Have a chat with Rumsfeld. I think he had worked it out before the idiocy of democratisation for Afghan took hold.
Posted by: tipper || 06/22/2011 22:38 Comments || Top||

#9  PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > OBAMA'S TROOP DRAWDOWN: WHY TROOP LEVELS WON'T AFFECT THE WAR'S OUTCOME.

"Nation-building" as per Afghanistan or even PAK is currently BEYOND THE REACH [ability? intent?] of the US + POTUS BAMMER ADMIN, + is likely to remain so even after 2014.

IIUC ARTIC = the US-NATO have succeeded in physically killing a large number of Afghan = AFPAK-based Bad Boyz = MilTerrs, to include Osama Bin Laden, but has failed thus far to effec defeat the root causes of their existence, nor local perceptions of their potency, superiority vee anti-Militant, pro-Peace Govt. Authority.

Sub-IIUC, IOW THE US AFTER 2014 MAY END UP RETURNING TO AFPAK AGAIN TO FIGHT THE MILTERRS ANEW + HOPEFULLY TO FINALLY FINISH THE JOB IT LEFT PARTIALLY INCOMPLETED.

WON THE BATTLE, BUT LOST = REFUSED TO WIN? THE WAR???

and

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > EAST AFGHANISTAN IS "AL-QAEDA + TALIBAN CENTRAL". Nuristan + Laghma, Kunar, + Nangarhar = "house widout a door" for many 00's of MilTerrs crossing back-n-forth easily/openly oer the borders between Afghanistan + Pakistan.

* DAILY TIMES.PK > BATTLEFIELD PUNJAB [politically divided] TO DECIDE FATE IN WAR ON TERROR.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/22/2011 22:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Looks like the Bammer will withdraw 33,000 US troops tote by September 2012.

* WORLD NEWS > WHITE HOUSE: ITS TIME TO BEGIN NATION-BUILDING AT HOME.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/23/2011 0:37 Comments || Top||

#11  More ...

* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > OBAMA UP ODDS OF [US-NATO] DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN.

* VARIOUS NET POSTERS = POTUS Obama's announcement essentially means that AL-QAEDA + TALIBAN HAVE WON = DEFEATED THE US DESPITE THE DEATH OF OSAMA, PATH NOW CLEAR FOR MILTERR COMPLETE TAKEOVER OR DOMINATION OF AFPAK GOVTS???

* WORLD NEWS > [Business Insider] WHITE HOUSE SAYS AL-QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN NO LONGER A THREAT TO THE US.

* SAME > [post-Abbottabad captured OBL Intel]BIN LADEN WAS WORRIED ABOUT REPLACING SENIOR AL-QAEDA [Leaders], due to massive US mil pressure + belief that AQ was failing in its efforts to portray the US in a negative image to Muslims, World.

Hope POTUS BAMMER keeps in mind that various MilTerr factions have sworn to get revenge agz US = TOP US-ALLIED LEADERS, PERSONAGES for the death of Osama, ee US-led AFPAK interventions + Abbottabad raid, etc.

BAMMER ANNOUNCEMENT = MAY INDEED SIGNAL THE END OF THE US EFFORTS IN THE AFGHAN WAR, BUT NOT THE JIHAD + PRO-OSAMA REVENGE AGZ AMERICA + US LEADERS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/23/2011 1:40 Comments || Top||

#12  The problem in Afghanistan is Afghanistan - you can't fix it. All you can do is nuke mecca next time some muslim flies planes into buildings.

But the important thing is this: the US economy is absolutely in dire straits.

The Government is broke and in debt to the eyeballs. The states are sacking workers.

I'm in Sydney and I can't turn around without falling over a 20-something US citizen who has come out here and is applying for citizenship and the right to work.

They can't get jobs at home and they are our new wave of economic migrants.

US and Irish both.

You don't have enough money now for foreign adventurism and you have save up for the coming arms race with China.

So it's good to take the troops out now. Take them out entirely. That war is costing $1 billion a day. Every day.

Osama is dead. The end.

If it happens again, we nuke mecca. Cost effective option.

We can no longer afford this war, and that's the simple maths.

Unless of course you want to live through Great Depression mk II, with 30 per cent unemployment.... which is about where real unemployment in the US is now. Forget the official figures, it's 30 per cent.
Posted by: anon1 || 06/23/2011 1:45 Comments || Top||

#13  There is enough Lithium in Afghanistan to meet growing global demands. Just a thought, but why not write off Karzai, ally with remnants of the Northern Alliance, and exploit mineral wealth, and back it with a scorched earth policy against encroachers? No? What if we Napalm the opium industry, so the Pashtos are too impoverished to fight?
Posted by: Slomoter Wheatch9268 || 06/23/2011 3:08 Comments || Top||

#14  costs too much, slomoter. That lithium will just have to stay in the ground.
Posted by: anon1 || 06/23/2011 3:59 Comments || Top||

#15  a narcissist like O wouldn't care about the increased casualties due to a too-fast withdrawal, as long as it benefits his re-election campaign position. Nor will he care about the beheadings, rape, blowed-up girl's schools, etc. It's all about him. Our military is a pawn to use in the furthering of himself. Behold Teh One™!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/23/2011 8:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Hello all, hello Frank, Obama may indeed be a narcissist. And girls schools may indeed get blown up.

