UH-OH.....................
NICOSIA -- The government of Iran has concealed $1 billion in surplus oil revenue according to a finding that challenges the administration of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian National Audit Office said more than $1 billion in surplus oil income failed to be deposited in the state treasury.
The assertion, which could open the Iranian government to legal proceedings, concerned the oil revenue in the 2006-07 budget year.
"In the energy section of this report it has been mentioned that $1 billion of extra oil income has not been returned to the country's public treasury," Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said. "The National Audit Office should seriously follow up the cases where there have been deviations from the implementation of the law or non-implementation of the law."
Larijani has called for an investigation into the findings of the audit.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, running for reelection in June 2009, has denied that his government misappropriated funds.
One commentator has called this bill "Bambi's Bay of Pork".
For the state of Wisconsin the projects are:
$500,000 to eliminate bus fares for one year in Sheboygan.
$2,000,000 for new sidewalks in Superior.
$3,800,000 for a recreational trail in Green Bay. navy
Check out your own state!
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/09/2009
17:13 ||
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Bully beef, the cornerstone of the Army for more than a century, is to be replaced by mushroom pasta and halal dishes.
A new varied menu which will to be given to troops in Afghanistan will do away with corned beef hash in favour of dishes designed for the boiling temperatures of Helmand and a more multi-cultural military. While some hardened veterans may shed a tear at the passing of their beloved bully beef (apparently out-voted by their juniors) all will welcome the long overdue decision to throw out chocolate.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq troops have been bemused by the decision to continue packing their 24 hour ration packs with bars of chocolate that regularly melted and then exploded inside the pack's cardboard box leaving a sticky mess that coated the other rations. Instead the bland tasting chocolate has been replaced by goodies such as Oreo cookies, chocolate chip cake and energy bars.
In the age old trade-off of rations between different nations' soldiers, British troops will now be able to boast Shrewsbury and Ginger biscuits, muesli and dried fruits when they swap food with American or Danish counterparts in Helmand.
Gone will be the unsavoury-looking pate, "biscuits brown", treacle pudding and powdered soup. They are all victims of a two year trial of Hot Climate Rations that is designed to keep troops eating while in the appetite sapping heat of 122F (50C). Self-heating units
When 19 Light Brigade deploys to Afghanistan in May it will be taking 300,000 new 24 hour Multi-Climate Rations that will provide them with 4,000 calories.
If the trial is successful then a new ration system with 20 different menus, plus six new ones for vegetarian, Halal, Sikh and Hindu dietary requirements, will place corned beef hash firmly into the history books and museums. So what did Gunga Din eat when he was with the Brits?
Quentin Davies, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, said: "One of the most important requirements is to provide increased variety to troops operating for long periods on rations, which will help reduce menu fatigue. These new menus have been developed to meet the needs of service personnel operating in the extreme climates of Afghanistan and Iraq, providing them with a wider range of nutritionally balanced meals."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2009
16:37 ||
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#1
"Mushroom Pasta and Halal" > D *** NG IT, ITS HERESY, HERESY I SAY!
al Qaeda has banded with the Taliban and an assortment of allied jihadi groups to create what it calls the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army. This is essentially al Qaeda's paramilitary force that operates in Pakistan's northwest and in eastern and southern Afghanistan. Hek's Secret Army of Doom has been dusted off... Al Qaeda has reformed its notorious 055 Brigade and added on several other brigades made of of Arab, Central Asians, and South Asians.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/09/2009
16:17 ||
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Last year's assassination of Imad Mugniyah, Hezbollah's military commander who was wanted for his role in scores of high-profile attacks, was facilitated by the capture of a senior Hezbollah officer in Iraq, an Israeli newspaper reported.
The report claimed that important details used to plan the assassination were gathered from Ali Moussa Daqduq, a Hezbollah operative who was arrested in Iraq in January 2007, where he was allgedly training members of the Shiite Mahdi Army. He was handed to US intelligence agents, who extracted a wealth of information about Mugniyah from their prisoner, including his telephone numbers, his physical description, his behavioral traits and the names of his acquaintances.
The US then passed this information to the Israeli intelligence service, which began planning an operation to kill the Hezbollah military mastermind. The newspaper says a single mistake by Mugniyah led to his death. Israel received intelligence that he would be attending a reception hosted by Iran's new ambassador to Damascus to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Mugniyah had apparently eschewed his usual security detail for the event, traveling without his bodyguards or chauffeur, and had arrived at the reception alone. He had no idea that a Mossad hit squad was lying in wait for him. According to the newspaper, Israel had dispatched a team of agents tasked with killing Mugniyah to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq before the reception. The team slipped across the border into Syria in three vehicles and began monitoring their target the day before he died.
Mugniyah's assassination is arguably one of the biggest successes in the war. He was behind the single largest attack against Americans after the Sept. 11 strikes. Mugniyah engineered the suicide attacks in Beirut that killed 241 US Marines and and 58 French paratroopers in 1982. He also was behind the establishment of the Mahdi Army.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/09/2009
16:06 ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed four American soldiers and an interpreter Monday, the U.S. military said.
The military said three soldiers were killed when the bomb exploded near their vehicle. Another soldier died later of wounds.
An interpreter injured in the strike died later as well.
Violence has been dropping in Iraq, but the Mosul area remains one of the more volatile regions because of ethnic tensions and the presence of the al Qaeda in Iraq militant group.
Twenty-two American military personnel have been killed in the war this year, 14 of them in nonhostile circumstances.
The number of troops to die in the nearly 6-year-old war stands at 4,242.
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C) has further ingratiated himself with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not by declaring that Pelosi and Harry Reid "failed" the bipartisanship test on stimulus.
"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."
Shuler, rumored to be mulling a '10 Senate run, was one of 11 House Democrats to vote "no" on the stimulus and was already deep in Pelosi's doghouse. Now he'll have to build a Harry Reid wing.
If this sleazeball had knocked off a convenience store for %50 bucks he'd be in jail. Picture to the right is the original Charles Ponzi.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Bernard Madoff have reached an agreement that could eventually force the disgraced investor to pay a civil fine and return money raised from investors. $50 Billion returned plus civil fine? NOT likely. Maybe they could work the scheme backwards, take last commissioned paid and give to previous investors, etc. etc. Any other fairytale suggestions.
The agreement states that the allegations of fraud cannot be contested by Madoff and that possible penalties will be decided "at a later time."
The SEC says that it has submitted the agreement to a Manhattan federal judge, who has to sign off on it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2009 16:43
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The SEC says the basic facts of the complaint are that Madoff committed a $50 billion fraud and told his sons his investment business was a sham. Madoff told them he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," according to the complaint.
Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't that make the "restitution" part of the deal a bit difficult? But, then again, I'm not one of them financial geniuses at the SEC...
#6
The SEC is covering its own tracks that a public trial would show gross incompetence at best and implied collusion at worst. It's just another serious indication how compromised the SEC people have become in regulating the individuals and organizations in the 'business'.
#7
No problem, just give $50 billion of TARP 2 to Madoff so he can make restitution. I'm just surprised Obama hasn't picked Madoff as head of the Social Security Administration.
According to the findings of a new poll conducted in Gaza by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion,
the PCPO has been in operation for many years, they do their best to report straight although there are enormous problems with sampling in this area
support in the ruling Hamas government has drastically gone down following the Israel Defense Forces offensive in the coastal strip.
Only 28% of the Palestinians now say they support Hamas, compared to 51% who voiced their support for Hamas in November 2008.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' moderate Fatah party has seen a rise in favorability rate, with 42% of the Palestinians in Gaza now supporting Fatah, compared to 31% in November.
Despite the findings of the poll, more than half of those questioned said they hold Israel responsible for the recent escalation in Gaza.
mhw: please note the formatting change: no space after your comment and no brackets. AoS.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a "truth commission" to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Leahy outlined his suggestion for a "truth and reconciliation" commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday. "I'm doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out," he said. Whose verson?
The panel he envisions would be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges, he said. That will be saved for a Special Prosecuter.
Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping. Weren't members of Congress informed of the warrentless wiretapping?
"Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened" during the Bush administration, Leahy said. We can go for vengence later.
Some Democrats have called for criminal investigations of those who authorized certain controversial tactics in the war on terror. Republicans have countered that such decisions made in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks should not be second-guessed.
"We need to be able to read the page before we turn the page," Leahy said. "We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the government created a 9/11 commission to examine failures within government anti-terror efforts. Leahy said that commission was hampered by a lack of cooperation from the administration, and would like a new commission to have access to everything they needed. He means the Bush administration was not in charge when these "failures" occured so we need a Commision to re-write History so everything can be blamed on Bush.
He said he was offering the idea to see how much support it had. No support among most people but the Moonbat Left Bush Deraingement Syndromers will have a real wankfest.
"We need to see whether the American people are ready to take this path," he said, adding that he did not have anyone in particular in mind to lead the commission, but wanted "people with real credibility." Real credibility in Washington? He means people who have a political agenda, i.e. the total destruction of the Republican Party. This puts me in mind of the Macarthy Hearings.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/09/2009
15:01 ||
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#1
Go for it Senator. This is just what the electorate wants you to be doing as the deficit balloons over a trillion dollars and unemployment heads to double digits.
#2
Is bankruptcy really such a bad thing for these companies? Once bankrupt, they can renegotiate contracts with suppliers, dealerships, and unions from a position of strength, rather than continuing to do what led them to this situation. I'd rather they do that, come out viable, and not pay us back, than that they more or less continue business as usual... and can not pay us back. But then, I understand so very little about such matters.
#3
See also REDDIT > 15 COMPANIES WHICH MIGHT NOT SURVIVE 2009 [ or in the altern may have to make aerious or abnormal Corporate changes, etc. to survive in the marketplace]. LIST INCLUDES, to wit:
* RITE AID
* SBARRO'S - have outlet here on Guam.
* REALOGY CORP. - COLDWELL Banks.
* BLOCKBUSTER - also has outlets here on Guam.
* SIX FLAGS [Magic Mountain?].
* TRUMP ENTERTAINMENT HOLDINGS - DA DONUUUULD.
* ALSO, STARS-N-STRIPES > seems many US Communities affected by the BRACS have had to reshuffle large $$$ funding support from planned local re-development projects due to the recession.
The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the governments commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nations home mortgages.
The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged up to $5.7 trillion more. The Senate is to vote this week on an economic-stimulus measure of at least $780 billion. It would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.
Only the stimulus bill to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates enacted in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion is in lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the Fed and FDIC. Recipients names have not been disclosed.
Weve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country, Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?
Financial Rescue
The pledges, amounting to almost two-thirds of the value of everything produced in the U.S. last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up about 18 months ago. The promises are composed of about $1 trillion in stimulus packages, around $3 trillion in lending and spending and $5.7 trillion in agreements to provide aid. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps.
Federal Reserve lending to banks peaked at a record $2.3 trillion in December, dropping to $1.83 trillion by last week. The Fed balance sheet is still more than double the $880 billion it was in the week before Sept. 17 when it agreed to accept lower-quality collateral.
The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $14.5 trillion, or 33 percent, of the value of the worlds companies since Sept. 15; brought down Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; and led to the takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp.
The $9.7 trillion in pledges would be enough to send a $1,430 check to every man, woman and child alive in the world. Its 13 times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and is almost enough to pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve.
All the Stops
The Fed, Treasury and FDIC are pulling out all the stops to stop any widespread systemic damage to the economy, said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Inc. in Dallas and a former senior economist at the central bank. The federal government is on the hook for an awful lot of money but I think its needed to help the financial system recover.
Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and FDIC and interviewed regulators, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the governments rescue effort.
Commitments may expand again soon. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner postponed until tomorrow an announcement that may invite private investment as a way to clear toxic debt from bank balance sheets. Measures that have been settled include a new round of injections of taxpayer funds into banks, targeted at those identified by regulators as most in need of additional capital, people briefed on the matter said.
Program Delay
The government is already backing $301 billion of Citigroup Inc. securities and another $118 billion from Bank of America. The government hasnt yet paid out on any of the guarantees.
The Fed said Friday that it is delaying the start a $200 billion program called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, to revive the market for securities based on consumer loans such as credit-card, auto and student borrowings.
Most of the spending programs are run out of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Geithner served as president. He was sworn in as Treasury secretary on Jan. 26.
When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. The Federal Reserve so far is refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return. Collateral is an asset pledged by a borrower in the event a loan payment isnt made.
Fed Sued
Bloomberg requested details of Fed lending under the Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral. Arguments in the suit may be heard as soon as this month, according to the court docket. Bloomberg asked the Treasury in an FOIA request Jan. 28 for a detailed list of the securities it planned to guarantee for Citigroup and Bank of America. Bloomberg hasnt received a response to the request.
The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
WARSAW (AFP) As Poles reeled in shock Monday after the beheading of a Polish engineer by militants in Pakistan, their government vowed to hunt down his murderers and bring them to justice.
"Now we can no longer save our compatriot, we are going to try to punish his killers," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after confirming that a video tape of Piotr Stanczak's execution was authentic. "A crime was committed, so there must be an investigation, a search for the guilty parties, and if possible, they must be brought before a court and served due punishment."
Sikorski said the Polish justice ministry was in the process of getting an international arrest issued for Stanczak's suspected killers.
Justice Minister Andrzej Czuma blamed Pakistan's "apathy" towards tackling terrorism for the killing. "The structure of the Pakistani government is behind this apathy. The Pakistani authorities encourage these bandits," Czuma told the PAP news agency.
He said the Polish diplomatic service had been in permanent contact with Pakistani officials throughout Stanczak's capture.
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote to his Polish counterpart Sikorski to express his anger at the murder. "This crime fills us with deep sadness and horror," Steinmeier wrote. "The German government condemns this horrible act in the strongest possible terms."
A group linked to Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency released a video of the execution of Stanczak on Sunday. Polish broadcasters showed only a still image from the video.
Stanczak, 42, was working as a geologist in Pakistan for a Polish oil and natural gas exploration company when he was seized in the volatile northwest of the country on September 28. His abductors killed his driver and his bodyguard.
The gruesome beheading of Stanczak -- the first of a Pole by Islamic militants -- caused widespread shock and revulsion in Poland. "Never in Poland have we had such a situation," said Jacek Cichocki, security adviser to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "We see films about citizens from other countries -- Americans, British -- but not Poles."
Cichocki said the kidnappers had originally demanded the release of 60 Islamist fighters held in Pakistan but eventually watered down their demands to just four. Other Polish officials said the killer of US journalist Daniel Pearl, slain after he was kidnapped in 2002 in Pakistan, was among those whose release had been sought. Stanczak's captors also wanted Poland to pull out the 1,600 troops it has deployed in Afghanistan as part of the UN-mandated and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
His killing was front page news in Poland's national dailies Monday, with several printing a static image from his execution video showing him flanked by two masked and armed men.
Behind the headlines, commentaries questioned if Tusk's government had done enough to try and free Stanczak. Leading broadsheet Gazeta Wyborcza asked: "The Polish government, did it do everything?"
Posted by: tu3031 ||
02/09/2009
13:21 ||
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#1
Sic 'em.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/09/2009 16:14
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#2
F'n-Muslims are doing their cause great justice again eh?
Just more disgusting public relations for them..
Mo'Graphic Slaughter of real Human Beings by the Islamic-sub-humans. And now the scum bags are burning down Forests in OZ.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
02/09/2009 16:52
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#3
How 'bout sending 20,000 Polish military personnel, along with some support units, to Afghanistan? We'll try to add another 30,000, if our current "president" doesn't get cold feet. We can ask the Indians to attack from the east, the US and NATO attack from the north, and the US and whatever other troops we can scrounge up to make an amphibious landing along the coast. We should all meet in Islamabad. From there we can dismember "Pakistan", giving half to India and the other half to Afghanistan, using the Indus River as a natural boundary. That would go a LONG way toward ending 60 years of political and criminal mischief and mayhem.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 17:21
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#4
"A crime was committed, so there must be an investigation, a search for the guilty parties, and if possible, they must be brought before a court and served due punishment."
Good luck with that. OP's method would have a greater chance of success. It's not a crime. It's an act of war. If Poles aren't ready to fight the war they should stay out of Pakistan because it is a war zone.
BTW, need I mention it was a POLISH General who lead the coalition armies that defeated the Turks in the Vienna Woods?
The Poles got a bad rap because the Nazis clobbered them in about six days in 1939, it was less to do with bravery than lousy equipment. The Poles that made it west were excellent pilots and tough relentless fighters.
All heck is going to break loose in the "tribal areas". Between the poles, the SO's and the drones, the hardboyz are going to have some "splaining to do".
Posted by: James Carville ||
02/09/2009 18:12
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The United States, its NATO allies and the government of Hamid Karzai are losing not just ground in Afghanistan -- but also the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.
A new poll in Afghanistan finds the United States, its NATO allies and the government of Hamid Karzai are losing not just ground in Afghanistan -- but also the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. A new national public opinion poll in Afghanistan by ABC News, the BBC and ARD German TV finds that performance ratings and support levels for the Kabul government and its Western allies have plummeted from their peaks, particularly in the past year. Widespread strife, a resurgent Taliban, struggling development, soaring corruption and broad complaints about food, fuel, power and prices all play a role.
Of course ABC news doesn't reflect on the fact that in 2001, Afghans weren't allowed to have opinions, and ABC News wasn't allowed into the country.
The effects are remarkable: With expectations for security and economic development unmet, the number of Afghans who say their country is headed in the right direction has dived from 77 percent in 2005 to 40 percent now -- fewer than half for the first time in these polls.
In 2005, moreover, 83 percent of Afghans expressed a favorable opinion of the United States -- unheard of in a Muslim nation. Today just 47 percent still hold that view, down 36 points, accelerating with an 18-point drop in U.S. favorability this year alone. For the first time slightly more Afghans now see the United States unfavorably than favorably.
