Terrorism: As Syria's Islamist rebels merge with al-Qaida, Secretary of State John Kerry mulls more U.S. support for them. Can anyone explain what President Obama is doing to the Mideast?
'How's that hopey changey stuff workin' out for ya?" Sarah Palin famously asked, mocking Obama's campaign slogan. The same could be asked of "that Arab Spring stuff," largely sparked by President Obama's 2009 Cairo University speech seeking "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world."
For over three decades, Egypt was a key U.S. ally, first under Anwar Sadat, who paid with his life, then under Hosni Mubarak. But Obama's appearance in Cairo was, among other things, a calculated snub of Mubarak.
Obama implicitly invited Egyptians and other Arabs to revolt; the result was the Muslim Brotherhood coming into power in Egypt to which the U.S. just added 140,000 tear-gas canisters for their government to use against freedom-fighting demonstrators, on top of F-16 fighter jets and the $1.5 billion in annual aid we give.
Moammar Gadhafi voluntarily abandoned his nuclear weapons program after President George W. Bush's Iraq invasion made it clear the U.S. meant business in the global war on terror. Yet Obama inexplicably helped Islamist rebels overthrow Gadhafi in 2011.
Are the Syrian rebels a desirable alternative to Bashar al-Assad, simply because they are rebels? Do Obama and Kerry think because the U.S. helped all these Islamists into power we will have influence over them?
#1
DPRK = CHINA = proxy challenge to the World #1 USA's dominance, sphere in East Asia, espec WESTPAC + SOPAC all the way to CENTPAC vee "sharing the Pacific/Asia-Pacific".
CHINA SEES US = USDOD MILBASES CLOSE TO ITS SHORES, CHINA DOES N-O-T SEE CHINESE = PLA MILBASES CLOSE TO AMERICA'S SHORES.
You know - the MSM-Net, Pert-verified
"Weak/Declining USA".
[NOVEMBER 1950 + MACARTHUR'S FORCES AT YALU here].
Histoire' + "The Great Game" says New Powers or Ressurgent Powers want their perceived "Manifest Destinies" achieved ASAP AMAP ALAP, + NOT TO WAIT BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT THE OPPOS CAMP(S) FEELINGS.
THE US-WEST MAY BE DEALING WID LOOMING DPRK STTAE COLLAPSE IN VERY NEAR FUTURE OCCURING AT THE SAME TIME AS RISING CHINA UNILATER DECIDING TO BE MILPOL "AGGRESSIVE" AS PER ACHIEVEING UNCHALLENGED "STRATEGIC ACCESS" INTO WESTPAC + SOPAC VEE THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN".
Pakistani authorities have dropped a plan to revive the 'Basant' festival and kite-flying in the central province of Punjab in the wake of a warning issued by Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... h, which has described the event as 'un-Islamic'.
The interim government of Punjab headed by caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi surrendered to detractors of the festival and dropped the proposal to revive Basant.
Sethi, a journalist by profession, had recently spoken about his desire to revive Basant, which he had described as an intrinsic part of Lahori culture.
During a high-level meeting held in Lahore on Monday, officials were warned by police about the possible negative fallout from the revival of Basant, which marks the onset of spring.
Police officials warned the government of possible protests and a fallout of a warning issued by the JuD, a source said. After the meeting, senior officials recommended Sethi to drop any plans to mark the festival, to which the CM acted.
After taking over as chief minister, Sethi had directed government departments, including the City District Government of Lahore, to devise a viable plan for Basant.
Senior government and CDGL officials initiated an extensive exercise and held discussions with stakeholders about reviving Basant.
The City District Government framed an action plan and recommended that festivities, including kite flying, could be held at Safari Park on Raiwind Road and Jallo Park along Canal Road on April 14 and 15.
The City District Government had discussed measures to revive Basant in December too. Even at that time, police officials said they could not guarantee that there would not be casualties during the event.
Criticising the decision to drop the plan to revive Basant, Lahore Conservation Society secretary Ajaz Anwar said the government should have revived the event for the sake of the people as there was no harm in celebrating the festival in its original form.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2013
12:49 ||
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#1
For them, everything except banging your head on the ground 5 times a day, blowing up infidels and honor killing women is unislamic.
One policeman was killed and another injured by unknown gunmen while they were escorting a team of polio vaccinators in north-western Pakistan on Wednesday, police said.
The incident occurred in Par Hoti area of Mardan district, about 60 km north-east of Peshawar, capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
One policeman was killed and the other injured in the shooting, Nawab Gul, an officer at the district police control, said. The polio workers were unhurt in the attack. The policemen were protecting a three-member polio eradication team going from door to door to administer vaccine to children as part of a three-day local campaign that began on Tuesday.
No one took responsibility for the attack but Taliban militants, who consider anti-polio vaccination as un-Islamic, have threatened to attack in the past.
In December, shootings in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and the southern port city of Karachi killed nine health workers and shut down the nation-wide program for many weeks.
Later, the Government decided to delegate the program to the control of local administrations.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only nations in the world where polio remains prevalent.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2013
12:48 ||
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That the fight in Syria is closer to home than many may think was underlined in a Virginia court on April 8 , when U.S. Army veteran Eric Harroun was charged with firing a rocket-propelled grenade as he fought alongside members of Jabhat al-Nusra. Harroun was a volunteer in Syria's insurgent forces, and even posted photographs of himself on Facebook in the fight.
Harroun has been remanded in official custody despite claims by his lawyer that this was the first time an American citizen has ever been prosecuted for fighting alongside a group actually aligned with U.S. interests. Harroun faces a possible death penalty.
All's well that ends well. but why did he do this, and what if it had been real?
[FoxNews] A man is in jug after claiming his vehicle was rigged with explosives near the White House.
Streets in the area were closed as U.S. Park Police, Washington D.C. Metro Police and the Secret Service investigated the vehicle at Vermont and H Street Northwest.
A source close to the investigation tells FoxNews.com the suspect, identified as Krsytoff Wasik, told authorities he had a bomb and his vehicle was rigged with explosives. The vehicle was reportedly the cab of a tractor trailer.
Secret Service front man Brian Leary says the vehicle was reported just before 5 a.m. in the area of the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Officials have cleared the vehicle and streets in the area are now open.
Our gratitude to those who quietly guard our country, at home as well as abroad.
The Obama administration's next step in aid to Syrian rebels is expected to be a broader package of nonlethal assistance, including body armor and night-vision goggles, as the U.S. grapples for ways to stem the bloodshed from Syria's civil war.
I think I see the problem right there. Why are we 'grappling' with this now? Perhaps at the very beginning it was useful to consider this rebels versus Pencilneck, and it was desirable for us to be on the side of the rebels. But Pencilneck includes Iran, and the rebels include al-Qaeda and the Salafists. Why not just sit back and (as bloodthirsty as this sounds) let them have at it? Perhaps we could let the Druze run the place when the two sides are done killing each other.
Administration officials say an announcement of the new aid is not imminent. But Secretary of State John Kerry says the administration had been holding intense talks on how to boost assistance to the rebels fighting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"Those efforts have been very much front and center in our discussions in the last week in Washington," Kerry said Tuesday, a day before meeting with Syrian opposition leaders in London. "I'm not sure what the schedule is, but I do believe that it's important for us to try to continue to put the pressure on President Assad and to try to change his calculation."
The United Nations estimates more than 70,000 people have been killed during more than two years of fighting between rebels and government forces.
Get the innocents out of the way and let the combatants go red on red. If we were going to do anything we'd help Jordan, Turkey and Iraq with the refugee camps (make sure those are disarmed) and put a big fence around the border.
Britain and France have already been shipping armor, night-vision goggles and other military-style equipment to the rebels.
Earlier this year, the U.S. announced a $60 million nonlethal assistance package for Syria that includes meals and medical supplies for the armed opposition. The aid package marked the first direct American assistance to the opposition forces trying to overthrow Assad.
But thus far, the U.S. has resisted providing lethal weapons to the rebels, in part out of fear that the arms could fall into the hands of jihadi groups that are designated as terrorist fronts linked to al-Qaida. However, the U.S. has said it would not stand in the way of other nations that decide to arm the rebels.
#1
The secretary also urged the opposition to organize itself better
Nothing like old fashioned Unity of Command huh Mr. Secretary? Oh well, stay the course man its now all about Unity of Vision. Who cares if youre funding Islamic thugs to do your dirty work? Besides, what could go wrong?
Looks like he's running out of other peoples money
French President Francois Hollande has called for "eradication" of the world's tax havens and told French banks they must declare all of their subsidiaries.
Note to all wealthy French: this is your last moment to get your money to a bank in the Caymans. You have been warned.
He was speaking after presenting a draft law aimed at "moralising" French public life - a response to the tax scandal that has shaken his presidency.
Because nothing says 'morality' like a French government minister...
France's ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has been charged with fraud over a secret Swiss bank account.
Mr Hollande said a new central agency would fight fraud and corruption.
Absolutely. More central government is always the answer.
Earlier the French Socialist government set a deadline of 15 April for ministers to declare their assets, as part of the new transparency drive.
Mr Cahuzac admitted last week that he had hidden about 600,000 euros (£509,000; $770,000) in a Swiss bank account, causing shock in France. He has now been expelled from the Socialist Party for lying about his financial affairs.
But he still has his money, and he's likely to 'visit' Switzerland in the near future...
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Hollande said "tax havens must be eradicated in Europe and worldwide".
