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Syrian rebels say they captured military air base near Aleppo
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Home Front: Culture Wars
School attacks, "terrorist threats" have Alabama careening toward panic
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 19:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336110 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Source: Drone Strike Kills Top Al Qaeda Cleric in Yemen
A drone strike in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa last month killed the top religious cleric for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a source close to the group said on Tuesday.

"A drone strike had targeted Sheikh Adel al-Abab's vehicle but he escaped and fled to a mountainous region where a raid by another drone killed him immediately," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Abab had graduated from the Dawa Islamic studies center, in Sana'a and had served as the top religious cleric for AQAP.

American drone strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorists are frequent in Yemen, home of the network believed by the United States to be the deadliest and most active of the jihadi terrorists.

AQAP is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who in July 2011 reaffirmed the group's allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of the worldwide Al-Qaeda network since the killing in May of its founder, Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 19:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Remember when Israel was constantly in the news for doing this? Nostalgia...
Posted by: Iblis || 02/13/2013 23:17 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libyan leaders seek assistance from West to secure border from al-Qaeda
The struggling Libyan government on Tuesday requested assistance from Western nations and Arab leaders in setting up a border security strategy in order to prevent defeated Islamic terrorists from retreating from Mali and entering Libya, according to Middle East news reports.

One of Libya's attractive locations for Islamists is the city of Benghazi which was already a hotbed of terrorist activity, according to an Israeli police and counterterrorism source, David Nachman.

Libya's federal government in Tripoli continues its struggle to provide security and public safety for its people after deposing and killing its brutal dictator, Muammar Khadhafi in 2011. Libyan leaders fear that al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists will retreat from a powerful offensive by the French Foreign Legion and other French fighters who are working with Nigerian troops to help Mali's leaders in crushing radical Islam in that fledgling nation.

The Malian armed conflict began when terrorist organizations entered the country and seized its entire northern region. U.S. intelligence officials believe the Islamists entered Mali from Libya armed with weapons supplied by NATO forces to help Libyan rebels fight Col. Khadhafi's modern army.

France reportedly spoke to delegates from the U.S., Britain and the European Union about the subject of border security in Mali and Libya, but the U.S. does not appear interested, said former military intelligence officer and police officer Dennis Martinez.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 19:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Why Can’t This Economy Really Get Going?
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 18:50 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336118 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Debt replaced comparative advantage destroyed by incomes taxes. Now there's no ability to have more debt the economy will shrink until tax moves from work to land values.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/13/2013 19:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Slaves only work enough to avoid punishment.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2013 21:13 Comments || Top||


The Ugly Truth About Our Economy
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 16:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336126 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Goes along with the higher education bubble.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Also on DV's link, one of the most brilliant young women of our time, Amity Shlaes
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 16:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I was listening to a local radio jock on the way homw who was talking about Champs speech. I about spilled my coffee when he referred to POTUS as that idiot in the WH. I just wonder why more people don't have his awareness.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/13/2013 18:16 Comments || Top||

#4  ..because there are more people who receive other people's free money from the idiot.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2013 21:15 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia Sending Arms To Conflict-Ridden Syria And Mali
Russia has confirmed that it is currently supplying the governments of Syria and Mali with weapons and military hardware as deadly armed conflicts continue to rage on in both countries.

The head of the state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said Wednesday that it had delivered military equipment, including air defense systems, to the regime of Syrian President Bashar

“We are continuing to fulfill our obligations on contracts for the delivery of military hardware,” said Anatoly Isaikin, the Interfax news agency reported.

Isaikin also said that Rosoboronexport did not deliver the Iskander medium-range ballistic missiles requested by the Syrian government, nor was it planning to supply Damascus with MiG-29M fighter jets, contrary to some reports, though it had agreed to send Yak-130 light attack fighters.

Russia has drawn criticism from the United States and its Western allies, as well as Arab nations, for supplying arms to the Assad regime, particularly over the Syrian military’s use of heavy artillery in civilian-populated urban areas.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 14:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So 1950-80s all over again, huh?
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 18:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Never really went away.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/13/2013 21:24 Comments || Top||

#3  So 1950-80s all over again, huh?

No kidding. We're supporting the jihadists again.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/13/2013 22:15 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan drug kingpins in power for (at least) four more years
In September 2008, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) called out three high-ranking officials in the Hugo Chavez regime for supporting the drug-trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. Their assistance to FARC included: supplying the group with weapons and ammunition, granting Venezuelan citizenship to group members, preventing law enforcement from interfering with the group’s drug-trafficking operations, protecting a wanted Colombian terrorist in Venezuela, allowing the group to use Venezuelan territory for drug-trafficking and terrorist activities, and even partnering in drug trafficking. In other words, these men are guilty of violating international law several times over.

The three senior officials named were: Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, at the time the director of Venezuela’s Military Intelligence Directorate (DGIM); Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva, at the time the director of Venezuela’s Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP); and Ramon Emilio Rodriguez-Chacín, who was acting as Venezuela’s minister of interior and justice.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that in 2009 Venezuela was the main cocaine transit country in the Western Hemisphere. Today, Venezuela remains as relevant as ever in the cocaine-supply chain. So what became of the three OFAC-designated kingpins mentioned above? Were they questioned, investigated, or dismissed after OFAC’s announcement?

Not at all. In Bolivarian Venezuela, loyalty to the dying caudillo is all that matters, and the three kingpins and Chavez have a history. All three are members of the military; all three participated in the coup d’état led by Chavez in February 1992; all three were arrested and did time in jail as a consequence; all three were promoted within the military ranks and to important governmental roles once Chavez reached Venezuela’s presidency; and all three have been supported publicly by Chavez since OFAC’s announcement. So instead of demoting or dismissing them, Chavez gave them his full support and more power. Rangel-Silva was appointed as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rodriguez-Chacín was designated as Venezuela’s representative in multilateral talks with FARC. And Carvajal was kept in command of military intelligence.

Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 14:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
UK minister says 'compensation payments to suspected extremists funding terror groups'
Compensation paid to terror suspects by the UK authorities ended up in the hands of terrorist groups, a British lawmaker has said.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke told a Parliamentary committee that it would be "naive" to think that money given to people who claim to have been mistreated by British security forces has not helped fund extremist causes.

Clarke told the Joint Committee on Human Rights the government's changes are needed to allow judges to hear sensitive the evidence against some of the suspects who allege mistreatment by the State, the Telegraph reports.

Secret Intelligence Service MI6 has been successfully sued for damages by several people it considers to be terrorists, but who have never been convicted.

Clarke said that such cases only arise because the intelligence against suspects cannot be disclosed in open court without jeopardising confidential sources.

According to the paper, some Conservative and Liberal Democrats have said they object to the very principle of secret hearings, which they say are contrary to basic civil liberties.

Clarke, however, insisted that holding so-called "closed material proceedings" would ensure that terror cases are properly handled and mean compensation payments are not needed, the paper said.

According to the paper, the minister also mounted a strong attack on the critics of his plans, accusing them of "legalistic hair-splitting" and preferring silence to justice.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 13:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Syria crisis: Qatar handing embassy over to opposition
Qatar is to hand over the Syrian embassy in its capital, Doha, to Syria's main opposition group.

The news was announced by the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), which has already appointed an ambassador.

Qatar was among the first states to recognise the SNC as the official representative of the Syrian people.

Meanwhile, Syria's former foreign ministry spokesman has told the BBC he abandoned the regime because his hopes for reform had been dashed.

Jihad Makdissi, who disappeared from Damascus in early December, told BBC Arabic he left Syria quietly to be independent and support what he called "the peaceful change that's based on national dialogue and partnership away from hatred, extremism and foreign military intervention".
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 13:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea’s neighbours to the south prepare for war after rogue nation’s nuclear test
North Korea’s neighbors bolstered their military preparations and mobilized scientists Wednesday to determine whether Pyongyang’s third nuclear test, conducted in defiance of U.N. warnings, was as successful as the North claimed.

The detonation was also the focus of global diplomatic maneuvers, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reaching out to counterparts in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo. President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to assure U.S. allies in the region and warn of “firm action.”
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 13:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336115 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ROK is now "justified" to dev andor acquire its own NucWeaps iff it so chooses.

"Time is of the essence", as once Seoul makes a formal decision to select the nuclear option it will likely see China weirdly-n-mysteriously escalate its dispute wid Japan oer the Senkakus + SCS [China = SSSHHHH...CCCC TAIWAN].

CHINA IS N-O-T GOING TO BE A HAPPY CAMPER IFF BOTH THE DPRK + ROK [Nippon? ASEAN?]GO WEAPONS NUKULAAR, WID NO TAIWAN + NO MAJOR OVERSEAS PLA MILBASES IN ASIA-PACIFIC FOR "POST-US", "FUTURE WORLD#1" CHINA.

* Once again, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS >
[AsiaSociety.org] MABUHANI: CHINA NOT PREPARED TO BE THE WORLD'S NO.1, US NOT READY TO BE THE WORLD'S NO.2.

Truth be told, iff the anti-US Leftists-Globalists + Aligned get their way, THE US WON'T EVEN BE A WORLD "NO.2" - AS PER DIVERSIFIED,
"MULTI-POLAR" ANTI-US OWG-NWO + NAU 2015 + TRANS/INTERIM, THE PRESENTLY "SOLE" SOVEREIGN US SUPEPOWER WILL JUST BE ONE WORLD NATION AMONG MANY, AT BEST ONE WORLD LEADER OR POWER AMONG MANY WORLD LEADERS OR POWERS. THE US MAY NOT EVEN BE A GLOBAL SUPERPOWER ANYMORE???

The OWG/GG + NAU + any Trans/Interim will have the Power-N-Authority, NOT Washington DC.

The US may or will just be an "Indian", NOT anymore a "Chief" or "High/Great/King Chief"???

As per MSM-Net Artics about FEMA + US DHS mysteriously purchasing massive quantities of Ammo rounds, allegedly for use agz Americans = AMerikans inside America = Amerika, the DemoLeft must surely know its NOT illegal in US Law = Fed Regulations for one Fed Agency to purchase or procure items or assets for another, espec when one Fed Agency's normal funding, etc. for same is reduced, consolidated, or eliminated. IFF ONE BELIEVES THE HYPE, ONE MUST LOOK ELSEWHERE TO SEE OR COMPREHEND THE UNSETTLINGLY OR
DISTURBING "BIGGER PICTURE".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 20:19 Comments || Top||


Economy
CEOs: Anywhere But California
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 12:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But... but... prop 30 was supposed to solve EVERYTHING!! We would have rainbows... and unicorns!! They promised!!!
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 12:26 Comments || Top||

#2  This is reality, now take your Castor Oil, and don't make me call Obama-Daddy.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Problem was that Prop 30 didn't take into account that Unicorns are endangered so the law (that is environmentalists) won't allow us to harvest their farts.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/13/2013 14:48 Comments || Top||

#4  From a related Meade article:

California is both crushing the old economy before the new one is really ready to take its place and it is inhibiting the growth of the new service oriented businesses that could provide jobs for its army of unemployed and unskilled workers. The transition between a manufacturing economy and an information one is going to be tough, especially on blue collar and unskilled workers. California hasn’t really thought through the problem of transitional employment and in California’s case the high local population of unskilled immigrants makes the issue more urgent.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/13/2013 15:37 Comments || Top||

#5  All the boats have been lowered? Well then, re-align the deck chairs and put out fresh towels, do SOMETHING!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 16:34 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Terrorist killed in Burgas attack is relative of living Canadian suspect
The unidentified terrorist who planted the bomb that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian national last July was reportedly a relative of the Canadian suspect wanted by Bulgarian authorities.

"DNA testing has confirmed the terrorist attack that killed six at the Sarafovo Airport last July was a family affair, but officials have not determined whether the bomb carrier who died was also a Canadian citizen," the National Post reported last night.

According to the report, the exact relationship between the living terrorist and the operative who planted the bomb and was killed in the blast is currently unclear.

On Feb. 5, Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced that the identity of three of those involved in the Burgas terror attack was known and that at least two of them are members of Hezbollah. While the real names of the two living suspects have not yet been released, authorities believe that they are now living in Lebanon.

According to Tsvetanov, prior to the attack the three members of the cell had flown from Beirut to Warsaw before taking a train to Bulgaria, the New York Times reported. Although the two living suspects entered Europe on genuine Canadian and Australian passports, in Bulgaria they used forged driver's licenses that were created by the "same source" in Lebanon, according to Europol.

Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 12:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Update
Canadian paper: Burgas attack was a 'family affair'
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 14:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Islam in the United States
Political correctness is what dictates conduct in the highest echelons of leadership in the United States.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 11:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think when the house of saud isn't able to dole out petrobucks to current and former politicians here anymore, PC won't be able to overcome their innate hatred of religion...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/13/2013 15:51 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai Marines Kill 17 Insurgents in Repelling Attack on Base
Thai marines killed at least 17 terrorists insurgents as they repelled an attack on a military base in the country’s south, the latest clash in an uprising that has stifled investment and left thousands of people dead.
Excellent work, gentlemen. Now go find the others and whack them too.
More than 50 terrorists guerrillas dressed in military style uniforms raided the marine station in Narathiwat province early this morning, army spokesman Ditthaporn Sasasmit said by phone from Bangkok. No member of the security forces was injured, he said.

“I would like to praise the officials for their good intelligence that helped fend off this attack,” Defense Minister Sukumpol Suwannatat told a press briefing in Bangkok today. “We are still on high alert.”

The government and army will meet on Feb. 15 to discuss whether to impose curfews in the nation’s three southernmost provinces, he said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed and thousands injured since a terrorist separatist insurgency against Bangkok rule flared up in 2004 in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, which border Malaysia. Terrorists Separatists have fought for an independent state since mainly Buddhist Thailand formally annexed the autonomous Malay-Muslim sultanate in 1902.

The Muslim rebellion has curbed economic investment in the south, where 14 provinces account for about 80 percent of Thailand’s rubber production. About 95 percent of Thailand’s population of 66 million people is Buddhist.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 10:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
10 civilians reported dead in NATO airstrike
A NATO airstrike has reportedly killed at least 10 civilians, including five children, in eastern Afghanistan.

The airstrike took place in the Shigal district of the Kunar Province, an area with a heavy Taliban presence. Afghan officials say the 10 dead civilians were from two local families.

District governor Abdul Zahir said three Taliban commanders, including a notorious Al Qaeda-linked militant leader called Shahpoor, were also killed in the raid. He said it was not clear if the owner of the targeted house was a member of the Taliban or a civilian, but the Taliban were visiting when the home was attacked.
So either Shahpoor and the boys were using the civilians as shields, or the 'civilians' were really camp followers. The good governor doesn't seem to know which is which...
NATO would not confirm whether any civilian deaths took place, but said it was investigating.

"We take every allegation of civilian casualties very seriously," a spokesman said.

The incident is likely to raise tension between the US and the Afghan government.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 09:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336138 views] Top|| File under:

#1  you invite a target into your house, you become a target
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2013 9:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Of course the media's definition of a "civilian" is thin gruel. They seem to think:

The Taliban, Laskhar al Sharia, Al Queda, Boko Harom, et al., wear uniforms or some other kind of distinctive garb like a frat house or something.

Kids, although often used as exploding thingees by the aforementioned groups, do not or could not use a weapon

Women, although often used as exploding...etc., do not or could not use a weapon.

The aforementioned groups have ethics, morals, and humanitarian motives and will make nice with any of our wounded and captured so we should also.

Everyone in these areas is a potential enemy combatant. THERE ARE NO CIVILIANS, they are all the enemy.

Screw it. The entire household was a seething little pocket of death mongers, kill them all.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 10:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Gitmo: microphones hidden in attorney-client meeting rooms
A military lawyer at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, acknowledged Tuesday that microphones are hidden inside devices that look like smoke detectors in the rooms where defense lawyers meet detainees, but he said the government does not listen in on attorney-client communications.

Both civilian and military defense lawyers at Guantanamo Bay meet their clients at a facility known as Echo 2, a camp that has about eight meeting huts.

Navy Capt. Thomas J. Welsh, staff judge advocate at the base, said he became aware of the microphones when he saw a law enforcement agent listening in on a meeting between prosecutors and defense lawyers on a possible plea deal. The agent, wearing headphones, was sitting in a control room at Echo 2, where meetings are routinely monitored by video for security reasons.

Welsh said he was assured by the Joint Detention Group commander at the base that the audio is turned off when lawyers meet with their clients — although it can be used in other situations.

“Under my watch, definitely, we don’t listen in,” Welsh said.
No, never, not a chance, nuh-nuh...
Defense lawyers in the case against Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and four co-defendants have raised concerns that the government might be listening to privileged communications.

The issue arose when an unknown government entity, believed to be the CIA, turned off the audio feed from the courtroom where Mohammed is on trial to a public gallery. The existence of such a “kill switch,” as well as the immediate decision to turn off the audio, caught the military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, by surprise. The judge ruled that in the future only he could cut the audio, and he barred any other government entity from exercising that power. But the defense raised questions about the monitoring of attorney-client communications in sidebars inside the courtroom and in meeting rooms.

Maurice Elkins, the director of courtroom technology, explained that there are multiple audio feeds from the courtroom, some of which include ambient sound picked up by microphones. He said he was not aware of any capability to separate background noise that might include private conversations but acknowledged that he could not say what capabilities other government agencies might have.

The chief military prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, said this week that the government does not listen to attorney-client communications at any location.
I'm waiting for Eric Holder to blame this on George Bush...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 08:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336114 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet the lawyer who reported this smokes. Probably discovered the microphone while disabling the smoke detector.
Posted by: airandee || 02/13/2013 11:51 Comments || Top||

#2  He said he was not aware of any capability to separate background noise that might include private conversations

I am. There are well-known algorithms that can pull a single speaker out of a roomful of conversation.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2013 13:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Didn't say the conversations weren't recorded for later.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:47 Comments || Top||

#4  They should be recorded and they should be listened to by Intel and CIA people. They know how to keep a secret, and they should not talk to the legal teams.

Fire-walling information like this happens all the time on contracts and proposals.

If any actionable intel turns up, then we should be on it right away without biasing the trial team.
Posted by: rammer || 02/13/2013 22:47 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Obama: As soon as the Afghan war is over, we'll fight a war in Afghanistan
"We are leaving in 2014, period!"

During last night's State of the Union Address that Barack Obama delivered to Congress and the American people, he promised that the Afghan War would be done by the end of 2014. At that time, while the United States would no longer be at war in the central Asian country by decree of Barack Obama, tens of thousands of American troops would still be in Afghanistan waging war, as reported by the Cybercast News Service on Feb. 12, 2013.

During the course of his annual address to the nation, Obama gave a war strategy that could best be described as schizophrenic.

A War By Any Other Name...

The Commander-in-Chief drew thunderous applause as he confidently stated to millions of Americans:

"And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over!"

From that particular moment, Obama's both short and long term strategy became rather discombobulated:

"Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change.

We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates."

Isn't That What We've Been Doing Since Day 1...?

As cited, the Government Accounting Office places the number of American troops in Afghanistan at this moment is roughly 66,000.

As of Jan.1, 2014, there will remain approximately 33,000 American souls still fighting "the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates" in Mr. Obama's non-war.

Fighting "al-Qaeda and their affiliates" is exactly what American troops did when they first arrived in-country to engage, close with and destroy the enemy back in 2001.

What's The Definition Of Leaving...?

During the singular 2012 Vice Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan, the Veep stated unequivicatably as he promised to the American people: (See video, above left)

"We are leaving.

We are leaving in 2014, period!"
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 07:54 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336112 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fighting wars in Afghanistan, Africa, the Mideast, or North Korea will be difficult if Obama has his way with defence cuts and nuke cut backs. I can see why the brass are very antsy.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/13/2013 9:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Notice the absence of descriptors such as victorious, vanquished, defeated, destroyed, conquered, subjugated, crushed, annihilated, subdued, overcome, routed, overpowered ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 10:05 Comments || Top||

#3  It's ok. They won't be there as soldiers, they'll be military advisors.

/I don't really need to note the sarcasm, do iI?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4  "We have always been at war with Afghanistania"
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2013 13:51 Comments || Top||

#5  That's OK TW, You're just stating the reality on the ground, even with some sarcasm.
Posted by: tipover || 02/13/2013 17:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Notice the absence of descriptors such as victorious, vanquished, defeated, destroyed, conquered, subjugated, crushed, annihilated, subdued, overcome, routed, overpowered ?

I think those kinds of phrases are fine if the locals are 100% with you, and/or a foreign invader is the main enemy. Where it's more or less a civil war, where a significant chunk of the population supports the enemy, and that population can't be driven out or massacred, under Western laws of war, I think it's good to employ a few neutral-sounding terms.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/13/2013 18:07 Comments || Top||

#7  PCorrectness-Deniability + Dialecticism as concept(s) are not solely a US or Western or even Demolefty invention.

No need to fight when the post-2014 Talibunnies + aligned can legally or electorally be part of the AFPAK Govts + in charge = oversignt of both AFPAK Public Polices as well as Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal.

Come 2014 or ASAP after, IN THE TALIBAN'S, ETAL. VIEW THE JOB OF THE AFPAK GOVT-ARMIES + US-NATO ADVISORS IS TO PROTECT + DEFEND THE "GOOD TALIBAN" + ALIGNED WHILE FIGHTING THOSE SELECT ANTI-TALIBAN, ETAL. - I.E. THE "BAD TALIBAN" + ALIGNED - WHOM REFUSE TO JOIN IN THE NEW POWER-SHARE WID THE AFPAK GOVTS.

2014 AFPAK = 1876 US "WILD WILD WEST", + the AFPAK Govts = 1876 US Govt. has declared that any + all Hard Boyz = Indian tribes whom are NOT on a Fed-controlled reservation will be declared "hostile" ["enemy(s) of the state"] + as such at high risk of Army-led search-n-destroy attack iff not tote destruction. THE NEW POST-2014 "GOOD TALIBAN" WILL HELP THE AFPAK GOVTS-ARMIES + US-NATO FIND + HUNT + KILL? THE "BAD TALIBAN"???

The question is whether the US believes the post-2014 "Good Taliban" will end up oer time as 2013 = not-1975/post-Saigon NEW US BFF VIETNAM, or another ANTI-US, NUKE-WANNABE ANTAGONISTIC IRAN???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 19:43 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Bad people will always want Canadian passports, even if we crack down
Has a Canadian passport become a preferred travel document for terrorists? This is a question being asked by the media (and apparently foreign governments) in the wake of the terrorist attack in Algeria involving a Canadian or Canadians and following the release of the report into the killing of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in which a Canadian apparently had involvement.
A Canadian passport has all the advantages of an American passport and none of the drawbacks. People around the world like and respect you because they know that you're almost an American (and most people like Americans). But they also know that you're not associated with the American government (and most people don't like the American government).

If I were looking to travel in safety and not be hassled, a Canadian passport would be a good start. And a big bag of Krugerrands...
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 07:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:


-Obits-
Thousands attend Chris Kyle funeral - Breitbart
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 07:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The bravest of the brave.

Their ideal is our legacy. Their Sacrifice our Inspiration.

Rest in peace.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 9:13 Comments || Top||

#2 



There were no reported attendees from the Obama administration. Only true Americans showed up. By the thousands. A Texas size tribute.


The patriotism shown along 200 mile funeral procession was more than adequate.



Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 02/13/2013 11:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Thank you, Besoeker. Thank you, Dino Shomomp7692. We are grateful to have had Mr. Kyle among us for as long as we did.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#4  They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
-- L. Binyon
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2013 13:06 Comments || Top||

#5 


RIP cowboy Chris Kyle.
Posted by: wr || 02/13/2013 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  There were no reported attendees from the Obama administration.

Fitting I'd say. No sense fouling good Texas air.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 16:30 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336103 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Kelly Hu[Filmography](age 45)



Intelligent Design

Mena Suvari's Gams turn 34


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/13/2013 2:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Estelle: Fetch that chilled Graham Beck 2005 and sit in next to the door please. Hold my calls. No interruptions, no exceptions. Thank you.

Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 7:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Cold shower time.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/13/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Asian? Hell I had her figured for Romulan.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/13/2013 16:09 Comments || Top||

#5  I can't see her gams turn 34.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/13/2013 18:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Mena's Gams are back
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/13/2013 20:38 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Public Prosecution detains 21 over Monday clashes
[Egypt Independent] The Public Prosecution in Heliopolis ordered 21 suspects tossed in the clink
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
Tuesday after festivities between protesters and security forces in front of the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace. The demonstrations had erupted Monday evening to mark the second anniversary of former President Hosni Mubarak's
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
resignation.

