[Quqnoos] A top official in the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption highlighted the motive that corrupt officials haven't been trailed is their influence in judiciary institutions. Specific mechanisms will be planned to monitor the works of Afghan judiciary institutions, the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption said.
"This is a fact that some corrupt officials in a way have connections with different political parties, and this has made the process slow," said Deputy High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, Mohammad Qasim Ludin.
Lack of a special court to trail the Afghan corrupt ministers is also one of the reasons they haven't been trailed, officials said.
"We certainly believe that corruption exists in the Afghan judiciary institutions," said Mohammad Qasim Ludin.
The High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption underscored that financial section, budget expenditures and appointment of high ranking government officials are believed to be faced with corruption threats.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm shocked, SHOCKED, to hear of corruption among Afghan officials.
Top Israeli officials might be arrested if they come to Morocco due to Tel Aviv's 2008 attack against Gaza, according to a legal bid launched by a group of lawyers.
Learning from the Brits and Belgians, are they ...
The kings of Morocco claim direct descent from Mohammed through his daughter Fatima. They like their Jews productive, loyal, and submissive to the Master Religion.
That's how it worked in al-Andalus, and for several centuries ...
The current king has Jewish advisers, and supports Jewish schools and synagogues. He even extended an invitation to his former Jewish subjects to return, which they have not done, the ungrateful things. Since 1948 over 90% of Morocco's Jews have emigrated; 1,000,000 of their descendants live in Israel, where they are productive, loyal, and not in the least submissive.
"The complaint is against Israeli officials who led the attack against Gaza at the time," a spokesman for the lawyers, Khalid Soufiani, told AFP on Monday.
The complaint accuses former premier Ehud Olmert, ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and incumbent Defense Minister Ehud Barak of breaching laws to protect civilians, Soufiani said. Once the prosecutor accepts the complaint, those named will face arrest if they come to Morocco, he added.
"We don't know if the chief prosecutor will accept our complaint and follow it up," said Soufiani. The group who filed the complaint includes one French lawyer, one American and three Moroccans.
A socialist, a moonbat and three Islamicists ...
And half of them are foreigners. This suggests the odds of success are not as high as appeared at the beginning of the article, nor that the attempt necessarily has the king's approval. It will be interesting to see how this plays out -- in these days of phone conferences and Skype, personal visits are not as necessary as they were in the past... and I must admit to being puzzled as to why the named individuals would find reason to go to Morocco, anyway.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I visited Tangiers, Morocco in 1973 when my ship made a port call there. This was a few months before the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. We had several Jewish crew members aboard. The king at the time, Hassan II, had placed all Jews under his personal protection. (Most of the Jewish crew members still stayed aboard.) I don't know if the current king, Mohammed VI, has continued his father's policy, or if it actually meant anything in the first place.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/13/2010 3:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The king at the time, Hassan II, had placed all Jews under his personal protection.
He was protecting them against his people, Rambler, who occasionally exercise their traditional religious rights against the dhimmis. The current king is equally enlightened, and doesn't understand any more than his father why this isn't properly appreciated by those who left. Half a century ago the king extended his personal protection over a quarter of a million Jews; The CIA estimates there are fewer than 6,500 remaining. The rest are in Israel, France, Canada, and the U.S., where they no longer need the king to protect them from his subjects.
If it were effective, I'd think most of Morocco's Jews would not have left, or would have returned when the king invited them back, mom. That kind of thing generally means that if the police catch the perpetrators, they are prosecuted. But that then depends on the police...
apparently coming back in. Note the F-150. Drink up!
A 20-year-old U.S. citizen was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Andrade on Saturday with two machine guns strapped to the engine of his pickup.
Customs and Border Protection officers working at the crossing near Yuma, Ariz., noticed that the driver of the truck appeared nervous and stopped his vehicle for a closer inspection. When they popped the hood, they saw the guns, which were attached to the engine with plastic zip ties. They also found 680 rounds of ammunition hidden on top of the spare tire, which was underneath the truckÂ’s bed.
Also found was two boxes of machine gun ammunition links, used to fashion an automated belt for the machine gun ammunition.
The vehicle, weapons and ammunition were seized. The driver, a resident of El Mirage, Ariz., will face criminal charges and was turned over to Immigration and Customs EnforcementÂ’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force.
F-150, 680 rounds, "machine guns" (in this case they may be actually be auto and not just a reporter's wet dream)...what could go wrong?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2010 19:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2010 21:12 Comments ||
Top||
#6
You can tell by the front brake. Its appears to be an MG42. I've handled a couple. The 42 front brake is distinctly different lines/grooves compared to an MG3. An MG34 would have a round barrel shroud, so it's not that. I'm going with a 42.