But at the end of the day, it's their country. If they think the best path to happiness is being islamofascists and ensuring women never get an education then just leave them to wallow in their mistakes. Eventually they will evolve.

We just can't afford it any more

The choice I believe has now come down to whether the US wants to finance some faraway war in Afghanistan hoping to build a better society with people who just don't want to play ball, or jobs in America where young people are leaving.

I love Americans. But I don't want to see waves of your countrymen descending on my shores because they can't get jobs in the US. Economic refugees.

Something is very wrong with this picture.

I want them to come here as happy tourists, on holidays, with good jobs at home.
Posted by: anon1 || 06/23/2011 9:37 Comments || Top||

#17  The problem with just letting them have their little Islamofacist nation is that they don't stay there. Prior to 9/11 we were content to allow the Taliban to have their little corner of hell paradise.

We all know how well that worked out.

And we still don't have the means to insure that they don't come here. The TSA is a joke and [rather bad] security theater designed more to impress the natives than actually stop anything.

The problems is that Afghanistan isn't really a nation. It's more of a collection of tribes with a 'national' facade.

But this pullout has nothing to do with reality on the field and everything to do with the '12 election and OBumbles image. He wants to be the one to end a war even if it means surrendering the field. So what if a few hundred Americans or tens of thousands of Afghans die as a result - small price to pay for a bump in the polls. (According to 'bama).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/23/2011 10:00 Comments || Top||

#18  Mr.Obama is The US President and Commander in Cheif. Even the most cynical of his critics (myself included) owe both the office and the man a certain degree of respect. Obama is not so different from every president that has confronted casualties of war. The most difficult decisions, for a US President, are the ones that directly affect the life or death of the citizenry. It is equally vulgar as it is incorrect to assume that his decision for Afghanistan troop levels was soley for political profit. With that said, throughout his life and career Mr. Obama has exhibited an extrordinary lust for self promotion. Therefore, it's not unreasonable to assume that there are two questions in his decsion making that carry equal merit.
What is the right thing to do? and
What will personally benifit me the most?
There's a reason that President Obama couldn't advance any strategic rationale for a troop reduction. His decsion is to END the war. Not neccessarily WIN the war.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/23/2011 10:50 Comments || Top||

#19  Eventually they will evolve.

Not so sure about that.

anon1, there was an article here on the 'Burg the other day about how the cost of the war in Afghanistan is a drop in the bucket of our national debt. We have massive entitlement programs and government giveaways that cost a whole helluva lot more. The money is not the problem.

Look at a map. With troops in Afghanistan and troops in Iraq we are in a position to attack Iran from two directions on land plus the sea and the air. I wouldn't expect Bummer to see it that way but it seems like a consideration to me...unless we go for Pakistan first.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/23/2011 11:54 Comments || Top||

#20  Couple of thoughts in no particular order:

This decision is the lesser of many evils. Under the ROE imposed by the Western political class Western forces cannot achieve anything worthwhile in Afghanistan. Let them fight or bring them home.

This is very, very bad. The West can not really afford anything less than a decisive victory here. But the actual result of the 9/11 war will be a shameful and dangerous defeat.
Vietnam was a limited war in the context of a global cold war, Afghanistan is inextricably linked to the theater of war called 'Continental United States.' Deterrence has taken a huge, perhaps fatal blow, as has the US' ability to project a security umbrella. Consequences could be ugly in the Falklands, Taiwan, Korea, Israel etc.

If the tides of war are receding we must pressure our politicians to dismantle the creeping police state. In peacetime there's no need for a TSA, DHS, Patriot Act or their equivalents in other Western nations.

The rot set in as early as October of 2001. It would be unjust to blame only Obama or the electorate of 2008 for this. This is not a defense of Obama but an indictment of the Western political class.
Posted by: Blossom Darling of the Wee Folk3912 || 06/23/2011 13:15 Comments || Top||

#21  Fact is we still have a WW2 mindset when it comes to this sort of thing. We stayed in Germany and Japan and rebuilt them into prosperous peaceful nations. But both were first world nations prior to war (which is why the war was so bloody).

Iraq and Afghanstan and most countries we are likely to be involved with are third world nations. There is a reason they are third world nations and we are not going to change the underlying culture enough in a decade or two to bring about change enough that we feel "comfortable" passing along control. Putting one of our 'bastards' in charge might be the only realistic option.

In Afghanistan this means supporting a non-Pashtun most likely.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/23/2011 15:01 Comments || Top||

#22  I've kinda played around with the idea of leaving, but leaving so fast that in the power vacuum they all start fighting each other again.

Or saying they are leaving, wait until the bad guys have their triumph march into Saigon, then pop out of our holes and catch them in the open and gathered.

Or evacuate via Kuwait or Karachi.

I think most people knew this was a when not if decision. Other thoughts on that later. In the meantime, I'd like to shake the neck of the author of this article, its like being forced to hear the blatherings of a third team cheeleader talking like for sure about the dreamy second string bench riding quarterback. If the president took any of this seriously he would go the extra yard and at least pretend publically to be the leader. Instead, duffer is hitting the trail and chilling in fucking Puerto Rico. Seriously, the hallway shot is pitiful, looks like a deer in the headlights on a carpeted road. I could be on board with this, but what I have is a poll jockey who is more concerned with how I make my cheese, fine farmers for making dust, allows the department of education swat team use without consequence, wants to arm Mexican banditos but disarm innocent Americans, create expensive energy, etc. If people are seeing economic refugees from the US, its not because of this war. Billion dollars a day, obama and the d's spent enough money in the first 6 months in office on banks and big business to fund this operation for the next five and a half years.

