A crack in the WaPo veneer, perhaps?
Woodward, almost 70, is Washingtons Reporter Emeritus. His facts stand up to scrutiny. His motivations withstand the test of objectivity. Sperling obviously assumed that Woodward wouldnt take offense at the suggestion that he not only was wrong but was also endangering his valuable proximity to power.
Drip by drip, the Obama administration has demonstrated its intolerance for dissent and its contempt for any who stray from the White House script. Yes, all administrations are sensitive to criticism, and all push back when such criticism is deemed unfair or inaccurate. But no president since Richard Nixon has demonstrated such overt contempt for the messenger. And, thanks to technological advances in social media, Obama has been able to bypass traditional watchdogs as no other president has.
More to the point, the Obama White House is, to put it politely, fudging as it tries to place the onus of the sequester on Congress. And, as has become customary, officials are using the Woodward spat to distract attention. As Woodward put it: This is the old trick... of making the press... the issue, rather than what the White House has done here.
Killing the messenger is a time-honored method of controlling the message, but we have already spilled that blood. And the First Amendments protection of a free press, the purpose of which is to check power and constrain governments ability to dictate the lives of private citizens, was no accident. Is Ms. Parker suggesting the Free Press is not doing its' job?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2013
19:19 ||
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...As another report of this story put it, "Did you ever think we'd be nostalgic for Richard Nixon?"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/03/2013 21:38
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American military and intelligence officials said Sunday they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.
If the new report is confirmed, Belmokhtar's death would be a significant victory against a growing al Qaeda threat in northern Africa.
Belmokhtar's killing was announced on Chadian national television by armed forces spokesperson Gen. Zacharia Gobongue, who said Chadian troops "operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base."
"The [death] toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar," he said.
Belmokhtar is known as Mr. Marlboro because of the millions he made smuggling cigarettes across the Sahara, but in the last few months the one-eyed terrorist leader has become one of the most sought after terrorists in the world. The attack on the plant near In Amenas in eastern Algeria left dozens of Westerns and at least three Americans dead
The lives of the 15 French hostages held in Africa, and especially those of seven captured in northern Mali who may be being used as human shields, could be seriously endangered if the jihadist leader is confirmed dead.
"This is a rumour that is enormously worrying for the families and those of us who support them," Didier Beguin from the support committee for four French hostages abducted by radical Islamists in Niger in September 2010, said..
Fighters linked to the radical Islamic terrorist network Boko Haram attacked a military base in Nigerias north on Sunday in an assault that left at least 20 people dead, as the networks leader denied any peace talks with Nigerias government.
The attack in the village of Monguno, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Maiduguri, punctuated the video statement by Abubakar Shekau that said Nigeria will remain under attack by the group until the multiethnic nation is ruled under Islamic law. Shekau also threatened the man who in recent months claimed to be a leader of Boko Haram and said that the group wanted to agree to a cease-fire with Nigerias security forces.
#1
Suppos the bulk of the casualties are on the BOKO HARAM side.
* See TOPIX > [Vanguard] BOKO HARAM: WE DID NOT DECLARE CEASEFIRE - SHEKAU [Islamist El Supremo].
* SAME > [Vanguard] BOKO HARAM: WE'RE FIGHTING AN INTERNATIONAL WAR - EX-DSS DIRECTOR [Govt Officio], as indic or denoted by the rise of the Boko-Haram/Al-Qaeda-linked MilTerr Group AL-ANSAR.
IIUC, NIGERIA = SYRIA = IT TAINT "LOCAL BAD BOYZ ONLY" ANYMORE???
Last week during his pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, Pfc. Bradley Manning offered a guilty plea to a number of lesser charges including being the source of leaks to Wikileaks of state secrets. The government had the option of settling for the 10 charges to which Manning had pled guilty and proceeding directly to sentencing, but the prosecutors have instead indicated that they will proceed with a full court martial, bringing the most serious charges against the soldier -- including "aiding the enemy," which could carry a life sentence without parole.
"Given the scope of the alleged misconduct, the seriousness of the charged offenses, and the evidence and testimony available, the United States intends to proceed with the court-martial to prove Manning committed the charged offenses beyond the lesser charges to which he has already pled guilty," said a statement from the military district.
As the Guardian's Ed Pilkington pointed out, "It will be the sixth time the Espionage Act has been unleashed against the source of an official leak of classified information under the Obama administration -- more than the total number of times it has been deployed under all previous presidents since it was enacted in 1917."
In this particular case it's richly deserved...
The government's decision has amplified criticism from Manning's supporters and human rights advocates that the soldier's treatment is politically motivated.
And Manning's conduct wasn't?
"From day one the prosecution had the option to prosecute Bradley easily for the charge's he's admitted to now. If they push on with the Espionage Act it's because they want to send a political message that what Bradley did will not be tolerated," Jeff Patterson, of the Bradley Manning support network told the Guardian.
Correct you are, sir! It indeed won't be tolerated, and this trial is a great way to get the word out.
#1
As I've said several times before, I will cheerfully be called out of retirement to sit on the little traitor's trial. We'll give him a fair trial before we hang him.
What? The death penalty isn't an option? Darn! Why not?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/03/2013 15:47
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#2
So it appears the prosecution's holding all the good cards and PFC Manning is hoping to draw half a pair of dueces.
I'd say he is pretty well screwed, unless The Lightbringer weighs in....
#3
The death penalty isn't an option? Darn! Why not?
Cause the Court of Military Appeals hasn't allowed one in generations.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF in case citations, C.A.A.F. or USCAAF) is an Article I court that exercises worldwide appellate jurisdiction over members of the United States armed forces on active duty and other persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The court is composed of five civilian judges appointed for 15-year terms by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. - wiki
PARYS A French soldaat has died in some of the most intense fighting thus far in the seven-week-old military campaign to push back a jihadist advance in Mali, officials said Sunday.
Parachutist Korp. Cedric Charenton was killed Saturday night in an assault in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains along the Algerian border, where the jihadists have retrenched as French troops have swept through the countrys north.
He is the third troop to die since France began its intervention to dislodge the al-Qaida-linked militants on Jan. 11. The 26-year-old had already served in Afganistan, Gaboen en Nieu-Caledonia.
Military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said about 15 jihadists were killed in the fighting in the Ametettai Valley. He added that French forces destroyed three pickup trucks and seized a significant cache of munitions and arms, including automatic rifles and mortars.
President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years.
"What I can't do is force Congress to do the right thing," Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday after a fruitless meeting with Republican leaders to avert the country's latest fiscal crisis, known as the sequester. "The American people may have the capacity to do that." They seem to be unable to reach you, except for the 47%.
Obama, fresh off his November reelection, began almost at once executing plans to win back the House in 2014, which he and his advisers believe will be crucial to the outcome of his second term and to his legacy as president. I wonder why they didn't try to win back the House in 2012? [snigger]
He is doing so by trying to articulate for the American electorate his own feelings -- an exasperation with an opposition party that blocks even the most politically popular elements of his agenda. Seems like he did that in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Maybe the fourth time is the charm?
Obama has committed to raising money for fellow Democrats, agreed to help recruit viable candidates, and launched a political nonprofit group dedicated to furthering his agenda and that of his congressional allies. The goal is to flip the Republican-held House back to Democratic control, allowing Obama to push forward with a progressive agenda on gun control, immigration, climate change and the economy during his final two years in office, according to congressional Democrats, strategists and others familiar with Obama's thinking. His best chance for that was 2008-2010. What did he do then? Oh, yeah. I remember now. Mortally wound the health care system.
This approach marks a significant shift in the way Obama has worked with a divided Congress. He has compromised and badgered, but rarely -- and never so early -- campaigned to change its composition. Compromised, eh? In case you didn't guess, this is the WaPo, but not Bob Woodward.
"If 2012 was a referendum on President Obama, then 2014 will be a referendum on the tea party Congress," Israel said. "And the president and House Democrats are joined at the hip on this."
In his State of the Union address last month, Obama outlined an agenda that called for gun control measures, immigration legislation, a hike in the minimum wage and a new focus on climate change, among other items that the media says poll well with the 47% public.
So far, though, most of the proposals have little traction in the Republican-controlled House. Nobody seems to remember who elected all those House members. Not Klingons, but citizens, citizens outside the Beltway.
Obama's decision to squarely blame the opposition for across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester has also generated little goodwill across the aisle.
That is among the risks of Obama's strategy to define the differences between his agenda and the Republicans': He could be seen as the kind of partisan politician he once deplored, and he is likely to have little to show for it in terms of legislative achievements.
In some ways, Obama is flipping the traditional script for second-term presidents. Most have about two years to secure a domestic agenda before lame-duck status sets in. But Obama is laying out an argument for a new Congress that, if successful, could give him his last two years in office to cement his legacy. I saved the best news for last -
Of all the presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt, only Bill Clinton picked up House seats for his party in the midterm election of his second term . His approval rating on the eve of the 1998 contest was 65 percent, 14 points above Obama's current public standing.
From your keyboard to God's ear, Bobby.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2013
11:22 ||
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As always, covering for Champ. But covering what? That he's a lame duck already? That his only chance of doing anything in the next 4 years is a change of control in the House in 2014? Let us hope so.
#3
Its a given, iff we can survive Iran + esepc China first this year.
INHO China is gearing up for a mil conflict wid Japan, + like any "smart" Politician or Govt. in History = Maha-Rushian Histoire' will likely wait-n-see + analyze how these "sequestration" cuts will affect the Fed-DOD including the Bammer.
