...The film Groundhog Day showed us a man who was doomed to repeat the same day over and over again until he learned to use his time to become a better person. Islam has been stuck in its own form of that cycle, repeating the same century over and over again, moving from religious ecstasy to holy war, seeking redemption through religious tyranny, and finding that there was no escaping the internal decay and instability in the veins of its religion.
Islams only redemption lies in establishing a theocracy. Its commitment to power and the indulgence of the earthly and heavenly paradise of loot, slaves and violence led to its own degeneration over and over again. Having no other spiritual form than the exercise of power, it has corrupted itself each time, and then attempted to exorcise the corruption through more of violence.
The Islamic leaders of one generation endorse the tyrants whom the Islamic leaders of another generation strive to overthrow. Hardly had Mohammed kicked the bucket than his nearest and dearest were fighting a civil war over supreme rulership. The origins of the Shiite-Sunni split lay not in theology, but in a vulgar power play between Mohammeds relatives. That greedy infighting has hardened into theological variations, but underneath they remain fixed in the same patterns of warring over power and wealth.
Over a thousand years later the Muslim world is still dedicating all its energies to civil wars and external conflicts whose only true goal is to put money and power into the hands of its leaders. The confrontations between the prominent Shiite families running Iran and the Arab Sunni families running the Arabian gulf states are not theological, though they take place under the guise of theology. They are ethnic and economic conflicts dressed up as religious conflicts.
Can't let politicians get away with thinking they aren't seedy for a day.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that Congress does not need an official federal budget because it can just adopt appropriations bills and authorization policies as needed to keep operating.
Last Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), referencing the last debt ceiling deal, said, We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year. Its done, we dont need to do it.
They seem to be right. The debt ceiling increase deal last summer looks like it detaches revenue raising (which should include borrowing) from the House, where the Constitution put it, and gave it to the President, since it now takes new Conressional action to prevent the President from raising the debt ceiling. Have I interpreted that right?
But I still don't see how this is satisfied (Art.1, Sect. 9 Clause 7):
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. I guess 'time to time' can be in excess of 1000 days. Maybe Darth Vader Ginsberg is right, and this document is just not up to modern standards, like South Africa's.
#1
The appropriation bill is the legal requirement for the dispensing of money.
The 'budget' is a means to set priorities for all the appropriations and authorizations. The Budget Act of 1974 requires an annual, overall budget with various timelines and milestones, but there is no legal penalty on Congress if they fail (of course!!). But they can spend to their hearts' content as long as they pass an authorization and appropriations bill for that sum.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012 15:25
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Karma would be for those, who ignore the law in order to have their way, to one day be sitting before a tribunal and be claiming protection of a document which by their own act, they had destroyed.
#6
Yet the President was late again in proposing a budget. Our money and nations wealth mean nothing to the vapid sagging skin suits that call themselves representatives.
A few years back I went to the London Barbican to watch Outfoxed, a documentary feature film that made the outrageous claim that Fox TV was rather to the Right in its coverage of political issues.
Astounding! The cinema audience laughed and wailed and expressed outrage at the channels obvious political distortion. And in the morning, I imagine, those same people turned on their radio to listen to the Today programme confident that this was the undistorted truth free from bias and lies.
But while Fox has certainly influenced politics in the US, in terms of shifting the terms of cultural and political debate it is like Austin Powers to the BBCs James Bond.
The latest revelation to come out of the BBC is the guidance issued at the BBC editorial meeting suggesting that Abu Qatada, the Jordanian whom the British government is too gutless to deport, should not be described as an extremist because that would suggest a value judgment.
#1
One man's terrorist is another man's BBC journalist.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/08/2012 18:58
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Oh god, I don't trust Sky, and I don't trust the BBC - and it is such a rip off. £140 a year and the BBC make like 6 channels, close their world service and make a mockery of programs. Channel 4 sponsors a few fairly good ones and I tell you that they aren't funded by TV license payers money. Its a joke. The BBC should really heed the calling for firing a bunch of people because if I was prime minister I would see the whole lot go into administration. Jesus Trading standards should step in because no one is satisfied. Have you seen Eastenders. Makes me mad. Anyway evening all
As always, the BBC-TV casting,make-up, costumes and scripting are almost always excellent; until that cloying, One-worlder guilt-trip mind-messaging begins to seep into the "Family Room/Den/Man-Cave carpet.
That said, I totally enjoyed "The Queen" (+Corgi dogs)and "The King's Speech" Brit movies released in the past 5 years.Very moving.
Iran will not ask Hezbollah to intervene in the event of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, the leader of the militant group has told his followers. The Hezbollah chief also made the unusual acknowledgement that his group receives both material and financial aid from the Islamic Republic -- no secret to regional and world governments.
In a speech delivered Tuesday evening by video link to throngs of supporters, a black-turbaned Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Tehran will not ask Hezbollah for anything if Israel strikes Iran. He said, however, that Hezbollah would consider its options if such an attack occurs, ruling nothing out.
The U.S. government labels Hezbollah a terrorist group.
Recent reports about a potential Israeli military strike at Iran's nuclear facilities have spurred speculation that Lebanon-based Hezbollah could launch retaliatory attacks into Israeli territory.
While acknowledging that his group receives aid and support from the Islamic Republic, something that Hezbollah has generally left opaque, Nasrallah denied that Hezbollah takes its marching orders from Tehran.
"Yes, we have been receiving moral and political support and financial aid in all its possible ways and available forms from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982," Nasrallah said, according to Lebanese media accounts, in a speech marking the birthday of the prophet Muhammad.
Nasrallah was essentially confirming recent comments by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian leader affirmed that Iran has assisted Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.
In his address, Nasrallah also denied allegations of Hezbollah involvement in money-laundering and drug- smuggling to finance its activities.
"We have sufficient money, weapons, ammunition and financial ability to carry out our duty," said Nasrallah.
#5
I suspect the truth of the matter is that Hezbollah quite reasonably suspects that if the balloon goes up, it will be "no more Mr. Nice Guy" from Israel, and they will annihilate Hezbollah for good.
Last time, Hezbollah fled across the Litani River, which Israel designated as the point beyond which civilians had to flee. But those Hezbollah who stayed south of there just got the snot pounded out of them. Only after the Israelis left could they return.
More recently, they have gotten crafty and moved a lot of their assets into Beirut proper. But that will be of no help if Israel is well and truly pissed off. The Hezbollah owned parts of Beirut would be just as likely to get a MOAB stuck in them.
Hamas, as well, has been trying to distance itself from Iran, likely using much the same calculation.
#7
More recently, they have gotten crafty and moved a lot of their assets into Beirut proper. But that will be of no help if Israel is well and truly pissed off. The Hezbollah owned parts of Beirut would be just as likely to get a MOAB stuck in them.
As I recall, Anonymoose, last time Israel bombed the Hizb'allah sections of Beirut, as well.
BAGHDAD -- Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining American influence in the country.
What did we expect?
Officials in Baghdad and Washington said that Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and other senior State Department officials were reconsidering the size and scope of the embassy, where the staff has swelled to nearly 16,000 people, mostly contractors.
The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the world, were billed as necessary to nurture a postwar Iraq on its shaky path to democracy and establish normal relations between two countries linked by blood and mutual suspicion. But the Americans have been frustrated by what they see as Iraqi obstructionism and are now largely confined to the embassy because of security concerns, unable to interact enough with ordinary Iraqis to justify the $6 billion annual price tag.
It's almost like we could use an Army or something...
The swift realization among some top officials that the diplomatic buildup may have been ill advised represents a remarkable pivot for the State Department, in that officials spent more than a year planning the expansion and that many of the thousands of additional personnel have only recently arrived.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
08:53 ||
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#1
The bottom line was that when we went in, we assumed that Iraq would be the new Germany, and HQ for AFRICOM, from where we could police the whole region, working off the Cold War model with Iran taking the place of the Soviet Union.
That idea fizzled for any number of reasons, leaving us with a white elephant. While Obama is criticized for pulling out of Iraq, the bottom line is that there is not a heck of a lot we could do there anymore, it's expensive as hell, and we've given the Iraqis every chance, so they're on their own.
They have no excuse left when they foul up.
On the plus side, they are at least taking a law and order point of view, hanging a lot of deserving scoundrels they couldn't with the US there. That in itself shows a more realistic attitude.
Their military, while unfinished, is showing great signs of being able to function on its own, and it is based on the stable US model. So if Iran gets ambitious towards them it will have the pluperfect snot kicked out of them.
#2
No, the Iraq army could not 'knock the snot out' of the Iranian army right now. The Iraqi military can handle day to day security, for the most part, and do relatively straight-forward security ops.
However, they do not have the strategic abilities, planning, logistics and combat support to sustain independent, division level ops in the field. From what I've read, I don't think they can do brigade ops.
If we had stayed in Iraq for twenty years the Iraqi army would have developed along the same lines as the ROK army and have become quite capable. But we aren't there and (I believe) the Iraqis won't develop their country to do this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012 15:32
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Why would the Iraqis want to "knock Iranian snot"? Most the Iraqi leadership took refuge in Iran, are their coreligionists and received their training from Iran. Suck Iranian snot, maybe.
#6
As a general principle, if you submit an article after about 3pm ET, please set the date to the next day and the time to 00:00. That way it will be included in the rollover, and get maximum reader exposure.
and they can't show pictures of him looking fat either But we can...
BBC journalists have been told not to call hate preacher Abu Qatada an 'extremist'.
Using such a term to describe the man once called 'Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe', is making a 'value judgment' and should be avoided, bosses have said.
The corporation's managers have insisted he should be described as 'radical', according to meeting notes seen by the Telegraph.
Journalists were also advised not to use images that suggest the preacher is overweight, the paper says.
But nothing they show can hide the fact that Pastor Abu Qatada is the very definition of not a handsome man, with a beard that looks as if the glue will give way at any moment.