"I won't hesitate to consider as a tax haven any country that refuses to co-operate fully with France."
He said French banks "will have to publish every year the full list of their subsidiaries in the world, country by country". They will also have to explain their business, he said.
"In other words it won't be possible for a bank to hide transactions carried out in a tax haven."
#2
Some good news for Hollande. Francois Hollande's camel: Mali 'to replace eaten animal' An official says Mali is to send the French president a replacement camel after the first, given to him as a gift, was eaten, Reuters report
Francois Hollande had left the creature with a family in Timbuktu for safekeeping, after it was presented to him by local residents in February.
But it was promptly slaughtered and used in a tagine.
France sent troops to Mali in January to regain the north from a loose coalition of militant Islamist groups.s.
#3
Nations of people can easily be lead into allowing all kinds of evil. Germany, Japan, and Italy just prior to WWII. The Hollocaust, invading and pilforing, murder, rape of neighbor nations.
The power that Kings and Presidents have over its people in leading them over the cliff by convencing them that "in the name of social good of the peoples" that stealing the wealth of other peoples and the murder of other people is justified is absolutely amazing.
#4
"France's ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has been charged with fraud over a secret Swiss bank account.
Mr Cahuzac admitted last week that he had hidden about 600,000 euros (£509,000; $770,000) in a Swiss bank account, causing absolutely no shock in France anywhere".
Strange how these pols are always so far behind the curve, or....are they really ahead of the curve, and playing dumb because they reckon the populace is dumb?
No mattet, cigars all round!
Posted by: Varmint Spawn of the Hemps6607 ||
04/10/2013 13:17
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#5
One more step to OWG. There will be no place that is free from the omnipont, omniscient tax man.
Any small country that wants to have a free banking system will be bought off from the top down.
#9
We'll see more and more of this panic as the world economy stagnates and declines as countries age and don't have enough workers to support the system.
#10
Amusingly the more of the world that commits marxist economic suicide, the more benefit one of them breaking ranks and being a Galt's Gulch becomes.
The leader of the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria, has pledged allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The announcement by Abu Mohammed al-Jawalani comes a day after al-Qaeda in Iraq said it had merged with al-Nusra.
But Mr Jawalani said al-Nusra had not been consulted on the merger and insisted his group would not change its stance in Syria.
Al-Nusra is at the forefront of the rebellion against the Syrian president. It claims to be responsible for many of the suicide bombings in the country, and has been designated by the US as a terrorist organisation.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State in Iraq, which is the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda, had said on Tuesday that his group would be joining with al-Nusra under the name The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
But Mr Jawalani said he only heard about the announcement from media and had no prior knowledge of it.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2013
08:52 ||
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A shipment of teargas canisters from the United States arrived at the Egyptian Abadeya Port in Suez on Sunday, according to official documents obtained by the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
Five containers carrying around 140,000 teargas canisters were apparently shipped to the Egyptian Interior Ministry by the Aramex International courier service.
The Egypt Independent reports that the shipping documents state that only the Egyptian government may use the canisters, and that they are forbidden to re-export the shipment or sell it to third parties.
The documents state that the shipment set sail from the port of Wilmington in Pennsylvania on 14 March on board the SS Jamestown. A letter of credit was forwarded without specifying the name of the bank. The Egyptian government paid the freight fees.
In February this year, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the Interior Ministry agreed to import teargas canisters for $2.46 million, to be shipped by an Egyptian military cargo plane.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Hani Abdel Latif said that the ministry imported the grenades in order to protect state facilities.
#4
The Egyptian government paid the freight fees.
And no doubt the Champ paid for the goods.
As the say in the back streets of Cairo "America's a voonderful country"
#5
Reads like someone leaked the cargo manifest. I'm sure Mo Public doesn't like english first aid instructions tattooed on their foreheads. An inquisitive reporter might even ponder whether arming morsi is counter to the arid spring movement, but, you know, with the sequester its hard to ask questions over the loud memphis soul music.
#6
This story is a follow-up to an earlier one, where the Interior Ministry had purchased the canisters from a U.S. source, but the freight forwarder was unable to arrange for air shipment aboard a commercial aircraft (Hence the intended shipment via Egyptian military aircraft.)
No doubt the purchase was legal and didn't require USG approval for miltary sales, since it's technically not 'arms'. But Dept. of Commerce can be a pain if the paperwork's not right.
[Telegraph] North Korea's army was deeply split over whether to accept the command of Fat Boy Kim Jong-un, a former officer has revealed, giving a possible clue to the tensions lying behind the young leader's calls to war.
First Lieutenant Kim, 42, said he had been forced to flee North Korea after he murdered a rival officer as the factions within his army unit battled for control.
"I killed a three-star company commander, the same rank as me," he said. "He was the head of the faction supporting Kim Jong-un. There were two fights. In the first fight, they surrounded us and arrested a lot of people. "But I got away and gathered others from the barracks. We found them and I shot the commander. After that, I escaped".
The battles occurred at the end of 2011, shortly before Suet Face Kim Jong-un succeeded his father as the "supreme commander" of the Korean People's Army, the 1.2 million-strong standing force that remains at the heart of North Korea's "military-first" society.
"It was before he came to power, but we all knew for a long time that he was going to be made the leader. There were a lot of people who were against him. But everyone in that faction got arrested after he came to power," said Lt. Kim.
His group, he said, supported Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's 85-year-old president.
Divisions within the military, and the desire of a leader who may be only 30-years-old to consolidate his position, could be one factor behind the current spate of aggression.
"The further north you go (in North Korea), the more you hear rumours of dissension and divisions over who is or who would have been a better leader," said Joseph Bermudez, an expert on the North Korean military and an analyst at DigitalGlobe.
He added that there had been rumours last year of a possibly violent falling-out between two major departments over who would be in charge of army reconnaissance. That, he said, might have alarmed Pudgy Kim Jong-un, who subsequently reshuffled a host of leading generals.
'Reshuffling' is what dictators do. Keeps the underlings on their toes and afraid for their lives...
I concur wid a number of Perts on the Net whom believe that Kim jong-un's rants may a sign that the DPRK is very close to an IRREVERSIBLE COLLAPSE where the most realistic outcomes is either de facto Chinese takeover ASAP, or in the alternate China-led UNO/UNSC intervention.
North Korea's hallowed "German/Germany" Model
of Inter-State Reunification may longer be possible???
* TOPIX > PROFESSOR: NORTH KOREA UNLIKELY TO QUIETLY IN THE NIGHT, i.e to be VIOLENT = MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE.
Lest we fergit, DPRK = IRAN = WHAT IRAN'S MULLAHS WANT IFF THE US-ALLIES EVER ATTEMPT TO INVADE + OCCUPY SAME, ee DETONATE NUKES-WMDS, ETC. ON THEIR OWN SOIL TO DEFEAT THE INVADER.
In sum,
> THE DPRK WANTS INTEGRATION + REUNIFICATION
N-O-W - de facto started NLT 2015 = end of PTUS Bammers' 2nd term???
> "POST-US", "MAHANIST" CHINA WANTS TAIWAN N-O-W.
#3
Collapse would likely mean disintegration of the state into areas controlled by warlords. South Korea and China would likely see mass refugee attempts (I suspect China will at best turn them back; more likely there'll be lots of mass graves.)
Defacto Chinese takeover sounds like the more likely option - after the NorKs have bled themselves out.
[FoxNews] The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday that it released personal information on approximately 80,000 farmers and ranchers to environmental groups, following concerns from congressional Republicans and agriculture groups that the release could endanger their safety.
According to a document obtained by FoxNews.com, the EPA said "some of the personal information that could have been protected ... was released." Though the EPA has already sent out the documents, the agency now says it has since redacted sensitive details and asked the environmental groups to "return the information."
#1
I'm old enough to remember a time before the EPA. Things were worse then - the air and water were dirty. Today, however, things are better (mostly because the polluters have moved operations to China). EPA has responded by looking for more things to regulate, like CO2 and farm dust, and by tightening regulations.
The EPA should continue to exist, but its regulations should be rolled back to what existed 15 or 20 years ago. Any new regulations would require an explicit act of Congress.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/10/2013 10:32
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#2
An Obamacrat polishing their resume for The Journal News?
#3
Were there farm animals involved; a pig named Napoleon? Was there a Mr. Jones or a Frederick wandering about? A familiar Russian allegory comes to mind. :-(
#4
Is there any wonder why a permanent national gun registry program is unacceptable?
Return the info; might as well try to take the piss out of my cereal. How about accessary to crime oopsEPA? I'm at the point where I doubt this was even and accident.
#5
I'm sure the Environmental Terrorist Groups will be certain to return the information without copying or otherwise handing over the personal data....
And of course they don't name *WHO* authorized it or weather (s)he would be fired.
[YemenPost] According to Saudi newspaper, al-Ektesadiya the Gulf states are now considering building and financing one of the region largest desalination projects in impoverished Yemen, as to answer to the country's dire need of fresh water.
Over the years, as Yemen has been using and abusing its limited aqua-resources water and sanitation have become chronic problems in this poorest nation of the Arabian Peninsula, where, on average, each Yemeni has access to only 140 cubic meters of water per annum against the Middle East average of about 1,000m³ per capita per annum.
And while former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... started under the advise of experts to look into Yemen's water problems, trying to devise a manageable and sustainable solution, 2011 uprising put all projects and studies on hold.
