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SKorea seeks UN action against NKorea over ship
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Afghanistan
With U.S. Aid, Warlord Builds an Afghan Empire
Posted by: tipper || 06/05/2010 20:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan jirga to call for peace with Taliban
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of Afghan tribal elders and notables were set to make a formal call for peace with the Taliban on Friday, the final day of a traditional assembly that they said was a last chance to end a nine-year war.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the "peace jirga" to win national support for a peace plan consisting of offering an amnesty, cash and job incentives to Taliban foot soldiers while arranging asylum for top figures in a second country.

The participants, chosen to reflect Afghan tribes, politics and geography, had reached a broad consensus that there was no alternative to seeking peace with the Taliban since neither U.S.-led NATO forces nor the weak Afghan army could guarantee security to Afghans, organizers of the jirga said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Bangladesh
BNP-Jamaat meet today
[Bangla Daily Star] The main opposition BNP and its key political ally Jamaat-e-Islami are set to hold a meeting tonight amid wide spread speculation whether the issue of war crimes trial will come up in the discussion.

The crucial meet is scheduled to take place at BNP chairperson's Gulshan office, as part of her series of meetings with the like-minded parties and professionals ahead of the party's anti-government move including hartal.

A delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami with its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami will meet Khaleda Zia, also the leader of opposition in parliament.

Both the parties are going to sit for discussion for the first time after the 2008 election debacle.

But curiosity arises among BNP activists whether Jamaat raises the issue of war crimes trial and how BNP leadership reacts to this.

Jamaat leaders have given a hint that curiosity also prevails among their party members about how the party will deal if BNP seeks direct support of them to make the anti-government movement successful.

"It is the responsibility of all to address this [trial of war criminals] issue as it would be harmful for the country if the government moves forward in this regard," Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, senior assistant secretary general of Jamaat told The Daily Star, adding that an overall political situation will come into their discussion.

Asked whether they would support BNP's hartal programme, he said, "The government forced the opposition to announce anti-government movement and we consider it positively, but we will take our decision through proper discussion."

Some BNP leaders said the party leadership has no plan to seek direct participation of Jamaat into anti-government campaign.

A senior Jamaat leader also said they would not place the issue of war crimes trial on the meeting.

"It's a beginning and there is a long time to go. We want to get support from all but the time has not come yet for other parties' direct participation into our anti-government programmes," a senior BNP leader said seeking anonymity.

He said the party leadership is very much concerned about the war crimes trial issue but they don't want to take any decision right now as they think the government itself will provoke a lot of controversies and the trial of war criminals will finally plunge into a controversial political issue.

BNP standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman said BNP has already expressed its opinion about the government's move as to war crimes trial and there is nothing left to discuss the issue.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


China-Japan-Koreas
SKorea seeks UN action against NKorea over ship
[Al Arabiya Latest] South Korea on Friday referred the alleged sinking of one of its warships by a North Korean torpedo to the U.N. Security Council despite a threat of retaliation from its communist neighbor.

"Today, the Republic of Korea government referred the matter of North Korea's attack against the Cheonan to the United Nations Security Council," President Lee Myung-Bak said in a speech to an annual security forum in Singapore.

Lee mentioned no sanctions but called the March sinking of the corvette, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead, a "military provocation" and dismissed the North's denials of involvement as "laughable".


Tensions have soared on the peninsula since a multinational probe concluded last month that a North Korean torpedo caused the blast that tore apart the Cheonan in the deadliest peacetime incident for Seoul since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

"If we think that after a while North Korea's action will be condoned and that stability on the Korean Peninsula will somehow be maintained, then we would be fooling ourselves because North Korea would once again resort back to attacking others," Lee said.

"North Korea must admit its wrongdoing; it must pledge never again to engage in such reprehensible action. This is in the interest of peace. This is in the interest of North Korea."

In a question-and-answer session, Lee said "nobody wants a war" but South Korea and its closest ally the United States "will respond" if needed.

Lee said that "if the enemy continues to taunt us and think that they can do whatever they want, they must understand that there is a limit ... that they have to suffer the consequences."

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was also attending the forum, said joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises may be put off to allow time for Seoul to secure diplomatic support at the Security Council.

"I think there's a sequencing involved in this and it may be there's a desire first to see what can be accomplished at the U.N. and then think about next steps beyond that," Gates told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

Lee's speech followed a warning by a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman of "the toughest retaliation" if Seoul elevated the matter to the Security Council, accusing Washington and its allies of "an ulterior motive."