There are a number of reasons to stay or go, but economics should not be one of them, as this expense actually pays real world dividends.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/23/2011 15:04 Comments || Top||

#23  My thought, they are going to claim victory the second the last coalition soldier leaves no matter what. The trick is to leave in a manner that they know they are full of shit when they say it; not emboldening. I think too much time has passed to connect this to the death of sammy the crab. President peace has shown he will use the military on account of increased drone zaps, navy and air strikes on libya, armed incursions, the surge. Problem is the public face; took him what 4 to 6 weeks to approve the surge, Libya looks like the person who stepped in dog shit then knowing walks around with it but pretends its not there, generic emotionless war speeches from totus, and he is physically a skinny lawyer. None of that screams Warrior to people who know nothing but emotion and war, and I don't mean the ones in theatre or were in Iraq who know better than go toe to toe even when the coalition was boxing with one foot tied to its balls. I'm talking about the next batch not wanting a go around.

Or, we size down and keep a force and airbase so to conduct operations, maybe another 5 - 10 years. A fifteen to twenty year total stay would show persistance and allow action based on intelligence in the area plus security for the continued training of the Afghan army or whatever its called. Doesn't sound like much fun, or could be where our next best go for some real world exercise.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/23/2011 17:11 Comments || Top||

#24  Or, we size down and keep a force and airbase so to conduct operations, maybe another 5 - 10 years. A fifteen to twenty year total stay would show persistance and allow action based on intelligence in the area plus security for the continued training of the Afghan army or whatever its called. Doesn't sound like much fun, or could be where our next best go for some real world exercise.

Bingo.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/23/2011 18:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan threatens to block oil flow from South
[Al Jazeera] Omar al-Bashir,
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
the Sudanese president, has threatened to shut down pipelines carrying oil from South Sudan if there is no deal on oil before its independence next month.

"I give the south three alternatives for the oil. The North is to continue getting its share, or the North gets fees for every barrel that the South sends to Port Sudan," Bashir said in a televised speech on Tuesday.

"If they don't accept either of these, we are going to block the pipeline," he told his supporters in Port Sudan, the main terminal for all of Sudan's oil exports.

South Sudan will become a separate country on July 9, but the two sides have yet to come to a final arrangement on how to manage the oil industry after the split.

Nearly three-quarters of the oil output is pumped from the South, but most of the refineries, pipelines and ports are in the North, meaning the two will need to co-operate to some degree to keep crude flowing.

Under a 2005 peace deal that ended nearly two decades of civil war between the two sides, Khartoum gets about 50 per cent of the revenues from oil fields mainly based in the South.

Revenue-sharing
When the revenue-sharing comes to an end next month, Khartoum's income will fall by 36.5 per cent, Ali Mahmud, the Sudanese finance minister, said last week.

Sudan's oil minister said on Thursday that Khartoum had agreed to accept transit fees from the South, but the two sides were yet to set a price.

They were also discussing a "transitional arrangement" which would ease the financial impact on the North, the oil minister said.

North and South Sudanese officials have been involved in talks in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, aimed at reaching an agreement on a number of unresolved issues between the two sides prior to the partition.

But, besides the key oil sector, the two sides have also not reached a deal on contentious border issues.

Unresolved differences have led to violence with the Northern army invading the disputed region of Abyei last month.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede in a January referendum.

North and South Sudan have been at loggerheads for most of their post-independence period since 1956.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan

#1  I wonder what China will think about that.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/23/2011 8:32 Comments || Top||


Africa North
AL chief slams NATO bombing in Libya
[Iran Press TV] Secretary General 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...
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
... who has been head of the Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ...
says he has reservations whether NATO's
...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 style of the American pants...
ongoing bombing campaign in Libya would resolve the crisis in the North African country.
It's so easy to criticize when you're not the one doing the heavy lifting...
"When I see children being killed, I must have misgivings. That's why I warned about the risk of civilian casualties," Moussa said in an interview with The Guardian in Brussels.

"That has to start with a genuine ceasefire under international supervision. Until the ceasefire, Qadaffy would remain in office ... Then there would be a move to a transitional period ... to reach an understanding about the future of Libya."

The AL chief, who initially backed NATO intervention in Libya, has now called for a ceasefire and talks on a political settlement.

NATO has deployed its full range of aircraft in the war on Libya. The military alliance says the operations are aimed at protecting civilians.

However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
scores of civilians have bit the dust in NATO Arclight airstrikes so far. The military alliance has admitted to having mistakenly killed at least nine civilians in just one of its attacks this week.

Experts say the main motive behind the Western attack on Libya is the vast oil reserves of the North African country. Secretary General of the vaporous Arab League Amr Moussa says he has reservations whether NATO's ongoing bombing campaign in Libya would resolve the crisis in the North African country.


"When I see children being killed, I must have misgivings. That's why I warned about the risk of civilian casualties," Moussa said in an interview with The Guardian in Brussels.

