[Shabelle] General Mohamed Nur Galal who contacted shabele media today said that the strategy to fight Alshabab needs to be reviewed.
The general said that Alshabab adopted a new way of fighting referring to as guerilla warfare. He added that it will be hard to eliminate Alshabab in the country if this strategy is not changed. He requested the federal government to make changes in strategy and adopt a new style of fighting the militia group.
Mr. Galal said "Alshabab have been weakened and do not afford to fight in a confrontation way so a new tactic to curb them should be adopted"
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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[Shabelle] the head of Somalia religious leader sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad talking to Aljazira Arabic said that the most killings in the capital is conducted by Alshabab militia.
The Sheikhs interview comes after he survived an liquidation attempt early this month.
Plots to assassinate clan elders, religious leaders and journalists have been rampant in the country for the past one year.
The sheikh during his interview said that sheikhs were not the only targets. He said members of the public leaders, business men, and politicians were also targets.
Asked about the existence of other crime gangs other than Alshabab who conduct such killings, the sheikh pointed out that it was only Alshabab who were known to do such acts.
The sheikh was also asked if they were against the jihadist Ideology embraced by Alshabab, his answer was that the fighting against the enemy of the people should be decided by the Somali religious leaders but not from foreigners.
Asked about his view of the presence of imported muscle in the country, the sheikh said that they are also part of the problem however he added that the foreign troops help the government troops to eliminate the Alshabab and will do that until a proven Somali army is established.
The sheikh was finally asked about the federal system the government uses and whether the religious leaders association agrees with the idea, he said that if the system was uniting the members of the public and decisions made had the right intention then that will not have any negative impact about what they think.
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and top judges agreed on Sunday to seek a compromise to defuse a battle over Islamist attempts to force out thousands of judges that have deeply polarised the Arab world's most populous nation.
Morsi's Islamist allies had proposed legislation to purge more than 3,000 judges at a stroke by reducing their mandatory retirement age to 60 from 70 to sweep away senior jurists appointed under autocratic former Hosni Mubarak. ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
But after nearly three hours of talks, the president's office and the Supreme Judicial Council said they had agreed to launch a conference on the future of the justice system that would work out a reform acceptable to both sides.
The deal appeared to be a significant climb down by the ruling Moslem Brüderbund in the face of fierce resistance to its push for a fast-track law to "cleanse the judiciary".
A presidential front man said in a statement read on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
that Morsi had praised the idea of a justice conference and would start preparatory sessions at the presidency on Tuesday.
Morsi would "personally adopt all the conclusions of this conference from project laws to present it to the legislative council," he said.
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] The population in the Nigeria town of Baga, site of the deadliest-ever episode in an Islamist insurgency, is in "terrible shock," with a woefully inadequate rescue mission unable to care for the thousands of victims, the area senator told AFP Saturday after visiting the town.
"I have driven all over that place and the devastation is enormous," said Senator Maina Lawan of the Borno North constituency in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
"The population are in terrible shock. You only need to see them and talk to them... No matter how strong-hearted you are, you will break down," the senator added.
The Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... insurgency is estimated to have cost more than 3,000 lives since 2009, including deaths caused by the security forces, but the killings in Baga were unprecedented.
Maina provided a corpse count of 228, while the Red Thingy has said that 187 were killed.
"That is what I observed after visiting the town and seeing the graves," he said after providing the figure.
The April 19 bloodbath in the remote fishing town near Lake Chad began with fierce shootouts between soldiers and Boko Haram Islamists.
Massive fires broke out, leaving nearly half of Baga destroyed and sending much of the population fleeing into the bush hoping to escape the carnage.
The military has been accused of firing on civilians and setting the blazes that destroyed the town, but the defence ministry has denied that account, saying that only 37 people were killed.
Lawan said that while the details of the fighting needed to be probed, the urgent need is to care for the survivors.
"The destruction, the havoc, whether it was caused by Boko Haram or the military... The truth will ultimately come out. What we need now is to give succour to the living," he told AFP.
Lawan, a native of Baga who visited this week, said about 4,000 homes were destroyed.
"The aid agencies on the ground were grossly understaffed and all of them complained that they lacked essential materials," he further said, specifically noting a lack of adequate shelter.
He supported reports of rescue officials that much of the town's population remains in hiding.
"Some people have not returned to their homes because they are fearing the possibility of a backlash," the senator said.
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Is Maina one of their sponsors?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/29/2013 7:40 Comments ||
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#2
Not sure. By all accounts, Borno (who Lawan represents) is a state whose politics aren't unlike Louisiana's (or Hartford, CT). He has supported some politicians who were or are at odds with the current Nigerian government, but from what I can tell they're not Islamic.
