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Syria troops, Hizbullah advancing on Qusayr
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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12:39 16 23:48 Dopey Craimp8068 [8]
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10:13 4 15:09 g(r)omgoru [7]
10:10 2 15:16 g(r)omgoru [5]
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09:48 26 20:45 Alaska Paul [13]
09:40 2 10:30 Bright Pebbles [9]
09:31 4 10:36 Besoeker [4]
09:02 8 23:35 JosephMendiola [10]
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00:00 3 09:16 USN,Ret. [13]
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Africa North
Rivera: Sources Tell Me Benghazi Was About Running Missiles to Syrian Rebels
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 17:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A sortof Nixon burglary cover-up meets Oliver North weapons sales, except the MSM is making cricket noises.
Posted by: Punky Speasing8653 || 05/10/2013 17:12 Comments || Top||

#2  That was me before I fixed my cookies.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/10/2013 17:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Geraldo Rivera?

Not exactly a source I'd be publicly citing.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Tales from the "Deep Background" ?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 05/10/2013 17:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Deep Background? What is that; is it the re-make of Deep Throat?

I think it is part of a gun run, 2Fast2Furious. However, I will wait until someone more credible than Gerry the Tomb.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/10/2013 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Deep background: The information presented during can be used by the media, but media agrees that the presenter(s) will not be quoted or identified.

Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Didn't I read that very theory some time ago? At Rantburg, I believe!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/10/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||

#8  A bit more on the "US State Department" warehouses in Benghazi please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 19:02 Comments || Top||

#9  US-supplied weapons may have made it as far as the Chechnya + Caucasus, + from the latter to ........???

CAR + Xinjiang???

May explain some of the harsh accusations/
allegations levied by Russia, etc. agz the US.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 19:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
FBI Detains Pressure Cooker Found in Man’s Luggage Because We Refuse to Profile (Man Set Free)
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 16:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Newseum’s decision not just outrageous, but dangerous
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 16:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dishonoring the honorable and honoring the dishonorable. How Gramscian of them.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 16:34 Comments || Top||


Europe
Gibraltar deports Turkish Al-Qaeda suspect: officials
Police in Gibraltar deported to Spain Friday a Turkish suspected Al-Qaeda member accused of plotting bombing attacks, who entered the British territory illegally, an official said.

Cengiz Yalcin had been arrested in August in Spain along with two Chechen suspects who the Spanish interior ministry said were Al-Qaeda members plotting an attack in Europe.

The three were released on bail by a judge in Madrid in March pending terrorism charges. Yalcin was arrested in Gibraltar Wednesday, authorities said.

Spanish media at the time cited police sources saying the three were suspected of plotting to drop explosives on a shopping mall in Gibraltar during the 2012 London Olympics.

The governor's office in Gibraltar, a British-ruled enclave on the southern tip of Spain, said in a statement that Yalcin was arrested on Wednesday as a "prohibited immigrant".

A police spokesman who asked not to be named told AFP that Yalcin was deported to Spain Friday as an undocumented immigrant - not due to any arrest warrant.

"He's got no documentation which allows him to be in Gibraltar," the spokesman said.

After the three suspects were arrested in August, the Spanish interior ministry released a video found in Yalcin's home which they said showed a trial bomb attack using a model aircraft.

Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 16:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian militants al-Nusra Front to be added to UN sanctions list
The UN Security Council will add the Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian militants al-Nusra Front to its sanctions blacklist next week, diplomats said May 10.

Following a move by France and Britain, the Islamist group, which has become one of the most feared fighting forces in Syria's two-year-old conflict, will be subject to a global asset freeze from Tuesday, the diplomats told AFP.

A pledge of allegiance by Al-Nusra's chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has caused divisions among the rebel groups battling President Bashar al-Assad.

The Assad government asked last month for the UN Security Council to blacklist Al-Nusra, but this was blocked by Britain and France, which do not recognize the Damascus government.

Britain and France made a separate application to the council's Al-Qaeda sanctions committee, which should become valid on May 7.
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 15:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
The IRS Explains Its Targeting Of Conservatives
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 14:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  White House blames Bush

Posted by: Beavis || 05/10/2013 17:44 Comments || Top||

#2  IRS= I REPRESENT SAUD
Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 || 05/10/2013 17:44 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Third Via Rail suspect was denied entry into Canada: Kenney
A third Via Rail terror plot suspect arrested in the United States last month did not enter that country from Canada, the Harper government says.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney made this known Friday to beat back suggestions in the United States that he entered the U.S. via Canada – a sensitive topic because U.S. politicians and commentators frequently paint their northern neighbour as a risky source of terrorists.

Mr. Kenney, speaking at a policy announcement in Mississauga, Ont., confirmed in response to a media question that Mr. Abassi – a one-time student in Canada – had returned to Tunisia and been denied a visa to return to Canada.

The Tunisian national had travelled to the U.S. in mid-March and was arrested on April 22.

Prosecutors in New York unsealed a criminal case Thursday and announced Mr. Abassi had been charged with attempting to get false work documents so he could live in the United States and kill Americans.

“Ahmed Abassi had an evil purpose for seeking to remain in the United States – to commit acts of terror and develop a network of terrorists here,” U.S. attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement Thursday.
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 13:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
BBC Editor Claims ‘Heads Will Roll’ Over Benghazi
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 12:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BBC Editor Claims 'Heads Will Roll' Over Benghazi

How Islamic of them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/10/2013 13:08 Comments || Top||

#2 

... just makes my head hurt. good lord. he didn't even know what black friday means.
Posted by: Chock Ebburt4695 || 05/10/2013 13:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Watch Live: White House Addresses Memo Requests on Benghazi Attacks
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 14:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm sure the white house is looking for someone to pin it on. Hopefully a volunteer. Until then they'll probably smear the whistleblowers.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/10/2013 15:13 Comments || Top||

#5  "You'll take the blame. Cutter and Ritter will take some, too, but it won't amount to much...The rest of the blame will fall on Greer. Oh yeah, you'll take him down with you, you'll destroy his reputation, but that's as far as it'll go. The old Potomac two-step, Jack."
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/10/2013 15:28 Comments || Top||

#6  I predict that nothing will happen of significance. Maybe some low level State Department functionary will get blamed, or maybe somebody in CIA or Defense. Hilary and Obama will suffer no lasting damage.

By 2016, people will have forgotten where Benghazi is or why it is significant. The Republicans won't have the balls to bring it up -after all, in 2016, it will be a long time ago, just water under the bridge.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/10/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Again, the Democrat-controlled US Senate are unilikely to abandon + remove POTUS Bammer from the Oval Office/WH over Benghazi unless intentional murder is conclusively proven.

EXCLUDING ANY DIRECT FELONY LINKS TO THE VARIOUS "FAST-N-FURIOUS" ALLEGATIONS/SCENARIOS, THE ALTERN WOULD BE AKIN TO FELONY-LEVEL MANSLAUGHTER.

As things stand, those whom seek to impeach the Bammer have a very weak "derelection of duty/responsibility" case, one that IMO does NOT defeat the Bammer's counter-argument of Benghazi being a simple or tragic "mistake in judgement/conclusion" by the Bammer + Admin. IFF ANYTHING, THE BUCK ENDS AT SECSTATE HILLARY, NOT THE BAMMER???

My $$$ is on CHINA-VS-JAPAN-VS-DEBT/SEQUESTER-RIDDEN-US, to include any China, China Ally-led major mil incidents on the mainland.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 23:48 Comments || Top||

#8  SOMEBODY'S head will roll, NOT OBAMA or Hillary's.

I'd be damned surprised.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/10/2013 23:59 Comments || Top||


Speedbump Is Buried In Virginia
That didn't take long, did it?
BOSTON -- Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was buried in a cemetery in Virginia with the help of a faith coalition, his uncle said Friday.

The secret burial this week ended a frustrating search for a community willing to take the body, which had been kept at a funeral parlor in Worcester, Mass., as cemeteries in Massachusetts and several other states refused to accept the remains.

The Tsarnaevs' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, took responsibility for arranging the burial after Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell-Tsarnaev, said she wanted the body released to her in-laws.
Is she going to visit the cemetery? Flowers?
Tsarni said Tsarnaev was buried in a cemetery in Doswell, Va., near Richmond, though he would not say more about the faith coalition that helped.
Posted by: Raj || 05/10/2013 12:39 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was thinking 'desert outside of Las Vegas'.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 13:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Population of DOSWELL is 1,819 Central Virginia's All Muslim Cemetery (by Dawah) ... corporation, has established Al-Barzakh Islamic Cemetery located on Route 725 in Doswell
Posted by: Chock Ebburt4695 || 05/10/2013 13:56 Comments || Top||

#3  "we're moving the outhouse and can use the backfill"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/10/2013 14:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Al-Barzakh Islamic Cemetery

More than 12 Muslims are currently buried at Al Barzakh Cemetary.


Does that mean Tamerlan Tsarnaev is number 13 ?
Posted by: Chock Ebburt4695 || 05/10/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Here's his alleged burial plot. Love the tarp!
Posted by: Raj || 05/10/2013 15:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, Jeezus on a pogo stick! That's fairly near me - I sure hope there aren't any festivities that clog the roads. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 05/10/2013 15:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Barbara, I'm just about as close as you are. Maybe we should set up surveillance to see who shows up to honor Speedbump.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/10/2013 16:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Just 10 minutes up route 95 for me. Maybe I can pay my respects in my own special way.
Posted by: Airandee || 05/10/2013 16:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Airandee, maybe all Virginia R'burgers could get together to have a party.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/10/2013 16:10 Comments || Top||

#10  It would be an environmentally sound moment to add nitrogenous waste water to the topsoil? Who could argue with that?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/10/2013 16:18 Comments || Top||

#11  According to a Boston.com story, Caroline County officials are looking to see if any laws were broken in the burial. (Caroline County is where Speedbump got planted.)
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/10/2013 16:19 Comments || Top||

#12  The Sheriff of CC was just on the news, Rambler, and it's obvious he's not happy.

The reporter also went around the neighborhood and asked the residents about it - they were pissed off to say the least.

Funny - I can't find an address for the cemetery (which is private). I know it must be available somewhere. Their website is "under construction."

I still think they should have sent this worthless POS back to his own country (and the people in Caroline County agreed). If he wanted to act like a jihadi, he should be buried with the jihadis.

We don't want that sorry scum.
Posted by: Barbara || 05/10/2013 17:19 Comments || Top||

#13  So they finally caught up to that bump that stranded the beast and turned it into a play ground toy! Hats off to them pay raises across the board all the less pavement out there for people to bash little kids heads in with!
Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 || 05/10/2013 17:43 Comments || Top||

#14  From this website:
A statement from Islamic Funeral Services said Tsarnaev was buried in a donated plot at Al-Barzakh Cemetery in Doswell, Va.
While reporters initially were allowed to approach the cemetery, a Caroline County sheriff's deputy ordered reporters off the property, explaining that it is private. A deputy's car blocked the gravel road, from which King’s Dominion’s rollercoasters can be seen.
According to the Islamic Funeral Services statement, the interfaith group was organized by a resident of Richmond, Martha Mullen, who reached out to her United Methodist church, plus local Muslim, Jewish and Hindu communities Tuesday.
"Jesus tells us, 'Love your enemies,'" Mullen -- a graduate of United Theological Seminary -- told her pastor, the statement said. "Not to hate them even after they are dead."
Al-Barzakh Cemetery is the first all-Muslim cemetery in central Virginia, according to its website. Doswell is located about 30 minutes north of Richmond.
Cemetery administrators coordinated the transfer of Tsarnaev's body with Worcester, Mass., funeral director Peter Stefan, the Worcester police and Tsarni.


