Egypt's government will dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a non-governmental organization within days, a newspaper reported on Friday. The move applies to the NGO registered by the Brotherhood in March in response to a lawsuit that argued the group was without any legal status. It would mark a largely symbolic blow to Morsi's organization.
A privately-owned newspaper, Al-Shorouk, said the decision would be taken "within days", quoting Hany Mahana, a spokesman for the minister of social solidarity.
The same official was quoted by state-run Al-Akhbar saying the decision had already beem taken. It said, "The minister's decision has in fact been issued but it will be announced at the start of next week in a press conference."
Al-Akhbar said Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed el-Boraie's decision to dissolve the group as an NGO sprang from accusations that the Brotherhood had used its headquarters to fire and store weapons and explosives. It said that Brotherhood officials had failed to meet a deadline for responding to the accusations.
A government official denied a decision had been taken.
As an increasing number of African-American lawmakers voice dissent over the Obama administration's war plans in Syria, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has asked members to "limit public comment" on the issue until they are briefed by senior administration officials. Oh, I see, special separate briefings for special political separatists ?
A congressional aide to a CBC member called the request "eyebrow-raising," in an interview with The Cable, and said the request was designed to quiet dissent while shoring up support for President Obama's Syria strategy. Stay on the plantation. Don't listen to your ears, the massa needs us.
The CBC, a crucial bloc of more than 40 votes the White House likely needs to authorize a military strike in Syria, is scheduled to be briefed by White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Monday. Until then, CBC chairwoman Marcia Fudge has asked colleagues to "limit public comment until [they] receive additional details," Fudge spokeswoman Ayofemi Kirby told the cable. Additional perks details await you.
When asked if the White House requested the partial gag order, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said "the Administration is reaching out to all Members to ensure they have the information they need to make an informed judgment on this issue." Kirby said it was her boss's request and was aimed at keeping members informed rather than silencing anti-war members. Appears most members have enough information and have already decided. Are CBC member not able to comprehend the facts and issues as well as everyone else?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/06/2013 9:31
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#2
Step-n-fetch-it!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/06/2013 10:02
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#3
Wait, I thought the military infantry was like 90% poor black urban kids who were suckered and lured into the military by police arrests and the gun lobby to fight The Man's wars?
Com'on CBC, fight the power!
"Don't speak unless you say what I tell you to say"
"Yes Boss"
#11
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Head to the link for the logic leading up to this:
When I take the red team perspective of action unfolding in the Middle East, if I am Iran and Syria supported by Russia, my calculation is that I may never have a better opportunity to change the regional security conditions and balance of power in the Middle East than the opportunity being presented in this situation unfolding. By throwing every military asset possible in attack of the surface action group of 4 destroyers in the Mederterranian Sea, and throwing the entire armed forces of Iran against the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group off the coast of Pakistan, the entire US policy for the Middle East would be dead in the water if Iran and Syrian attacks were to be successful. As red team, I would attack these targets specifically because they are sovereign US targets and don't inherently escalate tensions by giving any other nation a reason to join in.
Oh, you honestly believe - like John Kerry does - that the US would muster the military and muster allies around the world, and would start World War III in response to a tactical defeat at sea? Think again. The simple fact is the world would immediately stand in shock, and there is no evidence anywhere suggesting the Obama administration handles pressure well. The Middle East would explode in celebration of a public US tactical defeat, leaving the Nimitz Strike Group south of the Suez unable to cross north to help. Hu Jinping would shit a Great Wall when facing the possibility of a major war across the sea lines of communication throughout the Middle East, and would be with Russia in the UNSC within 24 hours shouting for a cease fire. Iran would immediately make clear that with the first sign of a US counterattack against Iran, Iran would unload their ballistic missiles into US bases across Afghanistan and potentially leverage other resources to broaden the conflict regionally.
Is Europe going to seriously come to the aid of a belligerent US who got smacked for attacking another nation without a coalition, any legitimate alliance, or a UNSC resolution? The NATO alliance clause doesn't protect the US under the scenario unfolding in Syria. Remember, gas prices across the world will triple - or more, in the first 24 hours on the threat of escalation, so the gravity of the situation will hit the wallet of an happy American population as well. Where is the support for the US coming from? If you think the US has a reserve force ready to deploy in the US, you don't understand the impact of sequestration on the US military at all. It would take the US weeks, and in some cases months, to mobilize military forces in response to a major escalation. Does anyone honestly believe Asian nations are going to rise up and help the US after our military adventurism that went wrong? If the US Navy takes attrition across the Middle East and the Med, how does one think France - our only real coalition partner right now - will react? When bad ideas lead to things going badly, people don't take great risk in support of the foolish losers.
This isn't some impossible scenario, Syria does have the military capability to defeat 1 surface action group of 4 destroyers if committed to that tactical action, and Iran does have the capability to destroy a single Carrier Strike Group in a surprise attack less than 300 miles off the coast of Iran.
A successful counterstrike leaves the US with no one to turn to except Israel, whose assistance could send the entire region into chaos.
So if I am red team, if Obama goes from Congress directly to war, I attack. The Obama administration is playing a game of checkers, and it is impossible to suggest the absence of policy, strategy, objective, and coalition by the Obama administration is akin to a game of chess. If the enemy plays chess in response, we're screwed. At that point it would come down to US military forces winning tactical battles despite bad strategy to avoid humiliating strategic defeat, which honestly somewhat describes US policy for the last decade across the Middle East.
Is he wrong about the US responce to this sort of counter-attack from Syria/Iran/Russia?
Is he wrong about the possible success of such an attack?
Is he wrong about the possibility that Iran et.al. might analyse things this way and launch such an attack?
This scenario just reeks with possible triggers for WWIII or total political/economic collapse. Our regime is incapable and incompetent when it comes to judging the consequences of their actions.
Give me some reason to hope that if O pulls the trigger we won't wind up in total breakdown.
#4
Galrahn is a smart guy. He might be wrong but he's not stupid.
He has been hammering the issue of what sequestration is doing to military readiness. Essentially it comes down to this: the Navy can deploy a strike group or task force, and they can prepare the next set of ships in the rotation for that group or force, but all other ships and units are in deep unreadiness. There's little or no maintenance and repair money, and little money to train up the follow-on units.
We have 9 carriers (1 more is refueling and thus is unavailable). We have three deployed and six at home. How many of those six can sail within (say) two weeks? Per Galrahn, at most one. The rest would take a while.
Ditto for other surface combatants.
The Air Force has similar issues: it can maintain Afghanistan operations and some operations at home but it can't forward deploy rapidly to (say) Turkey or Greece for operations against Syria. It would need a lot of money to fix the readiness issues, money currently sandbagged by sequestration.
As he points out in his scenario (go read it all), the Obama/Kerry/Hagel/Dempsey 'strategy' works only if the Syrians are callow, cowardly and stupid. If they have any spine at all and come back at us we're potentially in deep trouble.
And he's certainly got one issue right: if Syria or Iran managed a successful attack on our Navy, the whole Middle East, save Israel, would be dancing in the streets.
Great Mideast policy we got, huh.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013 8:37
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Give me some reason to hope that if O pulls the trigger we won't wind up in total breakdown.
Maybe total collapse/breakdown is what he is aiming for. Sure looks that way to me. I suspect he doesn't want all the sh!t on his hands though. I mean, he does like to shift the blame to others.
This jack wagon will be the death of us.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
09/06/2013 8:47
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#9
From what I am hearing on teevee, it sounds as though he will completely ignore a congressional "no vote" and proceed with his plans for a strike. Rand Paul would then be correct, the entire congressional exercise was little more than a sham to buy preparation time.
#11
I think there is truth in the theory. We may have sponsers in the Middle East, but those governments have populations with, what, five six generations of hate america - hitting a high value target quick and even with large casualties could trigger a general hello snackbar movement and end any sort of public support. And what happens here if the gasoline simply 150%s which is definately going to happen, especially with the non-movement of a moral building Keystone. And Egypt, how will they feel with our arming and training of the very groups they are trying to ouster? There is no support for this publically.
I have to agree that the solution is mass diplomacy and the building of a large coalition with may take years. Thats what Bush did, but that may have alredy been lost with the President taking his military to war with or without approval, and everyone and their secret squirrel knows that Team AQ is culling Team Free Syria - hell the FSA general was flat assassinated not too long ago. Kerry is flat lying and Putin is moves ahead.
#12
Darth Bolton just said Champ would need a "character transplant to go against a congressional no vote". Bolton however, thinks he will get the 'YES' vote from congress.
#13
Our illustrious "naval expert" leaves out the submarine force. True, they're not much good against aircraft, but the Burkes are geared for those.
Secondly, carrier groups are defense-in-depth. They practice it regularly. I'm not going to go into details, but it'd take one hell of a multi-environment saturation launch by the Iranians.
Honestly, World of Warcraft is not a good thing to list on your C.V. as 'expertise'.
Earlier I asked:
Is he wrong about the US responce to this sort of counter-attack from Syria/Iran/Russia?
Is he wrong about the possible success of such an attack?
Is he wrong about the possibility that Iran et.al. might analyse things this way and launch such an attack?
I felt, when I asked those questions, that the success of such an attack was the least likely part of the scenario for the reasons you say.
HOWEVER, I don't doubt that such an attack could do some serious damage let's say like the USS Cole level damage to 3 or 4 ships.
What then? Does Oblather tell the military to attack Iran? Go to BOTG in Syria? Is Russia going to just sit there? What will China do?
PLUS, if this regime goes to congress and gets voted down and STILL tries to pull the trigger would the military balk on the grounds that it is an unlawful, unconstitutional order?
From what I'm seeing I don't think the House will go for it. Is that enough to stop the insanity?
