The American commander in Afghanistan quietly told his forces to intensify security measures on Wednesday, issuing a strongly worded warning that a string of anti-American statements by President Hamid Karzai had put Western troops at greater risk of attack both from rogue Afghan security forces and from militants.
Security alert: good idea.
Withdraw all forces and let Karzai swing: better idea...
The order came amid a growing backlash against Mr. Karzai's public excoriation of the United States, including a speech on Tuesday in which he suggested that the government might unilaterally act to ensure control of the Bagram Prison if the United States delayed its handover.
An array of Afghan political leaders issued a joint statement criticizing Mr. Karzai and saying his comments did not reflect their views. And though American military and diplomatic officials have mostly refrained from replying publicly to Mr. Karzai's criticism, in private they have expressed concerns that relations between the allies had reached a worrisome low point right at a critical point in the war against the Taliban.
Frustration with Mr. Karzai was clear in the alert, known as a command threat advisory, sent on Wednesday by Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. to his top commanders. "His remarks could be a catalyst for some to lash out against our forces -- he may also issue orders that put our forces at risk," the advisory read.
#4
I'm w/ Besoeker, plus expect the General to be 'recalled' for consultation, and an investigation into who (m) ever tipped the media, since that was not to be made public.....
[Al Ahram] Dozens of Sudanese protesters chanted against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in front of Al-Ahram premises in Cairo on Wednesday, as a Sudanese delegation paid a visit to Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. It's much safer than it is to demonstrate in Khartoum.
Accompanied by police personnel holding batons, demonstrators held placards condemning the "crimes" committed by Al-Bashir's regime against children and citizens.
Speaking over a microphone, protesters chanted: "Post-revolution Egypt should not deal with the criminal regime of Al-Bashir."
Other chants demanded condemnation of the "Darfur atrocities."
Executive Chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority Tijani Sese, Sudanese investment minister Mostafa Osman, and Sudanese ambassador to Cairo Kamal El-Din Hassan were invited to take part in a forum at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in downtown Cairo.
The protest prompted a delay in their arrival, and the delegation eventually entered through a back door.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The whole region is one big business opportunity. Raghead jigaboos in big hats ( sorry did I say something not PC?) who shoot people who complain about being citizens treated like a herd of goats?
I think what we need to do is send in another "ambassador" like we did in Libya who has a lot of good connections with loads of guns and UHaul trailers full of grenades and RPGs ( like our "ambassador" in Libya did) and see if we can sell them more of what they really like ( even if they already have a lot anyway.)
But why sell them food and bandages when you can sell them weapons? No matter how you cut it, they will use the major part of the stuff on EACH OTHER. And its a looong way from Kansas now ain't it?
There are at least five warehouses FULL of weapons in Alexandria and Fairfax just across the Potomac...OR you can contract it all out so you can deny you did it. There must be a lot of loose weapons floating around the region that you can buy up by the weight rather than the actual value and then sell with a bucket or two of gun oil .
And THEN sell them some ammo too....and pat them all on the back.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/14/2013 14:10 Comments ||
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#9
We don't worry so much about non-PC round here as we do about being unnecessarily rude. (Necessarily rude is something else altogether, in which I have, when requred, engaged.) I worry about the state of his poor, dear mother, who would be appalled at his abjurance of the manners he learnt at her knee.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the power behind President Mohamed Morsi, usually makes its more incendiary statements in Arabic only. But such was the movement's horror at a United Nations proposal to reduce violence against women that it issued a statement in English today complaining that "the complete disintegration of society" would result if the UN adopts a set of recommendations from its Commission on the Status of Women.
While I haven't read the document in question, judging from the Brothers' response, the UN thinks it would be useful to raise the age of marriage, decriminalize homosexuality, make contraceptives more readily available, and give unmarried mothers the same rights as married ones. The Brothers are not pleased:
"The document includes articles that contradict established principles of Islam, undermine Islamic ethics and destroy the family, the basic building block of society, according to the Egyptian Constitution," the movement wrote. "This declaration, if ratified, would lead to complete disintegration of society, and would certainly be the final step in the intellectual and cultural invasion of Muslim countries, eliminating the moral specificity that helps preserve cohesion of Islamic societies."
#2
"we might actually have to get jobs, do chores around the house, be a partner to our wives, let them drive and vote, and quit disabling the sex buttons that let them know we're incompetent at pleasing them"
*shudder*
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2013 20:32 Comments ||
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[FRANCE24] As many as 80 French citizens are fighting with rebel groups in Syria, according to a report in French daily Le Figaro published Wednesday.
The number is far higher than the "handful" said by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls to be operating alongside Islamists in Mali, or the estimated number of Frenchmen who went to Bosnia, Iraq or Afghanistan to wage "jihad", or Muslim holy war.
