Chicago, Illinois, police arrested a man Monday in connection with the killing of three relatives of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson, a police spokesman said. William Balfour, 27, was first detained for questioning on October 24, the day Hudson's mother and brother were found shot to death. Authorities said at the time that they were holding Balfour for an unspecified parole violation.
Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death in their South Side Chicago home. The body of her nephew, 7-year-old Julian King, was found three days later in an abandoned SUV on Chicago's West Side. Police later found a handgun near the vehicle.
Detectives served arrest warrants on Balfour on Monday afternoon, said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond. Balfour was transferred from the Statesville Correctional Center to the custody of detectives in the case, she said, and he is awaiting formal charges on three counts of murder.
Balfour is the estranged husband of the singer's sister, Julia Hudson, and the stepfather of Julian King.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Balfour spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. He was free on parole at the time of the shootings.
Hudson won a best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of Effie in the film version of the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls." She competed on the third season of the singing competition "American Idol" in 2004, becoming one of the top seven contestants before being eliminated from the contest.
Michele Davis-Balfour, Balfour's mother, had defended her son publicly before the arrest, saying her son had nothing to do with the slayings. "If William did do this, right, in no means am I going to sugarcoat him and say my son didn't do it," she said. "I know my son didn't do this."
Pressed about her son's whereabouts around the time of the slayings, Davis-Balfour said, "My son's alibi was one of his girlfriends, one of the girls he is dating."
She said that after her son got out of prison, he was trying to improve his life by working at a sandwich shop. She also said he obtained his GED in prison by studying horticulture.
#1
Unfortunately, the story does not indicate that the pirates were blown to bits, only scared off. Maybe the next cruise ship transiting these waters will not be so fortunate.
DUBAI: Sections of the Arab-supported media and academics are urging India to avoid the approach adopted by the Americans after 9/11 in the wake of the carnage in Mumbai.
Boy howdy there's a surprise. The Arab media wants the Indians not to gob-smack the Paks like we did the Taliban and Saddam. Whoda thunk ...
An editorial in the Middle East Times also exhorted the "silent majority" of Muslims the world over to speak out against the attacks. "The Muslim community around the world needs to wake up to the fact that there is no longer room for the silence of the silent majority. It is time for the leaders of the Muslim world -- and the people of the Muslim world -- to become vociferous. It is time for all Muslims who feel strongly about what happened in Mumbai to speak out against the violence."
Yup, this would be a good time, since the civilized world will eventually run out of patience ...
However, slamming the U.S. war on terror, the editorial appealed to India to "avoid falling into the same trap that led to the world's remaining superpower to adopt measures that were not in line with the democratic principles they wished to spread around the world."
Other than establishing two new democratic governments and freeing 50 million people from tyranny ...
It added: "India should not enact laws similar to the USA Patriot Act, establish Guantanamo-like camps and turn Pakistan into another 'Iraq'; even if the attacks on Mumbai do represent another 9/11."
The Islamic world, if given a choice between Gitmo, a Turkish prison, and a Pak prison for their own incarceration, would choose Gitmo every time ...
In his blog, Informed Comment, leading West Asia expert in his own mind Juan Cole has stressed that New Delhi must not go down the "Bush-Cheney road".
Even though it's kept America safe since 9/11 ...
He points out that it might be erroneous on New Delhi's part to assume that the terrorists were sponsored by the Pakistani state.
It might be. Then again, if one is a betting man, one would put money on the ISI, the L-e-T and Dawood ...
"Many Indian officials and much of the Indian public is falling into the Cheney fallacy. It is being argued that the terrorists fought as trained guerillas, and implied that only a state [i.e. Pakistan] could have given them that sort of training." He adds: "But to the extent that the terrorists were professional fighters, they could have come by their training in many ways... They needn't be state-backed."
But it's easier if they are, as bin Laden demonstrated in Afghanistan. And they appear to have been. At the very least the Indians have to require the Paks to come clean, which of course the Paks won't -- can't -- do.
Dr. Cole says that in its response, India has to ensure that, "Muslims in general must not be punished for the actions of a handful of unbalanced fanatics. Down that road lies the end of civilization."
The end of civilization would also most assuredly come if the 'fanatics' get their way, and Dr. Cole doesn't seem to offer any advice on preventing that ...
He also advocates that India should address the flaws in its security system, while keeping its civil liberties strong. A war or a right-wing shift in domestic politics would further deepen the malaise of terrorism.
Addressing the flaws, check. Keeping civil liberties strong, depends on whose definitions you're using. Since Dr. Cole is way to the left of the ACLU, the Black Panthers and the Comintern, we can imagine his ...
Posted by: john frum ||
12/01/2008
17:07 ||
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#1
In general you should listen carefully to Juan Cole and then do the exact opposite.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/01/2008 18:18
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#2
In short, "Gee, nice civilization you have there. Be a _real shame_ if you voted for some right-wingers and we had to blow it up. Or rather, sit here and talk about how it's your fault when some random guys from Karachi blew it up."
#3
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA ASSURES FULL SUPPORT [Moral, Financial, Materiel]TO PAKISTAN;
+ CHINA TO INVEST US$3.0BILYUHN IN TIBET [Air-Rail-Roads], RAISNG INDIA's STRATEGIC WORRIES.
Also from SAME > OBAMA SAYS SOUTH ASIA [Islamist Militant-Terr]IS CHIEF THREAT TO USA. USA must bring " ITS FULL FORCE/WEIGHT" to combat Islamist + Terror Threat to region.
#4
ION WAFF > AL-JAZEERA - ISRAELI MOSSAD'S ROLE IN TURKEY COUP PLOT REVEALED. MOSSAD orchestrating various domestic terror events inside TUrkey in collusion wid RIGHT-WING AND PRO-NATIONALIST ELEMENTS e.g ERGENOKEN GROUP; + THE UPCOMING WAR IN GREECE. ETHNIC VIOLENCE invol Greek Locals versus new Muslim Immigrants - Greece to begin new immigration restrictions/curbs in trans-national cooper wid ITALY, MALTA,+ CYPRUS.
#6
Until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb, until the next bomb. So when Juan Cole thinks that India should make anything?
Gunfire has broken out in downtown Harare when rampaging, unpaid soldiers attacked money changers and clashed with police.
Associated Press reporters have seen running skirmishes between unarmed soldiers and police wielding guns and riot sticks.
Monday's violence is the second time in a week that soldiers have attacked money changers and stolen their cash in frustration after they have been unable to get their wages at banks.
Hundreds of people are gathering. Some are lobbing stones and others are cheering on the police.
People can only draw small amounts of money from banks every day because of a cash shortage. Often this is not enough buy a loaf of bread.
The U.S. credit card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted. "In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form or credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."
Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co represent over half of the estimated U.S. card outstandings as of September 30, and each company has discussed reducing card exposure or slowing growth, Whitney said.
A consolidated U.S. lending market that is pulling back on credit is also posing a risk to the overall consumer liquidity, Whitney said.
Mortgages and credit cards are now dominated by five players who are all pulling back liquidity, making reductions in consumer liquidity seem unavoidable, she said. "...We are now beginning to see evidence of broad-based declines in overall consumer liquidity."
"In a country that offers hundreds of cereal and soda pop choices, the banking industry has become one that offers very few choices," Whitney wrote in a note dated November 30.
She also said credit lines to consumers through home equity and credit cards had been cut back from the second-quarter levels. "Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view," the analyst said.
#1
This is terribly serious. The CC companies cut lines because no one will underwrite their cardholders debt. Unfortunately, millions of Americans have become absolutely dependent on credit for their monthly rent and expenses.
In turn, this will cause an explosion in personal check overdrafts, that will result in either banks severely limiting checking and/or retailers refusing personal checks.
This leaves debit cards and cash for retail transactions, and since cash only amounts to 5% of daily retail, the vast majority of transactions will have to be done by debit card. At the same time, there will be a tremendous cash deflation, so cash will be king.
As happened at the onset of the Great Depression. As the saying went, "You could buy a pound of hamburger for a nickel. But nobody had a nickel."
It would be a very wise idea right now to have cash and coin at home, in a safe place.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/01/2008 16:43
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#3
All I know about the CC companies is that the one I have keeps getting its limit boosted by the CC company, and my interest is still at 4.9% APR. Of course, I actually payoff my CC balance.
#4
and each company has discussed reducing card exposure or slowing growth
Slowing growth is completely different than reducing exposure and makes sense. A slowing economy would have less use for consumer credit.
"Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view," the analyst said.
Is he saying that the credit card companies should be increasing credit to those without the ability to pay back the debt?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/01/2008 17:15
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#5
In turn, this will cause an explosion in personal check overdrafts, that will result in either banks severely limiting checking and/or retailers refusing personal checks.
Many retailers have already begun refusing to take checks. Increasing overdrafts, would likely lead to banks requiring a merchant to install one of the systems to run checks electronically at point of purchase as a prerequisite to covering an overdraft, which many retailers won't do and will result in even fewer retailers taking checks. Than in turn will increase debit transactions. Any retailer that accepts checks or credit cards also accepts debit cards.
And that brings me to this;
At the same time, there will be a tremendous cash deflation, so cash will be king
This statement is not the truismit is presented to be. People switching from swiping a credit card to swiping a debit card has no deflationary effect on the dollar.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/01/2008 17:26
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#6
"This is terribly serious."
Of course, which is a good thing. What is nor serious is spending without having money to back it up. You get money you pay.
#10
A year ago I posted a comment here that I was very concerned about people paying for groceries with a credit card and was phoo-pooed with some saying how did I know they weren't debit cards. Credit cards require a signature. Debit cards require a pin number and the ammount of signatures I have witness was great. If people have over-extended themselves to the point they have to rely on credit cards they are in very deep doodoo. They are trying to live beyond their means. Credit has been too easy to get for a very long time. This will probably hurt us all.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008 18:42
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#14
I routinely charge my groceries - and everything else - to my credit card. And get 2% 'back', at no cost to me, as I pay it off every month. They could cut my line of credit by 75% though, and I'd never notice it. Exceptions to every rule I guess. (That said, it does irritate me to be checking out with hamburger behind somebody charging their ribeye to the food stamp card.)
#15
Golf-
US credit card debt graph is most interesting. To a first approximation the debt has been flat since 2000. But it cuts off before the current SHTF episode - I wonder what the credit card debt is now.
#16
Glenmore, my point is you don't depend on your credit card to by things, it's just convienient. There are apparently a lot of people who wouldn't be able to feed their families without their credit cards. These people are the ones who pay the minimum ammount and will never climb out of the credit hole they've dug. These are the ones who will be cut off.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008 19:03
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#18
GolfBravoUSMC, thanks for the nifty charts. What I find worrying is the median debt held by the oldest age bracket on the chart. If anything, they should have the lowest debt levels, since their major expenses - mortgage payments, college tuition for the kids - should be paid off.
#19
Glenmore:
There seems to be a peak after 9/11 then flat. but look at the rise starting at the end.
I would guess some folks were tapping there equity piggy bank because their CC was maxed out. Remember the push for equity loans had a carrot to reset your high credit card interest rates. A lot of people did this after 2000.
#20
Deacon Blues: Things are somewhat worse, because the CC companies use statistical analysis to cut people off, not just individual data. That is, individuals are lumped into classes, and even if their personal credit history is good, if their class is dumped, so are they.
While even this might seem at least somewhat reasonable, there is a terrible problem with inaccuracy in credit records. This means that lots of people would be classed in the wrong class, and lose their credit cards because of it.
#21
GolfBravo, where does that chart by age come from? The numbers don't seem to jibe with the roughly $2,000 per eligible person CC debt shown in the other charts (which seems low).
Lucknow: Going soft on terror will not make Muslims happy as the perpetrators of such acts do not segregate their targets by religion, the cleric who heads Lucknow's oldest Islamic seminary has said after the daring Mumbai attack.
"If the politicians of this country think that by shying away from taking on terrorists directly and by going soft on terror they will get kudos from Muslims, they are sadly mistaken," said Lucknow's Naib Imam Maulana Khalid Rasheed, who also heads the Firangi Mahal seminary.
"It is quite clear now that Indian politicians of all shades were somehow living under an illusion that if they were to turn harsh against acts of terror, they would alienate the Muslims of this country," Maulana Rasheed told IANS in an interview.
"They ought to realise that the perpetrators of terror do not segregate their targets in terms of religion, and the victims of terror too cut across religious lines. When you count dead bodies, the first thing that hits you is the horror, not the religion of those killed."
Over 180 lives were lost in the Mumbai attack in which terrorists struck at 10 prominent locations in the city November 26 night and carried on for nearly 60 hours.
Maulana Rasheed, who wondered "when will these politicians change their mindset, said, "I could see fear and apprehension in the utterances and eyes of each of the leaders - cutting across party lines - as they appeared on various TV channels throughout the three-day-long ordeal in Mumbai".
He is surprised that some parties thought Muslims in India did not appreciate any criticism of Pakistan.
"What is worse is that leaders of some parties have even begun to think that any criticism of Pakistan would not be relished by this country's Muslims," he lamented.
"When will they ever realise that by doing so they are clearly reflecting their perverted psyche of labelling all Indian Muslims as pro-Pakistanis, which is the worst abuse for any Indian Muslim."
Maulana Rasheed is also irked about the Centre's move to invite the chief of the Pakistani espionage agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to assist India in tackling terror. Pakistan has responded by saying it is willing to send an ISI representative.
"India's bid to invite the ISI chief after the Mumbai attack is like asking a criminal to help the police contain crime," quipped the Maulana.
He said "the move has only undermined India's strength and reflects the total lack of self-confidence in the leaders of this country".
Posted by: john frum ||
12/01/2008
16:16 ||
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#1
Deepak Chopra, are you getting this? LISTEN UP!
#1
Another side effect has been white people contacting me to say that I should be proud to see a black man become president. Could there be a comment that is more condescending, more insulting, than that? If I believed that in America a black man could not be president, then I would be proud to see any black man elected president. But because I always have believed that nothing in America prevents a black man from becoming president or anything else he wants to be, I can be embarrassed, not proud, to see someone as unqualified and inexperienced as Obama become president.
I'm gonna staple that statement to several people's forheads in a couple of years. Nicely put, sir.
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. "May I see your internal passport, citizen?"
Which was created by the post Civil War resurgent Southern Democrats to remove federal troops from the voting stations in the south which they then took the opportunity to crushed the rights of blacks for nearly a hundred years. So much for the concept that it protects civil rights. The liberals had no problem when Eisenhower or Kennedy used federalized and federal troops to carry through civil rights actions in the 50s and 60s, but you sure enough will hear the whine from the left if any centralist or conservative president employed the same tool.
#2
It would make sense to use transport units and other non-combat units that are trained to deal with large scale destruction response to help supplement the local guard and reserve units.
As long as non-combat arms troops are used, I don't see any problem with this.
And as usual, the usual suspects are barking about the 'expanse of executive authority' and 'loss of liberty'. There are inalienable rights of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness; the right to leave them unattended wasn't included in the package.
What it means (assigning an active-duty unit trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe) is that the various Federal, state and local agencies tasked with responding have failed to meet the challenge.
If you you're worked up about 'showing your papers', it's because your local and state politicians, the Left, and your fellow travelers in Libertaria have consciously decided their agendas are more important than the country and its citizens.
And when the shit hits the fan, I bet you won't be looking to any of them to fix it.
#4
We can't deal with pirates in Somalia but we need to deploy a division of troops in the US? This is the kind of standing army our forefathers fought against. How soon will we have to quarter them in our homes?
#5
I don't think the headline matches the story, but I wasn't aware that the congress could order the military to do anything. they are not in the chain of command.
#11
I'd be thrilled to have American troops quartered in my house. If things go that badly, I can't think of a better way to be kept safe. But I rather imagine the troops will continue to be stationed on their current bases, as there are bases of various sizes all over the place. On the other hand, where did the troops stay after Hurrican Katrina and Hurrican Ike?
#14
We can't deal with pirates in Somalia but we need to deploy a division of troops in the US? This is the kind of standing army our forefathers fought against. How soon will we have to quarter them in our homes?
I found seven examples of 'stupid' in this and I didn't finish reading the comment.
"We can't deal with pirates in Somalia but we need to deploy a division of troops in the US?"
Did you even bother to read the article?
Somalia is not a threat to the U.S. right now. But somehow. for some reason, two of the three branches of the Federal Guv'mint have agreed that there is a threat to the U.S.:
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
That tells me that state and local agencies tasked with responding are incapable. Whether it's greed, patronage, political attitude, or lack of seriousness, they can't do the job.
Oh, and that the 'hothouse lovers of civil liberty' have their heads up their asses.
The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.
Where in that do you see the words 'quarter in our homes'?
Again - this is happening because your local and state politicians and bureaucrats have failed. Screwed up.
And when the shit hits the fan, I guarran-damn-tee that you and every one of your so-called liberty-lovin' claque is going to be screaming and crying and asking "what went wrong?" and looking for somebody to blame.
I imagine this is Obambi and the Tranzistocracy's way of making sure that noone does to them what Blanco did to Bush during Katrina.
Bush is still in office, but yes - I suspect that what happened at the local and state levels during Katrina are exactly what is feared will happen if an attack hits a U.S. city.
#15
Bush is still in Office but the Democrats run Congress. (See title of piece). Now that they have _their_ candidate who will be in charge after Jan. 20something they feel OK with expanding the exercise of executive power.
#18
To follow on Pappy, I note that Article I, section 8 of the Constitution provides, amongst other things:
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
I don't mean to be a sea-lawyer, but part of what Congress does is to establish what our military does. If we need our military to handle the emergency response to a nuclear terrorist threat or domestic catastrophe, good, because we have a military to keep us safe.
We can argue about the failings of our other government institutions in this regard, but we have a military to keep us safe in the most dire emergencies. Katrina is a good example: the state of Louisiana and city of New Orleans failed, FEMA failed, but the coast guard and the army units we moved there succeeded. If we have a catastrophe develop -- a nuke, widespread deadly influenza, Mumbai-style attack, etc -- I'd prefer that among our first responder be people who know what they're doing, and that's our military.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2008 18:36
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#19
This was the intended purpose of State and Local Militias. Unfortunately they became politaclly run and motivated and have all but dissapeared.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008 18:52
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#20
Katrina is a good example: the state of Louisiana and city of New Orleans failed, FEMA failed, but the coast guard and the army units we moved there succeeded.