The incident has stalled efforts at trying to revive six-nation talks on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons which have been on ice since Pyongyang walked out in April last year.

A North Korean diplomat had warned Thursday that cross-border tensions were running so high that war may break out "at any moment."

Ri Jang-Gon, the country's deputy permanent representative at the U.N. in Geneva, warned that Pyongyang was "ready to promptly react to... various forms of tough measures including an all-out war."
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies


India-Pakistan
Kasab wants to challenge death sentence: report
[Dawn] A Pakistani national sentenced to death by an Indian court for his part in the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks has lodged an application to appeal, the Times of India said on Friday.

The newspaper said prison authorities in India's financial capital had confirmed that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab had approached the city's high court to challenge the sentence and apply for a state-funded lawyer.

Kasab was convicted last month of a string of offences, including waging war against India, mass murder, terrorist acts and conspiracy in connection with the November 26, 2008 attacks that killed 166 and injured more than 300.

The 22-year-old was the only one of the 10 extremist gunmen to be captured alive during the three-day assault, which targeted the city's main railway station, three luxury hotels, a popular restaurant and a Jewish centre.

No one was immediately available for comment at the high-security prison in central Mumbai where Kasab is being held when contacted by AFP.

Death sentences - reserved in India for only the "rarest of rare" cases - by law have to be confirmed by the local high court after reviewing the evidence.

Defendants have a right of appeal and can challenge the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court in the capital, New Delhi. A final plea for clemency can be made to the country's president.

Senior state government officials in Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, have said they want the verdict and sentence ratified swiftly, amid public calls for Kasab to be executed as soon as possible.

But questions have been raised about how long Kasab will be kept on death row, as India has not carried out an execution since 2004 and only two since 1998, while dozens of final clemency appeals are still pending.

The country also has a shortage of hangmen.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  The country also has a shortage of hangmen

oh puhleez. Reeeeeallly? No volunteers? I doubt that. Oh right, it's Dawn
Posted by: Frank G || 06/05/2010 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  All the romance and shine worn off the martyrdom and We Love Death thing after sitting in the cooler for awhile, eh Kasab?
Posted by: SteveS || 06/05/2010 15:47 Comments || Top||


Tribes vow to expel Mehsud militants
[Dawn] Members of a Pakistan Pashtun tribe vowed on Friday to raise a militia aimed at forcing militants loyal to Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud from their lands on the Afghan border.

Hakimullah is regarded as enemy number one of Pakistan as his militants have unleashed a wave of bomb and suicide attacks across the country in recent years.

The Pakistani army mounted a major offensive against them in their South Waziristan bastion in October.

Hakimullah comes from the Mehsud tribe, a major Pashtun tribe living in South Waziristan.

Though the military says it has destroyed most of the bases of Mehsud militants, Hakimullah and other leaders of the Pakistani Taliban have survived the offensive.

A large number of militants have fled to nearby regions while many fighters are also believed to have taken refuge in territories controlled by the Wazir tribe, the second major tribe in South Waziristan and the Mehsuds' traditional rivals.

The government has been pressing the Wazir tribe to dislodge militants from its territory.

Elders from the Wazir tribe agreed to raise a traditional tribal militia, known as a "Lashkar," to expel Mehsud militants from their areas.

"We promised to keep the peace and we will force militants to leave our areas within a week," Wazir tribal elder Mohammad Ajmal told a gathering of around 400 tribal leaders in Wana, the main town of Waziristan. He spoke after a meeting with government authorities.

"We will not let anyone to ruin the peace in Wana," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: TTP


"Individuals, not outfits operating in Pakistan"
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said that the federal government had devised a policy about the banned outfits and had forwarded it to all provinces. He said that it was not the banned outfits but instead the banned individuals who were operating in the country.
That statement doesn't even make as much sense as Pakistaini statements usually make. It may actually involve some sort of negative coherence.
While addressing the National Assembly and Senate, and talking to journalists in Parliament House, Malik said the government was taking every possible step to enforce law and order in the country.

About the situation in Karachi's Lyari, he said that different gangs were fighting each other in the area and they were hiding behind the names of different political parties.

Malik said that Rangers were given instructions to deal with the criminals and all those involved in criminal activities in Lyari would face the law.

The interior minister also said that some elements were tying to destroy the peace in Islamabad.