Le Figaro quoted two such fighters. One, named only as Djamel, said he was fighting the "infamy" of the Bashar al Assad regime in a conflict that the United Nations estimates has claimed more than 70,000 lives in two years.
The second, Abdel Rahman Ayachi, had "returned to the land of his ancestors to spread Islam ahead of the anticipated collapse of the [Assad] regime," the newspaper said.
Leading French anti-terrorism Judge Marc Trévidic told Le Figaro that the presence of so many French jihadists in Syria presents an uncomfortable paradox for the authorities in France, which was the first western country to recognise Syria's rebel council as the country's legitimate interlocutors.
'Authorised jihad'
While French Islamists caught fighting in Mali against their own countrymen provoked outrage and condemnation, those waging battle in a war officially supported by France are doing so in a particularly grey area.
Syria, Trévidic explained, was a straightforward destination for French jihadists. There are no visa requirements to enter neighbouring Turkey, where it is easy to find Syrian contacts and then cross a porous border.
"No one is trying to stop them going into Syria," Trévidic said, referring to their fight as an "authorised jihad", a term borrowed from France's chief diplomat Laurent Fabius. "Things are not at all clear."
"It's particularly complicated to qualify their adventures in Syria as acts of terrorism," Trévidic added, hinting that trained and experienced jihadists could become a dangerous problem for the authorities once back in France.
"Let's not be fooled. A good proportion of them are going there in the hope of helping establish a radical Islamic state. The actual terrorism will begin just as soon as the Assad regime is defeated."
French-Belgian jihadist Abdel Rahman Ayachi told Le Figaro: "I am fighting to see the Assad regime destroyed, and also to help found an Islamic state. But don't worry; once this is done I have no intention of coming back to France or Belgium."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
As soon as the French Domestic Intell guys get their names, I will wager they will become ex-citizens.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/14/2013 10:38 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Leading Salafist political figure Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail criticised what he described as opposition calls for military intervention, saying it would be a "crime" and a coup against constitutionality.
Speaking to Al-Nahar satellite channel on Tuesday, Abu-Ismail threatened that he, along with his supporters, would take to the streets if the military intervened in the political situation. He went on to defend President Mohamed Morsi, saying that despite his opposition to many of the president's policies, as an elected president he should be given a chance.
Abu-Ismail went on to defend Morsi's controversial presidential decree from November last year, which made presidential decisions immune to legal appeal, now cancelled after mass demonstrations against the measure.
He argued the decree's purpose was to respond to opposition demands to change the prosecutor-general, denying the decree was the reason behind the current political crisis.
Abu-Ismail, a former presidential candidate and founding member of the Raya Party, further criticised those claiming that the state is being 'Brotherhoodized,' arguing that Muslim Brotherhood members were hired in leading governmental positions to combat corruption.
Opposition figures have frequently accused the presidency and the government of hiring Brotherhood members in many state institutions.
Members of the Salafist Nour Party, which Abu-Ismail said he disagreed with, have also often complained that the Brotherhood were taking over state institutions in a manner that would not allow for free and fair elections in upcoming polls.
The Salafist community has been witnessing disagreements since a faction split from the Nour Party, the largest Salafist party, to form the Watan Party in January.
Abu-Ismail's newly formed Raya Party had earlier issued a joint statement with the Watan Party saying that the parties were considering allying during elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
So if Morsi's administration policies are NOT the reason for the political unrest what IS the reason? I wonder what the reason could be if it isn't anything about Morsi. He was elected after all. Buyer's remorse, perhaps?
And if you challenge the Army where is the future in that? Challenging an Army is never a good idea the last time I looked. Army types don't like to be challenged, its sorta the way Armies are. They get nasty. And mobs of Salafists in the streets meeting Tanks...well...Syria comes to mind for some reason. But then, they are all Moslems.
[An Nahar] President Barack Obama Wednesday tapped a new ambassador to Libya, six months after the previous U.S. envoy was killed in a brutal militant attack which shocked America to its core.
The announcement that career diplomat Deborah Jones is set to replace slain ambassador, Chris Stevens, came as the Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was in Washington for talks with senior officials.
Jones, who will have to be confirmed by Senate, carries a huge emotional weight into her new post with the scars of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi still raw in the American psyche.
Stevens, a popular diplomat both at home and in the Middle East, was killed along with three other American staff during an hours-long heavily-armed attack on the Benghazi compound and a nearby annex.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#4
We've apparently not had an AMBO to Libya in six months. Perhaps we no longer need one. Certainly appears the State Department facility and Klingon annex in Benghazi are no longer needed.
#5
Deborah Jones was the fifteenth United States Ambassador to the State of Kuwait since Kuwaiti independence in 1961.