The Head of Iran's Presidential Office, Esfandyar Rahim Mashaee, met and conferred in Dushanbe on Monday with Tajik President Imomali Rahman, and exchanged views on the ways to expand ties.
According to IRNA, talking to reporters after the meeting, Mashaee said relations between Iran and Tajikistan are very close and at an excellent level and that Iran and Tajikistan will do their best to widen the scope of their cooperation, as merited by their close friendship.
The Iranian official stressed in the meeting that the Islamic Republic is always pursuing peace and calm in Central Asia through collective cooperation between regional nations.
Posted by: American Delight ||
07/13/2010 06:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh no!
Two economic/cultural/political powerhouses teaming up!
No fair!!!
The Chinese military is staging a live fire exercise in the East China Sea to the east of Zhejiang Province late this month as a joint naval exercise by South Korea and the U.S. in the West Sea looms. China's East Sea Fleet will stage the exercise from June 30 until July 5, the Wenzhou Wanbao newspaper reported Monday. It is an annual drill but the schedule has been moved up by 10 days from last year's July 10-15.
The point where the Chinese Navy plans to stage its annual exercise is some 700 km south of South Korea's Taean Peninsula and is believed to constitute a counterweight to the massive U.S. naval presence the joint drill will bring to China's doorstep.
In a notice on June 24, the Chinese military banned ordinary ships from traveling through those waters between midnight and 6 p.m. while the drill is being staged.
The Hong Kong Ming Pao daily hinted that the drill is being staged to counter the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, saying, "It is rare for the Chinese military to issue advance notice of the exercise."
But Chen Hu, the editor of World Military Affairs, a magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency, told a semi-official Chinese media outlet that the drill is not just aimed at countering the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise. He said the drill, in which a large aircraft carrier fleet is participating, is a good training opportunity for the Chinese military and "will yield better results than in ordinary times."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and state-run media have expressed opposition to the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, which includes the 97,000 ton-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington, saying it creates "new tension" in Northeast Asia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The US-ROK may now include the EAST SEA as a Milex area.
* ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > S. KOREA, US UNDECIDED ON WAR GAMES [Yellow Sea].
versus
* WMF > CHINA WARNS THE US NOT TO PLAY WITH FIRE IN YELLOW SEA IFF IT [US Govt-DOD] CANNOT CONTROL THE FLAMES: CHINA MILSTRIKE AGZ US TROOPS + USN CV "GEORGE WASHINGTON"? DANGER OF PLA, US-ROK NAVAL OR AIRCRAFT COLLISION.
Also from WMF > CHINA + RUSSIA AT THIS TIME SHOULD NOT PUSH/DRIVE THE SCO-CSTO INTO BECOM A MAJOR WORLD POWER ALLIANCE DUE TO ONGOING WEAKNESS OF ITS SMALLER MEMBER-STATES.
South Korea and the U.S. are mulling a joint maritime drill in both the East and West Seas this month after China lodged a protest against a huge U.S. military presence on its doorstep. The idea is to deploy some of the bigger American ships including an aircraft carrier to the east of the Korean Peninsula instead of the West Sea as originally planned.
A government source on Monday said there is "near-consensus" for turning the planned West Sea drill into an exercise in both the East and West Seas to reflect the positions of Beijing and Washington. The source said the change could be announced as early as Tuesday.
So the exercise is going to be used as an excuse to wimp out ...
In that event a large portion of the key U.S. vessels, including ships from the Seventh U.S. Fleet such as the nuclear-powered 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington, an Aegis cruiser and destroyer, and a nuclear-powered attack submarine, will be deployed in the East Sea, the source added.
The South Korean military had hoped to stage the drill in the West Sea in response to North Korea's attack on the navy corvette Cheonan there, but the U.S. is advising caution. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young announced the original plan on May 24.
Meanwhile, the government and military authorities are considering an indefinite delay to the resumption of psychological warfare against the North. Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters, "We've already announced a plan to install loudspeakers and launch a leaflet operation, which means psychological warfare has in a sense started." But he added the government also has to take long-term inter-Korean relations into account.
Why? Seems like the Norks have already taken them into account, and don't much care ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Hi there. Don't mind us. We'll just sit here, quietly, and kinda watch ya ya for a while..."
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has delayed military talks set for Tuesday with the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) to discuss the sinking of a South Korean warship that was blamed on the North, officials said.
