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Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Ministry of Defence
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Britain
Royal Wedding To Be Protected From Muslim Disruption By an EDL 'Ring Of Steel'
In an announcement on its website, Muslims Against Crusades said it hoped "the day which the nation has been dreaming of for so long will become a nightmare".

Mr Yaxley-Lennon, who runs a tanning salon in Hastings Street, Luton, said EDL members planned to physically stop Muslim extremists getting to Westminster Abbey.

"The police will let them have their protest but we'll be at each train station to make sure they don't come," he said. "It's going to be a public order offence -- there will be mass disorder. We will form a ring of steel around that wedding.

"It will be ordinary members of the public going in to prevent a crime because the police won't stop it. We will be issued with Section 14 orders because we would cause a breach of the peace."

In its statement yesterday, Muslims Against Crusades said Prince William should "withdraw from the crusader British military and give up all affiliation to the tyrannical British Empire".

They said the demonstration was justified to highlight Britain's "quest to occupy Muslim land and wage war against the religion of God".

Mr Yaxley-Lennon said ordinary Muslims heading to Westminster Abbey would have nothing to fear from the English Defence League.

"Muslims Against Crusades will be carrying black flags and will be in uniform so we will know who they are," he said. "As soon as they come out of any station there's going to be chaos."

Asked whether he was concerned that the EDL's presence would only cause further disruption, he said: "It can't get any worse than if Muslims Against Crusades turn up. You have freedom of speech but this is ordinary members of the British public who are angry about this, which is what happened when they tried to disrupt the Poachers' parade in Luton."

Mr Yaxley-Lennon said he would not be in London himself on April 29 as he will be away on holiday.
Will the Muslims chicken out? Or will they try to fight their way through free Englishmen defending the Crown?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 20:44 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd expect a hearty demonstration of intolerance for assholery on that day. Hopefully the Bobbies turn a blind eye to street "discussions". Import Soccer fans to boost the numbers, and make it a game.

Find Anjem. The coward won't be anywhere he can be touched...
ok, then, stake out his mailbox where his welfare check arrives
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 21:06 Comments || Top||

#2  EDL spewing more anti-Obama rhetoric. [snark off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:09 Comments || Top||


Economy
Greek debt default likely only days away
As some of us predicted, there was no way Greece could ever repay it's debts.

The question now, is will a Euro-zone default be allowed or will Greece be kicked out of the Eurozone.

Either way expect financial market gyrations in the coming weeks.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2011 19:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If they do, it will shake the markets worldwide ... not because it hasn't been anticipated, but precisely because it has been.
Posted by: lotp || 04/19/2011 19:46 Comments || Top||

#2  A preview of America's future - except we don't have Angela Merkel to bail us out.
Posted by: Snusoting Prince of the Hatfields5304 || 04/19/2011 20:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Could in theory last for many Years + Decades, i.e. as long as it takes to impose COMMIE-SOCIALIST WORLD ORDER.

Global Occidentalism versus Global Orientalism, Global Nuclear Secularism versus Global Nuclear Islamism, Global Americas versus Global Eurasia .............@.

No, ALFRED THAYER MAHAN VERSIES CAPTS. KIRK + PICARD????

USA VERSUS RISING CHINA VERSUS NUCLEAR CALIPHATE.

Oh yeah....


Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 20:23 Comments || Top||

#4  A big question is will this cause a domino effect, taking down Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 20:55 Comments || Top||

#5  I am more concerned about the "domino effect" of Delaware, Missouri, or Massachusetts.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:05 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Forces Kill Insurgent Commander Mullah Abdul Fatah Haqqani in Afghanistan
Coalition forces killed an insurgent commander in a precision airstrike yesterday in the Burkah district of AfghanistanÂ’s Baghlan province.

Mullah Abdul Fatah Haqqani commanded and trained foreign fighters in support of Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan terrorist operations. He also purchased weapons and explosive devices for the terrorist groups, officials said.

In other operations yesterday throughout Afghanistan:

Forces detained several suspected insurgents while searching for a Taliban leader responsible for carrying out attacks and training recruits in Logar provinceÂ’s Charkh district.

Afghan and coalition forces detained two Taliban leaders in Kandahar provinceÂ’s Zharay district. One is responsible for trafficking homemade bombs for attacks on security forces, and the other is connected to an insurgent fighting cell in the provinceÂ’s Maiwand district.

Security forces captured a Haqqani terrorist network weapons trafficker and another suspected insurgent in Khost provinceÂ’s Bak district.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 19:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
British troops go to Libya amid 'Vietnam' warnings
At least ten senior officers will be sent to Benghazi to try to forge the rebels trying to oust Colonel Muammar Gaddafi into a credible fighting force.

Ministers insisted that deploying the “military liaison advisory team” was not a sign of mission creep, but MPs of all parties said the move showed Britain is being dragged ever deeper into a Libyan civil war.

The announcement came after David Cameron urged Cabinet ministers to draw up new measures to help the rebels break the military deadlock in Libya.

After more than a month of air strikes, the rebels have failed to make significant progress against Col Gaddafi. British commanders have told the Prime Minister that the rebels lack the organisation to challenge the dictatorÂ’s forces.

Mr Cameron, who personally led international efforts to launch the Libyan intervention, is said to be becoming “increasingly impatient” and anxious about the stalemate.
Posted by: tipper || 04/19/2011 18:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ministers insisted that deploying the “military liaison advisory team” was not a sign of mission creep,

Your Mooslim constituents back home will be most supportive. Not to mention successes in Kenya, other Home Office anti-colonial backed national liberation causes undertaken with startling, long term success include those involving Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela. Democracy on the march I always say.

The problem here is, we just can't seem to find a suitable 'head man' and the bloody Yanks no longer wish to participate, at least openly! Could have cured that had we known Sarah's grandson would one day be bloody president. Should have given her the old man's back pay and dole long before we got the Churchill bust back and been done with it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 20:13 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Saudis give up on US, instigate direct Gulf action against Iran
Yeah, I know, Debka........
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/19/2011 18:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wouldn't be surprised as the Saudis are afraid of expanding Iranian influence in the gulf and on their minority population.

Besides, the US sure as hell won't do anything about it with Bambi at the helm.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/19/2011 18:56 Comments || Top||

#2  The problem for the Saudis is: who is going to lead any action if the US doesn't? Not the Saudis themselves - they're too timid. Most of the other countries in the Gulf are too small - I mean Qatar? Ha! Iraq was able to fight Iran to a standstill (with thousands of casualties on both sides), but I doubt Iraq is in any mood right now to pick an overt fight with Iran.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/19/2011 20:31 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudis Forming Anti-Iran War Coalition
(Debka, so salt)
After giving up on US and Israel ever confronting Iran, Saudi Arabia has placed itself at the forefront of an independent Sunni campaign for cutting down the Islamic Republic's drive for a nuclear bomb and its expansionist meddling in Arab countries.

Two US emissaries sent to intercede with Saudi King Abdullah -- US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 6 and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who arrived in Riyadh six days later -- were told that Saudi Arabia had reached a parting-of-the ways with Washington, followed actively by Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

King Abdullah first defied the Obama administration's policy of support for popular uprisings against autocratic Arab regimes on March 14 by sending Saudi troops into Bahrain to prop up the king against the Shiite-led disturbances organized by Tehran's Lebanese surrogate, Hizballah.

This force has been expanded continuously, split now between units suppressing the uprising and the bulk deployed on the island's coast, 320 kilometers from the shore of Iran.

Saudi ground-to-ground and anti-air missiles have been transferred to the Bahraini capital of Manama and naval units, including missile vessels, positioned in its harbor.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa announced that Saudi and allied GCC troops would stay in the kingdom until Iran no longer poses a menace. "Gulf force is needed to counter a sustained campaign by Iran in Bahrain," he said.

Saudi Arabia was therefore determined to lead the Gulf region on the road to a confrontation with Iran -- up to and including military action if necessary -- to defend the oil emirates against Iranian conspiracies in the pursuit of which the king accused US-led diplomacy of giving Tehran a clear field.

Monday, April 18, the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, asked the UN Security Council to take action for stopping Iran's "provocative interference in their countries' domestic affairs." This "flagrant interference" posed a "grave security to, and risked flaring up sectarian strike, in the GCC countries."

The resolution went on to state: "The GCC will not hesitate to adopt whatever measures and policies they deem necessary vis-à-vis the foreign interferences in their internal affairs."

The phrase "measures and policies deemed necessary" is diplomatic parlance for a military threat.

It implies that Saudi Arabia and the rest of the regional group are confident that together, they command the strategic resources and assets necessary for a military strike against Iran. Our military sources report that the Saudis are convinced that their combined missile, air force and naval strength is fully capable of inflicting in-depth damage on mainland Iran.

Iran's response: Thousands of Iranian students, mobilized by the Revolutionary Guards and Basijj voluntary corps have laid the Saudi embassy in Tehran to siege for most of the past week, launching stone and firebomb assaults from time to time, but so far making no attempt to invade the building.

Then, Saturday, April 16, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Pakistani chargé d'affaires to warn him sternly against allowing Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to continue conscripting Pakistani military personnel.

Tehran claims that by offering exorbitant paychecks, Riyadh has raised 1,000 Pakistani recruits for its military operation in support of the Bahraini king and another 1,500 are on their way to the Gulf.

Iran also beefed up its strength along the Pakistani border to warn Islamabad that if it matters come to a clash with Saudi Arabia, Pakistani and its military will not escape punishment.

Tehran-Sunni tensions are rippling into other arenas: On April 11-12, the chronically disaffected Arabs of Ahwaz in the western Iranian province of Khuzestan (1.2 million inhabitants) staged a two-day uprising against the Iranian government.

In their first crackdown, government forces killed at least 15 demonstrators before cutting off Ahwaz's links with the outside world.'

So too does Syrian president Bashar Assad, who claims the spreading revolt against his regime, now entering its second month, was instigated from Riyadh.
In the event of such a war, Bahrain and Riyadh would in effect be shielded from Iranian missiles by any US 5th fleet assets in the area, who would have to assume it was an attack on themselves as well.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 15:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Importantly, Egypt is for unknown reasons getting nice with Tehran, which is a trout in the milk.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 15:43 Comments || Top||

#2  I need suggestions for special popcorn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 15:47 Comments || Top||

#3  It would be weird if the al Sauds ended up destroying the Iranian nuclear program. Obama's reluctance to act may end up costing him re-election. I'm starting to think that the Saudis are deliberately causing oil prices to rise in order to ensure that Obama loses in 2012, because they're not sure the al Saud clan can survive another 4 years of Obama (the Saudis and us both).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2011 15:56 Comments || Top||

#4  "I need suggestions for special popcorn."

After buttering and salting, try tossing with fresh-grated parmesan, grom.

Also, try a little cayenne mixed in with the salt, or the butter.

Enjoy. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 17:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm starting to think that the Saudis are deliberately causing oil prices to rise in order to ensure that Obama loses in 2012, because they're not sure the al Saud clan can survive another 4 years of Obama (the Saudis and us both).

Interesting thought Zhang Fei. You might be right. Saudis royalty is also are very afraid of Iran's growing nuclear threat. Also there is the Sunni vs. Shia tensions.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 18:20 Comments || Top||

#6  All that is needed now is a Chinese missile salesman to turn up.... OH WAIT!
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 20:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Special Popcorn?

Add Bacon of course!
Posted by: DanNY || 04/19/2011 21:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Beso, Soddies contributed financially to Paki nukes, did they not? I would not be surprised if they felt some degree of entitlement, manifesting one way or another.

There is an old prophecy that Mecca will be vaporized by light brighter than 1000 suns and originating from the east. It does not say much about Qom, but ME mindset is thoroughly reciprocal. It always puzzled me, the origin of the bottled sunshine, that is. Well... it may be prudent to resupply my pantry with lotsa popcorn.

Posted by: twobyfour || 04/19/2011 22:11 Comments || Top||

#9  DanNY - mmmmmm bacon. I like the way you think :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 22:20 Comments || Top||

#10  "Add Bacon of course!"

DanNY, that works for me, but grom's mileage might vary, considering where he lives.

Just sayin'
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 22:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Importantly, Egypt is for unknown reasons getting nice with Tehran, which is a trout in the milk.

My guess is that an Islamist faction of the Egyptian Army is in charge. The Muslim masses do love Iran - they see it as the one Muslim country willing to poke Uncle Sam in the eye. A democratic Egypt could be more stridently anti-American than Iran. Whether it will stoop to engineering a 9/11-style attack like Pakistan is another matter.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2011 22:29 Comments || Top||

#12  #8 Beso, Soddies contributed financially to Paki nukes, did they not? I would not be surprised if they felt some degree of entitlement, manifesting one way or another.

Yes, but the financial assists and nuclear research efforts went totally undetected by our counter-proliferation intelligence agencies until seismic monitors began to peg the huge surface craters appeared.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 22:33 Comments || Top||

#13  You should worry more about Iraq getting nice with Iran.

The Axis of Shiiaism.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2011 22:34 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Texas Reporter Gets Aggressive With Obama
Video at link. Very much worth watching. A rare look at a reporter doing his job, the old school way.
WASHINGTON -- News 8 sat down with President Barack Obama at the White House Monday afternoon to discuss the economy, immigration and his approval rating.

The president this week is talking up his deficit reduction plan with town hall meetings in Western states. He met with News 8 for a few minutes to explain why he thinks his plan is better than the deficit reduction plan pushed by Republicans in the House, and why he wants to pitch his plan hard in Texas.

The president said his mix of spending cuts and tax increases on the wealthy offer a balanced approach compared to the Republicans who want cuts in spending and taxes.

We met the president in the Map Room of the ground level of the White House, where he said his deficit reduction plan is better -- with its higher taxes on the rich coupled with cuts.

"We can take a more balanced approach, consistent with what my fiscal commission put forward, which says $2 trillion worth of cuts."

But in Texas, the president's plan is a tough sell.

"Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for historic reasons," Obama said.

However, the president inferred that his election meant Texas politics was changing.

"We lost by a few percentage points in Texas," Obama said. That was followed by a gentle reminder that the figure was closer to 10 percent.
Well, lets be truthfull for once.
"If what you're telling me is Texas is a conservative state, you're absolutely right," he said.

Republican Gov. Rick Perry harshly and frequently criticizes the president over the health care law, EPA regulation on oil and gas industries in Texas and the budget. But the president hinted at hypocrisy by the Texas governor.

"Gov. Perry helped balance his budget with about $6 billion worth of federal help -- which he happily took -- and then started blaming the members of Congress who had offered that help," Obama said.

Houston Republicans and Democrats suspect the Obama administration skipped Houston to award retired space shuttle orbiters to states that would help in the president's reelection.

"That's wrong," the president stated. "That had nothing to do with it; the White House had nothing to do with it. There was a whole commission, a whole process; that's how the decision was made."
Anyone can commission a commission to carry out a specific mission. And that is what you did.
Posted by: Unairt Hupising1829 || 04/19/2011 10:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now it looks like the reporter is going to be banned from the White House.