Ay-Peeee. This seems to be escalating
Gunmen ambushed and killed six Malaysian policemen as fears mounted that armed Islamic thugs intruders from the southern Philippines had slipped into at least three coastal districts on Borneo island, officials said Sunday. perhaps the Malay navy should deter boats...with a few sinkings
Six of the attackers were also fatally shot Saturday night, while another was beaten to death by angry villagers, escalating tensions in eastern Sabah state, where Malaysia's biggest security crisis in recent years began after about 200 members of a Philippine Muslim royal clan occupied a village last month to claim the territory as their own. yeah villagers!
Security forces clashed with the clan members in the coastal area of Lahad Datu on Friday, leaving 12 Filipinos and two Malaysian police commandos dead. an armed invasion, basically
The remaining clan members have refused to budge, while concerns have grown that other groups from the Philippines' restive southern provinces might enter Sabah, which shares a long and porous sea border with the Philippines that's difficult to patrol. The Malaysian and Philippine navies have strengthened their presence in waters near their border, according to Filipino officials.
A police team was attacked late Saturday while inspecting a settlement in Semporna town, more than 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Lahad Datu, said national police chief Ismail Omar.
Six of the assailants were fatally shot by police at the settlement and another was beaten to death by villagers whom he apparently tried to take captive while armed with a rifle, said Sabah police chief Hamza Taib. Nice try, Abu-Pinoy Boy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2013
10:53 ||
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Spain stopped the Muslim sultanates pretty much in the nick of time. If Spain hadn't arrived, the Philippines would be 100% Muslim today.
#3
This would indicate somewhere between March to May by 1936 standards. The irony was that the Fascists backed Franco who turned out to be an anti-socialist. If you want real deep irony, the Spanish Blue Division of volunteers fought along side the National Socialist Germans against the Communist Soviet Socialists who had support from capitalists like Churchill. File under YJCMTSU.
#4
"We have backed the wrong horse in Spain. We would have done better to back the Republicans. They represent the people. We could always have converted these socialists into good National Socialists later. The people around Franco are all reactionary clerics, aristocrats, and moneybags they've nothing in common with us Nazis at all!"
-- Adolf Hitler, April 1938
California is rapidly becoming a near-feudal society. On one side is an older, educated, landed, wealthy elite that lives on California's beautiful coasts. Then there is a much larger, younger, less-educated, indebted mass living inland, many of them working farm jobs at subsistence wages.
The good news is that both of these groups seem content supporting a Democratic Party whose policies (which I outlined in the series last week) reinforce these trends. And if any of the current Californians don't like what the new California has become, they are free to leave.
The bad news is that millions of middle-class families already have, and the trend is likely to continue.
#1
but the startling news is that Democrats in CA will soon begin constructing a castle, a drawbridge and a moat in Sacramento .... in order to keep out the unruly serfs living in the new feudal sociey. :-)
#3
Just recently a major golf pro talked about leaving and was browbeat into retracting his articulated intent. Tying freemen to the land is one of the first steps to a feudal society along with serfdom.
#12
JosephM, when my sister was a grad student in Santa Cruz, CA, the only thing she found to rent was a furnished camper in her landlady's backyard. She paid considerably less for a spacious apartment in the funky part of Buffalo, NY when she got a post-doc job at the research institute.
Bangladesh on Sunday deployed troops in the country�s north as six more people were killed in fresh rioting over death sentence given to a top Islamist opposition leader for crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war, taking the death toll to 56.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/03/2013
08:45 ||
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This is just the latest revelation in the stealth inflation and food fraud theme I have written about frequently in recent months. The non-profit group Oceana took samples of 1,215 fish sold in the U.S. and genetic tests found that that 59% of those labeled tuna were mislabeled. It seems that white tuna should be avoided in particular as 84% of fish samples labeled white tuna were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage. Oh and if you live in my hometown of New York City, you should pay particular attention:
Big Apple has big problem with seafood fraud: 94 percent of tuna and more than three quarters of sushi samples in New York City mislabeled.
Of the 142 fish samples collected in New York, 39 percent were mislabeled. New York City led the nation with the highest occurrence of mislabeled salmon as well as the highest amount of fraud among salmon collected from grocery stores and restaurants.
#1
..but, but the mayor is concerned with transfats and big gulps, not truth in labeling. His minions are hustling the fast food joints not the fish markets (cause maybe the mob doesn't collect from McDs, but probably does have hands in the markets again since Giuliani has moved on).
WASHINGTON, DC (AP Feb 20,2013)- Sources close to the White House have learned that Barack Obama is planning to run for the office of Pope when the College of Cardinals convenes to elect a successor to ailing Benedict XVI at the end of this month.
Calling on the promise of Equality for All, Obama is said to firmly believe that the time has come for a non-Catholic to occupy the Vatican's highest office.
Foreseeing a looming citizenship issue he states that he has discovered an Italian birth certificate that proves he was born in Rome before he was born in Kenya. "That Hawaiian birth certificate never has been worth what I paid for it anyway", he noted.
Continuing, he concluded, "And there's no way that a handful of cardinals could be more expensive to buy than 10 million voters in Michigan."
Further questions should be directed to Obama's Papal Campaign Manager, Abdul Azeem Khan.
Foreseeing a looming citizenship issue he states that he has discovered an Italian birth certificate that proves he was born in Rome before he was born in Kenya. "That Hawaiian birth certificate never has been worth what I paid for it anyway", he noted.
Continuing, he concluded, "And there's no way that a handful of cardinals could be more expensive to buy than 10 million voters in Michigan."
Further questions should be directed to Obama's Papal Campaign Manager, Abdul Azeem Khan.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2013 17:41
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escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage."
How long before the French try to turn it into a perfume?
Posted by: Charles ||
03/03/2013 18:39
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OTOH I would think its a "necessary evil" - iff they didn't, all those other non-Tuna fish species captured in longliner nets + other would simply go to waste + thrown away because there's simply not enough corporate/comercial or private buyers for their meat, not even in local neighborhood public/open markets + stores.
Iff the Gubmint wants to do something, they + Wall Street should focus on ways to improve fish + other sea or ocean farming [aquaculture] that better for both humanity + the environment.
Syrian president Bashar Assad has accused the British government of being "naive, confused and unrealistic" in its approach to the conflict in his country and warned of dire consequences if the West armed its rebels.
In an interview with the Sunday Times Mr Assad said Britain was sacrificing peace talks to push for an end to an EU arms embargo, which would allow rebels to be armed.
Warning this would accelerate the road to war, he rejected the possibility of help from Britain to end the conflict, saying: "We do not expect an arsonist to be a firefighter."
"To be frank, Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in our region on different issues for decades, some say for centuries... The problem with this government is that their shallow and immature rhetoric only highlights this tradition of bullying and hegemony...
"How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarise the problem? How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supply to the terrorists?"
But Mr Assad also indicated that he was ready to hold peace talks with Syrian rebels to bring to an end a conflict that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives over the last two years.
He said: "We are ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants who surrender their arms. We are not going to deal with terrorists who are determined to carry weapons, to terrorise people, to kill civilians, to attack public places or private enterprise and to destroy the country."
He added: "We have opposition that are political entities and we have armed terrorists. We can engage in dialogue with the opposition, but we cannot engage in dialogue with terrorists. We fight terrorism."
On Thursday Foreign Secretary William Hague promised to increase support for the Syrian opposition, including equipment supplies and humanitarian assistance, as US secretary of state John Kerry announced £39 million in funding for rebel forces.
#1
I'm English living in London and I can not disagree with pencilneck.
His global bedfellows will not allow him just be gotten rid of, not like how we were allowed Gaddafi.
The Spanish Supreme Court has overturned a ban on wearing Islamic veils in council buildings instituted by city authorities in Catalonia, ruling that it "limits religious freedom".
The town of Lleida approved a municipal ban on burkas and niqabs in 2010, becoming the first town in Spain to impose such a ban. It was temporarily suspended by a regional court following an appeal by a Muslim association but then later upheld. But the Supreme Court accepted a second appeal and ruled that town councils have no authority to order such a prohibition, which must be based on constitutional law.
The Lleida ban was considered largely symbolic as only a small percentage of the town's 120,000 population are Muslims and few are seen in the streets wearing the veil.
Around a dozen municipalities in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia the region with the largest population of Muslim immigrants introduced similar bans.
Under the ban, which prohibited such garments from being worn in municipal buildings including council offices, civic centers and public sports centers, offenders faced fines of up to 600 euros.
The Supreme Court ruling explained that the decision does not answer whether the government can in future pass a national law as in France and Belgium outlawing Islamic veils.
[Bangla Daily Star] An Islami Chhatra Shibir activist orchestrated the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar, detectives yesterday quoted the five arrested students of North South University (NSU) as saying. Comes as a surprise, huh?
The students confessed to their involvement in the killing, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told reporters at a press briefing.
The five, all aged between 19 and 23, were arrested during raids in different parts of the capital Friday night, the DMP official informed.
The mastermind, whom the arrestees mentioned as "Borobhai" [senior brother], and another alleged killer were absconding, he added.
According to primary interrogation, the decision to kill blogger Rajib was taken one and a half months ago, the detectives said.
Split in two groups, intelligence and execution, at least six including the five NSU students accomplished the killing on February 15, the detectives added.
The revelations came during a press briefing at the DMP media centre yesterday morning, three days into Home Minister MK Alamgir's claim that seven had been arrested in connection with the murder.
Although the five were present at the briefing, journalists were not allowed to talk with them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[News24] Residents say that the Congolese army has taken control of a town that was run by M23 rebels for more than six months.
Jacques Kambale said early Saturday that lines of military entered the town of Kiwanja Friday afternoon.
Doctors Without Borders said late Friday that more than 55 civilians have been killed in fighting in another town in Congo's east, Kitchanga, where 135 people have been maimed.