The number who say the United States has performed well in Afghanistan has been more than halved, from 68 percent in 2005 to 32 percent now. Ratings of NATO/ISAF forces are no better. Just 37 percent of Afghans now say most people in their area support Western forces; it was 67 percent in 2006. And 25 percent now say attacks on U.S. or NATO/ISAF forces can be justified, double the level, 13 percent, in 2006.
Nor does the election of Barack Obama hold much promise in the eyes of the Afghan public: While two in 10 think he'll make things better for their country, nearly as many think he'll make things worse. The rest either expect no change, or are waiting to see.
This survey is ABC's fourth in Afghanistan since 2005, part of its ongoing "Where Things Stand" series there and in Iraq. It was conducted in late December and early January via face-to-face interviews with a random national sample of 1,534 Afghan adults in all 34 of the country's provinces, with field work by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul.
The survey comes at a critical time for the conflict in Afghanistan, as the United States begins nearly to double its deployment of troops there, adding as many as 30,000 to the 32,000 already present, and, under the new Obama administration, to rethink its troubled strategy. (Said Vice President Joe Biden: "We've inherited a real mess.")
While Afghans likely will welcome a new strategy, they're far cooler on new troops: Contrary to Washington's plans, just 18 percent say the number of U.S. and NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan should be increased. Far more, 44 percent, want the opposite -- a decrease in the level of these forces. (ISAF stands for International Security Assistance Force, the U.N.-mandated, NATO-led multinational force in Afghanistan.)
SECURITY -- The failures to date to hold ground and provide effective security are powerful factors in Afghan public opinion. Far fewer than in past years say Western forces have a strong presence in their area (34 percent, down from 57 percent in 2006), or -- crucially -- see them as effective in providing security (42 percent, down from 67 percent).
Amid widespread experience of warfare -- gun battles, bombings and air strikes among them -- the number of Afghans who rate their own security positively has dropped from 72 percent in 2005 to 55 percent today -- and it goes far lower in high-conflict provinces. In the country's beleaguered Southwest (Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces) only 26 percent feel secure from crime and violence; in Helmand alone, just 14 percent feel safe.
Civilian casualties in U.S. or NATO/ISAF air strikes are a key complaint. Seventy-seven percent of Afghans call such strikes unacceptable, saying the risk to civilians outweighs the value of these raids in fighting insurgents. And Western forces take more of the blame for such casualties, a public relations advantage for anti-government forces: Forty-one percent of Afghans chiefly blame U.S. or NATO/ISAF forces for poor targeting, vs. 28 percent who mainly blame the insurgents for concealing themselves among civilians.
Given that view, more Afghans now blame the country's strife on the United States and its allies than on the Taliban. Thirty-six percent mostly blame U.S., Afghan or NATO forces or the U.S. or Afghan governments for the violence that's occurring, up by 10 points from 2007. Fewer, 27 percent, now mainly blame the Taliban, down by 9 points.
Afghanistan's central and provincial governments have a stronger presence and greater public confidence than Western forces -- but they, too, have suffered. In 2005, still celebrating the Taliban's ouster in November 2001, 83 percent of Afghans approved of the work of President Karzai and 80 percent approved of the national government overall. Today those have slid to 52 and 49 percent respectively. (Karzai's expected to run for re-election in August.) And fewer than half rate their provincial government positively.
IMPACT -- Crucially, the Kabul government and its Western allies do better where they are seen as having a strong presence and as being effective in providing security, as well as in areas where reported conflict is lower. Where security is weaker or these groups have less presence, their ratings decline sharply.
For example, among people who say the central government, the provincial government or Western forces have a strong local presence, 58, 57 and 46 percent, respectively, approve of their performance. Where the presence of these entities is seen as weak, however, their respective approval ratings drop to just 31, 22 and 25 percent.
#2
It's almost funny to see the brain-dead US and western media concepts of "going in the right direction" etc. applied to A'stan. That place is going in any direction?
The insane misunderstanding of civilian casualties is also revealing of the level of information - and common sense - applied to this crucial question. Sounds like it's approaching the Iraqi/Arab level of moral inversion: the bad guys are the ones taking enormous care in trying to eliminate the people who deliberately aim to kill as many innocents as possible.
Keep the lid on, deny use to the enemy. Always was the only sensible strategic objective there. Still is.
#3
You can't help someone if they don't want it. This place will just become a stalemate with pockets of good and bad.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/09/2009 11:45
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#4
When the "bad guys" are not properly suppressed and the common man (and his boss) are threatened with death they keep a low profile to include answering stupid foreigners questions. Any poll in that situation just reflects the need for that low profile.
An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.
His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.
Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.
The lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog.
Attorneys for the immigrants - five women and 11 men who were trying to cross illegally into the United States - have accused Mr. Barnett of holding the group captive at gunpoint, threatening to turn his dog loose on them and saying he would shoot anyone who tried to escape.
The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which also charged that Sheriff Dever did nothing to prevent Mr. Barnett from holding their clients at "gunpoint, yelling obscenities at them and kicking one of the women."
In the lawsuit, MALDEF said Mr. Barnett approached the group as the immigrants moved through his property, and that he was carrying a pistol and threatening them in English and Spanish. At one point, it said, Mr. Barnett's dog barked at several of the women and he yelled at them in Spanish, "My dog is hungry and he's hungry for buttocks."
The lawsuit said he then called his wife and two Border Patrol agents arrived at the site. It also said Mr. Barnett acknowledged that he had turned over 12,000 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol since 1998.
In March, U.S. District Judge John Roll rejected a motion by Mr. Barnett to have the charges dropped, ruling there was sufficient evidence to allow the matter to be presented to a jury. Mr. Barnett's attorney, David Hardy, had argued that illegal immigrants did not have the same rights as U.S. citizens.
Mr. Barnett told The Washington Times in a 2002 interview that he began rounding up illegal immigrants after they started to vandalize his property, northeast of Douglas along Arizona Highway 80. He said the immigrants tore up water pumps, killed calves, destroyed fences and gates, stole trucks and broke into his home. Some of his cattle died from ingesting the plastic bottles left behind by the immigrants, he said, adding that he installed a faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank so the immigrants would stop damaging the tank to get water.
Mr. Barnett said some of the ranchŽs established immigrant trails were littered with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil - which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their "clients" to keep them running.
He said he carried a pistol during his searches for the immigrants and had a rifle in his truck "for protection" against immigrant and drug smugglers, who often are armed.
Roger Barnett said he had turned over 12,000 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol since 1998.
A former Cochise County sheriffŽs deputy who later was successful in the towing and propane business, Mr. Barnett spent $30,000 on electronic sensors, which he has hidden along established trails on his ranch. He searches the ranch for illegal immigrants in a pickup truck, dressed in a green shirt and camouflage hat, with his handgun and rifle, high-powered binoculars and a walkie-talkie.
His sprawling ranch became an illegal-immigration highway when the Border Patrol diverted its attention to several border towns in an effort to take control of the established ports of entry. That effort moved the illegal immigrants to the remote areas of the border, including the Cross Rail Ranch.
"This is my land. IŽm the victim here," Mr. Barnett said. "When someoneŽs home and loved ones are in jeopardy and the government seemingly canŽt do anything about it, I feel justified in taking matters into my own hands. And I always watch my back."
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/09/2009 15:10
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#3
I guess Roger Barnett has learned HIS lesson - shoot first, and shoot to kill. Leave the bodies for the coyotes. Get a few hundred people doing that, and the flow of illegals will dry up.
What kind of idiot judge would accept such a stupid case? HAS to be a Democrat. The judge needs to make an acquaintance with a short rope and a long drop for pursuing this. "MALDEF" needs to be labelled a terrorist organization and drummed out of business, along with anyone who's EVER been a member. I'm getting sick and tired of the continuing reconquesta and the idiots that promote, protect, and perpetuate it. If things don't change soon, and a great deal, I'll even contemplate the nuking of Mexico City, as much as I like that city...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 16:54
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#4
While it seems ridiculous to you and me, I suspect Barnett is in serious trouble here. Holding someone at gunpoint when they are not demonstrating danger to you is often a violation of some kind (though I don't know AZ law.) The real crime is that the US government is absolutely failing to carry out its Constitutional duty to protect our borders. Unfortunately, you can't sue the government without its consent.
#5
ION REDDIT > 20 MORE US STATES TO CLAIM THEIR SOVEREIGNTY AGZ OBAMA STIMULUS PLAN.
* STRATEGYPAGE > AMERICAN AIR SPACE IS UNDEFENDED [USAF plan to afford, buy advanc F22/35's ATFP's via early retirement of 137 F-15's + 177 F-16's from Air Guard units charged wid strategic mission of intercepting enemy aircraft]???
IFF MEXI ILLEGALS CAN SUE IN US COURTS, WHY NOT THE RUSSIAN AIR FORCE- PLAAF!
D *** NG IT, HOW DARE THE USA = USDOD, USAF, + US CTIES MALICIOUSLY INTERVENE AND STOP A LR NUCLEAR MIRV ICBM(S) FROM RIGHTEOUSLY HITTING ITS CONUS TARGET(S)!
* TOPIX/OTHER > US NINTH COURT RULES "PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT" IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Lest we fergit, UN NINTH > the USA = future OWG-NWO USSA/USR is already an ILLEGAL + UNCONSTITUTIONAL NATION, HENCE HAS NO LEGAL STANDING TO ENABLE OR OBSTRUCT, TO ATTACK OR DEFEND,.........ETC. AGZ ANYTHING + ANYONE + ANY OTHER NATION.
#1
The continuance of ideology more than anything else points to social Darwinism on one extreme and Hegelianism on the other extreme.
That is, in the former example, the superior system survives and the inferior system fails and dies out. In the latter, that the two systems combine to produce a hybrid system with the best elements of both.
Criticisms of both exist as well. Archaic and bad ides, say Nazism, still exist in some form, so have not utterly died out, disputes a natural selection of ideas; as well as bad ideas that emerge in every generation, without any direct links to the past.
But Hegelianism can be criticized as well, because often it is not the best of ideas, but the worst of ideas, that are blended together over time.
This means that in the long run, ideology must be destructive enough to wipe out its competitors, which has led us to the state we find ourselves in today. Civilization vs. Barbarism.
The two can no longer coexist--one of them must die out, or be reduced so much that its end is inevitable.
A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed at least 28 people and wounded 90 this morning as soldiers searched a group of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's northeastern conflict zone, according to the Army.
The bomber blew herself up while she was being frisked for weapons near Vishvamadu, a town recently captured by the Army as it edges towards a conventional military victory over the Tigers. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the military, said the blast killed two officers, 18 other soldiers, and eight civilians.
State television footage of the bomb site showed several civilians - including a child in a purple dress - lying lifeless on blood-stained ground among overturned plastic chairs.
The attack has raised fears that the Tigers may resort to further suicide attacks - a tactic they pioneered over the last 25 years of civil war - now that they have lost their air force, navy and heavy artillery.
It also highlights the problems facing the Government as it tries to comply with international demands to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone while protecting its own forces and preventing Tigers from escaping.
It's the problem every government faces when dealing with terrorism. The terrorists have no qualms using splodydopes. This is Sri Lanka, so I expect the government to have a vigorous response.
A year-long military campaign has now pinned the rebels down in a 67-square mile patch of jungle in the north-eastern district of Mullaittivu, along with an estimated 250,000 mostly Tamil civilians. The Red Cross has warned of a serious humanitarian crisis in the area, and several foreign governments - led by the United States and Britain - have called for a ceasefire to allow the civilians to leave the area.
So that they can blow themselves up on the Lankans ...
The government rejected those calls last week, accusing the Tigers of using civilians as human shields, an allegation denied by the rebels who say the civilians do not want to leave because they are afraid of the Army.
Today, however, the Government said that the number of civilians fleeing the conflict zone had picked up in the last few days, with a total of at least 17,300 leaving since Thursday.
The rebels usually deny involvement in any attacks that kill civilians, but they have been accused of carrying out more than 200 suicide attacks over the course of Asia's longest running civil war. Listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and India, they are credited with inventing the suicide jacket and the culture of martyrdom surrounding the suicide bomber.
A senior Foreign Office diplomat has been arrested for inciting racial hatred after an angry tirade at his gym.
News reports today said that Rowan Laxton, 47, allegedly shouted "f***ing Israelis, f***ing Jews while watching television reports of the Israeli attack on Gaza last month. He is also alleged to have said that Israeli soldiers should be "wiped off the face of the Earth" during the rant at the London Business School gym near Regents Park. The Daily Mail said that the tirade continued even after other gym users asked him to stop.
He was arrested? This is Europe, why wasn't he promoted?
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined to comment on the case because it was "currently subject to police inquiries", but it is believed that Mr Laxton, who heads the FCO's South Asia Group, is working normally.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: "A 47-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an incident that took place on the 27th January following a complaint received by police from a member of the public. He was bailed pending further inquiries and is due to return at the end of March to a Central London police station."
The maximum penalty for inciting religious hatred is a seven-year prison term or a fine or both.
Mr Laxton, an Oxford graduate, joined the diplomatic service in 1993 and rose quickly through the ranks. He has served in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As head of his section, he in charge of UK diplomatic policy in South Asia, directly briefing David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who is Jewish.
#5
This is not likely to incite anything but contempt for the diplomatic service.
Should he be fired? Yes.
Pointed out and laughed at? Yes.
Have his finances investigated? Yes, by all means.
Should he be jailed? No, at least not on this charge. Remember, this cuts both ways.
#6
Remaninds me of a story of a Nazi who lost a cushy job escorting Jews to Aushwitz and was transfered to the Estern Front for "alarming his charges".
#7
I agree with Atomic Conspiracy on the free speech issue.
On the other hand:
Posted by: Mike ||
02/09/2009 11:32
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#8
The Official Secrets Act and all that are fine - in fact I continue to think it's appalling beyond words that the NYT and others (incl. their sources) haven't been punished severely for their outrageous acts WRT secret operations in war-time. But arresting someone for "incitement"?
I wish the guy ill in all parts of his life, but arresting people for talking is insane, and creepy coming from the one place in Europe least creepy in this regard. Hell, it's like a whole part of the "free world" is almost as unfree as, say, a major US college campus ....
#10
There's a crazy person who lives up Old Forge Road holler somewheres, whose mad full-chested shouts can be heard echoing in the hills and canyon south of my home town. He doesn't hurt anybody, just sounds alarming if you happen to be out and about when he's on a tirade. That crazy man doesn't need to be arrested.
But I don't want him employed by the State Department, either.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/09/2009 13:14
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It looks like he's gone native, probably turned muslim.
He is responsible for all the UK's diplomacy in that area and for briefing Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is Jewish.
Mr Laxton has worked extensively in the Middle East - he married a Muslim woman in 2000 - and has been deputy ambassador to Afghanistan.
The case could not have come at a worse time for the Foreign Office. Next week, Britain is hosting an international summit on combating anti-Semitism, with politicians from 35 countries. He ran the British High Commission in Pakistan for three years before moving to Afghanistan in 2001. He stayed in Kabul for two years, then returned to London. He was appointed head of his section last year.
Mr Laxton is believed to be separated from his wife, a banker who is working in the United Arab Emirates.
The Israel page of the Foreign Office website says: 'The Government has a shared responsibility to tackle anti-Semitism and all other forms of racism and prejudice'.
There has long been a lot of antisemitism in Britain's Foreign Office. It may not be the case in this instance but in general, it is said to be a homosexual thing. Arabs understand concealed homosexuality and concealed homosexuality is said to be common in the FO. FO people mostly come from "Public" (fee-paying) school backgrounds, where homosexuality was traditionally tolerated
#3
The USA has not been serious about counterintelligence since the 1940's. The next devastating spy case is just around the bend. I fear that when it comes, we will all ask ourselves why we didn't stop it. I suspect I already know the answer. No, we will not all be asking ourselves why we didn't stop it. We will collectively say, "D'oh!"
#4
Is it really spying if these folks are the same ones the US relies on to develop the the gen technology and products?
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2009 14:28
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IIRC, the BRITISH GOVT? claimed the other day or so that it was being assailed by approximately 20 FOREIGN INTEL SERVICES, in activities ranging from Covert Deep Opers to "benign" routine computer hacking???
#6
You saw it here yesterday, JosephM. The Brits have good reason to be thankful the CIA is spying on their bad guys, since they can't keep track of them.
#1
Newsweak may be socialist, but the rest of us can make up our own minds. The European model is totally refuted by the problems that model created for Europe - high unemployment, huge social welfare costs, unlimited, unassimilated immigration, a weak military, and a governing class that has nothing but disdain for the "people". It CAN happen here, and Obambi is trying hard to make sure it happens here, but I don't see him succeeding. All he's going to do is make such a mess it'll take decades to clean it all up. Since we're going to have to clean up HIS mess, we need to clean up Woodrow Wilson's, FD Roosevelt's, and JB Johnson's messes at the same time - it'll be easier to clean it all up at once than to try to do it piecemeal. To do it, we're going to have to trumpet every failure of the Democratic Party, establish a strong CONSERVATIVE party that actually believes that the smaller the government, the better the government, and that the Constitution means what it says.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 15:22
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Then we all better get used to stagnation and double digit unemployment.
...A president doesnt have to be able to walk on water. But he does have to choose the right crew for the ship, especially if hes planning on spending most of his time at the captains table schmoozing the celebrity guests with a lot of deep thoughts about hope and change. Far worse than his cabinet picks was President Obamas decision to make the stimulus racket the all-but-sole priority of his first month, and then outsource the project to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Harry Reid. Appearing on The Rush Limbaugh Show last week, I got a little muddled over two adjoining newspaper clippingsone on the stimulus, the other on those octuplets in Californiaand for a brief moment the two stories converged. Everyones hammering that momshes divorced, unemployed, living in a small house with parents who have a million bucks worth of debt, and shes already got six kids. So she has in vitro fertilization to have eight more. But isnt that exactly what the Feds have done? Last fall, they gave birth to an $850 billion bailout they couldnt afford and didnt have enough time to keep an eye on, and now four months later theyre going to do it all over again, but this time they want trillionuplets. Barney and Nancy represent the in vitro fertilization of the federal budget. And its the taxpayers wholl get stuck with the diapers....