The talks had been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, but the North's military "requested a delay in the planned colonel-level meetings with United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission representatives at Panmunjom for administrative reasons," the UNC said in a statement. A timetable for a new meeting wasn't immediately proposed, but it will be announced when that information becomes available, the statement said.
An official at the UNC said he didn't have information on exactly why the North delayed the talks.
Tuesday's meeting would come four days after the U.N. Security Council condemned the sinking, but didn't place direct blame on North Korea.
North Korea originally rejected a UNC proposal to hold such military talks, but changed its stance on Friday, just ahead of the Security Council's statement on the sinking.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
IIRC MARIANAS VARIETY = GUAM PDN? > [OpEd]UN SECURITY COUNCIL BLINKS, agz US + ROK in favor of DPRK + China
and
* WMF > CHINA VICTORIOUS AS US BENDS IN THE WIND: US WATERS DOWN UN RESOLUTION CRITICIZING NORTH KOREA OVER "CHEONAN" ATTACK.
Channel hopes to reach 35 million homes in Middle East and Africa.
Some shows that will become available in Arabic include Ben 10, Powerpuff Girls, DexterÂ’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and FosterÂ’s Home for Imaginary Friends.
Daoud Kuttab, director-general of the Community Media Network in Amman and Ramallah said that while there are difficulties with Arabic dubbing, the channel should still be a hit.
“I think people will watch it,” said Kuttab. “The problem they will have is something all studios have with the classical Arabic, it sounds as if you were speaking [English] from the sixteenth century.”
All in all, it should prove quite educational for the kiddies -- miniskirt-clad superheroines spouting poetical quatrains while beating great, big, evil men (and monsters) to a pulp. Give them each a small, sharp object, and Anonymoose will be completely satisfied with the result. ;-)
#1
There is no way Muslim Mullahs are going to tolerate this. Not just the Powerpuff Girls, but anthropomorphic animals, djinn-like monsters and ghosts, science and Deedee.
It kind of boggles the mind about the animation they should see, like Moral Orel, the Real Ghostbusters, Invader Zim, Ren and Stimpy, Robot Chicken, South Park, The Simpsons, and the new Batman, Batman Beyond, and Superman series.
That would totally change the Muslim world in a single generation.
Reuters - A French businessman is offering to sell properties to help Muslim women pay any fines that they might receive for wearing the full veil in public if a law is voted through France's parliament. In a statement published in several newspapers, Rachid Nekkaz, who tried to stand in the presidential elections in 2007, said he would use proceeds from property sales for a €1m fund to help women pay any fines.
Nekkaz is setting up an association, 'Hands off my Constitution', which he said viewed banning the veil in the street as unconstitutional. Critics see the bill as difficult to enforce and say only a tiny minority of Muslim women wear the full veil, and that the legislation is a step towards tighter restraints on individual freedom. Supporters of the ban argue that wearing garments which hide women's faces violates the ideals of secularism and equality.
Lawmakers will vote on the bill on Tuesday, which would see women fined €150 if they wear the full veil, known as the burqa or niqab, in public places.
No, no. The niqab is a face veil which is attached to the hijab, or head veil. There may also be a screen over the eyes, or the niqab may cover one of the eyes. The burqa is a one-piece all-over covering with a screen covering the eye opening, generally a particular shade of blue. Really, if one is writing from Paris, of all places, one ought to get the details of the various fashions correct. I despair of humanity at times, truly I do despair.
France, home to the Europe's largest Muslim minority with about 5 million Muslims, is the second country after Belgium to want to ban the veil on its own soil.
The country already bans Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols from schools and voters have indicated support for a ban of the full veil.
The government is expecting broad support for the bill after opposition Socialists said they would not hinder its adoption.
Under the name of The Emergency Committee for Israel. Pro-Israel Republicans, neocons, conservative Christians, and American Jews organize to oppose President Obama's anti-Israel moves. Their first act is placing an anti-Sestak commercial -- watch at link. The Left is furious. Google "huffington post" "The Emergency Committee" for a taste of the nastiness.
The group will target races for the House and the Senate, but there’s little doubt the larger target is the Obama administration, which Bauer told POLITICO is “the most anti-Israel administration in the history of the United States.”
The Emergency Committee will fit into a broadening spectrum of American pro-Israel groups, many of which have followed AIPAC’s lead in seeking to avoid open rifts with the White House and the political parties. Kristol said this group was inspired in part by the new liberal group J Street, whose ability to amplify criticism of the Israeli government showed, he said, the power of a small new group — if on the other side of the debate.