It's past time to give this topic a long rest.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 17:57 Comments || Top||

#15  Dollars to halal donuts sez that this will not be he end of Tamerlan's journey....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 20:39 Comments || Top||

#16  Airandee, maybe all Virginia R'burgers could get together to have a party.

Yeah. Let's have a kegger at Al Barzakh Cemetary. ;-)
Posted by: Dopey Craimp8068 || 05/10/2013 23:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
The New Census Data That Should Terrify Republicans
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 12:38 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The really terrifying question that is never asked of the 'electorate' in these polls: What state is Columbus, Ohio, the capital of?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 13:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how many dems voted without knowing it? The young, the old, the infirm, the dead...
Posted by: Bobby || 05/10/2013 18:28 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Salafi Jihadism and US Grand Strategy Part II
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 10:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Muslim, Christian groups clash in NY libel suit
Muslim and Christian groups are squaring off in a New York federal court in a defamation lawsuit over a book on terrorism.

Muslims of America Inc. says the Christian Action Network is telling deliberate and damaging lies by alleging that terrorist training is happening in the Muslim group's U.S. enclaves. The Christian group refuses to back down, challenging the Muslims to prove them wrong in an upstate New York court.

The Muslim group has a community outside Binghamton, N.Y., and others around the U.S. Its attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud (tuh-HEER'-ruh ah-mah-TOOL' wha-DOOD') says the group is seeking retractions and $18 million in damages. It also wants to halt publication of network founder Martin Mawyer's book "Twilight in America: the Untold Story of Terrorist Training Camps in America."

The Christian group's attorney Michael Grygiel says they'll "vigorously defend" their right to free speech.
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 10:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Foreigners seem to misunderstand American libel law. Libel doesn't mean people writing mean things about you and truth is a defense to the charge.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh. The idiots have to prove a negative. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/10/2013 12:56 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood rallies against Israel
Keep out of our fight kuffar
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is staging an anti-Israel rally in Cairo to protest Israeli airstrikes in Syria and the detention of a Muslim cleric.

Chants of “the people want destruction of Israel” rang out Friday inside Al-Azhar mosque, the centuries-old seat of Sunni Muslim learning.

The rally is the first such protest by the Brotherhood, from which Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi hails, since it gained prominence after 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Group officials say they are protesting the Israeli detention of top Palestinian Muslim cleric in the Holy Land in a rare crackdown on a leading religious figure that drew fierce condemnation from Palestinians. The demonstrators also were denouncing Israeli airstrikes in Syria that targeted alleged shipments of advanced Iranian missiles thought to be bound for Hezbollah.
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 10:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  By the way, how is Egypt doing nowadays?
Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Rumor has it that the next edition of the CIA World Factbook makes reference to "the country formerly known as Egypt".

My guess is they end up selling it on eBay for food and fuel.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Probably China will buy the canal from them, that should keep them going for a little longer.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/10/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Probably China will buy the canal from them, that should keep them going for a little longer.

Actually, see the second paragraph.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 15:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Sarah Hoyt: The Sorting Myth
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 10:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent g(r)om. I enjoyed this piece by the author as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I enjoyed this piece by the author as well.

This sheila Hoyt has bolshoi common sense.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 15:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
The Dogs of War in the Night-Time
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 10:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Walsh nails it! Thanks Tipper.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 10:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Whoops, my bad — Rome fell in 410 when it was sacked by barbarians.

The Vandals, who till this day get blamed for all sorts of mindless destruction. Actually, the Vandals were tired of being sc***ed over by the ruling class in Rome who kept playing games of intrigue than dealing with reality. The Vandals just brought a serious dose of reality to the pettiness of those who believed they should be in charge.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/10/2013 10:58 Comments || Top||


Government
State Department orders firm to remove 3D-printed guns web blueprints
Posted by: JonC || 05/10/2013 09:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's already up someplace else. They're losing control and starting to become desperate. The mask is about to fall. Their true nature is about to come out.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/10/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#2  They could just buy up all the ink.... :-(
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  "The ban, by the State Department citing international arms control law..."

First, I wasn't aware that the State Department had jurisdiction to shutter this sort of information.

Second, how is this company subject to 'international arms control law'? I thought that US citizens are governed solely by US laws. If they meant that there was a US law which was enforcing international arms control laws in the US they should have stated that.
Posted by: JonC || 05/10/2013 9:53 Comments || Top||

#4  American Samizdat.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#5  New York senator Charles Schumer said that legislation should be created to prevent people from making 3D printed guns.

Newsflash, Chuck. You don't need a 3D printer to make a gun. People have been doing it since colonial times.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:37 Comments || Top||

#6  When butter is outlawed, only outlaws will have butter.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  So, what does that mean for the 100k+ people who already downloaded the files?
Posted by: Titus Ulans4144 || 05/10/2013 11:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Internet's said "Molon Labe"
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/10/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Right. Like that'll work.
Posted by: Cheager Angoluque6848 || 05/10/2013 11:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Come and get them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/10/2013 12:08 Comments || Top||

#11  And that video they all blamed Benghazi on is still out there. Might as well decree to put light back into the sun.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/10/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#12  Apparently no one in the government thought of torrent sites.

It is already out there. The internet is forever and you don't have control.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/10/2013 12:19 Comments || Top||

#13  The internet is forever and you don't have control.

They're working hard to change that; it will take a lot of fighting and a little luck to stop them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/10/2013 12:41 Comments || Top||

#14  So - under what authority does the State Department 'order' private firms around?

This seems much like a lawyer sending someone an 'order' to cease and desist doing something. The laywer has no such authority and has to go thru a court.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/10/2013 13:10 Comments || Top||

#15 

If the discussions and debate were intellectually stimulating, I wouldn't mind commenting but frankly, even I know you can't put SH*T back into a horse...
Posted by: Chock Ebburt4695 || 05/10/2013 13:27 Comments || Top||

#16  This is the state department - so I think the correct term is more like 'put the SH*T back in the bull...'
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/10/2013 13:44 Comments || Top||

#17  I don't think it works with either animal, but am unwilling to conduct the experiments.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/10/2013 14:30 Comments || Top||

#18  Because ITAR restrictions worked so well when they tried it on crypto back in the '90s. Managed to take something that was obscure and nerdy and turn it into well-known and cool to work on.

Guess someone found that script in the DoS files.
Posted by: Nero || 05/10/2013 15:41 Comments || Top||

#19  ITAR is for controlling international arms sales; seems to me that nothing was offered for sale, just posted for viewing. ITAR violation will be hard to prove.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/10/2013 15:52 Comments || Top||

#20  Can you print 3D-printers with a 3D-printer?
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/10/2013 15:53 Comments || Top||

#21  Sorry, the genie is out of the bottle.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/10/2013 16:15 Comments || Top||

#22 
Can you print 3D-printers with a 3D-printer?


At least one of them has that as its goal. There are problems like motors and electronics, but most of the pieces they're using for those are dirt-cheap off-the-shelf pieces. The structural bits... they're getting there.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/10/2013 16:50 Comments || Top||

#23  A 3-D printer and a robot could join forces and take over the world.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/10/2013 17:06 Comments || Top||

#24  A 3-D printer and a robot could join forces and take over the world.
I am more worried about 3D printers and over-the-counter robotic technology being shared online & then used by jihadis. We're not far from robotic booby-traps with .45-ACP stingers.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 17:46 Comments || Top||

#25  Ideas like the 3d printer or other technology will go viral and you cannot stop them. That is because regular joes are always more creative, smarter, and motivated than government bureaucrats.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 20:43 Comments || Top||

#26  And it is not too hard to get into their OODA loops. Bureaucrats are reactive, not proactive.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 20:45 Comments || Top||


Economy
Eluding the tax man
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 09:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The bulk of the cash stashed offshore by big corporations is from earnings offshore; they choose to not bring it in to the US, pay taxes on it, then send it back offshore to spend. Companies pay US taxes on US earnings (expect when they engage in some devious and probably illegal accounting tricks to shift costs from offshore to the US to offset US earnings.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/10/2013 9:58 Comments || Top||

#2  You know, Maybe the state should charge for what it does rather than extort from things it doesn't.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/10/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
FBI Says Data About Probe Of Bombing Suspect Was Shared
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 09:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....each task force member has access to Guardian, a web-based counterterrorism incident management application that was launched in July 2004.

Difficult to conduct effective query searches without a topical starting point, but that's ok, you cans till blame the computer or the analyst.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Meanwhile, since it's us that runs the Task Force and puters, all intelligence leads and sources are property of us. Boston and NYCPD.... take a hike. NYCPD take an extra long hike.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  So basically, if the Boston PD was looking at the guy, they could find him in the database - if they could spell his name correctly. A bit chicken & eggy, no?
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes Steve, with the aid of watchful citizens identifying the fotos, it would have been an amazing [and much needed] Bureau success story.
The university police officer shooting and aggressive Boston PD follow-up spoiled everything.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 10:36 Comments || Top||


Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed of Terror Reference
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 09:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is obvious that lying is the common skill set required for this administrations job security. Jay 'Art' Carney and Victoria Nuland are the best at being the worst.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 05/10/2013 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  "stylistic and nonsubstantive changes"
- Jay Carney
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:36 Comments || Top||

#3  The Original Benghazi Talking Points Also Lie
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 10:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Regardless, the story was already wrong from the beginning--for reasons that remain unclear.

Yes, those are rutabagas. A wagon load of rutabagas, I'm certain of it.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 10:11 Comments || Top||

#5  So the movie isn't the same as the book, Mr. Carney? Edit out the turtle universe, make Pennywise a bit more comedic and make sure Judge Stone and the gang doesn't do the girl in the sewer?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/10/2013 12:22 Comments || Top||

#6  So when is the MSM going to cut off Victoria Nuland and refuse to listen to her? After all, she lied to them...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/10/2013 13:39 Comments || Top||

#7  It is a sad day to realize that if you assume govt spokespersons are lying all the time, you will be better off in your decision making process.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 23:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Even iff the GOP-led House successfully impeaches the Bammer over Benghazi, he Democratic-controlled Senate are not going to remove him from the Oval Office unless there is overwhelming proof that POTUS Obama's decisions + actions vee Benghazi, let alone "Fast-n-Furious" alleged arms smuggling, were more than just a simple mistake(s) in Judgement-Conclusion, or Dereliction of Duty-Responsibility. IT WOULD HAVE TO BE SHOWN THAT PYUS BAMMER + ADMIN MURDERED, OR PREFERRED TO MURDER, AMBASSADOR STEVENS + THREE OTHER AMERICANS FOR THE SAKE OF POLITICS ANDOR SELF-PRESERVATION.

Iff NOT, thats where IRAN in the Persian Gulf, + CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE ESCALATIONS in East Asia. come into play, + now SYRIA-LEBANON-IRAQ, come into play, espec as affected by the massive US Debt Burden includ Sequestration + US-Global Econ woes.

E.G. TOPIX > DID ISRAEL "NUKE" SYRIA?

Did IDAF employ TACNUKE BUNKER BUSTER(S) during Syria airstrikes, + DID POTUS BAMMER = USA KNOW???