FEMA's problem was that it placed too much faith in the process.
One can easily dig up the information as to how FEMA is supposed to respond (it's dated several years before Katrina). Essentially, the local disaster response authority determines that it can't handle it, so it goes to the county or state. Those decide that it's too big for them to handle and request FEMA assistance.
What we had here was a non-existent local disaster authority, or even a functioning local government. Then for a myriad of reasons, the Lousy-anna government decided to play politics with peoples' lives.
Did FEMA fumble? Yes. Was it entirely their fault? No. They put entirely too much faith in the process, and in the idea that people in charge at the local and state levels would be reasonable, fore-thinking, and concerned with helping their citizens rather than their political careers.
Wow - kinda like the local and state homeland security organizations, what?
#21
And it worked. Yes, the Democrats lost the Louisiana Governorship but they got the Presidency and the Congress out of it. I'm sure they cry about their "loss" from this all the way to the bank every payday. (Or whatever Freezer they're keeping their Cold Hard Cash in).
#22
Maybe I missed something in the debate and article, but it doesn't seem like this is net new troops, only a new mission tasking/training for troops who are already stationed in CONUS. Sort of like an alert brigade from the 82nd, or a QRF responsibility that will rotate throughout CONUS units. I really don't think this is much more than another NORTHCOM mission tasking to add to their portfolio of responsibilities.
Did anybody see net new troops? I didn't.
Let's try a little scenario. Forget about dramatic nukes and huge explosions.
Imagine some nice jihadis who did grad work in biochem in the States supply two dozen friends with packets of micro-organisms. Those packets reach the post-treatment water supply of a major city, or perhaps the feedlot of a major cattle supplier, or similar places. Maybe one a week, here and there.
Soon one city has a burgeoning epidemic, the food supply is starting to be iffy in places and each week for two months a new outbreak of something occurs. And begins to spread.
How long before civil order totally breaks down in the country? And who could respond at the local or state level effectively???? I know what a friend of mine, a biodefense expert, thinks ....
I've worked on my employer's pandemic influenza plan. It has a section on dealing with frantic parents who try to storm the installation walls seeking vaccinations or immediate medical care for already sick and infectious loved ones.
It also has a section on how to store thousands of bodies until there is time to bury them safely.
And a section about setting up isolation wards using field hospital equipment, with triage weeding out many of the sick as medical personnel desperately try to contain the spread of the disease. And a section how to feed a couple thousand people for an extended period while maintaining social isolation of potentially infected people. And a section on maintaining sanitation as infrastructure deteriorates because 1/2 or more of the workers can't make it to their jobs as a result of their own or loved ones' illness / death.
Tell me again about internal passports, why doncha???
#24
E.g. WORLD MIL FORUM/OTHER > any effective nuclearization of IRAN will symbolically mark not only the END = FAILURE of WORLD NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION EFFORTS [NPT = Treaty], BUT PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANTLY WILL MARK THE [PROTO-]NUCLEARIZATION OF ISLAMIST TERROR AND OTHER PRO-VIOLENCE RADICAL/XTREMIST MILITANT-ANARCHIST GROUPS OR MOVEMENTS???
* FREEREPUBLIC > FORMER JAPANESE AIR FORCE CHIEF SAYS JAPAN SHOULD DEV NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
IRAN is already promoting the idea of regional and international Muslim nations to dev their own Nucprogs, ostensibly for domestic Energy!?
#25
lotp, I don't know if you've seen it already, but a natural (as opposed to artificial) pandemic is part of the background to John Ringo's recent _The Last Centurion_. As well as an ice age and the _Anabasis_ as a reality TV show...
#26
Not beyond the realm of possiblity, Snowy. Over the last few decades we've seen massive movement of people back and forth between e.g. 3rd world countries and the west. Already we have millions of people in the US with little or no immunity to e.g. smallpox since we've stopped immunizing for it. Similarly we have few people born here with natural immunity to many of the micro-organisms found in Africa and tropical rural areas. Small changes in climate could facilitate the spread of plague out of the American Southwest, etc. etc.
Bottom line: there are a lot more of us than in the past, we mingle a lot more but have very unequal living conditions and environment. A while back the book The Coming Plague made the case for the likelihood of such a pandemic and it didn't posit terrorism at all.
#29
I see a huge problem here, the troops react,not prevent.
That means the Govt has given up on prevention, and is only settingup for "Reaction" mode.
Not good, this almost guarantees such an attack will succede, and troops are only for "Mopup" afterwards.
Time to hunker down and be as un-noticed as possible.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/01/2008 21:16
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#30
I've got no problem with this - I worry a lot more about Obama's Civilian committees for virtue and vice Defense Force
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 21:30
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#31
lotp, I know people working on that, including systems and logistics work. Scary stuff.
There are a lot of us old cold warriors that have the skills and are willing to volunteer. Maybe under the auspices of the Surgeon General, with "ranks" and cheap fatigues so the military heirachy can relate to it.
I wish they would grab us old guys, and make a Federal "citizens guard" that would do the networking, support and other scut work (medical term), so that we could free up the Guard and regular units for actual field duty. Training would be simply getting certification in out tech speciality, and getting 1st responder (plus oxygen and AED) medical certification.
#32
Which was created by the post Civil War resurgent Southern Democrats to remove federal troops from the voting stations in the south which they then took the opportunity to crushed the rights of blacks for nearly a hundred years. So much for the concept that it protects civil rights
P2K, this is a result but not the whole reason for Posse Comitatus Act. The legaly elected Deomcrat State Senetors in Louisianna were forcibly removed from the Capital by Federal Troops at the request of the Government appointed Governor. The States, especially the mid-western states, then realized that if the Federal Government could do that to a Southern State it could do that to ANY State. This was the end of the Radical Republican domination of the Federal Government.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008 21:46
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#33
I see a huge problem here, the troops react,not prevent.
That means the Govt has given up on prevention, and is only settingup for "Reaction" mode.
Ever hear the phrase "defense in depth"?
How about "don't put all your eggs in a single basket"?
There is absolutely nothing, zero, zilch in NORTHCOMM's training program that precludes or prevents or discourages all of the other measures that the Feds, state and local officials can do in our defense.
The reality is that it may not be enough to try to defend. We're an open society with a vulnerable infrastructure. Our enemy doesn't have a civilization to defend .... he wins if he destroys ours, while we try to defend the most vulnerable / critical areas AND sensibly have plans for coping with disasters (attack or natural) that might happen despite our efforts.
#34
There is absolutely nothing, zero, zilch in NORTHCOMM's training program that precludes or prevents or discourages all of the other measures that the Feds, state and local officials can do in our defense.
Agreed. It's designed to reinforce, not supplant measures that the Federal, state and local governments and agencies should and supposedly are taking.
Based on my experiences tho, it will likely end up being a 'first response'.
#35
How 'bout we do a trial run, first, and station some 20,000 federales, er, federal troops along our southern border and see if they can halt the tsunami of sh*t-wage labor that Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are determined to import?
The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy. The NBER is a private group of leading economists charged with dating the start and end of economic downturns. It typically takes a long time after the start of a recession to declare its start because of the need to look at final readings of various economic measures.
"The committee views the payroll employment measure, which is based on a large survey of employers, as the most reliable comprehensive estimate of employment," said the group's statement. "This series reached a peak in December 2007 and has declined every month since then."
Employers have trimmed payrolls by 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of this year. On Friday, economists are predicting the government will report a loss of another 325,000 jobs for November.
The NBER also looks at real personal income, industrial production as well as wholesale and retail sales. All those measures reached a peak between November 2007 and June 2008, the NBER said. In addition, the NBER also considers the gross domestic product, which is the reading most typically associated with a recession in the general public.
Many people erroneously believe that a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of economic activity declining. That has yet to take place during this recession.
The current recession is one of the longest downturns since the Great Depression of the 1930's. The last two recessions (1990-1991 and 2001) lasted eight months each, and only two of the 10 previous post-Depression downturns lasted as long as a full year, according to the NBER.
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said that even though the recession is now official, it is more important to focus on the steps being taken to fix the economy. "The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus," he said. "Addressing these areas will do the most right now to return the economy to growth and job creation."
Only if you change the definition of "recession" from economic contraction to slower growth. People are so spoiled that flat to slow growth is now considered "recession".
And it turned out that there was no 1990-19991 recession and there certainly wasn't one in 2001. So the tech bubble is now a "recession"?
And I take issue with this statement:
"Many people erroneously believe that a recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of economic activity declining. That has yet to take place during this recession."
Two consecutive quarters of economic decline IS the definition of recession. Look at it this way. Can you say the tide is going out without the water level actually dropping? And how do you tell that the level is dropping? Two consecutive measurements with the level lower than the previous measure would be your indication.
You can not have a "recession" without the economy actually receding. If the economy doesn't recede, then it isn't a recession. They are attempting to finagle a way to call it a recession while the economy still shows growth.
So it becomes two consecutive quarters of failing to meet expectations becomes a recession.
Homer is an idiot. Homer usually doesn't have an agenda. These individuals are working to change the 'dialogue' to fit their meme. Intent is what generally separates idiots from malefactors.
#5
Tipper, that page on Wikipedia just regurgitates the NPER crap. I suppose the "truth" is whatever validates what people wish to be true.
So the next question would then be ... what is the absolute definition of "significant". What they have done is muddied the water by going from an absolute definition (two consecutive quarters of contraction) to a subjective definition.
#7
FOXNEWS AM > CAVUTO Show Guests > MALE PERT [Govt]claims 'tis the WORSE RECESSION SINCE 1973-1974 [read, Vietnam + Nixonism + Quagmire]; VERSUS FEMME PERT [WSJ] whom claims US IS AT WORSE HEADING TOWARDS AN ECON "KATRINA/NAW ORRLEENS" TEMPORARY DOWNTURN [read, LEVEE/DIKE-/NUMBERS-GATE, Govt Planning], NOT ANY PER SE DEPRESSION OR STAGFLATION???
Let's play "name that party", since the entire article doesn't
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was arrested this morning on federal charges and is being held at the federal courthouse, the FBI and other federal officials confirm. A special grand jury for several months has been investigating county bond deals and Langford's financial dealings. Langford was Jefferson County Commission president 2002-06.
Al LaPierre, a close friend of Langford's who also was part of the federal investigation, will be surrendering today, said his attorney, Tommy Spina.
David McKnight, Montgomery banker Bill Blount's attorney, said Blount is on his way to Birmingham from Montgomery to surrender.
The Langford, LaPierre and Blount indictments are under seal, so details of the charges are not available.
Langford, LaPierre and Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount are accused in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit of not disclosing $156,000 in payments to Langford. The SEC has accused Blount of paying Langford through LaPierre as part of a plan to secure Jefferson County financial business when Langford was Jefferson County Commission president. (Read the May 2008 story)
The SEC lawsuit against Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford fails to show how friends' personal payments to Langford led to $6.7 million in government business, their lawyers said in a filing seeking dismissal of the suit this summer.
Former Jefferson County Commissioner John Katopodis was indicted in October on fraud charges stemming from his involvement with Computer Help for Kids, a charity established by Langford when Langford was mayor of Fairfield. Katapodis was arraigned on those charges in mid-November. Details of those charges.
This statement was released from the mayor's chief of staff, Deborah Vance-Bowie.:
"As you know, the Mayor was detained this morning by federal authorities. We do not know the details of his detention at this time. City business will go on as usual as we are all here to do a job and we'll continue to do our jobs to ensure we deliver the best services to the taxpayers of Birmingham. This is certainly no surprise to us -- we anticipated something happening soon especially knowing Alice Martin's days in office are numbered with the swearing in of a new president in late January -- just a little over a month from now. We are glad the mayor will finally have his day in court. As members of his team, we stand behind him and look forward to the day when we can return the focus to the important issues before the city."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008
12:34 ||
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#1
I was going to post exactly this article for exactly that reason...
Samantha Power is back in. Youll remember her as the Harvard prof/Obama advisor who was forced to resign after she called Hillary a monster, one of the earlier examples of Obamian gutlessness, when an apology would have sufficed. Back from Coventry, out of the oubliette or whatever closet she was shoved in, Powers now working on the Obama transition team preparing the way for Hills ascendance to State. . . .
. . . Anyone who is concerned about the position of the United States in the world should be concerned that this woman, whose eyeballs apparently have not been gouged out, is being allowed anywhere near Foggy Bottom. Never mind her delightful, undiplomatic frankness. Samantha Power is a major Kumbayah chorus leader with incredibly bad ideas whose presence at the table bodes ill for what a lot of people have hoped could be a scorched-earth, harken-to-my-name-and-tremble Secretaryship of State, a somewhat welcome example of Obamist change.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/01/2008
10:59 ||
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An Egyptian-born writer who renounced Islam and was baptized by Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that he has formed a political party that would enter candidates in next year's EU elections.
Magdi Cristiano Allam said his "Protagonists for Christian Europe" party would work to defend Europe's Christian values, which he sees threatened by secularism and moral relativism. He said his new party would be open to people of all faiths and would be close to the conservative European People's Party.
Allam built his career in Italy as commentator and book author attacking Islamic extremism and supporting Israel. In March, Allam angered some in the Muslim world with a high-profile conversion during an Easter vigil service led by the pope in St. Peter's Basilica.
Allam, who took the name Cristiano upon converting, has credited Benedict with being instrumental in his decision to become a Catholic and has said the pope had baptized him to support freedom of religion.
The 56-year-old Allam has lived most of his adult life in Italy, becoming a citizen in 1986. In recent years he was given a police escort after receiving death threats from radical Islamic groups.
While working to encourage tolerance between cultures he has also grown increasingly critical of his former faith. He said in leading daily Corriere della Sera, where he has worked as deputy editor, that the "root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual."
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008
10:53 ||
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The headline writer needs a refresher course in semantics.
A German man of Pakistani heritage ... Say it isn't so Achmed!
... went on trial Monday on charges he raised money and recruited people for al-Qaida.
Aleem Nasir faces a possible 10 years in prison if convicted of membership in a terrorist organization. Nasir, 46, declined to give a statement as his trial opened in a Koblenz state court, but he has previously denied the charges.
"Lies! All lies!"
Prosecutor Ulrich Boeter told the court that Nasir is suspected of recruiting fighters for al-Qaida and distributing propaganda for the organization. Prosecutors said he traveled regularly to Pakistan and that, "by summer 2004 at the latest," he had agreed with al-Qaida leaders to recruit members and supporters in Germany. Besides raising money for al-Qaida, he supplied equipment such as binoculars, night-vision goggles, laser range-finders, digital compasses and radios, prosecutors said.
This should be good for a year in a German prison, with time off for time served, good behavior, and an early parole.
This article starring:
Aleem Nasir
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008
10:49 ||
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Only one American serviceman died in Afghanistan in November, a dramatic drop from earlier months that the U.S. military attributed to a campaign targeting insurgent leaders, an improvement in Afghan security forces and the onset of winter.
Twice this year, monthly U.S. death tolls in Afghanistan surpassed the monthly toll in Iraq, highlighting the differing trends in the two war zones; security in Iraq has improved while it has deteriorated in Afghanistan.
U.S. troops suffered an average of 21 deaths in Afghanistan each month this year from May to October by far the deadliest six-month period in Afghanistan for American forces since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Afghan Defense Ministry does not release fatality figures.
Militants this year have unleashed increasingly powerful roadside bombs and sophisticated, multidirectional ambushes. The deadlier attacks, combined with a record number of U.S. troops patrolling Afghanistan's vast provinces, has this year led to more U.S. military deaths than ever before in Afghanistan 148.
But the only American military death recorded last month came when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a military convoy Nov. 13 as it was passing through a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan. The blast killed Sgt. Jonnie L. Stiles, 38, who was serving with the Louisiana Army National Guard.
U.S. spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green said a U.S. military campaign to target insurgent leaders and bomb-making cells as well as Pakistani military operations across the border have helped lower levels of violence.
Also, insurgents in Afghanistan, particularly in mountainous areas, typically scale back their operations during the winter months, and that may have contributed to the declining trend, U.S. military spokesman Col. Jerry O'Hara said. "That's some of it," he said. "But really we attribute it more toward our improvement in our tactics and techniques and procedures, along with the increased capability of the Afghan security forces."
O'Hara said the number of attacks in the Kabul region was 50 percent lower in January to October this year than during the same 10-month period in 2007. "And again, we attribute that to not only the Afghan security forces, but you have to give credit to the Afghan people for their personal involvement in the form of tips and their reports to Afghan security forces," he said. Eleven U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in November 2007, meaning the year-on-year drop is also significant.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008
10:43 ||
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The parents of an Arkansas television anchorwoman who was beaten to death say there's forensic evidence their daughter was sexually assaulted as well, and she broke her hand fighting off her attacker.
Guy and Patti Cannady talked with the Today show's Matt Lauer on Monday, five days after suspect Curtis Lavelle Vance was arrested in the Oct. 20 beating death of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly. They said while the police were investigating the case as a homicide, there's a lot of evidence that there was more to it than that.
"This monster stole my daughter's innocence," Patti Cannady told NBC's "Today" show. "He took her life. He took her identity. He took our lives. Our lives have radically changed as a result of what's happened to Anne."
Patti Cannady said her daughter suffered a broken left hand in the attack. "She fought for her life, she fought her attacker," she said.
Patti Cannady went to her daughter's Little Rock home after she didn't answer a wake-up call and found the 26-year-old had been beaten beyond recognition. Every bone in her face had been broken, Cannady said. "Her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it," she said. "I actually thought that her throat, it possibly been cut, but that was possibly the first knockout punch. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke."
Pressly died in the hospital five days later without regaining consciousness.
Guy Cannady said the family still has many questions about the murder. He said the police theory is that Pressly interrupted a random robbery, but he isn't convinced of that. "Well, it's just unbelievable that a random robbery like this would involve the brutal slaying of Anne in this way. There just seems to be a lot more to the whole story than just a robbery gone bad," he said. "I think he could have been a stalker."
