As we are sonorously and endlessly told, the Southern Poverty Law Center is all about exposing the "hate" and working for "civil rights" in America. But a new website, Watching the Watchdogs, has tracked down the salaries and identities of SPLC's top officers and it is interesting to note that they are all white people. Not a "minority" in the bunch. And they are all making a pretty penny, too.
So, what do you have when a "civil rights" organization that tries to fight the "hate" out there, an organization that claims it is all about protecting America's minorities, hasn't hired any minorities? Maybe the word "hypocrites" comes to mind?
In June I also wrote a piece on the SPLC. In it I noted that the entirety of the Old Media use the SPLC as their number one source for information on "hate groups" and the danger of so-called "white militias," but I ask what other sources there are for the "hate groups" that the SPLC claims it is tracking. The answer is, none. There are no other sources and the Old Media simply swallows the SPLC's claims whole.
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SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired about 110 rounds of artillery Monday near its disputed sea border with South Korea, the South's military said, amid high tension over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.
The firing came shortly after South Korea ended five-day naval drills off the west coast that the North called a rehearsal for an invasion, vowing to retaliate.
All the artillery shells harmlessly landed into the North's waters and caused no damage to the South, a South Korean Joint Chief of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
Perhaps they were firing off old ammo and drilling the troops. Those 105 mm rounds can be pretty heavy if you're half-starved ...
South Korea considered the firing to be part of a military drill by North Korea but still bolstered its military readiness against further provocation, the officer said. The South also warned Pyongyang over the firing by naval radio, he said.
"This was their way of saying 'We'll respond to military drills with military drills,'" said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean studies.
Don't know whether to put it in Afghanistan or in Fifth Column. Link found via Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor Mail.
Time to scarf up head WikiWanker, the excremental Julian Assange. Fire up the black helicopters, fit him for an orange jumpsuit and put him on the Rendition Express. He is now responsible for the deaths of brave Afghans and there will certainly be more to come.From Newsweek:
Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar provinces embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.
Just a heads-up, guys, it's apparently started. I didn't think they were gonna act on their windfall until later.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Measure Assange for a coffin while you're at it. Khalifa Abdullah's clan will be after him soon.
#5
well, the US can't try him for treason, tho' OZ could if the gov't had any stones. The US could pick him up for espionage however. Along with anyone associated with Wikiwanks.
Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has some advice for the people of Earth - it's time to get off. "I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space," Hawking said to Big Think , a global forum that includes interviews with experts. "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load."
The physicist called humankind's survival "a question of touch and go" and referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963 as one time people narrowly avoided extinction. He also referred to the 22,600 stockpiled nuclear weapons, including 7,770 still operational, scattered around the planet.
If that doesn't drive us off, University of Sussex astrophysicist Dr. Robert Smith said global warming may reach a point "where all of Earth's water will simply evaporate." He said life will disappear on Earth long before the 7.6 billion years some say the aging sun will expand and destroy Earth.
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#2
So we can be the illegal aliens on some other planet?
Nice idea, Hawking, but you gotta develop the hardware first and you're gonna have a tough time doing that when all of our money is being spent for ObamaCare, Medicare, welfare, SEIU pension funds, etc.
#5
There is also the cosmic radiation danger unless man creates a warp drive or cryogenic freezing technology.
Did he really say 'warp drive'? Guy's been watching too much Star Trek. Why not just say 'jumpgate'?
And if we ever do 'leave earth' it might be like the first fish leaving the Ocean - we may not want to return to living at the bottom of a gravity well.
#6
I saw a video of an old Dr. Who episode, involving the creator of the Daleks, Davros. Except they put in a segment of Hawking, using his language generation to deliver Davros' lines.
#7
Well, if presented as a way to get rid of the Tea Partyites, you might get some traction along side of SEIU and the UAW at the Treasury trough. The 21st Century approach to kicking the ungrateful wretches and trouble makers out who'll leave on their own accord reducing opposition.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/09/2010 14:59
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#9
D *** NG IT, wehell, IIUC MMGW = POTUS DUBYA = SUN is causing young 14-year old future Celebs like KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN JENNER to mature years early, thus of course the Earth + OWG clearly must attack + invade Alpha Centauri.
Which is INTEHWESTING becuz, technically speaking, the original SIRIUS EVENT occurred during the POTUS JOHNSON Admin.
A man is behind bars for committing "lewd acts" with a mannequin in a public park Sunday morning. "Offisher, I been gypped! Thish hooker ain't got no coozinart!"
According to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, 61-year-old Eddie M. Campbell from Belle was caught at Booker T. Washington Memorial Park in Malden with his shirt off and his pants around his ankles.
Deputies say Campbell was sitting on a park bench with an armless mannequin on his lap, holding it with one hand -- pleasuring himself with the other. When the deputy identified himself, Campbell stopped, pushed the mannequin off him and pulled his pants up.
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#1
Uh, uh, He really really REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y
REEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLYYYYY REEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLYY LIKES SEXY SLINKY COUGARY KIM CATTRALL = "SEX IN THE CITY II"???
#2
"She wuzh comin' on t'me! You should arresht her!"
"Sorry, Charlie. We can't. No place to put the handcuffs! I guess we'll have to arrest you. After you put her in this plastic bag and carefully place her in the trunk of our cruiser over there."
The U.S. will be giving Gaza Arabs a second chance, providing them with new greenhouses to replace the Gush Katif originals they demolished.
In 2005, as Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and forcibly removed the Jewish residents of the area, a group of Jewish American donors came together to ensure that the famed Israeli greenhouses that produced $200 million of produce per year would not go to waste. The greenhouses were purchased for $14 million much of it provided by the Gates Foundation - and turned over to Gaza Arabs.
But within hours of the withdrawal, many of the buildings had been damaged beyond repair. Terrorists and looters stripped them of their piping and electronic equipment and tore down their walls. Some greenhouses remained, several of which were destroyed in a second round of looting in 2006.
Now Gaza Arabs are going to get a second chance to try to recreate the thriving greenhouses of Gush Katif. The United States Agency for International Development is to sponsor a project termed Family Agricultural Greenhouses, which will construct three new greenhouses.
USAID hopes the three greenhouses will support 900 families in the Hamas-run Gaza region.
The project has approval from both the Palestinian Authority and the Israel Defense Forces. Israel is working with USAID to coordinate the transfer of goods into Gaza to complete the project.
Anita Tucker, a former resident of Gush Katif, doubts that the new plan will be successful. Tucker explained that while Gaza Arabs were at one point beginning to succeed in agriculture with help from their Jewish neighbors, the rise of the PA and later of Hamas created a situation in which rival terrorist groups battle for control at the expense of civilians, and ultimately destroy efforts to build local industry.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2010 14:54
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#4
Send them the standing housing hulks from Katrina; does two things, cleans up the mess in LA, and gives them crap, something they would reduce useable goods to in a matter of minutes.
#2
The problem is that the democrats learned long ago to take advantage of their periods of political power by salting the civil service with fellow travelers, and always resisting strongly any efforts at reversing that trend through their amased union power. The US DOJ Civil Rights division is a perfect example of the cumulative effects of this process.
#4
The DOJ is in a lose-lose situation. Even if DOJ wins a lawsuit, sources tell me South Carolina is simply going to cancel all of the special testing, treatment and counseling, thereby saving the state $2 million a year.
Instead, the state will dump infected prisoners into the general population, and nobody will know they have AIDS. Worse, prisoners who come to prison with HIV/AIDS will never know they have the disease and their lives will be shortened because the testing program will end.
Solution: Level the playing field and inoculate everyone with the virus.
#5
B. You point out a train of thought similar to the earlier DOJ flap this week, where they enjoined colleges from a test project using Kindle for text books .... because blind students couldn't use it.
The logic seems to be if a blind person can't use it, put a bag over everyone else's head.
An Afghan prisoner shot and killed two U.S. Marines during an escape attempt Saturday in southern Afghanistan.
NATO said Monday that the Marines died while trying to subdue the prisoner who had escaped a room where he was observing prayers. The prisoner grabbed a rifle and fired at Afghan and coalition forces before he was shot and killed.
"The prisoner escaped a room where he was observing prayer time, acquired a rifle and subsequently engaged Afghan and coalition forces. The Marines were killed while trying to subdue the prisoner," NATO said in a statement.
NATO did not disclose the exact location of the prison and said the incident is being investigated.
#1
Sounds like prisoners need to be manacled when praying from now on. Any subsequent protesters should be familiarized with this incident, and they should be offered a chance to offer an alternative that is just as secure for the guards. Until then, they are manacled.
#3
Why was there a rifle available to him?
This muslim shit is .... shit.
Posted by: jim murray ||
08/09/2010 13:47
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#4
In investigation will probably show the Marines were violating the unloaded guns in a hot area ROE. (Thanks Obumble, Gates and all the toads in DC, may you all suck toe jam from a rabid camel)
May they Rest in Peace and whoever is/was in charge in that sh!thole carries their face in his / her memory to his grave....
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation today aimed at cutting the bloated federal government down to size. The Reduce and Cap the Federal Workforce Act would reduce and limit the number of civilian federal workers to February 2009 levels. Expect this one to be pigeon-holed until several weeks after Doomsday.
"If we are to get our deficit under control, we need to rein in the runaway growth of our federal government," Hatch said. "Simply put, the federal government is growing at breakneck speed and it is time to apply the brakes before it bankrupts the nation and the taxpayers. My bill is a commonsense approach to putting a halt to big government." Common sense being an uncommon commodity...
Hatch said the numbers show why his legislation is needed. From 1981 through 2008, the senator noted, civilian workers numbered between 1.1 million and 1.2 million. The Obama administration is forecasting the government's workforce this year will reach 2.15 million and serve 310 million Americans. ... which amounts to a lot of jobs for his supporters...
"That is almost a fifty percent increase since 2008," Hatch said. "In 1974, former President Gerald Ford said: 'A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.' Today, we have an administration that seems hell bent on doing just that. That is unacceptable." Welcome to the Revolution...
The legislation would require the following:
Three months after enactment, the head of each government agency -- other than the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and Executive Office of President -- will report the number of civilian employees within that agency on Feb 16, 2009, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
If the number of employees is greater than existed on Feb 16, 2009, then each agency (except the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security) must, through attrition, reduce the number of employees to Feb. 16, 2009, levels.
Once the number of employees reaches Feb 16, 2009, levels, the head of each agency must ensure that those numbers remain the same. Thus, a hiring of a full time employee would require the reduction of another employee.
The OMB would publicly disclose the total number of federal employees, the number of federal employees in each agency, and the salary of each federal employee.
The Director of National Intelligence can exclude any employee from the above requirements if the director determines that such a disclosure would pose a threat to national security.
Hatch's bill legislation is supported by the American Conservative Union, Americans for Limited Government and Americans for Tax Reform.
#2
Michelle Antoinette might have to cut back to 28 personal assistants? The horror
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/09/2010 11:37
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#3
"Welcome to the Revolution..."
From your lips to God's ears.
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
08/09/2010 11:56
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#4
Can it be that we've hired a million new employees since January, 2009? Or did Bush hire some and Bambi hired even more?
A simple chart showing the number of employees over time would be helpful for me to pinpoint the problem, which is why I'm guessing that I'll never see a simple chart.
But hell yes, cut the number of employees back to 2009 levels. 2005 would be better. And don't exempt DoD and DHS.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010 16:14
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KUWAIT CITY, The Interior Ministry Saturday warned citizens and expatriates against eating or drinking in public during the fasting month of Ramadhan, due to commence in few days, because it will be illegal and contradict Islamic teachings.
Ministry spokesman Brigadier Mohammad Al-Sabr said any person seen eating or drinking publicly would be fined KD 100 ($347) and jailed for a maximum of one month or one of these penalties. Al-Sabr also called on shops and restaurants to abide by the law or face closure.
A GROOM accidentally killed three relatives at his wedding in Turkey yesterday when he fired into the air with an assault rifle in celebration.
The groom unleashed a volley of rapid aerial shots with an AK-47 rifle to celebrate his nuptials, but quickly lost control of the weapon and accidentally raked the guests with bullets, the report said.
The Anatolia news agency reported eight other people were wounded at the incident at the village of Akcagoze in the south-eastern province of Gaziantep.
The groom unleashed a volley of rapid aerial shots with an AK-47 rifle to celebrate his nuptials, but quickly lost control of the weapon and accidentally raked the guests with bullets, the report said.
His father and two of his aunts died in hospital. The groom was arrested.
Turks are notorious for breaking out into gunshots to celebrate weddings and sports victories, a practice that has caused many deaths and which authorities have so far failed to curb.
The US will sell Saudi Arabia F-15 fighter jets without long-range weapons and other advanced equipment as a result of Israeli pressure, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The report states that 84 fighter jets will be supplied to Saudi Arabia over a ten year period, but these will not be as technologically advanced as those used by the US.
The $30 billion defense package is said to be one of the biggest deals of its kind to date.
During months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, officials including Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly conveyed grave concern to the US regarding the proposed deal, on the basis that if advanced weaponry is supplied to other countries, Israel's military advantage in the region would be diminished and security would be compromised.
According to the report, Israel still has some reservations about the proposed plan, despite assurances and clarifications from US officials. However, Israel is not expected to challenge the progression of the deal. The process could start moving forward as early as next month.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell as saying: "We have been working very closely with the Israeli government at the highest levels to address their concerns on this and other issues."
He added: "Israel is not the only one with security concerns in the region and we have responsibilities to other allies as well."
#4
It's good for Israel that all of the Middle Eastern countries are armed with American weaponry. That way, the chances of a unitary Middle Eastern empire are minimal - any country that attempts it will face a cutoff of American munitions and spare parts, while the countries defending themselves will get as much US equipment as they can absorb. Because let's face it - the moment a single Middle Eastern empire emerges, Israel is done as a viable nation. Think Constantinople vs the Ottomans.
The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.
That sounds oh-so familiar ...
The Defense Business Board -- tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget -- says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system "encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.
"No rational person would put up with 20 years of the hardships that you're forced to endure if it wasn't for the brass ring at the end of it all called instant retirement," said Petty Officer 1st Class Ethan Gurney, an electronics technician based in Naples.
It's not really fair to compare military service to the civilian work force, said Gurney, who, at 38, is only a few months from retirement.
"The continuous deployments, living conditions, remote and hazardous duty stations are unique to the military," he said. "This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best."
The talk of changing the military retirement system isn't new.
#1
...That's okay, they want to freeze military pay and kill the military medical system as well. OTOH, I'd have no problem with going to 25 years for full retirement - the problem is the 'up or out' rule, which is really what would need to be changed.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/09/2010 7:38
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#2
Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
But we have 10 billion dollars this year as political rewards for unionized teachers at the state and local levels. I don't see schools in the federal Constitution as a responsibility.
#3
"This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best."
Any civilian job, even public employees as with police and fire, can quit their job tomorrow. Nothing said, nothing done. Why not give that civilian option to the military? Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs? /rhet questions.
#4
Practically speaking, with a collapsing economy, the military will take a huge hit. Nationally, there may be a 50% unemployment rate, so Privates may only get $50/mo, and junior officers, $100/mo, with room and board. No marriage until E-7 or O-4. Families stay in the US. No new weapons systems.
Retirement will probably be on a par with Social Security, which is to say, none.
