The storming of the British embassy in Tehran and William Hagues closure of the Iranian mission in London brings to an end the fruitless diplomatic reconciliation instigated by the last Labour government.
Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran.
The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims yesterday that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was "no doubt" that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was "no accident".
#6
The Iranians have to be getting real nervous about where the next 'accident' is going to happen. If they can happen in multiple top-security nuclear facilities, one has to think they can happen in, say, Dinner Jacket's bathroom (from sewer gas build-up?)
Doug Ross dived into the list and found this about Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler visits -- details at link:
Item 3: Newly released White House Visitor Logs list Grindler as having visited the White House 40 times, but only four times with the President himself. All four meetings with the President occurred over a two-week period, between 7 May 2010 and 19 May 2010
Summary: In early 2010, Gary Grindler was intimately involved in all aspects of Operation Fast and Furious. During the height of the operation, Grindler visited the President on four separate occasions in only two weeks -- his only documented meetings with the president at the White House.
So my question is this:
What did President Obama know -- and when did he know it?
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico. Fine. I'll be perfectly happy to just assume the worst then. All the usual lefties who excoriated George Bush on his administration's transparency are now strangely silent...
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the "most transparent" administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona's Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Has anyone figured out just how the Feds planned on tracking these weapons once they were out of country? I can't even imagine how they would track them in the United States, let alone the chaos that is Mexico. The only thing I could imagine is that they were hoping that if the gun were used in a murder that it would be dropped and then they could figure out where the gun came from. Great. Lot of good that would do anybody, especially the deceased. Were they hoping that authorities would manage to follow the straw buyers day and night and figure out where the bad guys lived? Hard to do without involving the Mexican authorities. Even then, given the corruption, it would never work. GPS chips? There's probably a regulation against it somewhere. Maybe they were hoping authorities would waltz in and arrest someone and they would have the tagged guns and somehow it would lead them to higher-ups? Word would get out too quickly.
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the most transparent administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizonas Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.
Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In Terrys case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.
that lying feckless crapweasel Holder has gotta go down. Prosecute the SOB
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the "most transparent" administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona's Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Gorb posted the same story a few minutes after Frank did, and had the following comment: Has anyone figured out just how the Feds planned on tracking these weapons once they were out of country? I can't even imagine how they would track them in the United States, let alone the chaos that is Mexico. The only thing I could imagine is that they were hoping that if the gun were used in a murder that it would be dropped and then they could figure out where the gun came from. Great. Lot of good that would do anybody, especially the deceased. Were they hoping that authorities would manage to follow the straw buyers day and night and figure out where the bad guys lived? Hard to do without involving the Mexican authorities. Even then, given the corruption, it would never work. GPS chips? There's probably a regulation against it somewhere. Maybe they were hoping authorities would waltz in and arrest someone and they would have the tagged guns and somehow it would lead them to higher-ups? Word would get out too quickly.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2011
13:28 ||
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Will the information be available to Issa's committee or is it totally sealed to protect the guilty?
#2
Right away, I think "What are they hiding" and who are they covering for?" If the murder of Agent Terry is brought to an Arizona State criminal or civil court, I would think that one could not deliberately withhold evidence crucial to the case. Look for the DOJ to be sued for release of records.
#3
Well, if the crime doesn't get Holder & Co, perhaps the cover-up will. Meanwhile, can someone explain why the representatives of the stupid party haven't demanded a special prosecutor yet?
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/30/2011 16:41
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Cincinnatus Chili -- Issa is having another hearing this month -- I think on the 8th. He has stated he want all his facts before turning over to special prosecutor so he knows that the prosecutor leaves out nothing, or puts in something.
#6
The very weak cover story of trying to track illegal gun sales has pretty much fallen apart. Obama and company intended from the beginning that this would be a fine excuse for a US-Mexico treaty forcing considerable gun control on the US.
Some of their anti-gun types have even recently tried to run with the scheme, by utterly ignoring what F&F was, and saying it legitimizes gun control. Which is just Alice in Wonderland thinking.
Passengers who had been warned of lengthy delays at Heathrow due to striking workers today said border controls were 'better than usual'.
As Border Agency bosses were forced to take on regular airport workers to man passport control, delighted passengers said queues had been shorter than normal.
The situation was echoed at Dover too as passengers faced apparently normal travel conditions with ferry services 'running well and to time' this morning.
A man who ordered a prostitute to his hotel room collapsed when his daughter turned up at the door.
Titus Ncube from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, said the shock of seeing his 20-year-old daughter sent him to the ground. The unnamed woman reportedly fled the building.
According to the Zimbabwe News, Ncube ordered the prostitute as he was experiencing marital problems.
"I am sorry for what I did," he said. "I spoke to my wife and my daughter... I apologised for my actions because I just wanted my family back."
Ncube said his daughter was no longer working as a prostitute and was planning to return to school.
"My marital problems are not over, but we have a marriage counsellor who is helping us to get over this most difficult period in our marriage," he added.
On hearing the news, his wife said: "If it were not for my children, I could have divorced him a long time ago."
#5
G(r)om, I think in today's' world of modern surgery and hormone therapy it's pretty much gotten to the point the kids are going to need a chromosome kit to make a determination.
#10
The day could have been saved had the daughter been quicker on her feet.
"Oh, dad! Thank heavens I found you! I have been looking all over and someone said you were here! We heard there was an accident and you were hit on the head and you took off running! Are you all right?"
h/t Instapundit
...Gingrich has been seen as an ultimate Washington insider, as exemplified in that $1.6 million he was paid to represent Fannie and Freddie, and his work with Nancy Pelosi on behalf of cap-and-trade. Such facts make it difficult not to view Gingrich as an exemplar of Washington's professional Republican politicians who talk the talk to get elected, but often don't walk it once in office. He has an answer for such worries no doubt, but will it persuade Republican voters, many of whom watched in frustration as the Contract with America faded into political oblivion?
He's enough of an insider to have barnacles, but also enough of an insider to know how to get stuff done. Obama, in contrast, seems to glory in his outsider, lecturing, 'law professor' persona who won't get his hands dirty making the deals needed to move forward. Perhaps that's fortunate for the rest of us -- imagine Obama with the deal-making skills of a Reagan or Clinton [shudder].
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/30/2011 10:51
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Obama, in contrast, seems to glory in his outsider, lecturing, 'law professor' persona
He does lay it on thick. But really, he's the kind of insider somebody that somebody sent, and everything he has was gotten because he's connected...except for his wife and children, who apparently he achieved all by his own efforts. His wife's career, in the other hand...
#4
If it gets down to Newt vs Bummer it'll be a no brainer. Hell, I even voted for McCain because Bummer scares me so badly. As for the primaries, they're usually all over by the time it gets to California anyway. So what am I supposed to do?
#6
For me, it still boils down to what people each candidate will bring into office with them.
The MSM completely covered for Obama, and he brought in a pathetic group of neosocialists and madmen.
Who will Newt bring with him? Will they be strong enough to restrain him? Will he be strong enough to drive them?
If 'Mittens' has A-List people around him, I'll take a second look. But somehow I don't think that's the case.
#8
I can't help but wonder if Newt is the candidate the MSM wants to win the nomination because they think Obama (along with a couple thousand investigative reporters digging up dirt) can beat him.
#10
The media wants Romney to win because they think Obama is beatable and they can live with Romney.
It would be nice if the candidates could suggest their cabinet appointments ahead of time to give us a glimpse of the whole team we'd be putting into office. I've always liked the way the Shadow cabinet system works in the UK. Seems a bit better farm system to season potential candidates on how things work.
#11
Newt has warts and he will have to explain each any every one of them to the Dems, Pubs, voters and the media. I'm still trying to find the differences between Newt and Romney without much success. Both look a little like McCain except both seem more serious about winning. McCain never seemed serious about winning. Newt might suffer death by a thousand cuts from the media.
#13
Newt is not my first choice (he's a strong second), but at this point I'd vote for a road apple over Obama.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/30/2011 16:43
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Not an R, but watching closely.
As a theory, could Obama be running a kamikaze campaign, that is get so unpopular now while shoring up hard-core so that when the general gets going there is nowhere to go but up, and ride that momentum. Meanwhile, as Obama becomes less popular, Republicans become more bold with the nomination...as Obama's popularity has dropped so has Romneys (as an observation)...hoping the Rs overstretch?
That said, I can look at each R candidate and find a fault, Obama seems to have each and every fault I find with the individual Rs.
#15
There is one way that Gingrich could secure the conservative vote. Select Rand Paul as his VP running mate. This would do it halfway, but the other half could be nailed down with Sarah Palin as the Chairman of the RNC.
While Gingrich would still be somewhat dubious, the conservatives would back him, as this would in effect "offer them the future" of the party.
#16
It would be nice if the candidates could suggest their cabinet appointments ahead of time to give us a glimpse of the whole team we'd be putting into office.
ABSOLUTELY!!!
From Yourmiddleeast.com
The Muslim Brotherhood...said their new Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) was ahead in preliminary results.
"From the start of the voting process until now (around 0930 GMT), preliminary results show the Freedom and Justice party list ahead," a statement from the group said, without giving figures.
In a surprise trend that would alarm secular liberals and the country's minority Christian community, the FJP also claimed that hardline Islamists who follow the strict Salafi brand of Islam were in second position.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2011
10:26 ||
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The big losers will be the Egyptian women and religious/socio/ethnic minorities.
"The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same," Obean® said. "By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people's hunger for change, but this is not the end of Egypt's transition. It's the beginning."
Truer words have never been spoken. An almost 21st century society will regress 1,300 years.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/30/2011 14:49
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Among a bunch if disorganized rioters, they were the most organized group; the strong horse. Certainly the current administration could have seen this coming. Of course maybe they did. Look for Libya to go this way next.
#3
BHO's obscene al-azhar apology set the stage for islamonazism.
Fred: please ban use of the phrase here: "we have to respect the wishes of the _____ people." They are nothing but a pack of headless-chickens posing as human beings. If stupidity was a crime, few arabs would be walking free.
William Hague has demanded the immediate closure of the Iranian Embassy in London and ordered all its staff to leave the country in retaliation for an attack on the British Embassy in Tehran. The Foreign Secretary has given the Iranian diplomats just 48 hours to get out the UK, he told the Commons today.
It comes after hardline protesters stormed the British Embassy in Iran yesterday and tried to take staff hostage. All British staff have been safely evacuated, Mr Hague said.
Today Mr Hague told parliament: 'The Iranian charge (d'affaires) in London is being informed now that we require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and that all Iranian diplomatic staff must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours. We have now closed the British embassy in Tehran. We have decided to evacuate all our staff and as of the last few minutes, the last of our UK-based staff have now left Iran.'
Today the speaker of Iran's parliament criticised the UN Security Council over its condemnation of the embassy in Tehran and said the resolution, passed unanimously on Wednesday, put global security at risk.'The hasty move in the Security Council in condemning the students' actions was done to cover up previous crimes of America and Britain while the police did all they could to keep the peace,' Ali Larijani told parliament in an address broadcast live on state radio. 'This devious action will lead to instability in global security,' he said.
So, how many of the 'students' have been arrested for their actions, Mr. Larijani? Isn't that what a thug state generally does when 'students' act contrary to the wishes of the regime?
Today Mr Hague also announced that Iranian ambassadors had been summoned in countries across Europe to receive strong protests over the storming of the British embassy. 'If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil they cannot expect to have a functioning embassy here,' Mr Hague said. 'This does not amount to the severing of diplomatic relations in their entirety. It is action that reduces our relations with Iran to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations,' he added.
Hague said it was 'fanciful' to think the Iranian authorities could not have protected the British embassy, or that the assault could have taken place without 'some degree of regime consent'.
Mike Ledeen says that internal opposition in cooperation with some well placed regime dissidents are in charge of the latest few explosions at key Iranian weapon facilities.
In Mike's conclusion,
"If you were Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, what would you be saying... "they come and go at will; they obviously have the full cooperation of traitors at very high levels of the regime, even inside the Guards. They not only knew Moghaddam was going to be there, but exactly where and when. Now Isfahan, another heavily guarded base. That doesn't look like Zionists and infidels, whose pathetic collaborators we round up easily over and over again; it looks like people who are trusted and supported by the traitors in my own house.."..Recent events will have convinced the supreme leader that his own security may be as compromised as the shah's was...."
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2011
07:29 ||
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I'd suggest to them to check their ISI/Pakistan links.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/30/2011 18:23
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heh.
Short step from Marshall Stax and Rickenbacker/Fender guitars to Nuke facilities
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2011 21:23
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Uh, uh, 'TIS IRANIANS WHOM ARE BLOWING UP IRAN???
Pesky Persians are Pesky, Boom-happy Iran goes Boom.
Pragmatically, as per NUCLEAR MILTERRS the US-WESt + Israel may had already "missed the ball" [literally], as below.
* WAFF, OTHER > PAKISTAN HAS DEVELOPED SMARTEST NUCLEAR TACTICAL DEVICES.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN HAS DEVELOPED THE WORLD'S SMALLEST NUCLEAR BOMB.
Repor is BASKETBALL-sized, good enough for the Bammer to play B-Ball wid friends on the WH courts.
An old worry during US-Soviet Cold War pertained to the development of MIRV'ed TACNUKES/WARHEADS it will be really bad for the World iff the MilTerrs + other pro-violence NGOS get their hands on these + learn how to safely use 'em for purposes of terror + anarchy.
Turkish security forces today killed a Libyan gunman who shot and wounded two people with a pump-action rifle in the courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
The attacker opened fire around the time the first visitors would usually be arriving at the palace. He was killed after a one-hour siege.
Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told reporters, "The attacker was not a Turkish citizen, he was foreign. A Libyan national born in 1975. He entered Turkey on November 27."
Television station CNN Turk broadcast a photograph of a man, identified as the assailant, holding a rifle, wearing an ammunition belt and a backpack, while standing behind a low wall. Witnesses said the gunman shouted in Arabic "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire.
A group was disembarking to enter the gates, which had just been opened when gunfire was heard inside. A soldier and private security worker were injured in the attack.
Several ambulances had rushed to the scene, where a police cordon was set up and people were evacuated. Armed security service officers had taken up positions on the palace walls at the entrance.
#1
Turkish security forces today killed a Libyan gunman who shot and wounded two people with a pump-action rifle in the courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
What?! No Miranda rights? No trial in a civilian court with the rights of a full citizen? Barbarians!