Source:- Somalia Report : has learned that at least 10 skiffs have left from Qandala region in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, heading westward along the coast with the expected destination of an al-Qaeda held port in Yemen or to rendevous with Sheik Atams group in southern Somaliland. Qandala is a popular transit point for human smugglers but a minor pirate base of operations.
The skiffs were reported to be have left from Marka and are being refueled in Hafun, after which they intend to continue north and westward along the tip of Somalia. The governor of Karkaar region, Abdi Quraan Mohamed Aden was contacted this evening and confirmed that the al Shabaab group arrived in Hafun on Friday. Puntland official have sent police to the coast. It is still not clear if the skiffs separated or if the entire group that left Marka are the terrorists currently in Hafun. They are still in Hafun. They arrived there yesterday (Friday), said the governor. The appearance of al Shabaab from the sea is not new but the number of fleeing jihadis is unusually large.
Dabayla Gor, the Governor of Sanaag region told Somalia Report, We heard that a number of al-Shabaab fighters arrived in Puntland by speed boats. We believe that they are planning to arrive into the Al-Madow mountains and will hide in Galgala to join with militants led by Mohamed Said Atam. The Governor of was not sure of the number of insurgents but recalled a similar event. It should be noted that Puntland does not have air assets or maritime presence. Their security forces must travel by rudimentary roads taking over 20 hours to reach the coastal areas.
Months before a group of al-Shabaab fighters passed through Hafun, Qandal and Bargaal to near Laqoraay district to joing Atoms group. It happens sometimes but we fight against them, said Dabayla Gor. He estimated that the latest influx was a large number based on the reports he was getting.
Elders in Qandala believe that approximately 80 fighters are enroute to Mulaax Beyle near Xiss in Sanaag, on the coast of the breakaway region of Somaliland. This would put the fleeing fighters close to their expected final destination of Zinjabar, Yemen, a port partially held by al-Qaeda militants. It is around 170 miles or or 275 kms across the Gulf of Aden, and ships must pass across the Transit Corridor which is occasionally manned by about half a dozen naval escorts.
Although it is yet unknown whether pirate networks in Qandala provided the militants with fuel or other supplies, it would be the first proven instance of a pirate organization giving direct support to terrorist elements. Preliminary phone calls to the pirate groups by Somalia Reportindicate that the skiffs contain only al-Shabaab elements and that no pirate or smuggling group is involved. There have been no independent confirmation of these statements.
Somalia Report received reports that al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda fighters had left the southern port of Marka earlier this week in 14 small speedboats heading northwards along the coast. Although local skiffs can easily be fueled to transit the Gulf of Aden, the voyage would necessitate stopping to purchase fuel from local communities, where it would be difficult to disguise the identities of the passengers. Al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda members have frequently travelled along with supplies, between Yemen and the Sanaag region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
08:51 ||
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They're baaackkkk...
The Predators or Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the town of Tappi near Miramshah, Pakistani officials told AFP. The Taliban have cordoned off the site of the strike and are conducting recovery operations. This is often a sign that a senior operative or leader was present. Should we, or should we not, follow up the initial attack with one on the recovery operations? Seems 'uncivilized', but then, so does war, and it would probably take out some more enemy.
"Eight militants were killed and two wounded," the Pakistani official told AFP. "Militants have surrounded the compound and are removing the dead bodies."
#1
"Militants have surrounded the compound and are removing the dead bodies."
How to balance the two perspectives of a rescue mission for the possibly wounded survivors, and a followup Willy Pete scrub of the rescuers and remains?
Posted by: Fat Bob Unotch3711 ||
02/08/2012
02:38 ||
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#1
George Galloway...what's he sayin now. Dumbshit is, as dumbshit does.
Posted by: jack salami ||
02/08/2012 7:45
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Interesting maybe, but not astonishing. No real admission of guilt, but confirms manipulation and B. S. justifications. Same kind of crap I see here.
[An Nahar] A U.S. judge Tuesday set an October 22 trial date for an Iranian-American accused of plotting with senior Tehran officials to hire Mexican gangsters to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
Federal Judge John Keenan rejected a request for more time by the defense lawyer for Manssor Arbabsiar, a used car salesman from Texas with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship.
Arbabsiar's lawyer, Sabrina Schroff, had asked for a later trial date, arguing that "the case is complex and the indictment is complex," but the judge denied the request.
"I'm giving you eight months," he told the defense lawyer. "And it's 363 days between the first time I saw him and the trial."
The judge ordered prosecutors to turn over relevant documents in the case to the defense by March 9.
Arbabsiar was locked away last September at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, leading to a major legal and diplomatic drama between Washington and Tehran, amid already tense relations.
He and co-defendant Gholam Shakuri, a senior member of Iran's Quds Force who is on the lam, conspired to "kill the ambassador to the United States of Soddy Arabia, while the ambassador was in the United States," according to court documents.
Iran has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! any involvement in what the United States says was a plot by the Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force to kill the ambassador by hiring assassins from a Mexican narco mob for $1.5 million.
To set up the alleged hit, Arbabsiar allegedly arranged for $100,000 to be wired to the United States as a down payment, the indictment says.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. wants the Punjab government to take to task its officials who allegedly let two firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... leaders of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP) sneak into Islamabad last Friday to make provocative speeches, Dawn learned on Monday. Having "snuck" (or maybe it's "sneaked," I'm not sure), doesn't it negate the sneakiness when you give a speech? Especially a high-spittle content stem-winder?
Police sources here said the interior ministry had demanded the Punjab home department take action against the administration and coppers of Kamalia and Khanewal who failed to prevent Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi and Maulana Mohammad Khalid Dhillon from leaving their hometowns in violation of restrictions imposed on the leaders of the banned SSP under Section 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Such "restrictions" don't include anything about iron bars making a prison or breaking up big ones to make little ones...
Interior Minister Rehman Malik's ire was aroused when he was made target of ridicule in National Assembly on Friday for what friends and foes accused his ministry of sleeping over the activities of hate-mongers and terrorists. Ahah! The "wudn't me" defense!
The very next day the minister suspended SHO Irshad Abro of Margalla Police Station for not arresting the two sneaky leaders ... or maybe "snucky" leaders?
for making provocative speeches and display of hate material and banners at a religious ceremony.
According to the sources, the ceremony had been a long tradition and the Margalla police came to know about the presence of the leaders only because it was there to provide security. It was considered prudent not to incite religious frenzy by arresting them.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the event was noted in the cop shoppe's daily diary and the senior officers were informed same night about the unexpected presence of the SSP leaders the same night. Paperwork was started but nothing else was done against them on Sunday. But the FIR was sealed because of the sensitive nature of the case, the sources said.
They claimed that the organisers of the Paighumber-e-Islam.
Conference had met the Margalla police on Thursday and assured that no banned leader would be attending nor any hate speeches be made at the conference, a tradition going on for 18 years.
Several sitting politicians addressed the conference.
It may be that law does not allow banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations and their leaders to remain in business, but what seemed to arouse the federal government to action was politics.
It was Minister of State for Health Sheikh Waqas Akram of PML-Q, who on Friday rubbished the government's anti-terrorism efforts "a drama." He said he knew that a Paighumber-e-Islam Conference planned in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Company that day as part of Eid-e- Milad-un-Nabi celebrations was in fact meant to provide a stage for religious faceless myrmidons to spread venom.
Former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, who is under detention facing fraud charges and attends the assembly on parole, interjected that families of the judges trying cases of terrorism have been receiving threats.
Even PML-N's Sahabzada Fazal Karim joined the criticism of the freedom gun-hung tough guys groups enjoyed in the country. He said the Punjab government allowed the Defence of Pakistain Council hold a rally at Minar-e-Pakistain in Lahore but denied the same venue to Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... .
This article starring:
Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi
Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan
Maulana Mohammad Khalid Dhillon
Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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Russia's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday slammed efforts to "poison" relations between his country and the Arab world after Russia's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin made the comments as he strongly rejected Arab internet reports that he had threatened the prime minister of Qatar during talks at the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... last week on Syria.
"Apparently somebody is trying very hard to drive a wedge between Russia and the Arab world," Churkin told a presser at the U.N. headquarters.
He said Russia was concerned that the reports will be used "artificially, to try to poison our relations with the Arab world. So the record must be set straight on this."
Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by Arab and European nations which aimed to support an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan to end the Syria crisis. Russia has been strongly criticized by western and some Arab leaders for the second veto on Syria in four months.
Unsourced reports of Churkin's encounter with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani last week circulated on Arab websites. They said that Churkin had threatened Qatar.
Churkin said the Russian mission had been "inundated" with calls about the reports. "It is just dishonest and dirty and provocative of course," he said of the reports.
The Russian envoy said the "very exaggerated, emotional, sometimes rude reaction" of western ambassadors to the Russian veto was another sign of efforts to cause trouble between Russia and the Arab world.
"They may have their purposes in mind. But I think the side effect, or maybe purpose of some of those reactions, is to create some hostility toward Russia in the Arab world and that of course is not appreciated," Churkin said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Unsourced reports of Churkin's encounter with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani last week circulated on Arab websites. They said that Churkin had threatened Qatar.
I can just imagine that exchange.
bint Jassem "You Ruski infidels will have to face the righteous wrath of the Muslim People"
Churkin "Zatknis, chernozopi'i."
bint Jassem "Allan's shahids will strike you infidels dead in the middle of Moscow!"
Churkin "Try anything, and we'll kill any Qatari who had less than four grandparents."
The PETA people are truly nuts. I'd ask where this ends but clearly it would never end...
SAN DIEGO: A federal judge for the first time in US history heard arguments Monday in a case that could determine whether animals enjoy the same constitutional protection against slavery as human beings.
US District Judge Jeffrey Miller called the hearing in San Diego after Sea World asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that names five orcas as plaintiffs in the case. PETA claims the captured killer whales are treated like slaves for being forced to live in tanks and perform daily at its parks in San Diego and Orlando, Florida.
This case is on the next frontier of civil rights, said PETAs attorney Jeffrey Kerr, representing the five orcas.
