#1
Sounds like it's time to start awarding the Ignoble Prize not just to scientists, but to scoundrels like Al Gore, Obama, etc. who are given Nobel Prizes for no particular reason.
A confidential State Department cable made public this week highlights China's role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
The U.S. ambassador in far-off Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, confronted China's ambassador about a covert attempt by Beijing to bribe the government there to shut down the strategic U.S. military transit base at Manas in exchange for $3 billion in cash.
That's a substantial bribe. Why is China so interested in the war in Afghanistan?
#1
Chinese intelligence personnel, however, are another story, according to U.S. officials who have said Beijing's intelligence presence is very large in the country.
Mr. Zhang advised the U.S. ambassador on how to keep the base. "Just give them $150 million in cash [per year, and] you will have the base," he said.
That's probably closer to reality.
Russia is the top influence there because of their historical connection, China is moving in on a commercial basis, but they see Kyrgyzstan as small fry and the US need a base there because of Afghanistan. The The Kyrgyzis are trying to play one against the other, which would be closer to the truth because the average bureaucrat there lives in an alternative reality, in which money appears on trees, hence the three billion figure. They will then watch the reaction before making their next move. The thing with them is to make up a cock and bull story about why you can't give them anything and then get them to commiserate with you until the next time. That's what I do when I'm dealing with them.
Who's the only man tough enough to take down "Walker, Texas Ranger"?
Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger.
The actor and martial-arts expert became a real-life honorary Texas Ranger on Thursday after playing one on television for years.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry presented the 70-year-old star and executive director of "Walker, Texas Ranger" with a designation as an honorary member of the famed law enforcement group.
Norris' younger brother, 59-year-old stunt coordinator and producer Aaron Norris, also became an honorary Ranger.
After his 13 hour flight to Afghanistan, Obama was unable to meet Karzai face-to-face on his short visit because helicopters were grounded by winds and weather. Instead, Obama held a video conference with Karzai only hours after leaked cables suggested American diplomats considered him weak and paranoid.
The office of president of Afghanistan is nearly powerless, and therefore so is the man who holds it. President Obama has made no secret that he is out to get Karzai, and he has promised to pull American troops out of Afghanistan on a timing that guaranteed that the however-curruptly elected government of Afghanistan would not be able to survive attacks by the Taliban and tribal warlords individually and in concert. Is it any wonder that President Karzai appears paranoid and weak, or that the oh-so-perceptive State Department employees might comment to the home office that he is so?
Nor, given the things President Obama has said about and to President Karzai, is it any wonder the latter feels no overwhelming need to experience the former's waspishness in person.
Ben Rhodes, a National Advisor, said the secret trip had been planned for more than a month so that Obama could meet troops in the war zone between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Good for him. Glad he went there and supported the troops. Exactly the right thing to do.
"It's always tough to serve in harm's way but when you're away from loved ones in the holiday season it's particularly hard, and the president wanted the ability to come out and have some time with them," Rhodes said.
A progress report on the nine-year-long war is expected to be released within weeks, assessing the effect of additional troops sent since last December. Aides said the December assessment would not be a "policy review", but an update.
The White House played down any breach with Kabul caused by WikiLeaks revealing Washington's vexation at Afghan corruption and Kazai's capricious leadership.
It's not like it's news to anyone involved, or anyone paying the slightest bit of attention.
In one secret memo the American ambassador portrayed Karzai as "unfamiliar with the basics of nation building" and "overly self-conscious" that his time of rave reviews from the West was over.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A hardline, pro-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric Friday offered a reward [about $6k]
for anyone who kills a Christian woman sentenced to death by a court on charges of insulting Islam. [the other day a self professing "highly knowledgeable" fellow told me that "Christianity is as bad as Islam" I asked him how many Ministers set up reward funds for killing people who insulted Christianity? He told me I was a fool and left indignantly before I could ask him if he thought his synagogue's security upgrades had been funded to thwart Christian radicals]
The sentence against Asia Bibi has renewed debate about Pakistan's blasphemy law which critics say is used to persecute religious minorities, fan religious extremism and settle personal scores. Non-Muslim minorities account roughly 4 percent of Pakistan's about 170 million population.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/03/2010
13:03 ||
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#1
How about an award for this mook's head, on a platter?
#2
You wouldnt want to be one of the 4% minority in Pakistan.
How about we treat muslims the same way they treat christians in muslim countries.They would quickly leave the West!
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/03/2010 16:48
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Pakistan Anti Terrorist Act, Article 7:
'Prohibition of acts intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred.
---A person who--¬(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviors, or
(b) displays, publishes or distributes any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting; or
(c) distributes or shows or plays a recording of visual images or sounds recording of visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting; or
(d) has in his possession written material or a recording or visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting with a view to their being displayed or published by himself or another.'
'Whoever commits a terrorist act shall---
(1) if such act has resulted in the death of any person be punished with death; and
(ii) in any other case be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but may extend to life imprisonment, and shall also be liable to fine.
#5
I agree that this Imam should have just issued his own death warrant. I also know how this could be done with minimal exposure, by using an assassination dead pool.
An anonymous source posts a list of names in some isolated part of the Internet, then bettors place bets that someone on the list will die. With each bet, the bettor gets a random, 13 digit code number. The bettor whose bet is closest to the time when the person named on the list dies wins the pool, less a small fee for administration.
This means that those who place bets are either those paying for the assassination, or the assassin. They never meet and know nothing of each other.
Of course, whoever is managing the assassination pool could cheat the assassin, but even with considerable anonymity, that might not be a very wise thing to do.
The trick is to get the location of the pool known to just those individuals with a stake in having someone die, and those who might be interested in speeding up the process, and winning a whole bunch of money.
Not something I'd even want to know the possible existence of, Anonymoose. It could so easily get out of hand, given even one member with an odd sense of humour.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/03/2010
12:01 ||
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Also, note the following story at the link:
Russian associates of alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout tried to block his extradition to America by bribing a key witness in the case,
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/03/2010 12:04
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#2
IOW, the RUSSIA-FOR-RUSSIA RUSSIANS ARE BEING RUSSIAN, i.e. "normal".
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/03/2010
11:57 ||
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#1
Nothing new here. One of the reasons the ALQ-165 was never deployed on carrier based F-18s (the principal aircraft for which it was developed) is that it is too heavy. When tested for catapult launch, it broke the mounting bolts. Stronger bolts resulted in broken mounting brackets. Stronger mounting brackets resulted in breaking the keel of the airplane. Good systems engineers and rigorous requirements prevent stuff like this, but both are in short supply.
#2
VERTREP is a good way and engines are routinely brought aboard the CVs this way and not with the 'cranes' as the article says (at least not underway)
there is a risk: witnessed the only aft fuel cell in the inventory for the trusty Intruder 'float-checked' when the CH-53 lost a motor on a hot Indian Ocean day ( is there any other).
and heat mats sounds like a real rube goldberg set up.
cancel the STOVL and buy only the conventional ones. the lift fan is going to be a maintenance nightmare.
#4
Next-gen catapults are going to be electrically driven, rather than curent steam. and max T.O. weight of F-35 is well below cat design max throw weight. I can see no reason for STOVL on CVs and looking at design I do not see a lot of FOD protection for operating from primitive / roads for runways. At least the harrier placed the jet blast for vertical ops at several locations rather than being concentrated. And it is direct bleed air, not some shaft driven fan with complex doors and such. I only hope the USMC dumps this albatross like they did the A-12 Avenger II. (disclaimer, i worked that program and SecDef Cheney killed my second career when he axed the aircraft, dammit)
#7
Can the catapults on existing CVs be retrofitted with the electromatic variety? Without it, we won't have a lot of platforms to launch the F-35 from.
#8
Gorb, that's the plan or so I thought I heard, at least for the last batch, prior to the new designs - a retro fit when they do the midlife renewal.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/03/2010
11:44 ||
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That is terrible. The S.Koreans were betting a ton on the ability of the K-9/K-10 gun system to be able to fire quickly and accurately in a counterbattery role. Of course it didn't help that they were under fire. Also they lost 2 of their K-9 SP Howitzers to the initial attacks - not complete vehicle kills, but unable to return fire due to damage, and one more had a gun malfunction, allegedly a dud shell stuck in the barrel after insufficient propellant charge that didn't fully ignite (dont ask me how they screwed that up). And for the ineffectiveness of the rounds that hit, they didn't have permission to return fire until after the Norks stopped shelling (and were back in the revetments).
This means 2 sets of things need to be fixed: gun & crew function and accuracy (that's training issue as much as anything else), and faster command links.
Looking at it as a whole, you can chalk a lot of it up to simple tactical and strategic surprise.
Tactiaclaly speaking, the gun crews were not ready for a real-world engagement including quickly losing 3 of their guns from the battery - the shock of battle on the defending side can be severe even when you are expecting an attack, but surprise does even harder things to men under fire.
Strategically, the chain of command andthe Command Control and Communication (and Intel) systems were far to slow to respond, whether due to peace-time limitations, complacency or politics; no matter the cause, surprise revealed the C3I to be inadequately prepared for this event.
South Korea has some readiness training to do. A lot of it, and it includes really cranking the C3I systems and the command elements, as well as the gun crews and equipment.
#2
As obsessive as the ROK used to be over tactical arms, there must be some severe heartburn over this. Were I in charge of their artillery at a command level, those gun crews would be competitively drilling until they could put fire in an orange crate at 20 clicks at sustained rate of fire.
#3
Better they figure all this out now than when the real shooting war starts ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010 15:00
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Doc, with the way things are going in the north, thet shooting war may be only a matter of time, possibly measured in months. It all depends on what the Nork oligarchs do when the realize they are near collapse, up against the wall figuratively and are weeks away from being up against a wall, literally.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/03/2010 13:39
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#2
Two decades ago would be 1990. Gulf War was 1990. Lebanese civil war ended in 1990. Algerian Civil war was beginning a new phase. Somalia civil war started in 1991. Ethiopian civil war continued until 1991. Civil war still raged in Afghanistan. The first intifada was raging in Israel until 1993. Yeah, I'd say there was war in more places. Most was Muslim on Muslim violence though.
#3
"Two decades ago" > IMO technically yes, but the US-World is still far from being secure.
IMO MOUD > is thinking that "2012" + UNIVERSAL/PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION, espec as per possession of STRATEGIC WEAPS = NUCWEAPS, will force the major Muslim powesr to rein in the MilTerrs + consolidate their VARIOUS STTAE, ISLAMIC AGENDAS, HENCE MOUD'S OVERT CALLS FOR REGIONAL, INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM UNITY.
HOWEVER ["infamous However" = 1970's "But still"], ITS DOUBTFUL THAT ISLAMIC OR ISLAMIST NUC WILL ALTER THE GLOBAL + VIOLENT/IMPERIALIST SCOPE OF JIHAD AGZ THE US-WEST = NON-MUSLIM WORLD.
"GLOBALISM" + OWG-NWO, etc = "NOT DOMINATION = LARGE OR HEGEMONIC "GREAT/MAJOR POWERS" OF THE 19th + 20TH + EARLY 21ST CENTURIES MUST UNILATERALLY GIVE-UP-N-SHARE POWER, WEALTH, + AUTHORITY WID ANY + ALL OTHERS, + do so INCLUSIVE OF THE NORMAL "GREAT GAME" OF GEOPOLX.
Again, the US = US-Allies may be seemingly
"winning" the GWOT, but Radical Islam is not absolut defeated or destroyed yet - Radicla Islam is not only NOT PER SE DEFEATED OR DESTROYED IN HISTORIC SENSE BUT IS DE FACTO EXPANDING ITS JIHAD + GOING NUKULAAR.