The office ordered police to investigate the suspects, who face charges of rioting and assaulting security forces.

Those tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
have denied all charges and said police arrested them randomly.

Investigators have already submitted the remains of Molotov cocktails collected on the palace grounds and sent them for analysis.

Dozens have been arrested across the country following violent protests on Monday as authorities prepare for talks Wednesday aimed at solving political deadlock and widespread unrest.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
the Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency began removing graffiti Tuesday that has marred the presidential palace since December's deadly demonstrations. Most of the work was done at Gate 5, where President Mohamed Morsy enters and exits the premises.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Manufacture of the militant discourse
[Dawn] FOLLOWING an embedded visit to the terrorism-hit Wazoo last December, an Islamabad-based journalist broke a story about cracks appearing in the leadership of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).

Claiming an expected reshuffle in TTP ranks, the story predicted less future violence in Pakistain mainly because a dominant section of the Taliban hierarchy wanted their leadership to focus on the US forces in Afghanistan.

Despite quoting anonymous military sources and having a less than credible context, the story went viral for two reasons. First, the information was released by a credible international wire service. Second, media outlets understand that people in Pakistain eagerly await such developments which give them hope against the rising tide of violence. Therefore, the story was extensively covered all over without anyone questioning its dubious nature.

The Taliban front man issued a quick rebuttal: "Reports about the change of leadership is merely propaganda as we will fight till death under the same command." Soon afterwards, a special video was released, in which the TTP leadership was shown exchanging greetings as a mark of solidarity.

In 1978, the Italian scholar Wagner-Pacifici declared terrorism a social drama after studying a social and political text related to the 55-day captivity, ending in death, of a former Italian prime minister, Aldo Moro.

A burgeoning electronic media in Pakistain handles terrorism no differently than what Wagner explained in the Italian context. Many of the over 40 current affairs channels appear to set the course for facilitating the bully boy discourse in league with sections of the print media to construct a serious public mood. The availability of an audience and its expectations provide perhaps the most critical variable in shaping both the decision to launch a product (discourse) and its content (news story).

How does the media do it? The answer to this question lies in defining the interests of a hegemonic state structure. In fact, military officials usually seek the media's help in testing the waters. Therefore, embedded journalists are airlifted to the troubled zone, fed fabricated news meant to invite the enemy's response.

Sometimes, feelers are put out through talk shows hosts, and the rest of the job is handed over to armchair analysts and writers. This is how institutional factors (both the media and military) undertake the production and reproduction of a discourse, largely revolving around militancy. Unfortunately, this top-to-bottom approach has less to do with the way this commentary is interpreted by the audience in their drawing rooms.

More importantly, the media's selling of this bully boy discourse is not without human cost. For example, in order for snuffies to prove that their structure is still intact, damage and destruction become inevitable. The frenzied display of this tendency has its own distinctive timing and pattern. Sometimes, the Taliban onslaught begins soon after official overtures. More interesting, however, is the drop scene of this social drama, which unfolds in quite a patterned but tragic way.

Often after spells of ruthless and unchallenged Taliban attack, the government has to apologetically announce its readiness to hold a dialogue, which is usually meant to give civilians a signal that the insurmountable enemy is worthy of reconciliation.

Though not for the powers-that-be, this treacherous reconciliatory approach is highly upsetting for those traumatised people, who yet have to recover from a fresh wave of violence. Therefore, in the enactment of this social drama, deaths and destruction serve as a collateral outcome of the ongoing bully boy culture, wherein combatant stakeholders indirectly engage one another to test the limits of the opposing forces' will and power.

Moving back to events of the last December, the Taliban leadership not only denied rifts in their ranks but also conditionally accepted the ceasefire offer.

First though, the snuffies were required to establish their position of strength. Therefore a fresh wave of dreadful attacks was launched. A number of people were killed after a Taliban suicide squad staged an audacious boom-mobile, rocket and gun attack on Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
airport.

Soon afterwards, another attack was launched in which scores of armed Taliban overran two security positions in the Peshawar suburbs killing two officials on the spot and kidnapping 22 others of which 20 had their heads chopped off later.

The real victory for the Taliban came in the third attack, where a jacket wallah killed senior minister Bashir Bilour. The fallout from the attack was so huge that it compelled the provincial government spokesperson to admit that, "snuffies are capable of striking at will anywhere they want".

Every time the political government accepts its inability to handle violent militancy in the troubled northwest, the top leadership of the security forces should share the onus of responsibility. But that never happens. It is the hapless politicianship that is mainly blamed.

This is partly because the hegemonic pro-military state power usually works in league with media moguls and together they generate an effective discourse, which diverts public attention from the relevant questions. That is why the national media usually highlights the Taliban's strength to limit the focus on the weakness of the security command. This job is done so skillfully that institutional control on the production and reproduction of bully boy discourse has remained unchallenged thus far.

The burgeoning media outlets hardly question the pattern behind the apparent chaos. Why? In fact, public concerns about violence are a major source of profit for current affairs TV channels here. Therefore, the national media willingly feeds the grinding mills of violence by packaging and selling terrorism as a refined product.

Credibility is hardly an issue as long as the news product carries ingredients of drama, sensationalism, fabrication and, most importantly, institutional support. In this way, the media helps produce the culture of violence through manufacturing fresh bully boy discourse.

This practice becomes more evident whenever violence reaches its lowest ebb and the public is found recuperating from a terror spell. In this brief lull it becomes automatic for the media to manufacture news (i.e. in "staging dialogue events between military and bully boys").

This in turn promotes militancy even with the talk of dialogue. This social drama has been going on for the last one decade, wherein civilians are dying in their thousands.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
no heads have rolled inside the security institutions that are largely responsible for the failed counterterrorism strategy in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Five killed in Tirah clashes
[Dawn] Five members of a banned beturbanned goon group were killed and four others received injuries in festivities with Taliban in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Monday.

Sources said that although Ansaarul Islam, the banned group, was able to recapture three from outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, yet it lost five of its members in the daylong festivities. The festivities took place in Dro Stana, Kala Woch and Haider Kandaw areas of Tirah valley, they added.

Another source said that the Ansaarul Islam members when some mines planted inside a bunker in Dro Stana area went kaboom!. The mines were planted by Taliban before their retreat from the area.

Sources said that fighting between the two groups was continued in Malidinkhel area.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336086 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Egyptian delegation "supports" Assad government
[Egypt Independent] An Egyptian delegation arrived Monday in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
to "support Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
in his war against extremism," reported Syrian state-owned news agency SANA on Tuesday.

The delegation included Ahmed Hassan, secretary general of the Arab Democratic Nasserist Party, Ibrahim Badrawy, head of the Movement of the Egyptian Left, and media personality Ihab Hassan.

The agency quoted Hassan telling Syrian parliament speaker Mohamed Jihad al-Lahham that the Syrian conflict had nothing to with the Arab Spring. He added that Syria's people and army are committed to unity, even in the face of armed militias.

He said Arab countries would prevail against colonialist plans to divide them and continue to build a bright future. He added that Egypt and Syria are both fighting Moslem Brüderbund and Salafi krazed killer ideologies and terrorism.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream...
Badrawy said Syria will be victorious and become a new power in the region.

Lahham, for his part, said Syria needs a political solution for its problem, and noted that Qatar, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
and Western nations are hampering efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria by supporting terrorist groups with money and weapons.

The delegation also met with Syrian Information Minister Imran Zoubi, who briefed them about plans for a comprehensive national dialogue to resolve the crisis.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian rebels prepare for push on eastern oil city
[Egypt Independent] Syrian rebels are launching a major operation to take control of the strategic eastern city of Deir al-Zor after pushing out government forces from oil-producing areas around it, a rebel commander said.

If they seize the city, the rebels will control a whole province for the first time in the 22-month-old Syrian uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
Ibrahim Abu Baker, leader of the powerful Al-Qadisiyah Brigade, said his rebel force, along with Islamists from Jabhat al-Nusra and Arab fighters, had surrounded Deir al-Zor on four sides in the build-up to the operation.

"The countryside is liberated, what is left of the province (of Deir al-Zor) is the city itself," he told Rooters from the province via Skype. "All brigades are taking part in this ... we are in charge of the eastern side of the city."

Deir al-Zor extends northwards along the Euphrates River from the border with western Iraq, home to Sunni Moslem tribes which support the Syrian rebels.

Another rebel from Abu Baker's brigade said on Monday that fighters had started the first stage of the operation by targeting tank fire against three military targets inside the city and besieging the final army stronghold on its outskirts.

"We are now surrounding (the army's) '113 Brigade' which is the last point in the countryside before we are totally focused on the city," said the rebel fighter who used the name Abu Mazen. "When we liberate the city some brigades will stay to take care of it and the rest will march to Damascus".
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...

Abu Baker said for months the rebel forces had only limited access to the city, which contains powerful security branches and a military airport.

But two weeks ago, with help from Jabhat al Nusra, they captured a security branch located near a strategic bridge on the Euphrates, opening the eastern bank to the rebels.

"After liberating the bridge we started sending aid and weapons to the fighters inside the city.. And also sending reinforcements," he said. "Now there is nothing to stop us from entering the city."

The Qadisiyah Brigade is one of the most influential in the province and has fought fierce battles with government forces.

It already controls wheat silos, a textile factory and a gas distribution center. It is composed of eight battalions with fighters from across the country, Abu Baker said.

"Fighting for God"

The revolt against Assad has taken on a sectarian hue, pitting the mainly Sunni rebels against an army whose senior ranks are dominated by Assad's minority Alawis.

Like most brigades fighting in Syria, Abu Baker said his force is composed of Syrian Sunni fighters only. "We are Islamists, we went out just to support our religion. This is why we erupted into the streets. We respect other religions but we are Sunnis and we want a Sunni to rule, not an Alawi."

Other Arab fighters from Iraq and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
are also fighting in the province, he said. "They are a separate faction, but our relation with them is good. We welcome anybody who wants to join us in jihad against Assad whether Saudis or Iraqis."

"...Our goal is one and we are fighting for God."

Rebels control the Syrian side of the Albu Kamal crossing into Deir al-Zor province, a key supply route from Iraq, but the Iraqi government has sometimes closed the crossing fearing a spillover of sectarian conflict into their country.

Iraq's government faces its own Sunni protests, with a series of demonstrations in the Western province of Anbar.

With protests in Iraq increasing, Syrian rebels are keeping a close eye on their neighbor and some are anticipating festivities with the Shi'ite-led government in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...

"The Sunnis in Anbar are helping with weapons and ammunitions," Abu Baker said. "Their days [of fighting] will come soon and Inshallah (God willing) we will go to jihad with them. Those Sunnis are our brothers."
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336097 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Four MQM men among 14 killed in gun attacks across Karachi
[Dawn] Fourteen people, including four activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
and two coppers, were rubbed out in gun attacks in different parts of the city on Monday, police and party sources said.

In a shooting outside the MQM unit office in Gulshan-e-Maymar, five workers of the party were maimed, the officials said.

They added that the attackers, said to be four, riding two cycle of violences sped away after targeting the activists.

The maimed were rushed to a nearby private hospital, where three workers -- Adnan Ali, Waqas and Shakir -- died while Humayun and Arif were admitted for treatment, the police said.

The police Sherlocks collected around a dozen spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol from the scene of the crime.

Following the attack, tension gripped the locality that reverberated with gunfire causing closure of shops in the area.

Earlier during the day, a Muttahida activist was bumped off in the Haleemabad area of Malir, police said.

Junaid Ahmed, 28, an activist of the party unit 97, was on a cycle of violence when he was targeted within the remit of the Malir City cop shoppe, an official said.

The victim was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival.

Following the incident, tension gripped different localities of Malir.

Constable killed in 'sectarian' attack

A police constable was bumped off in the Gulbahar area on Monday evening, police said. They said that assailants on a cycle of violence targeted Syed Mukhtar Rizvi, 30, who was sitting at a video shop in Pasban Mohallah within the remit of the Gulbahar cop shoppe. He was struck down in his prime.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

The police said that the policeman was killed apparently for sectarian reasons. He was posted in the headquarters of the security zone of the police organizational structure.

