#1
Today Europe tomorrow the USA. When the people of Europe begin to withdraw their money things will get ugly. I wonder if Chavez got his gold out yet.
I wonder if it's gone. Nothing is safe now. Sung to the Robert Palmer tune "She's so fine I don't know where the money went". So many will be left with the tab. Then those who took advantage of the situation will benefit from the fire sale. The famous names of the depression past will be jointed by new names of the future wealthy. Then it will start over again.
#3
phil_b Hello- when do you think the public will run on their banks in Europe. I believe most will just let it ride and hope for the best. The real panic hasn't hit yet. Perhaps most are living paycheck to paycheck. Its the retirements and savings plans that will hurt the most. I believe those are being tapped now to maintain current lifestyle there and here. Outgo is greater than income for the banks and public.
Hot for teacher? She's got a business plan for that, apparently.
A 35-year-old California high school teacher is in hot water this week after her ex-husband reportedly revealed she was allegedly running "several" porn sites, including MySluttyTeacher.com, from her district-issue laptop, Fox 40 in Stockton reports.
We found a school district document that doesn't bode well for teacher Heidi Kaeslin. On the Lincoln Unified School District's agenda for this afternoon? A closed session to discuss employee "discipline, dismissal, release ... "
Of course, if this porn site business turns out to be fruitful, Kaeslin might just have a yawn and a good laugh. She's on paid leave as it is.
Finding inspiration for her operations, however, might prove to be more difficult if horny school boys aren't staring at her equipment.
One on of Kaeslin's sites the impetus for her digital smut was said to be the fact that 'her male students spent most of the period staring at her boobs.'
Professor Hanson
A million Iranians protesting a soon-to-be-nuclear theocracy is false revolutionary consciousness and to be left alone; a few thousand Israelis wanting to buy apartments in the Jerusalem suburbs is subversive and worthy of presidential condemnation. And when atoning for supposed American lapses, what better place to begin apologizing than in Turkey, the incubator of the Armenian, Greek, and Kurdish mass killings? We need to deny history to make the case that America is not exceptional, and to invent it to persuade us that the Muslim world is extraordinary.
Twenty-four months of a Democratic Congress, and over $4 trillion in spending, resulted in 9.1% unemployment and near nonexistent growth. Yet the culprit for the current situation is ten months of a Republican-controlled House that has yet to approve another $500 billion of borrowing. In the imaginarium, just a little more of the massive amount that has failed will not fail. But if the Republicans are to be blamed for not wanting to waste the last half-trillion, are the Democrats to be praised for borrowing the first wasted $4 trillion?
In the imaginarium, all sorts of demons and devils can unite to derail the brilliance of Barack Obama's economic recovery plan. ATMs have for the first time after 2009 begun to eliminate jobs. But then so did the Japanese tsunami and the EU meltdown. The DC earthquake did its part, but then so did climbing oil prices and the Arab Spring. Of course, the ghost of George Bush floats over all the present mess. Economic gurus like Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers used to write brilliant essays of what would work if they were to be in charge, and now write brilliant essays about why it did not work when they were in charge.
#1
Economic gurus like Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers used to write brilliant essays of what would work if they were to be in charge, and now write brilliant essays about why it did not work when they were in charge.
I just know that somewhere in that statement is a "It's Bush's fault."
The case against Geert Wilders continues: having lost in the Dutch court after three tries, leaders in the Dutch Muslim community take it to the UN.
Three Dutch Moroccans have made a complaint against the Netherlands to the UN commission for human rights, claiming the Dutch state has not protected them from incitement to hatred instigated by Geert Wilders, Nos television reports.
The Dutch muslims may not have read the infidel Saul Alinsky, but they're following his plan to a T...
The three, who are not named in the court filing, say the 'systematic incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims and other migrants' committed by Wilders has left them feeling 'discriminated against, humiliated and threatened'.
Separate from actually being discriminated against, humiliated and threatened.
'They are of the opinion that Wilders by his continued hate speech has poisoned the social climate in the Netherlands that has become more and more anti-migrant and anti-Muslim,' the statement says.
Wilders was taken to court for discrimination and inciting hatred last year but found not guilty this spring after the public prosecution department called for all charges to be dropped.
One-sided
The reluctance of the public prosecutor to take action against Wilders meant the 'judge [at that trial] was only provided with one side of the legal argument due to the almost perfect harmony between the prosecution and defence,' the UN filing states.
The three say international human rights treaties should protect them against discrimination and the UN commission should ensure those treaties are upheld.
A UN human rights commission ruling, which can take years, is not legally binding, Nos says.
#3
Biggest concern is clearly American party politics, don't worry about the collapse of the Euro, or the bursting of the real estate bubble in China, or the rise of radical Islamic governments across the middle east, or worldwide commodity inflation, or US debt, or ...
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/19/2011 14:41
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#4
Sarah Palin is the only leading Republican who has clearly come out against 'crony capitalism' aka
'defending the big banks & financial industry.' Herman Cain having worked for the Federal Reserve will probably work hand in glove with that interest.
There is some grass roots thinking by GOP'ers which may become more popular, see Jerry Pournelle:
THE 2012 campaign issue: The real question is what can be done about the economy, and that requires an agreement on just what is the point of government, and who owns what. Is the purpose of government to reduce the gap between richest and poorest? That certainly was not the intent of the Framers, some of whom might have thought of that as a good idea, but it wasnt what the Constitution was intended to do. Lots of luck getting the electorate (especially the part that doesn't pay taxes) to agree on the point of our national government).
International relations & WOT: George Washington told us to avoid entangling alliances and not to get involved in the territorial disputes of Europe. Jefferson and Monroe sent the Navy to the shores of Tripoli, but not to build democracy or even to stay. The Marines did deliver the message: millions for defense and not one cent for tribute. The best Near East policy for the US would be US energy independence. Invest in developing US energy resources, rebuild the Navy, and let the Arabs sort out their own governments. We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guardians only of our own; but we can be a very generous people to those who are our friends. Peoples can have friends. Nations have interests.
On taxes: I have no great objection to reducing the disparity between richest and poorest, but I have a lot of objection to raising the governments revenue. The more money government gets, the more it will [I summarize] WASTE.
On TBTF institutions: I would very much like to see laws and regulations that limit the sizes of organizations, including private fortunes. The problem is that doing that has side effects. I do subscribe to the principle that any organization that is too big to fail is to big. I subscribe even more to the elimination of institutions that take high risks, keeping the winnings while saddling the public with their losses. It seems to me that we can go a long way in that direction fairly rapidly.
I would start with the banks: instead of a Big Five or Big Six I would have a not-so-big fifty or sixty. One way to do that would be to go back to the separation of commercial and investment banks, with investment banks unable to guarantee any funds or receive any bailouts. We had such a structure until about 2000. We also need to stop using public money to drive up the costs of education and housing. All this is relatively simple, and I suspect that all the necessary measures would be approved by both the Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party movements.
What we dont need is to rob the rich in order to give the government more money to [I summarize] WASTE.
I've been reading Jerry for years & find myself agreeing with all these points. An GOP candidate who could defend these policies might even get support from some of the OWS people, although not from the Free Lunch Party or Obama's core supporters who would follow him right off a cliff.
#5
We also need to stop using public money to drive up the costs of education and housing.
This was originally, and still in effect, part of the GI Bill. What has been forgotten or ignored was that there was a requirement of service first, then the opportunity followed. The obligation was removed from the equation via student loans and Fannie Mae. As a consequence, GI Bill after the WWII population had exercised their benefits was a much smaller influence upon the system than the give aways that were allowed to corrupt the processes.
#6
There has always been a huge difference between GI Bill benefits and government 'driving up the cost of education and housing.' Certainly the government supporting a market in any way tends to drive up the costs in that market, and I'm sure this happened with the GI Bill. But overall, those GI benefits were a win-win situation all around. Unlike what happened with Fannie and Fraudie, which had much wider and more damaging application.
Palestinian official claims breakthrough achieved on reconciliation agreement; says 'sides agree that next government will be based in Gaza.' Hamas PM Haniyeh, Fatah PM Fayyad unlikely to seek reelection
A Palestinian source said that preliminary meetings between Hamas and Fatah officials have led to mutual understandings between the sides, the Palestinian newspaper al-Ayyam reported on Saturday.
According to the source, the understandings will be officially published after a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal, scheduled to take place in Egypt next week.
The two are slated to discuss the implementation of the inter-Palestinian reconciliation agreement, as well as the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Youssef, the former political adviser of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, noted that the two sides have agreed that the next Palestinian government will be based in Gaza, adding that the next prime minister may also be a resident of the Strip.
Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, a key ally for the ruling Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition, said on Saturday he opposed a planned visit by Turkish President Abdullah Gul because Turkey is an "Islamist regime".
Wilders, whose party is the third-largest in the Dutch parliament and opposes closer ties between Europe and Turkey, backs the Dutch minority government in return for tougher immigration and integration rules. Gul has been invited to visit the Netherlands next year, when the two countries will celebrate 400 years of relations.
lotp reviews Robert Reilly's "The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Islamist Movement"
An excerpt:
It is both the personally related God and the God of meaning, Robert Reilly tells us, that Islam rejected, with consequences that are playing out today.
The reason there is such a mess in Europe is that they haven't worked out that bankers and speculators are in charge now - well, China and banks, actually but they are still operating under the delusion that politicians run the world.
The Americans understand the new world order, largely because investment bankers are running Washington. When the crisis struck in 2008, the US Treasury Secretary was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs - Hank Paulson - and the administration was, and is, full of his mates.
A lot of people think that's bad, that it means undue power in the hands of Wall Street resulting in them lining pockets and in people camping in Zuccotti Park in protest.
Well, yes, that's true. But it also meant that someone in Washington understood what was happening and responded accordingly - that is, by throwing huge amounts of cash at the masters of the universe - the banks - money that was both borrowed and printed.
In Brussels and Berlin they haven't quite figured out that their sovereignty has been ceded to banks.
It happened way back when they created the euro and then allowed Italy, Greece, and Portugal to borrow from said banks in flagrant breach of the Maastricht rules.
The banks showed their power with Greece but Germany didn't care enough about Greece. Now they're turning the screws on Italy, and that is very serious indeed because seven times the money is involved.
The Germans don't want to face up to the fact that bankers control the world now because their country is fine.
But that's not the point. The euro was their idea and they're stuck with it - along with the reality of the new world order.
#1
The "bankers and speculators" are in charge of nothing but empty promises. The lock box is empty.
Like Zombies going through the motions. When individuals withdraw their money from the banks the game is over. Exit of the U.S. money-market funds has already started. The card game has the house being owed money the players do not have.
#2
The lock box is empty.
It's not what the sheep taxpayers have but what they they can be shorn of on a seasonal basis that matters.Just a farming operation.
Pretty much every bank in the world is insolvent and beholden to governments that control the money tap that keeps them trading.
The only reason governments keep funneling money at the banks is to keep credit flowing, because without credit driven largely illusory growth, tax revenues will crater.
#1
With the DOE's recent track record on successful 'green' energy grants, if I were the brewer, i would relook at the balance sheet and where my political donation went.
The latest idiocy I found was you can get carbon credits for using peat as a fuel.
Peat is a very inefficient fuel, produces far more CO2 than coal, and requires draining the peat bogs, which are the biggest carbon sinks on the planet.
The Obama administration pressured analysts to change an environmental review to reflect fewer job losses from a proposed regulation, the contractors who worked on the review testified Friday.
The dispute revolves around proposed changes to a rule regulating coal mining near streams and other waterways. The experts contracted to analyze the impact of the rule initially found that it would cost 7,000 coal jobs.
But the contractors claim they were subsequently pressured to not only keep the findings under wraps but "revisit" the study in order to show less of an impact on jobs.
Steve Gardner, president of Kentucky consulting firm ECSI, claimed that after the project team refused to "soften" the numbers, the firms working on the study were told the contract would not be renewed. ECSI was a subcontractor on the project.
The government "'suggested' that the ... members revisit the production impacts and associated job loss numbers, with different assumptions that obviously would then lead to a lesser impact," Gardner testified before a House Natural Resources subcommittee. "The ... team unanimously refused to use a 'fabricated' baseline scenario to soften the production loss numbers."
The Obama administration, without going into specifics, contested Gardner's claims after the hearing.
The charges escalate a dispute over environmental regulations that has been brewing for months, as the Obama administration tries to overhaul mining rules that were put in place at the end of the George W. Bush administration following a years-long review.
"Right now, there's a tremendous amount of smoke. And where there's smoke, there's usually fire," Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, told FoxNews.com ahead of the hearing Friday.
The prediction that the changes would cost 7,000 jobs was first made public in January of this year. As officials in the affected states cried foul, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement defended its proposed re-write.