RISING CHINA = [post-Nukies]RADICAL ISLAM = SEE THEMSLEVES AS THE "SOLE", "POST-US", "SUCCESSOR" TO GLOBAL LEADERSHIP.
Dat whole "OWG Islamist-Jihadist NUCLEAR Caliphate/Sultanate" thingy.
Myself + a friend saw what was likely a MUSLIM
H-2 CONSTRUX LABORER/WORKER [USMC Buildup from Okinawa?] pray openly on the ground in a local MCDONALD'S PARKING LOT - NO BIGGIE IN THE ORDINARY OR GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, EXCEPT THAT AFAIK I HAD NEVER SEEN OR OBSERVED SAME EVER BEFORE ON GUAM. Not in my "Madonna fan" Lifetime until 2010.
"The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are Coming" VERSUS "The Muslims are Coming, the Muslims are Coming" ... TO GUAM-WESTPAC.
NUKULAAR = NUCLEAR[ized], of course.
CHINA > RUSSIA IN THE JAPANESE KURILES, LR IRAN MISSLES IN CENTASIA + COVERING THE UIGHURS...
#4
E.g. NEWS KERALA/TOPIX > {Wikileaks Docs] PAKISTAN NUKES MAY FALL INTO TERRORISTS HANDS, FEAR US DIPLOMATS.
Or into IRAN'S hands, i.e. "JUMP-STARTING" IRAN'S NUCPROGS TOWARDS DEV OF ADVANCED POST-URANIUM NUCWEAPS, + by extension MILTERRS, OTHER INSURGENTS WID SIMIL ADVANCED POST-URANIUM NUCWEAPS???
Again, US hasn't won the GWOT, but neither has Radical Islam despite US successes.
#5
ABOVE > OOPSIES, forgot to say that US fears a DESTABILZ OR COLLAPSED PAKISTAN + PAK NUKES ENDING UP IN MILTERR HANDS could ultimately lead to a NUCLEAR CLASH/WAR WID NUCLEAR INDIA, + INITIATE "WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR WAR".
On a separate note, DITTO "FIRST NUC WAR" DANGER exists as per DPRK + DPRK NUCPROGS.
ISRAEL-VS-NUCLEAR-IRAN-VS-NUCLEAR-ARABS, MYANMAR, etc.
#2
Because Profiling would actually help solve the problem. And the goal isn't to solve the problem or make flying safer - but too exploit the problem to extend government control over people's lives.
#3
...because if it is done to the muzzie community then the idea could shift to other 'communities' that would be subject to similar scrutiny for levels of violence and dysfunctional group behaviors that can't just be ignored by blaming someone else for it all.
#4
Muslims could actually help everybody else out a lot by volunteering for special security inspection just for them.
Not only would it reduce a lot of tension directed at them, and expedite them on their travel, but it would show up the hated inspections of the general public as even more useless.
What's not to like? Less hassle for them, and sympathy from many others.
#7
IIRC LAURA INGRAHAM + then-new PATRIOT ACT > ANTI-TERROR PROFILING + ANTI-DUBYA WASHINGTON PCORRECTNESS-DENIABILITY = USDHS-CIS making non-Profile Matching Grandma + Aunt Sally, etal. strip their clothes while allowing Bomb-happy AHMED through the Gates???
#3
For all the notion of a modern civilization, elements within it still practice 'human sacrifice' in the name of perfection. That is exactly what is paid when heads are turned to avert facing unpleasant reality.
Not a great deal of deep thinking being done on the subject, it seems. Oh, well, it's not as if this government's reputation can be much worse on the subject of deep thinking internationally...
We haven't heard any British, French or German accents expressing gratitude, though we'll keep listening. The truth is, no bank anywhere would have to be bailed out by American taxpayers if lenders were allowed to do their job on a sound financial footing, without politicians forcing them into the social welfare business.
Oh, I don't know about that. Bankers have lots of friends. People with money always do. It's your friends that get you into the worst of troubles ...
#1
...no bank anywhere would have to be bailed out by American taxpayers if lenders were allowed to do their job on a sound financial footing, without politicians forcing them into the social welfare business.
As much as I love IBD's take-no-prisoners conservative Op Ed page, I have to call Bravo Sierra on this particular assertion. Our banksters were MORE than happy to belly up to the bar at the Subprime Lounge once it became clear there was a squatload of money to be made slicing, dicing and securitizing these trash mortgages. OTOH, Canada's banks have remained strong by steering clear of the excesses their American counterparts wallowed in. I read an article months ago in which a Canadian bank CEO related being asked by an American bank executive why he wouldn't bring his bank to the party. The Canadian replied, "I run a bank, not a gambling casino."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/03/2010 16:58
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Want to prevent this from happening again? Let the world see a man who can't sleep in the same bed on consecutive nights, who fears the long arm of American justice. I'm not advocating that we bring out of retirement the KGB proxy who, on a London street, killed a Bulgarian dissident with a poisoned umbrella tip. But it would be nice if people like Assange were made to worry every time they go out in the rain.
Five terrorists militants alleged to have been involved in a suicide attack on the ISI headquarters and a nearby police building in Lahore last year were arrested on Friday.
Chief of police Aslam Tareen said the arrested men belonged to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and al-Tauheed al-Jihad. They were arrested in Lahore, he added.
The mastermind of the attack which killed 35 people and injured over 200 others, Doctor Moaz
Not a bad archvillian name.
alias Umar Kundi, was killed earlier in a gun battle with police.
"I fought the law and the ..." *POW!*
*thud*
Police representatives said weapons and explosives were taken from the five arrested men.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/03/2010 9:11
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#2
The most interesting application is a combination of the above that might be described as a human operated lethal wasp swarm attack. The overall concept has been considered in science fiction for several decades, but has only recently become practical with both hardware and software.
Anywhere from a few, to hundreds of Japanese giant hornet sized (2-3" in length) flying bug bots, that navigate with swarm technology, but can also have directions given by a remote human operator.
As an example, five terrorists have taken 30 hostages in a building. Everyone is in a single room. A dozen bug bots are sent in, with a few of them as spotters.
When a terrorist is ID'ed, they are software marked and tracked, with some of the bug bots focusing on just him. When the attack command is given, all the bug bots fly into their targets, detonating advanced high explosives on contact, each one blowing a quarter sized hole in the bad guys.
#5
Oooooh -- I've wanted to be a fly on various walls for a loooong time. So if anyone feels the need to send me an anonymous package with idiot end-user-proof instructions... ;-)
Lots of little quips someone will be embarrased by. Yawn. Another argument for the privacy of thought.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010
06:46 ||
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...imagine what the cables from other countries foreign offices and embassies are saying about Obama [or for that matter the Tea Party]. That would be entertaining.
The US-based provider, EveryDNS.net, took the controversial site offline earlier today, claiming that the constant hacking attacks were so powerful that they were damaging its other customers. It said it had become the "target of multiple distributed denial of service attacks" which threatened the stability of its structure.
While still accessible by typing in the domain number, people trying to access the site by typing WikiLeaks into a search engine or their browser will not be successful. Bush-Cheney-Halliburton? Mysterious Conspiracy Division?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010
06:28 ||
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for a guy who wants to kill Islamic extremists, Putin has been awful chummy with some of the biggist of their enablers and funders
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/03/2010 9:57
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As per WIKILEAKS DOCS, RUSSIA is allegedly belabeled as a "VIRTUAL MAFIA STATE" CONTROLLED BY A COVERT RULING OLIGARCHY OF STATE SECURITY SERVICES, wid HIS VLAD-NESS repor being fingered by a Ukrainian Businessman as de facto linked to ORGANIZED RUSS CRIME = RUSS MAFIAS???
See ISRAEL NN > [US DefSec GATES]USDS: RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY HAS DISAPPEARED, replaced by above Oligarchy.
ARTIC = 'CUZIN DIMITRI deemed BETTER + MORE PRAGMATIC FOR US INTERESTS THAN 'CUZIN VLAD.
* RENSE > WIKILEAKS CLAIMS 200 US NUCLEAR BOMBS [hidden = stored] IN EUROPE.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/03/2010 11:05
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#4
How long do y'all think it will take for the New York Times to tie logic to a chair, beat it with a hose and taser it to "prove" that this is...wait for it, wait for it...BUSH'S FAULT? After all, if a Senate resolution passed in 1997 could somehow be laid at G-Dub's door, why can't this?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/03/2010 17:32
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#5
The brief statement, made by Jun Arima, an official in the governments economics trade and industry department, in an open session, was the strongest yet made against the protocol by one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
He said: Japan will not inscribe its target under the Kyoto protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances.
[America's] failure in the Kandahar operations was also the main reason behind Obama's supporters, the Democrats, defeat in the mid-term elections. Also due to their failures in the Kandahar operations, Obama's approval ratings in America have sunk to 46%
Hey dirtball - it's now down to 39%. Don't you folks get Zogby out in Kandahar?
while the myth of America's military superiority has been shattered globally.
Not again!
So the mid-term elections were all about the Battle of Kandahar, were they? These Talibunnies are almost as narcissistic as Obama!
[Ennahar] The security services have succeeded Tuesday night to arrest two youths linked to the terrorist organization of Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. ... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
The security services have succeeded Tuesday night to arrest two youths linked to the terrorist organization of Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat; one is a student at the Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence at the University of El Kharouba and the other is unemployed, both residing in La Glacière, in Oued Ouchaieh, in the municipality of El Makria in the capital.
According to sources of Ennahar, the university student, who studies at the same institute where had studied the head of the phalanx "El Feth el-Jadida", B. Nassim, alias Abu Derrar and from the same district, was responsible for recruiting students from the institute and local youth. The latter exploited the poverty and unemployment in which young people live for attracting them to join terrorist groups prevalent in the province of corpse-littered Boumerdes.
The security services have undertaken extensive interviews with those jugged before presenting them to justice for association with armed terrorist groups and illegal activities, support for terrorism and recruitment of young people in the terrorist organization.
The two youths jugged, according to our sources, maintained close relations with the emir of the phalanx, B. Nassim, alias Abu Derrar, 26, who had studied in the same institute. They are aged between 23 and 25.
The security services had previously received information on the new pyramid of the terrorist organization in the capital and in the province of corpse-littered Boumerdes and managed to identify the new emir of El Feth phalanx. The latter, sentenced to death in absentia in 2008 was appointed to replace the terrorist Ben Titraoui Omar, eliminated by the security forces a year and a half ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The US diplomat reported to Washington that the Soddy Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir maintained that Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... first promised the Saudis not to engage in political activity or return to Pakistain, but he then flew to Pakistain from London in a direct violation of his commitment. Good lord! Nawaz broke a promise? That's never happened before, has it?
According to a leaked US cable, Saudia Arabian authorities backed Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... to have Nawaz Sharif jugged if he returned from exile.
"We can either support Musharraf and stability, or we can allow bin Laden to get the bomb,", Soddy Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir told Charge d'Affaires Michael Gfoeller at a lunch in November 2007.
The then Pak President visited Soddy Arabia in 2007 and meet King Abdullah after completing Umra in Mecca. Al-Jubeir told the US diplomats that Musharraf had not come to the Kingdom to meet exiled former Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but carefully avoided ruling out such meeting.
The US diplomats claimed that during the meeting the Saudi Ambassador boldly asserted that, "We in Soddy Arabia are not observers in Pakistain, we are participants." Al-Jubeir is a senior royal advisor who has worked for King Abdullah almost a decade.
