President says Shanghai Co-operation Organisation can play bigger role in troubled Afghanistan after US pullout.
The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, or SCO, wants to play a bigger role in troubled Afghanistan, Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, has said on the first day of a two-day summit of the regional grouping in Beijing.
The bloc, consisting of China, Russia and Central Asian states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - is set to discuss the future of neighbour Afghanistan after NATO-led forces pull out in 2014.
"We will continue to manage regional affairs by ourselves, guarding against shocks from turbulence outside the region," Hu was quoted as saying in an interview with China's official People's Daily newspaper on Wednesday.
"We will play a bigger role in Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction.
"We'll strengthen communication, co-ordination and co-operation in dealing with major international and regional issues."
However, Hu did not give details of how the SCO security grouping could play a bigger role in Afghanistan.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has been invited to attend the summit as a guest, and his country is due to be granted "observer" status, meaning it can attend meetings but not vote.
Karzai said in Beijing on Wednesday the two governments are preparing to sign a preliminary agreement about the "creation of a strategic partnership" between them.
Afghan officials earlier told Reuters news agency that China and Afghanistan will soon announce a plan to deepen ties, indicating China's desire to play a role beyond their economic partnership.
US officials have indicated China could play a bigger reconstruction role through aid and investment, but Beijing's trade with Afghanistan has remained scant.
In 2011, two-way trade was worth $234m, while Chinese imports from Afghanistan were worth just $4.4m, according to Chinese customs data.
Afghanistan's neighbours - Iran, Pakistan and India, who are also attending the summit as observers, have jostled for influence in the country.
Its D-Day and President Obama is hitting the beaches of sunny California! It's Hell out there!
Instead of scheduling a brief event to mark the 68th anniversary of Americas brutal landing on the shores of Normandy, Obama is already on his way to San Francisco, where he will hold two fundraisers before moving on to Beverly Hills to stage two more. Who care what happened 68 years ago? I gotta solicit money!
Obama failed to mark D-Day with either a speech or a written proclamation both last year or the year before. He did give a speech in 2009, the 65th anniversary of the event. The man is absolutely heartless.
First Lady Michelle Obama, who has made much of her Joining Forces campaign to support military families, also has nothing planned for D-Day. Shell be in New York City for a fundraiser and then in Philadelphia to meet with campaign volunteers. She's only after votes for The Once. Those people mean nothing to her.
Obamas failure to mark D-Day in any significant way is both a shame and a political mistake. How can it be a Shame when the man is Shameless? Don't you realize it's all about Him? He wasn't there so it can't be important. He can't take credit for any of it.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, two critical swing states Florida and Pennsylvania, are among the top five states in terms of veterans population. Within the top twelve are four others Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina all states Obama desperately needs to carry.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/06/2012
16:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
h/t Instapundit
...The public sector unions are critical to what remains of the American left. The power of the public service unions in Democratic politics pulls the entire party to the left and gives ideas that are important to the left an access to power that they would otherwise lack. But more important than that, they provide a kind of center to a movement that otherwise threatens to fragment into antagonistic cliques.
President Barack Obama will not extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, even temporarily, past their January 1 expiration, the White House said Wednesday as it coped with the fall-out from comments by Bill Clinton. What is "wealthy" now in the WH's terms....those who make minimum wage?
"We should not extend -- and he will not extend -- the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of the American people. It's bad policy, it's bad for the economy, it's bad for our fiscal picture," spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. When asked about himself riding aboard AF1 more than any other Prez, Mr. Carney replied, "Let them eat cake!"
Asked whether that applied to a short-term extension, Carney did not hide his irritation: "He will not -- could I be more clear? -- he will not support extension of the upper-income Bush tax cuts." Then a bell rang aboard AF1 marking Round 2 of the Class Warfare sparring match between the WH and all those who work for a living.
Carney's forceful declaration came after delighted Republicans seized on Clinton's remarks in an interview with CNBC in which he seemed to suggest that the Bush tax cuts, set to expire at the end of this year, be temporarily extended, which would be a sharp break from Obama. "They will probably have to put everything off until early next year," he told CNBC. "That's probably the best thing to do right now. But the Republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently, including for upper income people, and I don't think the president should do that."
Posted by: BA ||
06/06/2012
15:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
And head chopping
People living in Iraq, the Palestinian Territories, Bahrain, and a few other Middle Eastern countries are among the most likely worldwide to experience a lot of negative emotions on a daily basis, according to Gallup's Negative Experience Index. Iraq's score of 59 on the index in 2011 -- which is based on respondents' reports of experiencing anger, stress, worry, sadness, and physical pain -- is the highest in the world. The Palestinian Territories placed a distant second with a score of 43.
Speaking at Tel Aviv University, man whose lab discovered "Flame" virus says it is "just the beginning of the game."
Eugene Kaspersky, whose lab discovered the Flame virus that has attacked computers in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East, said on Wednesday only a global effort could stop a new era of "cyber terrorism".
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism and I'm afraid it's just the beginning of the game ... I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," Kaspersky told reporters at a Tel Aviv University cyber security conference.
"I'm scared, believe me," he said.
News of the Flame virus surfaced last week. Researchers said technical evidence suggests it was built for the same nation or nations that commissioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear program in 2010.
In recent months US officials have become more open about the work of the United States and Israel on Stuxnet, which targeted Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.
The West suspects Iran is developing atomic weapons. Tehran denies this, says it is enriching uranium only for civilian use.
Security experts say Flame is one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software so far discovered. They are still investigating the virus, which they believe was released specifically to infect computers in Iran and across the Middle East.
Kaspersky named the United States, Britain, Israel, China, Russia and possibly India, Japan and Romania as countries with the ability to develop such software, but stopped short of saying which nation he thought was behind Flame.
When asked whether Israel was part of the solution or part of the problem regarding cyber war, Kaspersky said: "Both."
"Flame is extremely complicated but I think many countries can do the same or very similar, even countries that don't have enough of the expertise at the moment. They can employ engineers or kidnap them, or employ 'hacktivists'," he said.
Kaspersky said governments must cooperate to stop such attacks, as they have done with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Operating systems must be redesigned, he added.
"Software that manages industrial systems or transportation or power grids or air traffic, they must be based on secure operating systems. Forget about Microsoft, Linux, Unix."
Kaspersky said malware like Flame and Stuxnet have a limited lifetime and said undiscovered viruses could be out there.
"It's quite logical that there are new cyber weapons designed and maybe there are computers which are infected."
Israel's Air Force attacked what it said were two weapons storage facilities in the Gaza Strip.
Direct hits were identified in the early Wednesday morning attacks, according to statement from the Israel Defense Forces spokespersons' office.
The statement said that the sites were targeted in response to rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israeli communities. So far in 2012, over 270 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, including at least two this week.
Last weekend, the Air Force struck three weapons production sites in central Gaza, and two terror tunnels.The Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported that the strikes hit a poultry farm and a naval police post. `
New Delhi -- Visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta will on Wednesday hold a meeting with Defence Minister A K Antony where the two sides are expected to discuss the entire gamut of their strategic and military relationship and the situation in the Af-Pak region.
"During the meeting, the ongoing defence cooperation and regional security situation will figure prominently," the Defence Ministry said in a release.
China is also expected to figure in the discussions between the two countries, which have been increasing their military cooperation in the recent past. The Indian side is also expected to take up the issue of denial of dual-use items by the US to the laboratories under the DRDO. The issue has been discussed earlier at the meetings of the Defence Policy Group also where India has demanded that the definition of dual-use items should be reviewed by the US authorities.
To bolster bilateral defence ties and step up cooperation on Afghanistan, US defence secretary Leon Panetta arrived in India Tuesday on a two-day visit. What adds significance to Panetta visit is the United States eagerness to conclude two major military deals, and his own recent overtures about Chinas growing military assertiveness.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/06/2012
11:44 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[21 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > INDIA TURNS DOWN US PLANS TO COUNTER CHINA.
Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, given Indjuh's Cold War history of being independent-minded vee US-USSR-China.
BEIJING Central Asian states meeting in Beijing this week say they want a role in stabilizing Afghanistan after most U.S. combat troops leave at the end of 2014, with China's economic juggernaut leading the charge.
You don't have to wait for 2014. Come on in now and help us out. What? What's that? You're busy? Thought so...
The war-torn nation's future is expected to feature prominently in discussions by leaders of the six nations that make up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The bloc, which includes China, Russia, and four Central Asian states, seeks closer security and economic ties among its members, most prominently through regular meetings and joint military exercises targeting separatists, religious extremists and drug traffickers.
In comments published Wednesday in the ruling Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, Chinese President Hu Jintao outlined a broad plan for the SCO's future role as the region's pre-eminent grouping, while firmly rejecting outside meddling.
"We will continue to follow the concept that regional affairs should be managed by countries in the region, that we should guard against shocks from turbulence outside the region, and should play a bigger role in Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction," Hu said.
How they plan to do so remains a question. The SCO has yet to declare a unified strategy on Afghanistan and shows little sign of filling the void left by the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces.
Couple hundred thousand PLA troops and PLA engagement rules would certainly 'pacify' the Pashtuns...
Member nations Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are doing their part to ensure an orderly withdrawal, having agreed to allow the reverse transport of alliance equipment after Pakistan shut down southern supply routes six months ago.
The pullout will also prompt the end of military operations out of Kyrgyzstan's Manas air base, meeting China and Russia's oft-stated objections to a permanent U.S. presence in Central Asia.
While the SCO's security plans in Afghanistan remain unclear, economic outreach looks set to lead the way.
China which shares a small stretch of border with Afghanistan is the most dynamic economy in the region and its firms have already moved into Afghanistan. Kabul is hoping exploitation of its vast untapped mineral deposits will help offset the loss of revenue when foreign aid and spending drops with the withdrawal of international combat troops.
Don't worry, Karzai, the heroin trade is always there...
The U.S. Defense Department has put a $1 trillion price tag on Afghanistan's mineral reserves. Other estimates have pegged it at $3 trillion or more.
In December, China's state-owned National Petroleum Corp. signed a deal allowing it to become the first foreign company to exploit Afghanistan's oil and natural gas reserves. That comes three years after the China Metallurgical Construction Co. signed a contract to develop the Aynak copper mine in Logar province. Beijing's $3.5 billion stake in the mine is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan.
China's government has also contributed substantial aid to Afghanistan over the past decade in the form training and equipment for some security units and government offices, infrastructure investment, and scholarships for Afghan students.
Russia, which lost nearly 15,000 troops in its disastrous 1979-1989 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, appears keen to recover some of its lost influence there. Stemming the flow of heroin into Russia is a key concern to be met by increased intelligence work in the country and bolstered border security in surrounding states. Moscow also has offered generous assistance to rehabilitate Soviet-era dams and power stations and is exploring natural gas exploitation and infrastructure contracts putting it on a potential collision course with China.
Joint participation in the SCO might help paper over some of those differences, but practical cooperation remains elusive.
"China and Russia have no joint approach to Afghanistan. Cooperation is basically limited to a common political stance," said Zhao Huasheng, director of the Center for Russia and Central Asia Studies of Fudan University in Shanghai.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/06/2012
11:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In Wisconsin, the Shabiha were the Public Employee Unions and various other lefties. They lost because the contest was an election and their thug tactics only could intimidate a small number of voters.
In Syria, the Shabiha are in a contest with guns and people are not just intimidated, they are killed. No doubt there are Alamite shabiha and Hezbollah shabiha and Sunni shabiha and probably even some Kurd shabiha. Probably the best thing we could do at this point would be to convertly aid the Kurd shabiha and, if some Christian shabiha exist, aid them too.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/06/2012 16:16
Comments ||
Top||
Ray Bradbury, the iconic science-fiction author behind such classics as The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, has reportedly passed away at age 91.
The sci-fi and genre website i09.com is reporting that the Illinois-born Bradbury, recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Arts, passed away in his Los Angeles home Wednesday morning.