Now we know that the President of the United States is no more than a measley little man-child.
Posted by: Uneregum Bumble6751 || 04/19/2011 16:42 Comments || Top||

#2  coward and petulant child. He needs a spanking and returned to his room - in Chicago
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 18:04 Comments || Top||

#3  How would he cope if a shoe was thrown at him?
Posted by: Grunter || 04/19/2011 20:00 Comments || Top||

#4  In other news... White House secretary returns bust of Jim Bowie to Austin.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:14 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL ;] Our Prevaricator-in-Chief is a little thin-skinned, eh? He doesn't do too well without TOTUS. He's accustomed to getting thrown softball questions by the lame stream media--probably is given the questions in advance.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 21:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Obama is not cut from the cloth of American President's past. He is in the image of the weak, pitiful tyrants who saw free speach, free press, any thing they can not control, as a frightening enemy. Obama is a cold, hateful little runt.
Posted by: Lionel Flinenter3278 || 04/19/2011 21:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Runt. He. Pedigree info: "Worst in show" Obama is a intellectual lightweight who buckles under the slightest criticism. He would probably cry at Basic Training, if he'd ever had the occasion to enlist, which he would never.
Posted by: Fi || 04/19/2011 22:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Obama is a cold, hateful little runt


Yes, he is. He silently memorializes perceived slights or anyone who crossed out of his "serves his purpose" bubble. Years later, he'll get the better of them in the most passive aggressive manner at his disposal. Wasn't there even a "jilted lover" of his, Mr. Jeremiah Wright who got the cold shoulder after years of friendship?
Posted by: Fi || 04/19/2011 22:14 Comments || Top||

#9  He would probably cry at Basic Training, if he'd ever had the occasion to enlist, which he would never. Posted by Fi 2011-04-19 22:06||

Whimpering and sniveling is permissible in Taliban training camps. No problems.

Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 22:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Obama is a cold, hateful little runt.
Posted by Lionel Flinenter3278 2011-04-19 21:57||


Enough of your sycophatic embellishments Lionel.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 22:23 Comments || Top||

#11  Whimpering and sniveling is permissible typical in Taliban training camps after the Spring "Courting Rituals" among the Elders and Talibs.

Explains the desire to kill oneself
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 22:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Lived in Texas for 14 years, grew to like it. Want to go back, if I can sell my upside-down home in northern Virginia, and retire.

Hmmmm... I can't remember... Did W. ever take tough questions? Does a cat got an a$$?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/19/2011 22:34 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
As foreigners flee Japan, their jobs are filled by...Japanese people.
Yesterday, Japan's Asahi TV aired a 15 minute special report about how how foreigners have been avoiding Japan because of fears about radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The report focuses on the economic impact that a drop in tourism and an exodus of foreign workers:

Many foreign "trainees" who perform manual labor at factories have fled Japan. At a clothing factory in Tokyo, they find that only one of its five Chinese workers has left the country. They interview her by phone, and she says that she returned to China because her family was worried about radiation from Fukushima. Some of the other workers at the factory had considered leaving Japan after the announcement that Tokyo's water supply had been contaminated, but after radiation levels dropped, they decided to stay. They are concerned about food and water safety, but do not feel like abandoning their employer.

Farms are struggling after losing some of their "trainee" laborers. At once farm in Ibaraki, work has become very difficult after 3 of its 4 Chinese laborers left Japan.

However, not all hope is lost for Japan's farmers. The previously-mentioned farmer was able to hire 2 new employees: a Japanese couple who from Minamisoma city. They'd been living in an evacuation shelter since the nuclear accident and needed new jobs. Although they have no experience with farming, they seem happy to be working.
Amazing how that works.
Posted by: gromky || 04/19/2011 10:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now the Japanese need to put a little bonzai into increasing their birthrate before they disappear.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/19/2011 23:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Spencer: U.S. Intervention In Libya Aids the Jihad
Posted by: tipper || 04/19/2011 08:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We know.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 8:18 Comments || Top||

#2  And so does Obama, but that won't keep him from assisting the Jihadi crowd.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 10:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Besoeker - for obama it's a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Hellfish || 04/19/2011 12:17 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan arrests brother of bomber in Afghan attack
Jordan has arrested the brother of an Al Qaeda triple agent who blew himself up in a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009, killing seven CIA employees in what was one of the worst tragedies in the history of the American agency.

A Jordanian security official says the arrested man, Ayman al-Balawi, was detained in a sweep Friday along with 102 other members of the ultraconservative Muslim Salafi sect.

The sweep followed clashes with anti-government protesters in the eastern Jordanian city of Zarqa during which Salafis wounded 83 policemen.

The official said on Tuesday that Ayman al-Balawi is the brother of Humam, the Jordanian physician-turned-bomber who carried out the attack in Afghanistan.
This article starring:
Ayman al-Balawi
Posted by: tipper || 04/19/2011 07:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Humam didn't "kill" those seven agency people at FOB Chapman. Stupidity, poor agent tradecraft and political correctness are resposnbile.

Unfortunately, I continue to see and hear reporting of LN's met with an entourage and waved through checkpoints without proper searches. Wouldn't want to inflict cultural profiling or embarrassment upon anyone now would we?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 20:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Dearborn Prosecutors Predict Riot, Gunplay
Pastor Jones of Florida wants to protest in front of mosque on Good Friday.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 06:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must. Not. Provoke. Savages.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 6:46 Comments || Top||

#2 

Koran Burning Pastor Terry Jones Challenged In Court: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 6:51 Comments || Top||

#3 
"This is a violation of Christianity," Rowe said. "This is a violation of Judaism. This is a violation of Hinduism. This is a violation of every major faith in the world."


Except, it isn't. It's an expression of one faith against another. It's an essential element of religious freedom.

The problem isn't with the guy saying provocative things. It's with the animals who can't control themselves.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/19/2011 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  So, It's okay to put a crucifix in urine and call it art and make a painting of the virgin Mary using elephant dung and it's even okay for the Taliban to destroy Hindu statues that were thousands of years old and it's even okay to kill a few Danish cartoonists and writers but burning a Quran is not?....
Posted by: clockwork26+6 || 04/19/2011 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Terry Jones' planned demonstration at the Islamic Center of America on the Dearborn/Detroit border poses a "likelihood of a riot ensuing, complete with discharge of firearms."

It would not be Pastor Jones who was violent or brought the firearms to the demonstration.

University of Detroit Mercy law professor Larry Dubin said it attempts to balance free speech rights and the public's right to be safe.

Recently, SCOTUS came down on the side of free speech in the Westboro Baptist case.

If muslims are promising violence shouldn't they be footing the bill for extra police protection?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 10:03 Comments || Top||

#6  If muslims are promising violence shouldn't they be

getting the baton-thonking and teargas? Apparently they get the heckler's terrorists' veto
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 10:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Paraphrasing Jones' statement from the MyFoxDETROIT.com video:
'We're not protesting Islam. We're protesting Sharia and Jihad.'

Why is that even controversial? Why is it so commonplace to thoughtlessly vilify Jones to this extent?

Is there any reason to believe that an Islam practising Jihad, Sharia and Dhimmitude could coexist with a free and open Western society?

US policy towards Japan after WW2 was to tolerate Shintoism as a religion and competitor in the free marketplace of ideas. Simultaneously State-Shintoism was abolished as it was a totalitarian, supremacist and aggressive ideology.

A religion that was older than Islam was forced to undergo change for the better, on pain of nuclear strikes. And it was a success!

Why then is Jones cast a villain for peacefully demanding that Islam undertake similar reforms?
Posted by: Clyde Glavick3941 || 04/19/2011 13:32 Comments || Top||

#8  "State Shintoism . . . was a totalitarian, supremacist and aggressive ideology."

Bambi would absolutely love that.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 13:43 Comments || Top||

#9  "Dearborn Prosecutors Predict Hope
For Riot, Gunplay"

Fixed
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 13:44 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm starting to like this Terry Jones guy more and more.

And no one can deny that he has an awesome 'stache!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/19/2011 14:51 Comments || Top||

#11  A 'stache like that says, "I was nude on film once".
Posted by: Cragum Henbane1072 || 04/19/2011 20:52 Comments || Top||

#12  FBI, ATF, CIA, DEA, IRS, DHS, DNC, ACORN, ACLU, CBC, NAACP, CAIR, Secret Service, and Department of Agriculture investigations no doubt pending on Jones already. I doubt he will survive.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Polls Hurt The One - Economy Blamed
Now we'll see some action!
Deepening economic pessimism has pushed down President Obama's approval rating to a near record low, but he holds an early advantage over prospective 2012 rivals in part because of widespread dissatisfaction with Republican candidates, according to a new poll.
Good news - the incumbent faces a weak field - I'm sure that's the way the WaPo reported it in 2007, when the Dims were lining up to take a swing at W.
If the election were held now, Romney and Huckabee would mount the stiffest challenges, trailing Obama by four and six percentage points respectively, among all Americans as well as among registered voters.
If frogs had wings, they'd be pigeons.
Obama has double-digit leads over the other five tested -- a dozen points against the latest celebrity Trump and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), 15 against long-ago dethroned has-been Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and 17 points over the much-feared, grizzly-slaying, gun-toting, daughter's-boyfriend's-mother's bad habits, is it hers or is it Bristol's kid Palin.

Driving the downward movement in Obama's standing are renewed concerns about the economy and fresh worry about rising prices, particularly for gasoline. Despite reports the recession was over two years ago and oft-reported signs of economic growth, 44 percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years.
When the last recession was reported to have ended. Wish we were still drilling in the Gulf, Mr. President?
Not to worry, WaPo faithful, because If Obama is running into headwinds, however, his potential Republican opponents face serious problems, as well. Less than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they are satisfied with the field of GOP candidates.
I'd hafta include myself in that category, because I don't want a field of candidates, I'd like to see a patriotic leader for a candidate.
The latest findings come after the compromise agreement between Obama and Republicans to cut spending in the current fiscal year. It also comes less than a week after the president outlined his proposals for dealing with the country's debt and deficit problems in a speech that included a withering attack on a Republican proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Just the facts please. Try not to let your obvious bias for the incumbent be so ... obvious.
Buck up, dear readers; don't forget that Then-President Ronald Reagan was also below 50 percent at this point in 1983, but April of that year marked the last time before his 1984 landslide that he did not have majority approval in Post-ABC polling.
We could still have another landslide for our favorite candidate ever!
On the other hand...
Obama trails all seven Republicans among those who see the economy as getting worse -- Republicans are more apt than Democrats to perceive weakening -- and the president runs about evenly with potential competitors among those who report being the hardest hit by skyrocketing prices at the pump.
Keep dragging out that little war in Libya, Mr. President.
Economic anxiety also amplifies the president's challenges among core voter groups: For the first time in available data, more than half of whites without college degrees see the economy as deteriorating.
Even the unemployed, disadvantaged-with-no-minority-crutch-to-help-them, redneck core-voters think the economy is in the tank!
The telephone poll was conducted April 14-17 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults interviewed on old-people's conventional or cellular telephone. The margin of sampling error for the full poll is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; it is five points for the sample of self-identified Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/19/2011 06:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His polls would be lower if the MSM were an honest broker of the news. How about a headline which says: The ONE has caused the economy and our credit rating to tank and he does nothing about it? Gas prices have increased more than 200% since he took office.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  note the WaPo had to give a fake 10% edge to Dems to get that 47% approval (33-D/23-R/38-I). Can you imagine the approval rating if they honestly sampled? Dem/Rep is actually around 50%/50% for non-Independents
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 11:12 Comments || Top||

#3 
Then there is this question. How many "independents" are conservative and how many are liberal? No one ever seems to have THAT breakout.
Posted by: tipover || 04/19/2011 11:32 Comments || Top||

#4  The only way to really cut the deficit and the budget is to take an axe to the CAUSE of the deficit - the explosion of government. If we cut the government workforce by 25%, the amount of government regulation by 30%, and the amount of duplication by 50%, the budget would be slashed in half, revenue would increase by about 35%, and we'd have a revenue surplus that could be applied to the debt. It would be far better if Congress would make these cuts, rather than the American people. The People might be a tad over-zealous in their use of tar, feathers, and pitchforks, but I'm not really sure that would be bad. It might give "government" the idea that explosive growth at this time is bad, and they'll wait a few decades before trying it again. Tar and feathers would then be up to our grandchildren. I'll be sure to train mine right.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/19/2011 12:21 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptians Court US Foes - as expected
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 05:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Egypt will go down in history as Barack Obama's Iran. All we need is a hostage crisis.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/19/2011 11:24 Comments || Top||


Economy
Obama speech prompts S&P downgrade
The ratings agencies are hardly the last word on U.S. economic health. But the S&P outlook is a warning to the White House that financial markets have noticed that this President seems to have decided that his path to re-election lies in demonizing his opponents rather than seeing to the nation's fiscal well-being.
Some day the rest of the electorate may notice that the nation's fiscal well-being has NEVER mattered to this President. Or maybe they'll 'get used to it', and go down the drain.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 05:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obummer has left Carter far behind in the rear view mirror.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 10:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Wow!
Boy was I a piker.
I left a budget surplus, thank you Newt and good luck.
The WSJ says that we have a 14.3 TRILLION dollar debt and a 4.3 TRILLION budget deficit this year.
The good old WSJ (I wonder if any other Dems read that) says that you could sieze the assetts and confiscate all earnings (taxing at 100% is what Nancy would say) of anyone making more than $90K a year and only come up with $4.3 Trillion. The total assetts of the "rich" and that definition changes everyday, okay let's say only people making over $1.0 million, if you taxed them at 100% and took all of their assetts, land, donkey, savings, stocks, girl friends, boat, dog and hot tub, you would only come up with $1.4 Trillion.
I think S&P actually read the WSJ article and did the math.
How on earth can we ever repay $14.3 Trillion dollars in debt?
We've had our economy guided by the democrats since George W's second term. They've been in control of spending for six years and they managed to undo in six years what it took the american people to accomplish in 65.
It's ghastly. The only solutions are draconian and we all have Nancy, Harry and the empty suit to thank.
So next time a lib friend of yours starts with the name calling when you quote facts, look him in the eye and say "calling names and making wild accusations is all your party has done for twenty years. When are you going to quit acting like spoiled children and help with a solution?"
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/19/2011 10:36 Comments || Top||

#3  How on earth can we ever repay $14.3 Trillion dollars in debt?

It's easy. Just fire up the printing presses.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/19/2011 11:43 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Cuban leader Fidel Castro resigns
Fidel Castro has confirmed his resignation from the top leadership of the Cuba Communist Party.

He had served as the first secretary in the Central Committee of the Party since its creation in 1965.

The veteran leader said he had handed over the functions of the Party to Raul Castro when he ceded power to his brother due to poor health in 2006, though he retained the first secretary title.

"Raul knew that I would not accept a formal role in the party today," Fidel Castro said in an article on the Cubadebate.cu website, referring to his absence from Monday's Central Committee elections.

The AFP newsagency says his resignation comes as the Party approved landmark economic reforms at its conference in Havanna.

These include clearance for Cubans to buy and sell homes for the first time in decades, the cutting of more than a million government jobs and the phasing out of the country's universal monthly food ration.
Posted by: tipper || 04/19/2011 04:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He's dead, Jim.

Even Cuba is cutting back on the welfare state.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/19/2011 6:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess I shall never see my preferred vision of a weeping Fidel, kneeling on the ground, while surrounded by a group of grinning US Marines, feeding him handfuls of his beard.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/19/2011 9:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Castro's Cuba turns it's back on central planning, just as Obama's America embraces socialism (as it is going bankrupt).

What is wrong with this picture???!?!?!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/19/2011 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Because THIS TIME its going to WORK!

Or so say'eth Obumbles the LightBringer!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/19/2011 15:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Uncle Fidel's personal health is believed to be in slow but certain decline since his infamous "fall/trip" before the Media cameras - in any case, + bro Uncle Raul may likely to stay in ruling power thru 2018.