* SAME > [Long War Journal] "IRANIAN CITIZENS" REPORTED KILLED DURING ISAF [near-border]STRIKE.

* SALON.COM > US FORCES IN EUROPE ON ALERT DUE TO LIBYA CRISIS [read, NOT Syria] UNREST.

USMC MilAssets in Spain, includ MARSOG + Air-Ground elements.

RELATED REUTERS = LIBYA CRISIS DEEPENS AS [allied] REBEL GROUPS EXPAND DEMANDS.

* NEWS KERALA > "INDIA-CHINA BORDER BACK TO NORMAL [post-Ladakh/Depsang Valley = Troops withdrawal] BUT TROUBLE COULD ERUPT AGAIN".

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US APPROVED 40-KM ADVANCE BY PAKISTANI MILITARY INTO AFGHANISTAN? | PAJHWOK AFGHAN LEADER MUSLIMYAR [Pak Senate Leader Jazal Hadi M.] ALLEGES US-PAK DEAL ON DURAND LINE.

At this rate, Afghanistan could evol into POST-US "IRAQ II"???

RELATED SAME > [DNA India] INDIA, CHINA FACING OFF AS TIBET IS NO LONGER A [pre-1949] BUFFER ZONE: TIBETAN PRIME MINSTER LOBSANG SANGAY.

* TOPIX > CHINA + JAPAN TRADE BARBS OVER OKINAWA OWNERSHIP.

* SAME > [International Business Times] CHINA DEMANDS JAPAN CEDE SOVEREIGNTY OVER US MILITARY BASE OKINAWA.

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > RYUKYUS PROBLEM [Okinawa] UTLIMATELY RELATED TO SINO-US REGIONAL + GLOBAL BALANCE OF POWER.

Take your pick - WHUT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 23:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Arch Druid Tutu: I won't vote for the African National Congress again
"I have voted for the ANC, but I would very sadly not be able to vote for them after the way things have gone," he wrote in a piece for Prospect magazine, which was carried by the Mail&Guardian.
Confronting evil with common sense, truth, and sanity makes me very sad.
"I am not a card-carrying kommunis member of any political party," he said. Tutu said there was a need for change in the country.
"Change" defined as, from your hand to mine, better known as unimpeded social justice.
The African National Congress had been "very good" with substantial help and a blind eye from the west at leading the country in the struggle to be free from ppression.

"They were a good terrorist freedom-fighting unit. But it doesn't seem to me now that a freedom-fighting unit can easily make the transition to becoming a political party."
The light bulb came on! Ah yes, governance is quite difficult whilst simultaneously engaged in rape, pillage, and plunder. New oppressors worse than old oppressors ek se.
He said the "first thing" the next elected Parliament had to do was to change the electoral system so one was elected on the basis of the constituency, and would be accountable to the electorate. "Those in Parliament are accountable to their party first rather than the electorate."

Tutu wrote that although the country had the capacity to be one of the most vibrant countries in the world, it had the most unequal society in the world. "We can't hold our heads up with pride when you think of the levels of violence in our country."
Simply keep your head below the top of the security wall and you'll be fine.
He wrote that South Africans were "amazing." They had been committed to freedom during the political struggle, and had been ready to lay down their lives. "But now one can point to so many instances of corruption, of unaccountability," he wrote. "Seeing how standards have dropped is so galling, because it seems to give ammunition to those who would say: 'we warned you that once you had a black majority government you would see a steady decline in standards."
I'm afraid the naysayers need no additional proof in that regard.
Posted by: Speasing Jomong8481 || 05/10/2013 07:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  better known as unimpeded social justice.

Permit me to suggest that Sud Afrika has has just about all the social justice it can handle. Nice that Desi has finally wised up. Sad that Yet Another People's Revolution was just Let's throw out those rascals and put our rascals in.

It has always been a wonder to me that the American Revolution didn't turn into this. (not until lately anyway) George Washington could have been President for Life if he wanted.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Holy men should stay out of politics...separate church and state...unless you want Copts going to jail for insulting the Prophet. Stay in the church and preach the gospel according to Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. Leave it to Mandela to preach the gospel according to Karl Marx.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/10/2013 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  The punchline is there won't be another election.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/10/2013 12:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Dynastic politix in Pakistain
[Dawn]
597 families that collectively account for approximately 3300 of the 7600-plus seats in the National Assembly
[Dawn] Approximately 44 per cent of all seats in the outgoing National and provincial assemblies were occupied by individuals who had relatives serving in previous assemblies, according to research carried out by the monthly Herald.Taking 1970, the year of the first one man-one vote polls in the country, as its starting point, the Herald has identified 597 families that collectively account for approximately 3300 of the 7600-plus seats in the National Assembly, four provincial assemblies and the Senate that have been up for grabs over the course of nine general elections.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Arabia
Finnish, Austrian Hostages Freed in Yemen
[An Nahar] A Finnish couple and an Austrian student kidnapped in Yemen by al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons more than four months ago have been freed and handed over to Omani authorities, a Yemeni official said on Thursday.

The three, seized in Sanaa on December 21, were freed by local rustics on the border with Oman overnight Wednesday and are now with Omani authorities, the official said.

"They were kidnapped by al-Qaeda Death Eaters... demanding a ransom and the release of members held in Yemeni jails," the official added.

A tribal source told Agence La Belle France Presse the kidnappers were demanding $50 million (38 million euros) to release the Europeans.

A security source added that energy-rich Qatar "offered, through an intermediary, to pay a ransom but the hostage-takers did not agree on the amount offered."

The three were a Finnish man who was studying Arabic in Yemen, a Finnish woman on visit to the Arabian Peninsula country and an Austrian student.

Swedish news agency TT, quoting the Finnish news agency, said the Finnish man is a military officer who was studying Arabic and working on a paper on political radicalization in the Middle East. It identified the woman as his wife, an executive in an oil company visiting her husband when the kidnapping took place.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Darwin's law should prevail if you travel to Yemen and get kidnapped
Posted by: Frank G || 05/10/2013 7:52 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Six-year push for Stalin monument in Yakutsk comes to fruition
Provocative comment thread at link.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stalin died in 1953. Doubt it will take quite 60 years for great monuments to Champ to begin to appear, but I'll surely be long gone by then anyway. An obvious upside.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Provocative comment thread at link.

Autocracy is always appealing to those who cannot thrive by skill, smarts, and a work ethic.

Like Democrats.

The evil that is the left is like a tumor that can never be completely removed, due to the fallen nature of man.

All you can do is craft societies that keep it in remission.
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/10/2013 9:46 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Busted Islamist Cells 'Planned Attacks' in Morocco
[An Nahar] Members of two radical Islamist cells dismantled at the weekend in northern Morocco wanted "to carry out jihadist attacks" in the kingdom and had contacts in Spain and Belgium, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

"The members of the two cells, indoctrinated with takfir
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
ist (extremist) ideology, had forged links with like-minded people abroad, in occupied Melilla and in Belgium," the ministry said.

Melilla is a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco.

Eight people suspected members of the cells were incarcerated
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
on Sunday in Nador, a security source told Agence La Belle France Presse.

They planned to set up a camp in a mountainous area near Nador, which lies next to Melilla, to use as a base from which to carry out "jihadist attacks" in Morocco and rob banks to finance their activities, according to the ministry.

The leaders of the "terrorist" cells were also seeking to enroll more followers, including by setting up schools in the region to propagate their radical ideas, and proclaim jihad inside Morocco, the ministry added.

The "Al Mouahidoun" and "Attawhid" cells had already carried out robberies and had contacts with jihadists in northern Mali, the authorities said.

In December, the Moroccan authorities said they had broken up a recruitment cell for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a month after announcing having dismantled several "terrorist" cells who were planning attacks in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  did thet know the difference between fake guns and bombs or did the fbi have to train them?
Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 || 05/10/2013 17:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
France seeks to name Syria's Nusra a 'terrorist' group
[Al Ahram] French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has proposed classing Syria's powerful jihadist group Al-Nusra Front a terrorist organization, while boosting support for the moderate opposition.
Al-Nusra will someday (relatively soon) be remembered as the factor that turned a legitimate Syrian uprising into a victory for Pencilneck.
"We are going to increase our support to the moderate opposition, the National Syrian Coalition," Fabius said in Friday's edition of Le Monde newspaper.

"To avoid ambiguity we propose classing the Al-Nusra Front -- opposed to (President) Bashir al-Assad but a branch of Al-Qaeda -- as a terrorist organization as defined by the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
" he said.

"We have begun a procedure with Britannia to submit a classification request to the UN sanctions committee," a diplomatic source told AFP.

Washington already deems Al-Nusra a terrorist organization.

Al-Nusra Front, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Syria, is among the most prominent organizations involved in the conflict which has left more than 70,000 dead since March 2011, according to the United Nations.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  BAD SERVER FARM!
Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 || 05/10/2013 17:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Report: Malcolm Shabazz, Malcolm X's grandson, has died in Tijuana?
Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X, has died, according to a family friend, who said she was confirming the news on behalf of the family per the U.S. Embassy. Early reports said he was killed in Tijuana, but details are still emerging.

"Too much tragedy for one family" was a common refrain as the announcement spread on social media, and condolences poured in.

"Family members have confirmed his death and that he was in Mexico but have not confirmed the exact location or circumstances of how Malcolm Shabazz died. Malcolm Shabazz is survived by two daughters, his mother and several aunts.
I think we can rule out old age.
Acute cirrhosis?
"Malcolm Shabazz pled guilty and was found guilty of manslaughter and arson and was sentenced to 18 months in Juvenile detention. His stay was extended and he was released four years later. Years later he told the Amsterdam News that he had not set the fire.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  update
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like every cloud has a silver lining.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/10/2013 10:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Possibly too many TJ 'dog & pony' shows.

May have ended on on the 'wrong end' at one.

Eew
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/10/2013 12:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Perhaps he was on a religious retreat and something went wrong ?
Posted by: Chock Ebburt4695 || 05/10/2013 13:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak elections campaign finishes, 117 dead so far
[Dawn] Pakistain's bloodiest election campaign spanning over three tumultuous weeks came to an end on midnight of Thursday and Friday.Following the end of a five year democratic term, the upcoming polls are seen as another step that will carry forward the democratic process in Pakistain.Saturday's vote will be a democratic milestone in Pakistain which has been ruled for half its history by the military.However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
the road to democracy has not been an easy one. Election campaigns across the country were marred by terror threats and Taliban attacks which claimed the lives of at least 117 people including candidates.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
Coptic schoolteacher detained for 'insulting' Islam in Egypt's Luxor
[Al Ahram] Public prosecutors in the Upper Egyptian Luxor governorate on Thursday ordered the detention of a Coptic-Christian schoolteacher for four days pending investigation on charges that she had insulted the Islamic faith.

Demyana Emad, a 23-year old social studies teacher, was charged with insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohamed at a primary school in south Luxor, state news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

The complaint was first filed in April when the head of the parents association at the Sheikh Sultan Primary School lodged a complaint with the Luxor Educational Directorate.

Emad, for her part, denies the accusations and has demanded that additional witnesses be brought to support the accusations. She says that, during a Thursday hearing, several Islamic "extremists" had incited school students to testify against her.

Recent years have seen mounting tension between Egypt's Coptic-Christian minority -- thought to account for roughly 10 percent of Egypt's population of almost 90 million -- and the Moslem majority.