In 2010, Yemen's general rural water authority (GRWA) commissioned an assessment of existing water projects and coverage.
Jerry Farrell, country Director of Save the Children in Yemen told IRIN in 2012 that while solutions exist political will is lacking. "Without a greater governmental commitment to water issues, international aid organizations dealing with water will not be able to work effectively in the country. The government must also provide water subsidies for the extremely poor while water infrastructure is developed."
So the solution is more government, more aid, and more subsidies. Spoken like the director of an NGO...
As Yemen's regional partners are grasping the importance of an economically and socially stable Yemen, it looks as if water is once again a top priority.
At a seminar hosted by the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies held in Jeddah, (Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... )in March a team of Yemeni experts met with Gulf dignitaries to discuss Yemen desalination project.
The project which is set to amount to $200 million will provide employment opportunities for a prospective four million Yemenis over a ten years span.
At five dollars per person per year, it's not clear what the 'employment opportunities' will be, unless El Jefe needs a bunch of cheap hard boyz to do his bidding...
[YemenPost] Officials confirmed on Monday that pro-government tribal militias operating in the southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... successfully attacked one of al-Qaeda hideouts near the city of Qoud, in the district of Qarnah.
Mahjoud Nama, Chief leader of the militia told the press on Monday his unit acted on informations provided by a terror beturbanned goon now under custody.
"The Saudi tossed in the clink Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! gave serious information, including the location of the hideout of a terrorist cell of three Saudis and seven Yemenis," Nama told the press, adding both the popular committees and the local security forces were chasing down the beturbanned goons, determined to have them arrested.
The Saudi national was arrested by pro-government fighters near the southern of Zinjibar. Back in 2011, bully boyz used a breakdown in security brought about by the the popular uprising to seize large swathes of land.
Both the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar fell to the control of al-Qaeda and were proclaimed Islamic Caliphates by the beturbanned goons.
Only after a wide military campaign did the central government manage to force back al-Qaeda gunnies and reclaim control over all its southern territories.
Local tribes organized in popular committee played a vital role in supporting the government's military efforts in the province of Abyan, providing local intelligence and ground presence.
With terror cells spread out throughout the province, such an alliance between the central government and local tribes is proving a winning combination.
"Counter-revolutionary" is an apt term for these days: President Obama has promised to make a fundamental transformation, a veritable revolution in American society and culture. Those who oppose such an ongoing agenda are suspected of all sorts of racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, and general counter-revolutionary activity.
#1
If VDH were a baseball player, he would be Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and all the others rolled into one for all the times he hits one out of the park.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/10/2013 10:19
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#2
I agree Rambler. A crying and pitiful shame we cannot set similar minds to work in Washington. To expand upon your excellent metaphor, we appear to have left Tiger Woods pulling pints back at the clubhouse.
Sarah Palin's response.
Dear MSNBC, if our kids belong to you, do your kids belong to us too? If so, can we take them hunting after church in our big pickup truck?
#1
The profoundly unapologetic Harris-Perry... [or whatever her name is] takes community organizing and liberation theology to entirely new levels. Her parentage, upbringing, identity confusion, and collective ideology closely parallels that of the Champ.
#6
I believe its time to recognize how destructive to our culture the 60s were. The well funded and well organized peace movement for what it was worth spawned a well trained cadre of kids who deliberately sought out positions in academia and the media so they could spew their communist socialist crap.
Has anyone ever found out where the peace movement got their money? Or where Doorhn and Ayers got their money to stay on the lamb? Who financed these agents of a foreign power.
Even when it was happening I kept saying where is the money coming from.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/10/2013 11:31
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#7
So how many people watch her show? Half a dozen?
#13
In her ethnic world it makes sense. Over 70% illegitimacy rate, children raising children and 7% of the population responsible for over 50% of the murders. I can see where she's coming from.
Libyan weapons are spreading at "an alarming rate" to new territory in west Africa and the eastern Mediterranean including Syria and the Gaza Strip where they are fueling conflicts and increasing the arsenals of armed groups and terrorists, a U.N. panel said.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Tuesday, the panel said cases of illicit transfers from Libya in violation of a U.N. arms embargo that have been proven and are still under investigation involve more than 12 countries and include heavy and light weapons such as portable air defense systems, explosives, mines, and small arms and ammunition.
Since the uprising that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, the panel said, "Libya has over the past two years become a significant and attractive source of weaponry in the region."
It said civilians and militias remain in control of most weapons in Libya, adding that "the lack of an effective security system remains one of the primary obstacles to securing military materiel and controlling the borders."
#10
If the Republican candidate in 2016 has any brains at all he or she will have that video all ready to play on TV stations across the land the day after the Democrat convention. Well, I can dream, can't I?
A senior Iranian regime official has threatened the countries in region particularly Lebanon , Jordan and Turkey with terrorism and export of fundamentalism as the overthrow of its main ally in the region, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is looming.
Hossein Sheikh al-Islam, Iranian regime's deputy foreign minister, told Iranian state-run TV that "we are not going to sit back with our hands tied ... We are a highly capable country.
Hossein Sheikh al-Islam said: "I can tell you definitely that they can not do a damn thing in Lebanon. Our friends are there. And they can not do a damn thing in Iraq.
"Although some neighboring states do some evil activities ... This is a very dangerous game for Turkey, because Turkey has a minority population of 20 million Alawits and 18 million Kurds.
"If trouble begins, then it will certainly affect Jordan. And we are not going to sit back with our hands tied and do what we are told. We are a highly capable country."
The mullahs ruling Iran have repeatedly acknowledged the strategic role of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq are playing in the survival of their regime.
[AlJazeera] First batch of 100 soldiers departs as La Belle France prepares to hand over operations to a UN-mandated African force.
La Belle France has withdrawn its first batch of soldiers from Mali, as it begins to pull out troops sent to battle rebel fighters in the west African nation.
Gay Paree, which sent 4,000 troops to Mali in January to block a feared advance on the capital Bamako from the north, is preparing to hand over to a UN-mandated African force of 6,300 in the coming weeks.
It will gradually pull its soldiers out of the country, where its intervention has driven hard boyz from most of their northern strongholds, but plans to leave a permanent 1,000-strong force in the country.
The military's chief of staff said on Tuesday that around 100 soldiers had been withdrawn and sent to Paphos in Cyprus on Monday, where they will spend three days in a hotel before heading back to La Belle France.
They belonged to parachute units of the army that had been deployed in the Tessalit region of northeast Mali, where heavy fighting against Islamists took place, said Thierry Burkhard, the chief of staff's front man.
The withdrawal comes as a Pentagon brasshat warned that troops from the Economic Community of West African States deployed in Mali are "completely incapable" and are not "up to the task" of fighting rebels.
Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, offered his harsh criticism of the West African forces at a congressional hearing in which he praised French troops for rolling back hard boyz in Mali.
"Right now, the ECOWAS force isn't capable at all. What you saw there, it is a completely incapable force. That has to change," Sheehan told a Senate armed services subcommittee.
Pockets of resistance
The Malian military - poorly paid, ill-equipped and badly organised - fell apart last year in the face of an uprising by ethnic Tuareg rebels who seized the vast arid north in chaos following a March coup, before losing control to well-armed Islamist fighters.
While French-led troops have inflicted severe losses on the rebels, soldiers are still battling significant pockets of resistance in Gao, as well as in the fabled desert city of Timbuktu.
La Belle France this weekend launched one of its largest actions since its intervention: an offensive that swept a valley thought to be a logistics base for al-Qaeda-linked Islamists near Gao.
In this region, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), the most active Islamist rebel group on the ground, still has the support of some of the population.
But according to an intelligence expert, the Salafist tough guys' ability to inflict severe damage remains limited.
"In three months, the amount of terrorist activity has been very low, if nearly non-existent," said Eric Denece, head of the French Centre for Intelligence Studies.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
Four thousand troops doesn't sound like very many. Is that really all it takes to conquer a country like Mali? I never made a very thorough study of French colonization but if it only takes 4000 soldiers (uh, 4000 French soldiers) to take over an African country like that it seems like it may have been fairly easy for the French, Belgians, Dutch and the British to establish their empires.
#3
With the amount of time the bad guys had to dig in, I am glad the French did not walk into a trap and judging by some of the pics and videos, plus lack of coverage, it seems they acted decisively - well done.
#5
They were not French soldiers - my money says they were Foreign Legion. The French Government would never risk a citizen. Might be a couple of US ex-pats in the group.
They're tolerant, as long as you agree with them...
AMHERST, Mass. (WGGB) -- Causing a stir on the UMass Amherst campus Republican Strategist, Karl Rove was barley able to get a word in while giving a speech at the Student Union tonight.
About 15 protesters were removed from inside the event and a number of others gathered outside.
NEW DELHI Five Indian peacekeepers escorting a United Nations convoy in South Sudan have been killed in an ambush by rebels, the Indian foreign ministry announced on Tuesday. A Lieutenant Colonel is among the dead.
Peacekeepers from India in UNMISS (United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan) attacked in Jonglei. Five dead and four wounded, ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.
Elaborating on the incident, Akbaruddin said: It happened this morning about 8:30 a.m. The convoy carrying 32 Indian soldiers was attacked by rebels. There were five casualties, including a Lieutenant Colonel, a JCO (junior commissioner officer) and three soldiers. Four others have been wounded.
