The Syrian government said on Tuesday military intervention in Syria was "impossible" because it would lead to a confrontation beyond the country's borders. That is a tad self-serving, isn't it Pencilneck?
Deputy Syrian Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, speaking at a news conference in Moscow, appeared to be responding to President Barack Obama's threat that U.S. forces could act if Syria deployed chemical weapons against rebels.
Jamil said the West was looking for an excuse for military intervention, likening the focus on Syria's chemical weapons with Western policy towards Iraq, invaded by U.S.-led forces on the grounds it was concealing weapons of mass destruction.
"The West is looking for an excuse for direct intervention. If this excuse does not work, it will look for another excuse. But it does not understand a new fact, confirmed in the international situation after the Russian-Chinese veto which has continued until this moment," he said.
He was referring to China and Russia's veto of Security Council action that would have added to international pressure on President Basher Assad, who is fighting to put down a 17-month old uprising against his rule.
#1
NOT-TOM-CRUISE in "INTERVENTION IMPOSSIBLE" ...
versus
* TOPIX > [Real Clear Politics/World = Guardian.UK] > ISRAEL'S ATTACK ON IRAN WILL NOT SPARK A LARGER WAR.
Ya certain about that, 'cuz its NOT what Iran's pro-"Mutual Destruction" Mullahs have said???
Iran has said it "welcomes" an Israeli attack because it will justify them destroying Israel, + prob safe to say also SSSSSHHHHH ...CCCCCCCC ditto as per the US + to dev NucWeaps + transfer Nuke-WMD techs to its Militant-Terror proxies.
* Also from TOPIX > ISRAELIS DON'T FEAR IRANIAN RETALIATION.
#2
judges across the ideological spectrum, including the Presidents appointees, have struck down 15 major regulations, with a total cost of $4.6 billion.
#3
the Imperial EPA has been kicked in teh teeth a lot lately. President Romney needs to clean house. Try fumigation
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2012 21:00
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I would start with a amendment that states a President can't issue an executive order that overrides congress. No more end arounds. There are checks and balances for a reason.
#5
Obama will just issue an executive order overriding the court decision. Just like he issued executive orders (or had the various secretaries issue orders) that overrode the express will of Congress.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/21/2012 21:38
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#6
It's In the Constitution, not that it matters to Obumble
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/21/2012 21:39
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#2
The reporters asked, like, questions and stuff.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/21/2012 15:02
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I heard some of those interviews on TV, one was a question about Chicago sports, where dear reader responded to the effect it had been hard to keep track since Chicago sports has been out of contention since Jalon Rose was hurt.
ChiSox are in first place, and he tried to do a funny in Boston about the Yukalis trade.
I do not have the video to confirm I heard it right, I just remember the odd wait-a-minute feeling answer.
#4
WH reporters are tired of hearing about his favorite color, whether he wears boxers or briefs, and what his favorite soul food is in Chicago or his favorite Mexican food while in the Southwest?
The State Department has started to replace its just-the-facts online profiles of foreign countries with new ones that appear to largely highlight U.S. relations since President Obama took office -- a move that comes on top of efforts to update the official profiles of past presidents with Obama-themed factoids.
The agency has so far swapped just a fraction of the nearly 200 country profiles. The new versions are hardly sensational in their promotion of Obama administration policy objectives, but do appear to put more of an emphasis on them. Several now highlight Obama initiatives like pursuing "strategic" talks with China and South Africa, and ending discrimination against transgendered individuals in Brazil.
The changes were discovered by the Heritage Foundation's Jim Roberts. Roberts likened the changes to the move by the White House to tack on Obama accomplishments at the end of the online bios of past presidents, which drew ridicule earlier this year.
"We're seeing the same sort of modus operandi," said Roberts, an editor at the conservative Washington-based think tank and a former State Department employee. "It seems pretty shameless to me." Seems more like 1984 and the complete replacing of official history with how it best fits teh 0ne. How Stalinistic of them.
#2
...The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
*Did you know that Austria did not have its own language until President Obama did ordane its creation?
Long article with pictures and a video -- worth the read
The missing Solyndra tubes have finally turned up -- in a modern art exhibit at U.C. Berkeley.
One of the great mysteries of the 2011 Solyndra bankruptcy was: What happened to all that money? After the United States government "loaned" Solyndra $535 million, the money quickly vanished; the bankruptcy court later found that the company had essentially no cash on hand. They had spent it all on equipment and inventory.
Surely, then, the inventory could be sold and liquidated, to recover some of the ill-spent cash -- right? Well, not really. Auctions of the material at the shuttered Solyndra factory produced very little revenue, as the highly specialized machinery and proprietary photovoltaic components spurred little interest among the auction vultures, since the parts could be used only for one specific purpose: to make Solyndra's unique tubular solar panels.
The fate of Solyndra's millions of unused glass tubes is still unknown (many of them were likely destroyed -- we'll get to that part of the story in a moment), but luckily a pair of Bay Area artists somehow managed to get their hands on some of the surviving Solyndra tubes and put them to good use...not to produce electricity, but as art.
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WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE OTHER TUBES?
Here's where the story takes a tragic turn. If SOL Grotto has only 1,368 of the estimated 24 million high-tech unused Solyndra tubes, what happened to the rest of them?
The answer is not entirely clear at this stage, but we do have some clues.
#3
I've had Personal experience wuth start-ups.
They typicly (After gaining a LOT of cash) Bankrupt and Keep/spend it all, then Organize as a NEW company,(And shed all the Debt) and procede on their merry way.
I HIGHLY recommend that Investors wait, past the first Bankruptcy, THEN invest.
(Maybe past the second, third and sometimes the Fourth)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/21/2012 13:13
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#4
The design of many solar "flat panels" dissipates or scatters the very energies its supposed to collect or concentrate - thats why a lot of them must be set up over a large area or space, but even then the energy return is weak.
Solyndra's tubular solar panels "rejects" the energy.
GFS model simulations showing a tropical system over Florida August 27-28 during the beginning of the Republican National Convention. For three straight simulations, NOAA's Global Forecast System (GFS) model has tracked a tropical system right over the Florida peninsula through or close to Tampa just as the Republican National Convention is ramping up. Other numerical models have the storm further south with danger to the west or central gulf. FI, this is a NHC site for the N Atlantic Basin
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/21/2012
10:00 ||
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#1
National Hurricane Center Storm Track Projection
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/21/2012 12:39
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#2
How many liberals are preparing their wraith of Gaia metaphors right now.
#4
At 5 pm EDT today, the storm has sustained 40 mph winds and central pressure of 1005mb. Also the storm jogged a bit north of the predicted track in the past 4 hours.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/21/2012 17:09
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#5
Wonder how many of the OWS (re:Donk) agents are willing to stand around protesting in the middle of a hurricane for some air time?
A rapid intervention unit composed of French, British, Italian and Spanish special forces has been formed to target al-Qaeda in the Sahel countries. Algeria has also formed special units designed to track down and target Al-Qaeda as well as the Tawhid and Jihad group.