Thousands have fled the renewed violence.
Fighting began again in eastern Congo after the M23 divided into two groups on Wednesday.
The new splinter group attacked positions held by M23 near the border with Uganda Thursday into Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[An Nahar] The Syrian army said on Saturday it has seized control of a key road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo international airport, scene of weeks of fierce battles with rebel fighters.
The capture of the road will allow the army to deploy fresh reinforcements and send supplies to the area near the airport, where fighting has raged since mid-February.
"In collaboration with honorable citizens, troops carried out a special operation and restored security and stability to villages on the airport road," the military said in a statement published by state news agency SANA.
"This achievement shows the commitment of our forces to continue to fulfill their sacred national duty, repelling killings and aggression targeting our people and our country," said the statement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report and said the army will now be able to deploy fresh troops and supplies in the area and the nearby Nayrab military airport.
Rebels launched last month an all-out assault on several airports in Aleppo province, including the international airport and Nayrab, which are located southeast of Syria's second-largest city.
They have since captured Al-Jarrah military airport as well as several other air defense complexes and nearby checkpoints.
But Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that if the army succeeds in keeping control over the road "it will change the course of battles" around Aleppo and Nayrab airports "and even Aleppo", Syria's second city.
While rebels have taken over large swathes of territory and a number of key military garrisons in Aleppo province, fighting in the city has been at stalemate for months.
Abdel Rahman said that festivities around the airport road continued despite the army's capture.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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A leading member of the RKK terrorist separatist group was killed in a clash with government forces late on Saturday night in Narathiwat's Rangae district.
The battle occurred at about 11:30 p.m. after three teams of the 48th Rangers Regiment laid siege to a house where RKK terrorists insurgents led by Masa-e Hajidiyoliya were reported to be hiding. An exchange of gunfire went on for about 10 minutes. Another exchange of gunfire happened when a police special operation team arrived.
The three terrorists insurgents tried to break through the siege. Masa-e was gunned down about 20 meters from the house while the two others managed to escape into the dark.
Masa-e was wanted for six security-related incidents - one in 2007, two in 2008 and three in 2009.
The UN Security Council is considering lifting an arms embargo on Somalia's government for one year so that it can beef up its army to combat fighters. A draft resolution is due to be voted on by the divided council on Wednesday.
The Somalia government has asked for the arms embargo to be lifted and the United States has been pushing the council to agree, but Britain and France have been wary of removing the ban in a country already awash with weapons, diplomats say.
It's about getting weapons to the right people, and to conferring legitimacy to the new 'government'.
The draft resolution, drawn up by Britain and obtained by Reuters, appears to propose a compromise: lifting the arms embargo for one year but keeping restrictions in place on heavy weapons such as surface to air missiles, howitzers and cannons.
I dunno, howitzers might be real useful in dealing with Al-Shabaab...
The draft resolution says the arms embargo shall not apply to the deliveries of other "weapons or military equipment or the provision of advice, assistance or training, intended solely for the development of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia and to provide security for the Somali people."
It says that these weapons and equipment "may not be resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by, any individual or entity not in the service of the security forces of the federal government of Somalia."
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The 15-member council imposed the arms embargo in 1992 to cut the flow of arms to feuding warlords, who a year earlier ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. Somalia held its first national vote since 1991 last year to elect a president and prime minister.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month suggested the Security Council consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia's forces and consolidate military gains against al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants. But some council members are concerned about the security risks involved with removing the arms embargo and one council diplomats said the proposed move "sends shivers down the spine."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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heh. Dr. Steve gets creative
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2013 9:50
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[Bangla Daily Star] Clashes between Jamaat-Shibir activists and police yesterday killed five people and injured at least 150 others, including 10 coppers, across the country. Besides, two maimed in previous festivities also gave up the ghost yesterday.
In the capital BNP activists in collaboration with Jamaat-Shibir men torched four vehicles and vandalised more than 100 vehicles.
Since the International Crimes Tribunal-1 had awarded Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... the capital punishment on Thursday, a total of 47 persons had been killed in the festivities between Islamic fanatics and law enforcers until yesterday.
In Chittagong, three people, including a teenaged boy, were killed and 30 others injured in a shootout between Jamaat-Shibir men and police at Satkania upazila yesterday.
The dear departed have been identified as Abu Taher, 30, son of Abdus Sukkur; Shaidul Islam, 15, son of Abu Taher; and Md Osman, 27, son of Abu Sayed. All of them were from Chhodaha union of the upazila and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and Islamic Chhatra Shibir, said Satkania upazila chairman Moshad Hossain.
The injured have been admitted to clinics in Satkania and Chittagong city, said police and locals, adding that the four-hour-long clash that took place around 10:00am in Hasmater Dokan area had created widespread panic among people.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shajahan of Satkania Police Station said Jamat-Shibir men had blocked the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway from Kerani Haat to Chhodaha areas [approximately 1.5 kilometres] with trees and logs around 7:00am. This triggered a long tailback on the highway.
On information police and members of Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot and charged batons to disperse the activists, who at that time had started to vandalise vehicles.
In the face of resistance, the Jamaat-Shibir men at first burled brick chips and then charged homemade bombs at law enforcers. At this the law enforcers retaliated with bullets. The activists also returned bullets, triggering a shootout.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[Dawn] Insurgents shot and killed two policemen at a market place in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. A police statement said the assailants fled after Saturday's attack near a bus stop in Handwara, a town 90 kilometres north of Srinagar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[POLITICKER] Furthermore, while saying the federal deficit does indeed need to be curtailed, Mr. Bloomberg argued the United States could owe "an infinite amount of money" and there is no specific amount that would cause the country to default.
"We are spending money we don't have," Mr. Bloomberg explained. "It's not like your household. In your household, people are saying, 'Oh, you can't spend money you don't have.' That is true for your household because nobody is going to lend you an infinite amount of money. When it comes to the United States federal government, people do seem willing to lend us an infinite amount of money. ... Our debt is so big and so many people own it that it's preposterous to think that they would stop selling us more. It's the old story: If you owe the bank $50,000, you got a problem. If you owe the bank $50 million, they got a problem. And that's a problem for the lenders. They can't stop lending us more money."
Two liter plastic bottles of Coca Cola? PANIC!!!!
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[Dawn] At least 11 people were killed Saturday in separate incidents of violence in different parts of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported.
Three people were bumped off and one person was injured in during firing in the city's Orangi Town. The assailants managed to flee the scene. ... as though they had never been... and the bodies and the injured were shifted to a hospital.
In another incident, one person was rubbed out in Karachi's Shah Faisal Colony. Police said the victim, who was killed in the colony's Green Town area, was a teacher in a madrassah.
Separately, two people were killed during firing in the city's Moach Goth area, falling within the limits of the Mauripur cop shoppe, whereas, one person was rubbed out in Liaquatabad's B-1 area.
Furthermore, a body bearing torture marks was found in Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town. The body has not yet been identified.
Also, in the city's New Mianwali Colony in Manghopir, two alleged dacoits and a female bystander were killed during a police encounter.
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03/03/2013
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[An Nahar] Controversial Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and his supporters rallied for the second day in a row in the town of Abra in the southern city of Sidon amid heavy security deployment to protest claims that Hizbullah rented apartments in the vicinity of his mosque in the town.
"We reject the security siege and media blackout," al-Asir said during the protest.
The army deployed heavily near al-Asir's Bilal bin Rabah mosque in Abra, bringing reinforcements in anticipation of the protest.
The rallies held by al-Asir and his supporters are to protest claims that Hizbullah rented apartments in the vicinity of his mosque in the town.
Last week, the anti-Hizbullah Salafist holy man urged officials and authorities to force the evacuation of the apartments to avert a possible "strife or any dangerous incident."
Security forces prevented several protesters from reaching the buildings that Hizbullah supporters allegedly rented apartments in them, al-Asir's official page on social media network Facebook.
Media was prevented from broadcasting live the rally.
According to LBCI, al-Asir called on his supporters to rally on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. at al-Karami roundabout.
"Iran's weapons in Sidon on Friday were ready to be used but the judiciary and the higher defense council failed to see that," al-Asir told supporters.
He slammed the unbalanced policies in Leb, saying "everyone in the country has the right to express his opinion but us."
"We will not give up on our right to live in dignity... We will escalate our measures if our demands weren't met," the Salafist holy man said.
Hizbullah chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... warned during a televised speech on Wednesday that "some parties are pushing Leb in a very rapid manner to sectarian strife and working on that night and day and all the facts verify this issue."
He pointed out that some statements and remarks by some Sunni MPs and holy mans are taking a very provocative and seditious course.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[USATODAY] President Hugo Chavez has received more embalming fluid chemotherapy since a December operation in Cuba, the country's vice president revealed late Friday night.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Chavez "continues his battle for life." The ailing 58-year-old has not been seen or heard from since he returned to the country on Feb. 18.
The vice president quoted Chavez as saying he decided to return to Venezuela because he was entering "a new phase" of "more intense and tough" treatments and wanted to be in Caracas for them.
Maduro's disclosure came after members of the government held a Mass on Friday at a new chapel built inside the military hospital in Caracas where Chavez is reportedly staying. At the Mass, hymns were sung while images flashed across television screens of an angelic, glowing Chavez in his younger days. The Mass was broadcast live on state television. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) may release Turkish state officials it has been holding within 10 days as part of a renewed effort for peace with Turkey, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish party said Saturday.
Gulten Kisanak of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said, "I hope the state officials held by the PKK will reach their families within a week or 10 days."
Turkey's spy agency resumed negotiations with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan late last year with the ultimate goal of ending the violence that has claimed over 40,000 lives.
Ocalan is currently serving a life sentence on an island prison off Istanbul where visitors are seldom allowed.
