The Palestinian Authority may soon fail financially and cease to exist, its prime minister warned on Thursday.
Salam Fayyad warned that if Israel does not resume the transfer of tax revenues it collects for the PA, the entity will collapse economically and thus cease to exist. Already now, Fayyad claimed, the PA cannot pay salaries to its employees.
Channel 10 News reported that Fayyad made the comments following a meeting with Norways Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. According to the report, Fayyad said that the collapse of PA institutions is advancing rapidly toward the point at which they will stop operating.
We have no money, Fayyad was quoted as having said. Its not about donations or international assistance we receive, he added, blaming the Israeli decision to freeze the taxes it collects for the PA as being the reason for the impending collapse.
A recent World Bank report, while admitting that the PA is undergoing a financial crisis, said the crisis was primarily due to the lack of donor countries fulfilling their pledges to fork over billions of dollars to Ramallah.
Israeli officials decided to halt the transfer of taxes to the PA as part of a round of sanctions against the entity, following its ascension as a 'full-member state' to UNESCO. Last week, Israel's cabinet voted to maintain the freeze. Israel transfers some $100 million in tax payments to the PA every month.
Foreign Minister Støre reportedly said Fayyad is correct in saying that the PA will soon cease to exist, and compared the Israeli decision to waterboarding, the method of torture used by the United States on security prisoners, when interrogators simulate drowning by pouring water on the head of the prisoner.
This is waterboarding-style torture, only that it has to do with the economy, Støre was quoted as having said.
On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resume the transfer of taxes to the PA, saying that transferring tax money to the PA would be in line with Israels legal obligations.
#5
That's absurd. Waterboarding is simulated drowning, merely temporarily distressing, as demonstrated by the few brave reporters brave enough to submit themselves to it as research; what the PA is going through is the real thing -- and long since deserved, too.
Iranian officials claimed a blow against US spying efforts on its nuclear programme and strategic industries after 12 CIA assets were captured by the regime and its Lebanese ally, Hizbollah.
US officials acknowledged that its network targeting Iran had suffered a setback and expressed fears that its contacts would be executed by the regime.
Heydar Moslehi, Iran's intelligence minister, said yesterday that the alleged spies worked at the highest levels of "major firms involved in oil, gas and nuclear industries" as the country .
Parviz Sorouri, a member of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy committee said the arrested spies were on a mission to cripple Iran in vital sectors with military and security links.
This current announcement follows the unravelling by Lebanon's Hizbollah of a CIA spy ring included a network based in a Pizza Hut.
Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, has admitted that at least two CIA spies had infiltrated the ranks of the organisation. The US Embassy in Lebanon officially denied the accusation but officials conceded that Hizbollah had subsequently methodically picked off CIA informants in recent months.
I hope Fox hires her
A Russian news anchor made headlines herself by giving the middle finger on air, seemingly aimed at President Obama.
And now she's lost her job.
REN TV's Tatyana Limanova is seen flipping the bird in a newscast that aired earlier this month, but went viral on the web after a report Wednesday by London's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The attention has now led the station to fire her.
"A decision has been taken that T Limanova cannot and will not continue to work on the REN TV channel as a presenter," it said.
In the segment, Limanova delivers an item on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assuming the rotating chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Cooperation organization, adding that he was taking over for President Barack Obama. At the mention of Obama's name, the award-winning television journalist immediately raises her hand in the rude gesture.
Sources at the network -- which is available to 120 million viewers across Russia -- told the Telegraph that the anchor thought she was off camera and just doing a voiceover, aiming the insult at studio technicians who had teased her earlier.
The footage, however, seems to show her looking up at the camera when she makes her questionable editorial statement.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of Frances far-right National Front, has made abandoning the euro one of the pillars of her presidential election campaign, launching a powerful attack on the ailing single currency as she seeks to bolster her already strong showing in the opinion polls.
Presenting her presidential project, Ms Le Pen said Europe should give up the euro, which had asphyxiated our economies, killed our industries and choked our jobs for years, as well as causing France to accumulate Himalayan debts. In any case, she added, the country should prepare a planned exit from the currency union. We need to anticipate the collapse of the euro rather than suffer from the collapse of the euro, she said in a television interview on Sunday. Ooo. European markets on Monday should be special.
For a map, click here Updated to include new information from AnimalPolitico.com
A total of 26 unidentified individuals were found dead Thursday morning in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico, stuffed into three vehicles, according to Mexican news accounts. The victims were found near the intersection of avenidas Mariano Otero and Lazaro Cardenas.
Officials in Guadalajara and from the Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR), or the national attorney general's office said two messages were left with the victims. Officials also said the crime is similar to the murder of 35 Los Zetas in Veracruz state last September. To read the Rantburg report on the September 20th murder of 35 Los Zetas, click here
Claim for that crime was taken by the Matazetas group, at one time thought to be a vigilante group, now known to be affiliated with the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. Officials in the Veracruz slaughter at the time said the murders were because of competition in local drug dealing markets. Press reports also said the Los Zetas have recent aligned their local groups the the Milenio cartel,
One of the messages left with the dead in Guadalajara were directed to the governor of Jalisco state, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez. The content of the messages were not revealed to Mexican press.
Officials with the Guadalajara municipal police corporation said today that video recordings were made of the vehicles in transit, and it is possible to identify the drivers.
Associated Press accounts have stated, absurdly, that Guadalajara has been spared much of the violence that the rest of Mexico has suffered, even though Guadalajara is capital to one of the most drug infested, dangerous regions in Mexico: the northern border area of Jalisco state with Zacatecas state.
That area is a contested zone where Los Zetas have been fighting an ongoing battle with Mexican federal and state security forces, and with rival drug cartel gangs associated with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.
The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have been aligned since last spring and have stated their intentions to destroy Los Zetas. Numerous shootings in Guadalajara took place close to the end of 2010.
"People who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks."
-- Randall Jarrell, "A Sad Heart at the Supermarket"
This is not a Golden Age, which distinguishes it from no other age. Although we are told it is our duty to be morose about the nation's trajectory, many satisfying, edifying or entertaining things have happened this year. So on Thanksgiving, which still keeps Super Bowl Sunday in second place on the list of days when Americans eat the most, gorge yourself on some reasons for feeling at least a bit grateful for 2011:
A new genre of humor was born, the currency crisis joke. A Spaniard, an Italian and a Greek go into a bar. They drink until dawn. Who pays the tab? A German.
The euro is unraveling and might dissolve the European Union, that product of transnational progressivism based on the belief that national sovereignty should be leeched away to clever experts who, uninhibited by the consent of the governed, can create clever things like the euro.
In 2011, someone actually asked how an Amtrak employee with a $21,000 salary earned $149,000 in overtime.
A week after President Barack Obama cited an Ohio restaurant as a beneficiary of the Chrysler bailout, the restaurant closed.
The reputation of a mass murderer was tweaked by Russia's chief investigator reporting that "there is no reliable document" proving the "instigation" of Lenin in the 1918 murder of Czar Nicholas II, his wife and five children.
No one saw the possible problem with the word "despite" in this headline: "Gun crime continues to decrease, despite increase in gun sales."
In Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Maryland, lemonade stands run by scofflaw children were put out of business in a government crackdown against wee people who commit capitalism without getting bureaucratic permissions.
Ford Motor Co. issued a careful non-denial when some incorrigible cynics wondered whether political pressure from Detroit's Washington masters caused Ford to take down a YouTube ad in which a customer says he is in a Ford showroom because "I wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government."
In a TV commercial for Ameriprise Financial, actor Tommy Lee Jones says: "Helping generations through tough times, good times, never taking a bailout."
Manning the ramparts on the wall of separation between church and state, a Seattle teacher required Easter Eggs to be called "spring spheres."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, told an interviewer -- before bolting from the interview -- that he sends his children to private schools because "my children are not an instrument of me being mayor. ... I'm making this decision as a father."
In the year when Americans became aware that there is more student debt than credit card debt, Yale offered a course on how people with disabilities are portrayed in fiction: "We will examine how characters serve as figures of otherness, transcendence, physicality or abjection. Later may come examination questions on regulative discourse, performativity and frameworks of intelligibility."
"I carpooled this morning with my trooper," explained Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick when, during what he designated "Car-Free Week" to save the planet, he was seen commuting in his SUV.
When the Wisconsin Education Association Council, having spent liberally defending public-sector union privileges, announced it was laying off 40 percent of its staff, it was denounced by the National Staff Organization, a union for employees of education unions.
Picking up a theme from America's economist in chief, who suggested that ATMs and ticket kiosks at airports aggravate unemployment, Rep. Jesse JacksonJr. said the iPad is "responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs," such as "all of the jobs associated with paper."
A market research firm found that people who buy the $43,000 Chevy Volt (seats four in space not taken by its 400-pound battery) or the $34,500 Nissan Leaf, and who get a $7,500 government bribe (aka tax credit) for doing so, have average annual incomes of $150,000. Half of the buyers own at least two other vehicles.
Only about one in five drivers (according to State Farm research) admits to surfing the Internet while driving, which means that perhaps 80 percent of the drivers in front, behind and next to you are not.
Doris Day, 87, released an album of new songs. Que sera, sera
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seoul's presidential palace office into a "sea of fire," stepping up its rhetoric one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by North Korea last year.
On Wednesday, South Korea mobilized aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery guns and naval boats for the first anniversary of the artillery attack on a military garrison and fishing community on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Two marines and two construction workers were killed in the attack, the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
A similar "sea of fire" threatens to engulf Seoul's presidential Blue House if South Korean forces fire a single shot into North Korean territory, the North's People's Army warned in a statement from Pyongyang.
"They should not forget the lesson taught" by the Yeonpyeong shelling last year, said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The North has issued similar threats over years at times of tension with South Korea.
The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because their conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. However, North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the U.N. in 1953, and the waters have been a flashpoint for violence over the years.
Pyongyang accuses Seoul of provoking last year's attack, saying it struck after warning the South not to hold live-fire drills in the disputed waters.
Since then, South Korea has spent millions of dollars beefing up its arsenal. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Jung Seung-jo said his forces would "crush the enemy" if they strike again.