“There are some who say they’re pro-Israel but aren’t really,” he said, referring to J Street. “Then there’s AIPAC, which is a wonderful organization, but one that’s very committed to working with the administration, so they pull some punches publicly.”
One official at an American Jewish organization welcomed the group to the degree that it would make criticism of Democrats “mainstream,” but also expressed concern that a group with such Republican origins would contribute to a deepening partisan cast to the debate over Israel, with Republicans lining up behind the Israeli government while some Democrats align themselves with Netanyahu’s American critics.
Bauer dismissed that notion.
“I encourage our Democratic friends to have a competition with us on who can be more pro-Israel, because I think it’s in the interests of the United States and not a political party,” he said. “I’m really hoping that people like Sen. [Chuck] Schumer and others will aggressively speak out for Israel at a time like this.”
And the group’s emergence has already provoked rancor on the left. After a liberal foreign policy blogger noticed that the group had quietly registered a website, the national security editor for the blog of the Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress, Matt Duss, tweeted sarcastically, “Because the world really needs another astroturf Israeli propaganda outfit.” A spokeswoman for CAP said he spoke for himself and not the group.
Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who Tehran claimed was kidnapped by the United States, has taken refuge in Iran's interest section in Washington, local satellite channel Press TV reported on Tuesday.
Amiri took refuge early in the morning in the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, which represents the Iranian interest section, and wanted to immediately return to Iran, Press TV reported.
Amiri who was escorted by American forces to Iran's interest section in Washington urged an "immediate return" to Iran, the report said.
Meanwhile, an informed source in Iran's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Shahram Amiri has taken refuge in Iran's interest section in Washington, according to the official IRNA news agency.
The details on the issue will be issued later, the source told IRNA.
Iran and the United States currently have no diplomatic relations.
#1
Defection-redefection. This guy was not a bona fide defector. US intelligence has still not absorbed basic lessons from facing the Soviets in the 1960s. Everything this guy Amiri told the US authorities is suspect.
I'm sure he mostly told the truth, but there are one or two important lies in his story -- probably stuff to the effect that Iran is five or more years away from a bomb when time is much shorter.
An Iranian nuclear scientist who turned up at the Iranian interests section of Pakistan's embassy in Washington came to the United States voluntarily and decided to leave freely, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
Shahram Amiri's "actions -- his multiple videos and now his trip to the Iranian interests section -- clearly prove he was not held in the United States against his will," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Ay Pee summarized: Mayor Bloomberg's response to GOP governor candidate Lazio's request that funding sources for proposed mosque be investigated. Da Mayor sez we don't ask ungentlemanly questions of religious organizations, no matter how queer their connections.
Same kind of fellows shut down the American Black Chamber, too. As Henry Stimson said: "Gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail." Yardley's probably laughing his decomposed ass off in the grave.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Heads of political blocs have agreed to postpone the parliamentÂ’s session tomorrow for two weeks, the temporary speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Foad Maasom, announced on Monday.
“Leaders of political blocs will meanwhile continue their meetings until they agree on what should happen during the session, two weeks from now,” Maasom said in a press conference in Baghdad attended by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
He noted that according to the constitution, lawmakers attending the session should select the parliamentÂ’s permanent speaker, his two deputies, and the president of Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
An Israeli navy boat intercepted a Libyan aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip and told the crew that it won't be allowed to reach the Palestinian territory, the organizers of the shipment said. "Tell her to heave to, Bo'sun!"
The Tripoli-based Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, which is behind the plan to challenge Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, didn't provide any further details in its faxed statement today. "Put a shot across her bows, Gunner!"
The Israel military made radio contact with the ship and asked about its destination and passengers, an Israeli army spokesman said by phone, speaking anonymously according to regulation. The army hasn't received a reply, the spokesman said. The Al-Jazeera news channel said in a news flash that the Israeli military told the ship to head to an Egyptian port. "A little higher next time, Gunner!"
Nine pro-Palestinian activists from Turkey were killed on May 31 after Israeli commandos raided one of six aid ships in a flotilla trying to breach the embargo. Israel loosened its restrictions on the transport of goods by road into Gaza in response to international criticism of the operation, though it maintains a naval blockade of the area.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview on Army Radio two days ago that the boat would not be allowed to reach Gaza under "any circumstances."
Israel and Egypt have been blockading Gaza since Hamas seized full control there in 2007 after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections the previous year. The Islamist militant group is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and Israel.
The McClatchy version of this story is more leftist than al-Arabiya ...
An Israeli military investigation into Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla concluded Monday that there were "no failures, but mistakes were made."