Joseph Pizarchik, director of that office, went further in a hearing earlier this month and said the job-loss stats were "fabricated based on placeholder numbers and have no basis in fact."
He said the numbers were "based on no evidence."
But on Friday, the subcontractors pushed back.
Gardner rejected Pizarchik's claim, and said in written testimony that the office asked the team to re-do its study when it "did not like the result of the analysis."
Johnson said he will "demand accountability" as he looks into what happened during the review.
"We've got potentially a very serious issue here," the congressman said.
Christopher Holmes, spokesman for the Interior Department's surface mining office, said in a written statement Friday afternoon that the office "respectfully disagrees with portions of the testimony."
Interim Tripoli government says son of Muammar Gaddafi was arrested while attempting to flee to neighboring Niger.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of Libya's deceased former dictator, has been arrested in southern Libya, according to offcials from the country's new government.
Muammar Gaddafi's second and highest-profile son was captured along with several bodyguards by fighters near the town of Obari in the western mountain town of Zintandetained, in Libya's southern desert, said the interim justice minister and other officials.
Saif was said to be in good health, the justice minister added. He was captured with two aides trying to smuggle him out to neighboring Niger, militia commander Bashir al-Tayeleb added.
...Obama has multiple degrees from Ivy League colleges and spent a good deal of his career as a part-time professor. At Columbia, Harvard and the University of Chicago, he absorbed the politically correct nostrums of the academic left. But he didn't pick up much by way of critical thinking skills (although at least he doesn't scream at banks).
He didn't have to learn how to think, since he was thinking all the "right" thoughts anyway. So he came to office with lots of ideological preconceptions but no ability to adapt or innovate. As a result, he is simply in over his head intellectually--at the mercy of allies, opponents and events....
Posted by: Mike ||
11/19/2011
06:13 ||
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#1
As a result, he is simply in over his head intellectually--at the mercy of allies, opponents and events....
Ah, yes, victimhood. Thus the narrative begins.
"Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers... "
#2
I just started to read a 2011 book by David Freddoso entitled: Gangster Government: Barack Obama and the New Washington Thugocracy.
Newsweek's Evan Thomas says Obama's greater than any small idea like America. He compares him to another recent president--and to the Almighty.
Reagan was all about America...Obama is "We are above that now." We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something--I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above--above the world, he's sort of God..."
The book should be interesting if one can get past their nausea. Maybe the love-in, kumbaya, and wet dream is over. Perhaps, they can come down to reality with the rest of us mere mortals.
#3
Nothing save PCorrectness-Deniabilty + Himself is stopping the Bammer from calling for a formal US, Global vote on extra-national/sovereign OWG that no American = Amerikan of the OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRA Global SSR has voted for, NOR BEEN ASKED TO.
Again, while its certainly possible for a person to correctly guess or discover, etc. third-party individual or group agenda(s), ITS STILL NOT THE SAME AS HEARING IT DIRECTLY FROM THE HORSE'S = HERD'S? MOUTH.
Guess, no NATO no-fly zones then.
Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any foreign intervention in the country's civil unrest.
Also on Friday, a Syrian official said Damascus has agreed "in principle" to allow an Arab League observer mission into the country.
#1
Israel could pull off the coup of the century if it could come up with some way to use a Russian built, sold to Syria, anti-ship missile, fired from Syria, to sink and severely damage a Russian warship.
Not impossible, since the rebels might actually be able to obtain such a weapon, and would probably be more than willing and able to fire it.
#2
This is interesting. What does Russia hope to gain here. Effort to stabilize perhaps. No oil but Syria does purchase weapons. Why did Russia sit back and let Libya go under. That was the prize. Project a strong image with no entanglement that may help Putin for Russian elections. The Arab world would prefer Russia to just about anyone else. Yes, the Russian image may well be the answer now that I think about it.
The Russian people don't want war but they want respect. Many social ills there. Pride and Nationalism are good but how those in power who use it for evil adventures are ill-advised to do so. The Russian people have a history of rebellion even today. The Russian summer is here but the winters return is most feared.
#3
I'm surprised that the Russian warships are able to get underway.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/19/2011 9:14
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What does Russia get out of this? Higher oil prices. Syria continuing as it is is an agent for instability in the ME.
Meanwhile, if the West wants to replace the head of Libya with someone less stable, they really have no problem with that at all. More money for them. They'll pretend to protest, while we screw ourselves over.
#6
See also WAFF > TURKEY URGED TO TAKE [military]ACTION ON SYRIA.
France arguing to international community that things/affairs in Syruh are coming to head.
* SAME > TURKS + ARYAN KURDS FIGHT IN EUROPE.
versus
* WORLD MIL FORUM > IRANIAN "FARS NEWS" MEDIA: IRAN CLAIMS THAT UP TO 30,000 IRANIAN + PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE READY TO STRIKE AGZ ISRAEL IFF SYRIA IS ATTACKED. Ditto iff Israel attacks Hezbollah in Lebanon.
IOW, IIUC Tehran is effectively saying or warning that there will REGIONAL WAR in which Iran will side wid Assad + Hezbollah Govt. in Lebanon agz all comers???
(Rooters) - Seven banks that helped MF Global Holdings Ltd sell bonds were sued by pension funds who said the bonds' offering prospectuses concealed problems that led to the futures brokerage's collapse.
The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in Manhattan federal court against units of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup ...contributed $736,771 to the 2008 Obama campaign... Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs ...Malefactors of Great Wealth, the second most generous contributor to the 2008 Obama campaign, with a total of $1,013,091... Group Inc, Jefferies Group Inc, JPMorgan ...where we keep our plutocrats, contributed $808,799 to the 2008 Obama campaign... Chase & Co and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
Other defendants include several officials associated with MF Global, including former Chief Executive Jon Corzine.
The lawsuit was brought by the IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund in Connecticut, and the Plumbers' and Pipefitters' Local #562 Pension Fund in Missouri, and seeks class-action status.
#4
The events will play out thus: Unions win suits and are restored by banks, who are rescued by government (which is to say, taxpayers), and unions give thanks by way of contributions to The Party.
#6
Glenmore gets the Kupie Doll. The Democrats are a wholly-owned susidiary of the Unions.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/19/2011 17:31
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#7
Let's see, MF Global Holdings LTD was holding union pension funds. Global was run by a Democrat. Many of those involved in these lawsuits were contributors to BHO's 2008 campaign (and most likely his 2012).
Karma's is a b!tch. What does the "MF" stand for? Obviously not what I think.
#8
Of course the perceptive analysis stated by Glenmore could be the case too. In which case we will have to wait to see what the fickle finger of fate deals.
BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda and its affiliates have been given an opening to revive operations in former strongholds by the US pullout from Iraq's northern and western provinces, a senior Iraqi official said. Nice going, Barack...
Nearly nine years after the US-led invasion, the American military has handed the Iraqi government most of its military bases around the country, and the remaining 23,000 American troops will leave by the end of the year.
Iraq says its forces are now able to contain insurgents. But with US troops leaving, weaknesses in Iraqi forces are already coming to light in hotspots like Diyala province and the Mosul area, senior Interior Ministry official Adnan Al-Asadi told Reuters in an interview.
AL-Asadi said the number of US military personnel deployed in a strategic triangle in northern and western Iraq was not large but their aircraft cover and capabilities had been useful to control an area where insurgents have traditionally operated.
"When the US withdrew from this triangle which is Diyala, Salahuddin, Anbar and Mosul ... a gap was left behind," he said. "Al-Qaeda has redeployed in the area ... Al-Qaeda is present, it appears and disappears and carries out operations, attacks and retreats. It's a guerrilla war, but they are no longer able to hold ground."
Bombings and killings persist on a daily basis and a stubborn insurgency linked to Al-Qaeda, as well as Shiite militias, remain capable of lethal attacks.
Al-Asadi said intelligence indicated men linked to Al-Qaeda are deployed in Diyala, Anbar and the southern desert of Nineveh, with some of their leaders in Salahuddin, but that they hid by staying in small groups of three or four and acting as goat or camel-herders.
Al-Asadi said the Iraqi Army and federal police conducted a large raid around three weeks ago to bomb a remote area where Al-Qaeda fighters were operating, and most insurgents were forced out to neighboring areas while some were arrested in Mosul.
Officials say Al-Qaeda affiliates carry out attacks on local government buildings and national security forces to try to destabilize the central government and demonstrate that it cannot provide security as the American troops leave.
Government officials have long expressed concern that former Baathists would try to disrupt the government when US troops depart. The party was banned after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam, who was later tried and executed. Iraq arrested hundreds of former military officers and members of the Baath Party last month, a move some officials said had foiled a plot, while others said it was a precautionary measure before the US withdrawal.
Al-Asadi said the Al-Qaeda-tied group Islamic State of Iraq and banned Baathists posed the biggest security challenge with the US withdrawal, while other outlawed groups are expected to fade away.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/19/2011
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Idiots. All they (al-Qaeda) have to do is lie low and prepare for the January takeover.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/19/2011 9:07
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Once the US is gone, there is nothing preventing the Shiite majority from encouraging the remaining Sunnis to leave, if they are too pestiferous.
[Dawn] FOR most of its 66-year history, the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... was a powerless organization, dominated by autocratic regimes that made sure it never criticised their lies and crimes. But suddenly, this year, it woke up and changed sides.
Last March, the vaporous Arab League suspended Libya`s membership because of dictator Muammar Qadaffy`s ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... brutal attempts to suppress the revolution, and voted to back a no-fly zone in Libya. That led directly to the UN resolution authorising the use of force to protect civilians from Qadaffy`s army, and ultimately to the tyrant`s overthrow and death. Curiously enough, the Arab Leagues new sense of manliness coincided with the departure of Jerry Lewis as its head. Not that the effect is associated with the cause, mind you.
Last Saturday, the Arab League acted again, suspending Syria`s membership. It did so because Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Dread of Those Who Don't Like Him... has not carried out the commitments he made to the League about ending the violence against Syrian civilians (an estimated 3,500 killed so far), pulling the army off the streets of Syrian cities, releasing the thousands of recently imprisoned protesters and opening a dialogue with the opposition within two weeks.
On Sunday, the Arab League`s secretary-general, Nabil al-Arabi, called for "international protection" for Syrian civilians as the organization lacked the means to act alone. "There is nothing wrong with going to the UN Security Council because it is the only organization able to impose" such measures, he added. And he said that during a visit to Tripoli, the newly liberated capital of Libya.
Everybody understood the significance of his saying it there. The Arab League explicitly rejects foreign military intervention in Syria, and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... would never take on Assad`s regime anyway. But al-Arabi was implicitly saying that what is happening in Syria now is comparable to what was happening in Libya six months ago, and that all measures short of war are justified to stop the slaughter in Syria and remove the dictator`s regime.
Then on Monday, King Abdullah of Jordan finally said aloud what almost every other Arab leader has been thinking: "If Bashar [al-Assad] has the interest of his country [at heart] he would step down."
It`s particularly striking coming from Abdullah because the two men are not just neighbours. They both came to power in 1999-2000, replacing fathers who had ruled over their respective countries for decades, and they were both originally painted as reformers. True, Bashir al-Assad is not technically a king, but he is equally the product of a dynasty -- and here is his closest counterpart in the Arab world publicly giving up on him.
King Abdullah added that on his way out, Bashar should also "create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life". Decoded, that means that Syria`s problems cannot be ending just by changing horses. The whole Baathist regime, and the near monopoly of power by the Alawite minority that underpins it, have to go too.
This is astonishing stuff. One year ago, nobody would have believed it possible that 18 of the 22 members of the Arab League would vote, in effect, for the peaceful removal of the oppressive Syrian regime, or that the Jordanian king would dare to be so frank about his neighbour`s problems and options. What has wrought this miracle?
It would be nice to say that the rapid and largely non-violent spread of democracy in the Arab world has brought enlightenment even to the most deeply entrenched authoritarian regimes, but it would not be true. Only three of the 22 Arab League members (Tunisia, Egypt and Libya) have actually had democratic revolutions, and their example has not transformed the attitudes of all the other members. What drives this response is mostly fear.
The Arab League said nothing when Bashir al-Assad`s father slaughtered up to 40,000 Syrians while putting down a revolt in the city of Hama in 1982, but his son`s brutality is simply unacceptable today. Arab leaders can no longer ignore the mass killing of Arab citizens. Some of them would like to, but uncensored Arabic-language mass media, broadcasting directly from satellites, have made it impossible. Everybody knows what`s going on.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[An Nahar] Syrian security forces on Friday rubbed out 20 civilians, including four children, in the regions of Hama, Daraa, Homs and Reef Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , the Local Coordination Committees said, on the eve of an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... deadline for Syria to stop its lethal crackdown on protesters and as Turkey warned of the risk of civil war.
