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Obama Authorizes Use of Drone Airstrikes in Libya...
Today's Headlines
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Ha'aretz explosres the WikiLeaks files
...and finds all sorts of things more or less interesting, much confirming what you already knew. Do not click on headline if that will cause problems for your security clearance.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 23:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
Red Cross notices Gaza isn't suffering
The Gaza Strip is not experiencing a humanitarian crisis, the Israel Defense Forces quoted a Red Cross official as saying on Wednesday.
How exciting -- they actually saw the obvious! Nobody else in those circles seems to manage that little trick.
In an interview conducted by Rotem Caro-Weizman and published on the IDF's Spokesman's Office website, Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, said that there "is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," adding: "If you go to the supermarket, there are products. There are restaurants and a nice beach."

Rather, according to Redmatn, the issue in Gaza was "mainly in maintenance of infrastructure and in access to goods, concrete for example."
To Gazans infrastructure equals tunnels, and tunnels get them killed in so many ways. They must be protected from themselves, poor dears.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 23:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Please tell the bleeding heart leftists in the U.S.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  What was I thinking? The leftists use the Palestinians as useful tools.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 12:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, said that there "is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,"

Better practice your job search skills Mathilde.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 15:02 Comments || Top||

#4  "Better practice your job search skills Mathilde."

I was thinking she'd better get a couple of bodyguards toot sweet, grom.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/22/2011 15:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Possible.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 15:23 Comments || Top||

#6  The leftists use the Palestinians as useful tools.

You left out the Arabs, Turks, Iranians, and Russians.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/22/2011 21:19 Comments || Top||

#7  ...the proper term would be co-conspirators.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 23:21 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Mass Punishment For Monks After One Self-Immolates In Protest
Chinese security forces have detained more than 300 Tibetan monks at a besieged monastery in Sichuan, taking them away in buses and brutally beating local Tibetans who attempted to come to their rescue, exile Tibetan sources said.

Two of those attacked—an elderly man and woman—were killed, sources said.

The monks at Kirti monastery in the Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture had resisted a forced campaign of “political re-education” following the March 17 self-immolation death of a monk protesting Beijing’s rule in the area.

“On April 21, at about 9 p.m., armed security personnel and a special police unit were deployed at the monastery,” said Kanyag Tsering and Lobsang Yeshe, monks at Kirti monastery’s branch monastery in India, citing sources in the Ngaba region.

“They went to every room and detained more than 300 monks and put them into more than 10 large buses.”

Local Tibetans said they heard that the detained monks were then taken to locations in nearby Lunggu (in Chinese, Wenchuan), Maowun (in Chinese, Mao), and Tashiling (in Chinese, Li) counties.

When the monks were taken out, about 200 local Tibetans outside the monastery gates tried to stop the buses from leaving, Tsering and Yeshe said. Chinese armed police then attacked the crowd, beating some and gagging others who were crying out.

A 60-year-old man named Donkho from Upper Thawa village and a 65-year-old woman named Sherkyi from the Rakhotsang family of Nagtsangma in the Cha township were killed, and others suffered broken arms and legs in the attack, Tsering and Yeshe said.

The protesters were loaded onto trucks, of which two were driven to a nearby military camp and another two were driven to a cemetery. All who were elderly were released at 9 a.m. on Friday morning, while “a few” of the younger protesters were still being held, Tsering and Yeshe said.

An unnamed young woman of the Nagle Losang family has been missing since the police assault on the crowd, they added.

The monks at Kirti had heard by midday on Thursday that removals were imminent, and had gathered together in a group, vowing not to allow anyone to be taken away, Tsering and Yeshe said.

A senior Chinese official ordered the monks back to their rooms at 8:30 p.m., denying that any removals were planned and warning them that they would be responsible for the consequences of any “confrontation” resulting from a refusal to disperse.

The monks returned to their rooms, and a Chinese special police unit then surrounded the residences and began the removals, Tsering and Yeshe said.

Phone lines in the area had been disabled beginning at about 4 p.m., sources said.

At about 5 p.m. on Friday, five large buses with obscured markings of the type used in the detentions on Thursday night arrived at the monastery, sparking concerns of further removals Friday night.

Attempts to reach local police and security officials for comment Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 21:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, BHARAT RAKSHAK > CHINA'S [black = covert]TERRORISM POLICIES IN THE HIMALAYAS.

ARTIC = claims that Beijing is deliber disguising select PLA MIL COMMANDOS TO FALSELY IMPERSONATE BEING RELIGIOUS MONKS + INSTIGATE MASS PROTESTS WHICH WILL THEN BE OFFICIALLY BLAMED BY BEIJING + PRO-CHIN LOCAL GOVT AUTHOR ON THE REAL CLERGY WHOM ARE THEN SUPPRESSED, GULAGGED IN THE NAME OF PUBLIC ORDER???

* ION DAILY TIMES.PK > THAI, CAMBODIAN SOLDIERS CLASH [again]IN DISPUTED BORDER [Temple plex], SIX DEAD.

Gettin' serious.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 23:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Dupe URL: 3 suspicious passengers taken off United flight in Denver
A United flight had to return to the Denver International Airport gate Thursday night because of three suspicious passengers on board.

The flight was United Flight 593 to Orange County.

According to reports, Denver Police boarded the plane after it returned to the gate and arrested four people. Everyone was taken off the plane for a security sweep.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the four suspects were questioned in the terminal and were released. Witnesses described the suspects as middle aged. Two are Caucasian and two are of Middle-Eastern descent.

It is unknown at this time why the people were deemed "suspicious."

The flight departed after about a 2.5 hour delay.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 20:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Death Toll Continues Rising in Syria
Ninety as of Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:55 am (KSA) 09:55 pm (GMT)
[Al Arabiya] - At least 90 people were reportedly killed and dozens were injured when Syrian security forces fired live bullets and teargas to disperse “Good Friday” protests in several cities, witnesses reported. The death toll seemed to be rising late Friday.

The reported deaths have created a new crisis for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, raising questions about whether he is fully in control of Syrian security forces. The deaths raise questions about how far Mr. Assad is prepared to go to stay in power, and if the international community will take steps to prevent a humanitarian disaster in this geopolitically strategic Arab country.

The deaths on Friday also bring back memories of large numbers of political opponents who were mowed down by security forces in the city of Hama when Mr. Assad’s late father, President Hafez al-Assad was in office. Mr. Assad’s brother, Rifaat al-Assad, personally conducted a “scorched earth” campaign in February 1982 against Sunni Muslims who protested against the Alawite regime of Hafez al-Assad. Estimates of those killed in Hama range from 10,000 to 40,000.

On Friday, thousands of protesters swarmed the streets in the southern flashpoint town of Deraa, Moadamia, Latakia, Banias, and the mainly Kurdish northeastern city of Qamishli. Thirty were killed in the southern town of Izzra’, 22 in Damascus, 18 in the Homs area and the rest in other towns and villages, activists said, in what was the deadliest day so far during weeks of protest.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that two boys aged 7 and 10 years old were among those killed in Izzra’ as was a 70-year-old man.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 20:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:


Dupe URL: Death Toll Continues Rising in Syria
Ninety as of Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:55 am (KSA) 09:55 pm (GMT)
[Al Arabiya] - At least 90 people were reportedly killed and dozens were injured when Syrian security forces fired live bullets and teargas to disperse “Good Friday” protests in several cities, witnesses reported. The death toll seemed to be rising late Friday.

The reported deaths have created a new crisis for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, raising questions about whether he is fully in control of Syrian security forces. The deaths raise questions about how far Mr. Assad is prepared to go to stay in power, and if the international community will take steps to prevent a humanitarian disaster in this geopolitically strategic Arab country.

The deaths on Friday also bring back memories of large numbers of political opponents who were mowed down by security forces in the city of Hama when Mr. Assad’s late father, President Hafez al-Assad was in office. Mr. Assad’s brother, Rifaat al-Assad, personally conducted a “scorched earth” campaign in February 1982 against Sunni Muslims who protested against the Alawite regime of Hafez al-Assad. Estimates of those killed in Hama range from 10,000 to 40,000.

On Friday, thousands of protesters swarmed the streets in the southern flashpoint town of Deraa, Moadamia, Latakia, Banias, and the mainly Kurdish northeastern city of Qamishli. Thirty were killed in the southern town of Izzra’, 22 in Damascus, 18 in the Homs area and the rest in other towns and villages, activists said, in what was the deadliest day so far during weeks of protest.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that two boys aged 7 and 10 years old were among those killed in Izzra’ as was a 70-year-old man.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 20:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Libya army may quit Misrata fight due to airstrikes
Libya's deputy foreign minister said on Friday Muammar Gaddafi's army may quit fighting in Misrata because of NATO airstrikes and allow local tribes to lead the fight against rebels.

Khaled Kaim said the army was meeting with local tribes who would try to talk to the rebels first. If dialogue fails, the tribes would fight the rebels in Libya's third largest city.

Kaim told reporters that the tribes had told the army: "if you can't do it, we will do it."

"Now there is an ultimatum before the Libyan army. If they can't resolve the problem in Misrata then the people from the region... will move in," he said.

"The tactic of the army is to have a surgical solution but with the (NATO) airstrikes it doesn't work," he said. "The situation in Misrata will be eased, will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata and the rest of Misrata's people and not by the Libyan army."
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 20:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Death of First Amendment in America?
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 19:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lets see, the Phelps can shit all over veteran's funerals at our churches, they fund "piss Christ" as art, but they don't allow this guy to protest in front of a mosque? Since when did we bow to Muslims?
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/22/2011 20:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Bow?
You mean bend over.
Posted by: Hupavirt Splat6820 || 04/22/2011 20:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
UNhappy meal - racist beat-down at McDs
Disturbing video as melanin-enhanced employees sit back to watch the show and help perpetrators escape as victim goes into seizure.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ec0_1303444048

P.S. Called (800) 244-6227 and left contact info requesting comment. No response to date (20:14 cst).

Will update as relevent info is received.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/22/2011 19:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is completely sickening.
What is even more bothersome is that this event is only exceptional in the level of it's publicity. Because of that publicity there is a chance (a rather small chance) that in this case an actual investigation may occur.
This crap happens daily and nobody much notices or cares.
Posted by: abu do you love || 04/22/2011 20:21 Comments || Top||

#2  McDonald's International is under attack today.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 20:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm guessing this is the video making the rounds. Couple observations.

First don't know how the fight started.

Second many places train their employees to not get involved on penalty of job loss, possibly getting sued, or even arrested themselves.

Third grandma tried to intervene and got shoved around herself.

Now I agree that there was a point where it became agregious, and when the victim got dragged out (when grandma stepped in) the second point should get weighed against being a human. Also, it may be time to put the fucking camera down and make sure the gal doesn't bite her tongue or hurt herself - but again what if a person helps and does damage they become liable.

I'm not defending any of this bullshit, just some points to consider. I don't know where this happened, if there are or are not samaritan laws, or what. What I do know is the two on one dog fuckers had proven their point then moved onto what should be charges other than typical brawling.

It is a symptom that there is enough interest in this stupid cousin of a snuff film that there are sites dedicated to these uploads; on the other hand there is plenty of video evidence. So the real story is the follow through by authorities IMHO.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 23:02 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Neutral Poll Indicates Over Half Of Democrats Are 'Truthers'
Recent suggestions that many Republicans are 'Birthers' has brought to light another poll, which in its time received scant attention.

University of Ohio and Scripps Howard conducted the poll in 2006.

"How likely is it that people in the federal government either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East?" the poll asked.

A full 22.6% of Democrats said it was "very likely." Another 28.2% called it "somewhat likely."

That is: More than half of Democrats, according to a neutral survey, said they believed Bush was complicit in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 18:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Furthermore, the Democratic Party at large doesn't want people to think the implications of this all the way through.

This was part of the reason they did everything they could to blame Sarah Palin before it became generally known that Loughner was a truther... and suddenly changed course to "we need to be above it all" when it looked like it was starting to become public.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/22/2011 19:30 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
'Al-Qaeda envoy' Moganned killed in Chechnya
Russia has said that its forces have killed a senior Saudi-born al-Qaeda figure in the North Caucasus region.

Haled Yusef Muhammad al Emirat, described as al-Qaeda's chief envoy in the region, died with another rebel in a clash with troops in Chechnya. Chechnya's president said the rebel, nicknamed Moganned, trained and funded insurgents, and planned acts of terror.
Call up another number 3! Perhaps the AA club in Bahrain has someone they can spare...
Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement that Moganned was killed along with another militant in a raid on Thursday near the village of Serzhen-Yurt, in Chechnya's southern mountains.

It said that the militant has been operating in the North Caucasus since 1999 and that by 2005 he had emerged as the top liaison official with al-Qaeda, helping raise foreign funds, particularly from the Arabian Peninsula.
Oh, which part of the Arabian Peninsula, we all wonder, we do...
"Almost all acts of terror using suicide bombers in the last years were prepared with his involvement," a spokesman for the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a televised statement, according to AFP news agency.

The pro-rebel website kavkazcenter.com confirmed Moganned was killed on Thursday in a clash with security forces in Chechnya. It said that at least two other militants had died in the attack.
So he's gonna have to share the virgins raisins...

This article starring:
Haled Yusef Muhammad al Emirat
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 15:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/22/2011 17:06 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Bilderberg Insider: Kissinger Calls For US Ground Invasion Of Libya
Despite the fact that the United States is embroiled in three major conflicts and can barely service its own gigantic debt, with Standard and Poor this week indicating the US will soon lose its triple-A credit rating, top globalist and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger recently told fellow elitists at three different globalist confabs that the US needs to launch a ground invasion of Libya and keep the war running for at least another year.

According to veteran Bilderberg journalist Jim Tucker, whose sources have proven routinely accurate in leaking discussion topics shared by globalists at their regular meetings, Kissinger gave almost the exact same speech at three different conferences over the past two weeks, firstly during an April 8-10 get-together at the George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs, then at an Aspen Institute session on “Values and Diplomacy” at the National Cathedral, and finally during the Bretton Woods II conference in New Hampshire.

“Kissinger, visibly depressed, gave a rationale for the war on Libya that the TC (Trilateral Commission) and its brother group, Bilderberg, want to keep rolling, according to an inside source who has proved reliable for years. Both groups want the war extended through 2012 to generate turmoil throughout the Middle East and pressure the United States into attacking Iran on behalf of Israel. Which would also produce huge war profits,” writes Tucker.

With President Obama keen to oversee more “mission creep” in Libya, by sending unmanned drones to intensify the air bombardment, Kissinger made it clear that the ultimate intention was to do what Obama specifically promised would never happen, a US ground invasion.

Entering the 10th year of the occupation of Afghanistan, and with US forces still tied down in Iraq, by April 4 American taxpayers had already shelled out an estimated $608 million dollars to pay for the intervention in Libya. The expenditure shows no signs of abating as the Obama administration signals its intent to deepen U.S. involvement even as ratings agency Standard & Poor announced Monday that the U.S. risks losing its AAA credit rating because of the government’s inability to reduce the budget deficit.

Kissinger’s call for a ground invasion is symptomatic of the way globalists use America’s military muscle to pursue madcap geopolitical objectives while the country itself withers and dies. State governments across the country are now saying they cannot afford to pay police and firefighters as local communities are shut down, so how on earth can the Obama administration justify spending what will eventually amount to billions of dollars to intervene in a civil war in North Africa?

“In all three speeches, Kissinger played the reluctant damsel who was firmly convinced that the United States must put boots on the ground in Libya—among all the wars that the U.S. is already involved in,” reports Tucker.

In addition, Kissinger was keen to voice his displeasure at the fact that certain media publications, which the globalists normally rely on to keep such information under wraps, had leaked the news that Al-Qaeda terrorists were playing a key role in helping the Libyan rebels and NATO fight Gaddafi. This information “being forced into the national press makes it more difficult” to sell the invasion of Libya, Kissinger said, according to Tucker’s source.

The endgame of the war in Libya is to further isolate Iran in preparation for a US-led attack carried out in the name of protecting Israel. Kissinger was keen to make the connection between Libya and Iran in his speeches, claiming that Gaddafi’s conduct “may tempt the Iranian regime to speed its development of a nuclear weapon. Rogue states have to remain convinced of our determination to resist nuclear proliferation.”

In addition to developments in Libya, Jim Tucker appeared on The Alex Jones Show today to divulge the fact that Kissinger and his fellow elitists were determined to run the price of gas up at $7 dollars a gallon via a combination of soaring oil prices and a crumbling US dollar. To ensure Americans have their living standards lowered as part of Bilderberg’s planned “post-industrial revolution,” the middle east needs to be kept in a permanent state of flux, causing energy costs to remain unstable.

Expanding the conflict in Libya will undoubtedly be a central focus of the upcoming Bilderberg meeting which is set to take place in the resort city of St. Moritz, southeastern Switzerland, from June 9-12. Although the exact location of the conference has yet to be pinned down, it’s widely expected that the luxurious 5-star Grand Hotel Kempinski will be the site of what promises to be one of the most important Bilderberg meetings in recent years.

Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (Ad)

Indeed, when attempting to book a room for the period in question via the hotel website, a message pops up saying the hotel is closed, all but confirming it as the location for Bilderberg 2011. However, Bilderberg have been known to change their plans at the last minute in a bait and switch to throw journalists off the scent.

Tucker, who has been hunting Bilderberg for no less than 36 years, has released his Bilderberg itinerary for the 2011 meeting.

It is important to stress that Tucker’s Bilderberg sources have proven accurate in the past, particularly before the 2008 spike in oil prices, an event that was crafted by Bilderberg at their 2005, 2006 and 2007 conferences.
Posted by: Omolurong Ghibelline1929 || 04/22/2011 14:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian Basiji students head to Bahrain on their own flotilla
Two hundred Iranian pro-regime students, members of the Basiji militia, stationed in the gulf city of Bushehr have sailed to Bahrain on their own flotilla to join the Bahraini Shiite protesters.