The Kurdish insurgent group, labeled a terrorist organisation by Turkey and the West, is expected to declare a ceasefire 21 March, which is the Kurdish new year, and lay down its arms by August.
Both sides in the conflict intend to demonstrate their commitment to long-lasting peace, according to media revelations after Ocalan's rare meeting with three Kurdish lawmakers in prison last month.
Speaking through three visiting BDP lawmakers, Ocalan said both sides had "prisoners" and that he hoped to see them "reach their families". His remarks were taken in the media as a message to the PKK to release hostages it holds, including Turkish state officials.
The Kurdish movement is asking for the release of hundreds, possibly thousands of Kurdish activists and politicians detained on charges of links to the PKK. Ankara insists "terrorists" must withdraw from Turkish territory before the peace process can effectively begin, and has promised not to attack rebels wishing to leave the country.
[BBC.CO.UK] Philippine President Benigno Aquino has called on members of a clan occupying a Malaysian village to surrender to avoid further bloodshed.
He told the group to "surrender now without conditions", a day after 12 members of the clan and two Malaysian coppers were killed in festivities.
The Moslem clan from the Philippines is demanding recognition as the rightful owners of Sabah province.
Malaysia threatened to take "drastic action" unless the group surrender.
The clan, which calls itself the Royal Army of Sulu, has occupied the village of Lahad Datu since early February.
Hamza Taib, police chief of the Sabah region, told AFP news agency, "We want them to surrender immediately. If they don't, they will face drastic action".
He declined to provide details, but his comments show Malaysia's growing impatience with the situation.
According to the police, Friday morning's shoot-out happened when members of the clan opened fire as security forces were tightening a security cordon around the village.
The group of at least 100 were led into the region in early February by Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the younger brother of the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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#1
Ima rooting for the Malaysians to wipe this nest out quick
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2013 10:41
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Death toll repor now up to 27, wid four persons repor also taken hostage - standoff between Malay Govt-Police + Royal Army of Sulu continues despite the latter having more knives, etc. than guns compared to the former.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM [Old = FRI 03/1/13]> [AP = Sunstar.com/PH] TWELVE FILIPINOS, TWO MALAYSIAN COPS KILLED IN SABAH
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > FIVE MORE MALAYSIAN FORCES KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WITH FILIPINOS IN SABAH | GMA NEWS ONLINE.
* SAME > MALAYSIA THREATENS DRASTIC "STEPS" IN BORNEO SIEGE.
Lest we fergit, the PHIL-BASED MNLF has threatened to militarily intervene iff lives on the Sultanate of Sulu side are lost in any action undertaken by the Malay Govt
VERSUS
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > WILL US DEFEND PHILIPPINES AGZ MALAYSIA? | [Reuters] VERSIONS DIFFER ON MALAYSIA, PHILIPPINES STANDOFF.
It would appear that the PHIL = JAPAN in whether the Debt-n-Deficit-now-Sequestration-ridden USA = POTUS OBAMA will arrive like John Wayne + US Cavalry/Marines oer the Hill???
[Yemen Post] Amid security reports pointing to a large increase in border infiltration at the Yemen-Saudi border, Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Saudi Arabia Interior Minister entrusted a high-powered committee with the reorganization of its southern border security in collaboration with the Yemeni authorities.
With Yemen still battling a multitude of crises, smugglers, human traffickers and criminals have used Yemen security vacuum to their advantage, having turned the impoverished nation into a by-pass country, a point of entry to rich Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Security officials both in Saudi Arabia and Yemen have warned against weapon smuggling and terror migration, stressing Yemen norther territories needed to be better managed.
Saudi Arabia estimated that as many as 3,000 individuals are entering its territories illegally every day, most of whom Yemeni economic migrants in search for paid work or African refugees.
Social workers in Yemen working in collaboration with UNICEF and the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor - IPEC - are also implementing projects in the country northern provinces aimed at stifling child trafficking.
In a desperate attempts to fight off poverty and hunger Yemeni families decided to send their children across the border into Saudi Arabia hoping they would find work as domestic workers, manual laborers or even beggars.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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RIYADH The Saudi police have arrested 176 people, including 15 women, for holding an illegal protest to demand the release of prisoners, the official Saudi Press news Agency (SPA) reported late on Friday.
The agency, quoting a police spokesman, said protesters were arrested after refusing to break up a gathering outside the offices of the investigation bureau and the prosecution in Buraida, in central Saudi Arabia.
The spokesman accused the protesters of acting on behalf of deviant groups. Small groups of women have gathered almost daily in Buraida, north of Riyadh, to demand the release of imprisoned relatives, and dozens of protesters held a rare sit-in outside the Buraida prison in September.
At the time police dispersed the protesters and authorities later warned they would deal firmly with demonstrations, sparking condemnation from Amnesty International which urged Riyadh to withdraw its threat.
Amnesty said Fridays protesters were seeking the release of more than 50 women and children detained after a similar demonstration two days earlier. The women and children were demanding the release of their relatives, incarcerated without charge or trial or beyond the end of their sentences, said the watchdog.
Some of the women also called for the sacking of the interior minister, it added.
A wave of deadly Al Qaeda attacks in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006 prompted a crackdown by the Saudi Arabia authroties that drove out the local branch of the group that was founded by the late Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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#1
Wait until they get drones from us.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/03/2013 16:22
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[Dawn] Four people were shot at and later burnt to death in Tump, a town in Pakistain's southwestern Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, Levies officials said on Saturday.
Mujeeb Ahmed, a Levies official said armed bully boyz shot up a vehicle in Tump tehsil of district Kech. He said all four persons were killed inside the vehicle.
"The assailants put the vehicle on fire after the incident," Ahmed said. The assailants managed to escape after the attack.
"All victims were burnt inside the vehicle," he said.
He said the victims, residents of Tump tehsil, were traveling near the Pak-Iran border when they were attacked by the gunnies. Two of the dear departed were identified as residents of Mand area in Kech district.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings.
The bodies of the victims were shifted to Civil Hospital Turbat for medico-legal formalities.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan gunned down two children tending cattle in an incident likely to increase tensions over the conduct of international troops.
The two children, aged seven and eight, were killed on Thursday morning as the soldiers fought back after a Taliban attack in Uruzgan province, said provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada.
He said, The children were killed by Australian troops, it was a mistaken incident, not a deliberate one.
He added that insurgents had first shot at a helicopter carrying Australian soldiers.
NATOs International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) expressed its deep regret over the deaths and said it remained committed to minimizing civilian casualties. In a statement, General Joseph Dunford, commander of ISAF, said, I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed. I am committed to ensuring we do the right thing for the families of those we harmed, as well as for the community in which they lived. We take full responsibility for this tragedy.
ISAF said the troops had opened fire at what they thought were insurgent forces. It added that a joint Afghan-ISAF team visited Shahidi Hassas district in Uruzgan on Saturday to investigate and meet with local leaders.
[Bangla Daily Star] The minority communities witnessing an onslaught of attack and arson by anti-liberation elements wonder what protection they have in this country.
As Hindu families in some of the remote pockets of Banshkhali in Chittagong and Rajganj in Noakhali try hard to come to terms with Thursday's barbaric attacks on their homesteads and places of worships, there is no let-up in assaults in other places including Barisal, Bagerhat and Gazipur.
Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Gay Pareehad, meanwhile, demanded the government act immediately to resist communal attacks, arrest the culprits, rehabilitate the victims and rebuild the temples.
Moments after Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... received death sentence for war crimes, his party and its student wing Shibir, in some cases allegedly aided by BNP supporters, attacked the minorities on Thursday chanting slogans decrying the verdict.
Visiting the minority neighbourhoods, ravaged by the anti-liberation elements, these correspondents encountered many helpless blank looks and despairs from among the community members.
Passing three days under the open sky, without sleep and proper food, yet the families in Rajganj do not know how long they will have to go through such harrowing situation and what lies ahead.
"It is our sin to live in this country being Hindu; it is our sin not to flee away," Minoti Rani Das was shouting. "We had a happy family. Now I have no shed, no food, no space to cook, no furniture. Now I have only some ashes."
This is not only Minoti's story. Around seventy six families have been living inhumane life since Thursday afternoon as religious bigots unleashed havoc over them after the pronouncement of Sayeedi verdict.
While millions of compatriots were celebrating the victory over the verdict across the country, some families were losing everything.
Almost all the victim families and some other villagers alleged that Jamaat, Shibir and BNP were directly involved in the attacks.
At least 40 houses, six temples and several dozen shops were burnt and vandalised at Rajganj under Begumganj upazila of Noakhali. Valuables and furniture were looted from Hindu dormitories.
Police came at least one and half hours latter when it was all over.
While launching attacks, the rioters numbering around 250 to 300 were saying Sayeedi was sentenced to death because of the deposition of Hindu witnesses, said most of the victim families. The number of attackers varied from spot to spot.
"Sayeedi got death sentence because of you. You cannot stay in this country," Bablu Bhuiyan, whose two houses were vandalised, quoted one of the attackers as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[An Nahar] Syrian rebels on Saturday hanged two Paleostinians at a refugee camp in Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... on suspicion of aiding the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , a rights watchdog said.
"Rebels in the Yarmuk camp executed two men accused of cooperating with the regime by identifying targets that were bombed last week," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"They were hanged from trees in the camp."
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to collect information, provided a picture illustrating the hangings.
In it, two men are seen hanging from trees next to buildings as a crowd of people surrounds them, some taking pictures of the scene.
It was not possible to immediately verify the authenticity of the picture.
The Observatory says hangings of people suspected of working for the regime have been reported in Hama and Aleppo, but this was the first time that such an execution was announced along with a picture.