#1
Presumably, the Sahel countries involved will be asked permission beforehand, until the first op is burned. I mean the first burned op. No, I guess I mean the first op, which will be burned.
And do we restrict the ops to the NA countries with borders on the Med, or do we see ops further south in Chad, Mali, etc?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/21/2012 10:52
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#2
In other news regarding Special Military units and tactics, iIt has emerged from some experts in COIN (Counter Insurgency) that the tactics employed by the police at the South African Lonmin mine were classical Apartheid era SADF Special Forces tactics:
After having spilt the strikers up into smaller groups, they concentrated on the most vocal group that hid in a small group of bushes close to the final police barriers.
This group was then completely surrounded by Nyala APCs ....with the main police force stopper group forming a skirmish line at the funnel of the only channel left `open`!. Tear gas was then shot at the base of the funnel.....forcing the strikers to run straight into the main police stopper group! Classic 32Bn TEINOPS tactics! .....The last tactical move by the police was the classic closing of the funnel/bottleneck....as can be seen on the video footage where the Nyala APC was on standby, on the left of the original video footage, and how it immediately moved to the right to in order to close the bottleneck after the miners were slaughtered like dogs!
#3
I suspect there is no side with clean hands in the SA riots. Don't forget that 2 police were captured then hacked to death a day or two previous. And the rioters were armed. They weren't pothead hippies.
#4
Presuming the term "sahel" is taken literally, almost none of it is in Algeria or any of the other nations named. However, it does include large portions of nations to the south not named in the report.
It is a poor presumption that the troops involved will stop at the southern border of, say, Algeria when looking at al Q
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/21/2012 12:59
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#1
For years Dinner Jacket has been belowing about wiping Israel off the face of planet Earth.
When Israel finally makes noise, the skies will be filled like bats coming out of hell. Hell's fury will be unleashed. If only for a short time as many Iranian targets are eliminated in mass. Israel will respond in such a manner to insure that in the worst case scenario mutually assured destruction is accomplished.
Israel has told Egypt that it must remove its tanks from the Sinai Peninsula because their continued presence violates the peace agreement between the two countries.
The message was sent via the White House in an effort to give the warning added weight and to bridge the shaky relationship between Israeli and Egyptian security forces, Maariv reported on Tuesday. Israel was protesting the ongoing increase in military presence, which has been going ahead without coordination with Jerusalem.
On Monday, an Egyptian security source told Reuters that Cairo would soon deploy tanks, aircraft and rocket launchers in its bid to root terrorist elements out of the peninsula.
The move would constitute an unprecedented military presence in the Sinai, which was demilitarized as part of the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Jerusalem considers the peninsula a strategic buffer zone.
The decision to communicate via the White House was made, the report said, because Israeli ties with Egypt have become strained in recent months. The United States is still influential thanks to the $1.3 billion of military aid it supplies to Egypt every year.
#2
When America subjects the leaders of countries to severe criticism and ridicule that are our allies in the life and death struggle against terror, THIS is what happens in return.
#3
When 'allied leaders' engage in two faced back stabbing to appeal to tribal members while both their security and revenue flow is dependent upon those Americans, no one is surprised this happens.
You have to squint and look very hard to find a silver lining in the non-existent storm clouds over central Illinois this spring and summer. And the rest of the midwest, but this is a Springfield, IL paper.
Chris Miller, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Lincoln said official figures through May show 18 tornadoes spotted in Illinois this year. "Typically, in Illinois through May you would see 35 or so tornadoes," he said. I wonder where the jet stream is hanging out? By the way, where does the jet stream fit into the "climate models"?
He said the weather pattern has pushed the kind of weather that would cause storms far north into upper Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and into southern Canada. Jet stream!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/21/2012
05:51 ||
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It was very cool here this morning. I stepped out the back door at 5 AM to let the dogs out and I could see my breath. 52F.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/21/2012 7:09
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#3
As residents of the upper Midwest might say, all the storms were pushed north and south by the immense volume of hot air emanating from Chicago.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/21/2012 7:59
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From my observations, the weather bubble which floated about New Mexico two years ago, over KS/OK/TX last year is now popping about over IL/MU. If I lived in the Appalachians I'd worry about next summer.
Our high out here was 89 yesterday. It wasn't 89 -at midnight- last year until October.
#8
You can't have tornadoes [waterspouts] wid only part of Mama Nature's required hot-cold mix - iff Guam is any measure, the "cold air" is over here as its been chilly of late.
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FYI RENSE > [IO9.com] ARCTIC MEGASTORM IS SO POWERFUL ITS TURNING THE ICE CAP TO "SLUSH".
Reminds me of future time + GWCC "Ice Age/Mini-Ice-Age" > GUAM-WESTPAC MIGHTY "SLUSHY".
Not a solid or stereotypical "Ice Age", nor a "warm period, due to Solar Warming + Pert-forecasted upward intensification of global temps.
A soldier and a defense volunteer were killed and three other people injured in three coordinated attacks in Rangae district of Narathiwat province on Tuesday.
In the first attack, at about 10 a.m., a pick-up driven by Sgt-Maj Bang-ern Phanyu, 39, with two civilians on board was ambushed by gunmen as it arrived at a school on an assignment. The pick-up truck skidded off the road and slammed into the wall of the school. Sgt-Maj Bang-ern was killed. The two civilians in the vehicle were injured.
About 10 minutes later, as Suriya Awaekuji, an assistant leader of Rangae district, and six defense volunteers were on the way texamine the scene of the attack, the same group of terrorists militants detonated three mines buried on the road to the school. The mines exploded at intervals of 10-15 seconds, but caused no casualties.
In another attack, two men on a motorcycle opened fire at Mahama Chewa, 41, assistant village leader, and Adunan Salae, 34, a defense volunteer, who were on the road near the scene of the first shooting waiting for the assistant district chief to arrive. Mr Adunan was killed and Mr Mahama seriously injured.
Police said the attacks were clearly coordinated and blamed terrorists militants.
(CBS/AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - Two men in Afghan police uniforms shot at U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan Sunday, killing one and injuring another, Afghan security officials tell CBS News..
ISAF, the international military coalition in Afghanistan, confirmed the latest "insider attack" took place in Spin Boldak, in Kandahar province, on Sunday evening, but would not confirm the nationalities of Western forces who came under attack.
Sunday's shooting brings to 32 the number of reported green-on-blue, or insider attacks in 2012. At least 40 coalition forces have been killed in such incidents this year, including 26 Americans.
At least ten Western forces have been killed in insider attacks in just two weeks.
For a map, click here.For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 12 unidentified armed suspects were killed by units of the Mexican army in two separate gunfights in Tamaulipas state Monday, according to Mexican press accounts.
An Agencia EFE wire dispatch which appeared on the website of Info7.com said that at around 0830 hrs an army unit encountered several armed suspects travelling aboard a Ford Lobo (F-150) pickup truck near Ejido Cruz and Carmen.
