The United States' spy satellite agency is giving NASA two spare space telescopes free of charge, each potentially more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA officials announced.
Both NRO space telescopes have a main mirror nearly 8 feet wide (2.4 meters), rivaling the Hubble Space Telescope, and also carry a secondary mirror to enhance image sharpness, according to press reports.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012
18:00 ||
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#1
Hopefully that means they (NRO) have something better.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/05/2012 18:45
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Yea Rich, it's the General Dynamics G8V99 Deep Earch Penetrator (DEP) which was successfully tested recently on 1-3 mile deep tunnels in North Korea. US and Korean paratroopers performed the on-site, ground validation testing.
#3
More on the gift
âThis is going to be top-quality hardware,â said the analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic. âTheyâre not state-of-the-art spy satellites, but they are probably still state-of-the-art optics.â
DeSio, the NRO spokeswoman, said the telescopes were built in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The spy telescopes have a feature that civilian space telescopes lack: a maneuverable secondary mirror that makes it possible to obtain more-focused images, said David Spergel, a Princeton University astrophysicist and a co-chair of the National Academies of Science committee on astronomy and astrophysics.
The new telescopes are âactually better than the Hubble. Theyâre the same size, but the optical design is such that you can put a broader set of instruments on the back,â he said.
BUT THE KEY PHRASE: âNASA does not have in its current budget the funding necessary to develop a space telescope mission using these new telescopes,â
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 19:13
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#4
Best guess by many on NASA forum is Block-4 KH-11 mod. Optics are there but the NRO pulled the cameras and image sensors.
quote from one of the forum comments:
f1.2 primary!!! F!1!.!2! That's less than 3 meters long! f8 system leads to a 19,200mm focal length (~5x the focal length of the KH-8!) Though to be fair, CCD pixels are much larger than film grain, so it may be a wash. Thermal Barrel and Radiator system included. Mass of only 1700kg! Of course that does not include the sensors, solar panels, batteries, spacecraft bus, and the million other parts I forgot. But still, how much would the rest of the package weigh? Could this fit and be sent to GEO on a large Atlas? Then we get into the geeky stuff of 60nm rms... that better than 1/10 wave. The fancy materials, etc...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 20:06
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#5
Money for spying but n0t for science!?
This is getting ridiculous when NSA has better space telescopes than NASA. NASA gets their junk out of the recycle bin?
#6
NSA doesn't usually have to deal with expansive Congressional interference in who buys, who sales, who constructs, where it all gets paid, and who ultimately gets campaign donations. Usually that's all restricted to those on the double super secret panels who won't talk/deal with their buds in the hallway or restroom in the Capital.
A federal department ruled last week that the Forest Service violated a Spanish-speaking woman's civil rights by calling the Border Patrol to help translate during a routine stop, saying it was "humiliating" to Hispanics and an illicit backdoor way to capture more illegal immigrants.
The ruling by the Agriculture Department's assistant secretary for civil rights could change policies nationwide as law enforcement agencies grapple with how far they can go in trying to help the Border Patrol while not running afoul of racial profiling standards. How about these people are fucking illegal and by thus definition they are BREAKING THE FUCKING LAW!!! We don't give a goddamn about their race!
Assistant Secretary Joe Leonard Jr. said calling the Border Patrol automatically "escalates" encounters between Hispanics and law enforcement. He ruled that the Forest Service cannot routinely summon the Border Patrol for assistance and said the agency now must document suspected racial profiling nationwide.
"Given the increased risk of being questioned about immigration status during an interaction with [Border Patrol], the policy of using BP for interpretation assistance is problematic in all situations because it places a burden on [limited English proficient] individuals that non-LEP individuals do not experience," Mr. Leonard ruled.
The case stems from a 2011 incident in Olympic National Forest in Washington in which a Forest Service officer encountered a Hispanic couple who he said appeared to be illegally harvesting plants on the federal lands.
The couple didn't speak English and he didn't speak fluent Spanish and, anticipating that situation, he called the Border Patrol for backup and translating.
But when a Border Patrol agent arrived, the couple fled. The woman was apprehended, but the man jumped into a river to try to escape and drowned. The Border Patrol took the woman into custody but released her several days later, reportedly on humanitarian grounds.
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project complained to the Agriculture Department, which oversees the Forest Service, and last week's ruling was the result. This type of inter agency fights remind me of nazi germany. Plus, when the government starts going after honest citizens following its own laws to placate some outside force, it has gone beyond needing a good tar and feathering.
#1
were they illegal? They certainly acted like it. Joe Leonard Jr. needs to lose his job. Make him a "This administration is sooo screwed up" story in a Presidential debate
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2012 21:04
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The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project complained to the Agriculture Department
Sounds like the AgrDept should outsource the work to the Aurora CO police. Oh, wait, that only applies to actual citizens. Never mind.
(CBSDC) -- A U.S. drone strike in Pakistain has killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, according to a U.S. official who has confirmed the death to CBS News.
Libi, who was the target of a Monday morning Arclight airstrike, was one of 15 people reportedly killed by two missiles from an unmanned aircraft, multiple news agencies reported. The BBC reports that the attack happened on a suspected bully boy compound in a town near the Afghanistan border. The confirmation of Libi's death is a devastating blow to al-Qaeda, as he was reportedly second-in-command behind Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... . His role reportedly includes heading up the day-to-day operations for Pakistain's more tribal areas and lands.
In 2009, the U.S. thought it had killed Libi in a drone strike, but the victim's identity was mistaken as being Libi. Monday's drone strike by the U.S. against Pakistain was the eighth in the last two weeks.
Rooters reports that the drone strike was strongly condemned by Pakistain's foreign ministry, which called it "illegal."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
14:38 ||
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#1
OTOH TOPIX > PAKISTAN HAS EVIDENCE THAT AL-QAEDA NO.2 WAS AT HOUSE HIT BY [US] DRONE; HIS FATE UNCLEAR.
As STAR TREK main character Mr. Spock once said, HE'S "BEEN DEAD BEFORE"???
If it's 'jump stories' he enjoys telling, let's put his knees in the breeze on a solo mission over Pyongyang and let him escape and evade (E&E) his way south. That should give him quite a lot to bloviate about.
Occupy DC's base camp in McPherson Square morphed over the past nine months from a few dozen protesters in sleeping bags to a virtual tent city. But over the past few weeks, one of the most enduring encampments of the national anti-Wall Street movement has all but disappeared.
A library tent and a few tarps are all that remain of the ongoing vigil, and Occupiers who once spent their days in McPherson Square at the corner of 15th and K streets are mostly gone. Many of those who remain now meet in the offices that a labor union, the Service Employees International Union, rented for them a few blocks away.
"There's a lot more drunks that hang out there," said protester Travis Schoff. "We don't really go there, especially at night." McPherson Park or the SEIU union hall?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/05/2012
10:47 ||
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McPherson Park or the SEIU union hall?
Yes
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/05/2012 11:39
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When the OWS morons have outlived their usefulness, the SEIU will disavow them and boot their butts to the curb (very shortly after the first Tuesday in November, I presume).
What a shock to the unwashed masses that'll be.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/05/2012 11:45
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#5
...well, not the senior union officers who are raking in the mandatory deductions from the workers paychecks. I'm sure they don't think its a bug, but a feature.
A militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing of 13 men whose bodies were found bound and shot in eastern Syria last month, killings condemned by United Nations monitors as "appalling and inexcusable".
Activists said at the time the dead men were army defectors killed by President Bashar Assad's forces, but the Al-Nusra Front, a militant group which has claimed several recent bombings, said the dead men were Syrian security officials.
The group said it had captured and interrogated a group of men in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on May 29 and "justly" punished them with death, after they confessed to crimes.
"God enabled the lions of the east in Deir al-Zor ... to get the necks of a group of dogs from the security agencies and the thugs," read the statement posted on an Islamist web forum.
"Thirteen of those criminals were detained ... each of them faced his end in the worst killing and the very worst fate."
It was not possible to verify the claim from the group, which was unknown before it claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Damascus and Aleppo, starting in December.
United Nations observers said last month 13 bodies had been discovered in Assukar, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Deir al-Zor. They had been tied up and executed.
A statement issued by the chief U.N. observer, Major-General Robert Mood, condemned the killings but did not accuse any side of perpetrating them.
Reaching out to supporters, he praised Obama's record on jobs, citing the successful stimulus and the auto bailout; blaming Europe and Republicans for the slowdown.
"Who would have ever thought that the Republicans who made a living for decades deriding 'old Europe' would embrace their economic policy?" he said to the laughing audience. "Their economic policy is austerity and unemployment now, and then a long-term budget that will explode the debt when the economy recovers so that interest rates will be so high nobody will be able to do anything." That's it. Make the audience think it's the Pubs who want to be like the EU. The mind boggles.
Referring to Republican freshman Congressman Allen West, Clinton continued "He's had to get all this done with a House of Representatives that had one of the tea party members claim that 78 to 81 members of the Democratic caucus were members of the Communist Party.
"This is not the 1950s. At least Joe McCarthy could skate on the fact that there was one or two living Communists walking around," he added to laughter from the crowd. "Nobody has seen a Communist in over a decade." Spin it, Willie, twirl it! Make 'em all dizzy!
"As usual, he pretty much summed it up," Obama said. "So I don't have to add too much - don't want to guild the lily here. Nobody has a better grasp and understanding of the issues than this man." Not even his wife, O? Moving farther and farther into a dream world.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/05/2012
10:36 ||
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I am really disappointed in Willie, I thought he was more patriot than socialist. I know he is FAR more centrist than Obambi.
I think Clinton is having trouble, he does not want to be viewed as cozying up to the Republicans but I think he trully loathes and dispises Obambi.
Obambi is heading for an Odessa Steps moment with his own supporters. With Maureen Dowd slamming him and the NYT writing articles about him that have much the same tone as their criticisms of GWB, I think we are on the verge of a watershed moment on BO.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/05/2012 11:49
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#2
Slick disparaging Congressman Allen West should come with a mandetory $10m fine and a 5 year prison sentence.
#3
I am really disappointed in Willie, I thought he was more patriot than socialist. I know he is FAR more centrist than Obambi.
Huh? Don't you remember old Slick Willie talking up socialized medicine way back in 1993, long before anybody ever even heard of Barack Obama? And it was Hildebeast trying to ramrod the whole thing through Congress.
I remember him saying, "This health care system of ours is badly broken, and it is time to fix it." His idea of fixing it was pretty much the same as Obama's. They are cut from the same cloth. Maybe this will refresh your memory.
For some reason, some people have fond memories of William Jefferson Clinton. But I always thought he was a lying, cheating son of a bitch. It was Newt Gingrich forcing him to balance the budget that gave him whatever claim he might have had to a fairy prosperous economy. But during that whole time Fannie and Freddie were laying the ground work for the 2008 mortgage meltdown. Yeah, he pretty much opened up the border to a flood of illegal immigrants too. Spit.
#5
The real watershed moment on BO will come Election Day, followed by an expected vote-count fiasco unless there is a massive turnout against The One.
Saudi Arabias religious police arrested an American university professor for having an illicit meeting with an Arab company driver in the Gulf Kingdom.
Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had suspected a car parked just behind a shopping mall in Riyadh.
When they knocked on the window, an Arab man stepped out of the back seat and look confused, the Arabic language daily Sabq said.
When they looked at the back seat, they found an American woman who works as a professor at a university in Riyadh, it said.
Both were arrested and referred to the competent authorities for investigation, the paper said without identifying the two.
Saudi Arabia, which strictly enforces Islamic law, bans gender-mixing in public places unless they are close relatives
President Obama extended a waiver for an additional six months that delays moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Obama's waiver, issued June 1, follows in the footsteps of predecessors Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who also extended the waiver every six months since a law was passed in 1995 mandating moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Presidents are permitted to delay the move on national security grounds.
Some Jewish groups have pushed for the United States to move the embassy as a way to bolster Israeli claims to the city. Those favoring the use of the waiver say that moving the embassy would anger the Arab world and put the United States in the position of taking sides on an issue that should be settled in peace talks.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, has privately told Jewish leaders he would not commit to moving the embassy as president.
Adviser to supreme leader says recognition of Iranian nuclear rights within NPT would lead to "favorable result" at talks.
An adviser to Iran's supreme leader has urged world powers to formally recognize its nuclear rights to bring about a "favorable result" at talks on its atomic program later this month, state media reported on Tuesday.
Despite Iranian pressure in talks last month, Western countries avoided any explicit recognition, saying Tehran had no automatic right to enrich uranium because of its previous violations of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran maintains that under its membership of the NPT, it can develop a full nuclear fuel cycle for peaceful purposes including the preparation and enrichment of uranium.