Go read it all
Posted by: Mike ||
02/09/2009
09:36 ||
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Bosnian MUslim chief Imam Mustafa Ceric has expressed his support for the growing Wahhabi brand of Islam in Bosnia and condemned those who are worried over the spread of this extremist Islamic doctrine for "spreading islamophobia".
"Those that are accusing us that their situation is bad because of Islam and the 'new' Muslims are joining the islamophobia that is us, Bosnian Muslims, old and new remind on the experience of the survived genocide," said Ceric during the ISlamic prayer on Friday in the mosque in the eastern town of Sokolac.
Ceric also said that to some "new Muslims who call themselves Wahhabis" are troubling and that is because these Muslims have "survived genocide and are against the regime of apartheid" that dominates in Bosnia.
Wahhabis have been reintroduced to Bosnia during the 1990s when Bosnian Muslims waged Jihad against Bosnian Christians and invited holy warriors from Middle East to Bosnia granting them citizenship and marrying them off with Bosnian Muslim women.
Bosnian Muslims believe that supposedly a genocide of them occurred during the time when they waged Jihad in the 1990s.
Ceric's support for the Bosnian Wahhabis comes days after a Croatian cardinal Puljic expressed concern at the growing Islamic extremism. "There is a certain mentality that is not native to Bosnia. I do not know it well but I know that they call it Wahhabis," said Puljic. "I speak of this rarely because I immediately get threats."
After Puljic's comments, Imam Ceric said publicly that Bosnian Muslims are a capable of meeting modern challenges and that they do not need anyone's "paternalism".
Ceric said that "Bosnian Muslims, not the old nor the new will infringe no ones right to life, liberty, property and dignity".
Puljic's statements were made during his visit to Washington where he met congressmen and held lectures. While there, Puljic pleaded for protection of Bosnia's Catholics saying that nearly half of Croats have left Bosnia.
Puljic also spoke with Steward Jones, Jason Hyland and Rosemary DiCarlo from the State Department. "It is a sad fact that in those conversations one people were never mentioned, Croatians, not to mention about their rights," Puljic commented on those meetings.
How long does it take people to get something through their skulls? The Prez is black. I've been used to it since months before it happened. (And it seemed normal to me back when he was a long shot.) Are people really still going around dumbfounded, marveling that this this! happened in America? What is wrong with you? Get up to speed, people.
And yes, I'm very interested in the first big press conference. But that's because the country seems to be going to hell, and I want to see some competence and accountability. If Obama's people think they are "staging" some feel-good diversity show it's "the first African American president ... talking on television"! they must be crazy.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/09/2009
08:48 ||
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#1
Just like the revival crowd that gathered celebrating the return of the 60s anti-war movement to promote 'Defeat in Iraq'(tm), there's a large segment of the society that is fixated upon those 60s and have never paid attention to changes in society as a whole since then. For them their perspective is anchored to some event back then and they are oblivious to the changes that have evolved around them. Unfortunately, they're still making policy and voting as though it still was the 60s.
#2
Some people think of the 60's and early 70's as the 'Glory Days' of their lives and never really left. Take Bill Ayers (Please!) or John "I've served in Vietnam and have re-enacted home-videos to prove it" Kerry. To them nothing has changed since.
#5
Back in September I was at the reenactment of the Battle of Chickamauga Creek in North Georgia when a German TV crew asked if they could talk to me. They were un-interested in the Battle but wanted to talk politics. After a few minutes I was asked if I really thought a Black man could be elected President. I said Yes. Yhen I asked him if a Black man could ever be elected to lead Germany and he and his crew almost rolled on the ground laughing. I took that for a no.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/09/2009 15:22
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#6
She's quite late (though no dummy, I found her stuff so banal and often worse that I stopped looking at her stuff a long time ago). Way back in the summer and fall, I'd mock the silly people so impressed with the skin color of the ridiculous Dem front-runner/candidate with "get out much?", making the same point. I've never been horrified and ashamed of the country as I have been, and remain, since the hysteria of '06, culminating in the insanity of the election and today.
Six years ago I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.
The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.
I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.
Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."
Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.
In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending-it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care, and education."
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."
Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single parent homes and out of wedlock births.
It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
#1
" Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom. "
Does anyone here actually think that this will have anything to do with choice? As Maobama proceeds everyone will be treated as a fugitive slave and rounded up to be returned to the plantation. Alternately, the plantation will expand to the point where there is no alternative.
#3
Unfortunately, there are far too many people willing to sell themselves - cheap. The rest of us are going to be a minority. It's going to take a tremendous amount of coordination to pull together to fight the encroaching socialism. Too many people have accepted that a government stipend is their RIGHT, regardless of whether they've done anything to actually EARN it. Things are going to be a royal mess for many, many years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 15:16
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"Instead of POOR AMERICAN ON SOCIALISM BECOMING MORE LIKE A RICH AMERICAN ON CAPITALISM,RICH AMERICA ON CAPITALISM IS BECOMING MORE LIKE A POOR AMERICA ON SOCIALISM" > aka 1980's GORBACHEVISM [vv Glasnost-Perestroika], i.e. INSTEAD OF RAISING THE [econ bankrupt]SOVIET UNION + COMMUNIST WORLD-EAST TO THE LEVELS OF THE US-WEST + DEMOCAPITALISM, BRING THE SUCCESSFUL LATTER DOWN TO THE FAILED OR FAILING/WEAK LEVELS OF THE FORMER.
But hey, what does a Madonna fan = Guy-from-Guam know, espec 30 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA BABE YARNS ago ago ago.
* 1960's = 1980's MADONNA MTV ROCKUMENTARY > BBBUUUUUUUUUURRRRRPPPPPP - HI, I'm MADONNA, but I digress ....
* ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > THE NEWS.PK - CHIEF NWFP MINISTER HOTI: ANP PARTY PREDICTED NWFP UNREST DECADES AGO [30 years ago - AFGHAN WAR was bwtn the US-USSR, + Pakistan should NOT had become involved. PK Leadership ignored warnings].
A fanatical wing of the Taliban, with strong links to Al Qaeda, has moved into southern Afghanistan. The Haqqani network is operating in Kandahar alongside more traditional Taliban elements, say U.S., Afghan and Canadian officials. The group of hardcore, highly trained terrorist cells claimed responsibility for last year's attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the deadly attack on Kabul's Serena Hotel.
The organization is headed by the elderly Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former CIA favourite, now considered a rogue commander who has turned his sights on merican and NATO forces. His son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, with a $200,000 (U.S.) bounty on his head, controlled most of the Taliban combat elements in mountain passes of eastern Afghanistan along the Pakistani border. But his influence crept south last year, officials say.
"We have been told they are here and Al Qaeda is with them," said Haji Aga Lalai, director of Kandahar's Peace and Reconciliation Office, which tries to convince Taliban fighters to turn themselves in for land, houses and money. The Canadian military declined to comment, but documents obtained under access to information laws show as early as last spring, the army realized a more dangerous foe had stepped onto the battlefield.
The first indication came on March 2, 2008, when Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze was killed in well co-ordinated attacks. The documents, obtained by federal New Democrats and The Canadian Press, speculate the attacks were carried out by someone new and point to a "possible transition" in insurgent tactics.
Within weeks, Canadian troops were fighting intense, up-close battles with Taliban fighters who had previously preferred remotely detonated roadside bombs. Canadians were used to battling a tough but ragtag band of undisciplined fighters who routinely emptied their AK-47 magazines in one burst of ill-aimed fire. But now they're up against seasoned fighters who knew most of the ambush tricks and don't flinch in a firefight.
Sean Maloney, a professor of history at the Royal Military College in Kingston, said the change is an indicator that the Haqqanis, Al Qaeda and other hard-liners have taken a greater hand in training fighters. They've stepped in to southern Afghanistan because NATO had killed off some many senior and mid-level Taliban commanders, creating a leadership vacuum, he said. "I think we're going to see more and more of this and I think it is specifically because of the affects of the previous year-and-a-half of operations," Maloney said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the Haqqani group had moved into Kandahar and nearby Helmand province to provide training and support particularly in bomb-making and to carry out attacks. But Mujahid denied they had subordinated themselves to the terrorist group. "We are all fighting for Islam," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Maloney said the Haqqanis are steeped in a hard-line Islamic movement; they have few ties to the local population and will likely fight "an unconstrained war."
Lalai has not heard of the Haqqanis being directly involved in specific attacks, but said he has his own indicator of their presence. In the last three months of 2008, the number of Taliban who took up amnesty offers slowed to a trickle. "They're scared if they get caught participating in the reconciliation program that they'll be killed," he said.
#1
Time to break out the napalm and willie-pete, and tell the "international court" to shove it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 12:32
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#2
if it takes 5000 years we will fight this enemy to the end. and we will respect islam in the process, while working to include them in the political process. if 1,000,000 americans die while we uphold those principles, then so be it. it is better to be right, than alive.
#3
the enemy could be quickly eliminated without the cost of a million Americans if it comes down to it. I would suggest that Islam better learn that lesson before it has to learn it first hand. They aren't worth a million Americans
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2009 17:56
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Bounty hunters have joined armed civilians in tracking down Abu Sayyaf terrorists who holding three kidnapped Red Cross workers in Sulu province in the southern Philippines, a security official said Monday. Officials said hundreds of civilians have armed themselves and have joined police and military in sealing off a huge area in the hinterlands of Indanan town where the Abu Sayyaf is keeping Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba.
The trio was kidnapped January 15 after inspecting water and sanitation projects at a prison in the town of Patikul. Many of the armed civilians are attracted with the huge bounties on the heads of Abu Sayyaf leaders Albader Parad and Abu Pula whose real name is Umbra Jumdail, and their followers, according to the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The United States has offered as much as US $5 million for known Abu Sayyaf leaders under the Rewards for Justice System. Manila also set aside P100 million rewards for the capture of Abu Sayyaf terrorists and their leaders dead or alive. Many residents in Sulu were unaware of the huge bounties being offered by Washington and Manila on known Abu Sayyaf commanders, despite the killings of several of its top leaders the past years.
Sixteen of Sulus 19 mayors also signed a manifesto with Governor Sakur Tan giving their support to resolve the kidnapping crisis and at the same time condemning the Abu Sayyaf atrocities. Muslim religious and business groups also condemned the kidnapping of the three aid workers and other abductions in Basilan and Zamboanga City. Called the Sabiel Al-Muhtadeen Foundation, the group said these are acts against humanity and against the teachings of Islam because Islam teaches peace, harmony and sobriety for all human beings at all time.
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/09/2009
05:51 ||
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#1
The United States has offered as much as US $5 million for known Abu Sayyaf leaders under the Rewards for Justice System. Manila also set aside P100 million rewards for the capture of Abu Sayyaf terrorists and their leaders -- dead or alive.
Does the "dead or alive" apply to the US bounty, or just the Manila bounty?
If it does, it's about time.
#2
This falls under the rewards for justice program. It covers both the State Dept and DOD programs. In the Philippines it was started under the DOD program with State oversight. I believe now it is more a joint program.
To your question. If the Person of interest was killed during capture by government agencies acting on a tip from an informant, the answer is yes we the US will pay. We have paid informants there a number of times where the wanted person is killed in the capture.
The issue of bounty hunters is all together different. I did the DOD startup there and ran the program for the first year. I had a number of bounty hunters come and want to be part of this. My answer was always that we would not pay for a dead man. We would not pay for a capture that was not worked with law inforcement, DOD, or some government agency, ours or the Phils. We the US could not allow, or pay civ hit teams running around the countryside shooting people and tearing villages up looking for wanted men.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/09/2009 12:18
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hundreds of civilians have armed themselves and have joined police and military in sealing off a huge area in the hinterlands of Indanan town
Never mind the bounty hunters. This alone must be causing shivers to run up and down the spines of Abu Sayyaf and their friends... and not the good kind of shivers, either. Terror tactics only work so long as the population allows itself to be terrorized.
An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian fighter Monday in the northern Gaza Strip, the militant group Islamic Jihad said, as sporadic violence continued alongside efforts to firm up a new Gaza cease-fire.
Islamic Jihad said the fighter died while trying to prevent the infiltration of Israeli ground forces in northern Gaza. But Israel's military, which usually acknowledges such strikes, said there had been no aerial attacks or operations around the time of the man's death. Initial reports from Palestinian health officials identified the man as a farmer and said he was killed by a tank shell.
The reported death came after Israeli aircraft struck two militant positions in the territory. The Israeli military said those airstrikes early were launched in response to rocket fire from Gaza on Sunday. No injuries were reported in those aerial attacks, and the military did not identify the targets. But Palestinian officials said aircraft hit a Hamas security compound in southern Gaza that had already been struck three times during Israel's recently ended Gaza offensive and a northern Gaza field used by militants to launch rockets into Israel.
Separately, an Israeli gunboat fired a shell in the direction of a Palestinian fishing boat off the northern Gaza coast, Palestinian officials said. The military said the boat had strayed beyond limits Israel has set for fishermen, and that the gunfire was meant as a deterrent. Palestinian officials said the fishing boat was damaged but no one was injured.
The Gaza war is over, but Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip continue to mercilessly hunt down members of the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, human rights officials told Israel's Ynet news service on Sunday.
Hamas leaders accuse many of the Fatah loyalists still in Gaza of having collaborated with the Israelis during the three-week offensive against the Hamas infrastructure last month. Since the end of major military operations on January 19, at least six Fatah members are said to have been hunted down and executed, and several others have been detained for "questioning."
During the war, entire prisons full of Fatah members and other suspected collaborators with Israel were summarily executed by Hamas and its supporters.
your suggestion is one I'm led to believe was tried before and was a big part of Hamas coming to power in the first place. Gazans saw Abbas and Fatah as a bunch of corrupt, traitors and from what I've read they were right.
Now, a traitor to the "Kill the Juice" movement is okay in my book but I can see that the Gazans might not agree. So I don't think your idea has a "hearts and minds" component.
But, my real aversion to it is that Fatah seems to be made up of corrupt, incompetent cowards! So, this would more than likely wind up rearming Hamas. Other than this, I'd say go for it and screw the "hearts & minds".
A Muslim man was shot dead here late Sunday night, police said. Dorohim Saree, 29, was shot once on his head on a rural road in Moo 2 village in Tambon Nernngam of Yala's Raman district at 11:30 pm. Later at 4 am on Monday, another Muslim man, Jehah Jeh-arong, 61, was shot and severely injured in Tambon Raman of Yala's Raman district
One of them wanted to see Americans paying $8 a gallon for gasoline. Another tried to block access to domestic oil reserves that could one day exceed those in Saudi Arabia. Another thinks global warming is a dire crisis justifying a massive crackdown on energy -- decades after saying the same thing about global cooling. Yet another had a position in the one of the world's top socialist organizations.
Meet the Obama administration's energy team.
Forget everything you've heard about the president's moderate picks on the economy, national security and other issues. When it comes to energy policy and related environmental concerns, this group is off-the-charts extreme. Too bad the issue will be a critical one over the next few years.
Consider Obama's choice for energy secretary, Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Chu. "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," The Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying last September. In most Western European nations, gas taxes alone come to around $4 a gallon and are designed to make the pump price so high that people are forced to drive a lot less. At the time of Chu's comment, the "levels in Europe" were near $8 a gallon.
Chu has also said that electricity prices are "anomalously low," though he neglected to indicate how much higher he wants them to go. Instead of a secretary of energy, it sounds like America is getting its first secretary against energy. Chu backed off such rhetoric after being nominated, but his true feelings seem obvious.
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is Obama's choice to head the Department of the Interior, the agency that handles energy leasing on federal lands and most offshore areas. As a senator, Salazar has opposed much of this leasing, based on overblown environmental fears. It looks like "drill, baby, drill" isn't going to survive to adulthood.
In addition to opposing domestic drilling for conventional oil, Salazar was also responsible for legislation blocking the development of oil shale. America has vast amounts of this oil-containing rock, mostly beneath federal lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The process of efficiently extracting this oil is still being improved; oil shale is a long-term project with uncertain prospects at this time. But if successful, it could provide literally hundreds of billions of barrels, exceeding the reserves in Saudi Arabia and providing enough oil to supply the United States for many decades.
As secretary of the interior, Salazar will have even more chances to stop cold any progress on oil shale, and with it our best hope for a dramatic increase in domestic oil production.
As with Chu, Obama's choice for science adviser, John Holdren, has impressive academic credentials but some very strange energy and environmental policy views. Even Al Gore can't match Holdren's global warming gloom-and-doom rhetoric, including the claim that it could kill as many as 1 billion people by 2020. Holdren's a veteran at making such alarming predictions, but back in the 1970s he worried more about whether man would survive the "threat of making the planet too cold."
But whether it's warming or cooling, Holdren has consistently advocated the same heavy-handed crackdowns on the economy and energy use, including the need for a "massive campaign ... to de-develop the United States." Good thing he's not in charge of the stimulus package.
Rob Bradley, chairman of the Institute for Energy Research, has compiled an amazing list of Holdren's favorite policy prescriptions, including the "limitation of material consumption," "redistribution of the wealth," and even "movement toward some kind of world government."
Apparently, Holdren isn't alone on the world government stuff. In the position of the president's top assistant on energy and climate policy is former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Carol Browner, whose picture and biography were, until quite recently, on the Web site of Socialist International. She was listed as a member of its Commission For a Sustainable World Society. The old joke that environmental activists are like watermelons -- green on the outside but red on the inside -- isn't so funny anymore.