#1
Hurrah! Sea of Fire Man has survived! Thank you, Beavis, for setting our minds at ease, when we were so sure he had perished from one of the many, many reasons to perish in North Korea.
Some demonstrators are planning to occupy retailers on Black Friday to protest "the business that are in the pockets of Wall Street." Getting between a hunting holiday shopper and her prey is not the safest idea in the world. But these people aren't particulary known for their brains.
Organizers are encouraging consumers to either occupy or boycott retailers that are publicly traded, according to the Stop Black Friday website.
"The idea is simple, hit the corporations that corrupt and control American politics where it hurts, their profits, " states the Occupy Black Friday Facebook page.
A few of the retailers the protesters plan on targeting include Neiman Marcus, Amazon and Wal-Mart. My guess is that these targets (and others listed on the website) also just happen to be non-union.
Their website states the following:
"Keep in mind that we are not occupying small businesses or hardworking people--we must make a distinction between the businesses that are in the pockets of Wall Street and the businesses that serve our local communities. Of course, unlike the typical OWS 'protester' these businesses often contribute to the local economies where they are located. Besides providing hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs, sponsoring events and quietly contributing to organizations (United Way for example). But, of course, to the typical OWS protester these don't count because it's not being given to them personally.
We are NOT anti-capitalist. Just anti-crapitalist.
This is not the first time the demonstrators have taken action against corporations by using their money as weapon for change. Of course their weapon just happens to be as dangerous as a wet noodle...
On Nov. 5th many demonstrators participated in "Bank Transfer Day" and moved their money from banks to credit unions. Which was so effective... nobody noticed.
Well at least their parents will have a chance to hose down their basements. I hear sales of Bleach and Pine-Sol are at an all-time high.
#1
Guess they couldn't google 'riot black friday walmart' otherwise they'd perceive their fate. Can't wait for this years batch of Youtubes particularly of some utes of pale color at the Wallymart in the hood trying to obstruct the run dogs of capitalism.
#7
Oh, yes PLEASE get in the way of the ladies hitting Macy's for the Black Friday sales, especially in the Bridal Department. Live chickens being thrown into a pit of starving pit bulls would have a better chance of survival.
President Obama's top Medicare official has resigned in the face of Republican pledges to block his confirmation in the Senate. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator "Dr. Death Panel"
Donald M. Berwick notified colleagues Wednesday that he will step down Dec. 2, nearly a month before the expiration of his recess appointment.
The White House will nominate Marilyn Tavenner, Medicare's deputy administrator, as his replacement.
Berwick's critics have cited his statements about the need for health care to redistribute resources from the rich to the poor, and his favorable statements about the British health care system.
Berwick advocates cutting health costs by adopting some of the approaches of Great Britains National Health Services (NHS) and its National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The NHS works so well for its citizens (sarc).
Conservative critics claim, "NICE decides which healthcare people will get and which they wont."
If it is rationed, then some get healthcare and some don't. Are those who are on the "right" side of this administration the benefactors of Obamacare? Will Obamacare become a vehicle for corruption the likes of which we have not seen before?
Marilyn Tavenner, on paper, seems to be less acceptable than Berwick.
Health care, the economy, national defense, immigration, jobs and everything else will not get better until this administration is out.
#1
Expect Russia to take "drastic" action to a losing region. Also include Ingushetia to be a part of the area of influence.
Russia will be putting in stakes again at this point - be it by handing out passports in the Ukraine or Kosovo, and pushing their character influence through every energy asset in Europe.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/24/2011 9:43
Comments ||
Top||
#7
The problem with any of these lists is this. On any night there's a fight for "Heavyweight Champion of the World" (yeah, I know, there are several belts) on TV, there is some guy at home in his Lazy Boy with a beer in his hand who could whip both the guys in the ring at once without putting his beer down. Same applies to whatever endeavor you care to name.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/24/2011 10:01
Comments ||
Top||
#8
nice list - voters are all good/famous guitarists, and each individual guitarist's review is written by another famous guitarist. Well done, even if Gromky's his usual bitchy self
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2011 10:39
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Al Di Meola
I forget about him sometimes. Suitable for any list of top guitarists except for one measuring influence on the masses of guitarists. Then, yes, Hendrix.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/24/2011 11:20
Comments ||
Top||
#10
I always thought Susanna Hoffs was great with a guitar. ;-)
#16
Music is totally subjective but here's my $.02 --Hendrix is one of the most influential rock players of all-time because of an album and half of material -- but he is not a top-10 guy anymore. Same w/Clapton who hasn't done anything worth of note after the Dominoes album or in the last 30 yrs...(besides cheesy beer jingles...Lay Down Sally? Gimme a break.) Jeff Beck's guitar playing is technically real good but listening to his music is like putting ketchup and ice cream together - good separated but crap together. He's another one that bores me now. Last album he did w/Joss Stone sounded like a drunk teen-ager noodling w/a strat (Joss Stone is great btw). Like Clapton I think Beck is way over-rated.
No Uli Jon Roth, Randy Rhoads in the top 10? I call Shenannigans...
#17
If you make improvizational ability a criteria,
(excluding Jazz/classical players like Montgomery, Burrell DiMeola, McLaughlin, etc.) the list would be:
1) Jerry Garcia
2) Duane Allman
3) Warren Haynes
4) Trey Anastasio
and on
Posted by: DJ Curtis C ||
11/24/2011 18:53
Comments ||
Top||
#18
It's not a bad list, maybe at times they got confused between great guitarists (who pushed and redefined the instrument) and guys who have made great guitar songs?
I would have pushed up guys like Andy Summers (Police) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths). Plus Dick Dale ought to be in the top 10- he defined an entire genre of music.
#21
Hendrix was a definite Rock guitar iconoclast. He played a right-handed guitar, strung for a right-handed person; left-handed and did it brilliantly. That puts him out of the running because of how the question was put forward.
In my humble Troll opinion, here are my picks for Best Guitarist of All Time in descending order:
Gary Moore, Julian Bream, Chet Atkins, Clapton and Mark Knopfler.
For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here
One Apodaca, Nuevo Leon municipal police agent and two armed suspects were killed in an ambush Wednesday in Apodaca, according to Mexican news accounts.
Rogelio Israel Martinez Sanchez, 26, was riding on his motorcycle on the Apodaca-Juarez road when he was fired on by two armed suspects travelling aboard a taxi cab.
Apparently Martinez Sanchez fired on his attackers while riding the motorcycle striking one through the windshield of the vehicle. In a subsequent exchange of gunfire, Martinez Sanchez apparently struck the other suspect with gunfire as well as being struck himself.
The police agent was rushed to a local clinic where he died.
Martinez Sanchez was prior service Mexican military and had served with Mexican Fuerzas Especiales or Special Forces.
The suspects, Dario Jaimes Campos and Ernesto Rosales Castillo, had previously been with the Apodaca municipal police corporation before being discharged, presumably for loss of confidence.
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati to "submit his resignation today rather than tomorrow or to jump off the boat, which is approaching the rocks."
"The Lebanese state has not granted refugee status to those who decamped to Israel (in 2000). Let the government classify them as refugees and let Miqati quit if he does not have the majority in cabinet to do that," Geagea said during an interview on Future News television.
"Did the energy minister (Jebran Bassil) or the premier seek Arab funds for the (recently approved electricity) plan? They rather rejected proposals from Arab funds so that they make investments in the local market. It would be better for the government to quit today rather than tomorrow," Geagea added.
He warned that the approach adopted by Miqati will not lead to "building a country."
"In my opinion, if the government resigns, let's form a March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... government because Leb can only find salvation through a March 14 government based on the Cedar Revolution's principles," Geagea suggested, noting that the previous national unity government had "failed to unite the country."
"Should we fail to form a March 14 government, let's form a technocratic government. The best PM Miqati can do for the sake of his political future is to step down immediately," the LF leader went on to say.
Slamming Hizbullah and its allies, Geagea said: "We tell them once and for all: Let no one threaten us. They got accustomed to that after the May 7 (festivities) but we shall not tolerate threats. To hell with stability if we are supposed to live a false life."
"What kind of state is that which is a mailbox for other countries? Let the other camp take to the streets whenever they want, but when they realize that we will stand our ground they will leave the streets," Geagea noted.
He blasted the Lebanese state as "inexistent on the human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... map or the world map."
Asked about Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's stances on the Syrian crisis and the Arab Spring, Geagea said "the patriarch is observing the events and raising concerns."
"His concerns are legitimate but I would've liked to see him asking us politicians to take action. His stances have changed now and I didn't share him some views," Geagea added, noting that "al-Rahi is not closer to the other camp even if his viewpoint is different than that of (ex-)patriarch (Nasrallah) Sfeir."
He stressed that there is "dissimilarity" between the two patriarchs' personalities, but pointed out that "al-Rahi has just started his journey and we cannot judge it at this time."
Geagea reminisced "major disagreements with patriarch Sfeir when he first started his journey," calling for giving al-Rahi "enough time to see what direction he will take."
Commenting on the murder of 28-year-old Lebanese woman Myriam al-Ashqar on Monday in Keserwan, Geagea said: "Only the law and the path of justice can salvage us, as a crime should not be confronted with another crime, but rather through the law, despite the current status of our judiciary."
Turning to the issue of the Syrian crisis, Geagea said "the fall of the Syrian regime is inevitable," noting that embattled Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's regime "does not enjoy any Arab or international legitimacy."
He also noted that "Hizbullah will not sacrifice itself to rescue the (Syrian) regime, although it would grow weaker with its downfall."
"Syria will witness a difficult turmoil after the revolution, just like what happened in Iran, the Bolshevik Revolution and the other Arab countries," Geagea suggested.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid questioned on Wednesday the double standards adopted in tackling security issues in Leb, asking why it is easy for the army to enter the town of Arsal while it is prevented from entering the town of Siddiqin.
He wondered after the General Secretariat's weekly meeting: "Why was it allowed to pursue Syrians in Arsal, while the army, which is responsible for protecting Leb and implementing U.N. Security Council 1701, was thwarted from heading to Siddiqin?"