We were informed that there were five casualties of Indian battalion that was attached to the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan. They were escorting a UN convoy in the volatile state of Jonglei in South Sudan, he told a TV channel. The casualties, including the injured, are being brought back by the UN by helicopters from Jonglei to Juba (the capital of South Sudan), Akbarudddin said.
He said the Indian ambassador in South Sudan, along an officer of the Army Medical Corps, is waiting at the Juba airport to receive the bodies and the injured. We have 2,200 India personnel in South Sudan. Our embassy is in touch with UN representative on this matter, he added.
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North Korea has finished preparations to launch one or two Musudan medium-range missiles that have moved to an area on the east coast. South Korean military authorities worry that the North could also launch other short- and medium-range missiles.
I'd let the Norks launch all the missiles they want into the ocean. Let them waste the time and energy required. I'd monitor every one, learn everything I could, and practice my own missile defense.
"We've discovered that the North finished preparations to launch two Musudan missiles after moving them to an area near Wonsan by train from Jamjin Missile Plant in Nampo last week," a government source in Seoul said Tuesday. "They seem to be ready for launch four to six hours after being injected with liquid fuel."
The Musudan missiles have a range of 3,000 to 4,000 km plus/minus 3,000 to 4,000 km.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
I would assume the Pentagon has their satelite and even stealth resources monitoring and mapping longitude, latitude taget data for input into Flir (Forward Looking Infrared) guidance systems for Tomahawks, etc..
Do the NK rocket scientists have thier missile guidance systems GPS capable? I doubt it. But even if it is, can we turn off the GPS Satelites in that area for a few moments or at least have the GPS Satelites send them some really wacky GPS coordinates for fun?
Or are these rockets scuds?
Whatever, this could be a great opportunity to play with all kinds of star wars stuff, taking advantage of this Kim Jung Un fat boy tantrum as "guinea pig" technological test moments.
#4
Perhaps someone here with better knowledge than I could help me; those pictures of the earth with neat little circles on ranges, my gut tells me that when the rotation of the earth is taken into consideration should those not be at least oblong or otherwise distorted?
#5
Not certain which circles you are speak of, but you are correct swksvolFF. Oblique imagery from satellites or other high altitude collection platforms will provide the true curvature, albeit oftentimes undiscernable. Imagery collected from directly overhead or analytic markings used to identify specific items of interest will generally, but not always be circular.
#7
Oh, just the occasional picture showing the range of so and so's missile. Some just do not look true, implying a single possible point of origin and, for example NORK, a launch due north would show a different path than a launch due east, or a different distance due east vs. due west.
#8
Got it. Those are called "range fans" and oftentimes do not take into account the earth's curvature. Hi-tech, computer generated range fans certainly have the capability to portray curvaturer. An analyst will oftentimes use ovals to graphically depict potential impact areas. Angles of flight and altitude may also be depicted in some illustrations.
Via Drudge. 'Exclusive' to FP so just the key point here.
A top State Department official met with a top representative of the North Korean government in New York in March, The Cable has learned.
Clifford Hart, the State Department's special envoy to the now-defunct six-party talks, met North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations Han Song-ryol in mid-March, just before North Korea began its latest string of provocative statements and actions, diplomatic sources said. The meeting was done through what's known in diplomatic circles as the "New York channel," the most common method of direct communication between Washington and Pyongyang.
No real progress was made during the meeting and no new offers were made by the U.S. officials present, the sources said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2013
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The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Tytell on Tuesday to two life terms and 30 years in prison, after he was convicted in January on two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of assault. In addition to the prison sentence, Tytell was ordered to pay NIS 360 thousand in compensation to the families of his murder victims and NIS 320 thousand to his other victims.
Tytell was convicted of murderring two Palestinians in 1997, two attempted murders, assault with intent, illegal manufacturing and possession of firearms, and incitement of violence and terrorism between the years 1997 and 2008.
"It was proved before us that hatred and frustration furnished the accused as he committed his crimes, while sacred principles were trampled into dust under his feet." Judges Tzvi Segal, Moshe Drori, and Moshe Yoad Hacohen wrote in their verdict. "Jewish tradition prescribes 'Thou shalt not kill', but the accused closed his ears and eyes, murdered and tried to murder in cold blood."
After receiving two contradicting psychiatric evaluations, the court determined a year ago that Tytell was fit to go on trial for murder. The court said Tytell is intelligent and is aware and therefore fit to stand on trial, regardless of his refusal to recognize the court's authority.
Since the trial began, Tytell claimed he was insane and so unfit to go on trial, while he himself acted as such.
Tytell, a Jewish American, is a resident of the West Bank settlement Shvut Rachel. He was arrested in 2009 on the suspicion that he was responsible for the murder of two Palestinians. Tytell was charged in November 2010 with murdering two Palestinians and attempting to murder more, including Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell and Ariel teenager Ami Ortiz. Ortiz, a member of a family of Messianic Jews, was gravely wounded by a bomb packaged inside a Purim gift in March 2008.
Tytell admitted to planting the bomb at the time of his arrest, calling the Ortiz family "missionaries trying to capture weak Jews."
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DAMASCUS -- Al Qaeda in Iraq confirmed on Tuesday long-held suspicions that Al Nusra Front, a militant group fighting in Syria, is part of its network, an admission likely to sharpen debate on arming rebels.
"It is time to declare to the Levant and to the world that the Al Nusra Front is simply a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq", ISI's chief Abu Bakr al Baghdadi said in an audio message posted on the Internet, adding that it is fighting for an Islamic state in Syria.
The groups would be combined and called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Baghdadi said, describing Al Nusra front leader Abu Mohammed Al Jawlani as "one of our soldiers".
"We chose Al Jawlani... as well as other fighters to go from Iraq to Syria... We prepared plans and work policies. We gave them money and personnel support," said Baghdadi.
The groups would be combined and called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Baghdadi said.
His declaration came after Al Qaeda's global chief, Ayman Al Zawahiri, urged rebels to fight to establish an Islamic state in Syria, in a recording posted online on Sunday.
Al Nusra Front is among the most prominent organisations involved in Syria's conflict, which erupted in March 2011 with peaceful protests against President Bashar Al Assad's regime but has evolved into a war that has killed tens of thousands.
The militant group has gained notoriety for its suicide bombings but also won admiration among some insurgents over its reputation as a formidable fighting force leading attacks on Syrian battlefronts. The West has been wary, and in December the United States announced it was labelling Al Nusra Front a "terrorist" organisation because of suspected ties to ISI.
At the time, the US State Department said the creation of Al Nusra was "an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes".
According to the US, the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq "is in control of both AQI and Al Nusra" and reports on Internet forums used by jihadists indicate hundreds of militants have made the trip from Iraq into Syria to fight Assad's regime. Al Nusra, which announced its creation in a January 2012 video, is a magnet for foreign fighters seeking to take part in the uprising against the Syrian regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Malian authorities will give French President Francois Hollande another camel after the one they gave him in thanks for helping repel Islamist rebels was killed and eaten by the family he left it with in Timbuktu, an official in Mali said. We wua hongry. It fed usns fer a good spell.
A local government official in northern Mali said on Tuesday a replacement would be sent to France. All the Muslims in France will be jelous.
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Bigger and better looking? Maybe he can inter it in the Camel Beauty Contest.
"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate." Can't trust anyone these days. Did they make camel jerky?
Hollande was presented with the camel when he visited Mali in February several weeks after dispatching French troops to the former colony to help combat al Qaeda-linked fighters moving south from a base in the north of the country.
The president joked at the time about using the camel to get around traffic-jammed Paris. But he chose in the end to leave it with a family in the town on the edge of the Sahara desert. Paris is too crowded for a camel.
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was tasked with giving Hollande regular updates on the camel's status and had to inform him of its death last week, French media said.
"The news came in from soldiers on the ground," said a French government official. I'd hate to be the one who tells the President someone ate his camel.
French leaders have received many gifts of exotic or wild animals from Africa and further afield over the years.
Last week, a robber chainsawed a tusk off the skeleton of an elephant offered to Louis XIV by a Portuguese king in 1668. Police caught the robber as he fled, tusk under his arm.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2013
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#1
Make a lot of jerky out a camel. They are big animals.
On a serious note, I don't understand why the Frenchies didn't take the poor camel back to France as a "State/National Gift" or "Treasure" where he could be put in a secure Public or Private Zoo, or Govt. farm - OR WERE THE FRENCH IN MALI SCARED THE MUSLIMS OF THE FUTURE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MARSEILLES WOULD KIDNAP + EAT HIM BACK IN FRANCE???
Opposition BNP on Tuesday threatened to intensify the ongoing movement further if the government does not withdraw the 'false' cases filed against its leaders and activists and release them immediately.
"We demand withdraw of all the false cases filed against BNP leaders and activists and their immediate and unconditional release. Otherwise, we'll intensify our movement with harsher programmes," said BNP chairperson's adviser Shamsuzzam Dudu. He was addressing a press briefing on the first-day of the 18-parety alliance's 36-hour hartal at BNP's Nayapaltan central office.
The first day of the shutdown was marked by the killing of a truck driver, vandalism and crude bomb blasts. The 18-party called the hartal soon after three Dhaka courts on Sunday sent 10 senior BNP leaders, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, to jail in seven cases filed over March 1 violence.
The opposition alliance enforced the shutdown at 6am on Tuesday to realise its various demands, including the release of its arrested leaders and activists. The hartal will continue till 6 pm on Wednesday.
