Afghan opposition figures held a final day of talks at a holiday resort in the Maldives on Friday, organised by a relative of the warlord and former Afghan premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
An unhappy ex-warloard who can't throw a grenade like a man ...
The meeting at the Paradise tourist resort island began on Thursday and involved around 25 opposition representatives, an official Maldivian source told AFP. It was not immediately clear which groups were involved in the meeting, which was organised by Hekmatyar's son-in-law, Humayun Jarir.
Hekmatyar heads the radical Islamist group Hizb-e-Islami, and is currently wanted by the United States for participating in terrorist actions with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
"What we understand is that they are trying to forge unity among themselves," the source said.
Initial reports said Afghan government officials and Taliban figures were participating, but Kabul denied sending any representatives to the meeting.
Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed's office said it had helped with the gathering in the interest of peace in the region. "Afghanistan's stability affects the peace and security of our region. The government of Maldives supports efforts to bring a resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan," Nasheed's press secretary Mohamed Zuhair said.
The US State Department said it was aware of the Maldives talks.
"We continue to support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect human rights of their fellow citizens," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington. "We are not saying they are a good thing or a bad thing. The real question is, what comes out of this."
The meeting comes ahead of a grand assembly, or "jirga", of Afghan tribal and community leaders, called by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and scheduled for later this month. Thousands of people are expected to attend the jirga to discuss the main issues facing the fractious country in the context of Karzai's plans to bring peace and development after more than eight years of war.
#1
The TALIBS are now denying same, ala NEWS KERALA.
* SAME > 40,000 INDIANS "MISSING" IN MALAYSIA: MALAYS PM RAZAK. Decided to covertly stay on n Malaysia despite expiration of Govt-approv Tourist,Other Visa, etc.
* SAME > RAMAN SINGH: MAOISTS TARGET IS DELHI [control of Centre = Indian Economy], NOT DANTEWADA, + SINGH: MAOISTS ARE TERRORISTS.
The suicide bomber who struck in Kabul on Tuesday killed four high-ranking NATO officers who had been on a brief visit, military officials confirmed Thursday. They said the victims included two full colonels, an American and a Canadian, and two American lieutenant colonels.
It was the largest number of ranking officers from the American-led forces here killed in any insurgent attack since the Afghan war that ousted the Taliban from power began more than eight years ago.
British troops serving in Afghanistan have been issued with a new-look camouflage - the first pattern change of its kind for more than 40 years, the Ministry of Defence said today. The new "Multi Terrain Pattern" camouflage was designed to be worn across the different terrain encountered by frontline troops on patrol in Helmand Province.
Troops deployed to the war-torn country in April, including members of the Royal Dragoon Guards, were the first to be issued with the new uniform.
It will be issued to all military personnel by 2012 as the existing Woodland and Desert camouflage are phased out.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Do they get 'Can't-see-me' shoes, or do they have to buy their own?
#3
Wah! OldSpook, my antivirals stopped a trojan horse from that link!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/21/2010 9:13 Comments ||
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#4
What are we Star Fleet changing uniforms every few years. Isn't there a cost to buying all new uniforms across the board and isn't this a daft time to be doing so?
rjschwarz, the cost of uniform changes is small compared to most things. Add to the fact that most troops have to buy their own besides a small standard issue and the cost goes down even more.
The Army expected my two winter and two summer sets of BDUs to last more than 2 years for some reason. As a REMF, they might have. As infantry.... not a chance. I was buying new uniforms every six months after a 45 day long field problem. The BDUs were shredded after that.
BERLIN, May 20 (UPI) -- The German government this month decided to dispatch more armored vehicles to its troops in Afghanistan, after having sent heavy artillery there in mid-April.
Germany will send another 15 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to northern Afghanistan, where Germany has nearly 5,000 troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. In addition, the Bundeswehr troops will receive Panzerschnellbruecke 2 vehicle-launched bridges and Dachs engineer tanks, German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg said this month.
"We are not engineering a general arms buildup, but we are reacting to the necessities on the ground," he told German news magazine Focus.
The plans will be costly, putting pressure on an already overstretched German federal budget.
Guttenberg said he was willing to look at long-term spending programs but urged his government not to cut back on short-term arms expenditures. "We have to spend the necessary amount to protect our troops on mission," he told the magazine.
In mid-April, Guttenberg had already dispatched to Afghanistan two models of the Panzerhaubitze 2000, a world-leading self-propelled artillery weapon developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall. Dutch forces had used the howitzers with a target range of up to 37 miles for years, while the Germans until last month were doing without them.
The German troops also received TOW anti-tank guided missiles and additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
The boost of firepower was a major policy reversal for Berlin, which had shied from deploying heavy attack equipment into Afghanistan out of fear it would point to a war-like mission -- highly unpopular in largely pacifist Germany. Yet in the face of several large-scale battles with Taliban forces in April that killed seven German troops, it was clear that the Bundeswehr needed greater firepower in Afghanistan.
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05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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... highly unpopular in largely pacifist Germany.
Why is Germany so pacifist today? Isn't that what you want the Afghans and Pashtuns to be? So would you consider doing to the troublesome tribes what you did to the Germans to exorcise their two hundred year history of militarism out of their culture? /rhet question
#4
So would you consider doing to the troublesome tribes what you did to the Germans to exorcise their two hundred year history of militarism out of their culture?
That would take an awful lot of veterinarians working overtime.
#5
I think that the pascifistic nature of the German people is due to the backlash , disgust and embarassment of their forefathers action during the 20's, 30's and 40's , Procopius2k
Generally a proud people , and definatley warrior spirits . Perhaps they realise that they need to play a larger part in operations for ISAF
Posted by: Oscar ||
05/21/2010 9:19 Comments ||
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#7
Well, one view is that Germany was never unified, but rather annexed through a series of wars by Prussia-Saxony. Bavaria and the Rhineland states never exhibited the same intensity of 'warrior' spirit that Prussia and Saxon had. With the division of Germany in '45, the place was pretty much divided up along those lines with Soviets sitting on the Prussian and Saxon territories and the west on the the remaining lands, with the neutralized Austria out of the collection. The Bavarian and Rhineland confederation in the form of West Germany had the opportunity to organize and mature without the imposition of authority by the Prussians that it experienced in the 19th Century. Today most of Prussia is now Russian or Polish territory and has been subjected to cultural and ethnic cleansing for half a century.