Similar accusations were made in July of last year, when a Coptic teacher was sentenced to six years in prison for posting pictures on Facebook deemed defamatory to Islam and Prophet Mohamed.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel asks Russians to not sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria
As I said yesterday, to the IAF the S-300 is just another couple lines of code...
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Like that is going to happen. Field test equipment. Proven successful worldwide sales.
Posted by: Dale || 05/10/2013 10:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, yes. It's not like you can demonstrate them at the Paris Air Show.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Failure conducive to sales?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 10:59 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kerry Says Assad Cannot be Part of Syria's New Government
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
insisted Thursday Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
will have to step down as part of any political solution in Syria, as he held a third day of talks on the bloody conflict.

Speaking as he met Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said all sides were working to "effect a transition government by mutual consent of both sides, which clearly means that in our judgment President Assad will not be a component of that transitional government."

Kerry also officially unveiled $100 million (76 million euros) in additional U.S. humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees, almost half of which will go to help Jordan struggling to cope with a tide of people fleeing the 26-month war.

Some 2,000 people are flooding across the border into Jordan every day, and the country now hosts some 525,000 refugees, Judeh said at the start of the talks in Rome.

"We have 10 percent of our population today, in the form of Syrian refugees. It is expected to rise to about 20 to 25 percent given the current rates by the end of this year, and possibly to about 40 percent by the middle of 2014," he said.

"No country can cope with the numbers as huge as the numbers I've just described," he warned, adding Jordan was very grateful for the help of the international community.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [18 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  He thought of that while sitting in Putin's waiting room?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Had Kerry been waiting for Vlad any longer he might have qualified for a second Silver Star.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe Vlad thought he was a Jehovah's Witness and hit behind the couch.

Posted by: Shipman || 05/10/2013 13:14 Comments || Top||

#4  As long as Mama Russia, China, + Iran provide $$$ + Arms to Baby Assad, there is little or nothing SecState Jaaawhn + POTUS Bammer = USA can do.

OTOH ...

* HBARAT RAKSHAK > [Reuters] PUTIN: RUSSIA NEEDS STRONGER DEFENSES AGZ AFGHAN THREATS.

Militant, Militant ...

Unless something changes drastically in Syria vee Baby Assad + Regime, the Hard Boyz + Global Jihad may have to de facto destabilize Russia + China etc. first before they can truly see the end of Baby Assad.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 23:01 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia's New Tip of the Spear
Posted by: tipper || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Members Only.
Annnd full of bugs!
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/10/2013 4:08 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
A mature response: Imran Khan's fall
[Dawn] IMRAN Khan's injuries resulting from a fall from a forklift during a poll rally in Lahore on Tuesday gave the nation some anxious moments and it was a moment of relief when doctors declared the PTI chief out of danger. Unfortunate though it was, such an accident was not entirely unexpected. The hair-raising somersault only underscored the utter disregard of safety measures in the boisterous rallies that are an essential feature of our electioneering. The threat to life doesn't come from the hard boyz alone; the chaos that is the hallmark of all public activity in South Asia poses perhaps an equal threat to life and limb. Too many party workers and supporters want to be on the dais and be seen close to the leader, resulting in the kind of jostling and pushing witnessed on Tuesday evening.

But what was a welcome departure from all the mudslinging that has characterised the campaigning was the mature response of politicians -- across the political spectrum -- to Mr Khan's plight. For instance, Mr Khan and Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
had been at each other's throats even before the campaigns began. With the approach of election day, the vitriol had scaled new heights. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
on Tuesday, the PML-N chief announced the cancellation of all campaign activity for Wednesday. Mr Sharif had expressed similar solidarity with the Bhutto family on the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
that had resulted in the postponement of polls by several weeks. Apart from Mr Sharif, messages of sympathy for the PTI leader poured in from other party heads and politicians. They ranged from political foes including Altaf Hussain and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ...
to friends such as Syed Munawar Hassan
... The funny-looking leader-for-life of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He joined the National Students Federation (NSF), a lefty student body, and was elected its President in 1959. He came into contact with the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan and studied the writings of Mawlana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, The Great Apostasizer. As a result, he joined IJT in 1960 and soon he was elected as President of its University of Karachi Unit and member of the Central Executive Council. He was Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistain in 1992-93, and became Secretary General in 1993. After years of holding Qazi's camel he was named Amir when the old man stepped down in 2009...
and Maulana Samiul Haq
...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, not to speak of Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
. The MQM and the Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
announced a halt to campaigning for a day, and President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
, who is frequently criticised by the PTI, sent him a bouquet. Equally heartening was Mr Khan's own attitude as he spoke from his hospital bed, urging the people to cast their vote on May 11.

This maturity has been welcomed by a nation that often views its representatives with cynicism. However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
one niggling thought remains. Why have many of the leaders moved by Tuesday's dreadful spectacle not shown the same sympathy for those killed and maimed in the election rallies bombed by the TTP? Were these victims and their grieving relatives lesser human beings undeserving of solace because they belonged to the 'wrong' political parties?
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The question is, who takes his place once he's metaphorically bowled, caught, stumped, run out, or trips over his own metaphorical wicket?
Posted by: Korora || 05/10/2013 11:44 Comments || Top||

#2  A batsman who has retired hurt can resume his innings before the tenth wicket falls.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/10/2013 13:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Susan Rice Honored With 'Great American' Award Night Before Benghazi Hearing
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice was honored Tuesday night with the 2013 Louis E. Martin Great American Award.
The Obama regime's Il bacio della morte
The annual award, presented by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,
Oh, oh, lemme guess where this group is in the left-right pantheon...
is given to "an exemplar of change, progress and willingness to take one for the team if circumstances require. (I may have made that last part up.)

Specifically, the organization is honoring Rice for "her work in advancing U.S. interests, strengthening the world's common security and prosperity, and promoting respect for human rights," another press release states.
No specific contributions provided.
The evening gala and awards ceremony, which included Vice President Joe Biden, came the day before State Department whistleblowers testified at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the terrorist attack that took place at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year.
Timing was indeed critical.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Obama regime's Il bacio della morte
Is that a bacon dish?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/10/2013 4:11 Comments || Top||

#2  If it's Spanish bacio (vacio) means empty. If Italian it means kiss of death.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/10/2013 7:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, oh, lemme guess where this group is in the left-right pantheon...

Ties to the Progressive Policy Insitute, if that means anything.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/10/2013 14:24 Comments || Top||

#4  The liar got promoted and the truth teller got demoted. Business as usual in Washington.
Posted by: Airandee || 05/10/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#5  They keep using this word "American." I do not think it means what they think it means.
Posted by: Lowspark || 05/10/2013 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Now we've awarded you, be quiet on Bengazi, Understand?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/10/2013 23:55 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Jamaat calls hartal Sunday
[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
yesterday called a countrywide daylong hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
for Sunday, nearly an hour after Hefajat-e Islam withdrew its hartal declared earlier for the same day.

A key component in the BNP-led 18-party alliance, Jamaat called the hartal in protest at the verdict that sentenced its leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman to death for involvement in war crimes.

Jamaat announced the hartal in a statement at 6:30pm, rejecting the verdict delivered by an international crimes tribunal.

Ashraf Ali Nizampuri, Hefajat's literature and cultural affairs secretary, told The Daily Star at about 5:30pm that they had withdrawn the hartal on the instructions of its chief Shah Ahmed Shafi.

About the reason for the withdrawal, the Hefajat leader said the hartal would disadvantage many of their men who had suffered injuries in festivities with police and were undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

He noted that they would also be trying to find out "the activists who were made to disappear" during the festivities.

Asked the number of their casualties during a police drive at Motijheel on May 5 and 6, he said their district-level chiefs would prepare a list of the "martyred" and the maimed activists.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake...
the two-day countrywide hartal called by the 18-party alliance ended last evening without occasioning much violence.

However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
at a presser at its Nayapaltan head office, the BNP last night claimed that three of its activists were killed during the hartal, one each in Chapainawabganj, Feni and Comilla.

Our correspondents in the districts did not have any such information as of the filing of this report at 8:00pm.

Talking to The Daily Star, many people -- especially day labourers and roadside vendors -- aired their grievances about the BNP-called general strike.

"In the last two-day hartal, I could not earn even one-fourth of what I normally do," said a vendor who sells burgers near the BNP central office.

Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami

#1  "We can out-Hartal those wussies!"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/10/2013 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Hartal?

Why can't these clowns speak English? :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 05/10/2013 15:52 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.N.: Brahimi to Stay on as Syria Envoy
[An Nahar] Lakhdar Brahimi has withdrawn a threat to resign as U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy on the Syria conflict after Russia and the United States launched a joint political initiative, officials said Thursday.

U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
"has asked the joint special envoy to stay on and he has accepted to stay on," U.N. Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson told news hounds, praising the U.S.-Russia effort to organize a conference on the two-year-old conflict.

Brahimi had told the U.N. leadership he planned to tender his resignation this month out of growing frustration at the major powers' failure to back a negotiated end the conflict, diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


China-Japan-Koreas
Rodman Urges N.Korea to 'Cut Loose' Detained American
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman on Wednesday called for the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean American who has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea, journal Politico reported.

Rodman tweeted, "I'm calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him Pudgy 'Kim,' to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose."
You tell him, you lovable weirdo you...
Back in February, the eccentric ex-basketballer went to Pyongyang, where he spent some time watching a game and having dinner with Kim. Returning to the U.S., Rodman called Kim an "awesome guy" and a "friend."

In April, he said he would like to visit Pyongyang again in August, adding that he and Kim "have no plans really, as far as what we're going to do over there, but we'll just hang and have some fun."

Politico commented Rodman is acting as if he were an unofficial diplomat.
Worse yet, he's showing up John Kerry...
Bae, a North Korea tour operator with a business near the Chinese-North Korea border, was arrested in November after entering the North via Rajin-Songbong Port with a group of foreign tourists. He was arrested and sentenced for unspecified crimes against the repressive state.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  National Security Advisor Dennis Rodman. He'll fit right in.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 6:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The new Jessie Jackson?
Posted by: Thrusong Clunk7505 || 05/10/2013 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  My cat caught a bird, which shows up Jawn Carrie and his scented underpants.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/10/2013 9:00 Comments || Top||

#4  MIB (Men in Black) 1997 -

Elle: Hey, Jay! Zed called. The high consulate from Solaxiant 9 wants floor seats for the next Bulls game.

Jay: All right, let's put in a call to Dennis Rodman. He's from that planet.

Elle: Rodman? You're kidding.

Jay: Nope.

Elle: Not much of a disguise.

Posted by: Ebbutle Spereque4724 || 05/10/2013 10:25 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pashtun Leader in Pakistan Urges Better Relations Between Kabul, Islamabad
[TOLONEWS] Prominent member of National People Party Afrasiab Khattak, who is a Pashtun leader beyond the border, in an exclusive interview with TOLOnews on Wednesday urged better relations between Kabul and Islamabad, a comment made after recent border festivities between Afghan and Pak forces.

Urging better relations between Kabul and Islamabad, Mr Khattak said that border the tension between the two countries is a matter of concern and to settle the tensions a sustainable solution must be found. On the other hand, Mr Khattak emphasises that Death Eaters are in Afghanistan and they are considered as threats for the people of both sides of the border.

His concern comes after recent tensions caused by Pak military build-up in Goshta district of Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province.