A total of five men and one woman were killed. Five rifles were also seized.
A second confrontation took place at around 1200 hrs when a Mexican Army unit engaged in a firefight with armed suspects in Ejido Francisco I. Madero, near Barretal in Padilla municipality. The suspects were travelling aboard a Jeep Patriot SUV when the exchange took place. Four suspects died in the vehicle while two others attempted escape. They were found in a nearby residence.
Five assault rifles were seized in the aftermath.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
#3
Now listen up you Rantburgers. While me and my Gyrenes are in the boonies, kickin' ass and takin' names, you gotta be watchin' our backs, not sayin' I am just satire. So HOO RAH.
Posted by: General James Mattis ||
08/21/2012 3:15
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#4
I believe this is satire, not an actual event and should be deleted.
We believe it's satire, too, Besoeker dear. Hence the salt girl. Poke around the website -- the writer has a very distinct point of view.
[Dawn] SWABI: Celebratory firing here on Saturday night resulted in killing of two people and injuries to five others.
The district Ruet-e-Hilal committee announced at 9.30pm that Shawwal moon had been sighted and there would be Eidul Fitr on Sunday.
Soon after the announcement firing erupted throughout the district. The police had appealed to the people that they should avoid resorting to firing in the air on the eve of Eid, but to no avail. It has been learnt that stray bullets killed a 13-year-old boy at Shahmansoor and a mad man at Swabi Adda. Both the bodies were brought to the district headquarters hospital. When contacted, a doctor at the hospital confirmed the deaths but said they did not know their names. "In addition, five injured people were brought to the hospital," the said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... it is learnt that police have booked 200 people but no one has been cooled for a few years Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! .
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2012
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#1
The police had appealed to the people that they should avoid resorting to firing in the air on the eve of Eid...
[Dawn] Pakistain's president on Monday called on officials to explain the arrest on blasphemy charges of a Christian girl with Down's Syndrome who allegedly burnt pages inscribed with verses from the Koran.
There is a growing debate about religious intolerance in Pakistain, where strict anti-blasphemy laws make defaming Islam or desecrating the Koran punishable by death.
Police said the girl, Rifta, was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock You have the right to remain silent... in a Christian slum of the capital last Thursday and remanded in jug for 14 days after a furious Moslem mob demanded she be punished.
A police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the girl was in her teens. Activists say she is 11 years old.
President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... took "serious note" of the arrest and called on the interior ministry to submit a report on the case, state media said.
His government was heavily criticised in the West for refusing to reform the anti-blasphemy law, despite the liquidations of a leading politician and a Christian cabinet minister in 2011.
Some reports suggested the girl had been burning papers collected from the rubbish for cooking when someone entered her house and accused the family of burning pages inscribed with verses from the Koran.
Human rights activists say the law is often used to settle petty disputes.
Mohammedan anger over the alleged incident forced Christians to flee the Mehrabad slum, home to hundreds of Christians 20 minutes' drive from Western embassies.
"These Christians had sought shelter with their relatives in other parts of the city but now they are gradually returning to Mehrabad," a bigwig of All Pakistain Minorities Alliance, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, told AFP.
He said the girl had Down's Syndrome -- a condition which causes various degrees of learning difficulties -- and disputed the age given by police.
"She was just 11 to 12 years old," he said, adding his organization wanted the hugely sensitive case resolved "amicably".
The Women's Action Forum (WAF), a leading Pak organization fighting for the rights of women, condemned Riftaa's arrest.
Spokeswoman Tahira Abdullah demanded her immediate release and expressed outrage at the "total inhumanity" of the men who lodged the case with police.
Police should have dealt with the case under the Juvenile Justice System, she said, accusing police of not allowing lawyers or civil society representatives to visit the girl.
Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in January 2011 and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti two months later for their opposition to the blasphemy law.
They had taken up the plight of a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy in late 2010. She remains in prison.
Last month, a Pak mob snatched a mentally unstable man from a village cop shoppe and beat him to death in central Punjab province after he allegedly burned pages from a Koran.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2012
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[Dawn] The Pak Taliban on Monday warned the country's military it had set up a "jacket wallahs squad" to hit troops if an offensive is launched in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
In an email message sent to media, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, an umbrella myrmidon group, said it had received "an exclusive intelligence report" about the offensive in North Wazoo from its "sources" in army headquarters.
TTP front man Ehsanullah Ehsan outlined details about the regiments and units and the possible commander for the campaign, said to be launched on August 26 for one month.
"TTP has also prepared itself for resistance, we have set up a suicide bombers squad to welcome (the) army. We will defeat our enemy, whom is defending secular, unIslamic system of Pakistain by punching them back hard InshaAllah (God willing)," Ehsan said.
Military officials were not immediately available to comment on the claim.
On August 3, The Wall Street Journal reported Pak and US officials were considering joint counter-terrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistain against Haqqanis and Taliban fighters.
The report said the campaigns would mark an upturn in cooperation between the two countries after more than a year of rancorous relations, since the US raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who is no more... Pak officials later denied any agreement with Washington for a joint operation in North Waziristan, and said "routine" actions on each side of the border "should not be mistaken for 'joint operations'".
Washington has long demanded Pakistain take action against the Haqqanis, which the United States accused of attacking the US embassy in Kabul last September and acting like the "veritable arm" of Pak intelligence.
Pakistain has in turn demanded Afghan and US forces do more to stop Pak Talibs crossing the border to launch attacks on its forces.
Pakistain says 35,000 of its people, including more than 3,000 soldiers, have been killed as a result of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and the US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2012
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[Ma'an] The Egyptian army will not back down from fighting militancy in Sinai, a senior military commander said Saturday, warning that the peninsula could become more dangerous than Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The Egyptian army led by (President) Muhammad Mursi will not back down from hitting terrorism in Sinai and will prove that the Egyptian government and people will keep every inch of Egypt," the commander told Ma'an.
The military leader said Egyptian troops had uncovered terrorist groups from Afghanistan, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , Yemen, Pakistain, Paleostine's Army of Islam and some Egyptian hard boyz in Sinai.
Without Egyptian military control of the area, "Sinai may turn into a more dangerous area than Afghanistan or Iraq," he added.
He also questioned Israel's response to Egypt's crackdown in Sinai, that followed an attack on a police barracks near Rafah in which 16 Egyptian officers were killed.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Thursday that Egypt had violated the terms of the Camp David agreement, which limits Egyptian military activity in Sinai.
Egypt increased its military presence in Sinai after the attack, and sent tanks and aircraft to the area without seeking Israeli permission first, the report said.
According to Haaretz, Israel decided not to respond to the violations of the accord in order to avoid a confrontation. Israeli defense officials told Haaretz they were in regular contact with their Egyptian counterparts.
The Egyptian military commander said that although Israel had called for a crackdown on militancy in Sinai, it later demanded that the Egyptian army withdraw from the area.