Nine activists, all Turks, died and dozens were wounded in the assault. One of those killed had dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship.
The investigation, which was headed by Maj. Gen. (Reserves) Giora Eiland, found that while high-level officials had committed errors in judgment, no one in the military had behaved negligently. The report avoids recommendations that would have led to the demotion of military personnel or other strong actions.
"We found that there were some professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process and some operational mistakes," Eiland said.
Parts of the report were declassified and given to reporters Monday by an official who insisted on being identified only as a senior military official involved in the investigation. The full, 100-page report was given directly to Israel Defense Forces head Gabi Ashkenazi and several other high-ranking military officials. Ashkenazi announced that he'd adopt all of its recommendations.
The main incident probed was the IDF's handling of the Mavi Marmara, the largest vessel of a six-ship flotilla originating in Turkey that attempted to break Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza Strip on May 31. The Israeli navy stopped all six ships, as well as the Saint PancakeRachel Corrie, which arrived nearly a week later.
The report praises individual commandos who took part in the raid, but cites "flawed intelligence" for underestimating the potential for violence on the Marmara. Despite three months of preparation before the flotilla arrived, various intelligence-gathering units in the Israeli military didn't communicate with one another, it says.
It says the IDF failed to prepare a backup plan in the event of violence. Among the approximately 600 passengers on board the Mavi Marmara, accounts varied as to how the violence began. Several passengers said the IDF fired on the boat before landing. The report says activists on board were the first to open fire.
A gun that probably was seized from the first soldier to rappel onto the ship from a Black Hawk helicopter was used to fire on the second soldier who descended onto the ship, according to the senior official involved in the report.
He added that a bullet extracted from the knee of one of the soldiers was not of a sort the IDF uses, proving that the passengers had their own weapons, ammunition and a readiness to instigate violence. He said that only a small number of people on the Mavi Marmara had engaged in violence, but that they'd taken over the ship.
A Palestinian official who's involved in the Turkish organization that sponsored the Mavi Marmara, the IHH, said the report showed "that the IDF has a vivid imagination. Instead of truly investigating their own criminal behavior they chose to accuse peaceful activists of starting the violence."
"We hope that the international community continues to call for an independent inquiry so that we can learn what truly happened that day," he said. The official spoke only on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution from Israel.
TRIPOLI — A Libyan aid ship headed for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade aims to reach the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, the Kadhafi Foundation organising the mission said on Monday.
Looks like they're really going to try and force the issue ...
“The foundation’s team on the vessel has said morale on board is high and that they are preparing to enter Gaza on Wednesday,” the charity run by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, said on its website.
It said that by midday on Monday the boat was in international waters some 100 kilometres (60 miles) off the Greek island of Crete.
Amid a flurry of Israeli diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt, the 92-metre (302-foot) freighter Amalthea set sail from the Greek port of Lavrio on Saturday.
“We are not transporting arms of suspect goods. We only have food, medicine and young pacifists on the boat,” Mashallah Zwei, a Kadhafi Foundation representative on board, told AFP by satellite phone.
“The Israelis can inspect the ship and if they have an ounce of humanity they will let us unload in Gaza,” said Zwei, urging the international community to pressure the Jewish state to allow the aid through.
Zwei has insisted the foundation was not seeking “a confrontation or a provocation,” when asked about the risks of a repeat of an Israeli naval raid on an aid flotilla that killed nine Turks.
But Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said the aid could be delivered through Ashdod port in southern Israel after being inspected, or through Egypt.
“We recommend that the organisers either let the ship be escorted by navy vessels to Ashdod port or that is sails directly to the port of El-Arish” in Egypt near the border with Gaza, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Israel is prepping to intercept.
Also, ISRAEL'S FOREIGN MINISTRY > is repor advising the IDF not to forcibly = militarily intercept the ship until it enters Gaza waters.
A senior Iranian general has described Israel's chain of military aggressions against Lebanon and the Palestinian territories as Tel Aviv's "contagious madness."
We are advised to be careful around madmen, not knowing what they might do...
Marking the fourth anniversary of the start of Israel's 33-day war with Lebanon, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said the emergence of new powers in the Middle East and the mounting pressure of public opinion on Israel and its European and Western allies "have driven Tel Aviv to madness."
"Launching a chain of wars in recent years and...extending their crimes to beyond Palestinian boundaries as well as the 33-day war with Lebanon depicts a contagious madness within the Zionist regime," Mehr News Agency quoted Jazayeri as saying on Monday.