The latest bloodletting came as thousands of protesters erupted into the streets in defiance of massive security deployments to urge nations to expel Syrian ambassadors, activists said.
Turkey said the risk of civil war was real -- a warning also echoed by analysts monitoring developments in Syria amid growing reports that mutinous soldiers are attacking regime targets.
The foreign minister of Turkey, a once close ally who has become disillusioned with Assad and his regime, sounded the alarm.
"I say there is a risk of transforming into civil war," Ahmet Davutoglu told Agence La Belle France Presse, pointing to army defectors attacking key regime targets.
"It is now the right time to stop this massacre, and therefore the Arab initiative is important," he said. "If it is not successful of course there is always a risk of civil war or high level tension in Syria."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported a toll of 12 dead across the country on Friday, said a 14-year-old boy was among the dead, and said dozens of people were maimed by gunfire nationwide.
State television reported that a kaboom in Hama killed three members of the security forces and critically maimed an officer, while state news agency SANA said two were killed.
SANA also reported that said five security personnel were maimed when gunnies fired on them in Daraa, where a bomb squad defused an bomb.
Activists called the protests after weekly Mohammedan prayers on Friday to urge countries around the world to expel Syrian ambassadors.
"They are the ambassadors of crime. Expel them, oh free ones," the Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the main groups behind the protests, said on Facebook.
Another umbrella group of activists, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, also called for nationwide protests "until the regime falls."
But counter-rallies were held in some parts of Damascus, SANA reported, with people demonstrating against Arab pressure on Syria and foreign intervention in domestic affairs.Syrian security forces on Friday rubbed out 20 civilians, including four children, in the regions of Hama, Daraa, Homs and Reef Damascus, the Local Coordination Committees said, on the eve of an Arab League deadline for Syria to stop its lethal crackdown on protesters and as Turkey warned of the risk of civil war.
The latest bloodletting came as thousands of protesters erupted into the streets in defiance of massive security deployments to urge nations to expel Syrian ambassadors, activists said.
Turkey said the risk of civil war was real -- a warning also echoed by analysts monitoring developments in Syria amid growing reports that mutinous soldiers are attacking regime targets.
The foreign minister of Turkey, a once close ally who has become disillusioned with Assad and his regime, sounded the alarm.
"I say there is a risk of transforming into civil war," Ahmet Davutoglu told Agence La Belle France Presse, pointing to army defectors attacking key regime targets.
"It is now the right time to stop this massacre, and therefore the Arab initiative is important," he said. "If it is not successful of course there is always a risk of civil war or high level tension in Syria."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported a toll of 12 dead across the country on Friday, said a 14-year-old boy was among the dead, and said dozens of people were maimed by gunfire nationwide.
State television reported that a kaboom in Hama killed three members of the security forces and critically maimed an officer, while state news agency SANA said two were killed.
SANA also reported that said five security personnel were maimed when gunnies fired on them in Daraa, where a bomb squad defused an bomb.
Activists called the protests after weekly Mohammedan prayers on Friday to urge countries around the world to expel Syrian ambassadors.
"They are the ambassadors of crime. Expel them, oh free ones," the Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the main groups behind the protests, said on Facebook.
Another umbrella group of activists, the Syrian Revolution General Commission, also called for nationwide protests "until the regime falls."
But counter-rallies were held in some parts of Damascus, SANA reported, with people demonstrating against Arab pressure on Syria and foreign intervention in domestic affairs.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[Washington Post] Almost exactly a year ago, members of Congress voted overwhelmingly to censure their colleague Rep. Charlie Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Rangel Congressman-for-Life from Harlem, who became what 20 terms in Congress turns you into ... for bringing dishonor on the House. Then-House Speaker Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... summoned the New York Democrat to the well and chastised him for his 11 ethics violations, which included improper fundraising.
This week, Rangel again brought the House into disrepute -- but this time he had the full support of his colleagues.
"Last night marked a momentous evening in my campaign for re-election," Rangel wrote Thursday in a letter to supporters. "At a special event in Washington, Democratic leaders including Nancy Pelosi, the mealy-mouthed Steny Stinky Hoyer ... Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi's second banana, or plaintain, or mango, or whatever he is... , James Clyburn, Sandy Levin, John Conyers, Emmanuel Cleaver, and Steve Israel stood by my side and pledged their unwavering support on my behalf. I am so humbled and grateful for their involvement."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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A soldier was killed Friday and another was wounded in a bombing while patrolling Pattanis Yarang district. The explosion killed Sgt Kongsin Chankampa, 43, and injured Pvt Songkran Promtrai, 21.
An initial investigation found that while the two army officers were on foot patrol, an unidentified attacker detonated an improvised explosive device hidden near a bridge.
In other developments, Maj-Gen Supat Vichitkarn met Friday with local education representatives in the three southern border provinces to discuss adjustments to security measures on teacher protection.
The meeting came after five teachers of Ban Lahan School Thursday afternoon were shot in Narathiwat province. The wounded were School Director Sitthichai Wannajitcharoon, 51, Pimonrat Promthongrak, 42, Sahawan Wannajitcharoon, 30, Mayuree Kasitwuth, 58 and Panatda Kwanpan.
11 schoolteachers, including the victims, on two vehicles were going to their homes after school. The vehicles were approached by a gunman wearing a uniform looking like that of a government soldier, who shot at them and then fled. All five of the injured remain hospitalised.
Following the attack, Ban Lahan School was closed today and will resume classes on Monday.
[Al Ahram] The UN nuclear watchdog board of governors censured Iran on Friday over mounting suspicions it may be seeking to develop atomic bombs, after the six big powers overcame divisions on how to best deal with a defiant Tehran.
But the resolution, which won overwhelming support at the 35-nation meeting of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), omitted any concrete punitive steps, reflecting Russian and Chinese opposition to cornering Iran.
It was adopted by 32 votes for and two against - Cuba and Ecuador. Indonesia abstained.
Iran showed no sign of backing down in the protracted dispute over its atomic activities, threatening to take legal action against the Vienna-based UN agency for issuing a hard-hitting report about Tehran's nuclear program.
Last week's IAEA report presented a stash of intelligence indicating that Iran has undertaken research and experiments geared to developing a nuclear weapons capability. It has stoked tensions in the Middle East and redoubled calls in Western capitals for stiffer sanctions against Tehran.
Iran says it is enriching uranium only as fuel for nuclear power plants, not atomic weapons. It has dismissed the details in the IAEA report obtained mainly from Western spy agencies as fabricated, and accusing the IAEA of a pro-Western slant.
Iran's ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, accused the agency of leaking the report early to the United States, Britannia and La Belle France. Some of its contents appeared in Western media before their release on 8 November.
Iran considers the IAEA report "unprofessional, unbalanced, illegal and politicized", Soltanieh told the board meeting before the vote, the second against Iran in as many years.
"Any resolutions based on this report ... are not legally binding, thus they are not applicable."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[Bangla Daily Star] Bombings against a policeman's home and three mosques killed eight people and maimed 13 yesterday, security officials said, in the worst violence to hit Iraq in weeks.
A bomb targeting the home of a policeman in the Saqlawiya district outside the one-time turban stronghold of Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... about 60 kilometres (37.5 miles) west of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killed four people early yesterday, police Captain Omar Abbud said.
The policeman, a member of the local anti-terrorism force, was not present at the time of the attack, but the bomb killed his 55-year-old mother and three other members of his family, Abbud said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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#1
"the bomb killed his 55-year-old mother and three other members of his family"
You stay classy, insurgents.
Posted by: American Delight ||
11/19/2011 10:35
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Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/19/2011 0:44
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#2
I do not understand why utilities have their infrastructure accessible to the internet. Perhaps they are on some intranet, but even if that were so, the supposed safety of an intranet is only as good as the security mindset of the organization.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/19/2011 6:05
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#3
The "authorities" will start paying attention to network security and connectivity right after one of their number dies in a fire because the water pumps were hacked, or in a collision because the traffic signals were hacked, etc. The engineers know that having such systems tied to the internet is beyond idiocy, but they get overruled by the pointy-haired morons.
#4
This might just be the 'camel's nose under the tent' that begins the over-arching FCC Big Brother internet pooleece; cuz we gotta be careful 'bout this stuff.
#5
True USN, there are too many who view anything not under their control as 'just not under their control YET'.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/19/2011 11:40
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#6
Whiskey Mike Hello!, Those who provide security programing or company E Mails need the ability to communicate. This may all change but the internet is an artery. I would venture to say at some point wireless communication or even a power source or delivery might allow access. Memory card or just watching a movie taped at home to view at work. Security of the future is here now. Iran is a good example. The race is on. The world wanted this computer age but it has brought us unintended consequences. I'd like to know where all the free time went, and vacations.
#7
Real easy way to tell if this was real-- if it disappears and future inquiries are met with a blank stare or terse "no comment on current investigations", then it is really real. Otherwise, just another justification for budget by [insert favorite agency here]
[One Pakistan] A secret memo is laying bare the profound division between Pakistain's powerful army and its civilian government, and the nation's relationship with the United States is once again at the center of the gulf.
According to a Washington Post report, at issue are allegations that the Pakistain Government asked for U.S. help to prevent a military coup after the Navy SEAL raid in May that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... in Pakistain.
The claim is thought to have enraged Pakistain's army, and the resulting controversy prompted Pakistain's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, to offer his resignation this week.
Zardari's government has nominally been leading Pakistain since 2008. But real power remains in the hands of the military, which has ruled the South Asian nation for half its 64-year existence and was livid after the U.S. operation against bin Laden.
Though both the army and the civilian government receive billions of dollars in American assistance, the military views the United States, and its support for Zardari's unpopular administration, with deep distrust.
That attitude is widespread in Pakistain, where patriotism is equated with support for the military and the United States is often seen more as bully than friend.
Against that backdrop, a column published last month in the Financial Times has proved explosive.
In it, Pak American businessman Mansoor Ijaz asserted that a senior Pak diplomat -- whom he identified Thursday as Haqqani -- asked him to help relay a request to the then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, to stop the military from staging a coup.
The memo, a copy of which was provided by Ijaz to The Washington Post, warns that a military takeover would result in "potentially the platform for far more rapid spread of al Qaeda's brand of fanaticism and terror."
The upheaval in the wake of the bin Laden killing, it said, provided "a unique window of opportunity" for "civilians to gain the upper hand over army and intelligence directorates."
It said that in exchange for U.S. "direct intervention" to convey a strong no-coup message to Gen. Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , leader of Pakistain's military, a newly appointed civilian national security team would shepherd an independent investigation of the bin Laden matter and terminate any "active service officers" found to have been complicit in concealing the al-Qaeda leader.
Pakistain, it said, would also move to hand over all remaining al-Qaeda leaders on its soil, as well as Taliban leader Mohammad Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani hard boy network.
Alternatively, it could give "U.S. military forces a 'green light' to conduct the necessary operations to capture or kill them on Pak soil," the memo said.
It said the civilian government would eliminate "Section S" of Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, a unit that handles relations with hard boy groups; bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai; and implement new measures to secure Pakistain's nuclear arsenal.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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#1
Is Pakistain's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani any relation to the much-maligned Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani hard boy network I wonder?
Or are the first names the family name?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/19/2011 8:32
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I don't think there's any close relation. I think it's a clan name, rather than a family name.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011 8:50
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I recall that Mansoor Ijaz often appeared as a commentator on Fox News a few years ago.
In 2006, in an interview with Gulf News, he made the world exclusive claim that Iran already had a nuclear bomb and that US think-tanks were already formulating strategies to overthrow the Iranian Government.
[Bangla Daily Star] Syria decided to accept an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... mission to observe the implementation of peace proposals aimed at ending violence amid rising concerns of civil war in the country.
11 people were rubbed out by security forces yesterday as they opened fire to disperse protesters urging countries to expel Syria's ambassadors, activists said. A blast in the restive city of Hama also killed three troops, they added.
The source, who wished to remain unnamed, said Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... had already informed the League of the decision on Thursday.
The political source said Syrian acceptance was subject to some changes designed to protect what he called "the country's illusory sovereignty and dignity" but they were not designed to hinder the mission.
The League on Wednesday gave Syria three days to agree or face sanctions.
The Arab League plan, drawn up earlier this month, calls on Syria to withdraw tanks from restive cities, cease its attacks on protesters and engage in dialogue with the opposition within two weeks.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... agreed to the plan, but failed to honour it. The Arab League formally suspended Syria on Wednesday.
The Syrians are suspicious of Saudi motives which, they say, are to weaken Assad's Iranian allies.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... Turkey added its voice yesterday to warnings that civil war threatens Syria, while La Belle France's top diplomat called for stepped up sanctions against Damascus, which he said had left it too late to reform.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pointed to new attacks by army defectors, adding, "therefore I say there is a risk of transforming into civil war."