"He (Al-Jubeir) asserted that the Saudi government had offered Sharif a pledge of protection and asylum in the Kingdom after his ouster by Musharraf in return for a promise that he would refrain from political activity for ten years," Gfoeller said in the cable.
The US diplomat also reported to Washington that the Saudi ambassador maintained that Sharif instead of sticking to his promise began attempting to test the limits of this promise five or six years in his exile.
"Sharif broke his promise by conducting political activity while in the Kingdom," al-Jubeir reportedly charged.
Jubeir also supposedly told the the US officials that when the Saudi Government had permitted Sharif to travel to London, he first promised the Saudis not to engage in political activity or return to Pakistain, but he then flew to Pakistain from London in a direct violation of his commitment.
Expressing 'disappointment' with Sharif, the Saudi Government 'worked directly with Musharraf to have Sharif jugged on his return to Pakistain and immediately deported to the Kingdom, according to the ambassador.
In the document, US officials claimed that Al-Jubeir stated the terms of Sharif's asylum agreement that the Kingdom would seek to control Sharif's movements in the future, even suggesting that he would be kept in a state only a little less severe than house arrest.
"Al-Jubeir added that he sees neither Sharif nor former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a viable replacement for Musharraf. 'With all his flaws,' he said of Musharraf, 'he is the only person that you or we have to work with now,'" Gfoeller reported back to Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
00:00 ||
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#1
Everything that's happened in Pakistain in the last 30 years just emphasizes the need to bomb it back to the early neolithic, and not let them out of their cages ever again. I used to think India was shortchanged by having Pakistain carved out of its flanks - now I see it as a matter of sanity in an insane part of the world. They really do need to absorb Bangladesh and export all the muzzies to Pakistain, though.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/03/2010 16:43
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North Korea "fattened up" people selected for reunions of families separated by the Korean War with regular meals and vitamins, Der Spiegel reported Wednesday quoting a U.S. diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks.
Now they'll get all thinned out in a concentration camp, along with all their families. Nice going, Wikileaks.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul filed a report on the reunions in August 2009 that said North Koreans are selected for the reunions based on their loyalty to the state and "transported to Pyongyang and then fattened up with regular meals and vitamins to mask the extent of food shortages and chronic malnutrition in the North."
The same report recounts the experience of a South Korean delegation to the North, who were reportedly asked to provide a "gift" and required to pay "US$50 per person" themselves for a banquet arranged for them.
Another cable, filed by the U.S. Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang in 2009, touched on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. According to the dispatch, one businesswoman, who is powerful enough not to fear the North Koreans, met Kim Jong-il at his guest villa on Mt. Myohyang, where she found the dictator "in good health and spirits." She said she got the impression that Kim, "detail-oriented, charismatic and with a good memory," was in control of everything.
Kim, thought to be seriously ill, seems not to be following doctors' orders and concerned about his health at all," the cable said. He "lit a cigarette as soon as the formal one-hour meeting ended, drank champagne before dinner, whiskey cocktails during the meal, and continued to chain-smoke throughout the private dinner."
It added the businesswoman recalled Kim's mistress, "Kim Ok, sitting on a separate sofa and taking notes."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010
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[Arab News] [Arab News] Uganda dropped charges against 18 people related to suicide kabooms that killed 79 people watching the World Cup final on television, but remanded 17 others in jug to face trial, defense lawyers said.
The twin suicide blasts at a restaurant and a sports club on July 11 were the first attacks on foreign soil by cut-throats of Somalia's Al-Shabaab group, which claims links to Al-Qaeda.
The bombings heightened the security threat in east Africa, a region viewed by the West as a fertile breeding ground for snuffys.
The rebels have threatened to carry out more attacks until Uganda and Burundi withdraw their troops from an African Union force which is trying to help Somalia's besieged government end two decades of chaos.
"Eighteen were cleared and it's not known yet when the 17 remanded will face trial but it will probably not be before March," Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, a lawyer who represents 7 of those cleared and 8 remanded in jug, said.
The 17 still in jug will face charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder in the High Court. Three of the cleared men were immediately re-jugged, but lawyers said it was unclear what charges they face.
Rights groups and defense lawyers expressed surprise that prominent Kenyan human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... activist Al-Amin Kimathi was among those remanded to face trial.
Kimathi, who heads the Mohammedan Human Rights Forum in neighboring Kenya, was jugged in Kampala on Sept. 15 after traveling there to witness court hearings of Kenyan suspects extradited to Uganda.
"The decision to persist with the charges against Al-Amin Kimathi raises serious concerns that this prosecution is really an effort to muzzle a well-known critic of government abuses in the fight against terrorism in East Africa," New-York based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Kenya's intelligence services have said Kimathi was the "center piece" in Al-Qaeda's regional propaganda wing, leaked reports showed.
"I expected him to be cleared because I have read the summary of evidence against him and most of it... is not related to the bombings in Kampala," said Rwakafuuzi, who represents Kimathi.
Western and regional intelligence agencies fear that Somalia's mostly non-existent borders and lack of a strong central government may make the Horn of Africa nation a safe haven for cut-throats looking to attack the region and beyond.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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[Arab News] Major problems faced by Saudi freshmen in foreign universities were discussed at a forum in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Only just now? The 9/11 hijackers were mostly in the U.S. on student visas, as I recall.
Speaking to an audience of students who have qualified for the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program at the third day of the forum, which began on Monday, Muhammad Al-Bajad, a faculty member at Prince Naif University for Security Sciences, warned students about joining groups or parties that are banned in the countries where they go.
"A student should not become involved in any activity that violates the law of that country, and should not make friends with students who are unsafe to associate with," Al-Bajad said.
Good advice, even if one isn't Saudi.
He further warned against giving contributions or gifts to illegal or unlicensed organizations.
Ditto. Nor to drug dealers or pimps. Even if one isn't a foreigner on a student visa.
Students should also clarify legal issues with the Saudi cultural attachés or student clubs in order to avoid any embarrassing situations, he said.
"Just because the female in question is not wearing a black sack, it does not mean she is exposed cat meat, no matter how we interpret such behaviour at home."
In his address, Deputy Minister of Minister of Education Faisal bin Abdul Rahman Al-Muammar said Saudi students should work hard to achieve academic excellence and reminded them that their counterparts from other countries do not enjoy the privileges enjoyed by them.
Although those others do get to talk to members of the opposite sex without worrying about being beaten by the Muttawa.
In a session on Tuesday, Saudi Cultural Attaché in the United Kingdom Ghazi bin Abdul Wahid Makki told the students about the Irish requirement to pass a language proficiency program in the first year itself.
Makki warned students intending to pursue higher education in Ireland to be careful about the validity of their visas because they cannot be extended there and they will be forced to return to Soddy Arabia for visa renewal.
He outlined the formalities a student should undergo shortly after arrival in Ireland, such as registering his name and details at the attaché's office.
The student should also register at the nearest cop shoppe close to his residence. He will not receive accommodation or be allowed to open a bank account without a recommendation from his attaché.
Saudi student clubs in Ireland offer necessary assistance to newcomers, Ghazi said.
Addressing the students intending to study in Japan, financial director at the Saudi cultural attaché's office in Japan Abdul Wahab Al-Damak said 259 Japanese universities are recommended by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education.
He added that the ministry provided accommodation for Saudi students because of the high cost of living there. "The most important reason for sending students to Japan is to help them take advantage of the country's expertise in science and technology," Al-Damak said. He also stressed that students should be punctual when attending lectures.
In his speech, director of legal administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Muhammad Al-Shamri said students should abide by the immigration laws of the country and the regulations of the university where they are studying.
They should also take care not to break traffic regulations and rules governing intellectual property rights and keep away from potentially dodgy places.
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Imam Muhammad Islamic University Muhammad Al-Tuweijari called on students to work hard and not be overcome by fear of failure, disappointment or depression while in foreign countries.
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12/03/2010
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[Arab News] Iraq's interior minister called Thursday for the death penalty for a group of 39 Al-Qaeda-linked suspects even before they have been put on trial for allegedly plotting to bomb targets in Storied Baghdad.
Showing off the handcuffed suspects at a Storied Baghdadpresser, Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani told news hounds he is confident the men will be found guilty, citing their alleged confessions, documents and video found at their homes that he said showed their earlier attacks and plans to carry out new ones.
He did not say when the men were jugged, but described them as operatives of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda wing, who were based in Iraq's western Anbar province.
"Today, we will send those criminals and the investigation results to the courts that will sentence them to death," Al-Bolani told news hounds. "Our demand is not to delay the carrying out of the executions against these criminals so that to deter terrorist and criminal elements." The prisoners, who were wearing orange jumpsuits, were silent throughout the news conference.
Al-Bolani, who is struggling to keep his job as Iraq's leaders vie for top ministry posts in the new government, said sentencing the men to death quickly would ensure they are not released by security forces.
He said swift execution, as many Iraqis demand for terrorists, also would serve as a deterrent to bad boys.
Al-Bolani wore a black-and-white tribal headdress at Thursday's announcement -- a nod to several Anbar sheiks who were in the audience.
Authorities said one of the suspects was tasked with recruiting imported muscle to launch attacks in Iraq, such as the Oct. 31 siege on a Catholic church in Storied Baghdad that left 68 dead and is believed to have been carried out by men with north African accents.
Iraq had earlier announced the arrests of 14 suspected in the bloody church siege. Officials said those detainees were related to Thursday's 39 suspects only through shared support Al-Qaeda.
Al-Bolani said the recruitment was unsuccessful, adding: "Al-Qaeda in Iraq has failed in recruiting non-Iraq or Arab members who used to come from different countries." His remarks came as the Defense Ministry front man announced the capture of a Moroccan fighter in a raid in the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul. The front man, Maj. Gen.
Mohammed Al-Askari, said two fighters who were killed in the Thursday morning raid were not from Iraq.
Al-Bolani's comments appear to belie millions of dollars the US has spent trying to implore the rule of law on Iraq, in part by making sure detainees get a fair trial.
Abdul-Rahman Najim Al-Mashhadani, head of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization that has been helping reform Iraq's judicial system, scoffed at Al-Bolani's comments and predicted at some of the suspects would be found not guilty.
"Verdicts should be issued by courts, not by ministers who should be confined to the powers given to them only, especially if they are in the outgoing government," Al-Mashhadani said.
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12/03/2010
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Google Translate
A shooting between armed elements in two vehicles in Caborca, Sonora ended with one armed suspect wounded and three detained Monday evening, say Mexican news accounts.
Reports say the occupants of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and a Chevrolet Trailerblazer fired on one another in the Pagusa colony on Las Calabazas road.
Reports say the shootout lasted about 20 minutes. Stray rounds hit a nearby chicken barbeque restaurant which only opened the same day. None of the operators, employees or customers were reported hurt in the shooting.
Unofficial reports say several armed suspect fled the scene on foot following the shootout.
At the scene was found a Ruger .45 caliber pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle.
The Caborca-Tubutama area has been the center of a Mexican Federal counternarcotics effort which recently included a major operation in late October with a reported 400 Federal agents and soldiers involved.
Although no reports were released since the October 20th operation about the conclusion of that operation, or any subsequent operations, reports indicate a Mexican Federal presence still exists in the area.
On Monday, Caborca mayor Dario Murillo Bolaños complained to local press that the unit known to be in the area, Fuerzas Especiales de Apoyo de la Policia Federal, has been involved in a number of "irregularities" mostly regarding creating traffic problems such as driving at night without lights, on the wrong side of the roads in the area, and improper parking.
Murillo asked the Federal forces to provide a good example.