She's not quite as opinionated as Holdren, but Browner does have a long record of placing environmental concerns, real or exaggerated, well above affordable energy and economic growth. Conspicuously absent from the incoming energy policy team is any real understanding that high energy prices are a bad thing that hurts the American people. Instead of a pro-energy team, Obama has assembled an extreme green team.
#1
That "Wingnuts" picture is entirely correct.
(You youngsters have probably never seen or heard of a wingnut,it's shorthand for "KOOK".)
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/09/2009 10:10
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Oh, I've seen it lots of times. It's what the Daily POS and DU use to refer to sites such as rantburg.
-----------
ION, I had a disturbing thought about energy policy last night. Specifically, wosshisname's reported advocacy of nuclear power as a solution.
Nuclear power comes in two flavors. Fission and Fusion.
Fission, we've gotten to work as a power source, but it's been strangled by NIMBY stuff, lots of bureaucratic red tape, the typical two-faced tactics, "We'll be glad to use nuclear power as soon as there's a Permanent Solution to the waste problem!" before doing everything they can to monkeywrench any solution to the waste problem. Nuclear waste dumps are pretty much persona au gratin in the modern political system, and the experimental reactor designs to destroy nuclear waste were canceled back in the Clinton Administration.
It's easy for the Mandarin Class, for lack of a better term, to say they want nuclear plants but make sure new ones are never completed.
And then there's fusion. Which I'll get to later, I have to run some errands now. Work, the curse of the blogging class...
#6
Something ate my cookie! Victor Emanuel wuz me.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/09/2009 19:40
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WORLD MIL FORUM > ITS THE SUN, STUPID! The same Earth-Sun orbital relationship that is inducing a so-called "Global Coooling/Ice Age" on the Nortehrn Hemisphere is causing the Southern hemisphere to heat up. ITS OKAY BECUZ THATS HOW ITS SUPPOSSED TO BE - WHAT EARTH REALLY HAS TO BE MINDFUL OR AWARE OF IS WHEN ANY GLACIAL EFFECT BEGINS AS THIS WILL REQUIRE THE DEV OF MAINLY NUCLEAR + OTHER ADVANCED [ANTI-COLD/GLACIATION]POWER GENERATION SYSTEMS, NOT THOSE KINDS OF POWER GENER SYSTEMS HEAVILY OR WHOLLY DEPENDENT ON BIOFUELS.
Unless Mankind can learn to grow UNDERGROUND overwhelmingly massive, land/space-expending amounts of natural commodities for bio-fueled Power Gener IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND LIVE A "NORMAL QUALITY-OF-LIFE" DESPITE THE COMING ABOVE-GROUND "COOLING/ICE AGE"!?
Sure reads like a movie script.
A FAILED bid to smuggle a bus filled with rice into Nigeria at the weekend left seven people dead, including two customs officers set ablaze with petrol. The officers were torched to death by a rampaging mob awaiting the contraband rice after five smugglers died in a car accident as they followed the impounded goods at Kongolam village in Katsina state.
"Two of our men were doused with petrol and burnt to death along with their patrol vehicle by a rioting mob ... who were protesting the death of five smugglers from the town in an accident," Katsina state customs spokesman Awwal Giyade said.
"The five smugglers died when the car they were driving in fell into a ditch while pursuing the officers that seized their luxury bus loaded with the rice they smuggled into Nigeria through the border with Niger," Mr Giyade added.
He said the dead smugglers' colleagues, estimated to have been in the dozens, vented their anger on a three-men border patrol team on routine duty. The three initially managed to flee into Niger, but the mob overpowered the Niger border gendarmes in Maimoujiya village, where the customs officers sought refuge, doused them with petrol and burnt them to death along with their patrol vehicle, Mr Giyade said.
One customs officer survived the attack with serious injuries, Mr Giyade said, without giving details of the nature of the injuries.
"Army and police personnel have been deployed to the border town to forestall further unrest," Giyade said.
#1
Sounds like history. Nigeria is "Nigeria" instead of "Nigeria" and "Biafra" because the Nigerian government was willing to starve Biafra into submission.
Soldiers and police staged a dawn raid Sunday on an office of a human rights group in southern Thailand, inspecting computer files and documents, the organization announced.
The raid came just two days after the military warned that militants might infiltrate non-governmental organizations to stir up trouble in the south, the scene of a bloody Muslim insurgency since early 2004.
The insurgents often target civilians in their brutal attacks, while the army has been accused of using heavy-handed tactics on local residents in an effort to catch them.
The Working Group on Justice for Peace said its office in Pattani province had been raided at 5 a.m. by about 20 soldiers and policemen who inspected documents and computer files but did not take anything away.
Lt. Col. Prawet Suthiprapa, who led the raid, said the authorities had not specifically targeted the office but had been searching the entire area after getting a report that insurgents were hiding there.
"The search was conducted according to the law and we left after a few hours when we did not find anything," he said. That areas affected by the insurgency are under martial law, so the authorities do not need court warrants to search private property.
The rights group on Saturday had responded to the military's warning to government agencies of alleged infiltration of NGOs by challenging the army to produce evidence and charge wrongdoers.
In a statement, it called on the army "to stop threatening the work of activists who are helping people in the region whose rights are violated or abused."
The Islamic separatist insurgency in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat has led to the deaths of more than 3,300 people since early 2004.
The attacks - which include drive-by shootings and bombings - are believed intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the only predominantly Muslim areas of Thailand, which is 90 percent Buddhist.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Students at the American University of Cairo (AUC) demonstrated for the release of a German-Egyptian graduate student and Gaza activist who remained behind bars Sunday along with more than 70 opposition Muslim Brotherhood members, all arrested Friday for demonstrating in support of Gaza.
Police kidnapped Philip Rizk, 26, while he was returning from a Gaza solidarity march Friday night, whisking him away to an unknown location in the government's latest crackdown on dissent.
Reports Sunday indicated the number of Muslim Brotherhood members arrested had risen from intial estimates of 54. Security forces dispersed thousands of peaceful demonstrators Friday at several protests organized in five governates across Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood,
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
German-Egyptian graduate student and Gaza activist
Syria may resume peace talks with Israel if the Jewish state elects a leader next week willing to reach a comprehensive peace deal, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Monday.
The ferocity of Israel's three-week invasion of Gaza, however, turned popular sentiment in the Middle East against compromise with Israel and the priority now was to help the Palestinians deal with the invasion's aftermath, Moallem said.
Syria formally broke off indirect talks with Israel, which were being mediated by Turkey, during the Israeli attack on Gaza. The talks had already been put on hold following the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in September. "If Israel proves after its elections that whoever comes to power has the will for a just and comprehensive peace through executing United Nations Security Council resolutions, then that would warrant another assessment," Moallem said after meeting Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin. "The people of our region no longer embrace the peace process. Their primary concern is lessening the suffering of our people in Gaza, lifting the siege and rebuilding Gaza through solidifying the ceasefire."
Israel is due to hold parliamentary elections on Feb. 10.
Posted by: Fred ||
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BAGHDAD - Iraqs parliament remained deadlocked on the election of a new speaker on Sunday, just two days after US Vice President Joe Biden said Iraq needed to push ahead with political reform. The failure is a blow to the fledgling democracy which without a speaker cannot debate or approve a new budget and oil laws deemed crucial to the reconstruction of the country.
There are five candidates vying for the post, but rival Sunni politicians cannot agree on who should get the job. A group of parties left the hall today and there were not enough MPs to choose a new speaker, said Jamal al-Butikh, chief of the National Iraqi List, the parliamentary group headed by former prime minister Iyad Allawi.
Outspoken Mahmud Mashhadani quit as speaker on December 23, triggering political wrangling over a replacement. He resigned after Kurdish and Shiite MPs clamoured for him to go because he had described some lawmakers as sons of dogs in fierce debates about the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US president George W. Bush.
Butikh said MPs would reconvene on Monday to try and break the impasse.
Under Iraqs complex political rules, Sunni Arabs have the right to nominate the speaker but bitter infighting in the largest Sunnni Arab bloc, the National Concord Front, has seen them unable to agree on the best candidate.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
This IS how free politics works. Messy. But I think they'll come up with something. Something nobody likes, but that just enough can tolerate for it to be approved.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday fired a Grad rocket at the southern city of Ashkelon, as a deal for an Israeli-Hamas truce in the coastal territory was taking form.
The rocket attack on the southern town caused neither casualties nor damage. Earlier Sunday, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council.
The Israel Defense Forces said one car was set ablaze and several others were damaged by shrapnel. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Militants have sporadically fired rockets into Israel since a cease-fire ended Israel's three-week offensive against Hamas in Gaza on Jan.18. They also killed one IDF soldier in a border bombing attack.
IDF troops have killed three Palestinians in border shootings.
Also on Sunday, IDF troops arrested a wanted militant in a village north of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Sunday's rocket attack occurred hours after the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported Sunday that Israel has agreed to free jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as part of a deal to secure the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
According to the daily, Barghouti will be among the 1,000 Palestinian prisoners Israel will free in the exchange. But the London-based paper also said that Israel has refused to release Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Sa'adat.
Israel has also agreed to release 350 of the 372 prisoners on a list presented by Hamas, Al-Hayat reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Bargouti?
Is Israel just tired of holding onto these guys or something? Have they decided that there is no value in holding onto them? What am I missing?
(i) Once they're out, you can kill them.
(ii) In the specific case of Barghouti, he might challenge Abbas---putting a crimp in the USDS plans for a Palestinian state.
SEOUL (AFP) -- South Korea will stand firm in its policy towards North Korea despite a series of threats from the communist state, President Lee Myung-Bak said Monday, urging people to stay calm despite the rhetoric.
"I am very aware there are people who are concerned about the recent series of North Korean threats. But you do not need to worry too much," the president said in his regular radio address. "The government is ready to sit down with North Korea at any time and resolve every issue," Lee said.
North Korea late last month announced it was scrapping peace accords with the South, including a 1991 pact in which it recognised their Yellow Sea border as an interim frontier. The announcement fuelled fears of clashes in the area, which was the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002.
Inter-Korean relations have steadily deteriorated since the conservative president took office in Seoul in February last year.
Lee rolled back his liberal predecessors' decade-long engagement policy towards Pyongyang, and said major economic assistance would depend on the North's willingness to scrap its nuclear weapons programme. He also vowed to review summit deals signed in 2000 and 2007 between the North and his predecessors.
Which is why Kim and the generals are unhappy ...
The policy has enraged the North, which has suspended dialogue, imposed tight border controls and warned that armed conflict could break out.
In its latest verbal attack, the North Sunday said Lee's choice for unification minister would cause relations to collapse.
The criticism came on the eve of a parliamentary confirmation hearing Monday for Hyun In-Taek, an architect of Lee's tougher policy.
Lee said his government would not make the same mistake as its predecessors by rushing into dialogue without questioning Pyongyang's intentions. "I believe it is better to start off with a little difficulty, but ensure things are set right to reach a positive outcome, instead of trying to figure out what North Korea wants while saying all is well that ends well," he said. "We are ready to work with North Korea. North Korea, too, must realise the South is the only country in the entire world that is sincerely concerned for its future and willing to help it," Lee said.
Sensible guy, sensible policy. Look for Bambi to undermine him ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
WORLD MIL FORUM > seems CHINA is complaining about a well-known SOKOR Actvist whom routinely calls for the RECOVERY OF "KOREAN MACHURIA" FROM CHINA + MONGOLIA [ = China, when Mongolia was part of the Chinese Empire].
HMMMMM, HMMMMMM, weirdly and msyteriously at the same time as NOKOR alleged new Missle Tests???
Israel's leading prime ministerial candidate Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to stop rocket fire from Gaza as top candidates battled it out for a record number of undecided voters ahead of the general election in two days' time.
Opinion polls tip Netanyahu, the leader of the of right-wing Likud party, to be Israel's next prime minister, which is seen as likely to hold back the peace process in the Middle East.
Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to get the most seats of any party, between 25 and 27 according to opinion polls, reflecting a rightward shift in a society exhausted by years of violence and limping peace talks.
"Israelis are sick of the peace process, of experiments," said Ze'ev Khanin, a political analyst at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.
"They want their leaders to stop rocking the boat, they want that everything returns to how it was in the early 90s... before (current president Shimon Peres) and (ex-Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin began these experiments."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Bur for their own sakes, I surely hope Israel elects Bibi.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/09/2009 18:23
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#3
Opinion polls tip Netanyahu, the leader of the of right-wing Likud party, to be Israel's next prime minister, which is seen as likely to hold back the peace process in the Middle East
AKA - The Juice may not be willing to commit suicide.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2009 18:38
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Prabhakaran hasn't missed many meals, and he likes to shoot off.
Sri Lankan troops have smashed the Tamil Tigers' mini-state and cornered the remaining rebels, but officials say they must catch their elusive leader to declare final victory.
The air force carried out a series of raids on locations where Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, was suspected to have sheltered over the weekend, but there had been no word about his whereabouts, the military said.
Security forces in a two-year-long drive have taken both the political and military headquarters of the Tigers, once regarded as the world's most ruthlessly effective guerrilla outfit.
President Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday asked the Tigers to surrender. Earlier, he declared that Prabhakaran's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be defeated in days, raising questions on what to do with Prabhakaran, if he were to be taken alive.
The Tiger supremo is a fugitive from justice in Sri Lanka. He was sentenced in absentia to 200 years in jail for his involvement in the January 1996 bombing of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and killing 91 people. He is also wanted in neighbouring India for the 1991 assassination of former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi. There is an Interpol warrant for his arrest and also a pending request from India to extradite him from Sri Lanka. "He has to face justice here," said Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse in a nationally televised television interview last month. "He has to be tried and then hanged for his crimes."
Sri Lankan troops have already captured several underground bunkers where Prabhakaran was believed to have lived. Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka speculated last month that Prabhakaran may have slipped out. Prabhakaran's chief ideologue, the late Anton Balasingham, fled the island 10 years ago by boat and arrived in Thailand.
Former Tamil rebel-turned-politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan said his erstwhile comrade had run out of time unless he had already escaped. "My belief is that he has already slipped out of the country," Sithadthan said. "If he has not done it already, then his chances of escaping are very slim."
Sithadthan argues that Prabhakaran may not be able to mingle with the Tamil population and remain disguised as an ordinary citizen. He is known to have more enemies within the minority Tamil community. Prabhakaran had crushed dissent within his group and killed thousands of rival rebels in the early stages of the Tamil militancy to take the leadership of the separatist drive. Many bereaved relatives may be waiting to settle scores, Sithadthan said.
Prabhakaran had also inspired hundreds of followers to stage suicide bombings in the fight for a separate state called Eelam. To his followers, Prabhakaran is seen as the "Sun God" who formed a formidable and feared guerrilla organisation out of a ragtag group of separatist rebels in 1972. At his last press conference in April 2002, Prabhakaran was introduced as "The president and prime minister" of the LTTE's de facto state of Tamil Eelam.
Now his "state" has crumbled and his once feared army is decimated. The Tigers are now surrounded and restricted to their jungle hideouts in the northeastern corner of Sri Lanka.
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Seven people were killed and several others hurt, including one security man, in different acts of violence here on Sunday. According to Swat Media Center, curfew was clamped in District Swat for an indefinite period, while people were directed to remain in their homes. Security forces backed by helicopter gunship continued to pound the suspected militants' positions in Aligrama area. Five people were killed and three others hurt when a rocket hit houses in Ogdai area, sources further said. Two people were perished over yesterday's shelling at Takhtband, in the outskirts of Mingora city. Two people were severely wounded after a missile landed at a house in Kanju while one security personnel sustained injuries due to ongoing clashes between security forces and militants in Kambar area.
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Atar, Mauritania's 3rd military region, is on high alert, local press reported on Sunday (February 8th). Two suspicious cars with armed men on board, allegedly belonging to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, were noticed in Ouadane. The men reportedly asked nomads in the region about the location of medical establishments and Western nationals. Mauritanian security forces launched a search operation by land and by air.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Pakhtun Peace Jirga (PPJ) announced Sunday it would approach the International Court of Justice to seek punishment for "the enemies of the Pukhtoon people who imposed Taliban on them." Right. That'll work. Why didn't we think of that?
The convener of PPJ and former provincial minister, Syed Kamal Shah, told a peace rally at College Chowk here Sunday that the politicians, the mullas and the religious parties are either abetting the Taliban or have yielded to their force and the Pakhtuns have been left at their mercy. "But this nation would not tolerate this any more. We cannot allow these people to kill our children, women and the elderly. We shall approach the ICJ, the Jamia Al-Azhar and the Mufti-e-Azam. If it does not work we shall create a lashkar of the people to fight Taliban". I'd go right to the lashkar, bub.
He claimed that the lashkars and the jirgas created so far were either sponsored by the government or the foreign agencies. "No more of these jirgas. Now we shall call a jirga of the entire Pakhtun nation (24 districts of NWFP) and the Fata people in March to decide which course to take. Only the people's jirgas that are free of the government and the foreign influence can succeed against the Taliban."
He added that the army, the Taliban and the United States were responsible for the current situation. "We shall create a council that will first talk to all three entities. Then, if they did not stop the murder and destruction of the Pukhtoon people, we shall approach the ICJ, the Jamia Al-Azhar and Mufti-e-Azam."
He said the last two institutions would be approached to declare whether beheading of people and creating parallel courts was permissible. This correspondent talked to the PPJ leaders after they spoke to the Mardan rally on Sunday and apprised them of the Taliban activities and contacts with their leaders in Swat, Malakand and Dir.
The lady told the mulla live on telephone last week that she had prepared two women suicide bombers for the Taliban. The mulla congratulated her, and asked her if these bombers would attack the Army or the police contingents. She replied that these bombers would hit the Taliban leaders.
One of them said a lady from an unspecified location called the FM-91 Radio on which Mulla Khalil, one of the Taliban commanders, issues sermons everyday. The lady told the mulla live on telephone last week that she had prepared two women suicide bombers for the Taliban. The mulla congratulated her, and asked her if these bombers would attack the Army or the police contingents. She replied that these bombers would hit the Taliban leaders.