"It is now the right time to stop this massacre, and therefore the Arab initiative is important."
More than 370 people have been killed since Syria agreed to an Arab deal, said rights groups, in what appears to be the bloodiest month in the eight-month uprising.
The UN says more than 3,500 people have died since protests started in March. Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed gangs and bad boys.
Germany, La Belle France and the UK have tabled a UN resolution calling for an end to human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations in Syria and urging Damascus to implement the vaporous Arab League plan. The draft was also backed by four Arab countries.
But with the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Security Council divided, the resolution has been tabled in the human rights committee of the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes.
Russia and China, which hold a veto at the UN, have refused to condemn Syria. But La Belle France, another veto holder, yesterday urged for more sanctions.
Speaking after talks in Turkey, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "We have called on [President] Assad to change but the regime did not want to know, which is not acceptable. We are ready to strengthen the sanctions."
He said La Belle France believed Syria "was not willing to implement a reform programme and now it is too late".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[guide2.co.nz] In a victory for fair use, the publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Stephens Media, filed papers yesterday conceding that posting a short excerpt of a news article in an online forum is not copyright infringement.
The concession will result in entry of a judgment of non-infringement in a long-running copyright troll case that sparked the dismissal of dozens of baseless lawsuits filed by Righthaven LLC.
The Court dismissed Righthaven's infringement case because it did not own the article, but Democratic Underground's counterclaim against Stephens Media continued. After initially attempting to defend the bogus assertion of copyright infringement, Stephens Media has now conceded it was incorrect.
"This concession comes after more than a year of needless litigation," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Stephens Media never should have authorized Righthaven to file this suit in the first place, and should never have wasted our client's and the court's time with its attempts to keep Righthaven's frivolous claim alive for the last year."
Righthaven has filed hundreds of copyright cases based on its sham copyright ownership claims. Despite several attempts by Righthaven and Stephens Media to re-write their Strategic Alliance Agreement, half a dozen judges have ruled against the scheme to turn copyright litigation into a business.
"This is a hard fought and important victory for free speech rights on the Internet," said Laurence Pulgram, the partner who led the team at Fenwick & West, LLP in San Francisco. "Unless we respond to such efforts to intimidate, we'll end up with an Internet that is far less fertile for the cultivation and discussion of the important issues that affect us all."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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#1
There's a special place in Hell for those people.
#2
They aren't permitted to go to Hell until the debt collectors have dunned(*) the heck out of them.
(*) Interesting etymology. Already long in use as a word indicating a persistent persecutor, as well as a hangman, it became popular in 16th Century England, because of a bailiff named Joe Dun, famous for his dogged and aggressive debt collection.
In this case, I like the other meaning as well:
And presently a halter got,
Made of the best strong hempen teer,
And ere a cat could lick her ear,
Had tied it up with as much art,
As Dun himself could do for's heart.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/19/2011 15:34
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#7
the RIAA is thinking of backing the Righthaven assholes
Not surprising - scum coming to the aid of other scum. Also, never surprises me when the Dems support the music / movie / media w draconian copyright laws. Its a form of corruption - in return they get millions in campaign contributions and even more in PR support.
No, what amazes me, is why the stupid party keeps supporting these trolls. I'd love to see a national GOP candidate suggest restoring our intellectual property laws back to some semblance of sanity. Not holding my breath ...
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/19/2011 17:09
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#8
Chilli - Fits right in with the other moron from Utah who licks their boots... Close the HATCH and ship him out.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/19/2011 23:39
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[Emirates 24/7] Texters in Pakistain better start watching their language.
Pakistain's telecommunications authority sent a letter ordering cell phone companies to block text messages containing what it perceives to be obscenities, Anjum Nida Rahman, a spokeswoman for Telenor Pakistain, said on Friday. Well, don't that take the #@!&ing cake...
It also sent a list of more than 1,500 English and Urdu words that were to be blocked.
The order was part of the regulator's attempt to block spam messages, said Rahman. The Pakistain Telecommunication Authority refused to comment on the initiative.
Many of the words to be blocked were sexually explicit terms or swear words, according to a copy of the list obtained by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
It also included relatively mild terms like fart and idiot. "I shall vent my methane in the general direction of the mentally challenged bunch who came up with this!"
The reasons for blocking some words, including Jesus Christ, headlights and tampon, were less clear, raising questions about practicality. Any word could conceivably be part of a spam message. How about: "Jeezis Christ! He grabs one of her headlights and she pops a tampon!"
The letter, which was also obtained by the AP, was dated November 14 and gave cell phone companies seven days to implement the order. What happens if they don't? You'll call them bad names? Don't use 'fart' or 'idiot' when you do, though. And keep your hands off their headlights.
Rahman, the Telenor spokeswoman, said her company first received the letter on Thursday and was discussing how to proceed.
"It's a big issue, so it is being examined carefully from all points of view," said Rahman.
The letter said the order was legal under a 1996 law preventing people from sending information through the telecommunications system that is "false, fabricated, indecent or obscene." Ummm... Doesn't the idea of 'obscene' kinda cover the territory of 'indecent'? And isn't 'false' information 'fabricated'? Or would it be 'fabricated' information that's 'false'?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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#1
I bet they've banned words like freedom, responsibility, law, justice, impartiality, and rules too.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/19/2011 7:40
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#2
But does the list include fr33d0m, r3sp0ns!b!lity, l@w, ju$t!ce, impart+!@7!+y, and roolz?
[Tripoli Post] To a colourful group of Americans - the Washington terrorism expert, the veteran CIA officer, the Republican operative, the Kansas City lawyer - the Libyan gambit last March looked like a rare business opportunity, is how The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... introduced am interesting report, entitled: Group in US Hoped for Big Payday in Offer to Help Al Qadaffy ... who is now napping peacefully in the dirt...
It goes on to report that even as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... bombed Libya, the Americans offered to make Col. Muammar Al Qadaffy their client - and charge him a hefty consulting fee. Their price: a $10 million retainer before beginning negotiations with Colonel Al Qadaffy's representatives.
The newspaper reported that a draft contract, with capital letters for emphasis, had been prepared that said: "The fees and payments set forth in this contract are MINIMUM NON-REFUNDABLE FEES. The fees are an inducement for the ATTORNEYS AND ADVISORS to take the case and nothing else."
Neil C. Livingstone, 65, the terrorism specialist and consultant, told NYT that he helped put together the deal after hearing that one of Al Qadaffy's sons, Seif al-Islam was interested in an exit strategy for the family. Mr Livingstone said that he and his partners were not going to work for free. "We were not an eleemosynary organization," he told the US daily.
Mr. Livingstone, a television commentator and prolific author moved home to Montana this year to try a run for governor. He said he had long been a vocal critic of the former Libyan dictator and was briefly tossed in the slammer by the Libyan regime on a visit to Libya in the 1970s. The goal of the consulting deal, he insisted, was not to save Al Qadaffy but to prevent a bloodbath in Libya by creating a quick way out for the ruler and his family.
"The idea was to find them an Arabic-speaking sanctuary and let them keep some money, in return for getting out," he said. The consultants promised to help free billions of dollars in blocked Libyan assets by steering the government into compliance with United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... resolutions.
But the Americans did not get the Treasury Department license they needed to accept payment from Libya, which was then subject to sanctions.
Now the confidential documents describing the proposed deal have surfaced on the Internet.
The papers revealed a three-page letter addressed to Al Qadaffy on April 17 by another partner in the proposed deal, a Belgian named Dirk Borgers, who offered the former Libyan leader the lobbying services of what he called the "American Action Group" to outmanoeuvre the rebels and win United States government support.
Noting that the rebels' Transitional National Council was gaining control of Libyan assets abroad, and attaching a registration form showing that the rebels had engaged their own lobbyists, Mr. Borgers said it was time for Al Qadaffy to fight back with his own Washington representatives.
"Our group of Libyan sympathisers is extremely worried about this and we would like to help to block the actions of your international enemies and to support a normal working relationship with the United States Government," the letter said. "Therefore it is absolutely required to speak officially and with one strong voice with the American Government."
Mr. Borgers. 68, ended the letter with the words "Your Obedient Servants," signing his own name and adding those of the four Americans.
In the letter, Mr. Borgers described Mr Livingstone in the proposal as the "recognised best American anti-terrorism expert"..
But Mr. Livingstone told the NYT that he had never seen the letter before this week and that it distorted his intentions. "That doesn't reflect our view at all," Mr. Livingstone said. "Our whole goal was to get the Al Qadaffys out of there as fast as possible."
Another member of the proposed American team is Marty Martin, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who led the agency's Al Qaeda department from 2002 to 2004 and retired from the CIA in 2007. He said he too, was chagrined to see Mr. Borgers's letter this week.
Mr Marting was reported saying: "We were not there to be lobbyists for Al Qatahafi. I was not told anything about that letter."
The other American partners were Neil S. Alpert, who had worked for the Republican National Committee and the pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Kansas City lawyer Randell K. Wood who, according to the report, has represented Libyan officials and organizations since the 1980s. (Neither Mr. Alpert nor Mr. Wood would comment)
Reached at his home in Belgium by the newspaper, Mr. Borgers, dismissed his former partners' complaints about his letter to Colonel Al Qadaffy - though he said he "might not" have shared its text with them.
"Let's not argue about semantics," he said. He was in Tripoli at the time, he said, watching the chaos and violence escalate, and he thought Al Qadaffy should remain in power at least until an election could be held. He said he, too, wanted to "stop the butchering," but he offered a positive spin on Al Qadaffy's record.
"I don't think he was that brutal a dictator," Mr. Borgers said. "He created a country out of nothing over 42 years. He created a very good lifestyle for the people."
Of the $10 million fee the group sought, Mr. Borgers said, "The aim was not to make money." On the other hand, he added, "If you want to put up a serious operation in Washington, I think you need at least $10 million."
Mr. Borgers said he was a project engineer who had worked on infrastructure projects in many countries. He added that he was told by Libyan officials a week after sending his letter to Al Qadaffy that the proposal had been rejected. He said he had no idea if the former leader saw it.
Seven months after the $10 million deal that was not to be, Al Qadaffy is dead, while his son Seif al-Islam is believed to be in hiding. Mr. Livingstone is focused on the problems of Montana, and Mr. Borgers said he was "trying to retire."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[An Nahar] Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... s based in the Paleostinian refugee camp of al-Rashidiyeh might be behind the bombings that targeted a hotel and a liquor store in the southern city of Tyre, An Nahar daily reported Friday.
The newspaper said Sherlocks have found unconfirmed leads that Salafist groups in al-Rashidiyeh could have bombed the Queen Elissa hotel and the shop on Wednesday in an effort to combat the liquor trade in the area.
Voice of Leb radio station (100.5) said that the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch has questioned 10 witnesses and stressed that reports about the involvement of Salafists in the bombings are not true.
More than one person participated in the planning for the blasts, VDL said.
A security official has estimated the hotel bomb weighed about 3 kilograms and the explosives used to attack the shop about 1 kilo.
Andrea Tenenti, the deputy front man for the U.N. Interim Force in Leb, has said "there are no indications whatsoever that UNIFIL was targeted by the kaboom."
He said that two U.N. staff members were in the hotel but were not harmed, and that two UNIFIL vehicles were damaged.
Tyre is a predominantly Moslem city and serving alcohol is common at hotels and restaurants.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[Yemen Post] Senior defense ministry officials said that the presidential palace-bombing file has been sent to the Yemen prosecution.
An official at the defense ministry said that the prosecution will soon reveal the results of the investigation which killed thirteen and injured more than seventy, including Yemen's President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... in June.
Senior ruling General People Congress party officials are pointing fingers at opposition leaders in an effort to stall more time in power for President Saleh.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... no proof has been brought to the public to prove the government's case in the bombing.
Millions of Yemenis have crowded Change Square around the country demanding that he is not given immunity for the killings of more than 1000 protesters this year.
Political analysts are surprised that the ruling family is making a strong case against the presidential palace bombing and not the daily attacks against unarmed civilians.
"The president's blood is not more valuable than those who were maimed by his forces. More than 22,000 protesters were attacked by his troops. He does not care about Yemen. He cares only of his family," said Sabri Alem, a youth activist in Taiz Freedom Square.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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[An Nahar] The Syrian Ambassador to Leb Ali Abdul Karim Ali stressed on Friday that Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... is implementing reform despite the media uproar indicating the contrary.
He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... : "The international pressure against Syria will crumble before its national unity and its leadership's responsible policies towards all challenges."