#4
And now all four of the great Sci-Fi writers of my youth are gone (Heinlein, 1907-88; Asimov, 1920-92; Clarke, 1917-2008; Bradbury, 1920-2012). Posted by Glenmore
Not all. The alleged author of 'Dreams from My Father' is still with us as I recall.
A bomb targeted the U.S. embassy offices in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi late on Tuesday, an embassy official said. He said the improvised explosive device hit outside the gate of the offices and no one was injured.
Sad. Libya used to have such good bombmakers, back in the day -- whatever happened to them?
"We have asked the Libyan government to increase its security around U.S. facilities," the official told Reuters. The main U.S. embassy is in the capital Tripoli.
The attack is the latest on international missions and institutions in Benghazi, the coastal city 1,000 km east of Tripoli where the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began last year and where many overseas bodies station representatives.
On May 22, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the offices of the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross in Benghazi, leaving a small hole in the side of the building but causing no casualties.
A month earlier, a bomb was thrown at a convoy carrying the head of the U.N. mission to Libya. That attack was the first of its kind targeting a foreign mission since last year's revolt overthrew Gaddafi.
There was no indication who was behind the embassy attack.
But with national assembly elections due to be held in less than 20 days' time, it underscores the instability in the country, where rival armed militia and tribesfolk are still jockeying for influence.
Iran official to agree to resume stalled investigation of nuke program; Ahmadinejad to China: beware US "wolf" interference.
A senior Iranian official expressed hope on Wednesday that his country and the UN nuclear watchdog would soon be able to seal a framework agreement to resume a stalled investigation into Tehran's disputed atomic activities.
Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh spoke two days before he is due to meet senior UN nuclear agency officials in Vienna in an attempt to finalize the accord aimed at unblocking the agency's probe into suspected atomic bomb research in the Islamic state.
Western diplomats say they doubt that Iran, which they often accuse of seeking to buy time for its nuclear program, will implement any accord that it signs with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based UN watchdog.
Iran denies Western allegations that its nuclear programme is a covert bid to develop the capability to make nuclear arms.
"We have decided to work with the agency ... to prove that those allegations ... are forged and fabricated. That is exactly what we are going to do," Soltanieh told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board.
#1
The IAEA is going to let Iran go nuclear as long as they(the Iranians) promise to only make small ones and only fission weapons no fusion weapons, no no, nothing over 250 KT (sarcasism intended).
That's about all we can hope for. The IAEA has pissed away years diddling with Iran. They've written enough reports on Iran to fill Oyster Bay and they still haven't done anything.
The Iranians have no delivery system that can get the weapon far enough to do any damage without rendering huge areas of their own country uninhabitable. So tell me, what on earth do they want with a weapon of mass destruction that they cannot effectively deliver?
If they go nuclear, the first package will be in a lead lined ISO container headed straight for the US. They can't use it on Israel, the fallout would get the Iranians also and piss off every neighboring Arab ally they have.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 10:43
Comments ||
Top||
#2
FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US CIA'S ASSESSMENT OF PAKISTAN NUCLEAR PROGRAMME WERE TEN YEARS BEHIND ACTUAL STATUS.
Iran's???
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > [NDTV] BOOK: US THOUGHT TALIBAN HAD NUCLEAR BOMB BACK IN 2009, as derived from knowingly "ambiguous" or subjective INTEL collected by the US from various sources. POTUS BAMMER WAS WORRIED ENOUGH TO SEND IN COVERT SEARCH-N-RECOVERY TEAMS TO VERIFY + LOCATE.
Iff correct, it shows that the US does recognize the threat of advanced Nuke-WMDS techs proliferating to the MilTerrs, A THREAT WHICH THE US = POTUS BAMMER MUST AGAIN CONSIDER AS PER TRUSTING IRAN TO NOT WEAPONIZE ITS NUCPROGS OR PROLIFERATE TO MILTERR GROUPS, ITS OWN PROXIES OR OTHER.
(Note: The following are remarks delivered by President Ronald Reagan on June 6, 1984 commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Invastion of Normandy.)
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.
Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.
And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. And these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
I think I know what you may be thinking right now -- thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.
Lord Lovat was with him -- Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.
There was the impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold; and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.
All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore; The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots' Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet," and you, the American Rangers.
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am. In Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying. And in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.
Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together. There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. The Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose: to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II. Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.
We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.
We're bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we're with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
#1
Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Thanks for posting this Beavis. These were ordinary men performing extraordinary acts of courage and bravery.
#3
When I wrote the date on my time sheet this morning, D-Day is the first thing I thought of.
Thanks to all the brave soldiers, sailors, and airmen who saved us.
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/06/2012 12:29
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Every year about this time I read either Band of Brothers or Citizen Soldiers by Ambrose.
We send fine young men off to war. We had fine young men in Korea, Viet Nam, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Don't let the idiot press kid you, our soldiers, right now, are some of the finest I have ever seen. I wish I could have commanded a company of them.
When you watch the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan, you wonder how in the hell we ever got off that beach. Omaha was horrible.
I was honored to go to Texas A&M, Earl Rudder, who lead the Rangers at Pointe Du Hoc, was our President. He had a bulldog named Ranger that we all thought looked more like Earl than Earl. Fine man and I am proud he signed my diploma.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 23:29
Comments ||
Top||
I don't like it either, but it was war, not Tiddlywinks. And we finished it in three years and everyone got on with their lives rather than suffered for the next twenty years before declaring victory and walking away leaving things undecided. It bugs me that we could have easily taken care of their houses for them in the meanwhile rather than giving them a week to sell, and we could have put them on their feet better after the war was over, but I don't know the details. Maybe we should get the Japanese government to apologize for making us do what we had to do. Makes about as much sense.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Wednesday on repealing a resolution made seven decades ago supporting the internment of Japanese Americans shortly after Japan's Pearl Harbor attacks, which led the United States to enter World War II.
"Seventy years ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted itself onto the wrong side of history," Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a statement in which he announced he'll introduce the motion Wednesday to repeal the board's action.
The board voted unanimously to endorse President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 that put 120,000 Japanese Americans, about a third from Los Angeles County, in internment camps for up to three years, Ridley-Thomas said.
The board said it was difficult "if not impossible to distinguish between loyal and disloyal Japanese aliens."
Ridley-Thomas said his motion "will seek to address a historic wrong."
Actor George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on the television series "Star Trek," is expected to be among those testifying in support of the motion and recalling his experience as a boy taken from his Los Angeles home and placed in horse stalls at the Santa Anita racetrack.
Takei and his family were then sent to internment camps in Rohwer, Arkansas, and Tule Lake, California.
#1
Harsh and probably unwarranted in most cases, yet somewhat humane treatment as opposed to how the Japanese treated their Chinese, Korean and Filipino subjects.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/06/2012 9:45
Comments ||
Top||
#2
A number of folks profitted from the property theft. Id be more impressed with LA if they found a way to publicize who did and by how much. I suspect a lot of them were strong Democrat supporters which is why nobody has so far taken that step.
#3
Of course 'new' information gleaned from the declassification of the pre-war and WWII Japanese diplomatic traffic in the 90s won't get the volume of attention that the original act did. Whether the Japanese consulate personnel were just telling their bosses what they wanted to hear or that there was some truth to their reports is up to interpretation. What was not up for interpretation was that the people responsible for security didn't have the luxury to play political correctness with 90 percent of all the nation's aircraft production in the LA or Seattle area based upon those intercepts.
#9
My mother was a child of 11 at the time, and living with her family in Pasadena, California. Her very best friend was a Japanese-American girl her age, who was the daughter of a nursery-gardener who was one of my grandfather's suppliers. (Grandfather being the head gardener for one of those enormous estates.)And my mother's friend and her family were interned first at the old Santa Anita racetrack in Altadena. My grandfather took her to visit with her friend; they could talk to each other across the barbed wire fence around the internment center.
My grandfather stored all of the property that they couldn't take with them in his garage for the duration. There was another retail nursery-gardener, an Anglo - who bought the nursery and the house that they had to sell, but he paid them a very fair market price for it, which apparently was quite unusual.
They worked for him when they came back, after the war.
Just for grins and giggles, I'd also like to know who benefitted from the forced sales of property. I've also rather cynically been amused at how the print media these days so solemly get up and decry the public hysteria on the west coast that led to the demands for the Japanese to be interned - when the Hearst newspapers in 1942 took a leading role in whipping up the anti-Japanese hysteria in the first place!
My mother has always said that she was rather glad that her friend and her family were interned, because then they were protected by armed guards. She said that after Pearl Harbor, and the fall of the Phillipines, she heard so much ugly talk about what ought to be done about the US-resident Japanese. They didn't tend to live all clustered together - no Chinatown-type district, back then. Most of the Japanese-Americans she knew lived out on little truck farms, or scattered thru suburbia. She says there very likely would have been mob action, and random attacks on Japanese during 1942 and 1943. People were frightened, and very, very angry; it always astonished and shocked her, the ugly things that people said in public - in front of her and other children!
[Haaretz] U.S. President Barack Obama told a delegation of the U.S. Orthodox Jewish community at the White House on Tuesday that his administration is "decidedly more attentive to Israel" than it is to the Palestinians.
Obama was speaking at a meeting between White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew and community leaders included Dr. Simcha Katz and Rabbi Steven Burg, President and the Managing Director of the Orthodox Union.
Asked about what lessons he has learned from the events related to the Israel-Paleostine grinding of the peace processor, Obama said that it's "really hard,"
The profundity amazes. Truly this man is the deepest thinker in the room as well as the smartest.
and that there are many possibilities for misunderstanding. There is only tensions because both sides feel pressured to compromise, he said.
He assured his guests that he and Netanyahu get along well on a personal level -- but that Netanyahu does not want to appear weak
. Obama also said that he understands the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "wants no restraints," like the leader of any country. He assured his guests that he and Netanyahu get along well on a personal level -- but that Netanyahu does not want to appear weak.
In the past, President B.O. and other administration officials warned the window of opportunity for making peace might not remain open for long. At Tuesday's meeting he said that maybe it is already closed, but still expressed hope that progress is still possible, although he admitted that the position of the Paleostinians has tanked.
We'll keep trying, he promised his guests - and asked them not to doubt his fidelity to this cause. Being a friend, he stressed, doesn't mean to agree with Israeli leaders on every single issue.T
Obama said that peace is good for Israel, and stressed that he has been a "stalwart believer" Israel should thrive - and that he has provided much support for the country. According to Obama, recent events in Syria and Egypt provide yet another example of why a solution to the conflict is needed.
Part of the discussion was dedicated to the issues of state and religion - especially the controversial issue of whose responsibility it is to pay for contraception - and whether religious hospitals should perform abortions and circumcisions.
Obama said he is a person of deep religious conviction and a "strong supporter of conscious causes." It's not that he thinks the government can do it better, he said - but stressed that millions of women working in religious institutions shouldn't be discriminated and not receive their healthcare because of their employers objections to contraceptives.
Tuesday's meeting followed a meeting last week, between Obama and White House Lew and about 20 Conservative Jewish community leaders, in which they thanked them for the work they do to improve communities around the country, and discussed their shared commitment to rebuilding the U.S. economy.
#3
Is this guy taking lessons in mental gymnastics and logical somersaults from Gilani and Zardari?
I mean I thought the Paks were Olympic class liars and folder/spindlers/mutilators of logic but this is absolutely the gold medal winner.
How can the Jewish community in the US listen to this crap and not burst out laughing. I mean if they didn't tar and feather this guy and run him out of the meeting on a split rail, they are hopelessly deluded.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 10:29
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Israelis are able to behave themselves, perhaps one should be more attentive to the paleos.
Otherwise, a SOP generic talk. Said about himself, said about himself, so forth; if you wanted auto manufacturing to come back to the USA you would have him selling foreign cars.
#7
The Orthodox Jewish community leans Republican/conservative. One notices that their rabbis met with the Chief of Staff, and not directly with the president himself, suggesting where they stand in his mental hierarchy. Especially as they were asking challenging questions instead of accepting his wonderfulness as a given.
#8
I get it. This is a finish the sentence game. Cool.