He added that Israeli officials have hit a roadblock in dealing with the Islamic resistance of the Palestinian people and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
The general went on to slam Israel's attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters and urged Muslim nations to send humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza. Nine activists were killed onboard the Turkish flagship of the Freedom Flotilla, MV Marmara, following the Israeli assault on May 31.
In the summer of 2006, Israel fought a 33-day war against Hezbollah to destroy the military power of the Lebanese resistance.
Tel Aviv was eventually forced to leave the region without achieving any of its objectives and after suffering a humiliating defeat.
The carnage destroyed most of Lebanon's infrastructure and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Lebanese -- mainly civilians -- and more than 160 Israelis -- mostly soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
yeah, self-defense is "contagious madness."
Is this guy related to Baghdad Bob?
Thats just too much bullsh!ttry, even for this board.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
07/13/2010 1:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Thats just too much bullsh!ttry, even for this board.
It's a useful datum to know what they are telling themselves, Mike H. We don't have to join them in believing it.
Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah's speeches have swayed Israeli public opinion, making him the first Arab leader to affect Israelis in decades, a study indicates.
The finding came in a study by the chief intelligence officer for the central command of the Israeli army who analyzed Nasrallah's speeches in the course of graduate studies at the University of Haifa Ha'aretz reported on its website on Monday.
The high-ranking officer described Nasrallah as the first Arab leader in 30 years to affect the Israeli public so strongly through the power of his words, placing him after President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt in the 1960s.
In his study, the colonel identified by only his first name as Ronen analyzed 10 speeches by Nasrallah that were broadcast during the 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon.
Nasrallah's only public press conference during the war was on the first day of war followed by recorded speeches later broadcast by Arab television networks, amid threats of Israeli attempts to assassinate the Lebanese resistance leader, he notes.
Widely covered in Israel during the summer conflict, the speeches by the highly popular Hezbollah leader successfully highlighted solidarity among the Lebanese nation, laid bare the weaknesses of the Israeli military and political leadership while emphasizing the righteousness of armed resistance against Israel.
Ronen says the rhetoric and content of the speeches were influenced by Nasrallah's understanding of the development of the war, based on information from the field.
The officer, who previously held senior positions in the research division of military intelligence, argues that had Israeli decision makers analyzed these speeches in due time it could have altered the course of the war.
In which direction? For want of a nail, the shoe was lost, is all very well, but we want useful analysis, not doggerel
.Since the war, Col. Ronen writes, the resistance movement has held its ground and unity among the Lebanese has not been undermined.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
YNETNEWS > [2006 Israeli-Hizbollah War]LEBANON PRESS: WAR IS NOT OVER BETWEEN ISRAEL + HIZBOLLAH. Both sides eager to resume where they left off + fight to the finish.
* DEBKA > HIZBOLLAH SENDS 20,000 FIGHTERS TO ISRAELI BORDER [SOuth Lebanon], + HAARETZ > HIZBOLLAH HAS REGAINED CONTROL OF SOUTH LEBANON.
The Iranian government said it will send hundreds of clerics into Tehran's schools this fall to fight Western influence and the appeal of the political opposition, local newspapers reported Sunday.
The move is seen as an attempt by the government to tighten its grip on the schools in the aftermath of last year's disputed presidential elections in which many Iranian youth flocked to the opposition.
Mohammed Boniadi, deputy director of the Tehran education department, said some 1,000 clerics will descend on the schools of the capital to make students aware of "opposition plots and arrogance," a reference to the attitude of Western nations.
He described the clerics as "officers" in an ideological war with the West.
Tehran has become increasingly concerned with foreign encroachment and the threat of Western-backed "soft revolutions" after months of domestic protests that followed the controversial election, which the opposition alleged was rigged.
Authorities have repeatedly emphasized the need to battle the reach of Western media, viewpoints and culture, which resonate strongly in a country where nearly half the population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Boniadi said that the Iranian education department had previously failed to "reform and renovate the thoughts" of students. "We have to take full advantage of this opportunity."
Boniadi did not say which school grades the clerics would be assigned to.
Although Iran had previously pledged to install religious teachers in classrooms, this appears to be the first concrete step in a wider drive to insert more religion in education.
Clerics have had influence on Iranian schools since 1979 Islamic revolution but the idea of deploying thousands of religious teachers into the schools was first floated in 2006, a few months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power.
In 2009, the Iranian government approved a directive under which Islamic seminaries could apply for licenses to run their own schools and increase religious control of education.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
That'll work, fer shurrrr. In increasing the number of quiet apostates, at least.