An Irish Muslim who once threatened to kill Barack Obama has refused to condemn the Boston bombers and claimed they gave Americans 'a taste of their own medicine'.
Khalid Kelly, a 46-year-old from Dublin, made the controversial remarks in an exclusive interview with the Irish Sun newspaper. In the course of the interview, he refused to condemn Chechen terror brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the attack which killed three people including an eight-year-old boy.
Nicknamed Taliban Terry, Kelly told the paper that he was not surprised by the attack, the first on US soil since 9/11. And he told Americans to be glad nobody else had died in the marathon bomb.
Kelly said: "Thousands of Muslims are being killed every day from Syria to Afghanistan. A lot of them are being murdered at the hands of the Americans, and they never have a minute's silence.
"Where are the tears for these people? Three people get killed and they have a big day of remembrance. They should remember the people they are killing.
"This is a war and they should be thankful that it wasn't more."
That last is the key. If this is indeed war, dear Mr. Kelly, you should be grateful your dead are not piled in heaps -- we can do that easily enough, while your side's best efforts resulted in three pot bombs which only succeeded in killing three people. You would be wise to ponder why Dr. Fadl concluded that to wage this war is to go against Allah's own will.
One senior Egyptian cleric regarded as the model of Islamic moderation by Westerners told Wright that he understood Fadl's change of heart because one had to adapt to the times. "We accept the revisions conditionally, not as the true teachings of Islam but with the understanding that this process is like medicine for a particular time". Dr. Fadl located the roots of his newfound pacifism much more directly:
"People hate America, and the Islamist movements feel their hatred and their impotence. Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemys buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours? . . . That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11."
#4
Taliban Terry from Dublin, haha, what an assclown. I have to imagine Friday nights are rough on him in Dublin between the locals and the Poles drinking it up & having a good craic.
A TERRORIST convicted of plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange has been "quietly" released from jail after his sentence was cut on appeal.
Mohibur Rahman's five-year term for having al-Qaida magazines featuring bomb-making instructions -- handed down in February 2012 -- was reduced to four and a half years by judges.
After all, it was just the London Stock Exchange. It wasn't as if he was going to bomb an abortion clinic...
Rahman was part of a nine-strong gang who also plotted to target Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye in a "Mumbai-style" bomb blitz.
The Islamic radical, 28, was released just one year after admitting possessing an article for a terrorist purpose. He also got credit for being on remand since December 2010. The Stoke-based plotter is now out on licence.
But reports from a court hearing last May revealed Rahman once told another extremist through a pipe connecting their cells: "When you get released you will be on licence. When you finish your licence you can carry on your work."
We can reveal the terror cheerleader's term was slashed by Lord Justice Leveson -- the judge who presided over an inquiry into Press standards -- at an appeal court hearing at Woolwich Crown Court earlier this month.
This article starring:
Mohibur Rahman
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04/29/2013 01:09 ||
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Aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin say he and President Barack Obama have agreed to intensify contacts between their security agencies on fighting terrorism, especially in light of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Putin and Obama spoke by telephone on Monday at the U.S. president's initiative, the aides were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the conversation focused on "the problem of intensifying cooperation of the special services in the context of the recent terror act in Boston." The suspected bombers hail from a Russian region troubled by militancy.
Ushakov was quoted as saying "practical agreement was reached on very active contacts."
Ushakov also said the presidents stressed the importance of security at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi.
From his city hall under Belgiums most imposing cathedral, Mayor Bart Somers is wracking his brains trying to figure out how to keep young Muslims from going to fight holy war in Syria against the Assad regime.
Through much of western Europe, scores of Islamic youths have heeded the call to take up arms for a cause that is only a few hours away by plane.
The phenomenon has alarmed authorities amid signs that the insurgency is becoming increasingly radicalized, with strong infiltration by al-Qaida. European authorities see a double danger, one thats summed up by Somers who describes the youths as cannon fodder in Syria and potential full-blown terrorists if they make it back home alive.
FREEDOM VS. SAFETY
But it all raises a conundrum: In a free society, how can you prevent these young people from packing up and leaving?
The major challenge of each democrat is to see what we can do in the fight against fundamentalism without sacrificing our own democratic laws, said Somers. Otherwise we play into the hands of the terrorists.
That dilemma was again put to the test two weeks ago when Belgian authorities organized a major anti-terror sweep seeking to weed out agitators inciting young Muslims to fight against the Assad regime.
In a high-profile raid of four dozen homes, police put six people behind bars, raising criticism among some that they had overstepped their bounds by infringing on freedom of speech.
The parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have retreated to a village in southern Russia to shelter from the spotlight and abandoned plans for now to travel to the United States, the father of the suspects told Reuters on Sunday.