Guy Cannady said they had mixed feelings about the arrest of the suspect, whom police have said was linked to the slaying via DNA evidence. "Obviously, good news for us, but bittersweet in the sense that now that exits from the first chapter of this, her attack, and now into the next chapter, which is the capture of the suspect and into now the trial phase."
Vance is being held without bond at the Pulaski County jail. He is also accused of raping an east Arkansas school teacher in April.
#4
I was in Arkansas when the first new conference was announced to be at 10:00 at night -- they had the guy's name and released it. As it turned out, within 45 minutes, they had him in custody.
This story has been a personal one for Arkansas -- she was a popular anchorwoman -- and Arkansas is not large in population.
I watched my sister's tears during the press conference, and during the next day's lengthy report by her TV station about her.
There is a dead man walking in Arkansas -- the police kept everything about this extremely quiet, so they must have hard evidence against him.
#6
I wonder how many lifetimes of effort and how many millions of dollars will be flushed down the drain convicting this scum of the obvious. AFAIAC, just make sure the DNA tests were done right then give hime the option of suicide or being dropped in the ocean somewhere.
#7
Unfortunately the same people that sanction the suctioning out the brain of a live baby in a late term abortion will be the first in line to protest this scums execution.
#8
Little late now, but she should have had a gun - and used it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/01/2008 21:57
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That news conference, they showed video of the crime scene folks dusting the windows for fingerprints..... police never released that -- they got him with DNA and they got him with fingerprints on site......
Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment. As long as it works as well as the International Court there shouldn't be much of a problem.
The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year. And just how does one do that? International Climate Police?
But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the "right to a healthy environment". WOW! A new Right. Living around volcanos and along fault lines isn't healthy. What ya gonna do about that?
The innovative idea is being presented to an audience of politicians, scientists and public figures for the first time at a symposium at the British Library. Proposed by Lawyers, Huh. I smell huge Lawyer fees.
Mr Hockman, a deputy High Court judge, said that the threat of climate change means it is more important than ever for the law to protect the environment. Jeebus Cripes these people are loons. Climate Change will happen no matter what we do. We live on a dynamic planet.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland this month is set to begin negotiations that will lead to a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen next year. Developed countries are expected to commit to cutting emissions drastically, while developing countries agree to halt deforestation.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has agreed the concept of an international court will be taken into account when considering how to make these international agreements on climate change binding. The court is also backed by a number of MPs, climate change experts and public figures including the actress Judi Dench. WHO?
'M' in the latest Bond films ...
Mr Hockman said an international court will be needed to enforce and regulate any agreement. If you have 10 or 15 minutes to waste go read the rest.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008
09:14 ||
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The Muslim Council on Sunday decided not to allow burial of the bodies of the nine terrorists killed during the Mumbai siege in the Marine Lines Bada Qabrastan (cemetery).
The council said it was trying to send a message to all cemeteries in India that none of the bodies should be buried on Indian soil.
Bhai Jagtap, a Congress MLA from VP Road-JJ constituency, told TOI some Muslim organisations had approached him demanding that the terrorists should not be buried in any cemetery in India.
"Considering their sentiments, I am trying to get in touch with deputy CM R R Patil and other senior leaders. I will forward this message to the state government," said Jagtap. The council authorities have handed over a letter to the Marine Lines cemetery in this regard.
In 2003, a Pakistani national killed in an encounter was buried in a Mumbai cemetery. This time, it has been decided not to allow burial of the terrorists because of the gravity of the attack. However, other Muslims organisations are yet to take a decision on the issue.
Fog of war is a very real problem, and even worse when you're fighting against a foe who is using hit-and-run tactics to sow confusion. So it's not too surprising that reports about just exactly how many attackers were involved in the Bombay terrorist spree have varied quite a lot.
It is a bit surprising just how much they've varied. I've seen reports of up to 40, and as few as 8. The latter seems extremely unlikely considering how many places were attacked and how much sheer carnage there was.
But now it seems to be coming out that Indian forces killed 9 attackers and captured one. One report said those 10 were all there were, but I'm skeptical. A different report said that anywhere from 10 to 30 others got away. Unfortunately, I think that's a lot more likely. More at the link
On the evening of Nov. 26, the biggest names in Bollywood walked the red carpet at the Bombay premiere of "The President Is Coming," a comedy about six 20-somethings vying to win the right to shake hands with President Bush.
Among those in attendance at the star-studded premiere Wednesday evening was Bollywood's "new heartthrob" Imran Khan, who proudly posed for paparazzi donning a T-shirt with Mr. Bush's face sandwiched between the words "International Terrorist."
Mr. Khan - a member of India's Muslim minority - chose not to mock international terrorists who kill in the name of Allah. He and his co-religionists know the deadly results for those who do.
At the precise moment Mr. Khan and hundreds of others making their fortunes in the multibillion-dollar Indian movie business were watching "The President Is Coming," only a few blocks away, 10 20-something Muslim extremists began a horrific three-day terror spree.
Azam Amir Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist, told his saviors, "I was told to kill to my last breath." The 21-year-old Pakistani stated that the group's goal was to kill 5,000 people. Overall, at least 174 people died and more than 300 were injured.
Mr. Khan might have been spared only because Kasab and his cohorts failed to reach their death quota. His fellow Bollywood actor Ashish Chaudhary wasn't so lucky. His sister and her husband were killed by indiscriminate gunfire sprayed into Tiffin restaurant at the Oberoi-Trident hotel.
"It's shocking, really shocking. I still can't believe that my dear sister and brother-in-law are now no more. I am completely shattered," Mr. Chaudhary said.
The terror attack has hit Bollywood hard. The opening of "The President Is Coming" has been postponed and India's film capital is in a state of shock.
And, like their Hollywood counterparts, the Bollywood thespians appear predisposed to blame everyone but the culprit.
"My pain has been the sight and plight of my innocent and vulnerable and completely insecure countrymen, facing the wrath of this terror attack," action star Amitabh Bachchan wrote on his blog. "And my anger has been at the ineptitude of the authorities that have been ordained to look after us."
Mr. Khan's uncle Aamir Khan, another prominent Bollywood actor, director and film producer, also sought to redirect responsibility for the monstrous violence.
"I dread to think of how various political parties are now going to try and use this tragedy to further their political careers. At least now they should learn to not divide people and instead become responsible leaders," the elder Mr. Khan blogged. "When will these politicians realize and admit that terrorists have no religion. Terrorists are not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. They are not people of religion or God. They are people who have gone totally sick in their head and have to be dealt with in that manner."
Ironically, the Bollywood crowd is in the minority in India, where a majority approve of the U.S. behavior and more people like Mr. Bush than don't. Indians lean 45 percent to 34 percent in favor of Mr. Bush, according to a Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) poll taken earlier this year.
"I think, if you look at the public opinion polls, the ratings for President Bush are higher in India than in any other country. That is the factual basis," Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon explained.
That was true, too, in the U.S. until the American media's relentless propaganda against Mr. Bush finally took hold and took its toll. The real question is when the people who make the world's most popular form of entertainment finally accept the truth: that the Islamist threat is real, growing and won't go away when George W. Bush leaves the White House in January.
SOMALI President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed says a Saudi oil tanker seized by Somali pirates will be freed soon without a ransom.
"It is not true that the hijackers have demanded a ransom of millions of dollars to release it," he said told the Saudi newspaper Okaz. "We are confident that efforts made by tribal leaders and government officials will result soon in releasing the ship without any ransom."
The vessel remains anchored off the coast of Somalia.
Pirates who seized the Sirius Star on November 15 had given the owners of the giant oil carrier up to Sunday to pay a ransom of $25 million. The capture of the super tanker, carrying two million barrels of oil, sent shockwaves through the shipping world and prompted some companies to re-route via the Cape of Good Hope.
Hundreds of sailors captured in numerous piracy attacks are currently being held hostage on the Somali coast, with the largest number coming from Asian countries like the Philippines.
#4
Am I the only one who worries that one of these days an Iranian nuke will be installed in the hold of a Saudi tanker by Somali "pirates"? Wonderful opportunity for plausible deniability there.
THIRTY-two people have been killed and dozens injured in two days of clashes blamed on activists from rival political parties in Pakistan's largest city Karachi. "We have confirmed reports of 32 people killed since Saturday in Karachi,'' the city's police chief Waseem Ahmed said.
Troops were authorised to use guns to quell the violence, which came as members of the ruling coalition party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) clashed with the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP).
Officials from the MQM and ANP denied their members were involved in the rioting.
#1
Westerners in general, and Americans specifically have a serious case of memory deficit disorder. This disorder will continue until the hallways of the Waldorf Astoria in New York, and the concourses at the Mall of America, for example, run with the blood of innocent men, women and children who have died because we have failed properly and unapologetically deal with the threat of Islamic terrorism within this country.
#2
Some of us have dealt with the problem, only to be hamstrung by idiots who play theoretical games in court rooms and who have too much power to interfere in the real world. They forget Jefferson's warning - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
#3
Well written and prescient, I'm afraid. With their coddling of Muzz, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next outrage occurs in Minneapolis or surrounding environs. Mall of America, crowded with shoppers, would be an appealing target to these scumbags. They could do tremendous damage before being taken out. In the face of real firepower, the typical mall guard would do as the ones in the train station in Mumbai, cower in fear. Americans ought to think about this, but they won't, anymore than the Indians did.
#4
I heard a large group of Minneapolis Somalis have dropped out of sight and are of concern. I would also not want to be in Las Vegas celebrating New Year's if the most recent targets and timing are an indicator of the terror forecast. Mumbai was planned for the Hindu New Year's besides the Millenmium plot and they do like large hotels with the civilian population maximizing the terror factor.
If the Mumbai terror assault seemed exceptional, and shocking in its targets, it was clear from the Thanksgiving Day reports that we weren't going to be deprived of the familiar, either. Namely, ruminations, hints, charges of American culpability that regularly accompany catastrophes of this kind.
Soon enough, there was Deepak Chopra, healer, New Age philosopher and digestion guru, advocate of aromatherapy and regular enemas, holding forth on CNN on the meaning of the attacks.
How the ebullient Dr. Chopra had come to be chosen as an authority on terror remains something of a mystery, though the answer may have something to do with his emergence in the recent presidential campaign as a thinker of advanced political views. Also commending him, perhaps, is his well known capacity to cut through all sorts of complexities to make matters simple. No one can fail to grasp the wisdom of a man who has informed us that "If you have happy thoughts, then you make happy molecules."
In his CNN interview, he was no less clear. What happened in Mumbai, he told the interviewer, was a product of the U.S. war on terrorism, that "our policies, our foreign policies" had alienated the Muslim population, that we had "gone after the wrong people" and inflamed moderates. And "that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in Bombay."
All this was a bit too much, evidently, for CNN interviewer Jonathan Mann, who interrupted to note that there were other things going on -- matters like the ongoing bitter Pakistan-India struggle over Kashmir -- which had caused so much terror and so much violence. "That's not Washington's fault," he pointed out.
Given an argument, the guest, ever a conciliator, agreed: The Mumbai catastrophe was not Washington's fault, it was everybody's fault. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
12/01/2008
07:02 ||
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#1
another celebrity dumb-sh*t spouting off on things of which he knows little.
#2
If only Deepak could lay some of that Hindu mystic shit on the muslims, all would be unicorns and rainbows.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008 9:26
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#3
It's everyone's fault except the terrorist!
I don't believe it no matter how many times they say it.
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
12/01/2008 9:54
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#4
In 1998, Chopra was awarded the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in physics for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness."
Hmmmmmmmm. Methinks some folks see him as Ye Olde Snake Oil Salesman...
#5
# 1, He is a dumb sh*t for sure. Deepak did not learn much to practice regular medicine. So, in early 1980, he started to promote the snake oil in Boston. Then he talked useless confusing sh*t. Now, he became a Guru and a witch doctor, combined. Very soon, he will be asking people to worship him because he is the Avatar.
Some Detroit-area Arab- and Muslim-Americans say new Justice Department guidelines that boost the FBI's power to investigate suspected terrorists could target innocent people.
The revised guidelines going into effect Monday will allow agents to use undercover sources to gather information, interview people without identifying themselves and spy on suspects without evidence of wrongdoing. Critics say the rules will allow for abuses, including more racial and religious profiling.
And we always have critics ...
"That's an extraordinary power," said Mike German, a former FBI agent who now advises the American Civil Liberties Union.
"There is anxiety the Middle Eastern community will be targeted," said Dearborn lawyer Nabih Ayad, who has defended a number of Arab Americans charged in national security cases. "There is always a danger in the implementation when you give such discretion in the hands of agents."
Federal officials say current rules came about in the 1970s and limit their ability to investigate people in national security cases.
FBI agents have met twice with community leaders to assure them they won't be targeted, according to the Detroit Free Press. Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit said there would be no profiling under the new regulations. "Every agent in the FBI is going to be trained on these guidelines," he said. "The concern in the community is that there's going to be abuses, and it's going to open up the possibility of profiling. We're not going to allow that to happen."
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said, "At the end of the day, the FBI is not going to open an investigation simply on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion."
#2
Mr Boyd, buy a clue. Please do not waste our money investigating non mooselimbs, at least for now. Ok? Thx
Posted by: Steven ||
12/01/2008 9:24
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"There is anxiety the Middle Eastern community will be targeted," said Dearborn lawyer Nabih Ayad, who has defended a number of Arab Americans charged in national security cases.
I guess he has. Who's Behind the ACLU NSA Lawsuit ... And Why Are They Lying? Next, there's Abdrabboh's law partner, Nabih Ayad. Both Abdrabboh and Ayad go on annual trips to the Middle East with Hamad. The trips involve meetings with Lebanese and Syrian officials tied to Hezbollah, and their travel-mates include officials of a Detroit charity that openly donated millions to HAMAS and privately raised money for Iraqi insurgents at a Los Angeles area fundraiser. Federal officials suspect that money laundering--and who knows what else--may be going on during these trips.
Ayad represented Omar Abdel-Fatah Al-Shishani, stopped at Detroit Metro Airport with millions in phony bank checks used to fund Al-Qaeda operations. Shishani--a friend of John Kerry's--didn't get much for his money, though. I had dinner with Abu Shishani in fall 2003, prior to his sentencing. It was a secret meeting with law enforcement members, and he did not know my real identity. Shishani told me that Mr. Ayad ripped him off of $25,000, did not help him, and he had to hire a new attorney. Based on that, it's hard to see how NSA spying would affect his "representation" of his client.
Then, there are his 130 clients paid off an INS inspector and committed visa fraud. Ayad got these clients from his buddy, former "terrorist" Hamad. Paying off INS inspectors, visa fraud--these are things we SHOULD be spying on.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008 9:41
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#4
The program investigates/collects/analyzes suspicious behavior...that comes in all sizes, shapes, colors, spices. Me think you protest too loudly.
#2
No, but Egypt is. Oddly enough, this Swiss article doesn't mention until partway down, and then almost parenthetically, that the Sinai Bedouins are having problems with the Egyptian state, not the Israeli one.
Much of the reporting from Mumbai the last few days has been informative, gripping and often moving. Some of the commentary, on the other hand, has been not just uninformative but counterinformative if thats a term, and if its not, I say it should be. Consider first an op-ed article in Sundays Los Angeles Times by Martha Nussbaum, a well-known professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago. The article was headlined Terrorism in India has many faces. But one face that Nussbaum fails to mention specifically is that of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic terror group originating in Pakistan that seems to have been centrally involved in the attack on Mumbai.
This is because Nussbaums main concern is not explaining or curbing Islamic terror. Rather, she writes that if, as now seems likely, last weeks terrible events in Mumbai were the work of Islamic terrorists, thats more bad news for Indias minority Muslim population. She deplores past acts of Hindu terror against Indias Muslims. She worries about Muslim youths being rounded up on suspicion of terrorism with little or no evidence. And she notes that this is an analogue to the current ugly phenomenon of racial profiling in the United States. So jihadists kill innocents in Mumbai and Nussbaum ends up decrying racial profiling here. Is it just that liberal academics are required to include some alleged ugly American phenomenon in everything they write?
Jim Leach is also a professor, at Princeton, but hes better known as a former moderate Republican congressman from Iowa who supported Barack Obama this year. His contribution over the weekend was to point out on Politico.com that the Mumbai catastrophe underscores the importance of vocabulary. This wouldnt have been my first thought. But Leach believes its very important that we consider the Mumbai attack not as an act of war but as an act of barbarism. Why? The former implies a cause: a national or tribal or ethnic rationale that infuses a sacrificial action with some groups view of heroism; the latter is an assault on civilized values, everyones. ... To the degree barbarism is a part of the human condition, Mumbai must be understood not just as an act related to a particular group but as an outbreak of pent-up irrationality that can occur anywhere, anytime. ... It may be true that the perpetrators viewed themselves as somehow justified in attacking Indians and visiting foreigners, particularly perhaps Americans, British and Israeli nationals. But a response that is the least nationalistic is likely to be the most effective.
If, as Leach says, it may be true the perpetrators viewed themselves as justified in their attacks, doesnt this mean that they did in fact have a rationale that infused their action? But Leach doesnt want to discuss that rationale even though its not hard to find. Ten minutes of Googling will bring you to a fine article, The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups, from the April 2005 issue of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology. Its by the respected journalist and diplomat Husain Haqqani, who, as it happens, is now Pakistans ambassador to the United States.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, Haqqani explains, is a jihadi group of Wahhabi persuasion, backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services. He notes that Lashkar-e-Taiba has adopted a maximalist agenda for global jihad. Indeed, the political arm of the group has conveniently published a pamphlet, Why Are We Waging Jihad?, that lays out all kinds of reasons why the United States, Israel and India are existential enemies of Islam. So much for Leachs notion that the Mumbai terrorists had no cause or rationale. But Leachs refusal to see this is in the service of persuading India not to respond in a nationalistic way and of persuading the United States not to see itself primarily as standing with India against our common enemies.
But if terror groups are to be defeated, it is national governments that will have to do so. In nations like India (and the United States), governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens to fight the terrorists. In a nation like Pakistan, the government will have to be persuaded to deal with those in their midst who are complicit. This can happen if those nations citizens decide they dont want their own country to be dishonored by allegiances with terror groups. Otherwise, other nations may have to act.
Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilization against barbarism. That was brought home over the weekend in an article in The Times of India on Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a major in Indias National Security Guards who died fighting the terrorists at the Taj hotel. The reporter spoke with the young mans parents as they mourned their son: His father, dignified in the face of such a personal tragedy, was stoic, saying he was proud of his son who sacrificed his life for the country: He died for the nation.
#1
Lashkar-e-Taiba, Haqqani explains, is a jihadi group of Wahhabi persuasion, "backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services."
Common theme here with all our sunni enemies eg. ALQ,Taliban,Le T etc !!!!
#3
You'd better believe the ruling elites want us to see this as an 'act of barbarism' rather than an 'act of war': even they understand that if the Indians demonstrate clearly that Pakistan was involved, it's an act of war with all the potential consequences thereof.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2008 12:45
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an outbreak of pent-up irrationality that can occur anywhere, anytime
No, dear Professor Leach. A riot is an outbreak of irrationality; a terror attack of this magnitude is the result of coldhearted planning, coldhearted training, and coldhearted execution by those who have very deliberately chosen to become instruments of evil.
#5
"His father, dignified in the face of such a personal tragedy, was stoic, saying he was proud of his son who sacrificed his life for the country: 'He died for the nation.' "
The father, a former engineer in India's Space Agency, chased local politicians away, calling them "stinking dogs"
Posted by: john frum ||
12/01/2008 16:05
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Islamic sources close to jihad organizations have disclosed that Hamad Z. (Abu Musaab) has admitted that Kuwaiti fugitives Mohsen Al-Fadhli and Mohammad Al-Dousari, who are wanted by the US on charges of terrorism left Kuwait for Iran last October via the sea using forged passports provided by him on their way to Afghanistan, reports Al-Rai daily. Abu Musaab who was attempting to leave for Damascus was arrested on Nov 14, 2008 at the Kuwait International Airport.
For months, Sacramento's top FBI agent kept a Muslim prayer rug in his office. It was for Imam Mohamed Abdul Azeez, religious leader of the SALAM Islamic Center in Sacramento, who attended a citizens' academy with Drew Parenti at the FBI office.
Parenti hasn't converted to Islam. He's been trying to convert Muslim leaders who might be suspicious of his agency after 9/11 and the Lodi terrorism case. And, after years of distrust, Azeez and other local Muslims believe they have found a friend in Parenti. The local FBI chief has visited several of the area's 14 mosques, ready to answer tough questions. He also has recruited an Egyptian Muslim agent who is known to the community and worships regularly at SALAM (Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims) and other local mosques.
Local FBI agents and Muslim American leaders now come together "through friendship and partnership, not eavesdropping," Azeez said. "It's not us against them, and by working together, it's having a profound effect on preventing another 9/11. Prevention's not about phone- tapping and visiting people at 3 a.m., it's about being friends with the community.
"He's the guy with the gun," Azeez said. "If he puts a smile on his face and approaches you humbly, you're going to open up right away." Now, the imam and the FBI agent plan to travel around California and the nation, to show other communities how to build similar partnerships.
Azeez believes the Lodi investigation which ended in 2006 with the conviction of one man of supporting terrorism would play out much differently today. The new partnership between the FBI and area Muslims could prevent attempts to radicalize Muslim youths, Azeez said. "Someone familiar with law enforcement told me if we'd had an Arab or Muslim agent on the force, this whole Lodi thing would not have happened," Azeez said.
Farouk Fakira, a leader at south Sacramento's Masjid Annur which invited Parenti to the mosque's open house Nov. 22 agrees. Parenti "is very approachable, very decent," Fakira said. "If Drew was around, the Lodi thing wouldn't have happened because Drew would have known better."
Parenti, who inherited the Lodi case, "makes no apologies whatsoever for the case in terms of the way it was conducted or prosecuted." But he did say relationships now in place might prevent the "petri dish" of radical Islam from spawning hatred.
Parenti, 48, became Sacramento Special Agent In Charge on June 19, 2005 11 days after two Pakistani American Muslims from Lodi, Umer Hayat and his son Hamid, were arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
In 2006, Hamid Hayat was convicted of providing material support to terrorists by undergoing firearms training in Pakistan and returning to America prepared for jihad. Hayat, a 25-year-old cherry picker with a seventh-grade education, was convicted based on confessions he made during a 10-hour FBI interrogation without a lawyer present.
Hayat had been befriended by Naseem Khan, a Pakistani American Muslim from Oregon working undercover for the FBI. In phone conversations disclosed during trial, Khan goaded Hayat into attending a terrorist training camp and encouraged his interest in violent Islamic fundamentalism. Hayat sentenced to 24 years admitted relishing the murder of Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl. No evidence placed Hayat at a terrorist camp other than his conflicting statements to the FBI.
Parenti, a graduate of California State University, San Diego, with a degree in Spanish, is a 24-year FBI veteran. He once supervised the anti-drug trafficking program in Mexico City.
Two months after he arrived in Sacramento, Parenti recalled, he was intrigued by a newspaper headline, "New-Wave Imams," featuring Azeez, who had just become imam at SALAM. "I realized I did not know much about Islam," he said. He reached out to Azeez, an Egyptian American Muslim who wrote his University of Chicago master's thesis on the roots of suicide bombers
#1
I believe one of the reasons Sami al Arian got off easy the first time was that a Muslim FBI agent refused to wear a wire to get evidence against a brother Muslim.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/01/2008 13:32
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Pretty sure Sacramento's Masjid Annur is where Ali Mohammed (who was convicted for his role in the US Embassy bombings) took #2 Al Qaeda Ayman Zawahiri circa 1995, so I wouldn't assume it's totally a law enforcement friendly setting...think Taqiyya.
MINNEAPOLIS - While police say a high-profile indecent conduct case in the Minneapolis Metrodome Saturday is closed, a Carroll woman involved in it told the Daily Times Herald she believes she was a victim of foul play rather than a willing collaborator. Alleged participant actually a victim according to alleged participant. Check.
Lois K. "MILF" Feldman, 38, of Carroll, and Ross M. Walsh, 26, of Linden, were ticketed for indecent conduct after they were reportedly caught engaging in sexual activity in a Metrodome men's restroom handicapped stall during the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers game with the Iowa Hawkeyes. More than a dozen people in the restroom were cheering Feldman and Walsh by the time authorities arrived, a University of Minnesota Police report says. Women's fingernails scratching grooves along the outside upper edge of a public restroom stall door. Check.
Feldman acknowledged drinking heavily before the game and says she doesn't remember being in the bathroom. Drinking heavily. Check.
"I would never ever do that," Feldman said. "My kids are my life. I go to church every Sunday." Goes to church every Sunday. Hung over. And walking funny for reasons she cannot remember. Check. I'll bet next week's sermon is going to be chock full of side-glances and pregnant pauses. Ahem.
Information obtained in police reports and during an interview with University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness revealed no suggestion or evidence that the incident was anything but consensual on the part of both Walsh and Feldman.
But Feldman tells the Daily Times Herald she may have been drugged or otherwise victimized. Sounds like she left out ". . . and maybe not."
"Everybody thinks something got put in my drink," Feldman said. By the hot-dog guy, perhaps?
She offers no further details as to how that might have happened or who may have been involved. Not quite blaming the guy who was molesting her. Check.
"Right, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it what my attorney and I are working on," Feldman said.
Contacted this morning and asked if Feldman was planning to file a complaint or seek a reopening of the investigation in Minneapolis, Jeff Minnich of Carroll, Feldman's attorney, said he had no comment. [Personally, I think she's just going to try to "get it in her behind her".]
The Daily Times Herald sought to contact Walsh, but there is no phone listing with the address he gave police. An Avalon Security officer, Craig Andrashko, who was listed in the police report as the first witness to the incident, did not return a phone call. Check the local frat parties.
But in the police report, Andrashko described what he observed as "sexual intercourse." Perhaps the lock jammed and he was just helping her over the stall door?
Hestness said the case is closed by citation. When asked to respond to Feldman's suggestion that she is a victim of a crime, Hestness said: "All I can say is the actions went on for some period of time with many witnesses on hand and no one reported either party was objecting." Just wait a couple of weeks for the cell-phone video to show up on youtube and then decide what to do with them.
Hestness said Feldman made no allegations to the officers at the scene about the incident being non-consensual. Musta forgot that, too.
"If the implication is lack of consent due to intoxication, I guess that could be true for either party, however, they declined the officer's request to submit to an (alcohol test) so the extent of intoxication cannot be demonstrated," Hestness said. I'm guessing it was over 0.08%.
Hestness largely talked about the incident in the context of the binge-drinking atmosphere at many college football venues. "We will be attending our annual Big 10 chiefs conference next month (in Iowa)," Hestness said. "I suspect this case and the flood of last summer will be big topics."
The University of Minnesota has been without an on-campus stadium since 1980 when Memorial Stadium closed and the Gophers began sharing the Metrodome. The team will move into TCF Bank Stadium next fall with the opening game against Air Force. "The absence of public alcohol sales at our stadium per Big 10 standards will be a welcome change," Hestness said. So I guess it'll be a BYOB affair until further notice.
SLAMABAD: All main militant groups fighting in Fata, from South Waziristan to Bajaur and from Mohmand to the Khyber Agency, have contacted the government through different sources after the Mumbai bombings and have offered a ceasefire if the Pakistan Army also stops its operations.
And as a positive sign that this ceasefire offer may be accepted, the Pakistan Army has, as a first step, declared before the media some notorious militant commanders, including Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Fazlullah, as "patriotic" Pakistanis.
These two militant commanders are fighting the Army for the last four years and have invariably been accused of terrorism against Pakistan but the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage has suddenly turned terrorists into patriots.
A top security official told a group of senior journalists on Saturday: "We have no big issues with the militants in Fata. We have only some misunderstandings with Baitullah Mehsud and Fazlullah. These misunderstandings could be removed through dialogue."
The Indian allegations against Pakistan have suddenly forced the military establishment in Pakistan to finally accept that they are not fighting an American war inside the Pakistani territory.
On another level, the parliamentary leader of the 12 Fata members in the National Assembly, Munir Orakzai, has expressed optimism in this regard, saying: "I see a bright ray of peace in the tribal areas and if we come out of the American pressure, I can guarantee that there will be peace in the tribal areas in a few days and we will be ready to fight against India on the eastern border along with the Pakistan Army."
The change in the attitude of the Pakistani military establishment is remarkable. Thanks to India, the security officials, who used to criticise the Pakistani media, are now praising its role in the recent days, saying: "You have proven that you are patriotic Pakistanis."
Last year, the same officials were part of a decision to impose a ban on many Pakistani TV channels because of their alleged anti-state behaviour. Meanwhile, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has made it clear to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that if India escalates tensions, then Pakistan has to move its troops from the tribal areas to the eastern borders and it would not be possible to continue the war against terrorism.
Top military officials conveyed the same message to the media representatives on Saturday. It was learnt that Washington and London were very concerned over the rise of tension between the two nuclear powers.
The Pakistan Army officials have been describing 48 hours as very important. These sources claimed on Sunday that the situation was now stabilising. A very responsible government official in Islamabad told this scribe on Sunday that nothing would happen in the next 24 hours. Some late night telephone calls made from Washington and London helped to cool down the temperature in New Delhi and Islamabad.
Despite the assurances made by President Asif Zardari on sending a director of ISI to India for helping the Mumbai carnage investigations, it has also been decided by Islamabad that no ISI official will visit India, at least, in the next one week.
On the domestic level, thanks to the uncalled for Indian allegations, some ministers of the Yousuf Raza Gilani cabinet got an opportunity to criticise their prime minister on his face for giving an assurance to India that the ISI chief will go to New Delhi without consulting even his cabinet colleagues.
....
#4
i say let urge them into action against India. That would get rid of more radical islamist than the wat on terror ever could in the blink of an eye possibly
Well, it *is* a EUrocrat getting chatty with French teevee, salt to taste.
The UK is "closer" to joining the Euro than ever before, according to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. He said some British politicians were considering signing up to the currency in a bid to beat the effects of the global economic crisis.
He told French radio station RTL: "We are now closer than ever before. I'm not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me, 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'."
But he admitted the majority of people in the UK were still opposed to the idea of joining the single currency. "I don't mean this will happen tomorrow, I know that the majority (of British people) are still opposed, but there is a period of consideration underway and the people which matter in Britain are currently thinking about it."
A Downing Street spokesman said: "We have no comment on this. Our position on the euro is the same - it has not changed."
This is probably for internal consumption. The euro has BIG problems of it's own, and saying people want top join sounds like it's better than it really is.
#3
"...and the people which matter in Britain are currently thinking about it."
Yeah, I'll bet that big shot EU job would be so much more enjoyable if it weren't for having to deal with all those friggin peons who just don't seem to get it, right, Jose? They should just leave everything to you and those of your ilk to run everything for them, right, buddy?
Posted mainly for the headline, but there's some red meat in here too...
Here's the daily roundup of piracy-related stories that came across the Posted desks today. First off:
Those Somali pirates have a Canadian connection. The autonomous region of Puntland, from where many of the pirates hail, is presided over by a former Ottawa gas station operator named Mohamud Muse Hersi, the CBC reports. Hersi has been the president of Puntland for three years.
Hersi emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, bought a gas station and raised a family, but his clan connections to Somalia remained strong. When the elders of Puntland were looking for a new president in 2005, they chose Hersi.
There are doubts as to how vigorously Hersi's government has denounced piracy in Puntland:
Hersi's critics accuse him and his ministers of taking bribes from the pirates to look the other way. Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, says he lacks evidence of such corruption but adds: "It would be inconceivable for all this piracy to be going on on the coast of Puntland without at least the knowledge, if not the collusion, of the Puntland government."
Hersi vigorously denies the charge. As proof, he points to two successful counterattacks against the pirates mounted by Puntland's coast guard.
Yet according to Roger Middleton of London's Royal Institute of International Affairs, Hersi and his government stood to benefit from those specific attacks.
"In one case, the cement that was in the ship belonged to one of the ministers in the government, so there was clearly a reason why they wanted to get involved," he told CBC News.
If you've ever wondered why piracy makes such an attractive career choice (maybe not every Canadian turns out to be the president of Puntland), don't worry: Reuters columnist Bernd Debusmann makes the case for piracy as a business.
As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn't get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade. The risks? "There is no reason not to be a pirate," according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet. "The vessel I'm trying to pirate, they won't shoot at me. I'm going to get my money." Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. "They won't arrest me because there's no place to try me."
And as if all that wasn't enough, a report today said the Indonesian Navy expects the global economic meltdown to create a jump in pirate activity in Southeast Asia's busy Malacca Strait. From Agence France-Presse and MSN:
The economic turmoil means shipping in the strait between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- one of the worlds busiest -- will be at extra risk, navy spokesman Sagom Tamboen was quoted as saying by news website Detikcom.
[...]
"Coordinated patrols with Malaysia and Thailand will be maximized, Tamboen said.
According to AFP, patrols have reduced the number of piracy attacks in recent years in the Strait, which handles 30% of all sea transport globally. The patrols have been so effective that there have only been two attacks in that area from January to September. By way of comparison, there were 38 total in 2004.
#1
Stopping the attacks IS possible. But only if certain "unacceptable" methods are used. First start with 'take NO prisoners'. Second use 'Q-boats' (see WWI British policy againts U-boats)
Third escort high profile ships. There others but these are a few that will work.
Very long piece with much information, a fair bit we've read already, but a useful piece if you're new to the story. Big item of new news is how the perps planned and got into India.
MUMBAI, Nov 30 - A sensational revelation has emerged from a terrorist caught alive by Indian troops: The attack on Mumbai's top hotels was meant to be India's Sept 11. Azam Amir Kasav - some reports have his name as Ajmal Amir Kasab - confessed that part of the plot called for him and his fellow terrorists to carry out a replay of the destruction of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, in targeting Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel.
The Marriott was blown up by militants in September, an attack that killed more than 50 people.
According to a report in The Times of India, Azam said the attacks on the Taj and The Oberoi Trident were aimed to create a "Sept 11 in India", a reference to the coordinated attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States in 2001. They involved the crashing of hijacked planes into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 people dead.
Azam and eight others in the team made a reconnaissance trip to Mumbai several months before the attacks, pretending to be Malaysian students.
The confessions of the clean-shaven, fluent English-speaking 21-year-old Pakistani have given investigators a clearer picture of what had happened last Wednesday. Azam said he was member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, but the Kashmir- based Pakistani militant group has denied any role in the attacks.
Founded as a guerilla group to fight the Indian army in Kashmir, the group was banned by the Pakistani government after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, but reportedly continues to enjoy the backing of some Pakistani politicians and security officials.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Pakistan itself is a victim of terrorism and considers it a menace to humanity that must be eliminated, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday. Talking to his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan, who telephoned him to discuss bilateral relations and share views on the regional and global situation, Qureshi said that Pakistan was one of the first countries to strongly condemn the Mumbai terrorist attacks and offer India all possible assistance. He briefed Babacan about Pakistan's relations with India after the attacks and said that Pakistan shared the grief of India and the families who had lost their loved ones in the incident. The Turkish foreign minister lauded Pakistan's role in the fight against extremism and expressed support for the efforts being made by Islamabad to engage New Delhi constructively.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned yesterday facing severe criticism for handling of internal security during the terror attacks on Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at an all-party meeting in New Delhi unveiled a set of measures to strengthen the country's anti-terror apparatus to combat terrorism, reports our correspondent Pallab Bhattacharya from New Delhi. Manmohan said the government has finalised a set of legal measures, which include setting up of a Federal Investigation Agency.
He said measures have been initiated to beef up maritime and air security. "This will involve the navy, coast guard and coastal police as well as the air force and the civil aviation ministry," the Indian prime minister said. The National Security Guard (NSG), the major anti-terrorism force of India, will be given additional facilities, he said, adding that steps have been initiated to establish four more NSG hubs across the country.