It is unknown if the public complaint was made prior to or subsequent to the latest shooting.
[Arab News] The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement would accept the outcome of a Paleostinian referendum on a future peace treaty with the Jewish state, its Gazoo leader said on Wednesday. So long as the vote goes the way they say it's supposed to go ...
Ismael Haniyeh, addressing a news conference in the Israeli-blockaded enclave, signaled a softening of Hamas' long-standing position prohibiting the ceding of any part of the land of what was British-mandated Paleostine until 1948.
"We accept a Paleostinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Paleostinian prisoners, and the resolution of the issue of refugees," Haniyeh said, referring to the year of Middle East war in which Israel captured East Jerusalem and the Paleostinian territories.
"Hamas will respect the results (of a referendum) regardless of whether it differs with its ideology and principles," he said, provided it included all Paleostinians in Gazoo, the West Bank and the diaspora. The Hamas charter, drafted in 1988, regards all of the land of Paleostine, including what is now Israel, as the heritage of Mohammedans.
The idea of a referendum on a future peace accord with Israel was rejected by some Hamas leaders when it was proposed by Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas several months ago.
Negotiations between Abbas and Israel have since faltered over Israel's refusal to halt settlement building in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Haniyeh said Israel was not willing to give the Paleostinians a fully sovereign state and he therefore had no hope the fragile US- brokered attempts to revive peacemaking would succeed. He said his movement was willing to cooperate with Western and European countries "who want to help the Paleostinian people regain their rights."
The United States and European Union shun Hamas as a terrorist organization and do not recognize its Gazoo authority.
"We urge European foreign ministers to revise their position regarding meetings with the elected government," Haniyeh said, adding that contacts were being made with United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society officials in the Gazoo Strip in this regard. Haniyeh denied Israel's claim to have killed three members of the Al-Qaeda organization in Gazoo in the past month.
Israel said two of three forces of Evil it killed in November were planning attacks against Israeli and western tourists in the Egyptian territory of Sinai.
Haniyeh told news hounds that such allegations are lies meant to prepare the ground for future Isreali attacks on Gazoo. He says he sent a reassuring letter to Egypt's intelligence chief.
He said a priority of his government was to avoid a military escalation with Israel by persuading other bad turban factions to preserve a de facto cease-fire.
Hamas had repeatedly distanced itself from Al-Qaeda and had not hesitated to condemn Al-Qaeda-claimed attacks in some Arab and Western capitals, he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
So they vote for peace. Can Hamas control all the gunnies? Can they enforce anything except mayhem?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010 6:17
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#2
am sure the locals will vote 80-85% against any peace accord that leaves Israel standing and/or Jews alive.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/03/2010 7:07
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#3
If you can't believe a Muslim, who can you believe?
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [Bloomberg] BRAZIL FORMALLY RECOGNIZES STTAE OF PALESTINE WID PRE-1967 BORDERS.
* SAME > US LAWMAKERS BLAST BRAZIL'S PALESTINIAN MOVE.
ARTIC(S) = US Officials are repor upset at Brasilia's action, despite the latter's well-meaning intentions, as it + any followon International recognition of same [+ UN?] may prove to the Paleos + PA that A SOVEREIGN PALS. STATEHOOD IS ACHIEVABLE WIDOUT ANY NEED FOR PEACE = SHARING LAND, ETC. WID ISRAEL???
[The Nation (Nairobi)] British police know the whereabouts of Julian Assange, his lawyer said on Thursday amid reports that they have failed to detain the WikiLeaks founder because of an error in a Swedish arrest warrant.
Newspapers in Britain reported that the 39-year-old Australian was believed to be in southeast England and that Scotland Yard had been in touch with his legal team for weeks but had been hamstrung by Stockholm's mistake.
"Scotland Yard know where he is, the security services from a number of countries know where is," Mark Stephens, Assange's London-based lawyer, told AFP.
"The (British) police are being slightly foxy in their answers, but they know exactly how to get in touch with him, as do the Swedish prosecutors."
Asked about the reports that the nomadic former computer hacker was in southeast England, Stephens said: "I have not said that. I am not saying where he is."
A WikiLeaks front man said on Wednesday that Assange had to remain out of the public eye because he had faced liquidation threats following the whistleblowing website's publication of secret US diplomatic cables.
Swedish police said on Thursday they would issue a new international warrant for Assange on suspicion of "rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion" to replace one that could not be applied because of a procedural error.
The announcement came after Sweden's supreme court refused to hear an appeal by Assange against the warrant which relates to events in Sweden in August. Interpol has also placed him on a wanted list.
The Times and the Independent quoted British police sources as saying that Assange had supplied Scotland Yard with his contact details when he arrived in the country in October.
They have his telephone number and know where he is staying, the police sources said. Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency, which certifies extradition requests received from outside Britain, nor Scotland Yard, which acts on them, both refused to confirm the reports.
"We do not discuss any purported communication regarding extradition cases unless a person has been placed before the City of Westminster Magistrates Court," a Scotland Yard front man said.
Stephens has said the Interpol move may be related to US anger over the revelations by WikiLeaks, which has also published papers on the Iraq and Afghan wars in recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Chosun Ilbo] North Korean hereditary supremo Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un ... aka Baby Leader... ... who looks pretty well fed ... Hasn't missed a lot of formula, that 'un...
ordered the military in early November to prepare for an artillery attack on South Korea, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday quoting a source.
The Japanese daily quoted the source, who is familiar with North Korea-China relations, as saying, "Early last month, the North Korean military issued instructions in Kim Sonny Jong-un's name to senior military commanders to get ready to counter the enemy's provocations any time." The source quoted an unnamed North Korean Army officer as commenting on the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong. "It had been planned. We had been preparing for that for a long time."
The North Korean military was waiting for a chance and then attacked under the pretext of countering an annual South Korean military exercise, the daily speculated.
"According to several sources familiar with the internal situation in the North, the regime needed to accelerate efforts to establish the image of Kim Sonny Jong-un as a strong leader to quell discontent among some soldiers," the daily said.
"Some intelligence reports say the North will stage a military exercise for all troops for six months from Wednesday to tighten controls," it added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a leaked U.S. diplomatic document disclosed on Wednesday speculates that a disastrous currency reform the regime carried out late last year was aimed at ferreting out those who opposed Kim Sonny Jong-un as the heir to the leadership.
According to a telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow disclosed by WikiLeaks, David Shear, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, met a "major player" involved in North Korea-China trade in Shenyang, China on Dec. 15 last year to get information about the internal situation in North Korea.
The official, identified with 12 "X"s instead of his name, said the most important reason why the North Korean regime conducted the currency reform was to ferret out opponents of Kim Sonny Jong-un. The aim was to control inflation and narrow the economic gap, apparently in the belief that opponents of the reform would also oppose the succession. But Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam opposed it, he said.
Jong-un inclines to Vietnamese-style reform, while Jong-nam reportedly prefers Chinese-style economic opening. Kim senior supported the currency reform and thus Jong-un.
Kim Jong-il has become more paranoid recently to the point where he ordered all students and academics home from China right after an exchange student in China sought asylum in a foreign country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
Why does this vaguely remind of how, when they had finished a fox hunt successfully, some of the blood from the fox was smeared on the pasty face of some fat cheeked young son of a noble lord? A practice called "blooding".
[Arab News] Police in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta have charged 65 people with kidnapping, robbery and oil theft, some of them believed to have been behind the abduction of 19 oil and construction workers.
The hostages, including seven expatriates and 12 Nigerians who were freed last month.
The armed forces jugged the gang leader responsible and more than 60 of his followers a few weeks later.
"We charged 65 of them on Monday in Port Harcourt on 15-count charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and bunkering," Rita Inoma-Abbey, a police spokeswoman said.
Bunkering refers to the organized theft of large quantities of crude oil.
"Some of the suspects were responsible for the abduction of the 19 oil workers rescued recently and of prominent citizens including a traditional ruler in the state," she said.
Resurgent unrest in the Niger Delta has risked undermining the credibility of President Goodluck Jonathan in the run-up to elections next April.
He is the first head of state from the oil region and brokered an amnesty with forces of Evil last year, which saw thousands of gunnies lay down their weapons and brought more than a year without significant attacks on the oil industry.
MEND has warned of further strikes on oil installations since the freeing of the oil workers but the military appears to have made significant advances, taking over Islamic myrmidon camps and detaining suspected gang members.
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Gunmen rubbed out at least eight people in an attack on Cote d'Ivoire presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara's followers as the wait for delayed results descended into bloodshed, witnesses said on Thursday.
Violence erupted as Mr Ouattara and President Laurent Gbagbo were locked in a stand-off over results of the hotly contested presidential vote, following pre-election violence that left at least another seven people dead.
Witnesses in the western Yopougon district of Abidjan, a stronghold of support for Gbagbo, said gunnies attacked on Wednesday night at the office, a local base for Ouattara's RDR party.
"People inside started yelling and the gunnies started shooting," one witness said, without indicating the identity of the attackers.
AFP photographers saw blood, bullet holes and gun cartridges at the RDR base and several people with bullet wounds being treated at a nearby hospital. A hospital source said about 15 people were maimed in the attack.
The military confirmed there was shooting in Yopougon on Wednesday night, but said an army patrol came under fire itself before shooting back, and gave a lower toll.
The patrol "was targeted by automatic gun fire... The patrol's response killed four people and injured 14," the army said in a statement released today afternoon. "Nine other people were jugged," it added.
A police source and an RDR official confirmed to AFP that at least eight people were killed. The RDR official said about 50 people were on the premises at the time, waiting for election results.
An official of Gbagbo's FPI party, Lazare Zaba Zadi, told AFP meanwhile that two people were maimed and a vehicle set alight in an attack on one of its offices nearby in Yopougon early on Thursday.
The election, aimed at ending a decade of instability in the world's top cocoa producer, stood in limbo after the deadline for results passed with no winner despite mounting international pressure for a resolution.
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[Straits Times] THE Philippine government on Thursday suspended classes at 11 primary and secondary schools on a southern island, two weeks after gunnies seized a principal in the strife-torn region.
The suspension was ordered amid fears that more teachers on Basilan island's Lamitan town would be attacked, regional police head Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag said.
'Classes in these 11 schools would hopefully resume on Monday,' Supt Latag said, as he vowed to provide more protection for the teachers.
Last week, gunnieskidnapped principal Cecilia Sosas and a teacher from their school in Lamitan, though the teacher was soon released.
In Manila, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said teachers were temporarily pulled out from the 11 schools in Lamitan after threats were received that they would also be kidnapped.
'Teachers should be spared from any form of violence so that they can perform their duty without fearing for their lives,' Mr Luistro told news hounds.
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The UW published this report about Hagopian's research, done with Kathy Barker, PhD. It is presented as a commentary in the January 2011 edition of the American Journal of Public Health, under the title "Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health?" Sounds like another example of conclusions in search of supporting data.
#1
Hagopian says, "A review of the medical literature suggests military service is associated with disproportionately poor health for young people."
-you mean like obesity, binge drinking and anti-social behavior? That would be pretty much American youth in general you f*cking moron...or half the chicks and dudes I knew in frats/sororities. (full disclosure: I was in a frat way back when and know of what I speak)
"The youngest recruits have the greatest number of mental disorders in the U.S. military, including alcohol abuse, anxiety syndromes, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder."
-don't know where to begin w/this one. You say "recruit" which means to me they haven't completed an elistment term yet - meaning they probably either came in that way or your study is horseshit. I'll choose the latter but for sake of argument, I guess by your analysis or pedo-recruiters prey on these quasi-fuckups? Then how do you account that the vast majority end up as generally excellent citizens 4yrs later after a hitch? Other then the divorce rate in the mil I'll put up my 18-24 yr olds against any of yours at UW you myopic twit.