ASI rubbed out

An assistant sub-inspector was sprayed with bullets in Sherpao Colony, Landhi, on Monday, officials said. They added that ASI Zulfiqar Ali, 40, was heading to work when he was targeted within the remit of the Quaidabad cop shoppe, where he was posted.

The police Sherlocks suspected that the attackers might have been following the officer since he left home.

The ASI sustained seven bullets and died before he could be taken to hospital.

'ASWJ supporter' killed

A young man said to be a sympathiser of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat was rubbed out in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Monday evening, police said. They added that Qari Mohammad Aasim, 35, was targeted near Safoora Chowrangi. He suffered a bullet wound in the head, causing his instant death.

The police shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

A front man for ASWJ said the victim was their supporter.

Two brothers bumped off

Two brothers were bumped off on M.A. Jinnah Road near the Mazar-e-Quaid on Monday evening, police said.

They said that assailants riding a cycle of violence fired at two men also riding a bike and sped away. The maimed were rushed to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
where they died. They were identified as Saleem Shah, 26, and Akram Shah, 30.

The police said that they were brothers and lived in the Saddar area. They were not immediately sure about their affiliation with any political or religious party.

Trader rubbed out, guard maimed

A trader was rubbed out and his security guard was maimed in the Kharadar, police said. They added currency trader Imran Yousaf, 35, had just arrived at his shop along with his guard in his car in Bantva Gali when gunnies riding a motorbike opened fire on them and fled.

Both the maimed were rushed to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi where Imran Yousaf was pronounced dead on arrival, while his guard, Mohammad Shahzad, was admitted for medical treatment.

The police quoted hospital sources as saying that the victim had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and had died before he could be taken to hospital.

His guard was also stated to be in a serious condition, according to the police. The police suspected that the killing could be related to extortion activities.

Killing near zoo

A young man was rubbed out and a passer-by was maimed in an armed attack near the Bloody Karachi Zoological Gardens on Monday evening.

Police said that armed motorcyclists targeted Abdul Qadir when he was passing through the area on foot. Another man, said to be a passer-by, was also maimed in the firing.

The maimed were taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi where Qadir was pronounced dead on arrival. The maimed man could not be identified immediately.

Man rubbed out

A young man was rubbed out in the Naseerabad area of Bin Qasim town, police said. They added that Hazrat Umar was rubbed out near his home. The police shifted the body to the JPMC for medico-legal formalities.

Bodies found in gunny bags

The bodies of two young men stuffed in gunny bags were found from a garbage dump in Abbas Town on Monday morning, police said. They added that the bodies bearing torture marks and gunshot wounds were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Bloody Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

At the hospital, one of the dear departed was identified as Ismail Ghani, resident of Sikander Goth, while the identity of the other victim could not be ascertained.

The police believed that the victims had been killed somewhere else before their bodies were dumped by the roadside.

Later, the decomposed body of a man was found from Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
Naddi near Mauripur Road.

The police believed that the victim had been killed several days ago. The cause of death could not be immediately clear.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Police arrest 18 protesters in Gharbiya
[Egypt Independent] Security forces on Monday tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
18 people in Tanta in Gharbiya Governorate during demonstrations marking the second anniversary of President Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
stepping down.

"They threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the police," said Gharbiya Security Director Hatem Othman. "We had to answer with tear gas."

In Mahalla, eight protesters were released after being arrested Friday on charges of storming the municipality building.

Cities in Gharbiya in Nile Delta have witnessed frequent festivities between protesters and security forces since 25 January, the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution's beginnings.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Tunisian Islamist leader expects new coalition govt this week
[FRANCE24] Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's main Islamist Ennahda party, said Tuesday that he expected Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali to form a coalition government this week that would include politicians as well as technocrats.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Southeast Asia
Thailand: Security alert at US consulate
[Bankok Post] Police have stepped up security at the United States consulate in Chiang Mai city after receiving information that Al-Qaeda and Salafist beturbanned goons planned to attack it in the first half of February.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday she had been briefed on the information and ordered police to step up security at the US consulate in the North, although the US embassy had not made any special request.

Police armed with HK33 rifles from the provincial police headquarters are reportedly on security duty at the consulate around the clock in shifts of seven members each.

A checkpoint has been set up in front of the consulate. No parking of vehicles is allowed on the road in front of the consulate.

Pol Col Aksorn Wongyai, the Muang Chiang Mai police chief, said there had not been any threat made.

The only special event taking place is the Cobra Gold joint military exercise, involving troops from many countries including the US, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand, in Chiang Mai from Feb 11-21.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said according to information reaching the government, Al-Qaeda and Salafist beturbanned goons planned to launch a three-pronged attack the US consulate in Chiang Mai in an operation codenamed "Billiard Ball".

The beturbanned goons would be equipped with small arms, grenade launchers and C-4 charges provided by drug traders who were not satisfied with the role of the US consulate in Chiang Mai in drugs suppression in the region, Mr Chalerm added.

Mr Chalerm said he ordered Pol Lt-Gen Suthep Dejraksa, the Region 5 Provincial Police chief, to beef up security at the consulate from Feb 6.

He said this matter would not affect Ms Yingluck's scheduled visit Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai during Feb 13-15.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels say they captured military air base near Aleppo
[LATIMES] Syrian opposition forces said Tuesday that they had captured a strategic military air base near the embattled northern city of Aleppo, the latest air facility reportedly overrun by Death Eaters.

The reported capture of the Jarrah air base, about 40 miles east of Aleppo, came after a 17-day siege during which forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
were cut off from supplies, said a representative -- reached by Skype -- of the Liwa al Islam group, one of the rebel units reported to have taken the airfield.

The reports could not be independently verified.

At least 30 government forces were killed in the assault on the airfield, the rebel officer said. Five opposition fighters were killed, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition group.

Syrian warplanes bombarded the base after its capture by the rebels, the observatory said. The opposition says warplanes often attack military facilities after the bases fall into enemy hands.

The reported capture reflects the rebels' ongoing strategy to lay siege to and eventually capture air bases and thus constrain the government's ability to use air power against Death Eater forces.

Rebels and government forces have been battling since July for control of Aleppo, once the nation's bustling commercial capital. Large swaths of the city have been reduced to depopulated rubble fields.

Video said to be from the captured airfield shows a number of fighter jets in various states of disrepair, apparently abandoned at the air base.

The base is along the route from Aleppo east to the north-central city of Raqqah, along the Euphrates.

Rebels also captured large caches of ammunition, heavy machine guns and antiaircraft weapons at the base, opposition activists said.

Throughout the almost two-year rebellion, military bases and cop shoppes have been key sources of weaponry for Syrian rebels.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336128 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


China-Japan-Koreas
Few Korea hands on Obama administration's Asia leadership team
[THECABLE.FOREIGNPOLICY] On the Obama administration's Asia team, almost all the senior officials handling the North Korea crisis have specialties outside of Korean affairs, a stark difference from the last two times Pyongyang exploded nuclear weapons in October 2006 and May 2009.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who had extensive experience dealing with the North Korea issue, departed the government last week. His temporary replacement, Principal Deputy Secretary of State Joe Yun, is a Southeast Asia specialist. Yun has served in the Seoul embassy but is not in a senior policy making position. The State Department's special representative for North Korea policy, Glyn Davies, is a nuclear technology and Europe expert, having most recently served as the U.S. permanent representative to the IAEA in Vienna. State's special envoy to the (defunct) six-party talks, Clifford Hart, is a longtime China hand.

Over at the National Security Staff, Senior Director for Asia Danny Russel (Campbell's potential successor at State) is a Japan hand with some Korea experience, while his right-hand man Evan Medeiros, is an expert on China. Syd Seiler, who also works at the NSS, is a Korea specialist and is reported to have traveled to Pyongyang last March. But Seiler is currently on detail from the CIA and is expected to return to his home agency soon.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes but we have the State of the Union address, ObamaCare, green energy, Sandy Hook and Christopher Dorner. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/13/2013 11:35 Comments || Top||


N. Korea Threatens 'Stronger' Action after Nuke Test
[An Nahar] North Korea said its nuclear test Tuesday was only a "first" step and warned of stronger action if it was faced with tougher sanctions as a result.

"The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the country's official news agency.

"If the U.S. further complicates the situation with continued hostility, we will be left with no choice but to take even stronger second or third rounds of action," it said without elaborating.

The statement came just hours after South Korea's spy agency chief warned Pyongyang might carry out another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch in the coming days or weeks.

North Korea said Tuesday's test was directly targeted at the United States. It accuses Washington of inciting global condemnation of its nuclear program and of leading the sanctions charge in the U.N. Security Council.

Its claim of miniaturization suggests that it is a step closer to fitting a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Hydrogen + Plutonium, or Plutonium + Advanced Plutonium aka Thermonuclear???

just askin'.

[North-Korea-vs-Globalist/Green-George CVN here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 1:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Stronger action, not reaction, Joe.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/13/2013 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "N. Korea Threatens 'Stronger' Action after Nuke Test"

Yeah ... Pudgy called Weight Watchers and asked for a complimentary membership. But NO restrictions on pies, ice cream, fudge or Snickers bars. Those items all are listed with ZERO calories in N. Korea :-)
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  They said Obama would try to start a War to stay in office, Did the Nork's get a bennie from setting the Nuke off?

Or is it still in the Pipeline?
Food perhaps?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:41 Comments || Top||


Arabia
5 Hurt as Forces Attack Wounded Revolutionaries before Yemen Cabinet
[Yemen Post] Five people including MP Ahmed Saif Hashid were hurt after anti-riot forces attacked Yemeni maimed revolutionaries who have been protesting in front of the council of ministers for weeks.

The revolutionaries, who were maimed during the 2011 uprising, have been protesting the slowness of the government to respond to their demands including sending some of them for treatment abroad. They argued the government has not sent about ten, who were seriously injured, to Germany and Cuba according to a court decision last year.

MP Ahmed Saif Hashid joined the protest in support of the maimed revolutionaries.

The attack by the central security forces coincided with the weekly meeting of the cabinet.

The forces arrived at the protest site, surrounded the maimed protesters, beat them and fired teargas at them.

Some security soldiers were seen with batons and later blood was seen on the face of Hashid. He was injured in his head and later was admitted along with others to hospital.

The forces withdrew after the attack which has drawn wide criticism amid ongoing rage of the public, activists and revolutionaries who have accused the government of ignoring the demands of the maimed revolutionaries.

The government has already sent some revolutionaries for treatment abroad and has recently paid funds for the treatments of others.

Activists and revolutionaries, however, argued what the government has done in this context is not enough because there are about 11000 revolutionaries who were hurt during the uprising.

Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Science & Technology
Iran's 'fake' fighter jet spotted in the air
With a little help from Photoshop
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336125 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gizmodo is all over this one.
Posted by: Raj || 02/13/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  D *** NG IT, I don't see Godzilla anywhere around, do you???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 0:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, he's right here Joe.

Posted by: junkiron || 02/13/2013 6:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Sometimes we look at a photograph and we know something just doesn't look right, but we just can't seem to put our finger on what is wrong with the image.

In this case we know instantly that the image was "Photoshopped" because the plane and the background (the mountain) were photographed from two different perspectives. Or angles.

In photography perspective means - where was the photographer standing in relation to the subject when he/she took the picture ? In the Iranian Photoshopped image you will notice that, in the case of the background, the photographer was high above the mountain, and from the photographers perspective, he/she was in a position directly in front of the mountain. (head on)

In the case of the jet plane, if you look at the two tail sections, you will notice that the photographers perspective (position) was slightly above the plane and almost all the way to the left.

The image looks phoney because from the photographers perspective the plane would have been flying out of the image, or on the far right, not on the far left.

If you place the plane on the far right of the image, the first thing you notice is that the plane has no exaust. That is probably why the "Photoshop Artist" put the plane on the left and cut off the tail section.

Another dead give away that an image has been "Phoshopped" is the image resolution. Resolution is the size and shape of the pixels. In this case, not only are the two images different resolutions, but the plane has been given a "motion blur" which causes the planes pixels to become rectangular and pointed on the left.