The leader of the Sudan's People Liberation Movement (SPLM), Salva Kiir, is scheduled to be sworn in Friday as the first democratically-elected President of the semi-autonomous southern Sudanese capital, Juba.
General Oyay Deng Ajak, southern Sudan's minster for regional cooperation, said several local and international dignitaries will participate in Mr. Kiir's inauguration. Today, Friday, this will be first time in history of the people of south Sudan to have a democratically-elected president of the government of southern Sudan to be sworn in, in front of parliament and, of course, you have all the people attending the ceremony. There are lots of international and external dignitaries that have already arrived in Juba,' he said.
Sudan's National Electoral Commission declared Salva Kiir, leader of the SPLM, winner of the presidential election in southern Sudan with over 90 percent of the total vote cast.
General Ajak said the recent election was the first for most southern Sudanese after years of civil war. For most people in south Sudan, the last election was the first time for them in their life to elect anybody of their choice, and they decided to elect the SPLM candidate in the name of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. So, they are celebrating and people are very excited and they will really want to see that the event takes place very smoothly,' Ajak said.
The election was Sudan's first vote in 24 years after years of civil war between the north and the south. It also forms part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the north and south. The accord effectively ended the civil war.
Analysts say Mr. Kiir will become the first vice president of the entire Sudan forming a north-south national coalition government to be led by President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.
The unity government is expected to work closely to fully implement the remaining provisions of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). General Ajak said Mr. Kiir wants the CPA implemented fully.
President Salva Kiir is first committed to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and, second, to see not only the implementation of the CPA, but the timely implementation of the CPA. That the referendum, which is the final conclusion of the CPA, must take place on time just in six months from now,' Ajak said.
The upcoming referendum in southern Sudan, scheduled for January 2011, will allow residents of the south to decide whether or not to remain a part of Sudan or to secede and become an independent country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Somalia's president has reinstated Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and his Cabinet, three days after announcing their dismissal.
Imagine our relief ...
President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed had fired the prime minister after the speaker of parliament said lawmakers had lost confidence in him. But in a press release Thursday, the president's office said Mr. Sharif reversed that decision after consulting with legal experts and lawmakers who expressed concerns about the way the firing was handled.
Prime Minister Sharmarke had contended the president had no legal right to dismiss him.
The dispute followed a contentious session of parliament Sunday in which some lawmakers claimed they had voted out the speaker, Shiekh Aden Mohamed Nur.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
You should pay attention to Somalia. These clowns - and there are more than 500 of them - purport to rule the country. The Transitional Federal Government.
More than half of them are in Nairobi, Kenya, living off the UN aid money, sipping lattes at Java House.
They do this while al-Shabaab takes over Mogadishu.
They are just parasites.
Instead the UN should be giving that money to Dr Farole, head of Puntland's state government, and the head of Somaliland's state government.
Those two northern states can be saved from al-Shabaab. They are relatively stable.
And giving Dr Farole money will stop the scourge of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. His entire yearly budget last year was just $15 million. He has locked up hundreds of pirates in prison - but he needs cash.
Instead the UN refuses to deal directly with his functional administration or the similarly functional government in Somaliland because they don't want Somalia breaking into 3 states.
Instead they prefer to see al-Shabaab take over.
Al Qaeda in Africa. Massively hardline Wahhabist Sunni Islamists.
Versus ordinary African mystical Sufis.
Cut off money to the UN while you have a chance and give it to the ones who can make a difference for all of our sakes. Or the next people to fly planes into buildings are likely to be Somalis.
#2
Cut off money to the UN? You're preaching to the choir around here, anon1!
We should indeed be helping to build the nascent governments of Puntland and Somalialand, but in doing so the other African states would become both angry and nervous. Both of these regions are considered 'successionist', and the last thing other ruling African thugs want is encouragement for parts of their own countries to split off and go their own way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 9:13 Comments ||
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Of course they do. Hugo and Short Round are best friends ...
President Hugo Chávez announced the next visit to Venezuela of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after a telephone conversation in which both leaders talked about bilateral cooperation issues
Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez expressed its unconditional support to the agreement reached at the recent G-15 summit held in Iran, and considered it a "victory of the countries of the South over the agenda of aggression and attacks promoted by the US empire."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be coming soon to Venezuela "with the goal of reviewing and deepening the binational strategic alliance deployed in all cooperation areas."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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TOPIX > TO COUNTER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION [NBC], US REACHING OUT TO INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS.
* US Believes Tterrorists aspire to dev BIO-WEAPONS [ + CHEMWAR WEAPS].
* US Suupors MULTINATIONAL EARLY-WARNING SYSTEM [EWS] + World Nations adhereing to INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGS, DETECTION + MONITORING, by 2012.
* US Focii as per WMD = NBC-CBRN(E) THREAT BASE TO US-World has traditionally been RUSSIA.
* Future new US-led anti-WMD Iniatives to focii on SOUTH ASIA, SE ASIA, + SUB-SHARAN AFRICAN STATES.
We had already warned the south Korean group of traitors not to make reckless remarks concerning the sinking of warship "Cheonan" of the puppet navy.
Nevertheless, the group of traitors had far-fetchedly tried to link the case with us without offering any material evidence. It finally announced the results of the joint investigation based on a sheer fabrication, which assert that the warship was sunken by our torpedo attack, in a bid to mislead the public opinion inside and outside Korea.
It is, at the same time, crying out for "punishment" and "retaliation" internally and foolishly seeking to prod the international community into applying additional "sanctions" against the DPRK. The NYT could take lessons from the artful use of scare quotes.
What matters is that traitor Lee Myung Bak is taking the lead in such anti-DPRK smear campaign, even daring slander the headquarters of our revolution.
Meanwhile, Kim Thae Yong and other gangsters of the south Korean puppet military accustomed to flattery and blind obedience echo Lee Myung Bak's outbursts. This smear campaign is fanned up by Ryu Myung Hwan and other ultra-rightist conservatives of south Korea.
This is also joined by the U.S. and Japanese aggressors who are making desperate efforts to keep their hostile policy towards the DPRK on its orbit.
We would like to question them so busy linking the above-said case with the DPRK why they don't link with it the death of a puppet army soldier, crashes of fighter plane and gunship of the puppet navy and air force and the sinking of a civilian fishing boat that occurred one after another almost simultaneously. ♫ One of these things is not like the other... ♫
It is the age of science and technology.
As a swollen balloon is bound to break, any lie is bound to be brought to light no matter how hard one may try to make it sound plausible. Now there's some poetry.