#2
One saved round: I wouldn't doubt if Hagopian once dated a military guy (or gal - never can tell) and had her little heart broke. Get over it lady - Heart Breaker, Life Taker as Pvt Joker once said...
#5
I am sure that most of the enlightened 'ethical elite' in academia have no problem with NAMBLA recruiting in schools.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/03/2010 7:10
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#6
With the "civilian leadership" and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs now endorsing sodomy in the military, one would thing accademia would have recognized some progress. [sarc off]
#7
"A review of the medical literature suggests military service is associated with disproportionately poor health for young people."
I'll have to access the journal at work (can't do it at home), but I'm going to check the references for that statement. She'll have references, of course, an academic article is supposed to when it makes a statement of claim or fact. This could become entertaining.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010 8:18
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#8
...make sure the data reflects from the mid-80s on. The Army, the largest of the services, went through one of the most extensive reforms that any bureaucratic institution has ever done. The Army by 1990, while having the toys and suits similar to that what had gone before, hardly resembled the one from the 70s from the inside. The current version is even further displaced from those old numbers. The selectivity its been able to apply to recruits and the levels of education and training constantly imposed with professional development, not just of officers but the non-commissioned officers beginning with the first steps into leadership, requirements are leagues beyond the older days.
May I suggest that the author could have dealt with something much closer to home - "Should We End College Athletic Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health?"
#9
Academia are the most provincial people I know. Their lives and experiences are the norm as far as they're concerned.
"An unexamined life is a waste."
#14
This is almost certainly factually false. Recruits get medical care, dental work, wholesome food and sanitary living conditions when not in the field. The life may be spartan but outside the combat role for which they have trained and for which they bargained the health realm is better inside than outside for the vast majority of enlistees.
#15
"The youngest recruits have the greatest number of mental disorders in the U.S. military, including alcohol abuse, anxiety syndromes, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder."
I am going to take an intuitive guess here: Many disorders cannot be properly diagnosed before age 18. Furthermore- the military screens recruits (unlike colleges.) They may very well be the first professionals to take a look at these young adults. Then there is the fact (and I do believe it is a fact) that if you have a poor soul with lurking schizophrenia (for example), one of the BEST ways to 'activate' the disorder (cause a psyche breakdown) is Basic. That is almost by design.
#16
Actually, I think she's probably right, but for the wrong reasons. Most kids today are so over-protected they've never experienced any greater trauma than getting turned down for a date - or not asked. They suddenly find themselves in the real world of basic training, and have no experience to how to adjust. Today, college is just high school with more books. There is little or no reality. I witnessed some of this in the military before I retired - a LOT of young kids that came in were shocked, shocked, to learn they'd have to keep their room clean, be on time, keep their uniforms in good order, and adhere to basic hygiene. Throw them into a combat situation and you have instant mental disorders, as they have no base in reality to relate all the demands of combat to life. The MILITARY doesn't "cause" these problems - they're caused by a totally unrealistic childhood lifestyle. You'll note that the kids from "flyover country" - children of ranchers and farmers, small business owners, and "reality-based" jobs have much fewer problems than the blue-state city kids. Amy's got part of the equation right, but the "answer" she came up with isn't based on reality.
[Straits Times] TWO Paks and a Thai woman jugged on suspicion of making fake passports for Al-Qaeda linked groups were part of criminal networks tied to 'many terrorist attacks', Thai police said on Thursday.
The arrests in Thailand formed part of an international operation to stamp out a huge cell that has been linked to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
Paks Muhammad Athar Butt, 39, and Zeeshan Ehsan Butt, 29, and Thai national Sirikanlaya Kijbumrung, 25, were jugged in Thailand on Tuesday as they attempted to flee into Laos.
'They are suspected of being part of a transnational criminal group, linked with terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba and involved with many terrorist attacks in Spain and European Union countries,' a statement by Thai police said.
The Thai raids were coordinated with Spanish police, who jugged six Paks and a Nigerian in raids in and around Barcelona, which has a large Pak community, late on Tuesday.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation, working alongside authorities in Spain, found criminal networks in South Asia, specifically Pakistain and Bangladesh, had used Thailand as a base for document forgery. 'These are linked with terrorist groups, credit fraud, human trafficking and arms traders, which use those forged passports to enter third countries,' the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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First they want us to leave, now they want us to stay ...
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The ongoing U.S. military draw down in Iraq is making it more difficult for the United Nations to carry out its operations, which range from the humanitarian to the development to the political fields, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report issued Wednesday.
While there has been gradual progress over the past several years in making the United Nations more self-reliant in Iraq, certain security and logistical arrangements still being provided by the United States will need to be replaced, he said in his report to the UN Security Council, in which he also cites continuing though lower-level violence and the need to build swiftly on gains in the political field to provide essential services to the Iraqi people.
The UN doesn't need to be 'self-reliant' in Iraq. The Iraqis need to be self-reliant. One good way to do that is to boot the UN parasites.
While steps are being taken in this (security) regard, this will only be possible with strong financial support from member states, he said, adding that overall the withdrawal of U.S. forces is likely to have a short- to medium-term effect on the security situation as the central government attempts to assert itself.
The secretary-general commended all political blocs for reaching agreements that appear to have ended the deadlock in forming a new government after elections in March. The breakthrough represents a major milestone in democratic progress for Iraq and should pave the way for the first peaceful transition between elected governments under full Iraqi sovereignty, he said.
Ban called on leaders to swiftly complete forming the new government and ensure that it is inclusive and broadly participatory. Progress in this regard will help put the country on the path towards democracy, national reconciliation and long- term stability.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010
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#1
The UN is engaged in setting up a large, country-sized refugee cam modeled on the Paleos. Just think how much skim they can get out of a scam this size.
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
12/03/2010 9:49
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#2
"While steps are being taken in this (security) regard, this will only be possible with strong financial support from member states."
#3
HMMMMM, HMMM, wehell now, unless I've missed something, "GLOBALISM" + "DIVERSITY" + OWG-NWO, + 1990's CLINTONIAN "[Arrogant Fascist Male Brute]US MUST BE RESTRAINED/CONTROLLED"
+ DA LIKE = US ALLIES BEING ABLE TO EFFEC PICK UP WHERE THE OBAMA-VERIFIED "WEAK/DECLINING"
US - the OWG MIGHTY USSA = OWG WEAK USRoA Global SSR, America = Amerika - LEAVES OFF, among other.
Correct-a-mundo???
Technically speaking, any "US DRAWDOWN" shouldn't seriously hamper anything.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - A Somali emergency official says clashes between Islamic fighters and government soldiers have killed at least five people in the chaotic capital.
Mogadishu ambulance service chief Ali Muse says 17 others were wounded Thursday as the opposing sides pounded each other with mortars. He says most of the dead and wounded are civilians.
Also on Thursday, residents of the southern town of Burhakaba said fighting between two Islamist groups entered a second day and left 9 dead and 15 wounded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010
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(Ma'an) -- A man was killed Thursday morning by an electrical shock inside one of the tunnels in the Rafah district of the southern Gaza Strip, medics said. The young man was identified Muhammad Kaware, 25, from the city of Khan Younis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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[Tolo News] A top Afghan military official said on Thursday that some cut-throats causing violence in the north are provoked by intelligence organisations from outside
Let's see: Pakistan's ISI, Iran, Saudi Arabia, perhaps?
Operations to wipe out the Taliban out of their northern footholds have already started in restive parts of some provinces including Badakhshan, Baghlan and Kunduz, said Gen. Zulmai Weesa, commander of 209 Shaheen Corps.
Around 2,000 soldiers are participating in the operations, he said.
Gen. Weesa said more than twenty cut-throats have been nabbed along with their three local commanders and some weapons during the operations in some insecure parts of Baghlan province.
"Some people are appointed either by outside intelligence organisations or by our internal enemies to carry out activities that lead to violence and it's the responsibility of security forces to target them," he said.
The operations have made around 170 cut-throats drop their weapons and join the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
CUTTHROATS = CAMEL-KAZES
versies
* TOPIX/PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA, RUSSIA SUPPORTING BALUCHISTAN INSURGENCY. The Balochis of Baluchistan forming an Armed, Trained
"Liberation Army" wid lots of Curry, Borsch support.
OTOH, IIRC SAME > WIKILEAKS: PAKISTAN NEEDS NUKES BECAUSE OF ITS WEAK ARMY.
You name it, the PAK ARMY either has it or should, will have it???
D *** NG IT, IFF YOU HAVE THE TIME, THE PAK ARMY DOES NOT HAVE THE BEER!
[Arab News] It would probably just be easier to come up with a very short list of things Paleostinians aren't angry about.
Israel has granted preliminary approval for 625 new homes in east Jerusalem, prompting an angry response from Paleostinians on Thursday as peace talks remained stuck over settlement construction.
The plan for a new housing project received preliminary approval from a district planning committee, which published an announcement on Nov. 25. Further approval is required, and if the plan is given final approval construction will not begin for about two years.
According to the announcement in the Maariv daily, the homes are part of a "residential neighborhood" in Pisgat Zeev, a sprawling area of 50,000 residents. Israelis consider it a neighborhood of their capital, while the Paleostinians view it as a settlement.
The Paleostinians have refused to resume peace talks with Israel without a full construction freeze that would include the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the part of the city they want for the capital of a future state. Israel, which sees all of Jerusalem as its own capital, has rejected that condition and has continued approving new projects there even as US mediators try to revive the talks.
The leader of the Paleostinian government in the West Bank, President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas, was to meet with US officials Thursday for an update on those efforts.
"It seems obvious that we have received the Israeli answer to the American attempts to stop settlements," Paleostinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday. Israel has chosen "settlements and not peace," he said.
In the Gazoo Strip, which is ruled by the bad boyHamas, always the voice of sweet reason, group, Israeli soldiers killed two gunnies from the Islamic Jihad organization in an overnight clash along the Gazoo-Israel border fence, the Israeli military said.
Islamic Jihad did not immediately confirm the deaths.
Violence has dropped in Gazoo since the end of Israel's offensive in the territory in early 2009, but bad boy attacks on the border and sporadic rocket fire have continued.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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[Arab News] [Arab News] The role of Saudi women in Al-Qaeda is, apparently, marginal; only 15 women have been established to have links with the terrorist organization.
The tasks of women snuffies in the earlier days were confined to assisting in logistic matters such as helping wanted beturbanned goons travel without attracting police attention in addition to offering moral support to them. Gradually some of them turned to terror recruiters, financiers and even a media relations officer like Bint Najd, who distributed terror propaganda online.
Al-Qaeda started recruiting women in the Kingdom in 2004. The first known female terrorist was the wife of the Kingdom's Al-Qaeda chief Saleh Al-Oufi, who was killed in 2005.
Many terror activists donned women's clothes and moved in women's company to cross police checkpoints undetected. Ali bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, one of the 19 Al-Qaeda men wanted by the Interior Ministry in the past, used to travel between Madinah and Jeddah wearing abaya and in the company of women before he surrendered to Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin Naif in 2003. His Moroccan wife was also with him.
Wives of beturbanned goons used to accompany their husbands and help them go underground. Al-Oufi's wife hid his three children in a relative's house in Madinah after Al-Oufi's name figured in the ministry's list of bandidos published in 2003. She was caught in July 2004 when police raided a house in King Fahd district in Riyadh. Isa bin Saud Al-Oushi and Muejib Abu Ras Al-Dossary were killed in a police encounter in which three other beturbanned goons were maimed. It was also reported that police recovered the decapitated head of kidnapped American John Marshall from a cold storage within that house. Authorities also seized weapons from the house.