And I'm worried about the dim view these people have for us. I must go bow to them.
#3
I spent most of an afternoon next door to the palace at the Turkish Archaeological Museum. Didn't get to see the palace, but if the Turks ever wise up and pitch the Islamists, I think it's a wonderful experience for anyone with interest in history.
Their collection doesn't cover the entire globe, like the British Museum's, but "only" the area of the Ottoman Empire. Even so, you've got tiles from the walls of Babylon, one of Alexander's Successor's sarcophagus, half a dozen sarcophagi of Byzantine emperors, a 10' high statue of the Egyptian god Bes, loads of Roman-era statues, an entire floor dedicated to the site of Troy, and even part of the chain that sealed the Golden Horn from the Muslim fleets.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/30/2011 20:29
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Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder today demanded The Daily Caller stop publishing articles about the growing calls in Congress for his resignation because of the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program.
As Holder's aide was escorting the attorney general offstage following his remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House, a Daily Caller reporter introduced himself and shook Holder's hand. The reporter asked him for a response to the growing chorus of federal legislators demanding his resignation.
Holder stepped towards the exit, then turned around, stepped back toward the reporter, and sternly said, "You guys need to -- you need to stop this. It's not an organic thing that's just happening. You guys are behind it."
Holder then walked offstage without answering TheDC's request for comment about calls for his resignation.
Obama has also taught us that prominent government intervention into the private sector often makes things worse, and invites crony-capitalist corruption. Nearly three years into this administration, it is striking how seldom Barack Obama brags about Cash for Clunkers, the Chrysler and GM bailouts, or Solyndra. He either is quiet about them or sort of shrugs, as if to say, Stuff happens. Even creative bookkeeping cannot mask the fact that the auto-company bailouts (begun, to be sure, by the Bush administration, but made worse under Obama) will prove a huge drain on the Treasury. No one even attempts any more to convince us that we will like Obamacare once we read the legislation, or that it will save us costs in the long run, or that it will cheer up businesses so that they will invest and hire. All that was dreamland, 2009, and this is reality, 2011, when we hear only It could have been worse.
Obama has also taught us that a presidents name, his fathers religion, his ethnic background, loud denunciations of his predecessor, discomforting efforts to apologize, bow, and contextualize past American actions none of that does anything to lead to greater peace in the world or security for the United States. And by the same token, George Bushs drawl, Texas identification, and Christianity did not magically turn allies into neutrals and neutrals into enemies.
Israel, Britain, and Eastern Europe are not closer allies now than they were in 2008. Iran is still Iran and may be even a more dangerous adversary after the failed Obama outreach. Putins Russia, despite reset (a word we no longer much hear), is still Putins Russia. China still despises the U.S., and feels in 2011 that it is in a far better position to act on its contempt than it was in 2009. North Korea never got the hope and change message. Europe is collapsing, reminding the world where the United States is headed if it does not change course. Outreach didnt seem to do much for the Castro brothers, Hugo Chávez, or Daniel Ortega. We are helping Mexico to sue our own states, but that does not seem to persuade its leaders to keep their citizens home. Muslim Pakistan went from a duplicitous ally to a veritable enemy. The more we bragged about Turkey, the more we could feel it holds us in contempt. We hope that the Libyan rebels and the Cairo protesters are headed toward democracy, but we privately admit that they seem to have no more interest in establishing it than we have in promoting it. In other words, Professor Obama reminds future presidents that the world will transcend their rhetoric, their pretensions, and their heritage. Other nations always calibrate their relations with the United States either by their own perceived self-interest, or by centuries-old American values and power, or both.
There are grave fears for the health of an Australian man and father of five in jail for more than two weeks in a Saudi prison under the country's blasphemy laws.
Mansor Almaribe, 45,
Not named Bruce, then...
has not been to obtain legal representation since he was arrested in Medina on November 14 for alleged religious offences. His family in Australia are very worried about his health, as he suffers from diabetes and heart disease.
Almaribe, a Shiite Muslim,
All becomes clear. There's his religious offense -- no more is needed.
went to Saudi Arabia for the Haj when he ran afoul of religious police and was accused of insulting the companions of the prophet Muhammad.
He has only been permitted one brief conversation with his family, borrowing the mobile phone of an Australian diplomat during a two-hour consular visit on November 23.
Almaribe's eldest son, Jamal, said that a witness at the time of the arrest reported a group had been praying and reading when the police accosted them and arrested his father. He said, "I'm so worried about my dad's health, he's in a bad, bad situation."
Jamal said his father fled by boat to Australia from Iraq in 1999.
What, all the way? Or did he perhaps board an airplane in Iran...
He later became an Australian citizen.
Efforts to engage Saudi lawyers have been unsuccessful because the family cannot afford the $5000 fee demanded to begin work on Almaribe's case. Under Saudi law, only Muslims can enter Medina, complicating efforts by Australian officials to reach Almaribe from the embassy in Riyadh.
Local police have not always answered telephone calls and efforts to fax his medical records to authorities have not yet been unsuccessful. An embassy official is expected to seek to deliver the records to the police by hand today and visit Almaribe.
Australian officials have been told an investigation into his case might not be finished until December 21.
Distinguished Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler had been sent to Niger in 2008 as a special UN envoy when he and fellow diplomat Louis Guay were kidnapped by Al-Qaeda and held captive for 130 days.
Philippine authorities have arrested a Muslim terrorist extremist allegedly involved in fatal bombings including one that killed a US soldier in 2002.
Zamboanga city police chief Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo said the terrorist suspect, Hussin Ahaddin, has admitted being behind at least two terrorist bombings in the southern port including the blast that killed a US soldier. De Ocampo said, "He admitted in the course of investigation that he was involved in that terrorist incident that killed an American."
De Ocampo said the terrorist suspect was a member of the terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf.
A bomb attached to a motorcycle killed one American soldier and three Filipinos and wounded another US soldier and several other bystanders in October, 2002.
Ahaddin also admitted helping accomplish the terrorist bombing of two Zamboanga department stores several days later, killing seven people, de Ocampo said. Police are investigating whether the terrorist suspect was involved in the deadly bombing at a small hotel in Zamboanga on Sunday that killed three people and injured 27 others, said the police chief.
A handcuffed Ahaddin was briefly shown to reporters but he remained silent.
His sister, Julaida Arasain, said he was the innocent driver of a motorcycle-taxi and that it may be a case of mistaken identity. Sobbing, she told reporters, "We are asking for help. All the accusations against my terrorist brother are untrue. He is innocent."
#1
This is the third captured guy to have claimed to be riding the motorscooter. There were 2 motorscooters on the scene when the blas happened. One had been parked there for a while and the second arrived with two people aboard and the guys walked into a store just before the blast.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/30/2011 7:17
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It is gratifying to see President Barack Obama condemn the disgraceful storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by thugs acting at the behest of the Iranian regime. After all, Obama has been notoriously slow in the past to criticise the brutal actions of the Iranian government after initially extending the hand of friendship to it. But did he really need to make another embarrassing foreign policy gaffe while doing so?
In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the English Embassy in Iran instead of the British Embassy. One can only imagine the kind of howls of derision that would greet any presidential contender if that kind of basic error were made before, say, the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In case the president is unaware, England forms part of Great Britain, which also includes Scotland and Wales, though not Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. There is no such thing as an English embassy anywhere in the world, and there hasnt been one for several centuries.
Whenever I write in these pages about the corrosive effect of Big Government upon the citizenry in Britain, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere and note that this republic is fairly well advanced upon the same grim trajectory, I get a fair few letters on the lines of: "You still don't get it, Steyn. Americans aren't Europeans. Or Canadians. We're not gonna take it."
A gay softball organization has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to three players who were disqualified from its 2008 Gay Softball World Series in the Seattle area because of their perceived heterosexuality.
#1
Great. Disqualified, not that they couldn't play softball, but because they wouldn't play ball.
I trust they won a discrimination suit?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/30/2011 5:38
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"Suspicions began when two of the players refused to throw like girls. Later, a third player was discovered in possession of a Victoria's Secret catalogue. After it was thrown out, he was caught digging through the trash to retrieve it."
#3
"Joe knew he was starting to look out of place when he didn't giggle at the pitcher/catcher discussion or who was in the hole during batting, but knew the gig was up when it was time to have a cold one and he was the only one who brought beer."
h/t Instapundit
How do religions die? Generally they don't, which probably explains why there's so little literature on the subject. Zoroastrianism, for instance, lost many of its sacred texts when Alexander sacked Persepolis in 330 B.C., and most Zoroastrians converted to Islam over 1,000 years ago. Yet today old Zoroaster still counts as many as 210,000 followers, including 11,000 in the U.S. Christopher Hitchens might say you can't kill what wasn't there to begin with.
Still, Zeus and Apollo are no longer with us, and neither are Odin and Thor. Among the secular gods, Marx is mostly dead and Freud is totally so. Something did away with them, and it's worth asking what.
Consider the case of global warming, another system of doomsaying prophecy and faith in things unseen.
As with religion, it is presided over by a caste of spectacularly unattractive people pretending to an obscure form of knowledge that promises to make the seas retreat and the winds abate. As with religion, it comes with an elaborate list of virtues, vices and indulgences. As with religion, its claims are often non-falsifiable, hence the convenience of the term "climate change" when thermometers don't oblige the expected trend lines. As with religion, it is harsh toward skeptics, heretics and other "deniers." And as with religion, it is susceptible to the earthly temptations of money, power, politics, arrogance and deceit.
[Tripoli Post] Norwegians have been shocked rather than surprised by the news, Tuesday, that Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and was in a psychotic state both during and after the June 22 twin attacks that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured 151. But still he killed them, didn't he?
The report stating that Breivik is criminally insane, must still be reviewed by a panel of forensic psychiatrists from the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine. Does that mean he'll be kept for the rest of his life in a straight jacket? Or will be become a Norwegian version of John Hinckley, going to visit Mom on weekends and coming up for periodic reevaluations?
The Norwegian public's reaction was one of disbelief for a person whose opinions seem to set him apart from war criminals, who are tried in court as if they are sane. How do his opinions set him apart from them? He a wannabe Nazi, let him get what the real Nazis got. Be nice to him by giving him the kind of pill Goering had.
Breivik, 32, who admits carrying out the attacks will still stand trial on April 16 for a hearing scheduled to last around 10 weeks, but it seems likely he will be placed in psychiatric care rather than in prison. Until he's cured, of course. Then he'll be ever so much better. And all those people he killed won't be dead anymore.
Breivik has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to charges, arguing that that the attacks were atrocious but necessary for his campaign to defend Europe against a Moslem invasion that was being enabled by what he called "cultural Marxists" in Norway's Labour Party, and the EU. Some of us have a bit of a problem with rubbing out mostly a bunch of teenagers at summer camp, whether they're "cultural Marxists" or not.
Two psychiatrists interviewed him on 13 occasions. Betcha that was adventurous...
Tuesday their 243-page report concluded that he lived in his "own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his delusions", prosecutors said. Yet a single bullet could bring that entire universe to a screeching halt, never to delude again...
Norwegian prosecutor Svein Holden said: "The observed person was psychotic". The report will now be reviewed by a panel. Who will say profound things like "And what do we mean by psychosis, Doctor? Isn't it possible that we're the ones who're psycho and this man is perfectly sane?"
Another prosecutor, Inga Bejer Engh told news hounds in Oslo: "If the final conclusion is that Breivik is insane, we will request that the court in the upcoming legal proceedings pass sentence by which Breivik is subjected to compulsory mental health care". Does that mean keeping him in a straight jacket for life? What happens if he gets loose?
Before the report was made public, a lawyer for the victims said it did not matter what the conclusion was as long as Breivik was not allowed to go free. "And what do we mean by 'freedom,' Doctor? Isn't it possible that we're the ones who aren't free, while this man is at liberty to roam his carefully constructed universe that exists in his head, gaily picking spring flowers and harvesting culturally Marxist teenagers with an illegal Uzi?"
The shock is heightened by the media portrayal of Breivik as carefully planning his actions as a functioning member of society. He does not match the public's idea of a paranoid schizophrenic. He doesn't sound like your run-of-the-mill loop loop, but he does sound like a loop loop.
John Christian Elden, a lawyer for the victims told the BBC: "What will happen in the case, no matter what the conclusion, is that he (Breivik) will of course be incarcerated. And if the outcome is criminally sane or insane, that is, first and foremost a psychiatric question. The most important thing in our clients' opinion is that he will not be able to walk the streets." If he had three eye sockets and no back to his head he wouldn't be able to walk the streets, either. Barring a zombie eruption his chances of recidivism would be just about zero.
On July 22, Breivik disguised himself as a police officer to plant a car boom that went kaboom! close to government offices in the capital Oslo, killing eight people. Then, still in uniform, he drove to the island of Utoeya, where a summer youth camp of Norway's governing Labour Party was being held. There he opened fire in a shooting spree that lasted more than an hour. During it he killed 69 people - mostly teenagers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15954370
Does somebody's extreme opinions preclude them from being held responsible for their actions?
#4
The government has created a catch-22 with this. Since he is likely not insane, or doesn't come across as what the public thinks of insanity, it smacks of what authoritarian states do to political prisoners. It also seems that they are *afraid* of what he has to say, afraid that others will agree with him.
Other than that, his logic as a nationalist fascist was excellent. He has severely crippled that very left wing party, whose open floodgates immigration policy might have eventually overwhelmed Norway with foreigners who would vote for that party.
It would not take many more to do this, as immigrants are now 12% of their otherwise small population of only 4.9m people, and it seems to be a strategy employed by very left wing parties affiliated with the socialist international, in many places.
But having a small population also makes the damage he did to the Labour Party (membership 49,407), pretty devastating, as these youth were the cream of the crop of future party leaders. Replacing them will be very hard, and this puts their entire agenda at risk.
#6
I've worked in the forensic psychiatric services (AKA "criminally insane") of the UK and Australia for about 20 years. I'm not pretending I'm conversant with the Norwegian criminal justice or psychiatric systems, HOWEVER, I do know that in most countries (without modern anti-terrorist mechanisms to detain indefinitely without a trial such as the USA) that when a criminal act is committed and the suspect deemed to have "capacicity" might serve a limited sentence for good behavior, cooperation and leniency, BUT someone deemed criminally insane (having commited a violent crime) has far more chance of indefinite or protracted detention.