#16
AlanC this is the para I think is wrong, and it's the base of his entire argument.
This isn't some impossible scenario, Syria does have the military capability to defeat 1 surface action group of 4 destroyers if committed to that tactical action, and Iran does have the capability to destroy a single Carrier Strike Group in a surprise attack less than 300 miles off the coast of Iran.
How? How does Syria strike a Surface Action Group with air cover and destroy it? How does Iran attack a Carrier Task Force and destroy it?
#18
I don't know squat about anything maritime, but the Argies certainly managed to give the UK some pause during the Falklands dust up. That many ships, subs, and rockets.... anything could happen.
#20
Earlier I asked: Is he wrong about the US responce to this sort of counter-attack from Syria/Iran/Russia?
Yes.
Is he wrong about the possible success of such an attack?
He's confusing 'probable' with 'possible'.
It's possible that a meteorite could strike, it's possible that the Eastern Med Monster could rise out from the depths. The probability of either is low.
It's possible that such an attack could be successful. The probability depends on a lot of factors, both attacker and defender.
Is he wrong about the possibility that Iran et.al. might analyse things this way and launch such an attack?
Again, he confuses 'possibility' with 'probability'.
I felt, when I asked those questions, that the success of such an attack was the least likely part of the scenario for the reasons you say.
HOWEVER, I don't doubt that such an attack could do some serious damage let's say like the USS Cole level damage to 3 or 4 ships.
That's a lot different than "defeat 1 surface action group of 4 destroyers if committed to that tactical action."
One, the Syrians have to launch aircraft, or missiles, or both. Without giving away a lot, let's just say that a launch of either or both would be detected early and defensive measures taken. It's likely that damage will be taken. But reality is a lot different than armchair warfighting.
and Iran does have the capability to destroy a single Carrier Strike Group in a surprise attack less than 300 miles off the coast of Iran.
1. Iran has to muster the assets to attack a carrier group.
2. Iran has to launch assets to attack a carrier group.
3. Iran has to get through the carrier forces' defenses to inflict significant damage.
4. Iran has to be prepared for an immediate or near-immediate response.
What then? Does Oblather tell the military to attack Iran? Go to BOTG in Syria? Is Russia going to just sit there? What will China do?
It depends on what the Rules of Engagement (ROE) are. If the ROE says "refer to National Command Authority", then that is what happens. It's not light-speed, but it communications are fairly quick. I have no idea what the President would do, nor do I have an 'in' with the Chinese or the Russians.
I do know that a carrier group isn't a collection of sitting ducks.
PLUS, if this regime goes to congress and gets voted down and STILL tries to pull the trigger would the military balk on the grounds that it is an unlawful, unconstitutional order?
Again, I don't know. Donald Sensing says it's unconstitutional. It would likely be unconstitutional IMNSHO. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
From what I'm seeing I don't think the House will go for it. Is that enough to stop the insanity?
And once again, I don't know. The inner workings of the US political system aren't my forte. I also am aware that the inner workings of the US political system aren't my forte. That's why I don't comment on it.
#21
Well played TFSM. Start stocking up on chicken.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/06/2013 16:00
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Pappy correctly points out the steps Iran has to take to engage successfully a carrier strike group.
Let's say that the probability of success of a sudden Iran full-scale strike on a carrier strike group is 1%. One percent.
Let's say the price of failure (the other 99% of the time) is that Iran then receives a truly prodigious thumping by remaining U.S. assets in the region -- not just the carrier group but all other assets as well.
Rational actors would conclude that the risk, one percent chance of success counterbalanced by 99% chance of being gobsmacked, isn't worth it.
The assumption there is that when the attack fails, we'd return fire.
What if we don't?
I think that's implicit in Galrahn's analysis. We don't respond because either 1) we can't, the forces being unable to launch a counter-strike (less likely) or 2) we won't, because our national command authority refuses to authorize a counter-strike.
Why would Obama back down? Could be he gets a warning from Russia -- counter-attack Iran and bad stuff starts to happen. Could be he gets a warning from Iran -- counter-attack us and assets we have elsewhere start to do bad things. Could be he loses his nerve. Could be he sees it to be advantageous to the U.S., or to him politically and personally, to refuse to order a counter-strike.
What are the odds of that? I dunno, but lately I'm wondering if it's a non-zero number.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013 18:10
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#23
"Could be he sees it to be advantageous to the U.S., or to him politically and personally, to refuse to order a counter-strike."
FTFY, Steve.
Bambi doesn't give a rat's ass what's advantageous to the U.S.; everything revolves around him. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/06/2013 19:14
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#24
The assumption there is that when the attack fails, we'd return fire. What if we don't?
I think that's implicit in Galrahn's analysis. We don't respond because either 1) we can't, the forces being unable to launch a counter-strike (less likely) or 2) we won't, because our national command authority refuses to authorize a counter-strike.
Again, it depends on what Rules of Engagement (ROE) are in effect. If the ROE says "refer to National Command Authority", then that is what will happen. You may not like it, Sea Lord Gahlran may not like it, but that's the way it is.
What is being confused here is military ability with political ability. I can fill this post with examples of clusterf&cks from the First Gulf War because all decisions had to be "kicked upstairs".
The ships will only do what they've been given permission to do. How hard is that to understand?
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government said Thursday it was contemplating whether to accept China's invitation to an informal multilateral meeting that would set the stage for a rare meeting with the North Koreans.
China recently suggested a mid-September gathering with the U.S., the two Koreas, Japan and Russia attended by their senior officials and academics. China proposed Sept. 18 as a candidate date for the event, intended to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program. The six countries are members of the Beijing-based negotiations last held in December 2008.
North Korea is expected to send its nuclear envoy, Ri Yong-ho, to the proposed session, according to a diplomatic source.
But the Barack Obama administration was cautious about such a meeting at a time when North Korea's seriousness on dialogue remains untested and an American citizen is still jailed in the communist nation.
"The United States has not made a final decision on participation in this event," a State Department official said on the customary condition of anonymity.
China's top point man on Korea, Wu Dawei, traveled to North Korea last week for meetings with senior officials.
In Beijing, China's foreign ministry confirmed Thursday (local time) that the China Institute of International Studies, a state-run think tank, will "hold a seminar on Sept. 18 to review the past course of the six-party talks."
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei emphasized the importance of reviving the six-way talks, viewed by many as one of the best mechanisms to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.
"The six-party talks remain an important platform for the realization of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and also an important mechanism for the improvement of relations between relevant parties," Hong said. "We hope that our relevant parties will stick to the six-party talks and solve relevant issues through dialogue."
Next week, meanwhile, the U.S. is sending a delegation specializing in North Korea issues to Northeast Asia for regular consultations.
"A U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies will travel to the Republic of Korea, China and Japan Sept. 8-13 for meetings with senior officials in each country to discuss North Korea policy," the State Department announced.
The team will visit Seoul on Monday and Tuesday, where Davies will meet his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong, followed by trips to Beijing and Tokyo, it said. In the Chinese capital, Davies plans to have discussions with Wu Dawei, special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013
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#1
The Norks are your problem Beijing. You've feed them, they belong to you.
BEIJING -- China appears to have been unable to make much headway in the latest diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, diplomatic sources with knowledge of last week's talks between the two said Friday.
I think this is nonsense. China can bring the Norks to heel by cutting off the oil and the cash. China is engaged in some play-handwringing to make it look like it's Uncle Sugar's intransigence that is the problem.
China's chief nuclear envoy Wu Dawei made a five-day visit to North Korea last week, during which he met with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan. The Chinese foreign ministry has said the two sides discussed ways to re-start the long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs.
This week, the Chinese foreign ministry briefed diplomats from South Korea, the U.S., Russia and Japan about the outcome of the talks between Wu and Kim, but it didn't say whether Kim expressed an intention to demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization through concrete actions, according to the sources.
"The ministry explained the outcome of Wu's visit to North Korea to relevant nations through a debriefing session, but it didn't say whether North Korea changed its stance on denuclearization," a source said on the condition of anonymity.
Though a diplomat asked Pyongyang if it switched its stance on denuclearization during the debriefing session, the Chinese side "did not get a definite answer," according to the source.
"At the debriefing session, China only emphasized its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue without explaining about the North's latest stance," said another diplomatic source.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013
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MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Hundreds of the Somali Federal Government troops reportedly went on strike as a result of negligence and lack of support services on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.
Well aren't they just special...
300 soldiers dressed in Somali military uniform flooded into streets of Mogadishu on strikes and according to sources, the striking soldiers have been receiving military training at Mogadishu sweet factory.
What are they, chocolatiers?
Speaking to the media, one of the striking soldiers said they have been suffering from food shortages and lack of salary, "We have been under military training for three months but our government didn't provide us with the necessary requirements including food, weapons and salary".
The incident comes after Federal Government of Somalia's ministry of defence declared that it would up both security and support services for the Somali military forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013
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[An Nahar] German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Thursday said that the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... should examine the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
That'll slow the rush to war. By about a decade...
"I have again pressed for the U.N. Security Council to give a mandate to the ICC to examine the chemical attack in Syria," he said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia's Saint Petersburg.
"We have launched this initiative already in January," he said. "The situation has worsened sufficiently for another initiative."
"Naturally, use of chemical weapons is absolutely unacceptable," said the foreign minister.
"We will also discuss this with my European colleagues in Vilnius" at the meeting of European foreign ministers on Friday and Saturday, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
Same ICC that may be awaiting the one after he departs the office, if he chooses to 'shot' without Congressional/Constitutional authority.
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Thursday it believes North Korea and Syria may have cooperated on the chemical weapons front as well as nuclear program.