What is evident is that the sinking of warship "Cheonan" can never be construed otherwise than a "conspiratorial farce" and "charade" orchestrated by the group of traitors in a deliberate and brigandish manner to achieve certain political and military aims because only 46 soldiers met miserable deaths while officers survived the case.
This being a hard reality, they are pointing a dirty accusing finger at us like a thief crying "Stop the thief!"
It is a trite method of the successive south Korean puppet regimes to fake up a shocking case and use it for floating a story about "north wind" whenever they find themselves in a crisis.
These days they are using for this plot even "deserters from the north" who had found their ways to a dumping ground and human scum.
The National Defence Commission of the DPRK responsible for the defence of the country and the security of the nation clarifies the principled stand of our army and people in view of the grave situation where the sinister plot of the group of traitors may lead to reckless actions against us.
1. As the group of traitors declared that the sinking of the warship "Cheonan" is linked with us, the NDC of the DPRK will dispatch an inspection group to the spot of south Korea to verify material evidence concerning the linkage. The group of traitors should produce before the dignified inspection group of the DPRK material evidence proving that the sinking of the warship is linked with us. We remind the group of traitors in advance that there should be not a shred of doubt about the material evidence to be produced before the inspection group.
2. Our army and people will promptly react to any "punishment" and "retaliation" and to any "sanctions" infringing upon our state interests with various forms of tough measures including an all-out war.
The all-out war to be undertaken by us will be a sacred war involving the whole nation, all the people and the whole state for completely eliminating the strongholds of the group of traitors who orchestrated "the conspiratorial farce" and "charade" and their followers and building instead a reunified power in which the whole nation emerges powerful and prosperous. Sacred war...holy war...jihad? Kimilsung Akbar!
The tough countermeasures to be taken by us will prove to be practical actions of justice for dealing unpredictable sledge-hammer blows at the group of traitors who blocks national reconciliation and unity and stirs up an atmosphere of confrontation in the south Korean society.
3. Now that the group of traitors declared what it called "decisive actions", we will brand any small incident that occurs in the territorial waters, air and land where our sovereignty is exercised including the West Sea of Korea as a provocation of confrontation maniacs and react to it with unlimited retaliatory blow, merciless strong physical blow.
It is our invariable iron will to react to "retaliation" with more powerful retaliation and to "punishment" with indiscriminate punishment of our style.
Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we sternly warn the U.S. and Japanese authorities and riff-raffs, their poor lackeys, to act with discretion.
The world will clearly see what dear price the group of traitors will have to pay for the clumsy "conspiratorial farce" and "charade" concocted to stifle compatriots. Low-frequency words & phrases used. Keep notes, there will be a test later.
puppet navy
far-fetchedly
conspiratorial farce
trite
all-out war
sledge-hammer blows
unlimited retaliatory blow (I like this one, I'm going to try to work it into a sentence this week - "Cheryl, your overuse of the office coffee maker will be met with an unlimited retaliatory blow!")
riff-raffs
lackeys
#5
but the Asians do lie so beautifully, don't they
Everybody lies beautifully when they so choose, Redneck Jim. In this case, the only ones who believe the KNCA are a few of their own people, so no, they are not lying beautifully.
WASHINGTON - The White House said on Thursday it was consulting with the U.N. Security Council as well as South Korea's neighbors after an investigation showed North Korea torpedoed one of Seoul's warships.
That'll show the Norks, eh Gibbsie?
South Korea's neighbors... that'd be China and Japan, yes? Those consultations will certainly be interesting.
"We're in consultation with a host of different entities," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters when asked whether the United States would support any push for new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang.
"Entities". Like NGOs and things? Why consult them?
Asked whether Washington was concerned about North Korea's threat of war if South Korea sought to impose sanctions, Gibbs said he would not deal with "hypotheticals."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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there is nothing that we can do but ignore the Norks really
How can we go to war with them?
We cannot afford it. Wars are expensive.
The US taxpayers are groaning under the weight of supporting the rest of the world: most of the UN budget, the IMF, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
When do US tax dollars ever get spent on US citizens?!!
On another matter - does anybody know if Australia is censoring FaceBook? I can't access Everybody Draw Mohammed Day on FB.
WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday refused to tip its hand on possible punishments for North Korea as tensions rose after Seoul accused its neighbor of sinking one of its warships in a torpedo strike.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether Washington was mulling new United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang or other measures, but said "a lot of things" were on the table. None of which we'll actually do ... Feel the wrath of The Sternly Worded Note! Not to mention the Coldly Extended Hand of Greeting... We'll still bow to them ...
He repeatedly met questions on the US response to the crisis by saying that Washington was in direct consultation with the South Korean government and other key powers.
Gibbs also renewed the US condemnation of the sinking, which killed 46 sailors, that he first made Wednesday after a multinational investigation said there was overwhelming evidence a North Korean submarine sank the ship on March 26. "We strongly condemn this act of aggression against the Republic of Korea," he said, and sent condolences to families of the dead.
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ION WMF > CHINA TO BUILD DIFFERENT AIRCRAFT CARRIER CLASSES OF NUCLEAR-POWERED AND "UPGRADED/IMPROVED", VARYAG-, NIMITZ-TYPE DESIGNS BY 2020.
* SAME > MALAYSIA, NOT VIETNAM, IS CHINA'S REAL HIDDEN ENEMY IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA.
* SAME > THE PHILIPPINES, NOT TAIWAN OR INDONESIA, IS THE GREATEST MILITARY WEAK LINK FOR THE US AMONG "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" SOVEREIGN STATES. IMPORTANCE OF HAINAN ISLAND + MIL CONQUEST OF TAIWAN FOR PLA PHILIPPINES STRATEGIC ATTACK/MIL CAMPAIGN TO GAIN QUICK ACCESS INTO WESTPAC AGZ THE US CARRIER.
#4
NEWS AM > a US Expert believes that niether the US nor CHINA will overtly support any HARSH OR HARDLINE MIL RESPONSE + ECON SANCTION AGZ NORTH KOREA???
* DAILY NK OPED > SEEDS OF JUCHE SOWN BY SINO-SOVIET SPLIT.
#5
OOOOSPIES, forgot KOREA TIMES > EVIDENCE ON CHEONAN WILL NOT CHANGE CHINA'S POSTURE ON NORTH KOREA.
IOW, CHIN will continue to mil protect and defend its BUFFER/VASSAL STATE DPRK agz Any and All Comers until such time that CHIN + only CHIN decides otherwise.
SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea promised to sternly punish North Korea Thursday after a multinational probe found the communist regime was behind the deadly sinking of its warship Cheonan. Pyongyang's highest office immediately struck back with a strongly worded statement denying any involvement and warning of an "all-out war."
A South Korean-led five-nation team of specialists concluded that a North Korean submarine slipped into southern waters and attacked the 1,200-ton Cheonan with a heavy torpedo on March 26. They cited parts of a North Korean torpedo collected from the scene near the sides' Yellow Sea border and other evidence.
"(We) will take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation and return to the international community as a responsible member," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in phone talks, according to Lee's office. Lee did not elaborate what countermeasures will be taken.
North Korea's National Defense Commission, headed by leader Kim Jong-il, immediately issued a statement accusing the South of "pointing a dirty accusing finger at us like a thief." It called Lee a "traitor" and claimed the investigation was "sheer fabrication."
It is rare for the isolated North to react to an outside development immediately.
"Our army and people will promptly react to any 'punishment' and 'retaliation' and to any 'sanctions' infringing upon our state interests with various forms of tough measures including an all-out war," the statement said. The North also said that it will send a team of inspectors to verify the South's investigation.
Park Jung-i, a co-director of the South Korean investigation team, said he believes the U.N. Military Armistice Commission should handle the North Korean offer to send a delegation because the sides are technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War. But Kim Young-sun, spokesman for South Korea's foreign ministry, said in a separate briefing hours later that "related branches" will discuss the North Korean gesture and decide how to respond.
The U.S. and other nations expressed outrage over the North's attack that claimed 46 lives. "North Korea must understand that belligerence towards its neighbors and defiance of the international community are signs of weakness, not strength," the White House said in a statement. "Such unacceptable behavior only deepens North Korea's isolation."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the probe outcome "deeply troubling."
But China, the North's last-remaining major ally, issued a guarded response, with Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai only saying that the tragedy should be dealt with appropriately to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The diplomat called the sinking "unfortunate" but did not denounce Pyongyang. Winning support from China is key to South Korea's plan to take the case to the U.N. Security Council to punish the North, as Beijing is a permanent Council member with veto power.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama supported South Korea and said the attack is "unforgivable."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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If the Hennessy distillery and warehouses were to burn down... it would have more effect on the fearless leader then if a million of his peasants died. (Just saying)
#3
find me something that the proponents of multicultralism actually do understand, and we can start there.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/21/2010 1:26 Comments ||
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#4
IMO KIMMIE > is foreseeing or anticipating ORDINARY/MAINSTREAM NOKORS [also read, KIMMIE FAMILY-CLAN DYNASTY] becom de facto IMPOTENT MINORITIES in their own Land, in LT as due to newly agreed etablihsment of PRO-CHINA SEZS in DPRK.
ALSO READ II > KIMMIE + NORKOMS [Pan-Korean Lefts?] held responsible for loss of SECOND KORYE KINGDOM TO BEIJING = [unannexed] CHIN CONTROL.
"THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE" ANCIENT KORYE KINGDOM LEFT, + that ONE in Sole will be SOUTH KOREA.
IOW, KIMMIE + DPRK > 2010-2012 IRANO-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION > HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE VIA UNILATERAL MIL ESCALATION.
North Korea on Thursday anticipated its implication in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, claiming the probe was "a planned, intentional provocation to destroy inter-Korean relations."
A statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said the South Korean "puppet regime" was committing "an outrageous act in the verge of death to tide over the crisis by deceiving public opinion to pull through the June 2 local elections," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
"As the shipwreck occurred, the puppet regime saw a golden opportunity to drive inter-Korean relations to catastrophe. From the start [North Korean] involvement was treated as a fait accompli, and it has been talking about responses and retaliation ever since. Today it finally raised a cry of war."
The statement warned the "traitors" that the North will respond to any joint action by South Korea and the U.S. over the sinking with "merciless, firm punishment."
KCNA's new writer needs work ...
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KOREA TIMES > NORTH ESCALATES TENSIONS OVER CHEONAN.
DPRK says:
* views the situation as a STATE OF WAR.
* threatens to abrogate INTER-KOREAN STATE RELATIONS.
* abrogate the NK-SK Pact = Armistice ending the first KOREAN WAR [resumption of formal Hostilities = Open Warfare]?
* End Any and All BILATERAL ECON COOPERATION.
A German court Thursday rejected a defense motion to drop charges against John Demjanjuk, who is charged with helping murder 27,900 Jews as a World War II guard in a Nazi death camp.
He's lived at least 65 years longer than they have ...
The move Thursday came as Demjanjuk, 90, remained in a Munich hospital after complaining of heart problems. The health complaint forced postponement of the ongoing trial for a third straight day.
Demjanjuk is accused of being an accessory to murder as a guard at the Nazi-run Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland. He denies the charges, saying he was a prisoner at the camp and not a guard.
Demjanjuk lawyer Ulrich Busch had asked the court to end the trial and release his client. He said the evidence presented so far has either not been credible or has failed to prove Demjanjuk was in fact a camp guard.
Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. auto worker, was deported to Germany from the United States last year. He suffers from several medical problems, but has been declared fit by German doctors to stand trial, as long as the court sessions are limited to two 90-minute sessions a day.
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Demjanjuk has been suffering from severe medical problems for many years, trying to beat this rap.
MARSEILLE: French Muslims celebrated on Thursday as construction work began on the country's biggest mosque in the southern port city of Marseille, a potent symbol of Islam's place in modern France.
Muslim and government leaders alike hope that work on the Grande Mosque will serve to bind the city together and serve as a community anchor. Marseille is France's second largest city and home to 250,000 Muslims, many of whom are currently obliged to perform their rites in makeshift prayer houses.
With a minaret soaring 25 metres high, the Grand Mosque will hold up to 7,000 people in its prayer room and the complex will also boast a Quranic school, library, restaurant and tea room when it opens in 2012.
Muslims in Marseille have long campaigned for a mega-mosque as a prominent gathering place for Muslims. The turning point came in 2001 when Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin, a member of Sarkozy's right-wing party, threw his weight behind the project, overriding objections from the far-right.
After years of delays, the project still faces hurdles to raise the full $27 million needed to finance it. Nourredine Cheikh, an Algerian-born businessman and president of the association leading the campaign for the mosque, said his group was hoping for big donations from North African countries, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
The Saoodis will provide the cash, imams, textbooks and mandatory instruction ...