Malik said he had ordered an investigation into the incident of baton charging during the lady health workers protest in the capital city.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It may actually involve some sort of negative coherence.


linguistic entropy
Posted by: Frank G || 06/05/2010 9:55 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Video:Flotilla Choir Presents: We Con the World - dedicated to g(r)om
This is a repeat — but worth the watch and listen
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/05/2010 16:03 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Obama told Netanyahu: Go Home, Don't Explain From Here
In the hubbub surrounding the "battle of the flotilla," Netanyahu's quick reversal of his decision to remain in the United States has been largely ignored.
Not at the burg.
It turns out that Obama told him to leave because he didn't want Netanyahu to use the White House as a stage on which to present Israel's side of the story.
Hussein must be taking Mid-East advice from Helen Thomas.
The flotilla violence caught Netanyahu in the midst of a diplomatic trip to North America. He was in the Canadian capital of Ottawa at the time, about to leave for Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama. The meeting was to have been a way for Obama to make up for the humiliation he dealt Netanyahu on his last visit, when he refused to be seen with the Israeli leader in public.

Netanyahu announced immediately after the flotilla news broke that he would remain in North America and would meet with Obama as scheduled. However, within minutes after media reported Netanyahu would continue with his trip as scheduled, he abruptly announced a change of plan and set off immediately for Israel to "deal with the flotilla crisis."

Behind the scenes, it was Obama officials who caused the turnabout. Globes cites sources in both Jerusalem and Washington who say that Obama officials gave a clear message to Netanyahu's people: "Don't come."

Officials in both Washington and Jerusalem deny that this was the case.

Some sources said that it was precisely the high-profile nature of the visit that scared the Americans. The White House did not wish Obama to be seen sharing the stage with the leader of the country that was under international attack for having "attacked peace activists."

Netanyahu, for his part, was looking forward to explaining to the world from Washington that the violent activists on the boat in question were "terror activists" with ties to Hamas and Al-Qaeda, who attempted to lynch the minimally-armed soldiers as they rappelled down down their helicopter.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2010 08:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "But Daaaaaaad you're gonna embarrass me in front of all the cool kids!"
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/05/2010 11:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm..the "first anti-American President" tag seems appropriate.
Posted by: One Eyed Thinenter6178 || 06/05/2010 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Obama is a disgrace.

I can't wait until he is gone in 2012.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/05/2010 12:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Obama, why don't YOU go home. We know where that is...
Posted by: Harcourt Angoger7112 || 06/05/2010 12:45 Comments || Top||

#5  netanyahu replied go too hell
Posted by: sinse || 06/05/2010 13:07 Comments || Top||

#6  As I suggested before, Netanyahu said "I quit!", and Obama screamed at him, "You can't quit, I fire you! You get back here so I can fire you!"

It goes to Obama's tremendous egotism, along with his desire to "put daylight" between the US and its allies, by offending them. (Like 'accidentally' getting Queen Elizabeth II's birthday wrong, on top of a half dozen other 'mistakes' offensive to England.)

This is the flip side of his embracing our enemies.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/05/2010 13:30 Comments || Top||

#7  I was thinking maybe the Prime Minister of Israel thought going back to Israel might be a good idea considering all of a sudden Israel was under a state of national emergency and under possible eminent attack from from its many murderous enemies (it's happened before)rather than because Obama told him to. But I guess I was wrong. Also, I don't think "talking to the American People" is going to get him anywhere - the media have a way of sabotaging most efforts in that regard.
Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous || 06/05/2010 15:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Since 1960 the important action is in the American living room. By denying Netanyahu access on that front, Hussein Obama was making it very clear with which side he favors.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2010 15:17 Comments || Top||

#9  Considering his mentor and speechwriter was a flotilla org person...
Posted by: 3dc || 06/05/2010 15:27 Comments || Top||


No Final Solution Without Hamas, Turkish Ambassador To US Says
As the crisis over a deadly Israeli commando raid on a vessel carrying Turkish activists continued to command the attention of top officials in Washington, Jerusalem, and Istanbul, Namik Tan, the Turkish ambassador to the United States, called Friday for engaging Hamas in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But in an unfortunate turn of phrase, Tan twice said Friday that the militant Palestinian group, which the United States and Europe have designated a terrorist organization, is a necessary and important part of the "final solution" to the conflict.