So, in this sense Breivik could theoretically be detained in Norway for much, much longer through the forensic psychiatric systems than the criminal justice system.
BARKIN LADI, Nigeria, November 28 (CDN) -- Fulani Muslim herdsmen along with Muslim soldiers have killed at least 45 ethnic Berom Christians in Plateau state in the past week, Christians in this northern-central Nigerian town said.
Unfortunately the proper response is for the Christians to arm up and defend themselves, which (according to the proper Western elites) will be considered a provocation...
Smaller attacks beginning on Nov. 20, reportedly over allegations by Fulani Muslims of cattle theft, preceded an attack on a Barkin Ladi church on Nov. 23 that killed four Christians, and an assault the next day left 35 Christians dead in Barkin Ladi and nearby Kwok village, according to area Christian leaders.
Church attendance was decimated yesterday as thousands of Christians have left the area.
"Christians are fleeing the town because we have no guns to fight back," said one woman in a group of six Christians trying to leave Barkin Ladi. "Muslims have guns, and they have their soldiers fighting for them, so we have no choice but to leave town."
Almost all churches in the town cancelled or held reduced worship services on the first Sunday (Nov. 27) after the crisis was contained, as nearly all area Christians have fled to Jos or have left Plateau state, long hit by ethnic property conflicts fueled by anti-Christian sentiment. In March 2010 ethnic Berom Christians, who live as farmers, suffered attacks from Fulani nomads who graze their cattle on the Beroms' land, resulting in hundreds of deaths in three villages near Jos.
In the attack on Thursday (Nov. 24), the Fulani Muslims were shouting "Allahu Akbar [God is greater]," said farmer Choji Pamjamo, 51.
"On Thursday at about 9 a.m., the Muslims' call to prayer was made at the Izala [Islamic sect] mosque," Pamjamo said. "And shortly after that, we saw hundreds of armed Muslims invading the town from all directions, attacking and killing Christians. They were shouting 'Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar,' as they were burning properties belonging to Christians."
Pamjamo confirmed Christian leaders' account of an attack on a Church of Christ of Nigeria (COCIN) congregation in the Sabon Layi (Rantya) area of Barkin Ladi the previous night (Nov. 23), saying that among the four Christians killed was Bible teacher Yakubu Pam.
David Gyang, 51, an elder at the COCIN Barkin Ladi church, said Muslims set off a religious crisis by attacking Christians at the church site on Wednesday night (Nov. 23) and then launching a major offensive the next morning.
"Some of the Christian victims in this attack that I know include a Christian police officer, one Mr. Bulus, who is the station officer of the Barkin Ladi police station," Gyang said. "He was inside his house on that day, and these Muslims broke the walls of his room and went inside to kill him and his son. A second Christian victim is Solomon Pam. He was attacked and had his hand broken."
Gyang lamented that Muslim soldiers brought to town to restore order joined their fellow Muslims in killing and maiming Christians.
"Muslims soldiers took sides with their fellow Muslims and were shooting and killing Christians," he said. "They also had soldiers guarding mosques in the town, but none was sent to watch over our churches, and that is the reason Muslims were able to burn the Baptist church in the town."
The COCIN church in Barkin Ladi had an average Sunday service attendance of about 1,200 people, but yesterday only 50 showed up, he said.
"We could not go on with the worship but held a prayer meeting, and then our pastor left to Kwok village for the burial of the 26 killed there," he said.
Sources told Compass that along with the 26 Christians killed in Kwok village, nine others were killed in the attack on Barkin Ladi on Thursday (Nov. 24). Compass found that the area attacks on Christians began Nov. 20, the day of the alleged cattle theft, with the killing of three Christians outside Barkin Ladi, and then two Christians in the town were killed on Nov. 21.
The next day, a Christian was beheaded behind a popular hotel in Barkin Ladi known as the White House, sources said. The attack on the COCIN church ensued the following evening.
Bitrus Davou and John David, two young Christian men who live near the church building, said they narrowly escaped death.
"Bullets fired at me by a Muslim soldier missed me and killed my dog," said Davou, 21.
David, also 21, said he and five friends were sitting in front of their house when a Muslim soldier appeared and began shooting at them.
"My friends ran inside the house, but I could not follow suit immediately as there was no route for me to run -- so I jumped into an unfinished building beside my house," David said, pointing toward the bullet holes in the wall where he had taken refuge. "While there, the soldier spotted me and began shooting at me. It is a miracle that I escaped unhurt."
The Rev. Daniel Moses, pastor of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), said the violence was started by town Muslims who obtained massive support from Muslims from other parts of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area. Thousands of Christians have been displaced, he said.
"As of this morning [Sunday, Nov. 27) corpses of Christians killed are still being recovered, but we can confirm that 37 corpses have been recovered already, and even as I talk to you the burial of some of them is going on in the surrounding Christian villages," Moses said.
Emmanuel Kyesmen, secretary of ECWA congregation, said the government has been slow to address security concerns.
"Alhaji Kasimu, one of leaders of the Muslim community in Barkin Ladi, is responsible for arming Muslims to attack Christians -- we all know this, and the attention of security agencies have been called to his activities, but no one seems to take the necessary steps to check him," Kyesmen said. "It appears the man is above the law."
The Barkin Ladi ECWA church, whose regular worship service usually attracts about 270 people, was a ghost of itself on Sunday, with only 42 members able to muster the courage to show up. The service lasted no more than 15 minutes, as they only prayed and left.
Kyesmen told Compass that 11 members of the church had their houses set ablaze by Muslims.
"As a church, we have become targets of attacks," Kyesmen said. "Our pastors and members are being killed in Plateau state by Muslims, while thousands of others have become refugees in their fatherland. There is the urgent need for the Nigerian government to find a lasting solution to this problem."
Religious conflict has been growing in Plateau state since 2006, he said, with numerous investigating committees instituted to investigate and report on the immediate and deeper causes, he said.
"But the surprising thing is that none of these reports has been implemented, and no individual has been made to face the wrath of the law," Kyesmen said. "The government must have the courage to ensure that those causing these problems are prosecuted."
Among the church buildings found locked on Sunday morning were St. Joseph's Catholic Parish, St. Mark's Anglican Church, ECWA Good News Church, COCIN Church Sabon Layi, Living Faith Church, and a host of other Pentecostal and charismatic churches. The few churches that opened for prayer, which lasted no longer than 15 minutes, included the ECWA church, the COCIN church, and the All Denomination Church at the police barracks.
David Alamba, 48, a technician whom Compass met near the town's police station along with five Christian women who were trying to leave Barkin Ladi, said many churches in town have been closed as most Christians have fled.
"Most Christians who live in Muslim quarters like Sabon Layi, Angwan Hausawa, Angwan Kwano, Angwan Izala, and Angwan Katako areas have to get soldiers to accompany them before they get their few belongings to leave the town," he said. "You have to pay the soldiers at least 2,000 naira (US$12) before they escort you to your house to get a few belongings before you move out of the town."
Alamba said Muslims have been moving into the farms belonging to Christians and are destroying crops.
"This is to chase us out of the town and make us homeless, and at the same time starve us to death, since we now have no food to eat," he said.
Predominantly Christian areas affected by the attacks included Rantya Gwol, Anguwar Tasha, Gangare, and Hayin Asibiti, sources said.
Several people fleeing the town as Compass arrived asked, "When will the killings of Christians in Nigeria stop?"
Continued on Page 49
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[An Nahar] A U.N. expert tasked with investigating alleged human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... abuses in Iran will talk to Iranian activists in La Belle France, Germany and Belgium this week after a request to visit the country itself was refused.
United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed will meet Iranians living in the three countries during a fact-finding mission from November 30 to December 8.
"A visit to the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran would have allowed me to gain better understanding of the situation," Shaheed said in a statement.
"However I will now study a wide range of human rights issues by meeting activists within the Iranian diaspora, alleged victims of human rights violations, intergovernmental and civil society organizations," he said.
The former Maldives foreign minister, appointed Special Rapporteur in June, will report back to the Human Rights Council in March next year.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Report that "miscreants and malefactors" are abusing the mullahocracy's right to oppress the Iranian people in 3 - 2 - 1...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/30/2011 10:50
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[Dawn] A computer programming language cannot be protected by copyright, the adviser to the EU's top court said on Tuesday in an opinion that could affect the competitive IT industry.
Advocate general Yves Bot argued that programming languages -- different digital vocabularies such as HTML and Java used to make a computer perform certain tasks -- should be compared to the language used by a novelist.
The functionalities of a computer programme should also not be eligible for copyright, Bot said, adding that they are the equivalent of ideas and that protecting them would "amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas." The advocate general's opinions are not binding but the Luxembourg-based European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Court of Justice follows his advice in 80 percent of cases.
The opinion arises from a case pitting North Carolina-based SAS Institute, which provides business analytics software and services, against British software firm World Programming Ltd.
SAS launched a complaint in Britannia against WPL after the US company created a product that can execute programmes written in SAS language.
The High Court of Justice in Britannia asked the EU judges to issue a preliminary ruling to clarify the scope of EU legal protection for computer programmes.
"The functionalities of a computer program and the programming language cannot be protected by copyright," Bot said.
Bot said however that copyright can cover "the means for achieving the concrete expression" of the functionalities.
"The way in which formulae and algorithms are arranged -- like the style in which the computer program is written -- will be likely to reflect the author's own intellectual creation and therefore be eligible for protection," he said.
But the holder of a programme license can reproduce or translate a source code without the author's authorisation, under certain conditions, so as to ensure different elements of a programme work together, Bot said.
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#1
To paraphrase Lasarus Long, public servants are objective---they hate all creative people equally.
#4
'programming languages...should be compared to the language used by a novelist...The functionalities of a computer programme should also not be eligible for copyright, Bot said, adding that they are the equivalent of ideas and that protecting them would "amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas."'
#5
How do you copyright sequences which is what in the end all the layers of code lead to - (ex:00100101110001111000111000100111001110001010111000001)?
#6
Can't copyright the language ... but you can still protect the compilers, interpreters, and run-time environments, which is where the magic happens anyway.
#9
Advocate general Yves Bot argued that programming languages -- different digital vocabularies such as HTML and Java used to make a computer perform certain tasks -- should be compared to the language used by a novelist.
Apparently this moron has no idea what is involved with programming a compiler to turn statements in this "novelist" language into machine readable code.
#10
So is the meta-language these programming languages often get translated to copywritable? I'm thinking about .NET, java, p-code, etc...
Those aren't written by a 'novelist'...
How about machine instructions? Can Intel copyright 'mov ds,bs'.
#11
Actually, TW, you can't patent an idea - - only an invention or other embodiment of an idea. By a twist of fate I was speaking with 4 people at the US Patent Office about this earlier today!
[Dawn] Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Tuesday that in line with the decisions of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, a notice has been sent to the United States for vacating the Shamsi airbase within 15 days.
Terming the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... /Isaf attack on border posts in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency as the breach of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and violation of international law, the Foreign Minister said, "time has come to review our relations."
Talking to PTV, the Foreign Minister said Pakistain has supported the international community in the war against terrorism and has rendered great sacrifices.
She said Pakistain's positive cooperation must be recognized at international level and should not be taken as its weakness.
The minister said Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected at all cost.
She categorically stated that the nation and the government would not tolerate such incidents in future. "We don't want any aid or assistance, but we want to live with dignity and honour."
Khar said Pakistain wants complete clarity from the international community about its illusory sovereignty.
She said that Pakistain's attitude towards the international community has been positive and it wanted to move forward with honour and dignity.
"It is up to Pakistain's political forces to evolve future strategy, keeping in view the current situation," said the minister.
"It is for the first time that the decision to halt NATO supply was taken at the highest level," she said.
The foreign minister said the government's focus was on preserving the national interests, adding, "We cannot sacrifice our national interests."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It's time to expel all Pak citizens from the U.S. and preferably from the civilized world.
It's not a state, it's a malevolence.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011 9:09
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#2
contain the virus.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2011 13:34
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#3
Before you lay waste to place, its probably a good idea to try to get your nationals out first. Then there are no human shields for the bad guys to hide behind.
#4
The Paks lost 3 wars to India. Their decision to take US money while undermining US efforts presented them with an easy win.
Reminder: under US sanctions, Pak foreign reserves approached zero, with Sindhi, Waziri and Balochi separatists moving against the terrorist entity. The nation-build/alliance-with-terror practises of 2 US governments is the worst folly ever devised by a US Presidency. I attacked it from day one.
Anyhoo, DEFENCE.PK/FORUM > HINA/RINA > [TheNews.com.PK] NATO APOLOGY WILL NOT BE ENOUGH: KHAR.
* SAME > ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, PAKISTAN SAYS "NO" TO US PRESSURE: FM KHAR.
ARTIC = US + ISAF M-U-S-T guarantee + protect the inviolate sovereignty of Pakistan, or else Pakistan will exercise its right to act in the sake of its own interests.
[ARETHA FRANKLIN = R-E-S-P-E-C-T Song here].
* SAME > SUPPLY ROUTES TO BE RESTORED [only] IFF NATO APOLOGIZES [for "unprovoked" attack]: AHMAD MUKTAR [PAK DM].
* ION NOT-SEATTLE-SLEEPLESS-IN-PAKISTAN, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > JACOBAD, PASNI AIRBASES [Balochistan] ALSO TO BE VACATED: FIRDOUS [PAK Inform Minister F. Ashig Awan].
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUM > NATO ATTACK WAS "UNINTENTIONAL":PENTAGON | PAKISTAN "NOTION" ON NATO STRIKE INCORRECT: PENTAGON.
* SAME > MUSHARAFF HAND OVER OF SHAMSI AIRBASE [to US vee UAE] DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL, by PAK National Assembly's Standing Cmte. on Law + Justice.
Oh my.
* SAME > [Video = Dunya TV]"I GAVE THE SHAMSI AIRBASE, IT WAS A GOOD IDEA": MUSHARAFF, UAE HAS A SECOND AIRBASE AT RAHIM YAR KHAN.
Iff Sunni Pakistan is trying to help deter or prevent US war agz Pak BFF Shia Iran, IMO Islmabad had better think again wid these kinds of anti-US hardline responses.
[BBC] Lebanese President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... has condemned a rocket attack launched from Leb towards Israel. "Tut tut!" he said. "And tut!"