A huge kaboom went off in an alleged arms depot in the Hizbullah stronghold of Siddiqin in the South overnight.
Party members prevented the security forces from reaching the area.
Soaid asked: "Why is the army forbidden from conducting an investigation only after Hizbullah's security forces had informed the Lebanese public of what it wants?"
Addressing the Special Tribunal for Leb, he said: "The funding of the tribunal is an integral matter that the Lebanese government should commit to out of respect of justice and in order to prevent Leb from being dragged into a confrontation with the international community."
On the developments in Syria, he stated: "Syria is seeking shelter behind the Lebanese government because it appears that it has lost its diplomatic ability to persuade the Arab and international circles of its points of view."
He predicted that Prime Minister Najib Miqati will therefore not remain in power for too long because the Syrian regime is slowly losing its Arab and international legitimacy.
Leb, Syria, and Yemen were the only countries who opposed 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... decision to suspend Syria's membership from the organization.
The government's position has sparked the condemnation of the March 14-led opposition, which has labeled the stand as an act of consent to the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown against anti-regime protests that have been raging since March.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[Dawn] Bahrain's king vowed reforms on Wednesday after a commission of inquiry found that his security forces used "excessive force" and tortured detainees in a March crackdown on Shia-led protests.
King Hamad ...King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its emir (from 6 March 1999). He is a Sunni, while the rest of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite... commissioned the report to investigate allegations of government misconduct and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuses against protesters, democracy activists, and opposition figures. On Wednesday he vowed there would be reforms.
"We will introduce and implement reforms that would please all segments of our society," the king said after the findings were released. He also expressed "dismay" at the mistreatment of Shia detainees.
"We do not tolerate the mistreatment of detainees and prisoners. We are dismayed to find that it has occurred, as your report has found," he said.
Responding earlier to the findings of the Independent Commission of Inquiry, an official front man also said the government accepts the criticisms.
"The government welcomes the findings of the Independent Commission, and acknowledges its criticisms," a statement said.
"We took the initiative in asking for this thorough and detailed inquiry to seek the truth and we accept it."
The report also acknowledged that the commission did not find proof of an Iran link to the unrest, dispelling widespread allegations by Sunni Gulf leaders that Iran played a role in instigating the mainly Shia protests.
"Evidence presented to the commission did not prove a clear link between the events in Bahrain and Iran," said Cherif Bassiouni, the commission's lead investigator.
The mass demonstrations which rocked the Sunni-ruled kingdom earlier this year were violently crushed as government forces used live ammunition and heavy-handed tactics to scatter protesters.
Bassiouni said the corpse count from the month-long unrest reached 35, including five security personnel. Hundreds more were maimed.
International organizations, including Amnesia Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... and the UN human rights agency, have repeatedly accused the government of violating citizens' rights, citing allegations of torture, unfair trials, excessive use of force and violent repression.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Ahram] Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... has replaced the controversial head of the country's main anti-corruption agency in one of the world's most graft-ridden nations.
Farida Waziri had served as Nigeria's chairwoman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission since 2008 and had faced regular criticism over the alleged ineffectiveness of the agency under her watch.
She has been replaced with Ibrahim Lamorde, who served as the agency's acting chairman before Waziri was appointed, a statement said Wednesday. He returned to the agency in December 2010 as director of operations, setting off speculation that he would replace Waziri.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan "has approved the appointment of Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde as the Acting Chairman/Chief Executive of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC," a statement from the president's front man said. "The appointment takes immediate effect, and effectively relieves Mrs. Farida Waziri of her position as EFCC Chairman."
Lamorde also served as a deputy to Nuhu Ribadu, who led the agency from 2003 until he was forced out in late 2007.
Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... in a report released in August said the agency has been hobbled by incompetence, internal graft allegations and suspicions of political interference. The report made reference to graft allegations against the EFCC under Waziri, as well as the widespread perception that she has been ineffective.
The US-based rights group said it could find no concrete evidence of corruption, but called for Jonathan's administration to examine Waziri's performance. It also pointed out that the commission faces enormous obstacles in carrying out its work in Nigeria, where corruption is deeply rooted and part of everyday life in all levels of society.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Iranian ambassador to Syria has reiterated Tehran's full support for Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... in the face of the US and Israeli schemes against the Syrian nation.
"The West is attempting to abuse the developments in the region for its [own] benefits," Mohammad-Reza Sheibani warned in the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday, referring to the wave of Islamic Awakening sweeping the Arab world, IRNA reported.
"Today, we see this Islamic Awakening in the Islamic resistance in Leb and Paleostine, which is advancing in the interest of the Moslem world and threatening the West's interests," he said.
The Iranian official emphasized that Syrian officials, including Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... , supported the 'legitimate' demands of the Syrian nation and added that the West's plots against Damascus were rooted in the Syrian government's support for the Islamic resistance.
Syria has been experiencing deadly unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of Assad's government.
According to the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... , over 3,500 people -- including hundreds of Army personnel members and members of the security forces -- have been killed in the ongoing violence. The Syrian government blames the unrest on armed gunnies funded by elements from outside the country.
Syrian state TV has broadcast reports showing seized weapons caches and confessions by gunnies describing how they obtained weapons from foreign sources.
Since the beginning of the unrest, however, the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... have imposed severe sanctions on Damascus over alleged application of violence against anti-government protesters.
Syria has vehemently denied reports of violence against protesters, saying the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/24/2011 19:58
Comments ||
Top||
#3
If I were Assad, I would be back-channeling a deal with the Israelis for my family and I to flee the country, and turn over my secret police files to them in exchange for cash and new identities.
[Dawn] A high-ranking officer beat feet attempt on his life outside his office on Tuesday when a jacket wallah failed to detonate his explosive jacket and vanished into the nearby wilderness of Shakarparian.
Islamabad police said in a statement that a suicide jacket had been found in the wooded area across the Kashmire Highway but did not refer to the high drama.
It, however, issued the sketch of the suspected owner of the jacket, appealing to the citizens to call 920333 or 9204830 to share information about "any suspected element" they might have observed in the area. Dawn
Security and police sources would not name the targeted ISI officer but inquiries made by build up a fairly detailed picture of the liquidation attempt that went awry.
According to the sources, the officer`s vehicle and its security detail had just passed the CDA headquarters around 8:45am to enter the adjacent ISI headquarters when a man suddenly jumped in front of the motorcade. For a split second, the vehicles in the convoy applied brakes but sped on into the safety of ISI headquarters as the man fiddled with two triggering devices in his hands.
Confused and alarmed, the would-be suicide bomber took to his heels. He ran across the Khyaban-i-Suhrawardy to the parallel Kashmire Highway and then vanished into the heavily-wooded area.
"His (officer`s) security was the first priority with his escort," explained one source.
ISI security personnel started combing the area soon after.
But Islamabad police could go into action only around 10:30am after ISI informed its officers about the incident. Heavy police contingents cordoned off the wooded area to block the possible escape routes of the bomber on the run.
By 11am, police and ISI search teams found a suicide jacket abandoned by the side of a hiking track close to the Pakistain Monument on Shakarparian hilltop.
"It was packed with seven kilogrammes of C4 explosives. Two detonators, connected with a 9 volt battery, were found nearby.
The wire to the battery was found disconnected. That may be the reason that the trigger didn`t work -- unless the wire came off from the impact that the jacket would have suffered when its wearer threw it off," said one source.
Bomb disposal squad was called to the spot to defuse the explosives and the material was removed to Aabpara cop shoppe.
Later, ISI officials took it away. Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... the police and ISI found an eyewitness -- a CDA driver who had seen the man lurking near the CDA complex. He helped them drawing the sketch of the would-be bomber.
According to the eyewitness, the man was short, with light beard, curly hair and fair complexion. He looked a Pashtun in appearance.
Police sources said the sketch of the suspected suicide bomber "matched 90 per cent with the sketch of a robber in the police record." The robber was tossed in the calaboose in connection with a robbery in a house in Bharakahu a year ago.
Paperwork was started but nothing else was done at the Aabpara cop shoppe against unidentified persons under the anti-terrorism act and explosives act.
Soon after the incident, SSP Mohammad Yousuf Malik directed all SPs and SDPOs to increase patrolling and vigilance in their areas "to ensure foolproof security before Muharram". Police teams, supervised by SP (City) Mohammad Ilyas, launched search operations immediately and one of them recovered the suicide jacket near Shakarparian.
IGP Bani Amin Khan appreciated the performance of City Zone police and said Islamabad Police were committed to ensuring protection to the lives and property of the citizens.
He said the force had foiled several attempts of mischievous elements in the recent past and that efforts would continue to ensure more safety to the citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Emirates 24/7] A Libyan rebel said that his colleagues cut off three fingers of the right hand of Saif Al Islam, surviving son of late Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy. ... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope... He did so, allegedly because Saif pointed his finger at the rebel in a threatening manner. That'll teach him... Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... 'Al Mashahad Al Leeby' programme in a joint broadcast with 'Libya TV' and 'Libya FM' reported that Abdullah Al Zentan said he personally witnessed the "cuting off of the fingers of Saif Al Islam".
On the other hand, Saif Al Islam himself told Rooters on Saturday he is in good health, and he had maimed his right hand during a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... air raid.
Saif al-Islam spoke briefly on the bandages on three fingers of his right hand would only say, "Air Force Air Force .." In response to a question whether he meant the raid to NATO said: "Yes .. a month ago."
Saif Al Islam Qadaffy, and son of Abdullah Sanusi were jugged in Ubari in the south of Libya, where he was found hiding in an abandoned house accompanied by a group of his associates.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He is lucky that is all that they cut off: he had a reputation for grabbing women that caught his fancy off of the streets at one point in time.
An unknown assailant tossed a percussion grenade near the home of Mohammed Asmahan in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole overnight, causing material damage only, the National News Agency reported Wednesday.
NNA said Asmahan is Paleostinian and his house abuts the area known as the region of villas.
It was not known if the man belongs to any Paleostinian faction.
Earlier this month, a member of Fatah was maimed in Ein el-Hellhole after a member of Jund al-Sham plugged him.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jund al-Shams
[Bangla Daily Star] Two alleged criminals were killed in a 'shootout' between their cohorts and police in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia early yesterday.