"Does Israel have a scenario that it wants to implement in Sinai where it would reoccupy it under the cover of eliminating terrorism?" he asked.
Disorder has been spreading in turbulent North Sinai, a region awash with guns that has felt neglected by the central government since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... last year in a popular uprising. Mubarak's government had worked closely with Israel to keep the border region under control.
Egypt blamed the Aug. 5 border attack on "Islamic bully boys" and has launched a joint army-police operation that has raided bully boy hideouts, tossed in the calaboose You have the right to remain silent... their members and seized weapons.
A Sinai-based Islamist bully boy organization, the Salafi Jihadi Group, warned the Egyptian army last week that the crackdown on jihadis in the area would force it to fight back.
There have been frequent reports of attacks on police and army checkpoints since the crackdown began, but often without casualties.
[Ynet] A car boomwent kaboom! near a cop shoppe in southeast Turkey on Monday night, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, Turkish media reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. Kurdish snuffies are active in the area, and the fight between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels, who seek autonomy in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast, has intensified in recent weeks.
[Dawn] War-torn Somalia's new parliament was due to convene for the first time Monday in the latest bid to end two decades of instability, but the election of a president has been delayed, politicians said.
Lawmakers would gather not in the city's parliament building, but rather Mogadishu's heavily fortified airport zone under the protection of African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops, due to fear of attack by al Qaeda-linked Shebab bad boys.
The parliament's interim speaker Musa Hassan Abdallah appealed Monday to the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) for an "alternative place of safe haven" to meet, the UN said in a statement.
Selection of the new legislature was the first performed inside Somalia for more than 20 years. Previous efforts were conducted outside the country because of the danger of attack posed by a range of warlords and Islamist fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2012
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SEOUL, Aug 17(Reuters) - Moon Jae-in, the most popular South Korean opposition presidential candidate, said on Friday that if elected this year he would offer no strings attached economic aid to North Korea in a radical departure from current policy that has seen ties between the two states frozen.
If he wins and opens up the money spigot to the North, we bring home all our troops from the South. No argument. Let the ROK figure out how to deal with the north, we'll move the troops to Guam, Hawaii and Washington state.
The current policy of not kissing the Nork buttcrack is a radical departure from the policies of the previous administration...
Moon, 59, a former human rights lawyer and confidant of ex-president Roh Moo-hyun whose policies of openness to the North were overturned by conservative President Lee Myung-bak, said that engagement was key to moving beyond the current stalemate between the two states, which remain technically at war.
It's more than a technicality to Fat Boy and his uncle...
"I would like to handle North Korea issues comprehensively. The current Lee Myung-bak administration has certain preconditions to resume talks with Pyongyang, saying we will not respond to the North unless it gives up its nuclear ambition. However, such approach makes both sides hard to take a step further," Moon told journalists at a briefing.
There have been signs recently that North Korea's new ruler Fat Boy Kim Jong-un is more willing to open up than his father who he succeeded in December in a bid to revive the impoverished country's ailing economy, which is fraction of the size of the South's.
He's all for openness right to the moment the North can strike...
Kim's right hand man and uncle Jang Song-thaek is currently in Beijing seeking greater economic cooperation with China, its sole major ally, and Moon warned that unless South Korea took the lead, the North would fall completely into China's orbit.
That is laughably clueless and is the sort of codswollop that only a socialist would believe. North Korea is and has been China's lapdog.
South Koreans will elect a new president in December and Moon has 10 percent poll support versus conservative candidate Park Geun-hye's 36 percent approval rating, according to pollster Gallup.
So the South Koreans aren't completely suicidal...
Park, the daughter of South Korea's assassinated dictator Park Chung-hee, has also pledged to improve ties with North
Korea, although she says the North would have to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions before Seoul would reach out.
Moon's opposition Democratic United Party will hold its primary on Sept. 16, while Park's Saenuri party will hold its primary on Monday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2012
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Once again, IMO Artic read, THE CHINESE THREAT TO NORTH KOREA, NOT the ROK.
[Ynet] Sources in the defense establishment have confirmed that Israel is in talks with Egypt over the deployment of Egyptian forces in Sinai, without providing further details. "They are fighting terrorism in Sinai, and that is within both countries' interests," one source said.
According to earlier reports, Egypt is planning to dispatch jets and tanks to the peninsula as part of its effort to curb terrorist activity in the region.
[Ynet] US president says use of unconventional weapons by Assad regime would be 'red line'; hints it would warrant possible military intervention
US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... on Monday warned Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... that the use or deployment of chemical or biological weapons in his country's conflict would be a "red line" for the United States as it views Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... 's suppression of the uprising.
Obama made an unscheduled appearance in the White House briefing room Monday and told news hounds that the issue of Syria's unconventional weapons was of high concern to both the United States and its close ally, Israel.
"A red line for us is (if) we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around, or being utilized. That would change my calculus," Obama said.
Obama further said that the US would consider the possibility of military involvement in Syria should unconventional weapons come into play in the Syrian civil war.
The use of such weapons of mass destruction, which Syria has, would widen the conflict considerably, he noted.
"It doesn't just include Syria. It would concern allies in the region, including Israel, and it would concern us."
Obama warned Assad and "other players on the ground" that the use or movement of such weapons would be a "red line" would "alter the equation."
Syria's undeclared stockpiles of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide are considered the largest in the world.
The US and Israel, as well as other western nation, fear that Assad has begun moving his stockpiles. The growing violence in the country has also sparked concerns that nonconventional weapons may find their way into Hezbollah's hands.
A situation assessment held by the Pentagon in July concluded that Damascus was still in control of its chemical arsenal.
In early August, the Syrian opposition claimed that Assad's forces used "mass-killing thermobaric weapons" on civilians in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , in northern Syria.
Thermobaric are lethal weapons that explode above a target area with a massive blast and suck air in, leaving a vacuum. When such a weapon is detonated, it produces a blast wave with a significantly longer duration, maximizing damage and casualties.
It is believed that Damascus acquired the weapons from Russia.
#1
Oh please, we all know that if Syria uses chemical weapons, Tyrant Obama would do nothing but whine about it and maybe find a mailbox to bow to while shaking his ass at the Europeans.
It's too bad a clone of Andrew Jackson wouldn't have his....exuberant personality. It'd be fun watching the world go into duck and cover mode with "Old Hickory" sitting in the big chair.
ISLAMABAD: American drones fired a flurry of missiles in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan yesterday, killing a total of 10 suspected militants, Pakistani officials said.
In the first strike, missiles fired from unmanned American spy planes hit two vehicles near the Afghan border, killing at least seven militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike came in the Mana area of North Waziristan, the officials added.
The officials say the area is dominated by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a target commander whose forces often strike US troops in Afghanistan, but they did not know whether his men were the targets of yesterdays' strike. A US drone strike Saturday also in North Waziristan killed five Gul Bahadur allies.
It's just a matter of time, Hafiz...