"Unfortunately I can't help my child in any way. I am in touch with Dzhokhar's and my own lawyers. They told me they would let me know (what to do)," Tsarnaev said in an interview in the village where he relocated with the suspects' mother.
He agreed to the face-to-face meeting on condition that the village's location in the North Caucasus, a string of mainly Muslim provinces in southern Russia, not be disclosed.
In Sunday's interview he said he had decided to move away from the family home in Dagestan to the new location because he wanted to keep a low profile. Dressed in a black shirt and black trousers, he passionately defended his sons' innocence, saying they had nothing to do with Islamist extremists.
"I feel hopeless. We are simple people. We are trying to understand. We are attacked from all sides," he said, clutching his head in despair. "I don't know whether I should talk or stay silent. I don't want to harm my child. ... We are used to all sorts of things here but we didn't expect this from the United States."
He and other members of the family believe a man shown on television being led naked into a police car the night of the shootout was Tamerlan, and that the blurry footage, still widely available on YouTube, proves Tamerlan was captured alive. Boston police say Tamerlan was killed in a shootout, and the man seen being led into the car was a bystander who was briefly detained.
The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who lived in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan and in Dagestan before emigrating to the United States with their children. The parents returned to Dagestan two years ago, and Tamerlan spent the first half of 2012 there.
The suspects' mother, Zubeidat, was with Anzor Tsarnaev in the village but did not wish to speak.
"She is ill, she is shocked, she is depressed. She lost her children," Tsarnaev said. The couple are divorced but have stayed together.
Although the Tsarnaev brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya, neither had spent much time there until Tamerlan returned to Dagestan last year for six months.
During his interview, Anzor Tsarnaev denied Tamerlan had any contact with militants during his stay, painting an idyllic picture of his son's visit to his ancestral homeland.
"When he came to stay here, he was a good boy. He read books, (Leo) Tolstoy, (Alexandre) Dumas and thick English language books. He would wake up late and read all day, late into the night," he said.
"Sometimes we went to the mosque. We went to see our relatives, in Dagestan, in Chechnya. We visited a lot of households, it was a nice atmosphere."
Tsarnaev said he had to force his son to return to the United States to complete his U.S. citizenship application after Tamerlan tried to convince his family to allow him to stay in Dagestan for good.
"I told him: 'No, you have to go back to obtain your U.S. citizenship'. I forced him to go back. I thought it was the right thing to do. I shouldn't have done that," he said with a pained expression on his face. There is no word on when the "Tamerlane - Hero of Islam" T-shirts will go on sale.
Several people who attended the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge, Mass., have been investigated for Islamic terrorism, including a conviction of the mosque's first president, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, in connection with an assassination plot against a Saudi prince. Saudi prince, mosque nest of radical jihadists...probably nothing to be seen here.
#1
God is so great that your parasitic & very stupid kids can only kill 8 yr old children and unsuspecting marathoners. How awesome your God truly is. (sarc/off)
In truth I still tend to believe there were more people involved then just the brothers Tsarnaev.
#1
Curious the Feds would leave the NYPD in the dark. IIUC, NYPD has been *very* pro-active, so much so that the usual suspects are squealing like stuck pigs.
#2
Followingh 9/11 the NYPD with the assistance of embedded US Intelligence assets [sans FBI], began running clandestine antiterrorist operations both here and abroad. No love lost on either side.
Today I was able to meet Misha, whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov. Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the Tsarnaevs, I found Allakverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in modest, tidy apartment with his elderly parents. He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. I wasnt his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this, Allakhverdov said.
[POLITICO] Bill Maher called Boston police officers "unprofessional" on Friday for shooting at the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was hiding even though it turned out he was unarmed.
"I agree that we shouldn't have given the kid his Miranda rights because he probably had information. We wanted to take him alive. We all agree with that.... there could've been bombs out there, there could've been an accomplice. So we wanted to take him alive. If you agree with that then what the cops did there was unprofessional. That's called contagious fire," Maher said on HBO's "Real Time."
According to reports, no gun was found inside the boat after Tsarnaev was captured, although the Boston Police commissioner had earlier said that cops had exchanged fire with the suspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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#6
Right. A lot of statists w/an R or D attached to their name. I'm pretty sick of the gov't. All of it. They're like the proverbial greyhound (no offense to that magnificent animal) trying to stick their nose straight up the rabbit's arse (in this case us, the American people).
And Bill Maher can suck a fat one. He's just as narcissistic, myopic, and shallow as any politician out there.
[APNEWS.MYWAY] Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call.
In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, officials said.
The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
As it was, Russian authorities told the FBI only that they had concerns that Tamerlan and his mother were religious myrmidons. With no additional information, the FBI conducted a limited inquiry and closed the case in June 2011.
Two years later, authorities say Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhohkar, detonated two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhohkar is under arrest.