The Yarmuk camp housing tens of thousands of Paleostinian refugees is a regular site of festivities between pro- and anti-regime supporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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#1
It'll be a laugh if they hang Pencilneck. How far will he stretch, that's what I want to know.
[BBC] Work on a gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistain will begin on 11 March, Pak officials say.
The project has led US officials to warn that it may fall foul of sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme.
The long-delayed project is seen in Pakistain as a way of combating the country's chronic energy shortages with supplies of Iranian gas.
Officials told Pak media they hoped the presidents of both countries would attend a ceremony on 11 March.
President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... visited Iran earlier this week, meeting his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and finalised the multi-billion dollar deal.
Officials say the pipeline on the Iranian side of the border has been completed, and that this month will see the start of work on the project in Pakistain.
On Wednesday, the US warned Pakistain to "avoid any sanctionable activity" in connection with the project.
"We think that we provide and are providing the Pak government and people a better way to meet their energy needs," State Department front man Patrick Ventrell told news hounds on Wednesday.
Last year Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar insisted the pipeline was "in Pakistain's national interest and will be pursued and completed irrespective of any extraneous considerations".
Power shortages have become a major issue in Pakistain, with the government ordering an investigation into a nation-wide power cut on Sunday blamed on a technical fault in a plant in south-western Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province.
The mayor of Moscow says there are no plans to build a new mosque in the city, and says the "excessive" number of economic migrants was a "harmful thing".
Sergey Sobyanin said, "It has turned out that the praying Muslims are not all Russian citizens and they are not Moscow residents. They are labor migrants. There are only 10 percent of Moscow residents among them and building mosques for everyone who wants it - I think this will be over the top."
The mayor continued, "Muscovites now get irritated by people who speak a different language, have different manners, with aggressive behavior. This is not purely ethnic, but this is connected with some ethnic traits."
At the same time, Sobyanin explained that there are no ethnic enclaves in the city and expressed the hope that such enclaves would not ever appear as closed districts like that those that usually have a very high crime rate.
Russian Muslims did not welcome the Mayor Sobyanins statement. Co-chairman of the Councils of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov said that Muslims did not agree with Sobyanins plans and that they would, should the need arise, address President Putin with a request for help.
#1
The mayor of Moscow says there are no plans to build a new mosque in the city, and says the "excessive" number of economic migrants was a "harmful thing".
#2
Yes. When "economic migrant" = "comes to leech off the existing economy, rather than contribute to its growth," they should be unwelcome regardless of where or how or who / what they worship...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/03/2013 10:21
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Yep. Like those Americans coming up to Canada to find work...
[DETROIT.CBSLOCAL] Is the governor caving to pressure from the suburbs? Does it matter if he is?
Detroit City President Charles Pugh said that's a fact, as Rick Snyder on Friday declared a financial emergency in Detroit, setting the stage for a state takeover. Probably the fact that Detroit has a mayor and a president is a big part of its problem.
Pugh said, however, while there is pressure from outside the city, he's certain there are people within Detroit who would welcome a state-appointed emergency financial manager. Meaning not everybody in the city is below average...
"Because they're tired of it lingering. They want to get it over with," Pugh told WWJ Newsradio 950′s Pat Sweeting. If you're cutting spending you're not handing out contracts. Government consists of giving contracts to campaign contributors and other people you know.
But what those people don't realize, Pugh said, is that an EFM won't just be in and out. What? No magick wand?
"It doesn't work like that. And if it doesn't work like that in smaller cities, why in the hell would they think it would work in a city as complicated as Detroit?" No end in sight, huh? That means no more boodle for the foreseeable future...
Pugh pointed out that emergency financial managers were appointed to oversee the Detroit Public Schools, and, years later, the second EFM there is still on the job. Danger, Will Robinson! How well has the EFM for the city schools worked?
Also among those who oppose the EFM move is U.S. Congressman Gary Peters, who said he's "deeply disappointed" in the governor's decision. "The city council of Detroit has the right to dispose of its own boodle!"
"All of us agree that the city has serious financial challenges which must be addressed, however I fundamentally disagree with taking measures that disenfranchise the families I represent in Detroit," Peters said, in a statement. Let's translate that statement into English: "All of us agree that Detroit's politicians have plucked the rotting carcass of the city bare, and won't stop of their own accord, however I fundamentally disagree with taking measures that will do anything about it."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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#1
President Pugh is right! We must save the Studebaker at all costs.
#2
The Soviet Union ( remember them?) had a novel and interesting idea about what Human nature really is. Then they fell in, collapsed and disintegrated. Now Detroit is pursuing an economic model which which is equally wise and misinformed concerning Human nature. You reap what you sow. ( what IS that smell?)
Does anyone feel sorry for Detroit ?
Now the State of California ( hey, Dude. Power to the People, dude. Occupy Wallstreet, dude.) smells like they are next. You voted for him. I didn 't. Maybe you can get a free iPhone and a bigger helping of Foodstamps.
See you in Church, muthah.
You know what a single round of 9mm ACP costs? Mine is $1.10 per. You? Looks like I may go have to go back to reloading my old brass with wad cutters.
#3
The American West is littered with hundreds of old ghost towns which long ago past their reason for existence. No one mourns their passing or offers to 'rebuild'. Here is Karakorum once capital of the largest human empire ever founded. Sic transit gloria mundi.
#5
First we started with a ghost city, then next a ghost state (California, Illinois and New York in the running) and then finally the first ghost country, unless you count Atlantis.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/03/2013 16:26
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#6
Atlantis would sink the Immigrant ships with crystal-power I think before letting them in. They were a racist bunch of people according to Plato.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Charles ||
03/03/2013 18:42
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Well they will just have to sell the city to OCP so they can begin construction on Delta City.
ISLAMABAD Unidentified armed assailants gunned down a senior journalist in Kalat town, some 160km from Quetta, on Friday. Kalat Press Club president Mehmood Khan Afridi was attacked by two motorcyclists while he was sitting inside a shop at main bus station in Kalat town. The assailants showered bullets killing him on the spot.
The attackers, who were on a motorbike, swiftly fled after firing, police said quoting eyewitnesses.
This was the third murder of a Pakistani journalist within a week. Earlier chief reporter of the state-run news agency the APP was killed in Karachi while a senior journalist was shot dead in Waziristan. No one has claimed responsibility for the murder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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Egyptian protesters torched a coppe shoppe police station in Port Said on Saturday. The interior ministry said about 500 protesters grimaced most fiercely threw stones and petrol bombs at the police station, setting it on fire, and then cursed each other's mustaches blocked fire engines from reaching the blaze.
The protesters had gathered outside the station after two men were injured when a police truck hit them during earlier clashes in the city, now entering its third week of a general strike, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, one person was killed and dozens injured in overnight clashes between police and protesters in the Nile delta city of Mansura, a security official told AFP. According to media reports, the protester died after he was run over by a police van.
Sounds like it's a little dangerous to be rioting near a moving police van in Egypt...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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SEOUL, Feb. 27 -- North Korea used political prisoners from its many concentration camps to build and maintain its nuclear test site, a local anti-Pyongyang civic group leader said Wednesday.
Ahn Myong-chol, secretary general of human rights group Free the North Korea Gulag, said in a Seoul press conference that while serving as a guard at the Hoeryong concentration camp in 1992, he saw 100 prisoners taken away on trucks, never to return. He claimed that later, a security official told him that the prisoners were sent to build the nuclear site near Mt. Mantap in Punggye-ri and were executed afterwards to prevent information from leaking out. The site was used to test three nuclear devices from 2006 with the latest detonation on Feb. 12.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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Brazil is set to join the select group of countries that have nuclear-powered submarines, President Dilma Rousseff said Friday.
Rousseff stressed Brazil was committed to peace but also needed its defense deterrent, as she inaugurated a naval shipyard in Rio de Janeiro state where the country's first nuclear-powered sub is set to be built in partnership with France.
"We can say that with these installations we are entering the select club of countries with nuclear submarines: The United States, Russia, France, Britain and China," said Rousseff.
Under the scheme, France will supply Brazil with four conventional submarines and help develop the non-nuclear components of the South American powerhouse's first nuclear-powered attack submarine.
Brazil already has the uranium enrichment technology required for producing nuclear fuel and wants to use it to power the submarine.
The 7.8 billion reais ($3.95 billion) ProSub program aims to protect the country's 8,500-kilometer (5,280-mile) coastline and huge deep-water oil reserves.
The defense ministry said the first of the four conventional Scorpene-class subs will be delivered to the Brazilian Navy in 2017, while the nuclear-powered vessel will be commissioned in 2023.
No commentary on whether Brazil will develop the power plant itself or whether France will provide it; I assume given the statement about 'uranium enrichment technology' that Brazil will provide the fuel.
"This alliance (with France) must be carefully watched by all those who are taking part because our mission is to ensure that this technology is transferred to us in line with the contract," Rousseff said.
The 75-meter-long (246-foot) Scorpene is a diesel-electric attack submarine built by France's DCNS naval defense firm for a variety of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, special operations and intelligence collection.
France is also vying to win a contract valued at between $4 and $7 billion for 36 multi-purpose combat aircraft to modernize the Brazilian air force. The Rafale fighter, built by French firm Dassault Aviation, is up against US aviation giant Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Swedish manufacturer Saab's Gripen.
The winner will be the company that allows Brazil to set up a co-production agreement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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#1
Politics, pure and simple. Someone owed the French a favor.