About 10 hours later yesterday, two missiles destroyed a home also in the Mana area, killing three militants, the officials said.
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[Ynet] US authorities freeze funds wired by Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank; say banking institution 'plays key role in facilitating money laundering for Hezbollah'
US authorities on Monday announced the seizure of $150 million allegedly linked to a scheme by the Lebanese cut-thoat group Hezbollah to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and other crimes.
The money came from a US bank account used by the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) to conduct US currency transactions, US Attorney Preet Bharara and US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart said.
Washington considers the Shiite cut-thoat group a terrorist organization.
"As we alleged last year, the Lebanese Canadian Bank played a key role in facilitating money laundering for Hezbollah controlled organizations across the globe," Leonhart said in a statement.
A December 2011 money laundering and forfeiture complaint filed in US federal court in New York targeted the Lebanese Canadian Bank and two other Lebanese financial institutions with alleged ties to Hezbollah.
US prosecutors then alleged that the LCB, the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company and Ellissa Holding wired funds from Leb to the United States to buy used cars, which were then sent to West Africa.
"Cash from the sale of the cars, along with proceeds of narcotics trafficking, were then funneled to Leb through Hezbollah-controlled money laundering channels," the US Attorney's office said at the time.
At the time, Hezbollah refuted the charges, saying they were "another attempt to tarnish the image of the resistance in Leb."
"Our relentless pursuit of global criminal networks showed that the US banking system was exploited to launder drug trafficking funds through West Africa and into Leb," Leonhart said Monday.
"DEA and our partners are attacking these groups and their financial infrastructure, while establishing clear links between drug trafficking proceeds and terrorist funding," she said.
Bharara said: "We will use every resource at our disposal to separate hard boyz and narco-traffickers, and the banks that work with them, from their illicit funds, even those hidden in foreign accounts."
Because the Great White Father in Washington sees all and knows all, rewarding friends with one hand while punishing enemies with the other.
[Dawn] President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... said Monday the United States was watching with "deep concern" an increase in so-called "green on blue" attacks on US troops in Afghanistan by insiders in Afghan uniform.
"Obviously, we have to do more, because there is an uptick over the last 12 months or so on this," he said at a White House news conference.
Obama emphasized that Afghan cops must be trained to take over from withdrawing US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... troops.
"In the long-term, we will see fewer US casualties and coalition casualties by sticking to our transition plan and making sure that we have the most effective Afghan security force possible, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't leave our guys vulnerable," he said.
His comments follow a spate of deadly attacks on US and NATO troops by Afghan troops who have opened fire on their foreign trainers.
"Obviously, we have been watching with deep concern the so-called green-on-blue attacks where you have Afghan individuals, some of whom are actually enrolled in the Afghan military and in some cases dressing up as Afghan military or police, attacking the coalition's, including our own troops," Obama said.
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#1
'deep concern'
Can't these people wait until after the elections?
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006
#5
Yes, Neville, the indigenous people are not educated per se, but hardly stupid. They have read the tea leaves. It is crucial for long-term survival to be correctly seated when the music stops.
#8
Leave that hell hole tomorrow. Bug out. We are wasting blood and treasure on tribal savages who will not change, other than for the worse, in our lifetimes. Every day we stay is one day too long.
[Dawn] The scene wasn't much different from last year -- a horde of beggars lining up along the entry and exit gates of Bagh-e-Naran, women clad in burqas and men spreading out their chadors and shawls asking for alms. Some of these faces are recognisable. This is commonplace and not restricted to Eid days only. This is an annual lamentation in Pakistain. It'll read much the same next year. If you look in the archives you'll see it read much the same last year.
What also was not unusual was groups of jihadi organizations, seeking donations to help wage 'jihad' against the United States in Afghanistan. Jamaat-ud Da'wa and Al-Badr Mujahideen activists holding printed material handouts and banners were using megaphones to attract attention and donors.
Also present were some activists of what it called the Deobandi Jaish-e-Muhammad making pronouncements in their easily distinguishable Afridi dialect. It was not clear if this was some new outfit or it was the one banned by the federal government in 2002.
Amid this din and clamour for donations for the jihad, an apparently vigilant policeman stood guard looking instead at the double road that passes along the sprawling Bagh-e-Naran -- except he did not see or choose not to see what was going on at his back, drawing one to conclude that either this activity had the official sanction or the policeman on duty was not too bothered about who was collecting what and for what causes.
Those frequenting prayer congregations on Eid festivals or frequent some of the city's big mosques are not surprised either. "What is new in this?" retorted a bewildered citizen, when asked about the open activity of these outfits. "This is usual", he added, probably to allay the irony his first inquisitive answer might have caused.
It is another thing that most men just walked past the donation-seeking young men, without dropping a coin or a banknote into the spread-out sheets.
This could be true. Some of these outfits -- not the banned ones, routinely visit mosques and use the pulpits to invite people to join the holy war in Afghanistan. "Recruitment" in mosques in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar's peripheral areas and other districts continue.
Rarely are the bodies of those volunteers, who lose their lives "in the way of Allah" brought back. Instead, a group of gunnies visits and informs the family of the 'good news' that their beloved son or brother has embraced sha'hadat and that they should be proud and not sad.
A young boy who had just recently grown stubble and used to wash cars, had also volunteered and the next thing his family knew was that he had been killed along with seven others while taking part in the "jihad" in Afghanistan. So, the recruitment goes on, unchecked.
There were times when thug outfits would operate freely and openly, not only raising funds but also recruiting young people for the "Jihad" in the Indian-held Kashmire but also for Afghanistan. Wall chalking and graffiti would openly invite volunteers to join their training camps. These outfits had their offices and bases and no one asked question, in fact, no one was supposed to ask questions.
There were times that some outfits had begun to recruit volunteers to take part in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over their dispute at Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s, not to mention the war in Bosnia. A Chechen resistance leader had made a whirlwind countrywide tour to raise funds for the war in Chechnya and spoke at mosques before the foreign office woke up and ordered him to leave.
Under international microscope, Gen Musharraf changed tacks, initially urging thug organizations to go underground and lie low for a while, turning training camps into so-called rehabilitation centres with an aim to bring gunnies into mainstream. Most disgruntled thugs, feeling having been abandoned and betrayed, left to form their own splinter groups, others joined more violent and out-of-control outfits -- and this explains Pakistain's present situation.
Whether tacit permission, or negligence and oversight, allowing such activities in full public view creates a perception that perhaps things are back to square one. The difference between extremism and terrorism that Gen Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... so spoke about at Kakul last week would remain mere lip service unless the government follows through on its word and acts and not just speaks about curbing such activities.
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[Ynet] Man riding cycle of violence rams Nairobi-based embassy gate, apprehended by security. Nature of incident still unknown
A serious security breach took place in the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya over the weekend, when a motorcyclist was able to break into the compound by ramming the gate.
According to a Monday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, a man riding a cycle of violence approached the gate, ignored the guards' orders to stop and rammed the fence.'