In an interview with the Iranian Student’s News Agency, Abbas Aalizadeh, public relations spokesperson for the so-called students claimed that this was ‘a spontaneous act on the part of the students and that they were not acting as anyone’s proxy and the ships were privately owned.’ Aalizadeh added: “We are determined and we will stay on our path to see the mission through.”
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 14:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I truly hope the Saudis pick them up en route, then do a "deep process" of them in Saudi Arabia before returning them to Iran.

This includes lots of photographs, fingerprints, DNA samples, shaved heads, cavity searches, family notifications, Red Crescent notifications, criminal background checks, and more cavity searches. A real media circus, with broadcasts to Iran.

Then return them wearing pink paper pajamas with open heeled fuzzy bunny slippers.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 15:06 Comments || Top||

#2  This is an echo of the Iranian students who took over the US embassy in 1979.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/22/2011 15:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Just yesterday, Iranian student surrounded the Saudi mission in Tehran, which has been under low level assault for some time. But will they try the same stunt? Unless there is going to be a war between the two, for them to seize their embassy will mean the end of Hajj for Iranians.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 15:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Meh, nothing a good gunboat couldn't fix.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/22/2011 15:40 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/22/2011 17:08 Comments || Top||

#6  The flotilla was sadly lost due to rough seas in the Persian Gulf. And torpedoes.
Posted by: Charles || 04/22/2011 20:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Glick: Obama's altruistic foreign policy
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 14:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Protest against Egypt Christian governor
TENS of thousands of protesters massed in a southern Egyptian city yesterday and cut off a major railway to demand the exit of a Christian governor as the government sought to resolve the crisis, police officials said.

The protests began last Friday after Emad Mikhail, a former Cairo police commander, was appointed governor of Qena, the second Coptic Christian governor in a row.

The protesters' motivations appear to vary but the presence of hardline Islamists has raised sectarian tensions in the province, which has a large Christian population and a history of religious strife.
How coyly incomplete. Tell us, O journalist: is it a history of Christians attacking Muslims, mutual aggression, or Muslims exercising their natural right to put Christians in their place?
Police officials said the protesters gathered in front of the governor's headquarters and reinforced demonstrators already camped out on a railway track after Friday prayer sermons exhorted them to end the sit-in.

Some of the protesters said they should have been consulted in the appointment of a new governor, especially one with a background in the country's vilified police force.
Since when does the government consult the mob about government appointments?
State television aired interviews with protesters who denied they were Islamists, but a Coptic Bishop in the province said the demonstrators have been heard chanting anti-Christian slogans.

"The protests are sectarian," Bishop Kirilos of the nearby town of Nagaa Hammadi told AFP.

"They are led by Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood, and they are chanting: 'We won't leave until the Christians leave,'" he said.

The bishop, who was present when Muslim gunmen killed six churchgoers after an evening mass in January 2010, said parishioners were fearful of further attacks.

But a prominent Salafi cleric in Cairo, Abdel Moneim al-Shahat, denied that his sect, which advocates a return to early Muslim practices, was spearheading the protests.

"People object to him because he has a security background, and also because he was appointed as though for a Coptic quota, and Qena always gets the quota Christian," he said.

"My religion forbids me from being ruled by a Christian, but if he were popular I would be willing to set aside my religious objection," he said.
A Salafist would allow popular will to trump Allah's? That sounds like taqiyyah.
Many traditional Muslim scholars believe a Christian or a woman may not rule a Muslim country.
Or a Muslim, which is why non-Muslim men may not marry good Muslim women.
The government has unsuccessfully tried to persuade the demonstrators to disperse by sending two prominent Salafi clerics to negotiate with them along with the interior minister.

State television reported that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was preparing to head a delegation to the southern city to defuse the crisis.

Copts make up about 10 per cent of the country's 80 million people and have been the targets of attacks.

The protests in Qena have served as a stark reminder to some of the persistence of sectarian tensions after a popular revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Telecoms billionaire Nagib Sawaris, who launched a liberal party after Mubarak's ouster, wrote on his Twitter account that the protests showed a Christian would stand little chance of becoming the country's president.

"To those who said I should run for president: if we can't even have a Copt as Qena governor, what about Egypt?," he wrote.
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 13:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ROPs tolerance on display yet again. This disgusts me as much for the cowardly responses most of thw West provide.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 13:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Huckabee: Beck has gone around the bend.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/22/2011 12:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Huckabee: get bent.

Hows the comfy chair been treatn' ya? Just as fair.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  On more data point for my "Dislike" column for Huckabee.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/22/2011 12:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Beck went around the bend a long time ago. But he kept on going (maybe several laps now), and is in the front again.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/22/2011 12:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Whereas huckabee has never even seen the bend. Screw huckabee. I used to like him until his staff said he is nothing but a walking penis.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 13:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Glenn lost me, my conservative relatives and friends when he decided to mix God and politics. He has turned his program into a neuvo 700 Club. Perhaps this is by design, Pat Robertson, the poggie bait "ex" Marine, is 81 and his constituency will be up for grabs.

As for Mike Huckabee?
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/22/2011 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't be too dismissive too soon.

If November 2012 rolls around and it's Huckabee versus Obama, you'll have a choice to make.

I'll round up the spare nose-pins...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 18:02 Comments || Top||

#7  The Libertarians might nominate Dr. Paul.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/22/2011 19:32 Comments || Top||

#8  Huckabee? Isn't he the one who freed that prisoner early for Clemency -- so that he could kill 4 police officers in Seattle?

That Huckabee?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 20:25 Comments || Top||

#9  yep, that *spit* Huckabee. A lying demagogue faux-evangelical
Posted by: Frank G || 04/22/2011 20:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Dr. Steve, the mainstream press won't mention any blood on *&^%kerbee's hands until the day after the nomination, and then they won't talk about anything else. And unlike the wall of shit they drop on Sarah Palin, this time it'll be something real.

If we don't want four more years of 0bama we NEED to find someone else.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/22/2011 21:24 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Brisk sales for Lebanese arms dealer
Abu Jihad says he usually only supplies to fellow Shia. He has a strict policy of keeping his weapons away from Sunni extremists. "If anyone like this approaches me, I kill them." grunts Abu Jihad.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 11:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


At least 27 dead in 'Great Friday' riots in Syria
Headline at link now says "At least 40 dead ..." @ 17:39

Drudge has death toll up to 90 now.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 11:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, Iraq's right next door! Think Obumble will undertake some more Kinetic Military Action??

If 3 wars are good 4 must be better.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 13:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Death toll more than 50 now.
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 14:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Think Obumble will undertake some more Kinetic Military Action??

Nope. Syria did not give up its WMD.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 14:58 Comments || Top||

#4  "Syria did not give up its WMD."

Syria didn't give up Iraq's WMD, either. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/22/2011 15:13 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought that Libya had held on to CBW weapons even though they lost the nukes, no?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 15:21 Comments || Top||

#6  He gave up Scuds C = ability to reach out to Europe.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 15:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Death toll more than 50 now.

Bashir Assad's a pussycat compared to his dad. If he wants to end this quickly, he will need to re-enact Hama soon.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/22/2011 17:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Yep, Assad has to stop this quickly. Otherwise, post Libya, the West will have to been seen to do something to stop the killings.

In reality the West can do little, except useless sanctions.

Otherwise we are hearing little about Syria's Kurds, and I expect them to be well armed and some trained via Iraqi Kurdistan.

If Syria does go into a Libya-type slide into civil war, Turkey will panic and may well invade Syrian Kurdistan.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/22/2011 20:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Syria didn't give up Iraq's WMD, either. >:-(

As I recall, they were trucked into Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, Barbara.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 21:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Obama condemns 'outrageous' use of force
Strongly worded letter to follow, that 'ill teach 'em.
Posted by: tipper || 04/22/2011 22:03 Comments || Top||

#11  True, tw, though I'd be shocked if it weren't to both countries.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/22/2011 22:06 Comments || Top||

#12  lol

from Barry_044 on twitter,

Damnit! That F'n CNN is showing all this Syria BS. They're gonna force me into a humanitarian mission in the next month
Posted by: phil_b || 04/22/2011 22:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Yep, Assad has to stop this quickly. Otherwise, post Libya, the West will have to been seen to do something to stop the killings.

In reality the West can do little, except useless sanctions.


I don't think it's the West he has to worry about - it's government officials who see an opportunity to strike out on their own, by claiming to represent the rebels or the grievances of the populace. Pretty standard issue palace politics.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/22/2011 22:33 Comments || Top||

#14  In reality the West can do little, except useless sanctions.

Well, there's this little bit of payback that the Iraqis could provide for all the aid and abetting of the terrorist funded, supplied, and deployed from Syria. Not to mention acting as a shelter for the butchers who fled their old handiwork in Iraq. Just talking up the possibility with the Iraqis playing the role, maneuvering some troops to the border could produce some interesting anxiety in Damascus.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 23:33 Comments || Top||

#15  Well, there's this little bit of payback that the Iraqis could provide for all the aid and abetting of the terrorist funded, supplied, and deployed from Syria.

I don't see how that's going to happen. Shiite are in charge of Iraq. Alawites are basically Shiite heretics - cousins, if you will. I don't really see al Assad as backing terrorists in Iraq so much as using Iraq as an outlet for all the Sunni nutjobs who would otherwise be making trouble in Syria. Assad's philosophy was probably closer to "Better you than me" than "Kill the infidel", given that Sunnis consider Alawites infidels (or worse, apostates).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/22/2011 23:54 Comments || Top||


Africa North
McCain visits Libya for meetings with rebels
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) landed in Libya on Friday for meetings with rebel fighters and opposition leaders who have been trying for two months to drive embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi from power.
Good for him; nothing like a tour on the ground for a political leader to see what's happening.
The Associated Press reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee's ranking member called rebel fighters his heroes as he left a hotel in Benghazi.

McCain is reportedly set to meet with members of the National Transition Council, the opposition group based in the eastern half of Libya. He is moving around in a heavily armored Mercedes jeep, and has been greeted by some Libyan citizens waving American flags, AP reported.

Prior to the mid-March start of U.S. and coalition bombing of Gadhafi's military and the establishment of a no-fly zone, McCain had been among the most vocal U.S. lawmakers calling for American intervention as the Libyan leader pushed back against rebel fighters. U.S. fighter aircraft and aerial gunships had been involved in the opening weeks of the campaign but recently took a backseat to NATO war planes as the alliance took command of the operations.

Some Libyan rebel fighters and National Council members, however, have criticized NATO for failing to provide the needed combat punch to help opposition fighters counter pro-Gadhafi forces.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 11:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Senator says they are 'my heroes' and world should do more amid fears of military stalemate with Gadhafi's forces.
Who sent McC there? Will AlQ make John a hero of the jihad? WTG, John.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 04/22/2011 13:39 Comments || Top||

#2  If you are on a mission like that, you do not announce it to the media until after it is completed. More photo op and publicity than substance. This whole way that the Libya situation was and is handled by the US govt is sickening. Winging it won't work.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/22/2011 14:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Highly hazardous. I wonder if McCain wants to be a martyr?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 15:35 Comments || Top||

#4  My Heros!
(eyes twitter)

I think the mission is a charm offensive against US detracters of Boots on the Ground.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 18:05 Comments || Top||


Economy
Geithner subverts the dollar
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 11:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's how you cook the books for your banker and investor friends stuck with lots of paper for property that's over valued. You simply cheapen the dollar to float it to the level of those junk pieces of paper. Of course, it screws the rest of the population, but they're just prols and not part of the Inner Party.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 11:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Thats right Procopius2k, and what people do not realize is it is a tax on 100% of the population of the world. He is screwing the poorest of the poor all the world over to pay off his stupid union buddies.

I Am Pissed
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 13:55 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Poco-Poco Sort Of Okay, No Word On Macarena Or The Ketchup Dance
The special meeting or muzakarah of the National Fatwa Council has decided not to put a ban on the "poco-poco" dance among Muslims in the country as long as it is practised according to the stipulated regulations.

National Fatwa Council chairman Tan Sri Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said the regulations referred to the guidelines issued by the council in 2007, which reminded the Muslims not to conduct the worshipping rituals of other religions, minding relations between men and women and wearing proper attire while dancing the "poco-poco".

"If they can adhere to the regulations...and if it can bring about positive impact to health, then we have no objection on that matter," he told reporters after chairing the special meeting, here Friday.

However, he said the National Fatwa Council would remain respectful of the decision made by the Perak Fatwa Council to ban the dance in the state as their research showed that it had elements of Christianity and soul worshipping.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 10:54 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And Lambada, the Forbidden Dance, is still forbidden.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  See, ya get these questions answered so that they can get on with the proper way to poop in a space station.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 12:28 Comments || Top||

#3  After reading this it occurred to me why the leftists embrace islam--both are obsessed with complete control of the individual.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 12:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Viddies for reference purposes only:

The Poco-Poco Dance.

The Macarena.

The ketchup song.

And, The Lambada, The Forbidden Dance
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 13:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Not Safe for Work:
Cheech and Chong version of Macarena

A version that will never be approved by the National Fatwa Council.
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/22/2011 15:02 Comments || Top||

#6  D *** NG IT, NO "SAFETY DANCE"!?

Of course you know this means War!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 20:29 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Ha'aretz explores the WikiLeaks archive
... and finds a number of things more or less interest to those paying attention to that part of the world. Do not click on the headline if this will cause problems with your security clearance.
Posted by: || 04/22/2011 10:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Obama: Don't let deficit reduction kill the American dream
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 10:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A$$hole. The American dream is comatose and on life support because of pols like you who don't understand that individual economic activity is the driver of the dream.

The dream is not one where everyone sits on their fat a$$ and is handed stuff by the nanny state.
Kill the debt & deficit and the dream will be reborn.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 11:47 Comments || Top||

#2  The American Dream(tm) is predicated upon hard work not redistribution to those who don't. Steal long enough and those who used to work hard see no reason to continue while you reward your factions for putting you in power with the fruits of their labor and skill.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 12:00 Comments || Top||

#3  well put, AlanC
Posted by: 746 || 04/22/2011 12:08 Comments || Top||

#4  His 'American Dream' is the nightmare which was (and in some cases still is) the Socialist system as practiced in Stalin's Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba, Pol-Pot's Cambodia, and the original Mao's China. To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability success.

Even China figured out that it doesn't work and went to a more capitalistic economy.

Rather than 'Atlas Shrugged' think 'Atlas Starved'. One is voluntary - the other forced.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 12:15 Comments || Top||


#6  This from a guy that lives in his own pipe dream. Little punk ass child, playing with countries like they are toys.

Soros is his daddy.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 13:40 Comments || Top||

#7  The faster this Marxist is out of office, along with his cronies, the better.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/22/2011 14:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Never mind where he was born, I don't think that Obama's idea of the American Dream is anything like mine.

The socialist dream is everybody living off of everybody else. Somehow.
Posted by: Free Radical || 04/22/2011 15:05 Comments || Top||

#9  The water in the bathtub comes from somewhere. It just does not magically appear to be drunken up in one sitting, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/22/2011 19:58 Comments || Top||

#10  The American Dream is for the guv'ment to get out of the way and let me dream and work and enjoy the fruits of "my" labor and not have the sucks steal/tax and then spread/share the fruits of my labor with the lazy azz folk. I don't want a guv'ment handout - I want to work - that's my American dream. This is the most un-American president in our history - he doesn't know our dreams.
Posted by: JP || 04/22/2011 20:28 Comments || Top||

#11  yes, let us the Marxists in the Administration do it.
Posted by: jack salami || 04/22/2011 20:55 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Losing in Libya?
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 09:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Marine from MN tackles school reform
By George Will
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 09:36 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Notice how he carefully avoids the obvious answer?

Dissolving or severely restricting the teachers union. Banning it from using union dues for political purposes is another. Restricting it (and other public unions) to only bargain on wages is yet another.

Minnesota is not a right to work state.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  collective bargaining=closed shop
see - mafia protection

For those who argue that if everyone didn't pay why should they get the 'benefit' of representation, that's exactly what we have with our large segment of citizens who don't carry the tax load and ride the system. Give us the principle and stick to it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 11:55 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Dhimmi 101
Posted by: Beavis || 04/22/2011 09:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Klavan is pretty wired tight to say the least. I appreciate him.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 15:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Hilarious.
Posted by: Secret Master || 04/22/2011 20:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak nuclear missiles are horses as compared to 'donkey-like' Indian rockets: Nizami
Pakistan's nuclear missiles are superior to those possessed by India, The Nation Editor-in-Chief and Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust Chairman Majid Nizami has claimed.

"Our missiles are like horses (In the words of the Holy Quran) and theirs are like donkeys," The Nation quoted Nizami, as saying at an Iqbal Day function.
They still go kaboom, and they still can wreck your day...
He said that Pakistan's missiles would beat those of India in case of war, provided Pakistani keep themselves high, as advised by the late Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the official poet of the country.

"We should act upon the philosophy of Allama Muhammad Iqbal and teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to protect our independence and sovereignty", he added.

Pakistan's Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood had said earlier this week that India had offered cheap electricity to Pakistan to help it overcome the lingering load-shedding problem, adding that Pakistan was seriously considering the Indian offer.

Nizami said that India was planning to build hydel projects on Kashmir rivers to sell electricity to Pakistan, adding: "Our Trade Secretary has shamefully said Pakistan will consider the offer."

"We curse on electricity coming from India", he averred.

Nizami also said that the Pakistan resolution was adopted in 1940 on the basis of Iqbal's Two-Nation Theory, and alleged that the Hindu Banya did not accept Pakistan by heart and conspired to dismember it in 1971 by converting East Pakistan into Bangladesh.