"The dialogue Assad called for encompasses all factions of Syrian society and its positive results are being felt throughout Syria," he added.
Furthermore, Ali quoted Berri as saying that Syria is eager to maintain good ties with the Arab world and comply with its initiatives.
The speaker also emphasized the need to fortify Arab and Syrian efforts against international pressure.
Berri later held talks with the British Ambassador to Leb, Tom Fletcher.
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[Dawn] Chairman Pakistain Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... said that the Tsunami of popularity of PTI will sink the political Titanic of Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N).
He was addressing the party organizers of Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib at a local hotel on Friday.
Welcoming the new comers to the party, the PTI Chairman said that party workers would never be ignored as they were very important for the party.
He congratulated the party organizers for holding a successful meeting at Minar-i-Pakistain. On this occasion PTI Lahore region president Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid also addressed the party workers.
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[Al Ahram] Occupy London, whose protest against capitalist excess was inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street movement, said on its website it took over the abandoned office block in the neighborhood of Hackney overnight in a "public repossession."
It is the first time the group has successfully occupied a building. Its failed effort to take over the London Stock Exchange led the protesters to set up camp outside the famed cathedral -- sparking an ongoing dispute over whether they have a right to be there.
UBS, which confirmed it owns the empty building, said it is aware of the situation and is taking the appropriate legal action.
It is not clear how long the protesters will be able to remain outside St. Paul's. The City of London Corporation has said it will go to court seeking an eviction notice after a deadline passed Wednesday for tents to be removed from the churchyard.
The first hearing will likely be next week, but the eviction process could take months.
The protesters -- who have been camped at St. Paul's since Oct. 15 -- have said they will not budge.
On Friday, Occupy London said the building it occupied in east London will not be used for "residential" purposes but as an event and meeting space called the "Bank of Ideas."
"Visitors are asked not to bring their sleeping bags," the group said on its website.
It said speakers and events -- from Paleostinian activists to comedians -- are being lined up.
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[Emirates 24/7] Sri Lanka's former army chief was sentenced on Friday to three more years in prison for reportedly implicating the defence secretary in war crimes at the end of the country's civil war On Easter Sunday in 402, General Stilicho defeated Alaric, King of the Visigoths, at the Battle of Pollentia, capturing his camp and his wife. This battle was the last victory celebrated in a triumphal march in Rome. In 403 at Verona, Stilicho again bested Alaric, who only escaped by the speed of his horse. In A.D. 408 the Emperor Honorius had Stilicho put to death. Two years later Alaric and his Visigoths sacked Rome, making off with most of the city's wealth and a fair number of its residents as slaves or as hostages. At the time there was suspected to be a connection. But I suppose I could be wrong.
Two judges of a three-member High Court bench ruled Sarath Fonseka's reported comments to a newspaper in 2009 breached the harsh emergency law in place during and after the 26-year civil war. He claimed at his trial he was misquoted.
Fonseka rejected the verdict as unjust but said he was not surprised because Sri Lankan authorities did not want him active in politics. Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetty said Fonseka would appeal the sentence. The court's third judge ruled to acquit him.
Fonseka led Sri Lanka's army to victory in its 26-year civil war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. He had immense popularity from leading the army that defeated a rebel group that had seemed invincible for decades and challenged one-time ally
President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election last year.
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[An Nahar] The headboard of Michael Jackson's death bed has been withdrawn from an auction of personnel effects, due to family objections, the auctioneer behind the sale said.
But the sale, which comes after doctor Conrad Murray was convicted over Jackson's 2009 death, is expected to include other items from the mansion in Los Angeles' plush Holmby Hills area where Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
Auction house chief Darren Julien said the headboard was the only part of the death bed which had been included in the sale items, but had been removed following a request from the Jackson estate.
"At the request of The Estate of Michael Jackson, we are removing the headboard from the 100 North Carolwood Drive auction taking place on Saturday, December 17th," he wrote on Twitter.
"Michael Jackson has played a major part in the history of Julien's Auctions and we would never do anything that is not in the best interests of Michael's children, his mother or the estate," he added.
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I kept thinking of Jack Nicholson's demonic character Daryl Van Horne, in The Witches of Eastwick, who had purchased the bed of the de' Medicis.
Though I doubt M. Jackson's bed would be that sexy for seducing women.
[One Pakistan] The government is looking into reports that two UK nationals accused of turban links were killed in a US drone strike in Pakistain's tribal region, the Foreign Office said Friday.
The men were named as Ibrahim Adam, 24, and Mohammed Azmir, 37, by their family and friends, the Press Association reported.
They were killed in the lawless Wazoo tribal region bordering Afghanistan at least three months ago, it reported.
"We're aware of reports and looking into them further," a Foreign Office front man told AFP.
A government source said that getting confirmation would take time because the area is remote.
Adam, from Barkingside, east London, was wanted by British authorities after absconding from a government "control order" used to limit the movements of suspected Islamic fascistiin May 2007.
Azmir, a father of three who lived in Ilford, Essex, was slapped with a Treasury order in February 2010 freezing his assets over concerns that he was involved in funding terrorism.
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#1
Clive and Nigel Bite the Dust: Film at eleven...
[Al Ahram] Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party and its two coalition partners have reached agreement in principle to share out the top three government posts between them, senior sources from two coalition parties told Rooters on Friday.
Under the deal, the most powerful post, of prime minister, will go to Hamadi Jbeli, secretary-general of the Islamist Ennahda party which won last month's election, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. ... for fear of being murdered...
Moncef Marzouki, leader of the secularist Congress for the Republic, a junior coalition partner, is to be named Tunisian president, and Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of third coalition partner Ettakatol, will be speaker of the constitutional assembly, the sources said.
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[Dawn] Two cut-throats were killed and a policeman sustained minor injury in an encounter in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar on Thursday, officials said.
Also, a government school and a basic health unit were blown up by suspected cut-throats in two separate incidents in Charsadda district.
A front man for Peshawar police said that cut-throats attacked a patrolling party of Badhber cop shoppe near Mamrez police post at Telaband. He said that coppers from different stations were called to hunt down the assailants.
The attackers had taken cover behind the wall of a house and opened firing on coppers, inuring SHO Khushdil Khan, he said, adding the attackers were also bumped off during a one-and-a- half hour encounter.
Sources said that one of the killed cut-throats was identified as Nawab, an Afghan national. Police also recovered two Kalashnikovs, four hand grenades and six magazines from the killed thugs.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... an improvised bomb went off in main Charsadda Bazaar on Thursday night and badly damaged a government high school for boys.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the watchman of the school and other people in the area remained unharmed.
In another incident, a basic health unit was blown up by suspected cut-throats in Mansooka area of Shabqadar in Charsadda in the wee hours of Thursday.
"An improvised bomb, planted at the health facility, went off at 3:30am, destroying the boundary wall and developing cracks in the walls and roof of its two rooms," sources said.
They added that the kaboom was so powerful that it was heard far and wide in the district, creating panic and fear among people.
In Bannu district, a CD shop was blown up by unidentified persons in Taji Kallay bus stand in the limits of Ghori Wala cop shoppe on Thursday.
Police said that a bomb, planted at the CD centre on Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... Road, went off with a bang at midnight and destroyed the shop completely.
Another bomb was found in Sadar Bazaar in the limits of Ahmad Khan Chowk cop shoppe. The Bomb Disposal Squad disposed off it successfully.
In Lakki Marwat, police with the help of security forces thwarted a terror bid by defusing a bomb near Malang Adda on Thursday.
The residents of the area noticed suspicious material under a culvert on Tajori Road and informed local police. A heavy contingent of law enforces reached the place and besieged the area.
Later, personnel of Bomb Disposal Squad with the help of security forces defused the bomb, weighing seven kilograms.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... police claimed to have placed in long-term storage more than 150 suspects during a fortnight crackdown on anti-social elements in different parts of Lakki district.
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[An Nahar] Four Afghan children were killed on Friday when a bomb went kaboom! as they played near their home in the warring country's troubled east, which borders Pakistain, officials said.
The blast in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province is the latest reminder of the high corpse count suffered by civilians in the current war since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power.
"Four children were killed and six others were slightly injured as a result of roadside kaboomkaboom," said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a front man for the governor of Nangarhar. "The incident took place around 9:30 am (05:00 GMT)."
But the interior ministry said the kaboom was caused by a mortar apparently left over from Afghanistan's decades of war.
Afghanistan faced years of conflict before 2001 and bombs dating from this period regularly cause deaths and injuries, often to curious children.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... most bombings are linked to an insurgency being waged by the turban Taliban.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... said the number of civilians killed in the war during the first half of this year rose 15 percent to 1,462, with gunnies responsible for 80 percent of the deaths.
There are around 140,000 international troops, mainly from the United States, in Afghanistan helping government forces combat a Taliban-led insurgency.
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Legia Warsaw have been fined 10,000 euros by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) after fans displayed a banner saying 'Jihad Legia' during a soccer match at home to Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv on September 29.
Poland has already been criticised by UEFA officials over hooliganism, which they say is destroying the image of the country that is due to co-host the 2012 European Championship with Ukraine.
In May of this year hooligans fought with police, damaged the stadium and attacked press photographers after Legia beat Lech Poznan 5-4 on penalties to win the Polish Cup final in Bydgoszcz.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Associated Press has withdrawn the 12th and 13th Ld-Writethrus of its story about the Natalie Wood investigation. The story mistakenly quoted Christopher Walken as telling Washington, D.C. sports talk radio station ESPN980 about his recollections from the night that Wood died. An Associated Press reporter mistook what was actually a station employee's impersonation of Walken as a real interview. Must've been one of the really good Walken impressions to fool a crack AP reporter...
Take it away, Scoops...
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor Christopher Walken says he went to bed on a yacht he was on with actress Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner 30 years ago and awoke to learn that she had died. Walken tells Washington, D.C. sports talk radio station ESPN980 on Friday that there was drinking and shouting on the boat and that then "there was tragedy."
His comments come as Los Angeles authorities reopened the case of Wood's 1981 death in the waters off Southern California.
A boat captain said Friday that he lied to authorities about the case and that Wood's husband, Wagner, was to blame for her death.
Police said Wagner was not a suspect and that they had new information that warranted a reopening the case.
Associated Press writer Joe White in Bethesda, Md. Not, repeat not, a relation...
[Washington Examiner] People can debate all day whether government should be in the business of picking winners and losers in the marketplace by selectively awarding loan guarantees. What's beyond dispute is that any official decision that results in the loss of half-a-billion tax dollars should elicit an apology from somebody in government. Just don't expect that somebody to be Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, even though he's the guy who ignored multiple warnings beforehand and approved the $535 billion federal loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt Solyndra ...a green technological winner picked by the B.O. regime that cost the taxpayers a half billion dollars, with the added benefit of the campaign contributors who put money into the project getting paid before the taxpayers when the wreckage went up for sale... solar panel maker. He's also the guy who approved a loan restructuring that resulted in private investors -- including one of President B.O.'s wealthiest campaign contributors -- being repaid before the taxpayers, an arrangement virtually without precedent in the government.
"Well, it is extremely unfortunate what has happened with Solyndra. Was there incompetence? Was there any influence of a political nature? I would have to say no."
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan gave Chu an opportunity during yesterday's hearing by asking him "who has to apologize for the half a billion dollars in taxpayer money that's out the door?" Here's how Chu responded: "Well, it is extremely unfortunate what has happened with Solyndra. Was there incompetence? Was there any influence of a political nature? I would have to say no." The clueless Chu displayed not even the faintest hint of a regret that his decision lost more money than most Americans will earn in their lifetimes. Evidently, Chu believes the old maxim: "Never apologize, never explain. Get it over with and let them howl."
The energy secretary's arrogance likely will inspire a lot more howling about Solyndra and a host of similar loan guarantees handed out by Chu and his fellow Obama appointees. What many of these loans have in common with Solyndra is that all used tax dollars to line the pockets of key Obama fundraisers and donors. Take, for example, Solar Reserve, which received an even bigger loan guarantee -- $737 million -- than Solyndra. Solar Reserve's biggest investor is a company owned by Michael Froman, former deputy assistant to the president who bundled as much as $500,000 for Obama in 2008.
Then there is Abound Solar, which got a $400 million guarantee. A key investor in Abound Solar is Pat Stryker who contributed $87,000 to Obama's inauguration festivities. Next up is Granite Reliable Wind Generation, which got $168.9 million loan guarantee. Granite's majority owner is a firm formerly headed by Nancy Ann DeParle, deputy White House chief of staff and head of communications during the Obamacare campaign -- and wife of New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... news hound Jason DeParle. Finally, there's BrightSource Energy, whose principal adviser is Robert Kennedy Jr., one of Obama's earliest backers in 2008. Kennedy's firm received $1.6 billion in loan guarantees.