"I think there's been sharing between North Korea and Syria on any number of fronts," George Little, press secretary for the Defense Department, said at a news briefing. "There has been a relationship and an exchange of information between North Koreans and the Syrian regime for some time."
He cited the Al Kibar nuclear facility in Syria, allegedly built with North Korea's help and destroyed by an Israeli strike in 2007.
"I can't count out the possibility that they've discussed or shared information on chemical weapons," Little said, without further elaborating.
U.S. officials underscore the need to set a precedent for possible similar problems created by North Korea, Iran and terrorist groups. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in Congress earlier this week that North Korea has a massive stockpile of chemical weapons.
His spokesman, Little, said, "We have very good information" that suggests that Hagel's view is true.
"If we sit idly by and allow the Syrian regime to perpetrate atrocities the likes of which we've seen recently, then what signal does that send to countries like North Korea?" Little said.
In Seoul, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin openly expressed concern over alleged links between North Korea and Syria on chemical weapons. Kim met with Hagel in Brunei last week on the sidelines of ASEAN defense ministers' meetings.
Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, said Kim and Hagel talked about the Syria issue, especially "the implications of how the Syrian use of chemical weapons is handled for North Korean behavior."
But a direct commercial or some other connection between North Korea and Syria on chemical weapons was not discussed in detail, Lavoy said, speaking separately to reporters at the Pentagon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2013
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[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... praised on Thursday the General Security members for their role in uncovering spy networks and terrorist cells.
He said: "The discovery of these cells and the firing of rockets in Leb are a glimpse of what global terror has in store for the country."
He made his remarks during a ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the General Security.
The president added: "The military institution is at the heart of our interests as officials."
"It should be properly equipped and bolstered with a national defense strategy that benefits from the resistance's expertise in confronting Israel," continued Suleiman.
"You must remain united in carrying out your duties and you must have faith in the army and state institutions in confronting any instability," he said addressing General Security officials.
Moreover, he warned of foreign dangers facing Leb, namely Israel's ongoing threat against the country's illusory sovereignty.
"Confronting dangers is a collective responsibility," he declared.
"Officials should maintain the proper operation of state institutions because they guarantee the functioning of the state," he remarked.
The interests of the state institutions should not be affected by political setbacks, he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[An Nahar] Phalange Party The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. leader Amin Gemayel on Thursday held a series of contacts with the U.N. and world powers in a bid to stop attacks by Qaeda-linked rebels on the ancient Syrian Christian village of Maaloula, his office said.
In this regard, Gemayel held phone talks with U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, U.N. Special Coordinator for Leb Derek Plumbly and the ambassadors of the Vatican, La Belle France, Britannia and the United States.
Gemayel urged them to "ask their governments to take quick measures to stop the assault on Maaloula and pull the gunnies out of the town and places of worship immediately."
He called on the envoys to inform their countries' leaders -- who gathered Thursday in Saint Petersburg for the G20 summit -- of the "enormity of the attack," warning that "the onslaught might lead to pushing the events in Syria down an increasingly sectarian and seditious course, which would affect the firmness of the international community's stance on the Syrian crisis."
Gemayel's office noted that "all these international officials responded to president Gemayel's call," revealing that "Arab and international stances over this attack are expected to be issued in light of the contacts that got underway between the European capitals, the Vatican and New York."
It also announced that it had been receiving all day "distress calls from the residents of the town of Maaloula, who called for a prompt action to rescue the historic town, its residents and its spiritual heritage."
Syrian government troops battled al-Qaeda-linked rebels over Maaloula for the second day Thursday.
Residents of the village said the Death Eaters entered the village late Wednesday. Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the fighters included members of the of al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front.
Despite heavy army presence in the village, Abdul Rahman said the rebels patrolled its streets on foot and in vehicles, briefly surrounding a church and a mosque before leaving early Thursday.
The rebels launched the assault on Maaloula -- which is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites -- on Wednesday after a Nusra fighter went kaboom! at a regime checkpoint at the entrance to the mountain village.
The village, about 60 kilometers northeast of Damascus, is home to 3,300 residents, some of whom still speak a version of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ that only small, scattered communities around the world still use today.
It is full of troglodyte caves dating back to the first centuries of Christianity, and also houses the Mar Takla Greek Orthodox monastery.
Heavy festivities between Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's troops and al-Nusra Front fighters persisted in surrounding mountains Thursday, according to the Observatory, which collects information from a network of anti-regime activists.
Speaking by phone from a convent in the village, a nun told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the rebels left a mountaintop hotel Thursday after capturing it a day earlier. The nun said the frightened residents expect the Islamist Death Eaters to return to the Safir hotel and resume shelling of the community below.
"It's their home now," the nun said. She said some 100 people from the village took refuge in the convent. The 27 orphans who live there had been taken to nearby caves overnight "so they were not scared."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
And we want to finance/arm support these scumbags?
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/06/2013 12:13
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[Al Ahram] Labour lawyer Haytham Mohamadein, a leading member of Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists, was arrested at a military checkpoint close to Suez and is currently being detained, the group announced on Thursday.
Mohamadein, who is also a member of El-Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, was on his way from Cairo to Suez on Thursday when he was arrested at a military checkpoint on Suez Road. He was then transferred to Attaqa police station in Suez.
Mohamadein is expected to be referred to the prosecution on Friday. The charges he faces are yet to be officially confirmed and the army has not made any statements yet on the issue.
Aida Seif El-Dawla of El-Nadeem centre told Ahram Online that Mohamadein spoke with her shortly after his arrest.
"He told me that army forces stopped him at the checkpoint and took hold of his bag, which contained documents and legal records of his clients," she said. "He refused this action."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
If you have a Muslim Brother, a "Revolutionary Socialist", and only one cartridge---what do you do?
[Libya Herald] Public opinion in Libya appears to be overwhelmingly in favour of US and French strikes against Syria in the wake of the chemical gas attacks in Damascus. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... most appear to be looking to action that brings down the Assad regime rather than the limited strikes proposed by Washington and Gay Paree. Additionally, the motives of the Americans and French are questioned, with many Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... tans seeing the two governments having their own agenda -- specifically support for Israel.
Others, while supporting action, fear that that many innocent lives will be lost in the process and that there will be chaos in Syria after Syrians obtain their freedom as, they say, has been the case in Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
Those people who killed the US embasador are strongly for an action in Syria. The Americans who let him being killed too.
[BBC.CO.UK] Colombia is deploying troops in the capital, Bogota, following violent protests in support of a strike by small-scale farmers. At least two people have died. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the troops were needed "to assure normality".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] Saudi authorities beheaded two citizens in Riyadh yesterday after they were convicted of separate murders, the interior ministry announced.
Hashan al-Nutayfat rubbed out fellow citizen Mohammed al-Dosari in a dispute, said the statement published by the official SPA news agency.
Another murderer, Mohammed al-Qahtani, was executed after he stabbed a fellow Saudi to death, SPA reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
I suppose it does reduce recidivism. Also saves the cost of housing and feeding them on death row for 20-30 years.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/06/2013 12:17
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[BBC.CO.UK] Kenyan MPs have approved a motion to leave the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) following an emergency debate.
A bill to this effect is expected to be introduced in the next 30 days, after opposition MPs boycotted the vote.
The ICC has charged President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto with crimes against humanity, which they both deny. Mr Ruto's trial is due to start in The Hague next week. The ICC said the cases would continue even if Kenya pulled out.
The charges against both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto stem from violence that broke out after disputed elections in 2007, in which more than 1,000 people were killed and 600,000 forced from their homes.
Remind me, how has the ICC trial on Pencilneck been going? I seem to recall his body count being a lot higher so I'm sure the ICC has been all over it...
Mr Kenyatta is to go on trial in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[ArutzSheva] Police forces enter Temple Mount compound immediately after Mohammedans began throwing rocks at Jewish visitors.
Police forces were dispatched on Wednesday to break up Mohammedan stone throwers who were targeting Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount (Har Habayit).
As soon as stones were thrown and riots broke out, police forces stepped in to make arrests.
Security forces were prepared for a riot as this incident follows renewed incitement by Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah, who called for Mohammedans to physically prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount last week.
Yesterday, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel was locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on charges of "incitement against Israel and regarding the Temple Mount," and is currently being questioned by police.
This morning's attack on Jewish visitors is likely connected to Salah's claim last week to his followers that Israel is planning to "break in" to the Temple Mount, on which the Islamic Al Aqsa compound is located, built atop the ruins of two Jewish Temples.
After warning of the alleged "danger" of increased Jewish prayer at the site, Salah called on Mohammedans from across Israel - from the Negev and Galilee, Akko and Haifa - to descend on the Temple Mount to prevent the "dangerous mass invasion into Al Aqsa" with their bodies.
In the past, such statements have led the Israeli Police to close off the Temple Mount to Jews, out of concern that Jewish presence at the holy site could be met with Mohammedan riots, which on Wednesday proved to be true.
The police policy of restricting Jewish access in order to maintain quiet has led to complaints of discrimination.
The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, but Jews are forbidden from holding prayers there due to the presence of an Islamic complex, and against the backdrop of threats of violence by Islamists.
[Bangkok Post] Two suspected terrorists militants were arrested and weapons seized in a search of a village in Yala province on Wednesday night. Yala police chief Pol Maj Gen Peera Boonliang said the search was carried out by a combined team of police from Raman district in Yala and Sai Buri district in Pattani.
Two suspected terrorists militants were arrested for further interrogation. The suspects are Ibrohan Sadahong from Pattani's Sai Buri district, and Muhamad Aman Hama from Yala's Raman district. Police seized five weapons in the raid.