Al-Oufi's wife and three children were released by order of Interior Minister Prince Naif and sent to her brother before her husband was killed in a confrontation in 2005.
Wafa Al-Shehri is another notable Saudi female terrorist. She is wife of Saeed Al-Shehri, the second in command of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Her association with Al-Qaeda started with her marriage to Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, who was killed in a clash with police in Taif in 2004. Later, Wafa married former Guantanamo detainee Al-Shehri after fleeing to Yemen.
Another Saudi woman in Al-Qaeda is Haila Al-Qusayyer, 47, the terror financier referred to by fellow beturbanned goons as Madame Al-Qaeda and Umm Al-Rabab. Al-Qusayyer had been wife to two Al-Qaeda beturbanned goons -- Abdul Kareem Al-Homaid and Muhammad Suleiman Al-Wakeel.
Al-Wakeel was killed in a security operation following a botched attempt against an Interior Ministry building in 2004.
Saeed Al-Shehri reportedly threatened to make several attacks and kidnaps in order to force the authorities to release Al-Qusayyer, who was captured by Saudi forces from the house of another wanted cut-thoat in Al-Khobaitiah district of Buraidah, Qassim province.
Al-Shehri, who planned to make Al-Qusayyer his second wife, sent two cut-thoats, Yusuf Al-Shehri and Raed Al-Harbi, from Yemen to Buraidah to smuggle her to Yemen in October 2009. Both beturbanned goons met their end at a checkpoint in Jazan.
Al-Qusayyer was noted for her fundraising skills, often collecting money from wealthy Saudis on the pretext of raising money for orphans and widows.
Bint Najd was the media chief of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom. She operated more than 800 online clubs and blogs to promote the orc ideology and carried pseudonyms such as Al-Asad Al-Muhajir (The Migrant Lion), Al-Ghariba (The Exotic), Bint Najd Al-Habibah (Najd's Beloved Daughter) and Al-Najm Al-Satie (The Glowing Star).
She uploaded the orc websites with audio and video recordings and official statements of Al-Qaeda.
Abdul Munim Al-Mushawweh, director of the online Al-Sakeenah (Tranquility) Campaign against virulent deviant preaching that has been credited for reducing the online presence of extremism in the Kingdom, said he used to debate with the advocates of orc ideologies, including Bint Najd, but she never listened to his advice and was eventually jugged.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces shot down three gunmen, one of them of an Arab nationality, and arrested a Moroccan west of Mosul city on Thursday, according to a source in the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC).
An Iraqi army force opened fire on three gunmen, one of them of an Arab nationality, during a military operation conducted in the village of Mshirfa, west of Mosul, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The force also detained a Moroccan gunman during the operation that was launched upon intelligence tip-offs, he said.
The source did not reveal the nationality of the Arab gunman but said the Moroccan detainee is under investigative custody for further details on how he entered Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Now all their families will be killed. Nice going Wikileaks, more blood on your hands.
Among senior North Korea officials whose defection to the South was revealed by the WikiLeaks cables is Sol Jong-sik, the first secretary of the Youth League in North Korea's Ryanggang Province. Sol (40) fled the North in June last year, it emerged on Thursday.
Another is the chief of an overseas mission in Northeast Asia, who defected in the second half of last year. And a former head of a North Korean corporation charged with earning hard currency for the regime has also defected to Seoul.
"Sol Jong-sik was one of the most prominent officials in their 30s and 40s who assumed key positions in Pyongyang and provincial regions after Kim Jong-un was designated as the heir apparent to the leadership last year, a North Korean source said.
The Youth League is a key social organization with a nationwide network. Many of the league's senior members move on to key offices in the Workers Party. "Sol is interested in the outside world and likes South Korean TV dramas," the source said. "I understand he fled the North due to a problem caused by these propensities."
A directory for North Korea's organizations published by the Unification Ministry in 2009 identifies Sol Jong-sik as the first secretary of the Youth League in Ryanggang Province. But in the 2010 edition the entry is blank.
The high-ranking diplomat in Northeast Asia "fled the North late last year and the head of the corporation in charge of earning hard currency traveled overseas to buy electrical materials and defected," another source said.
According to a U.S. diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks, then foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan told U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues Robert King, who was visiting Seoul in January this year, "An unspecified number of high-ranking North Korean officials working overseas had recently defected." The situation in the North was becoming "increasingly chaotic," Yu added.
The National Intelligence Service refused to confirm the reports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2010
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#1
Well, this is just the sort of thing we need for good goverernance, isn't it?
Funny how even the holiest of do-gooders has collateral damage.
Good thing Julian doesn't have a conscience.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010 6:14
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#2
cant wait to see the true believers spin this one. why cant the feds shut off his server for hosting copyright material they have no rights to?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/03/2010 7:05
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#3
Actually I asked the copyright question, too, and was told the U.S. officials cannot act on copyright issues because everything the U.S. government writes has no copyright attached to it?
Can anyone confirm this? I guess a take down notice claiming the DCMA should have been the easiest way of stopping the publishing on websites?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/03/2010 9:13
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#4
It's funny how the government has more mechanisms for protecting the rights of Sony and Disney than they do for protecting the lives of people in war zones or trying to escape tyranny.
#5
there are many more 'leaks' on that site than the ones getting all the press. i am sure some of them can be protected somehow.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/03/2010 9:35
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#6
where's Anon1 to defend Assange and glow in his halo light? Real blood on his hands indeed
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2010 10:41
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#7
From the Q & A in the Guardian earlier today
JAnthony
Julian.
I am a former British diplomat. In the course of my former duties I helped to coordinate multilateral action against a brutal regime in the Balkans, impose sanctions on a renegade state threatening ethnic cleansing, and negotiate a debt relief programme for an impoverished nation. None of this would have been possible without the security and secrecy of diplomatic correspondence, and the protection of that correspondence from publication under the laws of the UK and many other liberal and democratic states. An embassy which cannot securely offer advice or pass messages back to London is an embassy which cannot operate. Diplomacy cannot operate without discretion and the
protection of sources. This applies to the UK and the UN as much as the US.
In publishing this massive volume of correspondence, Wikileaks is not highlighting specific cases of wrongdoing but undermining the entire process of diplomacy. If you can publish US cables then you can publish UK telegrams and UN emails.
My question to you is: why should we not hold you personally responsible when next an international crisis goes unresolved because diplomats cannot function.
Julian Assange:
If you trim the vast editorial letter to the singular question actually asked, I would be happy to give it my attention.
Enough said, I guess.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/03/2010 11:38
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#8
am I the only one who thinks Julian looks just like Gollum?
I could be satisfied if he spent a good number of years in solitary confinement, pondering the results of his actions... including having so much time to think, uninterrupted.
#12
Hard labor at Leavenworth - put him in the cell next to Manning. Or else send him to Supermax in Colorado with all those wonderful terrorists he just helped.
[Maghrebia] In light of the recent hijacking of the Tunisian-owned merchant vessel Hannibal II, Maghreb residents are increasingly concerned about the growing danger of Somalia's instability. To shed light on the situation, Magharebia spoke to Somali political analyst Mohammed Omar in Mogadishu. He tells the story behind the radical jihadi group al-Shabaab and reveals the movement's ties to international terrorists. As a keen observer of the violent events that have rocked Somalia in recent years, Omar has a deep understanding of the country's history and why it matters to the rest of Africa. He explains that the terrorist group imposes its radical ideology on the population by force and maintains little support among Somalis. Omar also provides a breakdown on the rise of Salafist groups and the links between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Magharebia: Can you describe for us the origins of al-Shabaab?
Mohammed Omar: It's difficult to specify a certain time and say that the movement appeared at it, as its foundation has been a gradual process. In 1997, the Salafist al-Ittihad al-Islami group declared that it would relinquish its armed approach and would turn into a dawa (preaching) group. That decision angered some of the low-level leaders who didn't like it and who insisted on their armed approach.
After September 11th, the possibility that Somalia would be a target for a US attack increased; something that mobilised those young leaders to establish the movement, which soon had training bases in the Somali capital, which was controlled by warlords supported by external regional and international entities.
Magharebia: What is the relationship between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)?
Omar: There's certainly co-operation between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, as evidenced by the statements made by the two sides. Al-Shabaab says that it is a part of al-Qaeda and boasts about its affiliation to Osama bin Laden, and al-Qaeda issues statements that support al-Shabaab and gives them pieces of advice, as al-Zawahri and Abu Yahya al-Libi usually do.
With the progress of training activities, it is believed that communication links between the group and the international al-Qaeda organisation started to increase. Foreign elements started to flow to Somalia. In the meantime, al-Shabaab was accused of carrying out liquidations against some secular figures and some of the Somali army officers who were accused of espionage. This has led the warlords to declare war on the group under the umbrella of the "anti-terror war".
Magharebia: Is al-Shabaab composed of only Somali citizens or are they receiving support from other regions?
Omar: It's clear that the group doesn't consist of Somali elements alone; rather, there are foreigners from different countries. However, The infamous However... it is difficult to estimate their number; some say their number is more than 1,000, while others dismiss that number, but estimates show that their number was not less than a few hundred.
That's because the number keeps changing, eager volunteers coming in from abroad at one end, eg England and America, and getting killed, either because they aren't very good at it or because they revealed that they'd changed their mind about jihad being their calling, at the other end.
Magharebia: How does the Somali street view them?
Omar: The Somali street differs in its view of al-Shabaab movement. However, The infamous However... the overall view seems to be negative since the group didn't come with the consent of the people
and doesn't express the aspirations of the Somali people who long for the establishment of security and stability, creation of a state of institutions, and activation of national reconciliation as the basis for establishing an effective state. The second factor that makes people's view of that group a negative one is the presence of foreigners
Damned foreigners beating our men for singing and our women for wearing support garments!
who take part in charting the group's policies. The group doesn't express the hopes of the Somali people. Another factor is their adoption of a bloody approach on the domestic level and aggressive policy towards neighbouring countries.
Magharebia: There were a number of terrorist attacks carried out by al-Shabaab in African countries. Do such operations mean that this movement has moved from the local Somali problem to an international one?
Omar: Yes, there are operations carried out by al-Shabaab in several countries, such as the Kampala bombings in which 70 people were killed, and which al-Shabaab grabbed credit for. Currently, there are increasing consultations among neighbouring countries to ward off the threats of al-Shabaab in the region. Both Uganda and Burundi, which have forces in Somalia, are calling for sending troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabaab as part of the war on al-Qaeda all over the world.
Magharebia: Is there any relationship between al-Shabaab and maritime piracy, such as the hijacking of the Tunisian fat merchantman Hannibal II?
Omar: It's widely believed that al-Shabaab is not actually engaged in piracy, although they are controlling several ports in southern Somalia. They are accused of turning a blind eye to the pirates in the areas under their influence, perhaps because they believe that Western countries are the most affected parties in these operations. International forces arrest gangs of pirates every day, but no charges are made against any of them of belonging to al-Shabaab; something that dismisses any links between al-Shabaab and piracy.
Magharebia: How do they finance their operations?
Omar: As far as financing is concerned, outside observers can't give their opinions about it. However, The infamous However... we can just say that the enormity of operations that al-Shabaab is carrying out and the vast areas of land they are controlling require large-scale financing. If the link between the parent organisation and al-Shabaab is confirmed, then there must be some sort of financing.
Magharebia: How do you see the future of this group in the near term?