He further alleged that India was now targeting Pakistan in connivance with the United States and Israel.

Pakistan is the only Islamic power with atom bomb, and it is the duty of Pakistanis to beak the hands of India, he added.
Posted by: john frum || 04/22/2011 08:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
"We curse on electricity coming from India", he averred.


Electricity is obviously a plot by the Hindoos and Joos
Posted by: john frum || 04/22/2011 8:51 Comments || Top||

#2  The Hindoos and Juice make the electrons spin in the wrong direction to destroy their power distribution system. That's why they have so many power interruptions.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/22/2011 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  So, IIUC, this bozo is taking his line and advice on nuclear weapons from the late Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the official poet of the country...

Oh I can certainly see that working out well.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  "We curse on electricity coming from India", he averred

"Curse you, Reddy Kilowatt!!!"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/22/2011 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  So, IIUC, this bozo is taking his line and advice on nuclear weapons from the late Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the official poet of the country...

This greatly increases the odds that Editor-in-Chief and Trust Chairman Nizami has his animals reversed. Not to mention that newspaper editors, however elevated, tend not to be experts in comparative missilonics*.

*Yes, I realize that isn't a real word, but the principle expressed by the imaginary one still holds.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Ok, now I'm sure the vaunted Pak Nukes are rusting in their holes.
Posted by: mojo || 04/22/2011 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  "The only Islamic Power wid the Atom Bomb" > Well, I wouldn't go that far as the jury is still out on just how many Soviet nuke warheads Iran procured from Ukraine + the Black Markets for its "dual use" TLCMS, SRBMS = SSBMS - ditto for how many so-called "suitcase" nukes suitable for MilTerr use.

IN ANY CASE, IRAN + RADICAL ISLAM [MilTerrs] ARE GOING NUCLEAR, while the Jasmine-led overthrow of anti-Islamist, pro-Western "Moderate/
Centrist" Muslim Govts in the ME + Africa gives Radicla Islam the opportunity for POLITICAL-LEGAl JIHAD LED "SUDDEN CALIPHATE".

LOTS OF SUDDDENLY PRO-ISLAMIST? REGIONAL OR MULTI-REGIONAL MUSLIM GOVTS + GOING NUCLEAR = OWG NUCLEAR CALIPHATE = USA-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR-ISLAMISM.

LOTS OF SUDDENLY PRO-ISLAMIST, SOVEREIGN, NUCLEAR? MUSLIM GOVTS-STATES = MILTERRS DON'T HAVE TO CARE ANYMORE IFF THE US-ALLIES ATTACK IRAN OR NOT, BECUZ THEY IN NEAR-FUTURE WILL HAVE MULLAH ALTERNATE INDEPENDENT STATE(S)SOURCES TO GET THEIR DESIRED NUCTECHS [Nukes-WMDS].

NEITHER THE UNSC NOR THE US-ALLIES [NATO-EU, etc.] CAN ATTACK ONE, FEW, OR ALL OF THESE SOVEREIGN, NUCLEAR ISLAMIST MUSLIM STATES WIDOUT SUFFERING SOME KIND OF MASS-CASUALTY STATE(S), MILTERR MIL COUNTER-RESPONSE.

"VIETNAM WAR" SAYING = the US would've "LOST THE GWOT DESPITE WINNING ALL THE BATTLES"???

This time around, IT WILL BE WASHINGTON, DC THAT WILL FALL, NOT JUST "SAIGON" = REGIONAL ALLIES.

OLD VULCAN SAYING = "ONLY NIXON COULD GO TO CHINA" = now devols into "NIXON MUST GO TO MECCA IFF HE WANTS TO GO TO CHINA"???

But I digress ...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 20:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian espionage plot uncovered in New York, California
Islamophobia! Quick -- somebody inform the good people at Slate!!
A U.S. businessman and his New York-based company and two others and their company in California were indicted today in Washington, D.C., on charges of illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of computer-related equipment from the United States to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Jeng "Jay" Shih, 53, a U.S. citizen, and his Queens, New York company, Sunrise Technologies and Trading Company, were indicted in the District of Columbia on 27 counts relating to the illegal export of computer-related equipment to Iran without first having obtained the required license from the Department of Treasury.

The indictment charges Shih and his company with one count of conspiracy; 13 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA); 13 counts of making or causing to be made false statements to the United States; and one allegation for criminal forfeiture of property and proceeds derived from these offenses.

Shih was arrested on a criminal complaint in New York on April 6, 2011, and had his initial appearance in court in New York on April 7, 2011. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each of the IEEPA counts and five years for each false statement count.

In addition, Massoud Habibion, 48, aka "Matt Habibion" and "Matt Habi," and Mohsen Motamedian, 43, aka "Max Motamedian" and "Max Ehsan," both U.S. citizens, and their Costa Mesa, California, company, Online Micro LLC, were indicted in the District of Columbia on 32 counts relating to the illegal export of computer-related equipment to Iran without the required license from the Department of Treasury.

Habibion was charged with one count of conspiracy, 14 counts of violating IEEPA, 14 counts of making or causing false statements to the United States and four counts of obstruction of justice. Motamedian was charged with one count of conspiracy, 14 counts of violating IEEPA, 14 counts of making or causing false statements to the United States and one count of obstruction of justice.

Habibion and Motamedian were arrested on a criminal complaint in California on April 7, 2011, and had their initial appearance in court in the Central District of California on April 7, 2011. If convicted, both defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and $1 million fine for each of the IEEPA counts, and five years for each false statement and 20 years for each obstruction of justice count.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the Shih criminal complaint, in 2006, Commerce Department agents conducted an outreach visit to Shih's business in New York where they met Shih and informed him about U.S. laws governing the export of goods from the United States to other countries, particularly embargoed countries like Iran. In April 2010, ICE-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents seized hundreds of laptop computers that originated from Sunrise and were destined for Dubai, UAE. Communications related to these shipments indicated that the purchasers were located in Iran, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit alleges that agents subsequently identified a company in Dubai that was purchasing millions of dollars of computers from U.S. companies for export to Iran, through Dubai. ICE-HSI agents arrested one of the company's agents, who pleaded guilty in December 2010 and began cooperating with the government. In interviews with agents, this individual indicated that he and his company in Dubai had purchased millions worth of laptops from Shih in recent years for shipment to Iran, averaging $700,000 worth of computers each month. The affidavit alleges that agents also obtained documents indicating that more than 1,000 computers had been shipped by Shih's company to Dubai and later to Iran, between April 9, 2010, and May 28, 2010, alone.

In February 2011, the cooperating individual met with Shih in New York. In recorded conversations, Shih allegedly told the individual he was aware of the U.S. embargo against Iran and U.S. export control laws. According to the affidavit, Shih also told the cooperating individual how to avoid detection when shipping goods to Iran by using fake invoices and indicated that he treated the seizure of some of his shipments as a "loss" when reporting business income and loses on his U.S. taxes.

The affidavit filed in support of the complaint against Habibion and Motamedian alleges that a company in Dubai, referenced above, purchased millions of dollars worth of laptop computers from Online Micro and that these computers were subsequently shipped to Iran. According to the affidavit, the agent for the Dubai company, who was arrested, pleaded guilty and began cooperating with the government, told federal agents that Habibion and Motamedian sold roughly $300,000 worth of computers to the Dubai company each month and that Habibion and Motamedian fully understood that the computers were destined for Iran.

In December 2010, the cooperating individual met with Habibion and Motamedian, wherein these defendants allegedly instructed the cooperating individual to make fake invoices to conceal that Iran was the destination of the shipments and to indicate that the end-users were in Dubai.

In addition, the affidavit alleges that in a Jan. 5, 2011, meeting, Habibion told the cooperating individual to lie to federal agents about conducting business in Iran, stating, "If they ask you, for instance, 'Do you do business in Tehran?' 'No, I don't have any business in Tehran. I go there to visit my family, but I have no business there.' They will ask such questions, it is part of their routine."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 08:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  should've loaded the computers up with Stuxnet and worse and let em go....
Posted by: Frank G || 04/22/2011 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I take it someone's check didn't clear.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 16:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Jurassic President
But Obama is not in the early 21st century, or not in the same 21st century the rest of us inhabit. Instead, he’s preserved in the amber of an echo chamber where the romanticized version of the thirties seen through the new-agey 1970s is paradise. In his circles, denying this vision is akin to insisting the sky is made of cheese.

I don’t share his view, but I can understand it because we do move in intellectually similar circles.

As an author and, further, a science fiction author, and as someone who has moved in and out of academic circles over the years, I know that artists, academics, and self-described intellectuals have self-selected themselves into an almost parallel universe of leftist chic and wishful thinking.

In that universe, if only Carter had served a second term, we’d have all-green-energy, caring, helpful, gentle, earth-loving communities, no competition, and a mandated minimum wage of $100 per hour that somehow works perfectly and doesn’t bankrupt any businesses.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/22/2011 08:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If, like the restored velociraptor, he weren’t such a danger to the modern world, one would be tempted to feel sorry for our Jurassic President, wandering around in a landscape he can neither perceive nor understand because all his senses and training show him a world that no longer exists — and perhaps never did.

*snicker*
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 12:02 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
French police unions outraged over lunchtime alcohol ban
France's police unions have expressed outrage over an official decree that suggested Compagnies R‚publicaines de S‚curit‚, or CRS officers, would no longer be served wine or beer with their meals.

As of now, it has been a tradition to serve a glass of wine or beer to these officers, even while on duty, The Guardian reports.

However, authorities were angered by pictures published on the website in October last year, which showed police drinking beer from cans on the sidelines of a sixth-formers' street-protest against pension reforms in Perreux-sur-Marne, north of Paris.

The website claimed these uniformed officers telling locals that it was very dangerous to go outside during the high-school demo before stopping for beer on a street.

Paul Le Guennec, of the biggest riot police union, Unit‚ Police SGP-FO, said the French public were not shocked at the notion of a CRS officer drinking at lunch.

"Does the fact that having a glass of wine while eating prevent any kind of worker from carrying out their job? I don't think the chief of police drinks water when he's having a meal," Le Guennec told the paper Le JDD.

The Union insisted that having a small drink with wine is not against the French labour law.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/22/2011 08:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Okay, on this one I side with the police. It is their culture, wine is everywhere there, and it renders something very french antiseptic. Creeping nannyism.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/22/2011 10:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok, high schoolers protesting pension reform, likely not at lunch or else they would be at lunch, police clear the street and secure public in buildings because it is dangerous then stand around drinking beer.

I heard dwi was a big time no-no in France, how does that work out?
"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"Because...you have been drinking?"

"Thats right monseur. It is my state issued labour relation right to have a drink while on duty. Now step out of the Citroen."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 18:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember when "no more than two beers at lunch" was standard policy.

Posted by: crosspatch || 04/22/2011 19:01 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
NorKs running casino in Moscow Embassy
H/T nkeconwatch.com
Apparently the North Koreans have been running an casino in an administrative building of their embassy in Moscow and a Russian company is facing charges (how can a "company" face charges?) as the operating contractor of the operation.

Posted by: crosspatch || 04/22/2011 02:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  s'pose the odds of winning a free meal?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 17:56 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Only in San Francisco

City officials are very excited about merging their spiffy new parking meters with an iPhone application that allows drivers to find available parking.

Except it is illegal to use your iPhone while driving.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/22/2011 02:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It serves no purpose talking to stupid people.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 14:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Simple.

You simply stop [in traffic], shift to Park, dial up the application to find a parking spot, find one, turn off your iPhone, start driving to the spot, wait behind someone who is parked [in traffic] while using their iPhone to find a parking spot, finally get to the spot - to find it occupied.

Rinse, Repeat.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 14:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Its so much easier to park here
Posted by: Fi || 04/22/2011 14:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Or here. http://gizmodo.com/#!5794411/holy-garage-batman-this-san-francisco-house-hides-a-secret-batcave
Posted by: Fi || 04/22/2011 14:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Parking lots San Fran Style?
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/22/2011 15:38 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mubarak name to be removed from public places
[Al Jazeera] An Egyptian court has ordered the names of Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, the country's former president, and his wife Suzanne, to be removed from all public places, including streets and parks.

Judge Mohammad Hassan Omar ordered on Thursday that Mubarak's name and picture be removed from sport fields, streets, schools, libraries and other public establishments, according to the state-run al-Ahram newspaper.

Currently, various public spaces, including squares, streets and about 500 public schools bear the names of either Hosni, Suzanne or Gamal Mubarak.

The case had been filed by Samir Sabry, a lawyer, who had requested the court to have Mubarak's name replaced with the names of protesters who died during Egypt's popular uprising.

The group of lawyers who Sabry represented also asked that the Egyptian flag be hung in state institutions and public places instead of the pictures of the former president.

Clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators have been reported outside the court where the case was being heard on several days of hearings, though no such festivities occured on Thursday, when the verdict was announced, Rawya Rageh, Al Jizz's correspondent in Cairo, said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rubbed out in righteous? Old Guard indignation like PHAROAH AKHENATEN + QUEEN HATSHEPSHUT???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Former President Mubarak should count himself lucky -- in the olden days they carved away the face from every image of the no-longer-beloved pharaoh, making him non-existent not only in this world, but the Hereafter.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 11:10 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesia on top alert after bomb found near church
[Straits Times] INDONESIA said on Thursday that the nation was on its highest level of alert ahead of Easter after police tossed in the slammer suspects over a series of 'book bombs' and a foiled attack near a church in Jakarta.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said the Indonesian president 'has instructed military, police, and people who care about combating terrorism to ensure security ahead of Easter'.

'Starting tonight, tomorrow morning and on easter day, the military and the police will be on the highest alert at all designated places,' Mr Suyanto said.

National police front man Anton Bachrul Alam said that anti-terror police have tossed in the slammer a total of 19 people, including two in Aceh province, north Sumatra.

The 'book bombs' were sent to several addresses including those of liberal Mohammedan figures and a counter-terrorism official, but no one was killed.

Another parcel bomb was found on Thursday morning near a church in Serpong on the outskirts of Jakarta, local police chief Heribertus Ompusunggu told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah


Afghanistan
Concerns Over Enemy Influence into Afghan Army
[Tolo News] Following Afghan defence ministry raid this week concerns have been increased about infiltration of anti-government agents into Afghan army.

While stressing on the need to bolster intelligence capacities of the ministry, experts said positions should be filled by qualified personnel.

Recent attacks targeting military institutions from inside, which are believed to have been carried out by gunnies sleeping cells, have brought the potential of defence ministry under question.

But Defence Ministry Spokesperson Gen. Zaher Azimi said such sorts of incidents are usual in most countries.

"We accept that the man was within us," Gen. Zaher Azimi said.

Atiqullah Amarkhil, Afghan military expert, said: "The army is comprised of people employed by some specific figures and factions.
This is not clear whether they are more loyal to their nation or to their assigners."

Defence ministry attack claimed two lives and maimed seven other personnel.

On Wednesday the ministry accepted that it fell short to prevent the attack.

Prior to the attack the ministry said it is working on an initiative to block bad boys' infiltration into the Afghan army.

Attacks targeting security officials and government buildings are believed to be a new tactic of turban-led violence in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Uh, uh, "ENEMY INFLUENCE" = AFGHAN WOMEN SOLDIERS???

Gut nuthin.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Documentary - "Afghanistan Unveiled" explores the effects of the Taliban's repressive rule and recent U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign on Afghani women. For the first time, Afghan women listened to women voicing their points of view and described their lives from the depths of their villages in Bamyan all the way to their fight around the voting process issue to have the right to sit in Parliament. The documentary is now part of the UNESCO's archives.

To watch please visit - http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/5627
Posted by: Boss Snuling4201 || 04/22/2011 3:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Just so everyone knows, the comment above mine about the documentary is a spam.
Posted by: gromky || 04/22/2011 5:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Following Afghan defence ministry raid this week concerns have been increased about infiltration of anti-government agents into Afghan army.


What? Just because of the bombings and the fact they are shooting in the wrong direction?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 9:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Interesting video, at least the bits I watched. I checked the one about the Abrahamic faiths in Bengal ("Peoples of the Book: Beyond Brick Lane Project") and found no antisemitism, which would have tainted the entire site in my eyes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 13:11 Comments || Top||


Britain
British teachers' union vote for strike
[Iran Press TV] The British Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has voted for an industrial action to be taken in protest at the government's proposed plans to change pension schemes.

This is the first time ever in the UK history that the ATL delegates have overwhelmingly supported strike action during their annual conference in Liverpool, British media reported.

All delegates, excluding four, upheld the motion that urged ATL leaders to ballot the members for a national strike against the coalition government's "pension tax." Under the plan, the teachers' retirement payouts will be slashed.

Senior vice-president Alice Robinson told the delegates that the measures would represent the most swinging changes ever.

"Teachers' pension contributions would increase by half in the next three years - on average £100 a month," she said.

"Their retirement age would rise from 65 to 68 and their pension would be based on a career average instead of their final salary," added Robinson.

Robinson went on to say that the country's record budget deficit has caused the government to conspire these offers, otherwise they would have nothing to do with the state of the pension scheme.

"Our only available bargaining weapon is a resounding demonstration by the teaching profession and their opposition to the proposed changes," she said, adding that the ATL had earlier tried legal channels such as delivering a 15,000-signature petition to Downing Street but "all to no avail."

Isle of Man science teacher Andrew Shipley said the coalition was taking a "wrecking ball" to state education.

Inner London teacher Kim Knappett voiced anger at the government's claim that "we're all in this together."

"Work longer? I've already done 24 years this summer," she said.

"I expected when I started to do 14 more - hopefully less - but now I have at least another 22 years to go. "

"I've had a reduction in my pay, I lost my (rest and recreation) because my school's in deficit, I'm going to lose my child benefit, there's been a VAT increase, there's going to be a pay freeze and now you want me to pay more for my pension," she pointed out furiously.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What part of "economic crisis" do all of these public employee unions not understand.