AS A SIDE NOTE:

The image of Obama's birth certificate (on his website) is comprised of four different sized pixels.
It is quite easy to program Photoshop to copy only the pixels of a certain size.
If you do this four times what you come up with is the four original documents used to composite the final image.
Also the ink on each document is a different color of black. In addition all the text edits made are a fifth color of black. If you program Photoshop to copy only the fifth color of black, what you come up with are all the text edits they made on the final draft of the birth certificate.
Posted by: junkiron || 02/13/2013 19:20 Comments || Top||

#5  *happy sigh* Rantburg has the best experts! That was a pure pleasure to read, junkiron.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 21:36 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran hopes to build Bushehr 2
Iran hopes for the possibility of beginning the construction of the second power unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant together with Russia in the near future, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stated on Tuesday, Itar-Tass reported.

"We had an agreement that the capacity of the nuclear power plant, which Russia will build in Iran will be about 5 thousand megawatts," he said. "The Bushehr NPP produces one thousand megawatts, and four thousand is yet to be produced."
Operation Lemony Snickett works in ways both broad and subtle...
The minister recalled that at the meeting of the intergovernmental commission held on Tuesday the sides reached the mutual understanding on the agreement dated August 24, 1992 on cooperation in the sphere of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

"I hope that together with colleagues from Russia it will be possible to begin the construction of the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear plant in the near future," he said.

The construction of the nuclear power plant near Bushehr was launched in 1975. Then the work on the NPP building was carried out by a West German company. However, in 1980, West Germany joined the US sanctions against Iran and the construction was stopped.

On August 24, 1992, the Government of the Russian Federation and Iran signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. And on next day - on August 25, 1992, the parties agreed to continue the construction of the Bushehr NPP. In January 1995, the sides signed a contract on the completion of the first power unit of the NPP. Last August, the power unit reached 100-percent design capacity.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336109 views] Top|| File under:

#1  not bad idea since bushehr 1 may well be functioning a very low levels in a few years
Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2013 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Why do you say that, lord garth?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 14:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Ins'Allah maintainance and/or facility modifications by the Israeli Air Force, perhaps?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/13/2013 15:04 Comments || Top||

#4  tw

Glenmore gives two reasons.

Here is some amplification:
- Russian techs are to be gradually removed and replaced with Iranian
- The design is a complicated one-of-a-kind model with parts from Germany, other parts from Russia and still other parts from Iran with the construction taking place over about 30 years.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2013 19:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Thank you for explaining, gentlemen.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 21:32 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
UN Security Council strongly condemns North Korean nuclear test, pledges further action
[Washington Post] A united U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and pledged further action Tuesday, calling Pyongyang's latest defiant act "a clear threat to international peace and security."

All 15 council members, including North Korea's closest ally China, approved the press statement hours after the latest underground test. The statement called the atomic blast a "grave violation" of three U.N. resolutions that ban North Korea from conducting nuclear or missile tests.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Did I hear a harumph in there
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 02/13/2013 6:00 Comments || Top||

#2  They feel a strongly worded note coming on.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/13/2013 14:58 Comments || Top||

#3  UN pledge, a shit stain, and almost as useful.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 16:06 Comments || Top||


Africa North
ANP troops kill terrorists in Tizi Ouzou
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian troops killed two terrorists Monday (February 11th) in the Tizi Ouzou village of Ihnouchène, Tout sur l'Algerie reported.

The action came a day after a failed kidnapping attempt in the region.

An armed group tried to abduct a trader in Ihessnaouen, south of Tizi-Ouzou, La Depeche de Kabylie reported on Monday. While the target of the botched kidnapping was able to flee the assailants, his mother suffered a gunshot injury.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Change hits Algerian parties
[MAGHAREBIA] A year before the presidential elections, several heavyweights have disappeared from the Algerian political stage.

The Algerian political scene bereft of its big names is akin to an "elephants' graveyard", Liberté commented.

"For twenty years now, this mammoths' tomb has swallowed up the beautiful flower of Algeria's political future, which must now be consigned to the past, of course," the February 3rd editorial said.

"From Sifi to Belkhadem, Redha Malek, Taleb El-Ibrahimi, Benbitour, Hamdani, Hamrouche, Benflis, Boukrouh, Sadi, Ait Ahmed, Ouyahia and Soltani have all played their part in keeping politics going before this was crushed by indifference," the Algerian daily opined.

A popular adage says that when the National Liberation Front (FLN) catches a cold, Algerian politics sneezes. Indeed, the changes have been coning at breakneck speed.

The January departure of FLN party chief Abdelaziz Belkhadem is just the latest in a series of changes to Algeria's political landscape.

Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) head Said Sadi also stepped down last spring to make way for Mohcine Belabbas, the former leader of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS).

Political parties including the National Democratic Rally (RND), the Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP) and the FFS also recently experienced changes in their leadership.

El Watan suggested that the "political killing" of the leaders of the FLN and RND was possibly part of a plan to make way for surprise replacements.

"The crisis that the FLN has gone through of late and the way in which the party's secretary general, Abdelaziz Belkhadem -- who was known for his loyalty to the president, to whom he owed his career -- was removed could indicate the lack of a consensus at the very top with regard to the 2014 presidential elections," the Algerian daily editorialised.

The only prominent political group that has enjoyed relative stability is the Workers' Party (PT) led by Louiza Hanoune.

In an interview with Magharebia, MP Ramdane Taazibt said his party was not affected because "the bylaws and internal regulations are adhered to within the PT".
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Arabia
Two Explosions in South Yemen, One Blamed on Militants
[Yemen Post] Two kabooms rocked two cities in Yemen's southern province of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
on Tuesday and there were reports three people were maimed, Almasdar Online reported.

The first bomb exploded at a position of the pro-government tribal fighters (the popular fight committees) in the old city of Modya but no casualties were reported in that kaboom, the website quoted local sources as saying. "The kaboom took place before fighters arrived at the site," they added.

The second bomb exploded at a wedding party in the Jaar city, two hours later, injuring three citizens, one at death's door, the sources were quoted as saying.

"An Al-Qaeda hard boy infiltrated into the wedding party and went kaboom! the bomb at the attendants," they said. There were no reports whether the hard boy has been jugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
or was among those hurt.

Al-Qaeda beturbanned goons have been targeting the tribal fighters who spread in almost all Abyan cities on patrols and at checkpoints to prevent the regrouping and return of the beturbanned goons after their defeat last year.

The army launched last year a US-backed offensive and drove all beturbanned goons out of their strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces. Many beturbanned goons including key leaders were killed.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics......
the authorities have been continuing a massive hunt for the remaining operatives of Al-
Qaeda with direct support from the US whose drones have targeted key Al-Qaeda leaders and members.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Iran Rejects Arm Smuggling Allegations - tensions heightened
[Yemen Post] Within days of Yemen Foreign Minister Abu Baqr al-Qirbi's remark on Iran meddling with his country's internal affairs through its military support of the Houthis - Shiite rebel group based in the northern province of Sa'ada - and the Harak - Southern Secessionist Movement - and Yemen National Security Agency Chief, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi' scathing comments on Tehran established guilt; Iran Foreign Ministry front man Ramin Mehman-Parat categorically denied any involvement in weapon smuggling in Yemen and the region.

"We have announced several times that we prioritize the region's stability and security, and underline the rights and national illusory sovereignty of (other) countries," Mehman-Parat told the press, insisting the entire matter was an American-led witch hunt against his country.

Iranian diplomats have longed accused Washington of seeking to drive a wedge in between Sana'a and Tehran as to reassure Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
was not about to fall prey to Shiite Islam and endanger its Sunni hegemony in the Arabian Peninsula.

And while state officials are aligning themselves with President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, many have said to be wary of Yemen disengagement with Iran. "Yemen needs not alienate regional powers to please its partners [direct reference to the United State of America and Saudi Arabia] but should conduct a foreign policy which fits its immediate interests," said a member of the Shura Council under cover of anonymity. He added "Iran could be a useful partner against terror. Tehran has always looked warily upon al-Qaeda's fanatic rhetoric ... Tehran could turn out to be a useful and powerful force in Yemen's fight against extremism."

New reports from Yemen allege the arms cargo confiscated off the country's coasts was headed for Syria and not Yemen from a seaport in Ukraine, in support of the Free Syrian Army against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
In answer to Yemen's fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
accusations, Iran Foreign Ministry answer the following "making such irresponsible claims is not in the interest of the two countries;" a warning diplomatic relations could take a turn for the worse.

Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Iran Rejects Arm Smuggling Allegations

Of course they do.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Another doctor gunned down in Peshawar
[Dawn] Suspected Islamic fascisti on Monday evening bumped off a doctor inside his clinic in Sardar Ahmed Jan Colony on Charsadda Road, police said.

Two medical practitioners have been killed in the city over the last few weeks.

An official of the city police said Dr Tehseenullah was at the clinic when faceless myrmidons opened fire on him.

He said the doctor was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital at death's door but he departed this vale of tears.

Faqirabad cop shoppe SHO Zarwali Khan told Dawn that the doctor belonged to Ghalanai area of Mohmand Agency
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
"The documents recovered from his clinic showed that he last served at Ghalanai Hospital before retirement," he said.

The SHO said Dr Tehseenullah was living alone in the area and his family was somewhere else and that attackers entered the clinic posing themselves as patients and after shooting him, escaped on a cycle of violence.

"Officials of the investigation department are collecting evidence and recording statements of people to help media know the entire story. It seems that Islamic fascisti have targeted him," he said.

The SHO said the slain doctor's brother had visited the hospital to receive the body but couldn't speak to police for being overwhelmed by grief.

Also in the day, police tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
13 people from religious groups in different parts of the city.

A police official said the arrests had been made part of investigation into the killing of the two doctors and one lawyer from Shia community.

He said 11 people belonging to Ahle Sunnatwal Jamaat
The false nose and mustache name of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain.
had been picked up and they included Usman Farooqui, Irshad Haideri, Saddiquullah, Shah Faisal, Jan Farooqui, Aurangzeb Farooqui, Mohammad Gul, Nasrullah, Sajjad, Sajid and Jamal.

The official said police had also arrested leaders of Majlis Wahdat Mohammedaneen, including Mohammad Ali Karbalai and Zulfiqar, in Kotwali and Hashtnagri areas.

He said the crackdown on assassinations would continue.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336089 views] Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan

#1  Jihadis and Humble Pie:
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2013 8:14 Comments || Top||


TTP talks: Legitimising terror
[Dawn] The annual report of Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
(2013) on Pakistain reads exactly the same as the ones published before it. Only the brutality of those involved in the killings and the apathy of those observing has increased tenfold. Apart from that, the report has nothing 'positive' to report from Pakistain.

The reason why there is nothing 'positive' in the report reflects the fact that our state continues to move backwards, learning nothing from past mistakes.

If learning was the case, the recent offer of talks by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), who have single-handedly ruined thousands of lives in Pakistain, would have been refused by the state immediately.

As it is, we are already in a state of war with the Taliban, who continue to attack children, students, teachers, journalists, minorities, and any one who does not accept or follow their brand of Islam.

To be precise, it is progression and a progressive mindset that the Taliban and likeminded groups are against. I felt it necessary to spell it out because it is important to understand, that hard boyz are against each one of us, including every ideology or sect that they feel threatened from.

In 2012, hard boyz killed around 325 people from the Shia sect, shot a student Malala Yousafzai, apart from torching over a hundred schools in different areas of Pakistain. This is not all, as there are countless other incidents where shrines have been attacked, apart from the ruthless targeting of the Pak police. Verve and confidence are not lacking in these people at all, as after every attack that destroys a home, a family or a school, the hard boyz have openly taken responsibility for their actions.

And now they want to hold talks with the government and have chosen guarantors, whose selection does not come as a surprise either.

What is surprising, however, is the meek response of the state. For years our country has been dangling in the middle about how to properly negotiate with the Taliban. But the question that arises after what our society has gone through over the decade is: do we really need to negotiate with the Taliban? If yes, then on what basis?

It would be better for the state to acknowledge once and for all that we are at war with hard boyz and work towards eliminating the menace, rather than appeasing them.

In this context, it would be better to look at how Sri Lanka dealt with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). From its formation in 1983 till 2009, LTTE was known for its massacres over ethnicity, suicide kabooms and guerilla warfare.

Seven years before being defeated by the army in May 2009, LTTE was running a mini-state in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Though the war took over a hundred thousand lives in Sri Lanka, the country's military defeated one of the most ruthless beturbanned goons.

Counter insurgencies are always ugly in practice but is it uglier than what Paks go through on a daily basis?
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Seems easy enough, agree to meet, then slaughter the meeters, all of them, continue until they no linger want to meet.