"That has to start with a genuine ceasefire under international supervision. Until the ceasefire, Qadaffy would remain in office ... Then there would be a move to a transitional period ... to reach an understanding about the future of Libya."

The AL chief, who initially backed NATO intervention in Libya, has now called for a ceasefire and talks on a political settlement.

NATO has deployed its full range of aircraft in the war on Libya. The military alliance says the operations are aimed at protecting civilians.

However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
scores of civilians have bit the dust in NATO Arclight airstrikes so far. The military alliance has admitted to having mistakenly killed at least nine civilians in just one of its attacks this week.

Experts say the main motive behind the Western attack on Libya is the vast oil reserves of the North African country.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Experts say the main motive behind the Western attack on Libya is the vast oil reserves of the North African country.

Ahhh yess, "Experts"...where would we be with out em.
('cause nuthin spells "unfetterd access to cheap oil" like a violent revolution followed by protracted civil war.)
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/23/2011 11:56 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Clashes in Taiz Resume
[Yemen Post] Eyewitnesses said that two civilians were maimed in festivities between pro revolution armed rustics and elite republican guards in al-Hoban and Kalabah area of Taiz, near change square Tuesday night.

Light gunfire was then heard in the city for the next two hours.

Fierce festivities continued for 20 minutes in the city. No protesters were reported injured.

Clashes in Taiz calmed down over the last two weeks after intensive fighting between armed gunnies from Sharaab and Mikhlafi tribes who took over most parts of Taiz city after governmental forces attacked and killed dozens of youth protesters.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Put a net over all of them.
Posted by: Slomoter Wheatch9268 || 06/23/2011 3:04 Comments || Top||


Massive Demonstration in Sana'a as Protesters Warn of Attempts to Abort Uprising
[Yemen Post] A massive demonstration was held in Yemen's capital Sana'a on Tuesday in which tens of thousands of protesters called for an immediate transitional council and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud refusing external interventions affecting the implementation of the goals of the popular uprising.

They also rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud confirming they will continue their revolution peacefully and condemning all attempts to leave the Yemeni people suffer amid acute shortages and day-and-night power outages.

In the last few days, the fuel shortage has worsened with more than a half km long queues of cars seen in main streets in the capital and even there have been hundreds of cars parked on other streets near stations for days.

"I am here on Daery Street for a three successive day. I cam here to fill my car but there was not petrol, and when a fuel shipment arrived a military commander came here to fill his car by force triggering the closure of the filling station," said Nabil Tarboosh, a driver. "I was forced to park my car here, because there is not an oil drop in it.....I can't move," he added.

Meantime, the youth-led protesters in various squares of change and freedom warned on Tuesday of any attempts to implement any power transfer without their participation. "If such thing happens, we will escalate our protest until all political forces surrender to our demands," they said in a statement.

The statement urged the Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition bloc, to meet their commitment towards the popular uprising and stop backing any regional or international initiatives for power transition in Yemen.

Furthermore, the youth-led protesters renewed their refusal to inclusion of any of the Saleh regime members in the transitional council, adding," and if the council includes unwelcome opposition figures, the council will be announced illegitimate".
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Life sentences for Bahrain dissidents
[Al Jazeera] Police and protesters have clashed in Bahrain after eight Shia Mohammedan activists accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Gulf Arab state's Sunni monarchy were sentenced to life in prison.

The court also sentenced on Wednesday other defendants - from among the 21 suspects on trial - to between two and 15 years in jail.

Saeed al-Shehabi, the only defendant to be sentenced in absentia, told Al Jizz that the charges were false and called the government's response "draconian".

"The world has seen how peaceful the demonstrations were, for a month-long period ... yet, they were condemned as being terrorists," he said.

A member of Bahrain's largest Shia group said the sentencing of the activists as contradicting the government's calls for dialogue.

"Is this the atmosphere for dialogue?" asked Khalil Marzooq, a former MP and member of the Islamic National Accord Association (Wefaq), in excerpts of a speech he gave in Manama posted on his Facebook page.

Many unhappy
The Bahrain News Agency said the life sentences were issued against a prominent Shia political leader, Hassan Mushaima; activists Abdulhady al-Khawaja, Abduljalil al-Singace; and five others.

Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, the country's most prominent Iranian catspaw, told Al Jizz that many people were unhappy about the sentences.

"Abdulhady al-Khawaja is one of the most respected human-rights activist in the whole Arab region, so people are very angry," Rajab said.

"Hundreds of people have been brought up for charges in the past few days, and hundreds more are waiting to be tried."
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if the IRGC will now cancel their paychecks, under the theory of "What have you done for us lately?"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/23/2011 13:32 Comments || Top||


Yemen Vice President Hadi Meets Senior U.S. Diplomat
[Yemen Post] Vice president Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi received on Wednesday Jeffery Feltman, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs who arrived in the country to help solve the month-long political crisis.

The meeting discussed the situation in Yemen with a focus on how to start an immediate power transfer and steps Hadi has taken to ease the unrest since he started new responsibilities as acting president.

Feltman also met with commander of the Republican Guard, Ahmed President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
, and on his first visit to the country, he is also meeting with opposition leaders later tonight.

Hadi told Feltman that his priorities included reaching a ceasefire between the army and the rustics loyal to Sadeq Al-Ahmer, sheikh of Hashid, in the capital Sana'a, reopening roads, forcing armed people out of the capital, and easing the political tension.