Omar: Most analysts believe that the chances of survival for al-Shabaab may wane due to the factors I cited above - their project doesn't stem from the Somali people's priorities, presence of foreign agenda, the area they control is ruled by force, etc. Most analysts make this conclusion. They also talk about the forces that will benefit from the group's disappearance.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#2
Wow! Three of "the infamous however" in one article. is it really necessary to use this tag on every single appearance of the word "however" in any given article? It's tiresome. Let's throw in a break from tags on "Meanwhile", "Human Rights", "Hilary Clinton", etc.. No longer funny due to overuse, a break of a week or so from this irritation would be nice.
[Tolo News] Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan has offered his resignation because of increasing fears that documents to be published in WikiLeaks could end up with his replacement
The Canadian ambassador in Kabul, William Crosbie, has warned Ottawa that the US diplomatic cables will include criticisms he made about Afghanistan's Caped President Karzai and his powerful family at a meeting with other diplomats, and that this could require him to be replaced.
Mr Crosbie wrote in a diplomatic letter to Ottawa that, "My words about Karzai and the influence of his family may attract attention, and they will be damaging for our relations with him and his government if they do so."
"Much depends on how Karzai reacts to the WikiLeaks. Will they cause him to take steps that will be unacceptable for our ongoing support? There are several critical decision points in the coming weeks," he added.
The note is the first indication that leaks of cables could harm Canada's interests in Afghanistan.
Mr Crosbie is the only foreign diplomat named in the US cables recorded as criticising Mr Karzai and his family.
"The message is a report of a lengthy meeting on Feb. 20, 2010, in which I speak in very critical terms about the misuse of power by Karzai and his family (AWK is named)," Mr Crosbie wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Maghrebia] Algerian soldiers killed seven al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons close to the border with Niger, Tout sur l'Algerie quoted a security source as saying on Tuesday (November 30th). ANP troops intercepted the armed AQIM members on Monday night as they tried to enter Algerian territory aboard three all-terrain vehicles. A gunfire exchange continued for several hours.
In another major clash with faceless myrmidons on Tuesday, Algerian soldiers successfully reopened the bridge on the road between Beni Houa in Chlef and Damous in Tipasa province. The bridge had been blocked by a terror group consisting of some 30 men, sources said. The army used tanks and helicopter gunships in a "long and violent" clash. No casualties among the ANP soldiers were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Washington Examiner] Federal police say they have captured a regional leader of the Zetas gang who allegedly handled drug-smuggling operations from Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Regional Security Chief Luis Cardenas says Eduardo Ramirez Valencia was nabbed with an accomplice Wednesday in Hidalgo state in an operation that fractured a major route for transporting drugs from those two countries to the United States.
Cardenas said Thursday that Ramirez collaborated closely with Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, the alleged leader of the Zetas whose home state of Hidalgo is a central crossing point for drugs.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
Compare wid CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > {YouTube] HIZBOLLAH IN MEXICO???
China obtained information in 2008 that North Korea has a secret underwater nuclear facility in its coastal waters, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show.
According to a Sept. 26, 2008 cable from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai disclosed by WikiLeaks, a North Korea expert in Shanghai announced this in a meeting about the six-party nuclear talks with Christopher Beede, the political and economic chief at the consulate.
The expert said the nuclear declaration the North submitted to China, the chair of the six-party talks, in May the same year was "incomplete" and Beijing had information that the North had a secret underwater nuclear facility. "For this reason, a debate has emerged within the Chinese leadership" over the six-party talks, he added.
The source said some Chinese leaders believed that "continued momentum in the six-party talks is critical to their success" and that "Washington must adopt a more flexible attitude." Others took the "incomplete nuclear declaration as evidence that the regime in Pyongyang is truly 'a ticking time bomb'" and regarded "Washington's tough stance on verification as a potential opportunity" to control the North.
But a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday said the cable "is not true. If it were true, would participating nations of the six-party talks have kept quiet?"
#2
ION PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > CHINA FINDS US-TAIWAN TIES "IRKSOME", espec US Arms Sales to same.
IMO ARTIC read, CHIN-DESIRED "WARM-WATER PORTS".
MORESO GIVEN
* TOPIX > RUSSIA CHANGES ITS MIND ON DISPUTED JAPAN ISLANDS.
Oh yeah, RUSSIA will repor accept + tolerate a formal visit by Japanese PM NATO KAN to its NOW-ARE-PERMAMNENT-RUSSIAN-SOVEREIGN-TERRITORY FORMER JAPANESE KURILES, but just to make sure that Nippon is ticked off has changed its mind about EVAR! giving back at least TWO OF SAME BACK TO JAPAN [Cold War promise].
JAPAN GAINED A DIPLOMATIC VISIT BUT LOST TWO ISLANDS, presum that Moscow was gong to return them back at some point in the future.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Ivory Coasts electoral commission on Thursday declared opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the winner of the West African countrys first presidential election in a decade after missing a deadline to release the results.
Election commission chief Youssouf Bakayoko said that Ouattara won with 54.1 percent of the vote, compared to 45.9 percent for Gbagbo. The results, released one day later than constitutionally mandated, still must be certified by the nations constitutional council.
Supporters of the incumbent had prevented the commission from announcing the outcome from Sundays runoff vote, saying tallies from at least four of the countrys 19 regions should be canceled. Ouattaras party accused the incumbent president of trying to steal the long-awaited ballot. It remained unclear whether President Laurent Gbagbos supporters would accept Thursdays announcement.
In a sign of tensions over the vote, officials backing the ruling party physically prevented the commissions spokesman from announcing a large share of results as he sat in front of a microphone late Tuesday. The ruling party loyalists stood in front of the TV cameras as the spokesman attempted to speak, shouting over him. And then they yanked the results from his hand and tore them up as the cameras rolled.
So it's perfectly clear whether Gbagbo's supporters will accept the announcement ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai remains a partner for the US although he disapproves Washington's campaign in the country.
American politicians believe that Mr Karzai`s critical remarks reveal 'impatience of a country that has been living in a state of war for 30 consecutive years'.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that his country wants to bring Afghanistan back to normal life but added that this will definitely take time. The Pentagon chief noted that a Nato summit in Lisbon approved a four-year plan on handing over control of some areas in Afghanistan to the local law-enforcement agencies within a year or two.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has also touched upon the issue. He said that the UK troops will leave Afghanistan by 2015, and stressed that the British army has been staying there not to build an ideal democratic society but to help the Afghan police ensure security amid Al-Qaeda threats.
Judging from what politicians say one may think that the situation in Afghanistan is not that bad after all.
Recently, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that a Nato-led mission, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, has achieved remarkable progress, with corruption remaining the only obstacle to stability in the region.
British military chiefs do not agree, however, and insist that the situation remains quite complicated and will hardly change for the better in the next four years.
It is evident that the US and British troops have got 'stuck' in Afghanistan. The Taliban are not going to surrender and continue to control the biggest part of the Afghan territory.
At the same time, relations between the ISAF and the Afghan authorities (and President Karzai in particular) have grown tense.
It appears that Washington and London have failed to learn sad lessons of the Iraq campaign, although Mr Cameron has said that ''the government would learn lessons from Iraq -- where there was no plan for winning the peace".
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a Canadian envoy has warned that President Karzai may "burn his bridges" with Nato as a potential fallout over the newly released US diplomatic cables, a Canadian paper said on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
"...Iraq -- where there was no plan for winning the peace".
Oddly enough, there is now enough peace for political quagmire to set in. Tanker trucks are no longer exploding and maiming hundreds. If it ain't peace, it's pretty close.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010 6:37
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#2
..for political quagmire to set in.
Many are looking for the same 'solution' in the Beltway as well.
#3
Karzai's no dummy. He knows that NATO is just looking for an excuse to bug out, leaving him twisting in the wind. So he is highly motivated to make other arrangements.
[Geo News] Just a few days after lifting the 2 year long ban on riding double the Sindh Government again imposed a ban in Bloody Karachi and Hyderabad till 12th Muharram ul Haram citing security reasons ahead of Muharram, Geo News reported Thursday.
On November 23 the ban was lifted that eased the hardships faced by the poor Bloody Karachiites.
The ban on riding double was initially imposed in 2008 to prevent assassinations in Bloody Karachi but the killings continued unabated.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
Pillion riders (aka motorcycle passengers) are definitely one of the most common means of terrorist killings in southern Thailand. "Cycles of violence" indeed.
Satellite images indicate North Korea might have suffered considerable casualties when South Korea returned fire after the North shelled its frontline island last week, a lawmaker said Thursday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) presented to parliament an image taken by the South's own satellite and another one collected by an unidentified foreign commercial satellite.
Kwon Yong-Se, a ruling party lawmaker who chairs the intelligence committee, told reporters after the presentation that about 10 shells landed near the North's military positions on Mudo island.
The South's shells mostly landed between two clusters of barracks about 100 metres (330 feet) apart and some came close to one of the clusters.
"One of the shells hit the rear of the barracks. It is possible to assume considerable casualties occurred," Kwon said.
In light of the fact that the impact circle of the South's indigenous K-9 self-propelled guns is 50 metres, the impact is believed to have been considerable, Kwon said. K-9 is 155mm.
#2
The North on November 23 fired up to 170 shells of which 80 hit Yeonpyeong island
Meanwhile, back at the ranch -
South Korea in response fired 80 rounds from its self-propelled guns. Of these, 35 landed in the sea, 15 on Mudo island and 30 at Kaemori on the mainland, according to the NIS.
Apparently, these are not the newer "smart" rounds. Not even a bomb in a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2010 6:43
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#3
Intersting site ... found it via Instapundit.
re the SoKo M109's SP's (or K-9). I don't believe the SoKo Army has Excalibur rounds in their operational inventory ... yet. Nice to have satellite imagery PRK will have to get that data from their ChiCom handlers. GPS data into the shell and pull the lanyard. CEP is 10 meters under most condidions. Almost as accurate as Paveway (One Bomb, One Target) in the case of Excalibur using PSWP's Rules of Modern Battlefield: If you are observable, you will be seen, if you are seen you will be targeted, if you are targeted, you will be hit.
#4
welcome PPWS, stick around - you'll find much to like
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2010 13:30
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#5
FREEREPUBLIC > KOREAN PENINSULA WAKES UP TO A NEW REALITY.
ARTIC > ROK = SOKOR must contemplate or consider that the North may choose to USE ALL OF ITS CONVENTIONAL, NUCLEAR WEAPONS? BEFORE IT BECOMES EXTINCT [self-implodes + collapses].
Artic also read, CHINA NOT SAFE FROM DESPERATE, PRE-COLLPASE DPRK MIL, NUKE THREAT.
* SPACEWAR.COM > NORTH KOREAN CRISIS REVEALS [US-Allied] IMPATIENCE WID CHIN'S CAUTION.
Also from SAME > MASS DISPLAY OF AIRCRAFT, WARSHIPS AT JAPAN-US EXERCISE, + SOUTH KOREA PLANS MORE DRILLS + TALKS WID US, JAPAN OVER NORTH.
* GLOBALRESEARCH.CA > SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL: THE RISE OF NEW KOREAN WAR?
* SAME > NORH KOREA AS PRETEXT: US BUILDS ASIAN MILITARY ALLIANCE AGZ CHINA + RUSSIA.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > CHINIA ISSUES WARNING [do not exacerbate/worsen] ON US-SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN TALKS, as per DPRK = NOKOR.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > US TO PROTECT SMALL [Asian]NATIONS FROM CHINA'S BULLYINH | US REASSURES ASIAN ALLIES UN-NERVED BY CHINA.