Reacting to the remarks of the ruling party leaders that the opposition is trying to create a volatile situation for the promulgation of state of emergency, Dudu said, "The opposition can't impose emergency it's the government that does it."
Asked whether the government is arresting the top opposition leaders for reaching a covert negotiation in jail, Dudu said there are many ideal places outside jail for dialogue if the government is sincere to resolve the political stalemate. "Nothing good will be achieved by resorting to respressive acts."
About the Finance Minister's remark that the political crisis will be over within a month, the BNP leader said his party will welcome it if the government restores stability in the country by arranging the next general election under a non-party caretaker government after quitting power.
In other words, if they give everything to the BNP and go off to slit their own throats...
Dudu harshly criticised the government for what he said arresting his party's top leaders in "false cases" and resorting to repressive acts against the opposition leaders and activists.
"It's now a matter of time to give a befitting reply to your waywardness. The time is very short; you even won't find the known lane to escape during public wraths," he said pointing at the current regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2013
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#2
Hey GB I know you like the lines of a woman. Give us a little history on the red trim and standing collar. "man in uniform" stuff. Perhaps others have other things they could add. Allot of history there. Like Tattoo only 24 notes, simple but perfectly played. Just salt as needed. :)
#3
Well now I thought I might have had some nibbles.
History many times is told differently. Fact and fiction mix at times. Over two hundred years I would expect some variations. I enjoy oral history handed down. Written can be doctored by the times.
WASHINGTON -- In an effort to counter North Korea's military threats, South Korea should keep all options on the table, including withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), a senior South Korean politician said Tuesday.
Oh that's going to make the Chinese very unhappy...
"Facing an extraordinary threat to national security, South Korea may exercise the right to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as stipulated in article 10 of the treaty," Rep. Chung Mong-joon, former leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, said, addressing the 2013 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference. "South Korea would then match North Korea's nuclear progress step-by-step while committing to stop if North Korea stops."
I'd bet that the ROK could start a nuclear weapons program tomorrow and have a working device in a year, and have a device that would fit on an IRBM inside two years. In that same two years they could design and build the new missiles that could plant that device plus/minus ten meters on whatever spot in North Korea they wanted.
The two-day forum opened Monday to discuss nuclear nonproliferation, deterrence, disarmament and energy, drawing 800 experts and officials from more than 45 countries and international organizations, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The seven-term lawmaker emphasized that Seoul should be given this leeway as a "law-abiding member of the global community who is threatened by a nuclear rogue state."
Some in South Korea even say, he noted, the only way to solve the North Korean nuclear problem is for the country to follow the India-Pakistan example, or the case of Israel.
It's a fair point: you can only tolerate for so long being threatened by crazy neighbors before concluding that you need to protect yourself.
The maverick politician, who apparently has presidential ambitions, likened the situation to a setback in a gun-control campaign.
"It is like a member of the gun-control lobby in good-standing whose neighborhood gangster just acquired assault rifles and threatens him," Chung said. "In order to buy a gun to protect himself and his family against the gangster, he now wishes to withdraw his membership temporarily."
South Korea acceded to the NPT in 1975. It has since operated nuclear reactors for non-military purposes.
He reiterated calls for the U.S. to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons in Korea in order to send a political message not only to Pyongyang but also to Beijing.
"North Korea, and for that matter China as well, should know that South Korea has this option if it persists in possessing nuclear weapons. Nuclear proliferation in East Asia will unfold at the invitation of North Korea endorsed by China," he said. "The question for China is 'Does it want South Korea to bring back U.S. tactical nuclear weapons or develop its own nuclear capability?"
The U.S. pulled all of its tactical nuclear weapons, which can be delivered by artillery or missile, out of South Korea in 1991 as part of President George H.W. Bush's Presidential Nuclear Initiative.
Chung said the international community needs to re-set its North Korea policy, adding that decades-long efforts to resolve the crisis have failed.
"The story of how the global community failed to prevent an isolated, failing state from acquiring the ultimate weapon will go down in the annals of diplomatic history as one of the most spectacular and consequential failures," he claimed.
Chung emphasized that it is more important to figure out North Korea's nuclear capabilities and take necessary precautions than trying to understand the intentions of its leadership.
Despite his political clout, Chung's suggestions do not seem to reflect mainstream views in the South Korean political circles, which still put more emphasis on the alliance with the U.S., trusting Washington's nuclear umbrella. His calls may sound more radical than realistic, as many express worries over adverse effects to the alliance, efforts for denuclearization talks with North Korea, and Seoul's status on the global stage.
Though if Pudgy continues Mr. Chung is going to sound more and more like the sweet voice of reason...
Amid North Korea's continued threats and provocations, however, a growing number of people in the South appear to be supportive of Chung's idea. Two-thirds of South Koreans polled shortly after North Korea's third nuclear test on Feb. 12 backed a "domestic nuclear weapons program," according to the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a Seoul-based think tank patronized by Chung.
The U.S. government took a dim view of Chung's demand, saying Washington stays committed to the defense of South Korea.
"The ROK (South Korea) is a committed partner and global leader on strengthening and maintaining the integrity of the NPT and the global nonproliferation regime," a State Department official told Yonhap News Agency, asked about Washington's position on Chung's views.
The alliance between the two nations "is fully capable to deter, defend against, and respond to the threat posed to our allies by North Korea," the official added, requesting anonymity. "The United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the ROKs defense, including the extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and nuclear umbrella."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
The problem is that the American response to 9/11 has raised reasonable doubt whether the so called 'umbrella' exists at all.
The Norks might not intend and might never have intended to attack the US. But if there was a WMD terrorist attack, sponsored and supported by a third party, the US might logically blame them and they'd become the target of overwhelming and devastating retaliation.
This should be an unacceptable risk even to the Norks unless they've come to the not unreasonable conclusion that America wouldn't retaliate under any circumstances, i.e. they've stopped believing in deterrence.
#3
SKor's SMS message system is the coolest on the planet. I has the concept of groups and the ability to have one 16bit integer worth of groups (64K groups) You can send SMS messages to say only folks that belong to a set of groups.
This allows one to ..say.. page all artillery Cols currently within 50KM of Seoul.
Really a useful tool when your enemy is so near.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/10/2013 9:56
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#4
Point a few of them at Peking while you're at it, Mr. Chung.
#5
If SKor goes, then the door is open for Japan and soon thereafter their OK and PI 'allies'. Eisenhower's containment of China will be in place again.
Something to ponder as we watch Pakistan proceed down its own path to self-immolation.
[Naharnet] After nine friends and relatives were killed in a U.S. drone strike four years ago, Mohammed Fahim took tranquilizers to blot out the nightmares.
The 19 year-old is one of a growing number of Paks living in the tribal areas on the Afghan border who has suffered from conditions related to depression, anxiety and mental health problems because of war.
U.S. drone strikes, fighting between Pak Taliban and the army, mass displacement, chronic unemployment and disillusionment are all causing mental suffering on an unprecedented scale in northwest Pakistain, say psychiatrists.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Matt ||
04/10/2013 7:46
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#2
They long for happier times.
My darling mother-in-law observed the same in Lackawanna, NY, Matt, stopping as her car approached, then resuming as she drove past, to be seen in her rear view mirror. There's a substantial Yemeni community in the formerly Black-only first ward, expanding outward to the nicer parts as members became more prosperous.
PESHAWAR: Heavy fighting between troops and militants has killed 23 soldiers and 110 enemy fighters at a flashpoint near the Afghan border, military officials said on Tuesday.
The clashes signalled a fresh military push in the Tirah valley of Khyber district, where the military has been targeting Taliban and militia Lashkar-e-Islam who threaten the nearby Peshawar. Khyber straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal, and officials say it is key to protecting security in Peshawar for elections next month.
Twenty-three soldiers have been martyred over the past three days in different parts of Tirah valley, a military official told AFP. Ground forces have intensified operations against TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) and Lashkar-e-Islam, the official said.
The official said at least 110 militants had also been killed, but the death toll was not possible to verify independently as the area is cut off to journalists and aid workers. He said the town of Tut Sar had been captured back from militants and that soldiers had now erected a post in the area.
Helicopters and jets participated in the operation. They are shelling militant hideouts in the valley, the official said.
A second military official confirmed the same details. According to a spokesman of ISPR here on Tuesday, a number of hideouts have also been destroyed during the operation.
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Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has criticized Iraq for inspecting an Iranian plane taking humanitarian aid to Syria, Press TV reported.
Mehmanparast made the remarks on Tuesday, saying that the move is a violation of international law.
However, he noted that the inspection of Iranian planes has disproved the claim that Iran is sending arms to Syria.
This time...
Mehmanparast said Iran will continue relief operations in Syria despite the inspections.
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CAIRO: Egyptian prosecutors are probing new complaints against popular satirist Bassem Youssef, this time for 'insulting Pakistan' and 'spreading atheism,' judicial sources told AFP on Tuesday.
The wildly popular Youssef -- whose weekly political satire programme Al-Bernameg (The Show) has spared few public figures of merciless critique -- is currently on bail pending investigation into charges of insulting President Mohamed Morsi and Islam.
The new lawsuits accuse Youssef of "insulting the state of Pakistan and causing tensions in its relations with Egypt." He is also accused of insulting religion and "spreading atheism."
In an episode after Morsi visited Pakistan in March, Youssef made fun of a hat worn by the president when he received an honorary doctorate from a university in Islamabad.