Another frequent visitor to the Taliban-controlled areas in Swat said he heard last month that these commanders had issued a Wahabi edict against the pirs and the Sufis of the entire NWFP, and declared that "these elements be beheaded by the Taliban activists". The Sunday PPJ rally was addressed by leaders and elders from all walks of life and professions, including political parties.
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#1
looks like they would accidentally fall out of caveman era
#5
One of the movies in Kay Francis' body of work is a movie I wish teachers would require our students to watch: "My Bill".
Produced at the height of the Great Depression, this movie wonderfully and simply demonstrates the divide between those with the "American" spirit and those enthalled by their own elitism.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said Dr AQ Khan has already been relieved of his duties and he is no more in a position to interfere in the country's nuclear-related policies.
Talking to Geo News, he said information from Dr Khan has already been obtained and now he is not in a position to influence or exert any pressure. The network of Dr AQ Khan is no more existing and he has no access to the country's sensitive information or policymaking institutions.
He said Dr AQ Khan is not in a position to formulate or dictate a policy. Pakistan is a responsible state and the world is satisfied by measures taken by Pakistan, he added. He said countries engaged in proliferation matters know very well that Pakistan's nuclear command and control structure is quite satisfactory and there is no chance of any takeover from extremists and non-state actors.
Relevant institutions are quite satisfied with measures taken by Pakistan regarding nuclear proliferation, he said and added they are quite satisfied that safeguards and strategy of country's command and control centre is quite satisfactory.
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OTTAWA (Reuters) The Supreme Court of Canada declined on Thursday to hear activists' claims that Canada should not send refugees back to the United States because it is not a "safe" country for them.
Interesting that the Canadian courts suddenly are showing a little sense ...
Human rights groups had wanted the high court to declare unconstitutional a U.S.-Canadian agreement that allows Canada to turn back asylum seekers at the border who arrived first in the United States. The agreement, signed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was designed to prevent double claims and "asylum shopping", but human rights groups assert that it endangers refugees.
Not clear how but human rights groups will say pretty much anything ...
By refusing to hear the appeal, the Supreme Court let the bilateral agreement stand. As usual, it gave no reasons for its decision.
"This is an unmitigated victory for the rule of law," said a spokesman for Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. "We believe that through international co-operation with the United States, we can handle refugee claims in an efficient manner, reduce abuse of the system and share the responsibility of providing protection to those in need," said spokesman Alykhan Velshi.
A Canadian Federal Court judge shocked both the Canadian and U.S. governments in November 2007 by ruling that the United States was not a safe country for refugees and by declaring the bilateral agreement unconstitutional. The Federal Court of Appeals overturned that in June, saying Ottawa had done everything it should have done in examining whether the United States was safe for refugees.
In other words, Canada, like the US, has a few nutty federal judges ...
The Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International, the Canadian Council of Churches and a test-case Colombian refugee claimant, "John Doe", had wanted the Supreme Court to reinstate the lower court's decision. The rights advocates say the United States has tougher standards than Canada, for example requiring refugee claims to be made within one year of arrival, and it does not comply with conventions on refugees and torture.
They cite the case of a Honduran man who tried to make a refugee claim in Canada, but was sent back to the United States, which returned him home, where his wife said he was killed.
Why was he a refugee? What was the threat? We have rules. We have reasonable standards. Perhaps he wasn't really a refugee?
"This decision means that refugees will not have their day in court," said Elizabeth McWeeny, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees. "The U.S. is not in fact safe for all refugees, so we deeply regret that the Supreme Court has not taken this opportunity to ensure that Canada provides refugees the protection they need from forced return to persecution," she said.
The Canadian government had argued that it was unrealistic to expect identical laws on both sides of the border and that the United States was no Zimbabwe -- that it offered the same sort of protection as Canada. It had also warned that overturning the agreement could lead to a flood of new refugee claims.
Because we'd ship them all to Canada ...
Washington was not formally a party to the Supreme Court of Canada case but U.S. embassy spokeswoman Stacy White defended the U.S. government's policy. "The United States has a proud record of accepting and protecting refugees, defending human rights, and adhering to our treaty obligations," she said in an e-mailed comment ahead of the Supreme Court decision.
One only needs to look at our population and numbers to see that we're a welcoming society for any legitimate refugee. We can't take everyone so there has to be standards, standards that the human 'rights' groups will always challenge.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#2
That tapping sound you hear is the nails being driven into the coffins of The Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International (Canadian Division), The Canadian Council of Churches and other "activists".
"Declined to hear the claims" . . . . OH MY!! Goodnight and turn the lights out on this one.
#3
International definition of a refugee: an exiled person who can establish that same has a well founded belief that persecution will result, should they be repatriated.
A terrorist was killed on Friday (February 6th) in Yakouren near Tizi Ouzou, after the army began a search operation in the area, Tout sur l'Algerie reported. Two other terrorists managed to escape. The operation, launched on Friday, was prompted by information on terrorist presence in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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BEIJING - A Chinese fishing boat and its 24 member crew held by Somali pirates for three months was released Sunday, Chinas foreign affairs ministry said. The ship, the Tianyu No 8, which was captured on November 14, was released at 0900 GMT, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
The ministry credited Chinese diplomats in Kenya and Ethiopia with helping secure the release, but gave no further details. It said the crew, which included 15 mainland Chinese and one Taiwanese sailor, were in the care of the Chinese navy and were undergoing health checks. The ministry did not give the nationalities of the other eight crew members, but previous media reports had said there were four Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one Japanese on board.
The pirates had previously claimed they seized the Tianjin-based vessel 30 miles (48 kilometres) off Somalias southern port of Kismayu because it was fishing in Somali territorial waters. They said the crew would be put before the law and punished accordingly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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Gunmen in Pakistan's Baluchistan province have attacked a truck carrying supplies for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, killing the driver.
Tribal rebels opened fire on the truck in the Lakorain area of Khuzdar district in the insurgency-hit southwestern Baluchistan province, killing the driver and seriously wounding his assistant, police officials told Press TV on Sunday.
The Baluch Republican Army, that has been waging a four-year armed campaign for political autonomy and greater share of the province's natural resources, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The province has also been hit by several attacks blamed on Taliban militants.
The incident comes a day after suspected Taliban militants near Peshawar, the capital city of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) destroyed two trucks destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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Israeli aircraft struck Hamas outposts in south Gaza during the early hours of Monday morning in retaliation for Sunday's rocket fire on Israel. There were no reports of injuries.
Palestinian sources in the Strip said the Air Force attacked a Hamas outpost and a structure belonging to its security forces in Khan
Younis. According to reports, the structures were damaged and a fire broke at the scene. Reports of another IAF attack in Gaza were received a short while later, but there were no reports of injury in that strike either.
The IDF conformed that fighter jets attacked two Hamas outposts, one in north Gaza and another in the southern part of the coastal enclave. A hit was identified in both attacks, the army spokesperson's office said, adding that the strikes came in retaliation to two rockets that were fired toward Israel on Sunday.
The first rocket landed in a parking lot located in a western Negev kibbutz. No injuries were reported, but some vehicles caught fire. The second rocket hit south of Ashkelon, but caused no injury or damage.
The attacks emanating from Gaza have continued despite reports of progress in the negotiations on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and advanced talks regarding a prisoner exchange deal that will see kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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A Palestinian rights group demanded on Sunday an investigation into the death of a man who appeared to have been tortured by security officials loyal to Hamas.
In the West Bank, security officials said a Hamas loyalist committed suicide in a lockup in the northern town of Jenin on Sunday.
Since Hamas seized power of Gaza in 2007, both groups have used detentions and beatings to intimidate opponents and cement their rule.
Three people have died in Hamas lockups since the Islamist group seized power of Gaza and four have died in Palestinian Authority detention during the same period, according to human rights groups.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said on Sunday that Hamas security officials took Jamil Shakoura, 51, into detention in late January, where he was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to a detention center. There, the group said, he was beaten and forced to change his testimony. It was not immediately clear what kind of case security services were investigating.
The group said that several days later, he died in a Gaza hospital from blows to his head. The man was not believed to be affiliated with a political group.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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Yet another thing George Bush won't get credit for: nudging Indonesia away from the Islamicist crazies and towards the 21st century. It hasn't been even and there have been problems, but Indonesia is figuring out that collaborating with Islamicist crazies and using the army to thump minorities is a dead-end street.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a gathering of his Democrat Party on Sunday he would push ahead with reforms if he won a second term in this year's elections. The 59-year-old former general, seen as the most pro-business and pro-reform of Indonesia's presidential candidates, needs to win a strong mandate in order to have the power to overhaul the judiciary, civil service, and police, and deal with the impact of a global economic slowdown.
Hope and change, baby ...
Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, a centrist party which won just 7.5 percent of the votes in 2004, is well ahead of its more established rivals in the run-up to the April 9 parliamentary elections which will determine which parties can field presidential candidates. An opinion poll last month showed 23 percent of those surveyed would vote for the Democrat Party, potentially reducing the need to rely on several other parties in a coalition.
Yudhoyono also has a strong lead over former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, seen as his main rival in the July 8 presidential elections.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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UNRWA informed the IDF on Friday it is suspending humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after Hamas stole supplies it had transferred to the Palestinian territory.
The seizure of 200 tons of supplies, included flour and other staples, took place on Thursday night. In response, UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) officials informed the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration that it was suspending the deliveries until further notice.
The transfer of 40 truckloads of humanitarian supplies - some 800 tons - planned for Sunday has already been canceled.
Officials in Jerusalem said the announcement by UNRWA constituted UN agreement with Israel's position that Hamas was using the Palestinian population in Gaza "cruelly and cynically" and was solely responsible for the hardships there.
Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, who was appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the end of Operation Cast Lead to coordinate Israel's humanitarian efforts in Gaza, said that theft of humanitarian aid exposed the true face of Hamas and of its supporters in Iran.
It was the second time this past week that Hamas stole UN supplies meant for impoverished Gazans.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Aww, now what's got the UN's panties in a knot? I'm sure Hamas is just going to do the distribution work for them after all.
#4
I think Israel has a squadron of C-130 aircraft. Offer to supply Gaza by air. Just fly over and dump the stuff out. So what if it's still on the pallets - that'll just make the landing "softer".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 12:55
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Looks like all is forgiven...
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, has announced that it will resume its operations in the Gaza Strip. The announcement follows the return of aid supplies seized by Hamas militants last week. On 3 and 5 February, Hamas militants seized several hundred tonnes of food supplies and 3,500 blankets at gunpoint. Hamas says the supplies were taken 'by mistake'. UNRWA distributes food to 900,000 of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents.
Yep, Ye Olde Mistaken Hyjacking at Gunpoint.
But now, let's get back to blaming the Jooos...
UN officials on Monday implored Israel anew to allow urgently needed aid supplies, including plastic bags and human rights textbooks, to enter the Gaza Strip.
Mmmmmmmmmm... a heaping helping of human rights textbooks.
"It is absolutely crucial that Israel allow the crossings to be opened and also expand the list of items that go in," Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict, told reporters following her recent, four-day visit to Gaza, the West Bank and southern Israel. "At the moment less than 200 (aid) trucks are going through (the crossing points into Gaza)," she said. "We need at least 400 just for the humanitarian needs and over 1,000 once reconstruction begins. "
Meanwhile, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas told a press briefing that food distribution to 900,000 Palestinians by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) "continues to be jeopardized by Israel's refusal to let materials for plastic bags into Gaza."
"We run out of plastic bags to distribute the food," John Ging, the UNRWA director of operations in Gaza, said in a video link from the impoverished Palestinian enclave. He said UNRWA was now forced to get the plastic from the local market, a process which he described as "unreliable" and "very expensive."
"But we have to somehow keep going until sense prevails and they (the Israelis) allow to bring in the plastic pallets to make the plastic bags, with 900,000 people queueing up for food at UNRWA," Ging added.
The UNRWA official expressed exasperation over this closure policy, which he noted was also "obstructing the teaching of human rights" in UNRWA schools.
Yes, and you've done such a great job at that too...
Ging said that since Gaza students returned to school on January 24 in the wake of the 22-day Israeli military onslaught on Gaza, "we have as yet been unable to get in the paper we need to print the human rights textbooks and the other textbooks."
Oh, I'd just love to see one of those textbooks...
"These are practical consequences of these flawed, failing and failed policies and they have to be changed urgently," he fumed.
Oooooh, he's "fuming". Must be those UN beans...
"We continue to appeal for common sense to prevail and for priority to be given to the needs, first and foremost, of the children and then the rest of the population."
United States President Barack Obama has demanded that the US defence chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.
There is concern among senior Democrats that the US military is preparing to send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy. The Pentagon was set to announce the deployment of 17,000 extra soldiers and marines last week but Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, postponed the decision after questions from Obama.
The US president was concerned by a lack of strategy at his first meeting with Gates and the US joint chiefs of staff last month in "the tank", the secure conference room in the Pentagon. He said: "What's the endgame?" and did not receive a convincing answer.
Larry Korb, a defence expert at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, said: "Obama is exactly right. Before he agrees to send 30,000 troops, he wants to know what the mission and the endgame is."
Obama promised an extra 7,000-10,000 troops during the US presidential election campaign, but the military has inflated its demands. Leading Democrats fear Afghanistan could become Obama's "Vietnam quagmire".
If the surge goes ahead, the military intends to limit the mission to fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and leave democracy building and reconstruction to Nato allies and civilians from the US State Department and other agencies.
The US has been pushing Britain to send several thousand more troops but there is just as much disagreement and confusion among British defence chiefs over the long-term aim. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to receive a full briefing this week.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the British army chief who would step down this summer, insisted that troops needed a rest and believed that he could send only one battle group, senior defence sources said. General Sir David Richards, his successor, believed that the two extra battle groups the Americans had asked for was the minimum the UK should send, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
As predicted here on the Burg, it didn't take him long to start backing away from the "real war" as he and the dems called it. I thought the "strategy" along along was defeating the Taliban and helping President Hamid Karzai establish democracy. Knowing the Euros are not going to pony up more military assistance, it appears he's about to execure his, we cannot go it alone exit strategy. The GWOT and things of an international nature are simply a bothersome inconvenience for this fellow. His real aims are redistribution of US domestic wealth and midnight basketball.
#2
For once though, I agree with him. Sending 10,000 more - never mind 30,000 - into A'stan is a mistake unless there is a clear plan and will to win. I don't know about a plan, I seriously doubt the will, and without addressing the problems in Pakistan, I am very concerned about the logistical means. Better to leave A'stan (except for a small force (long-distance air-sustainable) to run intel and Predator ops. Take Pakistan's lever against us (logistics) away. Then maybe we can push harder on OUR lever (India) to encourage P'stan to get serious about what is now as big a problem for them as for us - their Taliban tools have gotten too big for their britches.
What was the original mission in A'stan? To break the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda and render the place unsuitable for use by any global terrorist group bent on Dire Revenge.
Mission accomplished as of mid 2002.
Unfortunately we bought into the Pottery Barn theory: we 'broke' A'stan so we had to 'fix' it.
But unlike Iraq, we didn't break A'stan. It was broken and had been for a long time before we arrived. There was precious little to fix, certainly with the crazy Pashtuns around.
It would be great if A'stan would join the 21st century. Hell, joining the 16th century would be an improvement. But we're not obligated to force them to do so, all we're required to do is to make sure terrorists can't use the place as a launching pad for attacks against us.
Partition the place. Fred has noted this before. Let the north and west move into the modern world. Provide some minimal security for them, train them to defend themselves against the Pashtuns, and otherwise get out of the way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009 9:30
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I respectfully disagree that we are there on the Pottery Barn motivation.
If you look at a map you'll see that occupying and changing Iraq and Afghanistan breaks up what would otherwise have been a deeply consolidating center of Islamicism, nuclear enabled and sponsoring terror with deep territorial immunity. Had the Taliban not sheltered bin Laden we would not have moved in. But given that they DID, and that this area became the sanctuary of choice for jihadi training camps, our presence there is more than a reflection of white guilt or compulsive cleanliness. It reflects the need to keep smashing these alliances and eroding their capabilities while attempting to confine the nuclear activities of Iran and Pakistan.
Hence the willingness to strike across the border into Pakistan, along with our rapprochement with India, which distrupts the arc from Indonesia to Pakistan to the Middle East. For instance, Jema'ah Islamiyah in Indonesia has sought closer working relationships with al Qaeda and has sent some trainees to the camps in Afghan / on the Pak border. Our presence there is intended to disrupt those accelerating working alliances, among other objectives.
#5
It reflects the need to keep smashing these alliances and eroding their capabilities while attempting to confine the nuclear activities of Iran and Pakistan.
Except the new national policy is to tell Iran how horrid we are and how wonderful they are, and to tell India they need to roll over for Pakistan. I don't think the occasional predator drone launched missile is changing the equation; Pakistan senses weakness on our part now, and they want to go for the jugular.
Bush wasn't doing too good a job here, IMHO, but the Smart People felt the main problem was that we weren't considerate enough of all these countries like Iran and Pakistan and elected a president accordingly. As a result they're going to lose their logistics line to their so-called 'good war.'
#6
1) Just two days ago Biden was pressing the Europeans for more support in Afghanistan. Now Obama announces that he's not sure about his own strategy and goals. The Euros now have a great excuse to put us off.
2) Obama has signalled that he is reaching his limit on the war. If I were the Taliban I would be smelling blood.
#8
If what is reported is accurate, I agree with O on this. There has to be an endgame. We've been going in circles for years there with little to show for it. How will we know when its finished?
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/09/2009 11:54
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But unlike Iraq, we didn't break A'stan.