"For a final solution, you cannot ignore Hamas. That's what we are saying," said Ambassador Namik Tan. "This is not the first time that we are trying to bring this into the discussion. We have told this to the Israelis, to our American friends, to our international interlocutors, everyone. How could you imagine a final solution without Hamas?"
Freudian slip? A Turkish secularist mole warning us?
Posted by: Sharong Hupainter1884 || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Y'know, it could just be that he meant exactly what he said.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 06/05/2010 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  ION TOPIX > KRAUTHAMMER: AN UNARMED ISRAEL..THE [new + more/greater]FINAL SOLUTION?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/05/2010 2:01 Comments || Top||

#3  OOOPSIES, forgot TOPIX > ISRAEL PREPARED TO BE UNPOPULAR TO KEEP ITS SURVIVAL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/05/2010 2:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Indeed, I suspect he meant exactly what he said.

Also, LOL turks, no, you werent' fierece in Korea, it was a construct of the times.

Posted by: Shipman || 06/05/2010 7:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Hamas has always been in favor of the Final Solution.
Posted by: Nero Grereque7054 || 06/05/2010 7:51 Comments || Top||

#6  That has to be the best "straight line" so far. Maybe next he should propose that "If the Palestinians work harder, they might gain their freedom", kind of a "work makes free" moment.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/05/2010 10:29 Comments || Top||


Turkey likens Israelis to Somali pirates
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israeli forces acted like Somali pirates in their bloody attack on the Gaza-bound aid convoy.

Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of piracy for its assault against the Freedom Flotilla relief mission which intended to break the three-year siege on the Gaza Strip.

Speaking on the state-run TRT television from the central city of Konya, Erdogan mocked Israel for being frightened by the wheelchairs that were aboard the vessels.

Eight Turkish nationals and one US citizen of Turkish descent were among those who lost their lives in the Israeli attack on the six-ship fleet on Monday. Some 680 activists were detained and subsequently deported. Three activists are still missing.

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Erdogan said Hamas was a resistance movement not a "terrorist" one, adding that the group had been democratically elected.

"Hamas are resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land. They have won an election ... I have told this to US officials... I do not accept Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think the same today. They are defending their land," he said.

The recent killing of Turkish nationals has outraged Ankara, prompting Erdogan's second-in-command Bulent Arinc to say on Friday that the incident might push Turkey to reduce its relations with Israel to "a minimum" in the economic and defense areas.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  And what's it called when one country violates another country's borders? And what's the traditional response?
Posted by: ed || 06/05/2010 3:00 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL turkey, fetch my Kimbalist Thought Club, youz need the sickness removed again.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/05/2010 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Also... unban AK. Just for a week.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/05/2010 7:27 Comments || Top||

#4  "Erdogan mocked Israel for being frightened by the wheelchairs that were aboard the vessels."

Another Turkish Freudian slip - a reference to the Achille Lauro and Leon Klinghoffer?
Posted by: Bulldog || 06/05/2010 7:46 Comments || Top||


Hamas is not terrorist group: Turkeys Erdogan
[Al Arabiya Latest] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he did not view radical Palestinian group Hamas, Israel's arch-foe, as a terrorist organization.

"Hamas are resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land. They have won an election," Erdogan said in a public speech in the central city of Konya, broadcast live on television, as up to 10,000 people rallied in Istanbul, shouting anti-Israeli slogans.

"I have told this to U.S. officials... I do not accept Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think the same today. They are defending their land," he said.

"Hypocritical, paranoid, liar"
The United States and the European Union blacklist Hamas as a terrorist group despite its victory in Palestinian elections in 2006.

Erdogan made the remarks in an angry tirade against Israel after Monday's raid on a flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of nine Turks and plunged already strained ties between the once-close allies into deep crisis.

He lashed out at Western powers for denying Hamas a chance to shift to a democratic platform.

"Why didn't you give them an opportunity? Let them wage a democratic struggle," he said, his speech often interrupted by a cheering crowd of party supporters.

Erdogan renewed criticism of Israel's raid on the aid flotilla, whose main organizers included a Turkish Islamist charity, with the bulk of its passengers Turks.

The Israeli government, he said, is "hypocritical," "paranoid" and a "liar."

Around 10,000 people waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israeli slogans rallied Friday in support of victims of the Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships, an AFP reporter said, as Turkey said it could cut ties with Israel to a minimum.

The crowd gathered at the historic Beyazit Mosque in Istanbul, where prayers were held for a journalist who was killed in Monday's raid, along with eight other Turks.