Strategically and tactically speaking, they would have been far better off going with one of the AIP based conventional boats that are being built. Something like the Japanese "Dragon" series (Soryu was the lead boat of the class). The newer construction un that series may give even US nuc boats and surface ships some problems if properly crewed and commanded. 84m, 4200 ton displacement, so hardly a small coastal bot - and the air indep drive gives them a lot of submerged time compared to a normal DE boat, and they are probably deadly queit when silent runnings, since they dont have to run any pumps to keep a nuclear teakettle cooled. Add to that the modern Japanese materials engineering, design expertise, and of course Japanese electronics and you probably have a pretty formidable attack boat. Certainly one suited to the task of patrolling the waters in and around Brazil and its maritime interests. So gotta be politics to waste all that money learning to build and operate a a nuc boat.
#2
Then again, OS, that modern-style AI boat demands a lot: Japanese engineering, technology, etc. We could build one, so could the Brits, but the Brazilians? Even with technology transfers such a boat would have to built in Japan for the most part and delivered to Brazil.
Whereas what I think they want is an indigenous submarine industry at some point. Going nuclear is paradoxically easier: the technology has been around longer and it's more straightforward than the latest AI design.
So they buy some Scorpenes up front and start building their own submarine industry. This models what they did with their aircraft industry.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013 11:17
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The Scorpenes I understand. The question is why a nuke boat instead of conventional DEs? Are they planning on running it against somewho in particular? Or are they looking to get nuke tech for other purposes besides subs?
#4
The question is why a nuke boat instead of conventional DEs?
They want to deploy, project, be not seen in places unforeseen.
AIP is fine for coastal work, but to get where you want to be a long ways away requires power, nukes are pretty much the only way to make high speed transits. Altho the Brits had this weird K Class design which had a whole-hawg steam plant. Say what you will, it would move along at 24 knots, bring your own broom stick.
#5
SteveS: They could be looking to become the Nuclear Power in SA the same way Iran is in the ME. It would make sense, largest country, most resources, I think largest Population. Brazil is making a move towards a first-class country and nuclear-military may be required in their eyes.
I also remember some hunky-dory talk between Iran and Venezuala. This could be a pushback against that.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/03/2013 18:25
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#6
That's kind of an abnormally long long lead time, isn't it - can't Brazil find its own equivalent of ADM. Rickover or similar???
Iff Brazil = USA back in the day, I have no doubts Rickover would be having a serious fit.
#7
why on earth does Brazil need a nuclear-powered sub? this stretches credulity beyond all limits. some Brazilian admiral has been mixing too much rum with his lime juice.
#8
...The Scorpenes will be used mostly to give the Brazilians experience with modern SS ops. The SSN they eventually get will be a Barracuda class SSN with an export sensor rig built in France. The Brazilians have run a thoroughly above-board nuclear program for many years, and they're perfectly within their rights to set one up.
Now, why do they want one? Quite simple: the USN is going away. The Brazilians have been a regional level superpower for decades now. Their navy is well equipped and trained, and though we diverge pretty widely in political terms, strategically both nations have pretty much the same goals. They know that the USN will not be there the way it has been in the past, and somebody has to take up the slack. If a few SSNs make them the Big Kids On The Block, then so much the better.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/03/2013 20:04
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They want to deploy, project, be not seen in places unforeseen.
Posted by Shipman
Brazil is making a move towards a first-class country...
Posted by Charles
I've been pondering the comments above (thanks, guys!) and finally came to the same conclusion as Mike: the USN is going away.
Once upon a time, America provided security guarantees and safety of the sea lanes. Nobody believes that anymore. You may not like the cop on the beat, but without him, the neighborhood becomes a more dangerous place.
Mortar rounds believed to have been fired from Syria hit the southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday without causing damage or casualties, the army said.
Several shells landed and were found in an open area in the southern Golan Heights, most likely due to the fighting in Syria, a spokesman told AFP. No injuries or damages were caused. The incident was reported to the United Nations forces, and IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) soldiers continued searching the area."
On Wednesday, a mortar shell struck the central Golan Heights, causing no injuries or damage, after nearly three months of no spillover from the fighting in Syria. In recent months, there have been several instances of gunfire or mortar shells hitting the Israeli side of the plateau. In November, troops responded with artillery in the first such instance of Israeli fire at the Syrian military since the 1973 war.
Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by the international community. It is currently upgrading its security fence along its border armistice line with the work expected to be finished by the end of the year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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Bashar al-Assad will take part in Syria's next presidential election in 2014, the foreign minister of close Damascus ally Iran said on Saturday.
Assuming he's able to stand, or at least be propped up...
"In the next election, President Assad, like others, will take part, and the Syrian people will elect whomever they want," Ali Akbar Salehi said at a news conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem.
Salehi also said that "the official position of Iran is that... Assad will remain the legitimate president until the next... election" in 2014.
Salehi threw Iran's weight behind Damascus's call this week for dialogue with the armed opposition, calling the initiative a "positive step," but reiterated that Assad's regime has "no choice" but to keep fighting rebels.
"We believe that the crisis has no military solution and only a Syrian political one," said the Iranian minister.
"Iran firstly wants all the infidels dead, dead, dead a stop to the bloodshed but the Syrian government has no choice but to fight against the terrorists and we cannot ask the Syrian government not to do so and leave them alone," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013
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Police, with support from the Iraqi army, have arrested six gunmen from the al-Qaeda-affiliated "Islamic State of Iraq" in al-Tharthar basin, south of Samarra, police said Saturday.
A special unit from the Samarra police carefully planned an raid after receiving intelligence about the presence of an al-Qaeda cell at a residential building in an agricultural area in al-Tharthar.
Salaheddine police spokesman Hasan al-Majmaie said the detainees include "four wanted terrorists". He said police found an explosives vest, a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), one Katyusha rocket, and several mobile phones, leaflets and "letters from al-Qaeda emirs" in the detainees' possession.
[Dawn] Frontier Corps paramilitary troops conducted a targeted operation in the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, the lovely provincial capital.
FC sources said six suspected target-killers were tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... and arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession.
"All six bully boyz were involved in assassinations and kidnappings," said an official of the FC , requesting not to be named since he was not authorized to speak to media.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have threatened to bomb a mobile phone market in the northwestern city of 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. for the "shameless" selling of video clips, ring tones and accessories, officials said Saturday.
Some 60 shopkeepers received letters in the post ordering them to burn the offending stock, including memory cards and speakers for MP3 players, and stick to selling only mobile phones and essential accessories.
DVD and CD shops have in the past been bombed by faceless myrmidons who deemed the businesses "un-Islamic".
In one of the letters, seen by news agency AFP, faceless myrmidons wrote: "Do not compel us to send a bomber... stop this shameless business in one week and burn the shameful stuff. Just sell mobile phones, batteries and chargers.
"Your markets have become centers of shamelessness... Our mission is to stop this shameless business and if you do not stop it yourself then we will make an example of you and your market."
Officials and police acted quickly to minimise the threat from would-be bombers.
"We have immediately closed down the shops doing ring tones and video clips business, after about 60 shopkeepers received threatening letters from Taliban by mail," local market association secretary general Shakil Ahmed told AFP.
He said parking spots for cycle of violences -- which are sometimes packed with explosives and detonated -- had been moved away from the market and police had been asked to increase security.
Senior police official Faisal Murad said patrols had been stepped up around the market in Peshawar, which sits on the edge of Pakistain's tribal region.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[Dawn] RECENT events have been a reminder of what journalist Saleem Shahzad reported on May 27, 2011, even though he feared what was lurking round the corner for him.
Writing for 'Asia Times Online', a Hong Kong-based news website, five days after Islamic fascistiattacked PNS Mehran on 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... 's Sharea Faisal, he linked the assault to failed talks "between the navy and Al Qaeda over the release of naval officials jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! on suspicion of Al Qaeda links".
The PNS Mehran incident was one of the most vicious attacks on any defence establishment and at least 10 people were killed and aerial surveillance and anti-submarine assets worth millions of dollars destroyed.
In his report, Shahzad suggested that three attacks on Pakistain Navy buses in Karachi just a month earlier which saw nine deaths were also shots across the bow of the naval leadership over the locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! lower rank naval personnel who, he said, numbered 10.
He quoted an unnamed senior naval officer as having told him that after electronic intercepts and surveillance these people had been taken into custody. After being held in one place, they had to be moved to safer sites as threats deemed credible had been received from Al Qaeda.
Naval officers speaking anonymously told Saleem Shahzad that because of the location-specific threats, they had gathered that the terror group was in all probability receiving inside information on where the suspects were being held.
At this, the report said: "A senior-level naval conference was called at which an intelligence official insisted that the matter be handled with great care otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Everybody present agreed, and it was decided to open a line of communication with Al Qaeda.
"Abdul Samad Mansoori, a former student union activist ... who originally hailed from Karachi but now lives in the North Wazoo tribal area was approached and talks begun. Al Qaeda demanded the immediate release of the officials without further interrogation. This was rejected.
"The detainees were allowed to speak to their families and were well treated, but officials were desperate to interrogate them fully to get an idea of the strength of Al Qaeda's penetration. The Islamic fascistiwere told that once interrogation was completed, the men would be discharged from the service and freed."
According to the report, Al Qaeda didn't find these terms acceptable and responded by launching lethal attacks on the navy buses in April of that year.
Two days after his report appeared, Shahzad was due to appear in a TV interview in Islamabad for which he left home but never arrived at his destination. His car, with him at the wheel, had mysteriously disappeared from a leafy Islamabad residential area.
The following day his body, bearing signs of a fatal beating, was fished out of a canal some 130 kilometres from the capital. His car was also found nearby. It wasn't clear if a "punishment beating" had gone horribly wrong or the kidnappers wanted to kill him. On the face of it, it appeared a case of the messenger being shot.
What should have been police investigative work, with painstaking collection of evidence and forensic analysis, was entrusted to a commission of inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge, and its report remained predictably inconclusive about who killed the journalist.