[Dawn] Four suspected hard boyz have been killed in a US drone strike on a compound in Ghulam Khan Tehsil of North Wazoo Agency near the Pak-Afghan border.
Champ didn't ask Congress for authorization, did he...
Official intelligence sources told Dawn.com that the drone fired two missiles on a compound believed to be owned by the Haqqani network of Afghan Taliban in the village of Darga Mandi.
"The compound has been destroyed and four suspected hard boyz have been killed in the strike," the officials said.
"The identity of the dead could not be ascertained at this hour but this areas is mostly inhibited by the Afghan Haqqani Network of Taliban," they further said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
just curious how much does it cost per Hell Fire missle from one of these drones? How much does a cruise missle cost if sent from one of our ships off the coast of Syria- no matter what it hits. Jusr curious about the cost beneifit analysis of hitting Assad over time, like we have the turbans in the NW region of Pakiland. And why can't we justify the same shit in Pak as we could in Syria.
#2
In Wazoo, we are playing whack-a-mole. Hitting Assad would be the assassination of a head of state. Pretty much everyone would go batshit crazy over the latter. And they'd be correct to do so...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/06/2013 10:00
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[Dawn] The US embassy in Islamabad on Thursday refuted media reports suggesting 19,000 shipping containers belonging to the US and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had been stolen from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... ports.
The head of the Sindh Rangers paramilitary force, Maj-Gen Rizwan Akhtar, told the Supreme Court last week that about 19,000 containers had gone missing a few years ago and that a shipload of arms and ammunition had been brought to Karachi and their whereabouts was never ascertained. Local media reports suggested the containers carrying weapons may have belonged to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces in Afghanistan.
Rejecting the reports, a statement from the US embassy said media suggestions that US or ISAF containers were stolen, including containers that contain weapons and ammunition, were false. "While the United States routinely uses Karachi ports for both diplomatic and military shipments, neither the United States nor ISAF has ever shipped weapons or ammunition via Karachi ports," said the statement.
The statement said US government and ISAF cargo shipments were subject to inspection by Pak customs authorities and that the US tracks and accounts for all military cargo shipments worldwide, including shipments entering and transiting Pakistain.
"We have engaged the appropriate Pak authorities on this topic. We have underscored that the United States is able to account for all shipments that have arrived in and transited Karachi ports," said the US embassy.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
"Totaly wrong! Only 18793 containers are missing!"?
[Dawn] Pakistain Thursday warned that any foreign military action in Syria will plunge the already volatile region into a deeper conflict.
In a news briefing, Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said Pakistain remains opposed to the use of force. He urged maximum restraint from all sides and called for dialogue among Syrians for peaceful solution to the problem.
To a question, the front man said Pakistain condemns the use of chemical weapons by any side. The UN report about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria is very vital in this regard and its findings should be thoroughly examined for an acceptable way forward, he added.
Dismissing Washington Post's report about Pakistain's nuclear arsenal, the front man said Pakistain follows the best international practices and standards set by the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[GOOGLE] Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Islamists stormed the northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... n town of Gajiran on Thursday, opening fire in a market and killing 15 people, residents said.
Borno state in the northeast, Boko Haram's stronghold where the latest violence occurred, has seen a spate of similar attacks on locals in recent weeks.
Gajiran residents speaking to journalists in the state capital Maiduguri said the gunnies pretended to be traders attending a local market.
"Some of them came aboard trucks while others came on foot to beat the security checks at the entrance of the town," resident Ibrahim Bulama said.
They then "blended among traders conducting business", before opening fire in the market, killing 15 people, he told news hounds.
They also set fire to a local government building and a police post, he said.
Another local speaking to journalists in Maiduguri, Aisami Yusuf, also put the corpse count at 15 and provided a similar account.
Gajiran is roughly 85 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital.
There has been no mobile phone service in Borno since the middle of May, when Nigeria declared a state of emergency across most of the northeast and launched an offensive aimed at crushing Boko Haram's insurgency.
Details of attacks have been difficult to verify, with area police and military officers unreachable by phone.
The military has said it switched off the phones to block the Islamists from coordinating attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
[ONLINE.WSJ] An updated tax rule is causing restaurants to rethink the practice of adding automatic tips to the tabs of large parties.
Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service will begin classifying those automatic gratuities as service charges--which it treats as regular wages, subject to payroll tax withholding--instead of tips, which restaurants leave up to the employees to report as income.
The change would mean more paperwork and added costs for the restaurants--and a potential financial hit for waiters and waitresses who live on their tips but don't always report them fully.
Darden Restaurants Inc., owner of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster, has long included automatic 18% tips on the bill for parties of eight or more at its more than 2,100 restaurants, but is experimenting with eliminating them because of the IRS ruling, said a spokesman.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
An "Automatic Tip" Is nothing more than a mandatory price increase (Which the government taxes) it's NOT a "Supplement".
If I give to a waiter/waitress it's intended to go to THEM, not the government.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/06/2013 12:27
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#2
I generally tip higher than this automatic tips but when a restaurant includes the tip automatically I don't feel obligated to make up the difference. Its like, they decided already what the service was worth.
I know that is unfair to the wait staff because they are occasionally stiffed but its just easy to consider the tip paid when its embedded.
#3
Just a couple weeks ago the news was full of some restaurants getting away from tips. I assume automatic tipping built into the bill but perhaps they really just bury it in the price as to be non-tips. Wonder if this hits them as well.
[BBC.CO.UK] The UK has fresh evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Damascus, David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... told the BBC as he arrived in Russia for the G20 summit.
Scientists at the Porton Down laboratories have been "examining samples" from Syria's capital, he said.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed reports that they found traces of sarin gas on cloth and soil samples.
Mr Cameron also denied claims he had "no hand to play" over Syria after his Commons defeat on UK military action.
He said the UK would lead calls for more action on aid for refugees and push for fresh peace talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#2
It's $hit like this that makes us all cynical. Manufacturing evidence on demand? Why not wait for proof BEFORE you make the call? Oh, that's right, didn't think you needed it then.
#5
The interesting question is not Sarin: Yes or No? The evidence for some chemical agent is pretty strong. What we want to know is where did it come from? This whole story is starting to make my Bullshit Anomaly Detector twitch.
[Bangla Daily Star] Police yesterday claimed to have proof that seven political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , had backed Hefajat-e Islam, which struck terror in the capital's Motijheel area on May 5.
Jamaat and Mohammedan League supported the Islamist group indirectly while Nezame Islam, Khelafat Majlish, Khelafat Andolon, Jamaat e Olama e Islam and Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... backed it directly, AKM Shahidul Hoque, additional inspector general of police (admin), told news hounds at the police headquarters in Dhaka.
He claimed that Hefajat was in control of the leaders of the seven parties, and if the Hefajat leaders could keep a hold over their group, things would not have turned so bad that day.
Shahidul once again insisted that a total of 13 people died in festivities between Hefajat and law enforcers in Dhaka between May 5 and early hours of May 6 when the latter tried to resist Hefajat's unruly actions in the name of holding a peaceful rally.
The report of rights body Odhikar, which was published online on June 10, falsely put the death figure at 61, said the additional IGP.
He pointed out the anomalies and flaws in the Odhikar list found in the computers that police seized from the organization's office after its Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan was jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! on August 10 for the publication of the false report.
Though the list showed 61 people as dead, actually 26 of them -- 13 in the capital and 13 outside it -- had died in festivities between law enforcers and Hefajat activists.
Terming Odhikar's report false and ill-motivated, Shahidul said police have the right to defend their position, as law enforcers had been irrationally accused of "genocide" in the early hours of May 6.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
[Al Ahram] Egypt's interior ministry has said that body parts found at the site of kaboom on the interior minister's convoy on Thursday may belong to the perpetrator.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an liquidation attempt on Thursday morning when a bomb detonated near his convoy in Nasr City in eastern Cairo. At least 22 people, including ten coppers and a child, were maimed. Several shops and vehicles were also damaged in the blast.
The ministry's latest statement said that "initial indications suggest the involvement of terrorist elements" in the incident.
It also said that body parts had been found at the site and are currently being examined, adding that the perpetrator "placed the bomb in a boot of a car that was parked at the roadside."
Initial investigations showed at least 50kg of explosives or other chemicals were used in the blast, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.
The ministry also asserted that it will continue its investigations to reveal the circumstances behind the incident and bring those involved to justice.
Egypt's presidency condemned the kaboom, vowing not to let those who committed the crime escape justice.
"The presidency will not allow terrorism, which was defeated by the people in the 1980s and the 1990s, to return once again," it said in a statement in the name of interim president Adly Mansour.
No group has as yet grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour told a US Congress delegation that Egypt does not support an individual US decision on a military attack on Syria, state news agency MENA reported. "Egypt does not understand the US's insistence on acting individually, without the approval of the UN Security Council and without commitment to international legitimacy," he said, according to a presidential statement published by MENA.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Washington Times] Speaker John A. Boehner has turned down an invitation to meet with Russian lawmakers next week when they come to the U.S. Capitol to lobby Congress against strikes on Syria. No time for diplomacy, his mind is made up.
"The speaker has declined the Russian Embassy's request that he meet with a delegation," said Mr. Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel. No meeting between Vlad and Champ at G-20. The Speaker following Champ's lead once again.
#2
Given the BHO admin's track record for, uh, dissembling, it would be interesting to hear from the side that is already on the ground in Syria. Even if it was a late-night breakfast at Denny's and not a formal meeting.
Sure, the rooskis are going to try and push a story, but I'd wager they have some interesting facts to help sell it.
#3
RGR SteveS. I fully expect the Syrian Army to be rounding up a few knuckle-dragging, North Carolinian steely eye killers in the days and weeks ahead. If will be interesting to see how the regime reacts to that footage.