IMO the larger picture is OWG-NWO "REGIONALISM" = CONFEDERALISM, i.e. setting up of CARIBBEAN UNION = IMPROVED PAN-AMERICAN UNION, ETC. MULTILATERAL POLITIES + espec CUBA'S NICHE IN SAME, hence the push to initiate MAJOR DOMESTIC REFORMS.

Cuba = Quba/Qaba has also always been interested [fickle] in preventing a Soviet-style National, Ideo implosion.

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CUBA IS NO LONGER A DAGGER AIMED AT THE US.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 20:15 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The Great Education Rip-Off
h/t Gates of Vienna
It has taken a severe recession, combined with rising costs for gas and the weekly grocery list, for Americans to begin to seriously question where their tax dollars are going and why. As individuals, as families, and communities, we can no longer be indifferent or profligate.

The events in Wisconsin where the teacher's union led to protests against collective bargaining has made many Americans begin to question all those TV ads about what a great job teachers are doing and the reassuring message that it's all about the kids. No, it's all about salaries, health benefits, and pensions that far exceed those in the private sector.

... A recent Policy Analysis (No. 662) published by the Cato Institute on March 10th and written by Adam Schaeffer is titled "They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools."

The analysis is based on a review of district budgets and state records for the nation's five largest metro areas and the District of Columbia. "It reveals that, on average, per-pupil spending in these areas is 44% higher than officially reported." In other words, taxpayers simply had no idea how big a part of their local and state budget the educational system actually represented. That is deceit on a massive scale.
The money quote
If a district is spending $30,000 per child, surely that is enough to ensure a high-quality education. If the school buildings are nonetheless in disrepair and the kids can't read, then there is good reason to suspect that a massive share of that money is being wasted.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 03:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AFAIAC, education has been the go-to cash cow for governments at all levels to cover deficits. You vote for a new school and half of it gets put to use covering something else.
Posted by: gorb || 04/19/2011 4:40 Comments || Top||

#2  IOW: "We work for the government, and we're here to help ourselves."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 5:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Just like the UK National Health Service problems the US has an equaivalent "National Education Service" and all the same problems that entails.

Get the government out of providing treatment, and get it out of providing schools!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/19/2011 6:13 Comments || Top||

#4  We don't Care!

We don't have to!

We're the phone company TEACHERS UNION!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/19/2011 8:13 Comments || Top||

#5  If a district is spending $30,000 per child

That's considerably more than charged by the International School of Brussels, one of the top-rated American-style private schools in the International School system. ISB students get annual class trips abroad from 4th grade on, preparation for the very rigourous International Baccalaureate diploma, several foreign languages, and tutoring in their home language if there is not a regular class offered in it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2011 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Get rid of the Teacher's unions, the Department of Education and sit down with a clean piece of paper and start over.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 10:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Yet I keep hearing the statement that for every dollar "invested" in education we get a $7 return.Yet somehow I got a better education for less money per pupil than my son, and the only reason his son's not getting a lower quality education is because he's home schooled.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 10:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Right now, if asked, I would recommend being a welder rather than being an IT worker, to a young man finishing high school. As a welder he will not be competing with cheap IT from overseas, and H1B who lower salaries, all while trying to pay off his student loans. Join the Navy, learn to weld, then get out and do it for a living, and take accounting and business classes at night on the GI bill so you can eventually run your own company.
Posted by: The Other Beldar || 04/19/2011 16:41 Comments || Top||

#9  I personally know one teacher here that has missed 52 school days and still has her job.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/19/2011 17:15 Comments || Top||

#10  P. S. Her absences have not been due to health issues.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/19/2011 17:16 Comments || Top||

#11  When I went to the college you could work your way through school, i.e. college was affordable for nearly everyone who wanted to go. Today students often go into debt for 100-150K for their college education. As The Other Beldar said going into the military, getting training such as welding, and then using the GI bill to pick up specific courses might be a good way to go. A friend's son got training in welding, started his own company and was making more than an exceptionally good living.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 21:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Join the Navy, learn to weld,.....The Other Beldar

Didn't help Dan Quayle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Quayle joined the Indiana Army National Guard [journalism unit] and served from 1969–1975, attaining the rank of sergeant.

Maybe it was the 'Army' part.

Couldn't have been the 'journalism'...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2011 22:30 Comments || Top||

#14  At least he didn't visit Pakistan or disappear with no known or recorded address, into the streets of NYC for two years. Lots of National Guard folks in Afghanistan right now. I'm proud of them. Always have been.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 22:38 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Gunmen kill three in ambush in southern Thailand
A soldier and two teenagers on a motorcycle were killed after gunmen ambushed an army unit in Pattani province on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, police said that a group of gunmen opened fire at a field army base in Nong Chik district around 8:30 p.m. yesterday. The soldiers returned fire and the attackers retreated.

A team of 10 soldiers pursued the gunmen but were ambushed during the car chase.

In the fight that resulted, a soldier was killed and two teenaged civilians passing by on a motorcycle were wounded. The two, aged 15 and 19, were taken to a hospital where they died.

A father of one of the young victims was also gunned down a while back by suspected insurgents, police said.

Train station bomb injures two policemen

Two police officers were injured in a bombing near a train station in Narathiwat province.

Pol Sgt Chakpong Saengsawat and Pol Cpl Ratthapong Pramoonsap were severely injured in the bombing while inspecting a checkpoint near the Ruso train station after gunmen fired at it.

Two attackers on a motorcycle fired at them but no one was injured in the incident. The officers guarding the station were inspecting the site when a bomb near the railway track was set off by a mobile phone signal. The bomb exploded about 200 meters away from the shooting attack. Five men were believed to have carried out the attack.

The incident occurred only hours after a car bomb incident in Yala province which killed one Army ranger and wounded 23 others including civilians.

A surveillance camera showed the car was parked for around two hours before the car bomb exploded Monday at 8:16 a.m. Images of the driver were captured and investigations continue. Two small gas cylinders were in the carÂ’s trunk and were triggered by a radio communication device.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/19/2011 03:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Moody's cuts Irish banks to junk
h/t Gates of Vienna
Rating agency MoodyÂ’s has downgraded long-term deposits at Irish banks by two notches to junk status.

This follows last weekÂ’s cut to IrelandÂ’s sovereign debt rating by the agency. TodayÂ’s move means Bank of Ireland is now rated Ba1 while AIB , EBS and Irish Life & Permanent are rated Ba2.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 03:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


#2  A peculiarity is that the Bank of Ireland prints its own currency notes denominated in pounds sterling that are legal tender in the North, although not in the South.

Which must be the only case in the world where a bank effectively owned by one country can issue the currency of another country.

The notes feature my old university and Bushmills distillery, both institutions I am rather fond of.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2011 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I didn't know this,

Most of the notes issued by the note-issuing banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland have to be backed by Bank of England notes held by the issuing bank. The combined size of these banknote issues is well over a billion pounds. To make it possible for the note-issuing banks to hold equivalent values in Bank of England notes, the Bank of England issues special notes with denominations of one million pounds ("Giants") and one hundred million pounds ("Titans") for internal use by the other banks.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2011 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  "the Bank of England issues special notes with denominations of one million pounds ("Giants") and one hundred million pounds ("Titans")"

The dollar equivalent of which we'll need to buy a loaf of bread if the tax-and-spend politicians don't knock it off. :0(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 13:29 Comments || Top||

#5  ("Giants") and one hundred million pounds ("Titans")"

All of which sounds rather cornish pornish and gay.

..... one hundred billion dollars ("Baracks") ???
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 20:47 Comments || Top||


Europe
how EU wastes aid billions
h/t Gates of Vienna
Billions of taxpayersÂ’ cash is being spent on spurious aid projects through the EU, including giving dance lessons to Africans who earn less than 70p a day.
Britons pay £1.4billion towards the EU’s £10billion aid budget, but much of the money is going to corrupt regimes or projects where no checks are made that it is properly spent.
Meanwhile, relatively wealthy Turkey is the EU’s main recipient of aid, raking in £500million a year.
Of course EU knows it'll be bailed out by Uncle Sugar
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 03:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
18 wounded in clash with protestors in Sulaimaniya
SULAIMANIYA / Aswat al-Iraq: At least 18 people were wounded in clashes between protestors and anti-riot squad in the city of Sulaimaniya, a director of the Sulaimaniya emergency hospital said on Monday.

“Eighteen people, including eight policemen, were wounded in clashes between protestors in Moulwy street and anti-riot squad,” Dr. Hawar 'Quincy' Naqshabandy told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Three people were wounded by gunfire, while others suffered suffocation due to tear gas and stones,” he added.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Top Libyan cleric supports uprising
[Maghrebia] Leading Libyan holy man Sheikh al-Sadek al-Ghariani is calling on the people of Tripoli and other cities under the control of Muammar Qadaffy
... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years ...
to prove their presence and demonstrate. In a video message released last Thursday, he said it was their religious duty to show support for their brothers in the western mountains, Misrata, Zintan and other places besieged by Qadaffy's battalions. He also called on Libyan tribes to support the revolution, saying that the uprising was not directed against any one tribe or person, but rather against injustice and tyranny.

In what many saw as a response to the holy man's message, large-scale demonstrations in all Libyan provinces on Friday (April 15th) called for the departure of Qadaffy and his sons. Protestors demanded that the international community do more to protect civilians. Tripoli residents say that if the international community doesn't intervene quickly in the Libyan capital, it will face a real humanitarian food crisis, now that the stores shelves are empty.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also WAFF [old] > LIBYANS ORDERED TO ATTACK NATO [including NATO ally Muslim Turkey], by "Core" Al-Qaeda #2 AYMAN ZAWAHIRI.

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > GOVT. SPOKEMAN: AL-QAEDA INVOLVED IN LIBYAN CONFLICT,
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Tripoli residents say that if the international community doesn't intervene quickly in the Libyan capital, it will face a real humanitarian food crisis, now that the stores shelves are empty.

So whats that again? There's a potential food crisis on the horizon? Huh...what's that? Ya say it could become a humanitarian food crisis. Whoa...and it's a real one ta boot. Well then...lets just check our handy-dandy R2P handbook then. Yep...right there...see...under food crisis it clearly says humanitarian all right. Ok then we better start armming the rebels with some of the heavy shit then. Oops did I say rebels? Silly me...I meant to say we better arm the reluctant civilian warriors. Just make sure it says defensive weapons on the crates. We got a narrow mandate ya know. After all...we're the international community...we require legitimacy dammit!
Posted by: DepotGuy || 04/19/2011 10:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan: Teenager tells of failed suicide bomb mission
In early April a suicide blast ripped though a Pakistani shrine packed with thousands of devotees, leaving scores dead. Both attackers were schoolboys in their early teens. But one survived and told the BBC's Aleem Maqbool what made him want to take his life and the lives of others.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  what made him want to take his life and the lives of others?

Probably the likelihood that he'd never get laid.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/19/2011 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  And Pakistan Army wont invade North Waziristan because?
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 04/19/2011 16:26 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Ashley Judd aka Linda Porter in "De-Lovely" aka Elizabeth 'Libby' Parsons in "Double Jeopardy" aka Norma Jean in "Norma Jean & Marilyn" aka Ruby Lee Gissing in "Ruby in Paradise" (age 43)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/19/2011 1:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Ashley Judd was also in the movie Kiss the Girls with Morgan Freeman and adapted from the James Patterson novel.

Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 9:53 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Army bans Falluja delegation from Mosul
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: An army force prevented on Monday a delegation from Falluja from entering Mosul to take part in the sits-in, according to a security source.

“Iraqi army prevented on Monday evening chieftains and public figures in Falluja from entering Mosul to attend the sits-in in al-Ahrar square, running for the 10th consecutive day,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The delegation contains a bus carrying 40 persons and four vehicles. The vehicles entered the city but the bus was prevented at a checkpoint in Hamam al-Alil district, south of Mosul,” the source added.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
KP assembly approves resolution against drone attacks
[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Assembly has approved a resolution against US drone attacks in the tribal regions of the country.

The resolution was presented by by senior minister Bashir Bilour and demands that the US envoy to the country be summoned to the Foreign Office.

The resolution calls for an immediate end to the drone strikes, stating that they violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and are counter-productive in fighting militancy. The resolution also demands that US should hand over drone technology to Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Compare wid NEWS KERALA > [UKMoD Report]DRONES TAKING COMBAT SITUATIONS TOWARDS A "TERMINATOR-STYLE" REALITY. UK to ponder the ETHICS, MORALISM + LEGALISM, ETC. OF USING KILLER ROBOTS IN MAJOR WAR, UN-CENTRIC "POLICE ACTIONS", OOTW.

What constitutes "ACCEPTABLE MACHINE BEHAVIOR" as per WarBots.

["BLADERUNNER" + "I, ROBOT" + BSG CYLON BABES here].

D *** NG IT, AMERICA = AMERIKA, YOUSE ARE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT YOUR LASER BOT, NOT DATE IT OR LEGALLY MARRY IT OR ADOPT ROBO-KIDDIES!

[VENTURE BROTHERS = Support-your-1960's-Moonbase here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 1:32 Comments || Top||


Iraq
ISI 'governor' to swing
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The so-called Wali (governor) of northeast Iraq’s Diala Province of the underground “Islamic State of Iraq,” has been sentenced to death by a Baghdad court on Monday.

“The 2nd Commission of the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad’s Karkh area has issued a death sentence against the Wali (governor) of Diala Province, according to Article 4-Terrorism of the Iraqi Law,” al-Iraqiya TV channel reported.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where can I buy tickets for the event?
Posted by: American Delight || 04/19/2011 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  When I saw the headline, I thought they meant the governor of Pakistain's intelligence service. Darn.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/19/2011 7:22 Comments || Top||

#3  ISI = Pakistan.
Posted by: gromky || 04/19/2011 9:26 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Police seize six grenades in Malaysian hotel
[Straits Times] MALAYSIAN police said on Monday they had seized six grenades from a hotel in the capital and were investigating for possible links to terror groups.

The grenades were found in a budget hotel room in the Brickfields area, following a police raid last Wednesday, city police chief Zulkifli Abdullah told AFP.

'Police carried out the raid on Wednesday and we are investigating to find out more details on the grenades, its owners and links,' he said, without giving further details.

State media reported police were investigating if the explosives were linked to regional orc groups but the head of the country's anti-terror task force said initial reports showed they were unlikely to be used by terror groups.

A string of arrests and detentions last year have highlighted the growing presence of forces of Evil using Malaysia as a base to recruit supporters and plan attacks. Malaysia's universities have also become prime recruiting grounds for Islamic orcs, security experts have warned.

Unlike neighbouring Indonesia and Thailand, the moderate Mohammedan-majority nation has remained largely free of terror attacks but there are fears that lax policies could create a haven for jihadists.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Olde Tyme Religion
Many in Indonesia want to ban the Ahmadiyah
The Ahmadiyah are afraid and it is obvious why. Hardline Islamic groups want the sect to be banned - they say it deviates from the tenets of Islam, and therefore has no place in Indonesian society.

Over the past few months these hardliners have become increasingly vocal in their demands - holding rallies in central Jakarta and airing their views in the media.

But some have taken it even further. In February, a violent mob bludgeoned three Ahmadis to death. Since then, houses and mosques have been attacked and protesters have vowed to escalate the violence if they do not get their way.