"I was assigned by the U.S. administration to visit Yemen to express the U.S. condemnation to the attack on the presidential palace that injured President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
and other bigwigs and killed a number of Saleh's guards," Feltman told Saba.

"We strongly condemn all forms of violence and terrorism. The U.S. administration highly appreciates the efforts of Yemeni Vice President, Hadi, to end unrest and maintain security in Yemen," he was quoted as saying.

Appreciating the U.S. efforts to help Yemen, Hadi said that what the U.S. is doing in cooperation with Yemen's neighbors and friends has already helped the country to overcome the most dangerous phases.

The U.S. will support all Yemeni parties which works to stabilize Yemen and maintain its unity, he said, urging all political forces to hold a constructive dialogue to prevent any violence or chaos.

Meantime, the organizational committee of the youth-led uprising has called to boycott the visit of the U.S. diplomat as protests continued in Yemen over the last few days to condemn the U.S. and Saudi roles in Yemen and refuse any intervention not in line with the goals of the popular revolution.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
4 pirates killed in 'shootout'
[Bangla Daily Star] Four pirates were killed in a 'shootout' with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members in Supoti under Sharankhola range of the Sundarbans yesterday morning.

Local fishermen identified the dead as Julfikar Ali alias Julfu, leader of a pirate gang Julfu Bahini, his associates Hafizur Rahman Hafiz, Sarwar Hossain Sano and Zakir Hossain alias Meghna Zakir.

Four Rab members were also injured in the shootout, said Major Sabbir, deputy director of Rab-8.

The elite force seized four light guns, two 9mm pistols, one shutter gun, one single barrel gun, 141 bullets and a trawler used by the pirates from the spot in Bagerhat district.

Acting on a tip-off, Rab personnel went to Boro Shelar Khal in Supoti on three trawlers and challenged a gang of at least eight pirates who were roaming around the area on a trawler around 9:30am.

The gang opened fire on the law enforcers prompting them to fire back, said Major Sabbir.

The four were killed on the spot during a one and a half hours long shootout.

The other pirates disembarked on the bank of the canal and decamped the scene, he added.

Later, Rab members recovered the bodies and seized the firearms.

Khandaker Rafiqul Islam, superintendent of police of Bagerhat, said Jalfikar was an accused in four cases including murder and abduction.

A team of law enforcers from Sharankhola Police Station started for the spot in the afternoon.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Britain
Second night of riots in Northern Ireland
[Al Jazeera] Sectarian festivities involving hundreds of people continued for a second night in Northern Ireland in the worst violence in the province in years, police said.

A press photographer was shot in the leg and two other people suffered burns on Tuesday evening as up to 700 people threw fireworks, petrol bombs and other missiles at each other in a Catholic enclave in east Belfast.

Police fired stun grenades as festivities broke out and groups of hooded and masked men pelted each other with stones and missiles, and many attacked police vans.

'Worst violence'
The violence first erupted on Monday after suspected Protestant gangs, who support British rule in the province, attacked homes overnight in Short Strand, a Catholic district in mostly Protestant east Belfast, local officials said.

Police blamed members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), one of the deadliest pro-British paramilitary groups during the province's long-running sectarian conflict, for initiating the first night of disorder.

The violence reignited late on Tuesday as local television station UTV reported that a man was seriously ill in hospital after his skull was fractured by a breeze block.

"It is probably the worst violence we have seen in that area for some considerable time," said Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Niall O'Donnghaile, Belfast's mayor and a councillor for the republican Sinn Fein party, said it was a "tense and dangerous situation".

"They've hit homes with paint bombs, pipe bombs and petrol bombs. There's a number of Short Strand residents who are injured and a number of homes have been damaged," he added.

'Unprovoked attacks'
Michael Copeland, an Ulster Unionist politician, confirmed that several hundred people had been engaged "in hand-to-hand fighting."

O'Donnghaile claimed that the attacks were unprovoked, but Copeland claimed the violence was in response to attacks by Catholic republicans, who favour a united Ireland, on Protestant properties over the last week.

"It doesn't really matter who is responsible at this stage. It's getting it stopped that is the problem. You have two sides to these stories," Copeland said.

Unionist and republican-backed parties share power in the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was set up following a 1998 agreement that ended years of sectarian violence, known as "The Troubles", in which around 3,500 people died.

The area affected by the rioting is one of more than 30 areas of Belfast where high barricades separate Catholic and Protestant areas.

Such barricades, called "peace lines" locally, have grown in number and size, despite the success of 1998 peace accord.

Sectarian tensions typically flare in the build-up to July 12, a divisive holiday when tens of thousands of Protestants from the Orange Order brotherhood march across Northern Ireland.

The parades commemorate British victories and are supported by the Protestants who want to remain part of the United Kingdom. But Catholics regard the marches as provocative.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was going to say, it's a little early for marching season. But it sounds like marching season is getting like the Christmas shopping season - starts earlier every year.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 06/23/2011 11:06 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Badanov's Buzzkill Bulletin


  • Mexican Policia Federal have arrsted a man they say was involved in the July 16th, 2010 car bomb in Juarez, and who is one of the leaders of la LOinea, the armed wing of the Juarex cartel.