SO what's so bad about working till 68? I'm 66 and I plan to work till I'm 76 or more. Check the age of some of the MP's in parliment,check the age of some of the Congressmen and Senators, what is so sacrosanct about retiring at 65?
The biggest issue to me is intellectual and knowledge capital.
The 65-70 year olds received a better basic education and are more well rounded than the new generation of leftist propoganda filled kids graduating now and they have years of experience, advanced studies and additional training to bring to bear on their jobs that the younger ones do not have.
Wait, maybe that's the plan...dumb down the education by replacing highly qualified teachers with marginally qualified propogandists and true believers.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/22/2011 10:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I think they feel that the govt is renegging on a social contract that has been in place for a very long time. Instead of trimimng obvious waste like lifelong welfare, they go after working people's pensions. I'd be pissed too.
And not everyone can work into their 70's. Construction workers, factory workers, anyone who physically toils is spent after about 25-30 years. I'm an engineer now, but spent over 10 years in the construction industry, the older guys retiring were used up, plain and simple.
Posted by: Fat Bob Chique7690 || 04/22/2011 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I think we'd all be a lot better if some of those old farts in Congress would retire.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/22/2011 11:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I think they feel that the govt is renegging on a social contract that has been in place for a very long time.

And they're quite right. The problem is that particular social contract should never have been entered into, as it was never affordable in the long run. Had the 2008 troubles not shown up, it would have been something else -- the aging of the post-war baby boom guaranteed it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 11:38 Comments || Top||

#5  BRIT ANTHEMS + UNION PENSIONS, VATS

versus

8CHINESE MIL FORUM > MUSLIMS PLAN TO DISRUPT ROYAL WEDDING | [Muslims agz Crusades] QUEEN ELIZABETH II + GADDAFI: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.

Comparative Points Summary, espec as per APOSTASY + ATROCITIES AGZ MUSLIMS.

ARTIC = "Muslims agz Crusades" calls for "JASMINE", LIBYUH-STYLE = ARMED? PROTESTS, UPRISING + REVOLUTION, IN CENTRAL LONDON TO OVERTHROW THE "TYRANNY OF QUEEN ELIZABTH II".

* NEWS KERALA > NEW ZEALAND CHURCH LEADERS COMPARE CLIMATE DISASTERS TO CHRIST CRUCIFIXION, proclaiming same as NOT THE WORK/HAND OF GOD.

ARTIC = XCH LEADERS = opine that God's Vision is most at threat vee Climate Change, which Science seems to argue is caused by HUMAN, NOT NATURAL ANDOR DIVINE, ACTIVITY???

Yokay, as a LOYAL DEDIC MADONNA FAN I'll say it -*** cough *** cough *** MOTHER/VIRGIN MARY'S HAND???

[GUAM TAOTAMONAS = NOT-ZENA-OR-NICOLE OLD "NZ" VISIONS here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 23:14 Comments || Top||


Africa North
More Egyptian tumbrels: former energy minister detained over Israel gas deal
Ex-minister and five assistants accused of graft and profiteering by granting Israel extraordinarily favourable terms. Israel points out they're paying more than any other of Egypt's customers. Egypt now reviewing all natural gas contracts, hopes to boost government's income by US$ 3-4 billion.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pfft, that's a wasting asset. Aren't the Israelis sitting on tens of trillions of cubic feet of gas, that they're in the process of drilling out? In five years, you'll be wanting to import *from* Israel, you idiots.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/22/2011 9:51 Comments || Top||

#2  ZNG (Zionist Natural Gas) would be un-Islamic. Better to sit in beturbanned squalor than to use it.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 11:48 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Japan declares nuclear no-go zone
[Al Jazeera] Japan has declared a 20km area evacuated around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant a no-go zone.

Yukio Edano, the country's chief cabinet secretary, said on Thursday that the order would take effect from midnight local time on Friday (1500GMT on Thursday), and was aimed at preventing unrestricted entry into an area that has been largely deserted since an evacuation order first went out following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Under Japan's Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law, anyone who enters the zone will be subject to fines of up to 100,000 yen ($1,200) and possible arrest. Before the measure was enacted, defiance of the government's evacaution was not punishable by law.

"We beg the understanding of residents. We really want residents not to enter the areas," Edano said. "Unfortunately, there are still some people in the areas."

Edano termed the plant's condition as "not stable".

"[The declaration] reflects a growing worry from the Japanese government that people have been getting into this area much too easily and without enough caution," reported Harry Fawcett, Al Jizz's correspondent in Sendai.

"The evacuation zone has been off-limits in terms of people living in their homes ... but police around the checkpoints bordering it haven't been able to ... prevent people from coming in. All they've been able to do is take licence plate numbers and instruct people to get a radiation check when they come out."
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > BAJA CALIFORNIA: SWARM OF EARTH QUAKES IN TWO HOURS, as felt after new MAG 6.0-6.1 that just struck Japan this Guam AM.

GUAM = observed weird physical ground motions as per VARIOUS PARKED CARS.

* SAME > SOUTH KOREA ASKS CHINA TO DROP USE OF "SEA OF JAPAN", in favor of return to "East Sea" label, arguing that "Sea Of Japan" was first used by Tokyo only in 1910 while use "East Sea" is much older.

* SAME > SURPRISE! ASIANS FOUGHT IN THE US CIVIL WAR.

ARTIC = Mostly Chinese-Americans that served in the Union Navy + enlisted under Anglo-US Names, NOT their real Oriental = Asian names. Others served in the Union Army while FIVE are known to had fought for the Confederacy [ + also owned African Slaves].

* WMF > RUSSIA FEARS + OBSTRUCTS THE RETURN OF MONGOLIA TO CHINA DESPITE THE MONGOLIAN STATE "GREAT HURAL" REPEATEDLY CALLING FOR FORMAL RE-UNIFICATION WID CHINA IN FEDERAL UNION.

* WMF > CHINA MUST STRIVE TO CONSOLIDATE ITS DIPLOMATIC, MILITARY, ECONOMIC + CULTURAL TIES WID POST-03/11, FUKUSHIMA-DAMAGED JAPAN.

ARTIC read, WHAT DOES A LITTLE GLOW-IN-THE-DARK MATTER to CHINA + PLA'S DESIRE FOR "WARM-WATER" AIR, NAVAL PORTS INTO WESTPAC + SOUTH ASIA???

* WMF > THE THREE ANTIQUITOUS FLASHPOINTS OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA, TAIWAN OR TAIWAN-PHILIPPINES STRAITS, + DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS WILL AGAIN "MAKE-OR-BREAK" THE REGIONAL NUCLEAR BALANCE OF POWER IN EAST ASIA.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CALL FOR NEW ERA IN US, SRI LANKA RELATIONS.

Yoohoo, does Rising China + PLAN know???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting factoids as always, Joe (re: American Civil War, etc.)

The East Sea does sound rather poetic, and it would be a nice concession by Japan. But methinks Japan is feeling rather down now -- so maybe next year...
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 04/22/2011 15:58 Comments || Top||

#3  FREEREPUBLIC > JAPAN ANNOUNCES NEW NUCLEAR EVACUATION ZONE [up to 39-kms from Fukushima #1].

FREEP POSTER - opined that...
> MELTDOWN OF FUEL ASSEMBLIES [rods] HAS OCCURRED.
> CONTAINMENT HAS BEEN BREACHED, + TEPCO etal. is seemingly having lots of trouble trying to first seal the breach + then ultimately impose new Containment.
> HENCE, TOXINS ARE CONTINUING TO SPILL OUT AT INCREASINGLY HIGH RATES INTO THE ENVIRONMENT.
Its NOT clear when or iff any of the desired outcomes as per Seal, Containment, or Shutdown, etc. will be achieved.

IIUC, THE BEST ONE CAN SAY AT THIS TIME IS THAT FUKUSHIMA IS "NOT CHERNOBYL" YET, BUT THE DANGER OF IT BECOMING A CHERNOBYL, OR WORSE, IS STILL THERE.

The Soviets at Chernobyl didn't have GLOBAL WARMING = GWCC, NOR GWCC-INDUCED ACTIVE EQ/SEISMIC ZONES + NEW FAULT LINES, ETC. TO CONTEND WITH.

Japan's status, credibility as a TOP-TIER GLOBAL ECON POWER, + ITS VERY EXISTENCE AS A JAPANESE + SOVEREIGN NATION-STATE IS AT THREAT.

The irony is that its MOTHER NATURE = NATURAL FORCES + "DIVINE/RISING SUN" [Japan flag] that may ultimately destroy Japan as a place safe for Human Habitation, NOT MAN-MADE NUCLEAR WEAPONS [Geopol = Human Warfare] OR GODZILLA.

* CHIN MILBLOGGERS > ABANDONMENT OF JAPAN BY JAPANESE DUE TO RADIATION POISONING + ENVIRON DESTRUCTION IS GOOD FOR CHINA BECUZ ....

> CHINA GETS ITS AIR-SEAPORTS FOR THE PLAN, PLAAF, + TRADE INTO WESTPAC = DEEP PACIFIC.
> CHINA GETS A NEW PROVINCE = VASSAL STATE, TO INCLUDE RECOVERY OF OKINAWA = FORMER PRO-CHIN RYUKYUS KINGDOM, espec iff Chin unilater "cleans up" Japan's poisoned environ for Japanese.
> RECOVERY + RE-UNIFICATION WID TAIWAN, DOMINATION OF TWO KOREAS = SOUTH KOREA ALL BUT GUARANTEED.
> RETREAT OF US MIL POWER BACK TOWARDS GUAM + HAWAII, BOTH OF WHICH ARE NOW SUBJECT TO PLA MILSTRIKE, NUCSTRIKE.

'Tis actually US Rollback towards HAWAII + US WEST COAST becuz any LT Chin takeover of Japan also includes takeover of JAPANESE-CONTROLLED BONIN ISLANDS NORTH OF GUAM + CNMI.

The fun for US-China relations doesn't end becuz, lest we fergit, HAWAII IS CLOSE TO SEVERAL PROJECTED POSSIBLE EARTH IMPACTS AS PER COMET APOPHIS 2029/30-2036.

IOW, PEARL HARBOR NB/JOB + US PACOM IS SAFE FOR THE US = USDOD PURPOSES UNTIL 2029/30-2036.

SUB-IOW, THE US HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN MAKING SURE THAT THE GWCC + SPACE DEFENSE PERT MATH IS ABSOLUTELY + UNDENIABLY CORRECT, CERTAIN, + "PERFECT" = "PERFECTO MUNDO/MUCHO PERFECTO" AS PER COMET APOPHIS.

Shall we bring up the YELLOWSTONE SUPER-CALDERA andor NEW MADRID???

To paraph AL PACINO again in "DEVIL'S ADVOCATE" > "THE MAN UPSTAIRS [God] IS THE GREATEST VOYEUR + CRIMINAL = POPCORN EATER, ETC. OF ALL OF US"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 21:23 Comments || Top||

#4  RENSE > US FEARS MEGAQUAKE, TSUNAMI MAY SWAMP NW CITIES | [DailyMail.UK = Oregon State University] US FEARS OVERDUE "MEGATHRUST" EARTHQUAKE WILL TRIGGER TSUNAMIS + DESCEND ON UNPREPARED CITIES ON NW COAST [Cascadia + Juan De Fuca plates]. OSU Perts-Study think the 03/11/2011 quake in Japan ["Tohoku/Sendai" EQ]was a "Megathrust" Quake whose domino has come to now endanger the US West + NW Coasts.

and

* SAME > [Veterans Today]FUKUSHIMA = 2000 ATOMIC BOMBS [500-kts A-Bombs each equiv to 33x the power of the 1945 Hiroshima Bomb], KILLER CONTAMINATION SPREADS WORLDWIDE WITHOUT OPPOSITION.

Ala FREEREPUBLIC > the US Govt wants to schedule a NATION-WIDE EARTHQUAKE DRILL.

Cold War DUCK-N-COVER kiddie drills for NucWar = [anti-Sun/Solar]GLOBAL-WARMING-N-CLIMATE-CHANGE DRILL???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 21:55 Comments || Top||

#5  ION RENSE > US MARINES TO BE MOVED FROM JAPAN [Okinawa] TO GUAM.

and

* SAME > JAPAN TRADE SURPLUS DIVES 79%.

* SAME > {Fukushima] REACTOR #2 HAS MELTED INTO DRYWELL, EXPLOSION POSSIBLE | [NYT] CORE OF STRICKEN REACTOR PROBABLY LEAKED, US SAYS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 22:37 Comments || Top||

#6  ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CHINA'S FOOD SAFETY THREATENED AS [arable]FARMLAND SHRINKS.

* DAILY TIMES.Pk > RISING SEA LEVELS TO TRIGGER [gradual = escalatory, Coastal]] DISASTER IN CHINA, as per GWCC according to CSOA Expert LIU XEIU.

ARTIC = XEIU = China may be become one of the BIGGEST CASUALTIES OF GWCC IN COMING DECADES, CHINA'S NORTHERS REGIONS CONTINUE TO SUFFER FROM EXPANDING ENVIRO DESERTIFICATION WID VARIABLE CONSEQUENCES [low water availability, poor crop yields, increasing salinization, soil erosion or destruction, etc.].

IIUC, as complemented by "PEAK OIL/ENERGY/RESOURCES", GWCC-INDUCED EARTHQUAKES, + OTHER.

* WIRED NEWS > MAGNETIC FILAMENT [Shifts] DETERMINES WHETHER SOLAR FLARES [CMES] ERUPT OR FIZZLE.

IIUC ARTIC = IOW, BLAME THE SUN'S WILY DASTARDLY SHIFTY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS FOR THE PLANET MERCURY, ETC. BEING DEPICTED OUT-OF-ORBIT VEE THE THIRD SECRET SECRET OF FATIMA [Riderless Winged Horse = Pegasus/Pegusae = Inner Planets].

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > TERMITES EAT MILYUHNS OF INDIAN RUPEES [ = US$222,000] IN BANK.

The Termites repor that the Rupees' STEEL CONTAINER WAS ALSO DELICIOUS, + RECOMMEND BOTH BANK + STEEL MANUFACTURER BE GIVEN MERITORIOUS FOOD AWARDS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 22:56 Comments || Top||

#7  OOOPSIES, forgot WAFF > WATER WARS? THIRSTY, ENERGY-SHORT CHINA STIRS FEAR.

Regional, that is.

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > JAPAN NEEDS A "NEW DEAL" AFTER DISASTERS.

* SAME > DO US CLIMATE WEAPONS [e.g. HAARP] WARM UP THE GLOBAL?

ARTIC = RUSS MEDIAS = US NAVY STUDY-REPORT indics that the US M-U-S-T GAIN CONTROL OF US-WORLD CLIMATE BY 2025.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 23:49 Comments || Top||


Europe
European Commission urges budget rise
The European Commission has called for a significant increase in the annual EU budget, setting the stage for heated debates with cash-strapped member states.

The European Union's executive arm has requested for a 4.9-percent rise in the 2012 EU budget, well above EU inflation, which is about 3 percent, the state-run BBC reported on Wednesday.

This comes at a time when EU states are grappling with deep cuts in public expenditures to rein in their bloated budget deficit.

The proposed 6.2-billion-euro increase to 132.7 billion euros ($191 billion) -- which is allocated mainly for regional development, research, and measures to encourage economic growth -- has come under fire from several EU members, including Perfidious Albion.

"We want the best deal for the UK taxpayer and a 4.9 percent increase in the annual EU budget is not acceptable," a British government front man said.

"We'll be working closely with other member states to drive the hardest possible bargain," he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
has spearheaded the ongoing efforts to cap EU spending and has been joined by La Belle France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands in pushing for a freeze from 2012.

Last year, Perfidious Albion, La Belle France and Germany proposed that the budget for the European bloc be frozen until 2020.

However,
The ever-popular However...
the European Union Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski on Wednesday defended the proposal, describing it as "a delicate balancing act combining austerity and growth boosting measures for 500 million Europeans."

"The main reason for the increase is that we must pay the bills coming from projects from across Europe," he said, referring to EU infrastructure grants for poor regions as well as funds for research and innovation projects.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Keeping up with the Obamas is expensive.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 6:21 Comments || Top||

#2  European serfs reach for their pikes.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/22/2011 7:14 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Iran urges Pakistan action on Jundallah
[Iran Press TV] Iran's Interior Minister the sinister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar
Interior minister of Iran and a former defense minister of Iran. He is a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards since the establishment of the body in 1980...

has urged Pakistain to utilize all its resources to dismantle the Jundallah terrorist group.
But Pakistan likes terrorist groups. And anyway, why should Pakistan do anything for those Shiite nosy parkers who are making such trouble for Pakistan's friends/clients like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain?
In a meeting with his visiting Pak counterpart Rehman Malik
Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men.
in Tehran on Thursday, Mohammad-Najjar said that Islamabad has to step up efforts to eliminate Jundallah's hideouts from its southwestern Baluchistan province near the border with Iran, two top interior ministry officials in Islamabad told a Press TV correspondent on condition of anonymity.

Malik assured his Iranian counterpart that his government has deployed extra troops in its border region to counter the terrorists' activities.

The Iranian and Pak ministers also reviewed the current situation in Pakistain-Afghanistan border.

Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistain, has witnessed a rise in terror activities by arms smugglers and Pak-based armed terrorist groups such as Jundallah.

Jundallah has carried out numerous bombings, liquidation attempts, and terrorist attacks in Iran's southwestern region.

Former Jundallah ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi was incarcerated by Iranian intelligence forces in February 2010 and executed in June for 79 counts of crime, including manslaughter, armed robbery, bombing operations and armed attacks on security officers and civilians.