"My administration is decidedly more attentive to Israel, than we would like to be."
or
"My administration is decidedly more attentive to Israel now, because it didn't go away when we were ignoring it. Obviously it will take a bigger push."
#3
It would be interesting to see what they would approve of as a replacement, aside from something by P-Diddy or some such nonsense. If they actually had to come up with something and not just say some fluff like "something other than the Star Spangled Banner", they'd have to shut up.
#7
I've got a Rat Terrier that has a vocabulary of 435 words and barks at strangers. I'll put her up against Bill Press, Rachel Maddow, and Chrissie Prissy Matthews any time. Heck, she can out debate them on FACTS on the economy 3 all at the same time.
Have you noticed the Dems are into their smear tactics early? They don't have a leg to stand on so they are trying to divert attention away from their incompetence.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 10:36
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Just me --- but I've always thought every finalist of any "singing contest" show should have to sing the "Star-Spangled Banner" as part of the final. So many of them do perform it in many arenas, after the contest. And usually, not so good....
A good song for a finale -- it is hard to sing -- but when done right --- is outstanding!!!
Sign us up among the people who would elect Bruce Springsteen to write a new national anthem for the good ol red, white and blue.
According to a poll conducted by Vanity Fair and 60 Minutes, 22 percent of Americans would choose Springsteen if they were asked to find someone to do it. Why not, after all?
Great story of American ingenuity, one of the factors that makes the American military so well respected.
U.S.S. Barb: The Sub That Sank A Train
In 1973 an Italian submarine named Enrique Tazzoli was sold for a paltry $100,000 as scrap metal. The submarine, given to the Italian Navy in 1953, was originally the USS Barb, an incredible veteran of World War II service with a heritage that never should have passed so unnoticed into the graveyards of the metal recyclers.
The U.S.S. Barb was a pioneer, paving the way for the first submarine launched missiles and flying a battle flag unlike that of any other ship. In addition to the Medal of Honor ribbon at the top of the flag identifying the heroism of its captain, Commander Eugene "Lucky" Fluckey, the bottom border of the flag bore the image of a Japanese locomotive. The U.S.S. Barb was indeed, the submarine that "SANK A TRAIN". See bottom center of flag below:
July 18, 1945 (Patience Bay, Off the coast of Karafuto , Japan ):
It was after 4 A.M. and Commander Fluckey rubbed his eyes as he peered over the map spread before him. It was the twelfth war patrol of the Barb, the fifth under Commander Fluckey. He should have turned command over to another skipper after four patrols, but had managed to strike a deal with Admiral Lockwood to make one more trip with the men he cared for like a father, should his fourth patrol be successful. Of course, no one suspected when he had struck that deal prior to his fourth and what should have been his final war patrol on the Barb, that Commander Fluckey's success would be so great he would be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Commander Fluckey smiled as he remembered that patrol. "Lucky" Fluckey they called him. On January 8th the Barb had emerged victorious from a running two-hour night battle after sinking a large enemy ammunition ship. Two weeks later in Mamkwan Harbor he found the "mother-lode"... more than 30 enemy ships. In only 5 fathoms (30 feet) of water his crew had unleashed the sub's forward torpedoes, then turned and fired four from the stern. As he pushed the Barb to the full limit of its speed through the dangerous waters in a daring withdrawal to the open sea, he recorded eight direct hits on six enemy ships.
What could possibly be left for the Commander to accomplish who, just three months earlier had been in Washington , DC to receive the Medal of Honor? He smiled to himself as he looked again at the map showing the rail line that ran along the enemy coastline.
Now his crew was buzzing excitedly about bagging a train!
The rail line itself wouldn't be a problem. A shore patrol could go ashore under cover of darkness to plant the explosives... one of the sub's 55-pound scuttling charges. But this early morning Lucky Fluckey and his officers were puzzling over how they could blow not only the rails, but also one of the frequent trains that shuttled supplies to equip the Japanese war machine. But no matter how crazy the idea might have sounded, the Barb's skipper would not risk the lives of his men. Thus the problem... how to detonate the charge at the moment the train passed, without endangering the life of a shore party. PROBLEM?
Solutions! If you don't look for them, you'll never find them. And even then, sometimes they arrive in the most unusual fashion. Cruising slowly beneath the surface to evade the enemy plane now circling overhead, the monotony was broken with an exciting new idea: Instead of having a crewman on shore to trigger explosives to blow both rail and a passing train, why not let the train BLOW ITSELF up? Billy Hatfield was excitedly explaining how he had cracked nuts on the railroad tracks as a kid, placing the nuts between two ties so the sagging of the rail under the weight of a train would break them open. "Just like cracking walnuts," he explained. "To complete the circuit (detonating the 55-pound charge) we hook in a micro switch... between two ties. We don't set it off, the TRAIN does." Not only did Hatfield have the plan, he wanted to be part of the volunteer shore party.
The solution found, there was no shortage of volunteers; all that was needed was the proper weather... a little cloud cover to darken the moon for the mission ashore. Lucky Fluckey established his own criteria for the volunteer party:
...No married men would be included, except for Hatfield,
...The party would include members from each department,
...The opportunity would be split between regular Navy and Navy Reserve sailors,
...At least half of the men had to have been Boy Scouts, experienced in how to handle themselves in medical emergencies and in the woods.
FINALLY, "Lucky" Fluckey would lead the saboteurs himself.
When the names of the 8 selected sailors was announced it was greeted with a mixture of excitement and disappointment. Among the disappointed was Commander Fluckey who surrendered his opportunity at the insistence of his officers that "as commander he belonged with the Barb," coupled with the threat from one that "I swear I'll send a message to ComSubPac if you attempt this (joining the shore party himself)." Even a Japanese POW being held on the Barb wanted to go, promising not to try to escape!
In the meantime, there would be no more harassment of Japanese shipping or shore operations by the Barb until the train mission had been accomplished. The crew would "lay low", prepare their equipment, train, and wait for the weather.
July 22, 1945 (Patience Bay, Off the coast of Karafuto , Japan )
Patience Bay was wearing thin the patience of Commander Fluckey and his innovative crew. Everything was ready. In the four days the saboteurs had anxiously watched the skies for cloud cover, the inventive crew of the Barb had built their micro switch. When the need was proposed for a pick and shovel to bury the explosive charge and batteries, the Barb's engineers had cut up steel plates in the lower flats of an engine room, then bent and welded them to create the needed tools. The only things beyond their control were the weather.... and time. Only five days remained in the Barb's patrol.
Anxiously watching the skies, Commander Fluckey noticed plumes of cirrus clouds, then white stratus capping the mountain peaks ashore. A cloud cover was building to hide the three-quarters moon. This would be the night.
MIDNIGHT, July 23, 1945
The Barb had crept within 950 yards of the shoreline. If it was somehow seen from the shore it would probably be mistaken for a schooner or Japanese patrol boat. No one would suspect an American submarine so close to shore or in such shallow water. Slowly the small boats were lowered to the water and the 8 saboteurs began paddling toward the enemy beach. Twenty-five minutes later they pulled the boats ashore and walked on the surface of the Japanese homeland.
Stumbling through noisy waist-high grasses, crossing a highway and then into a 4-foot drainage ditch, the saboteurs made their way to the railroad tracks. Three men were posted as guards, Markuson assigned to examine a nearby water tower. The Barb's auxiliary man climbed the ladder, then stopped in shock as he realized it was an enemy lookout tower.... an OCCUPIED tower. Fortunately the Japanese sentry was peacefully sleeping and Markuson was able to quietly withdraw and warn his raiding party.
The news from Markuson caused the men digging the placement for the explosive charge to continue their work more slowly and quietly. Twenty minutes later the holes had been dug and the explosives and batteries hidden beneath fresh soil.
During planning for the mission the saboteurs had been told that, with the explosives in place, all would retreat a safe distance while Hatfield made the final connection. If the sailor who had once cracked walnuts on the railroad tracks slipped during this final, dangerous procedure, his would be the only life lost. On this night it was the only order the saboteurs refused to obey, all of them peering anxiously over Hatfield's shoulder to make sure he did it right. The men had come too far to be disappointed by a switch failure.
1:32 A.M.
Watching from the deck of the Barb, Commander Fluckey allowed himself a sigh of relief as he noticed the flashlight signal from the beach announcing the departure of the shore party. He had skillfully, and daringly, guided the Barb within 600 yards of the enemy beach. There was less than 6 feet of water beneath the sub's keel, but Fluckey wanted to be close in case trouble arose and a daring rescue of his saboteurs became necessary.
1:45 A.M.
The two boats carrying his saboteurs were only halfway back to the Barb when the sub's machine gunner yelled, "CAPTAIN! Another train coming up the tracks!" The Commander grabbed a megaphone and yelled through the night, "Paddle like the devil!", knowing full well that they wouldn't reach the Barb before the train hit the micro switch.
1:47 A.M.
The darkness was shattered by brilliant light and the roar of the explosion. The boilers of the locomotive blew, shattered pieces of the engine blowing 200 feet into the air. Behind it the cars began to accordion into each other, bursting into flame and adding to the magnificent fireworks display. Five minutes later the saboteurs were lifted to the deck by their exuberant comrades as the Barb turned to slip back to safer waters. Moving at only two knots, it would be a while before the Barb was into waters deep enough to allow it to submerge. It was a moment to savor, the culmination of teamwork, ingenuity and daring by the Commander and all his crew. "Lucky" Fluckey's voice came over the intercom. "All hands below deck not absolutely needed to maneuver the ship have permission to come topside." He didn't have to repeat the invitation. Hatches sprang open as the proud sailors of the Barb gathered on her decks to proudly watch the distant fireworks display. The Barb had "sunk" a Japanese TRAIN!
On August 2, 1945 the Barb arrived at Midway, her twelfth war patrol concluded. Meanwhile United States military commanders had pondered the prospect of an armed assault on the Japanese homeland. Military tacticians estimated such an invasion would cost more than a million American casualties. Instead of such a costly armed offensive to end the war, on August 6th the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a single atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima , Japan . A second such bomb, unleashed 4 days later on Nagasaki , Japan , caused Japan to agree to surrender terms on August 15th. On September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Harbor the documents ending the war in the Pacific were signed.
The story of the saboteurs of the U.S.S. Barb is one of those unique, little known stories of World War II. It becomes increasingly important when one realizes that the 8 sailors who blew up the train near Kashiho , Japan conducted the ONLY GROUND COMBAT OPERATION on the Japanese "homeland" of World War II. The eight saboteurs were:
They are (from left to right):
Chief Gunners Mate Paul G. Saunders, USN;
Electricians Mate 3rd Class Billy R. Hatfield, USNR;
Signalman 2nd Class Francis N. Sevei, USNR;
Ships Cook 1st Class Lawrence W. Newland, USN;
Torpedomans Mate 3rd Class Edward W. Klingesmith, USNR;
Motor Machinists Mate 2nd Class James E. Richard, USN;
Motor Machinists Mate 1st Class John Markuson, USN; and
Lieutenant William M. Walker, USNR.
Footnote: Eugene Bennett Fluckey retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral, and wears in addition to his Medal of Honor, FOUR Navy Crosses... a record of awards unmatched by any living American. In 1992 his own history of the U.S.S. Barb was published in the award winning book, THUNDER BELOW. Over the past several years proceeds from the sale of this exciting book have been used by Admiral Fluckey to provide free reunions for the men who served him aboard the Barb, and their wives.
PS: The Admiral had graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1935 and lived to age 93, passing on in 2007.
#1
D *** NG, does this mean OPERATION PETTICOAT'S CARY GRANT'S SUB didn't sink a TRUCK - I know for a fact Carey said so!?
USS BARB = great Sub + agreat Mission.
*"At least half the Men had to have been Boy Scouts ... ..." > I gotta wonder how Commander Fluckey would've answered the post-ROE, post-THE US-IS-NOT-A-LEGAL-OR-CONSTITUTIONAL-NATION US Ninth on that one???