The grand mosque would be built in the Saint-Louis area of Marseille, an ethnically mixed neighbourhood that suffers high unemployment and poverty.
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I once visited Marseille while still on active duty; the only memory i have of the place is that of the over-powering smell of dogcrap; seemed that it was required for Fido to poop on the sidewalk and his master NOT clean it up. That and the mosque will fit nicely together.
ABC News has learned that President Obama will replace the Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair (ret.) His resignation will come as soon as tomorrow, sources tell ABC News.
For several weeks President Obama has been holding serious conversations about whether to ask Blair to step down and has interviewed candidates to replace him. After a discussion this afternoon between the president and Blair in the Oval Office about the best way forward, Blair offered to resign and the president said he would accept, sources told ABC News.
Multiple administration sources tell ABC News that Blair's tenure internally has been a rocky one.
On the heels of a number of intelligence failures involving the Fort Hood shooter, failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmuttalab, and questions about failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, it was no longer clear that Blair -- tasked with coordinating the 16 intelligence agencies and ensuring that they cooperate and share information -- still had the full and complete confidence of the president, sources say.
The news will not come as a surprise to those in the intelligence community. For months, Blair has turf battles while the White House made it clear that it had more confidence in others, such as counterterrorism and homeland security adviser John Brennan, taking the lead both publicly and privately.
Last November, the White House sided with CIA director Leon Panetta when Blair attempted, against Panetta's wishes, to pick the chief U.S. intelligence officer in each country, a job that traditionally has gone to the CIA station chief.
At other points, Blair seemed simply out of the loop. In hearings looking into failed Christmas Day bomber Abdulmuttalab, Blair seemed unaware that the High-Value interrogation Group was not yet operational. He later walked back his statement.
Just this week -- after a scathing report on intelligence failures and Abdulmuttalab by the Senate Intelligence Committee -- Blair acknowledged in a statement that "institutional and technological barriers remain that prevent seamless sharing of information."
The Senate Committee report was a strong message of disapproval of the job being done by Blair and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Blair also noted some improvements to the National Counterterrorism Center, which he supervises, which now has a unit "to thoroughly and exhaustively pursue terrorist threat threads, including identifying appropriate follow-up actions by other intelligence and law enforcement organizations."
#1
I heard Blair's resignation was requested and met with resistance. Brennan should go but this sounds like he may be the favored replacement! Just when I thought it couldn't get worse....
#2
I'm not thrilled with Blair, but I do wonder whether his failings are his own, or if he is just one more being thrown under the bus over Obama's failings.
#4
Brennan should go but this sounds like he may be the favored replacement!
What a cluster fuck. I shouldn't be surprised if John "Bend over for islamic terrorism and maybe they will kill us last" Brennan is promoted. Blair was needed to lend some credibility to Candidate Obama's national security cred. Now the idiot is no longer useful and time to bring a member of the inner party to the forefront.
If hostile foreign agents seized control of the US government, just would they do differently than President Obama?
Posted by: ed ||
05/20/2010 19:39 Comments ||
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#5
Blair wasn't a very good choice for DNI, but I share the concerns that his replacement will be worse, particularly if it's Brennan.
DNI is an impossible job: you have to get 16 different intel agencies, each with their own agendas, resources, personnel and turf, to cooperate. Succeed only 99% of the time and everyone will remember the time you failed.
My money on his replacement is Panetta, but if Panetta is as smart as he thinks he is, he'll say no.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/20/2010 19:43 Comments ||
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#6
STATEMENT FROM DIRECTOR DENNIS C. BLAIR TO THE ODNI AND INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY WORKFORCE
> May 20, 2010
>
> It is with deep regret that I informed the President today that I will step down as Director of National Intelligence effective Friday, May 28th.
>
> I have had no greater honor or pleasure than to lead the remarkably talented and patriotic men and women of the Intelligence Community.
>
> Every day, you have worked tirelessly to provide intelligence support for two wars and to prevent an attack on our homeland.
>
> You are true heroes, just like the members of the Armed Forces, firefighters, and police whose job it is to keep our nation safe.
>
> Your work over the past 16 months has made the Intelligence Community more integrated, agile, and representative of American values. Keep it up I will be cheering for you.
>
> Dennis C. Blair
#7
If hostile foreign agents seized control of the US government, just would they do differently than President Obama?
Good q. There are times I wake up and think, Is it over yet? Will our elected leaders finally begin to favor friends and punish foes, instead of v-v? Who is this fool in the White House, and how on earth did he get there, again? When will we be able to respect our country again?
2012 can't come fast enough. This little jack@ss is worse than Carter.
#9
fwiw, Admiral Blair was the fellow clueless enough to try to get Chas Freeman (a favorite of the Saudi and PRChina dictators and font of anti Israel agiprop) appointed chair of the Nat Intel Council.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/21/2010 7:00 Comments ||
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#10
Just a few words for the Admiral and all the other sychophantic, servile, self-serving, PC flag officers out there.
Right now, the Obama administrations national security apparatus is broken, dysfunctional and in disarray. Dennis Blair was the one person you could count on for rationality among Holder, Napolitano and Brennanand hes the one the president let go.
#12
Smart money says the cynical political ploy would be to replace Blair w/a nominal Republican (Chuck Hagel) so that when the next attack succeeds the blame will be shifted.
That of course assumes that cynical politics trumps national security.
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/21/2010 12:11 Comments ||
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#13
If hostile foreign agents seized control of the US government, just would they do differently than President Obama?
One gets the impression that has already happened!
Citing several armed robberies and attempted armed robberies on Falcon Lake in Zapata County, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Zapata County Sheriff's Office are strongly urging boaters on Falcon Lake to stay on the United States side of the lake and not venture into Mexican waters. This is a big lake
Three reported incidents since April 30 have raised concern among law enforcement officers in the Lake Falcon area. Two of the three incidents involved United States citizens who had gone into the Mexican side of the lake, passing the International Waters markers. Most of the incidents occurred in the Old Guerrero area, but it's possible that other areas are a concern as well.
Fishermen are advised to stay as far away as possible from any of the Argos-type fishing boats typically used as fishing vessels by Mexican fishermen. These boats have a large prow, a small outboard motor without a cowling and no identification numbers on the hull.
Several bass fishing tournaments are scheduled for Falcon Lake during the next few weeks, and officials are concerned that they could be in danger if they cross into Mexican waters while they fish. One of the incidents occurred in U.S. waters.