This is the next frontier of Orwell's worst fears...
Sea Worlds attorney Theodore Shaw called the lawsuit a waste of the courts time and resources. He said it defies common sense and goes against 125 years of case law applied to the Constitutions 13th amendment that prohibits slavery between humans.
With all due respect, the court does not have the authority to even consider this question, Shaw said, adding later: Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the We the people ... when the Constitution was adopted.
Miller listened to both sides for an hour before announcing that he would take the case under advisement and issue his ruling at a later date. The judge raised doubts a court can allow animals to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit, and he questioned how far the implications of a favorable ruling could reach, pointing out the militarys use of dolphins and scientists experiments on whales in the wild.
Kerr acknowledged PETA faces an uphill battle but he said he was hopeful after Mondays hearing.
This is an historic day, Kerr said. For the first time in our nations history, a federal court heard arguments as to whether living, breathing, feeling beings have rights and can be enslaved simply because they happen to not have been born human. By any definition these orcas have been enslaved here.
While Mr. Kerr is all wound up about 'enslaving' animals, the Left has no problems with enslaving people to the will of their progressive masters.
The issue is not about whether the animals have been subjected to abuse, the defense said. If the court were to grant orcas constitutional rights, Shaw warned the ruling would have profound implications that could impact everything from the way the US government uses dogs to sniff out bombs and drugs to how zoos and aquariums operate.
Were talking about hell unleashed, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Will the honorable Mr. Kerr call Mr. Ed to testify as an expert witness on animals being forced to perform? Wilbur? Wilbur?
#2
Since when were animals mentioned in the Constitution? Are they equivalent to humans? Could I marry one (assuming it were the opposite sex, of course)?
#6
Gorb- rest easy, now in CA and in the 9th Circus Court one can marry the same sex horse. Next stop, I'm gonna marry my son so the Gov't can't get at me with their confiscatory inheritance tax.
Posted by: jack salami ||
02/08/2012 7:52
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#7
I can't believe the court actually had a hearing. It should have dismissed the suit immediately and assessed court costs.
(PS - what about all the "enslaved" bacteria in my gut? They are, after all, doing my bidding.)
#10
Peta can't see past their own noses. If you want to teach a kid to treasure wildlife, the kid needs to see real animals. Pictures in a book or videos just don't have the same impact that dealing with real living creatures has. Without hands on (or at least close up) experience, young people think of wildlife in the abstract, and are less likely to care what happens in nature.
Also, without zoos, an awful lot of species go extinct. Zoos keep the gene pool fresh for some imperiled species. See, for just one example of many, the European Wiscent, or native bison, preserved for 50 years at Brookfield Zoo in the Chicago area before finally returning to the wild after the Iron Curtain crashed down.
#11
This nonsense will end when a judge disbars a lawyer for bringing such an insane case into court. Then the next lawyers will think twice. Even if its overturned by the 9th such a ruling would humiliate the lawyer.
#12
I am wondering if we can go to court to rule that the people in PETA do not have rational thought and can not be allowed in society since they are a danger to themselves and others.
#15
This nonsense will end when a judge disbars a lawyer for bringing such an insane case into court.
The lawyers often have to hold their noses in order to get paid well to do their job. I don't blame the lawyers, I blame the idiot(s) who accept these kinds of cases.
#16
Does that mean we can claim our pets, rodents, and insects as dependents on our 1040? Will they be required to get Social Security numbers? Be drafted into Obama's 'civilian army'?
If you have 10 acres of land, and the estimate is about 10K insects per acre (guessing).... do you get to claim 100K dependents on your 'Earned Income Credit' form?
#21
Re: Animal and idol worship. Animal worship has been around for thousands of years. When animal worship/protection becomes law is when that nation has reached an all time low.
[Dawn] The Moslem crisis of identity is linked to their inability to redefine themselves in today's world. Most Moslem nations lack both political and economic stability. Oil-rich Arab nations have economic stability -- thanks to oil revenues -- but are autocracies. Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia, however, are steadily moving towards both economic and political stability but have not yet reached the stage where they could serve as role models for others.
In the 20th century, Moslem nationalists tried to create Western nation states in countries that have not one but many nations with distinct ethnic, linguistic and cultural features. The socialists -- in trying to create model social states -- clashed with religious groups that hurt both.
MoslemIslamic fascistibased their dreams of a pure and just Islamic society on people's attachment to religion. But instead of delivering any of the goods they had promised, they led their followers to a path that pitched Islam against the rest of the world.
Reforms, introduced by liberal Moslem rulers, helped improve the situation in some places but only for some.
Education was supposed to bring knowledge and prosperity to all. It did not. For most, it only increased their dreams without equipping them with the tools to make them come true.
Divided between the English (or French) schools of the elite and the ordinary schools for the rest of the country, the education system has created a large number of educated unemployed or under-employed.
The madrassas too met the same fate and ended up adding more people to an already swelling army of the unemployed youths, although the mosque-madrassa network did provide some jobs. But it was soon taken over by the jihad industry as the main employment provider for madrassas-trained youths. Other unemployed and ideologically disenchanted teenagers also joined this vicious industry which, at least in Pakistain and Afghanistan, has had disastrous consequences. It seems that the monsters created by this industry -- the Taliban, al Qaeda, Sipah-e-Sahaba et al -- will continue to haunt both nations for quite some time.
Those employed by the jihad industry also want a change, any change and at any cost. They do get it, a permanent change as deaders of a faulty cause and soldiers of radical leaders who have little sympathy for them, or the ones they leave behind when they die.
The cities are growing, slowly but steadily. In Pakistain, officially between 30-40 per cent people live in the cities but unofficial estimates claim that it's higher than 50 per cent. This change, however, does not reflect in electoral rolls. So the rural ruling elite -- the zameendars -- remain the dominant political group in the country.
City dwellers, deprived of their true representations, have little stake in this system. Perhaps that's why even when a popular government is toppled, there's little protest in the cities. In fact, the urban middle class starts opposing an elected government as soon as it is in power.
This also explains the media's hostility towards the PPP government, which often has to face unfair criticism.
Another manifestation of this urban desire for change was seen in the strong support the Paks cities gave to the movement for the restoration of the Chief Justice, as it was supported mainly by the urban middle classes both in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... .
The Pak Army, once dominated by the feudal families of Punjab and the KP, has also undergone a change in the 1980s when urban middle class youths -- including those from Urdu medium schools -- began to join the military as officers in larger numbers than before. Thus, now the army has many junior and middle rank officers who come from the cities.
Like those in the media, many of them were associated with religious groups like Islami Jaimiat-e-Tulaba when students at least had a religious bent of mind.
But officers with religious backgrounds have been weakened greatly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US when the Musharraf regime allied itself with Washington and attempted to root out religious extremism from the military.
This led to a clash between the armed forces and the jihad industry, which hitherto, looked at the army as its chief patron. Now they turned their guns on the army and the clash has already caused tens of thousands of deaths, on both sides, if the civilians killed in these fights are also included.
In 1994, the madrassas bad turbans, who believe that only one of them is fit to lead an Islamic state, got lucky.
Afghanistan became the first state to be ruled by the Sunni clergy. As the events that followed showed, the Taliban were not fit to rule. Power corrupted them. For a group, which traditionally depended on alms from affluent Moslems, even a little power was too much.
The situation in Afghanistan, allowed half-educated madrassas students, known as the Taliban, to takeover the country, with support from Pakistain, Soddy Arabia and others. Initially, the West did not resist this change and even tried to reach out to the Taliban.
Thus, Afghanistan became the first state to be ruled by the Sunni clergy. As the events that followed showed, the Taliban were not fit to rule. Power corrupted them. For a group, which traditionally depended on alms from affluent Moslems, even a little power was too much. So they went berserk. Nothing else explains their strange behavior, such as the restrictions they imposed on women or their determination to take on the entire world.
And so the inevitable happened.
Their so-called honored guest, the late Osama bin Laden, ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... orchestrated the 9/11 attacks which brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and damaged the Pentagon. The Americans reacted as expected and in two months, the Taliban had to leave Kabul. But, as a US military report released last week said, are still "a determined enemy" that can overrun Kabul if US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... troops leave. The Taliban were not created out of void.
The madrassas serve an important purpose: providing food and some education to those who were denied both -- children of landless peasants. Since they cannot feed them, they send their children to the madrassas where they are given two meals a day, two pairs of clothes and some education which can provide low-level jobs in thousands of mosques across the country.
For the families they come from, even this is a major social accomplishment as it brings both food and some prestige. Some of these madrassas received money from Arab governments eager to fight increasing Iranian influence in non-Arab Moslem countries after Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution. Others received money from affluent Moslems who prefer to give their alms to mosques rather than governments.
Since Sept. 11, the Pak government has, at least apparently, made some efforts to curb the influence of the madrassas but they continue to function and still have a lot of influence in their catchments area.
The appeal of Islam as a remedy to the Moslem world's social and economic ills is not confined to the Taliban. It is also not just a reaction to Western domination or the hold of the Westernised elite over the administrative set up. And it is not confined to the unemployed youths either. For many Moslems, their religion has always had this special appeal.
The distinction between religion and politics is not as obvious in Islam as it is in the West today. Even Moslem poets and thinkers, like Allama Iqbal, have opposed the separation of religion from politics saying, "A political system without religious influence becomes a tyranny." For this Moslems draw inspiration from their history which is full of religious figures opposing despotic secular rulers, often at the risk of their lives.
But the majority, at least in Pakistain, does not agree with this over-emphasis on religion. This religious-political identity festivities with other identities that many Moslems adhere to. Most Paks are well aware of their Islamic identity but their group interests as Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtun or Baloch are also dear to them. The same goes for Arabs, Iranians, Afghans, Tajiks, Uzbeks or Turks.
Thus being born as Moslems is like being born with many faces. Who are you? A Moslem, a Pak, an Indian, a Bangladeshi, a Punjabi, a Sindhi or a Baloch?