Insulting a funny hat is illegal?
It was probably that style that looks like a piece of prayer rug. We make fun of that one, too.
One lawsuit claimed that Youssef was attempting to "spread atheism" after he allegedly made fun of the prayer ritual which constitutes "questioning one of the five pillars of Islam."
Youssef confirmed he was being investigated again on his Twitter account. "A new investigation started against me accusing me of: insulting Islam (again), spreading atheism & insulting Pakistan #LOL."
Under Egypt's legal system, complaints made by holy men are filed to the public prosecutor who decides whether there is enough evidence to refer the case to trial. Suspects can be detained during this stage of investigation.
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#1
I am of the opinion that the truth about Pakistanarchy is pretty insulting.
It is a collection of people and places no one wanted, even Ghandi at his most tolerant didn't want those clowns in his back yard.
Stir in a bunch of semi illiterate holy men and a failed education system and you have Pakistanarchy.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/10/2013 11:37
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#2
Boy I bet Obummer wishes he could jail people that insult HIM.
#3
Boy I bet Obummer wishes he could jail people that insult HIM
And increase the already overcrowded conditions in prison? that is positively inhumane!!!!
SAN FRANCISCO (Rooters) - The second-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said she will resign shortly, ending four years as a champion of a civilian-controlled Internet.
In an exclusive interview with Rooters, Jane Holl Lute, the sole deputy secretary at Homeland Security, said on Monday she would give notice this week and leave to pursue a role in international Internet affairs.
Got a nice gig in private industry that leverages her connections in government? Wonder if she has to pay the Reynolds tax...
Lute said that she was leaving with the department on a strong footing in Internet matters, with its central role cemented by an executive order on cyber security issued by the Champ in February.
The order directs the civilian Department of Homeland Security to steer improvements in protections for private industry, instead of giving the lead to the military's NSA.
The pre-eminence of Homeland Security in patrolling the Internet is a big change from when Lute arrived there.
"The national narrative on cyber has evolved," she said. "It's not a war zone, and we certainly cannot manage it as if were a war zone. We're not going to manage it as if it were an intelligence program or one big law-enforcement operation."
The participation of the military and intelligence agencies in monitoring the Internet has not been definitively resolved.
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee plans to consider a bill on Wednesday that critics say would allow direct sharing of company data with the NSA.
Lute's planned exit follows the recent retirement of deputy under secretary for cyber security Mark Weatherford and others with expertise.
"Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet and co-author of the core protocols for Internet transmission.
"DHS can take advantage of some extraordinary talent at NSA, but it's wise for us to keep that under civilian management. That's the way our Constitution says it's supposed to work."
Lute came to the department under Secretary Janet Napolitano from the United Nations, where she served as an assistant secretary-general supporting peacekeeping missions. She worked at the National Security Council under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and before that in SIGINT in the U.S. Army.
Colleagues said her military background helped her stand up against defence officials, including NSA Director General Keith Alexander, as they pushed for a greater role. Speaking privately, these colleagues recalled a meeting in 2011 about expanding a Pentagon pilot program for sharing classified threat information among defence contractors and federal agencies. Lute would not allow it to be expanded unless Homeland Security took control, aides said, and ultimately she prevailed.
"We needed to find a way to share information with the private sector" while preserving civil liberties, Lute said.
Champ's executive order creates similar networks between the government and critical industries beyond defence, and the Department of Homeland Security again is in charge.
Lute's supporters outside the government said they hoped her successor at the department also would make fighting for the agency's role in the Internet a priority.
Lute said countries around the world are still grappling with how the Internet should be treated. Though the Pentagon once spoke of cyberspace as a domain to be "dominated," its language is more muted now.
She said Homeland Security needs to attract and retain more highly skilled security experts. Its recruitment efforts have lagged behind those at the NSA, which has more cachet and a stronger reputation for technical ability.
And she said it was "incomprehensible" that Congress has not yet passed broad legislation that would do more on cyber security than Champ's executive order. Recent Senate bills would give companies legal protection for sharing threat data with each other and with DHS.
"We want to build the most secure cyber-economy on Earth," Lute said. "We know what we need to do for that to happen, and the inability of legislation to pass to this point is inexplicable." Inexplicable? She is talking about the US Congress, right?
Lute said she was encouraged by some movement in the Congress in the past few months and is now more optimistic that a law would pass this year. From all indications, her departure appears to be a definite loss to the agency and the country.
#3
In at least one instance, according to investigators, a programmer failed to report a damaged iPhone, disposing of it on his own and replacing it out-of-pocket. The report posits that this behavior could pose a security risk.
Why not stop making it a pain to do it through channels, then maybe it might be handled more securely. Of course, they won't look at what negative processes are in place to make it easier to dispose of it than replace it on one's own dime. However, lust for control and bureaucracy trump common sense security any day.
#5
"Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf
Intelligence officials in the West have concluded that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons in their war against rebels. The information relates to two incidents in the Damascus area on March 19. However, various intelligence agencies, first and foremost the Americans, have not concluded whether the material used was a toxic chemical or a material that paralyzes only and does not kill.
Whew! I thought for a moment we were crossing a red line...
A senior security official in Israel told Haaretz that Syrian President Bashar Assads regime is still cautious about resorting to chemical weapons although it is using every other means at its disposal from fuel-air bombs to Scud missiles, which have been fired at areas under rebel control. From Assads point of view, this is a war of life and death, the senior official said.
Washington has reiterated that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would constitute an unequivocal red line, which if crossed is liable to spur American involvement in the crisis.
We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his address last month at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, two days after the use of chemical weapons was first reported. The world is watching, and we will hold you accountable.
On March 19 accusations were exchanged between the Assad regime and the rebels regarding the use of chemical weapons in two areas in Syria near Halab and in the area of Damascus. At the end of March there were reports that western intelligence agencies believed that it was actually the rebels who had used chemical weapons, having succeeded, by an undetermined method, to fire chlorine gas at a Syrian army checkpoint at Khan al-Assal, a village near Halab. According to these reports, 26 people were killed in that attack and dozens were injured.
In the attack near Damascus, the rebels reported that an unknown number of people were suffering breathing problems as a result of the use of chemical weapons by Assads forces.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday in The Hague that the United Nations is preparing to send a chemical weapons investigation team within 24 hours to check the allegations of chemical weapons strikes. According to Ban, an advance team is waiting in Cyprus while the UN negotiates with Assads regime over the delegations mandate. Ban said that all reports of the use of chemical weapons should be examined without delay, without conditions and without exceptions.
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#1
And when the NORK's decide to use it, what then ?
Revellers in Brixton staged a street party to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death, culminating in connected bracelets and an attack on a local charity shop.
Around 100 hundred people were out on the streets to celebrate the death of former the former [sic] prime minister, whose death from a stroke was announced on Monday.
A board at the famous Ritzy moving picture house in Windrush Square was hijacked by partygoers who swapped the letters to read 'Margaret Thatcher's Dead.'
Smashed glass was strewn on the street after the window of charity shop Barnardos was kicked in during ugly scenes.
Police officers trying to keep order were attacked, with extra numbers drafted in to stop ghouls spilling out on to the roads and causing traffic delays.
Two women were arrested on suspicion of burglary and spent the night in the Gray-Bar Hotel after Barnardos was targeted during celebrations.
IBTimes UK reporter Ewan Palmer was in the vicinity. He said: "There was the notion that this morbid celebration has been planned in thousands of people's heads for more than 30 years.
"Police stood by and watched as more and more people arrived with their drink and banners mocking her death. Shouts of 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! dead, dead, dead!" rang around gleefully.
"Chalk was handed out so people could graffiti their own message on the ground and surrounding walls.
"There were even two guys playing double bass and acoustic guitar in the crowd for a singalong. At the start of the evening, the whole thing resembled a middle-class music festival more than a raucous demo.
"Almost inevitably after a few hours of people imbibing vast amounts of alcohol in the streets, this escalated into scenes of unrest between people and riot police, resulting in arrests and even serious injury."
The revellers downed alcohol and brandished placards reading "The bitch is dead" and 'Rejoice Thatcher is dead.' Many revellers appeared younger than the 23 years which have passed since Thatcher left office.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police dealt with a group of approximately cien, as the Spanish say, people in Brixton who caused low-level disorder including throwing missiles at officers.
"In order to protect the community and to ensure the highways remained clear, extra officers were deployed.
"Two women were arrested after being found inside a shop in Brixton. They remain in custody."
The woman behind an internet campaign to organise street parties to "celebrate" the death of Baroness Thatcher can be named as Romany Blythe, a drama teacher from Brighton.
Blythe is a drama teacher with a workshop company that visits secondary schools. She specialises in facilitating workshops for young, excluded and potentially criminalised individuals and uses drama techniques she has developed to explore resolution of conflict and oppression, according to the company's website.
On Facebook she appears in photographs holding a hammer and sickle flag and posing alongside former Cabinet Minister Tony Benn and left-wing writer Owen Jones.
Dhaka -- The 36-hour hartal, enforced by the BNP-led 18-alliance, is progressing amid violence that left a truck driver dead in Bogra as pro-hartal elements took to the streets in the northern district town early Tuesday. The victim was identified as Khokon Mia, 35, son of Jainal Abedin of Matidali Biman crossing in Bogra Sadar upazila.
Victim's helper Rahmat said the truck carrying wheat was on its way to Bogra town from Dinajpur when a group of pickets showered brick chips on it near Barpur Bridge around 5am, leaving the driver injured. He was rushed to Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital with injuries in his chest, where he died after admission.