This weekend, Zapata County Sheriff Sigi Gonzalez, will discuss these concerns with bass tournament participants. He has been working with Texas Parks and Wildlife regarding security matters on Falcon Lake. The DPS Border Security Operations Center and the Fusion Center are working with Zapata County and Parks and Wildlife to review protective measures in the area.
The robbers are believed to be members of a drug trafficking organization or members of an enforcer group linked to a drug trafficking organization who are heavily armed and using AK-47s or AR-15 rifles to threaten their victims. They appear to be using local Mexican fishermen to operate the boats to get close to American fishermen.
On April 30, five people in two different boats were fishing on Falcon Lake and went to the Old Guerrero area, where they were taking photos of the old church. While they were there, a boat with four heavily tattooed men approached the two boats quickly. The men identified themselves as "Federales," but they were not wearing uniforms. The men boarded the boats, demanded cash and asked "where are the drugs?" The fishermen told the men that they had no drugs and were just fishing and taking photos. They ended up giving the men $200 cash and left the area. The pirates followed the two boats, but the U.S. boats were able to outrun them and the men stopped following once the two boats entered U.S. waters.
On May 6, three fishermen were about a quarter of a mile from Marker 14 on the north side of Salado Island on top of the ruins. As they were fishing, a boat with two men quickly approached and pointed AR-15s at the fishermen. One of the men boarded the boat and searched it, looking for drugs, cash and guns. During the incident, he chambered a round in the rifle and told the fishermen that he would shoot them if they did not give him money. The fishermen took money out of their wallets and gave it to them.
On May 16, law enforcement officers were told that some boaters were approached by a boat with five armed men on it. Investigators have not been able to locate the boaters to determine whether any cash was taken. This incident occurred on the United States side of the lake near Marker 7. Anyone who is involved in an incident on Falcon Lake should dial 911 and report it to the Zapata County Sheriff's Office.
To maximize safety, boaters should stay in U.S. waters on Falcon Lake and file a float plan. This means leaving a detailed note with family members telling the time and place of departure (boat ramp), destination and direction of travel, boater cell phone number if available, names of passengers and what they're wearing, and a description of the boater's vehicle and boat, including boat and vehicle license numbers.
The U.S. State Department website lists several travel alerts related to violence in Mexico. Travelers should always check that website for the most up-to-date information related to security issues in Mexico.
The Canadian letter told Mr. Pandher that he was being denied a visa because there is reason to believe you are a member of the inadmissible class of persons' involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity. It noted that he had been a part of the BSF from 1975 to 2000, and that one-third of the force is deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. Citing open source research', it said the notoriously violent' BSF has been engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and in systematically torturing suspected criminals'.
The Canadian government's decision to deny a former BSF constable a permanent visa on the grounds that the Border Security Force from which he retired in 2000 is a notoriously violent paramilitary unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians' has vitiated relations with Ottawa barely weeks before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to visit Canada.
I received a letter from the Canadian High Commission on December 8 last year informing me that my visa application has been rejected. It said that visa was being denied to me since I was a member of the BSF, which it accused of committing crimes against humanity', Fateh Singh Pandher, now in his late sixties, told The Hindu on Friday on phone from Ludhiana.
The former BSF constable said that he, along with his wife, had visited Canada in 2005 for six months and then returned home. ``Since one of my daughters is settled in Canada, I and my wife also wanted to live with her and applied for permanent visa in 2008 but in 2009 my application was rejected because of my former employment in the BSF,'' he said.
Mr. Pandher said that he took up the matter with the BSF headquarters, which later drew the attention of the Home Ministry and Ministry of External Affairs to it.
Indian officials told The Hindu that the Canadian letter, signed by Eric Verner, First Secretary (Immigration) in the Canadian High Commission in Delhi was an affront to the country and the government and that a serious view had been taken of it at the highest levels. The decision to grant or deny a visa is Canada's sovereign right', an official said but they have no right to pass this kind of judgment on the BSF, which is one of our border guarding security forces'.
Though the letter to Mr. Pandher was sent last December, it was only brought to the notice of the government recently.
We are not keeping quiet about this', an official said, adding that the issue had already been taken up with Canada. There was added sensitivity because the Prime Minister is due to visit Toronto for G-20 summit in June.
On the record, all that the MEA spokesperson was prepared to say was ``the matter has come to the attention of the Ministry and has been appropriately taken up with the Canadian side.''
The Canadian letter told Mr. Pandher that he was being denied a visa because there is reason to believe you are a member of the inadmissible class of persons' involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity. It noted that he had been a part of the BSF from 1975 to 2000, and that one-third of the force is deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. Citing open source research', it said the notoriously violent' BSF has been engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and in systematically torturing suspected criminals'.
The letter said Mr. Pandher had admitted' being aware of the fact that the BSF was responsible for committing crimes against humanity as you had read about it in the newspaper'. But since he had not disassociated himself from the BSF despite being aware of these crimes, he was an accomplice and was thus ineligible to enter Canada.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/21/2010 16:54 ||
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THIS is the story of two Faisals, one from India's Jammu and Kashmir and the other from Pakistan.
How they spell their names differ, and also how they have built their lives and the values they have come to represent. Their names appeared side-by-side in the Indian media last week.
Similar treatment was lacking in the international media that focuses on the way Muslims live in India and Pakistan and more critically, in Kashmir, the bone of contention between the two South Asian neighbours.
But let us talk more about the two Faisals.
Shah Faesal, a medical doctor from Kupwara district in the troubled Kashmir Valley topped the Indian Civil Services Examination last year, becoming the first person from Jammu and Kashmir to achieve that distinction. He cracked the difficult, multi-phase examination at the first attempt.
He is not alone -- there are three others from Kashmir who have made it to the coveted list of would-be Indian civil servants.
Born in 1983, when Kashmir was a peaceful place, Shah had a violent setback when his father, Ghulam Rasul Shah, a school teacher, was killed by "unidentified gunmen" in 2002. The shattered family moved from the village home to Srinagar where not only Shab, but his brother and sister too, managed to study with distinction under the care of their mother.
Shah Faesal, 27, said he owed his success to his well-knit middle class family and to divine blessings. He is specially beholden to his mother, Mubeena, 47, who was the pillar of strength during critical times.
"I am humbled. I had faith in my hard work, Allah's grace and the blessings of my family," he said.