The guards immediately initiated suspect arrest protocol, and were able to detain the suspect after firing a few warning shots in the air.
The motorcyclist was tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! and taken in for questioning. It is still unknown if the incident was accidental, or if the individual meant to test the embassy's security measures.
This is the second security incident involving the Israeli Embassy in Nairobi in recent weeks: In July it was revealed that Nairobi authorities apprehended two Iranian agents plotting to assassinate Israel's Ambassador to Kenya Gil Haskel, by planting a bomb in his car.
North Korean leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un on Friday visited the military unit that shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010. Pudgy Kim described the unit, which is stationed on Mu Islet just 7 km from Yeonpyeong, as "heroic defenders," according to the official KCNA news agency.
North Korean state media said Kim boarded a small unarmed wooden boat with just a few aides to reach the islet.
A South Korean military official said, "It's quite surprising that he took that kind of a boat without bodyguards when visiting a frontline area within reach of South Korean guns. It seems to have been set up to show off his pluck and nerve."
Or he's young and oblivious...
Kim "looked over the South, where dark clouds of war are due to the commotion created by our enemies' exercises," KCNA said.
In February, prior to another annual joint drill, Fat Boy Kim also inspected the corps that led the attack on Yeonpyeong.
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#1
...or it means he's not that important.
...or it means he was set up for a fall, but thwarted somehow.
#3
"It's quite surprising that he took that kind of a boat without bodyguards when visiting a frontline area within reach of South Korean guns. It seems to have been set up to show off his pluck and nerve."
Well actually, it just shows that your frogmen are a tad late out of the starting blocks buddy. Better luck next time ... you can get him.
#4
Personally I'm more concerned about his elevation to formal "Marshal" status - AFAIK it means that the DPRK [also read, CHINA] are covertly anticipating major trubles to occur in future.
[Ynet] A car belonging to an Egyptian diplomat was blown up near his home in the Libyan capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Monday, a day after two people died in bombings authorities blamed on supporters of the country's deposed leader Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... Security sources told Rooters a homemade device went kaboom! underneath the vehicle of the embassy's first secretary Abdelahim Rifai. No one was hurt in the attack. The sources described the blast as a "criminal act".
#2
Likely because Egypt's Muslin Broderbund (more or less Egypt's government now) backed Libyan rebels. That doesn't make the late Qadaffy's supporters happy.
(CBS) -- There may be another health benefit drinking red wine. "Ummm? Whuzzat? [Hic!]"
Scientists report a so-called "miracle molecule" found in red wine might help improve mobility and prevent falls among older adults. "Yersh... [Hic!]... I fin' a coupla quarts o' red wine helpsh me nagiv... nerviv... get aroun' better. [Hic!]... It'sa miracle!"
The ingredient is called 'resveratrol.' "Thash whuddit is! [Hic!]... It ain' Ripple, it'sh revermatol... 'r somethin' like that..."
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Duquesne University Jane Cavanaugh says they tested the effect on laboratory mice. "Who're you?"
"I'm here to shine up fer the rebbermatol tesht!"
"You ain't a mouse! Beat it before I call a cop!"
"As these animal age, they lose some of their motor coordination. Very similar as to humans do as they age. "Yersh. I once fell downa flight o' stairs, never felt a thing... Well, the nex' day, sure. But a coupla quarts o' ratspermatall took care of it PDQ..."
And when we gave them out the resveratrol, the older mouse has less loss of motor coordination." "[Hic!] It keeps the pink elephants and green antelopes away, too... It don't do much good widda polka-dot warthogs, though... Y'gotta sing Akumbe mtatta or somethin' like that..."
Resveratrol is also found in grapes, blueberries and other dark-skinned fruits. "Shay! Whudder you? Some kinda racist?"
"We just used blueberries in our study and actually when they eat the whole fruit it's actually more effective than the resveratrol alone and you don't need as much." "'Coursh not. Y'gotta let it ferment firsht..."
A person would have to drink at least a bottle of wine compared to only a handful of fruit to get the same amount. "Budda quart o' Ripple hash lotsa other good effex..."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Bollocks. I take resveratol every day, and red wine still gets me drunk.
KHARTOUM: A Russian pilot was among the victims on a plane which crashed in Sudan's war-torn South Kordofan, killing all 32 people aboard, Moscow's embassy confirmed on Monday.
"He was the captain," Yury Vidakas, the embassy's press officer, told AFP. "Leddies and dzhentlemen, we are approach of the runvay at Khorrrdofan Airport. Temperature is balmy 30 degrees vith light vinds... Holy shchit!... [CRASH!]" Are you sure the pilot wasn't German, Fred? If he'da been German he'da hollered "heilig Scheiss!"
Vidakas could not immediately provide the name of the pilot, whom he said was "on private contract" with Alfa Airlines that operated the Antonov charter flight which crashed on Sunday. Several small airline companies in Sudan use pilots from the former Soviet Union. Usually not the best ones... Nor the most worthy aircraft...
Vidakas said there was only one Russian among the dead and he did not know where the other five crew members were from.
The official SUNA news agency said all 26 passengers, including top government officials, generals and journalists, also died in the crash. They were members of a delegation, led by Khartoum's Guidance and Endowments Minister Ghazi Al-Saddiq, traveling to the South Kordofan town of Talodi for a ceremony to mark the start of Eid, at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The plane "crashed into a hill" because of bad weather, killing the entire delegation, Culture and Information Minister, Ahmed Bilal Osman, said on official radio. How .. convenient...
Accidents are common among Sudan's inept pilots and ageing fleet of aircraft. Europe bans all Sudanese airlines, including Alfa, for safety reasons. Russian pilots, Ukrainian airplanes and insh-allah maintenance. What could go wrong?
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Big Daily Mail story. Corroborates some of what we've heard from other sources. Barack can't seem to get away from the wimmins in his life, can he...
Barack Obama cancelled three operations to kill Osama bin Laden before finally going ahead with the mission at the insistence of Hillary Clinton, according to a new book.
The explosive allegation is contained in an expose by journalist Rich Miniter, who argues that the White House's carefully-crafted narrative of Obama as a decisive leader who dispatched the al-Qaeda leader despite the doubts of advisers is a myth.
Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him will be published on Tuesday. Excerpts have been viewed by Mail Online.
Miniter, a former Wall Street Journal, Washington Times and Sunday Times of London journalist, cites an unnamed source within Joint Special Operations Command as revealing that three 'kill' missions were cancelled by Obama in January, February and March 2011. Bin Laden was eventually killed by US Navy SEALs inside his compound in Abbotobad, Pakistan in May 2011.
The killing of bin Laden is at the centre of Obama's re-election campaign and is likely to be highlighted yet again by his aides on the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks next month. Obama has already come under fire from former SEALs for trumpeting his role in the raid.
Until now, no one has claimed that he was reluctant even to launch it.
Not quite, we heard a bit about this not long after the raid.