"Murderer Israel, go away from Palestine!", "Long live the global intifada," the mourners chanted, shouting also "Long live Hamas" in reference to the Palestinian movement controlling Gaza.

"Close the Zionist embassy"
"Close the Zionist embassy," read a giant banner displayed at the mosque courtyard.

The crowd held both Friday prayers and funeral prayers for Cevdet Kiliclar, the 38-year-old web editor of the Islamic charity which spearheaded the campaign to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver some 10,000 tons of supplies to its impoverished people.

"He was just taking pictures. He was shot at from no more than a meter and his brain exploded," Bulent Yildirim, the head of the Foundation of Humanitarian Relief (IHH), said Thursday after the bodies were flown home.

The demonstration came a day after up to 20,000 people gathered in Istanbul for funeral prayers for the other eight victims.

Turkey, meanwhile, said it could cut ties with Israel to a minimum after the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla plunged relations to their lowest since the two countries forged a strategic relationship in the 1990s.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said existing military and economic agreements with Israel were now on the table for discussion.

"We are serious about this subject," he told NTV broadcaster in an interview.

"We may plan to reduce our relations with Israel to a minimum, but to assume everything involving another country is stopped in an instant, to say we have crossed you out of our address book, is not the custom of our state," he said.

Deteriorating ties
Turkey, Israel's only Muslim ally, had already recalled its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises after the nine activists were killed while trying to break a blockade on Gaza.

A spokeswoman for activists aboard another boat trying to run the blockade said they would continue their voyage. Israel, facing an international outcry over its naval operation on Monday, has vowed to stop the Rachel Corrie, named after an activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli forces to exercise "caution and politeness" in handling the ship. The boat is expected near the waters off Gaza by Saturday.

Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

Israel has defended the embargo, saying it stops Hamas from bringing in weapons to fight Israel. But officials said on Thursday Netanyahu was considering modifying the blockade, which would introduce some form of international role in enforcing an arms embargo, while letting in civilian goods.

Turkey, a moderate, secular country, recognized the Jewish state soon after its establishment in 1948 and in the 1990s it forged military and intelligence cooperation agreements with Israel, when both had hostile relations with Syria.

With Turkey a customer for Israeli arms, bilateral trade reached $2.5 billion in 2009. Projects worth several billion dollars are in the pipeline in water, energy and agriculture.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Defending their land? Hamas is a stooge for Iran the same as Hizbollocks is. They shoot women and children and hide from Israeli soldiers..they had their chance to actually fight when Israel came into Gaza asking for takers. NO TAKERS. Just whiners.

Oh, did I mention Hamas are Moslems?
sorta says it all.
Posted by: Zorba Whineck6204 || 06/05/2010 7:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Since last October, Erdogan has been owned by Iran. Slaves do as their masters order.
Posted by: One Eyed Thinenter6178 || 06/05/2010 11:08 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Irans Khamenei, Ahmadinejad slam opposition
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's top authority accused the pro-reform opposition on Friday of betraying the legacy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as hundreds of thousands rallied to mark the 21th anniversary of the revolutionary leader's death.

Addressing the same memorial prayer rally, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that the government would not tolerate renewed protests on next week's first anniversary of his disputed re-election vote.

Despite scorching heat, men dressed in black or in a white shroud that symbolized the Shiite Moslem cult of martyrdom and women wearing head-to-toe black veil gathered at a mausoleum south of Tehran to pay homage to Khomeini.


In a clear reference to opposition charges of vote rigging in last year's presidential election, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Khomeini had "boycotted those who were not in line with the pillars of the 1979 Islamic revolution."

"You cannot be a follower of Imam Khomeini if you openly support the disgraceful events of the past months ... and back those who created such events," Khamenei said to chants of "Death to Hypocrites" -- a term used for the opposition leaders.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Shiite Moslem cult of martyrdom

So they do know islam is a death cult.
Posted by: Swanimote || 06/05/2010 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  In this April 2010 interview, originating on Iran's mouthpiece, Press TV, puts the IHH as the new head of flotilla "umbrella" group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeKkq-sx9M&feature=related

Cui bono from the Marmara-Instigation?

Iran got: their first alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood; encirclement of the Wahabist entity ("saud arabia"); European slavery; enhanced unity with the Turkish Genocide regime; Turk disassociation from Israel; a possible cut-off of oil sales to Israel from the ABC pipeline.