Ambassador Jones is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having been with the Department of State since 1982. Prior to her new assignment as Ambassador, she served as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. Her previous overseas assignments include: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Baghdad, Iraq; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Damascus, Syria. Her service in Washington, D.C. includes two years as Country Director of the Office of Arabian Peninsula and Iran Affairs in addition to assignments as Staff Assistant to Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asia Affairs Richard Murphy, Acting Public Affairs Advisor to Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Desk Officer for Jordan, and duty in the Departments Operations Center. Ms. Jones has also served on the Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service.
Ambassador Jones is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a B.S. in history (magna cum laude) and a distinguished graduate of the National War College of the National Defense University with an M.S. in national security strategy. She speaks Arabic, Spanish and French. Her husband is the present Ambassador to Kuwait?? and they have two daughters I have heard.
She knows what she is getting in to. And I expect she WILL issue the US Marine Corps guards a couple of mags of ammo no matter what Hussein Obama tells her.
You listen to Obama too much and you might wind up dead in a car trunk with your mouth taped and your head in a bag.
#6
Prior to her new assignment as Ambassador, she served as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey.
She's family, a trusted agent with plenty of skin in the game, who knows the deal. In addition to her normal responsibilities, there may be 'other duties as assigned' such as.....periodic clean-up and housekeeping.
#8
If they are still around, it would be interesting to be a 'fly on the wall' wen she gets her face to face in-briefs from the Chief of Station and Defense attaché. :-)
[Yemen Post] As Yemen is preparing to kick start its much awaited and anticipated National Dialogue Conference on Monday 18 March, Maj. Gen. Ali Saeed Obaid, spokesman of the Military Affairs Committee confirmed all guns and weapons had now been banned from the capital, Sana'a to the exception of a few handful of special permit holders. "Y'gotta check yer guns with the bartender, Chuck."
Maj. Gen. Obaid called on tribal leaders and political leaders to restraint from heavy using heavy armed procession while traveling through the city as he stressed upon the need for all citizens to abide by the rules and comply with the state requirements.
Yemen has one of the highest guns-per-capita ratio in the world. A study conducted in 2007 by the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based independent research project, established there were 60 guns per every 100 people.
Maj. Gen. Obaid explained the government was keen to convey a peaceful atmosphere, conductive to political negotiations as Yemen in venturing into the most sensitive phase of its transition of power.
Yemen National Dialogue Conference aims to resolve thorny issues, such as the southern issue and the Houthis' call for independence in the north (Shia rebel group led by Sheikh Abdel-Malek al-Houthi).
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Thought from the head that they were talking about DC.
Oh, they've done that? How's that working out for you?
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... yesterday said those responsible for the recent "genocide" in the country, including the prime minister, would be tried if her party returns to power.
She said her government would then form tribunals to try the police personnel who had been involved in the genocide.
"The prime minister [Sheikh Hasina] is guilty of crimes against humanity. From the government's number one to all responsible for killing 170 people across the country would be tried for committing crimes against humanity," said Khaleda while addressing a rally in front of BNP central office in the capital's Nayapaltan area in the afternoon.
Referring to the Shahbagh movement, she said the government on the one hand was firing bullets on BNP rallies, and on the other hand guarding and feeding atheists and bidhormis [infidels] to divert people's attention from its failures.
She urged the government to refrain from forming so-called platforms [mancha-fancha] and said, "It [govt] will not find the escape when people will form their own mancha."
The leader of the opposition yesterday went to visit her party's central office to have a firsthand experience of the aftermath of Monday's police raid.
Flanked by top party leaders, the BNP chairperson entered the office around 5:47pm. She visited the rooms on the second, third and fourth floors.
About 20 minutes later, she came to the balcony of the first floor and addressed hundreds of leaders and activists gathered on Nayapaltan Road.
In her 13-minute speech, Khaleda also demanded that the government release all detained opposition leaders today. She called upon her party men to enforce hartals on March 18 and 19 across the country if the leaders are not released.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
sounds like civil war coming to Blangla.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2013 10:04 Comments ||
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#2
Borgias and Medicis, only without a Rennaisance.
[Bangla Daily Star] Hefazat-e-Islam, a radical Islamist organisation based in Hathazari upazila of Chittagong, on Wednesday refused to hold a meeting with Shahbagh demonstrators.
"There is no question of holding a dialogue with the protesters whom we will not allow to enter Chittagong," said Azizul Haque Islamabadi, organising secretary of the Islamist group.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... the law enforcers in Feni on Wednesday requested Imran H Sarker, convener of the Shahbagh Gonojagoron Mancha, to return to Dhaka to avert any possible untoward incident during his Chittagong visit.
Imran along with his team was heading towards Chittagong to hold a meeting with Ahmed Shafi, chief of the Hefazat-e-Islam.