[Bangla Daily Star] The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday indicted Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Mir Quasem Ali on 14 charges, including murder, torture, abduction and confinement of people and complicity in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
A member of Jamaat's executive council, Quasem, 60, pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." by saying, "Honourable tribunal, I am completely innocent."
The tribunal also fixed September 30 for the opening statement of the prosecution and the commencement of the trial.
Born in Munsidangi Sutalori of Manikganj on December 31, 1952, Quasem became the general secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, on November 7, 1971.
Chhatra Sangha members formed the Al-Badr force to collaborate with the Pak military to commit genocide and mass killing during the war, according to historical records and earlier tribunal verdicts. The charges say that Quasem had led members of the Al-Badr of Chittagong in 1971.
"Al-Badar [Al-Badr] was created not to maintain peace and public order. Rather, it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that it had carried out a series of untold criminal activities, in furtherance of the policy and plan of the Pakistain occupation army in a systematic manner," read the judgement against condemned war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
Quasem apparently did very well after the Liberation War. According to defence documents, Quasem is the chairman of Keari Ltd, a real estate and tourism company, chairman of the managing committee of Diganta Media Corporations, which owns now off-the-air Diganta TV and the Naya Diganta paper.
He is also a founding member of Ibn-Sina Trust, which owns several medical facilities and a pharmaceutical company, and a member secretary of Islami Bank Foundation and founding member of Islami Bank.
The prosecution during the charge framing hearing tried to establish the superior status of Quasem during the Liberation War by citing reports published in newspapers.
Quoting a report of Daily Pakistain of November 8, 1971, prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon said Quasem addressed a rally, organised by Al-Badr, in front of Baitul Mukarram mosque where he vowed to resist India's attack, kill "myrmidons" and establish Islamic society.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
With very available hi-def digital video, finding a goofy face is easy. In a way, it is now easy to discount an oopsie photo with what the intent is of the editor.
I'm not a fan of this tax monger, but even I can take a picture of a desk of people making a funny face and crop it down to make one person's absurdity. Could even adjust the hue and saturation to make him look greenish like he just had a school lunch.
#7
No Fred. Politicains don't make goofy faces unless they are alone in secret nuclear bunker dug in some desert island in the middle of the Pacific.
Also the smile is far too large to have been made spontaneously. Alos in s areal smaile that wide the liops would bestretched sidewise not upwards.
My diagnostic is that someone used photoshop to stretch Hollande's smile. It is very easy. Some years ago I did it too except it was in order to shorten a skirt. :-)
Three Russian warships crossed Turkey's Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to the eastern Mediterranean, near the Syrian coast, amid concern in the region over potential US-led strikes in response to the Damascus regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.
The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye, accompanied by the two landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk passed through the Bosphorus known as the Istanbul strait that separates Asia from Europe, an AFP photographer reported.
Russia, a key ally of Damascus, has kept a constant presence of around four warships in the eastern Mediterranean in the Syrian crisis, rotating them every few months. It also has a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus whose origins date back to Moscow's close relationship with Damascus under the Soviet Union.
#1
WAFF > WE HAVE OUR OWN PLAN IFF US LAUNCHES ON SYRIA, PUTIN SAYS | [PressTV] RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN SAYS ... ... TO DEAL WID A POSSIBLE US MILITARY OFFENSIVE AGZ SYRIA.
* SAME > RUSSIAN SOURCES: NAVY WARSHIPS DEPLOYED TO MEDITERRANEAN COULD RESPOND TO [against] ANY US STRIKE AGZ ASSAD.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > REPORT: CHINA SENDS WARSHIPS TO COAST OF SYRIA | [Infowars] PLA DISPATCHES VESSEL TO OBSERVE US [+ Russian] MANEUVERS.
PLAN SURFACE WARFARE SHIPS are right behind it.
* RELATED FREEREPUBLIC > CHINESE ARMY [PLA = actually PLAN] SENDS WARSHIPS TO SYRIA.
versus
* PACIFICNEWSCENTER > NNS: US CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS [ADM. Jonathan W. Greenert] SAYS IT WILL TAKE YEARS FOR THE US NAVY TO RECOVER FROM SEQUESTRATION, e.g. up to five (5) years - perhaps more - for USN NavAir [Naval Aviation] PME.
[Al Ahram] The Egyptian presidency issued a statement Thursday afternoon condemning the kaboom that targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's convoy, vowing not to let those who committed the crime escape justice.
"The presidency will not allow terrorism, which was defeated by the people in the 1980s and the 1990s, to return once again," read the statement in the name of Egypt's interim president, Adly Mansour.
"The Egyptian state vows to the people that whoever stands behind those terrorist crimes will not get away regardless of their political affiliation," it continued, adding that the Egyptian state will not be prevented by these terrorist attacks from completing its transitional roadmap.
The minister survived the kaboom on Thursday unscathed, although 21 people were maimed, including a child.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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[An Nahar] Rebels from the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... 's M23 movement are "ready" to resume talks with Kinshasa in the Ugandan capital of Kampala following months of deadlock, their leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Agence La Belle France Presse Thursday.
"Our delegates are already in Kampala. They are ready to negotiate with Kinshasa immediately as soon as the request has been passed on by the mediator," Bisimwa said by telephone after neighboring Great Lakes nations called for talks to resume "within three days" on Thursday.
Bisimwa hopes that the new round of talks, which began in December and has been suspended since May, will address the "deep-seated causes of the conflict" and that Kinshasa will "really get involved".
The Congolese government cautiously welcomed the M23 announcement. "We had the impression that some wanted to drag things out," front man Lambert Mende told AFP, adding that Kinshasa had "never left the table".
Presidents from Africa's Great Lakes region on Thursday demanded that Kinshasa restart the talks with the rebels immediately to end the brutal conflict there.
"Dialogue should resume within three days... and conclude within a maximum period of 14 days," the leaders said in a statement, after talks in the Ugandan capital aimed at brokering a deal to end the fighting.
The meeting of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region -- the seventh such summit held to try to find a lasting solution -- comes amid a recent upsurge in violence.
According to the declaration signed by the states, "the M23 will put an end to all military activity and stop the war and threats to overthrow the legal government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo".
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I recommend conducting the talks in English. Lot to be said for English you know. Don't suppose anyone ever attempted to explain the benefits, culture, religion, education, etc. Too bad.
"...forcing kids to pretend they're kicking a ball around...And the kids are loving it." Okay, calm down... Editor's note: The following is a story based on satire originally created by OpposingViews.com Too easy to believe though...
HT: Drudge
[An Nahar] Algerian soldiers killed two armed Islamists on Thursday in a military operation east of the capital, the defense ministry said.
The incident occurred in Ain El Hamra, in the corpse-littered Boumerdes region, with a weapons cache recovered in the operation, the ministry added, without elaborating.
Violence attributed to Islamists has declined considerably in Algeria in recent years, after a decade of appalling blood-letting during the civil war of the 1990s.
But groups affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb continue to attack security forces in the eastern Kabylie region, in areas around the capital and in the south.
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A group of Islamist Death Eaters from the North Caucasus who are fighting in Syria have announced that they are splitting from a major Al-Qaeda-linkied rebel group to form an independent battalion. A group calling itself "the Mujahedin of the Caucsasus in the Levant" announced its decision to split from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in a video posted on a social-media website on September 3. News agencies have been unable to verify the authenticity of the video.
Posted by: ryuge ||
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#1
Meanwhile, "GRANDMASTER" fans, NOT to be outdone by Muslim Russians or ex-Russians ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > INDIAN JIHADIS ARE FIGHTING [agz Assad] IN SYRIA, SAYS ASSAD'S ENVOY.
Along wid Chechens, Afghans, + other Foreign Bad Boyz.
Pick the winner from among Anti-Assad Teams. Have them on a certain date form up into a camp in the shape of a square, have them place beacons on the corners. Capture the airspace, take out whatever anti-air weapons pop up, and when Team AQ Rebels come out snackbarring, blast them too. Allow Egypt to clean the Sinai and Israel to hit Hizbelly and who else and whoever gopher pops. Russia gets post-Assad Syria, but the dominant fighting force had been chosen by us.
Guess the flaw there is President My Army gets to make that pick. Disregard.
[An Nahar] Less than three weeks before German elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... maintained a strong lead in a poll published Thursday, the first taken fully since the campaign's only TV debate.
Despite a spirited performance by her Social Democratic rival Peer Steinbrueck before more than 17 million television viewers last Sunday, his personal approval rating notched up only slightly.
Merkel was once again rated the country's most popular politician and was chosen the preferred chancellor by 59 percent against 30 percent who preferred Steinbrueck.
Her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party gained 41 percent support, while their coalition allies the Free Democratic Party scored six percent.
The combined 47 percent would give the coalition another narrow ruling majority after the September 22 election.
Steinbrueck's Social Democratic Party (SPD) scored 26 percent, while their preferred allies the Greens fell two points to 10 percent.
The far-left Linke -- which the SPD and Greens have said they don't want to govern with -- won eight percent in the ZDF television Politbarometer survey.
The anti-euro party AFD, which was founded earlier this year, scored three percent, below the five percent threshold to enter parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
Merkel Keeps Strong Poll Lead
She's mature, smart, insightful, no-nonsense, decisive, highly respected, dedicated to her constituents. Of course she has a "strong lead".
The Second Smartest Man In The Room is working on his legacy. Possibly also a new hat.
[Ynet] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... will meet with Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... in London on Monday, the White House said.