"I hope the P5+1 group recognizes Iran's inalienable nuclear right within the framework of the NPT and refrains from sitting on the sidelines," IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying.
"By accepting Iran's right to use peaceful nuclear energy, the forthcoming talks in Moscow should reach a favorable result."
Khamenei - who has total command over Iran's nuclear policy - has publicly forbidden the development of nuclear weapons.
But Western nations suspect that the Islamic Republic's higher-grade uranium enrichment is part of a clandestine program to develop the material and components needed for the capacity to produce nuclear arms.
Security: From leaks about the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... to those detailing cyberattacks on Iran, a disturbing pattern of publicly disclosing classified material to give Barack Obama I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick... a political boost is emerging. Under this president, our enemies don't need spies.
The fact that the Allies in World War II had the ability to intercept and decode German and Japanese military transmissions, leading to critical military victories at Midway and elsewhere, remained a secret until long after World War II was over, and it didn't matter who knew it. "Loose lips sink ships" was then more than a clever wartime slogan.
Last week, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... published insider accounts of Obama-administration policies, one involving "kill lists" of gunnies being targeted by drones. The other exposed our involvement in cyberwarfare attacks against Iran to disrupt its nuclear program.
The computer virus program, dubbed "Olympic Games," along with many counterterrorism policies and programs, was inherited from the administration of President George W. Bush.
But Bush knew how to keep a national secret and, unlike the incumbent, was aware that national security is more important than the next election.
Thanks to the Times article, details of the previously unknown operation are now known, including how the program was supposed to operate and the involvement of Israeli intelligence in it.
"It's a pattern that goes back two years, starting with the Times Square bomber, where somebody in the federal government, probably the FBI, leaked his name before he was captured," said Rep. Pete King, the GOP chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
"That's why he tried to leave the country -- he knew they were on to him." Calling the episode "amateur hour" at the White House, King said: "It puts our people at risk and gives information to the enemy."
Rival Libyan militia clashed at 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... 's international airport on Monday after an armed Libyan brigade surrounded the airport and forced it to close, a Rooters witness said.
Gunfire could be heard at the airport, a Rootersnews hound at the scene said, adding he could see men entering the airport carrying rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: ||
06/05/2012
06:05 ||
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NEW YORK - A New York accountant accused by US authorities of helping al-Qaeda with computer systems pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to terrorism-related charges.
Sabirhan Hasanoff, 36, a dual US and Australian citizen who owns a home in Brooklyn, New York, was placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... in April 2010 and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda.
At a hearing in US District Court in Manhattan, Hasanoff told Judge Kimba Wood that between 2007 and 2010 he agreed to give support to the terrorist Islamist network. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Before his arrest Hasanoff had been a group chief financial officer for a Dubai-based company for 3-1/2 years.
A village leader was gunned down in his pick-up truck while returning home from a meeting in Pattani province on Tuesday afternoon.
The attack took place about 1:05pm when Ya Waeni, 58, was returning to his home in his pick-up truck when he was attacked by terrorists gunmen armed with AK47 and M16 rifles. Ya was shot many times and died on spot. His pistol was taken by the killers. Many spent catridge cases were found around the bullet-riddled pick-up truck.
U.S. and NATO equipment will have a guaranteed route out of Afghanistan after an agreement with Central Asian countries allowing the alliance to completely cut out the shorter Pakistani access routes NATO has used for years.
In a Monday press conference in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters that a deal had been struck between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to allow the alliance's equipment to be moved through their territories. A deal already set with Russia will allow the equipment to be moved directly though land into Europe, and to air bases to fly the U.S. equipment home.
Pentagon officials said talks with the Pakistanis on opening the ground routes through Pakistan to the southern port of Karachi are still ongoing, but have yet to produce an agreement to re-open the routes, known as Ground Lines of Communication or (GLOC).The NATO deal with the Central Asian countries seems to indicate a deal with Pakistan may not happen or will be indefinitely delayed. Talks between NATO and Pakistan have been ongoing for several weeks to reopen the lines closed since a November 2011, mistaken attack on Pakistani troops by NATO forces. The attack killed 24 Pakistani troops along the border with Afghanistan.
The NATO alliance in Afghanistan began using the northern distribution route almost immediately after Pakistan closed its borders to supplies coming in and equipment and material leaving Afghanistan.
The northern passageway costs considerably more, more than double what the United States and NATO had been paying Pakistan. Cock-a-boodle-doo!
Costs for the Pakistani route ranges somewhere around $250 per truck while trucks passing through the northern route can cost upwards of $1,200 per truck. During the negotiations with Pakistan, U.S. and NATO officials said that Pakistan wanted to raise its transit rates to as much as $5,000 per truck, something the United States said it would not pay.
"These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need," said Rasmussen as he announced the new transport deal and said the deal would make "the use of the Russian transit arrangements even more effective."
NATO plans to remove its final combat troops at the end of 2014 and hand over full security responsibility to Afghanistan then. Afghanistan is set to have around 350,000 of its own security forces in place at that point with a still-to-be-determined number of U.S. and international forces left behind to train the Afghan forces.
#1
Alternative,load a truck with a small bomb and Smallpox and pass through, if it's hijacked wait a few days and resume shipments, they'll all be dead.
Yes I'm tired of this shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/05/2012 9:02
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#2
A deal already set with Russia will allow the equipment to be moved directly though land into Europe, and to air bases to fly the U.S. equipment home.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 22:55
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#6
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US APOLOGY NEEDED TO [Re-]OPEN NATO SUPPLY ROUTES OR CLOSE FOREVER: KHAR.
PAK FM Hina Rabbini Khar.
* SAME > PAKISTAN REPEATS DEMAND FOR SALALA APOLOGY FROM US TO REOPEN SUPPLY ROUTES.
* SAME > PAKISTAN AND US: ALLIES WIDOUT TRUST.
Best of so-called "Frenemies"???
* DAILY TIMES.PK > US APOLOGY A MUST FOR REOPENING SUPPLY LINES: FM.
Taken collectively, IMO the success or failure of these alternate routes thru these CAR States will depend on whether US-Iran major ground war can be perman avoided, as per Russia's threat to close down the NDN iff the US-Israel attack Iran.
As indic by ...
* TOPIX > [HuffPo] MJ ROSENBERG: OBAMA CAN WIN [Re-] ELECTION IFF ENDING TO IRAN WAR THREAT, vee mainstream US Voter = Political acceptance of the US allowing Iran limited uranium enrichment for purposes of civilian nuclear energy, + while also removing UN Sanctions on Iran. There will seemingly not only be peace between the US + Shia Iran [ + by extension wid US ally, Iran rival Sunni Saudi Arabia?], but the latter Shia Iran will also help significantly reduce high gas, fuel prices in CONUS ala the resumption of bilateral oil trade.
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION REMAINS = CAN THE US-WEST TRUST THE POST-GWOT, POST-"ARAB/MUSLIM/ISLAMIC SPRING", MOSTLY PRO-ISLAMIST ARAB-MUSLIM WORLD TO UNILATERALLY KEEP DANGEROUS NUKE-WMDS MILTECHS OUT OF THE [asymmetric] HANDS OF PRO-ISLAMIST, PRO-VIOLENCE/JIHAD MILITANTS-TERRORISTS/NGOS + ALIGNED???
Iff the on-going failure of the Arab-Muslim World to set up desired, so-called OWG "Islamic/Muslim Union" or similar is any measure, UNFORTUNATELY THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING "NO".
At least for the current generations.
[KIDDIES OF THE APOCALYPSE, OWG, + CALIPHATE here].
Hopefully I filed this in the right place.
Many animal lovers find it hard to part with their pets when they die.
So when cat Orville, named after the famous aviator Orville Wright, was run over by a car, his artist owner decided to turn him into a permanent piece of artwork as the ultimate tribute by transforming him into a flying helicopter. That's not weird, is it?
Dutch artist Bart Jansen first stuffed Orville before teaming up with radio control helicopter flyer Arjen Beltman to build a specially-designed flying mechanism to attach to the cat.
The end result, named the Orvillecopter, is now on show at the Kunstrai art festival in Amsterdam where visitors can watch Orville flying for themselves.
Jansen said the Orvillecopter is 'half cat, half machine', and part of a visual art project to pay tribute to his cat Orville. Hmm, I wonder how it would go over with the Taliban.
Jansen, part of the art cooperative Generaal Pardon, said: 'After a period of mourning he received his propellers posthumously.'
He added that Orville will soon be 'flying with the birds' stating: 'Oh how he loved birds. He will receive more powerful engines and larger props for his birthday. So this hopping will soon change into steady flight.' Pics at the link. Go ahead, you know you want to ....
#2
For our younger, cloistered or foreign readers - they got a thing called a "sail cat", as descried by the late Jonathan Winters. You see when a cat is run over on the highway it just lays there for days. More cars and trucks keep runnin' over the dang thing. It gets flatter and flatter and dryer and dryer. Finally, some kid will go out there and peel this flat, dead, carcass off the highway, then fling it, like a Frisbee, across a corn field, just to see how far it will go. You know, a "sail cat"!
#7
Should have made a pitbulcopter. Send that at the Jihadi's in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/05/2012 14:03
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#8
Watching the flight it is unbalanced. That's where a good micro-controller should be on-board to fudge the power to each blade to compensate for the imbalance.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 17:07
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#9
I've seen vids of quadcopters doing synchronized precision flight. Maybe his control algorithms suck. Or need some time to learn, depending on the approach.
If you are going jihadi-hunting, you want one made from a pig. You could make heads explode - literally.
Update 12:30 CST (Got 'em) Abu Yahya Al-Libi, a top Al Qaeda operative, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan, Fox News confirms. More on the number two Fred notes below... "Getting close ... A couple inches higher and you're there!"
A Predator attack over the weekend targeted Abu Yahya al-Libi, a leading al-Qaida operative who was viewed as one of five candidates to succeed Osama bin Laden as leader of the terrorist group when he was killed last year. U.S. officials confirm that he was the target of the Sunday attacks and say they are awaiting word on his status. Hopefully RTP. May we see the severed head?
In one of three strikes over the weekend, a U.S. drone struck a militant compound early Monday morning in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's northwestern tribal area. Pakistan insecurity reports indicated the pre-dawn strike killed 15 insurgents, but. U.S. officials said the number of dead was "exaggerated." It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction they have, especially if they think the Mighty Pakistaini Army is involved.
The Agence France Presse news agency reported that two missiles were fired on the compound in Mir Ali, 15 miles east of Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, in an area considered a hive of Taliban and al-Qaida activity. Bees, meet Brakleen.
A Pakistani official, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said the victims were mostly foreigners and Urdu-speaking Punjabi Taliban who had gathered with the intention of crossing into Afghanistan to fight with Afghan Taliban fighters against NATO forces. And then re-crossing back into the safety of Pakistain if things started getting weird.
Reuters, citing reports from the region, said nearly 30 people were killed during the sequence of strikes, including four suspected militants on Saturday, 10 suspected militants on Sunday, and 15 people in the strike in which Abu Yahya was targeted. People? Maybe "a gory medley of terrorist chiefs and their bodyguards" would be more descriptive.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday it "strongly condemns" the US drone strikes, which it described as "illegal attacks" on Pakistani sovereignty. Doesn't sovereignty imply that you are in control of your kingdom?
The most-recent attack of the weekend was the eighth drone strike in Pakistan since a NATO conference on Afghanistan in Chicago last month. Since taking office in 2009, the Obama administration has carried out nearly 300 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the majority of them in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to the New America Foundation, which keeps an unofficial count. The majority of them in Pakistain's tribal areas? Does Pakistain have anything but tribal areas?
If Abu Yahya was indeed killed, it would be another blow to al-Qaida in Pakistan, the so-called al-Qaida Central. We're out to get your Yahyas.
The Libyan, believed to be 39 years old, is one of the most influential propagandists in al-Qaida and one of its best known deaders leaders. Getting younger and younger, aren't they. Suppose this guy is old enough to have a sixth grade education yet?
Abu Yahya draws much of his credibility from having escaped a U.S. military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on the night of July 10, 2005. He subsequently appeared in more than 30 videos produced by al Shahab, the al-Qaida media wing, and other militant sites. In December 2009, Pakistani officials erroneously reported he had been killed in a Predator strike, further enhancing his image. In that part of the world, a video of a guy molesting a goat would enhance his image. Unless the goat had reached the age of majority, of course.
U.S. officials say unlike many al-Qaida propagandists, Abu Yahya also is a seasoned fighter. Now he's just seasoning, hopefully.