Patil, 74, taking "moral responsibility" for the incident sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a day after Indian commandos ended a 60-hour rampage by terrorists in Mumbai. The attacks left about 200 people dead. The national security adviser MK Narayanan also tendered resignation yesterday. But the government is yet to accept his resignation, adds our correspondent from New Delhi.
Political sources said Patil has been of the view that the Congress Party and the government should not suffer because of the terror attacks and that is why he had taken this decision. The resignation of Patil, considered very close to ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, was yesterday accepted by the prime minister who appointed Palaniappan Chidambaram as the new home minister moving him from the finance portfolio. Chidambaram had been the minister of state for home under prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in late 80s.
With Chidambaram having moved to the home ministry, the prime minister himself will retain the finance portfolio which Singh had held from 1991 to 1996 in the government headed by PV Narasimha Rao.
India's powerful national security adviser also resigned yesterday in the wake of the devastating Islamic militant attacks in Mumbai, government officials told AFP. Confirming reports by Indian news channels, the officials said MK Narayanan handed in his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and that the premier accepted.
An aide to the prime minister said "more senior members of the government are likely to be shown the door" in the wake of the attacks, which left close to 200 dead.
An aide to the prime minister said "more senior members of the government are likely to be shown the door" in the wake of the attacks, which left close to 200 dead. The government sources said India's home secretary, domestic intelligence chief and head of the Coast Guard were likely to be sacked.
The resignation of Shivraj Patil came soon after a meeting of the top decision-making forum of ruling Congress Party, which heads the country's United Progressive Alliance, late Saturday night.
At the three-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee presided by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Patil offered to quit as all senior leaders of the party wanted the government to take measures to handle terrorism with a firm hand and take all measures to prevent recurrence of such attacks.
Reacting to the resignation of Patil, which came ahead of an all-party meeting convened by the prime minister on security issue, the main opposition BJP, which often accused the Congress-led government of being weak in responding to terrorism, said, "It was too little too late." They always get bent out of shape over "too little too late." If they don't, they're likely to grumble about too much, too early.
BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said, "It is a collective failure of the government and you cannot single out the most vulnerable person in the government."
With tensions escalating in South Asia, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari urged India not to "over-react" after Indian and US officials suggested the gunmen could have been members of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lashkar, which is fighting Indian control of the disputed Kashmir region, was behind a deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war. Indian media reported that the only surviving militant had identified all the Mumbai attackers as Pakistanis who had been trained by Lashkar.
Ajmal Amir Kamal, 21, who was caught on a CCTV camera wearing a T-shirt with a "Versace" logo, was being interrogated in a safe house in Mumbai, reports said.
US counter-terrorism officials told AFP that evidence was emerging that Lashkar could have been behind the attacks, while Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said "elements in Pakistan" were responsible.
Pakistan, which has fought two wars with India over Kashmir, moved quickly to deny any links with the attacks. Zardari warned that the militants were "looking for reaction" and said India suspected the militants could be based in Pakistan. He pledged prompt action against anyone responsible. But he hasn't had Hafiz Saeed arrested yet. Not even the usual house arrest.
Lashkar, which operated openly in Pakistan until being outlawed after the September 11, 2001 attacks, has denied responsibility. It still operates openly. And it lies routinely.
Around a dozen militants launched their assault on Wednesday evening when they split into groups and struck targets across Mumbai, including the main railway station and a hospital.
Security forces regained control of the city 60 hours later when they killed the last three gunmen holed up with hostages inside the Taj Mahal hotel. On Friday elite troops had stormed the Jewish centre and killed two gunmen -- but found eight dead Israeli hostages.
Another luxury hotel that was attacked, the Oberoi/Trident, was cleared of militants later in the day, with scores of trapped guests rescued and dozens of bodies found.
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Life in Iraq is better for many but it is by no means perfect. Wonder if Bambi wants to speak to the Iraqis about the dishonor murders ...
Authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have admitted they are powerless to prevent 'honour killings' in the city following a 70 per cent increase in religious murders during the past year. There has been no improvement in conviction rates for these killings. So far this year, 81 women in the city have been murdered for allegedly bringing shame on their families. Only five people have been convicted.
During 2007 the Basra security committee recorded 47 'honour killings' and three convictions. One lawyer in the city described how police were actively protecting perpetrators and said that a woman in Basra could now be murdered by hired hitmen for as little as $100 (£65).
'The life of these women isn't higher than $100. You can find a killer standing in any coffee shop of Basra, discussing prices of a life as if he was buying a piece of meat.'
The figures come despite international outrage which followed The Observer's coverage of the death of 17-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader, who was murdered by her father last April in an 'honour killing' after falling in love with a British soldier in Basra. Rand Abdel-Qader was killed after her family discovered that she had formed a friendship with a 22-year-old infantryman whom she knew as Paul. She was suffocated by her father then hacked at with a knife. Abdel-Qader Ali was subsequently arrested and released without charge.
Rand's mother, Leila Hussein, who divorced her husband after the killing, went into hiding but was tracked down weeks later and assassinated by an unknown gunman. Her husband had told The Observer that police had congratulated him for killing his daughter.
Seven months after the murders, the problem of these killings in Basra has become worse, according to lawyers. Ali Azize Raja'a, an Iraqi prosecutor who has represented the victims of 32 'honour killings' since 2004, said that, despite accumulating sufficient evidence to prove who was responsible in each murder, he had won only one case.
He said that the greatest issue was the decision by police to release suspects. Seven in 10 of those thought to be responsible for such a killing have left the city, with little attempt made to track them down.
The father of Rand is also understood to have left Basra. He was held by police in connection with his daughter's murder for only two hours. A local businessman who described the actions of Rand's father as 'courageous' is believed to have given a considerable sum of money to him and his two sons, who disowned their mother after she objected to Rand's killing. Raja'a said that when he was approached by Leila over Rand's case, his family was threatened by relatives.
Another Iraqi lawyer, who requested anonymity, said that some fathers had started to hire professional hitmen to carry out 'honour killings' which were then covered as 'sectarian murders'. He said: 'The life of these women isn't higher than $100. You can find a killer standing in any coffee shop of Basra, discussing prices of a life as if he was buying a piece of meat.'
Mariam Ayub Sattar, an activist in Basra, said that any woman caught speaking to a man in public who was not her husband or a relative was considered a prostitute and punished. A fortnight ago three women were burned with acid while walking through a market in Basra after stopping to speak to a male friend, Sattar said.
Nine of the 12 voluntary organisations helping women in Basra have closed down since the US-led invasion. The Women's Rights Association in Basra was forced to close down after death threats were made following the murder of Rand's mother last May. Two women from a voluntary organisation who had been helping her to hide from her husband were also injured.
Alia'a Obeidi, the organisation's president, said that one of her colleagues was killed while driving to work and, fearing for her family's safety, she later moved to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights said that it was working on new projects to end gender discrimination in the country. 'We try to make a difference by teaching students at schools about gender equality, but it only will be possible when parents don't teach the opposite at home,' said Hameed Walled, senior official in the Ministry of Human Rights.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#4
'We try to make a difference by teaching students at schools about gender equality, but it only will be possible when parents don't teach the opposite at home,' said Hameed Walled, senior official in the Ministry of Human Rights.
Actually, they will stop when the government fires police chiefs and prosecutors for being unable to obtain convictions in honor killings, and the penalty for a conviction becomes death by live burial.
Iran on Sunday proposed developing nuclear power plants jointly with neighboring Arab states in the Gulf, amid international pressure on Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work.
"I suggest that countries in the region put on their agenda the creation of a consortium to build and develop light-water nuclear plants," said Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's atomic energy organization. "Iran is ready to present a comprehensive proposal if the Persian Gulf countries agree to it in principal," he told an energy conference in Tehran.
However, he did not give any specifics about the proposal, or its feasibility.
Iran has rejected international calls to halt uranium enrichment, which it claims is for peaceful purposes, and is under sanctions targeting individuals and institutions involved in its nuclear program.
The light-water reactor market is dominated by Western countries and Russia, which is currently building Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr on the Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
This badly needs that "mousetrap" picture, you know where 5 mice are caught in the same mousetrap.
The idea here is obviously to spread the (Blame) responsibility among nearby nations to confuse the "Infidels". (And hopefuky stay in one piece insead of vaporized, along with a huge chunk of land that used to be their Reactor.)
Aint workin.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/01/2008 21:08
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#4
Watched the video (no sound chip on my computer) and it is unclear what transpired. It looks like the vet apparently taunted them. He was admittedly drunk and they went after him. But the three of them either couldn't subdue or cuff him or chose to rough him up before doing so. With sound it might be more informative.
I've found it doesn't usually pay to let the cops know what you really think. Sometimes it's better to save those thoughts for the comments section at a blog.
I've noticed that "firebrand" holy men are usually noted for causing a lot more damage than they clear up. Being a "firebrand" puts Father Brockman in the same category as Qazi, Tater, and Abu Qatada.
The Marist order is pretty much noted for producing such "firebrands," and they're deeply involved in the liberation theology flavor of Marxism. His statement that "justice, mercy and compassion" blithely ignores the fact that the United States was for most of the 20th century the most generous country in the world, both in the fires, floods, and other natural disasters and in the aid provided to defeated enemies who by long tradition should have been paying us reparations.
There is usually a difference between ostentatious compassion and the real thing. I suppose you can actually be compassionate and be ostentatious about it, but as a rule those most ostentatious in their compassion write small checks.
Case in point: Allah sends a tsunami to devastate Indonesia, a Muslim nation. Saudi Arabia, two steps from Islamic theocracy, ostentatiously collects zakat, which is defined as alms, presumably for the poor. They don't show up when earthquakes or tsunamis devastate Guatamala or Czechoslovakia or Los Angeles, so we assume the zakat is reserved for Muslims. Yet us infidels outspent all of Arabia when Indonesia got smote, even while the UN was a.) complaining we weren't doing enough and b.) trying to present themselves as Johnny-on-the-spot.
The Rev. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a revolutionary Nicaraguan priest, sounded like the old-school, 1980s-style Latin American leftist he is when he began his presidency of the 192-member U.N. General Assembly in September.
But as the world's financial turmoil deepens and the pillars of modern capitalism appear increasingly shaky, his tirades against what he considers the evils of an American-led economic order are gaining a more sympathetic audience here with each passing day.
A crushing global economic crisis has provided the Maryknoll priest with a pulpit to preach his sermon of class warfare between the world's rich and poor to an increasingly receptive audience, with more moderate figures such as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy echoing his criticism of the U.S. free-market system. "Some of this stuff he was saying in September sounded wacky, but now it's sort of in the mainstream" said Colin Keating, a former New Zealand diplomat who runs the Security Council Report, a policy group focusing on the United Nations. "It does partly account for slightly changed levels of respect."
A Sandinista foreign minister from 1979 to 1990 who once referred to President Ronald Reagan as the "butcher of my people," d'Escoto has emerged as an unlikely standard-bearer of the U.N. membership that had in many ways been moving beyond the Cold War battles that long defined him.
Equipped with a hearing aid and suffering from vertigo, the 75-year-old sermonizes about the cruelty of a political order that has done too little to improve the lives of the poorest. His self-effacing and sometimes humorous style has more in common with a small-town pastor than that of the stern Marxist ideologue -- Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega -- who championed his candidacy to the U.N. post.
D'Escoto decries the contamination of the world's economic order by a "spirit of selfishness and individualism" that views "justice, mercy and compassion" as incompatible with economic activity, as he said at a recent U.N. interfaith conference. "The world has become a moral basket case," he said at a news conference last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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#1
Look for Rev. Wright to be named US Ambassador to the United Nations...
#2
Pope John Paull II would have had this guy tossed out on his head. "Liberation Theology" and its class warfare marxist center was roudly condemned by him.
"Equipped with a hearing aid and suffering from vertigo, "
Hmm, arrange for a walk along a high place with no hand rails...
#6
Let him peddle his moldy wares in Cuba. Nicaragua is falling apart under the Sandinistas. It's just they are better at voter fraud than Hugo Chavez, though not as good as the US Dem party. A 100% import tariff would speed the process along nicely.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008 9:25
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#7
Nicaragua?
Oh yeah, that's where ol' Danny Ortega's boyos are rioting because he lost.
Over seven and a half years after the Ramna Batamul blast, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday pressed charges against 14 operatives of banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) in two cases filed for the carnage.
CID Inspector Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf, investigation officer (IO) in both cases, submitted the charge sheets before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka.
The bloodbath that took place during Pahela Baishakh celebrations on April 14, 2001 left 10 people dead and scores injured.
Of the cases filed with Ramna Police Station, one was for murder and the other for possession and use of explosive substances. At a press briefing following the submission of charge sheets, CID chief Additional Inspector General Mohammad Javed Patwari said some 22 Huji members were directly involved in the blast. But charges have been pressed against 14 as addresses of the remaining eight were not found. A supplementary charge sheet, he added, would be submitted against the eight after getting their full addresses.
The charge-sheeted accused are Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi alias Abul Kalam, Arif Hasan Suman alias Abdur Razzak, Moulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Abdur Rauf, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Moulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Moulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Moulana Yahiya and Mufti Abdul Hye.
Of them, Hannan, Suman, Akbar, Jewel, Abu Taher and Rauf are behind bars and the others are still at large.
CID sources said the six Huji detainees stand accused in some other blast cases as well. Akbar, Mufti Hannan and Jewel have confessed to a court their involvement in the attacks including the August 21 grenade blasts on an Awami League rally.
The additional inspector general said the Huji members had planned the attack at their headquarters and Saat Gambuz Mosque, both located in the city's Mohammadpur area.
Suman, Jewel, Johnny and Sujan carried the bombs to Ramna Park that day. Posing as decorators, they entered through the gate adjacent to the National Tennis Complex at around 4:00am. Johnny detonated the bomb by remote control.
The CID chief said Ramna Batamul, where people pour in to celebrate the Bengali New Year, had been chosen as the target because the Huji considers Pahela Boishakh revels anti-Islamic.
The bombs were supplied by Moulana Tajuddin. Former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu's younger brother, he also supplied grenades for the August 21 grenade attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Taliban hanged and shot dead an Afghan man in North Waziristan Agency, accusing him of spying for the United States, an official said on Sunday. The body of Ajab Khan was found in the agency on Sunday, a local administration official told AFP. Khan's body had bullet wounds and there was a rope tied around his neck, indicating he was hanged and later shot, the official said. A note found with Khan's body said he was killed because he was spying for US forces. The Taliban have killed several people, accusing them of spying on their activities on behalf of the Pakistani government and US forces operating across the border in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Unidentified gunmen have ambushed a police checkpoint in Pakistan's the northwestern town of Bannu killing three security personnel.
Police fired back, killing three militants and injuring another 12, a local official said, adding that the body of another suspected militant was found on the road connecting Bannu to Miram Shah town, A Press TV correspondent reported Sunday.
Pakistan's remote tribal regions on the troubled border with Afghanistan are widely seen as a safe haven for pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
Meanwhile, the army continued the hunt for militants in the federally administered tribal area, with gunships pounding Nawagai, Chaharmang, Chamakund, Chinat and Thesil Mamoon sub-divisions.
Pakistan's military launched an all-out offensive in Bajaur in August, in an attempt to clear the area of militants, mostly Taliban supporters who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi security forces have arrested 15 persons in different parts of Baghdad throughout the past 24 hours, a spokesperson for the Baghdad Operation Command (BOC) said on Sunday. "Security personnel captured 14 wanted persons and one suspect, and defused 32 explosive charges during operations in different parts of the capital Baghdad," Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata told Aswat al-Iraq. "Two security personnel were wounded during the operations," Ata noted.
Pretty quiet day. Wossamotta? Holy men on vacation?
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Sadrist parliamentary bloc may open a case against a recently approved US-Iraq security deal, branding the pact as unconstitutional. "In line with the Constitution and religious laws, the Sadrist bloc will consider all options. We open a case in the Federal Court, against the procedure through which the agreement was passed," the Voices of Iraq quoted Fawzi Akram Tarzi, a lawmaker from the bloc as saying on Sunday. "The procedure was not constitutional and the pact was ratified before all provisions of the agreement were read out [in Parliament]," Tarzi added.
The Iraqi cabinet and parliament have endorsed the interim security agreement to extend the presence of US troops in Iraq for another three-year period.
The Sadr bloc, who strongly opposes the pact, had earlier vowed to take necessary measures to block the deal, with Influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr vowing to re-launch attacks on US troops should they extend their stay in the country. "The Sadrists would not cede their national principles and would continue to seek the independence and full sovereignty of Iraq," he added.
The pact has been sent to the Presidential Council for the final approval.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"In line with the Constitution and religious laws"
(Xinhua) -- Some 34 Thai anti-government protestors at Government House were injured in a grenade explosion here early on Sunday, local TV reports said.
News reports said the grenade landed near the prime minister's offices, which have been occupied by protestors led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) since August. The blast occurred near at Government House where thousands of PAD supporters, who are demanding Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawatto step down, were holding a rally.
PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila told Channel 3 that he had come down from the stage about 30 minutes before the grenade dropped into a crowded area. The injured protestors were rushed to nearby hospitals, TV reports said. He accused pro-government supporters of launching the attack. The explosion came hours after anti-government demonstrators forced police to abandon a checkpoint at the main Suvarnabhumi airport.
In the latest clash with protestors, about 150 riot police left their checkpoint near Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Saturday night after were attacked by PAD supports armed with iron rods. The closures of Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang domestic airport have trapped some 100,000 passengers.
The total number of the affected travelers could hit 300,000 as airport takeover continues, Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said.
The government said tourist industry was suffering and the number of visitors to Thailand could fall by half next year.
PAD supporters are seeking to topple the government, which they accuse the government of being on behalf of ousted and exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The situation in Bangkok was tense in Bangkok, especially at the two airports seized by anti-government protesters, after the government declared a state of emergency at the airports on Friday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Somchai is now in the northern province Chiang Mai, which he made it a temporary government seat after returning from an APEC meeting. Deputy Government Spokeswoman Suparat Nakboonnam earlier said that Somchai has no schedule to return to Bangkok in the near future. She said Somchai decided to remain in Chiang Mai for security concern due to uncertainties related to the moves of the armed forces, and his moves would be kept secret.