Miniter portrays Clinton as the main force behind killing bin Laden and contends that the prevaricating Obama has been in thrall to a number of dominant women -- Clinton, top adviser Valerie Jarrett and his wife Michelle. It was Jarrett, a long-time Chicago ally, he reports, who urged Obama to cancel the first three operations to kill bin Laden.
Miniter writes that Clinton's alliances with Leon Panetta, then CIA director and now Pentagon chief, and David Petraeus, then head of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan and now at the helm at the CIA, were critical in bringing bin Laden to justice.
At the start of his presidency, Miniter writes, Obama was 'studiously undecided' about whether to kill the mastermind of 9/11.
'He refused to weigh in or commit himself on even small matters related to a possible strike on bin Laden.'
He continues: 'Obama was often disengaged as the bin Laden operation took shape; he left critical decisions to the then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, then-Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
'Obama feared taking responsibility for a risky raid that might go tragically wrong.'
Initially, Miniter writes, Obama deferred to Jarrett over whether to go after bin Laden.
'Jarrett opposed the idea. She worried about a backlash against the president if the operation failed, or even if it succeeded. Clinton privately fumed about Jarrett's relentless presence and her injection of political considerations at every turn.
When Hillary says you're injecting politics into policy too much, you've got a problem...
'Throughout 2009 Obama demanded more and more certainty about U.S. intelligence concerning bin Laden. Jarrett repeatedly reminded Obama and other executive-branch officials that the president had campaigned on the "intelligence failures" of the Bush years.
'There was no need, she said, to hand our political rivals a set of intelligence failures of our own.
Thus demonstrating their fear of the unknown. Bush had no qualms about doing right with the information he had, which meant that occasionally he got one wrong. Champ was unwilling to be wrong, even once, so he threw away all the opportunities he had to do right.
'As CIA covert teams successfully parried concerns about intelligence by extraordinary efforts that proved bin Laden was indeed in the Abottobad compound, a new set of delaying tactics emerged, embedded in the debate over what should actually be done.'
Despite their rivalry during the battle for the 2008 Democratic nomination, Clinton had gradually won over Obama and established her influence during weekly meetings in the Oval Office.
'Clinton used her weekly meeting to begin lobbying for a decisive blow against bin Laden.
'She knew her husband had paid a political price for failing to stop bin Laden before the September 11 attacks. She knew Obama's presidency could be mortally wounded if he had bin Laden in his gun sights and didn't fire.'
Besides, it was the right thing to do. Assuming you couldn't just snatch him, fly him to the safe house at Ice Station Zebra and spend a year picking his head apart.
Eventually, Miniter writes, Obama was convinced that bin Laden should be pursued but still had reservations about pulling the metaphorical trigger.
'He knew Clinton was right. So he agreed to keep making minor decisions, but remained uneasy about the big one at the end--deciding to kill bin Laden, and to risk losing American and Pakistani lives in the process.'
Even the day before bin Laden's demise, Miniter writes, Obama was seized by a 'fourth moment of indecision'.
The White House later said that poor weather conditions prompted this final delay but Miniter writes that he obtained the US Air Force Combat Meteorological Centre's weather report for that day and established that it showed 'ideal conditions' for the SEAL raid.
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#1
But weren't we told just yesterday that The One led the attack? so perhaps the 3 cancelled missions weren't cancelled, but merely practice ones so he could fine-tune the salient points of leading... ( or pack his blankee in his dufflebag.)
#7
Valerie Jarrett, the Edith Bolling Galt Wilson [aka the real first female president] of the Obama Administration.
His[Woodrow Wilson] constant attendant, Edith Wilson took over many routine duties and details of government. She carefully screened all matters of state and decided which were important enough to bring to the bedridden president. "I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators," she wrote later of her role, "and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband."
Edith also strongly opposed allowing Vice President Thomas R. Marshall to assume the powers of the presidency.[15] She selected matters for her husband's attention and let everything else go to the heads of departments or remain in abeyance. In My Memoir, published in 1939, she called her role a "stewardship"[16] and insisted that her actions had been taken only because the president's doctors told her to do so for her husband's mental health.[17] - wiki
#9
I bet he also cancelled the mission that actually got bin Laden, but it was too late. He had to have had something in place in case of an Iranian-hostage-rescue-style disaster.
#10
It doesn't even matter. Pinetta, Obama, Jarrett - disgusting creatures all. The only thing that matters is this treasonous cabal be defeated handily in November otherwise we're done.
#13
The secret to Obama's rise to power was to vote "Present" if he was not sure of the outcome. He felt that potential risk to gotcha's on important issues was not worth it.
Every decision is evaluated solely on the potential impact to what he percieves as his political power.
If America is still the land of the free and the brave, he will ulitmately fail here.
#16
My gut tells me he was hoping someone in the military/CIA would take the chance and do it anyway at some point. Thus he could take credit for success and have a patsy if things went wrong.
Unfortunately the military doesn't work that way outside of Hollywood.
#17
Two things forced De Won's hand:
1) Hillary had already brought her set of balls;
2) someone had already ordered the pizza;
3) nobody thought to put a check box by the "abort mission" option.
Three things...three things forced the De Won's hand: [Oh, bloody hell!]
[Dawn] As the news of the Christian girl Rifta and her ordeal continues to make headlines, what comes to the fore is a sick picture of double victimisation of an individual, first as a religious minority and secondly as a mentally handicapped human being in a society where there is little understanding of mental illnesses.
Currently, the Down syndrome sufferer is being held in the Adiyala Jail for a judicial remand under charges of blasphemy and any progress in the case will be made only after Eid. While voices are being raised as to how a fair trial must be conducted under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, what is being overlooked is the need for sanity to prevail.
The Bahawalpur case where a malang was killed by over 2000 'sane' people after being accused of blasphemy and the case of this girl show the apathy of our society. So far, there has been no medico-legal examination of the girl to determine her mental health.
Earlier, under 1912 Act, a person could be held for 10-30 days before an inquiry began but after the Mental Health Ordinance 2001, a mentally unstable person could not be set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for more than 72 hours and it was mandatory to carry out psychiatric evaluation within that period, an MLO working in a public hospital in Lahore said.
Till 2001, Pakistain followed the Lunacy Act 1912, the mental health law that was introduced in India, which referred to a person with mental illness as 'idiot of unsound mind' or 'lunatic'. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... in 2001, things improved significantly when the Lunacy Act 1912 was repealed and replaced with the Mental Health Ordinance 2001 (MHO 2001) by Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... The ordinance offered a more humane outlook towards individuals with psychological disorders and mental handicaps and allowed them to be given a fair chance. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... after the 18th Amendment, the Federal Mental Health Authority was dissolved and MHO 2001 lapsed. So far, none of the provinces, with the exception of Sindh, has made any effort to take up this issue.
Human rights lawyer Zia Awan agreed that the 2001 ordinance would have offered a more sensible way out in this case.