The dear departed are Hossain Raja, 27, son of Intaz Ali of Kazipur village in Meherpur, and Liton Hossain, 28, son of Fulchand Hossain of Tekala village in Kushtia.
We have no idea where that is...
They were members of an inter-district gang involved in various criminal activities mainly abduction, police said.
But apparently not into nefarious enough criminal activities to merit the attention of the RAB, since mere police officers in Mirpur took care of the problem...
Chokdar Abdul Halim, assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in Kushtia, said two Detective Branch police teams from Kushtia and Mirpur cop shoppes raided Boropukuria field around 1:45am,
Boys, boys, you were early! Didn't the RAB instructor emphasize the importance of 3 am? Not too early, not too late.
where the gang members were holding a secret meeting in the dead of night.
"Sensing their presence,
My spider sense! It's tingling again! To arms! Aux barricades!
the criminals opened fire and also hurled two bombs targeting the law enforcers," ASP Halim said.
Hurled bombs, did they? Any scorch marks in the banana grove? No?
The police teams in self-defence fired back, triggering an hour-long shootout, he added.
Not a single shell casing was found. The police in B'desh are really good about policing the crime scene afterwards...
"We found two bodies lying
Right where the cops left them...
on the spot
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!"
after the shootout ended," the ASP said adding that police later identified the duo as Raja and Liton.
"Okay boys, these are the same two we dropped off at the spot. You can tag and bag 'em now."
The remaining gang members managed to flee the scene.
... as though they had never been...
Police recovered two light guns, five bullets and six bombs from the spot.
But no shutter gun, that being the exclusive provence of the RAB...
Raja and Liton were accused in a case filed in connection with kaboom on Rapid Action Battalion in Gangni upazila on January 11 this year. They were incarcerated on the day but released on bail in July, police sources said.
The bodies were sent to Kushtia General Hospital morgue for autopsies.
Why? Couldn't tell how they died?
According to Gangni and Kushtia Sadar police, Raja was accused in 11 cases, including one for murder while Liton was accused in twelve systems eight cases.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The bodies were sent to Kushtia General Hospital morgue for autopsies.
To count the Bullet Holes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/24/2011 3:10
Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Katherine Heigl aka Dr. Izzie Stevens in "Grey's Anatomy (TV Series 2005 )" aka Alison Scott in "Knocked Up" aka Abby in "The Ugly Truth" aka Holly Berenson in "Life as We Know It" aka Sarah Ryback in "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" aka Princess Ilene in "Prince Valiant" aka Arlene in "100 Girls" aka Ann Hedgerow / Emily Hedgerow in "Descendant" aka Laura Carrington in "New Year's Eve (Coming Soon)" (age 33)
#8
Hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving. I got to see friends I hadn't seen in years, and also got to share the day with a friend we didn't think would be around this T'giving, but is again hale and hearty.
I'm thankful for this, and for all my friends at Rantburg.
Happy Thanksgiving, Fred!
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/24/2011 19:56
Comments ||
Top||
#9
A wish that all who read this had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And I can only USN, Ret.'s wish for our fighting Rantburgers.
[Al Ahram] Ahram Online news hounds in Tahrir Square say that Central Security Forces (CSF) have attacked protesters in Falaki Square and other streets around Tahrir Square. Our news hound added that police are arresting anyone they find in sight and beating them up.
Police have also attacked the field hospitals directly off Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
People on the scene are posting on Twitter reports that military police have tossed in the clink multiple protesters including Egyptian-American director Gihan Nougaim.
Aljazeera TV carried live footage showing Army soldiers setting up barbed wire on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near the Ministry of Interior, the scene of the five-day-old bloody festivities between CSF and demonstraters, to seperate police and protesters. The barrier has since disappeared.
Tahrir Square is currently packed with hundreds of thousands of protesters from the Egyptian Museum end all the way to the Mogamaa at the south entrance to the area. Through the night the square is chanting in one voice: "The people want the removal of the field marshal."
Other chants include: "Why are you playing the Army with us? Are you we the Zionists or what?" and "Shame, shame, shame. Army kills revolutionaries."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] Turkey's prime minister has apologized for the first time for the killings of nearly 14,000 people in a bombing and strafing campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the 1930s.
The apology Wednesday by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes at a tense time for relations between Turkey and its minority Kurds and sparked calls to face another dark chapter of the Turkish history, the mass killings of Armenians in 1915.
Erdogan's government is currently fighting against autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels and despite efforts to seek peace, says it is determined to crush the rebels if they don't lay down their arms.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands since it began in 1984, but it is only the latest of several uprisings by Kurds in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast.
Erdogan on Wednesday offered his apology for the killings of 13,806 people in the southeastern town of Dersim, now known as Tunceli, between 1936 and 1939. The apology came after a war of words between Erdogan and the leader of the main opposition party.
An opposition politician, Huseyin Aygun, from the Republican People's Party said a dozen of his relatives were killed in Dersim and added that details about the suppression of the rebellion needed to become known.
Erdogan's apology appeared to be a political tactic to tarnish the image of opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, whose party was in power at the time of the rebellion. Kilicdaroglu's family is also rooted in Tunceli.
"Am I going to apologize or are you?" Erdogan asked Kilicdaroglu in a televised speech. "If there is need for an apology on behalf of the state, if there is such a practice in the books, I would apologize and I am apologizing."
Some ruling party politicians called for a probe into the Dersim slayings, where troops of Turkey's newly founded republic brutally crushed Kurdish clans that rejected central authority.
"Instead of looking for a culprit, we must chose to face history," government politician Mustafa Elitas said.
Mustafa Armagan, a historian and researcher, told state-run TRT television on Wednesday that the military's campaign in Dersim was followed by forced migrations and massacres as well as policies of assimilation.
The prime minister also said one of the main obstacles to Turkey's becoming "one of the world's most powerful states is that it can't face up to its past, history, taboos and fears."
Turkey is also under pressure to acknowledge other dark pages in its history, including the mass killings of Armenians in 1915, a special wealth tax imposed on Jews in the 1940s and attacks on its Greek minority in 1955.
The killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians and their forced migration under the Ottoman Empire has been the main barrier to Turkey's reconciliation with Armenia.
Armenians have long fought to persuade other governments to call the killings a genocide. Turkey rejects the term genocide, contending the figures are inflated and saying there were many deaths on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War I.
Despite the calls for search for truth over the Dersim incidents, Erdogan's government has said it would only halt its current military drive if the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK disarm.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... the government has left the door open for future talks. Turkey has long realized that it can't end the Kurdish rebel war through military measures alone, and the government has granted more cultural rights to the Kurdish minority such as broadcasts in the once-banned Kurdish language on state television.
But the rebels and Kurdish activists insist on autonomy and Kurdish education in schools, which Turkey fears could divide the country along ethnic lines.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As I pointed out yesterday, the Dersim massacres followed a period of forced resettlement, expropriation of property, organized assaults and other persecutions. The death toll of all of these persecutions of the mid to late 1930s in Turkey probably exceeds 80,000 and might be as high as 120,000 including not just Kurds but other minorities (Jews, Assyrians, Greeks).
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/24/2011 8:12
Comments ||
Top||
#2
It was Attatürk's secular government that crushed the Kurdish rebellion in the 1930s.
The Armenian genocide was perpetrated by the Ottoman caliphate.
By apologizing for the Kurdish massacre Erdogan is delegitimising Attatürk's heritage which is probably his real objective.
There won't be a similar apology to the Armenians as that move would cast a shadow over Attatürk's opponent, the caliphate.
[Dawn] EXACTLY two years ago, on Nov 23, 2009, parliament unanimously approved the Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... package. Militants marked the second anniversary of the package with a ferocious attack on a Frontier Corps convoy in the Balochistan district of Musa Khel on Monday. The Balochistan Liberation Army grabbed credit for the assault, which left 15 security personnel, including a major, dead. This was a brute reminder for the state of Pakistain of the militants' ability to violently oppose whatever effort is undertaken to norma-lise the situation in the province. The attacked FC troops were to be deployed as security for newly discovered coal reserves in the area. This imparted greater meaning to this strike by those who accuse the state of usurping Balochistan's rights and plundering its resources.
The government admits the pace of reforms has been slow, and everyone from nationalists to rights activists to journalists agree that the official Balochistan campaign is falling far short of winning the approval of the people of the province, let alone neutralising the rebels and others, such as sectarian killers, who thrive in times of instability. The space for politics within the existing framework has shrunk. The Balochistan Assembly, born of an election that was boycotted by many nationalist parties, is not what one would call a house representative of the people. Outside the assembly, many politicians who could help initiate a process of reconciliation have been forced to stay away from areas stalked by cut-thoats.
In the absence of an effective political mechanism to facilitate a search for solutions, the civilian administration is totally dependent on security personnel to maintain order. This is an option fraught with dangers. As disappearances and deaths in the province continue to be linked to the security agencies, they fuel the cut-thoats' description of Balochistan as a besieged land and adds to the impact of their attacks on troops. The interior ministry recently informed the National Assembly that FC personnel were 'confronted' 258 times between 2007 and 2011. Such attacks have drawn a strong response from the security agencies, as is evident in Musa Khel where a search operation is under way. It is not easy to talk of peace in moments of heat and hurt. Ultimately, however, it does not have to be a test of just how capable the security agencies are. Balochistan is in need of an urgent push towards a lasting solution -- one which must be based on politics, on honest, fair assessments of the situation and on the will and ability to push through decisions based on these assessments.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Tripoli Post] Libya's National Transitional Council Tuesday evening unveiled the new cabinet that will govern the country until it holds its first elections since the Al Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... era. It features a number of surprise appointments, and as interim prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keeb said as he addressed a news conference late Tuesday, "all of Libya is represented in the new line-up, and it is hard to say that any area is not represented."
As expected, Osama al-Juwali, the commander of the forces from Zintan who captured Seif al-Islam Al Qadaffy, has been assigned the portfolio of defence minister.