In May 2011, shortly after bin Laden was killed, U.S. officials identified Abu Yahya as one of five potential successors to the slain al-Qaida leaders. The leading candidate, Ayman al Zawahiri, ultimately did succeed bin Laden. If Abu Yahya was killed, he would be the fourth of the five to have been killed in drone strikes. I'll bet Zawahiri's aids are having a hard time separating him from his chair right now, even while pulling hard on both arms.
Ilyas Kashmiri, al-Qaida's director of external operations, was killed on June 3. Abdul Rahman Atiya, bin Laden's chief of staff, was killed Aug. 22. Both of those attacks took place in northwestern Pakistan. Anwar al Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and an American citizen, was killed in Yemen, also in a drone strike, on Sept. 30. What did they do, move him over to Yemen and put a target on him so the pattern wouldn't look so obvious?
#5
So how many NO.2's killed does this make now...??
Entirely more than I'd feel comfortable with, were I senior -- or middle, come to think of it -- management, crazyhorse. They can,t be having enough time to train these people to do the job before they get killed, let alone before the replacement Number Threes are trained in their new responsibilities.
#6
And if O had kept his big mouth shut until the Seals and CIA had time to exploit the intel they gathered when they whacked bin Laden, we probably could have gotten several more potential number 2's and 3's.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/05/2012 18:37
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The governor of the US state of Wisconsin is facing a rare recall election, seen as a key test ahead of the presidential election in November. Republican Governor Scott Walker faces Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett more than a year after passing a law limiting workers' collective bargaining rights.
Critics gathered nearly one million signatures to force the recall vote.
The outcome of Wisconsin's vote could have implications for the presidential election, analysts say.
Mr Walker is only the third governor in US history to face a recall vote.
The fight in Wisconsin reflects the broader national conversation over how to deal with bloated budgets and a sluggish economic recovery, and correspondents say that what happens in Wisconsin could have a bearing on how the presidential campaign unfolds.
"One thing is really clear here: If Walker wins on Tuesday, which we are really confident he will, [Barack] Obama's going to have a much tougher road ahead in Wisconsin this fall," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus told reporters, ABC News reported.
#1
Fox's Frank Luntz had quite a gathering of Wisconsin folks last evening. They appeared to be split pretty heavily on the issue. One lady was particularly upset that she had to miss work and stay home with her children because their teachers trekked to Madison to participate in the Gov Walker protests. Being paid by the school district for protesting might have added insult to the injury as well.
#2
This is all about money and power. Walker stands in the way of unions. This recall is outright greed. Obama should have been long gone but stinkers like him remain.
#3
Walker's requirements that the PEUs pay more toward their generous medical and retirement are entirely reasonable. These asshats have been spoiled and acted like pampered children. Most voters have gotta be sick of the drama
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2012 10:27
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#4
The PEUs and their minions in the media are throwing everything they can against the wall to see if it sticks against Walker.
Their current meme is that Walker is involved in a criminal investigation against his office when he was Milwaukee County's Supervisor. What they don't report is that he's the one who initiated the investigation (and promptly fired some pesons) when he found out that some on his staff (holdovers from previous Dem administrations acting as they were used to doing) were engaged in theft by fraud, outright theft of public funds, campaign work (not know for who) on County time and various other illegal activities.
Unfortunately, there are many folks that will believe anything you tell them. It's looking to be a tight race.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/05/2012 10:41
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#5
He most probably will win the recall but will he win the recount?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/05/2012 12:19
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#9
"Bearing on how the presidential campaign unfolds" > yeah, the majority of both CNN + FOX Pundits believe that WI is a gauge of whetehr the Bammer will win in November or not.
I'm not convinced - however true the above or not, IMO its more correct to say that WI, PA, + CA are litmus tests for the survival of traditional Big Labor = AFL-CIO, etc. under OWG-NWO = SPACE GOVT-ORDER.
Walker , Scott (i) GOP 957,827 55%
Barrett , Tom Dem 763,369 44%
Trivedi , Hari Ind 9,925 1%
Lieutenant Governor - Special General
June 05, 2012 - 10:04PM CT
Wisconsin - 2565 of 3424 Precincts Reporting - 75%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Kleefisch , Rebecca (i) GOP 924,269 55%
Mitchell , Mahlon Dem 754,897 45%
State Senate - District 13 - Special General
June 05, 2012 - 10:04PM CT
Wisconsin - 66 of 97 Precincts Reporting - 68%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Fitzgerald , Scott (i) GOP 32,254 60%
Compas , Lori Dem 21,324 39%
Virgil , Terry Lib 486 1%
State Senate - District 21 - Special General
June 05, 2012 - 10:04PM CT
Wisconsin - 13 of 60 Precincts Reporting - 22%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Wanggaard , Van (i) GOP 11,301 62%
Lehman , John Dem 7,033 38%
State Senate - District 23 - Special General
June 05, 2012 - 10:04PM CT
Wisconsin - 113 of 168 Precincts Reporting - 67%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Moulton , Terry (i) GOP 22,491 60%
Dexter , Kristen Dem 14,765 40%
State Senate - District 29 - Special General
June 05, 2012 - 10:04PM CT
Wisconsin - 119 of 172 Precincts Reporting - 69%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Petrowski , Jerry GOP 26,573 64%
Seidel , Donna Dem 15,041 36%
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 23:09
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The Pakistani police have arrested three US diplomats in the city of Peshawar for possession of illegal arms.
Police officials told Dawn TV that the diplomats, along with three Pakistani nationals, were stopped at a routine checkpoint at the entrance to the Peshawar Motorway on Monday but they refused to allow the police to search their vehicles. The police checked the "suspicious cars" anyway and discovered several assault rifles, pistols, and ammunition. That's a diplomatic violation by both sides. Diplomats aren't supposed to be armed (though their bodyguards can be), and the Pak police aren't supposed to 'inspect' diplomatic property.
US Consul General Mary Richard visited the police station where the US nationals are being held for questioning and told the police they could keep the weapons but asked them to release the US diplomats.
In January 2011, Raymond Davis, a CIA agent operating under the cover of a diplomat, shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis. Pakistan charged him with murder, but Washington insisted that he was an "administrative and technical official" attached to its Lahore consulate and had diplomatic immunity.
Davis was finally allowed to leave Pakistan in March 2011 after a $2.4 million diyya (a form of monetary compensation or blood money) was paid to the victims' families.
After the Davis incident, Islamabad ordered all CIA agents to leave the country, but according to local sources, there are still scores of CIA agents working in Pakistan.
#1
In January 2011, Raymond Davis, a CIA agent operating under the cover of a diplomat, shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis.
The impression I got was Davis was acting CIA station chief. Two guys tried to whack him and ended up on the wrong side of dead.
#6
I recall that Pakistani that stood in the street and gunned down CIA employees on their way into the office in Virginia back in the late 1990's I think. Wasn't he on the ISI payroll too?
At the risk of being the pedantic inter-nerd, the issue was acting COS. (not being argumentative, maybe just heard too many over-lawyered disclaimers that depend on what the meaning of 'is' is)
Part of the fun of playing at Open Source Intelligence Analyst, Jr. Grade here at the 'Burg is trying to filter and synthesize signal from all the noise, spin and data. I recognize that we have Rantburgers who actually know stuff about stuff - whether they can talk about it or not.
We are still left with the interesting question of why the ISI sent two (inept) mooks to whack a CIA guy. (yeah, assuming it was the ISI)
Just another day in the Ummah
A man is under arrest in Germany after killing his wife in front of his six young children and cutting her into pieces.
Orhan Sircasi then ran on to the roof of his apartment building clutching her severed head in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other.
The 32-year-old killer of Turkish origin fought off police as they tried to seize him early this morning by lunging at them with the knife and swinging the head like a club.
According to legislation, State Department must now differentiate between Palestinian refugees and descendants of refugees; former Abbas advisor: It can have a very bad reaction on the ground.
Palestinian advocates are warning that a new US Senate amendment dictating a reporting requirement on the issue of Palestinian refugees could set back efforts to reach a peace deal.
The amendment to a bill, recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, mandates that the secretary of state must report how many of the Palestinians serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency fled or left homes in Israel during the War of Independence and how many are only their descendants.
"It's very dangerous. It can have a very bad reaction on the ground," talk about stating the bleeding obvious
said Ghaith Al- Omari, a former foreign policy advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas now with the American Task Force on Palestine. "It will just make any US ability to push for a responsible solution suspect in the eyes of the Palestinians and refugees in particular."
Before committee passage, the amendment was weakened slightly from the original proposal by Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois -- which would have also mandated a count of how many of each category of Palestinians lived in the West Bank and Gaza as well as were citizens of another country -- after objections from the Obama administration.
#1
The author fails to mention or refer to the potential of advanced USVS as anti-Sub, anti-Surface Ship, anti-DEAD, + general LR land attack, espec vee "dual/multi-use", "tranformer/transformation" NT.
On a separate note, looks like the Russians were once again premature in scrapping their "Typhoon" heavy subs, as opposed to using them for NT testbeds.
A CIA drone strike Monday targeted al-Qaida's second in command, Abu Yahia al-Libi, in Pakistan, but it was unclear whether he was among those hit, U.S. officials said.
U.S. officials say fewer than five people were hit, although Pakistani officials say more than a dozen people were killed in two days of strikes in Pakistan. The CIA has carried out a half-dozen strikes in less than two weeks, as the U.S. pushes ahead with the controversial drone program despite Pakistani demands that it stop. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified drone program.
U.S. officials said they did not know yet whether al-Libi was among those killed, but said they were "optimistic."
Al-Libi would be the latest in the dozen-plus senior commanders removed in the clandestine U.S. war against al-Qaida since Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden last year.
The White House maintains a list of terrorist targets to be killed or captured, compiled by the military and the CIA and ultimately approved by the president.
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A Mexican Naval Infantry unit raided a location in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas Monday rescuing 12 unidentified individuals and detaining 10 others, according to a news release by the Mexican Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR) or Mexican Navy posted on the official website.
The marine unit had been patrolling the general area when they were dispatched to the location based on an anonymous complaint. There they found a residence where 11 men and one women were being held hostage. The victims had been kidnapped from various areas in Nuevo Laredo.
The 10 detainees are reportedly members of the Gulf Cartel criminal group.
At the location marines also seized a large cache of munitions including two grenade launchers, 17 AK-47 rifles, one machine gun, six handguns, five explosive charges, 18 40mm grenades, 25 hand grenades, 241 weapons magazines, 16,500 rounds of ammunition, two vehicles and communications gear.
Nuevo Laredo is in the grip of a bloody battle between the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa alliance versus Los Zetas. Nuevo Laredo is considered to be Los Zetas' home territory, but their rivals have been conducting a competition which includes kidnapping innocent victims, butchering them and displaying them as rival gang members.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Dawn] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... has concluded agreements with Central Asian nations allowing it to evacuate vehicles and other military equipment from Afghanistan and completely bypass Pakistain, which once provided the main supply route for coalition forces.
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan had agreed to allow the reverse transport of alliance equipment.
Since NATO already has an agreement with Russia, the deal will allow it to ship back to Europe tens of thousands of vehicles, containers and other items through the overland route when the evacuation picks up pace later this year.
Pakistain shut down the southern supply routes six months ago after US Arclight airstrikes killed 24 Pak soldiers at the Salala border post, forcing NATO to switch almost completely to the so-called Northern Distribution Network.
After months of stalemate, Pak leaders last month signaled that negotiations on the supply routes were progressing, just in time to secure an invitation to the weekend NATO summit in Chicago. But since then the two sides have made little progress in the talks, officials said.
The announcement on Monday appears to indicate that Washington and the allies are now preparing for the possibility that the supply link through Pakistain, said to be about six times cheaper than its northern alternative, may not be reopened at all. It is also likely to put pressure on Pakistain to ease its negotiating stance, which has been stuck in part on how much money the US and NATO should pay to transport the trucks through Pak territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
Cut all aid to Pakistan and let them suffer for their treachery.
Like the Iran Govt the Pakistan right is our main main enemy in the region.
[Iran Press TV] The terrorist Free Syrian Army (FSA) has abandoned the peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy 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... , resuming its deadly attacks.
The terrorist group said on Monday that it has abandoned the ceasefire after the Syrian government gave no response to the rebels' deadline. The rebels had earlier threatened to abandon the ceasefire unless the army stops its operations against gangs by Friday.
Major Sami al-Kurdi, a Free Syrian Army front man, said the rebels were no longer bound by the truce after their Friday deadline passed.
FSA had earlier urged Annan to issue a statement declaring his peace plan to have failed.
The announcement of rebels' abandoning the ceasefire and resuming their attacks comes as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Free Syrian Army has killed over 100 soldiers across the country over the weekend.