    Marco Antonio Guzmán Zúñiga, AKA El Brad Pitt or El Dos, was arrsted June 15 iun Chihuahua, Chihuahua without incident. Polcei also seized two rifles.


  • Policia Federal agnts rescued two female hostage and arrested eight men and women in connection with the cases, who are also memebrs of the criminal group Los Providencia.

    The arrested took place in the Villas de Guadalupe Xalostoc colony in Ecatepec municipality.

    Arrested included Heber Soto Aldo Brito, 29, Mexico City, Patricia Melo Tapia , de 34 años, Distrito Federal; Karen Guadalupe Cárdenas Guerrero , de 28 años, Distrito Federal; Blanca Cárdenas Guerrero , de 23 años, Distrito Federal; Bertha Trejo Guerrero, 45, Mexico City; Karla Montiel Jaquelín Tapia, 27, Mexico City; Jorge Luis García Vallejo , Distrito Federal andAdriana "N" , de 17 años, Distrito Federal Adriana.

    Seized material included two vehicles, one of which was stolen, 20 bags marijuana, 29 cell phones. two phone chips and various documents.


  • Mexican Poicia Federal agrtns arrested five individuals they say were caught in the act of extorting a victim June 15th in Mexico City.

    The five are memebrs of the criminal group known as Los Nieves. The arrests took place in Cuajimalpa delegation in Mexico state.

    Using surveillance methods agents arrested José Omar Alvarez Cruz, 32, Mexico City, who was allegedly responsible for conducting negotiations with the victims and collect the proceeds of extortion
    , Eduardo Toro Gómez, 23, AKA El Gabacho" , of Estado de México, who was responsible for making product extortion charges; Jorge Martínez Toro, 23, AKA El Chanclas, Mexico State, who allegedly was responsible for transporting the victims in a taxi; Two suspects were arrested agents said were acting as falcons or lookouts for the groiup included Norma Angélica Elizarraraz Lagunas , de 20 años, Mexico State, and Alberto Martínez Toro, 20, AKA Toto.

    Seized in the arrests include one Volkswagen Beetle, mobile phiones, a quantity of marijuana and cocaine, and documents.


Posted by: badanov || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Two Terror Suspects Arrested In Seattle
Two apparent jihadi black Muslims have been arrested in a plot to use machine guns and grenades in an attack on a military recruiting station that also houses a daycare in Seattle, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, of Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., of Los Angeles, were arrested Wednesday night.

Their target was the Military Entrance Processing Station on East Marginal Way in Seattle. Recruits for all military branches are screened and processed there.

Apparently they were narked to the police by someone they tried to recruit.

Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh are charged by complaint with conspiracy to murder officers and employees of the United States, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and possession of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence. Abdul-Latif is also charged with two counts of illegal possession of firearms.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/23/2011 17:34 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  narked to the police by someone they tried to recruit

Good to see it's risky to try to recruit terrorists in America, even in the black Muslim community.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/23/2011 18:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Watcha bet they were "converted" in prison?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/23/2011 18:38 Comments || Top||

#3  two counts of illegal possession of firearms.

EU no bet! - that sounds like a parole violation
Posted by: Frank G || 06/23/2011 21:21 Comments || Top||


Marine Reservist Detained Near Pentagon Linked to D.C. Military Building Shootings
Read the entire article; even Fox doesn't mention the obvious.
The case had apparently gone cold. But after several months of no progress, federal authorities have now zeroed in on a suspect in last year's shootings at several military sites around the nation's capital. Their suspect: the 22-year-old Marine reservist arrested Friday after causing a terror scare near the Pentagon.

Ballistics obtained at the suspect's home have been linked to evidence found at the scenes of the 2010 shootings, including the Marine Corps Museum in Triangle, Va., a vacant Marine recruiting station in Chantilly, Va., and the Pentagon itself, Fox News has learned.

Authorities are now trying to track down a vehicle once owned by the suspect, Yonathan Melaku of Alexandria, Va., who has since sold the vehicle.

Melaku was arrested early Friday morning at Arlington National Cemetery when the site was closed. He was carrying a backpack with what authorities initially thought might be explosives, and they found a notebook containing words and phrases such as "Taliban," "Al Qaeda," "defeated coalition forces," and "mujahedeen." The discoveries caused "concerns about the public’s safety," the FBI said at the time, and shut down major highways for much of Friday.

In the hours after Melaku's arrest Friday, FBI agents swarmed his home in Alexandria and interviewed neighbors.

Asked to confirm that evidence found in Melaku has been linked to last year's shootings, an FBI spokeswoman declined comment, citing "an ongoing investigation."

At a press conference in Washington in October, in the midst of the investigation into the shootings, a top FBI official said authorities believed the person responsible "has a grievance surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps."

“It may be that he feels he has been wronged by the Corps in his professional and or personal life,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director John Perren, whose Washington Field Office has been leading the FBI investigation. “The subject of his grievance does appear to be the institution of the United States Marine Corps and not the individual men and women Marines for whom he may feel a great deal of respect, admiration and even loyalty.”

Perren said authorities “do not believe it is his intention to harm innocent citizens or Marines,” adding that the suspect “has attempted to avoid casualties by acting during the nighttime and non-business hours.” In fact, no one was injured in any of the shootings.