* WMF > "USS GEORGE WASHINGTON" NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER APPEARS OFF CHIN DAOYUS ON FIRST DAY OF US-JAPAN MILITARY DRILL, USAF B-52'S, FIGHTER JETS FROM GUAM BASE + OKINAWA ENGAGE IN SIMULATED "DEFENSIVE" ATTACK SORTIES AGZ "LARGE ENEMY SHIPS" TRYING TO PREVENT US-JAPAN RECONQUEST OF CPLA-HELD DAOYUS [Japan = Senkakus Islands].
* WMF > JAPANESE MEDIAS: ALLEGED "LIGHT" CHINESE FISHERY PATROL BOATS ARE EQUIPPED WID PLA-SUPPLIED ARMED HELICOPTERS + HEAVY WEAPONS. PATROL BOATS + PLA-ARMED COMMERCIAL FISHING TRAWLERS MAY BE PART OF CHIN "NEW STRATEGIC PLAN" AZG JAPAN FOR CONROL OF THE DAOYUS.
Yesterday they were blaming us...
[Arab News] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad accused the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society on Wednesday of complicity in the murder of a nuclear scientist, days before talks aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff.
Scientist Majid Shahriari, killed in a bomb attack on his car, was buried Wednesday in a funeral attended by Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who will meet the European Union's foreign affairs chief on Dec. 6 and 7 for talks.
No one has grabbed credit for the bombing, nor another similar attack on the same day, which Tehran has blamed on countries seeking to stop the nuclear program.
"Committing terrorist acts shows well that you do not have the intention to negotiate, but you want to show hostility toward the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.
"In these kinds of terrorist acts, undoubtedly the United Nations is in cahoots with Zionists."
A separate car boom at around the same time Monday as the one that killed Shahriari, maimed another nuclear scientist, Fereidoun Abbasi, who is personally subject to UN sanctions because of his involvement in suspected nuclear weapons research.
Iranian state media said the attacks on the scientists were part of a Western campaign to sabotage its nuclear program. According to Iran, that campaign included the abduction of Iranian scientists, the sale of faulty equipment and the planting of a destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet.
Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Ali Abdollahi said "protection for academics will be pursued more seriously."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
ION TOPIX > [Gulf Cooperation Council]GCC EXPECTS WAR WID IRAN.
ARTIC = US-VS-IRAN WAR SCENARIO may also involve NATO State TURKEY, but at least the US agz Iran???
#2
Man, if the UN eloi want to kill someone, they drop them down an elevator shaft. Stickybombs via Cycles of Violence isn't their style.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/03/2010 13:43
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TOPIX > {Wikileaks] LOOSELY-SECURED HEU STOCKPILES IN PAKISTAN SPARKS US ALARM.
ARTIC = Gov-Pol Nepotism = Corrupt $$$, Influence factors seemingly decides whom is selected for SESITIVE PAK NUCPLEX MANAGEMENT + SECURITY, NOT COMPETENCY OR QUALIFICATIONS, ETC. FOR DA JOB.
IOW, ITS A BONAFIDE MIRACLE THAT PAK MILITANTS HAVEN'T GONE NUKULAAR YET, AS NO NEED FOR SAME TO BUY ON "BLACK MARKETS/MAFIAS" WID SERIOUS INTERNAL GOVT-LED NUCLEAR INCOMPETENCE, CORRUPTION LIKE THESE.
[Arab News] Israeli forces jugged seven Paleostinians, including a Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,politician, early Wednesday.
Paleostinian sources said Israeli soldiers jugged Nayef Al-Rajoub, a member of the Hamas-dominated Paleostine Legislative Council and the former minister for Wakf and religious affairs, at his house in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Al-Rajoub's family said the Israeli soldiers broke into his house at 1 a.m. and ordered Al-Rajoub to get dressed and accompany them. He is the brother of Jibreel Al-Rajoub, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a former security commander.
On June 20, Israel released Al-Rajoub after holding him for nearly four years. Al-Rajoub was among tens of West Bank-based Hamas leaders whom Israel jugged after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas in Gazoo.
Israel hoped to use the Hamas officials as bargaining chips in its efforts to secure the release of Shalit. Israel is still holding 11 Hamas politicians.
The Hamas parliamentary bloc said in a statement that it fears the latest arrest of the politician was a prelude to another crackdown on Hamas officials.
It added that the arrest is "part of the security coordination between the Israeli occupation, the Ramallah-based Paleostinian Authority and (rival) Fatah movement." The West Bank is administered by the Paleostinian Authority, which is dominated by members of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. In June 2007, Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and took over the Gazoo Strip.
The Israeli forces also jugged six other Paleostinians in Hebron and Nablus. Israeli security sources said the nabbed were handed over to Israeli intelligence for questioning.
Since December 2009, Germany and Egypt have failed to finalize a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel due to differences over the number and names of those to be freed. Hamas wants Israel to free up to 1,000 Paleostinians in Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of Shalit and the group has reportedly presented a list of 450 names in Israeli prisons. Israel finds the list big.
Israel also objects to freeing Israeli Arab prisoners as well as several Hamas military wing leaders. Another issue yet to be settled is Israel's demand to deport almost 100 of the 450 "heavy" prisoners if they were to be released.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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[Ma'an] Two members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad were killed by Israeli shelling and aerial bombing east of Jabaliya, in the northern Gazoo Strip on Thursday.
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the group, also announced that the two were members of the organization. The dear departed were identified as Mahmoud An-Najjr and Jalal Abed Al-Karim, both from Jabaliya.
A front man for the organization told Ma'an two were "planting explosive charges in the eastern area in case Israel carried out any attack."
The Israeli military also said the bodies of two members of Islamic Jihad were found in the area. In a statement the military said on the bodies of the two were "light weapons, uniforms and an bomb."
On Thursday evening Al-Quds Brigades also claimed it launched mortar shells at Israeli vehicles operating near the Eastern Cemetery, in the same area where the two operatives were killed.
Earlier, Paleostinian sources said Israeli tanks stationed along the eastern border let off an barrage of artillery fire toward the cemetery shortly after 3 a.m., a move that was followed by a limited incursion into the area.
According to sources in Gazoo, a total of 15 artillery shells were launched, landing on farmland near the cemetery. Paleostinian medics have not reported injuries.
Shortly after the barrage, the sources said, seven Israeli military vehicles entered the area for what was described as a sweep, then withdrew at 6 a.m.
The Israeli army said soldiers "identified a number of armed Paleostinians near the security fence in the Northern Gazoo Strip. An IAF aircraft, accompanied by an IDF ground force using tank shells, fired towards the beturbanned goons, identifying a hit."
A front man for the army later clarified that the men were within the Gazoo border "approaching the border fence from within the 300 meter buffer zone."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Nigerian authorities plan to charge ex-US vice president Dick Cheney in connection with a bribery scandal allegedly involving energy firm Halliburton, a front man for the anti-graft agency said on Thursday.
Asked whether Mr Cheney would be charged over the investigation into construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in southern Nigeria, Femi Babafemi said, "it's true ... definitely."
The front man could not give details on the charges that he says are likely to be filed next week, but said "they are not unconnected to his role as the chief executive of Halliburton."
A prosecutor on the case said Cheney would be charged jointly along with the former and current leadership of Halliburton and others.
Officials from companies in a consortium involved in the LNG plant would also be included in the charges to be "placed before the court at the latest by Tuesday of next week," said Mr Godwin Obla.
Mr Cheney would face conspiracy charges and a Nigerian judge would be asked to issue an arrest warrant for him that would be transmitted to Interpol, said Mr Obla.
"As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period," Mr Obla told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2010
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#1
I'M SURE THEY WROTE THE CHARGES IN CAPITAL LETTERS, STARTING WITH "DEAR SIR"
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/03/2010 8:14
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#2
I take it, he didn't respond to the email about the family members funds that needed to get out of country and by sending a small sum, receive a munificent reward?
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.
Most Muslims support a role for Islam in politics
One can imagine NPR was hoping the National Portrait Gallery would hold its ground, if only to divert fire from Capitol Hill.
We haven't heard any British, French or German accents expressing gratitude, though we'll keep listening. The truth is, no bank anywhere would have to be bailed out by American taxpayers if lenders were allowed to do their job on a sound financial footing, without politicians forcing them into the social welfare business.
By Charles Krauthammer
Five 
The US-based provider, EveryDNS.net, took the controversial site offline earlier today, claiming that the constant hacking attacks were so powerful that they were damaging its other customers. It said it had become the "target of multiple distributed denial of service attacks" which threatened the stability of its structure. 
[Geo News] The US diplomat reported to Washington that the 
Jubeir also supposedly told the the US officials that when the Saudi Government had permitted Sharif to travel to London, he first promised the Saudis not to engage in political activity or return to Pakistain, but he then flew to Pakistain from London in a direct violation of his commitment.
[Arab News] [Arab News] Uganda dropped charges against 18 people related to 
[Arab News] Major problems faced by Saudi freshmen in foreign universities were discussed at a forum in Riyadh on Wednesday.
[Arab News] Iraq's interior minister called Thursday for the death penalty for a group of 39 Al-Qaeda-linked suspects even before they have been put on trial for allegedly plotting to bomb targets in 
[Arab News] The 
[The Nation (Nairobi)] British police know the whereabouts of Julian Assange, his lawyer said on Thursday amid reports that they have failed to detain the WikiLeaks founder because of an error in a Swedish arrest warrant.
[Chosun Ilbo] 
[Arab News] Police in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta have charged 65 people with kidnapping, robbery and oil theft, some of them believed to have been behind the abduction of 19 oil and construction workers.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Gunmen 
[Straits Times] THE Philippine government on Thursday suspended classes at 11 primary and secondary schools on a southern island, two weeks after 
[Straits Times] TWO Paks and a Thai woman 
MOGADISHU, Somalia - A Somali emergency official says clashes between Islamic fighters and government soldiers have killed at least five people in the chaotic capital.
(Ma'an) -- A man was killed Thursday morning by an electrical shock inside one of the tunnels in the Rafah district of the southern Gaza Strip, medics said. The young man was identified Muhammad Kaware, 25, from the city of Khan Younis.
[Tolo News] A top Afghan military official said on Thursday that some 
[Arab News] 
[Arab News] [Arab News] The role of Saudi women in Al-Qaeda is, apparently, marginal; only 15 women have been established to have links with the terrorist organization.
[Maghrebia] In light of the recent hijacking of the Tunisian-owned merchant vessel Hannibal II, Maghreb residents are increasingly concerned about the growing danger of Somalia's instability. To shed light on the situation, Magharebia spoke to Somali political analyst Mohammed Omar in Mogadishu. He tells the story behind the radical jihadi group al-Shabaab and reveals the movement's ties to international terrorists. As a keen observer of the violent events that have rocked Somalia in recent years, Omar has a deep understanding of the country's history and why it matters to the rest of Africa. He explains that the terrorist group imposes its radical ideology on the population by force and maintains little support among Somalis. Omar also provides a breakdown on the rise of Salafist groups and the links between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
[Tolo News] Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan has offered his resignation because of increasing fears that documents to be published in WikiLeaks could end up with his replacement
[Maghrebia] Algerian soldiers killed seven al-Qaeda 
[Geo News] Just a few days after lifting the 2 year long ban on 
[Arab News] Israeli forces 
[Ma'an] Two members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad were killed by Israeli shelling and aerial bombing east of Jabaliya, in the northern 
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Nigerian authorities plan to charge ex-US vice president Dick Cheney in connection with a bribery scandal allegedly involving energy firm Halliburton, a 