Islamist Muslim convert
George Galloway's Viva Palestina suffers setback after Egyptian authorities refuse to allow its aid convoy to enter Gaza. The British pro-Hamas Viva Palestina organization suffered a setback recently, when Egyptian authorities refused to allow the organization's aid convoy to enter Gaza. According to a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), it was the sixth time that Viva Palestina failed to deliver aid to Gaza via Egypt.
Viva Palestina is headed by former British MP George Galloway, who was thrown out of the British caucus in 2003 after vocally opposing Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq.
Galloway, who openly supports the Hamas terrorist group, tried to lead a convoy of some 150 trucks with aid to Gaza through Egypt for the first time in 2010.
Egypt blocked the effort, insisting instead that aid to Gaza should be sent through recognized international channels. The group has tried several times since, the last time being in August of 2011.
ITIC said that Egypt's decision to prevent Viva Palestina's members from bringing the aid into Gaza is related to the bullying behavior of the convoy members during the first incident in January of 2010. During that attempt, Galloway and the others violently confronted the Egyptian security forces. He has since been declared persona non grata in Egypt.
According to ITIC, Galloway ultimately decided to move the aid through Syria. The report noted that Bashar Assad's regime allowed the convoy to move through, hoping to use it as a means of proving that the Syrian regime is a humanitarian one.
ITIC noted that Viva Palestina "works closely with the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain and with Hamas activists who live in Britain, as part of what is termed 'the red-green coalition' by the media."
Galloway was declared a security risk and was barred from entering Canada in 2009 for a speaking tour that was organized by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War. He was later allowed entry to Canada and began a speaking tour across the country.
#3
ITIC said that Egypt's decision to prevent Viva Palestina's members from bringing the aid into Gaza is related to the bullying behavior of the convoy members during the first incident in January of 2010. During that attempt, Galloway and the others violently confronted the Egyptian security forces. He has since been declared persona non grata in Egypt.
Dear Mr Galloway was PNG-ed by Egypt for being rude and violent... and for all their talk of Arab brotherhood, the Egyotians loathe and despise the Gazans as lying little thieves.
[An Nahar] The wives and daughters of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in northern Syria identified two of the kidnappers on Tuesday after seeing them in a report about the Free Syrian Army on television.
LBCI reported that several women, part of a group of pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and released without their male relatives, contacted it after seeing their kidnappers' faces on a Monday broadcast.
The report featured men who identified themselves as members of the FSA.
LBC said the women had claimed that "the men on the broadcast were the ones who kidnapped their men."
The women appeared on the channel Tuesday evening to confirm what they had said.
One of them identified the gunnies from the previous night's report, saying "this man went with us to the bus," and pointing out another man who was "carrying rocket launchers on his shoulder and blocked the road" for the bus.
"They told us when we boarded the bus: 'We are the Free (Syrian) Army. We do not want to hurt anyone. Some of our men are being held by the Syrian army and we want to exchange them for your men.'"
The kidnappers released the women and elderly men and kept 11 men in their custody.
The whereabouts and fate of those kidnapped is still unclear.
"When we said that the Free Syrian Army carried out the kidnapping it was denied. They cannot deny anymore. This video broadcast is the proof," the woman said.
"We hold the Free Syrian Army in Turkey and Syria responsible for the security of young people," she added.
"May God Almighty expose them (...) They have to release them immediately." The FSA has denied any involvement in the kidnapping that took place shortly after the pilgrims' bus cross the Turkish border into Syrian territory in the northern province of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... "How could the kidnappers appear to the public and reveal themselves? Was it an intentional error," the woman asked.
Referring to the presence of the FSA members on Turkish soil, she demanded: "What is the responsibility of the Turkish state in this matter?"
A previously unknown gang calling itself the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo Countryside" said last week it was holding a group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who went missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Iran Press TV] The Syrian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... expelled the ambassadors of the US, Britannia, La Belle France, Turkey and some other states.
Ministry front man Jihad Makdissi announced the list of expelled diplomats on Tuesday.
The expulsions came after Western states expelled Syrian diplomats from their countries last week.
The ministry called the ambassadors of the Western and some regional countries as personae non gratae.
The ambassadors of Canada, Italia and Spain and embassy staff from Belgium, Bulgaria and Germany are also in the list.
The ministry also said in the statement that Syria "still believes in the importance of dialog based on principles of equality and mutual respect" and that diplomacy is a "necessary tool" for countries to resolve disputes.
"We hope that those countries which initiated this step will adopt the same principles, allowing for relations to be normalized," it added.
Syria has been the scene of ongoing violence since March 2011. Many people, including security forces, have bit the dust in the unrest.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters.
But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Pakistain's Foreign Ministry has called US Charge d'affaires Richard Hoagland over Washington's continued liquidation drone attacks in the country.
The ministry "officially conveyed the government's serious concern regarding drone strikes in Pak territory," it said in a statement.
The ministry protested against the drone strikes, calling them "unlawful, against international law and a violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty."
The move came following a recent hike in the number of the unauthorized air attacks, which Pakistain has repeatedly criticized as counter-productive.
"The parliament had emphatically stated that they were unacceptable. Drone strikes represented a clear red-line for Pakistain," the statement said.
Pak-US relations experienced particularly serious strains in 2011 after a CIA contractor killed two Paks and a US team infiltrated the Pak territory under the pretext of killing al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... This was topped by US air strikes in November which killed 24 Pak soldiers at two army outposts on the Afghan border.
The last incident prompted Islamabad to shut down supply routes to US-led foreign military forces in Afghanistan.
On Monday, Pakistain's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar reiterated Islamabad's demand for a US apology before the supply lines could be opened, a demand Washington has so far rejected.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
They didn't stop to wonder why there was no ambassador and only a Charge d'affaires?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/06/2012 0:40
Comments ||
Top||
#3
PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN KEEPS HAGGLING US ON TRANSIT [closed NATO Supply Routes] FOR CASH. US cutbacks to Pak CSF taking a deep toll.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM LINK > [Defence Professionals] OPENING THE NATO SUPPLY ROUTES: DOES PAKISTAN HAVE ANY [real] OPTION?
Given Islamabad's subtantive reliance of the CSF for mucho of its indigenous annual Budget-Defense appropriations???
and
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PANETTA: US TO KEEP UP [post-AL-LIBI] ATTACKS [drone strikes] ON AL-QAEDA IN PAKISTAN.
* SAME > OBAMA AIDE [NatSecAdv Ton Donilon] THREATENED KAYANI [Pak COAS], BUT HE STILL REFUSED TO HELP, i.e. promised to take or NOT take Pak Army-Mil action agz Haqqani Network.
ARTIC > COAS KAYANI SEEMINGLY "UNMOVED" BY US PLAN TO KEEP 10-15,000 CT TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN PROPER AFTER 2014, TROOPS WHICH TECHNICALLY COULD CROSS OR ENTER INTO PAKISTAN IN CASE OF CRISIS.
* PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > WE DO NOT TRUST NOR UNDERSTAND PAKISTAN: PENTAGON CHIEF.
> US-shared/supplied INTEL leaks by internal Pak sources ending up wid Militants.
> Why Osama in Abbottabad = major PAK MIL REGION?
Panetta could not trust Pak enough to NOT inform Osama US Commando task force = SEAL TEAM 6 were coming to get him.
> Top Pak Govt Politicos, Officers non-informed, misinformed, or disinformed compared to lower level Subordinates, i.e. are weirdly-n-mysteriously routinely "out of the loop" as per normal or sensitive information. TRUST? KNOWLEDGE? PROFICIENCY? .....@ETC. GAP???
YOKAY, I'LL SAY IT - OUCH!
* SAME > 9-11 ATTACKS WAS PLANNED IN PAKISTAN [Tribal Areas]: PENTAGON CHIEF.
[Iran Press TV] Armed groups in Syria have killed at least 15 soldiers in the western province of Latakia amid the country's ongoing violence.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday dozens of other soldiers were maimed in several villages of al-Hafa region in Latakia.
The new corpse count came one day after the observatory group announced that more than 100 Syrian soldiers were killed in festivities and attacks on security forces' checkpoints across the country over the weekend.
Also on Tuesday, the Syrian government expelled a number of US and European diplomats in response to the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from their countries.
Syrian Foreign Ministry front man Jihad Makdissi said the ambassadors of the US, Britannia, La Belle France, Turkey, Canada, Spain and Italia are no longer welcome in the country.
Syria has been the scene of ongoing violence since March 2011. Many people, including security forces, have bit the dust in the unrest.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters.
But Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[20 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Exchange of gunfire renewed on Tuesday between the rival Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich 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... districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, as the army threatened an "unprecedented response" against anyone who violates the fragile ceasefire.
Army troops fired back at the sources of gunfire, as state-run National News Agency said no gunnies were visible on Bab al-Tabbaneh's streets.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... al-Jadeed television reported that gunnies from Jabal Mohsen shot up Bab al-Tabbaneh, while Al-Arabiya said Bab al-Tabbaneh gunnies opened fire first.
Al-Jadeed quoted Jabal Mohsen sources as saying that "orders have been given not to fire back at Bab al-Tabbaneh shooters."
The TV network also reported festivities between "the al-Amerkan neighborhood and Jabal Mohsen."
It quoted army sources as saying that "should the situation remain like this, there will be an unprecedented response (from the army) never witnessed before by the two parties."
Earlier on Tuesday, unidentified attackers hurled two hand grenades on Starco Street which is adjacent to Syria Street.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Iran Press TV] Senior Egyptian political figures have denounced the court ruling to jail Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... for life, demanding a 'revolutionary trial' of the former dictator and his regime figures, Press TV reports.
A 'revolutionary trial'? That's sorta like a 'show trial', right?
The call for the revolutionary trial of the ousted dictator was made during a meeting between Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Hamdeen Sabbahi and Khaled Ali, the presidential candidates who lost the first round of the presidential election last month, and Moslem Brüderbund hopeful Mohammed Morsi in the capital Cairo on Monday.
The figures met to discuss the demands of the revolutionary forces.
In addition to the need for the revolutionary trial of Mubarak, they agreed on some other core demands such as establishing a presidential council, a trial of the Mubarak regime figures by the revolutionaries and applying political isolation to the remnants of the toppled regime.
Morsi also vowed to spare no effort until the demands of the Egyptian people are fulfilled.
The meeting came as several Egyptian political groups called on the people to attend mass demonstrations on Tuesday to protest against the life sentence issued for Hosni Mubarak in his trial and demand a tougher punishment.
Many Egyptians are outraged that the court has spared the lives of Mubarak and his interior minister, Habib al-Adli, who were involved in the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the revolution. Six police chiefs were also acquitted of wrongdoing in their trials.
The verdicts sparked fierce festivities between the families of the victims and security officials inside the court while angry spectators called the court illegitimate and demanded that Mubarak be executed.
On Monday, hundreds of students of Cairo University marched to Tahrir Square to demand Dire Revenge for the deaths of the revolutionary protesters, the retrial of Mubarak and other defendants and the disqualification of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's former prime minister, in the upcoming runoff election.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Iran Press TV] Taliban forces have attacked a convoy supplying fuel to the US-led forces in Afghanistan, torching three tankers in the northeastern province of Parwan, Press TV reports.
The attack occurred on Monday night in Parwan's Sheikh Ali district, provincial police chief General Mohammad Akram Nekzad said.
Afghan police blamed the Talibs for the attack, which they said did not leave any casualties.
The incident was the first such strike against a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... supply convoy in the district.
Taliban have not yet commented on the attack.
Pro-Talibs have also destroyed hundreds of NATO tankers and trucks in neighboring Pakistain over the past years.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
How about flying it in over Pakistain in stealthy KC-10s?
#2
See also DEFENCE.Pk?FORUMS > US-PAKISTAN FREEZE CHOKES FALLBACK ROUTE IN AFGHANISTAN.
Soviet-era Salang Tunnel, which is proving to be inadequate given the magnitude of international truck, vehicle traffic - alternate routes not much better + more costly..
[Tolo News] As many as 60 school girls were poisoned in Afghanistan's northern Takhar province on Tuesday, as security forces began making arrests in relation to the recent string of poisoning cases.