Four Christian missionaries were arraigned today on misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace following their June 18 arrest at the Arab International Festival.
Negeen Mayel, 18, of California; Nabeel Qureshi, 29, of Virginia; Paul Rezkalla, 18 of New York, and David Wood, 34, also of New York, face fines of up to $500 each and up to 93 days in jail. Dearborn authorities said the four "chose to escalate their behavior, which appeared well-orchestrated and deliberate" as they handed out religious literature and talking with people at the festival. The woman and three men are members or founders of a group called "Acts 17 Apologetics."
But Ann Arbor attorney Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, said their constitutional rights were violated and they engaged in no illegal behaviors.
"The encroachment of the First Amendment is just astonishing," said Muise, who said police confiscated the video cameras and have yet to return them, despite repeated requests. He said he would take the case to trial.
"We're not going to plead to anything because we didn't do anything wrong," Muise said.
City officials said police received a complaint of the members of Acts 17 Apologetics "harassing and intimidating patrons of the festival and that a large crowd was gathering."
The behavior of these individuals drew and incited a large crowd to a point where they were in violation of city ordinances, including breach of peace and failure to obey the lawful order of a police officer, according to the city's public relations department.
Festival rules require religious groups to distribute information at paid booths or outside the event.
The four are free on bond. They are expected to be back in court for an Aug. 30 hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 12:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Question: Define "incitement". Were the men themselves ill-behaved, or did their mere presence upset the Festival attendees?
1) Public or private area.
2) Open to the general public, or a closed event.
3) Disruptive or likely to incite violence.
4) Requirement of religious groups to "distribute information at paid booths or outside the event."
The fourth one is the sticking point. The requirement offers both a paid and unpaid option. Were they refused a booth, or restricted outside the event, it would be much easier to defend.
#5
I read the whole accounting of this incident elsewhere. This is being hyped beyond what it is I fear. The carnival organizers rented a booth to Christian group who proselytized with no problems at this same event. These other guys seem to have ambushed the event. This is by no means a clear cut case of christian persecution, go to nigeria, or the white house for that.
I think these festival holders did the right thing by asking them to leave and then calling the cops. If the folks left on their own accord however, there should have been no charges or arrests.
Imagine if your church were holding a carnival. You obliged the PC nutjobs by renting a booth to a Muslim group, (which I personally wouldn't do) and then some other muslim group showed up en masse preaching muhammad and interrupting your event making some youtube video. There would be a lot less restraint from the church members I know than this group showed when confronted with said situation.
In short, muhammad would have gotten a beat down by the congregants in my home town for the same thing these "church folk" did, no doubt. And since one of our deacons is a cop there wouldn't have been a need to call the cops, they would have been there tazing said muslims already.
#6
My church, if it had a carnival, would not beat down, or demand the arrest of Muslims proselytizing. Quite to the contrary. This church has a strong evangelical theologcal response to Islam and would welcome dialogue to show how false Islam is in comparison to Christianity.
Secondly, due to our church's conservative biblical stance, it is not uncommon for our congregants to be met at the church door by protestors, usually Gay Rights protestors on Sunday Morning. They backed off after congregants started sharing the Gospel. They were never arrested as long as they behaved.
#7
In summary, a strong biblically based dialogue blows Islamic Theology out of the water. THAT is why Islamist leadership bans a Christian presence, and why a strong Christian presence welcomes theological discussion regarding the weakness of Islamic Theology.
#8
Islam is the only religion which proscribes death to Christians (or any other religion) who Proselytize. It is the only religion which has a hissy-fit, and actually commit murder, over a few cartoons. (Its also the only major religion to practice human sacrifices in the form of homicide bombers but I digress...)
And if you claim that 'only a fringe' does that - I have yet to see mainstream Muslims condemn it (as opposed to celebrate it). CAIR certainly doesn't.
I've seen some of the videos on this - they were at the entrance of the fair handling out pamphlets and only engaging people who engage them first.
You must belong to some strange church if you would 'beat down' any Muslims for proselytizing their religion at your carnival.
This is an offer asking you and the gentiles whom you influence to help me in the repair of my people from the damage that has been done by your ancestors to mine. This is a wonderful way of the present generation of Jews to escape the Judgment of Allah (God) by aiding in the repair of His people.
However, sbould you choose to make our struggle to civilize our people more difficult, then I respectfully warn you, in the Name of Allah (God) and His Messiah, Tbe Honorable Elijah
Muhammad, tbat tbe more you fight and oppose me rather than belp me to lift my people from their degraded state, Allah (God) and His Messiab will bring you and your people to disgrace and ruin and destroy your power and influence here and throughout the world. [the letter is from June 2010 but only recently was made available by Danial Pipes on National Review Online.]