Problem solved.

It's not that they don't do the same.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not that they don't do the same.

There is a proud tradition in the religion of exactly that, in fact, though proper hospitality demands they be given a feast first. The choice then becomes swords or poison in the food for the perennially unsuspecting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 4:48 Comments || Top||

#3  I suggest poison, it's more permanent and neater.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:19 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Is Said to Convert Enriched Uranium to Reactor Fuel
[NY Times] As it prepares for two sets of negotiations with outsiders on its disputed nuclear program, Iran said on Tuesday that it was converting some of its enriched uranium into reactor fuel, the state news agency IRNA reported, potentially limiting the expansion of stockpiles that the West fears could be used for weapons.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Sure.

Spend enormous sums to enrich 0.5% U-235 to 20% U-235, the spend more to convert it to 5% U-235 for reactor fuel.

Makes sense in bizzaro world.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2013 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  thank you Lord Garth.
my point too.

nobody is going to enrich uranium to 20% or more, then convert it back to 5%. that's ridiculous. The Iranians have plenty of the 5% stuff. this story line makes no sense.
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 0:57 Comments || Top||

#3  IIRC, didn't Iran Officios use a "17%" or "19%", under-20 figure for their HEU enrichment goal, ITO good enough to satisfy the US + UN IAEA but also good enough to power their Navy's desired future "peaceful", cannot-confirm-or-deny-they will-be-armed-or-wid-what NUCLEAR SUBMARINES + MILITARY, COMMERCIAL SURFACE SHIPS???

Iran professes to want a Nuke-powered, "Blue Water" capable Navy to plow the Med, Atlantic, + East Asia-IOR, etc. whose ships of war are also N-O-T Nuke-armed???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 1:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Reminds me of GEN. CUSTER to Indian-Cavalry Scout Dustin Hoffman in "LITTLE BIG MAN" > "YOU'RE STILL TRYING TO OUTSMART ME, AREN'T YOU, MULESKINNER - YOU DON'T WANT ME TO GO DOWN THERE BECAUSE YOU REALLY D-O-O-O-N'T WANT ME TO GO DOWN THERE ... ... WELL, ARE YOU SATISFIED NOW, MAJOR"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 1:29 Comments || Top||

#5  But Obama doesn't care about this. "Assualt" weapons??? That's the ticket!!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 02/13/2013 5:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe if we told OBambi and Slow Joe and San Fran Nan that Iran was FULL, just freaking FULL, of assault rifles maybe they would do something...

Naw, they filled Mexico with assault rifles (which I think was really an attempt to deplete the stocks in the US, you know stage four of the product cycle, taking obsolete stuff and selling it to the local rubes to keep a product line profitable) and they haven't done a think.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 10:22 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Death of a master terrorist: How the 'Iranian Jackal' was killed
[National Post] On the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyah, a.k.a. "The Iranian Jackal," much new information about the hunt for the terrorist most wanted by Mossad and the FBI has emerged. It's a story of high-tech surveillance and old-fashioned espionage, and it's just starting to be truly told now.
Spoiler alert: Mossad got the bad guy. Go to the link for all the juicy details.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So much more interesting than drone-zapping. Either way the objective is met. I suppose a fair amount of intelligence is gathered also in order to drone zap one of these scum.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/13/2013 10:06 Comments || Top||

#2  It was under Bush. It has been alleged that this is less the case under Obama, but it may also be the case that the indicators are harder to find now. For instance, in Afghanistan an Arab fighter stands out. Not so in Yemen.
Posted by: lotp || 02/13/2013 10:42 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Lawyers protest colleague's murder
[Dawn] As lawyers in the placid provincial capital on Monday boycotted courts against the killing of their senior colleague, Malik Jarrar, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan warned police of strict action if they failed to arrest the killers and check the incidents of targeted sectarian killings within a week.

Peshawar High Court Bar Association held a general body meeting, where a committee of senior lawyers was formed to hold a meeting with the chief justice over the killing.

It also decided to continue with the boycott of courts today (Tuesday).

The lawyers have been on strike since Friday last against the killing of Malik Jarrar, and torturing of their colleague, Furqan, by local police.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Afzal Guru's family snubs India's offer to visit jail grave
[Dawn] The family of Mohammed Afzal Guru who was executed over the weekend has rejected an offer by Indian authorities to pray at his graveside inside a prison, insisting the body be buried in his home state.

Home Secretary R.K. Singh made the offer Tuesday and said that the belongings of Mohammed Afzal Guru, an Indian Moslem who was executed and buried at Tihar Jail on Saturday for his role in the deadly 2001 Indian parliament attack, would be handed over to his family members.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Afghanistan
US war in Afghanistan will end in 2014: Obama
The US war in Afghanistan will end by late 2014, President Barack Obama vowed, saying that another 34,000 American troops will come home over the next year, AFB reports.

"This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over," Obama said in his annual State of the Union address.

Obama told Iranian leaders it was time they ended a standoff over the country's nuclear program, just two weeks before fresh talks with world powers.

"The leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations."
Which is why we're drawing down our forces in the region, cutting our military and keeping our carrier battle groups at home...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US war in Afghanistan will end in 2014: Obama

However the shooting and casualty rates will probably continue in Chicago. Didn't solve anything, but they meant well. That's all that counts [to them].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/13/2013 7:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Gotta turn those MRE's into EBT ground round, ciggies and beer somehow.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 7:10 Comments || Top||

#3  P2k, don't encourage him - we might end up with domestic drone zaps.
Posted by: lotp || 02/13/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  And hopefully Karzai and his boys will be able to fend off the Taliban until after 2016 when Obama has (hopefully) left office so he won't have to take the blame when they sack Kabul.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/13/2013 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  when Obama has (hopefully) left office

I'm glad you added "hopefully".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/13/2013 14:24 Comments || Top||

#6  And hopefully Karzai and his boys will be able to fend off the Taliban until after 2016 when Obama has (hopefully) left office so he won't have to take the blame when they sack Kabul.

If we continue to support Karzai with a stipend, he will prevail. Every ally we've had that collapsed, from China through Nicaragua, had its financial aid yanked, while their adversaries were supported with generous amounts of aid. Najibullah's regime ended because Yeltsin pulled his funding.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/13/2013 22:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Najibullah never had a chance without Soviet funding: (1) his major trading partners were the ex-Soviet states whose economies were imploding, (2) his enemies were being funded by Pakistan (6x Afghanistan's population and much more developed) *and* the Gulf states, (3) what little infrastructure existed in the country was wrecked by a decade of war and (4) fighting a major civil war against an insurgency lavishly-funded by rich foreign patrons necessarily brings a country's economy to a halt, meaning he had no money to pay for the war.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/13/2013 22:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Lest we fergit, TOPIX + WORLD NEWS > VARIOUS = TALIBAN: NEW WAR IN 2014 WIDOUT/UNLESS TOTAL US [+ NATO] TROOP PULLOUT.

Tote + Unconditional.

[GRANT-VS-LEE AT APPOMATIX COURTHOUSE here].

versus

* DAILY TIMES.PK > [PAK Interior Minister Malik]PAKISTAN ASKS TALIBAN TO DECLARE CEASE-FIRE [30-day] BEFORE TALKS.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TURKISH PM ERDOGAN: IRAN, PAKISTAN, TURKEY, + AFGHANISTAN MAY HAVE "COMMON FUTURE".

* TOPIX > TIDE OF SALAFISM THREATENS THE "ARAB SPRING".

* IIRC NEWS KERALA [old = paraph] > PAKISTAN: WE CAN'T FORCE FREED TALIBAN/MILITANTS TO NEGOTIATE WID GOVT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 23:07 Comments || Top||


Pakistani, Afghan clerics bicker over peace summit
[Dawn] Pak holy mans threatened Tuesday to boycott a peace conference in Afghanistan after a dispute over whether to invite the Taliban, another sign of how hard it will be for the two states to cooperate on a deal to end the 11-year-old Afghan war.

The dispute followed talks between Pak and Afghan holy mans in Islamabad that ended Monday. The visiting Afghan delegation, which sought to play down the disagreement, was in town on a seemingly simple mission to finalise plans for a conference of religious scholars in Kabul next month meant to denounce suicide kabooms and other forms of violence in the name of Islam.

Kabul and Islamabad announced the plan for the conference in November as a sign of improving relations. But the latest talks seemed to do more to highlight longstanding disputes, especially over the Taliban.

Pakistain helped the Taliban seize control of Afghanistan in the 1990s. Afghan officials have accused Pakistain of maintaining ties to the group _ an allegation denied by Islamabad.

Many analysts agree that the Pak military continues to view the Taliban as an important counterweight to Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's government, which is seen as too close to Pakistain's archenemy, India.

Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, head of the All Pakistain Ulema Council and also the chief of Pakistain's five-member delegation, accused the visiting Afghan holy mans of trying to use the upcoming conference to denounce the Taliban and elicit support for the Afghan government. He insisted the Taliban be invited to the event to advance the grinding of the peace processor.

"I want to make it clear that there is consensus among almost all the Islamic scholars that this conference of holy mans will be worthless if the Taliban are not invited to participate," Ashrafi told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

He accused the Afghan holy mans of being too close to the government and threatened Pak religious leaders would boycott the upcoming meeting because of differences between the two sides. Ashrafi is seen as close to Pakistain's security establishment.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


China-Japan-Koreas
Washington, Beijing Told of Nuke Test in Advance
Of course the Chinese were told in advance. Well, well in advance...
North Korea on Monday notified the U.S., China and Russia of its plan to conduct a nuclear test. It did not inform South Korea.

Chun Young-woo, the senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, said the North told the U.S., China and Russia on Monday evening, and Beijng and Washington in turn informed Seoul.

The Chinese government until the last minute attempted to dissuade the North, a South Korean government official said Tuesday.
Once again, that's just window dressing. The Norks do nothing that the Chinese forbid. The Chinese were pleased to see this go forward as it furthers their own plans.
"Immediately after it was informed of the nuclear test by the North, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called in South Korean Ambassador Lee Kyu-hyung in Beijing around midnight Monday to tell him of the North's plan," the official added.

The North informed the U.S. on Monday through its permanent representation at the UN in New York. The U.S. also immediately informed Seoul through a diplomatic channel.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336121 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's not window dressing, the Norks don't listen to the Chinese. The Chinese said reform and get rich like we did, the Norks won't have any part of it.
Posted by: gromky || 02/13/2013 4:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I wish I could believe that, gromky. But I can't. If the Chinese are so unhappy about it then Clinton/Bush/Obaman wouldn't have been afraid to do something about it. If the Chinese are so unhappy about it why don't they do something? The NORK weapons will be aimed at South Korea, Japan and quite possibly the United States. Why would the Chinese be unhappy about that?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/13/2013 11:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder who (Iran, China) Supplied the nuke, North Korea didn't., they just set it off.

(Pollute somebody else's land, NOT ours.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting point, Jim -- why let the Norks (and the Paks and the Iranians) struggle to reinvent the bomb? I can only guess that it's to keep China's fingerprints off the device.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 13:53 Comments || Top||

#5  I remember reading that the Nuke's ID could easily be Pinpointed by the detonation alone.

So, they're NOT hiding well.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 14:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Once we were informed that they were going to test, why didn't we take the opportunity to drop a multi megaton bomb onto the test site. Just crack out the biggest thing we can find from the 60's load it in a stealth bomber and completely destroy everything there, and kill all their experts.

We can just deny everything, and their programs will be set back decades.
Posted by: rammer || 02/13/2013 22:51 Comments || Top||

#7  ION TOPIX > KERRY:[Strong International] RESPONSE TO NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TEST WILL SEND IRAN A MESSAGE.

* Also from TOPIX > NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TEST FELT IN DONEGAL [Ireland, to also includ Dublin].

Measured approxim 4.9 on Richter scale according to Ireland's seismic meters.

versus

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > FM ZHOU XIAOPING: NORTH KOREA'S INTENT BEHIND ITS THIRD NUCLEAR TEST WAS TO OPEN UP CHINA + INDUCE UNILATERAL PRO-NORTH KOREA INTERNAL, TRADE REFORMS + COOPERATION ON THE PART OF CHINA. NUKE-ARMED NORTH KOREA ALSO SERVES TO PROTECT NORTH FROM RIGHT-WING LED SOUTH KOREAN + JAPANESE MILITARY ATTACK AGZ NORTH KOREA WHILE ALLOWING CHINA TO FOCUS ON IMPROVING ITS GLOBAL TRADE. INDUCEMENT OF SOUTH KOREA + JAPAN TO FINALLY END THEIR RELIANCE ON A WEAKENING US + US NUCLEAR UMBRELLA FOR THEIR NUCLEAR SECURITY IN FAVOR OF CHINA + "ASIAN UNION".