Takhar provincial front man Mustafa Rasouly said on Tuesday that at least eleven people, including a "group leader", were placed in long-term storage Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! by local security forces after investigations into the poisonings.
Today's apparent poisoning took place in the Rustaq district of Takhar province, with health officials confirming the hospitalization of the school students.
This comes as Ministry of Interior front man blamed elements of the myrmidon Taliban, other krazed killer groups, and even foreign spy agencies, for the spate of suspected poisonings in Takhar.
"Preliminary investigations show that this has been done by Taliban and those terrorist groups and intelligence agencies of some foreign countries," Sediq Sediqqi said on Tuesday.
He added that the Taliban have shown themselves to be the enemy of any kind of education and development of Afghanistan, particularly the education of girls.
The Taliban strongly rejected the accusations in a statement in the past fortnight, threatening punishment to anyone who tries to poison Afghan students.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
sharia takes a dim view of damaging another man's property......
[Yemen Post] The military committee on Monday started discussing a comprehensive strategy to restructure the Yemeni armed and security forces, which divided during the 2011 popular uprising, Saba reported.
The strategy, suggested by the higher military academy, calls for putting an immediate end to the division of the armed and security systems, armed conflicts and rebellion movements as well as imposing the rule of law across the country, according to Saba.
When the uprising escalated in early 2011, key military units defected to the mass anti-regime protests including the first armored division and since then they have been divided.
At a meeting, the committee, formed under a power-transfer deal reached in November on military affairs and maintaining security and stability, discussed visions to restructure and modernize the armed and security systems including those for re-stationing units according to a national, integrated strategy in line with the defense policy of the republic of Yemen, Saba said.
The discussion coincided with efforts by President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi to put an end to the rebellion of the third elite republican guard brigade. The commander of this brigade, Tariq Saleh, a nephew of ex-leader, has refused to give up his post under a presidential decree.
The international community, especially the ten countries sponsoring the transition deal, has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s about this brigade, which ex-president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... wants to guard him.
Saleh signed the deal, which saw him relinquish power after 33 years in office, in return for immunity from prosecution and half representation in the current power-sharing government.
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar has led mediations to convince the commander to give up, but his attempts went in vein.
In the meantime, the committee plans to remove all security and armed disorders including roaming with guns in the country, especially in main cities, in five months, as the armed forces is continuing intensified battles against Al-Qaeda gunnies in the south.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Dawn] Following the Supreme Court's orders, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. has stepped down from his office. He said that he does not want any conflict with the courts.
Speaking with DawnNews, Malik said that he has taken off Pakistain flag from his house and his car.
He said that he has not been informed about him being appointed as the interior ministry adviser.
Earlier, the documents from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) showed that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had renounced his British citizenship.
According to documents received by DawnNews, the UKBA in a letter issued on May 29 informed the minister that his request to renounce his British citizenship had been granted.
The letter said that the British High Commission had also given its opinion on the matter and that Malik was no longer a Brit.
Malik's Senate membership had been suspended on Monday by the Supreme Court for holding dual nationality.
The court had issued the order after Advocate Azhar Chaudhry, representing Malik, had shown reluctance to submit a declaration by the UKBA to establish that his client had surrendered the British nationality.
The court had also noted that the process of renouncing British citizenship had been started by the minister on May 29 much after the present proceedings and that he was a foreign national when he submitted his nomination papers to become PPP senator.
Therefore, the order said, Malik was not qualified to contest the Senate elections under Article 63(1 c) of the Constitution which disqualified a person as member of the parliament who ceases to be a citizen of Pakistain or acquires the citizenship of another country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
(Sh. M. Network) Somalia's Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... administration said on Tuesday that it will prevent any attacks from self-declared Somaliland forces on Puntland territory.
Speaking in a presser held in Bossaso, the commercial an coastal town in northeast of Somalia, Mohamed Sa'id Dabeyl the governor of Sanag province for Puntland said Somaliland navy forces still continue their aggressive attacks against the coastal region of Sanag.
Mr. Dabeyl also said they are ready (Putland) to take any necessary action to defend their soil from Somaliland troops and he urged to stop attacks against three dispute regions, Sool, Sanag and Cayn( SSC).
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] Twelve gunnies were killed in aerial shelling and a clash between rival groups in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Monday.
Security officials said that fighter planes targeted hideouts of Taliban affiliated with Tariq Afridi group in Dwa Thoe area in the morning that resulted in killing of 10 jihad boys. The hideouts of Taliban were also destroyed in the bombardment, they added.
Taliban are also facing stiff resistance from Kukikhel ...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government... tribal lashkar in the same area. A Kukikhel jirga had earlier resolved to expel Taliban from their area and punish those, who were providing shelter to gunnies of any gang.
Also, two gunnies affiliated with Lashkar-e-Islam were killed and three volunteers of Zakhakhel Peace Committee sustained
injuries in a clash in Bukarrh area of Bazaar-Zakhakhel on Monday.
In Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil, three local commanders of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam surrendered to Akkakhel Peace Committee.
The committee had given an ultimatum on Sunday to all gunnies in Akkakhel area to lay down arms and surrender before June 10.
The peace body has warned of imposing a huge fine and demolishing the house of those, who refuse to surrender or provide shelter to jihad boys.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
"Behold the "Brown perl' This is a 24 foot center console that is decorated as a Pirate ship! It is fitted with 4 deck cannons and decorated with a crew of skeletons! The ship has a head and is powered by a 140 evanrude, and is equipped with smart trim tabs. The ship is a hit with kids and adults alike! I will deliver the ship for a reasonable fee."
(Two photos at the link...)
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A motorized Dhawan???
YYYAAAAAAAARRRR, YE DOGS, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE DESERVES TO WALK THE PLANK.
Phillipine negotiators hoping to end a Muslim insurgency have proposed creating monuments to abuses committed on both sides, including beheadings by rebels and a president's desecration of an insurgent headquarters with a pork feast.
That's quite the moral equivalent.
The monuments would help tell the full story of the long Muslim rebellion in Mindanao and remind future generations of the brutality and blunders that helped perpetuate the violence, said chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen. He said, "We have seen that future generations would not move on and heal unless we really tell the story."
"I'm not sure where, but I'm sure we've seen it."
Rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the proposal was acceptable, but the government should first concentrate on resolving the rebellion.
The Philippine government and the 11,000-man Moro Islamic Liberation Front remain optimistic a peace treaty can be reached under President Aquino's term despite key differences that have stalled Malaysian-sponsored talks. Those differences include the size of an expanded autonomous region in southern Mindanao and the powers to be accorded to the Muslim officials who would run it.
In a new irritant, the terrorists rebels have protested the arrest by government forces of a rebel in southern Davao del Sur province over the weekend, saying it violated a cease-fire that shields the rebels from arrest in their strongholds. The military said the terrorist guerrilla, Galib dela Cruz, was wanted for murder and kidnapping and was illegally carrying assault firearms outside of a rebel camp.
Among the historic sites that could be marked are Camp Abubakar in the heartland of southern Mindanao, where then-President Joseph Estrada feasted on roast pork with his top generals during a victory party after the sprawling terrorist insurgent headquarters fell in July 2000 after a months-long military offensive. The feast took place near the ruins of a burned mosque and the terrorists' insurgents' military academy. A truckload of beer was also consumed by the victorious troops.
Estrada's actions were seen as inflammatory and sparked fierce protests at the time, although he claimed that he was not trying to disparage the Islam.
"Where would anyone get such a silly idea?"
The terrorists insurgents considered Abubakar sacred ground, where they tried to practice a puritanical Muslim life by banning luxuries like smoking.
Leonen also said a marker should be installed at Basilan, where the terrorists guerrillas were accused of beheading 10 Filipino marines during a 2007 clash.
Philippine officials said they were considering whether to ask the National Historical Institute to begin studying where the monuments and markers could be installed in what could be a joint project, Deles said, adding that versions by both sides would be examined in portraying violent events.
#2
I hope they don't get wind of this in Washington, Obummer will be on this like a duck on a june bug and he'll be trotting Hillary out to propose this lamebrained, ignorant and generally stupid idea to the Taliban.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 23:33
Comments ||
Top||
A school in this Pattani province was burned Sunday night and two army ranger units were attacked with M79 grenades. Police investigators said three classrooms were burned and that educational materials were destroyed after the school was set ablaze. The arson is believed to be the work of terrorists insurgents.
In the same district, two army ranger units were also hit with M79 grenades. No casualties were reported. In nearby Yaring, district, tire burnings were reported at two locations and a mobile phone-signal transmission pole was torched.
Investigators linked regional insurgency to the latest arsons and attacks.
Governor Walker won, the unions and the Democratic Party lost. As of the time this was posted, with 50% of precincts reporting, it was Walker 58% to Barrett 41%. Click on the headline to get the latest count.
The Ace of Spades Decision Desk has a very cool county-by-county map.
Barrett won by a margin of about 100k in Dane county where about 260k votes were counted. The law allows election day registration and the Donks brought in thousands to do this (and, yes, there were likely many illegal registrations, although many were legal). In Milwaukee, Barrett won by about 90k. Here also there were a lot of election day registrations.
These two jurisdictions reported fairly late so the early margins didn't hold up.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/06/2012 1:37
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hopefully the end of the beginning.
Now is not the time to let up.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/06/2012 4:48
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Lot's of election day shenanigans by the unions (buses of 'voters' from Michigan, Illinois, etc.). Hopefully there will be some modicom of investigaton, but there probably won't be as the cross-border stuff falls under the Feds.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/06/2012 8:13
Comments ||
Top||
#4
cross-border stuff falls under the Feds
Huh? How stupid. If I were governor, I'd investigate it anyway. What could they do about it? Talk about meddling in state affairs.
#5
The Wisconsin most likely will attempt to investigate it. I'm saying that the Feds will noisily claim custody of it (as it is across borders) and nothing will happen.
Meddling in state affairs? This administration is particularly noted for that.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/06/2012 9:49
Comments ||
Top||
#6
They won, even though the other side cheated, which means the real win was even more overwhelming. Now is the time to repeal on-the-spot voter registration, pass photo i.d. requirements, and start cleaning up the voter rolls to prevent shennannigans in November. Prosecution is a waste of time, it seems to me, when there are more critical chores to complete.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/06/2012 10:37
Comments ||
Top||
#8
TW you hit it out of the park.
After November, when we get an honest AG and get rid of all of the leftist satraps in the DOJ, THEN you prosecute.
Until then, defang and leash the beast.
By the time the DOJ gets all of their cease and desist orders in place, it will be too late.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/06/2012 10:57
Comments ||
Top||
#9
I live in Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison. And with two more elections ahead, I think the whole state will be politicsed out by the time November's results come in.
Yesterday I thought of a bumper sticker that could be a hit among left and right alike in Wisconsin:
I HAVE STRONG POLITICAL VIEWS
BUT NEED A REST FROM THE DRAMA
Philippine security forces said that a Muslim rebel commander was behind Monday's abduction of two Chinese businessmen in southern Philippines.
First Infantry Division Spokesman Captain Albert Caber said on a local radio station that based on intelligence accounts, the incident was carried out by followers of Waning Abdusalam, a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's Special Operations Group. He said, "But as of this time, no group has acknowledged responsibility of the incident and there is still no ransom demands from the kidnappers."
Jampong Lin and James Lou, both engaged in mining business in China's Guangdong province, were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday night in Kabasalan. Six gunmen burst into the rented house of the victims and seized them at gunpoint. The suspects dragged them into a white van and fled.
#1
I could be wrong, but I'm a'guessin this has to do wid the Scarborough Shoal = PHIL-Panataq-vs-CHINESE-Huangyan-Island sea spat???
As per the above ...
* STRATEGYPAGE > CHINA SAYS WE AINT AFRAID OF ANYBODY.
* WORLD NEWS > ACCESS TO PACIFIC HARBORS KEY TO NEW US STRATEGY: PANETTA.
* SAME > SEOUL WON'T OBJECT TO JAPANESE AEGIS DESTROYERS IN NEARBY WATERS [West = Yellow Sea], in response to DPRK claims that is now a constitutional "Nuclear/Nuke-armed State".