And it is not just hardliners who want the Ahmadiyah disbanded.
Continue reading the main story

In TV talk-shows and internet chat-rooms, it is obvious that an increasing number of Indonesians, while not condoning the violence, would like to see an end to the Ahmadiyah in their country.

One man we spoke to, who lived opposite the Ahmadis' mosque in Bogor, said he thought it would be better if they just went away.

Even the local authorities are making life difficult for them.

"In terms of whether the Ahmadiyah should be banned, we're still studying whether it will be the best”
- Nasarudin Umar Director General for Islamic Guidance, Religious Ministry
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another episode in the endless saga of the 'Death to infidels and apostates' racket.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/19/2011 6:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Burkina Faso mutiny spreads south as soldiers seize town
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Mutinous soldiers seized a key southern town in Bukina Faso as a revolt against the west African nation's veteran ruler Blaise Compaore spread today.

Soldiers at a military garrison at Po near the Ghana border had gun sex and took over the town overnight, looting and seizing private vehicles, residents told AFP.

Two people were maimed in the firing, a hospital source said.

"The firing has intensified. The soldiers are currently in the town, some on foot and the others on cycle of violences," a resident said today.

"The looting is still going on. The soldiers are taking the cars of those who venture outside in their vehicles," another said.

Po, about 140 kilometres from the capital Ouagadougou, houses a training school for Burkinabe military officers and is a symbolic town for Compaore, who trained here.

Compaore staged a 1983 coup from Po which brought his friend and comrade in arms Thomas Sankara to power. The former army captain himself took control of the country later in a 1987 military coup and has won all elections since.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  look ... i know there are no good guys in Burkina Faso - including the FRENCH...
But... before trying to choose sides. Are there enough assets (excluding a few blood diamonds) in the whole country to buy 1 happy meal?
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/19/2011 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  My apathy meter's quivering between 0 and 0.0.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 16:17 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Authorities: No topless dancing please, we're Thai
[Straits Times] THAI authorities say it's inappropriate that three young women danced topless in downtown Bangkok during rowdy New Year's celebrations.
I always thought that was a feature, not a bug, in Muong Thai...
Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat said on Monday the incident during the annual Songkran water festival was 'very inappropriate and unacceptable.'

It happened last week not far from the world-famous Patpong red-light district and was captured on videos posted online.
The red light district... That's where they keep the hookers, right?
He said, 'I demand that society come out and criticise them.'
Why? They didn't have tasty looking udds?
Songkran traditionally was a time to sprinkle water on elders respectfully in exchange for blessings.
I remember it as a time to splash everybody in sight and to be splashed in turn...
Splashing water on unsuspecting friends or passers-by became a way to relieve the heat, but now the revelry often includes drunken mayhem.
Probably about the same as it was 40 years ago... (Pa diu cha pai sao fai daeng)...
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doesn't say if they were Thai or shameless Western sluts.

Notice the amused tone the author takes. "Everyone should obey the rules that we follow, not their own silly moral codes."
Posted by: gromky || 04/19/2011 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I used to have some pictures of "Happy New Year 1972" painted on a fine pair of bouncing boobies in Thailand.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 16:14 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Kingdom says oil market is oversupplied
[Arab News] Soddy Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said on Sunday the world oil market was oversupplied and the Kingdom had reduced output, sending a the strongest signal yet that OPEC may not boost output in June to quell soaring oil prices.

Consumers have urged the exporters' group to add supply to halt the rally in oil prices that has taken crude to its highest level in 2 1/2 years amid unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, but OPEC members say there is little they can do to bring prices down.

"The market is overbalanced ... Our production in February was 9.125 million barrels per day (bpd), in March it was 8.292 million bpd. In April we don't know yet, probably a little higher than March. The reason I gave you these numbers is to show you that the market is oversupplied," Al-Naimi told news hounds.

Two Saudi-based industry sources told Rooters last week the kingdom had cut production.

Al-Naimi's words, echoed later on Sunday by his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, are the clearest indications yet that the group is unconvinced there is a need for more oil despite the civil war that has slashed Libyan output and expectations Japanese oil demand will rise as it scrambles to rebuild its earthquake-shattered electricity grid.

"These statements underscore the breadth of the security premium currently in (oil) prices. Overall supplies are sufficient," said John Kilduff of energy hedge fund Again Capital. "As we've seen in the past, however, a well-supplied market is not always a barrier to very high prices."

Al-Naimi declined to comment on the current price of crude.

Oil prices fell early last week after Goldman Sachs warned high prices may be eroding demand, but rebounded on signs of renewed health in the US economy on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand there's yer $5/gal by the weekend. As soon as the speculators hear this, they're going to send prices into orbit.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/19/2011 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  The U.S. should organize a food cartel similar to OPEC. Food for oil. Screw the Saudis. They have never been our friend.

Posted by: JohnQC || 04/19/2011 18:11 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Six Algerian soldiers killed in two attacks east of Algiers
[Ennahar] Five Algerian soldiers and one gendarme were killed Sunday in two kabooms in Amal and Bouderbala, east of Algiers, said a security source.

A gendarme was killed by a bomb kaboom in mid-morning in Bouderbala in the Department of Bouira (120 km south-east of Algiers), near a site belonging to a Chinese company, according to this source.

Less than an hour later, five soldiers died when the two vehicles in which they were travelling blown up by bombs near Ammal (70 km east of Algiers), falling into a ravine, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


India-Pakistan
School blown up in Nowshera
[Dawn] A government primary school for boys was blown up by unidentified person in the small hours of Sunday near the shrine of Kaka Sahib in Nowshera district.Police said that the school was located in Speen Kani Khurd street near the shrine of Sufi saint Kaka Sahib in the limits of Nowshera Kalan cop shoppe.

The residents of the area said that a powerful kaboom rocked the entire village when they were in deep slumber. "Later we came to know that the bomb went off inside the primary school," they added.

An official of the cop shoppe concerned told Dawn by telephone that a classroom of the school was completely destroyed while the other partially damaged in the blast. "Police had placed in durance vile many cut-throats in the Kaka Sahib area some two years ago," he said.

He added Militants were present in the area some two years ago but police conducted operations against them.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Family of Awarta teen deny allegations
[Ma'an] The family of one of two teens charged by Israeli forces in the murder of a settler family last month is contesting the allegations, saying 19-year-old Hakim Awwad was too ill to have carried out the gruesome attack.

Nouf Awwad told Ma'an on Sunday - the day reports of the allegations against her son were made public with the lifting of an Israeli gag-order on the case of the slain settlers - that Hakim was still recovering from a recent surgery, which prevented him from walking long distances and required him to use the toilet every hour.

"We have the medical records, he is in unstable health," she said, adding that the family is gathering the papers to present as evidence in defense of Hakim.

She said Hakim had undergone testicular surgery in November at the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus.

"He was at home [the night of the murders] and went to bed at 9:30 [p.m.]," she said.

Hakim, who was jugged in early April during the third sweep of detentions carried out by Israeli forces, has remained in detention since that time, and has had no contact with his family. Nouf said she "could not rule out" the idea that her son had been tortured and confessed under duress.

The mother said her daughter, Hakim's sister, Julia had also been jugged during the month-long series of sweeps. She said Julia had been released exhausted, and said she had been harshly interrogated and put under "severe psychological pressure," and had collapsed more than once during questioning.

Head of the village council Qais Awwad said he suspected much of Israel's investigation had been carried out using torture to extract confessions from residents, and repeated his insistence that international Sherlocks, or at the least observers, be present as the investigation continued.

Hakim was one of two teens from Awarta named in a briefing document obtained by AFP, in which Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet said it had tossed in the slammer two main suspects and five suspected accomplices.

"The two, residents of the village of Awarta, confessed during the investigation to planning and carrying out the attack and staged a reconstruction," the Shin Bet document said.

Six of the men tossed in the slammer in connection with the case are members of the Awad family from the village of Awarta, and a seventh, a resident of Ramallah, was a friend of one of the suspected accomplices, the document said.

The Israeli military confirmed the arrests. Colonel Nimrod Aloni, commander of the Shomron Brigade in the northern area of the occupied West Bank told a briefing: "We can say that the murderers are in our hands."

Hakim and Amjad, jugged in separate raids, were both named as prime suspects in the murders of five members of the Fogel family, settlers who lived in the illegal settlement of Itamar, adjacent to the village.

The Fogel parents and three of their children including an infant were found stabbed to death in their beds on 11 March. The killings spurred an increase in settler attacks against Paleostinians.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Ministry of Defence
[Tolo News] A jacket wallah who infiltrated into the Afghan Ministry of Defence on Monday was bumped off before detonating his explosives, officials said.

The suicide bomber first opened fire killing two Afghan National Army soldiers and wounding 7 others, Zahir Azimi, a front man for Ministry of Defence told TOLOnews.

According to reports a senior bodyguard of the Afghan Defence Minister and the secretary of the chief of staff are also maimed.

The suicide bomber entered the ministry in a military uniform, Mr Azimi added.

Taliban grabbed credit for the attack and said they had intended to kill the Afghan Defence Minister.

The attack occurred while the Afghan and French Defence Ministers wanted to appear at a news conference.

It is not clear if the man disguised himself in army uniform or was in fact a Taliban fighter that had infiltrated the Afghan army through the normal recruitment channels.

Recently the Afghan Defence Ministry said it had taken all measures to prevent infiltration of faceless myrmidons into the Afghan cops.

Afghan forces are to undertake security responsibilities of seven areas of the country in July this year.

There are around 174,000 Afghan National Army recruits and the number is expected to increase to more than 200,000 by the end of 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea's Brat Pack Lead Life of Luxury
When Kim Jong-chol, the second son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, spent 10 leisurely days in Singapore in February going on a luxury shopping spree and attending an Eric Clapton concert, he was apparently joined by a brat pack of children of powerful officials in North Korea.

An official source here said Sunday intelligence information reveals Kim Jong-chol (30) and members of the so-called Ponghwajo or torch group not only visited Singapore, but also went to Macao and Malaysia to gamble and shop.

The Ponghwajo consists of the regime's princelings, not to be confused with the children of early high-ranking officials who fought as revolutionaries along with former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. These sons of the revolutionaries are now in their 50s and 60s and have recently been tapped to serve in key positions under North Korea's heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

But the Ponghwajo are in their 30s and 40s and are not viewed favorably by the regime's leadership. Though they are often engaged in activities that generate dollar revenues through drug sales, counterfeiting and black market trade, they apparently do not wield much political power.

The group was formed in the early 2000s by O Se-won, the son of Gen. O Kuk-ryol, a senior leader in North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission, and Kim Chol, the son of Kim Won-hong, head of the People's Army Security Command. Its members include Ri Il-hyok, the first son of Ri Chol, former North Korean ambassador to Switzerland and the official in charge of handling Kim Jong-il's secret bank accounts, as well as Kang Tae-seung, the eldest son of First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju and Jo Song-ho, the eldest son of the late Jo Myong-rok, first vice chairman of the National Defense Commission who died last year.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, the people of the "workers paradise" eat bark-soup.
Posted by: Jiggs Joper3143 || 04/19/2011 18:39 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza police identify murder suspects

[Ma'an] Gazoo police on Monday released the photos of four men identified as the prime suspects in the murder of Italian activist and journalist Vittorio Arrigoni.

Police said the four were currently runaways, and apparently in hiding.

The four were identified as Abdul-Rahman Al-Breizat, Mahmoud Muhammad Nimir Salfiti, Muhammad Al-Breizat, and Bilal Al-Umari.

Police did not say whether any of the men were affiliated with a political, religious or military group in the coastal enclave.

Two men jugged earlier were not directly involved in the murder, police said.

Police gave no indication as to who identified the four, or whether they were suspected to be behind the hanging of Arrigoni, or connected to his abduction last week.

Arrigoni was kidnapped in Gazoo City, and his captors released a ransom video Thursday threatening to execute him unless Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, released Salafi prisoners within 30 hours. Before the deadline passed, the Italian activist was found hanged in an abandoned home northwest of Gazoo City.

On Sunday, Gazoo Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
offered police a reward for the arrest of those involved, and police announced a closure of sectors of the Strip in an attempt to close in on suspects.

Haniyeh also announced that Arrigoni would be granted a state funeral, and that his body would be transferred into the custody of family via the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Arrigoni's mother told the Italian newspaper Agenzia Giornalistica Italia that she would not allow her son's body to return from Gazoo via Israel.

"Israel did not want him when he was alive and won't have him when he is dead," she told AGI.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Arrigoni's mother told the Italian newspaper Agenzia Giornalistica Italia that she would not allow her son's body to return from Gazoo via Israel. "Israel did not want him when he was alive and won't have him when he is dead," she told AGI.

Even when her darling boy is murdered by Arabs, hatred of Israel remains a dominant passion of her life. I wonder how many like her there are in Europe? (just kidding---I know exactly how many.)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 5:22 Comments || Top||

#2  apparently the poisoned fruit didn't fall far from the sick tree
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Why do all these jihadi guys look like child molesters? And no, I wouldn't trust them alone around my camel either.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/19/2011 10:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Why do all these jihadi guys look like child molesters?

Probably something to do with inbreeding.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/19/2011 11:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Why do all these jihadi guys look like child molesters?

Because most of them are.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 11:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Why do all these jihadi guys look like child molesters?

Perverted 'Religion'?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/19/2011 11:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Ya' beat me to it, grom.

Maybe you know - does nobody in Gazoo know what tweezers are? A few minutes with tweezers (or wax) would at least clear up their one-eyebrow problem so their mug shots would look better.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 13:21 Comments || Top||

#8  I thought chicks dug unibrows.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/19/2011 15:24 Comments || Top||

#9  "I thought chicks dug unibrows."

This chick doesn't. Most women I know don't, though they generally try not to judge. It's not a deal-breaker if I think the guy is otherwise decent, if slightly clueless.

But for these clowns, the "decent" part is missing never existed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 17:54 Comments || Top||

#10  tweezers? I'd use a blowtorch
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 18:05 Comments || Top||

#11  A few minutes with tweezers (or wax) would at least clear up their one-eyebrow problem

Different cultures, different ideas of what's attractive. I'm under the impression that the single brow fashion came from ancient Persia, but I could be wrong. On the other hand, there does seem to be a bit of a hairiness fetish, more facial hair demonstrating masculinity. I suspect some of the gentlemen find it necessary to augment with a pencil what nature provided.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2011 23:34 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Fighting Continues in Libya
[Tolo News] Libyan government forces continue to continue their offensive on the eastern frontline of Ajdabiya, with rebels unable to resist, reports say. Misrata also remains under attack from Qadaffy forces with the humanitarian situation worsening in the city.

The rebels have called for modern weapons to be able to advance against Qadaffy forces.

The UN passed a resolution a month ago to protect Libyan civilians.

Air strikes immediately started with La Belle France as the first country but the US after some day called on the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
to take the lead of the Libya operations.

The call was made after President Barack B.O. Obama came under pressure by some Congress members asking him to clearly define the Libya mission.

The NATO took the lead and the rebels were first satisfied with the air strikes that helped them take many of the key town and oil installations from government forces, but they were soon pushed back with Qadaffy forces using new tactics.

A major part of Qadaffy's heavy weaponry including tanks have been destroyed, but the fighting has continued.

The US, La Belle France and UK have clearly vowed in a joint letter that Qadaffy must go and have said the Libyan people will not have a good future if Col Qadaffy remains in power.