* SAME > ANALYSIS: EXPLOSIVE YIELD OF NORTH KOREAN THIRD NUCLEAR TEST ESTIMATED TO BE EQUIVALENT TO 45,000 TONS OF TNT.

* SAME > SIX REASONS WHY CHINA + JAPAN ARE NOW IN A STATE OF WAR.

* SAME > SINO-JAPANESE WAR IMMINENT? US EXPERTS BELIEVE CHINA'S CENTRAL MILITARY COMMISSION AUTHORIZED OR ORDERED SUBORDINATE PLA MILITARY DISTRICT + EAST CHINA SEA FLEET COMMANDS TO IRRADIATE JAPANESE VESSEL + HELICOPTER WID CHINESE VESSEL'S WEAPONS RADAR. INCIDENT RAISES PROBABILITY OF FUTURE SINO-JAPANESE MILITARY CLASHES WHICH MAY LEAD TO FULL-SCALE BILATERAL WAR.

* DAILY TIMES.PK > IRAN SAYS IT HAS BEGUN UPGRADING URANIUM CENTRIFUGES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 23:34 Comments || Top||

#8  OOOPPPPSSS, forgot PACIFIC NEWS CENTER > DEPUTY DOD SECRETARY [Ashton]CARTER: SEQUESTRATION THREATENS PACIFIC ALIGNMENTS.

It will have some kind of yet-to-be-determined impact, to include possible final numbers adjustments, but the US at this time remains broadly committed to adhering to its past agreements or promissories wid Pacific Allies e.g. planned redux of USMC presence on Okinawa + reloc to Guam.

IIUC, ADVANTAGE = STILL CHINA, moreso iff USA opposes Nippon + ROK, etc. from dev their own NucWeapons.

I'm also worried because the term "ROLLBACK" was used.

I can hear the USMC at CHOSIN RESERVOIR 1950 = "D *** NG IT, WE'RE NOT RETREATING - WE"RE JUST 'PIVOTING' IN A NEGATIVE DIRECTION"!

So there.

[Once again, HUGO CHAVEZ + ISLAND, LAND-SINKING "EARTHQUAKE/TECTONIC BOMBS" here].

ITS "MAN-MADE" [not]GLOBAL WARMING, THEY TELL YA, ITS "MAN-MADE" [not]GLOBAL WARMING!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 23:58 Comments || Top||


Arabia
HRW Seeks Independent Probe into Yemen 'Massacre'
[An Nahar] Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
on Tuesday urged Yemen to launch an independent probe into the "massacre" of 45 protesters killed on March 18, 2011 during the uprising against former strongman President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
HRW said in a report released in Sanaa that an earlier investigation ordered by Saleh into the killings was flawed, calling for a new probe that is "independent, impartial and meets international standards."

"Several senior former and current government officials appear to have played a role in the massacre but have not been charged," the New York-based watchdog said in the 69-page report entitled "Unpunished Massacre."

A new probe must ensure that all those implicated in the killings "regardless of position or rank, are placed in durance vile
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
and appropriately prosecuted."

HRW said that 45 Yemeni protesters, most of them university students and three of them children, were killed in three hours on March 18, 2011, while 200 others were maimed by gunnies loyal to Saleh.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  "At this point, what does it matter?"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  At this point why do YOU matter?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:43 Comments || Top||


Drone Kills Top Qaida Cleric in Yemen
[An Nahar] A drone strike in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa last month killed the top religious holy man for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a source close to AQAP said on Tuesday.

"A drone strike had targeted Sheikh Adel al-Abab's vehicle but he escaped and fled to a mountainous region where a raid by another drone killed him immediately," the source told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Abab had graduated from an Islamic studies center, the Dawa Center, in Sanaa and had served as AQAP's top religious holy man.

U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaeda forces of Evil are frequent in Yemen, home to the franchise seen by the United States as the jihadist network's deadliest and most active.

AQAP is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who in July 2011 reaffirmed the group's allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
, head of the worldwide al-Qaeda network since the killing in May of its founder, the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
U.S. drones strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared with 2011, from 18 to 53, according to the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336103 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  I can just see him weeping, scrambling, out of breath....

*boom*
Posted by: Frank G || 02/13/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Or with a 0.30 caliber "Hole" where that "Horn" Was,
On second thought make that an 0.50 Hole.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:55 Comments || Top||

#3  The thought occurs to me that every time they slam their foreheads down to create the bump, they are causing a small concussion. And we all know what repeated small concussions cause...
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/13/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||

#4  the prayer bump is called the 'shitstain'

here is an article from 2002 entitled,

Repeated mild injury causes cumulative damage to hippocampal cells

The research is based on tests with mice however.
Posted by: lord garth || 02/13/2013 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  They make mice pray 5 times a day? Does PETA know about this?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/13/2013 16:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Too bad you can't interrogate bits of DNA and strands of charred flesh.

On the other hand, Obambi doesn't have to deal with the rogue whiney butts in DOJ or DOS about detainees when he just blows them up.

Still I wonder what kind of neat stuff we could have rung out of this knucklehead.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 20:40 Comments || Top||


Bahrain Police Fire Tear Gas at Protest
[An Nahar] Bahraini police fired tear gas and stun grenades Tuesday to disperse protesters trying to march to Pearl Square, the now-crushed symbol of their uprising that they occupied two years ago, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people marched towards the square in the capital Manama carrying Bahraini flags and chanting: "Square of martyrdom, we all still have the will".

The February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition, a clandestine radical cyber group, had called for demonstrations marking the second anniversary of the Shiite-led uprising against the Sunni regime.

During the uprising on February 14, 2011, protesters had camped for one month at Pearl Square before being forcefully driven out in mid-March 2011. Authorities later razed the square.

The attempt to march to the square came after the main Shiite opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, organized a massive protest in which thousands took part in the Shiite village of Sanabis, near Manama.

"Down with the corrupt government," the demonstrators chanted.

"Khalifa resign," they called, referring to the king's uncle Prince Khalifa bin Salman, who has been prime minister for four decades.

The interior ministry said on Twitter that after the opposition's rally ended, "a group of saboteurs caused riot and blocked roads, requiring authorities to take legal action against them".
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  All sides just doing a dress rehearsal for the April 21 Formula One race.
Practice makes perfect.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 02/13/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Rebel Leader Says 'Beautiful Revolution Confiscated by Thieves'
[An Nahar] "The real revolution in Syria is over, we have been betrayed," laments a bitter Abu Mahmoud, a respected rebel leader, accusing fellow commanders of marring a "beautiful" revolt through corruption.

"Our beautiful revolution has been confiscated by thieves and corruptors," Abu Mahmoud tells Agence La Belle France Presse as he struggles to hide his bitterness at the way the revolt against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
's regime is being fought these days.

Some rebel leaders have "enriched (themselves) shamefully at the cost of true revolutionaries who die on the front line," he says.

Abu Mahmoud's remarks confirm growing reports of looting and corruption by leading forces of Evil in rebel-controlled areas of strife-torn Syria.

Speaking from his home in the town of Atme -- a key rebel rear base on the border with Turkey -- Abu Mahmoud says he now watches his back, taking his Kalashnikov with him when he heads out "chopping wood or grazing goats in the mountains".

Rebel fighters who took up arms against Assad's forces in the initial days of the rebellion are increasingly abandoning their fight, frustrated at the level of corruption in their leadership, he says.

"These so-called commanders send us to die and they themselves stay behind to make money. They don't come to the front line to fight and yet they are the ones who are heading the rebellion," complains Abu Mahmoud.

"Wherever they go, they rob, they steal whatever they can carry and sell it illegally in Turkey -- be it cars, electronic goods, machines, fuel, antiques, anything you can imagine!"

Abu Mahmoud cites the names of a dozen commanders from the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) -- the main group fighting Assad's forces -- who he says are engaging in such practices in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.

One officer, whose unit of around 100 fighters is reputed for "raids" on abandoned apartments in Aleppo, has sold "arms, cars and even his office in the border town of Bab al-Hawa" to build two beautiful homes and marry a third wife.

Abu Mahmoud also tells of a former craftsman from Atme who was broke before the uprising but who now controls a fleet of luxury cars through assisting the FSA in coordinating its logistics and moving internally displaced people.

"The problem is that a lot of these officers are getting overseas support."

Abu Mahmoud, a former regime officer in his 30s who defected to the rebellion, is now chief of "Battalion 309", a unit of 35 men staying in tents in the olive groves.

He is known for his honesty and his fighters praise him for his courage and modest lifestyle -- evident from his old and rickety 4X4 vehicle.

His tiny group of fighters have fought almost everywhere in the region, most recently in Aleppo -- a fierce battleground since last July.

"We fought with only seven Kalashnikovs that were taken from the enemy," says a proud Abu Mahmoud.

"My men took turns in groups of seven on the front line," he says, adding that three of them were killed over the past months.

He said his group used to receive some money from Mustafa Sheikh, a former head of the FSA but this support has now stopped.

"On the front line we got some ammunition from officers but no weapons or money. We were being sent like sheep to be slaughtered. And we had nothing to eat," says a disillusioned Abu Mahmoud.

"Who are we fighting for? For our country? Or for those who steal from Syrians and quietly climb the ladder of the revolution?"
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Who'd have thought that a bunch of Islamists funded by that bastion of honesty, Saudi would end up corrupt?
Posted by: Yawn || 02/13/2013 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  SARC tag omitted, right?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Not in that jackass's case, RJ.
Posted by: Barbara || 02/13/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||


Africa North
ElBaradei says political gridlock blocking recovery
[Egypt Independent] Dostour Chief Mohamed ElBaradei admitted that Egypt's political gridlock has made it nearly impossible for anyone, regardless of their political affiliation, to lead Egypt into recovery.

The National Salvation Front member made the comments in a Tuesday interview on the privately-owned Al-Hayat satellite channel.

"The ability to run the state is missing, especially after the revolution [because of] difficult and exceptional circumstances. This is not related to the Muslim Brotherhood or a certain current," he said.

ElBaradei also said he had not wanted to run for president and was under pressure from supporters. He later took himself out of the running.

But his earlier comments did not stop ElBaradei from criticizing the way President Mohamed Morsy has dealt with recent unrest in the wake of the second anniversary of the revolution.

"We waited for president of the republic to show up and talk to the people after what happened, but he just posted a tweet and after that he waved his finger like Major General al-Fangary, saying he would impose extraordinary provisions..." he said. "We are talking about overthrowing tyranny and reforming the revolution. Morsy has lost the moral and political legitimacy."

ElBaradei said he disagrees with the Muslim Brotherhood's strategy for the country and said Islamists pushed the Constitution through without consensus from Egypt's many political forces.

"I spent two years defending the Muslim Brotherhood before the revolution and I still defend their rights," he added. "Egypt is at war with itself, and the world turned from admiration of the revolution to that of concern and pity because we are mismanaging the revolution."
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Europe
France Arrests 15 Kurds in PKK Probe
[An Nahar] Fifteen Kurds have been enjugged
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
in southwestern La Belle France in an anti-terror probe into extortion rackets used to raise funds for the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), legal sources said Tuesday.

The people arrested in the cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse
...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France...
are suspected of being senior figures within the regional structure of the organization, the sources said.

The arrests came as German federal prosecutors on Tuesday pressed charges against a 46-year-old Turkish man suspected of raising money for the PKK throughout Europe.

The PKK, which took up arms in its campaign for autonomy in southeast Turkey in 1984, is branded a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have in the conflict.

Three Kurdish women activists were rubbed out in Gay Paree last month. The driver of one of the women has been charged with their murder.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
African ulema speak out for peace
[MAGHAREBIA] Ulema from across the African continent are questioning the legitimacy of acts committed in the name of Sharia by Islamists and snuffies in northern Mali.

"Abuses and atrocities that have been and continue to be committed under the pretext of the application of Sharia law are absolutely not founded," Malian religious leaders said Friday (February 8th) in Bamako.