Police later held six people from the area in this connection. Another truck was torched in the area following the attack.
The opposition alliance enforced the countrywide 36-hour shutdown at 6am today (Tuesday) to realise its various demands, including the release of its arrested leaders and activists.
Though the nationwide 36-hour shutdown began at 6am on Tuesday, the Bogra district BNP enforced an extended 48-hour hartal in the district from 6pm on Monday to push for the same demand. About 50 vehicles were vandalised and five set afire at different parts of the district on Monday night.
Hartal supporters blocked the Bogra-Dhaka Highway at Noymile in Shajahanpur upazila by placing logs on Monday night.
Meanwhile, bomb blasts, arrests and torching of vehicles mark the shutdown in capital Dhaka and elsewhere of the country.
Around 11:30 am, two crude bombs went off near Awami League central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital, injuring a small boy, police and witnesses said. Police detained a man from the spot as he allegedly tossed the bombs from the rooftop of Agrani Bank Building adjacent to the Awami League office. The bombs were blasted at a time when leaders and activists of the ruling party were gathering before the party office after an anti-hartal procession.
Besides, eight crude bombs were also exploded at five places in the city.
Islami Chhatra Shibir activists brought out a procession at Dakkhin Banasree in the city around 5:30am. A passenger bus was torched by the Shibir men at that time.
Hartal supporters brought out processions at 10 other places of the city, but police dispersed the processionists.
Police also dispersed a procession, brought out by BNP, and arrested a picket from near BRAC University at Mohakhali. Police held another picket along with three bottles of petrol from Khilkhet in the city around 7:30am.
Huge law enforcers were seen posted in front of the BNP's Nayapaltan central office in the morning.
Educational institutions remained closed, but government and non-government offices are open, though the attendance is thin. Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws are dominating the city streets because of lesser presence of motorised vehicles.
Mohakhali and Gabtoli bus terminals were found closed as no long-distance buses left Dhaka for their different destinations outside the capital.
Huge law enforcers are guarding the city streets to maintain the law and order.
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At least one civilian has been killed and two others injured after foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government targeted a residential area in western Damascus. The attack damaged a number of cars parked in the area.
Foreign-sponsored militants also fired mortar shells at the Qasaa neighborhood in central Damascus. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.
Meanwhile, two mortar shells fell near the al-Firdous Mosque in Baghdad Street, causing material damage and a fire at the site.
Over the past few weeks, Damascus has come under increasing mortar fire from anti-government militant groups holed up in the suburbs of the capital. Syrian army troops continue their operations against armed groups in these suburbs in a bid to flush them out.
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SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States have upgraded their surveillance status on Wednesday to monitor an imminent missile test by North Korea, military officials said, at a time of escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula. Ahead of an imminent test, the Combined Forces Command raised "Watchcon" 3 status, a normal defense condition, by one level to step up surveillance monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official said.
South Korea's military also launched an emergency task force team charged with monitoring and analyzing the latest development in North Korea's preparations, he said. South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials have been closely monitoring the North Korean facility believed to contain the Musudan missiles mounted on the TELs (transporter-erector-launcher).
Seoul officials say there are high chances that Pyongyang could fire off a missile around April 15 to mark the birthday of late founding leader Kim Il-sung, the current ruler Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Last year, the North unsuccessfully conducted a rocket launch days before the 100th anniversary of Kim's birth.
Officials in Seoul say there are possibilities that the North may fire off several missiles from different sites, in case of an unsuccessful launch of the Musudan missile, which has never been tested before.
According to satellite imagery, four or five more TELs were recently spotted in South Hamkyung Province, sparking speculation that the North may fire off missiles in several places. The TELs were believed to be launch platforms for short-range Scud missiles, which have a range of 300-500 kilometers, and medium-range Nodong missiles, which can travel 1,300-1,500 km, the source said.
"There are clear signs that the North could simultaneously fire off Musudan, Scud and Nodong missiles," a government source said, asking for anonymity citing confidential information.
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#1
Ima guessing that the result of this whole fiasco is that the ROK and the US have not been so militarily and politically united at any other time since the Korean War. (Not to mention getting the Japanese onboard too.) Is this really what the Chinese wanted? Inscrutable.
#2
As things stand on the Korean Peninsula, IMO the only way for formal Inter-Korean Reunification to take place is iff both NOKOR + SOKOR have potent Nuke Arsenals [+ SSSHHHHH by extens also JAPAN], as complemented by US-led GMD-TMD.
US-LED SPACE STRIKE = US-LED SPACE DEFENSE. Instead of "Offensive Strike" versus "Defensive Strike', lets all be good Politicos + label both as "Active Defense" or "Limited Offense'.
THE PROB IS THAT "POST-US', "MAHANIST", "FUTURE WORLD #1" MAINLAND CHINA WILL LIKELY SEE THE BILATERAL NUCLEARIZATION OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA AS MORE EVIDENCE OF US INTENT TO ISOLATE + CONTAIN CHINA WIDIN ITS LIMITED HISTORICAL PARAMETERS.
'TIS A MAJOR OR SERIOUS PICKLE - OH YEAH, YOU BETCHA!
Again, unless China is made willing to delay or alter its anti-US "Manifest Destiny", a US-China confrontation + mil conflict in East Asia or Asia-Pacific before Year 2050 is all but absolut inevitable. EITHER CHINA CONCEDES, OR THE US MUST CONCEDE.
IFF NOT, BY DEFINITION "OUT THE WINDOW" THERE GOETHS THE US BELIEF THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE MAJOR OR WORLD WARS THRU 2050 IFF NOT THE REST OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
#3
Clearly women should serve in combat because NAKTONG II, PUSAN PERIMETER II, CHOSIN RESERVOIR II, HEARTBREAK RIDGE II, PORK CHOP HILL II, MIG ALLEY II, ETC. BATTLES is absolutely positively categorically undeniably ... ... good asymmetric OWG-NWO = UNO "Peacekeeping"???
The Haifa District Court on Tuesday sentenced an Israeli Arab to seven years in prison for spying for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Milad Khatib was convicted of being in contact with a foreign agent and assisting an enemy in wartime, according to a court document. It added that he confessed to the charges against him as part of a plea bargain. Khatib was accused of gathering intelligence on the security detail for President Shimon Peres and on army installations.
The 26-year-old was arrested in September 2012 and charged a month later.
The Majdal Krum resident first made connection with Hezbollah in 2007, and was recruited into the group by an agent named Barhan in 2009. The two held several meetings in Denmark and Turkey, among other locations, until 2011.
Barhan instructed Khatib to observe and pass on information about Israel Defense Forces bases in the north, secret weapons stores, weapons manufacturing plants and other strategic sites, the indictment said. He was also asked to collect information about Israeli Arabs that belong to Zionist political parties.
After returning to Israel, the indictment said, Khatib collected information about the security arrangements for Peres when he visited Majdal Krum in August 2012. He was expected to pass on the information to Barhan in another face-to-face meeting in May 2013, but the plot was foiled with his arrest.
Khatib's attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, argued that the appropriate sentence in the defendant's case would be 10 months in prison and a month's probation, claiming that he wasn't driven by ideological motives.
Oh no, it was just personal, yer honor...
Abu Hussein said his client's weak personality allowed him to be swayed by Barhan, who was much older than Khatib. He asked for the judges' lenience, citing the adversities that a lengthy sentence would inflict on Khatib's family.
The prosecution attorneys, in turn, asked for a graver penalty, stressing that the espionage endured for years and that Khatib failed to put an end to the violations of his own accord. Only his arrest prevented serious harm from being done to national security, they said. They counter-argued that Khatib was motivated by ideology, noting he wasn't paid much for his services.
The three-judge panel, which consisted of Yosef Elron, Oded Gershon and Avraham Elyahkim, sided with the prosecution, emphasizing that national security was compromised by Khatib's actions.
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Finds it hard to hold political programmes as over 50 active central leaders in jail
The crackdown on main opposition BNP has plunged the party into a temporary leadership crisis, as more than its 50 central leaders, including the acting secretary general, are now in jail.
The situation has put the opposition in a quandary. Many of its activists are confused about the fate of the ongoing anti-government agitation, as almost all the leaders active on the street have been put behind bars in less than a month.
Against such backdrop, BNP has asked its young leaders to stay safe from arrests, said party's senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday. He said his party would step up the ongoing agitation and the legal battle to free their detained leaders.
And especially the hartals...
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, some political analysts and opposition leaders observed that the crackdown would not yield positive result; rather deteriorate the situation further by closing the window for resolving the crisis through talks.
On Sunday, eight senior BNP leaders, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir who had earlier been put behind bars twice in less than a year, were denied bail and sent to jail. They have been charged with torching vehicles and assaulting police during opposition's agitation. Chances of their coming out soon is lean, as a Dhaka court yesterday fixed April 21 to hear the bail petition filed by the defendants.
On March 11, a total of 148 BNP leaders, including opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, joint secretary generals Rizvi Ahmed and Amanullah Aman, had been detained in two cases in connection with vandalising vehicles and assaulting police. They have also been denied bail twice.
On Sunday night, law enforcers detained another BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed, who had been speaking against the government and announcing the party's agitation programmes in absence of Fakhrul.