[Ynet] Lebanese sources say ten thousand Hezbollah bully boyz gird for Damascus' defense in case of US strike, pending Iranian go-ahead. Russian report claims rebels behind Aleppo sarin attack
Russia counters with its own chemical report, Hezbollah prepares for strike: Moscow accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons in an attack on the town of Khan al-Assal near Aleppo on March 19.
At the same time, Hezbollah is reportedly preparing for two tasks: Preventing Damascus from falling in rebel hands during expected US strike, and firing toward Israel.
The Saudi newspaper al-Okaz reported on Thursday that according to Lebanese sources in Beirut Hezbollah is readying for the collapse of the Syrian army following an American attack and is therefore planning to stand ground in Damascus with ten thousands combatants.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... such a move -- as well as firing missiles in the north of the country -- will only be commenced with direct instructions from Iran, said the report.
Recently, the Shiite group has tuned down its involvement in the Syrian civil war due to the severe criticism turned against it at home. On Wednesday, it was reported that a top official in the group admitted that Assad is responsible for the chemical massacre in Damascus' suburbs.
Moscow, as said, is standing in staunch support of its ally Assad, and turns a blaming finger at the Syrian rebels.
The Russian RT network reported that Russian specialists claimed that the shells found were improvised, and conjectured they were manufactured in northern Syria by rebel forces.
According to them, the shells contained sarin nerve gas, classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
The Russian Foreign Ministry declared that probing the evidence may aid the UN investigate that incident in which at least 26 civilians and Syrian army soldiers were killed, and 86 more were maimed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... the Syrian President's Office political advisor, Bouthaina Shaaban, claimed that it was the Syrian opposition who perpetrated the August 21 chemical attack: "The opposition kidnapped men and children from villages in Latakia and brought them to the Gouta area near Damascus. There it used chemical weapons against them," she said in an interview for Sky news in Arabic.
Earlier this week, UN Chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... stated that the UN inspectors are expected to return to Syria in order to investigate additional attacked suspected to have involved chemical arms.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to give President Barack Obama Jedi mind meld... the authority to use military force against Syria in response to a deadly chemical attack in Damascus on August 21.
The Senate committee vote was 10-7, with one senator voting present. The full Senate is expected to vote on the measure next week.
Regarding the proposal for military action in Syria, President B.O. stated on Wednesday during a presser in Sweden: "I believe that Congress will approve it. I think it's very important that Congress say that we mean what we say."
He stressed that "My credibility's not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line, and America and Congress' credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important. And when those videos first broke and you saw images of over 400 children subjected to gas, everybody expressed outrage. How can this happen in this modern world? Well, it happened because a government chose to deploy these deadly weapons on civilian populations.
"And so the question is how credible is the international community when it says this is an international norm that has to be observed? The question is how credible is Congress when it passes a treaty saying we have to forbid the use of chemical weapons? And I do think that we have to act because if we don't, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity."
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SYRIAN ARMY CRUSHES US-BACKED REBEL ASSAULT FROM JORDAN | WORLD TRIBUNE, just inside the Syrian border from Jordan.
As TV's "SGT. SCHULTZ" would say - "TWO US-TRAINED, OBAMA-RAISED/ORDERED FSA BATTALIONS COMPRISED OF 600 ANTI-ASSAD FIGHTERS FROM EGYPT + KSA - SQUASHED/FLATTENED LIKE A PANCAKE = NOT-BERLIN"!
#4
I suppose the "we" he is referring to would be he and Prince Bandar. I knew this feckless bastid was a huge mistake in 2007, but I never thought he would risk WWIII. This may not end well. :-(
#7
DAILY STAR LEBANON > HEZBOLLAH, IRAN + SYRIA READY FOR COUNTERATTACK, agz agz US strike.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > BEWARE US, WORLD WAR AMONG MUSLIMS CAN {easily] GET OUT OF CONTROL | [AllVoices] SYRIA STRIKE: SHIA THREAT TO TARGET US INTERESTS CAN TRIGGER A GLOBAL CONFLICT.
Lest we fergit, NOSTRADAMUS = "... None shall see the power of Asia destroyed until the Seven = Seventh? holds the line".
As for RUSSIA ...
* SAME > PUTIN: RUSSIA WILL CONTINUE TO HELP [assist = arm?] SYRIA IFF THE US ATTACKS - BUSNESS INSIDER.
Cricket Australia (CA) have agreed to let Muslim leg spinner Fawad Ahmed compete without a beer brand logo on his shirt out of respect for his personal beliefs.
Ahmed, a former Pakistani refugee who received his Australian citizenship in July, had requested to be excused from wearing the VB logo because it conflicted with his religious beliefs and CA executive general manager Mike McKenna said the governing body had approved it.
Australias international touring teams have competed with the logo of Victoria Bitter, a locally-brewed beer, on their shirts for years.
South Africas Muslim batsman Hashim Amla has also been excused from wearing a beer brand logo on his shirts.
#1
AFAICT, this fellow's not a wrong'un. He doesn't duck the need to be respectful himself. Had he threatened people, he would probably have been run out.
#2
But he's Ok with playing for the team and having the beer maker sponsor them ( as in pay the bills and all). call me cynical,, but if his beliefs were really that strong, he would find another alcohol free team to play on.
another look at me I'm special moment, only without the frothing at the mouth...
[An Nahar] Morocco's ruling Islamists have struck a deal with the main opposition party to form a new coalition government, ending months of uncertainty after a key ally's decision to withdraw, media reported Thursday.
A cabinet reshuffle is due to be announced in the coming days, following the accord between Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, and the head of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), Salaheddine Mezouar.
Benkirane's Party of Justice and Development shot to power for the first time after triumphing in 2011 parliamentary polls called by the monarchy in response to Arab Spring protests sweeping Morocco.
But the Islamists have been seeking a new coalition partner to avoid fresh elections since the nationalist Istiqlal Party, which held several ministerial portfolios, announced its intention to resign in May, accusing the PJD of failing to fix the economy and resolve pressing social problems.
News website Lakome, citing an RNI official, said Thursday an accord had been reached, with Mezouar taking the key post of finance minister.
Benkirane's new cabinet would be announced in the coming days, the source added.
Government front man Mustafa Khalfi could not be reached for comment, but a PJD politician, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , confirmed that a deal had been struck and a "limited" cabinet reshuffle would take place next week.
French-language daily L'Economiste said Mezouar's party would take seven portfolios in the new government, including finance, foreign affairs, commerce and industry, and teaching.
Despite its electoral success in 2011 after decades in opposition, the PJD failed to win an outright majority, forcing it into an unlikely coalition with three other parties, including Istiqlal, whose leader Hamid Chabat was openly critical of the Islamists towards the end.
The political deadlock had prompted fears of government paralysis at a time when Morocco is under pressure to implement much-needed social reforms, notably on costly subsidies, and to fix its ailing public finances.
The country last year faced a budget deficit of more than seven percent of GDP.
But the political difficulties facing the moderate Islamist party are belied by its undeniable popularity, with a recent opinion poll showing Benkirane still having widespread support among the electorate.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] U.S. researchers said Wednesday they have found a way to reverse Down syndrome in newborn lab mice by injecting an experimental compound that causes the brain to grow normally.
While the study in the journal Science Translational Medicine offers no direct link to a treatment for humans, researchers are hopeful it may someday offer a path toward future breakthroughs.
There is no cure for Down syndrome, which is caused by the presence of an additional chromosome, leading to extra copies of more than 300 genes and causing intellectual disabilities, distinctive facial features and sometimes other health problems.
The team at Johns Hopkins University used lab mice that were genetically engineered to have extra copies of about half the genes found on human chromosome 21, leading to Down syndrome-like conditions such as smaller brains and difficulty learning to navigate a maze.
On the day the mice were born, scientists injected them with a small molecule known as a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist.
The compound, which has not been proven safe for use in human, is designed to boost normal growth of the brain and body via a gene known as SHH.
The gene provides instructions for making a protein called sonic hedgehog, which is essential for development.
"It worked beautifully," said lead author Roger Reeves of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
"Most people with Down syndrome have a cerebellum that's about 60 percent of the normal size," he said.
"We were able to completely normalize growth of the cerebellum through adulthood with that single injection."
The injection also led to unexpected benefits in learning and memory, normally handled by a different part of the brain known as the hippocampus.
Researchers found that the treated mice did as well as normal mice on a test of locating a water platform while in a swimming maze.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... adjusting the treatment for human use would be complicated, since altering the growth of the brain could lead to unintended consequences, like triggering cancer.
"Down syndrome is very complex, and nobody thinks there's going to be a silver bullet that normalizes cognition," he said. "Multiple approaches will be needed."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#1
Algernon is now racing thru mazes that previously frustrated him completely. He is super-mouse.
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian counter-terrorism forces, tasked with making the southern border with Mali and Mauritania secure, recently killed seven gunnies trying to enter Mauritanian from the Algerian region of Bordj Baji Moktar.
Two combat helicopters from the 6th region of Tamanrasset were used to chase and kill the gunnies on Saturday night (August 31st), according to the Algerian daily El Mihwar.
Algerian security forces seized two 4x4 vehicles registered in Libya, as well as Kalashnikov-type weapons, RPGs and a large quantity of ammunition.
"The gunnies were trying to cross the border into southern Mauritania, where training camps run by salafist groups are located," the newspaper stated.
Mauritanian authorities, however, deny the existence of terrorist training groups within the country.
"Over the past few years, the Mauritanian armed forces have put a great deal of energy into taking on terrorist groups, which even had cells in the capital," analyst Abdou Ould Mohamed said. "But after the army intervened in July 2011, the jihadists finally withdrew from the east of the country and even from the Wagadou Forest, one of their bases, in Mali."
Ould Mohamed noted, however, "they were still present in northern Mali, where most of the training camps have been destroyed".