He added that Afghanistan is Pakistain's neighbour country and both countries must work together on counter insurgency.

"The incidents which took place in recent days would not take place because I have already said that we are neighbouring and brotherly countries and here are a lots of commons between us and all of efforts must be concentrated on our commons not pressurising on disagreements," Afrasiab Khattak told TOLOnews.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
Homeless Egyptian stabs an American near US embassy in Cairo
[Al Ahram] A homeless Egyptian man stabbed an American citizen in the neck with a knife near the American embassy in Cairo's Garden City district Thursday, according to Al-Ahram Arabic language news website.

Local residents in the neighbourhood helped the embassy's security personnel arrest the man as he was trying to escape. Cairo's security chief referred the suspect to the general prosecution for investigation.

Embassy doctors provided aid to the American citizen and facilitated his transfer to a hospital. The motives of the attack remain unclear.
Mental illness or sudden jihadi syndrome?
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Mental illness or sudden jihadi syndrome?

Even number or a number divisible by two?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 9:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe he wants to be tried in an American courtroom. (airfare, meals and lodging provided by Uncle Sugar)
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/10/2013 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Not blaming the victim or anything, but WHAT THE HELL WAS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN DOING IN EGYPT? Is he suicidal?
Posted by: Barbara || 05/10/2013 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  What difference does it make?
Posted by: Hillary || 05/10/2013 15:46 Comments || Top||

#5  What is an American doing in Egypt? About what any half-informed Rantburger could have guessed, simply from the context. I found the following on a blog, apparently posted by someone who knew the victim before he got in the news:
"I woke up in my first day in Germany to the disgusting news that comrade, Chris Stone, the American academic, was stabbed in Cairo. Chris is a wonderful human being and an excellent scholar and a great friend of the Palestinian people. "
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Found the following on the NYTImes site, from 2009:
To the Editor:

If Israel feels threatened these days, imagine how the Palestinians feel (“Why Israel Feels Threatened,” by Benny Morris, Op-Ed, Dec. 30).

Gaza is a virtual prison, and the West Bank is on its way to being chopped up into apartheid-like cantons. Palestinians inside of Israel do not enjoy full citizenship and are sitting ducks for attacks by Israelis that go unprosecuted.

For years, the concern in the media has always been existential threats to Israel. In the meantime, what kind of existence is left or possible for Palestinians both in and outside of Israel?

Mr. Morris says the Iranian president’s denial of the existence of homosexuality in Iran “underscore[s] his irrationality.” State denial of facts was not invented by Iran. Does not Israel’s denial of its own state terrorism underscore its irrationality?

Christopher Stone
New York, Dec. 30, 2008

The writer is an associate professor of Arabic at Hunter College
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 17:42 Comments || Top||

#7  So, the stabbing was red-on-red?
Posted by: Barbara || 05/10/2013 19:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Six killed in Torghar remote controlled blast
[Pak Daily Times] At least six people including three coppers were killed and more than 10 injured in a remote controlled blast near a police van in Torghar on Thursday.

Constables Sahib Khan, Nazir Ahmad and a passer-by Saeed Ahmad were rushed to hospital in Thakot after the blast. Sahib Khan, however, succumbed to injuries before reaching the health facility.

According to police, Death Eaters detonated a remote-controlled device concealed in sand near the River Indus.

A police party was deployed to check the passengers of ferries moving from Judbah to Darband and other parts of Hazara when the blast occurred.

The police have cordoned off the areas and have initiated search operation against the terrorists, DPO stated.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Bangladesh
Eight dead in new Bangla textile disaster
[Al Ahram] A fire at a garment factory killed eight people Thursday in the latest disaster to hit Bangladesh's textile industry, still reeling from the death of more than 950 people in a building collapse.

The cause of the fire was not known, but authorities said it broke out during the night on the third floor of an 11-storey building housing garment factories of the Tung Hai group in Dhaka's Darussalam district.

The Tung Hai's owner was among the victims, but there were no workers among the casualties since there was no overnight production, police and fire service officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Assad says Hezbollah a model for Syria
[Pak Daily Times] Syria will "give Hezbollah everything" in recognition of its support and will follow the myrmidon group's model of "resistance" against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
as saying. His comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to refute any suggestion that Israeli raids on Syrian targets would halt assistance to the Shiite group Hezbollah in Leb. The newspaper said visitors quoted Assad as expressing "confidence, satisfaction and great gratitude towards Hezbollah." The organization is a long-time ally of the Syrian regime and has sent fighters to battle alongside Assad's troops, particularly in the Qusayr district of the central province of Homs. Damascus has long served as a supply conduit for Iran-backed Hezbollah, and Assad said they would reward the group for their loyalty. "We have decided to give them everything," the newspaper quoted him as saying, without elaborating. "For the first time we feel that we and they are living in the same situation and they are not just an ally we help with resistance," he said. "We have decided that we must move forward towards them and turn into a nation of resistance like Hezbollah, for the sake of Syria and future generations." Assad was quoted as saying Syria could "easily" respond to Israeli air strikes by "firing a few rockets at Israel." "But we want strategic Dire Revenge™, by opening the door of resistance and turning all of Syria into a country of resistance."
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Southeast Asia
Philippine communists release captive policeman
The New People’s Army (NPA) has released a captive police officer Wednesday afternoon in Arakan town. Maula Tato Ali was turned over to the peace advocacy group Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao and later brought to the Bishop’s Palace in Kidapawan City for a press conference.

Ali was seized at a checkpoint last April 19 in President Roxas town.

In a statement, the National Democratic Front-Southern Mindanao had accepted a recommendation for Ali’s release, citing the result of the investigation which found him not guilty in the cover-up or obstruction of justice in the case of Father Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, an Italian priest who was gunned down in October 2011 in Arakan town.

According to the NDF, Ali didn’t commit “significant offenses” against the people and the “revolutionary forces.”
Posted by: ryuge || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also GLOBALTIMES.CN > PHILIPPINE LEFTIST GROUP [CPP] TO KEEP [Netherlands-based] PANEL, OFFICES IN CASE GOVT. WON'T RETURN TO TALKS.

I have to wonder iff the PHIL one day will end up being 1/2 Commie/Marxist-Socialist + 1/2 Muslim???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 22:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran says it has built new drone
[Al Ahram] Iran's defense minister says Iran has built a new, radar-evading drone that can do surveillance and fire on enemy targets.

The semi-official Fars news agency on Thursday quoted Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the new aircraft -- dubbed Epic, or Hemaseh in Farsi -- can fly at high altitudes.

He did not elaborate on its capabilities.

In recent years, Iran has been pursuing a drone program alongside its military program, which has aimed to produce missiles, jet fighters, destroyers, light submarines and torpedoes.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Gen. Ahmad Vahidi says Iran has built a new, radar-evading drone that can do surveillance and fire on enemy targets.


Posted by: Ebbutle Spereque4724 || 05/10/2013 11:49 Comments || Top||

#2  I dunno, do kit-built quadcopters show up on radar?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 05/10/2013 12:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay pegs out
[India Express] Six days after he was attacked by a fellow inmate in a Jammu jail, Pak prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, 52, died at the PGIMER hospital in Chandigarh on Thursday morning. Doctors said he died at 6:56 am due to "multiple organ failure".

The body was handed over to officials of the Pakistain High Commission after completion of post-mortem and various other formalities. By evening, the body was flown back to Pakistain by a special PIA plane.

His two relatives, brother-in-law Mohammed Shehzaad and nephew Mohammed Asif, who arrived in India on Tuesday, also left by the same plane. "Kehne ko kuch raha nahi, sab khatam ho gaya," said Shehzad.

Sanaullah suffered serious head injuries when he was attacked by a fellow prisoner on May 3, a day after Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh died in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Bangladesh
Unfortunate stand-off: Blasphemy legislation in Bangladesh
[Dawn] IT is unfortunate that the stand-off between those demanding tougher legislation on blasphemy and the Bangladesh government has had such a violent outcome. For several weeks, the Hefazat-e-Islam -- which draws support from the country's madressahs -- and its supporters have been demanding changes, including the introduction of the death penalty for those found guilty of blasphemy. Bangladesh, however, describes itself as a secular democracy and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
Wajed said that the current laws were adequate. Matters came to a head on Monday. With tens of thousands of religious activists on the streets, violence first erupted on Sunday after the police tried to break up a blockade of the highways leading into Dhaka. The next day, in a pre-dawn raid, the police launched a crackdown; Dhaka turned into a battleground echoing with gunfire, hundreds were maimed and there were a number of deaths. The police shut down Islamist television stations and nabbed
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
dozens of protesters.Here in Pakistain, there is good reason to empathise. As this country's experience has proved, caving in under pressure to groups that resort to violent means to press for their demands can never produce good results. Though it may temporarily appease such elements, it also emboldens them.

In particular, laws made under such pressure, especially from the religious right, generally prove to be controversial. As Pakistain has seen in terms of its own blasphemy legislation, laws based on religion prove practically impossible to undo later. It is easy for the hardline right to stoke the population's passions through the card of religion. Yet the state must stand up; and that is why, although demands for a revisit of Pakistain's own blasphemy laws fell silent after the liquidation of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, the issue needs to be taken up again once a new government is in place. The hardline right may exert a lot of force, but it has to be resisted if Mohammedan countries are to become progressive countries too.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Activists Guilty Of Intent To Injure National Security At Nuclear Complex
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- An 83-year-old Catholic nun and two of her fellow peace activists were found guilty Wednesday of intending to harm national security when they intruded in July onto the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear-weapons production facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

After hearing two days of testimony and arguments, and then deliberating for nearly 21 / 2 hours, the jury of nine men and three women also found the defendants guilty of damaging more than $1,000 in government property at the Y-12 site -- where they cut through four chain-link fences and spray-painted biblical messages of nonviolence on a building that warehouses an estimated 400 tons of highly enriched uranium, the radioactive material used to fuel nuclear weaponry.
I'm pleased to see them get what they deserve, but I'm waiting for the senior security officials at the facility and at DoE get theirs. Somehow I don't think that's happening any time soon...
During the trial, dozens of fools rubes idiots rustics muttonheads spectators filled two courtrooms to support Sister Megan Rice and 64-year-old Vietnam War veteran Michael Walli, both of whom live in the District, and Greg Boertje-Obed, a 57-year-old house painter who lives in Duluth, Minn. In the predawn hours of July 28 last year, the three activists hiked over a wooded ridge and were able to enter the site unimpeded because of a series of deficient security measures, including inoperable surveillance cameras and a monitoring system that was compromised by routine false alarms.

Judge Amul Thapar ordered the trio into custody but scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the merits of their detention. After the verdict, the judge and lawyers could not agree on whether harming the national defense -- which falls under the "sabotage" chapter of the U.S. code -- is a "crime of violence" and therefore requires immediate remanding. The activists have been free and compliant with the terms of their release since their initial arrest and incarceration.
They're going to prison anyways so they might as well get going. And the 83 year old nun might as well get a start on the rest of her life...
"Pretty obscene but not terribly surprising," said Baltimore resident Ellen Barfield, a supporter of the activists who spoke about the verdict to the news media outside the courthouse. "Did they have to slam them into jail?"
Yes.
In its closing arguments, the defense contended that the activists intruded into Y-12 as a symbolic act in support of the peaceful transformation of nuclear-weapons programs to nonviolent initiatives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Theodore argued that the activists' intent was to target and disrupt operations at Y-12 -- which closed for two weeks after the break-in to beef up security -- and that such a disruption hindered national-defense preparedness and the credibility of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

"Y-12 makes nuclear weapons for the national defense," Theodore told the jury. "When you interfere with Y-12, you interfere with the national defense of the United States. . . . Do you excuse what a burglar did because the homeowner was a little lax with security?"
Do you excuse a burglar because he was breaking into the headquarters of a political party? Try that argument at your next cocktail party and watch the progressives choke on their wieners and shrimp cocktail...
"Three senior citizens showing up with backpacks is a threat to the United States of America?" defense attorney William Quigley asked rhetorically. "That threatens us? I don't think so. . . . Opposing [nuclear weapons] is not something that opposes the national defense of the United States."