In the past week, Russian authorities turned over to the United States information it had on Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who emigrated from southern Russia to the Boston area over the past 11 years.
Even had the FBI received the information from the Russian wiretaps earlier, it's not clear that the government could have prevented the attack. Or perhaps "would have" prevented the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
That's it, we'll construct an Aypee short story that casts aspersions on Russian intelligence tips and leads. Following that we'll make sure the CIA provides "no comment" and that should just about wrap it up.
#2
FOX NEWS this AM is repor that "FEMALE DNA" has been been found by Fed investigators on one of pressure cookers used by the Brothers Tsarnaev for their booms, + are now working to identify whose DNA it is.
At last check, the Fed desire to talk wid the Widow Tamerlan per the above - prolly safe to say the Sisters Tsarnaev will also be interviewed, as likely will Mommie Dearest/Jihadi by the Russians.
#3
As you are aware Joe, it was a highly contaminated blast site. I'm not certain the DNA will be that relevant. I'd rather learn more about the blasting cap [electrical, mechanical, whatever] or method of ignition and the financing.
#4
I agree, Besoeker, but that bit of MSM-Net News is still in process.
* FYI MSN > [NBC News] COULD BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT [Dzhokhar] AVOID THE DEATH PENALTY? TALKS HAVE BEEN STARTED?, for possible deal.
And so it begins.
* RUSSIA TODAY > SLAIN BOSTON SUSPECT TSARNAEV MAY HAD ATTENDED TERRORISM SEMINARS IN GEORGIA - REPORTS.
As sponsored by the KAVASKY FUND which sought to recruit North Caucasusians to covertly work in the interests of the US + Georgia [agz RUSSIA]???
WHICH MAY EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING ...
* TOPIX > WAS BOSTON BOMBERS' "UNCLE RUSLAN" WID THE US CIA?
* RELATED SAME > BOSTON BOMBERS' "UNCLE RUSLAN" WAS A HALLIBURTON CONTRACTOR.
* SAME > BOSTON BOMBERS' "UNCLE RUSLAN" MARRIED DAUGHTER OF TOP CIA OFFICIAL.
IIUC the above Artics are basically broadly alleging that the Brothers Tsarnaev + Bombing Event were part of a complex, violent, murderous US = CIA-controlled "false flag" operation agz a US City in order to falsely link to Radical's Islam + Islam's historical BFF Russia.
US MISINFORMATION + DISINFORMATION CONSPIRACY, CAMPAIGN AGZ ITS OWN PEOPLE.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain on Sunday denied consular access to an Indian spy on death row who is fighting for his life after being attacked by fellow prisoners, Indian government officials told AFP in New Delhi.
Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges by a Pak court, was rushed to hospital on Friday with multiple wounds, including a severe head injury, after an argument in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.
"Officials from the Indian High Commission in Pakistain were not allowed to visit Sarabjit Singh on Sunday. The authorities have also refused to share his medical updates with the Indian officials," said a senior Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered...
The official said the Indian foreign ministry was making "every possible attempt" to get information about Singh's health and using every "diplomatic mechanism to get an update about the situation".
"It is crucial for us to know about Singh's health and Pakistain cannot deny information to India," said another government official in New Delhi. The Pakistain foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment. "I can say no more!"
Singh is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of Jinnah hospital in the eastern Pak city of Lahore following the attack in which he was hit with bricks and other blunt objects.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Chairman Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... has appealed the Islamic fascistito stop terror activities during upcoming general elections and give him a space to implement his slogan of making a 'new' Pakistain.
He was addressing a presser after holding a meeting of party candidates from Lahore at the party office on Sunday. The meeting also discussed in detail the election campaign strategies. During a meeting, Imran called upon the candidates to mobilise women and Tabdeeli Razarkars (TRs) in the campaign to ensure door-to-door persuasion.
Answering various queries regarding terrorist attacks in different parts of the country especially in Khyber Pukhtonkhwa, Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Khan declared the parties which had remained a part of the war on terror and supported the Americans on drone attacks were now drawing wrath of masses for all those misdeeds.
Regardless of the matter, he said, he would also appeal the incensed people to give him a space to bring change and to make his dream true to form a new Pakistain.
In reply to a question about continuing military operations in troubled areas of the country, he categorically stated his party believed the military operation was not a solution to this problem.
On a query about allegations levelled by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... wherein he declared him (Imran) an agent of the Jewish lobby in Pakistain, Khan rebutted the allegation, saying Maulana was himself a hypocrite, and challenged if his association to the Jew lobby was proved, he would immediately quit the politics.
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Europe is experiencing fast political and economic changes these days that is fuelling its fear on terrorism along with human and drug trafficking emerging from Afghanistan and Pakistain.