Rebels have been in a back-and-forth fighting with government forces and have not been able to advance despite continuing air strikes against Qadaffy.

NATO members were divided on the idea of sending ground troops as British Prime Minister had previously said he would not rule it out. Western countries have now rule out sending ground troops to Libya.

There were recently concerns in Afghanistan that if NATO gets too much involved in Libya, its attention to Afghanistan will reduce.

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
Russia has been one of the countries to suggest that NATO is exceeding its mandate in Libya.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NEWS KERALA > WILL BRITAIN USE [stored surplus = 60 ea.] HARRIERS TO STRIKE AT GADDAFI'S FORCES?

ARTIC = Britain has the Aircraft but just "doesn't use them", IT WOULD BE IDEAL IFF THESE HARRIERS COULD BE FLOWN OFF A NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER JUST OFF LIBYUH INSTEAD OF HAVING TO FLY FROM DISTANT ISLAND BASES.

IIUC ARTIC = THE UK = NATO-EU WOULD TWO OR MORE ALL-EURO ONLY? CV'S [no USN] ON AFLOAT-STATION TO BETTER SUPPORT THE NFZ.

Wehell, the UK for one can re-review + cancel its scrapping, sale of HMS ARK ROYAL. Other Euros + Brazil have CV's - if necessary, the UK may consider CONVERTED MERCHANT CARRIER(S) ALA 1980'S FALKLANDS WAR???

"REGIONALISM"-FOR-GLOBALISM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 1:20 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Msian police probing those behind screening of sex video
[Straits Times] POLICE are now investigating those who were responsible for screening the sex video allegedly involving a man resembling opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) deputy chief Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the police had yet to hear from the distributor of the Omega watch said to have been taken from the hotel room where the sex video was allegedly recorded.

He added that police could not force them to provide information on who was the watch owner.

'The identity of the watch's owner is not an issue in completing the investigation,' he said.

He also said the police had completed their probe into the sex video and the findings would be submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers soon.

'However,
The ever-popular However...
we are not investigating the identity of the man in the video, but the ones responsible for the screening of it,' he said yesterday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Boondoggle in tax code: Subsidies for green energy
But supposedly this is all in the name of creating "green jobs," which Obama often calls "jobs that cannot be outsourced." On this score, the renewable energy grants fall far short, as revealed by the muckraking of Russ Choma of American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop.

Take the Meadow Lake Wind Farm in Indiana, which received the single largest 1603 grant, $276 million. Meadow Lake is owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDP Renovaveis, a Portuguese company. Choma reported that the turbines at Meadow Lake are manufactured by Vestas, and thus "likely made in Denmark, where Vestas is from." The turbines sit atop 350-foot towers imported from Vietnam.

So U.S. taxpayers cut a $276 million check to a Portuguese company in order to create jobs in Denmark and Vietnam.

EDP's U.S. lobbyists include 2008 Democratic National Convention superdelegate Tonio Burgos and the K Street firm Capitol Tax Partners, which boasts a platoon of former GOP and Democratic tax writers from the Treasury Department and from Capitol Hill.

EDP and Horizon also own and operate Blackstone Wind Farm in Illinois, which got a $171 million grant through Section 1603.

Many companies got grants for wind projects they had already completed before 2009, when the stimulus bill was written and passed. That means this money was no incentive, it was simply a giveaway.

The 1603 grant program was set to expire at the end of last year, but the wind and solar industry began a fierce lobbying campaign to keep open the spigot of free cash. Lobbying filings show industrial giants like Bechtel and Vestas pushed for the extension.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where is MY 276 million dollar check?
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/19/2011 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  If you are an American water modem. Your shit-outta-luck!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/19/2011 0:35 Comments || Top||

#3  ION WMF > USDOD "CLIMATE CHANGE 2012-2020" REPORT: TWO US EXPERTS WARN THAT A SEVERE WINTER COULD OCCUR IN 2012 WHICH WILL INDUCE MASS DIASPORAS IN JAPAN, RUSSIA, + SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES. "CLIMATE REFUGEES" FROM CARIBBEAN ISLANDS MAY FLOCK TO THE MAINLAND US, MEXICO, OR OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE AMERICAN HEMISPHERE. WAVES OF EUROPEAN REFUGEES TO CONUS-NORAM DUE TO WATER, FOOD, + ENERGY CRISES, + DESIRE TO IMPROVE PERSONAL ECON WEALTH.

OTHER:
> RISING WORLD OIL PRICES = lead to mil or violence-led conflicts in the Persian Gulf + Caspian Sea Regions by Year 2020???
> FRANCE-VS-GERMANY Conflict over RHINE VALLEY RESOURCES in Year 2022???
> US-VS-CHINA CONFLICT in the Persian Gulf by circa Year 2025???
> ROUTINE ARCTIC ICE MELTS = will increasingly damage iff not destroy the WORLD'S SOURCES FOR FRESHWATER???

"PEAK WATER" = END OF "CHEAP WATER"???

["TANK GIRL" Movie here].

Ironically, "PEAK WATER" = only proves the need for OTC CHEAP CONSUMER-CENTRIC NUCLEAR POWER = FREE MARKETS, NOT THE ALTERNATIVE.

Again, IMO GREEN TECHS includ GREEN ENERGY = human survival in FAR-OFF/DISTANT [Earth-like]PLANETS IN DEEP SPACE, vee Space Travel + Colonization, nostsomuch back here in our TERRAN/GAIEAN HOMEWORLD although this is not to argue that there no implications or effects on the latter.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 0:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Last night I saw the head of an Australian Solar Panel manufacturer whining about how the Labor government's proposed carbon tax would hurt his business. Making stuff is energy intensive.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2011 0:49 Comments || Top||

#5  While Obama Hussein continues to try to crush the US Petrolium Industry, he handing over $3 Billion of US Taxpayer money to build a refinery in Columbia, a stimulus to another foreign economy. One that takes jobs and money away from Americans.
Posted by: Butch Chomoque1580 || 04/19/2011 1:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Yah, I suspect they've been wanting to push the refineries out of the country for a while now. Too many republicans work in them.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/19/2011 8:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Doncha know - they need jobs in Columbia, tho I thought our President preferred its' neighbor to the east.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/19/2011 22:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
MEMRI: Role of Pakistani Mercenaries in the Middle East
"'Foreign policy is everywhere and always a continuation of domestic policy, for it is conducted by the same ruling class and pursues the same historic goals.' -- The Revolution Betrayed, Leon Trotsky

"In his 1983 masterpiece 'Can Pakistain Survive? The Death of a State,' Tariq Ali opens the section on Pakistain's foreign policy during the Z. A. Bhutto days with the above quote from Trotsky. After duly recognizing the limitations of generalizing this aphorism, Tariq Ali noted that many third-world capitals pursue a foreign policy closely mirroring their domestic economic and political policies, but perhaps none has done so more grotesquely than Islamabad.

"Tariq Ali wrote: 'One of the commodities exported was labor, and the remittances sent back by migrant workers provided nearly 20 percent of the country's foreign exchange earnings. It was also reported that 10,000 Pak hookers had been dispatched to the Gulf states by the United Bank Limited (UBL), to strengthen its reserves of foreign currency. Soldiers and officers were also leased out as mercenaries to a number of states in that region. In some ways it was a telling indictment of the Pak state that it can only survive by selling itself to the oil-rich sheikhs.'

"The Pak military establishment's cooperation with Arab dictators obviously dates back to the Ayub Khan era and the UK and U.S.-sponsored Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) or Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
Pact of 1955. However,
The flatulent However...
the surge in the export of mercenaries that Tariq Ali was alluding to was not because of the Western sponsorship of such legions but because Pakistain, in 1971, had declared a moratorium on repayment of its foreign debt and had to look for financial aid...

"While one cannot confirm the veracity of the claim about the UBL venture, the events of the last several months show that somehow the grotesque mediocrity of the Pak establishment keeps repeating its antics, as far as the export of mercenaries goes. "

"The Saudi Plan, Just as in the 1969 Bombing of Yemen by Pak Pilots Flying Saudi Planes, is to Use the Trusted Pak Troops to Bolster the Defense of... Client States Like Bahrain"

"The Arab spring has created unique geopolitical scenarios where old alliances are falling apart -- or at least are no longer trustworthy -- while new realities are taking shape much to the discontent of regional autocrats. I have repeatedly stated that [U.S. President] Barack B.O. Obama's instinct is to side with the democratic movements in the Middle East and North Africa, without intervening directly, even though cliques within his administration have been able to drag him into the Libyan morass. Obama's handling of Hosni Mubarak's
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
fall did not go well with Saudi king Abdullah and the bitter exchange between the two, during a phone conversation, is rather well known.

"The wily Saudi monarch subsequently concluded that if there were to be an uprising in his courtyard, the Americans would not come to his rescue. And unless a smoking gun can be traced to Tehran, Abdullah is right. With Obama getting [likely] re-elected... in 2012, the Saudis have chosen to exercise other options that they have heavily invested in, for decades, to protect their courtyard and backyard.

"The Saudis know that it is nearly impossible for any political uprising there to physically coalesce, due to the population centers being geographically far apart, to cause direct threat to Riyadh. But they also know that the democratic contagion can spread at the periphery of the Kingdom, with the oil-rich Eastern province slipping out of control quickly or the disquiet at the Yemeni border keeping Riyadh distracted (the latter was tested by both Gamal Nasser and Iran). The Saudi plan, just as in the 1969 bombing of Yemen by Pak pilots flying Saudi planes, is to use the trusted Pak troops to bolster the defense of not only the Saudi regime but of its client states like Bahrain."

"Pak-Saudi Interests are at Odds with the U.S. and are Confluent with Each Other...; The Pak Deep State [i.e. the Military] Apparently has Decided to Keep Selling Itself to the Oil-Rich Sheikhs"

"It is not a surprise then that before Soddy Arabia invaded Bahrain on March 13, 2011, the chief of Saudi Land Forces, General Abdul Rahman Murshid visited Pakistain and before that, on March 9, met General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
[chief of Pakistain Army]. Bahrain had already requested and received assurance for military help from Pakistain in late February 2011. In fact, a leading Urdu paper carried an advertisement from the Fauji Foundation Pakistain on February 25 and March 1, seeking men for recruitment to the Bahrain National Guard. The qualifications sought were the following: age 20-25, height of six-feet or taller
Are there many tall Pakistanis?
and military/security service background especially in riot control, which suggest that enrolment was not exactly for the Manama Red Islamic Thingy Society.

"After the Saudi army brutally crushed the uprising in Bahrain, the foreign minister of Bahrain, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the State Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar [in Islamabad]. While the Bahraini media splashed pictures of the handshake between Ms. Khar and Sheikh Khalid, announcing Pak support to Bahrain, the actual backing had been pledged by the chief of general staff, General Khalid Shamim Wayne, whom the Bahraini minster met on March 29.

"In her article titled 'Bahrain or Bust?,' [journalist] Miranda Husain writes: '[Noam] Chomsky
...intellectual and political theorist of a socialist persuasion. He is noted for being so far out in left field he can't see the shortstop on every issue he pushes...
believes the Pak presence in Bahrain can be seen as part of a U.S.-backed alliance to safeguard Western access to the region's oil... The U.S. has counted on Pakistain to help control the Arab world and safeguard Arab rulers from their own populations... Pakistain was one of the 'cops on the beat' that the Nixon administration had in mind when outlining their doctrine for controlling the Arab world.' Ms. Husain and the American Baba-e-Socialism (Father of Socialism), Chomsky, conclude with the hope that Pakistain should not meddle in the Middle East.

"I believe that Chomsky's reading of the situation in the Persian Gulf is dead wrong. It is the divergence -- not confluence -- of U.S.-Saudi-Pak interests that is the trigger for potential Pak involvement there. The Pak brass' handling of the Raymond Davis affair and now its insistence -- through bravado, not subtlety -- on redefining the red lines with the U.S. indicates that just like the 1971 situation, an alternative funding source to the IMF has been secured. The Pasha-Panetta meeting has raised more issues than it has solved.[3] Pak-Saudi interests are at odds with the U.S. and are confluent with each other.

"From the Kerry-Lugar Bill to the Raymond Davis saga, the mullahs [holy mans] have been deployed swiftly to create an impression of public support for the establishment's designs. Last Friday's mobilization of the religious parties in favor of the Saudis is the establishment's standard drill and will be repeated as needed. The Pak deep state [i.e. the military] apparently has decided to keep selling itself to the oil-rich sheikhs. The domestic policy of coercion and chaos will be continued in foreign lands too."
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Paki mercinaries have been a feature in the Middle East for several decades. For many years, they had a reputation of being (compared to the Arabs) good soldiers.

Then our troops had extensive contact with them in Somalia. The upshot is our troops did not trust the Pakis at all. The Black African troops were much better. My friends said that you could give a bunch of American mall rats M-4s and they would do just as good a job.

One of the sad developments in the Middle East has been the cancelling of American training/maintenance contracts in the Middle East and replacement by Paki mercinary trainers and technicians. These men aren't nearly as good (and the Arabs know it). The result is that most of their fancy equipment is rusted junk.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/19/2011 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  "Are there many tall Pakistanis?"

My friends are, tw. Ali and the other men in his family are well over 6 feet tall. Not sure where in Pakistan they originally came from - I've only know them as Americans.

(For some reason, I tend to think of tall Pakistanis as coming from the north of the country, but that thinking may be influenced by the tall aboriginals in the north of Japan.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 13:40 Comments || Top||

#3  One of the sad developments in the Middle East has been the cancelling of American training/maintenance contracts in the Middle East and replacement by Paki mercinary trainers and technicians. These men aren't nearly as good (and the Arabs know it). The result is that most of their fancy equipment is rusted junk.

I don't think it's sad.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 15:45 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm with you, grom.

But, as they sow, so shall they reap, and with any luck the Arabs and the Pakis will all get royally reaped.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2011 18:00 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm just p*ssed that Americains are getting screwed out of a contract (and money) they deserve in favor of a bunch of co-religionists that can barely chew gum and walk.

P.S. The reason they do this is because the US will come rescue them anyway.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/19/2011 18:50 Comments || Top||

#6  The Pak deep state [i.e. the military] apparently has decided to keep selling itself to the oil-rich sheikhs. The domestic policy of coercion and chaos will be continued in foreign lands too." Posted by: Fred

Particularly Afghanistan. Attempts at repairing earthen berms or fences (Taliban border infiltration and smuggling routes) are generally met by Pakistani Border Guard threats to open fire.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 21:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Pakistanis have also been hired on as police in Bahrain, and work in a mercenary capacity in several sub-Saharan nations. In Zimbabwe, for example' they've functioned as 'police' helicopter pilots and aviation support, with reported training roles as well.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/19/2011 22:37 Comments || Top||

#8  The world of today reminds me of the book "Soldier Ask Not" by Gordon Dickson. Basically in the far future you have two groups of Mercenaries, the DORSAI who are super-soldiers, and the FRIENDLYS who are overly religious canon-fodder.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/19/2011 23:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
McChrystal cleared of wrongdoing in Rolling Stone piece
A Pentagon report found insufficient evidence Gen Stanley McChrystal, until June the top US general in Afghanistan, had violated US military policy. It said events narrated in the magazine had not occurred as written. Rolling Stone said it stood by its article.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just in time for his next appointment.
Posted by: gorb || 04/19/2011 2:48 Comments || Top||

#2  What?!? "Rolling Stone" did a hit piece? Say it ain't so, brother.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/19/2011 18:48 Comments || Top||

#3  McChrystal cleared of wrongdoing in Rolling Stone piece

No findings regarding common sense, malice aforethought or bovine logic? Happy to see that Army senior leaders can still "partner" with the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine and not risk the confidence of their superiors in "thier ability to lead."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2011 20:23 Comments || Top||

#4  next up? "Mother Jones embeds with Special Ops Senior Leadership". What could go wrong?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 20:42 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Documents show US funding Syrian opposition: Washington Post
[Arab News] The State Department has been secretly financing opponents of Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad,
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
The Washington Post reported, citing previously undisclosed diplomatic documents provided to the newspaper by the WikiLeaks website.
One wonders why WaPo chose to publicize this little tidbit, which plays right into Pencilneck's attempts to label all dissenters as enemies of the state in thrall to the Zionists and the Great Satan. It's almost as if WaPo has an agenda...
One of the outfits funded by the US is Barada TV, a London-based satellite channel that broadcasts anti-government news into Syria, the Post reported Sunday.