The team was in Feni when this report was filed.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... Imran, also a key organiser of Shahbagh Gonojagoron Mancha, is yet to take any decision whether they will go to Chittagong, said Bappaditya Basu, president of Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree.
On Tuesday, the protesters of Gonojagoron Mancha postponed their Wednesday's rally in the port city amid threats from radical Islamists and imposition of Section 144 by police in Chittagong.
The Section 144 prohibits gathering of more than five people.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... three homemade bombs were exploded near the Gonojagoron Mancha before the Chittagong Press Club around 8:25pm Tuesday, sending a wave of panic in the area.
Many people were seen running for shelter at the time in the area.
Police detained one person from the spot for his alleged link with the blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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From the article, the only identifying information:
The group of Al Qaeda fanatics includes two alleged members of a gang which plotted to kill thousands by downing Transatlantic airliners and one linked to the failed July 21 bombings.
Currently their activities are limited by powerful court orders forcing them to wear electronic tags, obey curfews and report to the police and restricting their contact with other dangerous individuals.
In December, Ibrahim Magag, who is thought to have attended terrorist training camps in Somalia, ripped off his electronic tag and fled.
Of those remaining on the orders, one was a former train driver considered to be a UK extremist seeking to obtain terrorist training in Pakistan.
Another attended a terrorist training camp in Cumbria in 2004 in the company of four of the five attempted suicide bombers involved in failed attacks on London in July 2005.
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 24 inmates were transferred from a prison in Altamira to other prisons in Tamaulipas state following a riot last Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news account which appeared in Milenio news daily, the transfer took place Monday morning with tight security provided by Tamaulipas state police, Policia Federal Preventiva (PFP) and Mexican Army troops.
The report quoted a presumed security official, Maria Gonzalez Flores, saying that a brawl had taken place Sunday in the Centro de Ejecuciones de Sancciones (CEDES), which closed the prison to visitors for six hours.
A total of 19 inmates imprisoned for state crimes were to be transferred to the CEDES in Reynosa, while another five inmates serving time for federal crimes were to be transferred to a federal facility in Matamoros.
The Milenio report goes on to note that Tamaulipas' Secretaria de Seguridad Publica del Estado (SSPE) had released a statement on the disturbance. A statement had been released on the Tamaulipas state official government website by the SSPE last Monday, but only a mention of the reason for the transfer being the prevention of violence, not that a disturbance had occurred closing the prison to visitors for six hours.
The Milenio report also notes that no one was hurt in the disturbance and no weapons were used.
The prison transfer is the third action taken by Mexican Federal authorities in response to problems inside Tamaulipas prisons. Tamaulipas state is one of Mexico's most violent, with an ongoing war entering its fourth year between the nascent Los Zetas drug cartel and their former employers, the Gulf Cartel.
Actions taken by the new federal government headed by President Enrique Pena Nieto indicate security officials intend to regard Mexico's prisons as another battleground in the drug war.
Actions taken by government officials, or by drug cartels in prisons include:
The closing of the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) Numero 2 in Gomez Palacio, Durango a day after a bloody attempted prison break in which 24 inmates were gunned down by prison guards last December. The action to close the prison taken by the Mexican federal Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB) or interior ministry, has left Durango state with the nearest prison to Gomez Palacio being hundreds of kilometers to the west in Durango city, the capital of Durango state.
Earlier in March the CEDES in Miguel Aleman was closed and all of its inmates transferred to a CEDES in Nuevo Laredo after a mass prison break. Fifteen armed suspects entered the prison and held prison staff at gunpoint as 12 inmates were freed late February.
Last Sunday the CEDES in Ciudad Mante was closed with all of its state prison inmates transferred to Nuevo Laredo as well.
Five prison inmates in the Nuevo Laredo CEDES were killed in a brawl last Sunday, including two who had been in the prison less than 24 hours before they died.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
The mother of a young Belarusian man convicted in the April 2011 Minsk subway bombing and later executed for terrorism wants to have the authorities hand over her son's body. Lyubou Kavalyova told a press conference on March 13 that she hoped the Belarusian authorities would release her son's body as she marks the first anniversary of his execution.
Her son Uladzislau Kavalyou and his friend Dzmitry Kanavalau, both born in 1986, were convicted for the bombing of a Minsk subway station that killed 15 people and injured some 300 others - and two earlier bombings. They were executed with a shot to the head sometime in mid-March 2012.
Some independent investigators, including investigators from Russia, have expressed serious doubts about evidence used to convict the two men.
[Iran Press TV] A political analyst tells Press TV that North Korea's threats should be taken more seriously because we do not know a lot about its new leadership and what he actually wants.