Earlier Wednesday on Capitol Hill, at a Senate subcommittee hearing on strategic forces programs, the acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration called the Y-12 intrusion "completely unacceptable" and an "important wake-up call." The security administration is a semiautonomous agency within the Energy Department that is tasked with securing and managing the country's nuclear weapons and material.

"The severity of the failure of leadership at Y-12 has demanded swift, strong and decisive action by the department," said acting administrator Neile Miller, according to the Associated Press. "Since the Y-12 incursion, major actions have taken place to improve security immediately, and for the long term."
Like what, exactly? Who was beheaded?
Sentencing for Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed is expected within four months. Together, the two felonies carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Defense attorneys have filed a motion for acquittal on the "sabotage" charge because they think the government did not provide sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.
Thanks for doing your jobs, counselors, now let's get your clients into the hoosegow...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems like the 17 AF nuke dudes that lost their juice was just a start.
Where's DHS been guarding the national infrastructure the last 5 years?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/10/2013 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Things seem to have gotten very lax since I worked there back in the 90's.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/10/2013 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Earlier memos were written detailing the security problems, but the DOS had the 'talking points' 'revised' to prevent discredit upon them or Congress. (sarc)
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 05/10/2013 9:16 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah pledges to stand with Syria, offers support to liberate Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
[Al Ahram] Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday his forces would support any Syrian effort to recapture the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, days after the Jewish state launched raids in Syria believed to have targeted weapons destined for the Lebanese militant group.

"We announce that we stand with the Syrian popular resistance and offer material and spiritual support as well as coordination in order to liberate the Syrian Golan," he said in a televised speech.

In the days following Israeli strikes last Friday and Sunday, Syrian state news programmes quoted unnamed sources saying that Damascus had given the green light to carry out operations against Israel from the Golan Heights after decades of calm on the border.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  IIRC See also TOPIX > [Various] SYRIA + HEZBOLLAH THREATEN TO TURN GOLAN HEIGHTS INTO NEW FRONT OF [Anti-Israel] RESISTANCE.

and

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [AlManar] ASSAD:WE WILL BECOME RESISTING COUNTRY SIMILAR TO HEZBOLLAH.

Baby Assad threatens to turn Syria into "LEBANON II" iff he has to.

VERSUS

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > BEHIND THE SCENE: 3,500 MILITANTS PROPOSE SURRENDERING TO SYRIAN ARMY.

* SAME > RUSSIA THREATENS ISRAEL WID MILITARY ACTION - INFOWARS.

* SAME > US SANCTIONS LOSINGEFFECT AGZ IRAN, US CONGRESS RESEARCH ARM | [Iran] PRESSTV: SANCTIONS LOSING EFFECT ON IRAN, US CONGRESS REASEARCHG ARM CRS QUESTIONS EFFECTS OF IRAN SANCTIONS.

* DRUDGEREPORT, TOPIX > RUSSIA WILL KEEP SELLING MISSLES TO SYRIA.

Personally, my guts or instincts are telling me that Hezbollah + Iran proper are indirectly + covertly trying to contain Assadian Syria + forcibly prevent it from unilaterally leaving the Iran-Syria-Lebanon Alliance = "Axis/Nexus of Evil"???

Iff I am correct per the above, then IMO the sooner Israel + IDF attack Lebanon + Hezbollah the better for Assad + traditionally pro-isolationist Syria.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 22:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PHC orders shooting down of drones
[Pak Daily Times] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
High Court has ordered that drones entering Pak airspace be shot down.

In its detailed verdict about drone attacks, the court has said they constitute a violation of international law and the basic human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
and also violate the territorial illusory sovereignty of Pakistain. The court directed the government to stop drone strikes and contact the International War Crimes Tribunal (IWCT) over the issue. A two-member bench of the PHC headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad heard the case against the CIA-led drone strikes in Pakistain. Justice Dost Muhammad said drone attacks should be declared a war crime.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Ninewa Provincial Member escapes assassination attempt
[Aswat al-Iraq] Police sources said here today that Ninewa provincial member escaped an assassination attempt by a sticky bomb under her car. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that Thana' Abdulla, member of Hadba' bloc, headed by Governor Atheel Nujaifi, escaped death, but her driver was immediately killed.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Bangladesh
GALLOWS for Kamaruzzaman
[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman being taken to jail from court after he was sentenced to death yesterday for the crimes against humanity he committed during the Liberation War. Photo: Focus Bangla

International Crimes Tribunal-2 has found Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, one of the key organisers of the infamous Al Badr force, guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War and has sentenced him to death.
The 61-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami senior assistant secretary general was found guilty of mass killing, murder, abduction, torture, rape, persecution, and abetment of torture in greater Mymensingh district in 1971.

Tribunal-2 Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan and two other members, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and judge Md Shahinur Islam, were unanimous in finding Kamaruzzaman guilty and thus they handed down the sentence of capital punishment.

The tribunal tried Kamaruzzaman over his crimes in 1971, when he was a top leader of greater Mymensingh Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and was also the office secretary of East Pakistain Islami Chhatra Sangha.

The tribunal framed seven charges against him but the prosecution was able to prove five of them. Of the five, he was sentenced to death in two charges, life imprisonment in two other charges and 10 years' imprisonment in one charge.
"We are convinced from the evidence, oral and documentary, led by the prosecution and the sourced documents, that the accused [Kamaruzzaman] at the relevant time had acted as an atrocious and potential leader of Al-Badr to the actual accomplishment of the crimes charged and beyond," Justice Hassan read from the concluding part of the judgment.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami

#1  Iff his supporters make good on their threats, Indonesia may be facing violent protests + insurgency in the very near future???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  they would fit right in with most other Muslim counties then.
Posted by: chris || 05/10/2013 20:43 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Nangarhar University Students Declare Jihad Against Pakistan
[TOLONEWS] Hundreds of the students of the eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province early Wednesday have launched an anti-Pakistain protest, condemning Pakistain's military forwarding, rocket shelling and "declared Jihad."

The protest began today in Jalalabad the capital of Nangaharhar province and ended peacefully.

"We are the students of Islamic University of Nangarhar and we are ready to resist against Pakistain's aggression and declare Jihad against it. We condemn all Pakistain's past activities and its rocket shelling," said a student of the University.

The students rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against Pakistain government and Pakistain's intelligence service.

The Afghan cops were also in the area to control the protest, according to local officials.

The protests come after the Pakistain military force started building military check-posts in Goshta district of Nangarhar province. The Afghan cops reacted over the move of the Pak military and started festivities.

An Afghan border police was killed in the festivities and several Pak military border soldiers were also killed or injured, according to Afghan officials.

Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato...
hundreds of residents and students in southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province launched anti --Pakistain protests and asked the government to take "serious action about the Durand Line."

The residents of Helmand said that "if the government provides them weapons, they are ready to defend their homeland."

"Down with Pakistain, we are ready to fight against Pakistain. If the government doesn't have armaments, we are ready to fight against Pakistain with stones and sticks even with empty hands," said a resident of Helmand.

It comes as, yesterday thousands Afghans also launched anti-Pakistain protests in Nangarhar and southern Kandahar province.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two Tripoli Fighters Killed in Qusayr, Contact Lost with 20 Others
[An Nahar] Two men were killed and contact was lost with at least 18 others in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr near the border with Leb, LBCI television reported on Thursday.

"The men who hail from the northern cities of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
and Dinniyeh have left Leb to participate in the battles in al-Qusayr's countryside", sources close to the Syrian opposition told LBCI.

After the news of the men's death broke out, convoys carrying al-Nusra Front flags roamed in the north, firing shots into the air in Tripoli's al-Qubba neighborhood.

LBCI added: "The two killed man were identified as Hussam Mansour and Hani Barakat."

The same source noted that most of these fighters have ties with fundamentalist and Salafist groups, particularly with holy man Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi.

In response to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah admitting that party members are fighting alongside the Syrian regime's forces in Syria, Salafist Sunni sheikhs called on men from the country to join Syrian rebels.

Al-Rafehi of Tripoli announced in April that he has decided to "send men and weapons in support of our Sunni brothers in Qusayr."

He called on "all Sunni men to be fully prepared ahead of sending the first batch (of fighters) to perform the jihadist duty in Qusayr."

Meanwhile,
...back at the desert island, Irene was indignant at the thought of doing such a thing without benefit of clergy...
Islamist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, the imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, announced the creation of the "Free Resistance Brigades," urging whoever is capable of heading to Syria to go there to aid "the oppressed" in Qusayr and Homs.

Asir called on "all the Lebanese who fear attacks by Iran's party (Hizbullah) in Leb to arm themselves and form 5-member secret cells in order to be ready to exclusively defend themselves and their families should the need arise."

He also called for fundraising in order to finance jihadist fighters seeking to enter Syria "to support our people."
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Popcorn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 15:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Kerry Vows 'to Leave No Stone Unturned' on Benghazi
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
on Thursday vowed to "leave no stone unturned" to find out what happened during an attack on a U.S. mission in Libya last year in which four diplomatic staff were killed.

But he refused to wade into the issue more fully during a trip to Rome, after U.S. diplomats testified on Wednesday that the State Department could have done more to safeguard the Benghazi diplomatic outpost.

Pleading that on his whirlwind overseas tour he had only seen "the most cursory headlines", Kerry said he was "really not in a position to start making judgments" about the revelations at a congressional hearing.

"The State Department will leave no stone unturned," Kerry vowed though, adding his chief of staff, David Wade, was responsible for liaising with U.S. politicians on the attack.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the September 11 assault, when hordes of heavily-armed forces of Evil stormed the compound and a nearby annex.

Gregory Hicks, the deputy head of the mission and the first U.S. official who was on the ground to speak publicly about what happened, testified that he and many others knew from the start that it was a deliberate act of terror.

He told Wednesday's hearing of the House Oversight and Government Committee that he was shocked when the U.S. administration publicly argued otherwise.

The testimony by "whistleblowers," as the committee's Republican chairman Darrell Issa called them, is the latest in a months-long series of hearings to put the attacks and the U.S. response under a microscope.

The attack happened during the tenure of Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry L. Stimson ...
, but the new chief U.S. diplomat said: "I'm absolutely determined that this issue will be answered, will be put to bed."

"If there's any culpability in any area that is appropriate to be handled in some way with some discipline, it will be appropriately handled."
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He will leave no stone unturned building a wall for Champ to hide behind
Posted by: Shusorong tse Tung5840 || 05/10/2013 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  If the issues were not so serious, his statement might almost be laughable.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Kinda' like OJ Simpson leaving no stone unturned - on any golf course - until he tracked down his wife's killer.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 05/10/2013 8:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Director CIA's General Petreaus' concerns for modifications to the Agency talking points now surfacing. Appears he kept his concerns pretty much to himself, exiting the back door with full pension and benefits following his zipper scandal. What an amazing coincidence.