Barada's chief editor, Malik Al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian exile group Movement for Justice and Development.

The leaked documents show that the US has provided at least $6 million to Barada TV and other opposition groups inside Syria, the newspaper said.

The B.O. regime has reached out to Assad's regime, hoping to persuade it to change its policies regarding Israel, Leb, Iraq and support for Islamic exemplar groups. In January, the US stationed an ambassador in Damascus,
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
the capital, for the first time in five years.

The Post said it was not clear from the WikiLeaks documents whether the US was still financing Assad's opponents, though they showed funding had been set aside through September 2010.

Syrian activists have been staging protests against Assad's authoritarian regime for more than a month. More than 200 people have been killed as security forces tried to crush the protests.

On Sunday, gunnies opened fire during a funeral for a slain anti-government protester, killing at least three people, according to witnesses and activists. Tens of thousands of Syrians erupted into the streets nationwide despite Assad's promise to end nearly 50 years of emergency rule this week, a key demand of the protesters.

Last week, the State Department said Iran appeared to be helping Syria crack down on protesters, calling it a troubling example of Iranian meddling in the region.

"If Syria's turning to Iran for help, it can't be very serious about real reform," front man Mark Toner told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Big Zero's zeal for conquering third world despots and replacing them with "what?" is going to result in Americans being targeted for revenge murders around the world by loyalists to those Obama Hussien is messing with.

Yes, in other words, Obama is endangering the lives of the American people, and should and will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law when he himself is removed from his "throne".
Posted by: Jairong the Tiny1501 || 04/19/2011 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  ION WAFF > {ME Expert] ISRAEL WILL BE THE BIGGEST LOSER IN ME REGION AFTER CHANGES.

ARTIC "POINTS" SUMMARY:
> NEXT DECADE = 2012-2022 = "SHIITE DECADE".
Regional "Shiite Awakening" albeit its not clear iff Shia Iran will dominate.
> PALEO STATE successfully established.
> GREATEST RISK AGZ WORLD PEACE = CHAOS IN SAUDI ARABIA, espec as per DOMESTIC, REGIONAL SHIITE + ISLAMIST THREAT TO SUNNI, ROYAL RULE???
> RADICALISM IN ME HAS BEEN UNDERWAY ALREADY FOR TEN YEARS, as complemented by Arab-Muslim rants + anger at US, Israeli policies.
> POPULAR UPRISINGS ["Jasmine"-led] WILL ENGULF ALL OF THE COUNTRIES IN ME WIDOUT EXCEPTION, INCLUD ISRAEL.
> TURKEY WILL BECOME EITHER THE MOST INFLUENTIAL
STATE IN THE REGION, OR ELSE WILL REGRESS BACKWARDS UNTO PRO-EXTREMIST/RADICAL, STATE-LED REPRESSION + MILITARISM [anti-dmeocratic Islamist "Rogue State", prob Nuclear]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 1:51 Comments || Top||

#3  IIUC, these various Perts are all but acknowledging that 2012-2020/2025 time period IS ONLY THE BEGINNING of serious geopol troubles for the US-West???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 1:54 Comments || Top||


Thousands demand overthrow of Assad after deaths
[Ennahar] Thousands demanded the overthrow of Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad on Monday at the funeral of eight protesters killed in the central city of Homs as unrest swelled despite a promise to lift emergency law.

Activists in Homs said the eight were killed late on Sunday during protests against the death in jug of a tribal leader.

Wissam Tarif, a rights activist in contact with people in Syria, said the toll was higher and he had the names of 12 people killed in the city.

"From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar," the mourners chanted, according to a witness at the funeral.

YouTube footage showed thousands of people filling a wide city square.

Assad, facing a month of demonstrations against his authoritarian Baath Party rule, said on Saturday that legislation to replace nearly half a century of emergency law should be in place by next week.

But his pledge did little to appease protesters calling for greater freedoms in Syria, or curb violence which human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
organisations say has killed at least 200 people.

"Homs is boiling. The security forces and the regime thugs have been provoking armed tribes for a month now," a rights activist told Rooters from the city.

Civilians who taken to the streets "were shot at in cold blood," he said.

Further north in Jisr al-Shughour around 1,000 people called on Monday for "the overthrow of the regime," echoing chants of protesters who overthrew leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, at the funeral of a man they said was killed by security forces.

Assad says Syria is the target of a conspiracy and authorities blame the violence on armed gangs and infiltrators supplied with weapons from Leb and Iraq.

The unrest, which broke out a month ago in the southern city of Deraa, has spread across Syria and presented the gravest challenge yet to Assad, who assumed the presidency in 2000 when his father Hafez al-Assad died after 30 years in power.

Western countries have condemned the violence but shown no sign of taking action against Assad, a central player in Middle East politics who consolidated his father's anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports Islamist groups Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Hezbullies, while holding intermittent, indirect peace talks with Israel.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Australian navy rescues Somali pirate hostages
From Thursday.
The Australian navy said on Thursday it had rescued three sailors being held hostage by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa.

Crew from HMAS Stuart boarded a Yemeni-flagged boat that was attacked and seized 20 days ago and 15 pirates surrendered with no shots fired.

"Stuart's boarding party did extremely well in maintaining the safety of the dhow's crew and ensuring a potentially challenging situation did not escalate," said chief of joint operations Lieutenant General Evans.

During a search of the boat, 11 AK-47 assault rifles with 16 magazines were found, along with a large quantity of small arms ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

The pirates were released in a skiff after being given adequate water, food, fuel and communication equipment to make the nearest landfall off the Somalia coast, added the Australian Defence Force in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "LAND DOWN UNDER" + AUSSIE NAVY

versus

* ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > [Former PM Shipley]NEW ZEALAND MUST GET OVER CHINA FEAR, OR "GET USED TO WEARING JANDALS" [warns of NZ steadily "getting Poorer + Poorer" as long as widout reforms or changes in attitudes]

ARTIC = NZ'ers fear of Chinese + Indian + Vietnamese = Asian business operators in the land of Not-Mad-Max "Zena, Warrior Princess".

versus

* WMF > MYANMAR'S WA STATE SAR IS "CHINESE" IN NEARLY ALL POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, + CULTURAL ASPECTS EXCEPT SOVEREIGNTY UNDER BEIJING, CHINA SHOULD CLAIM OR PLACE WA STATE UNDER ITS MILITARY PROTECTION + "CORE INTEREST" WHILE ALLOWING IT TO REMAIN PART OF MYANMAR.

* WMF > BEIJING WILL BE MOSTLY HARSH DESERT IN 21 YEARS [circa Year 2031]: LACK OF RELIABLE WATER, LACK OF GOVT-LED FUNDING FROM BEIJING AGZ DESERTIFICATION + LOCAL ECON ASSISTANCE, AGING/GREYING RURAL POOR POPULATION + HIGH YOUTH, YOUNG ADULT EMIGRATION IN SEARCH OF EMPLOYMENT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  What, no shutter gun?
Posted by: Ptah || 04/19/2011 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  The pirates were released in a skiff after being given adequate water, food, fuel and communication equipment to make the nearest landfall off the Somalia coast, added the Australian Defence Force in a statement.

WTF? Put em in a leaky boat with no fuel, no water, no food, and give them one knife. Let them figure out what to do
Posted by: Frank G || 04/19/2011 8:28 Comments || Top||

#4  The pirates and their arms were released to the care of the Dhow captain, who was given a "Laws of the Ocean" guide and asked to either deal with them on board or take them to port. Several shots and splashes were heard as the HMAS Stuart departed.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/19/2011 8:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Should have given them a good dose of Variola Major and sent them back to their countrymen.
Posted by: clockwork26+6 || 04/19/2011 9:22 Comments || Top||

#6  "Several shots and splashes were heard as the HMAS Stuart departed."
Why waste good ammo?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/19/2011 20:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Ugandas opposition leader arrested ahead of planned fresh protests
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Ugandan police on Monday jugged opposition leader Kizza Besigye ahead of a planned protest over spiralling food and fuel prices in Kampala which he was set to join, police and party officials said.

"Besigye was tossed in the slammer as he left his house this morning and is being held in Kasangati" cop shoppe on the outskirts of Kampala, Alice Alaso, secretary general of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change, told AFP.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba confirmed the arrest and said it was in connection with the planned demonstration.

Alaso said Besigye was leaving his home and preparing to walk to work as part of a peaceful demonstration when police "stopped him at his gate."

Besigye, 54, walked to church unobstructed on Sunday but his "walk to work" campaign saw him jugged for several hours a week ago.

President Yoweri Museveni has warned he will deal firmly with any unauthorised demonstration and mocked Besigye in a presser on Saturday.

"We made it clear to Besigye that you are not going to demonstrate or to walk. If you want to walk, go somewhere and take a walk," Museveni said.

Ugandan police on Thursday clashed with protestors in Kampala and several other towns as Besigye appeared bent on opposing the regime, two months after losing to Museveni in elections he claimed were rigged.

Protestors say steep prices are due to bad governance but Museveni, who has ruled the east African country for a quarter of a century, insisted drought and foreign factors were to blame.

"Food prices have gone up because of unreliable rain and the bigger market in the region. Will the world prices go down because Besigye has demonstrated?" he said.

The consumer price index grew by four percent in March from the previous month and the country's year-on-year inflation rate stands at 11.1 percent.

Museveni argued that Besigye's opposition drive risked destabilising the economy further and urged Ugandans to act responsibly and use fuel sparingly.

Besigye had warned before the polls that Uganda was ripe for an Egypt-style revolt but stopped short of calling for mass street protests to challenge the results, which saw Museveni re-elected with a landslide.

The so-called Arab Spring contagion failed to take hold in Uganda after the elections.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Riots break out in north as Jonathan wins by landslide
Right on schedule...
Deadly rioting erupted across Nigeria's largely Muslim north on Monday as youths torched churches and homes in anger at President Goodluck Jonathan's election victory.

Jonathan, the first president from the oil producing Niger Delta, was declared the winner with around 57 percent of votes. He defeated Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler from the north, who got around 31 percent.

Observers have called the poll the fairest in decades in Africa's most populous nation. But Buhari's supporters accuse the ruling party of rigging and rejected the results. The results show how polarised the country is, with Buhari sweeping the north and Jonathan winning the largely Christian south. Jonathan had nearly 23 million votes to just over 12 million for Buhari.

The Nigerian Red Thingy Cross said churches, mosques and homes had been burned in rioting across the north and many people had been killed, but it was impossible to give a toll for now.

"In Kaduna we have seen dead bodies lying by the road," Red Cross official Umar Mairiga told Reuters. "Two thousand people have been displaced at one military camp alone."

Authorities in the northern state of Kaduna imposed a 24-hour curfew after protesters set fire to the residence of Vice President Namadi Sambo in the town of Zaria and forced their way into the central prison, releasing inmates.

Plumes of smoke rose into the air in parts of Kaduna as protesters set fire to barricades of tyres. Security forces fired in the air and used teargas to disperse groups of youths shouting "We want Buhari, we want Buhari".

Police said the violence was political rather than ethnic or religious. Twelve years after the end of military rule, the army said it stood fully behind the government and democratic rule.

Jonathan appealed to all politicians to end violence. "No one's political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian," he said in a statement.

Buhari was yet to make any public statement on the violence despite appeals by foreign embassies that he call for calm.
Because the rioting is to his advantage...
The former general's Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) party said in a letter to the electoral commission that voters had been intimidated, ballot boxes stuffed in Jonathan's strongholds and computers set up to deprive it of votes.

"What is being exhibited to the world is not collated from polling units but from the state headquarters where a lot of manipulations, we believe, had taken place," the party said.

Saturday's vote was deemed by many Nigerians, and foreign observers, to have been a vast improvement on the past.

"Election day showed a generally peaceful and orderly process," said chief European Union election observer Alojz Peterle. EU observers said 2007 elections were not credible.

The independent Swift Count monitor group said the official results were right in line with what they would have expected based on their samples from a random selection of nearly 1,500 of the 120,000 polling stations across Nigeria.

The outright win for Jonathan could ease worries over potential disruptions to crude exports from Africa's biggest oil and gas industry -- far away from the disturbances in the north. It could also lift local financial markets which had been unnerved by the prospect of a potential run-off and the All-Share Index closed up 2.3 percent to its highest in nearly a month.

The troubles in the north, on the fringes of the Sahara desert, are far from the oil-producing regions and heaving industrial centres of the south.
Almost as if the south could cast the north loose and go on its own...
Buhari, who also lost elections in 2003 and 2007, has repeatedly said Nigerians would not accept another rigged vote. He told Reuters on Saturday he would not go to court to challenge the outcome but that his party may chose to do so.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Almost as if the south could cast the north loose and go on its own...

We did it. why not them?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/19/2011 9:17 Comments || Top||

#2  You can look up the historical record of the last time it was tried at wikipedia by searching for the entry on the biafran war.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/19/2011 10:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Normal reaction for the ROP. Riot, Loot, Rape, Kill.

Anyone really expect anything different?
Posted by: tipover || 04/19/2011 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Think the French interfere on behalf of Muzzies like they did in Ivory Coast?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 11:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Think the French interfere on behalf of Muzzies like they did in Ivory Coast?

Or like virtually everyone did in the Biafran War?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/19/2011 12:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Wikipedia:

In 1960 Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom.[5] As with many other new African states, the borders of the country did not reflect earlier ethnic boundaries. Thus the northern desert region of the country contained semi-autonomous feudal Muslim states, while the southern population was predominantly Christian and Animist.

Ethnic boundaries is wrong, and hinges on the idea that since people of a given racial group all look pretty similar, stacking them together in a single country is the most natural thing in the world. Tell it to Europe, home of the Hundred Years War, WWI and WWII. Imagine if we had liberated the Japanese empire in the Far East at the end of WWII and reconstituted its entire territory as a single country. "Civil war" would have broken out almost immediately. The European powers weren't doing anything worse than other countries before them, in getting the heck out of dodge before all hell broke loose in their former empires, but their empires were all on the scale of Alexander and Genghis. I think the reluctance to acknowledge the creation of new nations is partly the result of the 1 nation 1 vote rule at the UN. Existing nations don't really want their vote diluted. But the long term solution to strife in much of the developing world is partition and the creation of new countries that reflect the national divisions of antiquity that never went away despite the European administration of large foreign territories as single entities.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/19/2011 16:13 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Siege of Misrata: Death toll mounts
About 1 000 people have been killed and 3 000 injured in Libya's third city Misrata since Muammar Gaddafi's forces began attacking it with shells and sniper fire six weeks ago, a senior medic said.