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... has repeatedly accused the gangs fighting against the government of violating the ceasefire since it was declared on 12 April as part of Annan's six-point peace plan to end months of unrest in Syria.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including hundreds of security forces, have been killed in the country over the past 15 months. While the West and the Syrian opposition say the government is responsible for the killings, Damascus blames "outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups" for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Yemen Post] Governor of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... Jamal Al-Aqel has said that Ansar Alshari, an al-Qaeda-linked group, faces a very difficult situation, stressing that the Yemeni army makes remarkable progress against the hard boyz who are pursued in their hideouts, as the governor said.
In remarks to the military-run 26 September Newspaper, Al-Aqel highly appreciated tribal leaders and locals of Abyan, asserting that they strongly backed the army and that the battle in Abyan will be resolved soon.
He promised thousands of internally displaced persons to back to their villages and homes soon, stressing that Al-Qaeda hard boyz are defeated in several areas of Abyan.
Local sources said on Monday that the army prepares for raiding Emsara, a southern coastal town from al Qaeda-linked fighters.
Yemeni troops have advanced into the centre the southern town of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, where they fought on Sunday. Local sources affirmed that hundreds of troops backed by tanks were closing in on the krazed killer-held town of Shaqra, some 50 km (30 miles) along the coast east of Zinjibar.
They further indicated that Yemeni warplanes continued strikes against al-Qaeda positions in Zinjibar and Jaar.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... a car boomwent kaboom!, killing four rustics and wounding another of what is called the Popular Resistance Committees formed of rustics to back the army, the Defense Ministry said.
Military sources said six jihadists died in festivities with troops, elsewhere in Abyan.
According to an AFP tally compiled from official statements, at least 397 people have been killed, , including 291 Al-Qaeda gunnies, 66 military personnel, 22 local Islamic fascistiand 18 civilians since the offensive began.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[14 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
A statement Sunday by former Mexican president Vicente Fox essentially endorsing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate Enrique Pena Nieto has thrown the other two major campaigns into an uproar, according to Mexican news reports.
Fox was president of the republic from 2000 to 2006, and the first president from Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) to win the presidency. His successor, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa won election in 2006 by less than one percentage point over Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) candidate Andres Manuel Lopoz Obrador. Lopez Obrador is running again for president, his fourth attempt as the candidate of the left since the formation of the PRD in 1994.
Fox held the press conference in San Cristobal, Guanajuato where he urged Mexicans to rally around the front running Pena Nieto, who has maintained double digit leads over his rivals consistently since the start in March.
According to a news account on the website of Milenio news daily, Fox said, "...a winner is emerging and we must support him, so we can resolve the problems." Fox also said voters should not be afraid of a return to authoritarianism, adding that political reforms since PAN took over would prevent the excesses committed by PRI governments in the past.
Fox's statement has not surprisingly touched off heated reactions from political camps of the left and the right, including from PAN president Gustavo Madero Munoz who tweeted earlier Monday: "I do not know what bug bit him." Madero's tweet was a reference to Fox's endorsement and photo op earlier last month, in which Fox partially repudiated an earlier statement that PRI would win the presidency.
Madero could not forebear to make a swipe against Lopez Obrador by adding in his tweet, "I am deeply offended with all the support was to be for the one democrat!"
Fox has in the past been given to astonishingly dumb statements which wound up hurting his own party. In 2011, he made a statement in the press criticizing President Calderon and his war on the cartels, and then recommended legalization of drugs in Mexico.
But Fox's media event was a deliberate announcement of support of Pena Nieto, not an unfortunate off the cuff statement by an elder, albeit former statesman. His latest antic has calls coming for his expulsion from PAN.
Pena Nieto for his part has been calling for economic reforms centering around free markets, much like his distant predecessor Miguel de la Madrid, who died earlier in the year. He has also called to continue the war on the cartels except with a different strategy, one he has to date failed to enunciate.
This co-optation has not moved the polls further in his direction, but they have not hurt him either. His most recent statements seem to indicate he is now relishing his status as frontrunner. Instead of attacking his rivals, he is talking reforms.
Pena is also facing a potential problem of his own as undecided voters are the second largest block after his own supporters. A presidential debate is coming next Sunday. Even though last month's debate failed to move any of the candidates, the next debate is an unknown factor in the race.
Lopez Obrador has characterised Fox's statement as "immoral", and Fox himself as "despicable", saying Fox's endorsement is a "dirty trick".
Lopz Obrador himself is facing an enquiry by the Instituto Federal Electoral into his campaign's finances announced last week.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and natonal political news for Rantburg.com
Months after military medics from New Mexico made the brave decision to pull a live explosive out of a young Marine, the guardsmen shared their story.
A crew of New Mexico National Guardsmen, well-practiced in medevacking wounded troops off the battlefield in Afghanistan, made a decision that few can fathom."Each of us on the aircraft had to agree to take the patient on," Spc. Mark Edens said.
Their patient, Lance Cpl. Winder Perez, had a foot-long rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side. It could have exploded at any time."There was quite a bit of alarm among the crew at the time, as you can imagine," Capt. Kevin Doo said.
Perez needed to be flown to the nearest medical unit, which was around 65 miles away.
"If the RPG exploded, you know Spc. Edens and Sgt. Hardesty are working on the patient directly over him, shrapnel alone would have been devastating. And about 18 inches behind where the patient is lying is over 300 gallons of jet aviation fuel and it would have been catastrophic," Doo said.
When the chopper landed, a Navy trauma nurse ordered his staff to stay away. The young Marine was still fully conscious."I took him by the hand he said, 'Where is everybody?' and I said, 'You have an RPG in your leg and everybody is staying away from you. I promise you I will not leave you until that thing is out of your leg,'" Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari said.
Rescue crews were able to get the live round out of the young Marine. He's still recovering in a Washington D.C. hospital. Video at the link.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2012 8:15
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#2
When I was active, we used to say that the NGs on AT were nocturnal animals; slept during the day and came out at night to drink. We may have understimated the breed.
Part timers. Christmas help. Half civilian. If they can do this, we're going to be okay.
God bless them all.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/05/2012 8:44
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#3
Bravery personified! Dear God send us more young men like Edens and Hardesty.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Malawi President Joyce Banda has assured British Secretary of State for International Affairs Andrew Mitchell that the country will arrest Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir if the enters the country.
President Banda told Mr Mitchell during a closed door meeting in Blantyre that there was need to iron out issues surrounding Malawi's position on Bashir.
She is said to have told Mr Mitchell that she has made it clear to the AU that President Bashir will be arrested Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up, Mister President! if he comes to Malawi for the 19th Summit of the 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... President Bashir is expected to be in Malawi in July, with other African Presidents, for the summit.
Initially, Malawi sought the help of the Africa Union to convince President Bashir not to come to the summit, however the AU Commission said it had no mandate to stop a president of a member country from attending a summit.
In October last year, President Bashir visited Malawi to attend a Comesa summit and the country attracted international condemnation for failing to arrest him.
He is wanted by International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) to answer cases of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. abuses against his people.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Yemen Post] At least four tribal fighters of whose supporting the armed forces in the battles against Al-Qaeda Islamic fascistiwere killed in a suicide kaboom in Yemen's Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province on Monday, the Defense Ministry said.
fifth fighter was injured in the incident, which occurred early morning in the Um Sorra in the Lawder district, the ministry said.
"Two Islamic fascistidetonated their bomb car at a checkpoint of the tribal fighters amid precise checking process in this area," it said.
"The fighters at the checkpoint wanted to check the car, but the Islamic fascistirefused and went kaboom! their car immediately".
One of the bad boy bombers was dressed up like a girl, the ministry said.
Scores of Islamic fascistihave been killed in the past few days in the ongoing battles to clear Islamic fascistifrom more areas in Abyan province.
Many tribal fighters joined the national forces, which have recently stepped up the offensive against Al-Qaeda in Abyan province. The forces have retook some areas, which were seized last year including Lawder.
Hundreds of Islamic fascistiincluding big shots have been killed and injured, amid ongoing battles to retake the most important strongholds of Al-Qaeda: Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan and Jaar.
The US is providing direct support to the Yemeni army, with drones killing many bad boys, especially key leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[14 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#2
Damn! The site won't let me access it from New Delhi. Is it what I think it is? Same sex, alternative lifestyle ring knockers celebrating graduation?
Posted by: Secret Asian Man (assignment New Delhi) ||
06/05/2012 3:56
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#3
Yes, Secret Asian Man. And very handsome they look, too.
[Dawn] Despite its claims, the government appears unable to control the menace of murders in 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... at least nine people were killed in the metropolis on Monday, DawnNews reported.
Unidentified armed assailants opened fire on two men in the city's Mithadar area, leaving one dead and the other severely injured. Both men were reported to be workers for a political party.
In another incident, an unidentified man seemingly in his early forties was rubbed out by unknown gunnies near Jheel Park in Bahadurabad area. His body was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) for medico legal formalities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... two men were killed after unidentified gunnies riding on cycle of violences opened fire outside their home in Azim Plaza area, near Shoe Market. Another man, known to be a worker for a political party, was also maimed in the attack. The bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
A cracker blast in Hussainabad Food Street area and firing in Kharadar left three people including two coppers injured. Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... Rangers personnel are carrying out a targeted operation in Nawa Lane, Lyari.
In Chakiwara, gunnies fired at a herbal pharmacy, killing a hakeem on the spot.
Firing on Nishter Road led to the death of one man and left another injured. Both men are said to be affiliated with a political party. In Manghopir, a man was killed. The said victim is also a political party worker.
Other men were killed in Kaghazi Bazaar, Gulzar Hijri and Kharadar.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... in Ferozabad, a man was rubbed out. The victim is said to be a driver and according to details was killed due to a personal feud.
Crime Range, West Police jugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a suspected hit man and recovered arms from his possession.
Another man was killed in Kalri, bringing the corpse count to nine in the last 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Dawn] Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa on Monday assumed charge as the front man for the armed forces, taking over from the outgoing DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas. ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... Bajwa was appointed as the Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) earlier in April to take over the position from Abbas after he retires in June.
Bajwa was posted in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... as a general officer commanding for the past two years. Under Bajwa's leadership, the army conducted military operations against hard boyz in the South Wazoo tribal region.
Prior to that, he served as the deputy military secretary under Former President General (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... . It is believed that Bajwa, who has also commanded the 111 Brigade, played an active role in the publication of the Urdu edition of Musharraf's controversial autobiography 'In the Line of Fire'.
He holds a Masters degree in Defence Studies from Kings College London UK & MSc War Studies from NDU, Islamabad. He is also the recipient of Tamgha-e-Basalat.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Tolo News] As many as five forces of Evil were killed in an operation carried out by Afghan and Foreign security forces in southern Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province, local officials said.
Provincial police chief, Dawlat Khan Zadran told TOLOnews today that the operation was conducted in Urmamai district of Paktika as turban activities were increased in the area.
"An operation was conducted to clear forces of Evil in the area, in which five forces of Evil were killed and several others were maimed," Zadran said.
Civilians or Afghan and Isaf security forces have reportedly suffered no casualties.
This comes as a British soldier was killed in a clash between British troops and forces of Evil in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, local officials said.
The incident occurred as British troops were trying to rescue deputy commander of a police checkpoint in Nahre Saraj district of the province.
Another British soldier was injured in the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[Washington Post] U.S. missiles killed more than a dozen people in northwestern Pakistain early Monday in a strike that apparently was aimed at al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, the charismatic and influential jihadist known as Abu Yahya al-Libi, U.S. and Pak officials said.
The terrorist commander's fate remained unclear late in the day, amid a swirl of rumors inside Pakistain that the longtime deputy to the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... had been badly maimed or perhaps killed in the strike. Libi's death, if confirmed, would represent one of the biggest successes against al-Qaeda since bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs 13 months ago.
Al-Qaeda's defeat is "within reach," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... said Saturday during a visit to Afghanistan. He said eliminating as few as 10 of the group's top figures could cripple its ability to strike the West. (July 9)
"This would be a major blow to 'core' al-Qaeda, removing the No. 2 leader twice in less than a year," said a senior U.S. official with access to classified reports from Pakistain, where officials from both countries were working to ascertain Libi's fate.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
Great.