Rigi stated in his confessions that he had dealings with the US government and was promised unlimited funds and resources for "waging an insurgency" in Iran.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Horn
Somali pirates hijack South Korean ship
[Iran Press TV] Somali pirates have hijacked a South Korean-owned container ship with 20 crew members onboard in waters off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.


The Panamanian-registered 75,000-ton Hanjin Tianjin ship was sailing from Spain to Singapore on Thursday morning when pirates seized it several hundred kilometers off the Somali coast, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The vessel has a crew of fourteen South Korean and six Indonesian nationals.

Somali pirates are reportedly taking the hijacked South Korean ship to Harardhere, a town in the Mudug province of central Somalia.

The waters off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia are considered the most dangerous in the world for persistent piracy attempts in the area.

Attacks by the heavily armed Somali pirates in speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing a hike in shipping costs.

Somalia does not have a functional government, and the Transitional Federal Government lacks control beyond the capital city Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  There are only so many ports. A nice dose of naval mining would go a long way to obstruct traffic. If you have too little nerve to consider that, there are a lot of mothballed vessels that could be scuttled in those same traffic lanes which the locals would be unable to remove.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 23:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan army accuses US of 'negative propaganda'
[Dawn] Pakistain's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
vowed to defeat terrorism and rejected the notion of Islamabad "not doing enough" in the anti-Taliban fight, the military said on Thursday.

His comments followed remarks by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, accusing Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of having ties with Afghan Taliban in Pakistain's northwest tribal belt.

The White House also criticised Pakistain's efforts to defeat the Taliban operating on the border in a report this month refuted by Islamabad.

The army chief "strongly rejected negative propaganda of Pakistain not doing enough and Pakistain army's lack of clarity on the way forward," the military said in a statement, a day after Mullen met top generals in Islamabad.

Kayani said that the "army's ongoing operations are a testimony of our national resolve to defeat terrorism", according to the statement.

In an interview with private TV channel Geo, Mullen -- the highest ranking officer in the US armed forces -- said: "ISI has a long standing relationship with the Haqqani network, that does not mean everybody in ISI but it is there."

The statement did not mention the Haqqani network.

The army defended its stance against terrorism in general and acknowledged that a "trust deficit between the institutions as well as the people" existed between the US and Pakistain.

But Kayani and Mullen re-stated their aims of building "reciprocal respect towards each other's illusory sovereignty" and the statement said "security ties will not be allowed to unravel between the two armed forces".

The Haqqani network is an al-Qaeda-allied organisation run by Afghan warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani and based in Pakistain's North Wazoo tribal district.

The group has been blamed for some of the deadliest anti-US attacks in Afghanistan, including a suicide kaboom at a US base in Khost in 2009 that killed seven CIA operatives.

Kayani said public support was key to success in the war against terrorism but said that controversial US drone strikes "not only undermine our national effort against terrorism but also turn public support against our efforts".

Mullen's trip is the latest shuttle diplomacy mission after a fatal shooting by a CIA contractor in January triggered a row between the US and Pakistain over intelligence sharing and raised tensions over the controversial US drone war.

In recent weeks, however, Kayani has spoken out against the strikes. In mid-March, he issued a strong statement denouncing on such attack after it killed nearly 40 people. While the US insisted the group consisted of thugs, Kayani said dozens of mostly innocent rustics died.

That strike came the day after the US secured the release of American CIA contractor Raymond Davis by paying the families of the two shooting victims' so-called "blood money." The Davis case badly strained relations, with Pakistain refusing to take a stand on whether Davis had diplomatic immunity from prosecution as the US embassy claimed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "not doing enough", while true, is not propaganda. Negative, but still true, propaganda is that Pakistan sponsored the 9/11 World Trade Center, Pentagon and (failed) White House attacks.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 6:47 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't think he said you "weren't doing enough", General. I kind of understood his remarks to mean your ex-agency compatriots were actively on the other side.

And I can't really argue with that.
Posted by: mojo || 04/22/2011 12:24 Comments || Top||


Accused killed outside court
[Dawn] An under trial prisoner was rubbed out at Judicial Complex here on Wednesday.

A police official of East Cantonment cop shoppe said that an accused, Niamat Khan, facing murder charges was about to be produced in the court of an additional district and sessions judge when his rival Alam Khan opened fire.

The prisoner and two passers-by sustained bullet injuries. They were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital where Niamat Khan pegged out.

The attacker was jugged and booked for murder.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Southeast Asia
Indonesia arrests six over 'book bombs'
[Bangla Daily Star] Indonesian police yesterday tossed in the clink six people suspected to be behind a series of recent parcel-bombs in Jakarta, they said, as another device was found near a church in the morning.

"We tossed in the clink six people at 5:10 am," national police front man Anton Bachrul Alam told news hounds.

"We're still investigating their possible links with terror groups," he said.

The men, held in anti-terror raids on two rented houses in East Jakarta, were believed to be connected to mysterious deliveries of bombs hidden in hollowed-out books last month, an unnamed police source told AFP.

The "book bombs" were sent to several addresses including those of liberal Mohammedan figures and a counter-terrorism official, but no one was killed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah


Bangladesh
Bail denied to 4 Jamaat leaders
[Bangla Daily Star] The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday rejected a bail petition filed by jugged four top Jamaat leaders in connection with crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

The leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami-- Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla-- were produced before the court yesterday morning.

The court also rejected another petition filed by Nizami and Mojahid seeking review of its April 13 order which allowed Sherlocks to quiz them at a "safe home" in the capital instead of Dhaka Central Jail about their links with war crimes.

The three-member tribunal headed by its Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq passed the orders after hearing arguments from the defence counsel and the prosecution on the petitions.

The jail authorities were asked to arrange proper treatment for the accused inside the jail, and, if necessary, allow them to receive treatment at Birdem Hospital at their own cost.

The court also directed the prison authorities to allow the leaders to collect necessary medicine from outside the jail.

The Sherlocks have to complete the probe into allegations against the Jamaat leaders as early as possible, it said. The prosecution has to submit the progress report, if the Sherlocks fail to complete the probe, by June 1.

The Sherlocks were ordered to inform counsels of Nizami and Mojahid 48 hours before holding the interrogation so the accused can consult with their lawyers and be prepared.

The tribunal said during interrogation the accused should not be harassed in any manner, and their lawyers will be present in the adjacent room.

It said the Sherlocks will question the Jamaat leaders about the documents and evidence they have collected but the statements of the accused during the interrogation will not be treated as evidence.

And this provision will be incorporated amending the tribunal's rules of procedure, added the court.

The four leaders sought bail on medical grounds. Nizami and Mojahid filed the review petition apprehending that they would be harassed in the name of interrogation.

Advocate Tajul Islam appeared for the accused while Prosecutor Syed Haider Ali opposed the petitions.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Africa Horn
Somali pirates hijack Iran-bound ship
[Iran Press TV] Somali pirates have hijacked an Italian ship with 21 crew members off the coast of Oman in Indian Ocean waters, the European Union's Naval Force says.

The MV Rosalia D'Amato was hijacked by Somali pirates, nearly 350 nautical miles southeast of Oman's port of Salalah, EU Naval Force Somalia front man Paddy O'Kennedy said on Thursday.

The Italian-flagged ship was on its way to Iran's Bandar Imam Khomeini from Brazil with a cargo of soya beans.

"There is no further information about the crew at present," Rooters quoted O' Kennedy as saying.

"Coalition warships had communications with the vessel and were told, 'pirates onboard stay away'," the EU Naval Force said in a statement.

Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made the waters among the most dangerous in the world.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

However,
The well-oiled However...
attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia has been embroiled in a bitter civil war for two decades.

The country does not have a functioning government and the authority of the Transitional Federal Government is limited mostly to the area around the capital, Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


India-Pakistan
Seven of the 35 kidnapped tribals feared killed
Seven of the 35 tribals who were kidnapped in an attack on a civilian convoy in Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended...
last month, are feared to have been killed by their suspected myrmidon kidnappers.

"Members of a jirga that met in Islamabad on Tuesday were told about the killing of the seven captives," said a source privy to the first round of talks.

Bodies of the hostages killed were likely to be handed to the jirga on Thursday, according to the source.The jirga was convened to discuss ways to secure the release of the kidnapped tribals and salvage the peace agreement that two warring sects of the restive area signed recently. Both sides are represented in the jirga and stand by the agreement.

"During (the Islamabad) talks we were told about the killing of the seven but whereabouts of the remaining kidnapped persons are still unknown," said the source.

It was believed that they were in the custody of Mullah Toofan group, an offshoot of the banned but still somehow murderously active Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain myrmidon group operating in parts of Orakzai and Kurram agencies.

Armed men had attacked three passenger coaches going from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar to Parachinar in Beggan, lower Kurram on March 26.

Three people were killed and two injured in the attack, while 47 were kidnapped.

Twelve women and kiddies among them were set free the same day while 35 people, four of them belonging to Mardan district, were kidnapped.

Sources said that faceless myrmidons had demanded huge ransom for the release of the kidnapped passengers. However,
The essential However...
they didn`t disclose the ransom figure. They said that the jirga would decide its future line of action after the recovery of the hostages. Under the peace agreement the jirga will recover Rs2 billion as fine from the tribe, which violates the accord.

The jirga comprising elders of the rival factions, parliamentarians and notables from other agencies of the tribal areas met Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Governor Barrister Masood Kausar here on Wednesday evening.

However,
The essential However...
details of the meeting could not be ascertained. An official said that statement about the meeting would be released to media on Thursday.

Prior to the meeting an elder told Dawn that the jirga would ask the governor to take action for the release of the kidnapped persons and ensure security on Thall-Parachinar Road and adjacent settled areas, where passengers had been frequently attacked in the past few weeks.

The Thall-Parachinar Road, the only route linking Kurram with the rest of the country, was reopened to traffic after the peace deal was implemented in February last.

Sources said that rival factions had agreed to deploy army on the main road and in lower Kurram. The jirga, according to sources, has agreed that paramilitary forces cannot address the situation and suggested deployment of army to stem the tide of violence.

"People of the area don`t trust paramilitary forces anymore and want army troops," said one source.

He alleged that paramilitary forces instead of providing security to people were extorting money from transporters carrying goods to Kurram at checkposts. They were involved in cross border smuggling, he alleged.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Protests over arrest of Ugandan politician
[Al Jazeera] Ugandan police have used teargas to disperse hundreds of protesters demonstrating against the arrest of the country's main opposition leader and a rise in the price of food and fuel.

Kizza Besigye was jugged on Thursday after being jugged and charged in court over marching in a fourth round of protests against high prices.

Police fired tear gas and stones were hurled back at them in a brief clash during which Besigye was bundled into a police van.

Besigye stood against Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, in polls in February and lost.

"He was thrown in a van and taken away," Sam Mugumya, one of Besigye's aides, said. "They got him when we were in disarray."

Besigye was initially held at Wandegeya cop shoppe and then transferred to Nabweru court, Alice Alaso,
secretary-general of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change party, said.

Anti-riot police jugged at least one other protester for throwing stones, beating him with batons as they loaded him on the back of a pick-up vehicle.

Besigye was briefly jugged on Monday and last week in similar circumstances.

Separately, two coppers and a child were killed when the protests spread for the second time to Masaka town in southwest Uganda, where police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds chanting against high food and fuel prices.

"Police came in to break up the crowds and we had to use tear gas ... four people have been injured and we also had a five-year-old kid who was hit by stray bullets and died," Noah Serunjoji, the police front man in Masaka, said.

A senior police source later told Rooters news agency two officers who were stoned by the mob later died in hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi princes plunder nation's wealth
[Iran Press TV] Exposed documents show that thousands of relatives of Soddy Arabia's King Abdullah enjoy the monopoly of the kingdom's financial and commercial resources.

Classified evidence cited former United States Ambassador to Soddy Arabia William Wyche Fowler as saying that in the late 1990s Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud trusted Washington with secret information on the royal family's financial secrets, wrote German newspaper Die Welt.

The royal exposed the dominance of 7,000 Saudi princes on the country's oil and business enterprises.

Bin Talal, himself among the beneficiaries, is rated as the world's 26th richest person by the US business magazine Forbes.

Together with his wife and children, the 56-year-old lives in a 330-room palace in the capital, Riyadh, with walls made out of Italian alabaster.

The edifice is fitted with tennis courts, five luxurious kitchens, a movie theatre and a parking space holding 200 state-of-the-art luxury cars, namely Rolls-Royces, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and can accommodate 2,000 guests at the same time.

While a subject of criticism by Saudi clergymen and religious leaders, the royal has written columns in The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
about the implementation of reforms in the kingdom, defending the rights of women and disadvantaged people.

Soddy Arabia, the world's number one oil exporter, owns the biggest economy among the Arab nations.

The information comes out amid protests across the kingdom by the jobless, demanding their share of the country's oil-driven economy.

The protests rage despite a ban by the Interior Ministry on all kinds of demonstrations and public gatherings.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet Die Welt was fed this info by the Iranians.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 8:57 Comments || Top||

#2  They're plundering our wealth too!
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 9:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Not surprising there are uprisings in the middle east.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 9:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, there you go, Saudi Arabia isn't a nation. It's a royal family with territorial holdings. What part of "tribes with flags" didn't you understand, Iran Press?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/22/2011 9:47 Comments || Top||

#5  "I bet Die Welt was fed this info by the Iranians." And thats how they roll. Remember that corrupt German that was getting money from the "oil for food" programme? And the POS UN leader who had a son also on the take? And der spegil crap media attacking Bush over taking that down?

I already bagged on the house of saud on this - it has gotten better where as their GDP to debt ratio. But I have a strong thing against Germany's media ever since then. They really want to see the Iran ultra crazy nutters win over the Sauds. They may have Merkel, but Germany is still as corrupt as hell. - they may also be going there.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 10:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Um, saudi princes have been running amok for many years now....this is a surprise? hello, wake up!
Posted by: 746 || 04/22/2011 12:22 Comments || Top||

#7  for many years now....this is a surprise?

Indeed, 746. Like so much else revealed by the stolen WikiLeaks archive, it's only a surprise to those who haven't been paying attention.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 13:16 Comments || Top||

#8  I think you will find that the rulers of many other Muslim countries are doing the exact same thing. By right of conquest (and inheritance), sultans or emirs (or whatever) own their countries and all the subjects within. Most will dress it up with some verbal concessions to the democratic pieties of today. But the relationship of subject to sovereign isn't that much different from that which prevailed during Muhammad's era. In this respect, the primary difference between Iran and Saudi Arabia is that Iran's "princes" have only been around for 30 years.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/22/2011 16:25 Comments || Top||

#9  well it's not like the germans haven't had influence in the region before! Remember the nazis helped create the baath party
Posted by: chris || 04/22/2011 19:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Arabs going crazy with power? I'm SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU!
Posted by: Charles || 04/22/2011 20:24 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Martelly declared president of Haiti
[Al Jazeera] Singer Michel Martelly has officially been declared Haiti's next president.

Pierre Thibault, a front man for the electoral commission, said on Wednesday that Martelly won the presidency with 67.6 per cent of the vote, defeating rival candidate Mirlande Manigat.

The announcement ends a long, drawn-out election that began on November 28 and was marred by fraud and other irregularities, several days of rioting and numerous delays.

Martelly, who had no previous political experience before he became a presidential candidate, is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 14.

On the same day that Haitian officials announced the final results, Martelly met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Tallyrand ...
in Washington. He said he spoke with Clinton about his three priorities: education, finding homes for people living in tents since an earthquake in January last year devastated much of the country, and restarting Haiti's agricultural sector.

At a news conference, Martelly admitted he had "huge challenges'' ahead of him. He called reconstruction efforts "despairingly slow." He also stressed the need to tackle the cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 4,700 lives since October. He warned that the coming hurricane season could spread the disease countrywide.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He'll be a hit on Haitian telethons.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 6:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Hundreds demand release of Omar Abdel-Rahman
No.
Hundreds of Islamists demonstrated Thursday near the US embassy in Cairo to demand the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced a life sentence in the US for planning terrorist attacks in New York.

The protesters called on US President Barack Obama to release the prisoner.

Nicknamed the "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman, 73, was convicted in 1995 by the US for plots to attack targets in New York and to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He was among the group that planned the first attacks against the World Trade Center, which resulted in 6 deaths and injured over 1,000 in 1993.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I worry re Egypt another Pakistan in the making!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 04/22/2011 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't take long at all.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/22/2011 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Rahman's group in Egypt long had a hot war with the government, killing not just the head of counterintelligence, but also the speaker of their parliament and 1,200 other Egyptians.

In response, the government arrested 20,000 of them, and killed several thousand more. So they carried out the Luxor massacre. Bad idea, as it turned the public against them big time.

Even Rahman, in prison, realized what a mistake it was and tried to blame Israel. Zawahiri (The new #2 in al-Qaeda), tried to blame the Egyptian police.

Finally Rahman's group had to make a non-violence accord with the government, which caused them to schism.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 8:54 Comments || Top||

#4  What was that saying about not executing vermin cause it gives the other vermin a martyr to rally around?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 11:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Perhaps the Islamists will be forced to take some tourists to Egypt hostage & insist on a swap.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/22/2011 20:39 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain clerics slam mosque demolition
[Iran Press TV] Senior Bahraini holy mans have reportedly released a statement, condemning what the describe as 'the shameless destruction of mosques' in the Persian Gulf country by Saudi and Bahraini forces.

"We will not keep silent on destruction of mosques," said the kingdom's top five clergymen, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The clarics emphasized that the events in Bahrain reflect a dark spot in the country's history and described the demolition of mosques and other acts of sacrilege by Bahraini and Saudi troops as a slap in the face of freedoms of religion and ideology.

The signatories reportedly included prominent Shia holy man sheikh Isa Qassim.

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain have poured into the streets, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's 40-year-plus rule over the country.