"Some 80% of the deaths are civilians," said Dr Quincy Khaled Abu Falgha, administrator of the city's main hospital.

Medical staff have seen a sudden rise in the number of people brought into the hospital in the last week suffering gunshot wounds to their heads and necks -- the preferred target zone of marksmen. Another six beds in the intensive care unit are occupied by men brought down by snipers posted around the city by forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Falgha said the 60 beds in his facility were all being used and those with lesser injuries were being sent home after initial treatment. The last week has also seen worsened injuries from cluster bombs, requiring many amputations, Abu Falgha said. He showed examples of the weapons kept in his office.

Meanwhile, 17 were killed in the city on Sunday, an NGO worker and an opposition activist said.

Government troops have been laying siege to the city, prompting repeated international warnings of a dire humanitarian situation as well as calls for Nato forces to intensify airstrikes on Gaddafi's forces there. On Sunday, government troops, who have pushed into the city centre from the outskirts in recent days, pounded Misrata with mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, said resident Abdel-Salam, who only provided his given name for fear of retribution.

"Residents have become so accustomed to the sound of mortars and missiles," he said. "Snipers are still on the roofs of tall buildings shooting at anything that moves in the city centre."

Rebels fought government forces back from an area around a central produce market, regaining a small sliver of territory, said Rida al-Montasser, a local activist reached by Skype. He said a hospital report that he received from a doctor, showed 17 people, including rebels, were killed and 74 others were injured. He said Gaddafi forces had fired at the city's hospital on Sunday.

A worker for a foreign NGO who visited the hospital on Sunday also said 17 bodies were brought in, including that of a girl shot in the head. Other children who had been shot were among the wounded, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.

The Nato-led air campaign authorised by the UN to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone has failed to stop government shelling that, according to residents and witnesses, has hit Misrata's hospital, the port and residential areas.

The international airstrikes have kept rebels from being defeated on the battlefield by the better trained and equipped government forces, but it still has not been enough to turn the tide in the war. In the eastern half of Libya, rebels in control of most of that part of the country since the uprising began on February 15 have been unable to advance westward toward the capital.

In eastern Libya on Sunday, government forces shelled the eastern edge of Ajdabiya, the front-line rebel town that has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks. Loud booms rocked the city throughout the morning, sending a column of cars -- some with rebel fighters, others with families -- fleeing north through a thick sandstorm to more securely held rebel territory.

Rebel forces fired back with rockets and no government forces entered the city, said rebel fighter Awad Sathi.

The Libyan government has come under sharp international criticism for its assault on Misrata and has been accused by human rights groups of using heavy weapons, including shells, missiles and cluster bombs. In Tripoli, Libyan government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim denied the allegations on Sunday, telling a small gathering of foreign diplomats: "Don't believe the lies."

Major-General Saleh Ibrahim denied Libyan forces have used cluster bombs, saying the army did not have such weapons and that Libyan soldiers had not been trained in their use.

"Nato is supporting the rebels, allowing them to advance against our army, providing them with air cover," he said. "It knows about the arming of rebels by the Qatari government and is allowing that. Nato knows about al-Qaeda activities in Benghazi, Darna and Beyda. It knows that al-Qaeda fighters are advancing westbound."
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Some 80% of the deaths are civilians," said Dr Khaled Abu Falgha

I, for one, believe him.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  This sounds eerily familiar. Back in the Balkans we were bombing the bejeezus out of the Serbs, but they still managed to conduct ground operations. They terrorized the population, ruined houses/farms, raped, pillaged, and plundered. They also managed to kill a number of civilians when they couldnÂ’t find any military. FYI the atrocities on both sides were UNDER reported by the press and the only true example would be the Nazi treatment of Poles especially the Jews. But I am sure the President Obama is going to broker a deal that will save the lives of the rebels in the east.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 04/19/2011 14:03 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrainis go on trial for police deaths
[Arab News] The trial of seven Bahrainis accused of killing coppers during protests in February and March opened Sunday before a military court in Manama, the official BNA news agency said.

The seven are charged with the murder of public officials on duty, according to BNA.

Witnesses deposed before the tribunal and video allegedly showing the attackers in cars hitting the coppers was played, the agency said.

According to the authorities, four coppers were killed after being struck by cars during protests, which began on Feb. 14 and were quelled by the authorities in mid-March.

The next hearing will be on April 19 when the defense will present its witnesses. The accused could face the death penalty if convicted.

The state news agency also said that more than a hundred civil servants have been summarily fired for participating in the anti-government protests.

BNA said that 111 employees of the Education Ministry had been punished for participating in the street marches and strikes last month. The employees will also be prosecuted for "flagrant violation" of the country's civil service law, the agency said, adding that last month's Teachers' Union strike was politically motivated and aimed at "crippling schools."

The opposition said Sunday that the authorities have jugged a former bodybuilding champion as part of the crackdown on protesters. Tareq Al-Fursani, a gold medalist in several Asian championships, was placed in durance vile at his home in a village east of Manama late Saturday, a member of the country's largest opposition group, Wefaq, told Rooters.

"The authorities did not allow him to call his family, which is the same for all the previous cases," said Wefaq's Mattar Ibrahim Mattar. "The violation against human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
is continuing in Bahrain and they are ignoring calls for a political solution."

Mattar said the number of registered detainees was currently around 500 but estimated up to 650 people may be in jug. Those included a human rights lawyer and at least two doctors jugged Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Dreaded LI chief `on the run`
[Dawn] The chief of Bara-based hard boy organisation Lashkar-i-Islam, Mangal Bagh,
...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency...
has decamped to Afghanistan from Khyber Agency, claim his opponents. They have also demanded of the government to ask Afghan government to extradite him.

"Mangal Bagh has contacts with anti-Pakistain elements in Afghanistan. He has presently taken refuge with Haji Amin Shah in Naziyan area of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan after fleeing Tirah valley of Khyber Agency," Haji Akhunzada Qamarkhel, a leader of Ansaarul Islam, told a presser on Sunday.

However,
The flatulent However...
security officials and political administration expressed ignorance about the authenticity of the claim made by Ansaarul Islam, the rival group of Lashkar-i-Islam.

An official of the political administration, who did not want to be named, told Dawn that they had also heard the news from certain quarters, but so far they could not verify it.

Similarly, a security official, when contacted, said that it was the job of intelligence agencies to verify the news. "So far we have not received any information from the intelligence agencies in this regard," he added. He said that within a day or two they would be in better position to confirm where Mangal Bagh was hiding.

Mr Qamarkhel urged security forces to launch a full-fledged military operation against hideouts and bases of Mangal Bagh in Sipah and Akkakhel areas of Tirah as according to him his network could only be dismantled if all his bases were destroyed.

He appealed to the security forces to secure safe release of hundreds of kidnapped persons, being kept at the private jails of LI in Sipah and Akkakhel bases.

Speaking on the occasion, Ansaarul Islam front man Qari Mehbub said that his organisation extended full support to Zakhakhel tribal lashkar against Mangal Bagh. He hoped that they would soon take control of LI bases in the entire Tirah valley.

"Mangal Bagh and his band of armed activists have unleashed a reign of terror in the name of religion to victimise their opponents. Hundreds of innocent men have been killed and many others kidnapped for ransom by LI during the last six years of atrocities in Bara," he alleged.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
sources said that fresh festivities erupted between the Zakhakhel lashkar and members of LI in Mangalbagh Kandao and Khera Mela areas of Khyber Agency.

These villages are situated near the boundary between the Zakhakehl and Sipah tribes. However,
The well-oiled However...
the number of casualties in the festivities could not be confirmed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Arabia
Ministry Hands to Prosecution 14 Suspects in Killing, Injuring Protesters
[Yemen Post] The Interior Ministry handed 14 suspects in the killings and injuries of the protesters outside Sana'a University on March 18 to the General Prosecution, a source at the ministry said on Sunday.

The 14 were of those wanted in connection with sniping and opening fire on the protesters, who were calling for the ouster of the regime, killing at least 60 and injuring hundreds of them.

They were placed in durance vile and handed to the General Prosecution after arrest warrantees had been issued for them, the source said, adding that 30 more others were handed to be investigated in connection with the attacks on the protesters in the square of change.

On March 18, gunnies, who were believed to be coppers out of uniform, sniped the antigovernment protesters from over and inside buildings nearby the square after the Friday prayers.

The attacks drew huge local and external condemnation with international rights organization urging the government to investigate them and bring those responsible to justice.

Tens of thousands have been staging a sit-in in the square for months to call for an immediate exit of President-for-Life Saleh.
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That means the end of the regime.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/19/2011 8:17 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Cuban dissidents defy Castro, take to streets
[Emirates 24/7] Cuba's highest-profile dissidents marched Sunday defying President Raul Castro's warning, issued hours earlier, that foes of the communist regime were not welcome on Cuban streets.

"Our fight has been and will continue to be achieving freedom for political prisoners," said Laura Pollan, leader of the Ladies in White group of political prisoners' kin, as the group took to Havana streets.

The dissidents, who have been honored with the European Parliament's Sakharov prize, march most Sundays in Havana, dressed in white and carrying flowers, to draw attention to their relatives' plight.

But this Sunday was different: just hours earlier the president addressed the rare Cuban Communist party congress under way, putting political foes on notice that they would not find a public space or openness to anti-regime ideas.

"Defending the independence of the achievements of socialism, and our squares and streets, will continue to be the duty of all Cuban patriots," Castro stressed.

Pollan said Castro was inciting pro-government activists, who may believe they will be rewarded by the regime for actions against dissidents, to target her award-winning group.

The president "is giving free rein to (pro-regime) mobs to target people who are going out into the streets to protest or seek freedom" for prisoners, Pollan said.

"We cannot accept provocations like that; that is what the government wants as they seek to discredit us somehow," she added.

Raul Castro told the party meeting Saturday he backed term limits for top leadership positions in a country he and his brother Fidel Castro have led for more than five decades.

Fidel Castro, now 84, did not attend the festivities marking exactly half a century after he proclaimed the socialist character of the regime on the eve of the April 17, 1961, landing by 1,400 Cuban exiles armed and trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Within just 72 hours of bloody combat on Playa Larga and Playa Giron some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Havana, Castro routed the invaders in what Cuba celebrates as "the first great defeat of (US) imperialism in Latin America."
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Jonathan on top in Nigeria polls
[Arab News] Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
won nearly every state in preliminary results released Sunday for the oil-rich nation's presidential election, though fragmented returns suggested he faced strong opposition from the country's Mohammedan north.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
authorities in this northern Nigerian city and hometown of the country's vice president said eight people were maimed after a bomb went kaboom! at a hotel in a poor neighborhood hours after voters cast their ballots.

Jonathan remains the presumed front-runner in Saturday's poll as his ruling People's Democratic Party has dominated politics in the West African giant since it became a democracy 12 years ago. But to become president, he must carry at least a quarter of the votes cast in at least 24 states and its capital.

Results released Sunday by Nigeria's electoral commission show Jonathan won the capital of Abuja and six states: Anambra, Enugu, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states. He also carried more than 25 percent of the vote in Osun state, which was won candidate Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, and Sokoto state, which was won by candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change.

However,
The all-purpose However...
none of these initial returns included any states from Nigeria's north, which remains hesitant about Jonathan as the Christian from the south who took over after the death of the country's elected Mohammedan leader. Many of the north's elite wanted the ruling party to honor an unwritten power-sharing agreement calling for a Mohammedan candidate to run in this election.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Isaf Says Militants Weak to Face Forces
[Tolo News] Isaf on Monday said Insurgents have lost the potential to "challenge" Afghan forces and foreign troops in the war amid a dramatic surge in Taliban-led violence.

At a joint presser with NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
Senior Civilian Representative's spokesperson, Dominic Medley, in Kabul Isaf Spokesperson Gen. Josef Blotz said 60 percent of krazed killer-led attacks target civilians, tribal elders, religious leaders and government officials.

General Blotz said this year's statistics indicate an increase in assaults striking civilians, tribal leaders and government officials.

"Insurgents not able to challenge Afghan national security forces and Isaf forces to any significant degree continue to assassinate Afghan patriots and religious leaders," Gen. Blotz told news hounds.

While emphasising on NATO's long-term cooperation to Afghanistan NATO's Senior Civilian Representative Spokesperson Dominic Medley pointed out to the new phase of progress unfolding in the country.

"New phase is taking place in Afghanistan as the country progresses on its road to peace, stability and security and that new phase is the joint strategy with Afghanistan and NATO," Mr Medley said.

Blotz said the man who targeted 201st ANA Corps in Laghman province was an army recruit. But he refused to shed light on the attacker's military rank.

On Saturday 201st ANA Corps in Laghman province was targeted by a jacket wallah, dressed in ANA uniform, and killed 4 Afghan soldiers, 7 foreign troops and hurt eight others.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Thousands attend Syria protesters' funerals
[Al Jazeera] Tens of thousands of Syrians have attended the funerals for protesters killed in the central city of Homs, chanting slogans demanding the overthrow of Bashir al-Assad, the country's president.

Rights activists say security forces killed at least 25 pro-democracy protesters in Homs on Sunday night as anti-government demonstrations flared across the country, claiming up to 30 lives.

Witnesses said mourners chanted "From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar," and "Either freedom or death, the people want to topple this regime".

The protest was the largest to hit the strategically important city, Syria's third largest, since protests in the country began one month ago.

A protester told Al Jizz that the first killing took place after evening prayers on Sunday when a group of around 40 demonstrators gathered outside the Bab al-Sibaa mosque chanting "freedom".

The protester, who gave his name as Abu Haider, said seven cars pulled up to the protesters and men in civilian clothes jumped out and opened fire on the crowd without warning.

"First we were calling for reforms, now we're calling for regime change," he said. "No one will accept the death of the deaders."

More festivities feared

Al Jizz's correspondent Rula Amin, in Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
, reported that the situation in Homs was very tense on Monday.

"People are complaining that many of the maimed are not going to the hospital, they fear that the security forces will pick them up from their hospital bed," she said.

"There is also a shortage of blood according to the people we have been talking to.

"People are concerned that festivities might erupt following the [funeral] processions."

She said there was also tension in the nearby town of Talbiseh, where five of the deaths occurred.

"The government says that gunnies had been going near the highway blocking the road.

"When security forces went to control the situation, they were attacked by the gunnies. One policeman was killed and another one injured, and three gunnies were killed."

The government and the opposition were trading blame over the heightened tensions and deadly festivities.

"The [accounts of] the government and the protesters vary. It is very hard to get information from there because there are no journalists there to verify what is happening," our correspondent said.

The latest festivities came two days after Assad said Syria's decades-long emergency laws would be lifted within a week and also promised a number of other reforms.

Despite the apparent concessions, activists had called for protests across nationwide on Sunday, which was Syria's Independence Day, commemorating the departure of the last French soldier 65 years ago.

The Damascus Declaration, an opposition umbrella group, called for peaceful protests in all cities and abroad to "bolster Syria's popular uprising and ensure its continuity".

In a statement posted on its website, the Damascus Declaration said the government was responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of Syrians who have been exercising their legitimate rights in the past month.

"The regime alone stands fully responsible for the blood of deaders and all that will happen next in the country,'' the statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Afghanistan
Roadside Mine Kills 6 Afghan Police
[Tolo News] At least six Afghan coppers were killed in a roadside mine blast in southern Ghazni province on Monday, local officials said.