Chu wants us to believe political influence had nothing to do with any of these decisions. He might as well tell us the moon is made of green cheese. Leave it to the Hoover Institution's Peter Schweizer, who has studied the energy loans in detail, to state the obvious: "This is a payoff to people who are your political backers and supporters. And this is really a wealth transfer from middle class taxpayers to billionaires."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Why should he apologize? It's not like it's his money.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/19/2011 10:03
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Jumping Jeebus on a pogo stick, its not like these people didn't sit through a lot of rubber chicken dinners to earn their payoffs.
It's hard out there for an Obama Pimp.
#3
Obama apologizes to third world dictators and thugs for what he perceives America to be. But there is not an ounce of humility or remorse for what he and his administration is doing to America.
[Dawn] Halfway between Toronto and Montreal, ghastly details of a murder trial are unfolding. The dead are three young Moslem girls and their stepmother. Stand accused of their murder are the parents and the brother of the dead girls.
What makes Moslem parents murder their own children, especially daughters, is a question that has leapt to the front pages of newspapers all across Canada. It is, unfortunately, not the first time that Moslem parents in Canada have murdered a female child. Such murders are known as 'honour killings' where parents murder their daughter/s to "protect the family honour."
It was only in December 2007 when a Pak father (along with his son) murdered his 16-year old daughter, Aqsa Parvez, in a suburb of Toronto. Her crime: she wanted to act and dress like other teenage girls in her school. Fewer than two years after Aqsa's murder, another Moslem father in Canada murders not one but three daughters.
On the morning of June 30, 2009, a car was found submerged in the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ontario, a small university town some 250 km East of Toronto. Found dead in the car were the three Shafia sisters: Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13. Also found dead in the car was 50-year old Rona Amir Mohammad, who was the girls' stepmother. Weeks later the Canadian police set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock the girls' parents Mohammad Shafia, 59, and Tooba Mohammad Yaha, their 39-year old mother. The police also set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock the girls' brother Hamed Shafia, 18, and accused the three of murdering the three teenage girls and their stepmother, Shafia's first wife who did not bear any children.
A little over two years later, the accused are now standing trial in Kingston. As the trial proceeds, gruesome details emerge about the family that conspired to kill its own daughters. Once again, it is a familiar story where a father is unhappy with his teenage daughters and decides to kill them "to protect his family honour."
Shafias, originally from Afghanistan, moved to Canada in 2007 and settled in a suburb of Montreal. The court proceedings reveal an overbearing father who was not happy with the way his daughters were growing up in Canada. He was particularly concerned about his eldest daughter, Zainab, who fancied a Pak young man of modest means. Mohammad Shafia did not approve of the relationship.
Over the next two years an acrimonious relationship develops between the father and the eldest daughter. Shafia was spying on the daughters and was aware of the digital photographs of his older daughters with their friends. He was not pleased.
While Shafia was away in Dubai for work, Zainab wedded the Pak young man in a small ceremony attended by her immediate family members. Missing from the ceremony was Shafia and the groom's entire family, who also did not approve of the union.
What transpired later in the day after the Nikkah ceremony revealed that Zainab in fact got married to spite her father. According to the Toronto Star, she told her uncle: "... this boy doesn't have money and he's not handsome. The only reason I'm marrying him is to get my Dire Revenge™. I will sacrifice myself for my other sisters. At least they will get their freedom after me.'' Zainab told her mother after the Nikkah that she would be willing to dissolve the day-old marriage to please her mother. Soon the family was off to a vacation in Niagara Falls. On their way back from vacation they made an overnight stop in Kingston. Next morning, four dead bodies were found trapped in the submerged car.
The police suspected the family from the very beginning. The evidence found around the scene of the crime suggested that the submerged car was pushed into the water by another car, which also belonged to the family. Further investigations revealed that the four women were dead before the car went into water, suggesting that it was not a freak traffic accident, as was initially claimed by the parents.
The police planted surveillance equipment in the Shafias' home and car, and also bugged their phone. The taped conversations played in the courtroom revealed a calculated plot by Mohammad Shafia to kill his daughters. They painted a picture of a man who had no remorse for killing his own flesh and blood. Geeti, who was 13, and his first wife, Rona were the collateral damage. Still Shafia is heard on tape saying: "I am happy and my conscience is clear," and that his daughters "haven't done good and God punished them."
Was it really a punishment from God or from a sadist father who killed in cold blood because his daughters disobeyed him? He called his daughters "filthy and rotten children" and expressed his resolve to do the same 100-times over.
While the tapes reveal a merciless man who was a captive of his tribal norms, which he brought with him from Afghanistan, a swoop of Hamed Shafia's computer by the police also revealed a cunning man who was searching the Internet to plot murders. Other searches conducted on the laptop computer focused on what would happen to one's business and property if one was incarcerated.
Many in the West associate 'honour killings' with Moslem societies. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... the deplorable practice can be found in several non-Moslem majority societies. In India, for instance, the practice is more frequent in rural settings where village councils at times have sanctioned murdering the couple who had eloped or married without the family's consent. Earlier this week a judge in Uttar Pradesh sentenced eight men to death and 20 others for life imprisonment for honour killings committed in 1991. In May 2011, the Indian Supreme Court had already recommended capital punishment for those convicted of honour killings, thus enabling the lower courts to award stricter punishments.
In Pakistain and several other Moslem countries, female victims of honour killings seldom get justice. While laws against honour killing have been on the books in Pakistain since 2005, however the conviction rate has been despicably low. In Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP), a mere 8 per cent of those accused of honour killings were convicted in 2009. *Of the 33 women and 18 men murdered in honour killings in 2009 in KP, 83 per cent of the accused were husbands, fathers, brothers and other male relatives of the dear departed.
Research from Pakistain, Jordon, and other countries revealed that often mothers of murdered women approach the sharia courts as their legal heirs and sought and received pardon for the accused father, brother or other male relative of the murdered girl in a Diyat (blood money) arrangement.
The Shafias will have to face justice. Mohammad Shafia's wealth and property cannot buy him freedom in Canada. He murdered his daughters. It was not an act of passion, but a premeditated one. Shafia thinks he acted honourably.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... nothing is more dishonourable and cowardly than murdering children.
Posted by: Fred ||
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God did NOT punish them, their father did, May he long hang.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/19/2011 0:25
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What kind of religion is it when the honor of a man is determined by what happens between the thighs of his daughters? (Paraphrased) Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
11/19/2011 10:07
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I'm very confused: how is it that the murderous father's childless first wife is the girls' stepmother? Isn't a stepmother the one who enters the picture after the birth mother dies or is divorced by the father? And given that "Stepmama" is 50, the children ranged in age from 19 to 13, and Mama herself is only 39, why was Stepmama involved at all?
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] President Museveni has called on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. to end "aggression" against the South.
He urged the Khartoum government to back off South Sudan stating that President Bashir must abide by the 2005 peace agreements ending decades of conflict between the North and South.
At a joint news conference with South Sudan leader Salva Kiir, the Ugandan leader said Khartoum cannot make the "mistake of managing Sudan as an Arab country and yet it is Afro-Arab."
South Sudan blames the North over recent attacks on the continent's newest country, that became autonomous following a referendum in July 2011. (READ: South Sudan accuses Khartoum of fresh bombing)
A statement from President Museveni's office said South Sudan people had "voted twice democratically" expressing their right of self-determination.
Salva Kiir is in Uganda for a two day State visit. While officials remained tight lipped over the agenda of the visit, sources confided to the Nation that regional security was top on the agenda.
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[An Nahar] An opposition MP on Friday urged the U.N. Security Council, which is to meet on Yemen, to refer President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... over bloodshed linked to his refusal to quit.
"We call on the Security Council to impose sanctions on President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... and to refer him to the ICC," said Fued Dahaba, from the opposition Islamist party Al-Islah, leading weekly Mohammedan prayers near Sanaa's Change Square.
The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss Saleh's refusal to hand over power under a Gulf plan in return for immunity from prosecution, as increasing violence ramps up the pressure for international action.
The 15-member Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2014 on October 21 condemning attacks on demonstrators by Saleh's forces and strongly backing a Gulf Cooperation Council plan under which Saleh would end 33 years in power.
Several hundred demonstrators have been killed since anti-government protests started in late January.
Saleh's forces have killed at least 94 people and maimed 800, mostly in Sanaa and Taez, over the three weeks since the resolution was passed, according to a toll compiled by young anti-regime protesters.
"The solution is now for (Saleh) to be put on trial, not by the signing of the (Gulf) initiative," said Dahaba before a huge crowd gathered for Friday prayers at the square that has become a focal point of protests.
Saleh's supporters took part in separate prayers at Sabbine Square near the presidential palace. "The people want Ali Abdullah Saleh ... The people want security," they chanted.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The UN is not a government. Nobody has elected a single member of the UN. They can not pass laws, they can not press "criminal" charges unless they make a complaint in a court of a sovereign nation.
The UN is a diplomatic body and I am getting pretty tired of their running around the world acting as if they are some sort of government.
[Emirates 24/7] A woman activist who posted nude pictures of herself on her blog to protest limits on free expression has triggered an uproar in Egypt, drawing condemnations from conservatives and liberals alike. I'm withholding judgment until I've seen the birthday suit...
Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them ahead of November 28 parliamentary elections. Are they nekkid, too?
Nudity is strongly frowned upon in Egyptian society, even as an art form.
Elmahdy wrote on her blog that the photographs -- which show her standing wearing only stockings -- are "screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy." Well, she does live in a Moslem country...
The blog has received 1.5 million hits since she posted the photos earlier this week. Sounds like a pretty tasty birthday suit...
The posting comes at a time when Egypt, a nation of some 85 million people, is polarized ahead of the elections, the first since the February ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... The posting prompted furious discussions on Internet social media sites, with pages for and against her put up on Facebook. "Hrmph. Brazen hussy!"
"Damn! I hadda push my eyeballs back in their sockets!"
Some 100 people liked his comment, while thousands flooded the site with insults.
Elmahdy did not reply to attempts by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named to contact her.
Women rights activist Nehad Abou el-Qomsan said what Elmahdy did is rejected because posing nude is a form of body abuse. It doesn't hurt to occasionally air out your gennies, y'know...
Elmahdy and her boyfriend Kareem Amer, also a controversial blogger, have challenged Egypt's social strictures before. Earlier this year, they posted mobile phone video footage of themselves debating with managers of a public park who threw them out for public displays of affection. "You must remember this:
A kiss is just a kiss
Until the Easily Offended show up..."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Come on...what's an article like this without the actual photo?
#6
Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them ahead of November 28 parliamentary elections.
wrong angle. Can't see the taint
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/19/2011 9:36
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Outrageous! Any more photos?
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
11/19/2011 10:09
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Egypt is a complex country. The youth are more western in my opinion. This woman should go into hiding. I look for her to pay for this act of defiance. Before the change these were some of the Egyptian youth:
#11
Maybe I'm going blind but she just doesn't do anything for me. However, the picture of a young Natalie Wood unwinds my turban.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/19/2011 17:35
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#12
So the Egypt is in the dumper and both conservatives and liberals are worried about this nekkid pretty miss. Methinks they got a lot more problems than this to worry about.
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... must step down quickly to stop the country spiralling into civil war, but should be allowed to stay in the country as he is not responsible for the unrest, the incumbent leader's uncle Rifaat Al Assad said on Thursday.
In an interview with French television, Rifaat Al Assad said months of civil unrest had effectively deprived Syria of leadership, and it now risked being torn apart by armed militias and could face a worse upheaval than neighbouring Leb's civil war in the 1970s and 80s.
Out of a sense of patriotism, Bashar Al Assad should speed up his departure, he said, but his presence in Syria was not untenable as blood had been shed on both sides, among supporters and opponents of the government.
"He has to go, but without leaving the country. He isn't responsible, it's a historical accumulation of many things, and I'd like him to convince himself to step down," Rifaat Al Assad told LCI television.
Rifaat Al Assad is a former military commander, widely held responsible for crushing an uprising in 1982 against then president Hafez Al Assad, Bashar's father, in which many thousands were killed.
Rifaat turned against the government in the 1980s and now lives in exile. Earlier this year, his son and Bashar's cousin Ribal, who lives in exile in London, urged the Syrian leader to attempt a rapprochement with opponents to avoid civil war and an outbreak of regional conflict.
On Thursday, Ribal told BBC radio the government just wanted to cling to power. "They don't want any dialogue, they are ready to do whatever," he said.
He called for the opposition to be united, to include all the country's different ethnic groups, sects and religions, as part of a process towards a peaceful transition. This could allow his cousin to "get out, if somebody could give him refuge", he said.