But I'm still waiting for us to eliminate Mullah Omar.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/05/2012 6:57
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#4
manversgwtw, the surviving jihadists won't be able to vote until they're after they've been brought to Manhattan for a civilian trial by Eric Holder, and served out a five month sentence of house arrest before gaining full U.S. citizenship and voting rights.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/05/2012 21:16
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Galilea Montijo aka Galilea in "La escuelita VIP (The Schoolhouse VIP)(TV 2004)" aka Aline Mena Mora in "Hospital el paisa (The Paisa Hospital)(TV 2004)" aka Gabriela Guillen / Martha Guzman Zaldivar in "La verdad oculta (The Hidden Truth)(2006)" aka Frida Adulta in "Perras (Bitches)(2011)"(age 39)
Jillian Murray aka Heather in "An American Carol (2008)" aka Portlyn in "Sonny with a Chance (20092011)" aka Brandi Cox in "Wild Things: Foursome (Video 2010)" aka Penelope in "Cougar Hunting (2011)" aka Eve in "Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011)" aka Natashia in "Deep Toad (2003)" (age 28)
Gertrude Michael aka Calpurnia in "Cleopatra (1934)" aka Alicia Hatton in "I'm No Angel (1933)" aka Sophie Lang in "The Notorious Sophie Lang (1934) The Return of Sophie Lang (1936) Sophie Lang Goes West (1937)" aka Elsa Duranyi in "Till We Meet Again (1936)" aka District Director Schneider in "Women in Bondage (1943)" aka Millie in "Flamingo Road (1949)" (Died in 1964 at age 53)
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] In 2009, a group of men posing as businessmen hired a truck and snuffies and made their way to Afmadow, an Al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... stronghold in Somalia, to buy contraband sugar and bullets. Their plan was to transport them across the border from the lawless nation to Kenya.
"We know that you will be troubled by Kenyan officials at the border," an Al-Shabaab commander told them as they packed their wares. "They will need a bribe to let the sugar in. Worry about the sugar, but leave the bullets problem to us."
Assured, the militias packed the thousands of illicit rounds of ammunition into the sugar sacks, then set off to look for pistols, which they acquired at Sh6,000 apiece.
At the Kenyan border area of Dobley, they bribed Administration Police officers with Sh3,000 for each truck that they let in, then headed for the Liboi Military Camp.
What happened to the cargo after that remains a mystery, but the Kenyan soldier who regaled this story to DN2 in Afmadow last week was almost 100 per cent sure that it ended up in criminal hands.
Brooding under the canopy of a scorching Somali sky, the soldier, who requested anonymity because he did not want to be quoted discussing sensitive security matters, looked into the horizon, heaved a sigh of relief and gave a faint smile.
It was a few hours after his battalion had roared into the Al-Shabaab stronghold of Afmadow, and in his mind he was sure that no other lorry-load of ammunition would take off for Kenya from this desolate address.
Nearby, a Z-9 helicopter gunship belonging to the KDF idled with stunning elegance, its rotar blades gleaming in the harsh sun.
It had hit terrorist targets with stunning accuracy while, about five kilometres away, our anonymous soldier and his peers prepared for the final march into town by raining mortar bombs into suspected Al-Shabaab positions.
"We cannot take chances," Warrant Officer II Salah Ibrahim, who was in charge of the mortar unit, said under the din of exploding munitions. "We have to announce our presence in style."
Thanks to three months of hard work by military intelligence officers, the KDF knew more about the town than Al-Shabaab expected.
The intelligence officers had entered the town disguised as smugglers to lay the groundwork for the operation, and by the time the forces moved in, they had a clear understanding of enemy positions and had been briefed on the political, economic and social climate of the town.
A few days before the fiery onslaught on Thursday last week, a team of KDF Special Forces and Rangers trained in the US and Britannia infiltrated the nearby Xayo town. From there, they neutralised -- or switched off, as they said -- communication infrastructure, ensuring that Al-Shabbab fighters remained in the dark about the impending assault.
But, despite all the reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, the rag-tag militia still had the nerve to prove its mettle.
Hours before the operation started, Kenyans drawn from the Nanyuki-based 'A Company' survived an ambush on the way from Tabda to Belles Qocani after triggering an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) along the road. Eight Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in the ensuing shootout, a source at the KDF said.
This latest triumph by Kenyan forces in Somalia could not have come at a better time. Before the start of the operation, their trail of victories had all but gone cold. At the sector headquarters in Dobley, Somalia, Brigadier Johnson Ondieki explained the uneasy lull since December, saying that it was necessary to take time before proceeding to liberate the town from the militia.
Their incursion started in October last year when, with the assistance of the Somali Transitional Government Forces (TFG), KDF established a defensive position at Tabda.
They then proceeded to liberate Busaar, Ras Kamboni, Elade, Fafadun, Busaar, Belesc Coqani, Hosingo, Kolbio, Badhadhe, Girma, Bulla Hache, Damasa, Catama, Badade and Burgabo towns from the Shabaab.
At the time they roared into Afmadow, they were controlling about 95,000 square kilometres of Somalia.
The capture of this strategic town, however, had taken too long, rekindling memories of the World War II blockbuster A Bridge Too Far to Cross. But there was a reason, a very good reason, for this delay.
Intelligence reports had convinced the men who called the shots on the Kenyan side, the KDF generals, that the right time for advancement was during unfavourable weather.
The logic was that Al-Shabaab transport units would be bogged down in mud, making it easy for KDF helicopters to identify them and swoop in for the kill.
Armed with this intelligence, military planners were convinced that the Al-Shabaab would fully prepare its best men ready for the Kenyans, and that the best way to wear down these bad boys was to keep them eagerly waiting for the Kenyan onslaught... for months.
Thus, as an intelligence brief argued, it was better to delay the capture of Afmadow "as long as it would take".
It was concluded that a delay approach might actually achieve something. The sector headquarters in Dobley started preparing the soldiers for an imminent war which it knew it would take months to launch.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... numbers of Al-Shabaab fighters kept on moving away from Afmadow to other areas.
A group of journalists flown to Somalia at the beginning of this year was also deliberately made to believe that the battle for Afmadow was almost happening.
The information came in through a three-tier system. After the arrival of the Kenyan spies, informers were planted in the town, where they started running all kinds of businesses, ensuring a constant flow of human intelligence (referred to in military lingo as 'humid briefs').
Informers from the town relayed info to the Kenyan forces on every move the Al-Shabaab made.
This 'humid info' was then carefully cross-checked with still and recorded images from drones (unmanned aircraft) and clips of movements captured from a light aircraft for surveillance flying about six to seven kilometres above the ground. The drone observations started about two and a half years ago.
Military intelligence officers in Nairobi and Somalia analysed the data and estimated Afmadow's population with an aim of avoiding civilian deaths, or 'collateral damage'.
But, like in any war, there were mistakes along the way. An initial attack by the hapless Somali government army ended with their butchering. Al-Shabaab fighters tied their bodies to vehicles and dragged them along the streets of the town.
It has been said that only the dead see the end of a war, but Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Nyaga, a charismatic military tactician, had a different message for his fighters just before they crossed the rough terrain into Afmadow last week.
"Gentleman," he began, "this is war... and people die in war. But this one will be different." His combat team, which, he said, packed a "killer punch", listened pensively, seeming too eager to end the months-long wait.
Their convoy had all the hallmarks of a modern show of might, with over 100 vehicles stretching about a kilometre into the thickets that dot the forlorn terrain that is Afmadow suburbs.
The soldiers included assault troops, tank men, artillery units, infantry, engineers and a dozen other trades of war. Operation Free Afmadow had two stages: Capture Xayo town, located along the way, before proceeding to the much bigger Afmadow.
The attacking force was under three commanders: Lt Col Nyaga (the Commanding Officer (CO)), Brigadier General Ismail Sahardid of the Somali National Army (SNA) and Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, leader of Ras Kamboni Brigades (RKB), a warlord who has joined KDF in the war against Al-Shabaab.
Brig Gen Sahardid is a cool career soldier while Sheikh Madobe is a bully of sorts who punctuates every sentence with a sheepish smile. There was word that he eagerly expected the capture of Afmadow so that he could start taxing the people, and he seemed to confirm this in a later interview with DN2.
"Don't forget that I am also a professional fisherman," he said. "I can also make money from that."
At 8.30am on Wednesday last week, two days after a terror attack in Nairobi that killed one person and injured tens of others, Lt Col Nyaga delivered his last words to his troops, urging them to fight for liberation and national pride.
Then the first army chaplain to go to the war front, Major Father Makau, said a prayer before the mighty engines roared. "Green! Green! Green!" Lt Col Nyaga yelled at the top of his voice.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" the troops roared back, signalling the start of war.
Platoon Commanders Lieutenant Ogeto and Lieutenant Ng'ang'a then hurried their men into the embarkation area. Others followed suit.
The plan was that 500 SNA and RKB fighters would lead the way with the Kenyans reinforcing them. At the embarkation area, SNA and RKB men stared at each other in surprise. They were not comrades; they were just going to the same war.
Along the way, the combination of bright eyes and the toothless smile of a lone SNA sniper, an aging man who has "picked" targets since the times he started the job in his youth in dictator Said Barre's military, was disturbing, but they soldiered on as six warplanes hovered above them.
The soldiers, walking, panting and wet to their waists, kept on running. At times they slowed us (the hangers on who had gate-crashed the party, and who sat comfortably in armoured personnel carriers) down. From these APCs we watched as the convoy, like a slow herd of cows, edged towards Afmadow.
By early afternoon, after about an hour of fighting and several stops along the way to either take a break, wait for intelligence reports, repair vehicles or push stalled trucks, the forces made their way into Xayo town.
About eight Al-Shabaab fighters were mowed down with deadly force as they tried to defend their positions. After capturing Xayo, Lt Col Nyaga ordered his men to prepare for a hasty defence some few kilometres after the town.
By the time, the team had located a camping site. Here, the forces took hurriedly prepared tea and biscuits for the night. Since all the men were donkey-tired, Lt Col Nyaga ordered the sentries to keep guard in turns.
No mistake would be tolerated here. Previously, in the Kenyan military camps in Somalia, the beautiful silence of the night had been disturbed by kamikaze Al-Shabaab attacks. None of that happened here on this cold Wednesday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Iran Press TV] Armed groups fighting against the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... have killed more than 100 soldiers across the country over the weekend, an opposition watchdog said.
Rebels told the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Monday that more than 100 soldiers were killed in festivities and attacks on security forces' checkpoints across Syria, including the suburbs of Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... and Idlib Province.
The observatory said local doctors had confirmed the names of 80 dead Syrian soldiers.
At least 19 soldiers, eight rebels and 19 non-combatants were killed in violence on Sunday, the watchdog added.
Another 57 soldiers were killed on Saturday, which according to the SOHR was the largest number of fatalities the Syrian military had suffered in a single day since the beginning of unrest in the country last year.
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... EU officials are pressing Moscow to harden its line against the Syrian government.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy said on Monday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... in St Petersburg that Moscow and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... must overcome their differences on the crisis in Syria to prevent an all-out civil war.
He also said that both sides agreed the peace plan brokered by the UN- Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy 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... was the best way to end months of violence in Syria.
Russia, which along with China has vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions against Syria, has repeatedly expressed opposition to foreign military intervention in Syria, describing negotiations as the only way to solve the country's crisis.
Armed groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad have killed more than 100 soldiers across the country over the weekend, an opposition watchdog said.
Rebels told the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Monday that more than 100 soldiers were killed in festivities and attacks on security forces' checkpoints across Syria, including the suburbs of Damascus and Idlib Province.
The observatory said local doctors had confirmed the names of 80 dead Syrian soldiers.
At least 19 soldiers, eight rebels and 19 non-combatants were killed in violence on Sunday, the watchdog added.
Another 57 soldiers were killed on Saturday, which according to the SOHR was the largest number of fatalities the Syrian military had suffered in a single day since the beginning of unrest in the country last year.
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... EU officials are pressing Moscow to harden its line against the Syrian government.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy said on Monday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg that Moscow and the European Union must overcome their differences on the crisis in Syria to prevent an all-out civil war.
He also said that both sides agreed the peace plan brokered by the UN- Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was the best way to end months of violence in Syria.
Russia, which along with China has vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions against Syria, has repeatedly expressed opposition to foreign military intervention in Syria, describing negotiations as the only way to solve the country's crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Yemen Post] The Yemeni army imposed a curfew in several areas in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province coinciding with further intensified battles to retake key strongholds of Al-Qaeda jihad boys, the defense ministry reported on Monday.
The areas were Alam-Zinjibar-Shuqra road, Arqoub road, Ahwar road, Jaheen-Amain, Harour-Jaar road, Jaar-Zinjibar road and Khubar-Wadhi road. The curfew, which came into effect at 6:00 pm Monday, has been triggered by terrorist operations and aims to protect the locals, the ministry said.
"The move has been taken after faceless myrmidons have started to use car booms and boom belts to target civilians and innocents at roads and populated areas," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier today, four pro-army fighters were killed when jihad boyjacket wallahs detonated their car at a checkpoint in the Lawder town. The tribal fighters have also thwarted another bombing attempt.