"If you go by the law, then Section 82 (of) Pakistain Penal Code says that 'nothing is an offence which is done by a child under seven' while in Section 83, a judge can decide to ignore the age stated in Section 82, raising it to 12 years, in the case of a child who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding," Mr Awan explained.
"At the moment, it is important that a psychiatric evaluation is carried out to determine the extent of her mental illness. This girl might have a mental age of a 3-year-old and we have to keep this in mind when doling out a judgment," he said.
He added that if the MHO 2001 was there, the girl would not have been sent to the jail and would rather have been sent to a 'facility equipped to take care of her needs'.
Commenting on the situation, Dr Haroon Ahmed, president of the Pakistain Association of Mental Health, said: "There are so many loopholes in our legal system and usually it's the innocent that gets caught. "So far, we do not have clear-cut definitions of mental illness and when it comes to legislation, mental health service providers are excluded. Currently, no laws address civil or criminal liability of a person suffering from mental illness."
He said the Pak society was already stifling with the 'mob justice mentality providing a clear reflection of this decay'. "The charges of blasphemy are very serious but how do you determine who is sane and who is not? How do you deal with a schizophrenic person who claims to be a divine entity? Do you treat him for his illness or do you 'punish' him?"
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
how do you determine who is sane and who is not?
This would be a very difficult problem in Pakistan.
[Dawn] Firing and assassinations continue in various areas of the city, in-spite of it being the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr. At least four people have been reported killed, and 12 maimed.
Firing was first reported in in Orangi town and Pehelwan Goth, with two people rubbed out.
Two dead bodies were also found, one in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and the other from Sohrab Goth.
A shootout also took place amongst two rival groups in Landhi, with four confirmed maimed so far although the figure could be higher.
Additionally, four people were also maimed due to firing by dacoits in Landhi's Muzaffarabad Colony.
Separate incidents of firing were also reported in Korangi and Memon Goth, wounding four people
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TRIPOLI: Twin car bomb blasts killed two people in the Libyan capital at dawn yesterday on the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday and officials blamed loyalists of now slain dictator Muammer Qaddafi. Tripoli's security chief Col. Mahmud Al-Sherif told AFP the bombs were detonated by remote control and struck near a military academy and the interior ministry.
"They were two car bombs detonated by remote control," Sherif said, adding that four people were also wounded in the first blast.
The first car bomb blew up at 6:00 a.m. near a military academy on Omar Al-Mokhtar Avenue a main Tripoli thoroughfare that was closed briefly to traffic -- and the second near the interior ministry. An AFP correspondent said checkpoints were set up on other major streets in the city center. When the avenue was later reopened to traffic, the only sign of the blast was some broken glass on the scorched pavement. Remains of the vehicle had been removed.
The second bomb was concealed in a taxi and blew up in a sidestreet near the interior ministry. There were no casualties.
Earlier this month, three men suspected of preparing bomb attacks were killed during a police raid near Tripoli but several of them managed to flee, authorities said.
According to Sherif, yesterday's attacks were orchestrated by "the same sleeper cell," because the explosives and methods used were the same as in an attack in central Tripoli on August 3 that wounded one person. "This groups is funded by members of the old regime who are in Tunisia and Algeria," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2012
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Arab Summer - feel the love
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2012 7:10
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Trying to bring K-Daffy back seems a little pointless. I think these people just like blowing stuff up.
[Ynet] The United States and Israel have different interpretations of the same intelligence reports on Iran's nuclear program, the US military's top general said.
General Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he conferred with his Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz on a regular, "bi-weekly" basis. "We compare intelligence, we discuss regional implications. And we've admitted to each other that our clocks are turning at different rates," he said.
In other words, it matters a good deal less to the current American administration that the six million Jews of Israel and their non-Jewish fellow citizens might be wiped from the face of the earth if nothing is done. Thanks for clarifying, d00d.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN EYEING STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WID IRANIC KURDS, espec those in Iraq.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Rise = Verge of] KURDISH STATE: THE PKK HAS "LOCKED" THE TURKISH ARMY [Units] INSIDE THEIR OWN BASES.
* TOPIX > KURDS AT CENTRE OF MIDDLE EAST POWERPLAY | SYRIA USING KURDS TO THREATEN [destabilize] TURKEY. Iran-Syria axis versus Turkey, and vicey-versy, vee the Kurds.
* RIAN.RU > TURKEY CALLS FOR SYRIA NO-FLY ZONE.
Reminds me of another old Dream-Vision per the Pentagon from decades ago - RISE OF KURDISTAN.
SANAA, Yemen: Medical and security officials say a crazed gunman opened fire Sunday on worshippers marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in southern Yemen, killing nine. The gunman targeted men praying outside a crowded mosque in Al-Dhale, a governorate about 190 kilometers (115 miles) south of the capital, Sanaa, during morning Eid el-Fitr services. Nine people were killed and another 10 wounded, the officials said. The gunman was arrested at the scene, officials said.
About 100 people have been killed in similar mosque shootings in Yemen in the last three years by people believed to be suffering from mental disorders or in tribal conflicts, according to the officials.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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bypeople believed to be suffering from mental disorders or in tribal conflicts, according to the officials.
the thin line - hard to diagnose
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2012 7:52
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Have Yemen & Afghanistan In Cantons Likened In Swiss Model & Belgium Style : Peace Is At Hand : Also : Economic Incentives Also : Peace With Accorded : HONOUR : - ALLAH O AKBAR
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.
The State Department has started to replace its just-the-facts online profiles of foreign countries with new ones that appear to largely highlight U.S. relations since President Obama took office -- a move that comes on top of efforts to update the official profiles of past presidents with Obama-themed factoids. 
SWABI: Celebratory firing here on Saturday night resulted in killing of two people and injuries to five others.
Pakistain's president on Monday called on officials to explain the arrest on blasphemy charges of a Christian girl with Down's Syndrome who allegedly burnt pages inscribed with verses from the Koran.
President Asif Ali 
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
President 
The scene wasn't much different from last year -- a horde of beggars lining up along the entry and exit gates of Bagh-e-Naran, women clad in burqas and men spreading out their chadors and shawls asking for alms. Some of these faces are recognisable. This is commonplace and not restricted to Eid days only.
North Korean leader 
(CBS) -- There may be another health benefit drinking red wine.
KHARTOUM: A Russian pilot was among the victims on a plane which crashed in Sudan's war-torn South Kordofan, killing all 32 people aboard, Moscow's embassy confirmed on Monday. 
As the news of the Christian girl Rifta and her ordeal continues to make headlines, what comes to the fore is a sick picture of double victimisation of an individual, first as a religious minority and secondly as a mentally handicapped human being in a society where there is little understanding of mental illnesses.
Pervez 
Firing and 
TRIPOLI: Twin car bomb blasts killed two people in the Libyan capital at dawn yesterday on the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday and officials blamed loyalists of now slain dictator Muammer Qaddafi. Tripoli's security chief Col. Mahmud Al-Sherif told AFP the bombs were detonated by remote control and struck near a military academy and the interior ministry. 