The comments came after North Korea confirmed that it has abandoned the 60-year-old Armistice that ended the Korean War, amid rising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The statement comes two days after Seoul and Washington launched a week-long annual joint military exercise near the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from Pyongyang. Pyongyang had said a second Korean War would be "unavoidable" if the United States and South Korea refused Pyongyang's calls to cancel their large-scale joint drill.
Press TV has conducted an interview with William Jones, Executive Intelligence Review from Washington, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Jones, do you think that when North Korea does make a threat earlier on for instance about even a nuclear war or preemptive war on the United States, that those threats should be taken seriously?
Jones: I think they should. In ordinary circumstances I would tend to think that this is the usual bluster coming out of North Korea that is threats which are not made seriously but are made for other regions.
But given the fact that you have a new leadership there which we do not know a lot about what he actually wants, I think we should take this a bit more seriously than we otherwise would have done.
It may indeed be a braggadocio being done for internal reasons but I think because we do not have a very good picture of where he is going, I think that should be taken seriously.
Press TV: But who do you think is provoking this? Well North Korea is of course saying it is the US, it is South Korea with the provocations, would you agree with that?
Jones: Well obviously they are having their exercises and prior to the exercises North Korea had warned them not to do them.
As far as I can see the exercises which were planned a long time ahead of time, are a part of the normal military relation between South Korea and the United States, although they are being used in this particular instance I think as a kind of a warning to North Korea but I think there is a reason for it but I do not know that that is really the real reason.
This article starring:
Executive Intelligence Review
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
First off, any DPRK nuclear missle - tactical or strategic is likely to be a Chinese missle.
Chicom-made + Chicom-ordered.
Any such Chinese-ordered, DPRK-launched LRBM/LRCM attack on the Japan-based USS "GEORGE WASHINGTON" CVN + BG is consistent wid the DPRK's current strategy of the "BIG/MAJOR KILL", where the DPRK would use its handful of LRBMS to strike at SELECT HIGH-PROFILE OR HIGH-VALUE TARGETS WID INTENTION TO HUMILIATE OR EMBARASS WASHINGTON = POTUS BAMMER ADMIN + US NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY.
The "George" is a target because it is a Japan-based USN nuclear carrier plus, as per "sequestration", the USDOD said it may be the one-n-only US CVN + BG to be deployed by the US around the world for any overseas or international crisis that occurs while
"sequestration" remains in place.
IOW, NORTH KOREA = CHINA = MAY ONLY HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ONE-N-ONLY-ONE US NUCLEAR CARRIER + DATS THE "GEORGIE"???
* FYI PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [WND.com] DID US NAVY MAKE "PEARL HARBOR" MISTAKE AGAIN?
Photo of several = FIVE? USN Carriers docked in Norfolk due to "sequestration" goes viral around the Net.
"Nuclear Pearl Harbor" = Limited Nuclear Strike? agz CONUS for PLA 2nd Arty + its ICBMS???
* BIG NEWS NETWORK > [USDNI Dir James Clapper]INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: US ABILITY TO DETECT THREATS DOWNGRADED/DEGRADED, espec as per the Sequester.
* REAL CLEAR POLITICS > OBAMA SEEKS "FISCALLY SUSTAINABLE PATH", NOT A BALANCED BUDGET.
Why use the PLA 2nd Arty to intimidate or attack the US + USN when China can just use the US Deficit + Debt Burden, US Treasuries, the International Bond Market, "Sequestration" + July 2013 "Fiscal Cliff II", etc. to achieve its anti-US WESTPAC goals???
VERSUS
* WORLD NEWS > CHINA OFFICIAL: BEIJING SEEKS TO DEVELOP BILATERAL ALLIANCE, wid Nippon + ASEAN neighbors despite rising tensions.
* SAME > [SCMP] CHINA'S "MARITIME ENFORCEMENT PLAN" A THREAT TO JAPAN, iff Beijing chooses to unilaterally include the disputed Senkakus/Diaoyus, UW "Continental Shelf/
Seafloor" claims, + Okinawa? under its sovereign agency.
* SAME > [Sun Star] [Malaysia] LAWMAKER: MALAYSIA COURTING INSURGENCY FROM FILIPINOS, over the long-term unless a an amiable solution to Fil-Malay Sabah Crisis is found.
#2
CHINA to US > "YOU WANNA BORROW FROM ME!? YOU WANNA BORROW FROM ME!? WELL, YOU CAN'T BORROW FROM ME UNLESS YOUR JLO = KIM KARDASHIAN, ETAL. LARD/DEBT-RIDDEN-FAT-ASS-N-GROWING BUTT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES THE FOLLOWING ..."
- Get out of Okinawa.
- Get out of South Korea.
- TAIWAN handover - N-O-W!
- Get out of Guam, Diego Garcia, etc.