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ANALYSIS: AMERICA WILL DO WELL TO WATCH DEVELOPMENTS IN PANATAQ SHOAL CLOSELY
* SAME > PHILIPPINES HOLDS NO CARDS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA SPAT WIDOUT US.
* SAME > RUSSIA VOICES AGZ "OUTSIDERS" [read, USA]MUDDLING IN SOUTH CHINA SEA. Moscow suppports Beijing's claims.
* SAME > AQUINO, DEMPSEY TALK SCARBORORUGH SHOAL STANDOFF.
* GMA NETWORK > CHINA STATE PAPERS [State Medias = People's Daily, PLA Daily] WARN US STRATEGY RISKS RIFT, between the US + China.
No one in China or Asia-Pacific believes that the US Strategy is NOT aimed at isolating, minimizing, or containing China = China's rise.
MORE INTENSE + FREQUENT US MEDDLING IN CHINA'S + ASIAN-PACIFIC AFFAIRS ANTICIPATED.
* GMA NETWORK > CHINA SAYS US NAVAL SHIFT TO PACIIFC "UNTIMELY".
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Philippines] TWO CHINESE GOVT. SHIPS, PHIL VESSEL WITHDRAW FROM PANATQ SHOAL [8 Chinese, 2 Phil Govt. ships left].
* SINA > CHINESE SHIPS REMAIN DEPLOYED IN HUANGYAN ISLAND: FM SPOKESMAN [Liu Weimin].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US LETS SOUTH KOREA EXTEND MISSLE RANGE TO 550-KMS [up from curren 300-kms].
ARTIC = ROK has initially asked the US to extend to 1000-kms, enuff to cover all of the Korean Peninsula.
* SAME > [France = French DM Jean-Yves Le Drian] "EUROPE MUST RETHINK DEFENSE" AFTER US NAVAL SHIFT TO ASIA, by + for Europe + Europeans at its own costs, moreso since USDOD Spending is expected to reduce by US$500.0Bilyuhn oer next years [2022-23].
* SAME > [Chen Guangching] CHEN: CHINA DOESN'T NEED TO LEARN WESTERN DEMOCRACY, BUT "EASTERN" DEMOCRACY.
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > LILLIPUTINE [Pinoys = Filipinos] COCK A SNOOT INVOKING THE US,to defend a PHIL + PHIL interests that Filipinos themselves aren't able to defend on their own.
* SAME > US PACIFIC "PIVOT": PLA GENERAL SAYS CHINA HAS CAPABILITY TO STRIKE BACK WHEN INTERESTS ARE UNDER THREAT.
* SAME > JAPAN HAS ENOUGH PLUTONIUM FOR 5000 NUKES | JAPAN TO MAKE MORE PLUTONIUM DESPITE STOCKPILE ENOUGH FOR 5000 WARHEADS.
And once again, Virgina, we learn why nuke-wannabe Rising Iran likes the "Japan Model".
WORLD NEWS > IRAN: OUR NUKES PROOF OF NATIONAL POWER.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [DDG-1000 ZUMWALT-CLASS] STEALTH DESTROYERS, AT US$3.0BILYUHN APIECE, IS US NAVY'S ANSWER TO RISING CHINA.
* SAME > IN A HOLE? CHINA KEEPS DIGGING | CHINA ON [harmful?]SUPER-SIZED BINGE THAT CAN LEAD TO [prohibitive = over-excessive]INVESTMENT GIGANTISM, as per oversea FDI + espec domestic Infrastructure = Macros.
* TOPIX > INDONESIA, JAPAN, ASEAN WORRY ABOUT CHINA'S DEFENSE SPENDING.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > EX-PINOY DIPLOMAT: "WE DON'T WANT AN ASIAN COLD WAR".
POSTER/BLOGGER = opined that, in the PHIL, there are two Groups at odds wid each other - PRO-BEIJING CHINESE PINOYS whom don't want any grief or beef wid China; versus the MAJORITY INDO-MALAY PINOYS WHOM WANT THE US BACK AT SUBIC [Clark AFB?]???
#4
OOOOPPS, forgot TOPIX > [Heritage Foundation] DON'T SKIMP ON SOUTH KOREAN MISSLE RANGE. US should allow the ROK = SOuth Korea to extend to 800-1000-kms range.
* SAME > HAS AMERICA FORGOTTEN THE LESSONS OF MIDWAY?
* SAME > SEOUL JUST CAN'T WELCOME JAPANESE WARSHIPS INTO WEST SEA!
* SAMe > [Susumu Yabuki = Prof. Emeritus, Yokohama City University] JAPANESE SCHOLAR SAYS SCRAP US-JAPAN ALLIANCE, RECOGNIZE US-CHINA CO-DEPENDENCY, on part of Nippon.
ARTIC > PRO = argues that the US [covertly = ultimately]WILL NOT, NOR CAN IT [Econ]AFFORD TO, CONFRONT CHINA MILITARILY IN EAST ASIA INCLUD NE ASIA/NORPAC ON BEHALF OF JAPAN???
Lest we fergit, 9-11 + GWOT > WAR FOR PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US OWG-NWO > ANTI-US OWG = desire to see US Power + Influence, etc. anywhere around the World decline or be rolled back, unilaterally/
voluntarily or forcibly.
[Iran Press TV] Moroccans have taken to the streets of the northern city of Bani Bu Ayyash to protest against harsh jail sentences handed down to political activists, Press TV reports.
The protesters also demanded that the government stop arresting rights activists and release political prisoners. They say the government has used false pretexts for the arrests.
The demonstrators also called for democratic reforms in the Arab country.
Protests have been going on in the North African country since early last year. The monarch introduced some reforms earlier but Moroccans say the changes do not go far enough and that more initiatives are needed to fight corruption and bring democracy to the nation.
The country has also been facing serious economic troubles over the past few years, with high unemployment and rising levels of poverty.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] At least 16 gunnies have been killed in three days of fighting between Shiite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... rebels in north Yemen and Sunni Salafist krazed killers, according to claims by both sides on Tuesday.
"Four of our men were killed and six others maimed in confrontations on Saturday with Salafist gunnies in Al-Qobaaf," east of the Houthi stronghold of Saada, said Huthi front man Mohammed Abdulsalam.
Sorur al-Wadii, a front man for the Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... said 12 Sunni gunnies were killed in three days of fighting, but claimed that his comrades killed 18 Houthi fighters.
He blamed the Houthis for the festivities, saying the killings on "both sides were result of attacks by the Houthis who are trying to expand (their control) in the province of Hajja, Marib and Jawf."
Abdulsalam accused the Sunni gunnies of receiving support from neighboring Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , a bastion of Salafism which is a puritanical approach to Islam.
"We are in total control of the situation," he said, insisting that hostilities were started by a Salafist group "paid by Saudi Arabia."
Dozens of people have been killed in sectarian festivities since last year between the rebels and Salafists trying to tighten their grip on the north, where government control has slackened since a political crisis in Sanaa.
Yemen's mountainous north is a stronghold of the Houthis, who from 2004 fought six wars with central government forces before signing a truce in February 2010. The rebellion claimed thousands of lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[Iran Press TV] A human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organization says ethnic, sectarian and politically-fueled violence has killed at least 740 people in southern Pak city of Bloody Karachi. ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... "About 740 people have been the victims of violent shootings in the last five months," Zohra Yusuf, chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistain (HRCP) said on Tuesday.
The port city has experienced a tug of war between members of political parties who represent rival ethnic groups, while the authorities have failed to stop violence.
"People are being killed with impunity by various ethnic groups while the government, it seems, has little control to put an end to it," Yusuf complained.
Pakistain has suffered financial losses due to the deep hostilities in Bloody Karachi, where residents flee the violence and shops and markets have to close in large swathes of the economic hub.
According to the rights group, a total of 1,715 people were killed in violent incidents which broke out in 2011 in Pakistain's biggest city, home to an estimated population of 17 million.
The victims include 107 political activists assassinated by members of rival groups, while the rest are people with no political affiliations, HRCP said.
Much of the violence has been blamed on tensions between supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... , representing the Urdu-speaking majority, and the Awami National Party, which represents ethnic Pashtun migrants.
Bloody Karachi has also been used by the US-led military alliance to ship supplies to their forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Islamabad shut down the border crossing after US air strikes killed 24 Pak soldiers on the Afghan border in November 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Crowds of Egyptians flocked to Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Tuesday for a mass demonstration to protest against verdicts handed down in ex-president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's murder trial.
Marchers prepared to leave from several mosques around the capital led by the runners-up in last months' presidential election first round -- Hamdeen Sabbahi, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh and Khaled Ali-- to join thousands already in the square.
In Tahrir, demonstrators chanted against the ruling military council and vowed to keep their revolution alive.
"Revolutionaries, free, we will continue our journey," they chanted.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] Archaeologists in Bulgaria have unearthed two skeletons from the Middle Ages pierced through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into vampires, the head of the history museum said.
"These two skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th century," said national history museum chief Bozhidar Dimitrov after the recent find in the Black Sea town of Sozopol.
According to pagan beliefs, people who were considered bad during their lifetimes might turn into vampires after death unless stabbed in the chest with an iron or wooden rod before being buried.
People believed the rod would also pin them down in their graves to prevent them from leaving at midnight and terrorizing the living, the historian explained.
The practice was common, Dimitrov added, saying some 100 similar burials had already been found in Bulgaria.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
[Tolo News] Security officials in Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province say the Afghan forces are ready for the security transition from foreign troops, but have raised concerns over the lack of capable police in some parts of the province.
Provincial police chief Matiullah said that while the overall situation in the province has improved, he stressed that he may face major problems during the transition if there is not a substantial increase in the number of police across the mountainous regions of the province.
He also added that because Uruzgan is a big province, turban activity has more scope compared to other provinces in region.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... Matiullah said the Afghan and Isaf forces are launching regular operations to upset turban activity in the area and it does seem to be effective.
He noted that the Taliban appeared to be losing their ability to fight face to face with the Afghan cops, resorting to planting more bombs instead.
Uruzgan borders Zabul and Kandahar province, which also have high rates of turban activity.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Tripoli Post] A military court handed stiff prison terms to 19 Ukrainians, three nationals from Belarus and two Russians accused of serving as mercenaries for ousted leader Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... during the conflict in Libya that eventually ousted the former dictator.
One of the Russians, judged to have been the coordinator, was condemned to life imprisonment while the others were sentenced to 10 years' hard labour.
The 24 men, who all denied the charges and insisted they were in Libya to work in its oil sector, were accused of having primed ground-to-air missile batteries to target NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... warplanes supporting the revolt against Qadaffy.
At the start of the trial in April, a military front man said the eastern Europeans had also backed the regime in attacks on civilians while "in the pay of Qadaffy and his brigades."
The front man said the "mercenaries," held since their arrest on the fall of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich 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... in late August 2011 by a brigade of former rebels in the capital, had travelled to Libya of their own accord without the backing of their governments.
The ambassadors of Ukraine and Belarus were in court for the verdict and said the men would appeal.
Before the verdict was read out, Belarus Ambassador Anatoly Stepus said the 24 men had come to work for a joint Libya-Russia oil company.
But his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Nahornyi, said after the sentence that the accused were forced to work for Qadaffy's regime "under armed threat."
"This is part of the case," he said without elaborating on why the men travelled to the North African nation in the first place.
He added that the rocket launchers "did not target NATO or any Western nation's aircraft," noting that the latter had not filed a complaint against the accused and that the weapons were never fired.
On April 11, Ukraine's foreign ministry said it believed its citizens were innocent and would fight for their release. If convicted, Kiev would seek to have them repatriated to serve out their sentences.
Ukraine had close links with Qadaffy's regime, and estimates that around 1,500 of its citizens were in Libya before the conflict started in mid-February 2011. Among them was Qadaffy's Ukrainian nurse, Galina Kolotnitska.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Dawn] With sensational media reports making the rounds about four women having been killed in Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... after videos were leaked of them dancing with two men during wedding festivities, the Supreme Court took suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of the case on Monday and ordered the officials concerned to provide more information about the issue.