#5
A military takes a physical and mental toll on your body that simply can't be ignored. Yes I get free medical care and a stipend each month for my service. While the medical is great, the actual pay is nothing close to live. So most "retirees" go into a second career which they pay taxes, SS, etc. It's not simple math and IMHO they can find a LOT better ways to trim the budget.
#6
If the military retirement system is in need of revision then at 20 years, transfer to the civil service and work your last five years as a civilian.
No hardship, deployment, or separation from family. No need to change the up or out strategy. A kind of try before you buy double-dip ....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/09/2010 9:27
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#7
Seems like there are a lot of broken systems lately run into the ground by the Feds: Medicare, Medicaid, Post-Office, Social Security, Freddie and Fannie, etc. Many blue States are also going broke because of Federal mandates foisted upon them coupled with years of irresponsible spending and policies, and corruption.
#8
Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs?
Military jobs are NOT comparable to civilian jobs. Military pensions, IMHO, are the only pensions the gov't should be paying. The rest of the government employees can save their dough the way the rest of us do (or don't). Obama can lead the way by cutting the pensions of future presidents to ZIP, ZERO, NADA.
(BTW, I'm not & never was remotely eligible for a military pension.)
#10
Y'know, it's yet more passive-aggressive cocksucking bullshit. They never asked themselves "Can We Afford This" during their last three trillion dollars or so of past decisions, but they trip over the military pension thing, and _SUDDENLY_ they wanna pretend to be Responsible?
GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
When the finance industry got in trouble, they got their two trillion dollar check, with little or no questions asked.
#11
The military can't be counted on to vote for them. If I were a smart progressive I would pay the only class of citizen capable of upsetting my socalist revolution.
#12
We could destroy the military's budget entirely, force all the retirees out onto the street, and still not be able to make up for all the extra money the government has wasted, both in profligate spending and profligate regulation, over the past couple years. DoD's budget is what, 1/3 of what got spent on TARP in a year?
Not to mention we only had the 90's boom economy because of the money DARPA threw into computer networking back in the 70's. And now we've restructured that shit so China makes money off of it now, but we don't. Where's the next big idea supposed to come from? THE LAST ONE WASN'T ANYTHING ANYONE WAS EXPECTING.
If you're sitting at your damn laptop now, like I am, and reading the internet, YOU'RE MOOCHING OFF OF THE 1970'S DEFENSE BUDGET.
#13
But it was Al Gore who invented the Information Superhighway Thing - not DOD...
25-member group of CIVILIAN leaders? WTF does that have to do with the MILITARY?
There's a big difference between civilian service and military service. For example in military service you may be call upon to DIE for your job - you also endure hardships and hazards which have no correspondance in a civilian - or political - 'job'.
How about we raise the number of terms congresscritters have to serve to earn their pension (and healthcare) - to like 20 terms?
(And I too have never served in the military - but I appreciate all those who have!)
#17
I draw a military retirement AND a VA disability (double-dipping?). Between the two of them, I can make ends meet, but just barely. I'm going to have surgery on my cervical spine in two weeks - at a civilian hospital, because the military has no space to do it. That will cost me money - $25, believe it or not - because that's what TRICARE dictates as the co-pay. Memorial Hospital is a city-owned hospital, and CAN'T refuse, or they'd lose their Medicare/Medicaid business.
Increased military benefits are scheduled to raise $12 billion. How much, in the same period of time, will the cost of retirement of presidents, congress-critters, and "civilian" government employees raise? Who gives the biggest 'bang for the buck'? How many of those "civilians" ever pulled a 24-hour+ shift, or got fired at, or worked in hostile territory where the "natives" hated you? How many people in civilian life HAVE to keep up their education in order to get promoted? Try making E-7 without at least an AA degree, and a Bachelor's or higher for E-8 and E-9. If you're an officer, you MAY be able to make Major/LtCdr with a Bachelor's degree, but if you want to go higher, you MUST have a Master's or better. I doubt there are many generals without a PhD. In the civilian world, you can screw up half the time and still continue your job, probably even get promoted. Make a mistake and see how quickly your career comes to an end.
The "civilians" on that board more than likely never spent even one day in the military. I doubt half of them could have made it through boot camp - even Air Force boot camp.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 20:04
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Authorities in Hamburg said Monday they had shut down the mosque in Hamburg where members of the Sept. 11 plot had met.
The Taiba mosque, formerly known as the Al Quds mosque, was immediately closed, according to a statement by the Hamburg Interior Ministry. The daily newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt reported that police searched the mosque in the St. Georg neighborhood shortly after 6 oclock in the morning.
Mohamed Atta and other members of Sept. 11 plot used the mosque on Steindamm, near Hamburgs main train station, as a meeting place. A report released in May by the Interior Ministry said that the mosque remains the central attraction for the Jihadist scene.
According to the newspaper report, a group of ten people who met at the mosque traveled from Hamburg to the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan in March 2009, likely with the goal of training at a militant camp there.
German intelligence officials have expressed concerns over the growing number of young Germans drawn into the militant Islamist scene and the possibility that they will return from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region to commit acts of terror.
In addition to closing the mosque, authorities banned the cultural association that ran it.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the Muslim cleric and 2002 Bali bombings suspect, has been arrested by Indonesian police for alleged involvement with terrorism. His lawyer, Muhammad Ali, said his client was taken in early today, allegedly for involvement with a new militant network in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
Police said Bashir, 71, was arrested by the Indonesian police anti-terrorist taskforce Detachment 88 while travelling from Ciamis in West Java, where he had been attending Koran recitals, to his home in Solo. Bashir is accused of involvement in an Islamic militant training camp uncovered by police in Aceh province in February, said counter-terrorism chief at the security ministry, Ansyaad Mbai.
"He had been involved in terror network in Aceh. As we know, that terror group in Aceh is linked with Jemaah Islamiah and many other extremist groups in our country," Mbai told Agence France Presse. "One of the allegations is that he provided funding to the Aceh military training. It's one of many allegations weighed against him," he added.
In the aftermath of the discovery of the training camp, police claimed to have killed 13 suspects, including the senior Jemaah Islamiah operative and Bali bomber Dulmatin, and arrested more than 60 others. Three members of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, a group established by Bashir after splitting from the Indonesian Mujahadeen Council two years ago, are already under arrest on suspicion of helping to finance the Aceh operation. Rumours have circulated for weeks that Bashir, a fiery preacher known for propagating hatred against foreigners, was next on the list.
On Saturday, police arrested five suspects and seized high-explosive materials in separate anti-terror raids in several areas in West Java province. The target of the alleged terror plots was not immediately clear, but Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday said police had foiled a terror plot against him as he visited the province.
Wahyudin, the director of Bashir's Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Solo, told the Jakarta Globe today that the cleric's wife, Aisyah, might also have been taken into custody. Police were understood to be transporting Bashir to Jakarta and a police press conference was scheduled for this afternoon.
A female rubber tapper was killed by two terrorists gunmen armed with M16 and AK47 assault rifles while she was collecting latex in a plantation in this violence-plagued southern border province. Rattana Kwanjai, 42, was shot three times while she was working alone in a rubber plantation in Ruso district.
The gunmen were presumed to have returned to the nearby mountain forest. Police initially presumed they were terrorists insurgents active in the area.
U.S. Special Operations Forces have had countless close shaves this month - not just with the enemy, but with razors and foamy cream.
After almost a decade of growing long beards as a show of deep respect for Afghanistan's male-dominated, bearded tribal culture, many of these elite warriors have been ordered by top brass to shave their faces clean.
Some veteran special ops troops fear they face a harder time getting taken seriously by local leaders they depend upon for intel about their bearded enemy, the Taliban.
"Now we look no different than the Brits or Russians before us," a dewhiskered Green Beret team leader with five Afghanistan tours told the Daily News, referring to two countries whose past wars here ended badly. "Growing a beard dramatically helps us."
Even former Afghan war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal "should have grown a beard" to help win over the tribes, argued the Green Beret, who cannot be identified because of his mission.
Long beards, khaki ball caps and Oakley wraparound sunglasses have long been the iconic image of U.S. secret warriors here.
But commanders now want "professional-looking" soldiers in the field - at least those who deal mostly with Afghan troops, not civilians. They note that the ball caps are often adorned with macabre skulls, sending the wrong message to a populace weary of war and death.
Special ops troops living in or near villages can keep their beards, but are encouraged to adopt the traditional Afghan pokol cap instead of a billed cap.
#2
Are they trying to morph this into Vietnam to suit their narrative?
This just seems so McNamara-esque.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/09/2010 4:02
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#3
Who ever did this needs to CM'd yesterday, cashiered and retired to make room for those focused on victory. You think the Army at Trenton or Gettysburg looked clean shaven, how about the 101st at Bastogne? This is pure militarism over military. A unit prepared to parade is unprepared to fight, a unit prepared to fight is unprepared to parade. There are plenty of palace guards across the globe that are worthless in a real fight, but they certainly as hell are "professional-looking".
#4
I was wondering how this author, James Gordon MEEK, understands the Afghan people to be "a populace weary of war and death".
The last I was told the Afghanis lived and breathed war on a similar level to that of a New York media hick living for Starbucks and Sex in the City.
Posted by: Bacon in the Mosque horror ||
08/09/2010 7:47
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#5
I suspect that the military command has been ordered to do this prior to pulling most SOF out of the country. It is plainly obvious that NATO is just treading water, with no real strategy, in a situation of growing expense and slow attrition.
UCW has failed because the real action is in Pakistan. Afghanistan is just shadow boxing next door to the real war, handling its overflow.
We should have built a new government for Afghanistan from the start, but we didn't, because of some stupid ass cultural sensitivity. So now we have to pay the price.
Because of all of this crap, when we go back, and we will have to go back, it will have to be against Pakistan, and with bombers.
#7
U.S. Special Forces ordered to shave off beards, some against command because it helps relations
Hopefully this story is crap. If not, it's clueless. Can't command find something to do better than to issue these kinds of orders? Maybe they could fix the ROEs instead. Mulims like beards. Leave them alone.
#8
I have few doubts in believing this story, because it always happens in the US military. Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Eventually the REMFs put their foot down and demand that combat troops keep their uniforms prettier, shave daily (especially during water shortages), properly and frequently salute REMF officers, and to NOT use bad language.
Hell, even MacArthur (PBUH) decided to withhold condoms, to prevent soldiers from engaging in immoral behavior with Korean girls. This lasted for a month, until the Theater Medical Officer got the VD stats.
It is the only recorded case of a Theater Medical Officer being so enraged that he physically jumped up on MacArthur's (PBUH) desk and chewed Him out. Allegedly. Likely apocryphally. But the point was made.
#11
not too mention beardless men would typically put a target on your ass in that part of the world.
Posted by: chris ||
08/09/2010 16:59
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#12
If you really need to perform a covert operation and disguise yourself as a native, what better way than to shave your beard, wear some special wrap-around sunglasses, and maybe a snappy baseball cap with "I love the U.S" on it. And a bulls-eye on your jacket. Nobody will suspect a thing.
#15
Hell, if winning means wearing their stupid man-dresses and growing beards - so be it. I understand the bitch about dumb baseball caps - there are plenty of turbans to put on if you really want to go native. I've been w/the grunts and the logistics groups, there's plenty of good troops and the obligatory 10% of morons in both organizations.
#16
This sh*t's been going on forever. When I worked for G-2 in Germany (back during the Baader-Meinhof era), some clueless upper-echelon idiot decided that our agents had to have regulation military haircuts, even though they wore civilian clothes and their job at that moment was to gather local intel about the Baader-Meinhofs and other anarchist assholes. This was during an era of longer hair on men.
So command (not our Colonel) basically fixed it so that our agents couldn't go out on the economy, blend in, and learn stuff that might save us some grief (and even some lives) - but gee whiz, they sure looked spiffy! The agents were livid, but really had no choice.
Some of the REMFs aren't even in the rear - they're just clueless, and adept at getting our people killed. I wonder if they have to go to Stupid School to get that way, or if it's a natural talent. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/09/2010 22:38
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#17
I wonder if they have to go to Stupid School to get that way, or if it's a natural talent.
Col. David Hackworth (pbuh) told a great story in his autobiography "About Face" that speaks directly to your question, Barbara:
"Years before...a bright, forward-thinking German general divided his officers into four classes: the clever, the stupid, the industrious and the lazy. The general believed that every officer possessed two of these qualities. The clever and lazy, for example, were suited for command (they'd figure out the easiest way to do a task); the clever and industrious were suited for high-level staff. The lazy and stupid, he maintained, were an unfortunate by-product of any system and could be slotted in somewhere; but the stupid and industrious were just too dangerous, and the general's standing order wss to have them removed from the military completely, the moment they were identified."
The stupid and industrious have been running the armed forces for a long time now - every Rantburger who's ever worn the suit probably has numerous stories about his/her favorite S&I superior.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/09/2010 23:12
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The British Army has hired a Canadian professional tracker, Terry Grant, to teach troops how to use his stalking skills to detect IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, mainly roadside bombs) and the signs (spoor, the signs people leave on the ground as they move) of enemy troops. This is an ancient skill among professional soldiers, that tends to atrophy in peacetime, and become urgent again in wartime. Terry Grant has become famous with his TV show, Mantracker, where he hunts down people in the wilderness. Grant has long been called upon to find people who were missing in rural areas. The British army noted this and made the connection with combat operations.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have long had similar programs, that have become more popular since September 11, 2001. Two years ago, the marines even added hunting skills instruction to its combat training. You'd think this would already be a standard feature of infantry training, but the need to master lots of new tech had pushed it out. However, noting that in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy tried to remain hidden in plain sight (often among civilians), and then set up a bomb or just (more frequently) get off a few shots and run away, the marines sought methods that would make it easier to spot these irregulars, and quickly hunt them down.
Like the British, the marines called in some professional hunters and quickly developed a training course that emphasized observation and deduction. That's what hunting is mostly about, spotting the prey first, and knowing where to position yourself to do that. Hunting irregular fighters turns out to be much the same. Over the last few thousand years, armies have gotten away from this hunting aspect of warfare. But the first "soldiers" were simply good hunters now going after different game. Terry Grant developed a similar program to help the British troops to get back to the ancient basics.
This shift to more tracking training for troops began nearly a century ago, with the appearance of the infantry squad. This was truly a 20th century development, even though the original squad size fighting organization was the hunting party that was turned to wartime use. The Germans were the first to introduce the infantry squad as an independent combat unit in modern times. This happened when the Germans perfected their "Stosstruppen" (storm troopers) tactics in 1917. After that, the infantry squad was no longer an administrative unit, but became a more independent and effective combat organization in all the world's armies. This changed infantry combat dramatically, but the significance of the change was rarely noted.
The marines rediscovered that a hunting party organization is only as good as its hunting skills of its members. So now marines practice looking at crowds and villages, to see if they can be the first to spot who the bad actors are. Terry Grant taught British troops to do the same, to look hard, and think carefully.
#1
It still impresses me that there might be a better way to detect IEDs, from the air, after they have been emplaced.
When an IED corridor is suggested, send out a helicopter crop duster, spraying a very fine mist of an otherwise invisible fluorescent chemical. There are an enormous number of such chemicals, many of which are cheap and plentiful.
Once it has been sprayed, the ground can be surveyed, again by air, and mapped for by UV fluorescent signature. For several days thereafter, a quick UV overflight map should clearly indicate "holes" left by digging up dirt. Computers can do a lot of the work.
While it doesn't prove an IED has been emplaced, it is a very potent indicator of what to pay attention to.