Four rockets fired from southern Leb landed in northern Israel early on Tuesday, Israeli media reported.
Mr Suleiman said in a statement that the attacks were "a violation of the stability of the south [of Leb]".
There were no casualties reported from the strikes, the first across the border since 2009, or from return fire by the Israeli army.
Two buildings in northern Israel were damaged by the rockets, which fell in the Western Galilee region.
The attack was "not conducive to the cause of solidarity with the Paleostinian people", Mr Suleiman said.
He also called the attack "a breach of UN Resolution 1701, Lebanese laws and Leb's obligations to the international community".
Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbullies guerrillas based in Leb which left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
An obscure Islamist group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it had carried out the attack.
The Lebanese army said it had deployed extra patrols around the village of Rmeish, just 2km (one mile) from the border, and had found a rocket launcher there, Rooters news agency reports.
The United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... peacekeeping force in Leb, Unifil, said it was looking into the incident.
"It is imperative to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this attack," said Unifil Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas in a statement.
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[Dawn] Police claimed to have tossed in the slammer an important turban commander in Chapial area of Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... on Monday.
Officials said that police conducted a raid in the area after they were tipped off
"Mahmoud the Weasel here. Have I got news for you!"
that key turban commander Bacha Zada was present in Lail Banr village of Chaprial.
"Police cordoned off the area and tossed in the slammer the man, who was wanted by law enforcers in various cases of violence in the area," they said.
Violence is forbidden in Pakistan? How can that be?
Police said Bacha Zada was wanted by local administration in killing of Samiullah, head of anti-Taliban lashkar, and 14 other people in Swat.
The tossed in the slammer turban was shifted to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location for interrogation.
is this a tea and biscuits interrogation or mustache wax and Number 7 truncheons? One needs to know whether to wear an adorable little hat or a mustache, you see.
In Kohat, a policeman was injured on Monday in exchange of fire with the armed members of banned Muhammadzai Movement.
Blasphemy! They dared fire upon the Prophet's men? Lynch 'em all!
The officials of Cantt police said that they were patrolling the area as per routine when the armed members of the banned group came face to face with them.
An official said that the movement had been banned but a criminal group was running it to keep police away from the area and continue its illegal activities.
The Cantt police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the chief of the movement, Gulzar Khan. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... he managed to escape after the incident.
The office of the district police officer confirmed that registration of the movement was canceled after a ban was imposed on it last year but a group of criminals was running illegal businesses of drugs, gambling and extortion under its umbrella.
The Muhammadzai Movement was banned when it started parallel policing in the area bordering 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... and took about six coppers hostages. Police had asked the members of the movement to surrender all illegal weapons and leave the security of the area to the administrations of Kohat district and Orakzai Agency.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... the residents of Muhammadzai have appealed to the chief minister and the commissioner Kohat division to resolve the land dispute between them and the Bezote rustics of Orakzai Agency.
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[Dawn] The legal fraternity on Monday condemned the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... attack and demanded that the government give a befitting response to the NATO forces for intruding into Pak territory and attacking Pak forces in which 24 soldiers bit the dust and 13 others were maimed on Nov 26.
This was demanded in a resolution adopted unanimously during a joint general body meeting of the Sindh High Court bar, the Bloody Karachi bar associations and the Sindh Bar Council held at the SHCBA bar room to condemn the aggression.
Legal proceedings remained completely suspended at subordinate courts of the city as lawyers observed a boycott to condemn the NATO attack on Pak forces.
The courts wore a deserted look as the lawyers stayed away from courts while judges remained in their chambers.Hundreds of cases fixed for the day at the city courts and the district court of Malir were simply put off due to non-production of undertrial prisoners.
The Malir Bar Association also denounced the attack and urged the government to stop NATO supplies on a permanent basis and disengage itself from the so-called "war on terror".
In the resolution, the lawyers also demanded suspension of transmission of Western TV channels involved in what they called a "malicious propaganda", adds PPI.
SHCBA President Anwar Mansoor Khan presided over the meeting held in the SHCBA bar room.
The general body meeting strongly condemned the unprovoked NATO air strikes on the Pak posts at Salala in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency.
"This illegal action is an attack on the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain," the resolution said.
The body condemned the western media, especially BBC and Fox News, for maliciously airing the uncalled for and provocative programmes and maligning the armed forces of Pakistain and the government of Pakistain, making incorrect statements "aimed at discrediting Mohammedans of the world and Paks in particular".
The meeting demanded that the government take a forceful action against the intruders and murderers of 24 Pak soldiers and permanently stop NATO supplies passing through the country.
It further demanded ending cooperation with NATO at all levels, closure of Shamsi Airbase and other such bases and cancellation of all defence agreements held with them.
The meeting called upon all Paks to withdraw their investments they had made in NATO member countries.
The government was urged to put an immediate halt to drone attacks and give compensation to families of innocent victims of such attacks.
All parliamentary resolutions were implemented in respect of drone attacks, the resolution demanded.
The Pakistain Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should prohibit "anti-Pakistain channels" being aired while Pak channels should highlight national perspective, it was demanded.
The bar stood behind the armed forces and the government of Pakistain and called upon them to initiate all actions which they deemed fit to protect the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain, the resolution said.
The general body meeting praised Pak armed forces for their steadfastness and expressed the hope that they would remain vigilant to protect borders of the country.
Fateha was also offered for the dear departed soldiers.
The lawyers also prayed for the solidarity, prosperity, well-being and illusory sovereignty of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#1
these would be the same legal geniuses that routinely riot, beat each other and judges, and are generally loud-mouthed pretentious assholes? That Pak Legal Community?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2011 14:30
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[An Nahar] A group of Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... s disrupted classes on Monday at a university west of the capital Tunis, demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear full face veils, officials said.
"A group of Salafists, dressed like the Afghans, have been camped in front of my office since early afternoon," Habib Kazdaghli, the dean of faculty at the University of Manuba, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The group of several dozen students interrupted an English class in the morning, Kazdaghli said.
"They want girls to wear the niqab, a mosque in the middle of the campus, a stop to mixed classes and a prohibition of women teaching male students and vice versa," he said, adding that it marked the first such incident on campus.
Tunisia's Salafists have become more assertive in recent months, following the revolution that ousted a staunchly secular regime along with president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January following mass protests.
The ministry of higher education "firmly" condemned the incident, saying that "all recourse to violence is inadmissible and intolerable."
In regards to policies concerning the niqab, a ministry spokesperson told AFP that "according to current regulations, each student must be able to be identified before accessing the university, for pedagogic and security reasons."
Visible again on the streets of Tunis and other major cities, their new assertiveness has led to a number of more or less violent festivities.
In the eastern city of Sousse earlier this month, some 200 Islamists stormed the university campus after a female student wearing the niqab, or burka, full face veil was not allowed to sign up.
On October 9 in Tunis, a mob of Salafists tried to attack the offices of private Nessma TV station that aired "Persepolis", a French-Iranian animation film in which God is represented as an old bearded man.
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This is probably creating terrible PR for the Salafists in Tunisia, and hopefully the public will applaud the police when they round up a big herd of them and put them in an "austere" prison in the middle of the desert.
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Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Virginia Mayo aka Verna Jarrett in "White Heat (1949)" aka Marie Derry in "The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)" aka Princess Margaret in "The Princess and the Pirate (1944)" aka Helena in "The Silver Chalice (1954)" aka Rosalind van Hoorn in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)" aka Linda Vickers in "Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948)" aka Sally in "The Proud Ones (1956)" (Died in 2005 at age 84)
#2
The triple threat reminds me that Action comics had a super heroine named triplicate girl.
Becoming three people was her superpower. Its kinda stupid if you are battling super villains but for catalyzing the fantasy of young men, it probably works pretty well.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2011 7:05
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It probably works fairly well against male supervillains as well.
[Emirates 24/7] Three Saudi men parked their car close to the headquarters of the Gulf Kingdom's feared religious police late night, got out and started having sex with a woman accompanying them just in front of the massive police signboard.
They were filming themselves with the aim publicising the shot to defame the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law enforcement authority in the Muslim nation.
The three were half way through their operation when one of them noticed the security camera next to the signboard in the capital Riyadh. They stopped filming, headed for the camera and smashed it before fleeing the scene.
In the morning, Commission members going to their offices were surprised to notice that the security camera was badly damaged.
But examination later showed the film inside was intact and it contained clear shots of the three men while having sex with the girl.
"Within three hours, two of those men were captured and a search is still under way to find the third man and the girl," Sabq newspaper said.
"Commission members also found a Kalashnikov machine gun with one of the arrested."
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"Operation" > is that what its being called nowadays???
OTOH why not, I've seen young people snort scents + perfumes, etc. up their nose.
CAIRO -- People waited in lines that ran hundreds of yards outside polling stations surrounded by police and soldiers in what many Egyptians regarded as the first free elections in decades. Men and women were in separate lines so long authorities extended voting by two hours. But overall the voting was smooth, election monitors said.
Previous elections were always usually rigged by the Egyptian dictatorships until the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February. Political opponents were banned or jailed in the past and election results were widely considered to be fraudulent.
Monday's elections are for the lower house of parliament and will be held in three rounds over the next two months. But not all were pleased.
No, of course not...
Protesters continued to occupy Tahrir Square, where clashes between security forces and protesters broke out Nov. 19. Demonstrators were demanding that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, ruling since Mubarak's departure, be replaced by a civilian body until a president is elected in mid-2012.
Many feared violence would break out at polling stations, but the mood was generally subdued.
Polls indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, is expected to win the most sizable portion of seats in parliament of any party.
Expected, as in planned...
Some analysts predict Islamists -- Brotherhood candidates and Salafi Muslims who practice a hard-line strain of Islam -- likely will win a majority of seats.
The electoral law was modified significantly leading up to elections in a supposed attempt to ensure that the Muslim Brotherhood wins all parties and minorities are represented in the parliament. Voters cast ballots that had individuals and party lists. Independent candidates were running for one-third of parliament's 498 seats, and two-thirds of seats were reserved for winning party lists. Also, half of the seats were allotted to "farmers" and "workers."
How soviet of them...
"We've moved from probably the simplest form, which was a majoritarian system, to probably the most complex of electoral systems, which is a mixed system," said Mazen Hassan, a lecturer in political science at Cairo University.
Because Egypt is well beyond simple systems...
Among concerns are the complicated ways votes will be counted, such as the difference between how votes are calculated for independent candidates vs. those for parties.
It's so complicated you need an army general to do the counting. You simple peasants wouldn't understand.
"There are mathematical calculations that everyday Egyptians won't be able to follow," Hassan said. "If justice needs to be watched and understood, that will be difficult. Not all people will understand how votes translate into seats."
Problems were already seen Monday. Some polls opened an hour or two late. Additionally, the Egyptian Coalition for Electoral Observation documented violations in the form of non-stamped ballot papers, and thuggish acts that in one case prevented voters from reaching the polls.
Some political parties boycotted the election, claiming that under military rule, elections will be illegitimate.
"We cannot get a clean election while Mubarak's army generals are still in charge," said Hossam al Hamalawy, a member of both the Democratic Workers Party and the Revolutionary Socialists group, which are boycotting the elections. "Police who are supposed to be securing the ballot boxes are the same ones who have been murdering us for the last days, months and years."
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On the eve of this happy occasion, we in Israel have a message for the Great Egyptian People.
[An Nahar] 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... on Monday called on the Syrian government "to end violence immediately" in a joint statement issued after White House talks.
"We call on the Syrian government to end violence immediately, permit the immediate entry of human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... observers and international journalists, and allow for a peaceful and democratic transition," the statement said.
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... voted Sunday to slap sweeping sanctions against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... over its crackdown on anti-regime protests -- the first time the bloc has enforced punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members.
In earlier measures over its bloody crackdown, Assad's regime has also been subjected to a raft of Western sanctions, led by the United States and European Union.
According to evidence gathered by the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which interviewed 223 victims and witnesses, Syrian forces have murdered, raped and tortured demonstrators since the protests erupted in March.
A Britannia-based rights group reported that security forces and Islamic fascistiloyal to Assad killed nine more civilians across the country on Monday.
Among the dead were six civilians killed in the flashpoint province of Homs, one in Hama and two cut down by powerful machineguns in Rankuss near Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The U.N. estimates that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken Syria since mid-March.
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[An Nahar] Seven more people died in fresh violence across Syria on Tuesday, including a civilian killed by security forces after three of their own were bumped off by suspected mutinous soldiers, activists said.
Syrian troops killed four civilians, including a child, as they hunted for bully boyz and tossed in the calaboose 29 high school students in a raid in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the anti-regime dissent, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
According to the Britannia-based Observatory, the dead included a man killed after gunnies believed to be mutinous soldiers attacked a car transporting members of the security forces, killing three of them.
The gunnies also kidnapped two members of the security forces in the attack near the town of Saraqeb in the northwestern Idlib province, the Observatory added.
An eight-year-old girl was among two civilians killed in the flashpoint central city of Homs. She was struck by a stray bullet from a security checkpoint.
And a 33-year-old man was shot by a sniper in Rankuss near Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... as he tried to flee the town, where at least 17 civilians have been killed since Sunday, the Observatory said.
"Residents are unable to bury their dead or take their maimed to hospital because they are afraid they will be tossed in the calaboose by the security forces who are massively deployed in the town," a statement said.
The violence prompted Soddy Arabia to order its citizens out of Syria.
"Due to the security situation, Soddy Arabia urges its citizens to leave Syria and not travel there," a statement from Riyadh's foreign ministry said.
Syria blames "armed terrorists" for the violence, and on Monday Foreign Minister Walid Muallem slammed Arab countries for ignoring these claims.
"The Arabs don't want to admit the presence in Syria of groups of armed beturbanned goons who are committing these crimes, abductions and attacks on public places," he said.
Muallem's remarks came a day after 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... hit Syria with sweeping sanctions over the regime's failure to halt the bloodshed.
Muallem denounced the punitive measures as "economic war," but said Syria was capable of weathering the effects of the sanctions.
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[Dawn] 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. said that recent killings in Bloody Karachi were not a result of sectarian strife and that involvement of a foreign hand could not be ruled out.
Of course. How could it be otherwise?
Speaking to media representatives at the Allama Iqbal International Airport here Tuesday, he said foreign elements were attempting to shatter the country's peace through propagation of hatred and sectarianism.