Steve, you must have slipped here. We didn't "break" Iraq either, in any meaningful sense of the word. The place was "broken" - if that means a nightmarish hellhole for its own people, a menace to its neighbors, and a very real threat to the wider world (insane reckelessness, WMD activity, deep involvement in int. terrorism, incl. direct long-standing ties to global jihad players like Egyptian IJ).
Your overall comment is right on - and I don't dispute that someone, somewhere, bought into the Pottery Barn nonsense (isn't this idiotic phrase yet another legacy of Colin Powell's time way, way above his pay grade?), in either A'stan or Iraq.
And I think lotp and Snowy are both right - there is a strategic value to both wars as offensive thrusts against our enemies' centers of gravity, such as they are in this sort of conflict. Yet the new administration's lack of will - hell, the collapse of will or distraction that his very existence represents - is the key now, and sort of moots almost every other consideration.
#10
1) Afghanistan could become a death trap for coalition forces whose logistaical lines are at the mercy of Pakistan.
2) At the same time guerrilla and Jihad in particular nourishes on success. Give the Jihadis a second "helicopters over the American embassy in Saigon" moment and they will multiply one hundred times so we can't let Afghanistan go don the tubes. But we can, we must get rid of Karzai who, before 9/11 was never that distant from Taliban, and have never given the impression he had any of the qualities of competency, commitment to modernizing Afghanistan, honesty, loyalty either to America or Afghanistan.
Anyway difficult choices. And the one in charge of making them is the Zero. God help us.
#13
I don't like giving the terrs a victory either, but continuing on in Afghanistan is only going to get our guys killed, waste a bunch of money and get nothing to change. The place is a hell hole and always will be a hell hole. Leave it to those who relish living in hell holes. If anything wicked this way comes from said hell hole, send in a whole bunch of B-1's and B-52's and level the place. Doing that on an annual or semi-annual basis is a whole lot cheaper than what we are doing now and would likely yield the same result.
#14
I think he should not ask the question at all.
It's not up to the military to define an exit strategy. it's his (Obama's) job. He himself has to set direction, goal and exit. This is a job for a leader.
#17
If we leave, we shoudl make it very clear that if we return, we will not be landing at all, just dropping lots and lots of bombs on every power station, bridge, road nexus and building in the area that supports whoever it is that brought us back there.
"Obama is exactly right. Before he agrees to send 30,000 troops, he wants to know what the mission and the endgame is."
Okay, so WHY IN THE H*LL was he blabbing all about it all during his campaign. What an ass. He didn't know what he was talking about then and he doesn't know now.
"The US has been pushing Britain to send several thousand more troops but there is just as much disagreement and confusion among British defence chiefs over the long-term aim."
The long-term aim . . . for ZERO, the long-term aim was to get people to believe that Pres. Bush had been wrong, and the he, The Anointed One, knew how to take care of bidness, and dos nasty Talibunnies.
Reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, who oversaw a thaw in ties with the West when in office from 1997 to 2005, on Sunday declared his intention to stand in Iran's upcoming presidential elections in a challenge that could see the ouster of the incumbent hardline government. How many times is he gonna announce?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
How many times is he gonna announce?
About as often as he screams Death to America!
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2009 14:44
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Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue the occupation of Syria's Golan Heights if his party wins Israel's parliamentary elections.
Syria had the chance to talk it back from Olmert and didn't take it.
Netanyahu the leader of the Likud party and the front-runner in polls ahead of Israel's Tuesday parliament elections, affirmed Sunday that if his party wins the elections, the strategic Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 war, 'will not be returned' under any conditions.
The United Nations has demanded Israel withdraw from the occupied territory and hand it over to Syria. Damascus is also demanding the return of the strategic Heights as a prerequisite for peace in the Middle East.
But Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister, has very emphatically said: "The Golan will never again be divided, the Golan will never fall again, the Golan will remain in our hands."
Netanyahu and his party consider the strategic value of the plateau as more important than a peace treaty. On Sunday, the 59-year-old former Israeli prime minister traveled to the Golan Heights, as a campaign stop, to emphasize his policies and the differences he has with other candidates with the sole aim to toughen his right-wing credentials.
The government of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had engaged in indirect talks mediated by Turkey over the return of the territory as part of a peace deal with Damascus.
Meanwhile, the announced policies of Netanyahu are contradicting with that of Washington. It seems he could be setting up a confrontation with the Obama administration if he becomes Israel's leader.
Netanyahu opposes talks on a peace treaty with the Palestinians and favors allowing Israeli settlements in the West Bank to expand, two points that are likely to clash with Washington's policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Prerequisite for peace my ass. Turning back the Golan is a prerequisite for war with Syria firing down on Israel.
#2
My Father in Law is an ex Marine artillery man, and told me, after visiting Israel and seeing the Golan Heights, that it was an ideal firing position. Giving it up would be insane.
Blackmail against women is on the rise in Saudi Arabia with more complaints to the religious police, according to press reports, prompting some women to take matters into their own hands.
Electronic blackmail, using pictures of women stored on their computer, the internet or mobile phones, has become an increasingly common form of blackmail used to extort money from the victim or force her into prostitution.
Last year 65 women and girls filed cases in Mecca alone, though many never make a formal report, Ahmed Qassem al-Ghamdi, head of the Mecca branch of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Saturday.
A study by the commission last year found that blackmail often involves threatening to harm a woman's reputation by telling or showing her family scandalous information, and that victims typically range in age between 16 and 39.
Blackmail cases often result from an illicit relationship between the offender and the victim, said Ghamdi, though he noted the prevalence of cases in which pictures were taken from or put on a woman's computer or cell phone after being left at repair shops.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
in which pictures were taken from or put on a woman's computer or cell phone
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, in an interview released on Sunday, said Tehran is ready to talk to Washington "without pre-conditions" but is waiting for a "concrete" offer from the new US administration. Define "precondition."
"The dispute over the nuclear issue is not an unsolvable problem if we stop being entrenched in our positions," Larijani told the daily Suddeutsche Zeitung. "We are ready to talk without pre-conditions. But for that, we need a real starting point," the former nuclear negotiator said in the interview to be published on Monday."If the Americans are really willing to resolve the problems, then they must present their concept," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Good cop-bad cop routine. Play like the NORKS. Scream and shout, then act reasonable. Simple sine wave function. Only an idiot dem would not get the concept.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2009 1:19
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#2
The US should insist that any talks be held in Qom, and that are only delegate to those talks is Jimmy Carter. And that he should remain in Iran until there is no longer any chance for conflict between Iran, the US and Israel.
#4
ION NORKS, WORLD MIL FORUM > US GENERAL WALTER SHARP: US OPTION OF LAUNCHING UNILATERAL MILITARY STRIKES AGZ NORTH KOREA FOR TEST-LAUNCHING A LR ICBM NOT RULED OUT/ALL US DIPLOMATIC, MILITARY OPTIONS AGZ NORTH KOREA TO BE REVIEWED.
CARACAS, Venezuela The chief of a leading Venezuelan opposition party says a grenade has exploded outside its Caracas headquarters. Democratic Action leader Henry Ramos says the blast shattered windows and damaged the facade of the party offices late Saturday. No one was hurt.
Assailants have targeted other opponents of President Hugo Chavez in recent weeks with tear gas canisters thrown at buildings owned by government critics.
Tensions are high ahead of a Feb. 15 referendum that would end presidential term limits, letting Chavez seek re-election indefinitely. Chavez has condemned the attacks and ordered police to crack down. No suspects have been arrested.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
They already had a vote on term limits, but Chavez will keep doing it again and again until the people stop voting the wrong way. Same as the EU...
Parking bays for transhipment of Nato supplies were shifted to Punjab because of the frequent attacks on container terminals by suspected militants, a source told The News.
A number of contractors, a source said, have shifted their terminals to Hassanabdal and Tarnol towns in Punjab while the rest are packing up to move goods in a couple of days. Precious goods are hardly being kept at container terminals on both sides of the Ring Road for fear of being looted or torched by the attackers.
It was learnt that first the terminals were proposed to be shifted to Mianwali, another district of the Punjab province. However, the residents of Mianwali protested against the decision keeping in view their insecurity, forcing the authorities to select another place.
The shifting of container terminals from Peshawar was decided after over 300 trailers, containers, military trucks and Humvees were torched by militants in almost a dozen attacks on the Nato terminals in the provincial capital.
Three persons were killed and as many injured in the assaults during which attackers used rocket launchers, petrol/time bombs and other lethal weapons. The NWFP cabinet had directed the authorities to shift parking lots to safer places to avoid any future attacks. A small number of containers were allowed at terminals on the Ring Road after issuing directives to the police and other security forces to take adequate measures for their security.
After threats to the Nato logistics in Jamrud, 16 parking lots were established on both sides of the Ring Road between Hazarkhwani and Pishtakhara that used to trans-ship goods worth billions of rupees daily for the Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan.
The terminals included Waqas Terminal, Khyber-P Terminal, Bilal-I, II & III Terminals, Faisal Terminal, Pak Afghan Terminal, Insaf Terminal, Farah Zaman Terminal, Digro Terminal, Pak Kabul Terminal, Rahman Baba Terminal, World Port Terminal, Sindh Terminal, UF-2 Terminal and Khatoot Terminal.
No proper security measures were adopted for security of precious military vehicles and valuable goods in these parking lots, majority of which were not even having boundary walls. Encouraged by the inadequate security measures around these parking lots, about 150 suspected militants had torched over 171 military vehicles, Humvees and military goods in a single attack in December last.
More goods were gutted in five similar attacks in the same month. The latest attack was carried out on last Saturday. Villagers of the nearby towns are happy with the shifting of container terminals, saying the existence of these parking lots was a constant threat to the locals.
"Whenever militants attacked these terminals, we used to have sleepless nights. During the first attack, we feared that militants have attacked the provincial capital and will take it over," said Raza Mohammad, a villager of Achar.
Apart from container terminals, convoys transporting goods for the Nato forces have also come under attack on a number of occasions while travelling to Afghanistan. A truckers' body had decided over a month back to stop supply to the Nato forces to secure their vehicles and men. However, many are continuing supply of goods for the allied forces. Though Americans are looking for alternative routes via other countries, still hundreds of trucks are crossing the Durand Line to take food, ammunition, vehicles and other goods for the Nato forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
good idea. not unleashing Punjabis against the northern animals = bad idea.
BAJAUR: Security forces backed by gunship helicopter killed 22 militants in Inayat Kilay area of Bajuar Agency, FC sources said Sunday. The security forces targeted the militants' hideouts using army aviation's gunship cobra helicopters on a tip-off.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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Nigeria's main opposition militant group, MEND, has attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell and threatens more attacks to come.
Fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) reportedly assailed the Utorogu gas plant in the Delta state. The Joint Task Force (JTF), a military outfit in the Niger Delta, however killed three of the militants during an operation meant to repel their attack.
A spokesman for Shell in Nigeria confirmed the attack and said one employee of its Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture and two contractors had been hurt but were in a stable condition and hospitalized in Warri, Delta State.
Oil facilities in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil producing region, are frequently attacked by militants, who claim to fight for what they call the exploitation of the people of the region by multinational companies.
"MEND decided on this location (Utorogu) to dispel the false sense of peace and security in the Delta state which the governor has been boasting about," the militant MEND group declared in an emailed statement.
"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again."
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has changed the security paradigm in Nigeria since its emergence in early 2006 by multiplying attacks, kidnappings of foreign oil workers and sabotage at oil installations on land and offshore.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Back during the Angolan civil war both sides pretty much left the oil facilities alone - each side wanted to have it intact for their own benefit after they won. Sounds like these Nigerian militants either don't expect to win, or don't care if there's anything left once they do.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009 12:04
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Glenmore: that's because both sides in Angola thought they might actually win.
The rebels _here_ know they can't win, they'll never get an independent Niger Delta state. The chicken has been killed and it's gotten the monkey's attention. So they try something lower scale. Try to get in the sweet spot where it'll be cheaper to buy them off than to fight them.
#4
MEND is a muslim group that both conscripts and forces coversion to the religion of peace. Christians do poorly in north Nigeria. Muslims deserve quid pro quo in the south.
MEND has halted oil industry renovation. They need to die.
Hamas wants to maintain the organizational structure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) but not its platform, following the removal of 28 articles from its charter, the group's senior leader said Sunday as the Israeli military said a rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel.
Mahmoud al-Zahar spoke following negotiations in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, which have grown increasingly intense and complex. Egypt's proposal to stabilize post-war Gaza calls for an extended truce between Israel and Hamas, a prisoner exchange and the initial opening of at least two of the enclave's border crossings, diplomats said.
Under the proposal, Israel would halt attacks in the Gaza Strip and Hamas would stop cross-border rocket fire for up to 18 months. That would take the place of a shaky Jan. 18 truce that ended Israel's 22-day assault in which more than 1,300 Palestinians and fourteen Israelis were killed.
The rocket fired from the Hamas-run enclave Sunday damaged two cars and set one on fire but caused no injuries or casualties, a military spokesperson said.
Israel continued its air strikes on the strip as witnesses said they heard several explosions in the north of the strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal returned to Damascus Saturday after visiting Khartoum, the last leg of his Hamas "victory tour" across the Middle East aimed at shoring up political and diplomatic ties between Hamas and regional powers in the aftermath of Israel's offensive on Gaza.
Meshaal was in Khartoum to meet with senior Sudanese officials, following visits to the Doha Summit in Qatar and Tehran last week, as part of a push to reinforce regional support for Hamas after the Israeli offensive, which Hamas said resulted in diplomatic gains for the group.
Sudan hosts Meshaal
"Meshaal is trying to get hosted by major capitals in the region. He knows he cannot be hosted in Cairo or other 'moderate' countries in the region," Imad Gad, political analyst and editor of Mukhtarat Israeliya told AlArabiya.net.
Analysts see Meshaal's tour as an attempt to find a new mediator for the Palestinian cause instead of Egypt, which represented Hamas diplomatically and politically in negotiations with Israel. "Sudan is backing Hamas more than Fatah, so the Sudanese regime is receiving Meshaal who is trying to visit an Arab capital other than Cairo, since Egypt cannot receive him," said Gad.
"Meshaal and his political bureau are trying to find an alternative mediator other than Egypt," he explained , adding that the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip often disagrees with Meshaal's political bureau in Damascus
"The leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip wants to cooperate with Egyptian mediation to reach to a ceasefire. At the same time, however, the political bureau in Damascus is trying to find another mediator."
His visit was a follow up to the Qatari summit held in Doha, whose diplomatic aims have signaled regional tensions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the one hand and Syria, Sudan and Qatar on the other.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Looks like he's everywhere. But Gaza, of course. No money there. And he could get his cowardly ass shot off...
[from a CBO report]
CBO anticipates that the current recession, which started in December 2007, will last until the second half of 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II. (The longest such recessions otherwise, the 19731974 and 19811982 recessions, both lasted 16 months. If the current recession were to continue beyond midyear, it would last at least 19 months.) It could also be the deepest recession during the postwar period: By CBOs estimates, economic output over the next two years will average 6.8 percent below its potentialthat is, the level of output that would be produced if the economys resources were fully employed (see Figure 1). This ecession, however, may not result in the highest unemployment rate. That rate, in CBOs forecast, rises to 9.2 percent by early 2010 (up from a low of 4.4 percent at the end of 2006) but is still below the 10.8 percent rate seen near the end of the 19811982 recession.
#2
Pork barrel Stimulus bill will expand and deepen the recession. People are tapped out, will not spend. Govt will spend, borrow from our enemies, or just print money. Currency will collapse. Thank you Congress. A$$hats.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2009 1:22
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#3
Uh, uh, OOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPSIES?
versus
YOUR GOVT. THANKS YOU, AMERIKA, USSA = USR, FOR YOUR US$780BILYUHN DONATION WE MISTAKENLY ASKED YOUSE FOR???
#4
Now, as in the depression, the dems will certainly do everything to keep people down, in order to increase the number of folks who are government-dependent. Government-dependent people almost always vote dem. This is a fairly obvious attempt to create a permanent majority.
This "stimulus" is a step in that direction.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/09/2009 7:17
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#5
But, but, but, it's a catastrophe I tell you! Rahm, Tim, somebody tell them. Catastrophe damn it. I won! I am The One! Why won't they listen. I blame Fox Noise, I blame RushBush and people of non-colour. Where's my bottle, get me my bottle!
#6
There is no freaking way that this CBO report is correct. These guys have been snorting way too much cocaine.
Right now, we are in the "1930" phase, and in 2009 there will be a few false starts that look like a market recovery. But the fundamentals to support a recovery just aren't there.
Right now, the Drudge headline is that the feds have promised $9.7T *they* *don't* *have*, in order to support economic bloat so severe that it makes Manuel Uribe look like a supermodel.
They are missing the point. The reason the economy has a problem in the first place is the bloat, and we cannot have a recovery until the bloat is gone.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/09/2009 9:58
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#10
I don't trust anything any government office says. The recession will stay until the market fully corrects for the bad debt. Until then, it will suck. It will suck even after it starts recovering since it takes a while for product to be sold and new jobs to be created with the extra profits.
#13
Yes, Obama will bankrupt the country, take over everything . . .like the census. Just a start. Nationalization, permanent misery, supporting Islam--he's already written all about this in his books. If he can just get people totally dependent on the government dole, he'll have them just where he wants them--under government control. It's his vision. It's his plan. He won't stop.
#14
OK, OK, it's inexcusably lazy of me not to research it myself, but isn't the dating of the recession bogus? Two consecutive quarters of contraction in real GDP had occurred by December '07? Huh? Don't think so.
Also the severity of the contraction has clearly, so far, been far less than those of the early 80s or 70s. Apples, oranges, and bananas embedded in much of this, of course, but still.
#15
Our keepers have taken care of that Verlaine. The traditional definition of 'recession' no longer applies: it is no longer necessary to have a contracting GDP for two quarters in a row.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009 12:37
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#16
THe stimulus bill stinks, but we must remember it is O's stimulus bill. And Harry's and Nancy's. This thing is going to last a lot longer than 2009 me thinks and the Dems are going to keep screwing up. There will be a rapidly growing opposition to their idiocy. Hopefully their efforts for permanent reign will last only 4 years and then we can clean up the damage.