AMERICA'S = AMERIKA'S CHOICE IS WAR, INCLUDING POSSIBLY NUCLEAR WAR, OR ELSE PAYING DOWN ITS EXCESSIVE DEBT IN PEACE.
Only one out of the five CRPF personnel killed and five out of the 15 personnel who were first to be injured in the Srinagar militant attack outside their camp on Wednesday were carrying weapons, sources said, although there was specific intelligence input about a possible attack on police camps by men in disguise.
The CRPF had come under fire after four young men were killed in retaliatory fire by the force last month during protests against the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, forcing the state administration to ask the paramilitary force not carry any weapons while patrolling the streets of Srinagar.
CRPF said only 8,300 of the 25,000 personnel deployed in Srinagar, roughly one-third of the strength, were mandated to carry weapons.
"The state police and administration was of the view that armed men moving around the streets instilled fear in the minds of citizens and they wanted to project the situation as normal as possible. While CRPF agreed to not carry arms, the BSF rejected their proposal. It now turns out that only one of the men among those killed was carrying a weapon virtually making them sitting ducks," said an official.
After the attack, the Union Home Ministry said there was an intelligence alert about the entry of four militants in the area. Sources in the CRPF, however, said there was no specific input for Srinagar. Officials explained it was difficult to preempt any fidayeen attack and such bombers did not enter the targeted city overnight.
Sources said there was a general alert following Afzal's hanging since February 9 and around four days back they received some inputs about Sopore area but no such information was shared for Srinagar.
The CRPF, which was planning to pull out three battalions from Srinagar has put its plan on hold following the attack. It wanted to divert these men to Naxal-affected areas on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border and had even written to the state government about their move last year.
Soon after the attack, CRPF DG Pranay Sahay rushed to Srinagar and convened a high-level meeting with his team.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/14/2013 10:47 ||
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#1
The state police and administration was of the view that armed men moving around the streets instilled fear in the minds of citizens and they wanted to project the situation as normal as possible.
Yep. Send police to Kashmir and take away their guns. Real smart. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state rubbed salt in the wounds by refusing to attend the funerals for those policemen killed.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/14/2013 10:56 Comments ||
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[Dawn]The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered police and provincial officials to explain why they failed to prevent a riot in a Christian area of Lahore in which more than 100 homes were torched.
A three member bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed the hearing over the court's notice taken over the arson attack in a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore.
During the hearing Punjab's Advocate General Ashrat Ausaf Ali, submitted reports over the Joseph Colony and Gojra incidents and informed the court that recommendations were sent to relevant authorities after the Gojra incident.
The apex court rejected the report and sought a comprehensive written reply from the Punjab government over the Badami Bagh incident.
The bench said in its remarks that Punjab police had a tainted history referring to the Shantinagar episode of 1997 and added that contradictions existed in the report submitted by it.
Three days went by between the blasphemy claims, which often provoke a violent public response in Pakistan, and the carnage in Joseph Colony.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the violence could have been avoided.
"We would like to have a clear stance of (Punjab) provincial government on failure to provide protection to people," Chaudhry said during a Supreme Court hearing.
He rejected a report submitted by the provincial government, saying: "nothing has been produced to establish causes of the incident in Joseph Colony... we need a specific reply".
"Similarly, no specific reply has been submitted in the report about conduct of police officers including the inspector general of Punjab police, city police chief and the local in-charge of police in the area," Chaudhry said.
The court said in its short order that it has to be informed about the reasons behind the incident and about the action taken against those held responsible for the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday dismissed the "knee-jerk" allegation by a senior Indian official that militants who killed five Indian soldiers in Srinagar were from Pakistan.
In a press release issued Wednesday, it strongly rejected the remarks made by Indian Home Secretary RK Singh alleging that "prime facie evidence suggests that the militants who attacked the members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were from across the border, they were probably from Pakistan".
The rebuttal comes as militants disguised as cricketers killed five Indian paramilitary police earlier in the day in an ambush in the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir.
The local Hizbul Mujahideen group claimed responsibility for the attack in Srinagar's Bemina district.
The Pakistan Foreign Office also rejected earlier statements made by the Indian defence minister accusing Pakistani military commandos of beheading Indian soldiers near the Kashmir border.
"Pakistan also rejects the statement made by Defence Minister AK Antony in the Rajya Sabha accusing the Special Services Group of Pakistan Army of beheading two Indian soldiers on the Line of Control on January 08, 2013," added the press release.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Russia says arming foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government is in violation of international law.
"Arming the opposition is in breach of international law," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his British counterpart William Hague in London on Wednesday.
The conference was also attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his British counterpart Philip Hammond.
"International law does not allow, does not permit supplies of arms to non-governmental actors and in our point of view it is a violation of international law," Lavrov said. Ah, but if the opposition is recognized as the legit govt of Syria then shipping arms to Pencilneck would be the violation, and shipping arms to the opp would be pristine.