"I have been talking to people in the military and in the military secret service lately in Syria who also are tired and are against what is happening," he said. "They are tired of the violence that's being used against people."
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11/19/2011
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[Express UK] THE EU was ridiculed last night after it took three years to issue a new rule that water cannot be sold as healthy.
In a scarcely believable ruling, a panel of experts threw out a claim that regular water consumption is the best way to rehydrate the body.
The bizarre diktat from Brussels has far-reaching implications for member states, including Britannia, as no water sold in the EU can now claim to protect against dehydration.
Any producer breaching the order, signed by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, faces being set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock for up to two years. It took the 21 scientists on the panel three years of analysis into the link between water and dehydration to come to their extraordinary conclusion.
Last night the decision of the European Food Safety Authority's panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was labelled "beyond parody". Ukip's deputy leader Paul Nuttall, who sits on the European Parliament's Public Health Committee, said: "I had to read this four or five times before I believed it.
"It is a perfect example of what the EU does best and makes the bendy banana law look positively sane."
Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: "The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are, highly paid, highly pensioned officials trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.
"If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it."
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[Dawn] US police are to re-open the investigation into the death of US actress Natalie Wood, who died in mysterious circumstances while boating in 1981, they said Thursday.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) said new information had come to light over the death, which was deemed an accident at the time but which has long fueled speculation.
Wood drowned aged 43 while boating off of Catalina Island, near Los Angeles on November 29, 1981. It was investigated by the LASD and the LA County Coroner's Office, who ruled it was an accident.
"Recently Sheriff's Homicide Investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,"said an LASD statement.
In response, the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau "has decided to take another look at the case," it added.
Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Russian emigre parents in San Francisco, enjoyed a glittering Hollywood career, and is best known for classic movies including "West Side Story," "Rebel Without a Cause."
Wood and husband Robert Wagner, whom she had married for a second time in 1972, were spending the Thanksgiving weekend on their yacht the "Splendour," with actor friend Christopher Walken as their guest. They had eaten at a dockside restaurant before returning to the boat to drink, when a heated row erupted between Wagner and Walken. Christopher Walken vs. Robert Wagner? I know who my money's on...
Wood left to go to the master cabin, and eventually the two men calmed down, but when Wagner returned to the cabin she was not there. She was believed to have come up on deck to tie a loose dinghy. She was later found drowned. ...and became immortalized as a punchline in one of the most tasteless jokes of all time.
"I have gone over it so many millions of times with people. Nobody heard anything," said Wagner, quoted by the LA Times, which said Thursday that police are particularly interested in new comments by the captain of the boat.
LA County Sheriff Lee Baca told the newspaper that that homicide detectives want to talk to the captain based on comments he had made recounting the case on its 30th anniversary.
"He made comments worthy of exploring," Baca said, without giving any further details.
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11/19/2011
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#2
Alcohol and salt water do not always mix very well. It's a damn shame. She was sooooooo pretty. Robert Wagner appears on TV commercials these days for a Mercedes Benz dealership in Escondido, just north of San Diego.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/19/2011 15:25
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Roger That. And, "Reverse Mortgage" scams here in the East. Always thought that RW was scum.
Chris Walken knows the score; at least up to the point when he left the fray to go crash in his state room. He's not a pretty thing, staying up all night to drunkenly "prove a point".
[Al Ahram] Syria has asked for amendments to a plan to send Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observers to Syria to assess the situation there where troops are cracking down on anti-government protests, the League chief said on Friday.
The Syrian request is being studied, the League said.
The pan-Arab body based in Cairo has demanded an end to bloodshed and called for monitors to be sent to Syria as part of an Arab initiative aimed at ending the violence and starting talks between the government and the Syrian opposition.
The League suspended Syria this week. It has also drawn up a plan with civil society groups for a 500-strong fact-finding team that will include military personnel. Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... had said it welcomed a League-backed mission whatever the make-up.
League chief Nabil Elaraby said in a statement he had received a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem "including amendments to the draft protocol regarding the legal status and duties of the monitoring mission of the vaporous Arab League to Syria" agreed by a League ministerial council on Wednesday.
"These amendments are now under study," the statement quoted Elaraby as saying.
He said the Syrian request was made in a letter received on Thursday evening.
The League has threatened sanctions if Syria does not heed by the end of the week the Arab peace plan that entails a military pullout from around restive Syrian cities and towns.
La Belle France and Turkey called on Friday for more international pressure on Syria to end the violent crackdown on opponents of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad, Despoiler of Deraa... while activists said security forces rubbed out five people protesting after weekly prayers.
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Thousands of Shia-led protesters calling for greater rights have streamed into an area outside the capital Manama.
Friday's rally is one of the largest demonstrations in weeks against the Gulf kingdom's Sunni rulers. Some of the protesters carried tents, suggesting an attempt to occupy the site in A'ali, about 1.5 miles (three kilometers) southeast of Manama.
Others waved flags from nations where Arab uprisings have toppled regimes, such as Libya and Tunisia. Security forces did not make an immediate attempt to intervene.
Bahrain's majority Shias began protests in February calling for a stronger voice in the nation's affairs. Sunni leaders have offered reforms, but refuse to give up control of top government posts.
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[Al Ahram] Hundreds of thousands of protesters descended on Tahrir Square Friday to call for one principal demand: an end to military rule and a swift transfer of power to an elected president by April 2012.
Although labelled the 'Friday of One Demand', repudiation of the supra-constitutional principles, dubbed "El-Selmi's Document," equally resounded across the square.
The supra-constitutional principles, proposed by Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs Ali El-Selmi, have been the source of much ire by the vast majority of political parties and groups, especially Islamists, who believe they will win a majority in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, and thus would have an upper hand in drafting the constitution.
The so-called Selmi document, critics say, will grant the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) unfettered powers and place undue conditions on the formation of a constituent assembly charged with drafting Egypt's new constitution.
For months now, the ruling SCAF has increasingly found itself in sticky situations for a multitude of reasons including: the chronic security vacuum, the continuing military trials of civilians, a deteriorating national economy and for "ignoring" the demands of the January 25 Revolution.
Upon assuming power following the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... on 11 February, the SCAF vowed to end its interim rule after a six-month transitional period.
This has not been the case, as the ruling military council has maintained its hold on power for over 10 months. Egyptians from across the political and ideological spectrum have in turn run out of patience, taking to the streets to call for a fixed timeline bookended by the speedy departure of the military rulers.
Islamists dominated Tahrir's Friday rally in what was a show of force by groups and parties from Egypt's broad political and ideological landscape. The result was the largest gathering in Cairo's revolutionary square since the last time Islamists coalesced in Tahrir for what was mockingly dubbed "Kandahar Friday" on 29 July.
Of the participating Islamists, the Moslem Brüderbund and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), were the most visible, outnumbering their counterparts. The group has notably boycotted most of the million-man marches that took place following the popular 18-day uprising.
Apart from flags, shirts and green caps emblazoned with the groups logo, two criss-crossed swords, the Islamist group came readied with their banners bearing emblems of the FJP and the Brotherhood's student groups. Several banners indicated the various members' governorate of origin in a show of their mobilisation power.
Salafists ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... were also heavily represented in Tahrir, particularly by Al-Nour (Light) and Al-Asala (Authenticity) parties, believed to be the two largest Salafist parties in Egypt.
The Islamist and Salafist currents have been strongly opposed to Selmi's proposed principles from the get go.
"This document has absolutely no legitimacy, it wasn't voted on and those who drafted it were not chosen by the people," a Salafist sheikh said from one of the podiums. "The military council came up with it as a buffer for the other [non-Islamic] political currents, but they have also rejected it."
Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya also participated in the demonstration, stating that the proposed principles "do not reflect the will of the people". Al-Jamaa spokesperson Assem Abdel Maged said stressed that "the will of the people is the most important thing, and the 'El-Selmi document' goes against this will."
Al-Jamaa also called for the release of blind holy man Omar Abdel Rahman who has been jugged for nearly two decades. A leading figure of Al-Jamaa, Abdel Rahman was given a life sentence for his "involvement" in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.
His family along with members of Al-Jamaa have for months been calling on the SCAF to lobby for his release.
Other unaffiliated Islamists lifted images of the late Al-Qaeda criminal mastermind, the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer exists... , praising him as a martyr.
April 6 Youth Movement was the largest non-Islamic political force in Tahrir though a wide range of other political forces took part in the event, such as the Revolutionary Socialists, the Bedaya (Beginning) Movement, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Revolution Youth Coalition and the No to Military Trials campaign.
Syrian protesters made their way into the mix, protesting against much reviled Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. They branded him a killer and called for his immediate removal from power.
Hundreds of Egyptian and Syrian protesters carried a huge flag of the former Syrian Republic - before the 1963 Baathist coup - while others waved normal-sized Egyptian and Syrian flags, as they all demanded Assad's departure.
There were, however, a handful of political parties who boycotted Friday's protest. The liberal Wafd Party, for one, announced its rejection of today's demonstration. In statements to the media, the Wafd's Secretary-General Fouad Badrawy stressed that the country was desperately in need of stability during the current, critical interim phase.
The liberal Free Egyptians Party also boycotted Friday's protest, along with the Nasserist Karama Party. The latter gave further reasoning to its boycott, stating that the protest had been "hijacked by other powers," in reference to Egypt's powerful Islamist forces.
The leftist Tagammu Party and the Egyptian Communist Party had also announced plans steer clear of Friday's protest.
As Friday's big protest winds down, the day has been marked by peaceful protest with no festivities or confrontations as some anxiously speculated.
It remains unclear whether demonstrators will stage a sit-in, as they continue to debate this option among themselves. Many Islamists, however, opted to leave by dusk.
Popular preacher Safwat Hegazi took to the podium, urging the Brotherhood, Salafists and Al-Jamaa to unite. Furthermore, in a dig at the SCAF, he assured his listeners that parliamentary elections will be held under no matter what happens.
"Securing the elections should be our responsibility," he said. "We need to make sure the ballots will be safe and also blow the whistle on the candidates from the [now-dismantled] National Democratic Party," said Hegazi, whose speech was followed by the departure of many Islamist leaders.
Islamist presidential hopeful Selim El-Awa also gave a speech but promised to remain in Tahrir until all demands are met. Awa used his speech to condemn the 'Selmi document' and demand that the military council hold to the three-stage election schedule.
Other Islamist forces threatened to "peacefully escalate the revolution" should the SCAF show no response.
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[Yemen Post] According to security sources in the southern Yemeni sea-port city of Aden, a high ranking military officer would have been killed on Wednesday evening in a surprise attack. The government is already suspecting al-Qaeda of being behind the assault as the group has been increasingly targeting officials in the region over the past few months.
Colonel Abdul Hakimal-Qahdi was killed when a group of unknown gunnies opened fire onto his vehicle in the Cairo neighborhood of Aden.
Eye-witnesses revealed that they had seen 2 gunnies approached the Colonel's vehicle, shooting several rounds directly at him. Hakimal-Qahdi died instantly.
Such attacks have become quite common since Yemen is suffering a worsening security situation with gangs being allowed to roam freely as the government is struggling to maintain its "head above water" so do speak.
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11/19/2011
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[Tripoli Post] British foreign secretary William Hague revealed that British intelligence agencies thwarted an liquidation attempt on members of Libya's National Transitional Council by former Libyan leader Muammar Al Qadaffy. ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... In a public speech on the work of the British intelligence agencies, which he described as "vital assets" with a "fundamental and indispensable role" in keeping the nation safe, Mr Hague said that after discovering details of the planned attack UK intelligence agencies were able to warn the National Transitional Council in Benghazi. He said the attacks, planned for early spring this year by the head of Libyan intelligence, would have involved a car or suicide bomb.
Mr Hague made the disclosure as he praised the work of MI6 and other British intelligence agencies, which include the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and the electronic "listening" agency GCHQ. He said he had seen 'daily' examples of how the professionalism of the secret services had saved the lives of Britons. They had also played a vital role in the struggle that toppled the Al Qadaffy regime, he said.
Speaking at the foreign office about the bomb plot, Mr Hague said: 'The Al Qadaffy regime tried to attack the National Transitional Council in Benghazi, and to kill some of the Western representatives in Libya.
'He went on to say that the agencies were able to warn the NTC of the threat and the attacks were prevented.'
He added: 'We should be proud of Britannia's role in securing intervention in Libya to protect civilians and stop Al Qadaffy from massacring his own people. This diplomatic and military success was also backed by effective intelligence.
Mr Hague said that throughout the conflict in Libya, the agencies used their global capabilities to provide insight into the intentions of pro-Al Qadaffy forces and to understand the progress of the battles around Brega, Misrata and finally Tripoli.
"They worked to identify key political figures, develop contacts with the emerging opposition and provide political and military intelligence. Most importantly, they saved lives.