AYATOLLAHS 1 WESTERN CIVILIZATION 0
Posted by: One Eyed Thinenter6178 || 06/05/2010 10:57 Comments || Top||


Iran regime is ruined: opposition figure Karoubi
[Al Arabiya Latest] Opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi said that Iran's Islamic regime was being ruined, after he faced the fury of hardliners when he appeared at the shrine of late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reports said.

Fars news agency reported late Thursday that Karoubi reached the shrine in south Tehran to pay homage on the 21st death anniversary of Khomeini which falls on Friday.

But the report said hardliners heckled him and shouted slogans "Death to Hypocrites!" and "We are not people of Kufa to leave Ali alone!" after which Karoubi's bodyguards took him away from the mausoleum.

Karoubi, who along with Mir Hossein Mousavi is spearheading the opposition movement in Iran, later said on his website Sahamnews that the country's Islamic regime was being ruined.

"They speak in a way as if Imam (Khomeini) belongs to them only and others have broken path with the Imam," said the reformist cleric who in the past was considered as one of the pillars of the regime.

"Whoever objects to fraud in election is accused of being a Mossad or CIA agent. The fate of election is in the hands of Basijis (Islamist militia) and Sepah (Revolutionary Guards)," he said.

"I am worried about the Islamic aspect of the regime. They have ruined the republic side of the regime in the name of Islam."

Karoubi and Mousavi continue to refuse to recognize the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year, saying it was the result of a massive fraud.

Officials meanwhile say more than two million people are expected to attend the 21st anniversary of Khomeini's death at his shrine on Friday, with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading the weekly prayers.

Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini as the supreme leader, last led Friday prayers a year ago in which he decisively defended the re-election of Ahmadinejad.

"More than two million pilgrims are expected to arrive for the ceremonies via 49,600 buses and minibuses," Colonel Hadi Hashemi, commander of Tehran's traffic police was quoted by Donaye Eghtesad daily on Thursday as saying.

Officials said some 750,000 people are expected to be transported from around Iran, while 1,250,000 are to come from Tehran province, which has some 14 million people.

Media have reported that Ahmadinejad and Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the man who toppled the US-backed shah in 1979, would also give addresses.

Friday's massive mobilization comes a week before the June 12 anniversary of last year's disputed presidential election.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  It's a like a Dale Earnhart fest, only with bombs.

0/3

BOOOOOOOM!
Posted by: Shipman || 06/05/2010 8:09 Comments || Top||


Iran: NAM backs Tehran declaration
Iran says the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) has reiterated its support for the country's trilateral nuclear fuel swap declaration signed with Brazil and Turkey.

Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh said "NAM's 118 member states once again voiced support for the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities."

NAM members drafted a statement voicing support for Iran's peaceful nuclear activities which was approved on Thursday night, Soltanieh said Friday.

"The statement emphasizes Iran's inalienable right to peaceful nuclear energy and stresses that there should be no restrictions against the realization of this right," he told IRNA news agency.

NAM states that that a country's decisions and choice of nuclear policies, including its choice of fuel cycle, must be respected, he added.

According to the Iranian diplomat, the statement highlights the IAEA as the only eligible source to handle nuclear energy issues and warned that political pressure and intervention in the agency's work jeopardizes its credibility.

The NAM statement further praised Iran's cooperation with the IAEA and emphasized the importance of resolving the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program through dialogue.

Soltanieh added that the NAM statement criticizes the IAEA for its poor observance of confidentiality codes and its manner in issuing reports.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Wow, I haven't heard from those guys since Qaddafi was acting like an idiot.
Posted by: crosspatch || 06/05/2010 1:36 Comments || Top||

#2  There's no USSR to pay their way.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/05/2010 11:25 Comments || Top||



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Sat 2010-06-05
  SKorea seeks UN action against NKorea over ship
Fri 2010-06-04
  Hamas not a terrorist group, says Turkey's PM Recep Taqiyya Erdogan
Thu 2010-06-03
  U.S. Drone Strikes Come Under U.N. Human Rights Council Scrutiny
Wed 2010-06-02
  Iraqis take control of Baghdad’s Green Zone
Tue 2010-06-01
  Al Qaida El Numero Tres Bites the Big One
Mon 2010-05-31
  Report: At least 10 activists killed as Israel Navy opens fire on Gaza aid flotilla
Sun 2010-05-30
  Yemen hunts 60 suspected of kidnapping tourists
Sat 2010-05-29
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Fri 2010-05-28
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Thu 2010-05-27
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