The first identity that of a Moslem, transcends all national and geographical boundaries. Ideally, it may be correct, practically, it is not. A Moslem is also a Pak, an Indian, an Afghan or an Arab. Being a Moslem does not automatically grant him the nationality of all the 56 countries that claim allegiance to Islam.
The moment he wants to travel, even from one Moslem country to another, he or she ceases to be a Moslem and becomes an Egyptian or an Iranian. No Islamic country allows a Moslem to enter its territory on the basis of his or her faith only. And this is where the national identity, which provides the traveler with a passport and a visa, becomes more important than the religious identity.
But, as internal conflicts in many Moslem countries show, even a national identity is not enough. You need to identify yourself with a particular group or place as well, in the case of Pakistain with one of the four provinces. Then there are identities based on a language or race. Sometimes one identity takes precedence over the other. Thus some Moslems living in the West, where they now confront a gradually increasing hostility after 9/11, often get more comfort from their Islamic identity than from their nationality, acquired or native.
Others, particularly Paks, re-discover their regional affiliation too. The first people Paks living in the West often befriend are Indians.
But a Pak living in the Gulf finds it more useful to be a Pak before a Moslem. Here his Pak identity comes before his religious identity. It also comes before his regional identities as a Punjabi or a Pashtun because it provides him strength in dealing with the Arabs who often look down upon him as a Pak, whichever province of Pakistain he is from.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... back in Pakistain his Pak identity becomes less important. Now he is more cautious of being a Pashtun, a Punjabi, a Mohajir, a Baloch or a Sindhi. And when he goes to his ancestral district, he has to further divide his identity on ethnic and tribal lines thus becoming a Seraiki speaking Sindhi or a Sindhi speaking Sindhi, a Pashto speaking Baloch or a Balochi speaking Baloch.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Some of them do understand. How hellish that must be.
[Dawn] Unidentified cycle of violence riders on Tuesday attacked an office of a political party in Krachi's Lyari neigbourhood, killing two and injuring five people, DawnNews reported.
The unknown myrmidons threw local made hand grenades at the office and decamped away from the site.
Injured were taken to Civil Hospital but two out of seven injured shuffled off the mortal coil during the treatment.
The attack spread chaos in the locality. Shops and businesses were being shut as the owners panicked amidst fear of further attacks.
A heavy contingent of police reached the site and started investigation after the incident.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... five more people were killed in different areas of the violence-ridden city on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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[An Nahar] Syria and Turkey are negotiating the conditions for the release of 49 jugged Turkish intelligence officers, a radio station close to the government in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... said on Tuesday.
Sham FM said the officers had been jugged while operating undercover, although there has been no word from Ankara on any such arrests.
The radio said Syria had laid down three conditions for any release: an exchange of the Turkish officers for rebel Free Syrian Army members in Turkish territory, for Turkey to halt infiltrations by the FSA, and for Turkey to stop training its members.
Erdogan is really mad at his old vacation buddy.
The radio said Damascus wanted its ally Tehran to be the witness of any accord with Ankara.
Turkey, which once had close ties with its neighbor Syria, has called for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... to step down and condemned his crackdown on dissent that opposition activists say has cost at least 6,000 lives since March.
Leadership of the FSA, made up mostly of Syrian army deserters, has been based in Turkey across the border from northwestern Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Sounds like these 49 fouled up royally to get caught.
#2
sounds like a nice development. Turkish honor demands a smashing attack on Syria. If they ask us to use Incirlik to help out, we should remind them of their refusal in our Iraq II push. "Sorry, we're washing our hair"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2012 22:10
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[An Nahar] Israel will reportedly take the necessary measures to halt any attempt by the Syrian regime to transfer large amounts of highly developed weapons to "terrorist organizations" including Hizbullah as violence is mounting in the country.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that the escalating threat against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime is raising the Israeli officials' concerns over the possibility of "terrorist groups" obtaining weapons from Syria.
"Large amounts of weapons could be transferred to Hizbullah in Leb or to other organizations," defense officials told the newspaper.
According to the officials, the weapons include advanced SA missiles, high-trajectory long-range rockets and missiles, and biological and chemical weapons.
The officials noted that the "concern is greater now because Assad's forces seem to be losing their grip on the state. This could result in passing weapons to Hizbullah, or in radical Sunni factions taking over the arsenals."
Israel is considering attacking convoys carrying weapons from Syria to Leb, Haaretz said, however the daily added that these reports are still not confirmed by the Israeli officials.
Speaking last week at the Herzliya Conference, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "It is difficult to predict exactly what will happen in Syria. We're watching for attempts to pass advanced weapons systems that could edge the delicate balance in Leb to Hizbullah."
In January, head of the Israeli military's planning division Major-General Amir Eshel revealed that Israel has serious concerns about what will happen to "huge stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons in Syria when the Assad regime collapses.
"The question is when, not if. And the big question is what's going to come the day after," he said.
The regime has spearheaded a bloody crackdown on freedom fighters seeking to overthrow Assad, who has vowed to remain in power, raising the specter of civil war between Syria's many religious sects if he steps down.
On January 10, Israel's Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told MPs that the military was preparing for the possibility of an influx of Syrian refugees, particularly on the occupied Golan Heights.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Future secondary explosions when Israel shoots the storage sites.
No, they really don't, it's just a guerrilla action to buy time...
ATHENS, Greece: Greece's coalition government caved in to demands to cut civil service jobs, announcing 15,000 positions would go this year, amid mounting international pressure to agree on austerity measures needed to secure major new debt agreements.
The announcement Monday signals a shift in Greece's policy, as state jobs have so far been protected during the country's acute financial crisis, which started about two years ago. Public Sector Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas said the job cuts would be carried out under a new law that allows such firings.
Unions have called a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday, in response to the new austerity measures, while about 4,000 protesters braved torrential rain late Monday to join protest rallies organized in central Athens by left-wing opposition parties.
Greece is racing to push through the painful reforms -- which have yet to be agreed to by Greece's coalition partners -- to clinch a 130 billion ($170 billion) bailout deal from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund and avoid a March default on its bond repayments.
I wouldn't call it a 'race'...
Debt-ridden Greece has been kept solvent since May 2010 by payments from a 110 billion ($145 billion) international rescue loan package. When it became clear the money would not be enough, a second bailout was decided last October.
As well as the austerity measures, the bailout also depends on separate talks with banks and other private bondholders to forgive 100 billion ($131.6 billion) in Greek debt.
The goal for the Greek government is to lock in the haircuts for the banks without having to implement any of the 'austerity' measures...
The private investors have been locked in negotiations over swapping their current debt for a cash payment and new bonds worth 50 percent less than the original face value, longer repayment terms and a cut in the interest rate to be paid on the bonds. Greek government officials say they expect private investors to take an overall cut of up to 70 percent on the value of their bonds.
That's quite a haircut.
However, the EU-IMF bailout has to be secured for the deal with private investors to go ahead as about 30 billion from the bailout will be used as the cash payment in the bond swap deal.
Greece's coalition party leaders pushed back a key meeting on the austerity measures by a day until Tuesday, due to the ongoing negotiations with EU-IMF debt inspectors who were locked in talks with the government Monday. The leaders have already agreed to cut 2012 spending by 1.5 percent of gross domestic product -- about 3.3 billion ($4.3 billion) -- improve competitiveness by slashing wages and non-wage costs, and re-capitalize banks without nationalizing them.
The Greek GDP is about $340 billion, and their debt is about $450 billion. They're going to cut $4.3 billion? That's nothing. For that they get $130 billion in debt forgiveness. That's a lot.
Which means all the squealing and crying is for show. In the end they're getting a 30:1 return on their cuts. That assumes that the cuts are real, which they won't be; the haircuts of course will be locked in on day one.
Creditors are also demanding spending cuts in defense, health and social security, a cut in the minimum wage, as well as the civil service layoffs, as European pressure increased on Greece to make more concessions.
The government has promised to reduce the 750,000-strong broader public sector by 150,000 by the end of 2015, but has so far insisted it could reach that target through staff attrition.
"We are opposed to indiscriminate firings," Reppas said. "The work force reduction is strictly connected with the restructuring of services and organizations at each ministry."
Officials at the Public Sector Reform Ministry gave no details of the new plan, nor would they say how many of the job cuts would be compulsory.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
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#1
The haircuts will get still worse. And the spending cuts will come, when they can't find any more suckers to lend (give) them money. Of course something similar will eventually hit our shores too. So far we're being subtle about it by effectively devaluing savings, but there's only a finite amount to devalue and when they're gone the money will have to come from ??? Increased taxes? Then when that runs out? Bottom line everywhere is 'that which cannot continue forever, will not.'
#3
We've been doing that in the US of A, BP, for many years. That's why the bridges and highways - which could "pay their own way" - are now crumbling, and there is no money to take care of them or replace them.
Our railroads did that for years, peaking in the 70's and 80's, but now they are in tip-top shape. Since they were de-regulated in the 1980's.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/08/2012 11:16
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[An Nahar] Russia's foreign minister said after Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... talks on Tuesday that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day.
Sergei Lavrov said he had had a "very useful" meeting with Assad and that Moscow was eager to work towards a solution based on an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan that it had previously criticized.
"We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the vaporous Arab League," said Lavrov, adding that Syria was also ready see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies said.
The pan-Arab bloc deployed an observer mission to Syria in December to oversee a plan to end bloodshed that has now lasted almost 11 months but suspended it late January after the mission's chief said that the violence had reached a new pitch of intensity.
The 22-nation League has since put forward a plan for Assad to hand his powers to Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa and a national unity government to oversee the preparation of democratic elections.
Sharaa, a veteran regime diplomat with a career that stretches back to the rule of Assad's late father president Hafez al-Assad, attended Tuesday's talks with Lavrov, the official SANA news agency said.
Lavrov did not specify which of the two Arab plans he was referring to in his comments Tuesday, although SANA interpreted him as referring to the earlier one.
Moscow had previously criticized foreign calls for Assad to step down but in an interview with Australian television last week Lavrov insisted: "We never said that President Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis."