Therefore, Pakistain should see how it can allay Europe's fear by effectively dealing the problems of extremism and terrorism emerging from this region, Career Diplomat Shahid Ameen said.
Smart man.
He stated this while speaking at a workshop on 'Politics of Identity in Contemporary Europe' organised by The Area Study Centre for Europe and The Hans Seidel Foundation, Islamabad at University of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... the other day.
"Europe has to find out the solutions of its financial crisis, likewise Pakistain needs to focus on its biggest issue of extremism and terrorism itself as it has caused a lot of concerns in Europe about the Moslem country," he said. Europe is facing problems of migration issues, euro zone crisis and the rise of right wing political parties but at the same time it is also trying to find out the problems of such issues, so one should not be much apprehensive of the future of Europe, he added.
Incharge, Area Study Centre for Europe, KU, Prof. Dr Uzma Shujaat, in her introductory remarks, highlighted the increasing role of supranational, as opposed to intergovernmental, decisions-making and the establishment of a European citizenship had promoted to a certain extent the development of a political community of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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Arab countries endorsed a Mideast peace plan Monday that would allow for small shifts in Israel's 1967 border, moving them closer to President Barack Obama's two-state vision.
Speaking on behalf of an Arab League delegation to Washington, Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani called for an agreement between Israel and a future Palestine based on the Jewish state's border before the 1967 Mideast War. But, unlike in previous such offers, he cited the possibility of "comparable," mutually agreed and "minor" land swaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Al Thani spoke after his delegation met across the street from the White House with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been pushing Arab leaders to embrace a modified version of their decade-old "Arab Peace Initiative" as part of a new U.S.-led effort to corral Israel and the Palestinians back into direct peace talks.
Those negotiations have hardly occurred at all over the past 4 1/2 years amid deep disagreement over Israeli settlement construction in lands the Palestinians hope to include in their country.
"We've had a very positive, very constructive discussion over the course of the afternoon, with positive results," Kerry said at Blair House, speaking with Al Thani at a podium beside him and senior officials from five other Arab governments behind them. He praised the Arab League for the "important role it is playing, and is determined to play, in bringing about a peace in the Middle East - and specifically by reaffirming the Arab Peace Initiative here this afternoon, with a view to ending the conflict."
Kerry said that he and Biden stressed the vision that Obama outlined in 2011, when he became the first American leader to publicly declare Israel's pre-1967 lines as the basis for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
The declaration, while including the caveat of mutually agreed territorial trades between the two parties, raised a furor in Israel and led to public sparring only days later between Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin N
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Schools in Gazoo are providing military training to teenage boys in a programme that a human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... organization says is encouraging a culture of armed resistance and a new generation of fighters. One thing that's always struck me is the amount of time Paleostinians--and Moslem tough guys in general--spend lugging guns around, and how seldom they actually hit anything.
The school curriculum includes weekly classes in which boys are familiarised with the use of Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons. Instructors from the interior ministry's national security arm also teach first aid, firefighting and the values of "discipline and responsibility".
The course is supplemented with voluntary camps during school breaks, in which boys are instructed in handling guns and explosives. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, the Islamist faction that governs Gazoo, assist in the training, according to Gazoo's ministry of education website.
It denies that real weapons are used in training. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... a video shot at the Gamal Abdel Nasser school near Gazoo City appears to show students carrying Kalashnikovs and a boy firing an artillery shell at a mocked-up watchtower bearing an Israeli flag. Schoolboy Izzadine Mohammed confirmed to the Guardian that he had been trained in handling real weapons at a camp this year.
About 5,000 boys have participated in the camps since the programme started in September, according to the education ministry. The weekly classes are part of the curriculum for about 37,000 pupils aged 15-17; parents are entitled to withdraw their sons from the course, but such a move is rare.
The government is considering adapting the course for teenage girls next year. "There has been no final decision yet, we are still studying this option," said Mohammed Syam, general director of educational activities at the ministry.
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04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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It's very hard to jump into bed with Islamicist terrorists when everyone is looking, as the New York Times begins to notice...
CAIRO In Syrias largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.
Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.
My sense is that there are no seculars,
Elizabeth OBagy, Institute for the Study of War
Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.
Because nowhere in Syria is there a secular population to speak of, but never-mind that obvious fact for now...
This is the landscape President Obama confronts as he considers how to respond to growing evidence that Syrian officials have used chemical weapons, crossing a "pink blur" red line he had set. More than two years of violence have radicalized the armed opposition fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, leaving few groups that both share the political vision of the United States and have the military might to push it forward.
No, the opposition has always been radicalized. They hated Daddy Assad and tried to remove him -- and failed, and paid the price for it. Now they're gunning for Pencilneck, and this time they might succeed.