Their joint statement followed a 14-point declaration issued in late January by the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
of Ulema and directed at Mali's warring sides.

The union called on countries in the region to establish a common defence force to maintain security and to find solutions to their problems.

The body also condemned "all acts contrary to the principles of Islam, including the wartime attack on the civilian population or places of worship, hostage-taking -- regardless of nationality or religion -- and attacks on innocent victims".

The same week as the Learned Elders of Islam released their statement, religious leaders, scholars and government officials from 15 African countries met in Mauritania to discuss the war in neighbouring Mali.

The 25th International Islamic Scientific Symposium in Nouakchott called on Learned Elders of Islam to play a more dynamic role as peacemakers working to counter extremism and the radicalisation of young people's minds.

The January 20th -- 23rd summit focused on the theme of activating "Learned Elders of Islam to stop the shedding of blood and to promote the values of peace".

The event also addressed the war in northern Mali and the spread of Death Eater ideology.

"The risk of deviation of youth heading towards extremism and fanaticism is what made us focus in this seminar on guiding young people," said Sheikh Mohammed Hafiz al-Nahwi, who organized the event.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What are the odds one of those nutjob groups is thinking about having a little visit with the honorable Sheikh Mohammed Hafiz al-Nahwi?

Seems that SOMEONE of the Moslem pursuasion is finally "getting it?"
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  He sure is going "get it".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/13/2013 14:26 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan Sentences ex-President, Brother in Absentia
[An Nahar] A Kyrgyz military court on Tuesday sentenced in absentia former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev to 24 years in prison and his brother Janysh to life for crimes committed while they ruled the country from 2005-2010.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in a bloody 2010 uprising fueled by his family's rampant corruption, was convicted of abuse of power by the Bishkek military garrison court.

His brother Janysh, the former head of the state bodyguard service under Bakiyev, was meanwhile convicted of multiple murder.

Both men fled to Belarus after the 2010 revolution and Minsk has so far refused requests from Bishkek's new rulers to extradite the pair.
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
How Powerful Is N.Korea's Nuclear Bomb?
North Korea's latest nuclear test was estimated to equal 6 or 7 kilotons of TNT, which makes it neither a failure nor a resounding success, according to experts.

"There is no such thing as a failed nuclear test," said Kim Tae-woo, former head of the Korea Institute for National Unification. "Even if there was no nuclear blast, scientists can gather data on what went wrong, and this is how the North has been able to continue developing nuclear weapons."
Posted by: Steve White || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd like to see a confirmation from the Russians. They've got the closest seismic monitoring station to that test.
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Once again - read, DPRK-NOT-BEING-SEEN-AS-TOO-SUCCESSFUL IN CHINA'S EYE.

A DPRK collapse for ANY reason only places the PLA that much closer to the disputed Senkakus + Okinawa = JAPAN, + of course China's real focii TAIWAN. IMO any PLA campaign in a Sino-Nippon or Sino-Nippon-US shooting war would be centered by China on its mil reconquest, or in alternate a "Munich" takeover = International "giveaway", of TAIWAN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/13/2013 0:56 Comments || Top||

#3  The yield Y of a nuclear explosion is given by the equation
M = a + b log Y
where a and b are empirically determined constants for the test site and M is the magnitude.

USGS recorded an M of 4.9
One report says the Russians measured 5.3

for Novaya Zemlya test site, the eqn would be
4.9 = 4.45 + 0.75 log Y
this gives a yield Y of 4.0 kt (using the USGS value)
Using the Russian measurement
5.3 = 4.45 + 0.75 log Y
gives a yield of 13.6 kt

for Nevada Test Site, it would be
4.9 = 3.92 + 0.81 log Y
this gives a Y of 16.2 kt (USGS measurement)
or
5.3 = 3.92 + 0.81 Log Y
which gives Y of 50 kt

Nobody has calibrated the North Korean test site and so the empirical constants can only be guessed , based on presumed geology (or chosen to give the yield you wish to claim).
You have estimates of 4 to 16 (or 13 to 50) depending on the numbers you choose and measurement used.
Posted by: john frum || 02/13/2013 8:18 Comments || Top||

#4  The USGS has now upped its estimate to 5.1 (from the earlier 4.9).
This is double the energy release.
Posted by: john frum || 02/13/2013 9:19 Comments || Top||

#5  So, the Iranian nuke program is further ahead than we thought huh?

Of course, if you are hiding under your desk any time your pet Secretary of State, Lurch, mentions foreign policy and nuclear weapons in the same sentence, you would want to use the low number as in "See, I told you, its just a pack of firecrackers and some stale fertilizer."

On the other hand, if you are either Bibi Netanyahu or one of the adjoining sheiks in the ME, you will want to use the high number to slap around the local nutjob rogue Iman to get approval to DO SOMETHING.

And, if you are the French, or Ban Kai-Moon, it was not a nuke..."Its just Pudge falling out of his high chair after too much Creme Broule"
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 10:18 Comments || Top||

#6  john frum ... thanks for those estimates. very helpful. so the comments by the Russians may have been pretty good. maybe a blast in the range of 10-20 kT. But if people keeping upping the seismic figures, it could go over 20 kT. one way or another - it's some serious bang for the buck. that weapon worked.

bill clinton ... creme boule. good one ! HAHAHA!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  One thing is definitely noticeable by the way. Since N. Korea started sharing scientific information with the Iranians - its programs have moved a lot faster. The first two N. Korean nukes were not a big success ... this latest explosion definitely was. Likewise, the N. Koreans seemed to be having problems with their rockets - but now they dont. And the Iranians' space program is also moving along at high gear. Apparently whatever technical info is being shared - it is accelerating progress in both countries.
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Constraints on burial depth and yield of the 25 May 2009 North Korean test from hydrodynamic simulations in a granite medium

Esteban Rougier, Howard J. Patton, Earl E. Knight, Christopher R. Bradley

Geophysical Research Letters
Volume 38, Issue 16, August 2011

Yield : depth of burial (DoB) tradeoff curves (TOCs) based on seismic magnitudes of the 25 May 2009 North Korean test depend strongly on the choice of empirical cavity radius (Rc) scaling model. Ambiguities over Rc scaling, particularly at large scaled DoB (SDoB), translate into unacceptably large systematic errors on yield estimates for this test. Hydrodynamic calculations involving realistic material response models offer a viable alternative to characterize Rc scaling for a range of SDoB where limited data from past nuclear tests exist. Results of such calculations are presented for a granite medium with a material response validated by modeling four phenomenological criteria for past nuclear tests in granite (free field velocity, energy partitioning into the seismic wavefield, velocity attenuation, and measured Rc). These results unambiguously favor the Rc scaling model of Denny and Johnson (DJ91) and the TOC based on that model. Lower bounds on yield and DoB of the North Korean test are constrained by predictions of an SDoB threshold for free surface damage from 2-D simulations since no such reported damage was observed for this test. Constrained by the hydrodynamic simulations, the DJ91 model indicates the minimum yield and DoB for the 25 May 2009 North Korean test is 5.7 kilotons and 375 m.
Posted by: john frum || 02/13/2013 11:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Now, some revisionism has set in. Top American scientists have questioned the accuracy of the intelligence community’s assessments of the tests, and its portrayal of the North’s nuclear engineers as bumbling amateurs. The split indicates just how difficult it can be to understand what is happening deep underground in the famously reclusive state.

Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who previously directed the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Frank V. Pabian, a senior adviser on nuclear nonproliferation at Los Alamos, reanalyzed the global measurements of the distant rumbles in North Korea and concluded that Western observers had underestimated the power of the blasts.

Their findings, published recently in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said the first test could have yielded an explosion of up to one kiloton, and the second of up to seven kilotons. In an interview, Dr. Hecker said the higher figure suggested that the North Koreans were a lot closer to being able to produce a true weapon than first thought.

“If they can do four,” he said of the North Koreans, “they can do 20,” roughly the size of the weapon that leveled Hiroshima, Japan.

As Dr. Hecker acknowledges, the measurements are still in dispute. Nuclear experts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Los Alamos’s longtime rival, did their own reassessments and kept to the view that the first tests were small. The intelligence divisions of those two laboratories provide the government’s scientific estimates of foreign nuclear threats.

“We haven’t been able to resolve the issue,” Dr. Hecker said.
Posted by: john frum || 02/13/2013 13:24 Comments || Top||

#10  ""If they can do four," he said of the North Koreans, "they can do 20," roughly the size of the weapon that leveled Hiroshima, Japan"

that appears to be exactly what has happened in Feb, 2013.
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 16:11 Comments || Top||

#11  At this time there appears to be nothing stopping the Iranians from doing their own N-test except ... just a little more time, some fine-tuning of centrifuges, and some wrench work on the assembly. Given general uncertainties in estimates ... Ahmadinejad is within "spitting distance" of his goal. So the only question is - how badly does Netanyahu really want to stop him?
Posted by: Raider || 02/13/2013 16:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Wat a fok of a time to have this smirking, limp dick imposter in the White House.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
'Femen' activists go topless to hail pope's resignation
[FRANCE24] Eight Femen activists flashed their breasts in the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Tuesday to mark Pope Benedict XVI's resignation announcement a day earlier, yelling "No more homophobe" and "Bye bye Benedict!"
Boy howdy. How original. Hasn't anyone told these loons that that shit is just so played?
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336113 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pictures or GTFO...
Posted by: Raj || 02/13/2013 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Yawn || 02/13/2013 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Toss them into the Seine to cool off a bit.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 7:14 Comments || Top||

#4  "This is a sacred place, you can't strip here," said a Frenchwoman.

'nuff said.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/13/2013 7:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Yawn, fuck you. The Pope was never a Nazi. He grew up in Germany and was forced to join the Hitler Youth and the German army.

The idea that he would be interested in naked altar boys is slander pure and simple.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/13/2013 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6 

Might we delete #2 please ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 9:40 Comments || Top||

#7 
Maybe if they get some little boys to turn out naked they might get the old Nazi's attention.

You don't like him as Pope, but he'd be welcome as a Boy Scout counselor?
Posted by: Fred || 02/13/2013 9:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Israel for Jews Yawn has been 'smokeyed'.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/13/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Sorry (sorta), Fred.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/13/2013 9:46 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd take these overly hormonal little beasts more seriously if they would at least saw SOMETHING about the treatment of women by our favorite groups in Pakistain, Afghanistan, and of course down in Tahir Square, home of those lovely boys in the Moslem Brotherhood...

Since none of these feminist groups EVER criticize anything except Christianity and the US, they have no credibility with me at all.

And you forgot the chanting of incoherent irrational slogans coming from the Loon's mouth.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/13/2013 10:46 Comments || Top||

#11  You don't like him as Pope, but he'd be welcome as a Boy Scout counselor?

1. The commenter is a Brit; they were corrupted a long time ago.

2. Consider who the commenter is.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/13/2013 11:11 Comments || Top||

#12  Since none of these feminist groups EVER criticize anything except Christianity and the US, they have no credibility with me at all. Bill Clinton

You're much too charitable.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/13/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Pics or it didn't happen.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/13/2013 12:04 Comments || Top||

#14  Pics or it didn't happen.
DarthVader, here you go.
Posted by: tipper || 02/13/2013 12:33 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm a big fan of boobies, but I never understood the whole naked protest thing, except maybe as some sort of personal theater.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/13/2013 12:50 Comments || Top||

#16  Link doesn't work, so, it didn't happen?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/13/2013 13:23 Comments || Top||

#17  What Bill said.

Wotta buncha maroons. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 02/13/2013 14:04 Comments || Top||

#18  Try this in a mosque, you brave girls
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/13/2013 15:39 Comments || Top||

#19  "There's no boobs in the Cathedral!"

Au contraire, mon frere...
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/13/2013 16:32 Comments || Top||

#20  Ditto Bill C.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/13/2013 18:12 Comments || Top||

#21  Ditto, #18 EC!
Posted by: Barbara || 02/13/2013 18:28 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2013-02-13
  Syrian rebels say they captured military air base near Aleppo
Tue 2013-02-12
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Mon 2013-02-11
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Sun 2013-02-10
  Syrian troops, rebels clash over Damascus highway
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Fri 2013-02-08
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Thu 2013-02-07
  Syrian Army Launches 'All-Out Attack' on Capital Region
Wed 2013-02-06
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Tue 2013-02-05
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Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
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Fri 2013-02-01
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Thu 2013-01-31
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