Ironically, just a few weeks earlier some journalists, including Saleem Shahzad, and other experts had gathered at London's King's College Department of War Studies for a regional security conference.
After one session Saleem had taken me aside to share his concerns about his safety. He didn't specifically mention whom he feared but did say things were getting to a point where he would be forced to consider moving abroad. He returned to Islamabad a few days later.
Two recent incidents in Karachi have involved naval officers (who belonged to the Shia community) while in their cars. The first incident was described by the police initially as a bombing but the navy later said it was a CNG tank kaboom in the officer's car.
The second incident, where the officer received multiple gunshot wounds not far from where he used to park his car in a secure naval facility, suggested some information about the exact timing of his presence. Admittedly this is speculation and one can't be sure.
But even earlier attacks on defence establishments have indicated that the attackers possibly had detailed inside information. It may be true that all it takes is one bad apple to breach security when the vast majority is dedicated to its duty. But it is alarming nonetheless.
If the army itself flies Malik Ishaq, the Sipah-e-Sahaba bully boy leader, from prison in Lahore to the GHQ to help negotiate with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain attackers in 2009, the nexus between these groups becomes very clear. They are ideological and perhaps even operational allies.
In the last month of the current parliament's life two main political parties in Pakhtunkhwa have each organised an all-parties conference to try and reach the ever-elusive consensus on how best to deal with the TTP now ensconced mostly in North Waziristan.
The army chief has predicated any operation against the terror machine on a national consensus which now seems more remote than ever since all political parties have an eye on the election. They don't want to take a tough stance for different reasons.
Some find ideological affinity with the religious fighters who are battling the US in their view (even when all they are doing in reality is attacking Pakistain) or perhaps they don't want to take the lead and be hamstrung in electioneering because of the enhanced threat of reprisals.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the authorities' lack of will to clamp down on rampaging groups in settled areas is shocking. Murderous attacks have largely targeted one Mohammedan sect in Quetta, Karachi, Lahore or 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.
We can blame the "foreign sponsors" and the "Great Game" all we want but this rampant cancer lies within. It needs to be excised now if we are to harbour any hope of survival.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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#1
Oh, I thought this was going to be about how to remove the Californians and NE liberals who have metastasized their political cancer and are in the process of killing states like Colorado.
A civic unease runs through California these days. Premonitions abound of terrible things ahead. Not the space invaders or blade-runners of cinematic imagination, but padlocked -public services, interminable DMV lines, closed classrooms, off-limits recreational areas, public employee strikes, inadequate or nonexistent police, fire, and medical responses.
Just days before the Northridge slaughter, San Bernardino city attorney Jim Penman addressed a crowded city council meeting in the wake of an elderly woman's murder, telling residents of the bankrupt municipality to "lock their doors and load their guns." Penman was not alone among California city officials forced to slash law enforcement budgets. Nor did he back down amid the predictable media tut-tutting: "You should say what you mean and mean what you say."
California voters in November overwhelmingly pulled the lever for a one-party state. Democrats control the governorship, statewide offices, and veto-proof legislative majorities--all beholden to powerful state employee unions. If the recent standoffs with such unions in Wisconsin and Michigan seemed dramatic, just wait for the coming epic in California, a state known for manufacturing drama. No prospective Scott Walker or Rick Snyder, the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan, appears on the political horizon. But that doesn't mean peace with the unions--the money to buy it doesn't exist. So there will be a budget war of multiple battles and skirmishes. With Republicans already prostrate, some joke darkly--this, mind you, in the land of Reagan and "sunny optimism"--of adopting a Leninist approach: Let it all collapse . . . break the whole egg carton . . . build on the ruins . . . make lots of morning-after omelets. A dark scenario indeed, but name another more likely for Republicans.
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#1
California's glorious coastline, majestic mountains, and fair climate means that its lucky lucky residents should "pay any price, bear any burden" to continue to live there, and above all should not complain of what will befall them.
Those not willing to pay extravagantly for the glories of California should be moving out NOW.
#2
screw cali and it's 8% income tax rate; I moved and have not looked back...i can visit family but i take my taxed earnings back to my new state.
For the first time since the 90's i received a state tax return last year - only $25 but better than the $2000 i still owed each year after claiming 1 in california. I did not change my deductions in my new state and got something back.
Screw brown and the rest of the commies in california. How the idiot voters could bring this loon back after the destruction he did in the 70's is beyond me..but i guess there is a new generation of tool's that have no idea of history..
good riddance
Posted by: dan ||
03/03/2013 8:20
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"but i guess there is a new generation of tool's that have no idea of history" - Dan
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/03/2013 11:07
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#1
One German female soldier was allegedly pushed by a Turkish general during a visit by de Maiziere to the base at Kahramanmaras. She later complained of bruising.
SEOUL, March 1 -- South Korean and U.S. troops launched their annual joint drills on Friday, military officials said, amid heightened tension following North Korea's third nuclear test last month.
The Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises are field training exercises involving tens of thousands of troops from their ground, naval and air forces, a Seoul military official said. About 10,000 U.S. troops and 200,000 South Korean troops, including reservists, joined the Foal Eagle, according to the official. They will last until April 30.
Separately, South Korean and U.S. troops will conduct computer-simulated drills named Key Resolve from March 11-21. The Key Resolve drill will involve about 3,500 U.S. troops and 10,000 South Korean troops, the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Dawn] Police earned the ire and appreciation of the Majlis Wahdat-e-Moslemeen and the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... , respectively, when they claimed on Friday to have tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! four suspects associated with a political party and also involved in assassinations carried out on sectarian grounds.
The police said that they arrested four men -- Syed Naeem Haider Najafi, Syed Hussain Ahmed Jafri, Rais Jafri and Syed Azhar Hussain Rizvi -- in the Gulbahar and Rizvia areas and seized pistols and a rifle from them.
Speaking at a presser, DIG-West Javed Odho claimed that the held suspects were allegedly involved in 31 murders, including those of ASWJ workers.
He said that the suspects had been associated with a political party, for which they had also killed several people, but now they were affiliated with a sectarian outfit and killing their rivals.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... he did not name the political party to which they belonged.
The DIG said that suspect Najafi confessed to his involvement in 11 murders, suspect Rizvi to 15 murders, suspect Jafri to four killings and suspect Rais Jafri to having killed one person.
MWM demands DIG's dismissal
After the announcement of the arrests, the MWM's 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... chapter held a presser at the Karachi Press Club and demanded immediate dismissal of DIG Odho for 'implicating innocent Shia men in the killings'.
MWM leader Asghar Abbas Zaidi warned that his party would launch countrywide protests if the innocent Shia youths were not released.
Accompanied by Maulana Mohammad Hussain Karimi, Maulana Ali Anwar Jafri and Mohammad Hussain Jafri, Mr Zaidi said that Rangers had taken 19 youths into their 'illegal' custody on the morning of Feb 25 from their houses without any warrant in Gulbahar's Jafria Colony.
He said that 15 of them had been released, while the remaining four men were handed over to the DIG-West, who levelled baseless allegations against them in his presser.
Referring to the presser of the police, Mr Zaidi said that the DIG-West claimed that the held persons had previously belonged to a political party and they recently quit it and joined a Shia party.Terming the DIG a biased officer, the MWM leader said that he did not name the political party but had no qualms about naming the Shia party in an attempt to bring the latter into disrepute.
ASWJ praises arrests
Appreciating the presser of the DIG-West, a front man for the ASWJ said that his party wanted a free and transparent trial of the held suspects.
"Today's presser of the DIG west to show arrest of four suspected killers should be appreciated," he told Dawn. "We have credible information that law-enforcement agencies picked up some 20 suspects mainly in the Nazimabad, Gulbahar and Rizvia areas and they should not be released under any pressure."
Referring to the Gulbahar and Rizvia areas, where he said his party had lost more than a dozen workers in recent weeks, the front man claimed that ASWJ leaders had informed authorities in their meetings about the presence of bully boyz in the two localities.
He said that the police had time and again claimed the arrests of a number of members of banned parties, but this trend was never witnessed when it came to the arrest of the killers of ASWJ holy mans and activists. "The law-enforcement agencies should not set them free on personal guarantees or under any pressure and the held suspects must face transparent trial."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Remember, to the Left(tm) Bush and Chaney were responsible for Abu Ghrib because they set the tenor of the environment that resulted in the acts, but Obama and Co are not responsible for that act of releasing illegals, even though by words and actions they have indeed set the tenor. It's about power, never about principle.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah II met in Jordan last week and discussed the Middle East peace process, according to a diplomatic source. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Last week, Netanyahu travelled to Jordan and met King Abdullah II. In the meeting, they discussed the Middle East peace process."
In December, Israeli officials were quoted as confirming a report in an Arab daily about a meeting between Netanyahu and the king in Jordan that focused on Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since September 2010.
The latest discussions between Netanyahu and Abdullah II precede an expected visit by US President Barack Obama, who announced he would be in the region in the spring, with Israeli media putting the date at March 20.
We often accuse the leftist media of being whores in service to their masters such as Media Matters and Think Progress.
With that in mind Rantburg proudly presents a group of conservative writers who contracted out their journalistic services for positive coverage of the Malaysian government and collected fat payments in return.
Did I mention that none of the listed writers disclosed their paydays when their work was published?
Whew!
Good thing I mentioned that because in fact they failed to make mention of that nexus in opinion articles which appeared in a number of US media.
I found out about this from a blog post at theothermaccain.com, when the proprietor, Stacy McCain waxed sarcastic about the revelations, at the same time failing to name some of the others involved in the racket. I know at least one of the writers is a friend of McCain's, thus the sarcasm.