In a related development, Thailand is considering to postpone the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit due to the political turmoil in the country, according to Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat. Leaders of 10 ASEAN countries plus those of China, Japan and South Korea, are scheduled to meet in Chiang Mai between Dec. 14 to 18. The summit was initially planned to be held in Bangkok, but the government decided to move to Chiang Mai because of the protestors.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A Qassam rocket fired by militants in the Gaza Strip struck a square in the center of the southern town of Sderot on Sunday. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. Say! How's that fragile ceasefire holding up for yez?
Posted by: Fred ||
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NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday announced the setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency and measures to strengthen maritime and air security in the wake of the terrorist savagery in the country's financial capital Mumbai. "In the face of this national threat and in the aftermath of this national tragedy, all of us from different political parties must rise above narrow political considerations and stand united. We should work together in the interest of the country at this critical juncture," he said in his opening remarks at an all-party meeting here.
All true, but it will be easier to manage if you actually do something to deal with the perpetrators ...
Manmohan Singh convened the meeting to take stock of the security situation and ways to strengthen the intelligence machinery in the country following three days and three nights of Mumbai terror that killed 183 lives and injured over 300. While noting that "several measures are already in place to deal with the situation", he underlined that much more needed to be done "and we are determined to take all necessary measures to overhaul the system".
"We are further strengthening maritime and air security for which measures have been initiated. This will involve the navy, the Coast Guard and the coastal police, as well as the air force and the civil aviation ministry. "The anti-terrorist forces of the country will be further strengthened and streamlined. The National Security Guard (NSG), the principal anti-terrorist force of the country, will be given additional facilities and the size of the force is being augmented. Steps have also been initiated to establish another four NSG hubs in different parts of the country. Additionally, the special forces at the disposal of the centre would be appropriately utilised in counter-insurgency operations."
That's all defense. Good, and it needs to happen since the current defense obviously wasn't good enough, but you're not dealing with the root core of the problem.
The government has also finalised a set of legal measures based on the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission which includes the setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency, the prime minister told some 20 political leaders from the treasury and opposition benches.
Manmohan Singh said that unlike the recent terrorist attacks across the country, the Mumbai nightmare was different in several aspects. "It was an attack by highly trained and well-armed terrorists targeting our largest city. They came with the explicit aim of killing large numbers of innocent civilians, including foreign visitors. They sought to destroy some of the best known symbols of our commercial capital.
"The ordeal at Mumbai, which occupied the attention of the entire nation, has finally come to an end. All of us share the grief of those who have lost their loved ones in this dastardly and brutal attack and also the pain and anguish of those grievously wounded. We cannot lessen their grief. But we will do all we can to alleviate their suffering. I give you my solemn assurance that we will look after the needs of those who survive this horrible tragedy."
Saluting the bravery of the security forces who fought the terrorists in "exceptionally difficult circumstances" and freed hostages from three places, Manmohan Singh noted: "They tried their utmost to save innocent lives at great personal risk. Twenty officers and men made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives. The entire nation owes a debt of gratitude to these men that we can never repay."
He hoped that the discussions at the meeting would lead to a consensus on steps required to be taken.
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Thousands of supporters of Thailand's beleaguered government rallied in the capital on Sunday afternoon, bringing a new and combustible element to a political stalemate that is edging closer to open violence. The demonstration came on the same day that 50 anti-government protesters were injured when a grenade was fired into one of their protest sites in central Bangkok.
Four people were seriously injured in the early-morning explosion. It took place in the prime minister's compound, which has been occupied for months by anti-government forces.
The pro-government protesters, calling themselves the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship, rallied in Bangkok and vowed to remain until anti-government demonstrators vacate the country's main airports, which they seized last week.
Analysts fear that if the red-shirted government supporters and the yellow-shirted, anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy should clash, there could be widespread violence.
"The red-shirts have been fairly restrained," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The danger is that they have a lot of pent up anger and if they start to let it out, there will be no boundaries to what they could do."
For the past six months, the PAD's predominantly urban, middle-class protesters have paralyzed Thai politics as part of their campaign to force the resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
They believe that Somchai is a stand-in for Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law and predecessor as prime minister, who was removed from office in a military coup in 2006 amid accusations of corruption and abuse of power.
Somchai, whose party won a convincing victory in elections last year, has refused to step down. But he has been forced to run his government from the northern city of Chiang Mai to avoid disruption from the protests.
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Sporadic bursts of gunfire rattled the central Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday as the security forces tried to prevent more clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in which hundreds of people have been killed.
"More than 200 people have been killed in two days of clashes between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria," the Red Cross said on Saturday describing the situation as the worst unrest in the country for years.
The army sent reinforcements to enforce a 24-hour curfew on the city of Jos, which lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south, after rival gangs burned churches and mosques.
Hundreds of victims
"I counted 218 dead bodies at Masalaci Jummaa (mosque). There are many other bodies in the streets," a Red Cross official who asked not to be named told Reuters.
That death toll did not include hospital figures, victims already buried, or those taken to other places of worship, meaning the final count could be much higher, officials said.
"So far about 400 bodies have been brought to the mosque following the outbreak of violence," the worst sectarian riots since President Umaru Yar'Adua took office last year, Khaled Abubakar, the imam of the central mosque in Jos, told AFP. "Families are coming to identify and claim the bodies, while those that cannot be identified or nobody claims them will be interred by the mosque," Abubakar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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At least 13 people were killed and more than 70 injured when activists from rival political parties clashed in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, officials said Sunday. Troops were authorized to use guns to quell the violence as members of the ruling coalition party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) clashed with the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"Once I started paying attention, I couldn't find any acorns anywhere. Not from white oaks, red oaks or black oaks, and this was supposed to be their big year," said Greg Zell, a naturalist at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington. "We're talking zero. Not a single acorn. It's really bizarre."
Zell began to do some research. He found Internet discussion groups, including one on Topix called "No acorns this year," reporting the same thing from as far away as the Midwest up through New England and Nova Scotia. "We live in Glenwood Landing, N.Y., and don't have any acorns this year. Really weird," wrote one. "None in Kansas either! Curiouser and curiouser."
#4
I asked my brother (a trained botanist) about this and he says oaks are notorious for taking a year or two off over the course of things. In fact, very few tree fruit/nut crops are bulletproof reliable from one year to the next.
Records from the 1600's and 1700's mention mass squirrel migrations when one area's mast crop failed. This is nothing new.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/01/2008 4:20
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#5
mass squirrel migration sighting: see Washington DC mid-late January
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 6:56
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#6
There's a ton of them in my neighborhood in North San Antonio - in fact, more than I have ever noticed in previous years. There were so many from one tree, fallen into the street and mooshed by passing traffic that the house-holder was scooping up the debris with a large shovel.
#8
OMG!!! Not the dreaded "mass squirrel migration!" I'm sure sure this is The first IN gazillions of years and it's all caused by you dreaded SUV land rapers!! What about the CHILDREN!! AAUUGGGHHHH!!!!!
Oh, wait, the meds just kicked in. What were you saying?
#13
Is there any connection with missing honey bees not being able to pollinate trees?
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
12/01/2008 12:23
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#14
Big mobs of oak trees in our part of the Bronx (Riverdale) and not a single acorn have I seen. I will go down and check Riverdale Park this afternoon it's an old oak forest, and have a look.
#15
"Of course you forget, Peter. I was present at an undersea, unexplained mass sponge squirrel migration."
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/01/2008 13:01
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#16
If oaks take a year off in ten, and it's weather
related, then one could expect 10% of the country
to have a dearth of acorns at a given moment.
Add the Internet, shake, and there you are.
#17
It's been a very dry year here and I have loads of acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2008 14:31
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#18
Is there any connection with missing honey bees not being able to pollinate trees?
Probably not, Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195. While the domesticated European honeybee colonies are carried to various fruit orchards and such, whose owners are willing to pay for the service provided by professional bee keepers, unfarmed trees in North America are generally pollinated by native bee species. The native species are solitary or semi-solitary, and have been untouched by the various pests that periodically decimate the domesticated honey bees.
#21
Squirrels in my yard (along with rabbits) are extremely fat after eating every pear on the pear tree, every grape on the vines, every mulberry on the mulberry trees, all the black walnuts, many of the maple helicopters, lots of rose hips and the little berries on the burning bushes and gawd knows what else.
I know hawks have been eying them. But, I am hoping for a silver coyote or maybe a mangy fox to clean up some cold winter night.....
Last year we had a snap frost on Sept 8, way too early; and we exceeded the previous year's entire snowfall by the end of December. This year we had no sunspots in August, which led to cool nights and precious few tomatoes here in Wisconsin.
We also had the rain that killed Lake Delton and the Kickapoo River Valley. One good thing about the rain; the water fed the tree roots well into November, which gave us one of the most beautiful autumns we've had in years.
Question: how does the sunspot cycle fit into the Global Warming religion?
#24
Mom, the believers don't figure sunspots into their models. The skeptics suggest this chain: fewer sunspots and decreased solar flux go hand in hand. Decreased solar flux means fewer cosmic rays are deflected by the magnetosphere. More cosmic rays entering the atmosphere leads to increased cloud formation on water droplets nucleated by the cosmic rays. Increased cloud formation increases the earth's albedo, resulting in more reflection of solar energy and an overall cooling effect.
Follow Watts Up With That for further info. Currently, there are no sunspots, and the cycle is six to twelve months late.
An official spokesperson for the U.S. forces on Sunday denied that a U.S. soldier was killed by the so-called 'Jabhat al-Jihad wal Tawheed'. "U.S. forces were not subjected to armed operations in Anbar that resulted in killing a U.S. soldier," al-Meqdad Jibreel told Aswat al-Iraq. "No Hummer vehicle was destroyed and no Multi National Force (MNF) bases were bombarded in Baghdad or Mosul," he added. "What has been said about such incidents is incorrect," he noted.
"Sorry. You must have murdered somebody else."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Meanwhile the quagmire that is Chicago continues...
Pakistan is willing to have an agreement with India to allow each other to question terror suspects in the other country, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview with CNN-IBN'S Karan Thapar.
Asked if Pakistan would allow India to question people it suspects were involved in terrorism on its soil, the president said it was 'a procedural matter'.
But he insisted that questioning should be allowed only when there is evidence of a suspect's involvement.
Training camps: Asked if he would close down terrorist training camps allegedly operating in Pakistan, the president said if there was evidence of any camps, he would close them down and take action against people running the camps.
"I assure you, if any evidence points out to any camps . . . we will not only close down, but [also] take action against those people who are running those camps."
Non-state actors: The president said the people of India should see the Mumbai terror attacks as an action of 'non-state actors'. The president said Pakistan would co-operate with India in the investigation "without any hesitation whatsoever, no matter where it may lead".
Zardari said Pakistan and India were facing threat from the same forces. "I have a personal threat. I have a country [threatened] by these same forces. They may not be the same individuals, but they are definitely the same forces with the same mindset. So I am not standing in to appease any other people. I am trying to save my own nation, my own country."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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A boy reported missing by his father in Saudi Arabia was in fact 'mortgaged' off to a family friend in another city because the father needed money to repay his debts, a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday.
The father reported his missing son in the Tabouk governorate setting off an intensive three day police search that turned up nothing, according to the Saudi daily Okaz. The police reportedly grew suspicious after the father did not follow up with them after he filed the report.
Upon questioning his wife said that the boy disappeared after a friend of her husband's from Jeddah came for a visit. "He remained as a guest at our house for two days before he left back home," she told the police.
The police investigation eventually showed that the father had 'mortgaged' his son to his friend in return for SR20,000 ($5,300), which he needed to repay debts that had come due. "Investigation and questioning showed that the father lied about his son. He had given his son to his friend at the airport in return for the money," Maj. Gen. Obeid al-Daarmy, Tabouk police chief, was quoted by the Saudi daily.
There was no information about whether the father or his friend would be charged with a crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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#4
Government bonds are "mortgages" on your children.
Wage slave is not the same as possible sex toy, Bright Pebbles. Anyway, our parents mortgaged us for their comfortable retirement, which we're not even going to get out of the current deal. There is a big difference between a bad idea, even a destructive one, and deliberate evil.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/01/2008 6:50
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#5
Ah, a woman of the soil. Any pics of Colleen sowing her oats. Wild ones preferred.
Posted by: Scott R ||
12/01/2008 9:31
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#6
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#10
If you go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Colleen Moore's doll house, the "Fairy Castle", is about 5 minutes' walk from the U505 Submarine.
Pakistan rejects reports by Indian media suggesting that Islamabad planned a military boost at the border following the Mumbai attacks. In a Sunday statement the army said that Pakistan's ceasefire with nuclear-armed neighboring India was still in place and no military build-up was taking place, AFP reported.
This while over the weekend, Indian media had claimed that New Delhi had cancelled the ceasefire inked in 2003 after years of dispute over Kashmir region.
"We have seen reports in media suggesting suspension of ceasefire (in Kashmir) and movement of troops on the Indian side of the border," chief military spokesman major general Athar Abbas told AFP. "As far as the official authenticated reports are concerned there is no such movement or mobilization of troops. The ceasefire is holding."
Pakistani authorities have condemned the Mumbai attacks and have pledged assistance to neighboring India.
Expressing regret over accusations that Pakistani-based "elements" where involved in the attacks on India's financial capital on Wednesday, the authorities have promised firm action against any group found guilty.
India is investigating whether Pakistani-based militants, who campaign against Indian rule in Kashmir, were behind the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
"Senator John Kerry has indicated that even though he does not think it will be feasible for the U.S. to adopt a domestic policy package in a year's time, he does believe it's possible for the United States to contribute to an international agreement in Copenhagen," Boer said.
So it sounds like even Jaaaawn thinks it's bullshit. But I suppose ya gotta put on a show. And it makes him look like a "statesman"...
UN climate talks to create 13,000 tonnes of carbon
Staging a global forum on climate change is a dilemma, as it adds to the very problem it is trying to solve.
Around 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be added to the Earth's greenhouse effect from the December 1-12 meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UNFCCC said.
That estimate is based on a turnout of 8,000 people, but as of Sunday 10,657 people had registered for the talks.
#6
Don't blame me DFMD. I've got my heater blasting away.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2008 20:08
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#7
FOXNEWS AM reported that the new Govt-acknowledged, offcial US RECESSION could last to MID-YEAR 2009, basically SUMMER 2009.
As for GW, WORLD MIL FORUM [Google Chinglish translation]> IIUC, it seems CHINA'S METEOROLOGICAL ADMIN is warning that EARTH STANDS AT ESCALATORY, HIGHER RISK PER ANNUM FOR SUFFERANCE OF SPACE WEATHER DISASTERS DUE TO SIMIL ESCALATING SOLAR RADIATION OUTPUT LEVELS/ACTIVITIES.
MORE SOLAR ENERGIA PER ANNUM OR TIME PERIOD = MORE EFFECTS OF EARTH WEATHER.
* See also FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > SCIENTISTS: WORLD IS STILL HEATING UP.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday announced he was seeking a constitutional amendment to allow himself to seek reelection, saying he hoped to remain in power until 2021. Chavez said he was direting his ruling United Socialist party (PSUV) to seel a "constitutional amendment and reelection of the president of the republic" saying he was "ready (to govern) through 2021."
"I give the PSUV and the Venezuelan people my authorization to begin the debate and take the steps necessary to obtain that constitutional amendment and reelection of the president ... and I am sure that we will get it now," Chavez said at the swearing-in of Caracas' Libertador district's mayor Jorge Rodriguez.
"I am ready, and if I am healthy God willing I will be with you until 2019, until 2021," Chavez added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
No it means the amendment must come from a source other that the Preisdent. The Ve constitutiion can only be "reformed" on a single topic once per presidential term. Hugo already tried once, so legally he can't introduce the reform.... thus the verbage.
Somali security forces have arrested five men for the kidnapping this week of two European journalists who are being held in the hills east of Bosasso, the local governor said on Sunday.
Gunmen seized the British reporter and Spanish photographer on Wednesday in the latest attack on foreigners working in the lawless Horn of Africa nation. Bosasso is the main port in semi-autonomous Puntland region.
"After investigation we have arrested five men who worked with those who kidnapped the two foreign journalists," governor Muse Gelle Yusuf. "We have sent troops to save them."
Foreign correspondents generally stay out of Somalia, leaving reporting on the ground to local journalists. But a few do still go in, usually hiring local militiamen to protect them.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Sri Lankan air force helicopters on Sunday bombed Tamil Tiger rebels who were trying to block troops from capturing their de facto capital, the government said. The Defence Ministry said in a statement that the helicopters attacked rebel positions in Murikandy village, south of the rebel headquarters, Kilinochchi. It did not give casualty details.
Meanwhile, the military said it recovered the bodies of four rebels believed to have been killed in fighting Saturday in Otiyamalai village in the northeastern Mullaitivu district. Soldiers took control of the village after the clash.
Advance resumed: Sri Lankan security forces have resumed their offensive to capture the political capital of Tamil Tiger rebels after heavy monsoon rains began subsiding, the Defence Ministry said Sunday. "The air sorties were made in support of the advancing 57th division infantry battalions," the ministry said.
Flooding had stalled the military push on Kilinochchi and also left nearly half a million people homeless in the island's north.
Tiger rebels have admitted that their mini-state has shrunk under the ongoing military onslaught but their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has vowed to fight on.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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#1
Sri Lankan rebels, long time passing, long time ago... When will it ever end? When will it ever end? Hell, where are the Caliofornian peaceniks rushing in to romanticize the Tamil Tigers and trying to save them from extinction? The California Left is so unrelible in these days.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/01/2008 10:14
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President-elect Barack Obama will confirm Hillary Rodham Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state today at a joint appearance in Chicago finalising the incoming national security team. The announcement will end weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes negotiation, but in turn opens the latest chapter in the Clinton drama.
Alongside the Clinton nomination, Obama is also expected to confirm his decision to continue with Robert Gates, the current secretary of defence, and to appoint retired US marine general James Jones as his national security adviser.
The path to the nomination was cleared for Clinton after her advisers and the Obama transition team agreed on measures related to the activities of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and his charity, the Clinton Global Initiative. Most notably, Bill Clinton has agreed to divulge the identities of 208,000 donors to his presidential library and foundation. He also agreed to identify all future donors.