Right now the tragedy is marred with uncertainty as reports create confusion over whether the news about the murders having taken place on May 30 is correct.
Therefore, when a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain sat down to hear the case, the chief justice's first question to Attorney General Irfan Qadir was that if the four women had indeed been murdered.
The chief justice observed that such an act would be a direct violation of Article 9 (right to life) and Article 14 (right to dignity) of the Constitution. He said he wondered how a jirga could have taken such a decision when "we have held jirgas unconstitutional and illegal".
The court is already seized with a petition of the National Commission for the Status of Women (NCSW) which asks for jirgas to be declared illegal because it is a parallel and unregulated justice system.
In March, the court had ordered provincial chief ministers, secretaries and inspectors general of police to ensure that the practice of exchanging girls and women to settle disputes through jirga was stopped.
Ms Riffat Butt, legal expert at the NCSW, said: "The previous orders of the court against jirgas were specifically with regard to anti-women practices like Vani and Swara i.e. they addressed the outcomes.
"We are making the case that jirgas should be completely declared illegal; if jirgas are not held at all such sorts of decisions cannot be taken. And at many different occasions different courts in their orders have declared that jirgas are against constitutional norms."
In this context, the case of Kohistan women killings becomes especially relevant to the Supreme Court hearing of the NCSW petition which will be held on Wednesday -- the day the attorney general is required to interview and produce the four
women before the court since Hazara division officials have denied the killing or the fact that a jirga had ever been held to take a decision about the fate of the women.
The chief justice also ordered Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastgir, the Hazara regional commissioner and Kohistan DPO to submit comprehensive reports on the issue by June 6. The hearing will be crucial in determining truth
about the incident.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... if it turns out that the jirga had taken a decision to kill the women and men this would certainly strengthen the case of NCSW for banning jirgas throughout the country.
"Whether the women have been killed or not, the fact that a jirga has taken such a decision shows that such incidents are not only happening regularly, but they are also taking extreme forms. This is a fundamental violation of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. and the federal and provincial governments need to make legislations on the issue," Riffat Butt said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Tolo News] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... has signed a deal with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to remove evacuating vehicles and military equipment from Afghanistan.
The agreement will allow the military alliance to bypass Pakistain, which had blocked its supply routes from NATO entering Afghanistan after 24 Pak soldiers were killed last year in a NATO Arclight airstrike.
"We reached an agreement on reverse transit from Afghanistan with three Central Asian partners: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,"
the NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a presser Monday.
"These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need," he said.
The NATO will begin troops withdrawal and equipment from Afghanistan later this year.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... the Washington continues talks to Pakistain to reopen routes blocked six months ago.
This deal means it can return equipment to Europe overland via Russia.
There are around 130,000 foreign forces in Afghanistan, 90,000 of which are US forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Short of de facto Romney-led electoral defeat this coming November, everything right now is holding steady + good, NOT necessarily great, for the Bammer + Re-election Campaign going into Summer 2012.
Iff thingys or trends hold, the only Probs I can see to screw up the Bammer this Summer + November
is ...
* US BUDGET COLLAPSE ANDOR NEW US, GLOBAL RECESSION OR DEPRESSION.
* FAILURE OF IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS, i.e. as per the Maxima, Minima limits of uranium enrichment by Iran for purposes of NucEnergy only.
* UN, US-LED MIL INTERVENTION IN ASSADIAN SYRIA, as Iran desires to protect both its Ally + its strategic access to the Med widout need of Suez Canal [KSA side].
IRAN FEAR OF KSA SIDE OF SUEZ CANAL + RED SEA CHANNEL = SHIA IRAN DOESN'T FORESEE ANY IMMEDIATE OR NEAR-TERM TO ITS REGIONAL, OWG CALIPHATE RIVALRY WID HOUSE OF SAUD = SUNNI ISLAM???
* PAK GOVT. COLLAPSE, as a consequence of severe US $$$ cutback due to failure in US/NATO-PAK negotiations to reopen the closed NATO Supply Routes, leading to possible Indo-Pak War = ultimately devols into Indo-China War???
(Sh.M.Network) -- A federal appeals court has thrown out 19 of 20 contempt-of-court citations against a Minnesota woman convicted of funneling money to cut-throats in Somalia.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the first contempt charge against Amina Farah Ali, a Mohammedan, who refused to stand for the judge and jury early on in her trial last October, saying it is prohibited by her religion.
The three-judge panel vacated all other contempt counts against Ali and sent the case back to Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis. The appeals court says the judge ruled only on First Amendment grounds, and failed to consider a separate federal law protecting religious freedom.
Ali and a co-defendant, who say they only sent money for the poor, await sentencing on terrorism-related charges.
This article starring:
Amina Farah Ali
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
Another way to headline this article would have been, "One contempt of court citation upheld against disrespectful Muslim terror financier," but I guess that would have been too long and too accurate.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/06/2012 16:54
Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] After a two-day relative lull, a surge in assassinations was witnessed in the city on Monday when five people, including three workers and a supporter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... , were killed, police said.
Nearly half a dozen drive-by shootings in the old city areas of Kharadar, Paan Mandi, Garden and Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... came as a grim reminder of the assassination of seven people, mostly Baloch, in different parts of the city on Friday.
The shootings spread tension in the old city areas, where traders pulled down shutters for fears of violence.
In what police described as the first gun attack in the early hours of Monday, four friends sitting near Paan Mandi were targeted. Gunmen riding two or three cycle of violences opened fire on them and sped away, officials said.
All the four victims, supporters of the MQM, were later rushed to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , where one of them died, the police said, adding that he was identified as Irfan Sattar, 30. His friends -- Mohammad Hanif, 45, Asghar Yousaf, 33, and Obaid Saleem, 20 -- were admitted for treatment, said the police.
Shortly afterwards, gunnies riding two to three motorbikes opened fire on two men sitting in Kamil Gali near Sarafa Bazaar.
Mohammad Zubair and Sher Alam sustained gunshot wounds and were shifted to the CHK for treatment, the police said, adding that both were MQM workers.
The police quoted hospital sources as saying that their condition was stable. In yet another gun attack in the early hours of Monday, two workers of the party were targeted near Shoe Market.
Sharif Abdul Waheed, 48, and Anisur Rehman, 24, were sitting close to Azeem Plaza on Siddique Wahab Road when gunnies riding motorbikes pulled up there, fired at them and sped away, said a duty officer at the Garden cop shoppe. He
added that both men sustained gunshot wounds. Sharif was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital, while Anisur Rehman was admitted for treatment.
The police quoted party men as saying that the victims were workers of the MQM Lyari sector's unit 32.
Within some hours, another drive-by shooting was reported in the Kharadar area. "This time gunnies have targeted people near Paper Market," said an official at the Kharadar cop shoppe.
He added that Mansoor aka Churiwala, 32, and Sohail Sikandar, 28, both workers of MQM unit 30 and residents of Kamil Gali, were sitting near a stall when gunnies riding motorbikes fired at them and fled. The two men sustained gunshot
wounds and were rushed to the CHK, he said.
"Mansoor was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, while Sohail has been admitted for treatment," he said, adding that doctors described Sohail's condition as serious.
In Bihar Colony, a hakim was killed at his clinic in the afternoon, police said.
They added that Asim Sohail, 35, was rubbed out inside Ahsan Dawakhana.
The police said the hakim had relocated to North Bloody Karachi from Bihar Colony last year. He was an active worker of the MQM in North Bloody Karachi though he maintained a low profile in the old city area, where he ran the Dawakhana.
Speaking to Dawn, a police brass hat in the old city areas said that in all the targeted attacks, 9mm pistols were used. He added that police Sherlocks had collected dozens of spent bullet casings at the crime-scenes.
After sunset, two men riding a motorbike were targeted on Nishtar Road.
One of the victims was struck down in his prime while the other, identified as Zeeshanur Rehman, was rushed to the CHK, where he was admitted for treatment, said SDPO Qaiser Ali Shah. He quoted doctors as saying that Zeeshan's condition was critical.
The identification of the dear departed and the victims' political affiliation could not be immediately ascertained, said the officer.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Elders and holy mans of Pales village in Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... district on Monday denied the alleged killing of five women on a jirga decree over singing and dancing along with men in a marriage function, and told an official fact-finding mission that all the women shown in a mobile phone video were alive and in safe hands.A section of the media had earlier reported the killing of the said women on May 30 amid denial by the Hazara division administration.
Earlier in the day, the mission comprising Hazara commissioner Khalid Khan Umerzai, DIG Dr Mohammad Naeem, Kohistan DCO Aqaal Badshah and DPO Abdul Majid Afridi flew to Bechbala Gadar area on directives of Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. "The women, who are reported to have been killed on the decree of a jirga, are alive and as per the accounts of local elders and families of the said women, no one can kill them on the basis of a suspicious video," DCO Kohistan Aqaal Badshah told news hounds here.
Mr Badshah said two brothers of Mohammad Afzal, who had 'broken' the news of the women's killing, were also incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! "Besides recording the statements of the family members, Learned Elders of Islam (holy mans) and elders, we also searched for new graves but found nothing in support of the claim of Mohammad Afzal about the killing of five women to media on Sunday," he said.
Mr Badshah quoted female members of the said women's families as appealing to the media not to disgrace them by airing the dancing video on TV channels.
He also quoted a holy man as saying that neither women nor men seen in the video were labeled as perverted and hence, no question of killing them arose.
A source close to the fact-finding mission said elders and holy mans made it clear to the mission that they could extend whatever surety was required under the law to confirm that women were alive but they (women) couldn't be produced in
front of ghair mehram (non-relatives) in line with local traditions.
He said police had incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! Gulnazray and Binyasir, who were also seen in the video, from Allai area before shifting them to Kohistan.
Police on Sunday lodged FIR against them under section 509, 505, 292 of Pakistain Penal Code and 18-Motion Picture Ordinance.
Also in the day, Chief Justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took a suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice of the alleged killing of women and asked the district administration to produce the women on June 6 before him.
Mohammad Afzal and Shahzaday, who had allegedly made the video on mobile phone, and then transferred to others, were still on the lam and police were raiding at
different places in Hazara to apprehend them.
District police officer of Kohistan Abdul Majid Afridi had said once Mohammad Afzal, his brothers and Shahzady were incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , then the truth about the jirga decree and the killings would be out.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Iran Press TV] A former Republican state Senator has been sentenced up to 10 years in state prison on charges of misusing taxpayer appropriations and forgery.
Former Pennsylvania Republican Senator Jane Orie has been ordered on Monday to serve from 2.5 to 10 years in state prison for using her taxpayer-funded legislative staff to do campaign work and forging defense exhibits to try to cover it up.
Presiding judge Jeffrey Manning said Orie may have received a shorter sentence if she hadn't introduced fraudulent documents as evidence during her first trial in March 2011, which caused a mistrial.
"You stand convicted of crimes that demean the sanctity of all we do as lawyers," said Judge Jeffrey Manning, adding that "the sin is overborne by the deflection; the crime overshadowed by the cover up."
Prosecutors insisted Orie deserved incarceration because she showed no remorse and continued to minimize her crimes even when pre-sentencing Sherlocks interviewed her.
On March 26, Orie had been convicted on 14 counts including five felonies ranging from theft of services, conflict of interest and forgery.
The judge has yet to decide whether Orie must repay up to USD 2 million in restitution, legal fees and other costs.
Orie had been elected to the Senate in a 2001 special election to fill an empty seat and was re-elected three times.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What's good for the goose is good for the Gander.
[Tripoli Post] Following calls from rights groups to revoke a law that criminalises glorifying ousted former Libyan dictator leader Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... or any of his supporters, and/or spreading "propaganda" that insults or endangers the state, on June 14 Libya's Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of the new law.
The appealing lawyer told the court on Sunday that Law 37, which was passed by the ruling National Transitional Council last month, violated constitutional freedoms of expression.
Saleh al-Marghani said that the law is similar to a Qadaffy- era measure aimed at stifling dissent and jailing the opposition. "This law is a violation of the basic freedoms of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... and will help to damage freedoms in Libya. The law itself helps to glorify Qadaffy more than keep it in check. We ask the court to accept our appeal," he said.