The army has warned any car violates the curfew will be targeted until a further notice.
In the meantime, military reinforcements have been deployed to recapture jihad boy-held towns including Shuqra, which has been used as a sea route for arms supply to the jihad boys.
In mid-2011, Al-Qaeda seized key towns including Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan, and the forces with direct support from locals and the US have recently stepped up the offensive to retake these towns.
The forces have so far cleared faceless myrmidons from some areas including Lawder.
Hundreds of faceless myrmidons including big shots have been killed and injured in Abyan and Shabwa in the past few months, amid the determination of the new government to eradicate terrorism from the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
I wouldn't have to be told to stay indoors.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/05/2012 8:45
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[Tolo News] Two myrmidon leaders were captured in an operation jointly conducted by Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... troops in Afghanistan on Monday, Isaf said.
"[One] Haqqani controller was captured in a joint Afghan and coalition security force operation in eastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... today," Isaf said in a statement.
The controller is an explosives expert who makes bombs for cut-throats to use against Afghan and coalition forces.
He is suspected of being responsible for the vehicle born bomb used during the myrmidon attack against Forward Operating Base Salerno in the province on June 1, it said.
During the operation, the Afghan and coalition forces nabbed Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! multiple suspected myrmidons, it added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... the statement said that a Taliban leader was captured in Afghan and NATO troops' operation in Zurmat district of Paktia province today.
The leader plans and conducts roadside kaboomings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout Gardez district.
He is also an explosives expert who supervises the construction of remote controlled improvised bombs, and other types of bombs, for use by the cut-throats under his control.
During the operation, two groups of cut-throats attacked the security force.
The Afghan and coalition troops returned fire and requested a precision air strike. A follow-on assessment of the area confirmed there had been no damage to civilian property and no civilians had been injured.
The security force also confirmed multiple cut-throats had been killed.
As a result of the operation, the security force recovered a machine gun, multiple AK-47s, an RPG launcher, an RPG round, and several magazines of ammunition.
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[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has ordered the Ministry of Interior to arrest and disarm a police local unit accused of raping an 18-year-old girl, New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... wrote quoting government front man Aimal Faizi.
A shepherd girl was in jug of the Afghan local police for days and was reportedly raped several times by the members of the unit.
Afghan local police is considered to be an effective element in securing the country and their roles have been called effective in many provinces.
"We believe existence of local police is effective in securing in several parts of the country, but for a long term base, their presence will not be as effective," Aimal Faizi has told New York Times.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, a front man to Kunduz provincial police chief dismissed reports about the rape case and said the presidential palace never referred to them for details.
"We have sent our information to Interior Ministry, but the decision makers at the presidential palace never got back to us."
It comes as Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has strongly condemned the incident.
"We strongly condemn the incident and express our concern in this regard, no criminal should be forgiven by the government," Musa Mahmoodi, CEO of Human Rights Commission said.
This is believed to be the first group rape case reflected in the Afghan media.
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06/05/2012
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[Al Ahram] Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Nabil al-Arabi is to head to New York later this week for talks on Syria with UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , a League official said on Monday.
"Arabi's four-day visit, starting on Thursday, will focus on the Syrian crisis and on efforts to convince the UN Security Council of the need for an urgent solution," the official added.
Arab ministers at a meeting on Saturday in Doha urged the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... to refer joint envoy 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... 's six-point peace plan for Syria to Chapter VII, without explicitly calling for military action.
Chapter VII outlines action the UN Security Council might take, including military force, in response to threats to international peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression.
The Council "must honour its responsibilities, in accordance with the UN Charter, and take the necessary measures to guarantee the full and immediate implementation of the Annan plan, in a limited time frame," the ministers said.
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06/05/2012
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[An Nahar] A Danish court on Monday found four men guilty of "terrorism" over a plot to kill the staff of a newspaper that first published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The three Swedish nationals and one Tunisian living in Sweden had pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to the terrorism charges, but a district court found all four "guilty of terrorism", chief judge Katrine Eriksen said in the unanimous verdict, which was broadcast live.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Sahbi Ben Mohammed Zalouti, Mounir Awad and Omar Abdullah Aboelazm -- all Swedish citizens of Tunisian, Lebanese and Moroccan origin, respectively -- and Tunisian national Mounir Ben Mohammed Dhahri were found not guilty of a secondary charge of weapons possession due to a technicality, she said.
Prosecutors had charged that the four planned to "kill a large number of people" at the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Copenhagen when they were enjugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! on December 29, 2010.
The daily paper in 2005 published a dozen cartoons of Islam's founding prophet that triggered violent and sometimes deadly protests around the world.
The court was set to hand down its sentence later Monday, and the four, aged 31 to 46, risk up to 16 years behind bars -- which would be historically severe punishment for such a case in Denmark, where conspiracy to commit terrorism until now has been punished with no more than 12 years prison.
Prosecutor Gyrithe Ulrich told Jyllands-Posten Monday that "this case is different from other cases and should result in a stricter penalty.
"They were close to carrying out (the attack). This was not just initial preparations as we have seen in other cases," she said. "In this case we were very close."
A machine-gun with a silencer, a revolver, 108 bullets, 200 plastic handcuff strips and $20,000 (16,000 euros) were among the items found in the men's possession when they were cooled for a few years. Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! Danish police, who had been collaborating with their Swedish counterparts and had been wiretapping the men, said they swooped on them just after hearing them say they were going to the Jyllands-Posten office building, which also houses Denmark's paper of reference, Politiken.
The four all adamantly denied the terrorism charge, but Dhahri pleaded guilty to arms possession.
Awad, Aboelazm, and Dhahri were all jugged Please don't kill me! in a Copenhagen suburb, while Zalouti was locked away Please don't kill me! near Stockholm the same day.
Prosecutors said during the trial that the target of the suspected plot was likely an award ceremony celebrating the "Sporting Newcomer of the Year" at the Jyllands-Posten building.
In addition to a number of sports celebrities, Danish Crown Prince Frederik was present at the ceremony, but prosecutors said the four did not appear to have known he was there and that he was probably not their target.
During the trial, prosecutors also charged that the men had been planning on attacking other random buildings if they were unable to get into the newspaper building.
Jyllands-Posten has been the target of a string of attempted and plotted attacks, and remains a top target for Islamic bully boys, Danish intelligence service PET said at the end of January.
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06/05/2012
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[An Nahar] Syrian government troops fought deadly battles with armed rebels on Monday as the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... pushed for an end to a split with Russia over how to end the 15-month bloodshed.
In talks in Saint Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... , EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the EU and Russia "might have some divergent assessments" of the situation in Syria.
But he said they agreed that implementing the troubled peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy 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... was the only way forward in a situation that risks developing into full-scale civil war.
Government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Idlib province in the northwest and Deir Ezzor in the northeast as violence nationwide claimed at least 12 lives on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britannia-based watchdog said that the fighting in Idlib's Jabal al-Zawiya hill district, in which two rebel fighters were killed, was the most intense since the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's regime erupted in March last year.
In Deir Ezzor, the government deployed helicopters to strafe suspected rebel hideouts in farmland in the Sbeikhan district and one was hit by rebel fire, the Observatory said.
The fighting came after the military suffered major losses to the rebel Free Syrian Army over the weekend following its announcement on Friday that it was resuming "defensive operations" because of the failure of a U.N.-backed ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect from April 12.
The Observatory said 19 soldiers, eight rebels and 19 non-combatants were killed in violence across the country on Sunday.
On Saturday, 57 soldiers were killed nationwide, the biggest single day losses for the military of the uprising, the watchdog said.
In Saint Petersburg, Van Rompuy said the EU and Russia fully agreed that the Annan plan provided the" best opportunity to break the cycle of violence in Syria, avoiding a civil war and finding a peaceful, lasting solution."
"We need to combine our efforts in order for this to happen and to find common messages on which we agree," he said.
Van Rompuy had been expected to press Putin to harden his line against Assad's regime.
International frustration with the Kremlin's stance on Syria is growing again after Russia refused to squarely blame Assad for the massacre of more than 100 people near the central town of Houla last month, instead saying rebels shared some of the responsibility.
Washington accused Assad of lying in a weekend speech in which denied any involvement by his government in the killings.
Asked if Assad lied, President Barack Obama Because I won... 's front man, Jay Carney, said: "Yes.
"As evidenced by the very massacres that the Assad regime participated in and is now denying, the sooner that political transition takes place, the better for the people of Syria, and the better the chances that a bloody sectarian war will be avoided," Carney told news hounds.
Annan is to discuss the Syria crisis at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Quincy Adams ... in Washington on Friday.
The former U.N. chief has himself demanded a "serious review" of deadlocked efforts to end the bloodshed and is stepping up pressure on international powers to put some muscle into their support for his peace plan or find a Plan B, diplomats said in New York.
Clinton spoke Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "about bringing more pressure to bear on Assad, on the regime to comply with all six aspects or components of the Annan plan, including a democratic or political transition," State Department front man Mark Toner told journalists.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi is to head to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... later this week to press for swifter implementation of the Annan plan, a League official said.
"Arabi's four-day visit, starting on Thursday, will focus on the Syrian crisis and on efforts to convince the U.N. Security Council of the need for an urgent solution," the official said.
Arab ministers said on Saturday that the Security Council "must honor its responsibilities, in accordance with the U.N. Charter, and take the necessary measures to guarantee the full and immediate implementation of the Annan plan, in a limited time frame."
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#4
I thought Obama was the thingamajig America bought four years ago after the usual massive orchestrated media blitz (But, wait there's more...). Now it's time for a product recall due to defects and deficits in its performance.
#11
I went out and did my part. Bought a thingamajig for my furnace that I had been putting off. So far it hasn't changed the unemployment rate and the thingamajig was made in China anyway.
#12
Oh I see. It was that chukkkling Booosh and his vampire colloquialism who stole Dear Reader's ability to communicate! Uncle Hole in One would love to use proper terms like widgets, or a stream like, "Get a doodad for your whatzit and fix the doohickey with a thingamajig."
#13
He's in a thermostat plant surrounded by 50,000 boxes saying "THERMOSTAT", and he calls them thingamajigs. He's either totally stupid or a really condescending SOB. Most likely the latter, I've often seen bosses make light of the productive workers this way.
[An Nahar] A Syrian opposition group announced Monday that they are creating a new military structure consisting of 12,000 fighters to topple the regime of the Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... "We announce today the unification of all fronts in a single center to bring about the collapse of the oppressing regime," Khaled al-Okla from the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) read from a statement at a presser.
The SRF is active across Syria and has 12,000 men under command, uniting more than 100 "battalions," according to a video presentation broadcast during the conference.
Asked about the relationship between the SRF and the Free Syrian Army, the main opposition force made up of deserting Syrian army officers, Okla said the two forces had frequent "discussions" and were working in "cooperation."
The SRF also claims support from some members of the Syrian National Council (SNC), recognized by world leaders as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
"We, the SNC, bless the founding of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and affirm that we will provide full support," said a member of the SNC executive committee, Ahmad Ramadan.
"We say the fight for the freedom of Syria has begun," he added.
Haitham al-Maleh, a prominent human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... activist, also said he supported the new structure, in a video message sent to the SRF.
The new military structure has a more integrated structure to combat 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... than the Free Syrian Army, which offers a wide platform without strong organic links, said Mahmut Osman, another member of the SNC.
"The SNC supports this unification of groups acting on the ground," he added.
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06/05/2012
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Court documents filed following McCright's arrest indicate he has links with at least one of two men accused of plotting a suicide attack on a south Seattle Marine processing and intake center. The deputy prosecutor in McCright's case said that McCright's cell phone was used three times to call Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif,
According to the name-linked articles in the Rantburg archive, the gentleman is connected most interestingly...
a Des Moines, Wa., resident who is being held along with Walli Mujahidh, of Los Angeles; the calls from McCright's phone were made prior to the July 22, 2011 arrests of Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh. The FBI decided to continue to investigate McCright's possible links to domestic terrorism. And according to KING5 news, "[a] federal criminal justice source said the FBI had McCright on their radar even before the July 12 road rage incident."
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, a.k.a. Joseph Anthony Davis, and Walli Mujahidh, a.k.a. Frederick Domingue Jr., are accused of conspiring to murder federal agents and officers and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, for their roles in plotting a suicide attack on the Federal Way MEPS center in south Seattle. Initial charges were filed in late June 2011 shortly after their arrest in an FBI sting operation; further charges were added in July, including weapons violations and solicitation of a crime of violence. In August, the trial was postponed due to the complexity of the case and the quantity of evidence gathered by the FBI and police, The Associated Press reported. Both Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh pled not guilty at the time.