Shah could have picked up the gun. In the prevailing atmosphere of unemployed, disoriented youths, it is not improbable. But he stayed focused on studies and close to his family.
Now, let's look at the other Faisal.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, is the Pakistan-born American citizen accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in New York.
Son of retired air vice-marshal Bahar-ul-Haq of the Pakistan Air Force, he had a sheltered life, studying in Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and later in the United States, where he earned a management degree.
He married an American girl of Pakistani descent, also educated. It was a marriage arranged by their respective parents who live in Pakistan. They have two children and everything seemed fine till the global recession took away his job. Friends of Shahzad say he became more religious and sombre in the last year or so.
While people across America and the world suffered the recession, Shahazad sought refuge in militancy. It was a considered decision that was not taken on the spur of the moment. He sought his father's permission to join al-Qaeda and fight in Afghanistan against the Western forces.
The father, according to reports, refused. But he did not inform anyone in authority of his son's plans.
Shahzad told investigators that he drew inspiration from Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American ulama whose militant online lectures have been a catalyst for several recent attacks and plots. Awlaki, 39, now hiding in Yemen, has emerged as perhaps the most prominent English-speaking advocate of violent jihad against the US.
Investigators say he was trained by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Shahzad met its operatives in North Waziristan in north-west Pakistan in December and January. Later, he received training in the use of explosives from the same operatives.
America's counterterrorism officials want to know how Shahzad, a naturalised American citizen with an MBA who is married and has children with a fellow American and who has worked in several corporate jobs, came to embrace violence.
Shahzad has added to the long list of Pakistan-born youths living in the West who have embraced violence. The British have traced 70 per cent of such youths to Pakistan. The US has outlawed TTP and threatened "dire consequences" to Islamabad.
But let us not digress and return to the Indian Faisal.
He is one of a total of 875 candidates -- 680 men and 195 women -- who have been recommended for appointment to the Indian Civil Services whose officials govern India. Of them, the bespectacled Shah has chosen the most coveted Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
Why the government job of an administrator when he is already a qualified doctor?
Shah said as an administrator, he could serve many more people and make a difference.
"I want to set an example by providing a corruption-free administration to the people," a confident Shah said. He seems serious. Committed to integrity, Shah was a Right To Information (RTI) activist in his college days.
He wants to be a role model for the Kashmiri youth. He is already in the good company of fellow Kashmiris on the elite list of wannabe bureaucrats.
Rayees Ahmad Ganai, a resident of south Kashmir's Anantnag district, Showkat Ahmad Parray, from north Kashmir's Baramulla district, and Mir Umair Nabi, from Srinagar, are the other three selected this year.
Parray said their achievement would disprove certain notions about Kashmiris. "More Kashmiris will crack such exams in the coming years," he declared.
"There is a general notion that Kashmiris cannot clear this highly competitive exam. Through our hard work, we have proved this wrong," he said.
All four achievers come from districts that have witnessed militancy for the past two decades. It is after 17 years that Kashmiri youth have made it to the IAS list.
Alas, all this would be of little use to those for whom Kashmir is a "dispute" and little else, in terms of propaganda and diplomatic and political mileage.
To deny that there are problems in Jammu and Kashmir would be wrong.
The feat of Shah and the other three is symbolic of the aspirations and achievements of the Kashmiri youth in India amid adverse conditions.
It should be an eye-opener to those who want to live off the Kashmir dispute -- wherever they are.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/21/2010 16:43 ||
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Pakistan has arrested several suspects in connection with the failed bombing in New York City, officials say.
One of the arrested is the co-owner of a prominent catering firm used by the US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistani officials told news agencies.
It is not clear when the arrests were made. They follow a visit to Pakistan by two senior US security officials.
The main suspect, Pakistan-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad, was arrested two days after the failed attempt. Mr Shahzad has not yet entered a plea on the five charges he faces.
According to court documents he has admitted trying to detonate the Times Square car bomb, having learnt how to make it in a training camp in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.
US prosecutors have said he is co-operating with the investigation.
The news of the arrests in Islamabad came after the US embassy posted a notice on its website that the catering firm co-owned by one of the arrested men and his father may have links to "terrorist groups".
The embassy named the company as the Hanif Rajput Catering Service and warned US citizens and firms in Pakistan not to use it.
Unnamed Pakistani officials told news agencies that Salman Ashraf, the co-owner of the firm, was one of four or five men arrested.
The agencies did not say when the men were arrested.
American authorities have linked the failed New York attack to the Pakistani Taliban.
Earlier this week, a US delegation to Islamabad including President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser, Gen James Jones, and the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, praised Pakistan for its co-operation with the investigation into the attempted Times Square bombing.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday directed all internet service providers concerned to shut down YouTube in view of growing sacrilegious content on the website. The PTA took the step after using all possible avenues within its jurisdiction, including using regular channels available on Facebook and YouTube to launch protests against the publishing of derogatory material available on their websites -- which increased in number as time passed by.
The PTA has so far blocked more than 450 links on the Internet containing derogatory material, according to a press release. The PTA has already announced a phone number and a complaint number to receive complaints on the issue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 9:27 Comments ||
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#4
Send in a posse of scantily clad women , half a pound of bacon and a James 1st bible with frilly bits ?
That would cause an implosion of sorts and bring the pace to a seething standstill
Posted by: Oscar ||
05/21/2010 10:03 Comments ||
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#5
Jeeebus Doc, get a grip, it's easy. Rods from Gods from what look like everyday pedestrian spaceships. Glowing tungsten spears from the heavens would, NIP IT, NIP IT, NIP IT.
ISLAMABAD: A three-member Supreme Court bench on Thursday ordered the government to constitute a five-member committee for the repatriation of Pakistani nationals in foreign jails.
The bench comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa was hearing petitions filed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, former senator Farhatullah Babar and others, seeking recovery of the missing persons. The committee comprising secretaries of foreign affairs, interior, finance, law and human rights has been tasked with devising a detailed plan for the repatriation of Pakistanis jailed abroad. The court directed the government to assign a responsible person as a liaison officer to complain about Pakistanis jailed abroad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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STOCKHOLM: Sweden's embassy in Islamabad has been closed for more than two weeks due to the security situation in Pakistan, a Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
We don't know when it will be possible to reopen the embassy,' Tobias Nilsson said, refusing to say whether any direct threats had been issued against the mission. We never comment on these kinds of security situations."