Among the publications which included the bought and paid for positive coverage were the Huffington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, Redstate.com and National Review. Names included are some writers you may recognize such as Ben Domenech (USD $36,000), Rachel Ehrenfeld (USD $30,000), Seth Mandel (USD $5,000) and Brad Jackson who cleared USD $24,700.
Josh Trevino was the paymaster who collected USD $389,724.70, and who farmed out some of the work to other writers.
The PDF of the federal filing required of lobbyists is here. The document was filed in 2013, almost three years after Trevino's media company which contracted for the positive news articles was dissolved, five years after it was formed and two years after Trevino had apparently vehemently denied the nexus between his work and pay for play in a UK Guardian piece in 2011.
The most interesting thing about this story is Ben Domenech. He had been hired by the Washington Post to be their star conservative writer in 2006 when liberals from the news outlets as well as from Media matters complained about he was too conservative.
He went to Redstate.com, from which I know of him, and then to Human Events and the Washington Times. He was fired from the Washington Times when he apparently disclosed the new relationship and he lost his column with the UK Guardian. At the time he lied about his relationship in an article about him. I have no idea if Human Events has made a decision on his employment fate with them. The Washington Post incident was one of the incidents which brought me to Redstate.com.
I have zero problem with a person who goes into public relations. It can be good money, and all you have to do if you are beautifying an individual or organization who wants to look better in the public eye, is to place your personal feelings aside and write the damn article.
The way public relations is supposed to work is that a firm will go to an editor of a news outlet, someone he knows socially, may have had dinner with and pitch an idea for an article which sounds interesting enough to be pitched. If the editor thinks it's something his or her readers wants to see, a writer is tasked with the story. The firm or PR guy never figures into the work. They are ready to state their case in a "news" article.
But this is something different. The Malaysian government blew right past PR firms and editors and went straight to the writers and dumped a butt load of cash on them, and told them to get busy. And no one thought that maybe something might be a little askew enough that maybe they should disclose the source of their income to the news outlets that published them.
And we see all the time how easily news outlets such as the New York Times moves political people between the President Barak Obama administration and the newsroom. Other examples probably exist right now that have not been disclosed. Those moves are to bring writers into the newsroom who can get access to government officials and have the kind of access that other news outlets can't afford. It is the state of modern journalism.
But this is something completely different and it has a sinister air about it. I do not believe that the whole story has been disclosed, not even the seediest element. Just the parts they could disclose still feel not quite bad about it were anyone to find out about it.
And to think. Myself and others at BorderlandBeat.com who write constantly without compensation about the Mexican Drug War must be driving Mexican PR firms batty. A lot of those people on the ground in Mexico proper, what I call in the shooting gallery, get the additional bonus of being in nearly constant fear for their very lives from the drug cartels. I have never even had an offer of money to write something good about drug traffickers or even of anyone in the Mexican government.
Saturday morning a Pajamas Media writer, Steven Crowder wrote a piece complaining about men who complain about their wives; this as yet another political issue to beat other conservatives over the head with. The poster at theothermccain, someone named Smitty chimed in that maybe men who complain about their spouses should stop being so immature.
So, I can just hear this echo of similar disdain of former fans who hear that their once favorite author is now a media whore no better than the worst conservatives believe is happening in the current American leftist government.
"Grow up, sweetheart."
"This is how the world works."
"I'm no worse than anyone else."
But what I have heard since the election of 2012 is how the media has never held conservative's enemies to account for their crimes.
And now we know why.
The conservative media were too busy collecting fat paychecks from elsewhere.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderland Beat.com
#2
I liked one of the points Stacy made: Malaysia. Malaysia? Malaysia?? Why on earth would they threw big money around to bloggers few had ever heard of to influence the American people about a country 99% of Americans couldn't find on a map?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013 11:05
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#3
The point isn't that they took money from an obscure foreign government to tout some issue. The point is that this isn't just an ethical lapse. The point is that this is a smoking, gaping hole where ethics once were.
#4
I agree with that. I just wonder what in the world the Malaysian government bigs were thinking -- spread half a million around and get what, exactly?
One of the several lessons here is to demonstrate (once again) how cheaply people will sell out.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/03/2013 15:29
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#5
Well this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Malaysia is so far away maybe they thought it wouldn't matter? I can see how they might think that. In 2011 the elections were already in full swing. Hell with the Constant Campaign of the last 5 years who the hell would notice something like this eh? Makes me shudder in repulsion the same way I did when I read about those damnable "Consultants" for Romney.
Also, BorderlandsBeat.com added to Favorites.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/03/2013 18:35
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#6
Stay on it, Chris Covert. It's an important story that we're not getting anywhere else.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/03/2013 23:35
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[FRANCE24] Egyptians need to come together to give businesses confidence and pass reforms to qualify for an IMF loan, and get the ailing economy "back on its feet," US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Cairo on Saturday.
There. That should do it...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
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[12 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
Maybe he could get the Missus to break out her pom-poms and assist in the cheerleading.....
#4
Kerry is totally out of touch... The Egyptians have very little in the way of an economy, how are they going to pay back a loan, with bags of sand from the Sahara ?
Posted by: Titus Clerong4672 ||
03/03/2013 6:29
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#5
This boob probably thinks the US economy is a roaring success at the moment.
I really think that I've slipped into an alternate universe where the administration is actually characters from a cartoon strip.
#7
the administration is actually characters from a cartoon strip
From Pogo to Doonsbury to Bloom County the left has long hankered for a cartoonish approach to government policy. We have it now, and many are not laughing...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/03/2013 8:11
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#8
"what you should do, Egypt? Find a really rich widow and marry her. It's that easy"
Snark of the day.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2013 9:51
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#9
John Kerry thought Eqypt would benefit from a 'corruption dividend'. He may also be worried that they cannot pay for the US military equipment needed to keep the 'arab spring' alive.
Might I suggest covering the Pyramids with solar panels?
#10
"Might I suggest covering the Pyramids with solar panels?"
Better cover 'em with something, airandee, before the islamonazinuts in their gummint and elsewhere decide they're "unislamic" and destroy them. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/03/2013 10:59
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#11
I've thought for several years now that when the Islamonuts take over in Egypt the antiquities will go, starting with the temples of Luxor.
The Sphinx and Pyramids are a bit too visible a place to start but they'll get there eventually.
Well the Muzzie nuts took over but haven't consolidated things enough yet but the clock is ticking. (See also Bamiyan Bhuddahs, tombs of Timbuktu, etc.)
[RNANEWS] In a special report delivered to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon toned down his criticism of Rwanda over accusations it is supporting M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... the Rwanda News Agency has learned.
Rooters reported that a draft of Ban's report applauded countries that suspended aid to Rwanda after U.N. experts responsible for monitoring compliance with sanctions and arms embargoes in the Congo, accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels.
According to Rooters the draft report read: "Actions taken by some bilateral donors to suspend aid and funds to those countries reportedly supporting in particular the M23 send a strong message that such practices must cease immediately."
While the above paragraph appeared in a draft viewed by Reuters on Monday, it was removed from the final report sent to the Security Council on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2013
00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
When will they awaken? Picking winners and losers or supporting one over the other is a fool's errand. African genocidal madness and tribal butchery is not incubated from a name or political group, it is firmly lodged in the DNA.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
But no president since Richard Nixon has demonstrated such overt contempt for the messenger. And, thanks to technological advances in social media, Obama has been able to bypass traditional watchdogs as no other president has.
American military and intelligence officials said Sunday they are attempting to confirm a report from the Chadian military of the death of al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the alleged mastermind of the deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas facility in January.
President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years.
That is among the risks of Obama's strategy to define the differences between his agenda and the Republicans': He could be seen as the kind of partisan politician he once deplored, and he is likely to have little to show for it in terms of legislative achievements.
The Spanish Supreme Court has overturned a ban on wearing Islamic veils in council buildings instituted by city authorities in Catalonia, ruling that it "limits religious freedom". 
[Bangla Daily Star] An Islami Chhatra Shibir activist orchestrated the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar, detectives yesterday quoted the five arrested students of North South University (NSU) as saying.
[News24] Residents say that the Congolese army has taken control of a town that was run by M23 rebels for more than six months.
[An Nahar] The Syrian army said on Saturday it has seized control of a key road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo international airport, scene of weeks of fierce battles with rebel fighters.
A leading member of the RKK 
[Bangla Daily Star] Clashes between Jamaat-Shibir activists and police yesterday killed five people and injured at least 150 others, including 10 
[Dawn] At least 11 people were killed Saturday in separate incidents of violence in different parts of 
[USATODAY] President Hugo Chavez has received more 
[Yemen Post] Amid security reports pointing to a large increase in border infiltration at the Yemen-Saudi border, Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Saudi Arabia Interior Minister entrusted a high-powered committee with the reorganization of its southern border security in collaboration with the Yemeni authorities.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
President Asif Ali 
[DETROIT.CBSLOCAL] Is the governor caving to pressure from the suburbs? 
Bashar al-Assad will take part in Syria's next presidential election in 2014, the foreign minister of close Damascus ally Iran said on Saturday.
[Dawn] Frontier Corps paramilitary troops conducted a targeted operation in the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, the 
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have threatened to bomb a mobile phone market in the northwestern city of 
[Dawn] RECENT events have been a reminder of what journalist Saleem Shahzad reported on May 27, 2011, even though he feared what was lurking round the corner for him.
Wazoo
[FRANCE24] Egyptians need to come together to give businesses confidence and pass reforms to qualify for an IMF loan, and get the ailing economy "back on its feet," US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Cairo on Saturday.
[RNANEWS] In a special report delivered to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon toned down his criticism of Rwanda over accusations it is supporting M23 rebels in the 