After Tuesday's talks, he said he believed Damascus had heard Moscow's message but did not go into details.
Lavrov said Assad was ready for dialogue with all parties.
"It's clear that efforts to stop violence should be accompanied by the start of dialogue between all the political forces."
"Today we've received confirmation of President Assad's readiness to facilitate this work."
Lavrov said Syria was also pressing ahead with the slow-moving reform program promised by Assad in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the leading role of his Baath party.
"In particular, President Assad assured (us) that he is fully committed to the task of a cessation of violence, from whatever source it comes."
Moscow is assuming that "efforts to solve the Syria crisis should be continued", said Lavrov.
"The Russian side intends to be actively engaged in this, including in the continuing work with the Syrian side, with Syria's neighbors and the Arab League," he added.
Later on Tuesday, Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling Lavrov that he remained committed to all efforts toward stability in his strife-torn country.
"The president reiterated Syria's willingness to cooperate with all efforts towards stability in Syria," SANA said.
It said that Assad in his meeting with Lavrov had thanked Moscow for its backing at the U.N. Security Council and for its keenness on dialogue to end the nearly 11-month crisis in Syria.
SANA said Assad and Lavrov had discussed the latest developments in Syria, reforms under way and what it said were attacks nationwide by "armed terrorist gangs" backed by outside forces.
"President Assad said that Syria from the start has welcomed any efforts toward a solution to the Syrian crisis and is committed to the Arab League plan that was decided on November 2, 2011," SANA said.
It added that Assad had fully cooperated with an Arab League observer mission to Syria last month despite what it called efforts at sabotage by certain Arab parties.
At the opening of the talks, Lavrov said he was confident that the Syrian leader knew what he had to do.
"Every leader in every country should be aware of his share of responsibility. You are aware of yours," the Russian minister said.
Syrian state news agency SANA said Lavrov arrived to a "huge popular reception in appreciation of Russia's support to Syria, people and its reform program."
State television aired footage of regime supporters waving Syrian and Russian flags as they lined the streets.
Many chanted: "Thank you Russia, thank you China," in reference to the two governments' use of their Security Council vetoes last week to block U.N. action against the Syrian regime.
The precise purpose of the Russian diplomatic mission has been kept tightly under wraps since it was first announced at the weekend.
Ahead of their arrival, reports had said Lavrov might try to persuade Assad to quit.
Human rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the revolt mid-March. The U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF, said at least 400 children have been killed.
Moscow sparked Western fury last week by joining Beijing in using its veto at the Security Council to block U.N. action against the Damascus regime.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... called it a "travesty."
Beijing expressed hope Lavrov's visit would succeed, and said it was considering sending its own envoys to help resolve the conflict.
Syria's main Middle East ally, Iran was also to dispatch a deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, to Damascus on Tuesday, its official IRNA news agency said.
Turkey, which shared Western anger over the Russian and Chinese vetoes, said it would launch a "new initiative" with like-minded countries which "stand by the Syrian people, not the regime."
A day after the United States closed its Damascus embassy, La Belle France, Italia, Spain and the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council joined Britannia and Belgium in recalling their ambassadors to Syria for consultations.
The GCC states also expelled the Syrian ambassadors from their capitals.
But the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... stressed it had no plans to close its own mission in the Syrian capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Its RUSSIAN-FM-LAVROV-VS-PERTS in ...
* TOPIX > ARAB WORLD SINKING IN [universal] TRIBAL FEUD.
ARTIC > denotes that ...
> Arab States are unable to get united be it agz either Israel or Iran, or likely agz any other.
> THERE WILL SOON BE NO COPTS = CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT, as these will be persecuted + murdered or otherwise destroyed once the post-Mubarak Islamist factions decisively end their infighting = collective power struggles, LOSS OF HISTORICAL = MUBARAK-ERA LEGAL PROTECTIONS???
> THREAT, LEGACY OF OSAMA BIN LADEN TO CONTINUE LONG AFTER HIS DEATH, influencing new generations of pro-Radicalist Ideologues + Jihadists, etal. hence the likelihood of NEW, "ROUTINE/REGULAR REVOLUTIONS" [destabilizing?] THROUGHOUT THE ARAB-MUSLIM WORLD???
* WAFF > SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS STAND BY ASSAD [+ Russia], despite attempt at UN to condemn his policies + actions.
"ARAB SPRINGS" in Iraq + Egypt has been a disaster to CHristian andor non-Muslim communities, "WIDOUT RUSSIA SYRIA'S CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IS DOOMED" [to be wiped out].
POSTERS > ...
> Claims it is well known locally that CHritians in LEBANON-SYRIA would favor a [neo-Ottoman]TURKISH OCCUPATION.
> ALways "Russia-is-for-Russia" RUSSIA fears once TURKEY is finished wid its Middle East affairs, IT WILL TURN ITS ATTENTION TO THE CAUCASUS, TRANSOXIANA + ATTEMPT TO SET UP LONG-DESIRED "TURKIC UNION" AMONG REGIONAL, TRANSREGIONAL TURKIC PEOPLES TO THE DETRIMENT OF MOSCOW???
The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
The size of the embassy was going to be 16,000 people, designed to give the U.S. a robust presence in Iraq even without U.S. troops there, but now Ambassador James Jeffrey is reconsidering the size of the embassy, according to the report.
[An Nahar] Egypt's interior minister denied on Tuesday that police had fired birdshot at protesters in deadly festivities last week between security and demonstrators, despite testimonies from medics and witnesses.
At least 15 people have been killed in Cairo and the canal city of Suez since violence erupted near the interior ministry on Thursday sparked by deadly football-related festivities, the health ministry said.
"We only used gas (tear gas) ... There was only gas fired," Mohammed Ibrahim told parliament.
"Our forces were hit by birdshot; one general lost an eye," Ibrahim said.
The minister's comments came after a fact-finding parliamentary commission called on the assembly to withdraw confidence from him.
The panel said Ibrahim bore "full responsibility" for the death of protesters, calling on demonstrators to express themselves peacefully, to withdraw from the outskirts of the interior ministry and return to Tahrir Square -- the epicenter of protests.
On Tuesday, ophthalmologists "Eye Doctors for the Revolution" said that between Thursday and Sunday hospitals in Cairo had received patients with eye injuries caused by birdshot of different types and different sizes."
"At least 50 of these cases caused permanent vision loss," a statement said.
On Monday, speaker Saad al-Katatni said the interior minister told him police had not used birdshot on protesters, prompting liberal MP Mohammed Abu Hamed to stand up and hold up a birdshot cartridge he says he had just picked up in the area.
By Tuesday, calm had returned to the interior ministry area, just blocks away from Tahrir Square.
The unrest erupted on Thursday in response to the deaths of 74 people in festivities after a football match in the northern city of Port Saeed.
Activists and commentators erupted into the streets to denounce what they said was the failure of authorities to prevent the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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You fire birdshot at the feet, not at the head. Stupid cops...but then what do you expect?
[Dawn] Pakistain Moslem League-N (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... said on Tuesday his party would bring about a real and practical change in Pakistain and put it on the road to progress and prosperity.
Addressing students during a ceremony here at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Sharif said the PML-N had brought about changes in the country during its previous tenures.
He said that some elements were raising hollow slogans for change. "Efforts are being made to change cultural values in the name of politics," he added.
He further said the PML-N had a revolutionary thinking as it had showed it in previous tenures by launching different development projects.
Sharif claimed Pakistain was ahead of India during his previous tenures. "Our both governments were dislodged due to a revolutionary stance of the party. The PML-N would compensate for injustice to people of the country," he added.
The PML-N chief said his party was ready to spend a huge amount to educate the masses.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The prosecution and the investigation agency probing war crimes have been failing over and over again to produce witnesses in a case against Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... at the International Crimes Tribunal.
Four days after failing to produce any witnesses on February 2, the prosecution yesterday brought forth only one witness who could not even remember anything specific, and completed his deposition in just two minutes. The defence did not even bother to cross-examine the witness.
The prosecution's frequent failure to produce witnesses became an issue at the tribunal yesterday. The judges started their proceedings by asking the prosecution about the number of witnesses they had for the day.
After the prosecution said it had only one witness, tribunal Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq addressed Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo and said, "Mr Chief Prosecutor! What shall we do? You have managed to bring only one witness after four days!"
The chief prosecutor said they appreciate the court's concerns and added that the prosecution's efforts to produce the witnesses have been relentless.
Not satisfied with the answer, the chairman called forth investigation officer Helaluddin. "What is the problem?" asked Justice Nizamul Huq, pointing out that it was the Sherlocks' responsibility to produce the witnesses.
Helaluddin said the prosecution were facing many difficulties and that some witnesses had been sick.
"Bring them to Dhaka and provide them with treatment if they are sick," said Huq. "Take them into your custody and have them treated."
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The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
The size of the embassy was going to be 16,000 people, designed to give the U.S. a robust presence in Iraq even without U.S. troops there, but now Ambassador James Jeffrey is reconsidering the size of the embassy, according to the report.
[Dawn] At least 15 civilians and four soldiers were killed on Tuesday in the besieged central Syrian city of Homs, which has been undergoing heavy shelling by government troops, activists said.
"At least nine civilians, including a woman, were killed by gunfire and shelling as (troops) attempt an assault on the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood of the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.
The Britannia-based group said four Syrian troops were killed in the assault while six other non-combatants were killed in shelling on the Baba Amr neighborhood.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#2
The article dissed the MH-53s as old and outdated, but they can still do a good job. there really is nothing that would prevent moving the minsweeping gear to the 3 engined -53E ( several variants to choose from, flown by the USN, USMC, and USAF). that bird is about 50% bigger, has a bigger payload (again about >50%) and has an active logistics tail. cheap and shovel ready.
#3
Seems to me the 53 is airworthy enough to tow expendible sonar for mine mapping, and 'rubber' hulled boats would appear an excellant choice to deploy disposal ordinance.