This article starring:
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif
Michael D. McCright
Mikhial Jihad
Walli Mujahidh
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/05/2012
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#1
From one of the name-linked articles tw mentioned: Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, of Seattle,
(Sh. M. Network) --The Somali's semi-autonomous region of 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... has on Sunday criticized, the self-directed Somaliland over attacking areas that controlled by Puntland.
Deputy security Minister of Puntand State of Somalia Abdi Jama'a Isman Mohamed, held a presser in Garowe town, the capital of Puntland state, said Somaliland Navy forces have attacked on ships near the coastal city of Lasqorey, a disputed town that straddles between both puntland and Somaliland
He said Somaliland troops continuous their aggressive attacks against the people of Puntland State of Somalia, who live in the disputed regions between the two states. And he added that such acts will not be tolerable.
"A day ago Somaliland forces attacked Laqorey city and forced many locals to flee their homes in fear of imminent assault between Puntland and Somaliland armed military," said Mohammed.
No comments from Somaliland about this accusation.
The provinceof Sanag is a one of the three disputed regions byPuntland Stateand the self-directed Somaliland regardless of the recently announced Khatumo State of Somalia.
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(Sh. M. Network)-At least Four people, including women and kiddies were killed and many other injured after gunnies opened fire on a civilian vehicle traveling in Mudug region, central Somalia, witnesses and security Officials said on Monday.
Reports said the vehicle was Mini-bus that was en route from Mogadishu to Galka'yo district, which lies about 750 km north of Somalia capital,Mogadishu.
The injured people were taken to the hospitals in north of the town to receive medical treatment.
"The gunnies opened fire to the vehicle treveling Abaarey area, near Galka'yo town, four were killed and at least five injured," one of the passengers told Shabelle Media Network by phone.
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[Iran Press TV] Britannia is reportedly planning to set up refugee camps inside Syria under the pretext of saving civilian lives but in reality to help armed rebels fighting against the government.
According to a report published in Daily Star, British Special Forces would set up camps along Syria's borders with Jordan, Turkey and Leb and that Special Air Service (SAS) troops and MI6 agents will help the rebels if civil war breaks out in the country.
They also have hi-tech satellite computers and radios that can instantly send back photos and details of events unfolding in Syria.
''There are guys in the communications unit who are signalers that can go right up front and get involved in close-quarter fighting,'' Daily Star quoted a senior Whitehall source as saying.
The British troops would be part of an international force including French and Turkish soldiers and possibly Americans.
A senior Whitehall source said that London is preparing for the move with the full knowledge that setting up camps inside Syria would be an invasion of the country.
The camps are expected to be set up around areas that are easily accessible and even within walking distance of trouble spots. Among them is Krak des Chevaliers, a medieval castle about 25 miles west of Homs close to the Leb border, Al-Suwayda, near the border with Jordan and Jisr al-Shughour near the Turkish border.
The British claim that Syrian forces would not dare to come that close to the border.
Israeli intelligence news agency, Debkafile, had earlier reported that British troops are already in Syria leading gangs in the crisis-hit city of Homs and that the MI6 has established four centers of operation in the city.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including hundreds of security forces, have been killed in the country over the past 15 months. While the West and the Syrian opposition say the government is responsible for the killings, Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... blames "outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups" for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
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#4
I was hoping to catch + visually observe the transit vee the Guam area, but as things stand I'll prolly have to read about it on the MSM-Net News or TV.
#6
I kept my eye on the western horizon & had my car's GPS programmed for a local astronomy club's viewing site. About 1930 the sun came out from under the cloud deck & I made my way to the site, along with several hundred other people who had the same thing in mind. Got some great viewing from several of the telescopes.
[Tolo News] Serial killers, who assassinate political figures and high ranking government officials should be identified and punished, or the government will lose people's trust, a local official in northern Balkh province said.
Head of Balkh Provincial Council, Dr Afzal Hadid said that tracking down the serial killers is the job of the government, stressing that if it didn't taken action, people will lose trust in the government..
"Capturing and prosecution of serial killers is the job of the government, if no action is taken, I think people will lose their trust in the government," Mr Hadid told TOLOnews.
This comes as Balkh provincial governor, Atta Mohammad Noor also recently blamed the Afghan government for not prosecuting the killers.
Speaking at a remembrance on the occasion of the first death anniversary of General Daud Daud, 30th Pamir north zone chief, in Mazar-e-Sharif, Mr Noor said that certain figures within the government are trying to avoid the prosecution of such killers,
"How can such cases remain covert while the government has a police force and a strong intelligence," he said.
"There are certain figures within the government which are avoiding prosecution of such killers," Mr Noor added without elaborating further.
General Daud Daud was assassinated in a >kaboom in Takhar provincial headquarters last July where he had a meeting with local security officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Yeah! Punishment for serial killers!
Good for you, chief!
[Al Ahram] Bahrain's Justice Ministry says it has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve a Shiite-led political society for alleged breaches that include supporting views fueling tensions in the troubled Gulf nation.
The action announced Monday against the Islamic Action Society, or Amal, also appears aimed at sending a message to other Shiite blocs that further crackdowns are possible.
Amal has supported protests seeking to break the Sunni monarchy's hold on power in the strategic nation, which is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet. More than 50 people have died in the unrest since February 2011.
Some Amal members are among 21 activists sentenced to long prison terms last year. Their retrial resumes Tuesday.
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[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Council will meet at the weekend to replace Burhan Ghalioun who resigned as leader of the bloc late last month, SNC officials said on Monday.
The meeting will take place Saturday and Sunday in Istanbul, where a vote might be waived since there is a "consensus" candidate, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
"So far the consensus candidate is Abdel Basset Sayda," a Kurd, and member of the SNC's executive office, one source said, while the other confirmed that Sayda could be appointed as the new SNC leader.
Sayda, who lives in exile in Sweden, joined the SNC as an "independent activist," according to his friend and fellow Kurdish myrmidon Massud Akko.
He is member of the SNC's executive bureau and heads the bloc's human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... department.
He was born in 1956 in Amuda, a mostly Kurdish city in the northeastern Syrian province of Hassakeh.
"He is a honest, level-headed and cultured," Akko said.
Ghalioun tendered his resignation on May 17 to avert divisions within the opposition bloc, after activists on the ground accused him of monopolizing power. His resignation was accepted the following week.
He had led the SNC by consensus rather than by election from the bloc's formation in October last year and was elected chairman in a vote held in Rome on May 15.
His detractors also accused him of allowing the Moslem Brüderbund to play a leading role within the SNC.
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GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A young man and an elderly woman were killed on Friday night in separate clan clashes in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Gaza's version of Friday Night Lights...or Friday Night Lights Out.
A woman in her fifties died after being hit with a rock during a fight between members of an extended family in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. "Don't worry, ma. They just got rocks."
"Ha, rocks! Get 'em, boys!"
WHACK
"Oooooowie! Rosebud...."
The victim was taken to Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, but died from her injuries. Three other people were wounded in the clash. "What happened, Mahmoud?"
"Jeez, doc. They only had rocks. But, man, could they throw them. How's ma?"
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man was killed after being shot during a family clash in Khan Younis, south Gaza.Witnesses said the man was hit in the stomach after his father mistakenly fired at him. "Dad! How could yas! Rosebud..."
[Dawn] Six people, including three US nationals, were cooled for a few years Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! Monday after police discovered a large cache of illegal arms from their vehicles.
According to police sources, the "suspicious cars" were stopped for a routine check at the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar Motorway toll plaza when the weapons were discovered.
Police sources told Dawn.com that the weapons included 4 M4 assault rifles with 36 magazines and 4 pistols with 30 magazines.
US Consul General Mary Richard also reached the cop shoppe where the Americans were incarcerated Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for questioning, urging officials to seize weapons but not to detain the foreigners.
The US Consul General however refused to give any comments on the arrests when approached by our news hound.
Rooters news agency reported a US embassy official as saying: "These officials were returning from a visit to Malakand University where they were preparing for an English education event for underprivileged children. They had all proper permissions but were stopped when returning to Peshawar."
The six cooled for a few years I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! included three foreigners described as US diplomats, as well as three Paks, which included a security guard and two drivers.
According to recent instruction from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government, foreign diplomats are prohibited from carrying weapons or travelling to prohibited areas in the province unless expressly permitted by the provincial government with a No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
Need to start detaining Pak diplomatic folk near UN and D.C. - shaking them down for weapons, drugs etc.. until the fckers learn about diplomatic immunity.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 0:15
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[An Nahar] Sudan's state security agency on Monday blocked distribution of the country's largest-circulation newspaper, which has criticized talks between Sudan and South Sudan, the newspaper's boss said.
Al Intibaha, a hardline anti-South daily which supported South Sudan's separation last July, has been a regular critic of negotiations between the two countries.
Talks mediated by the 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... resumed in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa last week for the first time since fighting along the disputed border in April.
"After our newspaper was printed, a state security officer came and said we could not distribute it because of an article I wrote criticizing the political situation," chairman of the board Al Tayeb Mustafa told AFP.
Confiscating newspapers after printing is a common tactic used by Sudan's security service, journalists and press freedom activists say.
They say journalists have also been banned from writing and some newspapers have been ordered to suspend publication under a worsening government attack on critical voices over the past year, as tensions with South Sudan escalated.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman has been charged with murder and torture of unarmed civilians and complicity in other crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
After framing seven specific charges against him yesterday, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 fixed July 2 for the beginning of the trial.
The charges are based on seven separate incidents of crimes against humanity that left at least 183 unarmed people dead and some women raped.
Born in Sherpur on July 4, 1952, Kamaruzzaman was president of Islami Chhatra Sangha in greater Mymensingh in 1971.
The pro-Jamaat student body was later renamed Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... ICS members formed AL Badr to collaborate with the Pak military that committed genocide and mass killing during the war, according to historical records.
The war that ended with the birth of a new nation after nine months saw at least three million people killed and over two lakh women raped.
During the charge framing yesterday, Tribunal-2 said Kamaruzzaman had played the key role in the formation of Al Badr with selected students of Ashek Mahmud Collage in Jamalpur. All of them belonged to ICS.
Under his leadership, all members of ICS of greater Mymensingh were recruited in Al Badr, the court said while presenting a brief profile of the accused.
On receiving summary training, they started committing atrocities targeting the Hindu community and unarmed Bangalee civilians in Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Mymensingh.
"He [Kamaruzzaman] allegedly being in close association with Mighty Pak Army, actively aided, abetted, facilitated and substantially contributed in committing dreadful atrocities during the War of Liberation in 1971 in the territory of Bangladesh," it said.
Now senior assistant secretary general of his party, the Jamaat leader has also been charged with complicity in and failing to prevent such crimes.
Six of the seven charges were for his involvement in crimes, including murder, torture, abduction and confinement.
One charge related to his "inhuman acts" against Syed Abdul Hannan, the then principal of Sherpur College, in 1971.
"During the period of the War of Liberation, on an afternoon in mid-May, you [Kamaruzzaman], being the chief organiser of Al-Badr Bahini as well as leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha or member of a group of individuals, and your accomplices caused inhuman acts to distinguished pro-liberation intellectual Syed Abdul Hannan, the then Principal of Sherpur College, by compelling him to walk through the town, making him almost undressed and by constant whipping, as he was a gallant supporter of the War of Liberation," the court told the accused.
"Therefore, you, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, are being charged with participating in and substantially facilitating and contributing to the commission of offence of 'inhuman acts as crime against humanity' caused to Syed Abdul Hannan."
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[Dawn] IN a report titled 'The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism,' published in 1999 by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, social scientists had warned that "Al Qaeda's expected retaliation for the US cruise missile attack against Al Qaeda's training facilities in Afghanistan on Aug 20, 1998, could take several forms of terrorist attack in the nation's capital."
Thus, even before 9/11, social scientists had come to grips with the etiology of terrorism, but 9/11 accelerated the process. The PsycINFO database, the largest psychology database in the world with entries dating back to the 1880s, shows that post-9/11 research on the phenomenon surpassed that of all the past years combined.
Several findings now find currency in social science, which suggest that compared to the ordinary citizen, forces of Evil do not exhibit unusually high rates of clinical psychopathology, irrationality, or personality disorders. Indeed, as shown by John Horgan in Terrorists, Victims and Society: Psychological Perspectives on Terrorism and Its Consequences, which has been edited by Andrew Silke, the archetypical "terrorist personality" is misconceived on shaky empirical grounds. In fact, sustainable terrorist activity requires a certain amount of ingenuity in evading the law, choosing targets, ensuring supplies of explosives and improvisation, and indeed a supply-chain management capability of a level not incomparable to a successful corporate manager running a successful company which also evades taxes, an analogy to the forces of Evil also evading the law in their own context.