Perhaps what wasn't expected was the appointment of little known diplomat originally from Derna, Ashour Bin Hayal as foreign minister. Pre-selection predictions had indicated that the portfolio could have gone to Libya's deputy envoy to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... , Ibrahim Dabbashi who came to the fore early in the eight-month long uprising by rallying diplomats to support the uprising against Al Qadaffy.
El-Keeb appointed former oil executive Hassan Ziglam as finance minister, while the oil minister's portfolio was assigned to another former executive in the oil industry, Abdulrahman Ben Yezza, who previously worked with with Italian oil major ENI.
Western countries, which backed the revolt against the former Al Qadaffy regime and have a big stake in seeing his replacements succeed, were reported by Rooters as welcoming the new government, saying it would guide Libya towards democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
KIRKUK / Aswat al-Iraq: General Sarhad Qadir announced today that two bombed cars driven by suicidal terrorists exploded at the same time that six rockets fell on the on Haweeja police station which was being stormed by a group of gunmen.
Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq that fighting erupted with the intruders that led to the death of some of them. No other details were given.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds pretty organized/coordinated/advanced.
Posted by: American Delight ||
11/24/2011 8:37
Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] JUDGING by the intensifying demonstrations in Tahrir Square, the gulf between Egyptian protesters and the country's military-led government seems to be getting wider. The protestors' ire is directed at the generals -- especially Field Marshal Mohammad Tantawi --whom they see as a continuation of the Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... regime. The demonstrations reflect the widespread belief that the generals want to stick to power. No less than 39 political parties and groups are behind the rallies in Cairo and elsewhere. This shows the extent to which the civilian government and the military have alienated themselves from the people. Even though these political parties, including the rival Islamists (Moslem Brüderbund and the Salafis), differ among themselves, they share anti-army sentiments and seem determined to resist the military's proposals to amend the constitution. Briefly, the military wants exemption from a parliamentary review of its budget and internal working. More ominously, it wants to delay the presidential election due in April. This has added to doubts that the generals are really interested in a transition to democracy.
Countries that have experienced the Arab Spring fall into two categories -- those where the dictators have fallen (Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) and those where the struggle goes on (Bahrain, Syria and Yemen). The task for the caretaker regimes in the first category is to move towards democracy, and Tunisia has shown the way. If Libya is taking time to settle down and hold elections, one can understand, given the duration of the civil war and the extent of havoc wreaked in that country. But in Egypt it took only 18 days for the Mubarak regime to fall. That the generals should still prevaricate casts doubts on their intentions. The sensible course is not to delay the presidential election and to leave the constitutional amendments to the elected assembly, with the parliamentary election process scheduled to begin next Monday. The discarded Turkish model, in which the army was the protector of the constitution, will obviously not be acceptable to the Egyptian people, who have gained a new confidence in their ability to resist dictatorship.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Mubarak stepped aside because the general guaranteed his future: a little show trial and then it is off to the expensive villa with the protective troop screen and all of the goodies. If they renege on that, then none of the other generals and politicians will ever trust them again. And the lying generals will face a series of coups to depose them and then execute them.
#3
And Bahrain is not a dictatorship, it is an Emirate-form of government. Besides which, most of the 'protestors' in that country have been shown by outside reports to be on the Iranian payroll.
[Al Ahram] Iranian-backed Hezbullies boasted on Wednesday that it has succeeded in exposing CIA operatives in Leb and urged the government to take immediate measures against the US embassy near Beirut.
"Our security... has exposed several American and Israeli plots on Leb," Hezbullies MP Hassan Fadlallah told news hounds outside parliament.
"We call on the Lebanese government to take immediate action... and raise the issue with the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... and embassies, so that the whole world is aware of what the US embassy in Leb is doing," he added.
Fadlallah, who heads parliament's telecommunications committee, said the Lebanese Shia cut-thoat group had succeeded in uncovering Central Intelligence Agency operatives that had infiltrated Hezbullies.
"Lebanese intelligence vanquished US and Israeli intelligence in what is now known as the intelligence war," Fadlallah said.
"The resistance blinded American intelligence eyes."
The MP's comments came days after reports emerged that Hezbullies had uncovered several operatives within the movement working for the CIA.
In the first acknowledgement of infiltration since the Shia group's founding in the 1980s, Hezbullies chief Hassan Nasrallah in June said members of his group had confessed to being CIA agents.
Nasrallah accused his arch foe Israel of turning to the US spy agency after failing to infiltrate his party, slamming the American embassy in Beirut as a "den of spies."
The US embassy in Beirut dismissed the accusations as "empty."
More than 100 people in Leb have been placed in durance vile on suspicion of spying for Israel since April 2009, including military personnel and telecoms employees.
Leb and Israel technically remain in a state of war and convicted spies face life imprisonment or the death sentence if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life.
Leb has protested to the United Nations over the alleged spy networks.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
TRIPOLI, Libya: The International Criminal Courts (ICC) prosecutor says Muammar Qaddafis son Seif Al-Islam, who is being held by revolutionary fighters, will be tried in a Libyan court by Libyan judges.
The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, conceded on Tuesday that the Libyans have the authority to try Seif Al-Islam at home but he wants judges from the Netherlands-based court to be involved.
Still trying to grab control.
Moreno-Ocampo says the ICC will help Libya establish the judicial framework for the trial, which many Western busybodies hope expect to be a bellwether of the new Libyan governments ability to uphold the rule of law.
If the 'rule of law' in the new Libya is to execute those who committed crimes against humanity, will the ICC denounce them? Of course they will.
Seif Al-Islam, once the face of reform in Libya and the leader of his fathers effort to shake off pariah status, is charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC for the crackdown on an uprising that began in February and grew into a civil war.
Seif is captured so we are here to ensure we get a piece of the pie cooperation, Moreno-Ocampo told reporters after arriving in Libya. If they (Libyans) prosecute the case, we will discuss with them how to inform the judges, and they can do it, but our judges have to be involved.
Says who?
The ICC has also charged ex-intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senussi with crimes against humanity for the brutal crackdown on an uprising that began in February.
Libyan Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Alagi said Wednesday that he cant confirm reports that Al-Senussi is in custody. Moreno-Ocampo also said he believed the former intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senussi had not been captured.
Officials from Libyas National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday that Senussi, who is also Qaddafis brother-in-law, had been captured the day after Qaddafis son Seif Al-Islam was caught. He is believed to be held in a secret location in the southern city of Sabha.
They're waiting for the ICC to go home...
Libyas prime minister-designate, Abdurrahim El-Keib, later cast doubt on the reports, and the NTC has since neither confirmed nor denied Senussis capture, though a military commander has stood by his report of the arrest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
The Libyans should take a more aggressive approach against the Europeans. If they try to fit into "internationalist norms", the Europeans will just try to rape their country. But if they tell them to get the hell out of their country, the Europeans will fall all over themselves trying to be nice to Libya.
Bottom line: Europeans are not trustworthy, because they are two-faced.
[An Nahar] La Belle France will ask its EU partners to consider setting up humanitarian corridors in Syria, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday after talks with Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council.
Juppe said La Belle France considered the SNC a "legitimate interlocutor" and he would take to Brussels the idea of protected escape routes for Syrian civilians fleeing the crackdown of the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes...
"We examined the question of humanitarian corridors and I will ask the next meeting of the European Council to put this point on its agenda," Juppe said.
"If there could be a humanitarian dimension to the zones, which could be secured, to protect the population, that's a question that must be studied with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and 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... ," he said.
There have been reports that Turkey and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... allies such as La Belle France are considering imposing a no-fly zone and a buffer zone on Syrian territory to give the opposition breathing space while it organizes its revolt.
No official source has gone this far, however, and Juppe's statement was the first sign that something of the sort might be envisaged.
"The Syrian National Council is the legitimate interlocutor, and we will continue to work with it," Juppe said, stopping short of formally recognizing the body and stressing that it must be inclusive.
"We are working on a formal recognition with the vaporous Arab League and all of our allies," Juppe said.
The SNC headed by Gay Paree-based Ghalioun is one of at least four Syrian opposition movements, but is seen as the most representative and claims to speak for activists both inside and outside the country.
Speaking to news hounds after the joint news conference, Ghalioun said the SNC did not want to see the decampedgling Free Syrian Army, an armed rebel group, take the fight directly to the regime's far superior forces.
"We would like this army to carry out defensive actions to protect those who have left the (regime's) army and peaceful demonstrations, but not take on offensive actions against the army," he said.
In recent weeks there have been increasing reports that a rebel army has begun fighting Assad's regime in parallel to a largely peaceful street revolt that has faced brutal repression from regular forces.
This has increased fears the nine-month old revolt against the regime is slipping towards civil war. Four more non-combatants were killed on Wednesday, in a conflict which the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... says has claimed more than 3,500 lives.
Syria's northern neighbor Turkey warned, meanwhile, that the crisis was at "the point of no return" amid a growing chorus of international anger over the eight-month crackdown on dissent.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
KABUL: A law meant to protect Afghan women from a host of abusive practices, including rape, forced marriage and the trading of women to settle disputes, is being undermined by spotty enforcement, the UN said in a report released Wednesday.
Afghanistans Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was passed in August 2009, raising hopes among womens rights activists that Afghan women would get to fight back against abuses that had been ignored under Taleban rule. The law criminalized many abuses for the first time, including domestic violence, child marriage, driving a woman to resort to suicide and the selling and buying of women.
Yet the report found only a small percentage of reported crimes against women are pursued by the Afghan government.
Between March 2010 and March 2011 the first full Afghan year the law was in effect prosecutors opened 594 investigations involving crimes under the law. Thats only 26 percent of the 2,299 incidents registered by the Afghan human rights commission, the report said. And prosecutors went on to file indictments in only 155 cases, or 7 percent of the total number of crimes reported.
Sometimes victims were pressured to withdraw their complaints or to settle for mediation by traditional councils, the report said. Sometimes prosecutors didnt proceed with mandatory investigations for violent acts like rape or prostitution. Other times, police simply ignored complaints.
In one such instance in Kandahar in March, a woman reported that after her daughter got married, in-laws used the young woman as an unpaid servant and forced her into having sex with visiting men. She committed suicide by setting herself on fire in her room and the mother brought the case to the police.