#3
Tech has been deployed to find hidden IEDs. It works in many cases, but the challenges are substantial. See: JIEDDO - Joint IED Defeat Office within DOD.
Cold War enemies the United States and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relations Sunday as a U.S. nuclear super carrier cruised in waters off the Southeast Asian nation's coast -- sending a message that China is not the region's only big player.
The visit comes 35 years after the Vietnam War as Washington and Hanoi are cozying up in a number of areas, from negotiating a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology to agreeing that China needs to work with its neighbors to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The USS George Washington's stop is officially billed as a commemoration of last month's 15th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the former foes. But the timing also reflects Washington's heightened interest in maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific amid tensions following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors. North Korea has been blamed for the attack, but has vehemently denied any involvement.
Last month during an Asian security meeting in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also angered China by unexpectedly calling on the Communist powerhouse to resolve territorial claims with neighboring Southeast Asian countries over islands in the South China Sea.
"The strategic implications and importance of the waters of the South China Sea and the freedom of navigation is vital to both Vietnam and the United States," Capt. Ross Myers, commander of the George Washington's air wing, said aboard the ship Sunday as fighter jets thundered off the flight deck above.
"I'm certain that the Chinese government and the Chinese people are trying to protect their interests," he added when asked about China's increased aggressiveness within the area. "It is more important for Vietnam (and) its partners to establish that they have an equal right to economic prosperity and peace within the region as well."
#1
Lest we fergit, CHINA > is upset at Vietnam's decsion to allow INDIA to lease a northern NavBase in support of its AIRCRAFT CARRIER, + possible LEASING + GRANTING OF PORT RIGHTS TO MAJOR WORLD POWERS [e.g. CAN RANH BAY, etc.] BUT NOT TO CHINA + PLAN.
IOW, CHINA...
To wit,
* INDIAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER [+ Escorts] in GULF OF TONKIN = SEA OF VIETNAM. Read, SOUTHERN CHINA + close to strategic HAINAN PLA BASE + SOUTH CHINA SEA.
* RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER? > See above.
* USN NIMITZ-CLASS CVN(s) oper in YELLOW SEA + + KOREAS, + as based in JAPAN.
* ROK KOREAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER? > See USN above.
Again, NOT counting NUCLEAR JAPAN + also NUC SOUTH KOREA [NUC North Korea?] + NUC VIETNAM + ???; + US GMD-TMD in ASIA.
RADICAL ISLAM > "ASIA" = MANPOWER RESERVES FOR FUTURE JIHAD + "CHEAP/FREE NUKES" courtesy of RUSSIA, CHINA, + INDIA, etc. or Islamist-controlled Nuke-WMDS Enclaves therefrom.
RADIC ISLAM in CENTRAl-SOUTH AMERICA = NUC BRAZIL, etc. + 1980's MTV PAULA "TRIP TO BRAZIL/MAZARRATTI" ABDUL???
[Ennahar] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he was prepared Saturday to meet the new Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and "turn the page" in the diplomatic crisis between the two countries for two weeks.
"I'm ready to move on and look towards the future. I'm ready, President Santos" Chavez said in a televised address.
The Venezuelan head of state said he had asked his Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro to inform Sunday his Colombian counterpart Mariangela Holguin his desire to meet "face to face" President Santos in Caracas or Bogota.
"If he (Santos) cannot come in the next three or four days, I am willing to travel to Colombia for a meeting," he said.
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[Ma'an] Palestinian opposition factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad convened Saturday in Damascus, where the Syria-based movements reiterated their objection to any kind of talks with Israel.
Faction leaders, including Hamas leader in exile Khalid Mash'al, warned in a statement the "serious outcomes of these negotiations [with Israel]" and vowed to take measures to thwart talks.
"The Palestinian Authority's negotiation team in Ramallah is not authorized to negotiate as they do not represent the Palestinian people's will," the statement added.
The opposition movements highlighted the need to bring about an end to Palestinian rivalry based on Palestinian rights, including the right to resistance and to reject all attempts "to blackmail resistance forces under the banner of reconciliation."
They called for more "dedicated efforts" to break the blockade of Gaza and to face Israel's settlement policy, home demolitions, and the illegal annexation of Palestinian land.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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[Maghrebia] The founder of Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), Hassan Hattab, was removed from the latest UN Security Council blacklist of terrorists, Liberte reported on Sunday (August 8th). Hattab, alias Abu Hamza, was placed on the list in 2001 as "head of a terrorist organisation". The list includes 26 Algerian terrorists.
Reform school worked?
This article starring:
Hassan Hattab
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08/09/2010
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[Tolo News] At least 1 man was killed and ten others were wounded in a bomb blast in Kandahar city, the provincial capital of the south-western Kandahar province
The incident happened when a government vehicle carrying the province's prisons employees was hit by a bomb that detonated in a rickshaw, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, Zalmai Ayubi, told TOLOnews reporter.
One man was killed and 10 others were wounded in the incident, he added. The wounded ones were taken to Mirwais Public Hospital.
No group, including the Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack so far.
Kandahar prison has come under insurgency attacks many times before.
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08/09/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Moroccan rights activists lashed out at forced marriage campaigns organized by Western Sahara's Polisario Front in the Tindouf camps on the borders with Algeria.
More than 1200 underage males and females were married against their will by leaders of the Algeria-backed Polisario front for the liberation of Western Sahara from Morocco. The marriages took place in Tindouf, the movement's headquarters in western Algeria.
Polisario authorities set up fully furnished tents for the newly-weds and promised a regular provision of foodstuffs for each couple every two weeks in addition to financial support.
According to Moroccan analysts, leaders of the rebel group are trying to make up for the loss of its members after hundreds decided to leave the camps and return to Morocco and to guarantee that younger generations will continue with the struggle for independence.
They are also trying to discourage the ones who stayed from following the returnees' example, especially that life in Morocco is more comfortable and more economically prosperous than the relatively harsh conditions in the camps.
Activist Naba al-Moussawi, who recently returned from the Tindouf camps, said the rights of Sahrawi girls are systematically violated by the Polisario leadership under the guise of marriage.
"They strip the girl of her innocence and say they are marrying her to preserve her chastity," she told Al Arabiya. "This is against women's rights and all international laws and agreements."
Another returnee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she managed to avoid forced marriage by running away from the camp.
"They force girls as young as 13 years old to marry in order for the movement to guarantee enough offspring for its cause," she told Al Arabiya.
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] The Meru council of elders has withdrawn threats to bestow a curse on two MPs from the region for opposing the new constitution.
The Njuri Ncheke held a meeting in the area during the referendum campaign period during which they warned Mr Silas Muriuki (Imenti North) and Mr Mithika Linturi (Igembe South) that they would face an unspecified curse if they did not switch to the 'Yes' camp.
But council secretary-general Phares Ruteere on Sunday said they had forgiven the MPs in the spirit of "reconciliation and unity of the community".
One of the MPs had, however, forwarded a complaint to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission for action to be taken against the council.
"It's true we received a complaint from one of the lawmakers and we want to see to it that both parties reconcile," said the commission chairman, Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia.
"The two MPs are our sons and they were only exercising their democratic rights when they said 'No' to the new laws.
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Days after President Asif Ali (Ten Percent) Zardari said the doors had never been closed for talks with hard boys, the Taliban have announced that their leadership would hold negotiations only if troops are "completely" withdrawn from Pakistain's northwest and adjoining tribal belt. The Taliban's condition for talks was conveyed by unnamed hard boy leaders to 'The News' daily.
The hard boys said their leadership would hold negotiations on one point -- "complete withdrawal" of troops from all parts of the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the tribal areas. "Taliban do not want to see Pakistain weak but the government's steps always negate our stance because of which the leadership of the Taliban is left with no option but to take steps for their defence," said one of the Taliban leaders who was contacted by the newspaper for comments on Zardari's statement.
This Taliban leader did not "advance any explicit argument in support of suicide kabooms in Pakistain," the report said.
The daily quoted another source among the hard boys as saying that all hard boy groups in Pakistain, which are "almost united at the moment," are considering Zardari's comments as their victory.
He said the hard boy leadership in the tribal areas, where security forces are currently conducting operations, feels that perhaps security forces are "finding a safe exit for themselves" because of which Zardari made such a statement.
Zardari, who is currently on a visit to Britain, told the media that his government had never closed the door for talks with the Taliban.
"We never closed the dialogue," Zardari said, skirting the question as to when talks could actually resume. "We had an agreement, which they (the Taliban) broke. (Talks will resume) whenever they feel we're strong enough and they can't win, because they won't win. It will be a painful difficult task, but defeat is not an option for us," Zardari said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Barry Harry, and Nancy need to watch that and weep. How hard would it have been to give a mealy mouth 15 minute speech to a bunch of kids who could care less and would have been bored to tears. (Although I have never forgotten the excitement of LBJ's lone chopper landing at the 1964 Jamboree a month before Tonkin Gulf). Instead, he insulted the leaders of the next generation and left them with an opportunity to speak truth to power that they will never forget. This is why arrogant elites cannot hope to endure. They just flipped off the wrong bunch of 14 year olds.
#1
To be charitable, a man with a diabolically confused, self-destructive parentage and equaly confused naming convention, possessing a mystical admiration for a paternal muslim heritage, steeped in generations of anti-western tribal hatred, who weds a like minded, America loathing inner-city radical, and writes books about himself.
What could this fellow possibly have in common with an organization founded by Sir Baden Powell? Or more pointedly, what could these young lads and our great nation possibly have in common with him? What could possibly go wrong?
#2
Failed community organizer with pomp and privilege sustained by special interests vs. a successful organized community under assault from the same special interests. Why would there be any animosity? /rhet question
Police in Afghanistan have detained one of the drivers of a convoy of foreign medical workers who were killed in the north east of the country.
The bullet-riddled bodies of five American men and three women - an American, a German and a Briton - and two Afghan translators were found in a remote area of Badakhshan province.
The Taliban said they carried out the ambush, but police have said they believe robbery was the motive, the BBC reports. The victims had been stripped of all their valuables
The local police chief says the driver is a suspect and may have assisted the men who ambushed the convoy. He disappeared after the attack and was arrested in Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, after a police search.
[Tolo News] Nearly, four police including a woman were killed and one other was severely injured on Monday in a suicide attack in western Afghanistan, provincial officials say
The attack took place on airport road close to Gozara district of Herat province and police forces were the target.
Provincial security officials refused to comment on the civilian deaths in the incident.
In recent days, Afghanistan has gone through a surge in insurgents' activities and the Taliban usually target foreign and Afghan security forces by suicide bombings in which mostly civilians are the victims.
Despite a surge in the number of US forces in Afghanistan based on the strategy of President Barack Obama, early on the outset of the year, top US officials had also warned of a tough summer a head of the foreign forces.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The lawyer defending a woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran said on Sunday that he has applied for asylum in Norway, but hopes Iranian authorities will allow him eventually to return to his practice.
Mohammad Mostafaei told reporters he chose to flee to Norway after obtaining a one-year Norwegian travel visa. He also cited the Nordic country's prominent human rights profile.
The 31-year-old said he fled to Turkey last week after learning Iranian officials intended to arrest him. He flew to Norway Saturday after being detained briefly in Turkey over an undisclosed passport issue.
Mostafaei maintained a blog that sparked a worldwide campaign to free his client, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, who was sentenced to death by stoning after she was found guilty of adultery.
Her sentence, which has sparked an outcry in Western countries, has been temporarily halted by judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani.
Mostafaie, who says he has rescued 18 of his 40 clients facing death sentences in Iran in recent years, has himself faced increasing pressure from the authorities in Tehran and says he was finally forced to flee after a warrant was issued for his arrest at the end of July.
He told the press conference Sunday that he did not think his departure would have a negative impact on Mohammadi-Ashtiani's case, since other lawyers were prepared to pick up where he had left off.
And "this will highlight Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani case even more," he said, adding that he did not think Tehran would dare to allow her stoning sentence to be carried out or to harm her physically in other ways.
While Mostafaei is applying for asylum, it's unclear whether he will stay in Norway. He said he hopes international pressure will force Tehran to let him return to his practice.
"My greatest hope is that I can go back and continue my work in Iran. If the Iranian authorities will ensure my rights and safety, I'll go back," Mostafaei said through an interpreter. "Right now, I've lost the ability to work on the behalf of my clients. That means I've lost everything. Without that, it doesn't matter whether I'm in heaven or hell."
Late last month, Mostafaei - an outspoken lawyer who also has defended many juvenile offenders and political prisoners - was summoned for questioning by judicial officials at Tehran's Evin prison, released after several hours, then asked to return, which he failed to do. The same day, his wife, Fereshteh Halimi, and her brother, Farhad Halimi, were detained in a possible attempt to pressure Mostafaei to surrender if he wasn't already detained.
The lawyer said he considered turning himself in, but ultimately decided against it because "my wife would never forgive me."
Mostafaei said a friend drove him last week from Tehran to Khoy, in northwestern Iran, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Turkish border. From there he made his way, by foot and on horseback, into Turkey, he said.
Authorities released his wife Saturday afternoon, Mostafaei said. He said he hoped she and their 7-year-old daughter would join him in Norway soon. He acknowledged, however, that "might take some time because the government may try to prevent their departure."
He said once his wife arrives, they will decide together if and for how long they plan to stay in Norway.
"In a way you can say that I have asked for asylum," Mohammad Mostafaie told AFP on the sidelines of a press conference in Oslo shortly after arriving in Norway after fleeing his country by way of Turkey.
The human rights lawyer added that he wanted to wait with the actual asylum application until he had had a chance to discuss the matter with his wife in Iran "on a secure phone line."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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- In Switzerland. Unemployment continued its downward trend in July, falling to 3.6 per cent. There were 142,330 people registered as unemployed, 2,143 fewer than at the end of June. The number of jobless between the ages of 15 and 24 had risen by 1,368 or 6.5 per cent. The US would be much happier if its unemployment rate were ONLY 6.5 percent A message to Jerry Pournelle points out something: Switzerland is the forgotten example in many things. It is high on many quality of life factors.
Why dont MSM commentators ever refer to Switzerland?
Is it because it has the most decentralised government system?
Is it because there is a gun in every Swiss family home?
Why is the Swiss model never quoted for repairing broken constitutions, eg Afghanistan?
I asked a Swiss person I met at a party here in Melbourne.
She said, oh, they are all hopelessly conservative over there
#2
You mean the multicultural multilingual Swiss Confederation where, although there are four official languages, English, not one of those four, is mandatory study as a second language in school as they consider it the language of science, technology, medicine, commerce, etc (ie the language of opportunity and advancement).
#3
In Switzerland education is a matter of the cantons, it is not something that is decided on the federal level.
With very few exceptions 2 foreign languages are mandatory, one national language (mostly German/French where applicable) and English.
The Swiss political system is really unique among the Western Democracies, as it is a direct democracy with some representative elements.
Decisions by parliaments and the executive at the local and federal level are related to small issues of day-to-day administration. Big policy decisions always require a referendum.
I actually don't fault the MSM for ignoring the Swiss model. It is too different to teach anything specific to a representative democracy.
#5
Now I know where to go when the liberals are done flushing our republic down the toilet. Too bad they probably won't let me in for fear that I might bring "Amercian Socialism" with me.
We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation
By Rahee Raza and Tarek Fatah, Citizen Special
Last week, a journalist who writes for the North Country Times, a small newspaper in Southern California, sent us an e-mail titled "Help." He couldn't understand why an Islamic Centre in an area where Adam Gadahn, Osama bin Laden's American spokesman came from, and that was home to three of the 911 terrorists, was looking to expand.