Any word on whether Bambi's campaign has to disclosure all its donors?
Under the agreement, the Clinton Global Initiative will stop accepting donations from foreign governments unlike the Obama campaign and it will cease holding meetings overseas, while Clinton himself will submit his lucrative speaking schedule to review and submit any new sources of income to an ethical review.
The potential conflict of interest between the former president's activities and his wife's new job offer was just one stumbling block to her accepting the nomination. Foreign policy was one of the major differences between Clinton and Obama during their long-fought battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Much of Obama's early campaign was centred on his position as the only major candidate to have opposed the war in Iraq from the start. His campaign made much of Senator Clinton's vote in favour of the war, while she in turn dismissed his opposition, remarking that "many people gave speeches against the war" in 2002.
"That was then; this is now," David Gergen, who worked in the White House under Clinton and Reagan, told Associated Press. "Campaigns are ever thus. There is a recognition that campaigns bring a certain amount of hyperbole, and when it's over you try to find the most talented people you can find to work with you."
However, some shadows remain from the primary campaign. Samantha Power, the Obama adviser forced to leave her post after describing Clinton as a "monster", has joined Obama's transition team, where she is advising the incoming administration on national security agencies, including Clinton's new fiefdom, the state department.
The strong foreign policy voices within the cabinet include not only Clinton, but vice-president Joe Biden, who has served as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee since January 2007.
Oh lord, the MSM still believes Bumblin' Biden to be a 'strong foreign policy voice' ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Can't wait for Bill to offer to present his credentials: "They're right here ... in my diplomatic pouch."
#2
Aah, lust for power (any power) beats sanity hands down in Hillary's case. She's a sheep and in a few years she'll transmogrify into a marvelous scapegoat. Most of clintonistas under Obamarx will, too.
#3
State is full of two faced leakers, personal bureaucratic empire builders, narcissistic pseudo-intellectuals from ivy league schools, and sanctimonious assholes.
#5
BrerRabbit, nope. There is lotsa failures to be made by Obamarx and his requirement for scapegoats will be not marginal. HRC is as good as cooked, she just does not know it yet and she is on a borrowed time.
#6
Remember back in the primaries? Hillary was unacceptable--unacceptable!!!!--to the moonbat Left because of her support of the Iraq war. So instead, the moonbats back Obama, who, once he's in power, names unacceptable warmonger Hillary as his Secretary of State.
The Kos kiddies must be beside themselves with cognitive dissonance.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/01/2008 6:57
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#7
cognitive dissonance involves thinking and reflection, neither of which are strong traits among KosKiddies
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 7:39
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#14
But...its a 'living Constitution' [ie we make it up as we go along to fit our needs. And we all know the needs of a few exceed the guarantees of the many].
#16
While Bill has agreed to list the donors, he hasn't to my knowledge, agreed to say how much each gave.
Expect more drama to come.
Also, there will certainly be a foreign screw up in the first year or so and with luck and a complicit press, Obama could blame Hil and pretty much end her political career then and there.
#17
Call me crazy it seems to me that putting the Hildebeeste 4th in line for the Presidency isn't something that a person hoping to live to what might be considered a "ripe old age" would want to do.
And so it begins: the NYT now works to give Bambi the cover he needs to be the 'victor' of Iraq. This is the first of what will be many efforts to rewrite history.
That'll be funny, in a tragic sort of way, when Qaeda, sensing the return of Jimmy Carter, sets up shop again. A couple Golden Domes blown and then Tater-flavored Shiites will be hunting Sunnis, who'll soon be back to chopping people's heads off on video for fun and glory. And that will be Bush's fault, since B.O. tried to make peace and Bush didn't leave the genuine conditions necessary for it.
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Here's a story you don't see very often. Iraq's highest court told the Iraqi Parliament last Monday that it had no right to strip one of its members of immunity so he could be prosecuted for an alleged crime: visiting Israel for a seminar on counterterrorism. The Iraqi justices said the Sunni lawmaker, Mithal al-Alusi, had committed no crime and told the Parliament to back off.
That's not all. The Iraqi newspaper Al-Umma al-Iraqiyya carried an open letter signed by 400 Iraqi intellectuals, both Kurdish and Arab, defending Alusi. That takes a lot of courage and a lot of press freedom.
The sort of freedom the NYT doesn't honor here at home.
I can't imagine any other Arab country today where independent judges would tell the government it could not prosecute a parliamentarian for visiting Israel -- and intellectuals would openly defend him in the press.
Wonder if this sort of thing would have happened if Saddam were still around and in charge ...
In the case of Iraq, though, the federal high court, in a unanimous decision, vacated the Parliament's rescinding of Alusi's immunity, with the decision delivered personally by Chief Justice Medhat al-Mahmoud. The decision explained that although a 1950s-era law made traveling to Israel a crime punishable by death, Iraq's new Constitution establishes freedom to travel. Therefore the Parliament's move was "illegal and unconstitutional because the current Constitution does not prevent citizens from traveling to any country in the world," Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar, spokesman for the court, told The Associated Press. The judgment even made the Parliament speaker responsible for the expenses of the court and the defense counsel!
I don't think it's reasonable to expect Iraq to have relations with Israel anytime soon, but the fact that it may be developing an independent judiciary is good news. It's a reminder of the most important reason for the Iraq war: to try to collaborate with Iraqis to build progressive politics and rule of law in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world, a region that stands out for its lack of consensual politics and independent judiciaries. And it's a reminder that a decent outcome may still be possible in Iraq, especially now that the Parliament has endorsed the U.S.-Iraqi plan for a 2011 withdrawal of American troops.
Brought to you by the faith of George Bush and the American soldiers. Let's acknowledge that up-front, since Tom Friedman certainly won't.
Al Qaeda has not been fully defeated in Iraq; suicide bombings are still an almost daily reality. But it has been dealt a severe blow, which I believe is one reason the Muslim jihadists -- those brave warriors who specialize in killing women and children and defenseless tourists -- have turned their attention to softer targets like India. Just as they tried to stoke a Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq, and failed, they are now trying to stoke a Hindu-Muslim civil war in India.
If we believe that al-Qaeda, L-e-T, etc are all one organization, loosely tied but cooperating where possible, that would be true. Who's been taking them on all these years, Tom? Who's been going after them? The Spanish? The Germans? The Belgians, those master arbiters of universal jurisdiction for 'crimes against humanity'? The mighty Uruguayans?
If Iraq can keep improving -- still uncertain -- and become a place where Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites can write their own social contract and live together with a modicum of stability, it could one day become a strategic asset for the United States in the post-9/11 effort to promote different politics in the Arab-Muslim world.
How so? Iraq is a geopolitical space that for the last three decades of the 20th century was dominated by a Baathist dictatorship, which, though it provided a bulwark against Iranian expansion, did so at the cost of a regime that murdered tens of thousands of its own people and attacked three of its neighbors.
So in other words, Tom Friedman is a neo-con ...
In 2003, the United States, under President Bush, invaded Iraq to change the regime.
Remember why? Not just to remove an odious regime but to prevent that regime from using its money, power and influence to push yet more terrorism on the civilized world.
Terrible postwar execution and unrelenting attempts by Al Qaeda to provoke a Sunni-Shiite civil war turned the Iraqi geopolitical space into a different problem -- a maelstrom of violence for four years, with U.S. troops caught in the middle. A huge price was paid by Iraqis and Americans. This was the Iraq that Barack Obama ran against.
Not exactly: Barack Obama didn't complain much at all about the 'unrelenting attempts by Al Qaeda to provoke a Sunni-Shiite civil war'. He didn't even complain about our 'terrible postwar execution'. Even if we had done everything right in 2004 and 2005, and even if al-Qaeda had been even more the monsters they have certainly been, Obama would have wanted us out of Iraq. He still wants us out of Iraq, and he's going to remove us whether or not Iraq is ready. All the 'realism' that Friedman offers, and that the center and center-left in this country will editorialize over, won't change that. Bambi needs to have a quick withdrawal to give the hard-left in this country something. And to be clear, it's what he believes.
In the last year, though, the U.S. troop surge and the backlash from moderate Iraqi Sunnis against Al Qaeda and Iraqi Shiites against pro-Iranian extremists have brought a new measure of stability to Iraq.
Don't forget the counter-insurgency strategy, the new leadership, and the resolute stand by George Bush.
There is now, for the first time, a chance -- still only a chance -- that a reasonably stable democratizing government, though no doubt corrupt in places, can take root in the Iraqi political space.
That's pretty much a given now. The Sunnis have to cooperate or be completely marginalized, the Kurds have to cooperate or be left to the tender mercies of the Turks, and the Shi'a have to cooperate or be left unstable and ripe for the picking by Iran (or Saudi Arabia). So they'll work together in a more or less stable government. Obama doesn't have to do anything to get there, this is what he's being given.
That is the Iraq that Obama is inheriting. It is an Iraq where we have to begin drawing down our troops -- because the occupation has gone on too long and because we have now committed to do so by treaty -- but it is also an Iraq that has the potential to eventually tilt the Arab-Muslim world in a different direction.
The difference, of course, is that when we withdraw over the next couple of years, we'll be doing so having completed our mission (assuming Bambi doesn't totally screw it up). That's the important point that folks like Friedman don't seem to get.
I'm sure that Obama, whatever he said during the campaign, will play this smart.
I wouldn't be sure of that at all. He was perfectly willing to pull our troops out before when it meant genocide and a victory for both al-Qaeda and Iran. There's no reason at all for anyone to think that Bambi will play it 'smart' now.
He has to avoid giving Iraqi leaders the feeling that Bush did -- that he'll wait forever for them to sort out their politics -- while also not suggesting that he is leaving tomorrow, so they all start stockpiling weapons.
If he can pull this off, and help that decent Iraq take root, Obama and the Democrats could not only end the Iraq war but salvage something positive from it. Nothing would do more to enhance the Democratic Party's national security credentials than that.
Let's remember that the Democratic Party -- the House, the Senate, the MSM, the true believers, and the Kos Kiddies, all of them -- pushed defeat. They wanted us to lose. They did everything they could to make us lose. A less resolute president would have knuckled under. The Democrats deserve no credit whatsoever for the coming victory, and it is necessary for the public to be reminded of that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
He "won" Iraq about as well as Carter won the cold war.
#4
"I'm sure that Obama, whatever he said during the campaign, will play this smart."
Let me get this straight. Friedman is all but admitting that Obama's Iraq rhetoric during his two-year campaign was far from cohearant yet he is "sure he will play it smart". Based on what...his record in the Illinois State Seante? This is not simply giving the benifit of the doubt. This is the crafting of phase II of the Obama narrative. Call it...Silenceing of the Skeptics.
#5
The intellectual dishonesty of Friedman on display here is pitiful. To suggest that Obama and the Democrats will try to claim the turnaround in Iraq as their victory and not George Bush's is one thing, and to be expected. But to fail to point out that this would be a usurpation of the truth, as he should know better, is quite another thing, indeed.
Shame on you, Mr. Friedman. I thought you were more honest, and quite frankly, smarter than that.
#7
The NY Slimes has been disgusting for years, and this F**king Fool is one of its biggest dispensers of horseshit. This Ass deserves a NoBowl as much as Fat Albert. Between this dweeb and the spoiled yogurt being dispensed by his compatriot, Dowd, no wonder this rag is a laughing stock and the actual stock value is dropping like a rock.
The place: 22km north of Chitral, in a spacious, comfortably furnished and well-equipped cave. Binny is clean-shaven, has long since ceased wearing his turban, and he is quite corpulent. He is, by design, unrecognizable as the poorly hidden hand behind 9-11.
"The Paks are killing us in Wazoo," Zawahiri says. "I told you trying to take over Swat with the TNSM was a mistake. We don't have enough competent commanders to take over Wazoo and Swat and cut the supply lines through Khyber. I told you we shoulda concentrated on Khyber!"
"My commanders could swing it if there weren't so many holy men following them around!" Baitullah said, defensively.
"Without the holy men we're just bandidos," Ayman snapped. "Just like you Wazirs have always been!"
"Who you callin' a Messican?" Baitullah responded, reaching for his guns.
"Knock it off, both of you!" Binny bellowed.
"Sorry, boss," mumbled Baitullah, sullenly.
"Fact is, the Mighty Pak Army's clobbering our boyz, both the locals and the imports."
"Things are getting hot along the Pak-Afghan border, and the Heathen Hindoos have Kashmir pretty much under control, curse them!"
"So what do we do, boss?" Baitullah asked.
"We try and start a war between India and Pak to relieve the pressure. The Paks pull their troops from the border, and suddenly we've got our own territory, unopposed. The fleshpots of Peshawar are ours for the taking!"
"And then we proclaim the caliphate?" Qazi asked.
"Let's see if they start shooting at each other first," Zawahiri said, drawing a circle around his ear with his finger when Qazi wasn't looking. "And take that turban off! You can wear it when you're calif, not before!"
"I'll call my contacts in the ISI," Hafiz Saeed said.
"Okay. But make sure the cannon fodder leaves lots of clues."
"Just leave that to me, boss!" Hafiz Saeed responded. Under his breath he added: "And you can leave that big turban with me, too!"
The fallout from a three-day rampage that killed nearly 200 people in Mumbai threatened to unravel India's improving ties with nuclear rival Pakistan and prompted the resignation on Sunday of the top security
minister and the home (interior) minster.
New Delhi said it was raising security to a "war level" and had proof of a Pakistani link to the attacks, which unleashed anger at home over the intelligence failure and delayed response to frenzied violence that paralysed India's financial capital.
Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier.
Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned, India's ruling Congress party coalition said, adding that Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram was appointed to take over Patil's job and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will
take over the finance portfolio for now.
Indian TV reported National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had also resigned.
"Markets will rejoice," Arum Kejriwal, a strategist at research firm Kris, said of Chidambaram and Patil.
"People will accept that the government has removed two non-performers and this can positively influence the markets tomorrow."
In the meantime, Mumbai took its first steps towards recovery Sunday after the trauma of a 60-hour militant assault that left blackened scars on the face of India's financial capital.
Pakistan denies involvement
Indian officials have said most, if not all, of the 10 Islamist attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan.
As intelligence chiefs scrambled to work out how the militants had managed to mount audacious attacks on multiple sites, the crisis risked escalating into a major stand-off between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
As police interrogated Sunday the only gunman who survived, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that "some elements in Pakistan" were responsible for the assault.
Pakistan demanded evidence for Indian charges it was involved in the Mumbai attacks and reversed its decision to send its spy chief to aid a probe, muddying efforts to avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari urged India not to "over-react" after Indian and U.S. officials suggested the militants could have been from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, but had said he would act swiftly on any evidence of Pakistani involvement.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied any responsibility. The group, which is fighting against Indian control of Kashmir, was behind the deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war.
Deep mistrust between the South Asian rivals, who have already fought three wars, endangers efforts by the U.S. and its Western allies to battle al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the region.
Rising tensions Saturday prompted Pakistani security officials to warn the government would pull its troops from the anti-terrorism fight along Afghanistan's border in order to respond to any Indian military mobilization.
Interrogation
Indian media reported that the badly-injured gunman had identified all the attackers as Pakistan citizens and acknowledged that they were trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Ajmal Amir Kamal, 21, who was caught on a CCTV camera wearing a T-shirt with the logo "Versace," was reportedly being interrogated in a safe-house in Mumbai.
Security forces only regained control of Mumbai when they succeeded in killing the last three militants holed up with hostages inside the famous Taj Mahal hotel.
The previous day, elite troops had stormed a Mumbai Jewish center and killed two gunmen -- but also found eight dead Israeli hostages.
Another luxury hotel that was attacked, the Oberoi/Trident, was cleared of militants late Friday, with scores of trapped guests rescued and dozens of bodies found.
Officials said that 195 people had been killed and nearly 300 injured in the attacks, which targeted British and American citizens and began when the militants split into groups to strike multiple targets across the city, including the main railway station and a hospital.
The United States, Israel and Britain were among countries that offered expert assistance to help with the investigation of the assault on Mumbai, which has been hit by terrorist attacks before. Nearly 190 people were killed in train bombings in 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Mikey's inteligence service says that
attackers were Muslim
attack sponsers wer Muslim
Bush Lied. People Died
Islaam is not a religion of peace
Posted by: Michael ||
12/01/2008 0:40
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#2
Correct call, Fred. How come I haven't heard this obvious analysis from the TV analysts talking heads?
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday delayed a decision on whether to cut the cartel's oil output, but demand that is falling in the United States and unexpectedly weak in China makes it likely that the group will lower production at its Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria, analysts and OPEC ministers said.
Saudi King Abdullah said in an interview published yesterday in a Kuwaiti newspaper that $75 a barrel would be a "fair price" for crude oil, well above Friday's closing price of $54.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but far below price levels OPEC was dealing in just four months ago.
Whether OPEC can arrest the slide in oil prices is a key question for everyone from U.S. motorists, now paying a nationwide average of less than $2 a gallon for regular gasoline for the first time since March 2005, to giant oil companies, many of which are shelving high-cost oil exploration and development projects.
In Canada, where oil tar sands projects would be worthwhile only if prices were higher than they are today, plans for expanded production have been postponed. Saudi Arabia has postponed plans to develop the Manifa oil field, which could produce 900,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Iran says heavy enemy warships in the Persian Gulf would become prime targets for its forces in the event of an attack on the country.
The general said the "heavy weight" of enemy warships provides the Iranian side with an ideal opportunity for launching successful counter-attacks.
Top Iranian Army commander Major General Ataollah Salehi said Sunday that the recent war rhetoric against the country has prompted Iran's military brass to task analysts with developing quick-reaction contingency plans. The general said the "heavy weight" of enemy warships provides the Iranian side with an ideal opportunity for launching successful counter-attacks.
This is while earlier in June, The New York Sun reported that America's intelligence analysts were poring over scenarios for an Iranian attack on the US 5th Fleet, located in Bahrain. The scenarios included offensives by Iranian warships equipped with Russian-designed Shkval torpedoes.
Among the US warships currently present in the Persian Gulf are the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and USS Mount Whitney as well as the Destroyer Squadron 50/CTF 55 and the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.