The UN report says police recorded the mothers complaint but made no attempt to investigate even though the law specifies that all cases where a woman is suspected of being driven to kill herself by self-immolation require investigation even without a lodged complaint.
Self-immolation is one of the most common methods that Afghan women use to commit suicide. Women who set themselves on fire and survive often describe it as an act of desperation, something they were driven to do by the feeling that there was no other escape.
An official with the Afghan attorney generals office rejected the UN report but did not respond directly to its specific accusations that authorities were failing to investigate all reported crimes.
We have a law covering issues of violence against women. If someone breaks that law, they are prosecuted, said Rahmatullah Nasery, the deputy attorney general. He said the attorney generals office has acted on dozens of complaints.
Asked about women being pressured to withdraw complaints, Nasery said that this was a choice made by women on their own.
If the woman wants to make a complaint, we act on it. But it is the right of the woman not to file a complaint, he said.
Though womens rights were most visibly suppressed under Taleban rule, when girls schools were banned and women could only leave the house accompanied by a male family member, Afghan women have continued to struggle for justice and equality in the countrys patriarchal culture.
As long as women and girls are subject to violence with impunity that violates their human rights, little meaningful and sustainable progress for womens rights can be achieved in Afghanistan, said Georgette Gagnon, the UNs director for human rights in Afghanistan.
She argued that shortcomings in the laws enforcement could make it harder to bring women into the larger discussion of how to put an end to the decade of fighting in Afghanistan.
Advances in womens opportunities in public life, including in the peace process, includes implementation of this law, Gagnon said, noting that women cannot advocate for themselves if they cannot trust in the government to protect them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] The bodies of a member of a peace committee and his lover companion, kidnapped by forces of Evil on Nov 13, were found in the suburban area of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar on Tuesday.
Sources said that peace volunteer identified as Shamsur Rehman was slaughtered while his lover companion Wazir Khan was rubbed out. Their bodies were lying in a busy market of Pasani, an official of Badhber cop shoppe said.
Both of the dear departed were residents of Tela Band village in Badhber.
Another source said that a letter was also found near the bodies, stating that all those supporting police and security forces would meet the same fate.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... a meeting of different peace bodies of Peshawar was held at the residence of Badhber Qaumi Lashkar chief Fahimur Rehman on Tuesday. The meeting condemned the killing of the two persons and alleged that police were responsible for the incident.
Mukamil Shah, Israr Khan, Nasim Khan of Mashogagar, Zar Mohammad of Sheikh Mohammadi, Amjad, Arif Khan, Khan Mohammad and Irfan of Badhber, Jamal Hussain Surizai and Hashim Ali of Hazarkhwani, Altaf Bacha of Matani and Shafi Malik of Shahabkhel attended the meeting.
Mr Fahim said that Shamsur Rehman was deputy head of a local peace body and was involved in killing of three hard boys. He helped police and security forces at different times, he added.
"We have always extended full support to the law enforcement agencies against Taliban but the government instead of financing us deprived us of our arms and ammunitions," he alleged and added that police raided residences of their volunteers and collected weapons from them.
The peace body workers, he said, helped police in arrest of many high profile forces of Evil but government gave their head money to someone else and disappointed volunteers.
He said that Shamsur Rehman was very active member of the peace body and had vast information about Taliban. He was picked by Tariq Afridi-led Taliban of Darra Adamkhel, he added.
In Khyber Agency, a security man and a lashkar volunteer were killed in fresh festivities in two different areas of Bara subdivision on Tuesday.
Officials said that a security man was killed when forces of Evil attacked a checkpost in Qambarabad locality. They said that at least nine persons were incarcerated when security forces conducted a search operation in the area after the incident.
In Akkakhel area, a volunteer of local tribal lashkar was killed when forces of Evil ambushed a patrol party of the peace body.
Also, forces of Evil attacked two oil tankers supply fuel to 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... forces in Afghanistan in Landi Kotal on Tuesday.
Officials said that wind screens and side mirrors of the two vehicles were smashed in the attack. No body was, however, injured in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] A policeman and a passerby were killed and seven others injured in a blast outside a higher secondary school for girls in Shah Dhand Baba area here on Tuesday.
DSP Abdus Samad Khan told Dawn that the school watchman, Hizar Hayat Khan, called Par Hoti police early in the morning to inform them that a suspicious plastic bag was lying outside the main entrance of the educational institution.
He said that four coppers of anti-terrorism squad were sent to the spot. The coppers blocked the road after they found a bomb in the plastic bag. They successfully defused the bomb, he added.
The DSP said that another remote controlled bomb that was planted near the main entrance and covered with dirt and stones went kaboom! soon after the coppers defused the first bomb.
Mr Khan said that constable Allah Nawaz was killed on the spot while three coppers and five locals received multiple wounds in the blast. They were shifted to district headquarters hospital, where an injured identified as 20-year-old Tahir pegged out.
The injured constables were identified as Ali Bahadar, Atif and Murad, while the locals included Salman, Fayaz, Turab Ali and watchman Hizar Hayat.
In Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , a bridge on Thall-Parachinar Road was damaged badly when a bomb planted under the structure went kaboom! on Tuesday morning.
Officials said that the blast caused suspension of traffic on the road. The political authorities and security forces reached the spot soon after the incident and cordoned off the area. The officials restored the flow of traffic after some time.
In Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... , six CD shops were destroyed when explosives planted by unidentified snuffies went off in Ferozekhel area on the night between Monday and Tuesday.
The political administration jugged four watchmen of the main bazaar of Ferozekhel after the incident. Twenty one members of Bezotkhel tribe were also taken into custody under the territorial responsibility clause of Frontier Crimes Regulation. The authorities also seized a double-cabin pick-up vehicle of the rustics.
In Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central, Taliban capo Waliur Rehman alias Rehan and his 40 accomplices laid down arms and surrendered to security forces unconditionally.
Sources said that Waliur Rehman had played a key role in attacks on security forces in various parts of Bajaur Agency from 2008 till 2010. The security forces had destroyed his two houses and some of his relatives were killed in festivities.
He had shot to prominence after killing two Afghans, who were accused of spying for American forces after the 2008 drone strike in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur, in the presence of thousands of rustics.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] Several thousand Egyptians rallied in Tahrir Square on Wednesday demanding an end to military rule, despite a promise by the country's interim leader to transfer power to an elected president by mid-2012.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as minister under Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... took power when the ex-president was ousted in February, pledged in a rare televised addressed on Tuesday to hold a presidential election by the end of June.
He also said he was ready to transfer power immediately, via a referendum, "should the people wish it."
But tens of thousands of Egyptians attending an anti-military rally in Tahrir Square railed against Tantawi, when news of his statement filtered through, saying they did not believe a word he said.
"We can't trust what he says. The ball has been in SCAF's court for months, and they didn't do anything," said Ibtisam al-Hamalawy, 50, referring to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
"Tantawi is Mubarak, copy pasted. He's Mubarak in a military uniform," said Ahmed Mamduh, 35, an accountant.
Protesters in Tahrir Square indicated they wanted to hear nothing less than an announcement of an end to military rule.
Since Mubarak's ouster, protesters have grown increasingly angry at the military council which they accuse of being an extension of the old regime and of resorting to Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.
The latest mass protests that began at the weekend led to the resignation of the cabinet on Monday, just a week before crucial legislative polls, the first since Mubarak was toppled, which Tantawi said would be held on schedule.
"A second revolution," read the headline of the pro-government daily Al-Akhbar on Wednesday.
"The most dangerous thing that could happen is deterioration in relations between the army and the people," the newspaper warned.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Iran on Wednesday looked to expelling the British ambassador in angry retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over its nuclear programme, which have been slammed by both China and Russia.
Iranian politicians, some crying "Death to Britannia", adopted an emergency bill to be voted on Sunday that would downgrade diplomatic relations to the level of charge d'affaires if passed, the legislature's website said.
The bill also said parliament could take action "on other countries that behave in a manner similar to that of Britannia," according to the Fars and Mehr news agencies.
Britannia this week, in coordination with the United States and Canada, announced the new sanctions on Iran. They cited as justification a report by the UN atomic energy watchdog this month suggesting Tehran was researching nuclear weapons.
Britannia said it was "ceasing all contact" between its financial system and that of Iran. The United States and Canada said they would also clamp down on the sector, including on Iran's central bank.
La Belle France has called for a freeze on Iranian central bank assets and an embargo on oil exports.
Britannia, Canada and La Belle France have embassies in Tehran. Canada's is headed only by a charge d'affaires; the other two by ambassadors.
The United States does not have a diplomatic mission, having closed its embassy after Islamic students took its diplomats hostage in 1979 following Iran's revolution. US interests are handled by the Swiss embassy.
China on Wednesday criticised the Western sanctions, saying they would "exacerbate" the stand-off over Iran's nuclear activities.
"We believe pressuring and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve the Iranian nuclear issue. On the contrary, they will complicate and exacerbate the issue and intensify confrontation," said foreign ministry front man Liu Weimin.
Russia on Tuesday blasted the sanctions as "unacceptable and against international law."
China and Russia have used their weight on the UN Security Council to block any possibility of the sanctions being more broadly imposed through a UN resolution.
Iran is already subject to four sets of UN sanctions. It has rejected the UN atomic energy agency's report, and insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful, civilian purposes.
The latest sanctions put more pressure on Iran's financial sector, with the US and Britannia invoking anti-terrorist laws to target the central bank and other financial institutions.
They aim to make it more difficult for Iran to be paid for its oil exports, and put pressure on Iran's currency.
They stop short, however, of hitting the central bank with more draconian measures, which Western officials and analysts feared could cause a spike in oil prices, worsening the global economic downturn and providing Iran with a revenue windfall.
Iran's representative in OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, told ISNA news agency his country could "adopt special stances" in terms of using its vast oil exports as a political tool if "emergencies and special situations demand."
He stressed, though, that Iran was not at this time changing its approach in the global oil market.
Pressure on Iran looked likely to be raised a notch on December 1, when EU foreign ministers were expected to announce additional sanctions on some 200 Iranian firms and individuals, according to diplomats.