Continued on Page 49
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#1
Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah, board members of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said:
...we Muslims know the ... mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation, to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith, ... as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.... As Muslims we are dismayed that our co-religionists have such little consideration for their fellow citizens, and wish to rub salt in their wounds and pretend they are applying a balm to sooth the pain.
#4
Once upon a time (circa 2001-2003), I thought muslims like Rahee Raza and Tarek Fatah were the hope of Islam.
Since then, I've come to realize that such muslims are the theological human shields of Islam. They allow apologists to pretend that Islam isn't what it demonstrably is. They are kind of like the 'blue dog democrats'. It would be better if they simply renounced Islam or said, 'we will sign up again someday when its fixed'.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/09/2010 14:51
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#5
It would be better if they simply renounced Islam or said, 'we will sign up again someday when its fixed'.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists that the anti-Iran sanctions will serve as a stepping stone to eradicate the domination of the US dollar in world markets.
Ahmadinejad said the countries that followed the US campaign for anti-Iran sanctions have deprived themselves of the opportunity to participate in Iranian economic projects, IRNA reported on Sunday.
Addressing a ceremony marking the international week of mosques, the Iranian president stressed that Iran would use Western sanctions to move towards developing the country's domestic manufacturing and globalizing Iranian-made products.
Ahmadinejad said the US-led sanctions was a form of a psychological warfare intended to force the Iranian nation into compromise, adding, "This nation will never compromise when it comes to its independence, integrity, principles and justice-seeking."
"If sanctions were to have any impact on Iran, it would not be during the tenure of [US President Barack] Obama."
Ahmadinejad went on to say that the only impact sanctions will have on the Iranian economy is that "they will help its flourishing."
The president said by adopting anti-Iran measures, the West has further discredited itself.
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#1
Has Rantburg turned into Press-TV? Tons of articles from them, even on banal topics that don't have anything to do with Iran.
#3
..or CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, LATimes, NYTimes, etc. At least the Iranians don't even pretend about supporting an unpopular authoritarian government and leadership.
[Tolo News] The Civil Order Police Chief, and five others were killed in Imam Sahib district of the north-eastern Kunduz province on Saturday night
Unidentified gunmen attacked the house of Haseen, the Civil Order Police Chief of Kunduz on Saturday night, and killed him along with four of his guests and a bodyguard while they were having dinner, Nazuk Meer, a member of the Provincial Council told TOLOnews.
Three others were reportedly wounded in the attack, who were then taken to the Kunduz central hospital.
The sub-governor of Imam Sahib, Muhammad Ayub Haqyar, has also confirmed the report.
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. soldier was killed in Babel on Saturday, the first American army fatality to be announced in August, upping the total number U.S. since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 4,414, including 44 in 2010, according to the U.S. military in a statement on Sunday.
A U.S. soldier was killed in Babel province on Saturday, read the statement as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. It did not reveal further details on how the American serviceman was killed.
The death has brought to 4,414 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, including 150 killed in 2009 and 44 in 2010.
Four were killed in July 2010, three of them have reportedly died of non-combat causes, eight in June, including only two in military operations, six in May and eight in April, seven in March, five in February and five in January.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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...or not.
China is developing an unprecedented new missile that is designed to be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier from a distance of more than 900 miles, sources say.
Initial reports on the new missile suggest it could reshape conflicts at sea, but U.S. weapons experts told FoxNews.com that it's no game-changer, nor a revolutionary threat to America's aircraft carriers — which are the center of U.S. Pacific defense strategy. "Some have called it a game-changer. I would dispute that claim," said Toshi Yoshihara, an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College.
#1
I'm sure if the carrier didn't have AWACs overhead and AEGIS in the fleet there would be some serious issues but as is, I'm just not buying this supermissile is such a big threat unless the carrier group gets confined really close to shore.
As is, if it wasn't a sneak attack I suspect the missile batteries would be targetted and destroyed long before the carrier got into range. That is the point of a carrier after all, to be able to send planes out.
#2
They already have carrier killer missiles like Sunburn. The carrier has been obsolete for a long time, there just hasn't been a major naval conflict since WWII to show it.
#3
See also FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > THE JAPANESE ARCHIPELAGO SEEN THROUGH CHINA'S EYES.
Economics, like Politics, is deemed as WARFARE BY OTHER MEANS. In order to work, the DF-21 + similar ASBMS must only be MRV'ed but the original Missle itself must be capable of subtantially or variably changing its path in mid-flight/phase to counter effec changes in the Carrier's path-of-sail.
IOW, THE CPLA NEEDS NOT A MISSLE BUT AN RC IM-CAPABLE UNMANNED BOMBER, A "MOTHER" CRAFT ITSELF CAPABLE OF LAUNCHING DEADLY END-PHASE "SMART" OR "GENIUS" MUNITIONS AT THE CARRIER + BATTLE GROUP.
Pragmatically, since both the USN Carrier, + SSN Submarine [CV/CVBG UW escort(s)] fleets have shrunk from their Cold War levels, the most costs-efffective method for the PLAN is for Risng China to simply build up the numbers of their LR Nuke Sub fleets in "Wolf Packs" to track + overwhelm the US CVN's + CVBGS, ala Nazi Germany + Cold War Soviet Navy.
CHIN MIL FORUMS/BLOGGERS > many also support the idea of the CPLAN complementing any contrux of a larger LR Sub fleet wid THE EMPLACEMENT OF HEAVILY-ARMED, TECHY CONVERTED OIL RIGS-PLATFORMS ON CHIN-CONTROLLED CHINA SEAS ISLANDS, + TASK GROUPS OF SURFACE WARFARE "ARSENAL/FIRE SHIPS" [Multi-Combat converted or dedicated ocean supertanker] ON ROUTINE SURFACE PATROL ALONG KEY ROUTES.
Proposed US MOBS/MOABS meet PLA Fixed-Static Offshore Bases.
Lest we fergit, RUSSIA > desires to reactivate + upgrade the former KIROV-CLASS BATTLECRUISERS despite recognizing the power of the Nimitz-class CVNS.
IOW, US GLOBAL-SPACE MISSLE DEFENSE + GLOBAL STRIKE + SPACE STRIKE = ANTI-US INTERNATIONAL COMPETITORS/OPPONENTS MUST "EMBRACE MUTUAL DESTRUCTION/TOTAL ANNIHILATION" TO DEFEAT US TECHS + FIREPOWER, i.e. ABANDON COLD WAR NOTIONS THAT OFFENSIVE OR DEFENSIVE MILSYS MUST BE BASED SOLELY IN FIXED OR LIMITED SITES, + NOT BE "FLUID".
Is "GLOBALISM" = NOT "NATIONALISM" NOR EVEN "REGIONALISM", "CONTINENTALISM", "TRANS-..."; + moreso when dealing wid AYMMETRIC WARFARE, aka NOT-CLASSIC-WARFARE-AMONG-ORGANIZED-NATIONS-STATES-N-GOVTS.
Nuclearized Regional, Global "People's War" as fought by HIGHLY DECENTRALIZED, HIGHLY FLUID, HIGHLY COVERT SHADOWY NUCLEARIZED CELLS, NONS, MILITANT + SEMI-MILITANT GROUPS + DIFFUSE NETWORKS???
#4
...Lord, there's been a lot of hollering about this thing over the last few days. Let's take a look at some details.
First, what we're dealing with here is a Maneuverable Re-entry Vehicle, or MaRV. These were first brought into US service on the old MX and the still-serving Trident II. In other words, welcome to 1985.
Second, this thing is going to require a couple of other gadgets to work right - either a satellite based radar link (best) or a direct radar paint provided by an aircraft or vessel. Satellites can be killed; we've proven that. Any Chinese ship, sub, or aircraft that gets close enough to get a radar contact (and granted, some have) will have a very short, exciting life in wartime.
Third, the fact that the Chinese are testing this beast doesn't mean that they can produce them in the numbers needed to INSURE killing a CV. They're very good at building short to medium range tactical missiles (think high-tech SCUDS)but they are no more than very accurate long-range artillery, and that BTW is exactly how the Chinese think of them. OTOH, they have only built about forty full-up ICBMs, which says something about their actual technical abilities in terms of building missile bodies and more importantly missile guidance systems.
Third, this beast is going to have to be mobile, otherwise the Chinese know perfectly well that we'll whack their launch sites the same way we took down Saddam's toys. Now, they've built approximately twenty mobile ICBMs....that have to be parked somewhere and guarded like hell because authoritarian Communist regimes are real funny about letting nuclear weapons run loose lest they be used against them. In other words, the one real advantage this thing would have - it's mobility - can't be used most of the time, and we'll be able to keep pretty good track of them. And don't forget that the B-2s primary cold war mission was to have been whacking mobile Soviet CPs and missile units.
Is this a legitimate and possibly very dangerous weapon? Hell, yes. Is it a game changer? Far from it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/09/2010 6:24
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#5
With the ruling class collapsing the economy, Congress will sink more carrier groups in the next decade or so than what the Chinese could ever hope for with this expenditure of resources.
#8
The hyping of this so-called "carrier killer," is nothing but an attempt to get more funding for weapons contractors. The truth is AEGIS and the SM3 are more than capable of defending a carrier from this thing.
Posted by: Bob Thrirong1862 ||
08/09/2010 8:56
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#9
Bzzt WRONG Aegis cannot protect from a ballistic missile threat. It's not even established that it will work against Sunburn.
Old joke: How do you sink a carrier defended by 100 SM3? Fire 101 missiles at it.
#10
Unless policy has changed dramatically over the last few years, using a nuclear weapon against the US, even if only against US military forces, triggers nuclear retaliation. Somehow, I don't see this as a game changer.
#11
this thing is going to require a couple of other gadgets to work right - either a satellite based radar link (best)
Correct me if wrong, but I remember discussions about re-entry vehicles and how they lose radio contact when they enter the atmosphere. This would mean that the warhead would "go blind" just as it is approaching the target.
My calculations are that the carrier could turn and change its direction by several hundred yards before the missle reaches its impact point. A conventional warhead would be a clean miss, and a nuclear warhead would be an act of suicide (see comment #10).
This missle has been followed by the US Navy for several years now and there is an array of countermeasures against it.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/09/2010 11:45
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#12
Gromky you are wrong from what I recall reading: Some of the Aegis are equipped with SM3 variants which have been shown to be somewhat effective in terminal phase against exoatmospheric missiles
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
08/09/2010 11:50
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#13
My understanding is that this is a manueverable conventionally armed ballistic missile. The question really is what does the US do when a ballitic missile is heading toward a capital ship. I'll tell you they assume nuclear and respond appropriately.
So what are the PLA gonna do? Call ahead and tell us it's conventional and not nuclear? I don't think that will work.
So the US assumes nuke and responds with nuke.
If the PLA sends a conventional warhead in a nuke delivery vehicle they are being pretty stupid as it will get them nuked. Or should.
All of this assuming we have a President that would actually defend the USA.
Many in the West don't pick up on the smoke and mirrors aspects of Chinese defense policies. Case in point is the legendary Chinese ballistic missile that can hit American aircraft carriers. For nearly five years, there have been stories (in the West) about how China was working on targeting systems for its ballistic missiles, that would enable them to seek out and hit aircraft carriers. Such sensors would use infrared (heat seeking) technology. The key was having multiple sensor systems that could find the general location of the carrier, before launching the ballistic missile (like a DF-21, with a range of 2,100 kilometers). The latest rumors have even given the carrier killer missile a name; the DF-21D. This wonder weapon hasn't even been tested yet, much less seen or officially announced.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/09/2010 13:03
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#15
I seem to remember at least two Chinese spies being caught after spending more than a few years stealing high level secrets from the US Navy. Who knows what they gleaned (and are still gleaning) from those endeavors. While I don't think they have this capability yet, they certainly could develop it. For the Chinese funding and ingenuity are not in short supply. Nor is the willingness on the part of their gov't to persue new, more powerful military technology to defeat the only real threat they face in open war, us.
As for producing them in mass quantities once developed, that wouldn't be a problem either. China has (and has had for at least a decade) one of the most advanced and extensive manufacturing economies on the planet. They can pretty much reproduce anything quickly once they know how to make it. Also, geographically speaking they can move large amounts of goods (or large objects) across the country quickly thanks to the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers (which run from their east coast striaight through the heart of China).
Military and economically speaking China is already a threat (and has been for some time). Technologically speaking they are no slouch. If they want to develop this kind of missile they have all of the tools they need to get the job done.
#16
Two things I want to note: 1) Last month they had an exercise where lots of ships and aircraft were firing at an unmanned/undefended/unmoving vintage aircraft carrier. If I remember correctly it took over 30 rounds to sink the ship. 2) In warfare distance equals time. Missiles fly fast but if you have minutes to react you can defeat one or 20. As previously mentioned Carriers have a large defensive screen. Does anyone know of a successful land based missile attack on a naval warship?
#17
Never had heard of a solely land-based missile attack sinking a carrier; even the ones sunk in WWII required dozens of attacks by fighter/bomber aircraft, and a couple of those were finished off by their own subs to prevent enemy capture. Also, everything that leaks out from the US carrier sinking trials like the one that happened in the past couple of years says that Western-built carriers are a bitch to sink -- even sitting in place without being defended.
#19
RELATED > GUAMPDN FORUMS = PACIFIC POWER COULD CHANGE.
POSTER > opined that that the B-2 Stealth Bomber is now all but toast thanx to an Indian engineer giving its tech secrets to China, + that GUAM may find itself encircled or blockaded by China in future.
* FREEREPUBLIC/NET POSTERS > believe that whatever Milstrikes abndor Terrstrikes, Other anti-US Agendum America = Amerika's enemies have in mind NEEDS TO OCCUR WHILE POTUS BAMMER IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > [WAPO Artic]CONCERNED ABOUT CHINA'S RISE, SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS BUILD UP THEIR MILITARIES.
ARTIC > describes how MOST COUNTRIES IN ASIA ARE "BANDWAGONING" WID THE US TO COUNTER = BALANCE AGZ CHINA'S FUTURE POWER POTENTIAL [read, FUTURE REGIOnAL MIL AGGRESSION?].
Also from CMF > VIETNAM TAKES US STANCE ON XISHA ISLANDS [aka Paracels]. ARTIC infers that recent visit of USS "GEORGE WASHINGTON" CVN was covertly meant to monitor Sino-Viet tensions oer disputed South China Seas islands + deter Chin mil response to Vietnam-specific recce + claims to same???
KIRKUK / Aswat al-Iraq: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the director of al-Multaqa district in Kirkuk province and wounded two of his bodyguards on Sunday, according to a senior security official.
The director of al-Multaqa district, southwest of Kirkuk, Abdulkareem Nassif Jassem, was killed and two of his bodyguards wounded when gunmen opened fire on them today (Aug. 8), Brig. Sarhad Qader, the chief of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department (KDPD), told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Initial investigations into the incident showed that there was no act of terrorism involved, Qader added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010
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TEHRAN: Iran's state media say the country's navy has taken charge of four new Iranian-built submarines as part of Tehran's efforts to upgrade its defense capabilities.
The official IRNA news agency says Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and Navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari attended Sunday's ceremony marking the delivery of the vessels to the Iranian Navy.