The incident happened at 11:30 am in Peerka area of Chaghto district of Ghazni when their car was struck by mine, Zorawar Zahid, police chief of Ghazni told TOLOnews.

No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the attack.

The incident happens as Taliban have closed the routes to Jaghury and Qarabagh districts of Ghazni province for the last two week.

Ghazni officials said that the Taliban have warned drivers not to use the highways.

Previously Provincial officials said that Afghan and foreign forces are making efforts to wipe out the Islamic fascisti soon.

Insurgents plant Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces in the country, but such kabooms often claim civilian lives.

Militants have increased their activities since the beginning of spring season in Afghanistan and have targeted some Afghan officials and government buildings recently.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


India-Pakistan
Hizbut Tahrir hoodwinks police to hold demo
RAWALPINDI: Activists of banned Hizbut Tahrir
...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate...
on Sunday managed to stage a demonstration in front of Liaquat Bagh at Benazir Bhutto Road by hoodwinking police.

The outfit announced to hold a protest at Landa Bazaar near Iqbal Road. As only a few activists reached Iqbal Road, they were easily dispersed by police. One of them, Mohammad Waqas, was tossed in the clink.

In the meantime, more than 100 Hizbut Tahrir activists gathered at Liaquat Bagh. Between the ages of 22 to 28 years, most of the young men were wearing trousers and shirts. They were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans demanding Khilafaat in the country.

They blocked the road for half an hour, creating traffic jams at adjoining roads, including Liaquat Road, College Road, Tipu Road, and Iqbal Road. They rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the US and the government.

"We held a dummy demonstration to keep the police away," Imran Yousafzai, a front man for Hizbut Tahrir, told Dawn .
It's a "funny once". Next time they'll have to do it somewhere else.
He said as they tried to hold an exhibition in front of the Islamabad Press Club, police tossed in the clink Osama Hanif, Mohammad Naeem and Dr Tahir Banori. The three were released on bail on Saturday.

"We deceived police to save our workers from arrest."

Earlier addressing the gathering, Engineer Junaid Khan, a member of Hizb ut Tahrir, termed Khilafaat as the panacea of all problems faced by the people of Pakistain. He said the American and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
forces were killing the innocent people in Pakistain.

He said the wave of change has spread throughout the Mohammedan world. "Under the current system, the rich are becoming richer and the poor only becoming poorer."

He said the West always backed the dictators and exploited the democratic leaders in countries like Pakistain. "People don`t want American and western Raj to continue in the country."

Later, the participants dispersed peacefully.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir


Southeast Asia
Indonesian police identify mosque bomber
[Straits Times] INDONESIAN police on Monday identified a jacket wallah who went kaboom!" and maimed 30 people at a Mohammedan on Friday prayer as a man on a police wanted list over previous attacks.

Forensic tests showed the bomber was Mohammed Syarif, 32, and police have seized nails and kabooms including potassium nitrate, aluminium and sulphur from his parents' home, detectives told a televised presser.

Deputy chief detective Matheus Salempang said Syarif's motives and any links with terror groups are still under investigation, but it had been 'concluded and irrefutably proven' that he was the bomber.

'What we do know is that Syarif had been on the police wanted list in similar cases, including an attack on a minimarket in Cirebon,' he said.

Syarif detonated explosives strapped to his body at a mosque within a cop shoppe in Cirebon, West Java province, on Friday as worshippers began their prayers.

The kaboom killed him instantly and injured 30 people, six of them seriously. The maimed - who were mostly coppers including the Cirebon police chief - were found with nails, nuts and bolts lodged in their bodies.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Bahrain: Gulf troops to stay as counter to Iran
[Arab News] Gulf troops will stay in Bahrain until its rulers are satisfied that threats from Iran have eased, the island kingdom's foreign minister said Monday.

Bahrain's king declared martial law last month and invited about 1,500 troops from Soddy Arabia and the other Gulf states to help contain a Shiite uprising that Sunni leaders around the oil-rich region believe could open the way for greater influence by Shiite powerhouse Iran.

The country's foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told news hounds that the Gulf force is needed to counter a "sustained campaign" by Iran in Bahrain, the host of the US Navy's 5th Fleet.

"There is an external threat on the whole Gulf," the minister said on the sidelines of an anti-piracy conference in Dubai. He denied the Gulf force is "policing" the majority Shiite nation and emphasized the foreign forces' stated mission is to protect Bahrain's "vital installations against a foreign threat."

Authorities claimed they see Iran's influence in the Shiite opposition that has staged weeks of demonstrations and sit-ins demanding greater political freedoms and equal rights.

Tehran has denounced the deployment of a Saudi-led force to help prop up Bahrain's monarchy and condemned the crackdown.

Hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders and human rights
...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
activists have been taken into custody since Bahrain declared emergency rule March 15 attempts to crush the revolt.

Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa on Monday said protesters, who had called for his removal, would be held to account and described the anti-government unrest as a coup attempt.

"Bahrain has witnessed a coup attempt," he said in remarks carried by pro-government media on Monday. "No violators would get away with it. All co-conspirators and abettors must be held accountable."

Weeks of anti-government protests in February and March by the Shiite majority demanded more freedom, an end to discrimination and a constitutional monarchy in the Sunni-ruled country, which is a US ally.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER [Cleric] URGES ARMY TO USE, ACTIVATE ALL POTENTIALS + CAPACITIES [Capabilities], including but not limited to its Intellectual + Practical proficiencies, espec as per MILITARY MODERNIZATION.

IOW, "BE ALL YOU CAN BE" FOR THE DEFENSE OF IRAN, THE REVOLUTION, + SHIA ISLAM.

IMO SUB-IOW = DEV NUCLEAR WEAPONS + LOTS OF IT!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 1:01 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia pays unemployment benefits
[Maghrebia] In an attempt to alleviate the suffering of jobless university graduates, the Tunisian government last week began paying out unemployment benefits.

As part of the government's "Amal" programme, university graduates actively seeking employment will receive 200 dinars a month, as well as medical coverage, Employment Minister Said Aydi explained on Monday (April 4th). Recipients can collect the allowance for up to one year.

"It's a good plan to help unemployed people get out of disappointment and the ghost of unemployment," said Imed Allouch, who has not had a job for two and half years. He added that the benefits would provide him with financial, psychological and social stability while alleviating the burdens on families that can no longer afford to support unemployed children.

"It will be a motive for them to proceed with their search for work. It's also a proof that there are serious attempts by the government to deal with the problem of unemployment in spite of the tough economic conditions in the country," Allouch said.

Manel Ghazouani, who received her bachelor's degree three years ago, said that the decision to pay unemployment benefits, while considerate of those in need, was only a temporary solution to allow jobseekers greater flexibility in their search.

"Looking for jobs requires a lot of expenses that unemployed people can't afford," she said. "Therefore, I think that these benefits will solve the problem of many unemployed people and boost their chances to find jobs."

The benefits could also help curb some of the crimes committed by unemployed people, according to Hatem Bourouis, who agreed that the benefits were a positive step.

But not everyone was convinced that the allowance will have its desired effect.

"I can't spend this benefit on looking for a job that doesn't exist," said Warda Badri, who received a bachelor's degree in Arabic a year and a half ago.

Among the requirements to receive the benefit is a mandate for jobs seekers to seriously undertake a search for employment or launch their own business. Additionally, recipients will be required to receive specialised training for in-demand jobs to provide them with the necessary experience. The aid can also be terminated if the beneficiary turns down multiple offers of employment.

The programme only applies to first-time job seekers unemployed for at least six months, significantly limiting the pool of applicants. The eligibility requirements angered some unemployed Tunisians, who say they were unfairly excluded.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Local Commander Murders One Family in Baghlan
[Tolo News] Seven members of a family were killed in the northern Baghlan province, security officials said.

All members of a family consisted of seven members in Jelga district of Baghlan province were killed by a local commander, Baghlan police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said.

The local commander along with a number of his men broke into a house late at night and killed all members of a family including five children, one man and a woman, Mr Rahimi said.

Officials said the commander has been tossed in the calaboose. Investigations have been launched into the incident and security forces have launched a search operation to detain others involved in the crime.

Locals said the local commander known as Mehrab was involved in several theft and murder cases in the past.

"This is more than cruelty that a whole family including little children have been murdered. We have tossed in the calaboose the murderer," Baghlan Police Chief said.

There have often been concerns about local commanders repressing people in some of the provinces that lack the rule of law.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


6 Insurgents Killed in Clashes with Foreign Forces in Kunar
[Tolo News] At least six Talibs were killed in festivities with foreign forces in eastern Kunar province,
... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral...
local officials said on Sunday.

The festivities happened on Saturday in Ghaziabad and Asmar districts of Kunar province when foreign forces were passing, Khaliliullah Ziaye, police chief of Kunar confirmed.

Foreign forces suffered no casualties in the attack.

Ghaziabad and Asmar districts are among the insecure parts of the province where snuffies have been active.

Insurgents use Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces.

Previously Afghan and foreign forces have launched military operations to clear the province of krazed killers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Arabia
New Political Bloc Big Blow to Yemen's President
A new bloc was formed from within President-for-Life Saleh's ruling General People Congress GPC party causing a direct blow to Saleh efforts to keep his rule powerful. At least twenty members of parliament resigned from Saleh's party and joined the bloc.

The bloc called for Saleh to step down immediately. "We will only stand with an initiative that calls for Saleh to step down from power, said Mohammed Abu Lahoum, founder of the political bloc.

The bloc, called the Justice and Development bloc, is formed of numerous ministers and members of parliament who resigned from the ruling party.

"The main goals of the bloc to build a civil and modern nation that will ensure freedom, justice, and equality to all Yemenis," said AbuLahoum.

The revolution is the backbone of this bloc and that is why the revolution must continue peaceful. The revolution was able to put the Islah and Houthis on the same grounds as well as the northern tribes and southerners with the same agenda," added AbuLahoum.

Three of the resigned ministers from the ruling party were among key members of the bloc. The resigned ministers of tourism, human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
and transportation are key members of the bloc whose goal is to unite the ruling party but under a different leadership. Resigned human rights minister Huda al-Ban said this bloc will ensure that change is for the people and they will come first. "Normal people are the cornerstone of our bloc. They will be served," said al-Ban.

Yahya Shami, a leading founder of the bloc said, "This bloc will be independent and will work for the sake of the people. We say to the revolution youth, you are the nations future and the leaders of the future Yemen."

Spokesperson for the bloc Abdul Aziz Gubari made clear that solutions of Yemen's crises must be up to the standards of the Yemeni people.

The bloc was forced to launch at a residence of one of the members after they were denied a license to hold the conference. Tens of security forces were surrounding the hall they had prepared for the launch.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As added to TOPIX > AL QAEDA [AQIM aka AQIY] DECLARES YEMEN PROVINCE [Abyan] AN "ISLAMIC EMIRATE".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2011 0:49 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two policemen gunned down
[Dawn] Two coppers were bumped off in different parts of Karachi, while a head constable was suspected to have done away with himself in his home on Sunday, officials said.

Mystery surrounded one of the killings when police collected a spent bullet casing from the balcony of an apartment where an inspector was found lying in a pool of blood, but could not find a weapon from the crime-scene.

The police said that Inspector Zulfiqar Qaimkhani was found lying in a pool of blood in the gallery of his flat in the New Bloody Karachi police lines on Sunday.

"A 9mm bullet had pierced his head, entering from the right and exiting through the left," New Bloody Karachi SP Zafar Iqbal said.

The Sherlocks found a spent bullet casing of 9mm pistol in the gallery.

The family was quoted as saying that as a matter of routine he returned from his morning walk and was standing in the balcony of his apartment when the incident occurred.

The victim's wife and children were at home at the time of the incident, but none of them heard the gunfire, New Bloody Karachi SHO Kamal Naseem said, suspecting that a silencer-fitted pistol might have been used in the killing.

The police ruled out the possibility of it being a suicide, citing that they could not find any pistol in the balcony.

The family spotted the inspector lying maimed in a pool of blood. Subsequently, he was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
Inspector Qaimkhani was recruited in the police department as an assistant sub-inspector in 1997 and worked with slain inspector Taufiq Zahid for some time. He was later promoted to the rank of sub-inspector and then inspector.

He was posted in the security zone after his recent postings as the SHO of the Bilal Colony and Sharifabad cop shoppes.

The victim's cousin, Shamsher, later lodged an FIR (82/2011) against unidentified suspects at the New Bloody Karachi cop shoppe under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention).

In the evening, a police constable was rubbed out in Quaidabad while he was heading to work, officials said.

They added that police constable Bukhsh Ali was on his way to the Sukhan cop shoppe from his house in Hasan Panwar Goth in the Shah Latif area on his cycle of violence when unidentified persons riding a cycle of violence fired at him at Goji Morr.

The policeman was maimed and rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
He was married and had three children.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fifth Column
WI Office Break-In: Fleebagger Recall Petitions Stolen
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
GCC leaders, Yemeni opposition hold talks
[Arab News] Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and a delegation of top opposition leaders from Yemen met here Sunday night to discuss ways and means to defuse the worsening political crisis in Yemen.

In the meeting, the GCC and Yemeni leaders discussed a proposal for an early departure of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
to secure peace and an end to political unrest in the country. They also reviewed a proposal that calls for a timetable for the president to leave office.

"The meeting discussed all related developments in Yemen within the framework of the agreement reached by GCC countries on April 10, when it was decided to involve all factions to find a solution to the political unrest," said a front man of the GCC General Secretariat in Riyadh after the talks.

The Yemeni delegation held talks on all issues with the GCC ministers while seeking details of the plan for Saleh's departure floated by GCC ministerial council earlier this month.

The five-member opposition Common Forum delegation was led by Mohammed Salem Bassandaoua, former foreign minister. Other Yemeni opposition leaders present in the talks included Yasin Saeed Noman, secretary-general of Socialist Party of Yemen; Abdelwahab Al-Ansi, secretary-general of Reform Party; Sultan Al-Atwani, secretary-general of Al-Nasiri party and Hassan Zaid, chief of Al-Haq party.

The Gulf foreign ministers met for the first time with Yemeni opposition members to defuse the crisis. The meeting coincides with the visit of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night for a two-day visit during which she is to meet King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and other senior Saudi officials.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2011-04-19
  Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Ministry of Defence
Mon 2011-04-18
  Five Hurt as Regime Agents Disperse Rallies in South Syria
Sun 2011-04-17
  Egypt: Justice orders the dissolution of the former ruling party
Sat 2011-04-16
  Qaddafi bombards Misrata
Fri 2011-04-15
  Pro-Hamas Italian activist hanged in Gaza
Thu 2011-04-14
  Pro-Hamas Italian Kidnapped By Salafists In Gaza
Wed 2011-04-13
  AU Libya Peace Plan Flops
Tue 2011-04-12
  Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters
Mon 2011-04-11
  Metro blast in Minsk kills several
Sun 2011-04-10
  Shooting erupts in seaport of Baniyas, Syria
Sat 2011-04-09
  22 Syrian protesters killed, hundreds wounded
Fri 2011-04-08
  Gulf states expect Yemen's Saleh to quit: Qatari PM
Thu 2011-04-07
  Rebels push back toward Brega
Wed 2011-04-06
  Gaddafi troops force retreat towards Ajdabiya
Tue 2011-04-05
  Suicide kabooms kill 30 at Pakistani shrine

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