US President Barack Because I won Obama said in a statement Monday as the latest sanctions were unveiled: "As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions, to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
YouTube
7 min mark. Hit cc for close captioning.
Statement on the situation around a European missile defense
"First, I am instructing the Defense Ministry to immediately put the missile attack early warning radar station in Kaliningrad on combat alert. Second, protective cover of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, will be reinforced as a priority measure under the programme to develop out air and space defenses. Third, the new strategic ballistic missiles commissioned by the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy will be equipped with advanced missile defense penetration systems and new highly-effective warheads. Fourth, I have instructed the Armed Forces to draw up measures for disabling missile defense system data and guidance systems if need be... Fifth, if the above measures prove insufficient, the Russian Federation will deploy modern offensive weapon systems in the west and south of the country, ensuring our ability to take out any part of the US missile defense system, in Europe. One step in this process will be to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad
#6
Well it appears to me that Russia has leadership. Open to dialogue. The economy of Russia now is in much better shape than most. Open borders and increased cooperation with surrounding countries is a known goal of Russia. Natural resources are the future needs of all modern countries. I see Russian alignment with the west more than with the east. Yes, Russia is coming back as a world power. Some in power want the old days back. The people want better standards of living and look for a future. I can't say a future of hope because they expect things always will go badly for them. Those in political power know this. So in my opinion Russia needs stability and economic growth. With Russia I see give and take.
The EU is an example of controlled failure. No outside power did this. This is not just about Syria. Seize the day. With our current administration however not likely. Cold war days on the horizon.
#9
A report Thursday said that Russia has supplied Syria with advanced S-300 missiles, and has sent advisers to help Syria run the system.
Hopefully, this will dissuade the Turks from trying to engineer an Libyan-style Assad defeat via a no-fly zone. And if Erdogan isn't dissuaded, it would be nice to see the Turkish military machine defanged a little, given the rhetoric coming from Turkey's Islamist government.
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/24/2011 19:57
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Vlad was jeered at an MMA match a few days ago. He isn't as powerful as before. But who wants another islamonazi regime in the Near East? And who remembers that Turk aggressors who hold a large section of Europe, caused the US to leave 20% of weaponry on ships in the Mediterrean, at the start of Gulf War2? That move led to the creation of a Sunni rearbase in the north, which operated much of the later terror against US troops.
#13
And who remembers that Turk aggressors who hold a large section of Europe
I don't understand, Bubba Lumumba8396. Do you think we should rewrite the last millennium? As for what follows I your comment, we here at Rantburg are very aware of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's choices in 2003, and what followed from that. We watched the news unfold in real time -- it's all in the archives.
[Yemen Post] Now that President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... has signed the power-transfer deal, fireworks and celebratory gun shooting are erupted throughout the capital, coming from every direction at once.
Massive crowds of protesters are now converging towards "Change Square" as many are claiming that the political class has robbed them of a true victory against the tyrant, demanding to know what exactly was signed.
"We don't even know what was on that paper. How come they did not read it out-loud, why did the regime looks so pleased with itself and why did Saleh mentioned several times that the Opposition had to stick to the agreement?" asked Mohamed Boogheyti.
Those questions have been on many Yemenis' lips as they know that Saleh has proven many times over what an astute and treachery politician he could be.
Others across the country have given in to joyful celebrations preferring to relish in the moment and worry about tomorrow later. "Insha'llah it will all right: was chorused across Sana'a.
Yemen's future remains clouded in the shadows of uncertainty.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...Not sure why they're celebrating - he never said anything about actually leaving.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/24/2011 1:34
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Or the fact that the "arab spring" progression seems to be frying pan -> fire...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/24/2011 9:51
Comments ||
Top||
[Al Ahram] The grand Imam of Azhar, the highest Islamic authority in Egypt, has issued a statement calling on the Ministry of Interior to end its attacks on protesters in Tahrir to put an end to five days of bloodshed.
Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam, spoke live on Aljazeera TV at 5:40pm and also called on the Egyptian Army to intervene to protect protesters.
El-Tayeb also urged demonstrators to use peaceful tactics in their protests in order to protect the overall spirit of the January 25 revolution.
Earlier in the afternoon, Azhar officials and students brokered a truce between Central Security Forces and protesters. The truce lasted less than two hours before security personnel renewed their attacks on protesters in Tahrir.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] James Murdoch has resigned as a director of several British newspapers including The Sun and The Times, documents and sources said Wednesday, in the latest shake-up at his father Rupert's empire.
But despite facing pressure over the phone-hacking scandal at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, James remains overall chairman of News International, the British newspaper arm of US-based News Corporation.
According to documents filed at Company House, Britannia's main register of companies, in late September, James stepped down as director of News Group Newspapers Limited, publisher of The Sun, and Times Newspapers Limited, which operates The Times and Sunday Times.
The Sun tabloid is the biggest-selling newspaper in Britannia, while the Times is an upmarket daily.
Upmarket: does that mean no 'page 3' girl?
A source close to News Corp. confirmed the details, but rejected suggestions that James Murdoch's resignation leant weight to speculation that the company is planning to sell off its British newspapers.
The source said the fact that he was staying in the "juicy" role of News International chairman, and also remaining on the editorial board of Times Newspapers, showed the company's commitment to its UK interests.
His resignation was partly because he was required to spend more time in the United States because of his appointment earlier this year as deputy chief operating officer of News Corp, the source added.
News Group was the publisher of the News of the World, which was shut down in July amid a stream of allegations about the illegal hacking of voicemails.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A total of 25 individuals were murdered in several locations in Sinaloa state since early Wednesday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
In the capital Culican 16 individuals were found immolated and left aboard two separate vehicles.
Eight of the victims were abducted in the village of Angostura, and included three municipal police officers and one female.
The three murdered police agents were identified as first officer Santos Cardenas Hernandez, and Juan Carlos Mascorro and Rosario Bojorquez Hernandez.
Other victims, who had been kidnapped in the town of Lara included brothers Martin and Guadalupe Gomez Almazan, Pedro Medina Aguilar, Pedro Nuñez Lizarraga and Herculano Burgos.
Twelve of the victims including the female victim were found aboard a Nissan truck in the Rosario colony of Culican, while the other four were found in Zona Tres Rios.
Other victims were found in other parts of Culican:
Two unidentified individuals were found bound hand and foot, and were shot to death in Culican, but reports do not detail where in the city they were found.
Four unidentified individuals were found shot to death in the village of Colomato in receivership Pericos, Mocorito, where the victims were aboard a compact sedan when they were fired on. Two of the victims attempted to flee the kill zone but were found shot dead a short distance away.
In the city of Salvador Alvarado three unidentified individuals were found bound hand and foot and shot to death.
Sinaloa state officials attribute the sudden rise in violence to recently concluded Mexican military operations which dismantled a number of synthetic drug laboratories. Those actions took place in Ahome, Mazatlan and Navolato municipalities.
The violence is said to be between rival criminal groups.
[Iran Press TV] As the number of French prisoners is expected to break a new record this month, Moslems account for 70 percent of inmates despite making only 5-10 percent of the population, Press TV reports.
Widespread poverty and discrimination against French Moslems have been regularly mentioned as the main cause of their incarceration, but the phenomenon has not yet been closely probed, largely due to political consequences.
In addition to overcrowding, poor sanitation and increased frequency of jailhouse attacks and suicides are other features of French prisons.
The country has been repeatedly censured by the European Court of Human Rights for denial of basic rights and alarming suicide rate among prisoners.
According to Arnaud Gaillard, a prison sociologist, most French prisons are not in good shape.
"We need to comply with the European rules and we need to get some quality of imprisonment here in La Belle France," he added.
During his tenure as the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... , insisted on austerity on crime and pushed for harsher sentences for minor crimes such as theft, assault and illegal immigration to La Belle France.
Researchers maintain that people convicted of these crimes currently account for two-thirds of those in short-term jails.
Gaillard maintains that although crime rate is not very high in La Belle France, the government only relies on imprisonment and toughness on crime as the sole solution.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#3
French welfare pays the equivalent of $1200 US. With public housing rent fixed at a quarter of that, muz have learned to use that base as a subsidy for organized crime. Most car theft and drug crime is committed by slaves of allah.
[Dawn] A commander of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain has said that his organization has declared a ceasefire to the extent of Mehsud-dominated areas of South Wazoo to build confidence with the government for holding peace talks.
(A report by the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency quoted a senior commander as saying that the Taliban had declared a ceasefire to encourage nascent peace talks with the government. He said the ceasefire had been in effect for several weeks and was valid throughout the country.)
A close aide to Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization, told this correspondent that the TTP had ceased all combat activities in October and had not been attacking security forces in Mehsud-dominated area of South Waziristan, 'following talks with the government'.
"Now it depends on the government's attitude. If security forces reciprocate the Taliban will not carry out attacks," he said, adding that the declaration of ceasefire was a confidence-building measure.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... the military's public relations wing, the ISPR, strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! reports about talks with the TTP. It said in a statement that the army was not holding any kind of negotiations with the TTP or its affiliated thug groups.
Such reports are concocted, baseless and unfounded, the ISPR said, adding that any contemplated negotiation/reconciliation process with thug groups had to be done by the government.
Security officials in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar also played down Taliban claims about peace talks and ceasefire and termed it mere "feelers".
On Monday also, the TTP had claimed to be holding negotiations with the government and tribal elders and that some retired
government officials were facilitating the talks.
The situation in Mehsud area, the birthplace of TTP, has been comparatively peaceful over the past two months. However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... there have been three attacks on security forces in the area since October 1 which left five soldiers dead and eight maimed.
Pazir Gul adds: A thug commander in North Waziristan has sternly warned local people not to work with military engineers working on a road and other projects in the area.
A pamphlet distributed in Miramshah on Tuesday said the Shura Mujahideen North Waziristan had prohibited securing contracts and other privileges from the military in order to keep tribal people away from its influence.
It said the army had started building Bannu-Ghulam Khan Road, but local people would neither work on the project nor provide construction machinery. The pamphlet said that Mujahideen would not be responsible for security of these people.