The Russian foreign minister reiterated that it is only up to Syrians to decide the future of their nation.
He also rejected any chance of Moscow pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into stepping down.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Anti-regime activists took to the streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria on Wednesday for a third straight day to demand that jihadist al-Nusra Front fighters leave the town, a watchdog said.
"For the third day in a row, protests erupted in Mayadeen calling on the al-Nusra Front to leave the town," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Protests erupted after the Islamist al-Nusra Front -- blacklisted in December by the United States as a "terrorist" organisation -- set up a religious council in the east of Deir Ezzor province, where Mayadeen is situated, to administer affairs in the area.
At the weekend they set up a religious police force in Mayadeen, the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that the force had held a parade in the town.
Amateur video distributed by the Observatory showed a large convoy of vehicles driving through the east of Syria, large swathes of which have fallen out of army control in the past few months.
Rebels held up black Islamic flags while driving down an unidentified road.
"The protests are an important indicator that people in eastern Syria -- where people do not have a culture of religious extremism -- do not welcome the imposition of religious law," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"The fact is that fanaticism has little place in Syria as a whole, though the regime has tried hard to make the world believe that a successful revolt would put radical Islamists in power," he added.
A second amateur video distributed on Sunday by activists showed protesters, some of them on motorcycles, holding a night-time demonstration in Mayadeen.
"Protesters are calling on al-Nusra Front to leave al-Mayadeen!" said the unidentified cameraman filming the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Is Argo "just a movie?" Or is it a disguised intelligence operation - maybe even a war crime?
These questions may soon be answered in court. Well-known French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre has met with Iranian officials planning a lawsuit against the makers and distributors of the controversial film.
Mohammad Lesani, General Secretary of Monday's Hoax of Hollywood conference in Tehran, announced, "Argo is made by three film-producing companies in Hollywood...the Islamic Republic of Iran is going to sue all those who have been active in the anti-Iran domain, including directors and producers."
If the makers of Argo are deposed under oath, they may be forced to reveal that their film -- like the fictitious film-within-the-film -- is a covert operation disguised as a movie. One of America's leading experts on covert operations believes that Argo is the propaganda project of an intelligence agency or agencies, and that its purpose is to convince the American people to go along with Israel's plan to drag America into a war on Iran.
That expert, Barbara Honegger, was a Special Assistant to the President as well as White House Policy Analyst (1981-83), and worked for over a decade as Senior Military Affairs Journalist with the Naval Postgraduate School, the premiere science, technology and national security affairs graduate research university of the US Department of Defense. The author of October Surprise, she is one of America's leading experts on ultra-secretive covert operations or "black ops."
In a radio interview Tuesday on the Kevin Barrett Show, Honegger stated that filmmaker Ben Affleck might one day be hanged for war crimes and treason - not only for Argo, which she said is designed to pave the road to war on Iran, but also for his role in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, an earlier intelligence operation designed to pave the road to the 9/11 "New Pearl Harbor." According to Honegger, Affleck - like his character in Argo - appears to be a covert operator posing as a filmmaker.
At the 2001 Golden Raspberry Awards, Pearl Harbor was nominated for six awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor (Ben Affleck), Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple, and Worst Remake or Sequel. This pathetic excuse for a movie cost over USD150 million. Whoever invested that USD150 million was not interested in making money - or even making a movie. Pearl Harbor had only one purpose: To spread the "Pearl Harbor" meme in the public mind in preparation for 9/11. In a sense, Pearl Harbor was like Argo's fictional science fiction film-within-a-film: It was a fake movie, but a real intelligence operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#3
Pearl Harbor was generally panned by critics. However, it was a money maker and took in over $400M in box office and $50+ in video, commercial tie ins and the like.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/14/2013 7:35 Comments ||
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#4
Do you think the producers of the movie are short of money to deal with the Iranian charges? Where will this trial have a venue? ( is that the right legal term?). Will the Judge be a Belgian or Swiss and how long do you think the lawyers will be retained? Will they be living in Brussels for a while....or somewhere else?
What do you think the Iranian chances are of getting much outa this besides what Barnacle Bill gave Olive Oyl?
#11
Ah, you're just saying that because the big fight scene featured two guys working their control sticks while talking intimately with each other. Also, Doolittle weighed less than three hundred pounds and only had one chin.
And gigli, that is if stuxnet fails..but the world will never forgive us.
#12
Perhaps Dizzy Issi will be able to define what the international crime of "aggression" is since all the diplomats that negotiated the Rome Treaty failed to come up with one. Hence its left undefined and unenforcable - even for those countries that have signed the Rome Treaty on the International Criminal Court.