Still, Perren said, “Acting out in this way however can lead to disastrous and tragic consequences that we all wish to avoid."

The first bullet holes were found Oct. 17, when $20,000 worth of windows and glass was shattered at the Marine Corps Museum. Two day later, six shots were fired into the south side of the Pentagon, which will be serving as a staging area for runners and others during the Marine Corps Marathon. The suspect then struck the recruiting center. Later in October, shots were fired again at the museum, apparently from the side of the building facing Interstate 95.

The shootings all occurred within 40 miles of each other in northern Virginia.

According to the FBI, Melaku joined the Marine Corps Reserve on Sept. 4, 2007, and he is currently listed as a motor vehicle operator with the Marine Corps reserves. He has previously been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal. He has not been deployed overseas.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  heh, I called it on Friday. Shoulda played the lotto that day too...
Posted by: IG-88 || 06/23/2011 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Ya know, if anyone but an obvious Third-Worlder went around shooting buildings, the FBI wouldn't say they have no intention of hurting anyone.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/23/2011 8:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Four army majors questioned over links to Hizbut Tehrir
[Dawn] Four army majors are being questioned in Pakistain in connection with a brigadier who was jugged over links to the banned Hizbut Tehrir group, an army front man said on Wednesday.

Military front man Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
told Rooters the men had been questioned but had not been jugged.

"They are being questioned in relation to the brigadier case," he said.

The arrest of the brigadier -- the highest-ranking officer held in a decade -- has raised fears about the growth in the military of the group which sees Pakistain as a powerful base for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir


Gunman kills Shia pilgrims in bus attack: police
[Dawn] A gunman opened fire on a bus carrying Shia Mohammedan pilgrims in southwestern Pakistain on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding nine others, police said.

The shooting happened in Akhtarabad, on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas-rich Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"At least three people were killed and nine others were maimed when one of the four gunnies riding two cycle of violences opened fire on a bus carrying Shia pilgrims to Iran," senior local police official Farid Breach told AFP.

He said it appeared to have been a sectarian attack but that the shooting was under investigation.
Local intelligence officials also confirmed the incident and casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Baluchistan is rife with militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shia Mohammedans and a regional insurgency waged by separatists.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Suspect in Shahbaz Bhatti's killing arrested from Karachi
[Dawn] A man suspected of being involved in the killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, who was serving as federal minister for minorities affairs, was tossed in the calaboose from Bloody Karachi, DawnNews reported.

The suspect, Hafiz Nazar, was being investigated for his suspected involvement in Bhatti's murder, police told DawnNews.

Bhatti, who had urged reforming Pakistain's blasphemy laws, was assassinated on March 2, 2011 in Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Three security officials, four militants killed in Khyber, Orakzai
[Dawn] At least three security officials were killed in attacks on checkpoints in the Khyber and Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
s on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

Four Islamic fascisti were also killed in the ensuing festivities.

In one of the attacks, Islamic fascisti ambushed the Sarband checkpoint before dawn. The checkpoint lies just outside the town of Bara in Khyber district, part of Pakistain's tribal region on the Afghan border where Taliban and al Qaeda-linked networks have bases.

In the second attack in the Khyber tribal region, a kaboom occurred at a tribal police checkpoint in the town of Jamrud. The blast killed a policeman and maimed three others, Khyber administrator Shafeerullah Khan said.

"One tribal policeman was martyred and three others were maimed in the kaboom at the checkpoint," Khan said.

A third attack took place in the Orakzai Agency.

A covert US drone war targets Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistain's rugged northwest tribal region and kabooms there are common.

Nearly 4,500 people have been killed across Pakistain in attacks blamed on Taliban and other bad turban networks based in the tribal belt since 2007.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Police blamed for Matani blast
[Dawn] The bombing of a police post at Matani Bazaar on Monday was result of sheer negligence by coppers concerned, according to Sherlocks.

They said that hard boyz had already threatened to attack the post and even fixed time for their action but police didn`t take the threats seriously. The coppers deployed in the area were sitting carelessly along a roadside at the time of blast, they added.

At least three persons were killed and seven others injured in the blast.

They said that Ijaz Hussain Bacha, who had recently joined community police as a constable, was on the hit list of bad boys. He had given his hujra to police for setting up a temporary post.Despite receiving threats from bad boys, Mr Bacha, who was also killed in the blast, had not adopted security measures. "Militants had pasted posters in the area against policeman but he used to keep the main gate of the post open," Sherlocks said.

They said that coppers also failed to chase the bad boy, who left the explosive-laden motorcar at the post and decamped away before the blast.

An official of Rural Circle said that efforts were made to arrest the accused involved in the bombing and search operation was continued in the area.

He said that Mr Bacha was also leading a newly formed peace body and urging people to join hands with him against bad boys. The Adezai Qaumi Lashkar deputy head, Fazal Malik, told Dawn that he had information about a possible attack. "I also shared the information with relevant officials," he said.

He added that the post was located at a sensitive place and the law-enforcers were bound to remain alert round the clock. "We are comparatively safe nowadays but even then our volunteers are performing night duties," he said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
police have charged several hard boyz in the case including Jangrez, Ruhullah Amin, Aurangzeb, Alamgir, Mustafa, Akbar Shah, Irfan, Alamgir, Zakir, Shahkir. All of them belong to Matani and Adezai villages. Sources said that that the accused had decamped to tribal region about three years ago and carried out sabotage activities in the area.