Iran has sought to upgrade its air defense systems and naval power, saying any possible future attacks against Iran will be air and sea-based.
The navy already owns seven submarines of this type which weigh 120 tons and were first launched in 2007.
Iran has described the Ghadir as stealth submarines, hardly detectable by sonar and aimed at coastal operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf. The vessel is based on North Korean models of the Yono class and can shoot torpedoes, but their main tasks appear to be moving commandos, laying mines and reconnaissance missions, experts say.
Iran's inventory of submarines patrolling Gulf waters also includes up to three Russian-built Kilo class diesel submarines bought in 1990s and a Nahang, an Iranian-built light sub weighing 500 tons that was first launched in 2006.
In 2008 Iran started building a new submarine named Qaem which is due to be launched within days, Iran's army chief Ataollah Salehi said last week, describing it as "semi-heavy" and capable of operating in the high seas such as the Indian Ocean or the Gulf of Aden.
Little information has been released about this home-produced vessel, which is said to be capable of firing missiles and torpedoes.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/09/2010 17:09
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#5
Targets, and, somebody is forcing somebody to buy a lot of "mill" hardware that somebody does not have that big a gross national income, couple that with a refinery blowing up just a couple of days ago.......
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) suggested a novel use Saturday for a 100-square-mile ice sheet that has broken off Greenland.
"An iceberg four times the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland, creating plenty of room for global warming deniers to start their own country," Markey said in a statement. Sorry. Way too small, Eddie... We started our own country 234 years ago, Ed, and we're not keen on the way you and yours have been handling affairs lately. We could, however, put you GW enthusiasts on Antarctica ...
"So far, 2010 has been the hottest year on record, and scientists agree arctic ice is a canary in a coal mine that provides clear warnings on climate." The last time this happened was 1962. And yet, we're not all dead for some reason...
Some scientists have attributed the breaking off of the ice sheet to abnormally warm temperatures this year. ...and some haven't.
Markey, who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, co-authored the House version of the climate change bill that's currently stalled in the Senate. Looks like there's more Philistines around then you thought, eh, Eddie?
He said it was "unclear how many giant blocks of ice it will take to break the block of Republican climate deniers in the US Senate who continue hold this critical clean energy and climate legislation hostage." Eddie, why don't you go back to the only real job you ever had, driving an ice cream truck...
#2
Sort have missed something there bud. People like Markey need to suffer the fate of Galileo to comprehend institutional intolerance of contradictory data in a scientific question.
#3
Markey sould watch out. The exkimos put the old and useless on icebergs and left them.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
08/09/2010 8:28
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#4
If he's too hot and steamy, he should make a visit to South America right now.
"A brutal and historical cold snap has so far caused 80 deaths in South America, according to international news agencies. Temperatures have been much below normal for over a week in vast areas of the continent. In Chile, the Aysen region was affected early last week by the worst snowstorm in 30 years. The snow accumulation reached 5 feet in Balmaceda and the Army was called to rescue people trapped by the snow."
The reason for this happening is that we are in just the opposite of the greenhouse effect. Summers will be hotter, and Winters colder, because the thermosphere has reduced in size by almost a third. It is the atmospheric blanket that blocks new heat, but also holds in existing heat, moderating surface temps.
#5
It is really starting to piss me off that leftist radicals call conservatives "radicals" for *opposing* radical change.
In a way, conservatives share in the blame because once the leftists force through some radical change, they also force through the idea that it is written in stone, and can never, ever be changed back, no matter how worthless and disastrous it is.
And the conservatives buy into that nonsense, because they don't want to fight over the past, and would much prefer to try and fix the utterly worthless disaster.
#6
Markey is seedy indeedy. I think he should go up and spend some time on the iceberg and gather information about the whereabouts of the iceberg. He can call it his own country if he likes.
#7
In a way, conservatives share in the blame because once the leftists force through some radical change, they also force through the idea that it is written in stone, and can never, ever be changed back, no matter how worthless and disastrous it is.
Welcome to the past century of life in America. The ratchet that is government turns only in a unidirectional manner and has for over a hundred years now. The left has been tremendously effective at implementing their grand vision merely by recognizing the fact that the sane and rational folks can't guard every frontier one hundred percent of the time.
Indonesia's counterterrorism squad jugged five terrorist suspects in West Java, a local police chief said Sunday, a day after the country's president said he had received reports that certain groups in areas of the province intended to do him harm.
West Java police chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman said police also confiscated high explosive materials during four separate raids on Saturday in the province's capital, Bandung, and Subang district.
On Saturday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was visiting Bandung, said he had received reports that certain groups in the province intended to do him harm. He did not elaborate, or refer to the arrests.
On Sunday, his front man, Julian Aldrin Pasha, did not rule out that the suspects' alleged target was the president.
"It could be assumed that their activities were aimed at (attacking) the presidential entourage," Pasha said.
Sutarman said two suspects were jugged by the special anti-terror force in Sukaluyu hamlet on the outskirts of Bandung.
Bomb squads had to detonate a bomb found within their house after failing to defuse it, Sutarman said. One suspect managed to escape.
Two others were jugged in Cilenyi and Padalarang districts, also on the outskirts of Bandung, Sutarman said, adding that the fifth suspect was jugged in a raid on his house in Subang district.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Late at night on Friday 6 August the MV SYRIA STAR requested medical assistance for two crewmembers that were injured in the initial hijack. The MV SYRIA STAR was hijacked on Thursday 5 August in the eastern part of Gulf of Aden and is now free. Initial reports are that the pirates left the ship of their own accord utilising one on the rescue boats.
EU NAVFOR warship FGS SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN was in the vicinity of the MV SYRIA STAR and sent her helicopter with a medical team onboard in order to assist the vessel. On arriving on the SYRIA STAR they found a third member of the crew who had been injured in a work related incident. FGS SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN is standing by to conduct a medical evacuation if required.
EU NAVFOR Force Commander Rear Admiral Jan Thörnqvist said: It is always good to hear a hijacked ship is free and now EU NAVFOR will give the injured crew members the medical assistance they require.
Hezbollah says it is to prove through a "thunderous" revelation that Israel masterminded the former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.
The Lebanese resistance movement's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah will provide "comprehensive" evidence, verifying that the 2005 murder benefited from Tel Aviv's engineering, said the group's media relations officer, Ibrahim Mousavi.
Speaking to the Palestinian Ma'an news agency on Saturday, he said that the evidence would be "revealing conclusive information."
Nasrallah said on Tuesday, "I accuse the Israeli enemy of the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and... I will prove this by unveiling sensitive information at a press conference on Monday."
He has also warned of attempts by the Israeli side and the United Nations tribunal, which is probing the assassination, to link Hezbollah to the foul play.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, set up by the UN and the Lebanese government in May 2007, is to come up with the results of its investigation by the end of the year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Well alrighty then, AC DC is playing in ISRAEL!
[Geo News] Pledging continued support for Pakistan's flood recovery effort, the United States has said the reconstruction phase following the current relief work will likely need more international aid overtime than committed to the key South Asian country after a deadly earthquake in 2005.
"What makes this unique is the scale of the disaster and its effect throughout the entire country," U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, said. "The (7.6-magnitude) earthquake and the displacement of 2 million people from the Swat Valley (in anti-militant operation last year) were more localized. So while the loss of life in this disaster may be less, the economic impact and the need for reconstruction assistance over time could well be greater," the diplomat added, speaking from Islamabad via teleconference with American journalists.
The United States, she said, is working with the federal Pakistani government and established NGOs to provide immediate life-saving aid to the victims of the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years. The UN now estimates that nearly 1500 people were killed, a million people remain homeless, and 4.5 million people have been affected across the country as the initial flood waters moves through the Indus River system toward the Arabian Sea. It would be as if the Missouri, Arkansas and Red Rivers all overflowed at once and then dumped huge amounts of water and debris into the Mississippi, Patterson said, explaining enormity of the disaster to Americans.
The ambassador estimated that the number of affected people is expected to rise to 6 million by the end of the week. "Countrywide, 92 bridges have been destroyed, and more than 200 major roads have been damaged. There are four major dams at risk. Crop and livestock loss will affect long-term livelihood and food security. International organizations believe that up to 2.5 million people will require food assistance. We anticipate that with additional rains this weekend, waters will still be high next week," she informed.
The U.S. engagement with this flood crisis began last Friday when the Government of Pakistan asked that U.S. helicopters and aircraft, assigned to support the Pakistan interior ministry's air wing, support flood relief, Patterson said.
"We agreed immediately and began to consider what other ways we could help. In the meantime, these U.S. aircraft have rescued over a thousand people and airlifted over 37,000 pounds of supplies."
The U.S. has already committed $35 million in assistance to flood-affected populations. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have vowed to stand by Pakistan in the hour of crisis. Hillary, throw a ten spot in for me too. I'll owe ya...
Sure you will...Will do, sire sir.
"The money will be provided by USAID to international organizations and established Pakistani NGOs to provide food, health care, and shelter for those displaced by the floods. This is being supplemented by existing programs that we had in place to help many of these same people who were formerly displaced by fighting in Swat. And we are working now to identify gaps," the top U.S. diplomat in Islamabad said. Maybe you can train them in Java and help them set up help desks...
In response to a question, the ambassador underscored the United States' close working relationship with Pakistani government in the ongoing relief effort and praised the federal disaster management authority for doing a good job.
"There are always, in situations like this, NGOs that are associated with what we would call extremist groups who have been active delivering supplies. But they are totally, in my view, overcome by the enormous number of local and highly reputable NGOs and the international NGOs who have already mobilized for this crisis. We are working with already 13 international and local NGOs trying to get money to them as quickly as possible so they can provide services throughout the country. So we think the government is particularly the federal disaster management authority is doing a good job in delivering support to the people."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
And American Muslims will use this as an excuse for why "restrictions" against giving zakat should be loosened (like Pres. Obama promised in Cairo).
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/09/2010 5:56
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#2
you have too pretty much bend over aand kiss your own ass too get some help here, kinda like the unemployment geting cut too about 2 million for 2 months but lets rush a bunch of shit too these ppl who hate everything about us.Goddamned when is the government gonna learn you can't buy their love.
Posted by: chris ||
08/09/2010 11:59
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BAGHDAD - A series of car bombs killed at least 12 people and wounded scores in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Falluja on Sunday, while the prominent governor of troubled northern Nineveh province escaped an assassination attempt.
The blasts followed a series of explosions at a busy market in the centre of Iraqs southern oil hub Basra late on Saturday that killed at least 43 and wounded 185, officials said.
In the northern city of Mosul, considered one of Iraqs most dangerous places in recent months, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy transporting Atheel Al Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province, from his home to work on Sunday, police said. Nujaifi and his staff escaped injury in the initial blast, which took place on a road that is considered one of the safest in Mosul. But a second roadside bomb exploded when police responded to the scene, wounding three officers, police said.
In Falluja, about 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, three car bomb blasts two of them targeting police patrols killed at least four people and wounded more than two dozen others, police and medical sources said. One of the car bombs was left behind by gunmen who robbed a currency exchange merchant of $85,000 at his home, police said.
In Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital, a car bomb exploded near a restaurant on a busy main street, killing at least eight people and wounding 50, police said.
In three other attacks in restive Mosul, nine people were wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into a crowd of civilians and four others were hurt when roadside bombs exploded near police and army patrols, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Hospitals in the Gaza Strip declare a state of emergency as Gaza's main power plant was closed down Saturday night due to a shortage of industrial diesel fuel.
Power cuts have increased from eight hours to 12 hours per day and have severely affected childrens' hospitals, maternity departments, kidney departments, babies' nursery and intensive care units, Gaza emergency chief, Mo'aweya Hassanein, said on Sunday.
Increase in the hours of power cutoff "would lead to a humanitarian crisis and a deterioration of medical services," German news agency dpa quoted him as saying on Sunday.
The plant's closure, the third time this year, has caused chaos as hospitals had to use generators to maintain life-saving equipment.
The closure has also caused power cut to more than 700,000 people in the Gaza city, Kan'an Obied, the chairman of the Hamas' energy authority, confirmed.
Hassanein also warned that if generators are not reactivated, dozens would die.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) spokesman, Ghassan Khatib, said on Sunday that the PA is not responsible for the closure of Gaza's power plant, adding that the PA has paid 90 percent of its power bill amounting to almost $12 million, Maan news agency reported.
The Gaza Power Authority blamed the Ramallah government for the shutdown, saying it failed to make fuel payments to Israel.
In turn, Ramallah officials said the power authority had neglected to transfer cash to the PA to pay for the fuel.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Paleos always make a lavish show of saying "we love death." What do they need hospitals for?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/09/2010 8:05
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#2
kinda makes their fearsome death cult look somewhat ...involuntary... for some, no?
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/09/2010 11:03
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#3
Perhaps if Hamas sold a few of those rockets they could come up with the cash? Or had their bosses contribute from their Swiss bank accounts?
(CNN) -- Changing the Constitution's guarantee of U.S. citizenship for anyone born in the United States is "worth considering" if it helps reduce illegal immigration, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives said Sunday. But it won't be considered. It'll be dismissed by the lefties as "racist" and the Pubs won't stand their ground because they're actually nudibranches.
"It's a serious problem that affects our country, and in certain parts of our country clearly our schools, our hospitals are being overrun by undocumented Democrats. A lot of them came here just so their children could become U.S. citizens. They should do it the legal way," House Minority Leader John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner told NBC's "Meet the Press." I sometimes sympathize with them, since the "legal way" involves having to jump through hoops and stand on your hands and spit quarters.
The Ohio congressman, who could become speaker of the House if Republicans win back control of the chamber in November, ... even though they wouldn't be obligated to keep him...
is the latest GOP leader to float the idea of changing the 14th Amendment. Several leading GOP senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 2008 presidential nominee John Maverick McCain ... the former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... have said they would support holding hearings into the matter as part of the heated debate over immigration.
The Reconstruction-era amendment guarantees equal protection of law and defines who is a U.S. citizen. The exclusion of the children of illegals, of foreign consuls, and similar groups is also spelled out in case law up until Justice Brennan inserted a footnote into a majority opinion in the 1950s...
Critics of illegal immigration have long accused migrants -- particularly those coming from Mexico or Latin American countries -- of giving birth to children in the United States in hopes that their babies' citizenship will keep them in the country. The amendment has been cited as the foundation of U.S. civil rights law in cases ranging from Brown v. Board of Education to last week's decision that struck down a ban on same-sex marriage in California. Changing it would require a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and the approval of three-quarters of state legislatures.
Boehner said Sunday he's "not the expert on this issue," but "I think it's worth considering." You could take a weekend and read up on it. It does make for interesting reading. You probably have a subscription to West...
"There is a problem," he told NBC. "To provide an incentive for undocumented Democrats to come here so that their children can be U.S. citizens does, in fact, draw more people to our country."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
I think they should add to it a passage that revokes the citizenship of anyone that uses the term immigrant when they mean illegal immigrants.
Consider the the first "and" in Section 1 of the amendment. That's important. They didn't use "or". I'm sure by then folks had the difference between the two conjunctions down pretty good in a legal sense, and were pretty good about not dragging their knuckles around when legislating, too. Any talk about needing to rework this amendment is mere distraction from the fact that it is not necessary to rewrite it in order to achieve the desired effect of kicking out all undocumented Donks. I'm sure if the Donks get their hands on a rewrite of this amendment it will only lead to no good. They probably think that being involved in a new amendment will make them super-cool, too. If the Donks want the illegals to stay here, they had better repeal that amendment fast, because the federal government is in breach of contract regarding illegals overrunning this place.