#6
The USN has been suspiciously low key about naval mines for decades now. My guess is that there is some type of aerial or even satellite system that can map a broad area of ocean, spotting every mine in it.
Do that two or three times in an hour and you can tell if the mine is stationary or free floating, and in either case, drop a bomb next to it.
#12
AFAIK the 53's were supposed to had been replaced by super-techy, anti-Miney navalized Blackhawks + OSPREYS, but those died in the Congresscritter budget battles + espec finally when ex-POTUS Dubya invaded Saddam back in 2003.
As for the Dolphins, however proficient unfortunately for the USN too many Americans remember + adore FLIPPER [PR problem].
The "new hope" now rests firmly on the Drones - UAVS + USVS. NO DOUBTS, THOUGH, THAT THE 53'S WILL STILL KICK MINE BUTT IN THE GULF.
------------
* FYI TOPIX > REPORT: IRAN SAYS COULD HIT US FORCES [ + Interests] ANYWHERE/WORLDWIDE IFF ATTACKED.
* SAME > IRAN: US RISKS SELF-SUICIDE IFF IT ATTACKS IRAN.
Once again, NOSTRADAMUS > " ... Until the SEVEN/SEVENTH HOLDS THE LINE".
[I'll go today wid YOUNG MEL "TINA TURNER CALLED ME A RAGGEDY MAN IN THUNDERDOME" GIBSON in "GALLIPOLI" here].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA BUYS UP SAUDI, RUSSIAN OIL TO SQUEEZE IRAN, i.e. influence bilateral negotiations for cheaper or discounted oil from Tehran.
CHINA'S LARGEST FRESHWATER LAKE HAS ALSO DRIED UP, wid possible **surprise, surpise ** links to THREE GORGES, but thats another story.
#13
1960's = 1980's OLIVER STONE'S "PLATOON" >
[paraph] "We were not the only Battalion in the Valley - there were Others there as well. But somewhere out there was an entire Enemy Regiment".
[Dawn] Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus... , the chief of Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) a charity organization accused by West and India for exporting terror from Pakistain, has confessed for the first time about his meeting with al Qaeda founding father the late Osama bin Laden ... who knows that it's like to live in the belly of a whale only he's not living... and said that he studied from the same scholar who taught bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... "Yes once I had met Osama bin Laden but that is an old story I met him probably in 1982 in Soddy Arabia and in that meeting we just waived at each other," said Saeed in an interview with Dawn.com.
Saeed's organization was banned by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council days after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 for its alleged involvement in the attacks and Islamic fascistiactivities. However local courts have allowed the organization to work in Pakistain.
Saeed, the most wanted man by India, is a holder of double master's degree in Islamic Studies and also is a former teacher at Engineering University, Punjab.
He said he was a proud student of Sheikh Bin Baz.
Bin Baz was the grand mufti (scholar) of Soddy Arabia from 1993 to until his death in May 1999.
AfPak head and a retired CIA officer, Bruce Riedel in his book titled "The Search for Al Qaeda" has described Bin Baz as one who "preached a very reactionary brand of Islam, proclaiming earth is flat, banning high heels for women as too sexually provocative, barring men from wearing Western suits and imposing other restrictions on behavior." When asked is it not a coincidence that he studied under the same holy man who taught Osama bin Laden and Aiman al al-Zawahiri? Saeed said it was the honour for both the students and the teacher.
When asked about the reports regarding the financial help by Osama bin Laden for establishing Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... back in 1989-90, Saeed denied by calling it "baseless allegation."
Asked how it was possible that he could not have met Bin Laden in neighboring Afghanistan while he was waging Jihad next door in Indian administered Kashmire, Saeed brushed aside the question saying, "put this matter aside."
Saeed declared the killing of Osama bin Laden as extra judicial act and in the same breath he said that it was yet to be verified if the al Qaeda chief was in the Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... compound or not.
He said that US was the biggest terrorist who did not prove anything against bin Laden in any court of law.
When asked if his men or he himself were helping the jihad in Afghanistan, Saeed said that the Afghanis were doing well themselves and they did not need anybody's help. "We are doing what we can do for them," he added.
Saeed who used to hide from cameras has started appearing on television screen these days, when asked about the reason behind this change of mind he said that he has taken this decision to counter the propaganda against himself and his organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Shocka!Saudi is jihadi Idelology Central.
Pakistan and Saudi are our allies.Why?
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/08/2012 7:33
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#2
Still need directed meteors...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/08/2012 11:30
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[Dawn] Chief of the 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 is the lightweight's lightweight... on Tuesday said that the trio of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari, ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... 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 ... has brought much harm to Pakistain, DawnNews reported.
Speaking at a presser in Islamabad, the PTI chief said that corruption and incompetence has cost the country over Rs3.1 trillion. He alleged that Zardari, Nawaz and Fazl were responsible for the losses.
The former cricketer added that PTI was ready to "topple all three wickets in one delivery", and that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) was not an issue for his party. Ayup. Imran seems to have a pretty good handle on that one. Not that it requires 20:20 vision to notice.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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[Dawn] COMING a day after the massacre by the security forces at Homs, the second Russian-Chinese veto on Saturday seems to have made a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis difficult. The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan is in tatters, the possibility of a fresh P-5 consensus appears remote, and President Bashar Al Assad seems determined to stay on, no matter what the cost in terms of blood. Friday's massacre in Homs has been described as the worst of the 'Arab Spring'.
Even though the absence of foreign journalists has made an assessment of the extent of carnage difficult, whatever has emerged confirms that the Syrian army used mortar bombs and artillery on a city called "the heart of the revolution".
People's homes turned into debris or were set ablaze, and there were bodies everywhere. According to Syrian opposition sources, 260 people were killed, with burials taking place at night to avoid sniper firing. The UN had stopped counting the dead after the figure crossed 4,500 in January. But neutral observers say nearly 7,000 people have been killed, while the government claims that 2,000 soldiers have died in festivities with "armed gangs and terrorists" since the trouble began last March.
Russia and China have come under international criticism for vetoing the resolution, which contained elements of the original Arab League plan and had been watered down to accommodate Russian objections. The resolution, voted for by 13 nations, including Pakistain, had been worked out after intense negotiations. It avoided threats of sanctions and arms embargo, much less military intervention, and did not include that part of the AL plan which called upon President Assad to hand over power to his deputy to organise a fresh election. Nevertheless, the motion condemned the government for human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... violations, "arbitrary executions", enforced disappearances and the persecution of protesters and media persons. As a sop to Russia and China it appealed to "all parties in Syria, including gangs" to cease violence and reprisals.
It is true western delegates tried to accommodate Russian and Chinese views, but Saturday's failure at the UN is now likely to lead to a diplomatic impasse. While the western governments showed haste in tabling the resolution, Moscow and Beijing were obviously guided less by what is going on in Syria and more by economic and strategic interests in the region. At the same time, one cannot but note the contradiction in the western attitudes. While in Libya, the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... managed a military intervention to oust a dictator, they sat idle while foreign forces moved into Bahrain to save the regime and crush a popular uprising.
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02/08/2012
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#1
a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis difficult
[An Nahar] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday Syria was pressing ahead with the reform program Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... had promised in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the dominant role of his Baath party.
Syria's state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... SANA said that Assad would receive the text drawn up by an appointed panel on Wednesday.
The panel tasked with drafting the new constitution had decided to limit presidential terms to a maximum of two seven-year mandates, Al-Watan newspaper reported in January.
Assad on January 10 said the referendum would be held early March.
The new text also provides for the abolition of the presidential referendum which has been in force since 1971, replacing it with pluralistic elections.
"If one of the candidates fails to secure 51 percent of the vote, a second round is expected between the two candidates" who secure the largest number of votes in such an election, the newspaper said.
Each candidate must obtain the support of "15 percent of members of parliament," which has 250 seats, to qualify to run in the elections.
Assad, who is facing an unprecedented uprising against his regime, appointed on October 15 a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution.
Under the current constitution, which dates to 1971, the president can be re-elected for an unlimited number of mandates. The late president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, ruled for five consecutive terms.
Assad succeeded his father in 2000.
The newspaper did not specify whether the new constitution would have a retroactive effect. President Assad is due to complete his second seven-year mandate in 2014.
The committee also proposes to scrap article 8 of the constitution, which enshrines the ruling Baath party as the "leader of state and society," replacing it with clauses on "political pluralism" and "free elections."
The removal of this controversial article has been one of the central demands of the opposition since protests erupted in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Looks like the AK-47s are starting to vote against Pencilneck more and more lately.
[An Nahar] Kuwait will not deport activists who stormed the Syrian embassy back to their homeland due to fears about their safety, Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Humoud said on Tuesday.
"We will provide all guarantees for a fair trial to them and after the ruling is issued, we will deport them to a country of their choice," the minister said in a statement.
The statement came after a large number of MPs in the newly elected parliament warned authorities the activists would be executed if they were deported to Syria.
The independent Kuwait Society for Human Rights also called on authorities to stop any plan to deport the jugged Syrians because there is enough justification to believe they will be tortured or killed.
The minister did not provide a figure for those placed in long-term storage when Syrians and Kuwaiti activists stormed the embassy on Saturday, but a security source said that about 40 people were jugged, two of them Kuwaitis.
Sheikh Ahmed said the Syrians were being jugged by the secret service police.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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[Dawn] The first polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... case of the year in Kohat has been confirmed, raising questions about the performance of health department, polio teams and the district administration.
"The polio disease in three and a half years old Shazia has been confirmed on Monday by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, to the local administration in a letter Polio-PRL/1-12-554," said an official.
Dawn learnt officially from the World Health Organisation's Kohat office that the girl had been affected with polio and the result of her younger brother Adil's test report would be received soon.
Last year, a case was detected in Bostikhel area of Darra Adamkhel, a nearby semi-tribal area, and now the first case of 2012 had been confirmed in area of Kohat, hardly a kilometre away from the city centre.