To a question, he said the PPP-led government's action against NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... was in accordance with the sentiments of the people of Pakistain. He added that the federal government had suspended NATO supplies to Afghanistan through Pakistain and also issued notice to US authorities regarding the evacuation of Shamsi airbase in 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... within 15 days.
The interior minister said the international community must realise the fact that Pakistain had suffered a lot in the war on terrorism.
To another question about former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi, he said difference of opinion was the essence of democracy.
"Political success is always decided through a public vote and holding a gathering of people does not matter," he maintained.
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[An Nahar] The Saudi foreign ministry on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Syria and not to travel to the Arab nation that has been hit by months of deadly anti-regime protests.
"Due to the security situation, Soddy Arabia urges its citizens to leave Syria and not travel there," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
The decision comes just days after 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... slapped unprecedented sanctions on the Syrian regime over its heavy-handed crackdown on dissent, including a call to suspend flights between Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and Arab destinations.
Bahrain and Qatar on Sunday urged their citizens to leave Syria after the United Arab Emirates also advised its nationals to stay away.
Arab states in the Gulf have been at the forefront of calls to sanction Syria over its eight-month crackdown which the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... says has killed more than 3,500 people.
The Qatari and Saudi embassies in Damascus have been attacked during pro-regime demonstrations.
And Soddy Arabia said one of its citizens was killed on November 21 while visiting relatives in the restive city of Homs in central Syria.
The Arab League on Sunday approved sweeping sanctions against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Despoiler of Deraa... government -- the first time the bloc has imposed punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members.
Measures include an immediate ban on transactions with Damascus and its central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries.
They also bar Syrian officials from visiting Arab countries and call for a suspension of all flights to Arab states to be implemented on a date to be set next week.
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Afghanistan
[Dawn] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... telephoned Pakistain Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... on Tuesday to urge him to reconsider a boycott of the Bonn conference over a deadly 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... strike, officials in both countries said.
Karzai's deputy front man Siamak Herawi told AFP that Pakistain was an important participant in the conference aimed at bridging peace after 10 years of war against the Taliban, and expressed hope that they would ultimately attend.
"President Hamid Karzai called Prime Minister Gilani and officially asked the Pakistain government to participate in the Bonn conference," said Herawi.
"We regard Pakistain as an important country and are optimistic they will attend the Bonn conference."
Pakistain said it would skip the conference on Afghanistan after a NATO strike on Saturday killed 24 Pak soldiers on the border.
Pakistain has already closed the Afghan border to NATO convoys, a lifeline for 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, ordered American personnel to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and ordered a review of the alliance.
Gilani's office issued a statement confirming that Karzai had asked the prime minister to reconsider, but gave no hint of an official rethink.
Gilani said that Pakistain had been extending complete cooperation for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
"However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... he further added that how could a country whose own illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity was violated from Afghan soil play such a constructive role?" Earlier, Afghanistan's foreign ministry said it had not yet received an official confirmation that Pakistain would opt out of the meeting.
"Our Pak brothers should remember that Bonn is an Afghan conference, it will be chaired and led by Afghans," said foreign ministry front man Janan Mosazai.
A Pak government official earlier told AFP on condition of anonymity that the cabinet had decided not to attend the event over the crisis.
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#1
ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUM > [TheNews.com.PK] NATO, PAK FORCES CLASH AGAIN: US PAPER [un-named].
[Tripoli Post] While telling the Syrian regime that the crackdown must end, Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu said that in the event of a massive exodus of refugees from Syria, in co-ordination with the international community, his country may consider setting up a buffer zone on its border from Syria.
Asked on Kanal 24 TV, whether Turkey was mulling the creation of a buffer zone, Mr Davutoglu said that Turkey was preparing for every scenario. "If hundreds of thousands of people flee to our border, this would of course create a different situation. Some steps could be taken then together with the international community," he added.
Neighbouring Turkey and its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been critical off Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad's crackdown on opposition protests, particularly following an attack on Turkish diplomatic missions by pro-Syrian government demonstrators in several Syrian cities earlier this month.
Tensions further deteriorated when two busloads of Turkish pilgrims who were in Syria on their way back from the hajj in Mecca were attacked by Syrian gunnies.
Mr Erdogan has joined Jordan's King Abdullah, both one-time allies of the Syrian President, in calling on Bashir al-Assad to step down.
Further to that, while repeating that Turkey opposed military intervention, the Turkish foreign minister said that Syria has no chance to survive "unless it makes peace with its own people."
Turkey has accommodated about 7,500 opponents of Assad's regime in its Hatay province which borders Syria, after they decamped the violence.
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#2
Go ahead Erdogan. Set up a 10 mile buffer zone inside syria. You know you want it. Its just a little zone, nobody will object and you can drop it right away if you find it trouble.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2011 7:21
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g(r)omgoru: Good catch of an odd video. Is he an Israeli who speaks Turkish, or a Turkish expat, if he is singing in Turkish?
#4
He's a member of Latma (an Israeli new media satirical program---I sometimes post their staff here). The version is in Hebrew, the original---I think---is something Russian (Sov era dissident).
[Emirates 24/7] The premiere of Kim Kardashian's latest reality show "Kourtney & Kim Take New York" might give an insight as to why Kim and Kris divorced 72 days after their much hyped wedding. Yes, we've all be wondering...
Kris Humphries was left furious when he walked in on wife Kim Kardashian, her sister and friends taking part in a yoga session with a naked male yoga instructor on their reality show. Hmmm... Yasss... That would tend to put a strain on a marriage, especially if the woman in the company of the nekkid man was a ditz...
He was shocked to see his wife doing yoga with a naked man in the room. "That's disgusting," he said, beginning to laugh nervously. Perhaps it's old fashioned, but men prefer their wives to avoid the company of nekkid men who aren't them.
Kardashian, 31, and Humphries were seen coming to blows during the season premiere which was aired on US television on November 28. "I... [SLAP!] want... [PUNCH!] a divorce! [THUMP!]"
The two sniped at each other throughout the episode, about everything from a broken toe nail to where to raise their potential family. "How about in somebody else's house?"
"Maybe I'll just raise them with somebody else!"
"Maybe you can just spawn them with somebody else!"
"Maybe I will!"
"Or maybe you can spawn them yourself!"
"You mean...?"
"Yeah. Go have sex with yourself!"
But the biggest fight came when Humphries returned to the couple's hotel suite to find the Kardashians participating in a yoga session with a male teacher wearing only a necklace. "Hmmm... Is that a magic mushroom in your lap or are you surprised to see me?"
Though Kim was fully dressed, her husband was not happy about her being in the company of a naked man. "Brazen hussy!"
"You knew that when you married me, bub!"
"That can be cured!"
The socialite fires back after Humphries gets upset in front of the instructor. Kardashian swung into defensive mode snapping, "You're so immature, I can't take it." I dunno about you, but my mind just boggled.
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"You're such a Bjoran!"
"Thats it, I'm outta here!"
I think Kim needs to get some cats. Maybe about four, that should make her feel better about her future, ease that pretty little head of hers about her jewelry debut at Dollar General.
#2
It's probably a safe bet that American beach panties and/or imported 100%? cotton Yoga pants were being worn by the women during this manic, yet quite Tantric session; wood it not?
May G+D bless you for gently chiding me back to Christian thinking and for rebuking my deeply twisted, negative attitudes.
Christ Jesus is my only Hope in and for this world.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Tuesday named the head of the Islamist party that won last week's election as prime minister to lead talks on the formation of a coalition government, the palace said.
Abdelilah Benkirane, head of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), was summoned to the palace after results showed his party won the biggest block of votes in Friday's ballot.
It was the first election in the north African country since the monarch introduced constitutional reforms as the Arab Spring swept through the region.
The PJD won 107 of the 395 seats in parliament, a result that set the stage for it to become the first Islamist party at the head of a coalition government in Morocco.
An AFP journalist witnessed Benkirane taking the oath after a brief meeting with the king.
Under a new constitution adopted in July as the popular uprisings gripped other Arab states, the king had to choose a prime minister from the winning party instead of naming whoever he pleases, as in the past.
After meeting the monarch, "Benkirane will start talks with the parties that should make up the coalition," PJD parliamentary leader Lahcen Daoudi had told AFP Monday.
An Islamist party has never been allowed in government before, but the PJD has sworn allegiance to the monarchy.
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[Tripoli Post] Following a Kenyan High Court ruling in Nairobi Monday and the issuing of an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. over alleged war crimes in Darfur, Sudan Tuesday recalled its ambassador to Kenya and expelled the Kenyan ambassador from Khartoum.
President Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the conflict-prone Darfur region, where a major humanitarian tragedy has unfolded in recent years.
The ruling came after Kenya allowed Mr Bashir, the first head of state to be indicted by the ICC, to visit in August in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest.
The arrest warrant was issued by the High Court in Nairobi with Judge Nicolas Ombija declaring in his ruling that Mr Bashir's arrest "should be effected by the attorney general and the minister for internal security should he ever set foot in Kenya".
The ruling was made after a case was brought by a non-governmental organization, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
Kenya is a signatory to the treaty which established the ICC in 2002, but like most African countries, it has refused to enforce the ICC warrant. Like most African countries, Kenya, as a member of the NaN, ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... has supported the African Union's argument that arresting Sudan's President would hamper the search for peace in Darfur.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... the Sudanese President, who recently saw his country split between the north and south due to the legacy of a violent civil war, says the charges against him are politically motivated.
Now Khartoum has ordered the Kenyan ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours, while the Sudanese ambassador to Nairobi has been recalled.
Malawi and Chad are among other African countries that Mr Bashir has visited in defiance of the arrest warrant.
More than 2.7 million people have decamped their homes since the conflict in Darfur began in 2003, with the United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... saying that about 300,000 have died - many from disease, a figure that is disputed by the Sudanese government.
Sudan's government says the conflict has killed about 12,000 people and the number of dead has been exaggerated for political reasons.
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The threat to Indonesia from terrorism remains high, with police and government bodies deemed to have transgressed against Islamic teaching now the main targets, an expert warned on Tuesday.
Sidney Jones, a senior adviser with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said it would be "difficult to reduce the level of radicalism and terrorism in Indonesia."
She said, "The numbers [of victims of terrorism] have indeed fallen, but the number of [terrorist] groups continues to rise," she said at a public discussion on the links between terrorism, politics and Islam in Aceh.
Jones said the evidence that terror cells were flourishing did not point to failure by the police or government, but rather demonstrated the strength of the radical ideology behind those groups.
She said, "Fortunately their capacity is still low. For instance, in recent acts of terrorism, the only fatalities have been the suicide bombers. Nevertheless, over time they will become more effective."
She also said that their targets were also changing. In the past Western citizens and interests were the usual target for terrorists, this had now switched to police stations and government offices in areas where the authorities were not considered to be supportive of Islamic doctrine.
Jones said, "Their number one enemy is the police and thaghut [infidel] government officials. Any public official who doesnt back Shariah law is seen as an infidel, while their motivation for attacking the police is out of revenge for their colleagues who have been killed or arrested by police."
Jones continued, "Theres now a sort of changing of tactics, where terrorists realize that the bigger their organization, the easier it is for the authorities to detect. So theyre going with small cells. And theres no need for any coordination between these cells because theyre all working for the same aims and vision."
She added, "People who used to take part in rallies against the Ahmadiyah minority sect have now gone on to become members of these cells."
[Al Ahram] Paleostinian economy minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said on Tuesday he will 'suspend' his official work to fight charges of fraud levelled against him last week. Fraud? In the Paleostinian government? That's never happened before, has it?
The attorney general has charged Abu Libdeh on four counts of fraud and financial wrongdoing, according to a copy of a charge sheet issued November 21 and seen on Tuesday by AFP. The charges allegedly relate to Abu Libdeh's time as the head of the Paleostinian Capital Market Authority, before he joined the government headed by prime minister Salam Fayyad. ...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either... Abu Libdeh has denied any wrongdoing "No, no! Certainly not!"
and said in a statement that he planned to "suspend" his official work to fight the allegations. "Even though the case we're talking about has nothing to do with my duties as the minister of economy... I cannot continue to perform my functions efficiently while facing these vicious attacks, defamation and the spreading of vicious rumours against me and my family," he said.
"Based on this, I announce that I am suspending the performance of my functions and duties in order to free myself to defend myself against this fabricated case." Paleostinian law requires any minister charged by the attorney general to cease official functions until the case is resolved.
It was unclear when the charges against Abu Libdeh -- which include corruption, fraud and manipulating the money market -- might be heard.
They come as Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... tries to agree the formation of a new government of independents with rival movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, to guide the Paleostinians to elections by May 2012.
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Abu Libdeh: I quit so I can devote 100% of my time to finding the real crook!
Posted by: American Delight ||
11/30/2011 7:12
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[Al Ahram] Minutes past 10pm, Mohamed El-Badry, a member of the General Secretariat of the Revolution, told Nile TV , which is carrying live footage from the square, that scores of what appeared to be gunnies were launching an attack on the square from the direction of Abdel Moneim Riad.
"I can see molotov thrown into the square and I hear gun shots fired," El-Badry said. "There are also people standing on top of 6 October bridge which overlooks the square, and they are throwing stones at protesters," El-Badry said.
"Two people have been shot in the eye and ambulances have transferred them to one of the field hospitals in the square at Omar Makram mosque for emergency treatment," El-Badry added.
Nile TV footage did show a few hundred people who appeared to be protesters rushing towards Abdel Moneim Riad to confront the attackers.
Mohamed El-Sa'id, a member of the Revolution Youth Coalition, told state Nile TV that hundreds of people are exchanging molotov cocktail bombs in Abdel Moneim Riad square, but he asserted that protesters sitting-in in Tahrir square against the ruling military council (SCAF) are not involved.
Earlier Tuesday evening, activists in Tahrir Square told Ahram Online that several men wearing red T-shirts and wielding truncheons have attacked a number of street vendors who sell food and tea to the thousands of protesters who have been holding a sit-in at the Square since November 19.
"The men in red tried to wreak havoc in the square, and they claimed to be part of a 'Tahrir public safety brigade', " Ahmed Kamal, an activist who is currently in the area told Ahram Online.
Kamal, who is still in the centre of the massive square a few hundred yards from Abdel Monein Riad, confirmed to Ahram Online at 10:30pm that he heard gun shots coming from the direction of Riad.