Among the most extreme groups is the notorious Al Nusra Front, the Qaeda-aligned force declared a terrorist organization by the United States, but other groups share aspects of its Islamist ideology in varying degrees.
Because most of them are Sunni.
Some of the more extremist opposition is very scary from an American perspective, and that presents us with all sorts of problems, said Ari Ratner, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former Middle East adviser in the Obama State Department. We have no illusions about the prospect of engaging with the Assad regime it must still go but we are also very reticent to support the more hard-line rebels.
There are some of us hoping for a bloody tie, but it's unseemly to say so in public...
Syrian officials recognize that the United States is worried that it has few natural allies in the armed opposition and have tried to exploit that with a public campaign to convince, or frighten, Washington into staying out of the fight. At every turn they promote the notion that the alternative to Mr. Assad is an extremist Islamic state.
True enough, and some of us at least recognize the trap, which is why we're happy to watch Qatar fund the extremist rebels in the hope that the loss ratio of rebels to Assad-loyalists is about 1:1.
The Islamist character of the opposition reflects the main constituency of the rebellion, which has been led since its start by Syrias Sunni Muslim majority, mostly in conservative, marginalized areas. The descent into brutal civil war has hardened sectarian differences, and the failure of more mainstream rebel groups to secure regular arms supplies has allowed Islamists to fill the void and win supporters.
The religious agenda of the combatants sets them apart from many civilian activists, protesters and aid workers who had hoped the uprising would create a civil, democratic Syria.
Another thing that sets them apart is that the "civilian activists" are for the most part few, hapless and unarmed...
When the armed rebellion began, defectors from the governments staunchly secular army formed the vanguard. The rebel movement has since grown to include fighters with a wide range of views, including Qaeda-aligned jihadis seeking to establish an Islamic emirate, political Islamists inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want an Islamic-influenced legal code like that found in many Arab states.
My sense is that there are no seculars, said Elizabeth OBagy, of the Institute for the Study of War, who has made numerous trips to Syria in recent months to interview rebel commanders.
Of most concern to the United States is the Nusra Front, whose leader recently confirmed that the group cooperated with Al Qaeda in Iraq and pledged fealty to Al Qaedas top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Ladens longtime deputy. Nusra has claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings and is the group of choice for the foreign jihadis pouring into Syria.
Another prominent group, Ahrar al-Sham, shares much of Nusras extremist ideology but is made up mostly of Syrians.
The two groups are most active in the north and east and are widely respected by other rebels for their fighting abilities and their ample arsenal, much of it given by sympathetic donors in the gulf. And both helped lead campaigns to seize military bases, dams on the Euphrates River and the provincial capital of Raqqa Province in March, the only regional capital entirely held by rebel forces.
Nusras hand is felt most strongly in Aleppo, where the group has set up camp in a former childrens hospital and has worked with other rebel groups to establish a Shariah Commission in the eye hospital next door to govern the citys rebel-held neighborhoods. The commission runs a police force and an Islamic court that hands down sentences that have included lashings, though not amputations or executions as some Shariah courts in other countries have done.
That will come later when they've won and the aid spigot isn't as important...
Nusra fighters also control the power plant and distribute flour to keep the citys bakeries running.
While many residents initially feared them, some have come to respect them for providing basic services and working to fill the citys security vacuum. Secular activists, however, have chafed at their presence. At times, Nusra fighters have clashed with other rebels who reject their ideology.
No, really?
In the oil-rich provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasaka, Nusra fighters have seized government oil fields, putting some under the control of tribal militias and running others themselves.
They are the strongest military force in the area, said the commander of a rebel brigade in Hasaka reached via Skype. We cant deny it.
But most of Nusras fighters joined the group for the weapons, not the ideology, he said, and some left after discovering the Qaeda connection.
Most of the youth who joined them did so to topple the regime, not because they wanted to join Al Qaeda, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of being murdered retaliation.
As extremists rose in the rebel ranks, the United States sought to limit their influence, first by designating Nusra a terrorist organization, and later by pushing for the formation of the Supreme Military Council, which is linked to the exile opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition.
Boy howdy, that should do it -- designate a bunch of Islamicist terrorists a 'terrorist organization' and you'll stop 'em dead in their tracks. This is the special sort of cluelessness found in progressive gits who think that words mean as much to the rest of the world as the words mean to them...
Although led by an army defector, Gen. Salim Idris, the council has taken in the leaders of many overtly Islamist battalions. One called the Syrian Liberation Front has been integrated nearly wholesale into the council; many of its members coordinate closely with the Syrian Islamic Front, a group that includes the extremist Ahrar al-Sham, according to a recent report by Ms. OBagy, of the Institute for the Study of War.