#18
The recession will stay until the market fully corrects for the bad debt. This bears repeating, and perhaps even qualifies for a semi-permanent heading at the 'Burg. The Best and the Brightest, the financial Masters of the Universe, the pundits & economists paid to keep track of events like this, 98% of them, completely missed the significance of the Debt Bubble as it was building up, and now we are supposed to give their assessments and recommendations some credence? Did the CBO anticipation the recession prior to 12/07? Please.
The severity of the contraction has been modified a bit by $100's of billions dropped into the financial system by the gov't, an unprecedented event. Of course the contraction process will look different than previous ones.
#19
We bitch about the one time $800 billion stimulus spending yet not a word about $800 billion leaving our economy year in and year out. That's money to employ someone else's workers, to modernize someone else's infrastructure and machinery, to educate someone else's children, to fund someone else's pensions and medical care.
Try taking 6% out of your savings account each year and see how long it lasts. The US has been feeding the world's growth with the lifeblood of our economy, accumulated sweat and wealth of our ancestors, for so long and retarding our own growth that that there is little left in our veins anymore. Until this bleeding wound is closed, the economic life of this country will continue to fade.
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2009 14:11
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The CBO's forecasting model is not perfect of course but it is arguably normative.
We have had a huge fiscal deficit 01 through 09 and a huge monetary surge in late 08 to 09. That alone would be enough to send the economy into the recovery side using any normal model. There are, of course some people (the Democratic majority in Congress and the President) who say this situation is so different that we need yet another fiscal surge. However, they are not yet saying that we will probably have yet another monetary surge this quarter because they want to expand the TARP.
The Obama administration is unlikely to continue the press for democracy and freedom in the Middle East that was a mainstay of the Bush administration's policy in the region, a former senior US administration official said on Sunday.
"There is a danger that under the general guise of not wanting to be like the previous administration, there is going to be significantly less emphasis on a freedom agenda and the promotion of democracy," Elliott Abrams, who served as president George W. Bush's deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy, said in a conversation at Jerusalem's Shalem Center.
He noted that there was a religious basis behind Bush's fervent support for his "Sharansky-esque democratization policy and freedom agenda." Bush greatly admired cabinet minister Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, and his advocacy of spreading democracy to promote peace in the Middle East.
Abrams, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, said it would be hard for the new US administration to "turn back the clock" on promoting democracy in the Arab world and beyond.
The Bush administration failed in its years-long effort to use economic pressures to force Iran to change its nuclear policies, because of last year's record oil prices, Abrams said.
"The policy was to do so much damage to the Iranian economy, which would force the regime to a compromise. It might well have worked if not for the oil bonanza," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
and this is a surprise? he didn't support democracy in Illinois
#2
First, Bush's democracy push was modulated - and that's no criticism - significantly, from the outset, to not be reckless and naive.
Second, fergodssakes would someone else have a "doh!" moment and recognize that promoting more open political systems (our "values") and improving our strategic position (our "interests") are fairly often the same thing, esp. in the ME, and not in conflict? Democracy is a value, and a weapon. No contradiction for adults with a brain.
Third, Shcharansky's the real thing. Has walked the walk (the story of his 1987 Berlin bridge crossing, his defiant zig-zag as a last act of aggressive disrespect, rivals the "Nuts" of McAuliffe at Bastogne), literally.
Fourth, the empty suit (who by the way, and fittingly, has no presence in a room - personal experience) will barely have a policy at all in the region, other than trying not to eff-up what he was handed (not that succeeding in that would not be laudable - doing no harm in foreign policy, esp. the ME, is no small feat for anyone).
Fifth, how did affirmative action nobodies and my old (even more tired) Beltway Clinton re-tread buddies get the keys to the car, during war time?
Didn't you get the memo, Verlaine? It's not war time. Never was. Always just a scheme by Bush, Cheney and Halliburton to steal from the government. Now we'll have the 'stimulus' and TARP bills to let the politicians steal from us, so fake wars aren't needed.
#4
Word to Obama: since the founding of America, the *only* presidents who were great were those that sought to increase democracy. Those who were "neutral" to democracy, and especially the very few who were "anti-democratic", are remembered as the worst and least successful of presidents.
There is a reason for this correlation, it is not random.
The key is not democracy, it is FREEDOM! Note that Obama doesn't support freedom here either. See "Fairness doctrine and Kerry's yak about how the plebs can't be trusted with their own money.
Zero and his cohort are tyrants in waiting and would gladly follow Ugo Chavez' model.
Read the letter Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius wrote to Obama. She supports closing the detention facility at Guantanamo but she doesn't want the prisoners transferred to Kansas. Fort Leavenworth, you see, isn't suitable because it doesn't have what it takes to house the hard boyz.
Hey, maybe someone should have thought of that before, you know, making the decision to close Gitmo.
And the Left can't understand why no one takes them seriously.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Just drop all charges against them.
Problem solved.
#4
Placing maximum security detainees in the facility will require significant changes to the USDB so it can be protected from security risks from outside the complex.A mission the Army is well suited for.
Fort Leavenworth currently does not have a medical facility This was never the Governor's concern regarding US Military personnel, civilians, and retirees.
Interesting, a state governor attempting to tell the President what to do with a military installation? Quite frankly, if FTLW can't handle them, then Supermax in Florence Co, is the only facility that can.
#6
Fort Leavenworth currently does not have a medical facility
Hmmm, the gov be playing with words on DoD classification. The Munson Army Medical 'Facility' has the capacity to function as a hospital. The ex had her emergency appendix/cyst removal done on site and bed care for several days thereafter in the ward. If they've cut back staffing and outsourced medical support, that can be fixed by restaffing to accommodate the 'special' guests.
The gov also skips over that besides the USDB at Fort Leavenworth, there's the federal pen as well as a state's men and women's pen in the immediate area. It's not like the locals are particularly frightened by the prospect of more prisoners showing up.
The most surprising thing about President-elect Obama's pick of James Jones Jr. to serve as his national security adviser isn't that he's a retired four-star Marine general. It's that Jones is a longtime friend of Senator John McCain, the man Obama defeated to win the White House. While many prior Democratic national security advisers -- think Anthony Lake under Clinton -- have been academics or policy wonks, Obama's choice of Jones highlights his centrist tendency and his willingness to confound his party. It will be Jones' job to serve as a foreign-policy broker for the President, funneling to Obama his assessment of how to best reconcile the conflicting views of the State Department, Pentagon, and other elements of the U.S. government's international actors.
Fast facts:
Jones was born December 19, 1943, in Kansas City, Mo., but lived for much of his youth in France, where his father sold farm machinery.
Continued on Page 49
A senior Hamas official has accused Fatah strongman Mahmoud Dahlan of collaborating with Israel to carry out Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The official, identified only as a Hamas leader, told Time magazine that Dahlan - Abbas' former national security adviser - helped Israel ahead of the operation in order to weaken the resistance of the Islamist movement, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
According to the report, Dahlan went to the Egyptian town of El Arish before the operation actually began and dispatched Fatah members into Gaza to help the Israel Defense Forces hunt down Hamas fighters.
The Hamas officials reportedly accuse a number of other Fatah activists, aside from Dahlan, for collaborating with the intention of killing off Muslims and bringing their own movement back to power in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions between the rival factions have flared again amid Israel's operation in Gaza.
According to a Fatah source, Hamas operatives have thus far killed at least 10 Fatah members and wounded hundreds, fearing that Fatah might try to undermine Hamas' rule in the territory. Dozens of suspected collaborators were also arrested, both during and after the offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Mo Dahlan plans his strategy to settle all family business...
#2
According to a Fatah source, Hamas operatives have thus far killed at least 10 Fatah members and wounded hundreds, fearing that Fatah might try to undermine Hamas' rule in the territory. Dozens of suspected collaborators were also arrested, both during and after the offensive.
The US will assist Bangladesh in protecting its mineral-rich sea areas in the Bay of Bengal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard A Boucher said yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Why on Earth would the US side with Bangla in disputes with India or Myanmar?
Why would the US want to put a bunch of sensors close to the coast, in the territorial waters of Bangla, where ships just off shore were implicated in the Mumbai attacks?
John Bolton makes no bones about his bleak forecasts. Rather than leaving his listener in a state of despair, however, his straight talk is surprisingly comforting, especially under the circumstances. Long, long interview at the link.
#1
IIUC, Israel did not use bunker-buster bombs to try and damage the gzan-egypt tunnels complex, leading to a less-than-expected, only partial shutdown. Meaning they are saving those bombs for more important targets?
#2
Excellent post, thanks UP. Certainly confirms my thinking with regard to Rice. It is tragic that we cannot take further advantage of Bolton's knowledge and expertise?
#3
Not bad but he shows he is unable to think (or at least talk, he has not the same freedom of saying what he thinks that an average person) out of the box.
1) The UN must go. It is an intrinsic failure because its fundamentals: one state, one vote no matter how unimportant the state, how unrepresentative or corrupt, finacially or morally the government. That, could perhaps havbe been acceptable if UN's role had beeeen limited to the one of honest broker and place for warring states to meet. It is not when it gets power to vote sanctions and tries to pass as the representative of humankind and aspires to world government.
2) There will no be peace in Middle East as long as Palestinians can spend their money and time on war (and tell 3i want a lot of children in order to make them suicde bombres") because we pay to feed them and their children. The day, every child, every weapon means tightening another notch, ten notches more if a Kassam hits anything (they pay for damages), the day they are too busy earning their food for thinking in terrorism then there will be peace. All international aid to Palestinans should be cut off and the only question should be if it is reduced by 20% every year or if, like I favor, we cut it right now. Also Ifind deeply immoral that so muvh aid is squandered on the Palestians when there are populations who are much worse and recive much less.
BAGHDAD - Three consecutive explosions rocked Baghdad on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead and at least 20 people wounded, local media reported.
Early Sunday morning, police sources told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency, a bomb blast injured two civilians on a main thoroughfare in Baghdads al-Karada district. Later in the day, a second explosion killed an Iraqi man and wounded at least 14 other civilians in the western Baghdad district of al-Qahira, the news agency reported. Soon after, a car bomb exploded in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, injuring at least four people.
In an apparently unrelated incident in northern Iraq, unknown gunmen on Sunday killed an Iraqi policemen and captured another, along with his father, VOI reported. The gunmen seized the two from the Sinjar district of Iraqs ethnically divided Nineveh province, not far from the border with Syria, and 120 km west of Mosul, the provincial capital, and 400 kilometres north of Baghdad. The area, while predominantly Sunni, is among the most ethnically diverse in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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PEARL HARBOR_ The Navy plans to try a fourth attempt tomorrow to remove the USS Port Royal, the Navy warship that ran aground Thursday. When high tide hits early tomorrow morning, tugboats will return to try to dislodge the guided missile cruiser that is stuck in 17 to 22 feet of water about a half mile off Honolulu International Aiport's reef runway.
The Navy plans to remove the ship's anchor and the chains, which will lighten the ship by about 40 tons and remove the 800-tons of sea water that is inside the hull to stabilize the ship, said Rear Adm. Joe Walsh, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. If none of these actions work to dislodge the ship, the Navy will consider dredging a channel behind the boat to help unloosen it.
When the Navy tried to dislodge the ship earlier this morning, it used a salvage ship, the USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52), a motor vessel the Dove and four Navy and three commercial tugboats tried to remove the ship during high tide. "Although we had more horsepower, we were unable to pull the ship free," Walsh said. "We were only able to pivot the ship about 20 degrees.
"Our priorities have been and remain the safety of the crew, the safety of the ship and the safety of the environment. There have been no injuries associated with the grounding or our recovery efforts."
The larger tugboats and tow vessels used this morning provided more pulling power to nudge the 9,600 ton, 567-foot-long ship off the sandy and rocky bottom, but that wasn't enough. This morning the Navy began their redoubled effort at 1:30 a.m., but the ship remained aground after four hours of towing. The Navy's assessing its options on how to proceed.
The Navy is investigating the cause of the grounding and would not discuss any details of their investigation. The cost of removing the ship has not been determined yet, Walsh said.
Previous attempts on Friday and Saturday morning to refloat the ship were unsuccessful. Prior to yesterday's attempt, the Navy planned to remove fuel from the ship, but heaving seas prevented that from happening as the barge and ship were roiling into each other.
The ship's hull is structurally sound and there has not been any fuel leaks or spills. "We are working closely with both the U.S. Coast Guard and the state of Hawai'i to ensure all precautions are being taken should a release of fuel occur," Walsh said. "If we're unsuccessful tomorrow morning, we'll further lighten the ship."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
The Navy plans to remove the ship's anchor and the chains, which will lighten the ship by about 40 tons and remove the 800-tons of sea water that is inside the hull to stabilize the ship,
I thought keeping the pumps running would have been standard procedure?
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) The Navy on Monday freed the $1 billion guided missile cruiser that had been stuck for more than three days since it ran aground close to the coast of Honolulu.
The USS Port Royal was pulled off a rock and sand shoal at around 2 a.m. after crews removed about 500 tons of water and 100 tons of anchors and other equipment to lighten the vessel, the Navy said in a statement.
The removal by a salvage ship and seven tug boats took about 40 minutes.
#11
Glad to see it off, but I feel for that poor ship's captain. His career isn't just over, it's DEAD. He won't even be invited to reunions.
I'd be willing to bet that the XO and Navigator are toast as well...and assuming the Navigator billet's a LCDR or senior LT, he probably doesn't have his 20 years in, either.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/09/2009 22:48
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WHITTLESEA, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's deadliest bushfire crisis eased on Monday, but the death toll kept rising with at least 108 people killed as families searched for scores of missing in the twisted, charred ruins. Media reported the death toll could reach 170 as authorities searched hundreds of razed homes some 80 km (50 miles) north of the country's second biggest city of Melbourne.
Police believe some of the fires were deliberately lit. "There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told local television. "These numbers (dead) are numbing ... and I fear they will rise further," he added.
A massive bushfire tore through several small towns near Melbourne on Saturday night destroying everything in its path. Many people died in cars trying to flee the inferno, others were killed huddled in their homes, yet some miraculously escaped by diving into pools and farm reservoirs or hiding in their cellar.
More than 750 houses were destroyed and some 78 people, with serious burns and injuries, are in hospital.
Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions for blazes to take hold.
Fires in New South Wales and floods in Queensland. Prayers for our Aussie friends.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
THAT was one HOT fire! I imagine that the tinder dry conditions, along with the gum trees as fuel would make an inferno.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2009 1:27
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#2
Police believe some of the fires were deliberately lit.
On a related note, WND (considered wild-eyed by many, which is probably true, by the way) had a serie of articles over the years about jihadis claiming to be willing to use forest fires as terror weapons against the USA; also, in France, reach year, along with the usual local perps, there are "Youths" from big cities caught lighting fires in southern France (though this may be just part of their rather incredible fondness for setting stuff on fire); and, speaking of the south of France, local vegetation here is very suited to brush fires, and is incidentally very different from the vegetation found in antiquity, BECAUSE, muslim pirates used forest fires as a terror weapon a lot over the centuries IIUC, and this led to the flora adapting itself to it.
#4
Australian bushfires are extremely scary. Trees literally explode in fireballs.
But I have little sympathy for people who build homes of flammable materials and surround them with trees in bushfire areas. Most don't even have a fireproof shelter.
#7
Anyone caught setting such a fire should be burned at the stake. I know that's "cruel & unusual punishment", but it fits the crime, and would even make a dyed-in-the-wool jihadi think twice.
Fireproof homes are very EXPENSIVE to build. I have the plans for one - a 2200 sq. ft., three-bedroom, two-bath home, virtually fireproof. The cost would be around $212,000. To build it out of regular materials - $126,000. It's okay until temps get over 1200 degrees F, where the internal components would burst into flames - drapes, furniture, books, papers, rugs, etc.
I've got a couple of friends that live in that area. One of them is a volunteer fireman. He told me it was very hard to get out of the way of the fire, and almost impossible to stop it. Flaming embers were blowing as much as five miles ahead of the front of the fire, setting other fires. Indeed, we will pray for the safety of our friends there, and for an early containment and extinguishment of the fires there.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 17:05
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The government has completed the investigation report regarding Mumbai attacks and it will be submitted to the Defence Coordination Committee today. Sources told Geo News that the investigation report revealed that Mumbai attacks were not planned in Pakistan or India. However, the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai were planned in a European country while the contacts established in this connection were made through Internet, report said. Sources further said that Ajmal Kasab, lone surviving gunman captured during Mumbai attacks and five other Pakistanis involved in the planning would be tried in Pakistani court according to the law of the land. While custody of Amjal Kasab would also be sought from New Delhi to unmask his Indian accomplices involved in the attacks, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Authorities arrested 11 people, including seven police officers, suspected of carrying out an attack on a Caracas synagogue that raised concerns of rising of anti-Semitism in Venezuela, officials said Sunday.
The Attorney General's Office said an agent of the federally controlled investigative police force and one of the synagogue's security guards were among the 11 suspects arrested during raids over the weekend. The suspects are scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Surprise meter twitched pretty hard on this one. Thought for sure no one would be arrested, and thought it likely that Oogo's SA goons were behind it all.
Elias Farache, president of the Venezuelan-Israelite Association, applauded Venezuelan authorities for responding rapidly. "We thank the authorities for the quick detention of the suspects," he said in a telephone interview. "We also want to thank all of those who showed their solidarity with us."
On Jan. 30, about 15 people overpowered two security guards at the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting "Jews, get out" on the walls. The assailants also stole a computer database with names and addresses.