"I have not seen any army or police in the area so far to attempt to separate the two sides," El-Badry, on the other hand, told Nile TV.
Ahram Online news hounds have confirmed that individuals in civilian clothes, not soldiers in uniform, are the ones attempting to attack the square.
Ahram Online news hounds also spotted an army tank moving up El-Galaa street in the direction of Abdel Moneim Riad.
The number of protesters in the Square has thinned out in the last 24 hours as millions of Egyptians flocked to polling stations to cast ballots in the parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#2
I'm coming to the conclusion that the military is going to do what the Turkish military did for a very long time. Keep the secular order, to keep the Islamists out of power.
They know that if the MB get control, the first thing they will do is utterly purge the military, replacing all its senior officers with Islamists. They saw this happen quickly in Iran, and slower in Turkey, but with the same result.
#3
All they want is civilian control over the military...and then after being elected the new government will use that civilian authority to put down all opposition.
A Number Three, or the equivalent of a patrol leader? Regardless, he'll have a cell phone, and that's what matters.
[Tolo News] Afghan and 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 captured a local Haqqani network leader in a joint operation in southeastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... on Tuesday, Isaf said.
"A Haqqani network leader was captured by a combined Afghan and coalition security force during an operation in Sabari district, Khost province, today," the Isaf statement said.
The Haqqani leader distributed roadside kabooms and planned attacks against Afghan forces, the statement added.
Afghan and NATO forces are targetting the Haqqani network whose faceless myrmidons operate along the Afghan-Pakistain border; the forces have had considerable success capturing or killing these Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[U.S. News] President B.O.'s slow ride down Gallup's daily presidential job approval index has finally passed below Jimmy Carter, ... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... Well, Professor Reynolds keeps saying that a repeat of the Carter administration is a best case scenario.
earning Obama the worst job approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history.
Since March, Obama's job approval rating has hovered above Carter's, considered among the 20th century's worst presidents, but today Obama's punctured Carter's dismal job approval line. On their comparison chart, Gallup put Obama's job approval rating at 43 percent compared to Carter's 51 percent. To be fair, Carter hit 51 only because Americans will rally around a president in times of crisis, and at this point in his presidency Jimmuah was dealing with the Mad Mullahs. Without that our last vision of the man would have been him and a killer rabbit, and an approval rating of 4.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#1
Bammo's approval rating should level off somewhere between "barium enema" and "Hitler with nuclear weapons."
#9
Yes, but with the storming of the English Embassy we shall get a re-make of the hostage crises, perhaps even subtitled in Austrian for all the world to see.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two robbers were killed in a mob beating in Kuliarchar upazila of Kishoreganj yesterday when they were fleeing after robbing a house.
One of the dear departed was identified as Badal Miah, 40, of Nolbait village. Identity of the other myrmidon could not be known immediately.
Muyeed Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Kuliarchar Police Station, said a gang of at least five robbers looted the house of one Hares Miah at North Shalua village around 2:00am.
The gang stabbed Hares' wife Jahanara Akter and his sister-in-law Ferdous Ara when they tried to resist the robbers.
As the criminals were fleeing the village, neighbours of Hares made an announcement from a nearby mosque calling for help.
Later villagers gave chase and caught two robbers near Dumrakanda area.
Villagers gave the robbers a good beating, leaving them dead on the spot.
Police recovered three gold chains and a torchlight from their possession.
Jahanara and Ferdous were admitted to Kuliarchar Upazila Health Complex.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[Dawn] Pak cable television operators on Tuesday threatened to block Western news channels they say are anti-Pak, as fury spread over a 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... attack that killed 24 Pak soldiers.
"We want to send them a strong message to stop this. If they don't stop this, then it is our right to stop them," Khalid Arain, president of the All Pakistain Cable Operators Association said in a live presser. The BBC was the focus of criticism.
Go ahead and ban the BBC -- let's take a look in six months to see how that went. By the way, how many paying subscribers does the Association have?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[Dawn] A majority of Americans do not see Pakistain as a friend to the United States, says an opinion survey released on Monday. I like to think the 'Burg has had something to do with that. But the Paks did help.
The survey, conducted on Nov 27, a day after a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... air strike killed 25 Pak soldiers, asked US citizens: Do you consider Pakistain to be a friend or enemy of the United States?
An enemy to the US was the choice of 55 per cent respondents. Only seven pc said they considered Pakistain a friend, 26 pc did not consider Pakistain a friend or enemy and 12 pc did not have an opinion.
The surveyors, a US polling agency called Poll Positions, noted that the relationship between the United States and Pakistain had been up and down over the past years.
The US considers Pakistain a strong ally on the war on terror. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... America politicians expressed some dismay when the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... was found living in a house near a Pak military intelligence facility. He had reportedly been living there for several years. Pakistain said it did not know Bin Laden was there.
The surveyors pointed out that Pakistain also had expressed anger towards the US over predator drone missile strikes that have killed civilians and members of the Pak military.
Oh? How is it that members of the Pakistani military were close enough to jihadi targets that they were killed as well?
The US says predator drone strikes are an effective tool in targeting terrorists.
Last month, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Elihu Root ... visited Pakistain as part of a concerted effort to improve relations but the relationship nose-dived when US-led NATO forces blew up two Pak military posts near the Afghan border on Saturday, stirring countrywide protests.
The survey also shows another change in US attitudes towards Pakistain. Until recently, Pakistain was more popular among the conservative-minded Republicans apparently because of close ties between the two militaries while Democrats had strong reservations against the country.
But Sunday`s survey shows that now more Republicans see Pakistain as an enemy than Democrats or independents. Among Republicans, 70 pc consider Pakistain an enemy, 6 pc said Pakistain is a friend, 12 pc chose neither, and 12 pc had no opinion.
Democrats countered with 47 pc considering Pakistain an enemy, 11 pc said Pakistain is a friend, 30 pc said neither, and 12 pc offered no opinion. Among Independents, 45 pc looked at Pakistain as an enemy, 4 pc a friend, 37 pc said neither friend nor enemy, and 14 pc did not offer an opinion.
Poll Position`s scientific telephone survey of 1,176 registered voters nationwide was conducted on Nov 27 and has a margin of error of plus, minus three pc.
Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#2
well, I guess we better send them another billion in AID. Or we could just give them the rest of the gas stations in the US since they seem too run 90% of them anyway.
Posted by: chris ||
11/30/2011 7:04
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#3
Rantburgers,LWJ & anyone on the ground in Afghanistan KNOW Pakistan is an Enemy!
#4
The US has provided over $20 billion to Pakistan since 2001.
A lot of this is to prevent their nukes from being stolen. Some went to the Pak army to help fight Al Q. Much of the rest ended in the hands of politicos and their cronies. Perhaps 5-10% got to the population.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/30/2011 12:50
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#5
It's just the govmint that holds onto the meme that they are not our enemy.
[Dawn] Street protests by several religious and political parties continued on a second consecutive day in the city against the Saturday air raid on Pakistain Army outposts in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency by US-led 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 that killed and maimed many soldiers.
While the Muttahida Quami Movement observed Pakistain Solidarity and Stability Day by organising programmes at its offices across the country to protest against the unprovoked aggression, several religious and political parties including Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JD) staged a rally outside the Bloody Karachi Press Club to express anger against the NATO strike.
The parties demanded that the government stop the logistic facility for NATO supplies permanently and shut down US bases across the country.
They termed the raid 'an attack on Pakistain's illusory sovereignty'.
JD leaders Maulana Saifullah Khalid, Naveed Qamar, Prof Mehmoodul Hasan Asad and Hafiz Kalimullah, JI leaders Asadullah Bhutto and Nasrullah Shajee and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Qari Usman and others who addressed the rally asked the government to stop 'politics of demands' and start thinking over a common strategy to counter US threats which they said were mounting.
They said that Washington had never been a friend of Islamabad and alleged that it was promoting terrorism in the country in collaboration with India.
The leaders also criticised the government's decision to grant the status of Most Favoured Nation to India and described it as 'detrimental to our national interests'. They said that the decision would cast a negative impact on the national economy.
"The enthusiastic response given by the public to the stability and solidarity day proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Pak nation is capable of giving a befitting reply to any aggression on its borders," said MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar while addressing a large crowd of party workers and supporters at the party headquarters, known as Nine Zero.
He paid tribute to the officers and personnel of Pakistain Army who bit the dust in the unprovoked attack.
He said that it should be made clear to the world that any adventure against the country's illusory sovereignty would be strongly dealt with.
Mr Sattar said the challenge should be converted into an opportunity and the nation should get united to make the defence of the country impregnable.
He asserted that the MQM would not shy away from offering any sacrifices for the country.
He said that the entire nation was firmly behind the armed forces.
On the instruction of MQM chief Altaf Hussain, the national flag was hoisted at the residences of party workers and supporters, buildings and public places.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#1
Meanwhile ...
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUMS > US SHOULD EXPLAIN ITS ITS [post-2014] BASES IN AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIAN FM [Sergei Lavrov].
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS RECONSTRUCTED BY ISI IN PoK [Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir].
VARIOUS BLOGGERS = Prob done for Pakistan to cause third-party trouble inside India as diversion agz breakdown in relations wid US, + to get concessions from same.
* SAME > TRUCK OWNER SAYS NO WAY [anti] NATO BLOCKADE WILL LAST AS TOO MANY PAKIS SAY THEY MAKE MONEY FROM IT | [WSJ.com] COORDINATION IS QUESTIONED IN WAKE OF NATO AIRSTRIKE.
* SAME > US SUSPECTS NATO FORCES LURED [by Taliban] INTO DEADLY RAID.
The Taliban were betting on US-NATO to think their fire came from Pak units.
* TOPIX > NATO APOLOGY NOT ENOUGH: DG ISPR.
* SAME > PAKISTAN NOT TO COMPROMISE SOVEREIGNTY FOR AFGHAN PEACE: GILANI.
versus
* TOPIX > [The Nation.PK] FOUR REASON WHY THE PAK-US ALIANCE WILL SURVIVE, namely ...
> Pak wants US aid $$$.
> Pak wants US = modern Western technology.
> US needs convenient PAK-based Supply Routes to fight Jihadis in Afghanistan.
> US is worried about Pak Nuke security, i.e. oversignt agz MilTerrs getting control of same.
[An Nahar] Seven Lebanese men on Tuesday denounced Syria's authorities for what they said was false usage of footage filmed in 2008 to prove "terrorist" involvement in unrest rocking Syria.
The seven men at a presser in Tripoli's impoverished Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood showed what they said was the original video they had shot and posted on Facebook, and identified themselves one by one.
"The footage aired by the Syrians is fabricated and full of lies and we urge the Lebanese government to protect us," said Ahmed Said, who bore a strong resemblance to one man in the video.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on Monday aired gruesome video footage he said showed "terrorist" groups killing Syrian troops in various towns across the country.
In one segment, a group of armed bearded men are shown making their way through some bushes and trees, with the caption "Footages (sic) of the members of the terrorist armed gangs, at training" in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia.
The seven Lebanese said the segment had nothing to do with the Syrian revolt and was actually footage they themselves filmed in 2008 during festivities in Leb.
They accompanied a number of journalists, including one from AFP, to the area where they said the video was shot.
"This video was filmed on our phones behind the Luqman school at the northern entrance to Tripoli where we were defending our families and our districts in 2008," said Ahmad Issa, identifying himself in the footage.
He was referring to sectarian festivities in May of that year that left more than 100 people dead across Leb.
Issa said he and his peers had filmed the gathering and posted it to Facebook back in 2008.
He said residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh noticed the footage was first used five months ago by satellite channel Dunia, owned by Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's tycoon cousin Rami Makhlouf.
"Now that the regime has come out and falsely claimed this footage, we now have to stand up and defend ourselves and our families: I have never been to Syria, nor have any of us here," Issa said.
Tension is rising in Leb over the Syria crisis, which has deepened a rift between a pro-Syrian alliance led by Hizbullah and a western-backed opposition led by ex-premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
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... estimates that more than 3,500 people have died in a crackdown by Syrian security forces since March on anti-regime protest. Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... blames "armed terrorist gangs" for the unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Turkey plans to bypass Syria for regional trade if conditions in the neighboring country deteriorate, the country's transport minister said on Tuesday.
"If conditions aggravate in Syria, we are planning to shift (road) transport to Iraq by opening new gates," Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
Turkey's move comes after Arab foreign ministers agreed on Sunday a list of sweeping sanctions designed to cripple the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , which has defied international pressure to halt a bloody crackdown on protests.
Yildirim said the Arab sanctions against Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... were not yet fully implemented.
"Turkey is supporting this work (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 some extent but our principle is that the restrictions to be imposed should never victimize the Syrian people," he warned.
Syria is a transit country for Turkey's trade with Middle Eastern countries. Turkey and Syria, one time allies, abolished visa requirements in 2009.
Ankara has been increasingly strident in its criticism of the Syrian regime, and has already halted joint oil exploration and threatened to cut electricity supplies.
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[ABC News] Ivory Coast's former strongman, who nearly dragged his country into civil war in a bid to retain power, is being extradited to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... following the issue of a warrant for his arrest, his front man said Tuesday. Maybe the ICC will leave Libya alone now since they have a chew toy for the next decade...
The ex-president has been under house arrest in the tiny village of Korhogo over 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Abidjan since being ousted by internationally backed forces seven months ago.
In Abidjan, Gbagbo's front man Kone Katinan confirmed that the former ruler had left the remote village in a special flight headed to The Hague. "He's in the plane," Katinan said. The public prosecutor's office in Ivory Coast said Gbagbo changed planes in Bouake, the regional capital, before continuing to the Netherlands.
"I can confirm that he left Korhogo at 6:31 p.m. GMT. He is passing through Bouake, because the landing strip in Korhogo can only accommodate a small plane."
Gbagbo's Gay Paree-based lawyer Emmanuel Altit said he had filed an appeal to stop the international arrest warrant issued Tuesday through Ivory Coast state prosecutors, but acknowledged that if it's not granted, the ex-president would be transferred overnight.
The development, which comes almost exactly a year to the day after Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election, was applauded by victims of Gbagbo's regime and by rights groups because of the signal it sends against impunity.
Once he arrives in The Hague, Gbagbo will become the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the tribunal since its founding in 2002. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. has been indicted, though he refuses to surrender, while former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually. and Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic have been tried there by special ad hoc tribunals, rather than the world court.