A spokesman for the council, Louay Mekdad, said that its members reflected Syrian society and that it had no ties to Nusra or other radical groups. The character of the Syrian people is Islamic, but it is stupid to think that Syria will turn into Afghanistan, he said. Thats just an excuse for those who dont want to help Syria.
Syria is more educated and cultured than Afghanistan, and perhaps also less marginally tribal. It won't be Afghanistan; it will be more like Iraq.
The Obama administration has said it needs more conclusive information before it acts on the Syrian governments reported use of chemical weapons. It remains unclear whether such action would translate to increased support for the rebels.
In the past, United States officials saw the Islamist groups abundant resources as the main draw for recruits, said Steven Heydemann, a senior adviser at the United States Institute of Peace, which works with the State Department.
The strategy is based on the current assessment that popular appeal of these groups is transactional, not ideological, and that opportunities exist to peel people away by providing alternative support and resources, he said.
Mr. Heydemann acknowledged, however, that the current momentum toward radicalism could be hard to reverse. The challenge, he said, is to end the conflict before the opportunity to create a system of governance not based on militant Islamic law is lost.
Lost decades ago, Steve, sorry to say.
Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, framed the rebels dilemma another way: How do you denounce the Nusra Front as extremists when they are playing such an important military role and when they look disciplined, resourceful and committed?
And, they're winning. Hard to throw away a winning hand...
From the start, the Syrian government has sought to portray the rebels as terrorists carrying out an international plot to weaken the country, and the rise of extremist groups has strengthened its case and increased support among Syrians who fear that a rebel victory could mean the end of the secular Syrian state.
Many rebels and opposition activists complain about the Western focus on Islamist groups, some even dismissing the oppositions ideological differences.
We all want an Islamic state and we want Shariah to be applied, said Maawiya Hassan Agha, a rebel activist reached by Skype in the northern village of Sarmeen. He said a countrys laws should flow from its peoples beliefs and compared Syrians calling for Islamic law with the French banning Muslim women from wearing face veils.
In France, people dont like face veils so they passed laws against them, he said. Its the same thing here. Its our right to push for the laws we want.
Go win your war on your own then. You don't need our infidel weapons, infidel intel and infidel food and blankets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps we'll see an unimpeded delivery of "Belarusian wheat" to Tartus soon.
#2
I found this comment on another site and think that it fits in here because it speaks to the Obama regime's problem in dealing with these folks.
I don't think the left thinks of Islam as a religion. They view it as a cultural nicknack to put on their diversity bookshelf. From time to time they take it down, rub it, and coo over their sensitivity. Beyond that, lefties pride themselves on their allegiance to Mother Earth. They disdain religion and patriotism, and have replaced it with meaningless mantras about the global village. People so enamored by such fantasies are incapable of understanding the passions that drive religiously driven terrorists. To them the root cause can't be "religion" - it has to be something more tangible, like "poverty" or "American imperialism", something they can sort of understand.
[Al Ahram] Obama is urged by Republican senators to intervene militarily in Syria, aerially rather than providing on-the-ground help
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
See also FREEREPUBLIC > [US Representative Mike1] ROGERS: IRAN, NORTH KOREA WATCHING OBAMA RED LINE ON SYRIA.
So is ISRAEL ...
* TOPIX > ISRAEL SEES OBAMA RESPONSE TO SYRIA AS GAUGE FOR IRAN.
* SAME > ISRAEL FEARS END TO 40-YEAR PEACE ON SYRIA FRONT.
-------------------
Prolly safe to say that CHINA + INDIA will closely watching + analyzing the Bammer's response to Pudgy = North Korea.
* RENSE > [Investment Bankers] CHINA IS ON FIRE: CHINA ORDERS TROOPS + TANKS TO KOREAN BORDER, DEPLOYS ANTI-AIRCARFT CARRIER MISSLES [DF-21D ASBMS] OFF COAST OF TAIWAN,SENDS MORE THAN 40 FIGHTER JETS TO SENKAKU ISLANDS, + WARNS THE PHILIPINES TO IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW FROM DISPUTED ISLANDS [or face PLA MilAction?].
* RELATED DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > Channel News Asia] CHINESE MILITARY PLANES FLEW CLOSE TO DISPUTED ISLANDS | [Inquirer Nation]PLAAF FIGHTERS PATROL DIAOYU ISLANDS AIRSPACE TO AUGMENT [China's] COAST GUARD, against Japan's Coast Guard.
More than 40-plus flights on Tuesday this week, the same day 8 ea. CMS-SOA vesels intentionally viletd Japan's territorial sea limits around the Senkakus/Diaoyus, whom were repor also backed up by two PLAN DEstroyers + at least one Submarine.
* DEFENSE.PK/FORUMS > [Telegraph Nepal] NERVOUS CHINESE ENVOYS LOOK ON DOLKHA TO HOLD TALKS WID NEPAL SECURITY OFFICIALS.