"Though historically linked with Algeria, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is increasingly recruiting in sub-Saharan Africa," journalist Jidou Ould Sidi said.
"It also has ties with the Nigerian Islamist movement Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... "This Africanisation of al-Qaeda is accompanied by the growing power of political Islam and the expanding influence of Wahhabi imams, even though these religious men should not be confused with Islamist fighters," he added.
The situation "created by the occupation of a territory in northern Mali by terrorist groups is unbearable, inadmissible and unacceptable, not only for Mali, but for all countries inside and outside the region, and for all those who could be hit by terrorism one day", journalist Chouhoud Abdellahi Ould Moktar said.
"Several months of war in Libya followed by the collapse of the Qadaffy regime after it had been in power for 42 years radically changed the situation for the fragile states in the Sahel strip," he added. "But the Libyan crisis appears to have given a new lease of life to the jihadists, who have acquired new weapons from Libyan combatants."
In addition, the hundreds of Touareg fighters "who had pledged allegiance to Qadaffy are now returning to Mali and Niger, making the security situation even worse", according to Ould Moktar.
In the face of the jihadists' retreat, Algeria, Mauritania, Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , Niger and Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... recently announced that they have taken measures to secure their borders with Mali, researcher Ba Sidi noted.
Ever since the outbreak of the crisis in Mali, border security has been a priority for the five countries that surround it.
By closing their borders, or at least reducing the numbers of people crossing them, these countries hope to reduce cross-border travel and traffic, Ba Sidi added.
"But the terrorist attack on the Algerian In Amenas gas complex demonstrated the bitter reality that it was difficult to keep watch over thousands of kilometres of desert," he added. "In each of the countries that neighbour Mali, jihadist elements, which are difficult to identify, can blend in with the refugees who are flocking to the camps."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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#5
Just remember to paraphase, "You fly a model helicopter, a toy helicopter you push across the floor." The model in question might not decapitate but would really ruin your day if you got hit by one. The rotor blades are made from carbon fiber. They can do things a full scale heli just can't do.
hopefully this will give you the scale of these things and what they can do:
#10
The official Academy of Model Aeronautics statement:
"Model aviation community mourns loss
Yesterday, September 5, 2013, at approximately 3:30 p.m. EDT, the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) lost one of its members in a fatal accident involving an electric-powered RC helicopter.
Roman Pirozek Jr., 19, of Queens, New York, was flying at Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn in an area set aside for model flying. Roman reportedly lost control of his RC helicopter and was struck by his own model aircraft. Roman was an accomplished and experienced RC helicopter enthusiast.
AMA and the entire aeromodeling community are deeply saddened by the news of this tragic and extremely unusual accident. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Pirozek family, friends, and fellow modelers who loved and admired him.
The Academy will be working with the local AMA chartered club, the Seaview Rotary Wings, and local authorities to get a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding this heartbreaking accident.
Plans for services and a remembrance for Roman have not yet been determined.
# # #"
Note that it wasn't a "gasser" but electric these are just as big as nitro or gas powered models but with a BFB Lipo! They are alot quieter so would be more in line for park flying.
[Bangla Daily Star] An Indian woman, who wrote a popular memoir about her escape from the Taliban, has been rubbed out in Afghanistan by suspected bad boys, police say.
Sushmita Banerjee, who was married to an Afghan businessman, was killed outside her home in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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The New People's Army (NPA) Southern Mindanao regional command strongly denied contaminating its explosives with human feces and snake venom.
Rigoberto Sanchez, NPA regional command spokesman, accused the military of "inventing" stories after it claimed that traces of human feces and snake venom were found in the wounds of the seven soldiers hit in a recent landmine explosion in Barangay Napnapan in Pantukan, Compostela Valley. He called such claims "malicious and wildly concocted military propaganda."
In an e-mailed statement Sanchez said, "The seven AFP troops who were hurt in a bomb blast in Pantukan (on September 3) were hit by command-detonated explosives and not the falsely reported pressure-type bombs that are banned by international laws like the Ottawa Treaty."
He admitted that the NPA uses "guerrilla warfare weapons, such as but not limited to, command-detonated explosives made up of traditional, non-biologically toxic ingredients, but to engage in a highly criminal biological and chemical warfare is pure invention."
Sanchez said, "The bacteria and poison are not found in the NPA bombs, but in the AFP headquarters, camps, detachments and in the AFP echelons itself."
Lieutenant Victor Dato, a medical officer of Camp Panacan Station Hospital, said human feces and snake venom that were found in the injuries of the soldiers could cause death because of bacteria that can contaminate the wounds.
Sanchez said the Philippine military has also accused the NPA of systemizing its landmine distribution in the region by way of color coding per province. He said, "Major Jake Obligado and other spin doctors at the Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP are desperate to reverse the tide of revolutionary guerrilla warfare, so desperate, that they have to copy methods used by the US imperialist military strategists in its current war against Syria.
"By alluding that the NPAs are terrorists, who hatch bombs and weapons of mass destruction in chemical and biological forms, Obligado and EastMinCom propagandists are copycats to the Obama government that is now justifying its military occupation in Syria by accusing the Assad regime of engaging in chemical weapons attack."
[Ynet] At least six members of Egypt's security forces were killed during an attack by gunnies in the north Sinai city of El-Arish, the Al-Ahram daily reported.
According to the report, at least 15 people were maimed in the attack.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
Paleo Fall
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/06/2013 8:10
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A year ago this month, under cover of darkness, fifteen Taliban, dressed as American soldiers, snuck onto one of the largest air bases in Afghanistan. What followed was a violent confrontation highlighting a startling security lapse, with hundreds of millions in matériel lost in a matter of hours the worst day for American airpower since the Tet Offensive. Yet the attack faded away before anyone could figure out what went wrong.
[Dawn] A bomb maimed 11 people, mostly children, when it went kaboom! outside a girls' school in Bannu on Thursday, a doctor said.
The bomb went off at the end of the school day as pupils walked into a street lined with fabric shops in the northwestern town of Bannu, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province.
Doctor Omar Zeb told news agency AFP that 11 people had been brought to the local hospital -- seven primary schoolgirls and four other people who had been in the street.
Police official Azad Khan told AFP that at least four girls, two boys and a man had been maimed. Three of them are at death's door he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the congregants were being herded into the paddy wagon... a suspected bad turban was killed and another tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! by police during an overnight clash with residents in Bannu, DawnNews reported.
According to the police, residents of the area Haji Anwar Khel area spotted six suspicious men Wednesday night and asked them to stop. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... the suspected men opened fire on the area's dwellers.
During an exchange of fire between the two sides, one suspect was killed whereas another was captured and handed over to the police. The remaining four suspects beat feet from the site of incident.
Approximately three kilograms of kaboom was also recovered from the men. Police said the suspects were aged between 14 and 15 years. A case was lodged against the suspected forces of Evil at the local cop shoppe.
The northwestern town of Bannu, which stands at the gateway to the semiautonomous Wazoo tribal region, is 150 kilometres southwest of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , the capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The town has witnessed a number of attacks and was the scene of a massive jail break in April 2012 during which 384 prisoners beat feet from its central prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2013
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* TOPIX > [Journal Gazette] SYRIA ACTION WILL TAKE 217 IN THE HOUSE, 60 IN THE SENATE.
IIUC any POTUS need only resort to the Congress iff there is any possibility that US troops will be involved in military operations beyond 180 days.
I'm more worried here that the Bammer may unilaterally order a US mil response agz the wrong party-perpetrator to the chemical attack which the us claims killed up to 1429 ordinary Syrians, OVERTLY IN "GRAVE MISTAKE/ERROR" BUT COVERTLY IN SUPPORT OF THE ANTI-US, GLOBALIST AGENDA OF A OWG MULTI-POLAR WORLD WHERE THE US IS JUST ONE GLOBAL = GLOBALIST "CO-SUPERPOWER" AMONG MANY.
SEVEN CONTINENTS FOR SEVEN OWG "GLOBAL FEDERAL UNIONS" FOR SEVEN PAR GLOBAL "CO-SUPERPOWERS".
We need only look at World History, e.g. CHINA-VS-INDIA, WITHDRAWAL OF [post-Victoriana]BRITISH EMPIRE, TO SEE IFF PROTAGONIST WILL SEE WEAKNESS OR STRENGTH IN UNILATERAL, VOLUNTARY = FORCED?, STRATEGIC PULLOUT IN THE NAME OF OWG AND
"GLOBALISM".
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Economic Times] INDIAN TROOPS NOT ALLOWED BY PLA TO PATROL UP TO LAC?
* SAME > [India Today] ACTING IN GOOD FAITH, WE RESTRICTED OUR ARMY ONLY TO SEE CHINESE ALTER THE "STATUS QUO" ALONG LAC, SAYS [now retired] TOP GENERAL.
[POTUS Jimmy Carter, post-1975 USSR-Commie Bloc + RABBIT-OF-THE-APOCALYPSE here].
* WORLD NEWS > [American Spectator]OBAMA'S HALF-ASSAD WAR.
CHINA, of China-vs-Japan, PHIL, Vietnam, India, ASEAN; + IRAN are NOT Assadian Syria - "Post-US" wannabe, long-time "Nuclear Club" Member, WHY-YES-WE'VE-HAD-NUKES-N-HEAVY-ICBMS-FOR-DECADES-NOW China is neither Nuke-wannabe Iran nor Scud-happy Syria.
Apply the Bammer's alleged "lack of action/decision/responsibility", + alleged "poor or lousy leadership" in the ME to IRAN + ultimately his real test CHINA.