Kalbe Ali adds from Islamabad: Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. welcomed the Taliban's ceasefire offer and said the government also had received the offer. "However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... any peace talks with the Taliban are subject to disarming themselves," he added.
Talking to newsmen after inaugurating 50 Mobile Registration Vans at the National Database and Registration Authority, the minister said the government also had made a talks offer to the Taliban but there had not been any progress so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[An Nahar] The army command announced on Wednesday that the Siddiqin kaboom that took place overnight may have been caused by a mine or cluster bomb left over from Israeli attacks on Leb.
It said in a statement that army units headed to the scene of the blast and conducted a wide search throughout the night and during the day on Wednesday without finding anything.
"Given these findings, the kaboom was most likely caused by a mine or a cluster bomb," it concluded.
Hizbullah meanwhile issued a statement condemning media reports that claimed that the blast took place at a party headquarter or arms depot, deeming them as "completely baseless."
A huge kaboom went off in the Hizbullah stronghold of Siddiqin in the South overnight and party members prevented the security forces from reaching the area, media reports said Wednesday.
The reports said the cause of the blast could not be determined after Hizbullah drew a tight security dragnet around the scene of the kaboom.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
At least 30% of Buddhists and 10% of Malay Muslims in southern Thailand have fled their homes since 2004 due to the armed conflict there, according to a briefing by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The displaced have sought refuge in nearby urban areas, or left altogether the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
Buddhists had accounted for around 20% of the million or so people in the three provinces in 2000. Those who have fled include government employees, teachers, doctors, nurses and monks -- people considered to be tied with the Thai state -- but also peasants and rubber tappers.
More than 4800 people have been killed and nearly 8000 have been wounded since 2004 in the predominantly ethnic Malay Muslim region where 40,000 troops have been deployed to try to halt almost daily shootings and bombings.
The government "has strongly encouraged civilians to defend the 'Thai homeland'" and has provided training and arms to Buddhists, IDMC said, adding that "while probably stemming the exodus of Buddhists, this policy has resulted in an increased ethno-religious polarisation and has heightened risk of incidents and abuses between both communities."
#4
Thai Bloggers are still claiming the troubles in South Thailand is due to rambunctious Malay Hard Boyz = Jihadis crossing + a'raidin back-n-forth along the borders.
[Dawn] Helicopter gunships attacked krazed killer hideouts in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , a northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border, killing around a dozen forces of Evil and wounding 14, local officials said.
Four hideouts were destroyed, they said. On Tuesday night, at least 11 forces of Evil were killed and six soldiers maimed in festivities the same region.
There was no independent confirmation of the corpse count. Militants often dispute the government's version of events.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
BOGOTA: In a laboratory on the grounds of a police-guarded complex, 11 white-furred rats wait their turn to impress trainers and perhaps receive a bit of sugar as reward. The rodents could play an important role in making conflict-wracked Colombia safer. They are in the final stages of a training program to find land mines that kill or injure hundreds of people each year in Colombia.
The government project, which began in 2006, trains specially bred rats to detect the metals used in land mines, thousands of which have been laid during the country's decades-long conflict with left-wing guerrillas.
Colombian scientists decided to use rats because, like the dogs more traditionally used in land mine detection, they have a highly developed sense of smell. But the rats are lightweight and unlikely to detonate mines.
"Remember, Remy, first you step on the mine, then they give you the sugar cube."
"But what if I trigger the mine?"
"Won't happen, we don't weigh enough."
"But what if they keep feeding me sugar cubes?"
The rats are first taught to recognize voice commands and the specific smells of metals used in land mines, and then to work in large, outdoor areas.
It has taken government scientists five generations of rats to be confident their training program is thorough enough to begin sending rats out into the countryside.
In the laboratory, an element of instinct has been built into the training, with baby rats scurrying after their mothers in plastic mazes during practice sessions. The mothers show their young how finding the dead end containing the same wires and metal pieces used in land mines can earn you a treat.
"These rats will be a great help, and will provide great input to those trying to carry out demining," said Erick Guzman, the police official and former canine handler who now is responsible for much of the rats' outdoor training.
"We are hoping that this generation will be ready at the beginning of next year to be tested in a real environment," he added as his favorite rat Sophie perched on his shoulder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I picture Rats scurrying off in all directions.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/24/2011 2:59
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The other side is training countermeasure cats.
#5
Well horses, dogs and others have been domesticated by the caveman. I guess Brazilian Capybara are a modern fit for current times. No tail that is great.
[Iran Press TV] At least 16 people have been killed and dozens of others were maimed after Kenyan fighter jets and US liquidation drones carried out several Arclight airstrikes on al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... positions and bases in southern Somalia, Press TV reported.
A Somali military official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , said that Kenyan air force jets and US terror drones struck an al-Shabaab training camps in Somalia's southwestern district of Badade on Wednesday. He added that 16 people were killed and dozens of others were maimed in the aerial strikes.
Hundreds of families have been fleeing towns in southern Somalia in the wake of Kenyan military's aerial strikes on al-Shabaab beturbanned goons' strongholds.
Residents in Kismayo, a strategically-important port city located some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, as well as in Buale, Jilib, and Afmadow towns have been leaving their homes over the past weeks for fear of their lives, according to Xinhua news agency.
Last month, Kenya dispatched soldiers over its border into Somalia to pursue Shabaab beturbanned goons, which it accuses of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory. Al-Shabaab has denied involvement.
Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has said his UN-backed transitional government was opposed to the military incursion, which is reportedly being contributed to by the US and La Belle France.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
To see a map, click here. To see a map of Coahuila state, click here.
A total of four unidentified armed suspects were killed in a firefight in Saltillo, Coahuila late Monday night, according to Mexican news accounts.
The gunfight took place in Lamadrid colony near the intersection of calles Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and Luis G. Urbina where an unidentified detachment of the Mexican Army, probably with the 6th Military Zone exchanged gunfire with armed suspects.
At that location soldiers apparently seized four AR-15 and AK-47 rifles, 17 weapons magazines, and 548 rounds of AR-15 ammunition and 189 rounds of AK-47 ammunition.
The suspects were in a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV when the gunfight took place, which was also seized at the scene.
The Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army has not released any information about the gunfight on its website at posting time.
Units of the Mexican Army had engaged in a series of gunfights against armed suspects two weeks ago in and around Saltillo, at the time reporting one dead. Later it was confirmed a total of four suspects died in those gun battles. To read the Rantburg report on the November 9th gunfights in Saltillo, click here
The Yemeni state --run agency Saba announced today that the Secretary General of the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... , Ban Ki moon made a phone call to the ailing autocrat expressing his appreciation over the president's willingness to end months of uprising and conflict in Yemen.
Ban Ki Moon told news hounds that Saleh had said that he would immediately traveled to the States upon completion of the signature ceremony for he wished to continue there his medical treatment.
Saleh who was severely injured in an liquidation attempt against his person in early June is believed to be still suffering from poor health, despite months of recovery in the KSA.
As members of the Opposition are currently on their way to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, King Abdullah his hosting with other Gulf leaders a pre-ceremony meeting.
Back in Sana'a, armed festivities are erupted sporadically throughout the capital, with Taiz a flashpoint of the revolution in the south is being shelled by the government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Getting treatment outside Yemen is vital for the continuing function of his heart.
[Dawn] Pakistain appointed a former information minister and human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... campaigner as its ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, moving quickly to fill a post left vacant after Husain Haqqani's resignation.
"The prime minister is pleased to appoint Sherry Rehman as the new ambassador to the United States," said the front man for the prime minister's office, Akram Shaheedi.
Rehman is veteran member of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari's ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... Pakistain People's Party and a staunch proponent of civilian rule.
Former ambassador Husain Haqqani resigned on Tuesday, days after a Pak-American businessman accused him of being behind a memo that said the military was plotting a coup and appealed to the Pentagon to help ward it off.
Haqqani denied any connection with the memo.
Rehman, a former journalist, was information minister for Zardari. She resigned in March 2009 over a crisis in which the government was refusing to reinstate judges sacked under the military regime of President Pervez Perv Musharraf. ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... Rehman has been a strong advocate of women's and minority rights and faced death threats for her calls to reform the country's blasphemy laws.
Haqqani resigned on Tuesday, days after a Pak-American businessman accused him of being behind a memo that accused the Pak military of plotting a coup in May.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2011
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seoul's presidential palace office into a "sea of fire," stepping up its rhetoric one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by North Korea last year.
Najib Miqati
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Bahrain's king vowed reforms on Wednesday after a commission of inquiry found that his security forces used "excessive force" and tortured detainees in a March crackdown on Shia-led protests.
Nigerian President 
[Dawn] A high-ranking officer 
[Bangla Daily Star] Two alleged criminals were killed in a 'shootout' between their cohorts and police in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia early yesterday.
Turkey's prime minister has apologized for the first time for the killings of nearly 14,000 people in a bombing and strafing campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the 1930s.
[Al Ahram] Iranian-backed 
TRIPOLI, Libya: The International Criminal Courts (ICC) prosecutor says Muammar Qaddafis son 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
KABUL: A law meant to protect Afghan women from a host of abusive practices, including rape, forced marriage and the trading of women to settle disputes, is being undermined by spotty enforcement, the UN said in a report released Wednesday.
Kurram Agency
Orakzai Agency
[Dawn] Several thousand Egyptians rallied in Tahrir Square on Wednesday demanding an end to military rule, despite a promise by the country's interim leader to transfer power to an elected president by mid-2012.
Now that 
James Murdoch has resigned as a director of several British newspapers including The Sun and The Times, documents and sources said Wednesday, in the latest shake-up at his father Rupert's empire.
[Dawn] A commander of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain has said that his organization has declared a ceasefire to the extent of Mehsud-dominated areas of South 
BOGOTA: In a laboratory on the grounds of a police-guarded complex, 11 white-furred rats wait their turn to impress trainers and perhaps receive a bit of sugar as reward. The rodents could play an important role in making conflict-wracked Colombia safer. They are in the final stages of a training program to find land mines that kill or injure hundreds of people each year in Colombia.
The Yemeni state --run agency Saba announced today that the Secretary General of the 
Pakistain appointed a former information minister and 