On March 13, Saudi-led forces were dispatched to the island at Manama's request to quell the countrywide protests.

According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds tossed in the clink so far during the government-sanctioned clampdown on peaceful demonstrations.

Saudi and Bahraini forces have destroyed 25 mosques and 18 mourning halls since the start of the revolution.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fatah officials to board Gaza flotilla
Senior Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath said on Thursday that his organization will join the next flotilla to Gaza in May.

Senior Fatah officials will be allowed to take part in the aid flotilla, Shaath told Radio A-Shams, because it is a humanitarian effort meant to lift the blockade on Gaza.

When asked if the officials would require permission from Hamas or the IDF, Shaath said "we don't need authorization to reach our homeland - not from Hamas and not from Israeli security forces."
Posted by: || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi-Australian charged as Hamas spy
An Australian citizen of Saudi origin was indicted in the Central District Court on Sunday for membership in the Hamas terrorist organization and attempting to aid the organization in attacking Israel.

The man, Ia'ad Rashid Abu Arja, was arrested by the police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) last week, when he attempted to enter the country at Ben Gurion Airport.

According to the indictment, Abu Arja was recruited to Hamas and met with its operatives in Syria, where he also underwent weapons training. The indictment states that Abu Arja, who has a background in computers, was asked to acquire technologies for encryption, photography, and missile guidance.

The indictment states that the purpose of his visit to Israel was to test whether he would be able to get past Israeli security and enter the country for future missions. He was also allegedly asked to form business contacts with local companies.

Police and Shin Bet forces told Channel 2 news that Arja's attempt to enter Israel is one more example of ongoing efforts by Hamas and other terrorist organizations to recruit agents who have the ability to enter the country and establish various connections here.
Ha'aretz adds:
Channel 2 displayed what it said was the indictment Tuesday night. It said the man, Iad Rashid Abu Arja, who also holds Jordanian and Saudi citizenship, was arrested upon entry to Israel last month.
Goodness. One wonders how many Social Security numbers the busy man has acquired along the way.
Posted by: || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoa. Looked up this dudes SSN and came back 042-68-4425.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 5:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Woes of marriage between cousins
[Dawn] A young couple in capital city is grieving because they lost their second child to congenital heart disease.

Their 11-year-old son Ahsan Hussain died in 2007 of heart attack caused by high cholesterol. Last week, his sister Areeba Amjad, 13, died of the same cause.

Both were under treatment to lower their cholesterol level since they attained the age of three.

Their father Amjad Hussain told Dawn: "I have lost my children because both of them were suffering from high cholesterol and
the doctor has recommended us for a liver transplant."

The doctors said what the couple really needed to rid of their hereditary condition was liver transplant which is not available in Pakistain.

"It's too costly to have a liver transplant from outside Pakistain," said Mr Hussain. He said doctors had told him it was a family disease caused by inter-marriages. Mr Hussain is married to his cousin, both of them hailing from a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...

tribe.

"We were not aware of the disease of Ahsan till he was three-year-old and within a span of few days chickenpox developed on his arms. We consulted a pediatrician who recommended a few tests. Later, it was revealed that he had high cholesterol level,"
he said.

The doctors, he said, recommended the couple to lessen the fatty food and use of oil in Ahsan's diet. And my daughter was later also diagnosed with the same disease in almost the same age of three.

"We had no option but to keep a close eye on both the kids giving them dry food with less oil till Ahsan died in 2007," he added. Areeba, he said, also passed through the same stage till she died last week. Mr Hussain is now left with his only daughter, Tehreem, 2.

He said most of his elder family members died of heart attack and high cholesterol level.

Prof Mehmood Jamal, a leading pediatrician and executive director of the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), when approached for comments, said: "Inherited diseases are generally very serious and in case of Mr Amjad's kids, genetic disease had led to the death of his two kids."

He said both the children were suffering from hyperlipidimia, which occurs when you have too many fatty substances, including cholesterol, in your blood.

"We have to go through their medical history before making a final opinion but it is evident from the statement of Mr Hussain that high cholesterol level of a genetic disorder in their family has led to the death of the children," said the professor.

He said genetic diseases were common and high among siblings of those families where inter-marriages rate was high.

He said in western countries pre-marriage disease screening was a routine to save the next generation from a genetic disease.

Rof Jamal said a liver transplant unit was being established at Pims on the directive of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We have seen a lot of things of this nature in some Alaska villages, where the gene pool was limited for a number of years.

The cure, of course, is to stop procreating children between cousins (sort of incest lite), but that is a hurdle that will have to overcome the culture. Good luck with that one.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/22/2011 3:19 Comments || Top||

#2  The problem is not so much one generation of first cousin marriage. It is generation after generation of first cousin marriage.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/22/2011 7:41 Comments || Top||

#3  The problem is a refusal to understand cause & effect. Most other human cultures figured this out millennia ago.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/22/2011 7:50 Comments || Top||

#4  when the family tree looks like a stick....
Posted by: Frank G || 04/22/2011 8:29 Comments || Top||

#5  He said in western countries pre-marriage disease screening was a routine to save the next generation from a genetic disease.

IOW: "Are you first cousins or closer? Yes? Then get over your social fears and find someone else to marry."
Posted by: gorb || 04/22/2011 9:57 Comments || Top||

#6  just let them alone to continue with their aniamlistic mating practices. Its suites them fine and is yet another reminder of the power of karma.
Posted by: 746 || 04/22/2011 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  The case of Charles II of Spain (1661-1700) illustrates the consequences of about a century of inbreeding:
"Dating to approximately the year 1550, outbreeding in Charles II's lineage had ceased. From then on, all his ancestors were in one way or another descendants of Joanna the Mad and Philip I of Castile, and among these just the royal houses of Spain, Austria and Bavaria. Charles II's genome was actually more homozygous than that of an average child whose parents are siblings.[2] He was born physically and mentally disabled, and disfigured." link

In all likelihood cousin marriage has been a cultural tradition of this 'Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tribe' for far longer than a century. I wouldn't be surprised if, like Charles II, all the members of this tribe were more homozygous than the offspring of siblings in the general gene pool.
Posted by: Gremp Fillmore4930 || 04/22/2011 14:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Woes of marriage between cousins

"His family tree don't fork."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/22/2011 15:12 Comments || Top||

#9  One of the unexpected benefits of 19th Century railroad expansion was the ability to move to pools beyond the 20 miles that most people spent their lifetimes around for most of human history. Even a hundred years ago, most people lived in towns, villages, and in the rural countryside. Urbanization which we take for granted is only something very recent except for those rare points in history of the rise and fall of empires.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 15:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Hybrid vigor. That's the USA.
Posted by: KBK || 04/22/2011 21:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Mongrels do have advantages, y'know.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/22/2011 21:34 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen's Saleh remains defiant
[Iran Press TV] Yemen's 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. ...
has remained defiant against the Yemeni opposition's calls for his resignation, arguing that a power shift should only occur "based on the constitutional legitimacy."

Addressing a group of his female supporters on Wednesday, Saleh said "change should be made via ballot boxes and based on the constitutional legitimacy", Yemen's news agency SABA reported.

"Those who want power or [want] to gain the seat of power should do it by heading to the ballot box. Change and departure will be through voting under the legal framework of the constitution," Saleh claimed.

The beleaguered Yemeni president stressed that he will remain in office until his term expires in 2013 and that he will not yield to "conspiracies and coups."

Saleh's speech coincided with anti-government protests that were organized by the Yemeni opposition to condemn Tuesday's bloody crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and to honor the deaders of the ongoing brutal repression by Yemeni government forces.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION WORLD NEWS > WHAT YEMEN'S NEW JIHADIST THREAT MEANS TO THE US?

Govt. by + for PRO-ISLAMIST MILTERR'ISM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 3:01 Comments || Top||


Iraq
33 wanted men detained in Basra
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 33 wanted men were arrested in separate areas in Basra on Thursday, media and information office of Basra police said.

"Our forces waged 13 security operations in Basra, where they arrested 33 wanted men, including two Pakistanis
They got lost on the way to the bathroom.
and an Egyptian,
He was looking for the kitchen, to get a drink of water. It wasn't that the Israelites were lost in the desert for 40 years, you know, it's just that Moses had borrowed an Egyptian map.
who entered the country in a legal way," a source from the office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

"The criminal police managed to defuse a bomb planted in al-Baradiya region, central Basra," he added.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria braced for anti-government protests
[Al Jazeera] Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has appointed a new governor in the central city of Homs, where witnesses say security forces have been deployed in anticipation of more protests.

The official news agency said on Thursday that Ghassan Abdul-Al was named for the post after the government sacked his predecessor on April 7.

Al-Assad also issued decrees ending nearly five decades of emergency rule, abolishing state security courts and allowing citizens to protest peacefully, state television reported on Thursday.

The announcements, made successively in news flashes on state television, said Assad was ending the state of emergency - imposed when the ruling Baath Party seized power in 1963 - as well as the state security courts.

A third decree said citizens would be granted "the right to peacefully demonstrate" and noted that this is one of the "basic human rights guaranteed by the Syrian constitution".

However, Haitham al-Maleh, a prominent Syrian opposition figure, dismissed the decrees, arguing that the move was "useless" without an independent judiciary and accountability for security apparatus.

"The problem is that the ruling elite and the security have put their hands on the judiciary and other legislation [introduced by them] exempt the security forces from being held accountable to law," he said.

Maleh is a lawyer and a former judge who has long campaigned for an end to the emergency law.

Ghias al-Jundi, a rights activist based in London, said neither the move to end emergency rule, nor the dismissal of the head of the security services in Baniyas [a coastal town] and other concessions by Assad, would stop the protests.

"The people want proper reform and democracy, and a real end to emergency law," he told Al Jazeera.

"I think of the demonstrations started with demands of reform but the regime responded badly, by killing and detaining people. Now they're asking for regime change and demands are getting higher. In all funerals and protests now we are hearing the people want to topple the regime."

The developments came as rights activists said lorries carrying soldiers and vehicles equipped with machine guns were seen on highway linking Homs and Damascus, the Syrian capital, in preparation for Friday's protest rallies called by online activists.

"The feeling here on the ground is certainly that the Syrian government is playing a carrot-and-stick game," Al Jazeera's Cal Perry reported from the city.

He said that the mood in Damascus "seems like the calm before the storm".

Violent crackdown
Homs has been shaken by violent confrontations as Syrian security forces have cracked down on anti-government protesters over the past weeks. Activists said about 20 demonstrators were killed earlier this week when when security forces fired on people.

A witness in Homs said almost all shops in the city were closed for the third straight day on Thursday, after activists had called for a general strike.

Residents in the southern city of Daraa said army units took up positions closer to the city after having abandoned them in the last two days.

Separately, a small protest was held outside Hasakah University in the country's mainly Kurdish northeast. Dozens of people gathered, chanting their support for those in Daraa, Baniyas and Homs calling for more freedom.

One of the organisers told Al Jazeera that the students were prevented from leaving the university to protest in the city and that police and pro-government students were used to break up the rally. There were no reports of injuries or arrests.

Protests took place on Wednesday in several parts of the country, including a student protest in Aleppo, the country's largest city, where no major rallies have yet been held.

Activists say nationwide rallies are planned to be held on Friday, dubbed Great Friday.

Amnesty International, the London-based rights organisation, says about 220 people have been killed in the crackdown on the protests.

The unrest began with a small protest calling for the release of political prisoners in Damascus on March 15 and gained strength three days later when thousands marched in Daraa.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Afghanistan
Bomb blast kills 3 policemen in Afghanistan
[Arab News] Fighting has escalated in eastern Afghanistan as Afghan and coalition forces step up their attacks on Islamic fascisti along the Pakistain border and faceless myrmidons retaliate with attacks on pro-government forces, including a kaboom Thursday that killed three Afghan coppers.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a front man for the governor of Nangarhar province, said the three coppers were killed by a bomb that was placed on a bus.

The bus was transporting Afghan coppers and trainees to a training academy in the quiet provincial capital of Jalalabad.

Six others on the bus were maimed in the kaboom, Abdulzai said.

Afghanistan's spring fighting season is expected to be in full force by the end of this month.

Before winter set in, tens of thousands of US 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...
reinforcements routed the Taliban from their strongholds, captured leading figures and destroyed weapons caches. The bully boys, known for their resiliency, responded with high-profile attacks across the nation.

What's unknown is how strong the Taliban will prove to be as the fighting gears up in what could be a defining year in the nearly decade-old war.

"In the last several weeks, the activity is starting to go up more, so they (insurgents) are starting to come back" from Pakistain, said Maj. Gen. John Campbell, commander of coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Campbell spoke to news hounds Wednesday night at Bagram Air Field.

"We've hammered the Haqqani network and the bad boys," he said, referring to the bad boy network, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda and often blamed for attacks in the Kabul. "We killed a lot of low level and mid-level leadership, especially the Haqqani network, because we have really been going after that. And what we have started to see is that leadership is much younger and less experienced."
Oboy -- getting inside their management training loop! Once we did that in Iraq, it was just a matter of executing the plan.
Campbell said the spring offensive would continue to attack safe havens and supply lines in eastern Afghanistan with the help of Pak forces on the other side of the border.

At least 21 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, at least 10 in eastern Afghanistan.

In other incidents in the east, two Afghan men were killed and four other people -- three women and a child -- were maimed Thursday when their van struck a roadside mine in Dih Yak district of Ghazni province, said Sher Khan Yousefzai, the top local official in neighboring Andar district.

A French soldier was killed and nine others were maimed when their armored vehicle struck a road side bomb Wednesday in Kapisa province, the French Defense Ministry said.

Also, 17 bad boys, including imported muscle, were killed Tuesday in Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral...
by Afghan and coalition forces searching for a senior leader of the Al-Qaeda network, NATO said late Wednesday. According to the coalition, the Al-Qaeda leader commanded Islamic fascisti and directed the purchase of equipment used to attack pro-government forces in the border region.

NATO also said that a Haqqani operator was captured Wednesday in Tere Zayi district of Khost province
... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
, which borders Pakistain and that several suspected Islamic fascisti were jugged in the quiet provincial capital of Khost. According to NATO, the individuals have been conducting military training and developing a compound linked to Al-Qaeda leaders based in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Arabia
Iran cell planned attacks in Kuwait, minister says
[Dawn] Kuwait's foreign minister said on Thursday an Iranian spy cell uncovered by the Gulf Arab state last year monitored the US military presence and possessed explosives to bomb "strategic" facilities.

"We are talking about a cell whose task was not only to monitor and record the (US) military presence that is in their view hostile -- the American forces presence on Kuwait lands -- but it exceeded that," Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television.

"They had explosives and the intention to explode vital Kuwaiti facilities. They had names of officers and they had extremely sensitive information. This indicates bad intentions to harm Kuwaiti security."

OPEC-member Kuwait hosts Camp Arifjan, a vast US logistics base in the desert south of the capital that serves as a staging post for US forces being deployed in neighbouring Iraq.

The United States has air and naval installations in Gulf Arab states, some of which are little more than 200 km (120 miles) from Iran's coast. The US Central Command keeps its forward headquarters in Qatar while Bahrain hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Last month, a Kuwaiti court sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death for being part of an alleged Iranian spy ring in a case that has strained relations between Kuwait and the Islamic Theocratic Republic.

Earlier this month, Iran expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after the Gulf emirate said it would throw out three Iranian diplomats in a row over spy allegations.

The move came after Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats, a Kuwaiti official had said.

Kuwaiti media said in May 2010 that authorities had jugged a number of people, Kuwaitis and foreigners, suspected of engaging in espionage for Iran. Media reports said they were accused of gathering information on Kuwaiti and US military sites for Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

But Sheikh Mohammad said Kuwait still wants good relations with Iran. "We completely reject severing ties (with Iran)," he said, although he added that Iran needs to treat Gulf Cooperation Council states as "sovereign" and not "subordinate".

Iran's relations with its US-allied Gulf Arab neighbours, who offer various facilities to US forces, have soured since popular uprisings were suppressed by government forces.

Sunni Mohammedan-ruled Gulf Arab states accused Iran of interfering in their affairs after Tehran objected to the dispatch of Saudi and UAE troops to help Bahrain put down protests by its Shia majority in March.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM >IRAN SEEN AS ACTIVATING [covert = sleeper?] AGENTS TO INSTIGATE CONFLICT, as agz Saudi Arabia + GCC Nations.

versus

* IRAN DEFENCE >IRAN'S NOBEL LAUREATE EBADI WARNS OF ETHNIC ARAB UNREST IN IRAN [Khuzestan province].

Shia Iran's Sunni Arab problem.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 1:54 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Hosni Mubarak's health 'unstable'
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
's health is "unstable," the state news agency MENA reported on Thursday quoting a medical source in Sharm el-Sheikh where he is under hospital arrest.

Mubarak "is in suite 309 and his health is unstable," the source was quoted as saying by MENA.

Doctors are following up on Mubarak's health and "carrying out several medical tests to know the cause of the instability," the source added.

The report came as Egypt's public prosecutor was considering moving the 82-year-old former president to jail or to a prison hospital pending health checks, his office said.

Mubarak, who quit February 11, is being held in connection with violence against protesters during 18 days of anti-regime rallies that ended his 30-year grip on power. He is also being questioned on corruption charges.

Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Yep, pretty unstable...he could kick the bucket anytime..-"

"Bang!"

"See? Told ya!"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/22/2011 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2  He has spent more time in medical care than in his palace in the past few years. So now, if Egypt would only get that government formed, we will be able to tell if it is friend or foe.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 14:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Let me look at my crystal ball, newc. Yep, foe who will pretend to be a friend.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 15:09 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Newspaper Asks To Kill Saudis Living Abroad
(ANSA) - ROME, APRIL 20 - An article published in the Iranian daily Kayhan, close to the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, Ali Kamanaei, asks to monitor the movement of Saudis living for various reasons in Europe or the United States and to kill them in the name of the ''revolutionary executions''.