ASSAD'S WORST IN SYRIA DOTH NOT = IRAN, WHICH IN TURN DOTH NOT = AGZ CHINA IN THE PACIFIC + EAST-SOUTH ASIA.
#4
Remember when an open mike caught Obama telling Putin's adjutant to wait until after the election for . . . Something?
How's about this for a conspiracy theory....
The thorn in all the bad guys' side is conservative Tea Party types. Obama hates them. Boehner and McCain and the rest of the institutional Republicans do. Most of the ruling elite in the world hate them.
So....
What if the objective here is to get the House to vote this down by all of the above? Obama and the Democrats get to run against the "obstructionists", Boehner staves off assaults from his right, and Putin gets a weaker U.S.
Crazy? Maybe not.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/06/2013 7:52
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Top||
#5
If this catastrophe is voted down by the House, what happens if O pulls the trigger anyway?
Does the House have to pass an "Anti-war" resolution forbidding that?
#9
I keep telling you, O wants to avoid bombing Syria and his plan will allow him to blame the GOP. It's all about the 2014 elections. He's in campaign mode all the time, that's all he knows or wants to know.
The other possibility is that Obama did not regard approval as a sure thing but figured that he'd win either way--that if Republicans balked, he could blame them for inaction in Syria, and if they went along with intervention, they'd share the blame for anything that went wrong.
Approaching the matter so cynically would be despicable, but in any case it is difficult to imagine Obama would get any political mileage out of being thwarted by Congress.
#13
After the speech they gave a list of ten or so countries that are standing toe to toe with the US in demanding redress to this outrage by Syria.
Congress should consider their contributions.
Sort of reminds me of the composition of a Peace Keeping force deployed under the old Organization of American States: an MP platoon from Mexico, a medical detachment from Brazil, a construction company from Argentina, and the 82 Airborne.
Posted by: Kelly ||
09/06/2013 11:21
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Top||
#14
Someone in congress should stand up and say that they will support Obama in the same capaicty that Kerry support the President in the early 70's and Obama supported Bush in the 2000's.
#16
You have a choice between a Constitutional republic at home or the ascension of the Imperator over a piss-ant country like Syria. The rule of law replaced by the rule by men. Fascinating how many are willing to give up the republic to 'save face' or rationalize about saving a world that can't be saved.
#19
As per CNN, asof 0915AM Saturday 09/7th Guam time the US Senate vote is likely 24-19 in favor of the Bammer attacking Syria.
FYI at the G20 Summit, CNN AM = the Bammer repor refused to answer Reporters' questions pertaining as to whether he will still strike Syria iff the US Congress fails to authorize military action.
All the above being said ...
To wit,
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Daily Caller] OBAMA HINTS AT ABANDONING SYRIA STRIKE, iff Congress fails to authorize same.
Now that's News CHINA in East Asia, + IRAN in ME, may want to hear.
As per CHINA, SAME = [Debka] A CHINESE LANDING CRAFT WID 1000 MARINES FOR SYRIA.
* SAME > IRAN THREATENS BRUTAL ATTACKS ON AMERICANS, OBAMA'S FAMILY.
OLIVER STONE'S next POTUS Terror assassination biopic = "O", or "Obama"???
#20
The seriously big downside of an Obama defeat accrues to Israel. The perception of a weak US stared down by recent events will not end well in the M.E.
I wish there were a third way; Cmdr. Zero shot off his mouth and now, well, "the whole world is watching" (Gawd I hated that in the 60's etc...).
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > OBAMA'S SYRIA TIMING DELAYED BY RELUCTANCE AT HOME, ABROAD - BLOOMBERG.
* TALKING POINTS MEMO LIVEWIRE > OBAMA GIVES "NO DIRECT RESPONSE" [straight answer] ON WHETHER HE WILL ACT WIDOUT CONGRESS, i.e. attack Syria widout much ballyhooed, formal joint US Congressional authorization.
versus
* TOPIX > [Atlas Shrugs] "DID THE WHITE HOUSE [covertly] HELP PLAN THE SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK"?, in order to come up wid a PCorrect-Deniable cover story = excuse for anti-Assad intervention in favor the Rebels???
RELATED? DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Russia Today]PUTIN: DEADLY SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK WAS REBELS' {desperate + malicious] PROVOCATION HOAX TO FORCE [foreign, UNO] INTERVENTION, to preempt or preclude thier imminent defeat by Assad + SAA.
versus
* YAHOO NEWS > OBAMA HAS NO INTENTION TO STRIKE SYRIA IFF COPNGRESS SAYS "NO", SAYS AIDE.
[Dawn] In a bid to evolve consensus on national counter-terrorism strategy, the Pakistan government has at last decided to convene a multi-party conference on September 9, DawnNews reported. Good symbolism. The 12-year anniversary of the assassination of Ahmed Shah Masood.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Thursday night contacted all key political leaders of the country and officially invited them to attend the important meeting. Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam (all branches) might present a problem, since they're sponsors and enablers of terrorism.
PTI chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... , Opposition Leader in NA Syed Khurshid Shah of PPP, MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... , Mehmood Khan Achakzai of PKMAP, JI chief Syed Munawar Hassan, ... The funny-looking leader-for-life of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He joined the National Students Federation (NSF), a lefty student body, and was elected its President in 1959. He came into contact with the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan and studied the writings of Mawlana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, The Great Apostasizer. As a result, he joined IJT in 1960 and soon he was elected as President of its University of Karachi Unit and member of the Central Executive Council. He was Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistain in 1992-93, and became Secretary General in 1993. After years of holding Qazi's camel he was named Amir when the old man stepped down in 2009... Mir Hasil Bazinjo and Allama Sajid Mir were among those who were invited by the interior minister. So you know they're gonna accomplish something substantive.
The moot was initially scheduled to take place on July 12. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... it was delayed because the government wanted to further fine tune the draft of its national security and counter-terrorism policy before tabling it at the conference. There it can be contemptuously dismissed as an instrument of American imperialism.
The political leadership of Pakistan is expected to decide in the meeting whether to negotiate with Taliban militants or to use force to eradicate the menace of terrorism facing the country. I'm guessing they're going to go for the negotiations route. That will put them on the back burner until the Americans are out of Afghanistan, at which point the Taliban wil take over to Obama's surprise, and the guys with turbans can then swarm across the LOC. They can have another war over Kargil or Siachen or someplace like that. Hafiz Saeed will howl for the use of nuclear weapons to avenge the blood of Moslems. Maybe they will this time and both Islamabad and Muzzafargah will be vaporized, the blood of their inhabitants along with them. Maybe Peshawar. Pakistain will lose the war. The turbans will return to plotting the next one.
Speaking to a press conference on July 4, Chaudhry Nisar said Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and DG ISI Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam would brief the party heads on security situation in different parts of the country in the conference, officially called by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... earlier on the same date.
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Thursday condemned plans for U.S.-led military action against Damascus as an "aggression" and "organized terrorism," warning that it would pose a "threat to regional and international peace and security."
In a statement issued after its periodic meeting in Haret Hreik, the party's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc stressed that any strike is "rejected and condemned by all standards, regardless of its alibis or limits, and it will not be able to conceal its objectives, which are aimed at reviving the Israeli arm again and attempting to tighten the Western colonial grip on the region and its fortunes."
"The U.S. administration's resorting to the phase of direct involvement in the aggression against Syria confirms our belief that the crisis that hit this brotherly country more than two years ago was only one episode of the conspiratorial, strategic foreign scheme seeking to impose its hegemony on the region," the bloc added.
Turning to the domestic political scene, Loyalty to Resistance held the rival March 14 camp "fully responsible for the current situation, due to its insistence on impeding the parliamentary sessions and the cabinet formation process," accusing the coalition of hindering Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's efforts through "crippling preconditions."
The bloc added that March 14 camp was "rejecting real partnership and deliberately causing a power vacuum as it bets on changes it mistakenly thinks will give it the right chance to monopolize power."
Loyalty to Resistance accused the rival coalition of "counting on the hostile world powers and their proxies with the aim of subjugating the Lebanese to the policies of the axis of submission and normalization with the Israeli enemy, and making changes to the ruling authorities in Leb in a manner that suits and serves the policies of this axis on the one hand and the mentality of monopolization and unilateralism on the other hand."
The bloc blamed the deterioration in the security situation on March 14's "shunning of national dialogue; rejection of the permanently needed harmony among the army, people and resistance; unrealistic interpretation of some of the Baabda Declaration stipulations; insistence on the rhetoric of sectarianism and elimination; support for the chaos of seditious weapons; and heavy involvement in the anti-Syria axis."
It also accused the coalition of "deepening the rift among the Lebanese ... weakening the economy, inciting the social components against each another, dragging the country into a social contract crisis and creating a dangerous flaw at the level of abiding by the national choices and principles."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Thursday it believes North Korea and Syria may have cooperated on the chemical weapons front as well as nuclear program.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Bangla Daily Star] Saudi authorities beheaded two citizens in Riyadh yesterday after they were convicted of separate murders, the interior ministry announced.
[Dawn] Four suspected 
[ONLINE.WSJ] An updated tax rule is causing restaurants to rethink the practice of adding automatic tips to the tabs of large parties.
David Cameron
[Al Ahram] Egypt's interior ministry has said that body parts found at the site of 
[Bangla Daily Star] The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday indicted 
[An Nahar] Less than three weeks before German elections, Chancellor 
[Ynet] Lebanese sources say ten thousand Hezbollah 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Cricket Australia (CA) have agreed to let Muslim leg spinner Fawad Ahmed compete without a beer brand logo on his shirt out of respect for his personal beliefs.
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian counter-terrorism forces, tasked with making the southern border with Mali and Mauritania secure, recently killed seven 
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Nawaz Sharif