Father of Shazia, Wazir Khan, who belonged to Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... and is residing with his family from last one decade in Mangal Bibi area, Urban-5 Kohat, claimed that no polio team had visited their area during last several years.
They were threatened with death, so they stayed away. Talk to the people who threatened -- ideally with a considerable number of well-armed cousins.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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DUBAI: Gulf Arab countries announced on Tuesday they were recalling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling Syrian envoys in response to worsening violence in Syria. Syrias rulers had rejected Arab attempts to solve this crisis and prevent the bloodshed of the Syrian people, a statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council said.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, current head of the council, announces that the GCC states have decided to withdraw all their ambassadors from Syria and also demand that all ambassadors of the Syrian regime in its lands leave immediately, said the six-member council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The council considers that it is necessary for the Arab states... to take every decisive measure faced with this dangerous escalation against the Syrian people. Nearly a year into the crisis, there is no glint of hope in a solution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
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Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Mathilda May (France)aka Isabella Zanconia in "The Jackal (1997)" aka Space Girl in "Lifeforce (1985)" aka Alba / Stephanie in "Naked Tango (1990)" aka Capucine Jamet in "La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two 2007)" (age 47)
[Dawn] President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... on Tuesday said Pakistain was committed to early implementation of Iran-Pakistain Gas Pipeline Project in order to meet the ever growing demand of the country for energy and power.
He said the government was also pursuing a trade liberalisation policy across the border and proposed for elimination of tariff and non tariff barriers between Pakistain and Iran to further boost trade ties and realise the true business and trade potential.
The President said the recent agreement between the two countries to work towards expanding Pakistain-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to include additional items from both sides and making it an agenda item for the next meeting of the trade committee was a welcome move to enhance trade links between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
Two non-tradeable currencies. Wonder how long it will be before the Iranians get fed up providing Pakis with free gas?
[Dawn] A soldier was killed and 12 injured after snuffies attacked a vehicle of security forces in Shaheedano Dhand area of Lower Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... near Pak-Afghan border on Monday.
Officials of local administration said snuffies first hurled explosives at the vehicle and then began firing gunshots at it leaving one soldier dead and 12 injured.
They said the injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Thall town of Hangu district. ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... Officials said the security personnel returned fire and forced snuffies into fleeing.
Two days ago, eight soldiers were killed and five kidnapped after snuffies attacked a convoy of security forces in the same area. The kidnapped soldiers are still missing.
In Charsadda district, snuffies blew up a government primary school for girls in a village in Shabqadar tehsil on Sunday night.
Villagers said the school building crumbled after explosives planted at night went kaboom!. Police and bomb disposal squad showed up shortly after the blast and collected evidence.
Officials said at least six kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. They said police had begun a hunt for the perpetrators of the blast in the area.
In Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, two people were killed and one injured in two separate incidents over the last two days.
Among the dead is a Malakdinkhel resident, who was kidnapped by snuffies two days ago. His headless body was later dumped in Gud Malang area.
No group grabbed credit for the killing. Name of the dead couldn't be ascertained. In another incident, a youth, Bilal, died and his friend Adnan injured after a stray mortar shell fell on a house in Meri Khel area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... families of five injured terror suspects from Bara have alleged that their members were denied proper treatment at Beautiful Downtown Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.
According to officials of local political administration, these suspects, all workers of a local plastic factory, including Shabbir Khan, Naqeeb Khan, Niaz Mohammad, Said Alam and Alif Khan, were critically injured after security forces fired at their van near Alamgudar on January 29. The driver, Yousaf, who also suffered injures, went away.
They were shifted to ICRC Hospital in Peshawar by their relatives but were taken into custody two days later by personnel of an intelligence agency before being moved to Lady Reading Hospital, where they are kept under tight police security.
Officials said the van driver, who was also suspected of having contacts with a local banned Death Eater organization, was on the run. When contacted, parents of the captured workers denied that their sons had any links with a Death Eater organization.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... Ghulam Farooq, political tehsildar of Bara, said his administration was trying to verify the identity of the intelligence agency that picked up factory workers from ICRC Hospital. "We have no knowledge of the incident whatsoever and are now investigating the matter," he told .Dawn
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02/08/2012
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[Dawn] IN addition to those living in Pakistain's conflict zones, in recent years the urban citizenry too has become uncomfortably familiar with acts of terrorism. The perpetrators seem to consider no place or occasion off limits. From public areas to places of worship, religious and political gatherings all have at some point come under attack.
Has the law-enforcement apparatus met with any success in quelling such attacks? In pockets, it does seem that the situation is improving. Consider Bloody Karachi, ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... which has seen terrorist attacks in places frequented by the public -- as delineated from law-enforcement and military installations that the beturbanned goons claim are their main targets. Such instances include the bombing of the Ashura procession in December 2009 and that of the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in 2010. Yet, over the past year, various events and occasions that both ordinary people and the law-enforcement set-up feared would be targeted thankfully passed off without incident. Also, a number of high-profile bully boyz have been placed in durance vile, implying that protecting the people is possible if there is sufficient will on the part of law-enforcement personnel.
While this is encouraging, it is clearly not enough. Combating the monster of terrorism requires a multi-pronged and holistic approach where different methods achieve success in concert. One area where law-enforcement efforts continue to under-perform is at the level of prosecution. Trials of suspected beturbanned goons or bully boyz tend to yield little because of either poor investigation or prosecution. A case in point is the 2006 Nishtar Park bombing, for which three men believed to be associated with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... remain in jug. In the six years that have passed, the prosecution has presented merely one witness. This pattern is repeated around the country in terms of prosecution, and sends out all the wrong signals.
True, there are difficulties: hard evidence in such cases can be difficult to gather and, given the profiles of the beturbanned goons involved, there is always the possibility of witnesses, prosecutors and judges being intimidated. If the police and prosecution could improve their performance in this regard, we would see greater success in combating terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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[An Nahar] German police placed in durance vile two men in Berlin Tuesday accused of spying on opponents of the Syrian regime in raids involving some 70 officers, federal prosecutors said.
The suspects were identified only as 47-year-old German-Lebanese citizen Mahmoud El A. and 34-year-old Syrian national Akram O., the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"They are strongly suspected of regularly spying on Syrian opposition figures in Germany for the Syrian intelligence service for several years," it said.
The prosecutor's office said around 70 federal and state coppers searched their homes and those of another six suspects.
The two suspects taken into custody will appear before a judge Wednesday who will present them with the arrest warrants dating from January 31.
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[An Nahar] Senior Republican senator John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... urged the United States Tuesday to consider arming the opposition fighting the forces of Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... "We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The blood-letting has got to stop," he told news hounds.
McCain, who stopped short of calling for military intervention, made the remarks as he and other Republican senators were about to meet with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
He also called for "a contact group, a joint coalition" on Syria but did not specify what that meant.
His comments came a day after the United States closed its embassy in Syria and pulled out all its staff, amid an escalating crackdown on the opposition by the Assad regime.
President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... shied away from talk of military intervention, however, and vowed to pursue diplomatic means.
Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the violence, which human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... group say has claimed some 6,000 lives since the outbreak of the revolt almost a year ago.
U.S. Senator John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden... said the crisis in Syria was "very different" from events that led to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -led strikes in Libya and called for a new push to get Russia and China to back U.N. action.
"This is a very different playing field, very different set of players, very different set of possible prospects," he said as he met with Lieberman.
"I think we have to approach it differently. I think we have to condemn what is happening -- and we have. I think we have to work very diligently with China and Russia to see if we can move them, change their positions," he said.
"I think we have to approach it as we are: thoughtfully but very clear about where our preferences lie," said Kerry.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, held talks with Assad in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... Tuesday and insisted that Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.
Later on Tuesday, the United States said it was working with friends to discuss how to provide humanitarian aid to Syrians caught in the government crackdown, but said it was not clear how much it would be able to help.
"We are exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians," White House front man Jay Carney said, saying any such move would come as Washington and partners ratchet up pressure on Assad's government.
But pressed on how any such aid would be delivered and how it would be targeted, Carney said no such "mechanisms" currently existed.
State Department front man Victoria Nuland also weighed in on the question of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians, but made clear any such help would fall well short of direct aid to rebels battling Assad's fierce crackdown.
"It's frankly not clear how much we're going to be able to do, but we want to help," said Nuland, adding that suggestions like creating humanitarian corridors or safe zones for Syrian civilians were not yet realistic.
"Some of these proposals that people are brooding about could not be done without foreign military intervention -- as we have said, we don't think more arms into Syria is the right answer," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2012
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#1
So how's that 'Humanitarian Aid' thingy to North Korea working John? going for the sequel?
#3
I read all this stuff about Syria and I have just one question that no one seems to have an answer for. BTW it's the same question I had about Daffy...
What are the policy / principle differences between the two sides? It seems that both sides are anti-west, anti-Israel, anti-others in the country and pro-themselves. Why should I care who wins?
[An Nahar] Syrian troops on Tuesday were seen planting more mines along the border with northern Leb, in an area close to the flashpoint central province of Homs, a Lebanese official said.
"Syrian army units for three days have been planting mines along the border area between the Syrian village of Bweet and the Lebanese village of Hnayder," the official from Hnayder said, requesting anonymity.
He said bulldozers were also reinforcing dirt mounds that separate the two borders.
Hnayder is located in the Lebanese northern region of Wadi Khaled where some 6,400 Syrians have sought refuge since the outbreak of the 11-month revolt against the regime of Bashir al-Assad.
Syria in past months has planted mines near the area to prevent refugees and opposition activists from streaming into Leb.
The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the rebel Free Syrian Army were present in the region.
"On Saturday morning the military carried out three airdrops in al-Rami village near Wadi Khaled and searched the area for hours," a military source told LBC.
MP Moein al-Merehbi confirmed the reports, slamming the deployment of the army as "Syrian orders to President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji."
Al-Akhbar newspaper has reported that Wadi Khaled has become a military base for the Free Syrian Army.