As a senior officer with decades of time in uniform, I wonder how many Article-15/32 investigations he has signed off on which resulted in UCMJ action, career ending discharges, or imprisonment ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:15 Comments || Top||

#5  ...probably far fewer than our uniformed lawyers signing off on ROEs that violated Art 99 para.(8)(9)of the UCMJ in the last five or six years.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/10/2013 9:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes P2K, nothing like a junior MAJ Staff Judge Advocate from division sitting in on a Brigade level operations briefing, siting ROEs and providing unsolicited legal opinions and trumps to the Bde S-3 operations order. Been there, watched it happen in total disbelief.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 9:27 Comments || Top||

#7  To include the stones in his skull?
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/10/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#8  "leave no stone unturned"

Looking for rocks to hide under, I'll wager.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/10/2013 10:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Leave No Stone Unturned

This expression alludes to an ancient Greek legend about a general who buried a large treasure in his tent when he was defeated in battle. Those seeking the treasure consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who advised them to move every stone. The present form dates from the mid-1500s. The actual man who wrote "Leave no stone unturned" was Euripides, an ancient Greek playwright.

Headline should read:

Kerry consulted the Oracle of Delphi on Benghazi
Posted by: Ebbutle Spereque4724 || 05/10/2013 10:31 Comments || Top||

#10  Starting with the stones in Montana that may be hiding those Teabagger malitia types that were really behind it.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/10/2013 10:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Trying to find another Obama?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 11:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Allowing others to turn the stones for weeks awaiting for the area to become secure.

Lone Ranger yes loved the OJ reference
Posted by: Jan || 05/10/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Turn the stones, means Bury them as deep as needed.

Obama CAN'T have any evidence against His Holyness surface.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/10/2013 15:35 Comments || Top||

#14  Perhaps Kerry and Plugs Biden have considered their future prospects when the Hildabeast is Prez, and decided to let the truth out on her part in this debacle to improve their chances?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/10/2013 16:15 Comments || Top||

#15  The ongoing Benghazi cover up is leaving no turd unstoned. The majority of the US electorate doesn't care, they've already proven that.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/10/2013 16:39 Comments || Top||

#16  If the American public does not care, there will be more hits like Boston, until the public decides to wise up and see that govt policy is enabling Bostons to happen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 22:52 Comments || Top||

#17  And Benghazis......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 22:54 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Bama attackers were Nigeriens, Cameroonians
[Nigerian Tribune] RESIDENTS of Bama town in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, where 55 persons were killed, including 22 coppers and 14 prison officials, have said most of the gunnies they saw were Nigeriens and Cameroonians, while local almajiris showed them the places they attacked.

A resident, Mallam Kolomi Bama, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune in Maiduguri, the state capital, said the gunnies burnt down police barracks where a newly married woman and three children were burnt.

Also burnt were several cars and cycle of violences, domestic animals.

Four blocks in the Bama mobile police unit were razed, while at least 10 people, seven coppers and three Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
members were also killed.

According to him, the gunnies also attempted to attack the military barracks in Bama, but met a brick wall, as the soldiers reportedly repelled the attackers, killing 10 of the gunnies who dressed in military uniforms and recovered several AK-47 rifles, bomb making devices, assorted ammunition and gallons of concoctions said to have contained intoxicating substances.

Another eyewitness, a student of the University of Maiduguri, Amina Usman, told the Nigerian Tribune that the gunnies came in their hundreds, in buses and about 16 Hilux vehicles with guns mounted on some of the vehicles, while they attacked various formations of security operatives and government buildings.

She said the gunnies opened fire on the mobile police base, as they were trapped by the curfew imposed on the town, stressing that the gunnies were mostly foreign nationals guided by the those who understood the terrain.

Speaking to newsmen at the JTF headquarters, shortly after inspecting the affected areas, the JTF front man, Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa, said the gunnies usually wear military uniforms during their operations, a reason, he said, civilians always blame soldiers for any attack.

When he visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, expressed sadness with the level of destruction.

He thanked the security operatives for ensuring the return of normality in the town, while he charged the people of the state to guard against violence and wanton deatruction of lives and properties.

Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Qaradawi against ceding 'any of Palestine'
[Al Ahram] During his visit to the besieged Gaza Strip, prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf Qaradawi warns nobody is allowed to cede any part of the 'Arab and Muslim' Palestine
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [5 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Lee Hyori [Korean][Filmography](age 34)



ROK Design

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/10/2013 1:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Design
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  "...Honorary Aquarium Parents Ralph Bunch and Ida Lupino..."
Posted by: mojo || 05/10/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmm my name got reset.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/10/2013 17:18 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Khaleda responsible for Hefajat mayhem: PM
[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
has warned that opposition leader Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
would be implicated in Sunday's violence by Hefajat-e Islam as "an instigator".

The premier said Khaleda will be held responsible for the mayhem. "People have been killed and the copies of holy Koran burnt at her directives. She will be accused of giving orders."

She was speaking at a views-exchange meeting with her party's Feni district unit leaders at Gono Bhaban on Thursday.

Each and everyone involved in this notorious act will be found out by scanning video footage and brought to book, she warned.

Hasina, who heads the governing Awami League, alleged the BNP chairperson wanted to overthrow the government banking on the Hefajat and for this reason Khaleda gave a 48-hour ultimatum and asked the radical Islamist group to stay in Dhaka.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian police gun down eight terrorists
Snip, duplicate.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if NATC works exclusively at night, in rural regions and are oft ambushed?
Posted by: Shipman || 05/10/2013 5:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Whats Russian for "shutter Gun"?
Posted by: Nguard || 05/10/2013 14:36 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/10/2013 15:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan police demand weapons amid simmering tension with Pakistan
[Pak Daily Times] Afghan border police, enraged by recent festivities with their Pak counterparts, are pleading for more weapons to take on their neighbours, escalating the tension between the two sides.

The fighting, in which an Afghan border policeman was killed last week, has caused a sharp deterioration in relations between the important US allies, coming days before the Pak general election.

Pakistain is seen as vital in bringing stability to Afghanistan as most Western forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year.

The commander of border police in Goshta district in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province, Bakht Jamal Eshaaqzai, said his 250-strong forces were armed with mortars and machine guns, but that it would be difficult to match Pakistain's heavy artillery and tanks, visible on the other side of the border.

Eshaaqzai says Pakistain had 12 manned outposts in Goshta, while Afghanistan had three.

"We are under threat from their superior equipment. We urge the government to send us more as soon as possible," he told news hounds and members of Kabul-based think tank Afghan Analysis Awareness, who drove from the capital to Goshta on Wednesday.

Shahzada, who only goes by one name, is one of hundreds of border police who have taken up positions over the last two days in Goshta.

"We have high morale, but what we really need is heavy artillery," he said. Sporting a long beard and resting his hand on a machine gun, he added: "We're ready to eliminate our enemies."

Pakistain artillery has destroyed several Afghan outposts over the last week in Goshta, where the remains of sandbag and concrete forts stand crumbling under the baking sun.

The cross-border festivities on Monday and last week sparked large protests across Afghanistan, drawing thousands of men to the centre of the capital, Kabul, where they chanted 'Death to Pakistain'.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


China-Japan-Koreas
China Probes N.Korea's Bank Accounts
Chinese authorities have identified most of the accounts of North Korean companies and individuals in major Chinese banks, a diplomatic source in Beijing said Wednesday. Three or four North Korean banks in Dandong, the biggest trading hub between North Korea and China, have reportedly closed down.

According to the source, Chinese authorities have combed through all North Korea-related accounts in major Chinese banks in an effort to implement sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council in the wake of the North's latest nuclear test. In the process, North Korea apparently tried to dodge detection by opening new bank accounts under borrowed or false names, but Chinese authorities traced these accounts too.

If the accounts prove to be linked to illegal activities like nuclear weapons and missile development, Beijing apparently plans to impose sanctions on each individual North Korean bank, just as it did when the Bank of China cut ties with the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea on Tuesday.

Another source in China said, "It seems the U.S. provided China with indisputable evidence of illegal activities by the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea."

In principle, North Korean banks in China are barred from remittance and currency exchange business and are nominally mere liaison offices. But in fact Beijing used to look the other way when they carried out such transactions for North Korean agencies and firms. Now Chinese authorities are taking a tougher line.

North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un's own money and cash for the North Korean military crosses the border in diplomatic pouches to avoid customs inspections, a North Korean source said.

A North Korean businessman said, "More than 20,000 Korean Chinese live in Dandong, and we've been dealing with many Chinese for more than a decade. There are lots of ways to remit money to the North."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I, for one, would like to find out how much scarce State $$$ KJU's late Big Daddy Jong-il spent on importing McDonald's, etc. solely for himself + select Pyongyang Boyz???

Ya know, as opposed to Farm Tractors + seeds for food crops, Perts, etc.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 2:42 Comments || Top||


Iraq
6 killed, 27 injured in two-car explosions in Husseiniya area
[Aswat al-Iraq] Security sources at the Interior Ministry announced here today the killing of 6 persons and wounding 27 in two-car kabooms in Husseiniya area, north east Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...

The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the two cars went kaboom! that resulted in killing six, including a cop, and wounding 27, including 4 cops.

The kabooms took place on Husseiniya Bridge, in its mid center and the other on its corner, but no other details were given.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Africa North
Abu-Ismail to be questioned over 'offensive' comments on Egypt military
[Al Ahram] Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah has referred a number of complaints concerning certain political figures -- including prominent Salafist preacher Hazem Abu-Ismail -- to military prosecutors, an Egyptian judicial source stated Thursday.

The source clarified that several political figures would be questioned over remarks they made deemed "offensive" to Egypt's armed forces. The complaints were lodged by a number of lawyers and retired military officials, Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website reported.

Abu-Ismail, head of the Salafist Raya Party, is one of those who will face questioning over comments he made last week in reference to Egypt's military.

On 1 May, on his television programme Malafat Abu-Ismail, the Salafist preacher referred to Egyptian Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as a "sensational actor." His comments came in response to a speech given by El-Sisi in commemoration of Egypt's Sinai Liberation Day on 25 April.

Abu-Ismail has been a staunch critic of Egypt's armed forces. In March, he criticised opposition figures who called for the military to reassume control of the nation's affairs.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Olde Tyme Religion
Pope Tawadros II begins historic visit to Vatican
[Al Ahram] Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II has arrived in Rome to begin a historic visit to the Vatican. The pope will meet with his Catholic counterpart, the recently elected Pope Francis, on Friday.

The visit will be the first time a Coptic Orthodox leader has visited the Vatican in 40 years. This is also the first overseas trip by Pope Tawadros II since his anointment in November.

The meeting between the two popes will aim to foster greater dialogue between Catholic and Coptic Christians.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It may signal pre move discussions. Egypt is not too keen on their Coptic brethren.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 20:47 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Farooqi survives yet another deadly attack
[Pak Daily Times] Leader of Ahle Sunnat Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi narrowly survived an armed attack in Korangi, meanwhile two people were killed in other incidents of violence across the city.

ASWJ leader Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi survived an armed attack near Korangi seminary within the remits of Awami Colony Police Station. According to details, Farooqi was going to attend corner meeting of his party along with his security guards when unidentified armed riders intercepted his vehicle and resorted indiscriminate firing near Dar-ul-Uloom Korangi.