#4
I've read other analyses that agree with yours, Gorb.
Illegal immigration was unheard of in 1867. It didn't exist. People immigrated to the US but none of it was illegal. We didn't conjure up that idea until another generation had passed.
So it's not surprising that the Framers of the 14th didn't explicitly consider immigration.
What they did consider explicitly was that many would try to deny the newly-freed slaves their rights, and they wanted to prevent that. Alas, they failed, and the slaves were dumped on for another hundred years.
One can argue that illegal immigrants are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States (except for deportation) and thus don't benefit from the 14th. It's harder with the anchor babies -- are they also not subject? If born in an American hospital and registered as a live birth, what then? It's an interesting legal question, and I've read opinions on both sides.
What Sen. Graham (RINO-SC) and Boehner are doing, however, is not encouraging a debate on the 14th -- what they're doing is clearing the road for another blanket amnesty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010 9:13
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#5
Inre: "Anchor Babies"
Yes, I think they would fall under the jurisdiction of the US. That is, I believe, the point of a new ammendment: to make them explicitly under the same jurisdiction as their parents.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/09/2010 9:31
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#6
Parkland Hospital in Dallas gave birth to 11,200 anchor babies in 2006. That is 70% of the births that occurred at one hospital.
#7
I think anchor babies are born in the US but not subject to our jurisdiction. Otherwise, the parents would need to jump through all kinds of hoops to take their baby home with them, including adoption papers because they are taking an American citizen out of the country with them.
#8
gorb is right - they are subject to the jurisdiction of thecountry of their parents.
Anchor babies are a lunacy.
One more thing, I wonder what would happen if the Repubs in Congress offered amnesty to illegals but ony if the illegals right to vote was delayed 20 years. Think the Dems would still be pushing for it?
Apparently we're the only suckers in the world to allow this.
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
08/09/2010 12:58
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#10
70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland were illegal immigrants. 11,200 per year.
The hospital spent $70.7 million per year on a total of 15,938 babies. Medicaid kicked in 34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the feds kicked in another 9.5 million. Maybe chickenfeed but when tallied up for the entire country maybe not chickenfeed.
#12
There's a small claque on Wikipedia that's trying to expunge 'anchor baby' from the lexicon as being only used in a hateful way. That's a classic PC tactic to frame and limit discourse by prohibiting trenchant English vocabulary in favor of forced circumlocution. See the 'discussion' page for 'anchor baby'.
#13
Besides, I like the law when it is written in generalities and written correctly as was the style then. Nowadays, when modern libtards get hold of it, their tendencies are to turn it into 1000+ pages splintered between ironclad multi-generational pork, hideously over-detailed indebting garbage, and vaguely worded bureaucracy-generating rubbish that will be used in the Supreme Court to justify the fact that the meaning of the word "regulate" in the Constitution has gone from "to make regular" to "control".
#15
gorb is right -- the originial intent of 14th IIRC was so that the children of recently freed slaves would not be disenfranchised their citizenship.
[Ennahar] The streets of Algiers were invaded yesterday morning by a group of Muslim brothers, bearded fanatics, who were distributing leaflets to unveiled women and even those who wear a veil not complying with Islamic law.
Such pamphlets entitled "The veil of the Muslim woman", treats women not wearing veils who reveal parts of their bodies, as Middle Aged women.
These are young people aged between 25 and 40, wearing white, gray or brown Kamis, having well furnished beards. Scenes that reminded us of the era of Islamic salvation front (FIS), where the activists were harassing women in the street trying to force them to wear the Hijab.
A young woman in Algiers wondered: "Is the FIS Back? "
After a gap of more than two decades, the Salafists reappeared in the streets of the capital.
Leaflets distributed to women, of which Ennahar has a copy, bears the title "The veil of the Muslim woman" by Sheikh 'Deifallah al Maliki, containing verses from the Koran and Hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH) dealing with the subject.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Sounds like time for the government to set up a flying squad, and dig some graves.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A South Korean fishing vessel with seven crew members on board has been seized by North Korean in the Sea of Japan amid growing tensions between the two neighbors.
According to a statement released by South Korean Coast Guard on Sunday, the vessel was carrying four South Korean crewmen and three Chinese sailors near the North's exclusive economic zone off the east coast of the Korean peninsula.
All crew members have been taken into custody on suspicion of illegal fishing, North Korean media reported.
Meanwhile, Seoul called for the safe return of its vessel and a swift resolution to the problem under the international rules and regulations.
"We urge North Korean authorities to handle this case in accordance with international norms and practices and return the ship and the crew at the earliest possible date," the South Korean coastguard said in a statement.
The latest incident comes as Seoul has staged its naval drill in the Yellow Sea on the other side of the peninsula, unleashing a wave of string reactions from Pyongyang officials who vowed to mount a "physical counterattack" in response to the drill.
A war of words has further heightened in the Korean peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean war ship back in March.
Seoul has blamed a North Korean torpedo for the shipwreck, which left 46 sailors dead.
North Korea has categorically denied any involvement in the sinking of the vessel, saying the subsequent military drills are "political provocations" aimed at keeping the current status of the disputed sea border between the two countries.
Additional information from a South Korean source:
Vessel is the Daeseung 55, a 41-ton 'squidding' boat. Four South Korean and three Chinese crew aboard verified.
Maritime officials said South Korean authorities lost contact with Daeseung 55 Sunday morning. The ship communicated through satellite phone around 2:35 pm the same day, saying it was being taken away by a NorK patrol ship
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
I gotta believe their real goal is war. And my brother went there Thursday to teach in a mission school adjacent to the Kunsan Air Force Base.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2010 6:45
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#2
Today the Daeseung, tomorrow the USS George Washington.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Baghdad's traffic cops are demanding their own guards after at least 10 were killed over the past week in drive-by shootings and other attacks that have set back efforts to restore normalcy to Iraq's capital after years of violence.
Security officials have blamed al-Qaeda in Iraq for the killings, in which gunmen used pistols fitted with silencers. They said the militants target traffic cops to create chaos on Baghdad's congested streets and embarrass authorities who boast of improved security.
Many of the traffic cops are unarmed, surprising given years of violence on the city's streets. Now, they are demanding assault rifles to defend themselves as well as protection from the tens of thousands of heavily armed policemen and soldiers deployed across the city.
"Yes, they only have pistols so we are giving them heavier firearms"
police Brig. Gen. Nijim Abed Jaber
Authorities, eager to stop the killings, are moving quickly to meet their demands.
"Yes, they only have pistols so we are giving them heavier firearms," said police Brig. Gen. Nijim Abed Jaber, chief spokesman for the traffic police force. "But let me remind everyone that combat is not the job of traffic policemen. They are peaceful individuals whose job is to help people."
Persistent violence across the country has raised concerns about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security less than a month before the U.S. military ends combat operations and draws down to 50,000 troops, a step toward a full withdrawal by the end of next year.
However Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, maintained on Sunday that Iraq's military is ready and able to take over security operations even with the violence and Iraqi politicians continuing to squabble over the formation of a new government five months after an inconclusive election.
Baghdad's traffic cops - distinguished by their white shirts, navy blue trousers and hats - have struggled to regain control of the streets. Even before they were insurgent targets, it was not an easy job, coping with temperatures pushing 120 degrees (50 degrees Celsius) and relentless bombings striking Baghdad daily.
Members of the force have been killed in crossfire and bombings since the insurgency broke out in 2003, but this is the first time they have faced a string of killings in which they were the intended victims.
The capital was without traffic police for months after its capture by U.S. forces in 2003 and the city's unruly motorists did as they pleased, driving on sidewalks, medians and against incoming traffic. But the traffic police, with the help of American troops, were the first law-enforcement force to send its members out on the streets and have slowly begun to regain control.
Already in some Baghdad areas, traffic policemen are working in pairs, one directing the traffic and one shadowing him with an assault rifle at the ready. In other parts of the city, policemen and army soldiers are keeping a close watch on the traffic cops, standing guard close by.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Stored in the open during monsoon season, the clever boots! Global wheat prices already up 78% since June. It's going to be an interesting year to be poor...
#1
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, as per PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDJUH is allegedly covertly + deliber sending its bad goodies over the borders into BANGLADESH, which in turn is riling + po'ing the Bangla locals???
#5
What is with governments squandering vast sums of money subsidizing one of the richest segments of society, farmers.
We all like to eat, and we like to know that our next meal is in the bag.
Sure, farm subsidies are unfair and inefficient.
So is starvation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010 9:15
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#6
farming subsidies have never bothered me.And by walking around looking at most ppl here in the US doesn't look like too many would survive off bark soup.
Posted by: chris ||
08/09/2010 11:57
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#7
I think without subsidies too many farmers stampede towards the current 'big money' crop and ruin the market for it while creating shortages in other areas simultaneously.
#8
Actually, most of these "subsidies" go to the very large farm corporations and not the smaller farmers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2010 14:14
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#9
Actually if you look into India's trouble with how their rains come, starvation can be a serious problem in their rural areas. At least their government is storing wheat to try and feed it's people if there's a drought.
That's alot better than most african countries do.
A senior Iranian commander says the country's armed forces are boosting their surface-to-air firepower with the introduction of new anti-aircraft missile systems.
Iran's "artillery units will soon receive new anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems" to enhance the country's defense capabilities, Fars news agency reported the commander of the anti-aircraft post of the Khatamolanbia Headquarters, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, as saying on Sunday.
The military chief said that the Khatamolanbia anti-aircraft post is "rapidly upgrading its defense systems in every way."
He also noted that the country's artilleries have already deployed another anti-aircraft missile, named Mersad (Ambush), as operational.
Mersad medium-range missile system is the first domestically-built air defense system, which is said to be more powerful than the US-made Hawk missile.
It features cutting-edge technology that makes it able to destroy modern aircrafts at low and medium altitudes, Iran military officials say.
Mersad is also equipped with sophisticated radar signal processing technology, an advanced launcher, and contains exclusive electronic equipment for guidance and target acquisition.
It could be linked to other anti-aircraft batteries, providing the ability to combat electronic warfare.
Iran began mass-production of the missile earlier this year in order to deliver a sizeable number to the country's armed forces by year's end.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
when are their homamade weapons not stronger than the US'? It can be powerful as hell but if it can't hit anything it doesn't do much good.
Posted by: chris ||
08/09/2010 11:54
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#2
So...how many bottle rockets does it take to bring down a fast moving combat aircraft?
Of course, fireworks ARE dangerous, and I'm sure all those crews will get proper training in them.
[Ennahar] Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has no significant popular support and has no capacity to do harm to even worry the Algerian government.
See the report on the salafist men invading the streets of Algiers, then read this post again.
The days when the mere mention of the word Al Qaeda shook the Algerian government are gone away. According to the latest report of U.S. State Department, Algeria has more concern to the extent that transnational organization has no more popular support.
"The success of Algerian counter-terrorism security services, combined with the rejection of terrorism expressed by the populations appear to have reduced the effectiveness of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) during the past two years," we read in this report published before yesterday on the website of the State Department. It was during these two years just as the Algerian security services have decided to strengthen their workforce by hiring 100,000 new elements, between the gendarmes and police.
The operation resulted in a greater security presence in most major urban centers, airports, structures and institutions and sensitive borders.
"The initiative was effective in reducing the impact of terrorist incidents and has also demonstrated the determination of the Algerian Government for fight against terrorism," said the U.S. report. And as further evidence of such determination to uproot terrorism, the American document said that Algeria has hosted the meeting last August of Chiefs of militaryStaff of Mali, Libya, Mauritania and Niger .
This key meeting of the Sahel countries, was in fact to develop a regional strategy against terrorism, and establish a regional center in Tamanrasset. Also on the list of positive points in the assets of Algeria in the fight against terrorism, the report mentions that ransoms: "On the international plan to condemn the payment of ransoms to terrorists."
This is not a scoop media as saying that the security situation in Algeria has been marked by a decrease in the number of terrorist attacks. This, even though armed Islamists still rage against isolated populations. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) since he had formally pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2006, "has been driven to resort to kidnapping for ransom and operations developed against Westerners in the Sahel region, "reported the American document in his section reserved to terrorism in North Africa.
"The anti-terrorism operations of the Algerian government, which included an increased security presence and the dismantling of several networks of support and recruitment, have diminished the ability of Al Qaeda to commit such attacks in major cities of Algeria ", says the State Department rejoicing that "there was no suicide after the month of March." Moreover, Ramadan 2009 was almost "silent".
However, this period is deemed conducive to terrorist attacks and jihad. But Al Qaeda has not completely disappeared from the Algerian security landscape. AQIM has committed deadly attacks by resorting to ambushes and roadside bombs. "These operations are particularly common in the region of Kabylia, east of Algiers," wrote the report which reiterated in the sense that the year 2009 was punctuated by attacks. There are, in particular the attack on 9 March when two people were killed during the kamikaze attack against a communal guard post at Tadmait in Kabylia, 70 km east of Algiers. There was the attack on June 17, against a police vehicle accompanying the Chinese workers at a site near Bordj Bou Arreridj which killed 18 policemen.
On October 22, 2009, terrorists killed seven people and wounded three elements of security accompanying the workers of a Canadian company. "The majority of these attacks occurred in remote areas," say the Americans who believed that "AQIM has no significant popular support and is not assessed as strong enough to destabilize the Algerian government". For the State Department, these attacks "seek first to discourage foreign investors to settle in Algeria."
Stifled, cornered, Al Qaeda has no way to survive but to resort to acts of banditry as false roadblocks and kidnapping on isolated roads. "In addition to having to depend heavily on money from ransoms especially in the Sahel, Al Qaeda is also funded by smugglers and drug traffickers who swarm in the Sahel, the U.S report concludes : "The Algerian security forces must continually adapt to the changing tactics of AQIM and must admit that an organization that was essentially a local threat has become regional in scope and has international links."
Internationally, the document of the State Department believes that Al Qaeda remains a threat. "The core of Al Qaeda in Pakistan is still the main terrorist threat to U.S. territory and the presence of Al Qaeda in Africa poses a challenge for many countries," said the State Department.
The number of terrorist attacks worldwide and the number of victims in 2009 are at their lowest levels in four years. Extremists have conducted 10,999 attacks worldwide in 2009, killing 14,971 people, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Versus
To wit,
IRNA > WEST WILL EVENTUALLY TALK TO TALIBAN [ + AL QAEDA?]: FORMER BLAI AID [Jonathan Powell].
US-WEST may likely follow Britain's historical example of firstly trying to wage War agz Enemies, then engage in Diplomacy + Negotiations, + lastly to recognize now former Enemies as de facto Statesmen = sovereign Nations???
In Maine???
According to an annual poll conducted by the Maryland University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is among the most popular world leaders in the Arab world.
The results show that the most admired leaders among Arabs are Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran's Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Syria's Bashar al-Assad.
The poll also reflects the disillusionment of participants with American policies in the Middle East, as nearly two-thirds voted against US President Barack Obama.
This is while in April and May 2009, 51% of the respondents in the six surveyed countries expressed optimism about American policy in the Middle East with Obama's leadership. In the 2010 poll, only 16% were hopeful, while 63% were discouraged.
The United States and Israel were listed as the region's worst enemies, while only 10 percent perceived Iran as a threat.