Actually the only crime was totally downplaying the role of the Canadian Diplomats in rescuing the US folk. Oh well, serves us right for winning the War of 1812.
Posted by: George Glaigum7976 ||
03/14/2013 16:56 Comments ||
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#14
This is the horrifying result of the inhumane sanctions on Iran. They've been reduced to watching Ben Affleck movies. Can cannibalism be far behind?(snark, sort of)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/14/2013 20:13 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has acknowledged that Iran is using its nuclear energy program solely for peaceful purposes. Oh, well then. I guess the science is settled.
"Iran has a comprehensive agreement with the IAEA and Iran is subject to UN Security Council resolutions which are legally binding. This is the standard," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said at a joint press conference with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai on Wednesday.
"In light of this standard, I can say that declared activities and material of Iran are staying in peaceful purposes," Amano told reporters in New Delhi.
He stressed that the West's dispute over Iran's nuclear program should come to an end "through diplomatic means and dialogue."
"I will continue the dialogue with Iran and hope that we can report positive results through our next meeting in June," he said, referring to the next meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Who's gonna DO anything about Iran anyway? Obama?
And israel CAN'T, no matter how they feel about it.
The Iranians will quietly get an atomic and then they will build Cruise missiles and rockets will improve. And after that ...well..after that we live with being spine less for about 20 years.
If you don't have any brains OR any nuts you can stand around and whine. The French will show you how....and if you believe everything you hear and let "talking" have a chance to solve your problems then Chamberlain has a piece of paper for you and welcome to it.
There IS going to be a War eventually. Once there is then everybody gets to have fun. Even the French. Nobody seems to ASK you in a War. They tell you.
#3
And after four years of waffling, Bambi says today that Iran is about one year from the bomb.
What the heck happened to that six year number he and Slow Joe were throwing around last year?
And I don't trust the IAEA at all, after all, they seem to have a propensity for meetings and stern memos just like their parent organization, the Oyster Bay Marching Band and Drunk Driving Society.
I think we are in deep doo doo on this one.
And oh yes, bambi is talking about "all options" on the table a week after he says he wants to put the entire armed forces in mothballs?
Either we are in big trouble on this one OR bambi figures he'll follow the FDR model of "nothing like a good war to perk up the economy"
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/14/2013 20:14 Comments ||
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#4
I vote for Obama searching for a "Good War" Just to keep himself in offie, What happens if we have a War, and he DOESN'T Stay, boy will he be disapinted.
And so pissed at America.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2013 21:26 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Press TV CEO Mohammad Sarafraz has dismissed the European Union (EU) travel ban on him and a director of Iran's English-language news channel as "unreasonable," Press TV reports.
"A media ban has been imposed for the first time in the world, showing the irrationality of the European Union and the influence of the [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting's] world service," Sarafraz said.
He pointed out that EU leaders have imposed the bans over a 10-second report about Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who worked for Newsweek in Tehran.
On Tuesday, the European bloc blacklisted Sarafraz and Press TV Newsroom Director Hamid Reza Emadi for airing the interview with Bahari in 2009 following post-election riots in Iran.
Sarafraz said EU officials have given no response to Press TV questions about the imposition of the bans.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
But, But, you Just CAN'T see the as they really are, or if you do Print Unflattering things abut them, Can you. (Heathen)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2013 12:50 Comments ||
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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.
[Al Ahram] Dozens of Sudanese protesters chanted against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in front of Al-Ahram premises in Cairo on Wednesday, as a Sudanese delegation paid a visit to Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
[FRANCE24] As many as 80 French citizens are fighting with rebel groups in Syria, according to a report in French daily Le Figaro published Wednesday.
While French Islamists caught fighting in Mali against their own countrymen provoked outrage and condemnation, those waging battle in a war officially supported by France are doing so in a particularly grey area.
[Al Ahram] Leading Salafist political figure Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail criticised what he described as opposition calls for military intervention, saying it would be a "crime" and a coup against constitutionality.
Khaleda Zia
North Korea
[Dawn]The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered police and provincial officials to explain why they failed to prevent a riot in a Christian area of Lahore in which more than 100 homes were torched.
[Dawn] Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday dismissed the "knee-jerk" allegation by a senior Indian official that militants who killed five Indian soldiers in Srinagar were from Pakistan.
[Iran Press TV] Russia says arming foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government is in violation of international law.
[An Nahar] Anti-regime activists took to the streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria on Wednesday for a third straight day to demand that jihadist al-Nusra Front fighters leave the town, a watchdog said.
[Iran Press TV] Is Argo "just a movie?" Or is it a disguised intelligence operation - maybe even a war crime?
[Iran Press TV] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has acknowledged that Iran is using its nuclear energy program solely for peaceful purposes.