President Hugo Chavez has condemned the attack and promised representatives of Venezuela's 15,000-member Jewish community that those responsible would be brought to justice. But Venezuela's Jewish leaders and international observers say the socialist president's harsh criticism of the Israeli government has inspired a growing list of hate crimes. Venezuelan Jews also expressed concern after Chavez initially suggested the synagogue attack might have been carried out by Jews eager to portray his government as anti-Semitic.
In the past, Chavez's enthusiastic support of Iran and other enemies of Israel has done little to threaten the coexistence of Jews in Venezuela, which is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
Steve, check your meter. Just because arrests were made does not mean the arrested did it, nor that Oogo's goons did not. They MIGHT be good arrests, but I would not be too confident in it if I was a Venezuelan Jew.
The first days of President Barack Obama have not been easy ones.
It's not easy to waste a mandate and a honeymoon at the same time, but President Obama seems determined to try. You know he's off to a lousy start when his most favorable reviews came after he said, "I screwed up."
Did he ever, and not just once. If he keeps going this way, America will be saying, "We screwed up."
He's our President, it's a horribly dangerous time at home and abroad and we desperately need him to succeed. But he can't be successful unless he builds a broad swath of public trust in his leadership. So far, he's going backward.
It's very early, but it's worrisome that Obama has stumbled almost since he took the oath. His inauguration speech was uninspired and next to nothing has gone right for him. Already he looks like he needs a vacation.
The historic young President with the political wind at his back has quickly turned testy toward those who disagree with him. Despite promises to the contrary, he's been so rigid that the defeated Republicans are relevant again.
Obama's fumbled rollout is surprising, given a smooth and skillful transition. He appointed key players early, talked repeatedly of being ready "to hit the ground running" and was eager to get off to a fast start.
Maybe too fast. His vetting of top aides was shockingly sloppy, and he has been concerned primarily with the speed of the stimulus bill, not its contents. The failed vetting produced a string of embarrassments over tax dodgers and influence peddlers, and his embrace of the flawed stimulus has put him on the wrong side of the American public, with only about 1 in 3 voters with him.
Even more surprising, his famously cool temperament is AWOL. He has been visibly frustrated at what he calls needless delay, despite a rapid timetable given the whopping price tag of the stimulus legislation and the uncertainty of its impact.
He should genuinely welcome those who want to make the bill better. After all, there's never been much doubt he would get a huge package passed, so he doesn't need to make enemies over it. The only real question is whether it will succeed.
But unable to get his way quickly, he pulled rank with a snippy, "I won." When the Senate insisted on debate, he turned to harsh attacks and campaign-style rhetoric. Some insiders already are grumbling about disarray and arrogance.
So much for a change in Washington.
What happened to the gracious uniter, the man who held a dinner to honor opponent John McCain and embraced the concept of a team of rivals? That seems like ancient history as he and McCain now are sniping at each other.
It's also disappointing that, instead of appealing to our hopes, Obama has resorted to fear-mongering, a tactic he often accused former President George Bush of using. Our new President sounds like the old one, warning that failing to do what he wants would be a "catastrophe," a word he used twice in one day.
The real catastrophe would be to borrow a trillion dollars for no lasting result except the liberal pet projects that have turned the bill into a porkfest.
A friend, in a clever reference to JFK's first big mistake, calls it Bambi's Bay of Pork. Obama's touting the bill marks him as careless with taxpayer dollars, and it's a reputation he will not find easy to shake, especially if the legislation fails to boost the economy and add jobs.
Nor will it be easy to persuade anyone he is nonideological after his turn to hard partisanship on just his 16th day in office. In a political hot-house atmosphere, he called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "our rock" and "an extraordinary leader," oblivious to her 18% approval rating. He claimed the stimulus she produced reflected "discipline," meaning he's either cynical or didn't bother to read the turkey before embracing it.
He accused critics of pushing "tired arguments and worn ideas," but there is nothing more tired than Washington's wasteful spending. He wants to "name and shame" corporate fat cats who abuse taxpayer bailouts, but cheers his Dem mates for an outrageous tab that knows no precedent in our nation's history.
Who is this guy? Where is the Barack Obama who charmed the country and challenged it to greatness?
That's the guy we elected. That's the President we need.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
No surprises here, all very predictable. While it was originally not supposed to have been covered by the media, the President used last week's Democratic get-away in Williamsburg to lash out and vent his spleen... not to the assembled Dems, but to the American viewing public. He's major league butt hurt over the stimulous package hold up, and the declining lack of support by Americans as presented each evening on Fox News. His townhall meetings this week will attempt to repair the perception problem. I'm sure the attendees will be very carefully screened. It should be very interesting.
#2
especially if when the legislation fails to boost the economy and add jobs.
There, fixed it for ya.
By and large, the people this is designed to benefit aren't people without jobs who need them. No it's people who already have jobs or businesses that receive public sector checks - who are getting raises and increased income stream security.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/09/2009 9:08
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#3
The Republicans need to stand firm against this porkfest. The ones that vote for it most likely will not have a seat the next election cycle since the economy will still be in the toilet.
#6
CNN NEWS this AM > 2-WEEK PERFORMANCE SURVEY/ POLLS = generally, it strongly appears that POTUS OBAMA is still the OBAMESSIAH, i.e. OVERHWELMING MAJORITY OR THOSE POLLED BY CNN BELIEVE THE BAM-MAN IS DOING A GOOD OR GREAT JOB AS POTUS.
* OTOH, WORLD MILITARY FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > DISCOVERED: OBAMA's ABSOLUTE PERSONAL IQ IS RATED AT 50 POINTS [as per POTUS Obama's affect and new Policy decisions on DUBYA-ERA[PRE-ELEX] + POST-JAN 2009 US Econ policies]??
A suicide bomber has blown himself up near an Afghan military convoy in the south-western Nimruz province, killing two people.
According to the chief of Khash Rod district in Afghanistan's Nimruz province, the incident happened at around 1400 GMT Sunday, when the suicide bomber blew himself up near the military convoy. The explosion killed two men, one Afghan soldier and one civilian while two other civilians were wounded. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
So did the bomber count as the civilian, or did he kill two people plus one sub-person?
#2
One soldier was killed, a civilian also died, two civilians were wounded, and one piece of vermin was eradicated, Glenmore.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 12:34
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#3
See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PARKING BAYS FOR NATO SUPPLIES SHIFTED TO PUNJAB [first choice was at MANWALI but locals protested].
Also on PDF, THE NEWS.PK > ADMIRAL MULLEN: US IS NOW FOCUSING ON AFGHANISTAN [US StratFocus no longer centered wholly on IRAQ despite Al-Qaeda still being a (declining]problem there].
Hamas has acceded over the past few days to the Israeli demand to link the opening of the border crossings to the release of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Egyptian sources told Haaretz on Sunday.
This allows progress toward a cease-fire, by creating a connection between the opening of all crossings by Israel, completion of a prisoner swap and Shalit's release.
Egyptian sources told Haaretz cautiously that they were "very optimistic" about making progress toward a deal in the near future. However, they said it could not be known when there would be a breakthrough.
According to the plan Egypt is promoting, Israel would open the crossings, albeit not totally, when a cease-fire is reached. The crossings would operate at 80-percent capacity, which would allow a large quantity of merchandise to pass into the Gaza Strip, as Hamas is demanding.
However, Israel still insists on the right to prevent certain materials from entering the Strip - including cement, iron and other items. Hamas is believed to want just these materials to come in, to begin rebuilding the thousands of homes destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Cast Lead.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
I really hope that if Israel makes this deal, it is conditioned on Gilad Shalit being returned in good health, not in a coffin or as a bag of bones.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/09/2009 6:30
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Two American soldiers died in Afghanistan on Sunday when a roadside bomb they were trying to defuse exploded, a U.S. spokeswoman said. An Afghan interpreter and a policeman also died in the blast.
A group of American soldiers and Afghan officials had been traveling through the world's largest opium poppy producing region - the southern province of Helmand - when they discovered the roadside bomb and tried to defuse it, said Kamal Uddin, Helmand's deputy provincial police chief.
Two American soldiers died in the blast, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias. Uddin said an Afghan translator and a police officer also died.
Helmand is a cesspool stronghold of Taliban militants, who control wide swaths of territory in the province. Helmand has long been the domain of British forces in the 40-nation fight against the Taliban, but the U.S. is expected to send thousands of troops there this year to help battle a militant movement that has grown in strength in the last three years.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
This is why I prefer defusing such things remotely (air, arty, etc.). I guess the intel is valuable, but it's at a helluva price. RIP.
#2
Glenmore: This is why I prefer defusing such things remotely (air, arty, etc.). I guess the intel is valuable, but it's at a helluva price. RIP.
I concur Glenmore. Because We can remotely dismantle just about any bomb and record the event simultaneously there are few reasons to justify risking any of our great men and women's lives!!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
02/09/2009 15:42
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Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. patrol on Sunday shot down a gunman who threw a hand grenade at it in downtown Mosul, according to a security source. "The national police delivered to the morgue in Mosul the body of a gunman, who was killed by U.S. forces in al-Farouq area, downtown Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert entered the political fray at the eleventh hour ahead of Tuesday's election when he announced at a Maccabiah conference on Sunday night that he hopes Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will succeed him.
The endorsement came after weeks of speculation, spurred by Livni's associates, that Olmert was secretly working behind the scenes on behalf of Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu. "I know all the parties and all the candidates, maybe more than anyone," Olmert said. "I think that the rest of the candidates had a chance and didn't pass the test. Livni is a candidate who can lead Israel to a serious and responsible peace process with security. She showed determination during the war and wisdom in the diplomatic process."
Livni's associates tried to distance themselves from Olmert's announcement and said privately that they were concerned that the support of the unpopular prime minister would do more harm than good.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#1
they were concerned that the support...would do more harm than good.
No sh*t. It's like being endorsed by a venereal disease.
DOHA, QATAR - When the Rev. Tomasito Veneracion arrived in this Muslim nation seven years ago, his Roman Catholic parishioners prayed in small groups scattered in apartments, schools, and one tiny makeshift chapel. At Easter, Indian Catholics gathered in one place, Filipinos in another, Arabs in yet another.
But with last year's opening of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, his congregants for the first time had a recognized, central place to worship. On Christmas Eve, 15,000 attended a midnight mass, with those who couldn't cram into the 2,700-seat church watching on video screens outside.
"When I first came here, the church was not recognized. But now we are enjoying this gift," Father Veneracion says. "It's a tremendous feeling of relief that we can breathe, worship, and pray in a place without fear and without disturbance."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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#1
All that "good will & cooperation" will stop the first time a Muslim converts to Christianity. I hope the good Rev. Tomasito Veneracion has a hidey-hole picked out, preferably away from his church and its attendees.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2009 13:45
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Local Palestinian volunteers erect hundreds of canvas tents for the tens of thousands of new Gazan refugees of the 23-day Israeli onslaught. The tents were provided recently by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the UN refugee agency (UNRWA), The Daily Star reported on Sunday, and added that in recent days the Hamas government has partnered with international aid groups and local charities to set up hundreds of tents in the most devastated areas.
The heart [burp!] bleeds.
Many of the tents have been erected in Camp Dignity, which containing around 700 tents to house 30,000 who lost their homes. The camp is just a few kilometers away from the well-known Jabaliya camp, which was established in 1948 for some 35,000 refugees who were provided tents until the UNRWA could build permanent housing.
For Gazan refugees, living in tents stirs memories of the tragedy that began 60 years ago, when the 1948 Israeli war on Palestinians forced thousands into refugee camps.
More than two-thirds of Gaza's 1.5 million residents are UN-registered refugees descended from the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled from what is now claimed as Israel in the 1948 war.
The devastating 23-day Israeli onslaught last month has left homes of some 30,000 Palestinians destroyed, again igniting the memories of the 1948 expulsions.
Israel's war on Gaza killed more than 1,330 people, including over 400 children. 5,450 Gazans were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2009
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#7
Have you noticed? the number of killed children has at least doubled the number given at the end of ware. And it is higher than the total number of civilians by then.
Hamas bureau of census? Reuter "News" service? Jack Daniels?
#8
"Reconstruction" is up to 2 billion. Goes up about 200 million every coupla days. They must want flat screens and broadband in every hovel. And a little sumthin sumthin for the boys "administrative costs" of course...
#9
the 1948 Israeli war on Palestinians
"In September 1947, one month after Partition of India, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended partition in Palestine, a suggestion ratified by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947."
"Fighting between the Arab and Jewish communities of Palestine began in November 1947, immediately after the UN decision to create a Jewish state. The Arab States declared they would greet any attempt to form a Jewish state with war."
"The impending Arab invasion provided an incentive for Palestinian-Arabs to leave in the expectation that they would soon return." More
A key opposition leader in Madagascar has called for more protests against the president, a day after security forces killed 28 of his supporters. Andry Rajoelina, who was dismissed last week from his post as mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, spoke as he visited injured supporters in hospital.
He is locked in a power struggle with President Marc Ravalomanana, who he says should step down. There have been repeated protests against the firing of the ex-mayor. Demonstrators had been marching towards President Ravalomanana's compound on Saturday when police opened fire, killing 28 and injuring more than 200.
Earlier, during a rally attended by 20,000 people, the former mayor's supporters had declared him head of a "transition higher authority".
Mr Rajoelina, a 34-year-old former DJ, has successfully tapped into widespread frustration with the government. "I tell the people that their lives, their blood was lost," he said on Sunday. "(But) we cannot stop. The struggle continues,"
"The people need change," he said. "What is Ravalomanana's answer? Shots."
There was an uneasy calm on the streets of the capital Sunday as heavily armed security forces patrolled, correspondents said. Prime Minister Charles Rabemananjara announced that a night-time curfew already in force in the capital would be extended for a week, AFP news agency reported.
The sacked mayor accuses President Marc Ravalomanana of misspending public money and being a dictator. President Ravalomanana, 59 and also a former mayor of Antananarivo, has blamed the opposition leader for the violence and called for a return to calm.
Dozens of people were killed in unrest in January after anti-government protests turned into rioting and looting.
Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island, has become a destination for tourists as well as foreign companies, searching for oil, gold, cobalt, nickel and uranium.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2009
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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, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed four American soldiers and an interpreter Monday, the U.S. military said.
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C) has further ingratiated himself with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not by declaring that Pelosi and Harry Reid "failed" the bipartisanship test on stimulus.
The United States, its NATO allies and the government of Hamid Karzai are losing not just ground in Afghanistan -- but also the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. 
An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border. 
An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian fighter Monday in the northern Gaza Strip, the militant group Islamic Jihad said, as sporadic violence continued alongside efforts to firm up a new Gaza cease-fire.
One of them wanted to see Americans paying $8 a gallon for gasoline. Another tried to block access to domestic oil reserves that could one day exceed those in Saudi Arabia. Another thinks global warming is a dire crisis justifying a massive crackdown on energy -- decades after saying the same thing about global cooling. Yet another had a position in the one of the world's top socialist organizations.
Students at the American University of Cairo (AUC) demonstrated for the release of a German-Egyptian graduate student and Gaza activist who remained behind bars Sunday along with more than 70 opposition Muslim Brotherhood members, all arrested Friday for demonstrating in support of Gaza.
SEOUL (AFP) -- South Korea will stand firm in its policy towards North Korea despite a series of threats from the communist state, President Lee Myung-Bak said Monday, urging people to stay calm despite the rhetoric. 
Israel's leading prime ministerial candidate Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to stop rocket fire from Gaza as top candidates battled it out for a record number of undecided voters ahead of the general election in two days' time. 
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OTTAWA (Reuters) The Supreme Court of Canada declined on Thursday to hear activists' claims that Canada should not send refugees back to the United States because it is not a "safe" country for them.
Netanyahu the leader of the Likud party and the front-runner in polls ahead of Israel's Tuesday parliament elections, affirmed Sunday that if his party wins the elections, the strategic Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 war, 'will not be returned' under any conditions. 
CARACAS, Venezuela The chief of a leading Venezuelan opposition party says a grenade has exploded outside its Caracas headquarters. Democratic Action leader Henry Ramos says the blast shattered windows and damaged the facade of the party offices late Saturday. No one was hurt.
BAJAUR: Security forces backed by gunship helicopter killed 22 militants in Inayat Kilay area of Bajuar Agency, FC sources said Sunday. The security forces targeted the militants' hideouts using army aviation's gunship cobra helicopters on a tip-off.
Nigeria's main opposition militant group, MEND, has attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell and threatens more attacks to come. 
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal returned to Damascus Saturday after visiting Khartoum, the last leg of his Hamas "victory tour" across the Middle East aimed at shoring up political and diplomatic ties between Hamas and regional powers in the aftermath of Israel's offensive on Gaza. 
BAGHDAD - Three consecutive explosions rocked Baghdad on Sunday, leaving at least one person dead and at least 20 people wounded, local media reported.
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Authorities arrested 11 people, including seven police officers, suspected of carrying out an attack on a Caracas synagogue that raised concerns of rising of anti-Semitism in Venezuela, officials said Sunday.
A suicide bomber has blown himself up near an Afghan military convoy in the south-western Nimruz province, killing two people. 
Two American soldiers died in Afghanistan on Sunday when a roadside bomb they were trying to defuse exploded, a U.S. spokeswoman said. An Afghan interpreter and a policeman also died in the blast.
DOHA, QATAR - When the Rev. Tomasito Veneracion arrived in this Muslim nation seven years ago, his Roman Catholic parishioners prayed in small groups scattered in apartments, schools, and one tiny makeshift chapel. At Easter, Indian Catholics gathered in one place, Filipinos in another, Arabs in yet another.
Local Palestinian volunteers erect hundreds of canvas tents for the tens of thousands of new Gazan refugees of the 23-day Israeli onslaught. The tents were provided recently by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the UN refugee agency (UNRWA), The Daily Star reported on Sunday, and added that in recent days the Hamas government has partnered with international aid groups and local charities to set up hundreds of tents in the most devastated areas. 