The move could further stoke tension in Ivory Coast, however, because it gives the appearance of victor's justice, since grave abuses were also committed by forces loyal to the country's democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... , who enlisted the help of a former rebel group in order to force Gbagbo from office.
In the Abidjan neighborhoods that voted in large numbers for Gbagbo, the frustration was palpable. Retired insurance salesman Jack Koutouan, 67, called the move "an abuse of the law."
Leaders of Gbagbo's party, whose members are either under house arrest or else in exile, called the pending extradition an "injustice."
"It's an injustice to judge him alone without judging (Guillaume) Soro," said party front man Augustin Guehoun, naming the country's defense minister who headed the gang that invaded the country in order to install Ouattara.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... , Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... and Amnesia Amnesty International have documented how the advancing army set fire to villages that voted for Gbagbo, and executed those that could not run away, including the elderly and the disabled, by rolling them inside mattresses and then setting them on fire.
"He is not the only one responsible (for the human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. abuses committed during the post election period)," said 30-year-old Kossonou Agingra. "There were partisans of Alassane (Ouattara) who killed -- and partisans of Gbagbo who killed."
The 66-year-old Gbagbo, a history professor, came to power in a flawed election in 2000. He then failed to hold elections when his first five-year term expired in 2005, and rescheduled the vote a half-dozen times before it finally went ahead in 2010. Among conditions set by the international community, which Gbagbo accepted, were that the results would be certified by the United Nations in order to prevent his regime from rigging the vote.
But as soon as it became clear that Ouattara was leading in the polls, Gbagbo's presidential guard surrounded the election commission, preventing the results from being announced.
The killings began as soon as the United Nations declared Ouattara the winner, and for the next four months morgues overflowed as the military under Gbagbo's control executed opponents, bumped off protesters and shelled neighborhoods.
The turning point came in March when thousands of unarmed women led a demonstration demanding Gbagbo's departure. Tanks opened fire with 50-caliber bullets and the horrific scene that followed was caught on camera phones, and led to condemnation by governments around the world, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Dean Acheson ...
The United Nations helped by French forces began air strikes soon after, clearing the path for Ouattara's soldiers to enter the city, where they seized Gbagbo inside his bunker.
"Today is a big day for the victims of crimes committed during Ivory Coast's horrific postelection violence," said Elise Keppler, senior counsel to Human Rights Watch in an email.
"While the Gbagbo camp fueled the violence through its refusal to relinquish power and its incitement, forces on both sides have been repeatedly implicated in grave crimes," she said. "The many victims of abuse meted out by forces loyal to President Ouattara also deserve to see justice done."
Spokesman for Ouattara's government Kone Bruno said he did not believe the pending indictment could destabilize the nation, which is still plagued by pockets of violence between the two camps. He added that the international court will likely be more impartial than an Ivory Coast court. "If a judgment were made in Ivory Coast, it wouldn't be objective," he said.
In the Netherlands, Gbagbo is likely to be better treated than he has been at home. His lawyer Altit said that while under house arrest in Korhogo the elderly Gbagbo was kept incommunicado and prohibited from going outside.
"He didn't have the right to walk even a few steps outside," said Altit. "At the beginning, he didn't have any clothes, and after two or two-and-a-half months lawyers were able to come see him and bring him some things."
A confidential United Nations document leaked to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on Tuesday states that Gbagbo's health "seems to be deteriorating." He was having "trouble standing up," as of Nov. 23.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Over 1.4 million Somalis face starvation after the Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... banished 16 humanitarian organizations from Southern Somalia.
The United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... and its refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that millions of displaced Somalis faced a humanitarian crisis after the Death Eaters expelled the aid agencies.
The agencies were accused of collaborating with the Kenyan military and the Transitional Federal Government troops in running Al-Shabaab out of their bases in southern Somalia.
UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... described as brazen the seizure of property and equipment of the aid agencies.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos also warned that famine could return to some drought-hit areas.
Separately, the refugees agency warned that the ban had placed the lives of millions of Somalia people in danger.
"More than two thirds of Somalia's estimated 1.46 million internally displaced people in the south and central parts need immense humanitarian aid," the agency said in a statement.
The Death Eaters accused the aid agencies of conducting activities that did not subscribe to Islamic practices.
Among the organizations expelled are the World Health Organisation, the UN Population Fund, the UN Office for Project Services and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit.
The refugees commissioner reported that over 500 people, including children were walking from the towns of Beles Qooqaani, Tabta and Afmadow towards Dobley without food.
Federal president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed termed the terrorist group "an enemy" of the Somali people.
The president also urged the United Nations to lift an arms embargo imposed on the war-torn country in 1992 so his government can set up military bases in areas captured by Kenyan troops and their allies.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end... Kenya on Tuesday received a top Al-Shabaab commander who defected from the terrorist outfit in Busar, one of the liberated towns.
Kenya military front man Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the middle level commander was assisting them with "valuable information regarding the enemy. He has told us that there are many of his colleagues who want to surrender but fear that they may be victimized by the federal government. We are encouraging them to surrender," said Major Chirchir.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... a senior Al-Shabaab official said on Tuesday that the International Committee of the Red Thingy, medical aid charity MSF and Italia's Copi were not banned.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#5
I'm kinda busy and tired today, I didn't have time for the essay answer to this. These guys want to basically kill via (probably artificial) starvation roughly 1.5 million people. I can't think of a good answer to that.
Muammar Qadaffy's ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... once-powerful son Seif al-Islam is now just a "helpless criminal" in the Libyan hilltown of Zintan, where he can stay until he goes on trial, officials and town residents say.
"For Zintan he is just a helpless criminal. He is not a danger. We have no problem in keeping him here and we can hold him until his trial begins if it is better for Libya," said Ibrahim Turki, the National Transitional Council's health coordinator in Zintan. They usually say something like that just before a gang of heavily armed revanchists busts him out so he can lead the counterrevolution.
"The Libyan authorities will decide his fate," he said. "And then they'll hang him!"
Unless he can point them to the $2 billion bribe he was reported to have offered the guys who caught him. Then there might be room for negotiation. Krugerrands have a way of doing that...
Residents of Zintan, a southern Libyan town now famous for its high-profile captive, told AFP that Seif was being moved regularly from one secret location to another to ensure his safety and protect him from the brutal end faced by his father. ... and to keep the well-organized gang of Qadaffy revanchists from spiriting him away.
On October 20, Qadaffy was lynched by his captors in Libya's western city of Misrata. Leaked footage of the deposed leader's final moments showed his bloodied, limp body being hauled onto the back of a pick-up truck as dozens of frenzied gunnieshad gun sex.
Qadaffy's death triggered widespread global condemnation and forced Libya's new rulers to launch an investigation into the circumstances of his killing. The "widespread global condemnation" is more a sign of how ostentatiously fastidious we've become. Muammar was a bloody-handed dictator, literally. He was a sadist. He was a megalomaniac. Now he's a dead sadistic megalomaniac. It's no skin of my fore. I haven't lost a minute's sleep over his demise.
Some Zintan residents said they initially believed Seif would also face a violent death, but are now confident he will likely live long enough to go on trial. After which he'll face a violent death. See how much more civilized that is?
"We were initially worried that he may face the same fate as his father. But he is in safe custody and poses no danger to Zintan or to Libya," said Shaban al-Waer, 48, a self-employed resident of the town. "He can be held here even for a year without any problem," he said.
Seif's location has remained a closely guarded secret, with residents saying there has been no sign of the captive since his initial arrest on November 19. NTC officials have only confirmed that Seif is still in Zintan.
"He is in a secured location," Libya's Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told news hounds in Tripoli on Tuesday.
Shagur said Qadaffy's son is being treated in accordance with international standards. "Of course he has been and continues to be treated in accordance with international standards and not in the way he used to treat our prisoners," he said. My point entirely. In the days after Seif's capture, media reports suggested that Zintan's military council was refusing to hand him over to NTC officials unless the commander of the unit that captured him was named Libya's defence minister. Last week, the commander, Osama Juili, was given the defence minister's post. Well, imagine that!
Seif al-Islam's fate remains a challenge to the new Libyan leadership as it tries to balance demands for Dire Revenge against Qadaffy's most prominent son and heir apparent, and calls by the international community to give Seif a fair trial.
The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , which wants to try him on charges of crimes against humanity, too has called on the Libyan leadership to ensure Seif is unharmed, and treated in accordance with international laws and norms. In a statement Friday, the ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the trial of Seif could be held in Libya under ICC auspices. This the sign of desperation for the ICC as it struggles to demonstrate its relevance -- it's that or face the loss of their funding, and no western organization will suffer that...
Shagur said Seif will get a fair trial. "It (trial) will happen at the right time. He will be facing a fair and just trial," he said when asked when could the trial commence.
Despite international fears that Seif's safety is at risk, Zintan residents expressed their desire to see justice take its course, and prove once and for all, the new Libya will be lawful, not vengeful. "He (Seif) deserves a fair trial and he will get one. I am sure," said Salam Ali Ahmed, a shopkeeper in Zintan whose grocery shop overlooks the town's main square, packed with pictures of citizens killed in the fight to overthrow the former regime.
For Waer, Qadaffy's son will remain innocent until proven guilty. "Only a fair trial can prove his doings. We need to find out whether he ordered the killing of Libyans during the revolt against his father," he said. "We need to find out whether he used Libyan money to kill Libyans ... he may not be guilty" of these offences, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[Dawn] Tribesmen of Kohat division on Monday said they could take Dire Revenge™ of the killing of around 28 Mighty Pak Army men in a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... cross-border air strike with the government and the army's consent.
During a news conference here on Monday, tribal elders from 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... , 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... and Frontier Region of Kohat condemned the NATO attack and said eight million people of the mountainous region were ready to give a befitting reply to the aggressor if the government and the army asked them to do so.
They said the rustics won't tolerate violation of the country's airspace or border by the NATO or US forces in future.
The tribal elders accused the NATO and the US of criminally undermining the gains of the Pak security forces against terrorism and said provocative attacks by Afghanistan-based foreign forces were killing innocent people and soldiers.
They said instead of acknowledging Pakistain's sacrifices against terrorism, the US had been blaming its defeat in Afghanistan on Mighty Pak Army for political gains at home.
On the occasion, elders from Darra Adam Khel complained that political administration charged a primitive Rs570 for national computerised identity card, Rs500 for domicile and Rs2,000 for transfer of Rs100,000 worth of land but didn't ensure provision of health, education, water and sanitation facilities in the area.
In Mardan, activists of Awami National Party (ANP) and Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) on Monday took to streets against the NATO strike in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency.
Led by district president Dr Farooq Akram Khan, ANP workers staged a demonstration in front of Mardan Press Club, while IJT activists marched through the city's different bazaars from the College Chowk to the press club.
They held banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the NATO and the US, and demanded a strong response from Pakistain to the NATO.
The protestors said the NATO attacked the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain and violated the UN charter and international law. They said Pakistain had given more sacrifices than the US and NATO in the war against terrorism but unfortunately, they all had gone unacknowledged.
In Nowshera, people from different walks of life on Monday condemned the deadly NATO strike on a border post in Mohmand Agency and urged the government to permanently cut supplies to the foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Lawyers boycotted court proceedings against the attack declaring it a violation of the country's illusory sovereignty. They appealed the people to pressure the government not to restore NATO supplies passing through Pakistain.
Leaders of political parties also condemned the attack and demanded an apt response from the government and its security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[Dawn] Awami National Party central chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that no one can wipe out Pakhtuns from their soil as they know how to defend their land.
"Pakhtuns want peace on their soil and they have been working for peace and tranquility in their region," he told a big public gathering at Bacha Khan Hospital Complex in Shahmansoor here on Monday.
The ANP chief said that armed forces were capable to counter external threat and no country should allow use of its territory for attacks against Pakistain.
"The NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... strike is an aggression against the country. We would defend our country with complete vigour and no one is allowed to violate our boundaries and attack our forces," he said.
On the occasion, many workers of different parties from Buner and Mardan announced joining ANP. All key leaders of the party were present on the occasion.
"Our leaders and workers have rendered numerous sacrifices for the country`s illusory sovereignty and solidarity. The followers of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan are ready to lay down their lives for the motherland," Mr Khan said.
He said that ANP fought against invaders and its leaders and workers played a leading role in fighting against the usurpers. He added that some elements hatched conspiracies against the democratic setup in the country. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... he did not elaborate.
He said that if he was reelected central president of the party, in the elections being held on Nov 30, he would ask ANP provincial chief Afrasiab Khattak to bring back annoyed workers to the party fold.
Addressing on the occasion, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti enumerated various achievements of his government, saying they succeeded on many fronts where previous governments had failed.
Referring to NFC award, he said that they had Rs40 billions in their exchequer that would be spent on the welfare of people. The ANP government succeeded to increase its share in oil and gas royalty from Rs330 millions to Rs16 billions, he said. "The provincial government has set up its own Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Development Company," Mr Hoti said.
He sanctioned the extension of Pehur High Level Canal, which was a longstanding demand of the people. He said that government allowed Rs30 million for its survey, which was expected to be completed within three months.
"After the survey, government will start work on the mega project, which will irrigate thousands kanals land in the district," he added.
The chief minister said that he also sanctioned Rs580 million for the construction of 30 kilometres Topi-Utla Road. He said that the road would be named after Hanif Gul Jadoon, who was killed in a suicide kaboom on Eid day.
"The government has also provided Rs460 million for construction of Swabi Police Lines, which was attacked by the jacket wallah on November 1, 2010," he said.
Mr Hoti said that Rs140 million were allocated for construction and repairing of Swabi-Mardan Road. About Razaar tehsil, he said that they allocated Rs220 million for the building of the new tehsil. The construction of the building was delayed because the fund was diverted to help flood survivors, he said.
He allocated Rs600 million for uplift schemes in six provincial assembly constituencies in the district.
Afrasiab Khattak, Minister for Zakat and Ushr Zar Shaid Khan and district president Haji Rehmanullah also spoke on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#1
until you teach them how too aim I would shut the fuck up.
Posted by: chris ||
11/30/2011 7:08
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[Dawn] `PEACE negotiations` and `give peace a chance` are attractive catch phrases and slogans plagiarised from old events.
The news of offer of negotiations through some unknown front man by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) to the government has been creating waves in the media for some time, without any concrete evidence.