Nasr Hassan put it succinctly during a 2002 lecture: "What is frightening is not the abnormality of those who carry out the suicide kabooms, but their sheer normality."
Another report, the American National Research Council's Terrorism: Perspectives from the Behavioural and Social Sciences, says: "There is no single or typical mentality -- much less a specific pathology of terrorists. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... forces of Evil apparently find significant gratification in the expression of generalised rage."
This rage sometimes relates to events close to the terrorist's perception horizon. Researcher Ariel Merari, for instance, found higher incidences of terrorist tendencies in Paleostinian jacket wallahs that had at least one relative or close friend killed or injured.
There is also a demographic profile. It has been shown time and time again that forces of Evil tend to belong to a male cohort between 15 and 30 years of age, the same that is likely to commit general crime, and the one least likely to be daunted by use of coercive force by the other side. Thus, it is not a coincidence that most commanders and diehard cadres of the Taliban in Pakistain tended to be within the same cohort.
Beyond that, there is no other template into which we can fit forces of Evil or their behavioural patterns. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... ideology has a definite part to play. The influential thinker Nichole Argo argues that ideological beliefs such as religious extremism do not "go out" to mould individuals, but exist as "sets of ideas that 'are there', as if on the shelves of a supermarket waiting for someone to make them their own". Individuals who are not able to interpret their environment, or in other words do not find solace in the material world without these ideals, adopt this available ideology. It is not just the adoption of cut-thoat ideas which comforts such individuals, but core values such as fighting for life, and giving it up for dignity and equality also bestow an emotional reward which is critical in itself.
"We need to be asking new questions," she writes. "For what are normal individuals able to kill? A plausible answer is: their community, under threat. When does a person make costly sacrifices to do so? Within a social structure -- a terror cell, a military unit, a family, or group of friends -- that continually regenerates conviction to a cause, a feeling of obligation to do something about it, and a sense of shame at the idea of letting each other down. Whether one lands in a social group with religious-militant tendencies may be random. But the prerequisite for this path is perceived injustice".
We live in a connected world no matter where we are, and religious cut-throats are no exception. Argo narrates an interview with a turban who had joined the intifada because of television , reaching a conclusion that the ummah was threatened: "The difference between the first intifada and the second is television. Before, I knew when we were attacked here, or in a nearby camp, but the reality of the attacks everywhere else was not so clear. Now, I cannot get away from Israel -- the TV brings them into my living room...And you can't turn the TV off. How could you live with yourself? At the same time, you can't ignore the problem -- what are you doing to protect your people? ...We live with an internal struggle. Whether you choose to fight or not, every day is this internal struggle."
How many times have we seen programmes on television and inadvertently thought "this has happened to me". What we see on television will be tinged with more reality if we relate to it to begin with, even if we were watching fiction. Thus affective reactions and cognitive appraisals shape our perception of reality after experiencing media such as television. We tend to interpret characters onscreen compared to how we feel about the topic to begin with. Thus, if you felt an empathy with the images of what you perceive as your group under attack, there are bright chances that you would interpret these images as the truth.
In today's world, many of the religious cut-throats do not necessarily come from war zones. But like many fighters foreign to the conflict theatres to which they gravitate, they see images of injustice, or have friends or family 'there', and feel obligated to help out. Such is the alluring appeal of group solidarity.
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#1
"There is no single or typical mentality -- much less a specific pathology of terrorists.
So anti-semitism is a figment of our collective imagination ?
[Al Ahram] A radical Islamist sect has grabbed credit for a suicide car booming at a north Nigeria church that killed at least 15 people.
In a statement sent to journalists Monday, a front man for the sect known as Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... claimed Sunday's attack in the city of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state.
The statement also again threatened journalists in Nigeria over what the statement described biased stories about the sect's actions.
Sunday's bombing maimed dozens of people, as the car boom detonated as worshippers left an early morning church service.
Boko Haram is waging an increasingly bloody sectarian fight with Nigeria's weak central government. The sect is blamed for killing more than 550 people this year alone, according to an News Agency that Dare Not be Named count.
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(Sh.M.Network)-The chief of the TFG military court, General Hassan Mohamed Husein better known as (Mungaab), has warned Somali government troops of harming the people who live in Afgoye corridor.
While speaking news hounds on Sunday in Elasha-Biyaha area, on the outskirt ofMogadishuthe capital ofSomaliapacked with locally displaced people (IDPs), Mr Hussein, said any soldier seen committing robbery acts against civilians will be brought into justice.
Judge Hassan Mohamed Husein called on people to work with the security forces of Somali government to prevent insecurity acts in the newly liberated areas from Al shabab fighters which are located betweenMogadishuand Afgoye district, 30 Km north-west the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Iran Press TV] [Iran Press TV] At least 26 people have been killed and 190 others injured in a car booming in the central Iraqi capital, Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , police and medical sources say.
The sources said the attack was carried out at a religious endowment headquarters in the Baab al-Muadham neighborhood of Storied Baghdad at 11:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Monday.
Two coppers were among the victims.
The latest bombing in Storied Baghdad comes a few days after 17 people were killed in a series of kabooms in the capital on May 31.
On April 19, Iraqi security officials said at least 34 people were killed and dozens of others injured in bomb and shooting attacks carried out in six different regions across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Just curious... What is "religious endowment headquarters"?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/05/2012 0:27
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#2
A Mosque, of course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/05/2012 9:26
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[Yemen Post] The Yemeni army has foiled an Al-Qaeda attempt to take control on Attaq, the capital of Shabwa governorate, after the army imposed a siege on Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons in the neighboring governorate of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , security sources affirmed on Monday.
Chief of Attaq district, Abdullah Al-Sumnah, reiterated that security sources in collaboration with local rustics could strongly foiled an Al-Qeeda's plot.
He affirmed that Al-Qaeda operatives were planning to attack security checkpoints or infiltrating to the town through byways, asserting that tight security measures were taken to confront any Al-Qaeda potential raids.
He pointed out that officials of the governorate coordinate with tribal leaders and dignitaries of the areas surrounding the district to fight Al-Qeda and thwart its plans.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... local sources in Abyan revealed that sharp disagreements emerged between the Republican Guard brigades positioned in Abyan and the governor of Abyan Jamal Al-Aqel regarding the Popular Resistance Committees that backed the army in fighting Al-Qaeda.
Fears have been raised by the Republican Guard that these committees will untimely turn to militias that will demand to separate South Yemen from the north.
The local sources said that forces of the Republican Guard led by son of the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... demanded to demobilize members of the Popular Resistance Committees and hand over the positions retaken again from Al-Qaeda to the Republican Guard.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features. If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... a car boomwent kaboom!, killing four rustics and wounding another of what is called the Popular Resistance Committees formed of rustics to back the army, the Defense Ministry said. Military sources said six jihadists died in festivities with troops, elsewhere in Abyan.
The Yemeni army has foiled an Al-Qaeda attempt to take control on Attaq, the capital of Shabwa governorate, after the army imposed a siege on Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons in the neighboring governorate of Abyan, security sources affirmed on Monday.
Chief of Attaq district, Abdullah Al-Sumnah, reiterated that security sources in collaboration with local rustics could strongly foiled an Al-Qeeda's plot.
He affirmed that Al-Qaeda operatives were planning to attack security checkpoints or infiltrating to the town through byways, asserting that tight security measures were taken to confront any Al-Qaeda potential raids.
He pointed out that officials of the governorate coordinate with tribal leaders and dignitaries of the areas surrounding the district to fight Al-Qeda and thwart its plans.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... local sources in Abyan revealed that sharp disagreements emerged between the Republican Guard brigades positioned in Abyan and the governor of Abyan Jamal Al-Aqel regarding the Popular Resistance Committees that backed the army in fighting Al-Qaeda.
Fears have been raised by the Republican Guard that these committees will untimely turn to militias that will demand to separate South Yemen from the north.
The local sources said that forces of the Republican Guard led by son of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh demanded to demobilize members of the Popular Resistance Committees and hand over the positions retaken again from Al-Qaeda to the Republican Guard.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... a car boomwent kaboom!, killing four rustics and wounding another of what is called the Popular Resistance Committees formed of rustics to back the army, the Defense Ministry said. Military sources said six jihadists died in festivities with troops, elsewhere in Abyan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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(Sh. M. Network)-The security forces under Somalia's semi-autonomous state of 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... have incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! at least Five people in connection with an kaboom took place in Galka'yo town two days ago, security Officials said on Monday.
Lieutenant colonel Jama'a Mohammed Ahmed, a police officer, told news hounds that the 5 suspects were placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! early on Monday in an operation carried out by Puntland forces at Garsoor village in northern Galka'yo town and they are now under inquiry at a prison in the town.
Last week, a landmine blast killed at least six people, mostly Puntland soldiers at Garsoor village in northern divided Galka'yo town, 750 Km north of Somali capital,Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[Dawn] Pakistain on Monday strongly condemned a jump in US drone strikes on its territory, using language that could increase tension between strategic allies already in dispute over military supply routes for NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... that Pakistain has closed.
Three drone strikes in as many days on suspected snuffies have killed 27 people, Pak intelligence officials say.
The foreign ministry called the attacks "illegal" and said they violated the South Asian country's illusory sovereignty.
Washington and Islamabad are deadlocked in negotiations over the re-opening of overland supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Islamabad blocked the supply routes in November after 24 Pak soldiers were killed by cross-border "friendly fire" from NATO aircraft.
The supply lines are considered vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014.
The Pakistain government says the CIA drone campaign fuels anti-American sentiment in the country, and is counterproductive because of the collateral damage -- civilian deaths -- it causes.
US officials say such strikes by the remotely piloted aircraft are a highly effective way of attackling snuffies and are an important weapon in the war against militancy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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[Al Ahram] South Sudanese officials have "stolen" an estimated $4 billion of public money and should return it to salvage the young nation's reputation and help lift its people out of poverty, the president said in a letter seen on Monday.
The request came as the central African country, which seceded from Sudan less than a year ago, is scrambling for cash to make up for the loss of almost all state revenues with the shutdown of its oil output in January.
Critics have accused the government of President Salva Kiir doing little to clamp down on widespread corruption that has hampered efforts to build the war-torn state from scratch and jumpstart development.
In a letter to 75 current and former officials dated 3 May, Kiir offered amnesty for officials and individuals with government ties who returned the money.
"An estimated $4 billion are unaccounted for or, simply put, stolen by former and current officials, as well as corrupt individuals with close ties to government officials," Kiir said in the letter obtained by Rooters.
Reliable figures are hard to come by in South Sudan, but the figure could amount to around one third of the estimated total oil receipts allotted to the South between the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war and independence last year.
"Most of these funds have been taken out of the country and deposited in foreign accounts. Some have purchased properties, often paid in cash," the letter said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2012
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#1
So Prosecute, unless there's no chance of conviction, then Kill'em.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/05/2012 8:52
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A federal department ruled last week that the Forest Service violated a Spanish-speaking woman's civil rights by calling the Border Patrol to help translate during a routine stop, saying it was "humiliating" to Hispanics and an illicit backdoor way to capture more illegal immigrants.
(CBSDC) -- A U.S. drone strike in Pakistain has killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, according to a U.S. official who has confirmed the death to CBS News.
Zawahiri
Reaching out to supporters, he praised Obama's record on jobs, citing the successful stimulus and the auto bailout; blaming Europe and Republicans for the slowdown.
U.S. and NATO equipment will have a guaranteed route out of Afghanistan after an agreement with Central Asian countries allowing the alliance to completely cut out the shorter Pakistani access routes NATO has used for years.
...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...
Governor of 
International Criminal Court
At least four tribal fighters of whose supporting the armed forces in the battles against Al-Qaeda 
Despite its claims, the government appears unable to control the menace of 
Wazoo
[Washington Post] U.S. missiles killed more than a dozen people in northwestern Pakistain early Monday in a strike that apparently was aimed at al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, the charismatic and influential jihadist known as Abu Yahya al-Libi, U.S. and Pak officials said.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni army imposed a curfew in several areas in 
[Tolo News] Two
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
The 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A young man and an elderly woman were killed on Friday night in separate clan clashes in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.
Six people, including three US nationals, were 
The Yemeni army has foiled an Al-Qaeda attempt to take control on Attaq, the capital of Shabwa governorate, after the army imposed a siege on Al-Qaeda 
Pakistain on Monday strongly condemned a jump in US drone strikes on its territory, using language that could increase tension between strategic allies already in dispute over military supply routes for 