The article is signed, according to Al Jazeera's website which reports the news, by Husain Madari, representative of the supreme leader at Kayhan.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope that Soddies respond in kind. Not that I've got any love lost for Soddies...I just love the Machiavellian dimension of it.
Posted by: twobyfour || 04/22/2011 3:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Boys we're going to the mattresses.

May both sides have tremendous success.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/22/2011 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The Iranians have been trying to disrupt the Hajj for years, which usually ends up with a bunch of Iranians losing their heads. But it is long past time when the Saudis should have created a foreign counterintelligence service with an eye to whacking Iranian agents in other countries.

If nothing else, it would be good paying jobs for young, unemployed, and disaffected Saudi men.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  'moose, if well-trained Mossad agents managed to accidentally kill innocent Swedish waiters in the aftermath of Munich, what do you think will be the result of the Saudis sending hordes of "young, unemployed, and disaffected Saudi men" off to go a-Viking against "Iranian agents"?

Not that we'd be able to tell the difference between them and the simple salafi terrorists we're already failing to do a hell of a lot about these days...
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/22/2011 9:43 Comments || Top||

#5  And this would trouble the Saudi government in what way?

Their attitude would be meh, so some infidels got whacked when we took down those Iranians. Triple whoopie.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/22/2011 12:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Marshmallow popcorn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 15:03 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain police chase, arrest protesters
[Iran Press TV] Bahraini security forces have reportedly been sighted hunting down demonstrators in a village in the northwest of the country.

On Thursday, police forces were seen chasing and arresting anti-government protesters in Bani Jamrah, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain have poured onto the streets, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's 40-year-plus rule over the country.

Manama tossed in the slammer six senior Bahraini opposition leaders on March 16, whose fate remain unknown.

A new report has also pointed to the arrest of dozens of Bahraini doctors as part of an intimidation campaign against medical staff for treating victims of the deadly crackdown.

On March 13, Saudi-led forces were dispatched to the island at Manama's request to quell nationwide protests.

According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds tossed in the slammer so far during the government-sanctioned clampdown on peaceful demonstrations.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION DAILY TIMES.PK > IRAN GUARD WARNS ENEMIES AS FAR AS INDIAN OCEAN. IRGC General Mohammad Jafari].

ARTIC = GEN. JAFARI = IRAN + IRGC steadily dev the potent new mil capabilities to strike far outside of the Persian Gulf in simil to how the US-NATO project mil power overseas, e.g. US FIFTH FLEET IN BAHRAIN OR JUST OUTSIDE THE PERSIAN GULF.

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > ARMY COMMANDER WARNS OF IRAN'S "CRUSHING RESPONSE" TO AGGRESSORS.

ARTIC > HMMMM, HMMMMM, perhaps its just me, but IMO this particular warning as described is aimed mainly at the SAUDIS + GCC, NOT THE US-ISRAEL???

* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > SAUDIS NEED NAVAL BUILDUP TO FACE IRAN.

They seem to favor the idea of AEGIS-ARMED, USN-style LCS = BMD/"BATTLESPACE" STEALTH SHIPS, CRAFTS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 23:30 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Obama Authorizes Use of Drone Airstrikes in Libya...
At this rate, it's going to be a generation before UAV manufacturers will be able to cut back to only two shifts.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The plot thickens.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 3:05 Comments || Top||

#2  The plot thickens.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 3:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Time for a coffee.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 3:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes - when the Plot Thickens Twice (good name for a crime novel), it's time for coffee.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/22/2011 9:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
Cyprus: Parliament Dissolved Ahead Of May's Elections
But I think we all saw this coming.
NICOSIA, APRIL 21 - The House of Representatives decided today to dissolve the present Parliament and set Sunday May 22, 2011 as polling day, in accordance with the Constitution as CNA reported. It also decided that the first session of the new House will take place on Thursday, June 2.

Parliamentary elections take place every five years in Cyprus, for the 56 seat House.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No doubt there's a back-up plan for running the country in case life should become unusually interesting in the meantime.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/22/2011 11:47 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Asylum seekers riot, torch buildings in Australia
[Emirates 24/7] Asylum seekers torched nine buildings at a Sydney detention centre in a night of wild riots with a handful of protesters remaining on rooftops on Thursday as police worked to regain control.

The riots kicked off late on Wednesday at the Villawood Detention Centre with an estimated 100 detainees involved at the height of the drama.

At one stage firefighters were pelted with roof tiles and pieces of furniture as they tried to tackle the blazes, with riot police called in to protect them.

Among the buildings destroyed were a computer room, kitchen, medical facilities and a laundry.

The immigration department said the fires had been contained but an AFP photographer said several people remained on the roof, sitting beside a large white sign that read "We need help".

"Emergency services have been working throughout the morning to restore order following a major disturbance at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre," the department said in a statement.

"About 100 detainees were believed to be involved in the disturbance, in which nine buildings within the Fowler complex were set alight."

Immigration front man Sandi Logan condemned the "appalling" behaviour of protesters.

"At one stage many of the protesters were hurling roof tiles and pieces of furniture, and other clumps of wood at the firefighters," he said, adding that "miraculously" no injuries had been reported.

The protest started with just two inmates, apparently upset at the immigration department denying their applications for visas to remain in Australia.

Those still on the roof reportedly want a meeting with the immigration department, but Logan told news hounds this would not happen.

"Until they come down, we won't be negotiating, but we are working and managing to get them down from the roof," he said.

Australia has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers while their claims are processed, and generally holds detainees on remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

But the increasing number of people arriving by boat has seen mainland centres also being used, including Villawood, which houses about 400 people.

Brami Jegan, from the Refugee Action Coalition, told ABC radio she believed stress and frustration were behind the riots.

"What's happened is an absolute act of desperation. It's a cry out for help," Jegan said, adding that some people had been in Villawood for nearly two years.

"It's so obvious the profound psychological effects that mandatory and prolonged detention is having on these people, these human beings," she said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It's so obvious the profound psychological effects that mandatory and prolonged detention is having on these people, these human beings," she said.

I have no words.
I'm sure they'll expidite their paperwork now though. And go ahead and sign them up for welfare bennies before they even walk out the door.
Posted by: Fat Bob Chique7690 || 04/22/2011 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Just the kind of people you want in your country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/22/2011 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  They showed that they deserved to be boat people... Put them on a barge and tow it to Indonesian waters.
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/22/2011 10:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
FBI chief to visit India in May to grapple with LeT
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Osama-led "CORE AL QAEDA" is now deemed by the US Govt. as less of a threat to the US-World than its Affiliates + even the Somali Pirate Boyz.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:18 Comments || Top||

#2  going to India...it's like going to the nunnery to stop priest pedophilia. The problem is in Pakistan.
Posted by: jack salami || 04/22/2011 8:29 Comments || Top||

#3  The light is better over in India, Jack.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 04/22/2011 15:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Two falls out of three?
Posted by: mojo || 04/22/2011 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  ROFL, Pollyandrew! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/22/2011 15:16 Comments || Top||


Pakistani court upholds Mukhtaran Mai gang-rape acquittals
[Al Jazeera] Five men accused of gang-raping a Pak woman in 2002 under orders from a village council have been acquitted by the supreme court of the country, their lawyer says.

Abdul Khalique, the sixth suspect in the case, had his life sentence upheld, Malik Saleem, the defence lawyer, said on Thursday.

The rape of Mukhtaran Mai in 2002 drew international attention after she decided to speak out about her ordeal, defying Pak norms.

She alleged that she had been gang-raped on the orders of a village council in the name of "honour" in Muzaffargarh district. The gang-rape was to be punishment because her brother - who was 12 years old at the time - had been judged to have offended the "honour" of a powerful clan by allegedly having an affair with one of its women.

Following the judgement, Mai said she had "lost faith" in the legal system, and she was now worried that the acquitted men would harm her.

Saleem said the five were acquitted because of the lack of eyewitness testimony.

The five men will now be freed once their paperwork is complete, he said.

The supreme court, to which Mai had appealed in 2005, was upholding a previous verdict issued by the Lahore high court. Asked if she would appeal the verdict, Mai said she would take a decision after consulting her lawyers.

"I'm disappointed. Why was I made to wait for five years if this decision was to be given?" Mai told the Rooters news agency.

Human rights activists in the country criticised the verdict shortly after it was issued.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Many dead in explosion in Karachi
[Al Jazeera] At least 14 people have been killed and several others maimed in a kaboom in Pakistain's biggest city, Bloody Karachi.

Police said they suspected Thursday's kaboom was caused by a planted bomb.

"We are gathering details," they said.

Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder said a bomb squad is seeking to ascertain whether the explosive had been a large bomb or a hand grenade as earlier reports had suggested.

"The attack appears to be linked to the pie fight that has been going on for some time and was also alleged to be a gambling den.

"According to some estimates, up to 300 people were at the location at the time of the kaboom."

The number of dead is likely to rise, with up to 35 people injured, our correspondent said.

No one grabbed credit for the bombing at the club, and officials said that the club was also run by criminals and was home to illegal gambling.

They suspected that the attack might be a result of a gang war.

Bloody Karachi has a long history of bloody feuds between rival ethnic, political and sectarian groups, in which hundreds of people have been killed.

Fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have also carried out attacks in the city in the past.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  Boys will be boys.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/22/2011 2:53 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Death penalty for three Saddam-era spies
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's High Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced to death three Saddam Hussein-era spies convicted of assassinating the father of a sitting Iraqi lawmaker in Beirut in April 1994.

"The court sentences to death Hadi Hassuni, Abdul Hassan al-Majid and Farukh Hijazi, who were agents of the intelligence services," tribunal spokesman Mohammed Abdul Saheb told AFP.

Two other men, military intelligence chief Saber Duri and Saddam's secretary Abdul Hamid Mahmoud, were sentenced to life imprisonment at the conclusion of the trial, which began in October 2009.
See the companion story from Aswat al-Iraq.
Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan, the executed dictator's half-brother, and Saddam's deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz were acquitted in the trial.
Those two will still swing, just not for this one.
The convictions came over the murder of Sheikh Taleb al-Suhail al-Tamimi, head of the Banu Tamim tribe, who fled Iraq for the Lebanese capital with his family after a Baath Party coup in 1968. He later attempted his own coup against Saddam, who rose to power in 1979, but was gunned down outside his Beirut home on April 14, 1994.

Lebanon severed its ties with Iraq in the aftermath of the killing, but arrested five Iraqi diplomats and one Lebanese accomplice over the assassination. All but one were released without charge, with one diplomat having died in prison in Lebanon.
The other four diplomats later returned to Iraq only to flee after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam.

Tamimi's daughter, Safia al-Suhail, has been an Iraqi lawmaker since 2005. She was elected to the Council of Representatives in March 2010 polls as part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's slate, but is now an independent lawmaker.

"I am satisfied because I have expected this decision for 15 years, but at the same time I will continue my fight to bring to justice those who managed to escape and take refuge abroad," Suhail told AFP by telephone.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Jury being selected for Terry Jones trial in Dearborn
Pastor Terry Jones
Who you gonna call? Koran Combuster!
is going to trial after refusing to post a peace bond this afternoon.

After a half hour of instructions, Jones and his assistant, Wayne Sapp, said they understood the charges and declined legal counsel.

The hearing was on a verified complaint filed Friday by the Wayne County prosecutor in response to Jones' plans for a protest in front of Islamic Center of America tomorrow. The permit request is for a protest against sharia and jihad. It would be in front of the largest mosque in North America in one of the most densely populated Muslim areas in the United States.

Both Jones and Sapp requested a jury trial and a total of 28 potential jurors were brought in to the courtroom. The jury will be asked to decide whether or not Jones should have to post a peace bond.

A juror who was wearing a hijab who said she speaks limited English was dismissed. Another juror related to a Dearborn police officer was dismissed as well.
See also:
Jones rally becomes free speech fracas
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope he has lots of people in the surrounding buildings (if any) taking video of any incidents.

Because you just know how much Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Dearbornistan. Good luck with that.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/22/2011 0:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Us this the United States? When did protesting on public property become illegal?
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 6:24 Comments || Top||

#4  2008, Hope'n'Change. etc. Remember. They own the country now.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/22/2011 7:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Koran-Burning Pastor's Gun Discharges Outside of WJBK in Detroit after he was interviewed on television Thursday evening. Southfield Police confirmed the gun accidentally discharged. No charges were filed, and police gave the gun back to Terry Jones before sending him on his way.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/22/2011 7:37 Comments || Top||

#6  The Wayne County prosecutors predicted there would be gunplay, and they have been proven right.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/22/2011 7:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Dearborn? Is this going to be a Sharia Court? Thought Michigan had ceded Dearborn over to foreign nationals.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 9:08 Comments || Top||

#8  What exactly is a peace bond.

Michigan. Is this why the line imported from detroit is relevant?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/22/2011 11:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Me, I'm rooting for both to lose.
Posted by: mojo || 04/22/2011 12:21 Comments || Top||

#10  So heckling mourners @ a solider's funeral: Legally okey dokey.

Putting cross in a jar of urine: high art, government subsidy on its way.

Attempt to protest against sharia and jihad: Go to jail.

That's not the American I know -- that's not even Mexico -- Homer Simpson
Posted by: regular joe || 04/22/2011 14:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Terry Jones jailed for refusing to post 'peace bond.'
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/22/2011 19:24 Comments || Top||

#12  That sucks. Even if it is a $1 peace bond.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/22/2011 20:29 Comments || Top||

#13  that's smart. Escalate the publicity and notoriety. That's what he wanted to do from the beginning. He'll get a huge judgement against Detroit and the Islamo-apologists. This is prior restraint of free speech and a heckler's terrorist's veto. It will not stand
Posted by: Frank G || 04/22/2011 20:46 Comments || Top||

#14  Allahpundit nails it, for once.
Posted by: KBK || 04/22/2011 21:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
U.S. to supply Pakistan with 85 mini-drones
Mini or not, they're still valuable technology......
Unarmed,for surveillance.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  D *** NG IT, well, this explains why all of the RC's suddenly disappeared from local shelves???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:03 Comments || Top||

#2  And will KABUL get 1/2 of 'em???

TALIBAN = RADICAL ISLAM???

* ION MILWARES, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHIEF OF RUSSIAN GROUND TROOPS WANTS USED [German] "LEOPARD II'S" MBTS INSTEAD OF [Russian-made] T-90M'S, essens arguing that Moscow can purchase many, better, more potent + modern MBTS for the same $$$ it uses to upgrade elderly, Cold War-era Soviet MBTS to T-90M standard.

* SAME > SECOND "HELICOPTER DESTROYER" COMMISSIONED INTO JAPAN MSDF.

* SAME > [American Chemical Society]US EXPANDS SEARCH FOR [Cold War-era] WMDS TO EAST AFRICA, to include Nuclear Weapons.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:56 Comments || Top||

#3  OOPSIES, forgot CHINA DAILY FORUM > [Russian Prosecutor-General] RUSSIAN MILITARY ARSENAL "POORLY PROTECTED", agz Weather + espec TERROR, TO INCLUD RUSS NUKES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:59 Comments || Top||

#4  We should be supporting India not supplying Pakistan with military equipment!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 04/22/2011 7:36 Comments || Top||

#5  84 on the LOC in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Frank G || 04/22/2011 8:27 Comments || Top||

#6  85 micro drones for pakistan
85 micro drones
they fly through the air
and crash over there
84 micro drones for pakistan.
(repeat)
Posted by: rammer || 04/22/2011 8:47 Comments || Top||

#7  We should be supporting India not supplying Pakistan with military equipment!

Thank you for your as-always, in-depth analysis, Sir Obvious.

That out of the way (minus the ever-present exclamation point), there are two tiny facts.

One is that India isn't the route for sending equipment and supplies to Afghanistan.

Second, India isn't where Predators are methodically eliminating Taliban, and where there's a low level civil war between hardcore Islamists in the military and ISI supporting the Taliban and others, and not-so-hardcore Islamists in the government and military, who occasionally and for various reasons, decide to beat up on the former's bully boys.

Uh, make that three points. Third, there appears to be a general consensus growing with US circles that the 'Pakistan relationship' will likely be done with once it's decided Afghanistan is "over". The Paks are aware of that and more than likely would completely shut off the supply line now in a fit of pique.

So in the interim, it's advantageous to provide somewhat low-level technology in order to keep the not-so-hardcore Islamists happy and the supplies moving.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/22/2011 10:18 Comments || Top||

#8  This is a palliative for the Paks. Ravens (RQ-11) are usually company-level assets with a range of about 9 miles and an endurance of 80 minutes. The technology, including the sensor, is pretty plain vanilla. This is not a persistent Killer-Scout like the Predator or a Hunter-Killer like the Reaper.
Posted by: rwv || 04/22/2011 10:51 Comments || Top||

#9  U.S. to supply Pakistan with 85 mini-drones

So they've found uses for the Obamanauts?

drone (drn)
n.
1. A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.
2. An idle person who lives off others; a loafer.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/22/2011 15:54 Comments || Top||

#10  #6 rammer - best laugh I've had all day.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/22/2011 17:14 Comments || Top||

#11  @ #4

Paul , is this you ?

always good for a laugh :p
Posted by: Oscar || 04/22/2011 19:28 Comments || Top||

#12  more goddamn bullshit from this admin. yet we cut our programs here
Posted by: chris || 04/22/2011 19:46 Comments || Top||

#13  It's a rather common type of Drone that is used by alot of countries. Guess you could call it the "common" drone. Not our in-dephth military grade stuff. Norway, Italy, and Spain use it. So it's more like 5-year old Clearance sale stuff. I beat ya they could get it easily elsewhere, better we get paid for it though.
Posted by: Charles || 04/22/2011 20:19 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisian gender-parity 'revolution' hailed
[Al Jazeera] Tunisia's ruling that men and women must feature in equal numbers as candidates in July polls is an Arab world first that builds on this year's revolt and allays fears of conservative influence, observers say.