Many people doubt the authenticity of such news, and for good reason. Some people connect this with the recent All Party Conference resolution while others think that the Taliban movement in Pakistain has become weakened and that the Orcs and similar vermin are looking for breathing space.
Another Taliban front man also added that his organization had ceased their operations in Pakistain. This was followed by quick denial. In fact, the whole affair appears to be shrouded in mystery.
The APC was held to send a strong message to the US after an offensive deployment by US/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 opposite North Wazoo coupled with threats and accusations by various US/NATO officials hurled at Pakistain through the media that if Pakistain did not comply with US demands it could face possible kinetic operations by US/NATO ground and air forces particularly in North Waziristan.
These threats were so effectively articulated by the western media that the Pakistain military high command held a meeting on a Sunday to review this dangerous development and to work out possible contingencies to meet this extraordinary challenge.
These threats were taken seriously because an attack by NATO and a superpower like the US had probably never entered the thinking of our military or politicianship.
Hopefully the military high command worked out possible scenarios and responses in that crucial meeting, as army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... calmly stated after the conference that Pakistain should not be equated with Iraq or Afghanistan and that the responsibility for turning Pakistain into an adversary from an ally would lie squarely with the US and its allies.
This was a well-calculated and sensible statement. In the second phase, an APC was to be held to send a strong message to the US from our politicianship. Unfortunately, this APC, due to the ineptness of our politicians, failed to rise to the occasion and instead politicised the issue.
The resolution called for negotiations with the so-called Pak Taliban (terrorists) besides other things. The message meant for the US/NATO got diluted.
This conference was so important that the US ambassador in Pakistain was following the proceedings of this conference minute by minute and he must have heaved a sigh of relief as the conference concluded with a weak resolution. He must have had a good laugh
The main proponent of this negotiation mantra was no other than Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... ; when he was asked in a subsequent TV talk show whether he could name factions of the Taliban with whom these negotiations would be held, he had no answer.
The offer of peace negotiations appears to be related to this APC resolution. The unknown Taliban front man speaking to the media also claimed that two to three preliminary meetings had already taken place with the government.
All agencies of the government, including the information ministry and ISPR, denied any negotiation.
This government has already had long negotiations with the Orcs and similar vermin in all sincerity in 2008-2009. But it finally reached the inescapable and unfortunate conclusion that the Taliban are not interested in peace and that they are using negotiations and agreements to further their agenda.
In May 2009, Pakistain`s armed forces were ordered to take action against these elements and the people fully supported the resultant operations.
The rest is history.
It`s a well-known fact that the so-called Pak Taliban have used negotiations and agreements to regroup, recoup and reorganise themselves on various occasions in the past and that is how they have moved from strength to strength to the detriment of the state of Pakistain.
The TTP is a shadow of its former self now. There are other numerous groups with fancy names operating in North Waziristan and other tribal agencies. The TTP after having been uprooted from South Waziristan Agency decamped to North Waziristan Agency.
It has been learnt that Hafiz Gul Bahadur issued them a warning about two months ago to leave the agency and since then their whereabouts are not known.
Some people speculate that they are in Afghanistan and some think that they are 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...
The present operation in Orakzai/Kurram/Khyber agencies should not be underestimated. About a division size of force is involved in the clearance of cut-throats from a very difficult mountainous area at the junction of these three agencies in which some stiff resistance is being encountered.
It is quite possible that the TTP is trying to wriggle out of this difficult situation through these offers of negotiations
Negotiations with elements that are repentant and prepared to work within a democratic dispensation have never been ruled out by the government. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... their negotiations as a `state` which they think they have created in Pakistain with the state of Pakistain should never be acceptable.
Those political elements who have been openly advocating the cause of the Taliban are well-known. People who are moderate Mohammedans are not likely to accept interpretations of Islam by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The latter is already a weakened force after the elimination of the late Osama bin Laden ... who sleeps with the fishes...
With the departure of US, NATO and Isaf forces from Afghanistan the centre of terrorism will shift back to Afghanistan which is unfortunate but it will reduce pressure on Pakistain.
We are already seeing a reduced number of terrorist attacks in Pakistain. The government has been able to impose its writ in most of the area and we should be looking for an opportune moment to establish our writ in North Waziristan Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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[Al Ahram] Investigators from the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria held state officials responsible for murder, rape and torture in their crackdown on protesters since March.
And they blamed orders from the top of Bashir al-Assad's regime.
The panel interviewed 223 victims and witnesses, including defectors from President Al-Assad's security forces who told of shoot-to-kill orders against demonstrators and cases of children being tortured to death.
"The commission believes that orders to shoot and otherwise mistreat civilians originated from policies and directives issued at the highest levels of the armed forces and the government," the panel said in its report.
Chairman Paulo Pinheiro told news hounds: "Members of the Syrian army and security forces have committed crimes against humanity in their repression of a largely civilian population in the context of a peaceful protest movement."
Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... meanwhile lashed out at 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... for ignoring "terrorists" on Syrian territory in its decision to impose crippling sanctions.
The "Arab sanctions are a declaration of economic war on Syria," Muallem told news hounds, to whom he showed the video depicting what he described as a mass grave.
"I apologise for these horrific images, but at the same time I offer them to the vaporous Arab League ministerial committee members who still continue to refuse the presence of these gangs," said Muallem.
"The Arabs don't want to admit the presence in Syria of groups of armed bully boyz who are committing these crimes, abductions and attacks on public places," he said.
Muallem called for dialogue to bring about national reconciliation, saying Syria was ready to accept Russia, its traditional ally, as a mediator.
Earlier, tens of thousands of pro-regime demonstrators thronged Sabaa Bahrat Square in Damascus to protest the Arab League sanctions.
They waved Syrian flags and the colours of Russia and China, which vetoed a UN Security Council resolution against Al-Assad's regime last month.
The Arab League approved the sweeping sanctions on Sunday over the Al-Assad government's crackdown on anti-regime protests -- the first time the bloc has enforced punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members.
Measures include an immediate ban on transactions with Damascus and the central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries.
They also bar Syrian officials from visiting Arab countries and call for a suspension of all flights to Arab states to be implemented on a date to be set next week.
Al-Assad's regime has already been subjected to a raft of Western sanctions, led by the United States and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
Diplomats in Brussels said the EU was set to tighten its measures even further, targeting Syria's oil and financial sectors to deprive the regime of more sources of funding.
EU foreign ministers meeting on Thursday would ban exports of energy industry equipment, trading in Syrian bonds and selling of software that could be used to monitor dissidents, among other financial measures.
But Muallem said Syria could weather the sanctions.
"I reassure you that we have withdrawn 95 or 96 per cent of Syrian assets (from Arab countries)," he told news hounds. "We must protect the interests of our people."
Al-Assad's regime is counting on support from neighbours Iraq and Leb, which voted against the sanctions at the 22-member Arab League, along with Yemen.
Hezbullies, the Shiite group that dominates Leb's government, denounced the sanctions as "shameful" and a "dangerous precedent." The Arab bloc was becoming a tool for the Americans, it warned.
The United States and European Union called on the Syrian government to "end violence immediately" and allow the prompt entry of international rights observers and journalists, in a joint statement issued in Washington.
And at the United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
in New York, the United States and Germany led Western calls for the divided UN Security Council to act against Syria following the UN report.
The United States and its European allies have already condemned the rare double veto by Russia and China.
Leading rights groups called for decisive UN Security Council action.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces killed nine more civilians across the country on Monday, including six in Homs, adding to a UN estimate of more than 3,500 people to have died in the unrest since March.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011
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#1
This is part of a Sunni Shiia developing war where border won't mean much.
An Anbar Faction in Iraq for support of the Syrian revolution has been announced. This militia has been supposedly been formed with to object of targeting buses that carry Shiite militiamen from al-Mahdi, Sadrs militia, to Syria. We are told that Sadrists have been flocking through Deir Azzour- Anbar border point to support the Assad regime. Many videos were propagated showing the Anbar Faction targeting passenger buses protected by the Iraqi Army.
#5
Despite the anti-Israeli rhetoric, Iran's nuclear program is about holding the Gulf littoral states to ransom and taking over the Shiia Arab areas, which is where almost all the oil is.
#8
Regional war would still be a better outcome than Iran with Nuclear capability. Once they have nukes, you can bet they will enslave Israel or wipe them from the map. Then it will go from regional to global nuclear war. The Iranian leadership are a cancer on this world and we need to understand that killing cancer is painful but necessary, otherwise the cancer wins.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/30/2011 8:06
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#9
There's a lot of war in Afghanistan. semi-civil war/WOT in Pakistan, something going BOOM in Iran, Iranian backed terrorists bombing and shooting in Iraq, a civil war in Syria, and shooting and boomings going on in Lebanon. So, how do you lead to something that already is on going? Now an adjustment of intensity is something else.
Either he is being deliberately treasonous, leaking sensitive information to the media; or he is doing so as a favor to the government, to get the word out that would be problematic done officially, yet sending a message to Iran and others; or he is putting out disinformation for nebulous purposes.
Russia and China are backers because Iran and Pakistan are counterbalances to both Western influence and other nations within Iran and Pakistan's geographical areas.
#14
He probably just wants to say outloud what everyone sort of knows so that those begging Israel to do something can't claim anger and surprise later.
#15
Let's see,...Troop positions in IRQ, PAK, AFG, LIB and SML. Rearming NATO with fresh meat after the Joint LIB exercise. New rockets to ISL and TRK. Carrier fleet(s) in MED and IO. Soviets moving, and a new election coming up.
Practiced logistics across the board. Yeah, it's about time.
#16
TOPIX > IRAN SPOOKED BY US, ISRAELI COVERT OPS.
* SAME > IRAN NAVAL VESSELS ARMED WID "QADER" CRUISE MISSLES, i.e. the most potent + capable in Iran's inventory.
* SAME > ARMED IRANIAN SHIP [MV Assa] WORRIES INDIA.
ME > What's interesting for me is that I've had personal Dreams/Visions of this ship.
ET TU, MOUD - FIRST US INTEL-PYWAR, THEN THE RUSSIANS, NOW THE IRANIANS???
---------
VARIOUS BLOGGERS = In wake of Pakistan [Russia?] closing down US-NATO land-based Supply Routes into Afghanistan, the so-called "IRAN ROUTE" IS CLEARLY THE NEXT MOST OBVIOUS/EXPEDITIOUS OPTION FOR THE US-NATO. A viable alternate route would be from the "TURKEY ROUTE" vee Turkey + ex-Soviet SSRS [Armenia + -Stans] in Central Asia, BUT IS LONGER + LIKELY MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE MORE DIRECT "RUSSIA ROUTE". "AFGHAN AIRLIFT", land or sea-based, would not only be cost-prohibitive but effectively moot iff Pakistan fails to allow US cargo planes to use its airspace to fly inside Pak along the PAK-IRAN border. ITS A GIVEN THAT IRAN WON'T.
IIUC, IOW PAKISTAN'S VIEW > THE US-NATO EITHER CONCEDE + FORMALLY APOLOGIZE, ETC. TO PAKISTAN'S SATISFACTION; OR ELSE THE AFGHAN SITUATION FOR US-NATO STEADILY DETERIORATES + DESTABILIZES IN FAVOR OF THE MILTERRS DUE TO LACK OF RELIABLE SUPPLY/LOGISTICS, I.E. ROTATION + REPLACEMENT, BE IT MILITARY ANDOR CIVILIAN.
IOW, TO PROTECT + SAVE AFGHANISTAN FROM MILTERR TAKEOVER, THE US-NATO MUST INVADE IRAN???
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.
There are grave fears for the health of an Australian man and father of five in jail for more than two weeks in a Saudi prison under the country's blasphemy laws.
Philippine authorities have arrested a Muslim 
[Tripoli Post] Norwegians have been shocked rather than surprised by the news, Tuesday, that Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and was in a psychotic state both during and after the June 22 twin attacks that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured 151.
BARKIN LADI, Nigeria, November 28 (CDN) -- Fulani Muslim herdsmen along with Muslim soldiers have killed at least 45 ethnic Berom Christians in Plateau state in the past week, Christians in this northern-central Nigerian town said.
A U.N. expert tasked with investigating alleged 
A computer programming language cannot be protected by copyright, the adviser to the EU's top court said on Tuesday in an opinion that could affect the competitive IT industry.
Mohmand
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Orakzai Agency
A group of 
Three Saudi men parked their car close to the headquarters of the Gulf Kingdom's feared religious police late night, got out and started having sex with a woman accompanying them just in front of the massive police signboard.
CAIRO -- People waited in lines that ran hundreds of yards outside polling stations surrounded by police and soldiers in what many Egyptians regarded as the first free elections in decades. Men and women were in separate lines so long authorities extended voting by two hours. But overall the voting was smooth, election monitors said.
The United States and the 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Seven more people died in fresh violence across Syria on Tuesday, including a civilian killed by security forces after three of their own were 
Interior Minister 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] 
[Tripoli Post] While telling the Syrian regime that the crackdown must end, Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu said that in the event of a massive exodus of refugees from Syria, in co-ordination with the international community, his country may consider setting up a buffer zone on its border from Syria.
The premiere of Kim Kardashian's latest reality show "Kourtney & Kim Take New York" might give an insight as to why Kim and Kris divorced 72 days after their much hyped wedding.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Tuesday named the head of the Islamist party that won last week's election as prime minister to lead talks on the formation of a coalition government, the palace said.
International Criminal Court
[Al Ahram] Paleostinian economy minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said on Tuesday he will 'suspend' his official work to fight charges of fraud levelled against him last week.
[Tolo News] Afghan and 
[Dawn] A majority of Americans do not see Pakistain as a friend to the United States, says an opinion survey released on Monday.
Hillary Clinton
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Charles Taylor
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Qadaffy's death triggered widespread global condemnation and forced Libya's new rulers to launch an investigation into the circumstances of his killing.
In the days after Seif's capture, media reports suggested that Zintan's military council was refusing to hand him over to NTC officials unless the commander of the unit that captured him was named Libya's defence minister. Last week, the commander, Osama Juili, was given the defence minister's post.
Kurram Agency
[Dawn] Awami National Party central chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that no one can wipe out Pakhtuns from their soil as they know how to defend their land.
Wazoo
[Al Ahram] Investigators from the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria held state officials responsible for murder, rape and torture in their crackdown on protesters since March.