* SAME > [IDRW.org] INDIA MOVES FIGHTER JETS + ITBP GUERILLA UNITS FOR POSSIBLE CONFRONTATION WID CHINESE FORCES.
INDIAN OFFICIAL = D *** NG IT, SAHIB, THIS IS N-O-T JUST AN INCURSION OR ANY INCURSION = "BUSINESS AS USUAL" [Bluffery-N-Fluffery] BY CHINA"!
Something else is going on + by curry India has to be ready for it.
* SAME > [Defense News] CHINESE SIGNALING FOR MILITARY CONFLICT - A PREDICTIVE PATTERN!?
Is that PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS-FORECASTING, Booker!
* SAME > [Japan Times] CHINA'S STEALTH WARS OF [territorial] ACQUISITION.
ARTIC = Among other, denotes BEIJING is ignoring the risks that Inter-State or Military "Incident(s)" COULD [easily] SPIRAL OUT OF CONROL, WID DIRE/CATASROPHIC CONSEQUENCES.
E.G. WE ALREADY SEE IT AS PERCHINA'S DESIRE TO CONQUER = FORCE REUNIFICATION WID TAIWAN, WHERE AS FAR AS CHINA + PLA ARE CONCERNED MASSIVE OR PROHIBITIVE PLA CASUALTIES, ETC. TO MIL TAKE TAIWAN DOESN'T MATTER - WHAT MATTERS TO BEIJING + CCP/CPC, CMC IS THAT TAIWAN IS TAKEN.
* SAME > REVIVAL OF US BASES A SUICIDAL NOTION?
* JAPAN DAILY PRESS > RUSSIAN SCHOLAR PROPSOES 10-YEAR PHASED APRAISAL [ "Proposal of a Proposal of a ..."] ON SETTLING TERRITORIAL DISPUTES WID JAPAN [Kuriles].
CHINA = JAPAN = methinks dey taint gonna wait that long.
* Also from JAPAN DAILY PRESS > JAPANESE GOVT TO ASSERT INTERNATIONAL USE OF "SEA OF JAPAN".
* TOPIX > [Various] DEMPSEY: US MILITARY DRAWDOWN IN PACIFIC IS COMPLETE, NEW BUDGET CUTS TO AFFECT READINESS, i.e. to genuinely afect America's unilaterally ability to militarily respond + fight threats to its Overseas Allies.-
Let's see....in the last couple weeks, "They" (Congress) passed legislation that pretty much makes the law prohibiting them from trading stocks based on their privileged knowledge benign - they can do so now without penalty. We can't
They fixed the sequester issue at airports (air traffic controllers) just in time for them to take recess so they aren't delayed, and
They passed legislation that omits them from obamacare.
#8
R or D. Almost doesn't matter anymore. So many self-aggrandizing power hungry clowns in the circus. Just looking for a couple people that actually honor the Constitution when it's politically unpopular or not in a politician's best self-interest to do so. Too bad most of the country is apparently too stupid or too apathetic too care.
I agree muggsy. F*ck'em. Another sh*thole we don't need to go babysit w/idiotic ROEs shackling the war-fighters.
#13
* TOPIX > OBAMA'S NON-RESPONSE AGZ SYRIA WILL ENCOURAGE A NUCLEAR IRAN.
Well, a former Israeli IDF MilInt Top Egg claims that IRAN MAY HAD ALREADY CROSSED POTUS BAMMER'S HIGHLY PROCLAIMED "RED LINE" AGZ ITS NUCPROG SINCE LAST YEAR, that Iran is intent on being able to very very quickly produce NucWeaps in case of external threat.
Meanwhile ...
* TOPIX > IRGC COMMANDER: IRAN NOW REACHES/
EXTENDS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN.
* SAME, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Todays Zaman] "IRAN WILL NOT ACCEPT [Iranian-origin]PKK TERRORISTS WITHDRAWING FROM TURKEY", back into Iran.
Ditto setting up in Iraq.
VERSUS
* SAME, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Milliyet News] IRAQ OFFERRED IRAN HEAVY WEAPONRY [ + Logistical Support] TO PKK TO STEP BACK FROM TURKEY WITHDRAWAL.
Offer repor made by IRGC QODS/QUDS FORCE COMMANDER = EL SUPREMO GEN. QASSEM SOLEIMANI.
* WORLD NEWS, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN WILL BE CAPABLE OF MAKING NUCLEAR BOMB IN TWO MONTHS [June 2013 or asasp after], WARNS ISRAEL.
Clock going ticky-tick.
* WORLD NEWS > [Real Clear Politics] OBAMA DOE NOT HAVE ISRAEL'S BACK.
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