Maj. Gen. Salehi also stated that the Iranian Navy is on a constant watch in the Persian Gulf as the Iranian Commander-in-Chief, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has warned that the enemy is on the lookout for "a moment of neglect".
Salehi's remarks come shortly after chief Iranian navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Saturday that Iran is "perfectly capable" of blocking the Strait of Hormuz to protect its sovereignty should the country come under attack. "We are perfectly capable of blockading the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and whoever doubts our capabilities can take a step and see the consequences," Sayyari warned.
Iran, in further preparation has also upgraded the Asalouyeh Naval Base in the Persian Gulf and inaugurated a new naval base in the port of Jask located in the Sea of Oman in order to tighten its grip on the strategic region.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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#1
" The scenarios included offensives by Iranian warships equipped with Russian-designed Shkval torpedoes. "
They are assuming they will still be afloat long enough to get in range. Or even to get out of port.
I would think that a well-placed bomb would collapse the gas cavity around the Shkval or bend its guidance fins and the torpedo would be destroyed by running into a wall of water at 250kph. Might not even detonate.
#3
It has been a long time since the USN has had one of its aircraft carrier groups fighting defense. By the time all was said and done, I imaging the Strait would be about twice as wide.
#4
If they truly believe their own statements, they will act. If not, they will continue to posture. At times, I wish they would attack so we could end this foolishness.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/01/2008 9:52
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#8
If the U.S. struck first, which under B.O. I strongly doubt would happen, there would be about as many counter-attacks as there were from Saddam--that is to say, none. Iran might be hell to occupy but beating its military's ass in the field like a damn drum wouldn't be much of a problem.
If we take Iran down, we need to do it on a "we're bombing you back to the Stone Age--starve and die in the dark, bastards--basis. No more "nation-building" horsecrap. Just swift violence, massive destruction, and weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by the unlucky survivors.
#9
IIRC the Shkval achieves its high speed at the cost of maneuverability. In fact, it is almost unguidable. As a result the launcher has to get within a few kilometers in order to have a chance at hitting the target.
Since I don't see American carriers comming within a few k's of the Iranian coast, the Iranians would have to come to the carriers. If they can get within a few km of an American warship and live, I'll congratulate them.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/01/2008 17:04
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#10
There is an Axis between Russia, Iran, and Ven, maybe China.
There should be a contingency plan to crush every enemy and we should always be prepared.
With no diplomacy for Iran, I say raise threat for the new year. Ensure we don't let them get any fresh hostages either. They love hostages.
If it's not within 6 months, it's in the near future they try to pull some slick crap.
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
12/01/2008 20:07
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#11
No surpise here - this was another old dream/vision of mine like those Chin PLAN warships transiting close to Hokkaido, Japan.
The true threat or danger of SHKVAL lies in improved follow-on designs which combine supervelociy + stealth + independent maneuverab;e warheads[submissles], etc. essentially making the underwater dimension no different than the air, or even space, dimension as per anti-Naval or other warfare.
As said before, despite the rhetoric IRAN at this time prefers to keep a low-profile AMAP ALAP while it quietly or "softly" nuclearizes - IMO IRAN MUST DETONATE AN INDIGENOUS NUC BOMB = NUCWEAP NLT 2010, absolute maxima 2012.
TO BECOM A TRUE SUPERPOWER, ALREADY-A-NUCLEAR-STATE CHINA MUST GIVE UP ITS HALLOWED PRO-ISOLATIONIST POSTURE AND BECOM GEOPOL ASSERTIVE -DITTO IN LR FOR NUCLEAR-AMBITIOUS IRAN, ETC. WORLD STATES.
MILPOL DIALECTICISM > The ISLAMIST JIHAD = RAMPAGE AGZ RUSSIA, CHINA, + INDIA, etc. is asmuch for future NUCLEAR GLOBAL SUPERPOWER ISLAM [Space?], AS IS FOR "SAVING THE JIHAD".
#12
HISTORY CHANNEL > "SPUTNIK" Programming > VLAD LENIN was quoted in late 1950's = POTUS EIsenhower-era US TV as arguing [paraph]"IT DOESN'T MATTER IFF THE BULK OF THE WORLD's POPULATION IS KILLED OFF OR OTHERWISE FORCIBLY ELIMINATED - WHAT MATTERS IS THAT THE THOSE REMAINING = WHOM ARE STILL ALIVE IN THE AFTERMATH ARE DEDICATED TO COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM".
Was LENIN = PRO-MUTUAL DESTRUCTION "MAD MULLAH"???
LONDON: A British couple caught in the Mumbai terror attacks have complained that a news channel had put their lives at risk by broadcasting their location in the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Lynne and Kenneth Shaw, who live in South Wales, said that terrorists were listening in on the media to pinpoint Western victims. Lynne claimed that CNN had broadcast details of where they were at the hotel. She has appealed to the media to be careful with the information it broadcasts because safety could be compromised and lives could be lost. The couple returned to Heathrow on Saturday.
Lynne was forced to hide under a table as terrorists stormed the hotel. She and her husband were later rescued by Gurkhas and taken to the Australian embassy for safety.
The couple was at the end of a month-long visit to India and was staying in Mumbai for a few days before heading back to the UK. "We have been asked by the British terror police not to talk to the press. But the reason I would not want to talk to anyone is because our safety was actually compromised by CNN, which broadcast where we were," Lynee said.
"The terrorists were watching CNN and they came down from where they were in a lift after hearing about us on TV. For that reason, I would appeal to the media to be very careful about what they broadcast." However, a CNN spokesman said: "CNN has received no complaint from any individual regarding our coverage and their safety. We take such matters very seriously."
Posted by: john frum ||
12/01/2008
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#1
Civil lawsuit. Put the idiot news service out of business.
#5
WE2700, since the fall of the Soviet Union, CNN has changed their name. They are now the Caliphate News Nutjobs, thank you.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/01/2008 17:00
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#6
I'm confused--does anyone know the full details here? I don't understand how CNN was aware of where the Shaws were--were they monitoring police broadscasts or something? Were they so stupid as to say on the air "there's a couple hiding in the southwest corner of the 3rd floor..." or some such?
Posted by: Dar ||
12/01/2008 17:35
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#7
We don't need any assistance from CNN's Christiane Am4islamandpoor.
#8
According to the update about this story on News Busters, this never happened. CNN never aired any such thing. In the interest of accuracy, that should be told.
Canadian Coast Guard says the MV Camilla Desgagnes transported cargo to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak from Montreal in September.
CBC News is reporting that a commercial ship has travelled for the first time through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut. The broadcaster says the Canadian Coast Guard says the MV Camilla Desgagnes, owned by Desgagnes Transarctik Inc., transported cargo to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak from Montreal in September.
Brian LeBlanc of the coast guard told CBC he believes it's the first commercial cargo delivery from the east through the Northwest Passage, which normally is impassable due to thick ice.
Louie Kamookak, the director of hamlet housing and public works in Gjoa Haven, said deliveries usually come from the west. He said the vessel brought municipal equipment, including a sewage truck, as well as provisions for the local co-op stores.
Waguih Rayes, the general manager of Desgagnes Transarctik's Arctic division, said it used the MV Camilla Desgagnes because it is a super ice-class vessel. Mr. Rayes went along on the trip and didn't see "one cube of ice."
A suicide attack near a German diplomatic convoy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul left three Afghan civilians dead Sunday as 20 other people, most of them insurgents, were reported killed in other unrest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the second in Kabul in three days, but similar ones have been claimed by Taliban-led militants waging an insurgency.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said a vehicle belonging to its embassy in Kabul had been targeted. "The sole occupant of the vehicle, an Afghan employee of the embassy, was [wounded]," the spokesman said. President Hamid Karzai's office said three civilians had been killed and six wounded in the blast, which he described as a "barbaric terrorist action."
The attacker was on foot when he blew himself up in front of a boys' high school and about 200 meters from Parliament, police said. At least one of the dead was a municipal worker who had been cleaning the road, another worker named Waheedullah told AFP. "I was standing here at the corner when I heard a big explosion," he said. "I went to the main road and saw one of our friends lying on roadside, covered in blood, near his wheelbarrow. His belly was badly wounded and was open. I saw another civilian dead nearby and I saw two civilians wounded," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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Gunmen killed three policemen and a passerby in Dagestan in southern Russia on Sunday, news agencies said, a region where increased violence could destabilize the whole country.
The attackers fired at a police checkpoint in Dagestan's capital Makhachkala at around 8.40 p.m. (1740 GMT) before fleeing. The policemen returned fired and killed one of the attackers, a police source told RIA Novosti news agency.
Over the last two years violence has spread across the north Caucasus from Chechnya, where Russian forces have fought two wars against rebels since 1994.
Bomb attacks and shootouts occur almost daily in Dagestan but a death toll of three policemen, one pedestrian and one of the attackers is higher than usual. In October, five policemen was killed and another nine were wounded in an attack.
A mixture of economic frustration and heavy-handed police tactics make Dagestan a fertile recruitment ground for radical Islamists looking for disenchanted young men, analysts have said.
This week Russian security forces said that intensifying violence in the region could destabilize the entire country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) -- the group suspected of training the Mumbai attackers -- was established to fight Indian rule in Kashmir and has past links to Pakistani intelligence and Al Qaeda.
The group is on the US watch-list of terrorist organisations and is banned in the UK and several other countries.
Founded by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in 1989 as the military wing of the Islamic centre Markaz Dawa-wal Irshad, it is headquartered in Muridke near Lahore. Saeed is known to have received funds from Saudi donors and Pakistani intelligence to launch his group, which subsequently acquired land in Muridke to organise militant cells and training.
An LT spokesman in Srinagar denied the group was involved in the Mumbai attacks, but it has been named in several other attacks in India. When LT was blamed for the 2001 attacks on Indian parliament, it brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. The group denied any involvement, but Pakistani authorities outlawed it in 2002, shortly before which Saeed left LT to set up a charity.
Now run by Qari Abdul Wahid Kashmiri, the group currently maintains a low profile in Pakistan and focuses its activities in IHK.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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#1
has past links to Pakistani intelligence and Al Qaeda
That's like saying the Pope has "past links" to the Vatican.
In a significant setback to Robert Mugabe's regime, uniformed soldiers have for the first time rioted in the centre of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, after trying to withdraw cash from a bank that had run out of money.
Emerging details of the riots will embolden Zimbabweans ahead of protests planned for Wednesday by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions against a government policy that stops people from drawing more than 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (18p) from banks per day. The rioting marks the first time the low morale of the rank-and-file has exploded into public violence.
Witnesses said about 70 soldiers, believed to be from Harare's main KG6 barracks, turned violent after spending Thursday queuing at the main branch of the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group. 'They stayed in the banking hall at closing time,' a staff member said. 'At about 4.30pm we told them there would be no money, and they ran amok. They insulted the staff, then went outside and smashed the windows.'
The group moved on to Roodepoort bus station, a few blocks away, where they assaulted black-market currency dealers and robbed them. A soldier, who declined to be identified, told a local reporter: 'We have no food in the barracks. There is no medication in military hospitals, and we cannot access our money in the banks. Even if people are to riot, there would be no enthusiasm to stop them.'
Zimbabwe's soldiers and police are paid in local currency. A police officer, who declined to be named, said: 'The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has a facility for us to collect money, but senior officers are looting all of it and asking us to go to get ours from the banks.'
Defence analyst Michael Quintana said the violence might signal the beginning of the end for the Mugabe regime. 'The army is down in strength from nearly 40,000 to about 26,000. There have been thousands of desertions. Barracks have stopped feeding all but senior officers, and soldiers depend on corruption and theft for incomes. If the time has come when they are ready to revolt, then the game will soon be up for Mugabe.'
Zimbabwe's official inflation annual rate is estimated at 231 million per cent, but independent economists cite the inflation rate in the billions of per cent. The 18p maximum account withdrawal buys a quarter of a loaf of bread and thousands of people spend their days in bank queues.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2008
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#1
Let's hope Bad Bob has a Ceaucescu moment in his future--his very near future.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi court on Sunday ordered the release of a freelance photographer working for Reuters news agency who has been held by U.S. forces since early September. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled there was no evidence against Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, and ordered that the U.S. military release him from Camp Cropper prison near Baghdad airport.
Iraqi prosecutors acknowledged in remarks included in the court ruling that there was a lack of evidence, and said they were closing the case against Jassam. A copy of the court order was supplied to a lawyer working for Reuters. There was no immediate response from the U.S. military to the ruling.
Sure, fine, let him go, and let the Iraqis keep a close eye on him. He screws around again and he's going to wish that he was back in Camp Cropper.
Under a security pact signed between the United States and Iraq, the 16,000-17,000 detainees currently held by U.S. forces will have to be released next year if they have not been charged, or handed over to Iraqi authorities. The pact paves the way for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Jassam was detained in early September in a raid on his home in Mahmudiya by U.S. and Iraqi forces. His photographic equipment was also confiscated. Jassam works for other Iraqi media, in addition to Reuters News, a Thomson Reuters company.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2008
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American researchers have for the first time discovered the underlying gene responsible for the aging mechanism in diverse organisms. According to a study published in Cell, sirtuin is the gene contributing to the aging process in single cell organisms such as yeast as well as the multicellular organisms including mammals.
Previous studies had reported that a group of genes known as sirtuins are involved in the aging process of yeast, adding that certain chemicals can positively influence gene expression, and therefore prevent aging.
The study showed that any damage in DNA (due to UV or other free radicals) interferes with the cell's regulatory system, resulting in sirtuins' help in the DNA repair mechanism rather than regulating genes, leading to aging. Findings revealed that the administration of extra copies of the sirtuin gene or its activator can increase the lifespan in mice by 24 to 46 percent.
Mice with low sirtuin levels are reported to be more susceptible to DNA damage and cancer.
Scientists are optimistic that they will be able to figure out the mechanism and help prevent aging in humans.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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[1 views]
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#1
great, now we'll have 140 yr old guys yelling at kids to "get off my lawn"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2008 7:12
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#2
The solution to the Social Security problem. If you don't age, you can't pull a retirement. [Not that the tax would go away - oh, heavens no].
#3
Look for this to debut for the very rich in the coming years. I have no doubt that it would not be available for the unwashed masses. What would Social Security retirement age ratchet up to?!
Israel approved on Sunday the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with rival Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The prisoners, a fraction of the 11,000 Palestinians held, will be released in the occupied West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2008
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Gonna make a deal wit' da th'roat canca ta ward off da groin canca. Ya, dat' ill git it!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/01/2008 0:18
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Chicago, Illinois, police arrested a man Monday in connection with the killing of three relatives of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson, a police spokesman said. William Balfour, 27, was first detained for questioning on October 24, the day Hudson's mother and brother were found shot to death. Authorities said at the time that they were holding Balfour for an unspecified parole violation.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The parents of an Arkansas television anchorwoman who was beaten to death say there's forensic evidence their daughter was sexually assaulted as well, and she broke her hand fighting off her attacker.
Pakistan itself is a victim of terrorism and considers it a menace to humanity that must be eliminated, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday. Talking to his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan, who telephoned him to discuss bilateral relations and share views on the regional and global situation, Qureshi said that Pakistan was one of the first countries to strongly condemn the Mumbai terrorist attacks and offer India all possible assistance. He briefed Babacan about Pakistan's relations with India after the attacks and said that Pakistan shared the grief of India and the families who had lost their loved ones in the incident. The Turkish foreign minister lauded Pakistan's role in the fight against extremism and expressed support for the efforts being made by Islamabad to engage New Delhi constructively.
Over seven and a half years after the Ramna Batamul blast, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday pressed charges against 14 operatives of banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) in two cases filed for the carnage.
Unidentified gunmen have ambushed a police checkpoint in Pakistan's the northwestern town of Bannu killing three security personnel. 
The Sadrist parliamentary bloc may open a case against a recently approved US-Iraq security deal, branding the pact as unconstitutional. "In line with the Constitution and religious laws, the Sadrist bloc will consider all options. We open a case in the Federal Court, against the procedure through which the agreement was passed," the Voices of Iraq quoted Fawzi Akram Tarzi, a lawmaker from the bloc as saying on Sunday. "The procedure was not constitutional and the pact was ratified before all provisions of the agreement were read out [in Parliament]," Tarzi added. 
NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday announced the setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency and measures to strengthen maritime and air security in the wake of the terrorist savagery in the country's financial capital Mumbai. "In the face of this national threat and in the aftermath of this national tragedy, all of us from different political parties must rise above narrow political considerations and stand united. We should work together in the interest of the country at this critical juncture," he said in his opening remarks at an all-party meeting here.
Pakistan is willing to have an agreement with India to allow each other to question terror suspects in the other country, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview with CNN-IBN'S Karan Thapar.
You're telling me you are out of oatmeal and all that is left is potato soup!
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday announced he was seeking a constitutional amendment to allow himself to seek reelection, saying he hoped to remain in power until 2021. Chavez said he was direting his ruling United Socialist party (PSUV) to seel a "constitutional amendment and reelection of the president of the republic" saying he was "ready (to govern) through 2021." 
President-elect Barack Obama will confirm Hillary Rodham Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state today at a joint appearance in Chicago finalising the incoming national security team. The announcement will end weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes negotiation, but in turn opens the latest chapter in the Clinton drama.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday delayed a decision on whether to cut the cartel's oil output, but demand that is falling in the United States and unexpectedly weak in China makes it likely that the group will lower production at its Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria, analysts and OPEC ministers said. 
A suicide attack near a German diplomatic convoy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul left three Afghan civilians dead Sunday as 20 other people, most of them insurgents, were reported killed in other unrest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the second in Kabul in three days, but similar ones have been claimed by Taliban-led militants waging an insurgency.
In a significant setback to Robert Mugabe's regime, uniformed soldiers have for the first time rioted in the centre of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, after trying to withdraw cash from a bank that had run out of money.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi court on Sunday ordered the release of a freelance photographer working for Reuters news agency who has been held by U.S. forces since early September. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled there was no evidence against 
Israel approved on Sunday the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with rival Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The prisoners, a fraction of the 11,000 Palestinians held, will be released in the occupied West Bank.