According to the daily, FSA officers and fighters are moving freely along the illegal border crossings, smuggling weapons and transporting injured soldiers.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have decamped to Leb amid a deadly crackdown on a popular revolt against the Assad regime.
Syrian troops have also staged deadly incursions into border villages in neighboring Leb.
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[An Nahar] Iran is detaining more than 65 members of its Arab minority after security sweeps in Khuzestan province in the southwest ordered over the past few months, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said on Tuesday.
At least some of the arrests were linked to graffiti sprayed on public property hailing the "Arab Spring" revolutions and calling for a boycott of Iran's parliamentary elections due on March 2, the New York-based watchdog said in a statement citing reports by local activists.
Two of those set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock -- identified as Mohammed Kaabi, 34, and Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan, 19 -- died in jug, apparently from torture, Human Rights Watch said.
A news "blackout" has been imposed in Iran on the security sweep, which began in November, the group said.
It called for the others being jugged to be given access to lawyers and family members, and for anyone responsible for torture to be brought to account.
Khuzestan, a province on the border with Iraq with up to two million Arabic speakers, has been the scene of chronic anti-government sentiment in recent years, Human Rights Watch said.
Iranian officials have accused U.S. and British intelligence services of fomenting ethnic unrest in the province.
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[Dawn] Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Fazl politician Mufti Kifayatullah and another holy man were charged with the murder of a man, who was killed in exchange fire between two religious groups on Eid Miladul Nabi here on Sunday.
Mohammad Waseem, an employee of education department, was killed and 10 other persons sustained critical injuries in the firing incident outside Sunari Mosque in Loharbanda area at Karakoram Highway. Police on written complaint of Maulana Abdul Malik lodged FIR against MPA Mufti Kafaitullah and Maulana Fazal Bari.
Maulana Abdul Malik in his FIR stated that Maulana Abdul Bari fired at procession after being instigated by MPA Mufti Kifayatullah, who was present inside the mosque when the incident occurred and Mohammad Waseem was killed instantly.
Eyewitnesses said that tension gripped the area in the morning when one of the groups made announcement through loudspeaker, asking people to come and restrict mobility of procession outside the mosque while the other blocked the Karakoram Highway for over two hours. Both the groups had targeted each others with bricks and stones in 2011.
Eyewitness said that police restricted one of groups from proceeding towards Sunari Mosque but it breached the cordon as a result of which both sides exchanged fire.
"Now situation is under complete control and law would take its due course against those involved in the killing," District Police Officer Ijaz Ahmad Khan told journalists.
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[An Nahar] Lebanese authorities jugged on Tuesday two Lebanese nationals on charges of smuggling weapons into Syria through the eastern border town of Arsal.
Military Examining Magistrate Imad al-Zain questioned Wael F. and Bahaa F., according to the National News Agency.
The examining magistrate issued arrest warrants against them on charges of smuggling weapons to Syria, the NNA reported.
Over the weekend, the army searched northern villages bordering Syria following information it received about the presence of gangs that allegedly belong to the Free Syrian Army.
According to An Nahar published on Monday the army jugged a number of suspects and is conducting investigations with them.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition slammed the army's operations in Wadi Khaled, accusing it of "implementing Syrian orders."
A military source told the newspaper that the army already launched such operations in Brital and Beirut without announcing them.
The poorly-demarcated Syrian-Lebanese border has witnessed a number of violations since the revolt against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... began in mid-March.
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#1
Why is Lebanon trying to undermine Syrian sovereignty??
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/08/2012 6:41
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New North Korean leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un visited seven military units over the past month, most of them of elite forces. A South Korean security official said Seoul is trying to find out why Kim is focusing on these elite units that have great strategic and symbolic significance.
Because if Pudgy doesn't have them on his side he'll be overthrown in a Pyongyang minute...
The state-run media reported Kim on Jan. 31 visited the 1,017th Air Force Unit, one of two MIG-29 fighter units in the North. The MIG-29 is the newest of the North's 800 fighter jets and was donated by the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.
So it's not really 'new'...
During his visit, Kim climbed into the cockpit of a MIG-29 standing on the tarmac and had his photo taken with the pilots.
Sorta like Dukakis in a tank, but no one dared to laugh...
Earlier, on Jan. 18, Kim visited the 169th Army Unit, an infiltration unit specializing in sending commandoes to South Korea.
The 105th Seoul Ryu Kyong-su Guards Division, which he visited on New Year's Day, is remembered as the unit that entered Seoul three days after the Korean War broke out in 1950 and hoisted the North Korean flag at the top of the main government building in Seoul. While still the heir, Kim accompanied his father Kim Jong-il on another visit to the unit in January 2010, where he drove a tank by himself.
Shin Beom-chul of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said, "It seems Kim Jong-un is visiting elite units to demonstrate most effectively that his power base lies in the military."
"All this seems to be his warning to the South not to get carried away just because he is a green wet behind the ears snot nosed rookie leader," a researcher at another government-funded think tank said.
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A South Korean security official said Seoul is trying to find out why Kim is focusing on these elite units that have great strategic and symbolic significance.
[Bangla Daily Star] Greece was hit by a new 24-hour strike yesterday called by the country's biggest unions to fight a new wave of austerity measures currently under negotiation with the EU and IMF. What part of "you're broke" don't you understand?
Under the slogan "That's enough, we can't take any more", protesters were set to converge on Syntagma Square in Athens, a landmark of Greek anger against austerity measures from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and International Monetary Fund.
The strike was called by Greece's biggest unions, including the private sector GSEE and the civil servants' union, Adedy.
Around 5,000 people late Monday braved a torrential thunderstorm and strong winds to took part in protests in Athens called by the unions and left-wing parties against the austerity measures.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The first democratically elected president of the Maldives resigned yesterday and was replaced by his vice president after the police and army clashed in the streets of the island nation amid protests over the arrest of a top judge.
Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who previously worked as a top UNICEF official, was sworn in as the new Maldivian president in the afternoon. Soon after, the judge was released.
In a televised address, Hassan promised to protect his predecessor, Mohamed Nasheed, from retribution and called for the chaos in the streets to stop.
"I urge everyone to make this a peaceful country," he said.
His announcement came after Nasheed appeared to have lost the support of the Indian Ocean nation's military which, according to army front man Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef, had advised him to step down.
"The president on his own initiative came to the military headquarters for advice ... on whether he should resign and then he got the message," Latheef said.
"Okay, okay already! I quit! Stop pointing that at me!"
He added that Nasheed was now in his residence and "not in detention," despite demands from some opposition leaders that he be placed in military custody.
Nasheed presented his resignation in a nationally televised address after police joined the protesters and then clashed with soldiers in the streets. Some of the soldiers then defected to the police side.
"I don't want to hurt any Maldivian. I feel my staying on in power will only increase the problems, and it will hurt our citizens," Nasheed said. "So the best option available to me is to step down."
A presidential official described the unrest as "an attempted coup" by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who Nasheed turfed out of power in the country's first democratic presidential elections in 2008.
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[An Nahar] The United States on Tuesday voiced skepticism of promises by Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... to Russia's foreign minister and said that he should instead immediately end the violence.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States would withhold judgment on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... but criticized Assad for making new pledges of domestic reforms.
"You can understand that the international community as a whole would be pretty skeptical of, instead of focusing on ending the violence, what we seem to have is a re-upping of this same offer that Assad has been making for months and months and months," Nuland told news hounds.
Lavrov -- whose country is Assad's main supporter -- said that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed and that he would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution.
The idea "sounds like another promise by the Assad regime to put forward a piece of paper that they control for a vote that they can control and, frankly, how that gets us to the kind of peaceful national dialogue about a democratic future for Syria that we all want to see is not very clear," she said.
Human rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed as Assad puts down a nearly 11-month revolt. Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have put pressure on Assad.
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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.
BAGHDAD -- Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining American influence in the country.
Punjab
Russia's U.N. ambassador on Tuesday slammed efforts to "poison" relations between his country and the Arab world after Russia's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis.
[Dawn] The 
The madrassas too met the same fate and ended up adding more people to an already swelling army of the unemployed youths, although the mosque-madrassa network did provide some jobs. But it was soon taken over by the jihad industry as the main employment provider for madrassas-trained youths. Other unemployed and ideologically disenchanted teenagers also joined this vicious industry which, at least in Pakistain and Afghanistan, has had disastrous consequences. It seems that the monsters created by this industry -- the Taliban, al Qaeda, Sipah-e-Sahaba et al -- will continue to haunt both nations for quite some time.
Their so-called honored guest, 
Since Sept. 11, the Pak government has, at least apparently, made some efforts to curb the influence of the madrassas but they continue to function and still have a lot of influence in their catchments area.
The first identity that of a 
Unidentified 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
The State Department is planning to slash its expansive embassy in Iraq by half, The New York Times reported Thursday, further diminishing U.S. presence in Iraq after the military withdrew in December.
Nawaz Sharif
[Bangla Daily Star] The prosecution and the investigation agency probing war crimes have been failing over and over again to produce witnesses in a case against 
Zawahiri.
Asif Ali 
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
[Dawn] COMING a day after the massacre by the security forces at Homs, the second Russian-Chinese veto on Saturday seems to have made a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis difficult. The 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] The first 
Kurram Agency
IN addition to those living in Pakistain's conflict zones, in recent years the urban citizenry too has become uncomfortably familiar with acts of terrorism. The perpetrators seem to consider no place or occasion off limits. From public areas to places of worship, religious and political gatherings all have at some point come under attack.
[An Nahar] German police 
John 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Syrian troops on Tuesday were seen planting more mines along the border with northern 
Najib Miqati
New North Korean leader 
Greece was hit by a new 24-hour strike yesterday called by the country's biggest unions to fight a new wave of austerity measures currently under negotiation with the EU and IMF.
[Bangla Daily Star] The first democratically elected president of the Maldives resigned yesterday and was replaced by his vice president after the police and army clashed in the streets of the island nation amid protests over the arrest of a top judge.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