The embassy said on its website on Thursday that due to the security situation in Pakistan, the embassy of Sweden in Islamabad is closed until further notice'. It did not provide further information. Swedish interests have come under threat in Pakistan in the past.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly backed President Barack Obama's plans to help Israel deploy an anti-missile system, in an unmistakable election-year show of support. By a 401-0 margin, with eight voting present, lawmakers endorsed Obama's plan to give Israel 205 million dollars for its production of a short-range rocket defense system called Iron Dome.'
With nearly every square inch of Israel at risk from rocket and missile attacks, we must ensure that our most important ally in the region has the tools to defend itself,' said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman.
The looming threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and the persistent threat posed by Iran's allies Hamas and Hezbollah, only serve to reinforce our longstanding commitment to Israel's security,' the Califonia Democrat added.
Israel completed tests in January on its Iron Dome system, designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells fired at Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah. The next phase is to integrate the system into the army. Israel hopes the Iron Dome will help counter rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and from Lebanon.
The vote did not actually free up any funds for Iron Dome, but put the US Congress on record as supporting the plan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
WMF > SURPRISING: IRAN WALKS THE SLIPPRY TIGHTROPE BETWEEN BEING CHINA'S FRIEND VERSUS ITS ENEMY.
#3
ION HAARETZ > HEZBOLLAH REPORTEDLY MOBILIZING IN LEBANON AHEAD OF IDF DRILL. Proclaim desire to be ready iff Israel uses milex as a cover to invade Lebanon.
and
ISRAEL NN > {Israeli War Game]US PREDICTED TO ENTER LEBANON [MultiNatForce] IFF IRAN GETS NUKES.
A senior Russian lawmaker says proposed United Nations sanctions against Iran will not affect Russia's plans to sell Tehran surface-to-air missiles.
Mikhail Margelov - head of the Federation Council's foreign affairs committee - says Russia's contract to sell Iran S-300 missiles was completed before the proposed sanctions. He also said Friday that Russia is a "responsible seller" of products on foreign markets and is "not interested in the militarization" of the Middle East.
Russia signed a contract in 2007 to sell the S-300 missiles to Iran but implementation has been delayed. The United States and Israel have strongly objected to the sale because the missiles could potentially be used to thwart air attacks against Iranian nuclear sites.
#3
it wouldn't have mattered if the deal was done before the sanctions they would still sell them the stuff for the right price.
Posted by: chris ||
05/21/2010 13:42 Comments ||
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#4
Putin's toying with Barry. Brezhnev had more respect for Carter, who at least had a resolute, clear-eyed Polish-born NSA to set him straight about how the realpolitik Russians play global chess.
No wonder Jimmah got so upset about seeing his foreign policy compared to Barry's.
More than 6,000 Norfolk-based sailors will deploy today with the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, the Navy said. They're scheduled to spend at least six months at sea, mostly in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and northern Africa. They'll likely support group troops operating in Afghanistan. Also might deploy to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, but let's not mention that in case it makes Iran nervous.
The carrier strike group, commanded by Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, includes the Truman, Carrier Air Wing 3, Destroyer Squadron 26, the guided-missile cruiser Normandy and the guided-missile destroyers Winston S. Churchill, Oscar Austin and Ross.
A German frigate, the Hessen, will also travel with the Truman on deployment, the Navy said.
The Truman had been expected to deploy last October. But in September, after a series of scheduled changes and maintenance delays aboard other carriers, the Navy announced the carrier would have to wait. The strike group has spent the past several months working to stay trained and ready to go.
TEHRAN - A top Iranian MP said Tehran will withdraw from a deal to swap low-enriched uranium for fuel for a research reactor if the UN Security Council slaps more sanctions on the country, the ISNA news agency reported Thursday.
There is the likelihood of another set of sanctions being issued against Iran, but we have already said that if it goes through then our commitments (on the LEU swap) agreement will no longer be considered,' deputy parliamentary speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar was quote as saying.
Bahonar's remark comes two days after Tehran's archfoe, Washington, and other world powers dismissed Tehran's agreement to send around half its stock of LEU to Turkey in exchange for higher-enriched nuclear fuel.
On Tuesday, the United States submitted a draft UN resolution calling for an international clampdown on Iranian banks, shipping and business dealings that might be linked to its nuclear activities. The draft has the blessing of all five of the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, including the usual standouts China and Russia, Washington said.
Already under three sets of UN sanctions over its defiance of repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment,
... none of which have worked ...
Iran touted its agreement with Brazil and Turkey as a goodwill gesture that paves the way for a resumption of talks with the major powers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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BRASILIA - The leaders of the two UN Security Council countries holding out against new sanctions on Iran, Turkey and Brazil, are to meet next week, diplomats from both countries told AFP. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make a three-day visit to Brazil from next Wednesday, during which he will see Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, they said.
Erdogan and Lula this week struck a deal with Iran over its nuclear program they thought would defuse a push by the United States to impose fresh sanctions on Tehran in the UN Security Council. But Washington and its allies dismissed Tehran's agreement to send around half its stock of low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for better-enriched nuclear fuel.
On Tuesday, the United States submitted a UN resolution calling for an international clampdown on Iranian banks, shipping and business dealings that could be linked to its nuclear activities.
Brazil and Turkey on Wednesday issued a joint letter demanding their agreement with Iran be considered, and that the sanctions push be dropped. The countries are two of the 10 non-permanent Security Council members without the veto power of the five permanent members over resolutions. The resolution needs nine votes in the 15-seat Security Council chamber to pass.
Erdogan is to be in Sao Paulo next Wednesday to inaugurate a new Turkish consulate and speak at a business conference, according to the diplomats. On Thursday, he was to see Lula over a working lunch in Brasilia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
BERLIN, May 20 (UPI) -- The German government this month decided to dispatch more armored vehicles to its troops in Afghanistan, after having sent heavy artillery there in mid-April.
Somalia's president has reinstated Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and his Cabinet, three days after announcing their dismissal.
North Korea on Thursday anticipated its implication in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, claiming the probe was "a planned, intentional provocation to destroy inter-Korean relations." 
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday directed all internet service providers concerned to shut down YouTube in view of growing sacrilegious content on the website. The PTA took the step after using all possible avenues within its jurisdiction, including using regular channels available on Facebook and YouTube to launch protests against the publishing of derogatory material available on their websites -- which increased in number as time passed by. 
STOCKHOLM: Sweden's embassy in Islamabad has been closed for more than two weeks due to the security situation in Pakistan, a Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday. 