Maulana narrowly escaped the attack but his police guard Adeel, Zamir Abbasi and two private guards Abdullah and Abdul Rehman sustained bullet injuries and were shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medical treatment. Police said that guards of Mulana Farooqi also opened fire in retaliation which caused culprits to escape without achieving their illegitimate goals.

It is pertinent to mention here that Mulana Farooqi had also survived the attack couple of months ago at Moti Mehal locality of Gulshan-e-Iqbal in which six police guards were killed.

Separately, a young man was rubbed out near Karbala Ground within the remits of Landhi cop shoppe. Police said that victim was attacked by armed riders who shot him and managed to flee the scene.
... as though they had never been...
On being informed police reached the spot and shifted his body to morgue for identification after autopsy. Police are yet to ascertain the motive behind this attack, while further investigation is underway.

Another man was rubbed out in Macher Colony within the jurisdiction of Maripur police remits. Police informed that unidentified armed riders attacked Jan Muhammad, 32, near his residence, resultantly he sustained multiple bullet injuries and died on the way to hospital. The dead body was later handed over to his heirs after completing medico legal formalities. The motive behind the incident is currently unknown, said police.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah chief: Syria will supply 'game-changing' weapons
[Washington Post] Syria will supply "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah, the chief of the Lebanese militia said Thursday, just days after Israeli Arclight airstrikes on Damascus targeted what Israel said were shipments of advanced Iranian weapons possibly bound for the group.

Any attempts to ship advanced Iranian missiles across Syria to Hezbollah in Leb would likely draw a new Israeli response, and Thursday's warning by Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, if more than rhetoric, could signal a further escalation.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Want to go for 600 dead in the next strike, Hizb'Allah?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/10/2013 22:58 Comments || Top||


Insurgents Shell Idlib Army Base
[An Nahar] Fighting raged on Thursday in flashpoints across Syria, among them Barzeh in northern Damascus, a watchdog said.

Southwest of Damascus, the regime's air force bombarded rebel positions located between rebel strongholds Daraya and Moadamiyet al-Sham, which the regime has been fighting to reclaim since last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Damascus itself, a shell hit the Zablatani district in the heart of the city, while three others landed in the Qasaa area nearby, causing material damage, said the Observatory.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!...
in Idlib in northwest Syria, large swathes of which are rebel-held, forces of Evil used rockets to hit an ammunition stockpile in Qarmid army base, said the Observatory, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Southeast Asia
Three bombs hurt no one in southern Thailand
Three bombs went off on Thursday morning in Pattani province, but no one was hurt.

Two bombs exploded in Muang district just before dawn, one outside a department store and the other at an automobile showroom.

Police received a call at 4:40 a.m. that a bomb had been set off in front of the department store. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team was sent, and found the bomb had exploded in a trash bin at the store entrance.

While investigating the scene, the team found a possible second bomb at the stairs of the auto showroom about 200 meters from the department store. The team backed away and tried to remove the bomb with a hook, but it exploded during the retrieval process.

The third bombing took place behind a kindergarten on Thursday morning in Yaring district. At about 7:30 a.m. when the home-made bomb, planted in front of a tree on a road behind the kindergarten, was detonated as a police patrol vehicle was passing by. The blast shattered the vehicle's windshield and left a hole in the road. The three policemen who were in the vehicle were not hurt.

In Yala province, four police officers and two civilians were wounded by a bomb explosion on Thursday morning. Police said they think southern terrorists militants were responsible for the blasts.

Terrorists Insurgents have ramped up bombings and drive-by shootings since peace talks began beween the government and the BRN began two months ago.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [cookie reset]
Posted by: ryuge || 05/10/2013 19:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria troops, Hizbullah advancing on Qusayr
[Al Ahram] Fierce festivities between rebels and fighters loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's regime raged Thursday around bad boy-held Qusayr in central Syria, a monitoring group said.


An army officer told AFP the military seized control of Shumariyeh village near the town of Qusayr.

"The Syrian army seized back control of Shumariyeh in the Qusayr countryside, and troops are currently on their way to the village of Ghassaniyeh," which has been under rebel control for more than a year, the officer said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the claim.

"Backed by pro-regime militia and HIzbUllah fighters, the army is advancing in the Qusayr area," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"They have superior firepower and their campaign to take back Qusayr is fierce," he added.

Backed by fighters loyal to powerful Lebanese Shiia movement Hizbullah, that supports Al-Assad, the Damascus regime launched an intensified bid last month to retake Qusayr.

The town fell out of regime control more than a year ago, but has faced daily shelling and frequent aerial bombardment.

It is strategically located near the Lebanese border and just south of Syria's third largest city, Homs, which lies on the road linking Damascus to the coast.

Rebels battling to topple Al-Assad's regime have long claimed that Hizbullah was involved in Syria's fighting. The movement's chief, Hassan Nasrallah, acknowledged last week that members of the group were fighting inside Syria. He also suggested that key Al-Assad backer Iran and other states could intervene to support the Damascus regime against rebels.

Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver a speech later Thursday.

Leb has suffered a spillover of Syria's raging conflict, with frequent cross-border shelling targeting the north and the east of the small Mediterranean country.

On Thursday, three shells hit Hermel in eastern Leb, and two others hit Masharia Al-Qaa nearby, a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Fighting also raged in flashpoints across Syria, among them Barzeh in northern Damascus, said the Observatory, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [18 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Taliban threaten polling day suicide attacks
[Pak Daily Times] The Taliban have sent jacket wallahs to mount election-day attacks on Pakistain's historic polls, a myrmidon commander said on Thursday, following a bloody campaign which has claimed more than 100 lives.

"We don't accept the system of infidels which is called democracy," Mehsud said
Saturday's vote will be a democratic milestone in a country ruled for half its history by the military but the Pak Taliban have condemned it as un-Islamic.

They have directly threatened the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) and its main partners in the outgoing government, seriously restricting their ability to campaign, and staged a series of attacks during the campaign.

The Death Eaters' leader Hakimullah Mehsud had personally ordered suicide kabooms on polling day, said a Taliban capo in the northwest.

"The Taliban has dispatched several of fedayeen (suicide bombers) to carry attacks on election across Pakistain," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

AFP saw a copy of a letter apparently sent from Mehsud to Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan, mapping out the plan for bombings.

"You take care of attacks in Punjab and Sindh. I will take care of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
and Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
," it said in reference to Pakistain's four provinces.

"We don't accept the system of infidels which is called democracy," Mehsud said in the letter, dated May 1, and obtained by Rooters on Thursday.

Attacks on politicians and political parties, most of them claimed by the Taliban, have already killed 113 people since mid-April, according to an AFP tally.

Pakistain has said it will deploy more than 600,000 security personnel on polling day.
Posted by: Fred || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Home Front: WoT
US Coast Guard vessel give-away
No problem, our borders are secure and free of drug smugglers, illegals, and terrorists right?
It's a 40 year old ship. The Nigerians want it, they can have it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/10/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  probably cost more too make it a reef or scrap iyt than too give it away
Posted by: chris || 05/10/2013 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Whuzzabout the Philippines - two hand-me-down, ex-HAMILTON-class vessels aren't gonna do much agz the PLA, PLAN, CMS-SOA, etc. vee China's new increasingly militarized offshore Sansha province in the disputed SCS.

Things continue to be highly tensive ...

* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > [GAM News Online] PHIL SOLGEN:"WE WANT LEGAL, NOT JUST MORAL, VICTORY IN WEST PHIL SEA ROW [wid China = SCS]".

PHIL Solicitor-General Francis Jardeleza.

"Legal" by itself isn't enuff either, as the PHIL must have a strong economy in order to have a strong Military, etc. that can reliably defend what the UNO = UNCLOS + other Internationally recognized Regulatory Bodies/Orgs can't, or won't.

* TOPIX > CHINA WARNS US [again] NOT TO TAKE SIDES IN DIAOYU ISLANDS ROW.

* SAME > CHINA'S ARMY OF WA. China's silent intervention in Myanmar is increasingly not-so-silent, or neutral, anymore???

* CHINA DAILY FORUM > JAPAN DECLARES PROPAGANDA WAR ON CHINA, KOREA, AND RUSSIA OVER DISPUTED TERRITORIES.

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > PHILIPPINE NAVY STRAFES CHINESE [fishing] BOAT, KILLING ONE.

* RELATED DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SHOOTING CALLS FOR STRONG COUNTER-MEASURES - OPED- GLOBALTIMES.CN.

This may NOT end well.

ARTIC = denotes or infers that the PHIL may had shot at a Taiwanese Fishing boat out of angst agz mainland China over the disputed SCS.

THE PHIL HAVE A MUCHO BEEF AGZ BEIJING, THUS THEY INVADE SABAH = MALAYSIA, + NOW FIRE AT A TAIWANESE FISHBOAT???

* SAME > PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD ADMITS SHOOTING AT TAIWAN BOAT | INQUIRER.GLOBALNATION.NET.

-------------

FYI CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > AFP [Armed Forces of PHIL = PHIL Navy] READY TO REPEL CHINESE FLEET[fishing = circa 30 ea. vessels], repor headed to the disputed Spratly Islands [China = Nansha Islands].

Don't think Taiwan, let alone Beijing = mainland China, is gonna stand for the PHIL using de facto heavily armed Navy warships to oppose unarmed Fishing Boats.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN PROTESTS TO CHINA OVER OKINAWA CLAIM.

* SAME > BLOGGER = opined that any INTER-CHINESE [PRC-ROC] REUNIFICATION SHOULD INVOLVE THE FORMAL ANNEXATION BY POST-REUNIFIED CHINA OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE PHILIPPINES???

Oh my.

* SAME > [Ladakh]INCURSION WON'T PUSH INDIA INTO SIGNING BORDER DEAL [wid China]: KHURSHID - TIMES OF INDIA.

How ironic that the "Great/Major" Powers try to avoid confrontation only to see lessor Powers/Nations renew the flames, e.g. Afghan-vs-Pak border clashes + ASEAN???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/10/2013 3:16 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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5Govt of Syria
3Hezbollah
3Arab Spring
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2al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Boko Haram
1Hamas
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
1Govt of Iran
1al-Nusra

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

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2013-05-10
  Syria troops, Hizbullah advancing on Qusayr
Thu 2013-05-09
  Nigerian cult ambush kills 46 policemen
Wed 2013-05-08
  Lashkar-i-Jhangvi's Karachi chief arrested
Tue 2013-05-07
  22 dead as police clash with Bangladesh Islamists
Mon 2013-05-06
  Tanzania police: 4 Saudis arrested after blast
Sun 2013-05-05
  Explosions shake Damascus, Syria blames Israel
Sat 2013-05-04
  Egypt: Mob lynches son of Muslim Brotherhood leader
Fri 2013-05-03
  Sarabjit Singh dies in Pak Jail
Thu 2013-05-02
  Brahimi to quit as Syria peace envoy: Diplomats
Wed 2013-05-01
  Three people arrested in Marathon bombings
Tue 2013-04-30
  'Missiles fired at' Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria
Mon 2013-04-29
  Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survives assassination bid
Sun 2013-04-28
  Blasts at election offices kill eight in Pakistan
Sat 2013-04-27
  Afghan bus crash kills 30, Taliban blamed
Fri 2013-04-26
  Terror plot: Leaders jailed for Birmingham bomb plan

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