This year's poll, which is conducted by the US University of Maryland in conjunction with Zogby International, surveyed 3,976 people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates from June 29-July 20, 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#3
He's the 'strong horse', and we are led by a one-trick pony.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/09/2010 6:46
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#4
The poll also reflects the disillusionment of participants with American policies in the Middle East, as nearly two-thirds voted against US President Barack Obama.
I guess the apology tour didn't work. I thought BHO was going to restore respect in the world for the U.S.A. Moral of the story: Maybe it is better to be feared.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Sudanese authorities have denied the U.N.'s humanitarian arm access to a Darfur refugee camp after an outbreak of violence, a U.N. spokesman said Friday.
Kalma camp is home to around 100,000 of the more than 2.5 million people displaced by fighting in the large region of western Sudan since 2003.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Samuel Hendricks said at least five people have died and thousands have fled the camp since demonstrations protesting peace talks turned deadly a week ago.
He said 5,000 people from the camp gathered for protection at a nearby community policing station, and many hundreds remain displaced inside the facility.
Talks were under way to persuade authorities to allow the agencies to go in and distribute aid, he said.
"All we can do is keep talking to authorities," Hendricks told the Associated Press.
He said that other humanitarian agencies have tried to get into the Kalma camp but failed.
A week ago, the Security Council received a briefing on clashes and rising tensions in South Darfur's Kalma camp. According to the peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, the violence stemmed from differences over peace talks in Doha, Qatar.
The talks in Doha are the first between Sudanese government officials and Darfur rebels in nearly two years, after comprehensive peace talks broke down in late 2007.
The council expressed concern at civilian casualties in Kalma "which have resulted from clashes within the camp between those who oppose the Doha peace talks and those who support them." It condemned targeted killings and urged all parties to join the peace process, resolve differences through dialogue, and refrain from violence.
"It is a serious situation," said Hendricks. "A major concerns is simply protection of those people and you're talking about families living in already in very vulnerable circumstances and it's in the middle of the rainy season."
Fighting in Darfur that began with a 2003 rebellion by groups who accused the government of neglecting the vast desert region has left up to 300,000 people dead and forced 2.7 million to flee their homes, according to U.N. figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Local and international relief workers say continued heavy rainfall has worsened the situation in Pakistain where raging floodwaters have killed more than 1,600 people and affected 15 million in the past two weeks. The United Nations says Pakistain will need billions of dollars to recover from its worst floods in history. Pakistain usually needs billions of dollars for some catastrophe or other. Some of the victims will literally wait years before aid arrives, while politicians will hoover up as much cash as they can and snag as much of the aid in kind as they can for black market resale. At some point not too far in the future the Pak government will get huffy over any kind of controls attached to the aid. Women hired as aid workers will be beaten up, raped, or killed by the local turbans, and when the situation's almost under control any Western aid workers silly enough to still be around will be chased out.
There. Covered that whole story.
In addition to causing major human loses, Pakistain's raging floodwaters have destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, washed away crops and livestock.
Floodwaters have raged down from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw Province ... formerly NWFP, which you've got to admit was easier to spell...
to the agriculture heartland of Punjab and have reached the southern Sindh province.
The Mighty Pak Army is leading the relief efforts, but with more rain forecast relief workers are anticipating further devastation.
Bad weather has hampered helicopter flights carrying relief goods for victims still trapped in remote areas. U.N officials say they are particularly worried about the needs of 600,000 people who remain completely cut off in the north of Khyber Paskhtoonkhaw Province.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani traveled to the flood-hit parts of southern Pakistain, where he told reporters his country has been set back many years because of the devastation. Pakistain getting set back many years means they're now in negative numbers...
He reiterated his appeal for the international community to cough up some major boodle.
But the prime minister dismissed criticism the government's poor response is to be blamed for the miseries of the flood victims. "No, no! Certainly not!"
"In fact, the government has done everything possible under its control," he said. "Provincial governments, they are all doing their utmost. But it is [an]unprecedented flood, it is beyond imagination and it is beyond expectation." ... just like the last disaster was...
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs front man Maurizio Giuliano tells VOA shelter for the millions of victims is the biggest and most urgent concern. "We will need hundreds of thousands of tents," said Giuliano. "Therefore, we are working closely in support of the government trying to liase with donors, trying to liase with all U.N agencies and NGOs so that we can figure out where we can get a lot of tents from or some other kind of shelter."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
First, let us in there for real and work with us to neutralize every last Talib.
The developers of the controversial mosque proposed near Ground Zero own only half the site where they want to construct the $100 million building, The Post has learned.
One of the two buildings on Park Place is owned by Con Edison, even though Soho Properties told officials and the public that it owns the entire parcel. And any potential sale by Con Ed faces a review by the state Public Service Commission. "We never heard anything about Con Ed whatsoever," said a stunned Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, which passed a May resolution supporting the mosque.
Continued on Page 49
#4
There needs a full blown investigation of the money, organizations, links and people behind the Cordoba House mosque. Little can be found out about Sammy and Sharif El-Gamal, the owners of half of the building site. Try to find out anything about them and there is nothing but murkiness and no transparency. There may or may not be a link with a guy named Moe El-Gamal of North Carolina who was under Federal indictment. Federal prosecutors say a he has been indicted on charges of illegally exporting controlled computer equipment to Libya. This project needs to see the light of day. So far taqiyya seems to be surrounding this project.
#5
Still, [El-Gamal] said, he was determined to buy the property. "The cost is not an issue," he said.
OK, that lit up my warning panels. There is some discussion on other sites that this individual was a WAITER in 2002. I have no confirmation as of yet. But the mayor and the governor are not doing their duty.
#8
This is looking more and more like a game with politically connected American based muslims trying to con their co-coreligionists to fork over $$ to subsidize the perks of the politically connected.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/09/2010 16:08
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Two militants have been killed as they engaged in an exchange of fire with police and military forces in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.
The militants had been blocked on Sunday morning in an apartment of a nine-storey residential building in the Leninsky district of Chechnya's capital, Grozny. A gunfight broke out after militants refused to heed the demands to surrender, a Chechen Interior Ministry source told ITAR-TASS news agency.
The skirmish left one police officer killed and another wounded. There were no reports of civilian casualties.
Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia's North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Posted by: Fred ||
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ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: A meeting was held between Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) leader Nouri al-Maliki and Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barazani to discuss the crisis of forming a new government, according to Barazanis press advisor Faisal Dabbagh on Sunday.
Maliki and Barazani will hold a press conference after their meeting to announce the outcome of their talks, Dabbagh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki had arrived at Arbil Airport in a visit to discuss with the regions leaders to consider ways to overcome the current crisis.
Malikis last visit to the Kurdish city of Arbil took place on May 21, when he discussed with Barazani the political process and scenarios for forming a new government.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had met with Maliki on Friday and announced after the meeting that he did not have any reservations over the incumbent Iraqi prime minister. Talabani has reportedly advised Maliki to seek a meeting with Barazani and offer proper guarantees for him to allay Kurdish fears regarding pending issues between Baghdad and Arbil, namely article 140 of the constitution, the oil and gas sales, the Kurdish peshmerga militias and Talabanis access to the presidential post.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Google Translate
Mexican Marines rescued 12 kidnap victims in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon early Saturday morning. The raid took place at 0200 hrs in the town of Guadalupe near the intersection of calles Plateros and Manuel Salanueva at a safe house.
According to local residents, the marines blocked off the area immediately surrounding the house. When Marines fell upon the house, armed suspects fired on the marines. One dead suspect was reported, but no marines were wounded.
In a terse statement, Armada de Mexico (SEMAR) reported no arrests.
Inside the home, Marines found 12 victims most of whom had been abducted within the last few days. The house itself was reported as a mess with covered windows and bloodstained matresses and chairs. Marines also found shrines to Santa Muerte.
Outside of the house were bloody gauze, clothing, blankets, tennis bags, junk food and soft drink containers
Many of the victims were reported abducted near Regio Motors August 5th in Monterrey near the intersection of Avenida Morones Prieto and Calle Guadalupe where 20 luxury sedans and SUV were reported stolen.
Reports do not state if the vehicles were recovered as well.
"Soldiers are instructed to open fire. This is the army's decision," a senior Lebanese officer, General Abdul al-Rahman Shitli, said on Wednesday evening while describing Tuesday's skirmish on the Israel-Lebanon border as calculated and approved by the proper channels.
A fully satisfactory account of the events that left a senior Israeli officer and at least four Lebanese dead remains to emerge. It appears, however, that a main beneficiary of the incident is Hezbollah, and despite claims that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been surprised by it, it is not hard to see the Shi'ite organization's shadow behind the clash.
There are two main versions of what happened: either Hezbollah instigated the clash, through its strong influence in the army, or the army tried to "out-Hezbollah" Hezbollah, perhaps in an attempt to reassert itself over the militia.
Firstly, the background to the crisis. The incident may have much less to do with Israel than with internal Lebanese tensions, and more specifically with the persistent rumors that the United Nations' Special Tribunal for Lebanon will indict members of Hezbollah next month in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, Benjamin Joffe-Walt argues in a story published by The Media Line. He writes: "In a matter of weeks, Lebanon is set to face what some local analysts are predicting will be the beginnings of another Lebanese civil war and which others are predicting will be the largest political crisis since the country's former leader was assassinated five years ago."
Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla concurs: "Our own sources in the Lebanese military indicate that they were trying to avoid a major crisis; what they were trying to do in this latest border skirmish was to try to divert attention from the Special Tribunal crisis to the Israeli threat and try to galvanize support among Lebanese factions in support of the Lebanese army."
It is established that the Lebanese army fired first, and that the Israeli soldiers were operating inside Israeli territory, having notified, moreover, both the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese in a proper manner. Lebanese fire on troops of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) working on the border was "wholly unjustified and unwarranted", said US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley on Wednesday, shortly after UNIFIL reached a similar verdict. Despite some early reports to the contrary, Hezbollah did not directly participate in the violence.
Something that stands out is the Lebanese military command's open admission that their side fired first, and that they stand by their soldiers' actions (exemplified by General Shitli's words). This can mean one of two things: either they are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't have full control over the rank and file of the army, or that this was indeed a deliberate and calculated policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
This can mean one of two things: either they are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't have full control over the rank and file of the army, or that this was indeed a deliberate and calculated policy.
#4
As far as I'm concerned, this and Hezbollah's arsenal of missiles built under the noses of UNIFIL justify their use of tactical, battlefield nukes in the opening salvo of any new Israel/Lebanon war. That includes every square inch of Lebanon from the Israeli border to about 20 miles north of Beirut, ALL of the Bekaa valley, and the land between the Lebanon/Syria border to 20 miles east of Damascus. So they'll be hated by all the Arabs, and despised by Europeans - how is that different from today?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 20:11
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group to free all its hostages.
Mr Chavez has in the past successfully brokered a deal with the Farc rebels to release some of their hostages.
Last week, the Farc said they were willing to search for a political solution to the 46-year-old conflict.
And the new Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, has also signalled he would be willing to talk to the rebels if they freed their hostages.
'No future'
Speaking on his television show, Alo Presidente, Mr Chavez said the guerrillas "should come out in favour of peace".
"They have no future by staying armed," he added, and told them to stop their campaign of kidnapping.
His message echoed that of the new Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, who in his inaugural address on Saturday said the door to dialogue with the Marxist group was open, but only if they freed their hostages first.
Fondelibertad, a department attached to the Colombian defence ministry which is responsible for co-ordinating anti-kidnapping efforts, says Colombian rebel groups are still holding 79 people as of February 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Love is in the air...
One week ago the War was certain, now he wants to make children with colombians...
[Geo News] Amir Jamat-e-Islami Karachi, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti has termed (Sindh) Governor House 'a safe haven for terrorists' and ruled out establishment of peace in Karachi until and unless there is a 'change in Governor House'.
He said this with reference to the recent targeted killings and incident of violence in the Karachi while addressing an all parties press conference here at Idara-e-Noor-e-Haq.
Representatives of Pakistan Muslime League-N, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq), Jamait Ulema-e-Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties were present on the occasion.
They said a game of bloodshed was played on the streets of the metropolis over the past week but the law enforcement agencies across the board remained silent spectators.
Muhammad Hussain Mehanti noted that public transporters were the worst-hit in these incidents, as 10 transporters lost their lives.
Amir Jamat-e-Islami Karachi demanded of the judiciary to take suo motto notice of these recent incidents of killings and unrest in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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[Tolo News] The spokesperson for the WikiLeaks site, Daniel Schmitt said the site is to disclose 15,000 other US military classified logs on Afghanistan.
While emphasising on the publication of more US secret documents, Mr Schmitt said WikiLeaks is responsible for the world not for specific individuals or any countries' interest.
Pentagon calls the leaked files a serious threat worsening stability and security in the region, especially in Afghanistan, but WikiLeaks commented the publication of these logs help increase the understanding of people on what is going on in the region.
"From our prospective, transparency and knowledge about ongoing issues like war are the only things that can help to create something remotely like safety, so they will directly contribute to the public understanding what is going on in these regions. And from public scrutiny hopefully also influence the politics to develop in a better way."
"I can assure that we will keep publishing documents, that is what we do, so there will be more publications in the future," he said.
The WikiLeaks highlighted that there are reports that Pentagon is against the leak of the secret files, but it hasn't been contacted directly or indirectly by the US Defence Department.
"We have not been contacted at all even though rumours about upcoming publications have been in the air quite a while," he said.
During the last month, the whistle blower WikiLeaks website unveiled some 92,000 US military classified files and the documents significantly shed light on the Afghan civilian deaths in the conflict and the Pakistan Spy organisation's relations with the Taliban insurgents.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
If Obama had some stones he would order the CIA to wipe out everybody associated with WikiLeaks..
#3
Mr Schmitt said WikiLeaks is responsible for the world not for specific individuals or any countries' interest.
You see, we answer to a higher power.
But, Mr Schmitt, you and your cohorts are personally responsible for each and every death caused by your leaks. Not that that every bothers people like you.
#4
Treason and espionage are still crimes even for this justice department. Shut down the operation and arrest everyone who has touched the information.
#7
These people should be told in no uncertain terms that they ARE going to be held responsible for the consequences of their actions. If people die due to the deliberate acts of Wikileaks, then the Wikileaks people should die just the same.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
08/09/2010 11:45
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#8
I'm important! Pay attention to me!!!! How dare you ignore me ????????!
You know, you may not _want_ anyone's attention if you live in a country of 200,000 people that's so fucking bankrupt it can't afford a coast guard.
The ongong drug and gang influenced violence claimed 14 lives, violence which included three men shot to death in Parral, Chihuahua, and a suspected butchered Mexican Federal agent in Juarez.
A man was shot to death and two others wounded in an attack early Sunday morning in Juarez, Chihuahua, say Mexican news reports. Jaime Gonzalez, 39, died at the scene while two others, Francisco and Hector Torres were, wounded in an AK-47 attack. The shooting took place near the intersection of calles Copaiba and Jilotepec in the Ampliacion Aeropuerto district.
A man was found butchered and quartered in Juarez early Sunday morning, according to Mexican press accounts. The grim discovery was made by guards at the Plaza las Torres shopping mall near the intersection of Calle Palacio de Mitla and Avenida de las Torres. A message left with the remains said the victim was a Mexican Federal agent.
Three unidentified men were shot to death and a female accompanying them critically wounded in Parral, Chihuahua, say Mexican news reports. The four were found aboard a Chevrolet pickup truck in the Colony Park district in Parral. Also a second person died in the armed assault at the Parral Howard Johnsons Saturday.