An official said that raids were conducted but no bad boy was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock so far. The accused have already been charged in several kabooms cases but they could not be set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock.Similarly, Sarband police have also named about 12 persons for an attack on Riaz Shaheed police post.

A source said that those charged in the FIR included Shah, Gul Wali, Janas, Rameez, Mohammad Hussain, Qari Hidayat, Said Noor, Tariq, Shafiullah, Tila and Naseeb Gul. SHO Abid Khan, when contacted, said that the accused were associated with the Khyber Agency-based bad boy group and most of them lived in Bara tehsil of the agency.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Three dead, 28 wounded in Iraq attacks
[Dawn] Bomb and gun attacks in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
and northern Iraq on Wednesday killed three people and maimed 28, 12 of them policeman, officials said.

A car boom in the capital's western al-Ghazaliyah district killed one civilian and maimed nine other people, including three coppers, a police official said.

In Storied Baghdad's Al-Amriyah district, two improvised bombs against a police patrol maimed eight people, six of them coppers, an interior ministry official said.

Three other bombs in the eastern and central districts of the capital maimed 10 people, three of them coppers.

In the nothern city of djinn-infested Mosul, gunnies rubbed out a policeman at a checkpoint, and in the southern part of the city mortar fire against an army base killed one civilian and maimed another.

Violence is dramatically down in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks against government officials and institutions, including security forces, have shot up in recent months, as Iraqi leaders bicker over key security posts left vacant since a March 2010 general election.

On Tuesday, two suicide car booms destroyed a guard post killing 26 people outside the provincial governor's home in the city of Diwaniyah in central Iraq.

The surge in violence comes with only months left before US forces, in Iraq since 2003, complete a pullout at the end of this year in compliance with a 2008 agreement.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli warplanes carry out strike in Gaza
(KUNA) -- Israeli airplanes launched two rockets early on Wednesday towards eastern sectors of the town of Deir Al-Balah in the center of Gazoo Strip.

The rockets fell adjacent to one of Deir Al-Balah cemeteries, causing a deep crater in the ground, with no casualties, local radios reported.

Israeli Army said this attack targeted a tunnel, dug by Paleostinian Death Eaters close to the borders with Israel, allowing them to infiltrate to Israel.

Radio Israel quoted a front man of the army as saying that this raid came in response to a Paleostinian missile attack, last night, targeting Negev desert in southern Israel.

The rocket harmlessly crashed into the compound of a local government authority building in the town of Eshkol.
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ban Urges Security Council to Overcome Divisions on Syria
[An Nahar] U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said Wednesday that Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
lacked "credibility" and urged the U.N. Security Council to overcome divisions on the Syria crisis.

"I do not see much credibility (in) what he has been saying," Ban told a small group of news hounds in an interview to mark his reelection as secretary general.

"How long should the situation continue in this way. He (Assad) really has to take firm measures," Ban added.

The U.N. leader said it would be "very helpful" for the U.N. Security Council to speak out on the Syria crisis.

Russia and China have threatened to veto a resolution proposed by European powers on the 15-member council condemning the Syria violence. Despite the deadlock, Western nations have said they will pursue with the campaign to get a resolution passed.

Ban said that "very serious concerns" had been expressed by the whole international community.

"Of course first he has to respect the will and aspirations of his own people. But the international community has shown strong expectations," the U.N. leader said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Tuesday rejected foreign interference into the deadly crackdown launched by the Assad government in which more than 1,300 have died, according to rights groups.

Assad is refusing to take telephone calls from Ban who said the pair had argued in their last conversation. But Ban said: "I don't think he has rebuffed me. There is always a possibility that I can talk to him."
Posted by: Fred || 06/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
53[untagged]
6Govt of Pakistan
3Taliban
2Hamas
2Govt of Syria
1TTP
1Govt of Iran
1Hizb-ut-Tahrir
1Islamic State of Iraq
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Pirates
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Govt of Sudan

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2011-06-23
  AL chief slams NATO bombing in Libya
Wed 2011-06-22
  Obama Opts for Faster Afghan Pullout
Tue 2011-06-21
  Assad holds hard line on unrest
Mon 2011-06-20
  Syrian dissidents set up 'national council'
Sun 2011-06-19
  Yemeni Government, Opposition Meet in Europe as Unrest Continues
Sat 2011-06-18
  Nigeria's Islamists Claim Suicide Bombing
Fri 2011-06-17
  Abu Bakr Bashir gets 15 years
Thu 2011-06-16
  Pakistan army denies major's arrest for CIA links
Wed 2011-06-15
  Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid
Tue 2011-06-14
  Germany recognises rebels as representing Libya
Mon 2011-06-13
  Syrian Army Attacks Jisr al-Shughour
Sun 2011-06-12
  Helicopters open fire to disperse Syrian protesters
Sat 2011-06-11
  'East Africa embassy bomber Fazul Abdullah Mohammed killed'
Fri 2011-06-10
  Nigeria arrests 14 in Boko Haram attacks
Thu 2011-06-09
  Gaddafi vows to fight until death

Better than the average link...



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.
44.208.25.215
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (19)    Non-WoT (22)    Opinion (4)    (0)    Politix (3)