He went on to say that the law is vague and could be used to imprison people for up 15 years just for criticising the government.
International and local rights groups say the law contradicts the Constitutional Declaration by Libya's interim leaders guaranteeing freedom of speech.
The NTC passed Law 37 on May 2 and raised public outrage among civil societies and Libyan legal experts who said the law violated the spirit of freedom of expression.
The law prescribes prison sentences for the glorification of Qadaffy as well as publishing any news "harming the February 17 revolution".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Iran Press TV] Informed sources say anti-government gangs and the cut-throats in Syria have clashed with each other over some financial issues in the western city of Homs.
The fighting broke out after they argued over funds provided by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and Qatar.
The internal conflict between the gangs have left some krazed killer commanders dead and several others injured over the past few days, the sources noted.
Residents of Homs said some of the forces of Evil had refused to obey foreign orders to blow up buildings, including religious sites in the older part of the city.
The growing conflict prompted some other gangs to intervene and execute those who disobeyed the order.
Syria has been the scene of ongoing violence since March 2011. Many people, including security forces, have bit the dust in the unrest.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
In-fighting among Syrians over money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar?
Gosh, I would have never expected internal squabbling among Arabs.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/06/2012 12:38
Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] Ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... suffered an "emotional breakdown" in prison on Tuesday, days after he was sentenced to life over the death of protesters last year, a senior interior ministry official said.
The ailing 84-year-old's "health deteriorated while in prison," the official told Agance La Belle France Press without describing the nature of the breakdown.
"Doctors from the police hospital have been called to treat him, along with the prison doctors after he suffered an emotional breakdown" a security official said.
The former leader's lawyer, Yasser Bahr, confirmed to AFP that Mubarak "had an emotional crisis that affected his general health."
Mubarak's son, Gamal, who is in the same prison compound, has been moved to be closer to his father, the security official added.
On Saturday, Mubarak and his interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison over the killing of protesters during last year's uprising that ousted him and that left some 850 people dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Iran Press TV] Press TV has conducted an interview with author and historian Webster Dr. Griffin Tarpley from Washington about the increase in terrorist numbers along Syria's border with Turkey and about the link the armed opposition of the Syrian National transitional Council has to the Bilderberg Group. The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: First of all, what do you make of this new front that has been launched in Turkey? It says it's recruited around 12,000 armed rebels to fight Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... . That's quite precise wouldn't you say?
Tarpley: I think we are dealing with a proliferation of terrorist sects and it's the practice that we've seen. The Syrian National Council, made up of ex-patriots primarily, people who have their roots in the western world.
This is unstable and the fact that (Burhan) Ghalioun has not been able to hold on to power despite the advantages that would have given the Syrian National Council with their western owners and backers. I think that's very significant.
So here we have another group, maybe more bad turban, more terrorist-ic.
Let me point to one of the developments in the last couple of days though. We just had the Bilderberg-er meeting here at Chantilly, Virginia and I was on the scene to report this and one of the people we saw going out and one of the people whose name is on the official Bilderberg participant's list is a representative of the Syrian National Council.
Her name is Basma Kodmani; Basma Kodmani of the Syrian National Council or actually national block, is her most immediate address, was there. And that means she was hob-nobbing, according to most reports with Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Rockefeller, top European bankers like Ackerman of Deutsche Bank and representatives of the crown heads of Europe. I think this gives you a very good idea of what the nature of the Syrian National Council is.
This woman Basma Kodmani is a professor of international relations at the University of Gay Paree; she is also a prominent official of the Ford Foundation and the French National Research Council, the CNRS. So this kind of a person is the sort of individual that would be planning color revolutions, coups, destabilizations and so forth and you see her then coming with her black limousine along with these bankers, the Queen of the Netherlands was there, my heavens, the prince of Belgium was there - and she's rubbing noses with them.
So that shows you the top down support for the Syrian national council, but why some of these fighters, some of these for example veterans of Libyan civil war are not going to be too happy with them.
Press TV: Speaking of the Syrian National Council, it has been working behind the scenes disregarding the peace plan presented by Annan and its new head is a Kurd, which again raises the question of an autonomous Kurdish region in the Middle East spanning over Iraq, Turkey and Syria bowing to the will of the US.
Tarpley: Yes, of course. It underlines the utter folly, the incalculable irresponsibility and lack of insight of some of the Turkish leaders who have come so far down this road. It must be obvious to them that if they attacked Syria, there will be a general Kurdish uprising with the goal of creating a Kurdish an independent Kurdish state that will impinge not just on Turkey and Syria and Iraq and Iran, but may be even farther a field.
This would be an absolute disaster. The general impression I get is that the presence of this Basma Kodmani at the Bilderberg-er Group may indeed signal that some kind of a decision has been made, this coming after the Houla massacre of about a week ago that the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... block really is interested in starting some kind of a war.
Notice also that Susan Rice of the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , the US representative to the UN, Susan Rice who was one of the most vicious of all the warmongers has now said if Russia and China maintain there current attitude and veto a war that it would be time to look for alternatives outside the UN Security Council.
That's 'Bush Speak' isn't it? That's the 'Coalition of the Willing' - that's illegal, aggression, violation of international law - except that this time given the sensitivity of Syria, the implications for this are incalculable, they're just frightening.
Press TV: It has been revealed that British SAS forces have been deployed on Syrian soil. Syria is no Libya though, so could Western aspirations play out the way that they have planned?
Tarpley: No I do not think so. In other words, they will not get this simple reduction of Syria to chaos in the way that has now been accomplished in Libya. The word from Libya today is that there is basically civil war fighting going on around Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich 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... international airport where I was about a year ago.
I don't think Syria is susceptible to that, but this could be as the Russian Foreign Ministry has been threatening for weeks it could be the beginning of a regional war, which as Medvedev said in St. Petersburg three weeks ago, could turn into a nuclear war.
So this is what the NATO madmen are playing with this weekend and that Bilderberg (group meeting) I think may emerge as a turning point.
Press TV: There have also been warnings of a full scale civil war erupting in Syria by the UN as well as China. With the way things are headed, how likely is that scenario?
Tarpley: Well, up until now there simply has not been a mass base for this and I am still very skeptical that there is a mass base for a civil war. If they want to claim civil war, let them show us the territory that the (NATO) death squads and their allies and fellow travelers control.
What do they control? Do they control Homs or do they control Daraa, do they control Idlib? I don't think they control any of those. So unless and until we see some territory under their control and the emergence of a kind of a fighting front, this is not a civil war. This remains what it was from the beginning... a cynical destabilization planned by people in the US State Department going back to the Salvadoran solution that the US began implementing in Iraq in 2006, 2007.
This article starring:
Griffin Tarpley
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[17 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Iran Press TV] The Argentinean government has seized the country's biggest oil company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF), ousting the Spanish controlling shareholder, Repsol.
In the first shareholder meeting since the takeover, 16 directors of the company were appointed, with Miguel Galuccio, an Argentine veteran of the country's oil industry, as the new chief executive and chairman of the company.
In early May, Argentinean politicians approved the takeover of YPF and ratified the nationalization bill, giving President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner the green light to expropriate the 51-percent stake from Repsol.
Buenos Aires accused the Spanish company of "draining" YPF and carting off its profits instead of reinvesting them since gaining control in the 1990s. Repsol denied the accusations, pledging to fight the takeover as it has invested billions in the company over the years.
The former Spanish shareholder now owns 12 percent of the YPF, and will have just one seat at the board of directors.
Sell the shares and walk away. Never come back.
YPF was privatized in the early 1990s and the Spanish energy giant (Repsol) acquired a majority of the company's stake in 1999. Repsol has sued Argentina to recover compensatory damages that could reach more than USD 10 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
can't understand why the Falkland Island residents wouldn't want to join up with Evita Jr.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/06/2012 8:25
Comments ||
Top||
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Russia has said it was prepared to see Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... leave power in a negotiated solution to 15 months of bloodshed that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said a day after meeting mediator Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... in Geneva that Russia would back any peaceful settlement to the crisis as long as it did not involve the use of outside force.
"We have never said or insisted that Assad necessarily had to remain in power at the end of the political process," Mr Gatilov told the ITAR-TASS news agency in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... "This issue has to be settled by the Syrians themselves."
The comments represent one of Russia's most explicit declarations of a position first signalled by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a day after a February 7 meeting in Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... with Assad.
Mr Lavrov at the time refused to explicitly back Mr Assad and said the leadership structure of Moscow's Soviet-era ally "should be the result of agreement between the Syrians themselves."
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ... Syria's government declared today that the ambassadors and staff of several Western countries as well as Turkey were personae non gratae.
"Some states recently informed heads of our diplomatic missions and embassy staff that they are unwelcome," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding Syria was now designating the ambassadors of the United States, Britannia, La Belle France and Turkey, among others, as personae non gratae.
The ambassadors of Canada, Italia and Spain were also named in the statement, as well as various embassy staff members from Belgium, Bulgaria and Germany.
The statement concluded by saying that Syria "still believes in the importance of dialogue based on principles of equality and mutual respect" and that diplomacy is a "necessary tool" for countries to resolve disputes.
"We hope that those countries which initiated this step will adopt the same principles, allowing for relations to be normalised," it added.
A slew of mainly Western countries expelled Syrian diplomats in the wake of the Houla massacre of more than 100 people in late May, one of the worst atrocities in the country since an uprising broke out in March 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[17 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
(Sh. M. Network)-An official in Somalia government says at least four soldiers were killed and many others injured after TFG soldiers have exchanged gun fire in Afgoye district, 30 Kilometers north-west Mogadishu.
Abdullah Ahmed, the district commissioner of Afgoye district, told news hounds on Tuesday that the combat began around 10:30 pm local time on Monday night with both sides used both heavy and slight weapons during the festivities, but subsided hours later.
"So far at least four soldiers have been killed and more than that number were also maimed in the fighting. We are launching an investigation about the grounds of the combat," the commissioner added.
He stated that the security situation if Afgoye district is getting out of hand in the past few days.
Afgoye district, a former Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al shabab stronghold lies30 Kilometers north-west Mogadishu was captured last week by Somali and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces after secured a critical humanitarian aid corridor between Mogadishu and the town of Afgoye like Elasha-Biyaha and Lafole areas.
Afgoye corridor is home to approximately 400,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), who have escaped fighting in the southern portion of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[Tolo News] As many as 12 Islamic fascistiwere killed in a clash with Afghan border police in northeastern province Nuristan, local officials told TOLOnews on Tuesday.
The Islamic fascistiwere ambushed by the Afghan border police in the Patigar area of Kamdish district, front man for the Eastern Border Police Edris Mohmand said.
The clash continued for four hours, and one of the coppers was also maimed.
No further details were provided by the official.
This comes as 83 Islamic fascistirenounced violence in northern Baghlan province, provincial police chief Asadullah Shirzad told TOLOnews.
A group of bully boys, led by Zia-ul-Haq, joined the Afghan grinding of the peace processor and surrendered their weapons to the local security officials, he added.
More than 580 Islamic fascistihave turned themselves over to join the reconciliation process since the start of this year, according to government officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2012
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV] The Syrian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that 
Armed groups in Syria have killed at least 15 soldiers in the western province of Latakia amid the country's ongoing violence.
[Yemen Post] The military committee on Monday started discussing a comprehensive strategy to restructure the Yemeni armed and security forces, which divided during the 2011 popular uprising, Saba reported. 
[Dawn] Following the Supreme Court's orders, Federal Interior Minister 
Phillipine negotiators hoping to end a Muslim insurgency have proposed creating monuments to abuses committed on both sides, including beheadings by rebels and a president's desecration of an insurgent headquarters with a pork feast.
[Iran Press TV] A 
After a two-day relative lull, a surge in 
cycle of violence
[Tripoli Post] Following calls from rights groups to revoke a law that criminalises glorifying ousted former Libyan dictator leader 
Press TV has conducted an interview with author and historian Webster Dr. 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