"The party is facing a temporary leadership vacuum," said Khandaker Mosharraf, adding that the government had made the political situation worse by launching the crackdown.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir claimed that those who had been put behind bars were facing specific charges of arson, homemade bomb blasts and vandalism. State Minister for law Qamrul Islam, however, alleged the senior leaders of BNP of conspiring to destabilise the state organs.
They're both right...
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Iran said on Tuesday it had started production at two uranium mines and a yellow cake plant, declaring that Western opposition would not slow its nuclear program days after talks between Tehran and world powers failed to reach an accord.
The country opened the Saghand 1 and 2 uranium mines in the central city of Yazd, which will extract uranium from a depth of 350 meters, and the Shahid Rezaeinejad yellow cake plant at Ardakan to mark Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day, state news agency IRNA said.
The Ardakan plant is capable of producing 60 tonnes of yellow cake - raw uranium - annually, IRNA said.
"They (world powers) tried their utmost to prevent Iran from going nuclear, but Iran has gone nuclear," Iranian President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization on Tuesday. "This nuclear technology and power and science has been institutionalized ... All the stages are in our control and every day that we go forward a new horizon opens up before the Iranian nation."
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Is this what caused the earthquake or was it a Division of Haliburton?
A delegation from the Israeli government which planned to visit Turkey to discuss the issue of compensation for the bereaved families of Turkish citizens, has cancelled a visit to the country, Yeni Şafak newspaper said on Tuesday.
The visit was scheduled for April 11. According to the newspaper, it will now take place presumably after April 22.
The agreement on normalisation of relations between Turkey and Israel was reached last Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, apologised for violations committed during the maritime operation that resulted in the deaths of Turkish citizens. The government heads agreed to restore normal relations including the return of ambassadors and Turkey's refusal to legally prosecute Israeli servicemen.
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"you'll get nothing and like it, Spaulding Yippy!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2013 22:07
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[Naharnet] The mainstream Syrian rebel command distanced itself from the jihadist al-Nusra Front on Tuesday after al-Qaeda in neighboring Iraq confirmed that it spawned and supervised the group.
The Free Syrian Army insisted that alliances it has struck with al-Nusra fighters on the ground were only tactical, local and time-limited, as al-Qaeda openly admitted the Iraq links of one of the spearheads of the armed uprising against the Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... regime.
"We don't support the ideology of al-Nusra," FSA front man Louay Meqdad told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"There has never been and there will never be a decision at the command level to coordinate with al-Nusra. The situation on the ground is what has imposed this."
Washington already blacklisted al-Nusra as a terrorist organization earlier this year citing its close links to Al-Qaeda gunnies who led the insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq before their withdrawal last year.
But the head of al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, confirmed on Tuesday that al-Nusra was its creation and that its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani was "one of our soldiers".
"It is time to declare to the Levant and to the world that the al-Nusra Front is simply a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq," Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i said in an audio message posted on jihadist forums.
He said the groups would merge under the banner of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Some Syrian rebel commanders have acknowledged discomfort at al-Nusra's jihadist ideology, its resort to suicide kabooms against civilians and its use of foreign recruits.
But the group has also won respect as a disciplined and effective fighting force in the battle to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's regime, winning key territory from his troops.
"Al-Nusra exists, it is financed and it is armed. That's why certain brigades of the FSA cooperate with them on certain operations on the ground," the mainstream rebel front man said.
"It's a tactical and time-limited cooperation... Al-Nusra is not attached to the FSA," Meqdad added.
Al-Nusra has said it is seeking an Islamic state in Syria after Assad's overthrow, but Meqdad insisted: "No one has the right to impose on Syrians what shape their state will take.
"Syrians will go to the polls to choose their leaders," he said. "Our goal is clear -- to bring down the regime and establish a democratic state."
CAIRO -- The leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church on Tuesday blasted the president Mohammed Mursi over his handling of the recent deadly sectarian violence, including an attack on the main cathedral in Cairo.
The remarks by Pope Tawadros II underscore rising sectarian tensions in Egypt. They were Tawadros' first direct criticism of President Mursi since he was enthroned in November as the spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Christians. They are also likely to fuel the political turmoil roiling the country for the two years since the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
There's something about popes and moral authority...
Tawadros also warned that the state of Egypt was "collapsing" and described Sunday's attack on the St. Mark Cathedral in central Cairo, which serves as the Coptic papal seat, as "breaching all the red lines."
Tawadros said Mursi had promised him in a telephone conversation to do everything to protect the cathedral, "but in reality he did not." Asked to explain Mursi's attitude, Tawadros, who spoke in a telephone interview to a political talk show aired on the private ONTV network, said it "comes under the category of negligence and poor assessment of events."
Tawadros also criticised the president over his decision on Monday to revive a state body mandated to promote equality between Egyptians regardless of their religious and ethnic background. Mursi's decision was in response to the sectarian violence. "Enough already of formations, committees and groups and whatever else," Tawadros said.
"We want action not words and, let me say this, there are many names and committees but there is no action on the ground," he added. Mursi has condemned the recent violence and ordered an investigation into the violence.
"Should we wait for instructions to start an investigation when something happens?" Tawadros said in response to Mursi's order. "Egypt's laws must be adequate to deal with the situation. This is a society that is collapsing. Society is collapsing every day."
The office of Mursi's issued a statement shortly after the pope's remarks, saying that the "Egyptian presidency would like to affirm its full rejection of violence in all its forms, and under any pretext, and affirms that all Egyptians are citizens who should enjoy all rights and are equal before the law."
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Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, pause for a moment. This message was allegedly sent by a LTC who would be retirement eligible. From the posting, most likely a battalion commander sent to his staff and company officers about three dozen subordinates. Now, if you seriously disagreed with the PC crap sliding down the command chain, one response in such a circumstance is something akin to a 'scorched earth' tactic or in other words 'take the mofos with you'. I'm sure we'll be entertained by the various official responses soon to follow.
#1
The notion that the Army is taking an anti-religion or anti-Christian stance is contrary to any of our policies, doctrines and regulations, said George Wright, Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Any belief that the Army is out to label religious groups in a negative manner is without warrant.
In Afghanistan the US military, per policy, burned bibles as trash in order to suppress the dissemination of their content.
Whether this is a legitimate policy and/or a smart political move is debatable.
In any case a perception of an 'anti-Christian stance' and of a 'negative labeling of Christianity' is objectively reasonable and NOT without warrant.
#2
And the email written by the lieutenant colonel referenced the [Southern Poverty Law Center.]
Methinks the scorched-earth idea sounds about right. Had he been one of the Misguided Children, I'd have called it an example of 'malicious obedience'.
#3
Christians shouldn't be too concerned, we simply need to stop serving this state at this point in history. Let the atheists, pagans and Muslims do this stuff from here on out.
There's enough evidence already to support preachers teaching a new idea along these lines nationally.
KABUL: A NATO helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday killing two US troops, officials said, adding there was no insurgent activity in the area at the time of the incident.
Taliban militants said they had shot down the helicopter, but the group often makes exaggerated claims of success on the battlefield against NATO forces and the US-backed government.
"Two International Security Assistance Force service members died following a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan today," ISAF said in a statement. "The cause of the incident is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash."
Witnesses told AFP the accident happened in Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, with the helicopter crashing into farmland in the district of Pachir Wa Agam.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Obama administration's next step in aid to Syrian rebels is expected to be a broader package of nonlethal assistance, including body armor and night-vision goggles, as the U.S. grapples for ways to stem the bloodshed from Syria's civil war.
Libyan weapons are spreading at "an alarming rate" to new territory in west Africa and the eastern Mediterranean including Syria and the Gaza Strip where they are fueling conflicts and increasing the arsenals of armed groups and terrorists, a U.N. panel said.
North Korea has finished preparations to launch one or two Musudan medium-range missiles that have moved to an area on the east coast. South Korean military authorities worry that the North could also launch other short- and medium-range missiles. 
Opposition BNP on Tuesday threatened to intensify the ongoing movement further if the government does not withdraw the 'false' cases filed against its leaders and activists and release them immediately.
PESHAWAR: Heavy fighting between troops and militants has killed 23 soldiers and 110 enemy fighters at a flashpoint near the Afghan border, military officials said on Tuesday. 
Intelligence officials in the West have concluded that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons in their war against rebels. The information relates to two incidents in the Damascus area on March 19. However, various intelligence agencies, first and foremost the Americans, have not concluded whether the material used was a toxic chemical or a material that paralyzes only and does not kill. 
Revellers in Brixton staged a street party to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death, culminating in 
Dhaka -- The 36-hour hartal, enforced by the BNP-led 18-alliance, is progressing amid violence that left a truck driver dead in Bogra as pro-hartal elements took to the streets in the northern district town early Tuesday. The victim was identified as Khokon Mia, 35, son of Jainal Abedin of Matidali Biman crossing in Bogra Sadar upazila.
SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States have upgraded their surveillance status on Wednesday to monitor an imminent missile test by North Korea, military officials said, at a time of escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula. Ahead of an imminent test, the Combined Forces Command raised "Watchcon" 3 status, a normal defense condition, by one level to step up surveillance monitoring and increase the number of intelligence staff, a senior military official said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
CAIRO -- The leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church on Tuesday blasted the president Mohammed Mursi over his handling of the recent deadly sectarian violence, including an attack on the main cathedral in Cairo.
KABUL: A NATO helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday killing two US troops, officials said, adding there was no insurgent activity in the area at the time of the incident.