Mr. Pipes nicely evicerates the letter and illuminates the background to its sending.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/13/2010 09:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
OK, let's examine the logic here.
So basically Farrakhan is saying that the jews (and, one assumes, anyone of jewish descent, even though not jewish) will be judged by what their ancestors did, but that the current generation of those Farrakhan considers his people aren't going to be judged for their lack of civilization and degraded state in the here and now.
(Yah, yah, you could argue that they're oppressed. I am going to argue right now that they're oppressed by having Farrakhan as a leader, telling them their current state of degradation is because of someone else instead of their choices in the here and now. And if "the Jews" are doing anything wrong, it's in going along with Farrakhan's damn "you're not responsible for your own actions" mantra, that his congregation really doesn't need to hear.)
#2
I should have noted that the spelling mistakes are because of the translation from .pdf. They were not in the original Farrakhan statement.
That is, even if he is a bigot and a bully and illogical, the letter was spellchecked.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/13/2010 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
A Jewish organization should respond thusly:
Dear Louis Eugene Walcott (his Christian name),
In that your mother, Sarah Mae Manning, was from Saint Kitts and Nevis, and your father, Percival Clarke, was from Jamaica, we have forwarded you request to the British and French embassies.
However, that being said, we are more than happy to send a check to the amount of bupkus, that you may use to repair your defective and gutter religion, so that it may continue in its racist and misogynistic path, keeping your followers downtrodden, poor and ignorant, until they die out either in prison or from shooting each other.
May you buy a nice, used hotel, and in every room of that hotel may you have a heart attack.
#4
tbat tbe more you fight and oppose me rather than belp me to lift my people from their degraded state, Allah (God) and His Messiab will bring you and your people to disgrace
A Michigan lawmaker is asking the Attorney General's Office to investigate an incident involving four Christian missionaries who were arrested June 18 at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn after talking to festival-goers about religion.
"Both the Constitution of Michigan and the United States guarantee the right of every person to enjoy free speech and practice their religion freely, just as these men were doing," said Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. "Those rights can't be just pushed aside for political correctness or to accommodate certain circumstances or locations."
McMillin has been in touch with the "Dearborn Four" and has agreed to attend their arraignment tomorrow in 19th District Court as a show of solidarity.
"These men should not be punished for exercising their inalienable rights," McMillin said.
But authorities say Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla and David Wood were arrested after they were said to be causing disruptive behavior at the festival.
"They did cause a stir," Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in an earlier interview.
The four were later released on bail and described the arrest on the Acts 17 blog at www.answeringmuslims.com.
"It cannot be said that we were arrested for causing a disturbance, because we did not approach anyone, rather everyone with whom we spoke first approached us," Wood said in the online blog. "It cannot be said that we were harassing anyone, because the moment anyone said 'stop talking to me', we would stop talking to them. And it cannot be said that we were spreading hate speech, because we said virtually nothing about Islam at all."
At the time, Haddad said wasn't taking sides in the dispute, adding that police officers were there to keep the peace at the festival.
Officials with the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said they support the Dearborn police in their decision to arrest the men, who were passing out Christian missionary literature.
"Had those persons who were arrested in Dearborn been passing out their materials at a paid booth or in a public area outside of the festival area, which was corded for specific usage, we would defend them in this matter," said Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-MI. "Being that they did not play by the rules however, we support the Dearborn Police as it relates to this particular action."
Another Christian group, which had rented a booth, was permitted to distribute its materials at the festival and apparently caused no problems.
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan is representing all of the Christian missionaries. Because District Judge Mark W. Somers required that all four defendants personally appear before him for the arraignment, the Law Center assisted with the costs of their travel from different parts of the country.
"It's evident that the Dearborn Police department was more interested in placating Muslims than obeying our Constitution," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center. "These Christians were exercising their Constitutional rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, but apparently in a city where the Muslim population seems to dominate the political apparatus, Sharia law trumps our Constitution."
Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Law Center, will represent the Christian missionaries at the arraignment tomorrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Caused a stir"?
ZOMG!!11!!!!!Eleventy!!!1
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2010 20:45 Comments ||
Top||
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.
The Iranian government said it will send hundreds of clerics into Tehran's schools this fall to fight Western influence and the appeal of the political opposition, local newspapers reported Sunday.
Four Christian missionaries were arraigned today on misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace following their June 18 arrest at the Arab International Festival.