He also revealed that British nationals had been foiled in a bomb plot to attack this country after they travelled abroad for terrorist training.
He also spoke of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ work in helping to defend the UK from cyber attacks by terrorists. He said all three work closely together and with others around the world to safeguard the security and national interests of the UK against those who try to steal our confidential information in cyberspace.
At the same time he acknowledged that Britannia's reputation in the world had been damaged by allegations that M15 and M16 officers had bee too close to the former Libyan regime and was involved in the extraordinary rendition of anti-Al Qadaffy activists. He said the Government was determined to tackle the issue,
'The very making of these allegations undermined Britannia's standing in the world as a country that upholds international law and abhors torture,' Mr Hague said.
He also strongly defended controversial proposals to hold secret court hearings in civil cases when evidence involving sensitive intelligence material was being discussed, saying that in "exceptional instances".
He said said that it was essential the agencies were able to protect their sources and their methods if they were to carry out their work effectively. "A blend of people, technology and partnerships give us an intelligence edge. If our techniques come to light, adversaries benefit and are able to switch techniques and communications resulting in a loss of knowledge about their plans," he said.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Philippines police set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock ex-president Gloria Arroyo at her hospital bed on Friday on charges of conspiring with a feared warlord to rig an election, an offence that could lead to life in jail.
The events capped a tumultuous week in Philippine politics that had seen the government block Arroyo, 64, from leaving the country after she arrived at Manila Airport wearing a neck brace and saying she needed medical care abroad.
The decision by the Commission on Elections to charge her today with rigging the 2007 senatorial elections also marked the high-point in President Benigno Aquino's campaign to hold his predecessor to account for alleged graft.
"Mrs Arroyo is compelled to stay in the country and face the charges of electoral sabotage," Justice secretary Leila de Lima told news hounds after a Manila court issued an arrest warrant against the ex-president.
"(This case) has great implications not just to the integrity of our electoral system, but also to the very principles of democracy.
"It is our desire ... that the Filipino people are finally given the justice they duly deserve."
Police then served the arrest warrant on Arroyo today night at a Manila hospital where her aides said she was being treated for a rare bone disease that had led to three unsuccessful spine operations this year.
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Arroyo and other former government officials including Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Maguindanao elections supervisor Lintang Bedol were accused of committing electoral sabotage in relation to the alleged 2007 poll fraud in the province where senatorial candidates of the Arroyo administration's Team Unity won in a 12-0 sweep. Electoral sabotage is a non-bailable offense. Those proven guilty of the crime will be imposed a penalty of life imprisonment.
As far as the warlord bit - it wouldn't be surprising. That's Philippine politics. Besides, GMA and her party were also known to have cultivated political ties with the New Peoples Army and their political wings. The warlord deal would just be part of doing business.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Jodie Foster aka Sarah Tobias in "The Accused" aka Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs" aka Meg Altman in "Panic Room" aka Madeleine White in "Inside Man" aka Eleanor Arroway in "Contact" aka Linda in "Five Corners" aka Erica Bain in "The Brave One" aka Nell Kellty in "Nell" aka Iris in "Taxi Driver" aka Annabelle Bransford in "Maverick" aka Kyle Pratt in "Flightplan" aka Meredith Black in "The Beaver" (age 49)
Peta Wilson (Australian) aka Nikita in "La Femme Nikita (TV Series 19972001)" aka Mina Harker in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" aka Bobbie-Faye in "Superman Returns" aka Anny Ondra in "Joe and Max (TV 2002) (as in Louis & Schmeling" aka Girl of His Dreams in "The Sadness of Sex" aka Vickie Kittrie in "Mercy" aka Cpl. Jennifer Vaughn in "One of Our Own" aka Alyssha Rourke in "Loser" aka Sherrie in "Beautiful" (age 42)
[Nigerian Tribune] As the turban group, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... , continues its bombing of strategic places in the country, the World Investment Report (WIR) of the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Conference Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said that the domestic economy has lost a whopping sum of N1.33 trillion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) owing to the problem.
According to the report, FDI flows to Nigeria fell to $6.1 billion (N933.3 billion) in 2010, a decline of about 29 per cent from the $8.65 billion (N1.33 trillion) realised in 2009 fiscal year.
The report obtained by Saturday Tribune further revealed that the sharp decline of FDI to the country was compounded aftermath the global financial crisis.
Also, statistics obtained from the 2010 annual report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the total foreign capital inflow into the Nigerian economy in 2010 was $5.99 billion.
The record showed that FDI represented about 78.1 per cent drop from $3.31 billion in 2009.
It would be recalled that the decline in investment had been lately generally attributed to the increasing rate of insecurity in the country, as well as infrastructural decay.
Besides, the fear caused by the Boko Haram bombings in particular has made most foreign investors, who usually featured at the annual Lagos Trade Fair to show case their products to stay away, even as those who were presently on ground had heavy security network around them.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, the former National President, Association of National Accountant of Nigeria (ANAN), Dr. Sam Nzekwe, said the activities of Boko Haram were causing an incalculable damage to the nation's economy.
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#1
It all started when they got an email from Bill Clinton, stating that when he left office, he stole $3 trillion dollars that he wanted to deposit in a Nigerian bank...
#2
The level of corruption in Nigeria is so large I don't know whether to believe any figures re: investment, GDP, inflows, outflows, etc.
Even Nigerians don't understand their situation. I used to know a US Army doc who was born & had his basic education in Nigeria. He once tried to import a Mercedes he owned into the country so he could drive it around when he visited his friends & relatives. I don't have to detail what became of his car...
#3
Stop trying to negotiate with the bastards and just kill them. That is what they are trying to do to everyone else. Stop trying to be "better" than they are and just get rid of them
[Dawn] The inquiry commission on the May 2 US operation in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... had shown its dissatisfaction over the credibility of evidence gathered during the probe.
A BBC Urdu report quoted a security official familiar with the investigation as saying that the members of the commission had formed a list of 'important witnesses' and conducted lengthy interviews.
But, the information gathered from these interviews was not sufficient to estabilsh the facts, the report said.
Only credible information about the presence of OsamaBin Laden in the compound came from the women who were said to be the wives of al-Qaeda chief, the report added.
Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, the chairman of the commission, had said after the formation of the commission that he would also ask the United States government to provide evidence.
But, a front man of the US embassy told the BBC Urdu that the commission had not yet contacted them on the issue.
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[Dawn] Three months after a group of gunnies kidnapped a sick and elderly American development expert in Pakistain, police said Friday they believe he is still alive but have no leads in the case.
Police in the eastern city of Lahore said they have released the only witnesses, have no scene of the crime evidence and cannot fathom a motive for the abduction on August 13 of Warren Weinstein.
The 70-year-old country director for US-based consultancy J.E. Austin Associates was snatched after gunnies used his driver to trick their way into his room at his Lahore home just days before he was due to return to the United States.
Three security guards and Weinstein's driver had been held in jug over suspicions that somebody close to him leaked details of his movements.
"We kept the driver and guards for three months and interviewed them at length. We couldn't find anything from those people," special investigations officer Abdul Razzaque Cheema told AFP.
"We couldn't get proper fingerprints from there (the house). We checked the (CCTV) camera but due to darkness there was nothing. So from the scene of the crime we couldn't find anything and we have no information coming." Weinstein suffers from asthma, heart problems and high-blood pressure, and fears have been growing for his health if still being held captive in Pakistain, which is deeply troubled by Taliban and al Qaeda-linked violence.
But "there is no confirmation that he's dead," said Cheema. "Nobody has hinted to us he's dead. No, not at all. We consider him alive," he added.
Diplomatic relations between Pakistain and the United States have been severely compromised this year by the American raid killing the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... on May 2 and Pakistain's earlier detention of a CIA contractor over double murder charges.
But although anti-Americanism runs high in Pakistain and kidnappings of Paks are commonplace, abductions of Westerners are rare and practically unheard of in Lahore.
Criminal kidnappings usually yield a demand for ransom within three weeks, said Cheema, and most hostages are released within three months. "So I don't know who these people are," he said.
"Nobody has grabbed credit. Normal criminals they go for kidnapping for ransom, but not foreigners," he said.
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NAIROBI, Kenya: East African officials are considering having Ethiopian troops join the war in Somalia to create a third front against Al-Qaeda linked insurgents, officials said Friday, as around 400 Kenyan soldiers moved to the border to push toward a key Somali town.
International interest in famine-hit, war-ravaged Somalia is at the highest it has been for a generation, since US troops arrived in 1992 to help safeguard humanitarian shipments following the collapse of the Somali government. US involvement, and that of a subsequent UN mission, ended abruptly in 1993 after Somali fighters shot down two US Black Hawk helicopters, killing 18 American servicemen.
Now theres another build up of international forces, and another famine. But its not clear that those intervening in the war have a plan to effectively govern any territory they take. Many analysts say the insurgency only flourishes because of corruption and abuses by the government.
Taking towns is the easy part. Then you have to hold them and provide security and make them nice places to live, said Roger Middleton, a Somalia expert at London-based think tank Chatham House. Islamist organizations have been defeated militarily quite a few times but the hardcore leadership always comes back because they are one of the few people with a political vision that goes beyond their clan or subclan.
Kenyan troops pushed across the border with Somalia into insurgent territory in the south last month, following a string of attacks by Somali gunmen on Kenyan soil. The same month, 9,000 African Union peacekeepers supporting the weak UN-backed government squeezed the Islamists out of the capital of Mogadishu for the first time in four years.
If Ethiopian troops cross into Somalia in substantial numbers, it would further stretch the Islamist Al-Shabab militia by opening a third front. But it could also hand the Islamists a propaganda victory because Ethiopian forces are wildly unpopular in Somalia.
Al-Shabab was born of the remnants of the Islamic Courts Union, which seized control of much of southern Somalia in 2006 by clamping down on abusive warlords and using Islam to unite warring clans. But the Ethiopians worried the Islamists had designs on Ethiopian territory that is ethnically Somali and the US was concerned the Somali Islamists were harboring terrorists. The Ethiopians entered the country at the end of 2006 and drove the Islamists from power.
In response, the Islamists launched an insurgent campaign of bombings and guerrilla attacks. Residents say the Ethiopians reacted by mortaring civilian neighborhoods and shooting wildly whenever they were attacked.
The Ethiopians left in 2009 as part of a deal that established the current African Union force and brought President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed into power. Ahmed was a former Islamist leader who made his name fighting the Ethiopians.
Spokesmen for the African Union and Kenyan military said Ethiopias possible role in the conflict is still being discussed, but declined to rule out an Ethiopian intervention.
The issue is, after Kenya has gone in, how does the mission proceed? said Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the AU force in Somalia. There had been meetings this week in the Ethiopian capital, he said, where East African leaders had discussed greater regional involvement in Somalia by countries that included Ethiopia.
Ethiopian intervention in Somalia was also allowed under regional agreements, a Kenyan military spokesman said.
Ethiopia is supposed to build (military) capacity in Somalia. That could apply to cross-border operations, said Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir.
Ethiopian officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
Ethiopian troops frequently make small incursions across the border and support friendly Somalia militias. Ethiopian troops and Somali government troops carried out joint exercises in the Somali town of Belet Weyne, near the border.
If Ethiopia does send substantial numbers of troops, it could help energize Al-Shabab, which has been weakened by infighting and a famine in its southern strongholds, said Middleton.
Ethiopia is the number one boogeyman in Somalia, he said. An intervention could help feed a narrative of foreign invasion and Christian invasion.
Burundi and Uganda the two countries contributing troops to the AU force are predominantly Christian, as is Kenya. Ethiopia has large numbers of Christians and Muslims. Somalia is almost entirely Muslim.
Kenyan troops have not faced any significant resistance in Somalia, but they might be about to begin their first serious fight.
A local official said around 400 Kenyan soldiers arrived Friday morning in the Kenyan border town of Liboi along with helicopters, light aircraft and other equipment. He says they were sent to help take Afmadow, a Somali town that has been heavily fortified by Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents. Afmadow is on the way to the port city of Kismayo, which provides the bulk of Al-Shababs revenues.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/19/2011
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#1
Again?
Didn't they already do that once a couple of years ago?
#3
They did do it a couple years ago and they broke the Islamic Courts. Al-Shabaab is built around Islamic Courts remnants. After al-Shabaab's been destroyed -- it looks like it will be -- something else will form around its remnants and continue the Islamic anarchy. Count on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/19/2011 8:48
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#4
Burundi and Uganda -- the two countries contributing troops to the AU force -- are predominantly Christian, as is Kenya. Ethiopia has large numbers of Christians and Muslims. Somalia is almost entirely Muslim.
There's an important point in that paragraph, and it's not geographic.
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