The decision by authorities preparing the July 24 constituent assembly poll after the uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the north African nation's long-serving president, has been hailed as a regional breakthrough.

The Tunisian revolution has sparked similar revolts in other Arab countries.

"It is historic," said Sana Ben Assour, president of the Tunisian Association of Women Democrats, after international rights groups also welcomed last week's announcement.

"And it is only right in a country where men and women fought side by side for democracy."

The weeks of demonstrations that led Ben Ali to quit in January after 23 years in power opened the way for unprecedented freedoms in the secular state, including the unbanning of political parties that call for political Islam.

Many had feared this could lead to reverses in gains for women amid some calls by Islamists for women to be made to wear headscarves or claims that their place is in the home.

But the Islamist Nahda movement, allowed to register in March for the first time since it was formed in 1981, was among those that voted in favour of the new ruling.

One of its leaders, Ali Laryadh, dismissed concerns it wanted to backtrack on women's rights in Tunisia, saying such allegations came from "people who want to misguide public opinion and attack the movement".

"We were the first to call for parity between men and women for the electoral lists, and with the principal of alternating men and women on the lists," he said.

Visible presence
Women feature relatively strongly in public life in Tunisia compared to some of their more oppressive Mohammedan neighbours.

They represent 26 per cent of the working population, half of students, 29 per cent of magistrates and 24 per cent of the Tunisian diplomatic corps.

The previous parliament, dissolved after the fall of Ben Ali regime, had the most women in the region.

The gender parity ruling "is the first in the Arab and Mohammedan world, which should encourage Tunisian women to involve themselves more in political life", Laarbi Chouikha, a political analyst, said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TUNISIA + GENDER-PARITY

versus

* FREEREPUBLIC > [Bangladesh] ISLAMIC CLERIC THREATENS JIHAD IFF CHILD MARRIAGE BANNED.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 22:31 Comments || Top||

#2  WAFF > TURKISH MINISTRY: STAYING SINGLE A BIGGER THREAT THAN [Fukushima = Japan] NUCLEAR PLANT CRISIS.

D *** NG IT, having lotsa newly radioactive? Japanese products is no excuse to stay a Bachelor = UN-ISLAMIC?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 23:55 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Catherine Mary Stewart aka Maggie Gordon in "The Last Starfighter" aka Regina "Reggie" Belmont in "Night of the Comet" aka Gwen Saunders in "Weekend at Bernie's" aka Jessie Collins in "Samurai Cowboy" (age 52)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/22/2011 1:33 Comments || Top||

#2  A guy walked into a bar. On the door was a sign that read "If you can make my horse laugh then I will give you $50."

So he walked up to the bar tender and said "I can make your horse laugh." So he went out in the back alley and came back and the horse was laughing. So the bar tender said "A deal is a deal but before I pay you, tell me how you made my horse laugh."

He said "I told him mine is bigger than his."

Then about three months later the same guy came back into this bar and say a sign on the door it read: If you can make my horse cry then I will give you $50.

So he walked up to the bar tender and said "I can make your horse laugh." So he went in to the back alley and made the horse cry. He came back in and the bar tender said "A deal is a deal but before I pay you, tell me how you made my horse cry."

He said "I showed him!"


I'm guessing that the horse is laughing because he' read half the joke so far. I'm guessing Betty is laughing because she reads faster than the horse.

Catherine apparently also reads faster than the horse, but I cannot tell from her smile whether or not she has a sense of humor.
Posted by: gorb || 04/22/2011 3:45 Comments || Top||

#3  (Statements redacted due to family oriented nature of website)

Trust me guys it was a doozy.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/22/2011 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Good joke, Gorb. Good graphic too. There was a time in Tijuana when you could buy those. I never did so I can't say whether or not they were genuine. Haven't been down there in so long that I don't know if they're still available or not.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/22/2011 11:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Salon to keep tabs on Republican Islamophobia
So make sure to bookmark this page and check back frequently. (And if you see an example that belongs on the list, send an email.)
I sure hope that a fair and balanced infotainment source like Salon won't mind if I use the e-mail address every time I see an example of Democratic Ameriphobia (or Free Markephobia.)
Posted by: ryuge || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  US = GOP ISLAMOPHOBIA

versus

* CHINA DAILY FORUM > [Activist Post]DISASTER IN CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND + CHRISTIAN DIOR, FRANCE MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF CHRISTIANITY.

Mother Nature just absolutely hates/abhors Environ-destroying Christians, + so M-U-S-T VIOLENTLY RETALIATE + DESTROY SAME WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD.

SUB-READ, MOTHER NATURE LIKES ISLAM???

["DAY AFTER TOMORROW" Terran Planet angst here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder is Salon will also have a page for attempted and successful Muslim terrorist acts? I know. How about a body count page of every American murdered by Muslim fanatics. You can even show photos and read their names on the evening news, on a takeoff of PBS.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/22/2011 6:29 Comments || Top||

#3  1. 3000+ murders at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania,
2. Blowing up the Marine barracks in Lebanon,
3. Lockerbie bombing,
4. Ft. Hood shootings,
5. Scores of other murders across the world in the name of Islam.
6. Scores of other attempts.

If it's real, it's not paranoia or some damned ginned up propagandistic pyschobabble phobia.

Part of my list for a 2012 Presidential candidate qualifications:

1. Opposed to "ground zero mosque"
2. For anti-sharia legislation,
3. Questions whether Obama is a Muslim.
4. Doesn't have any problem defining terrorism,
5. Doesn't think little old ladies and small children are causing terrorism problems,
4. Is serious about islamicist problem,
5. Recognizes islamicist 5th column activities in the U.S.
6. Looks across the military for a modern day Patton to head up the military.

I got lost in that moment of reverie and fantasy. Oh well, on to my next cup of coffee.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/22/2011 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Wow, it's like a conversation with 1999. What the hell keeps Salon in operation? Existential inertia?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/22/2011 9:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Salon has always been a POS media spam organization. I want to see them live under sharia law for a week. In fact, just become citizens of Saudi Arabia and forget being a journalist.
Posted by: newc || 04/22/2011 10:27 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Life sentence for 2 charged with killing "father" of Iraqi Legislature
The wheels of justice do indeed grind exceedingly fine. Saddam had a hit put on al-Shuheil. See the companion story.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The High Iraqi Criminal Court has issued life-imprisonment sentences for Sabir al-Douri and Abul-Hamid Mahmoud, charged with killing the Iraqi opposition leader, Sheikh Taleb al-Suheil in Beirut on April 12, 1994, the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Channel reported on Thursday.

The Iraqi opposition leader, Taleb Ali al-Shuheil, was assassinated in Beirut on April, 12, 1994. Lebanese security bodies had managed to arrest the men involved in the operation hours after it took place, including four diplomats of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, followed by the rapture of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The first court session was held on October 4, 2009, based on a complaint raised by the Iraqi Legislature, Safiya al-Suheil, Sheikh Taleb al-Suheil’s daughter, against Iraq’s former President Saddam Hussein, his Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz, Saddam’s Secretary, Abed Hmoud, Foreign Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Chairman of the Intelligence Body, Sabir al-Douri and Iraq’s Ambassador to Jordan at that time, Nouri al-Wayis.

Among other defendants, charged with having been involved in the assassination incident, were the Charge d’affaires in Beirut in 1994, Awadh Fakhri, the Cultural Attache, Mohammed al-Dhamdhumawi, the Trade Attache, Khalid Khalifa, the Iraqi Consul in Beirut, Ali Sultan Darwish, the Embassy Guard, Hadi Hassouna al-Rikaby and the defendant, charged with having facilitated the assassination of Taleb al-Suheil, George Terjinian, a Lebanese Armenian of an Iraqi origin.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Dozens killed in south Sudan clash
[Al Jazeera] At least 31 people have been killed in a clash between south Sudan's army and rebel militia fighters, the army said, the latest violence to unsettle the region ahead of its independence in July.

Twenty of the victims were southern army soldiers who died on Tuesday in the clash in the oil-producing Unity state with fighters loyal to Peter Gadet, a former senior southern army (SPLA) officer who rebelled this month, the military said on Wednesday.

"They (the rebels) overran a village in Mayom county. They burned it to the ground before the SPLA chased them off," Philip Aguer, a southern army front man, said.

Two drivers were also killed when two civilian trucks hit landmines in the same county, Aguer said, adding that the rebels fought alongside Misseriya rustics from the north.

Southern leaders have accused their former civil war foes in the north of arming the renegades to try and destabilise the region and keep control of its oil, charges Khartoum denies.

The Misseriya who drive their cattle south to graze during the dry season claimed sole responsibility for the attack.

"We attacked an SPLA base in ...Unity state to return 1,700 cows that the SPLA had stolen from us," said Ismail Hamadein, a senior Misseriya official.

He said 11 of his tribe died and 22 were maimed during the attack on Tuesday, but said they had no links to Gadet.

Northern staff expelled
Unity authorities responded to the latest violence by expelling northern Sudanese staff working in oil-producing areas of the state, underscoring the risk from rising tensions.

"Unity State have ample evidence that these militia are being encouraged, sponsored, organised and planned by elements in the national government," Gideon Gatpan Thoar, the state's information minister, said.

Oil is the lifeblood of both economies and how to share the revenues after separation remains unresolved.

Southern oil is currently spilt roughly 50-50 with the north, and the south will still have to rely on pipelines in the north after July.

The United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
has said more than 800 people have died in the violence in south Sudan this year stemming from tribal fighting and festivities between soldiers and at least seven bands of renegade fighters in the territory.

Analysts have warned any further deterioration could destabilise the whole region. South Sudan's neighbours include Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Renegade fighters have accused the south's government of corruption and crackdowns on opposition supporters, charges denied in the southern capital Juba.

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused both SPLA and rebel fighters of human rights
...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
violations during a battle in Upper Nile State in March. Aguer dismissed the allegations against the SPLA.

The south has fought the north for all but a few years since 1955 over differences in religion, ideology, ethnicity and oil.

The conflict has claimed an estimated two million lives.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Tripoli Warns Italy Against Sending Trainers
BEIRUT, APRIL 21 - Libyan State television today warned Italy, the UK and France and other ''neo-crusaders'' against sending military trainers and advisors to Libya.

''These countries must be aware of the consequences of such decision'', according to a statement issued by the Libyan Foreign Ministry and read by a host of al Jamahiriya television.

Shortly after the announcement, a Muslim 'shaykh' called Italy and other countries involved in the war in Libya ''neo-crusader States''.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > LIBYA VOWS TO [militarily]FIGHT FOREIGN GROUND TROOPS, irregardless of whether they claim to be on pro-UN Humanitarian mission or not.

Tripoli says they are nothing more than WILY DASTARDLY DESPICABLE FOREIGN MIL INVADERS IN VIOLATION OF THEIR OWN UN MANDATE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:08 Comments || Top||

#2  CHINA DAILY FORUM > UN: USE OF HEAVY WEAPONS IN LIBYA [by Gaddafi + forces] CONSTITUTES AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME [Crime agz Humanity = War Crime].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 2:22 Comments || Top||

#3  WORLD NEWS > WEST-BACKED LIBYAN REBELS FACE QADDAFI BACKED BY CHINA [+ Russia], EASTERN EUROPE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/22/2011 3:03 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
South Somalia clashes leave 24 dead
Clashes between government soldiers backed by African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces and al-Shabaab
... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader...
fighters have left at least 24 people dead in southern part of Somalia.

At least 24 people were killed on Wednesday evening after festivities broke out between al-Shaboobs and the transitional government troops in Dhobley and Elwak towns near the border with Kenya, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Most of those killed were members of anti-government al-Shabaab group while scores of people were also injured during the deadly festivities.

Al-Shabaab fighters had controlled Dhobley town in Lower Jubba region since January 2009. However,
The contradictory However...
it fell under pro-government militia Ahlu Sunna Waljama's control last week.

Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government
since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Over the past two decades, up to one million people have been killed in Somalia in the fighting between rival factions and also due to famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia, with over 300,000 of them sheltering in Mogadishu alone.

Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift camps in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Mortars pound Misurata as toll mounts
[Al Jazeera] Civilians have been caught in the crossfire in Misrata as the city continues to come under intense fire from forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy.
... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...

Mortar fire poured on Thursday into the besieged city, the only rebel stronghold in the country's west.

"Upto 50 or 60 people... are being injured per day," Mohammed Al Fagieh, chief surgeon at a hospital in Misrata, told Al Jizz.

"I'm talking about the hospital, I'm not talking about Misrata. The number might double or triple sometimes."

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in the weeks of attacks, with at least five civilians left dead after fighting on Wednesday.

Among the casualties were Western journalists Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington, both photojournalists, who died in the fighting in Misrata on Wednesday, doctors at a hospital in the city said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has urged the Libyan authorities to "stop fighting and stop killing people" and said the world body's priority was to secure a ceasefire.

"At this time our priority is to bring about a verifiable and effective ceasefire, and then we can expand our humanitarian assistance, and we are going to engage in political dialogue," Ban said during an official visit to Moscow, the Russian capital.

Signs of 'war crimes'
The United Nations
...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least...
has said it is looking for signs of war crimes in Libya. However,
The ever-popular However...
the UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said the situation has not yet reached the point where the UN needs 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...
troops to secure humanitarian supplies in the country.

"At the moment, we have an agreement with the European force and with NATO that should we reach a point where the utilisation of civilian assets becomes impossible because of the security situation, we, the UN, would call on them for support for military assets."

In further signs of hardship, however, long queues have formed for petrol while electricity has been cut so residents have to depend on generators.

The government denies it is attacking civilians in Misrata.

Contention over foreign forces

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the Benghazi-based spokesperson of Libyan Transitional National Council, said that opposition forces would not object to the presence of foreign ground forces to protect a safe haven for civilians.

"Protecting civilians requires having safe passages to deliver humanitarian supplies," he said.

"If that [protecting civilians] does not come except through ground forces that will ensure this safe haven, then there is no harm in that at all."

Al Jizz's Sue Torton, reporting from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, said many Libyans are looking abroad to see when international help will come.

"There has been talk of possibly foreign troops on the ground. Whether or not foreign troops are allowed on this soil is still a matter of contention. I've been told by the national council that maybe those troops could be provided by some of the Arab countries rather than the European countries."

However,
The ever-popular However...
David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
, the British prime minister, insisted on Thursday that NATO isn't edging toward the deployment of ground troops in Libya despite the decision by several European nations to send military advisers to assist rebel forces.

"The UN Security Council does limit us. We're not allowed, rightly, to have an invading army, or an occupying army," Cameron told BBC Scotland radio.

"That's not what we want, that's not what the Libyans want, that's not what the world wants."

While Russia said the sending of advisers exceeded the UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians.

"We are not happy about the latest events in Libya, which are pulling the international community into a conflict on the ground. This may have unpredictable consequences," Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, said.

Border crossing seized

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
pro-democracy forces took control of the Libyan side of a key border crossing with Tunisia, in a remote western region where they have been fighting government troops.

Witnesses say pro-Qadaffy forces abandoned their weapons and decamped into Tunisia.


Click on image for comprehensive coverage on Libya
Our correspondent in Benghazi said there was fierce fighting before pro-democracy forces were able to seize control of the post.

"The post ... has some 6,000 Libyans trying to get into Tunisia trying to flee the fighting here. People are camped out there," she said.

"We're also hearing from the national council here that this isn't the first time that they've taken control of that outpost. They're just watching to see whether Qadaffy forces strike back and try to take the post back again."

Elsewhere in the country, Libyan state television said.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
early on Thursday that NATO forces had struck the Khallat al-Farjan area of the capital Tripoli, killing seven people and wounding 18 others. The report could not immediately be independently verified.

But NATO has denied that an alliance air raid killed civilians, saying the target was a command and control bunker in a military compound.

"There was a NATO air strike in the broader area of Khellat Al-Ferjan," a NATO official told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

International forces have been carrying out air strikes on forces loyal to Qadaffy since March 19, in a mission headed by NATO since March 31.

The NATO-led coalition is enforcing a UN mandated no-fly zone in Libya, which authorises "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attack by Qadaffy's forces.

It is also policing an arms embargo and has targeted Qadaffy's military infrastructure.

The rebels have been trying since mid-February to end Qadaffy's 41-year-old rule but have struggled against his more experienced and better equipped forces.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
17 Insurgents Potted in Afghan, Isaf Operations
[Tolo News] At least 17 faceless myrmidons were killed in joint Afghan and Coalition forces' operation in eastern Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral...
on Tuesday, Isaf said in a statement on Wednesday.

The operation was launched in Dangam district of Kunar province during which seventeen faceless myrmidons including imported muscle were killed and one suspected Death Eater was jugged during a search for an al-Qaeda senior leader, Isaf said in a statement.

"The senior al-Qaeda leader commands and facilitates faceless myrmidons throughout the province and border region, directing weapons acquisition, movement, employment of fighters and equipment to Kunar for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," added the statement.

Three snuffies started shooting at Afghan and coalition forces when they were killed by an air support team, Isaf said.

Dangam district is bordered by Pakistain and faceless myrmidons have been active in most villages of it planning attacks on Afghan border police check posts.

Afghan and foreign forces have previously launched military operations to clear the insecure parts of the province of bad turbans.

Insurgents have recently been targeting provincial officials of Kunar province.
Posted by: Fred || 04/22/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2011-04-22
  Obama Authorizes Use of Drone Airstrikes in Libya...
Thu 2011-04-21
  Nigeria: Over 200 dead in the post-election riots
Wed 2011-04-20
  Syria government approves lifting state of emergency
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

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