The remains of three unidentified individuals were found in Palomas, Chihuahua Sunday, according to Mexican press reports. Severed heads of the three were found in the town square, while the rest of their remains were found aboard a burned out minivan on Km. 12 of the Casas Grandes highway. Palomas is 120 kilometers west of Juarez Chihuahua, on the border with New Mexico.
Two unidentified men were shot to death in an ambush in Juarez Sunday, say Mexican press reports. The attack took place on Camino Electrolux in front of a commercial establishment while three people were riding in their Chevrolet pickup truck. A woman accompanying the two survived the attack, but was wounded.
Just days before Tuesday's runoff, Karen Handel holds a slight edge over Nathan Deal in the GOP race for governor, according to a new statewide poll conducted for the Georgia Newspaper Partnership.
Handel leads Deal 47 percent to 42 percent with 11 percent undecided, and the two are battling for downstate voters who supported someone else in the July 20 primary.
The race for the Republican nomination has been a bruising campaign that has garnered national attention through high-profile endorsements from GOP stalwarts such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is supporting Handel, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who endorsed Deal.
It all ends Tuesday, as GOP voters pick a candidate to face Democratic nominee Roy Barnes in November.
While Handel leads overall, the poll found that Deal gets nearly a majority -- 48 percent -- of support from voters who backed a losing candidate in the primary. Those voters, who backed former state Sen. Eric Johnson, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine or one of the three other candidates in the primary, could be the key to Tuesday's vote, said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the poll.
"Deal really needs to get those Oxendine voters back and the Johnson voters back to the polls and convince them to vote for him," Coker said.
The question is whether those voters are motivated enough to make another trip to the polls. Coker said he would expect fewer than half of all primary voters to return Tuesday and those who supported Handel or Deal are the most likely to vote again.
In the primary, Handel led with 34 percent of the vote, followed by Deal with 23 percent. Johnson took 20 percent and Oxendine, 17 percent.
The poll shows Handel, the former secretary of state, dominating her home base of metro Atlanta, while Deal did especially well in North Georgia, much of which he represented in Congress for 18 years. But Johnson and Oxendine had their best showing in South Georgia, making voters from that region a key for Tuesday's runoff.
"That belt running from Augusta to Savannah and all the way to Columbus and through Macon -- that's where the race is going to be decided," Coker said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
Anyone endorsed by Huckabee, Romney, McCain, or Graham is suspect. That group of "Establishment, and Establishment ONLY" "leaders" are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 19:28
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I've had Romney and Palin robo calls tonight. Deal is my man
Turkish police have detained 15 people with suspected links to Al Qaeda. Police allege they were trying to recruit supporters to their cause.
The suspects, rounded up in the town of Gebze and Darica in western Kocaeli province, included three men accused of receiving weapons and bomb making training in camps in Afghanistan.
The detainees are also accused of setting up an association in Darica where they spread Al Qaeda propaganda.
Police and local prosecutors will question the suspects before releasing them or sending them to court on charges.
Turkish police regularly target suspected Al Qaeda supporters since two sets of twin suicide bombings hit the country's biggest city Istanbul five days apart in November 2003.
A Turkish cell of Al Qaeda was held responsible for the attacks, in which explosive-laden trucks first targeted two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank, killing 63 people.
Seven men were jailed for life in 2007 for the bombings, among them a Syrian national who masterminded and financed the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Turkey
File under "Here, hold my vodka!"
[Arab News] A Russian man trying to win the Sauna World Championships died after collapsing with severe burns in the final stage of an event that required contestants to sit in a 230-degree (110 Celsius) room as water was tossed onto a searing stove, officials and witnesses said.
Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy, an amateur wrestler who was in his 60s, was pronounced dead late Saturday after he collapsed alongside reigning champion Timo Kaukonen of Finland roughly six minutes into the final round. Medical workers pulled both men out of the sauna in front of nearly 1,000 spectators in the southern Finnish town of Heinola. Whadda ya get for second place?
Both were shaking and bleeding from what appeared to be severe burns, said Hakon Eikesdal, a photographer with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet.
Kaukonen, about 40, was hospitalized in stable condition Sunday, contest spokesman Ossi Arvela said.
The annual contest, which had over 130 participants from 15 countries, had been held since 1999. It will never be held again, Arvela said.
Half a liter (a pint) of water is added to the stove every 30 seconds and the last person to remain at the sauna is the winner.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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#1
IOW, these men broadly agreed to enter a contest where they were essentially COOKED ALIVE.
OOOOOOOOO, you just know TOM HANKS = "FORREST GUMP" has something to say.
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Yonhap) -- Kim Tae-ho, former governor of South Gyeongsang Province, has been nominated as new prime minister in a Cabinet shake-up that also replaced seven ministers and two minister-level officials, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae announced Sunday.
President Lee Myung-bak's first Cabinet reshuffle since September 2009 comes on the heels of the ruling Grand National Party's (GNP) defeat in the June 2 local elections, which chose the heads of the country's mayors and governors, and a turnaround in the July 28 by-elections in which the party won five of the eight contested parliamentary seats. Lee begins the latter half of his single five-year tenure later this month.
It did not affect the ministers handling foreign affairs, national defense or inter-Korean ties, signaling that the president will keep a tough stance on North Korea, which South Korea accuses of sinking its warship with a torpedo in March.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2010
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Just "thousands"?
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) The Turkish organizers of a Gaza-bound aid boat said Saturday that Israeli authorities painted over "thousands of bullets" in one of their recently returned ships. Hope they charged them for the new paint job. That's expensive...
Huseyin Oruc of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid told Reuters upon the Mavi Marmara's return that "When they captured the boats, the Israelis hid all of this proof on the outside of the boat." Reporters, according to the BBC, said the ship did appear to have been freshly painted.
Turkish prosecutors will board the vessels Monday to look for evidence of what happened during the raid on the six-strong flotilla, which was trying to reach Gaza with 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid. Bet they find some too...
Nine Turkish nationals were killed aboard the ship on 31 May. It was then sequestered at the Ashdod port.
#2
You figure that even with spackle, some primer coat and the overcoat, you're never going to get an even match, so you might as well repaint the entire side.
Now if you want to be witty about it, you can make your spackle out of a variation of thermite, with an RFID magnesium fuse. Or just metallic mercury, if the hull is aluminum.
#4
Aluminum dust mixed into the primer (40/1 paint/AL dust) - hit it with a tracer round, and the entire ship goes up in smoke. Even if the Israelis only painted a 1-inch square, the Turks would have to completely sand down ALL the painted surfaces and repaint them, just to be sure.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 16:44
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#5
those where some bigass commandos too tote that much ammo
Posted by: chris ||
08/09/2010 16:57
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#6
If they wanted to hide the evidence they would have sunk it.
Hugo notices Venezuelan army is good for nothing more complicated that oppressing the populace, backs down from threat of war with Colombia.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged rebels in neighboring Colombia to lay down arms on Sunday and warned the new government of President Juan Manuel Santos to avoid accusations Venezuela helps the leftist guerrillas.
Though ideologically opposed, socialist firebrand Chavez and U.S. ally Santos want a new start in relations for the sake of peace in the volatile Andean region and the restoration of their annual $7 billion bilateral trade.
Chavez wants to meet directly with Santos, who took office on Saturday, but warned any repetition of his predecessor President Alvaro Uribe's claims that Caracas shelters Colombian "terrorists" would torpedo the reconciliation efforts.
"Let's be clear. If Venezuela is respected, there will be progress. If there's lack of respect to Venezuela, nothing new or good will be possible," Chavez wrote in a weekly column.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Security forces on Sunday attacked the base of a militia linked to an krazed killer group and killed 15 gunnies, a regional government minister said.
Double-plus good!
Yusuf Ahmed Kheir, security minister for the semiautonomous northeastern region of Puntland, said soldiers were countering the militia's attack on an army post near the region's commercial capital, Bossaso.
Militia front man Abdullahi Sheik denied they attacked first, saying the soldiers surprised them. Sheik said no militiamen were killed and only seven were injured. He said that there were civilian casualties but did not give any figures.
Sunday's clash is the second in two weeks between Puntland forces and the militia group, which is led by arms dealer Mohamed Atom. He has been singled out by the U.N. for supplying arms to the al-Shabab krazed killer group.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Weekend violence across Iraq killed 60 people, officials said on Sunday, just days ahead of the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when insurgents typically step up their attacks. The human sacrifices are necessary, otherwise the Moon God won't be propitiated...
The unrest has fuelled concerns about security here -- more than 100 people have died so far this month -- amid a massive pullout of American forces, although U.S. officers insist that Iraqi soldiers and police are up to the task.
Iraq is also grappling with a five-month-long political impasse after March 7 parliamentary elections which failed to produce a clear winner, ushering in as yet fruitless coalition negotiations between the leading parties.
The death toll from three explosions in the southern port city of Basra on Saturday evening, which officials said were caused by bombs and not a power generator short circuit as first believed, rose to 43 on Sunday.
"We received 43 corpses, and 185 people have been wounded," said Dr Riyadh Abdelamir, director of Basra province's health department, adding that women and children were among the injured.
Ali al-Maliki, the head of the provincial council's security committee, said the deaths -- from a double car bombing and a third roadside bomb which caused a large fire -- were "the result of terrorist action."
The city's police command had late on Saturday attributed the explosion to the short-circuit of a communal electricity generator.
Eyewitnesses at the crowded Ashaar market in the centre of Basra, Iraq's third largest city, said there were three explosions between 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm, but the cause was not clear according to their accounts.
"I saw people running in all directions, even over those who were knocked to the ground by the force of the blasts," said Khulud Al-Hussein, 37, a housewife who was buying goods at the market.
Kadhim Ali Jaffar, a 61-year-old street salesman, harrowingly described the death of his son, Jawad, 25, also a market salesman.
"He did not come back after the explosion so I started to look for him in the hospitals," said Jaffar, crying and shaking as he recounted the incident.
"The first one told me he was dead and in the morgue. When I went there I found a young man but he wasn't my son. I continued to look until I found him in the fridge at another hospital."
On Sunday morning, meanwhile, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at a petrol station in Ramadi, west of Baghdad and the capital of Anbar province, killing six people, medical and security officials said.
Two women and a child were among the dead, while 29 others were wounded.
Also in Anbar, masked gunmen robbed a currency exchange owner and detonated their empty explosives-laden car when police tracked them down, killing two people, officials and the robbery victim said.
On Saturday, seven policemen were among eight people killed near Baghdad and in north Iraq, including four who died in a fierce gunfight in a Sunni neighborhood of the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
A nearly forgotten tyrant remains alive and well in West Africa. He's "Colonel" President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia.
The Gambia once rarely hit headline. Actually, at one time, the only prevalence vice was that of the pelvic. That's before then Captain Jammeh ended President (Sir) Dawda Karaiba Jawara's 30-year rule in the 1994 bloodless coup. Human rights activists and organisations soon took notice.
Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean surround The Gambia. A river by that name dissects one of the smallest countries in mainland Africa. Unlike some West African countries, The Gambia lacks resources that invite bloodbaths. Peanuts, cotton lint, fish, foreign aid and, tourism, keep the country afloat. Mr Jammeh hopes petroleum lurks in the 10,500 square kilometre land, the offshore economic zone, or both.
Despite the country's leanness, Mr Jammeh thinks highly of it. The Gambia "is one of the oldest and biggest countries in Africa that was reduced to a small snake by the British government who sold all our land to the French," he has said.
Mr Jammeh isn't about to allow any messing with the "small snake." Two weeks ago a court--and courts please the president--convicted ten people of high treason and sentenced them to death.
The charges included plotting to topple the government with mercenaries and weapons imported from neighbouring Guinea. A former army chief was among high-ranking government officials convicted.
The trial is a high point of slithering repression. Human rights organizations drew attention to this around Mr Jammeh's Freedom Day, the 22 July coup date.
Reported state misdeeds include suppression of political opponents, unlawful detention, torture, disappearances, incommunicado detention, unfair trials, rape, and extra-judicial killings. "The Gambia is torture state, where the authorities commit widespread violations with impunity," Said Ms Estelle Higonnet, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher.
A commission Mr Jammeh established eight years ago keeps the media on leash. Security agencies take care of perceived miscreants. The law allows, of all things, imprisonment for libel and slander. Dare write or say one of Mr Jammeh's cronies isn't up to the job.
Mr Jammeh "won" his third five-year term late 2006. During his tenure, he has survived two coup attempts and dispatched prisoners in retaliation. In his favour, the opposition remains spineless. Mr Jammeh, 45, remains put, awaiting a fourth term next year. His list of enemies now includes Britain.
Ironically, or is it cynically, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies pontificate from The Gambia. For what use?
Human rights organizations say state-sponsored "witch hunts" have forced approximately 1,000 people into secret detention centres. State agents made them consume hallucinogens and later tortured them into confessing witchcraft.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The Gambia: Come for the cotton lint, stay for the pelvic vices.
Paticia Neal aka Helen Benson in "The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951) aka Alma Brown in "HUD" (Academy Award for Best Actress) (Died 8/8/10 at age 84)
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/09/2010 12:29
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#10
Patricia Neal was in many very good movies. She battled back from strokes herself. The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center eventually her hospital, as she regarded the Knoxville rehabilitation center bearing her name, is inspirational to many. She visited the patients at the each time she was in town. She was so inspirational to the patients. She stopped to hear their stories, held their hands, applauded them on their accomplishments. And she knew a thing about the value of applause. Knoxville News Sentinel
The rehab center handles stroke victims, traumatic injuries, spinal cord injuries and brain injuries.
The Canadian Forces has confirmed that a Chinook helicopter forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday was brought down by enemy small arms fire.
The helicopter immediately burst into flames upon landing 20 km southwest of Kandahar city.
Eight of the 21 people aboard the Canadian CH-147 Chinook suffered minor injuries.
Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, the commander of Task Force Kandahar, said small arms fire struck the aircraft, igniting a fire that forced the aircraft to land and then eventually destroyed it.
#2
Great flying! Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and if you can re-use the airplane it's a great one.
Well Good beats Dead any day, and considering all the parts and pieces that go into the drive train ( drive shafts, rotor heads, swashplates and all that dirty greasy metal neat stuff) and flight controls/hydraulics of that bird the shooter was unlucky ( but lucky for us) to not hit anything that prevented the use of them.
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.
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired about 110 rounds of artillery Monday near its disputed sea border with South Korea, the South's military said, amid high tension over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the Muslim cleric and 2002 Bali bombings suspect, has been arrested by Indonesian police for alleged involvement with terrorism. His lawyer, Muhammad Ali, said his client was taken in early today, allegedly for involvement with a new militant network in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
Days after 
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. soldier was killed in Babel on Saturday, the first American army fatality to be announced in August, upping the total number U.S. since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 4,414, including 44 in 2010, according to the U.S. military in a statement on Sunday.
Indonesia's counterterrorism squad 
Local and international relief workers say continued heavy rainfall has worsened the situation in 
By Victor Kotsev 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group to free all its hostages.
Just days before Tuesday's runoff, Karen Handel holds a slight edge over Nathan Deal in the GOP race for governor, according to a new statewide poll conducted for the Georgia Newspaper Partnership.
Turkish police have detained 15 people with suspected links to Al Qaeda. Police allege they were trying to recruit supporters to their cause.
Security forces on Sunday attacked the base of a militia linked to an 
